The void itself screamed.
Every star around the collapsing nexus dimmed as the rift widened, and the colossal eye fixed on them—a pupil of endless black, surrounded by swirling galaxies like a cruel mockery of creation. Its gaze alone crushed the will of thousands of soldiers across the fleets. Ships powered down. Crews fell to their knees in despair.
On the Aurora's Spear, alarms howled as Admiral Veyric's fleet streamed warnings across the comms.
"All units retreat! Repeat, retreat—this is no longer a battle!"
But no retreat was possible. The wormhole network had fused into a single, devouring singularity, and the Architect's presence anchored every ship like insects in amber.
Kaelen stood in the fractured command deck, framed by flickering sparks and twisted metal. His silver-lit eyes locked on the monstrous rift. "It's looking at me," he muttered.
Lyra dragged herself upright, blood on her lips. "No," she said, her voice trembling, "it's looking through you."
Ceyra screamed as black veins overtook her completely, her body levitating. The Architect spoke through her—its voice a thousand overlapping tones:
"THE SEED RETURNS TO ITS MAKER. AND ALL THAT RESISTS… SHALL UNRAVEL."
Kaelen raised his blade. "Then come and take it."
The Eye blinked. Space fractured.
Suddenly, Aurora's Spear's hull ruptured inward as reality split open and an Avatar of the Architect emerged—a being of shifting geometry, claws of starlight and darkness. It filled the command deck, impossibly large for the space it occupied, warping the room around it.
Veilara unleashed her entire arsenal, plasma cannons and graviton mines detonating point-blank. They simply vanished into the entity's void-skin.
Rhyss tried to activate the ship's self-destruct, but the controls melted into unrecognizable symbols.
"KAELEN!" Lyra screamed.
He moved.
Power erupted from him in a shockwave of pure white, meeting the Avatar's claws with his phaseblade—now transformed into something greater, a blade of infinite fractals. The clash tore a hole in the ship, exposing the stars beyond.
Across the galaxy, sensors registered the energy spike. In the outer sectors, Seer Azhira gasped, her crystal throne shattering as visions flooded her.
"The Seed fights… the Maker stirs… the end has begun."
On the Aurora's Spear, Kaelen forced the Avatar back one step, teeth bared. "I'm not yours," he growled. "Not now. Not ever."
The Eye narrowed. And then the Architect laughed—a sound like dying suns.