The silence felt heavier than the fight.
Kael stayed on his knees.
Breathing.
Slowly.
Uneven.
His body hurt.
Not sharp pain—
Something deeper.
Like his entire existence had been… stretched too far.
"…What… was that…"
His voice came out dry.
Weak.
No answer came.
The chamber had gone quiet again.
The fragments—
Gone.
Not destroyed.
Not absorbed.
Just… gone.
Like they had never been there.
Kael slowly pushed himself up.
His legs shook under his weight.
But they held.
Barely.
"System…"
His voice was steadier now.
"…Explain."
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then—
"Data… restricted."
Kael's eyes narrowed immediately.
"…Don't do that."
"You've been talking this whole time."
"Now you can't?"
A pause.
Longer this time.
"Host survival parameters updated."
"…Meaning?"
"Information release… permitted."
Kael let out a slow breath.
"Finally."
The system's voice shifted—
Slightly lower.
More… deliberate.
"Aetherion is not a power."
Kael froze.
"…Yeah."
He swallowed.
"I figured that much."
"Aetherion is a core origin entity."
The words didn't fully register at first.
"…What?"
"Source."
"The origin of multiple core fragments."
Kael's mind raced.
"…You mean those things I've been fighting—"
"Are extensions."
Silence hit him harder than any attack.
He looked down at his chest.
The faint glow pulsed again.
Slower now.
Controlled.
"…So I've got the source of all that inside me?"
"Partial source."
"Incomplete."
"Dying."
Kael clenched his jaw.
"…Great."
"And that guy?"
His gaze shifted toward the broken wall.
"The one who almost killed me?"
"Classification: Hunter."
Kael's eyes darkened.
"Of course he is."
"Hunters track core signatures."
"Capture. Contain. Extract."
"Or destroy."
Kael exhaled slowly.
"…So I'm basically a target."
"Confirmed."
No hesitation.
No comfort.
Just the truth.
Kael laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because it wasn't.
"…And you didn't think to mention that earlier?"
"Host survival probability was lower with awareness."
"…Right."
Kael ran a hand through his hair.
His body still felt unstable.
But his mind—
It was clearing.
Slowly.
"…He said something."
"About me being incomplete."
A pause.
"Accurate."
Kael's gaze hardened.
"Then how do I fix that?"
Silence.
Then—
"Assimilation."
Kael didn't move.
"…More fragments."
"Correct."
The realization settled in.
Slow.
Heavy.
The same things that were trying to kill him—
Were the only way he could survive.
"…Of course."
He let out a breath.
Tired.
But not defeated.
Not anymore.
"…Then we hunt first."
Silence followed.
Then—
"Correction."
Kael frowned slightly.
"What?"
The system responded.
"You are already being hunted."