Her world had become a chaotic hell of information. Basic logic gates failed, causality broke down, her self-awareness protocols were being deconstructed and rewritten. Her eyes no longer showed data streams, but flickering gibberish and distorted geometric shapes. Input from external sensors was twisted into nightmarish visions: Kael and Rex appeared in her sight sometimes as twisted crystalline monsters, other times as energy masses on the verge of detonation.
"...System integrity... 38%... declining... cannot... maintain... cognitive boundary..." Lia's synthetic voice became fragmented, like a stuck tape. Her body trembled uncontrollably, occasionally making meaningless, twitching movements.
"Lia!" Kael's heart burned with anxiety, but he was pinned down by increasing crystalline attacks, unable to reach her. He saw Lia's arm raise uncontrollably, her energy pistol shaking as it aimed at Rex's back!
"Rex! Look out! Lia!" Kael yelled the warning.
Rex spun around, saw Lia's code-filled eyes and the pistol aimed at him, and understood instantly. "Shit! She's compromised!"
Just as Lia's finger was about to squeeze the trigger, a look of intense struggle flashed across her face, and she violently forced the muzzle upward!
*Bang!*
The energy bolt grazed Rex's shoulder armor and struck the ceiling, shattering a crystal cluster.
"...Can...not..." Lia squeezed the words out through gritted teeth, clearly fighting a desperate internal battle against the invasion.
The power of this "Pandora Stone" was beyond comprehension. It could not only transform matter but also directly attack and distort consciousness! It was dismantling them on both the physical *and* mental fronts simultaneously!
**"Futile resistance... behold... this is the... true universe..."**
The crystal's conscious voice intensified, unleashing an even stronger psychic assault!
Kael felt dizzy. This time, the phantom wasn't a personal emotional attack, but a vaster, more terrifying vision:
He saw stars being born and snuffed out, saw countless civilizations at their zenith silently consumed by a gray-white tide. Carbon-based life, silicon-based life, energy beings—all ultimately became part of that eternal transformation. The entire universe seemed to be marching towards a cold, homogenized, ultimate silence. And the source, or the symbol, of this tide was the shifting crystal before him!
A primal, instinctual fear of utter annihilation and the loss of individuality seized his very soul.
"...Eternal... unity..." The distorted voice of Director Vance chimed in beside them like a grotesque choir, filled with a eerie piety.
Was... resistance truly futile? Was this entity, this power, something an individual could ever hope to oppose? A profound sense of powerlessness began to take root.
*No!*
Just as despair was about to consume his consciousness, Kael bit his tongue hard (simulating a pain signal). The sharp jolt of pain snapped him back to clarity!
He remembered his lieutenant's final roar from ten years ago: *"...Seal it in here! Forever..."*
*Seal!* Not fight, not understand, but *isolate!*
The crystal's power seemed to depend on this direct energy radiation and conscious connection! If he could sever that link...
His gaze snapped towards the half-assimilated non-human spacecraft wreckage in the corner of the lab! A mad idea formed in his mind!
"Rex!" Kael roared with all his strength, his voice cutting through the din, "Cover me! Get me to that wreck!" He pointed towards the derelict ship.