Chapter 73

The alarm for the Sector A perimeter breach was different – sharp, urgent, lacking the raw panic that usually accompanied a direct manifestation attack on the main defenses. Captain, taking a small, heavily armed team, including Elara, moved swiftly towards the breach point. Kael was kept back under guard; the risk of exposing him if this entity was indeed seeking Light or the Bedel was too high.

They arrived to find the outer wall in Sector A breached, not by force, but by a strange, corrosive effect that had melted through the reinforced materials in an eerily precise, almost surgical manner. The entity itself was already inside – small, roughly canine-sized, but moving with unnatural speed and agility. It wasn't the amorphous, thrashing mass of a standard manifestation. Its form was more defined, a sleek, predatory shape composed of swirling grey mist and crackling dark energy.

It darted through the narrow breach, ignoring the initial bursts of weapon fire from the guards. Its movements weren't random; it weaved through obstacles with a disturbing intelligence, its head swiveling as if scanning its environment. Kael's sensing echoed in Elara's mind: "Seek. Find. Something."

"Don't let it get further inside!" Captain roared, directing fire.

Salvaged weapons – projectile launchers, energy emitters – impacted the entity, but their effect was minimal. It seemed to absorb the energy, or the physical rounds passed through its non-solid form without causing lasting damage. It was repelled by concentrated fire, forced to momentarily retreat, but it wasn't being destroyed.

As they pushed it back towards the breach, Elara saw something that sent a chill down her spine. The entity paused, its form momentarily coalescing, and its 'head' – a swirling point of darker grey – turned directly towards the center of the sanctuary, towards where Kael was being held.

At that moment, Kael, miles away, felt an intense spike in his sensing. The cold probe he had felt earlier intensified, a direct, focused beam. "Found! Light! Here!" Vispera recoiled, a feeling of being exposed, targeted.

Back in Sector A, the entity surged forward again, its movements no longer just searching, but directed, purposeful, heading straight for the inner levels.

"It knows!" Elara screamed over the din of battle. "It found him! It's looking for Kael!"

Captain saw the shift in the entity's behavior, the sudden, focused drive inwards. Their worst fears were confirmed. This was not a random attack; it was a targeted hunt.

The fight became desperate. The guards, fueled by a new understanding of the stakes, redoubled their efforts, trying to contain the swift, elusive entity. It was faster, more intelligent, and seemingly more resistant than anything they had faced before. Its purpose was clear: reach the source of the light it had found.

They managed, with heavy casualties and damage to the interior structure near the breach, to finally force the entity back through the corroded hole in the outer wall. It didn't dissolve like a defeated manifestation; it retreated rapidly into the grey mist outside, its form still intact, its purpose seemingly fulfilled – it had located its target.

The breach was sealed with emergency shutters, the air thick with the smell of burnt metal and the chilling realization that the Void was no longer just a passive, consuming threat. It was learning, adapting, and it was now actively hunting for the boy with the light, the boy who held the key to something it desired.

The chapter ends with the sanctuary successfully repelling a new type of Void entity, a 'seeker' probe. The encounter confirms that the entity was actively looking for Kael's Light or the Bedel, having located its target. The threat has escalated from random manifestations to targeted hunts, highlighting the new level of danger for Kael and the sanctuary.