Primordial's Will

The crew aboard the Seed's command deck went quiet, staring at the devastation. The X3X soldiers all around were visibly shaken; some could be seen crying, many mourning the deaths of their comrades—lives lost at the hands of those they fought for.

"Are they dead?!" Governor Trak shouted into the comms. "HEY! SOMEBODY ANSWER ME! WHY DID THE BATTLE VISUALS CUT OFF? ARE THEY DEAD!?"

For a while, there was no response. Finally, a communications officer replied, her voice trembling. "Y-yes, sir… They're gone… and so is a large portion of our men."

Trak let out a loud, mocking laugh. "HAHA! Well, that was a quick victory. Stop sobbing over a few men! They were expendable anyway. All we need to do now is wait for our champions to finish off the rest, then hunt down that coward Star Eater wherever he's hiding."

The command center remained quiet, the other governors seated nearby exchanging uneasy glances.

Meanwhile, one of the operators monitoring ship systems noticed something strange. The tracking devices for the maintenance team assigned to the Seed's cosmic ray cannon were all offline.

"Huh… that's strange," she muttered, turning on the mic to contact them. "Maintenance squad 702, do you copy? … I repeat, do you copy?"

She waited, but there was no response.

Switching channels, she contacted a nearby armed team. "Squad 539, I'm looking at the cosmic ray's B-wing. All the trackers for maintenance squad 702 are offline, and I can't get a response. Please check it out—they might have been injured from gamma exposure."

"Copy that. We're on our way."

Already posted nearby, Squad 539 quickly made their way to B-wing via elevator. The area's lights were dim, and the silence was unsettling.

As they entered B-wing, the squad found the place deserted.

"Intel, there's no one here. Isn't this wing supposed to be full of engineers? At least a thousand of them?" the squad leader asked, his voice filled with unease.

"What? What do you mean no one's there? They should all be on duty, especially since the cannon just fired. Keep searching," the operator instructed.

The squad moved cautiously, weapons raised, their steps echoing through the vast, silent area.

Suddenly—

"AHHHH!"

A piercing scream echoed from the nearby nearby stem-pipe room.

"MOVE!" the squad leader shouted. They rushed toward the sound.

The room was dimly lit with red emergency lights. Gigantic steel pipes hissed with steam, creating an eerie atmosphere.

"Split up! Find the source of that scream. And listen carefully—don't try to play the hero. If you see something you can't handle, retreat immediately. We don't have any Aether abilities, so if you can't kill it with your guns, run like hell!"

"Yes, sir!" the squad responded, spreading out to search the room.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but silence.

Then—

"AHHHHH!"

Another scream cut through the stillness.

"05! Why did your tracker just go offline?!" the squad leader shouted into his comms.

"NO! PLEASE—!" another voice cried before being abruptly silenced.

"Squad leader, what's going on?! Two of your men just went offline! Is there a threat down there?!" the operator's panicked voice crackled over the comms.

Without a sound, another squad member vanished from the tracker.

"Damn it! Everyone regroup! It's picking us off one by one—I never should have made us split up!" the squad leader said, running to a easy regroup point.

"Hold on, squad leader! Let me see what's causing all this!" The operator turned on the camera connected to the steam pipe room in the B-wing.

PZZZZT!

Every last camera spread across the room was destroyed simultaneously. She barely glimpsed a golden light before the feeds cut out.

"Damn it, what was that?!" she muttered, her hands shaking nervously. She turned on a body cam from one of the soldiers. He was running through a narrow path when—

PZZZZZT!

The bright golden light consumed him, and the camera feed went dark.

She quickly replayed the saved video in slow motion, her breathing becoming erratic. What she saw made her tremble, sweat dripping down her face.

It wasn't just light but golden lightning. Though blurry, she could see a sentient figure holding out its hand. Its body crackled with lightning, and its blank white eyes burned with a terrifying intensity.

"Squad leader! GET OUT OF THERE! THAT THING IS AT LEAST A VERY HIGH-CLASS AETHER USER!"

A grim chuckle came through the comms. "Ha… I'm afraid you're too late, operator. I don't think there's any way I'm making it out alive."

There he was—Percy, sitting atop the bodies of six dead X3X soldiers. His spear leaned casually against his shoulder, his glowing golden wings illuminating the dim room. His eyes, cold and emotionless, were locked onto the squad leader, who knelt before him, trembling and speechless.

"No. This is bad. I must tell the higher-ups—quickly, before this gets out of hand. This guy is definitely one of the Star Eater's men. But how the hell did he get onboard?!" she whispered to herself, standing up from her desk.

Suddenly, chaos erupted in the command center as other operators screamed, frantically pointing at their screens.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

The main battlefield feed reconnected, revealing an impossible sight. Carter's Primordial Knights, supposedly destroyed by the Seed's blast, stood unharmed. They remained in formation, their weapons high. At the front, Eerie stood calmly, her gaze like ice as she stared directly at the camera.

"It's your turn now, Percy," she said through a voice transmission. "Let us in."

Percy's cold expression twisted into a dark grin as he rose, turning his back to the squad leader. Without hesitation, the squad leader's head fell to the floor with a THUD.

Percy twirled his spear, lightning flaring along its length. With a single powerful thrust—

BOOOM!

The spear tore through the Seed, creating a massive hole in its hull, exposing the ship to the void of space.

As Percy rested the spear on his shoulder, he smirked. "Not so strong from the inside, are you?"