The Predator did not retreat far.
It folded into the dark between gravitational seams, its wounded mass rippling as it shed damaged layers and regrew denser internal cores. The hesitation from before was gone.
Now it radiated intent.
The Fourth Light stabilized behind the triad's lattice, no longer flickering—but still young, still vulnerable.
Ethan stood within the Convergence Axis, gaze fixed outward.
"This is it," he said quietly. "It won't probe again."
Kaelith's frost halo sharpened into crystalline edges. "It will attempt annihilation."
Lysarra's golden aura expanded in layered arcs around the constellation. "Then we respond with unity."
The Predator moved.
Not as a spear this time.
Not as a single vector.
Its mass fragmented into three converging fronts—each one dense enough to threaten a sovereign node.
"Multi-axis pressure," Kaelith noted, eyes bright with battle-focus. "It wants to divide us."
"Don't let it," Ethan said.
