The Observation Dome didn't just break; it screamed. A frequency so low it turned the reinforced glass into fine white powder in a single heartbeat.
Target Gamma didn't walk—it unfolded from the bleeding shadows of the bulkhead. It was a mass of shifting obsidian limbs, its skin bubbling like boiling oil. Where a face should be, there was only a vertical slit of blinding, pulsing white light.
[System Urgent: Target Gamma engaged.]
[Survival Probability: 38%... 31%... dropping.]
Kael skidded across the polished floor, his boots sparking against the black metal. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. "Analyze Weakness!" he roared in his mind.
His vision pulsed. The world turned grayscale, overlaid with glowing red fractals. He looked at the creature, but the red lines went wild, flickering and breaking into static.
[Error: Target is non-structural. Entity composed of 90% Void Matter.]
"Dammit!" Kael threw himself to the left as a lash of shadow sliced the air where his throat had been. The metal wall behind him didn't just dent—it dissolved into black smoke.
The creature roared, a sound like sandpaper scraping against his raw brain. Kael realized then: he couldn't kill this thing with a direct strike. He turned his gaze away from the monster and scanned the room. The red lines of his skill suddenly stabilized on the environment.
[Weakness Detected: Deck 7 Gravity Stabilizer – 4 meters to the left.]
Kael didn't hesitate. He sprinted toward a glowing blue pillar. Gamma lunged, its body stretching like elastic. A cold sting flared in Kael's side—a shadow blade had grazed his hip, freezing the skin instantly.
"Now or never," he spat, blood coating his teeth.
With his enhanced +3 Strength, he didn't just punch the pillar; he tackled it, driving his shoulder into the exact structural fracture his skill highlighted in crimson.
CRACK.
The gravity in the Dome inverted. For a heartbeat, everything floated. The massive creature, built for the ship's crushing pressure, shrieked as its internal void-matter began to expand uncontrollably in the zero-G environment.
[Target Gamma status: Destabilized.]
Kael grabbed a floating metal shard from the debris. His "Unyielding Will" flared, a golden aura momentarily suppressing the black veins creeping up his arms. He launched himself off a floating table, driving the shard straight into the creature's central white slit.
"Enjoy the feast," Kael growled.
The resulting explosion of shadow threw him back against the far wall. Darkness took him for a second. When he opened his eyes, the gravity had slammed back to normal. The creature was gone. Only a small, pulsing black crystal remained on the floor.
Kael reached for it, his fingers trembling. But a silver-veined hand flickered through the smoke, stopping inches from the prize.
Mara stepped out of the shadows. Her claws were retracted, but her eyes glowed with a cold, metallic hunger. She didn't attack; she simply stood over the crystal, her boots inches from Kael's face.
"A risky move, Blackwood," she purred. "Destroying the stabilizer... you almost turned us both into space dust."
Kael coughed, tasting the copper of his own blood. "You were watching the whole time. Waiting for me to fail?"
"I was calculating," she countered, kneeling slowly. She picked up the black crystal, turning it in the light. "This is a Void Shard. The System won't tell you, but this is how they track the 'Anomalies'. If you keep it, the Architect will always see your heartbeat."
She tossed it back to him. A test. "Keep it. Let him watch. It'll make the hunt more interesting when we reach Deck Zero."