The chamber exploded into motion.
The figures—Harbinger Sentinels, remnants of the Aurathi corrupted by the Seed—charged forward with inhuman speed, weapons drawn. Their blades shimmered like condensed void, each swing distorting the air around it.
Seojun raised his hand, the Seed embedded in his chest flaring with power. With a thought, a barrier of light snapped into place, halting the first wave of attackers.
Nova ducked behind a shattered console, fingers flying across her gauntlet. "I'm hacking the memory lattice to disrupt their formation—buy me thirty seconds!"
Elias pulled Hana behind a stone column and fired two plasma bolts at the nearest Sentinel. "Thirty seconds is a lifetime with these things!"
Seojun darted forward, weaving between strikes with an agility born not just of training, but memory—not his own, but fragments from those who came before. For the first time, he understood how to wield the Seed—not as a weapon, but as a guide. Each movement felt inevitable.
A Sentinel lunged. Seojun ducked under its blade, grabbed its arm, and redirected its momentum into the stone wall. The impact cracked the pillar—and the Sentinel's body.
Nova's voice rang out. "Got it! Uploading viral echo—now!"
A pulse shot through the chamber—digital, harmonic, ancient.
The Sentinels froze. Then, one by one, their glowing eyes dimmed. They collapsed silently, as if unplugged from time itself.
Breathing hard, Hana emerged. "That was… too close."
Nova's expression was pale. "We just engaged a vanguard unit. That means the Harbingers are already moving. And they know about Seojun."
Elias turned to Seojun. "That projection… it said the Seed is a test. So what's the next part?"
Seojun stared at the place where the Sentinels had fallen. "We find the next memory vault. And we stop the Harbingers before the cycle repeats."
Nova nodded slowly. "There's a star map etched into the obelisk remnants. Coordinates. But one of them… it's not in our galaxy."
Silence fell.
"Then," Seojun said calmly, "we go beyond."