The sky split open with a thin, silent crack.

  Not chaotic like the previous two times—

  but a precise incision,

  as if the creature had locked onto its target before cutting.

  Purple?black light flickered along the edges,

  corroding the air like venom eating through space.

  Lin Che whispered,

  “…It caught up.”

  Ye Lingyun tightened his grip on his sword.

  “This presence… it’s stronger.”

  The next second—

  A heart?shaped object floated out from the depths of the rift.

  Not flesh,

  but a sphere made of fractured shards of light.

  Each pulse distorted the space around it.

  Sunri’s pupils contracted.

  “Is that… a fragment?”

  Lin Che shook his head.

  “No. That’s its drive core—

  something like a heart.”

  With every beat,

  the air warped,

  and even the outline of the hill twisted in their vision.

  Then—

  The Void construct descended.

  Larger than the previous two.

  More stable.

  Eight tendrils, like black glass,

  with purple?black energy flowing inside.

  It had no eyes—

  yet everyone felt it looking.

  Not at the group.

  At Sunri.

  A voice echoed directly inside their minds:

  “Breaker… eli…minate…”

  Sunri’s chest tightened.

  Lin Che murmured,

  “It’s not calling your name…

  It’s defining you.”

  Ye Lingyun frowned.

  “Breaker? When did we ever break anything of theirs?”

  Lin Che analyzed calmly,

  “Likely because we repaired the core.

  We disrupted their mark.”

  The heart inside the rift pulsed faster.

  Eight tendrils shot forward at once.

  The battle erupted.

  Ye Lingyun charged first.

  “Azure?Edge Ninth Form—Fog?Cleaving!”

  Sword?light unfurled like a moonwheel,

  severing two tendrils—

  But the stumps regenerated instantly,

  three times faster than before.

  Lin Che shouted,

  “Its regeneration increased!

  The heart is supplying energy!”

  Sunri shielded Pardy,

  dodging low while firing single?handed.

  Bullets pierced the shadow

  but caused no real damage.

  Pardy’s face was pale,

  but he fought hard not to cry.

  Mo?Dou stood at the center of the group,

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  fur slightly bristled.

  Its claws left three thin scratches on the ground.

  It didn’t hiss.

  Didn’t roar.

  It simply—

  opened its mouth.

  A sound burst out—

  low, short, and utterly un?catlike.

  A sound like:

  space tearing,

  glass screaming under pressure,

  the backlash of twisted laws.

  All eight tendrils froze for half a second.

  Ye Lingyun seized the moment—

  his sword flashed,

  cutting down three tendrils.

  But the next instant—

  The heart pulsed once.

  All three tendrils regenerated instantly,

  thicker and faster.

  It was enraged.

  Eight tendrils lunged at Ye Lingyun.

  “Lingyun!” Sunri shouted.

  Ye Lingyun couldn’t dodge in time.

  Just as the tendrils were about to pierce his chest—

  BOOM!!!

  A blast of white steam roared up from the foot of the hill,

  slamming into the tendrils and knocking them aside.

  Everyone turned.

  A figure charged up the slope.

  Steam vents fully open,

  armor cracked and sparking,

  yet still functioning.

  It was—

  Roan.

  He wore Jackson’s heavy armor,

  bandages wrapped across his chest,

  face pale but jaw clenched.

  “I… still haven’t thanked you for saving my family.”

  He raised a strange device in his hand.

  “Now it’s my turn…

  to return the favor.”

  It wasn’t a gauntlet.

  Not a weapon.

  It was—

  a steam?powered hook?net launcher.

  Roan growled,

  “I built this myself…

  Jackson never let me reveal it.”

  The pressure gauge inside the armor flickered wildly,

  as if ready to explode.

  He pulled the trigger.

  Steam detonated.

  Three metal chain?nets shot out at high speed,

  unfolding mid?air into layered suppression grids.

  The Void construct’s tendrils lashed forward—

  But the nets weren’t ordinary metal.

  Under steam pressure,

  they vibrated—

  at a frequency so high

  it seemed to cut energy itself.

  The tendrils were caught.

  For the first time—

  they couldn’t regenerate.

  The Void creature emitted a shrill, fracturing sound.

  Lin Che gasped,

  “Vibration?frequency interference?!

  You used steam pressure to create… a resonance weapon?”

  Roan grinned,

  “My proudest invention.”

  He tightened his grip on the control handle.

  The nets vibrated faster.

  The Void creature’s body twisted—

  forced into partial manifestation.

  Its chest—

  revealed a translucent shard.

  Purple?black.

  Pulsing.

  Lin Che shouted,

  “The core fragment!”

  Sunri raised his gun,

  holding his breath.

  Aiming at the shard.

  Roan smiled,

  as if saying, It’s yours.

  The Void creature thrashed,

  tendrils whipping wildly—

  but the vibrating nets held it down.

  Mo?Dou stood at the front,

  golden eyes narrowed to slits.

  Sunri pulled the trigger.

  Bang—!

  The bullet pierced the vibrating nets

  and struck the shard.

  Crack.

  Like breaking glass.

  The shard shattered.

  The Void creature’s entire form collapsed into black smoke,

  sucked back into the rift.

  The rift sealed shut.

  Silence returned to the world.

  Roan fell to his knees,

  steam power fully drained.

  Ye Lingyun sheathed his sword,

  sweat dripping down his forehead.

  Lin Che braced himself on one knee,

  hands trembling.

  Sunri hugged Pardy tightly,

  exhaling long and slow.

  Mo?Dou hopped onto a rock

  and began licking its paw,

  as if nothing had happened.

  Ye Lingyun stared at it, murmuring,

  “…What is that cat?”

  Sunri looked at Mo?Dou,

  eyes complicated but firm.

  “It’s not a ‘what’…

  It’s our reliable companion.”

  In the distance,

  Hero City’s lights flickered.

  Wind swept softly across the hill.

  The third Void assault—

  was finally over.

  But everyone knew—

  this wasn’t the end.

  Only the beginning.

  The Ancient Book — Red Page

  The red page flipped open on its own,

  blood?like text seeping across the surface:

  【Enemy】 Breaker?Hunter (Void Predator · Breaker?Hunter)

  【Class】 High?Tier Void Construct / Hunter?Type Aberrant

  【Origin】 Void?Deep

  【Nature】 Energy Aggregate / Spatial Corrosion / Target?Locked Predation

  【Threat Level】 IV (High Risk)

  【State】 Fully Manifested / Core Exposed (Heart?Shaped Fragment)

  【Behavior Patterns】

  ? Target Lock: Breaker

  ? Cross?World Tracking

  ? Spatial Cutting

  ? Extreme?Speed Regeneration

  ? Anti?Law Interference (strong reaction to Mo?Dou)

  【Abilities】

  ? Core heartbeat = regeneration amplification

  ? Tendrils can split, harden, accelerate

  ? Immune to physical attacks (core destruction required)

  ? Can briefly disrupt cognition (mental intrusion)

  【Weaknesses】

  ? Core fragment (requires external exposure)

  ? Vibration suppression (unstable energy structure)

  ? Short?term law?pressure (Mo?Dou)

  【Notes】

  This form is a Hunter?Class Void construct,

  designed specifically to pursue those who disrupt Void markings.

  Its core fragment appears to be an inverse counterpart

  of the Yueqiao Fragment.

  The red glow flickered—

  and the page closed.