The scream wasn't sound in any traditional sense. It bypassed ears entirely, drilling directly into Ethan's mind with the force of an ice pick through his skull. Around him, even the battle-hardened warriors staggered, their weapons dropping as their hands moved to their heads.
The emergency light came back on. Through the haze of pain, Ethan's system flashed urgent warnings.
**[ALERT: VOIDBORNE SIGNATURE DETECTED]**
**[THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION]**
No. Not here. Not after everything.
"Voidborne," Ethan gasped, and the single word echoed through the disorientation. Every alien in the corridor went rigid with primal fear.
Commander Seris recovered first, her silver eyes widening. "Impossible. Sanctuary Prime has quantum shielding. Nothing from the void should be able to…"
The wall exploded inward, cutting her off. What came through defied easy description. It had mass and form, but both shifted moment to moment like oil on water. Tentacles, claws and mouths that opened in geometries that hurt to perceive. And wherever it touched simply ceased to exist—like unmade on a fundamental level.
****
Yeah you might be wondering. I guess you remember that stuff that happened to earth.
Exactly, it seems like its about to happen again. But just continue reading, lemme not distract you.
******
Princess Lyra's survival instincts came upinstantly. "Defensive formation! Protect the…"
She wasn't done talking when one of her warriors vanished.
****
You know, this stuff that's happening isn't the type that happened on earth. The aliens aren't getting killed, it's more like they are being erased.
Or let's use the word EXTINCT… yeah, the creature wants to extinct these Aliens just like how all humans excluding Ethan (me) were EXTINCTED (I donno if there's any word like that lol)
*****
The Voidborne creature's appendage passed through her torso, and she stopped existing mid-scream. Her armor clattered to the deck, empty.
"Run!" Seris's voice echoed out. "Everyone run!"
The corridor erupted into chaos. Celestial and Fenris warriors alike abandoned their standoff, firing desperately at the creature as they retreated. Energy blasts that should have vaporized steel passed harmlessly through its shifting form or were absorbed into darkness that drank light itself.
Ethan's newly enhanced body moved before his brain starts working. The Foundation Realm boost made him faster and stronger, but as he watched another warrior get erased from reality, he knew speed wouldn't matter if that thing touched him.
**[ANALYSIS: VOIDBORNE SCOUT CLASS]**
**[WEAKNESS: STABLE MATTER ANCHORS]**
**[CURRENT HOST POWER: INSUFFICIENT FOR DIRECT COMBAT]**
**[ALTERNATE STRATEGY AVAILABLE]**
"What strategy?" Ethan shouted as he sprinted after the others. Dr. Senna grabbed his arm, pulling him toward a side junction.
**[VOIDBORNE ENTITIES CONSUME ENERGY]**
**[YOUR FOUNDATION REALM SIGNATURE IS ATTRACTING IT]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: SUPPRESS CULTIVATION OR USE AS BAIT]**
"That's not helpful!"
The creature surged after them, impossibly fast. It flowed along the ceiling like liquid shadow, reality warping in its wake. Behind them, Ethan heard Seris yelling orders, her warriors establishing a firing line to buy time for evacuation.
They wouldn't last thirty seconds.
Princess Lyra appeared beside him, keeping pace despite her heavier armor. "The human's energy is drawing it! We need to suppress his cultivation signature or…"
"Or what?" Ethan demanded. "Use me as bait while you escape?"
Lyra's golden eyes met his, and for a heartbeat he saw something unexpected.
***
I kinda forgot what I saw, just continue reading
*****
"Or we kill it using you as the lure. My pack doesn't abandon potential mates to monsters." Before she said something in her native language, and her remaining warriors immediately shifted formation, surrounding Ethan while maintaining their retreat.
"This is insane," Dr. Senna protested. "He just achieved Foundation Realm. He doesn't know how to fight with cultivation…"
"Then he'd better learn fast." Lyra's claws extended, each one glowing with silver energy. "Human! Can that system of yours tell you how to channel your power?"
Ethan focused on the system interface while running. "Maybe? It's showing me something about energy manipulation…"
The Voidborne creature dropped from the ceiling directly onto Seris's firing line. The Celestial warriors didn't even have time to scream. One moment there were twelve highly trained soldiers. The next, there were seven, then three, then none.
Commander Seris emerged from the carnage, her pristine white robes shredded and smoking. Bloodly silver stuff ran from a gash across her forehead. But her eyes burned with cold fury.
"It's adapting," she said, her voice deadly calm. "Learning to target multiple victims simultaneously. We can't fight this with conventional weapons."
"Then let's use the old way." Lyra's entire body began to glow, her fur standing on end as power radiated from her in visible waves. "Direct cultivation combat. Doctor, can you support?"
Senna's scanner had transformed again, this time into something that crackled with barely contained energy. "I'm a medic, not a warrior…"
"You're both if you want to live." Seris joined them, her own power manifesting as crystalline structures that formed and shattered in the air around her. "We make our stand here. If that thing reaches the civilian sectors, thousands will die."
The Voidborne creature paused its advance, as if sensing the buildup of energy. Its form rippled and condensed, becoming more solid and somehow seemed more dangerous.
**[COMBAT SCENARIO: TIER-3 THREAT]**
**[PARTICIPANTS: 3 CORE FORMATION CULTIVATORS, 1 FOUNDATION REALM NOVICE]**
**[VICTORY PROBABILITY: 34%]**
**[TACTICAL ADVANTAGE: COMBINE POWERS]**
Ethan's system highlighted connection points between him and the three warriors, an invisible threads of energy that could theoretically be linked. He had no idea how to actually do that, but the alternative was watching more people die while he ran away.
He'd already failed to save Earth. He wouldn't fail again.
"I can do something," Ethan said, surprised by the steadiness in his own voice. "The system says we can link our cultivation, like combine our power somehow."
Lyra's expression transformed into a feral grin. "A resonance formation. Risky with someone at Foundation Realm, but it might work." She grabbed his wrist, and Ethan felt her energy crash into his like a tidal wave. "Open your channels. Let the power flow through you, not just in you."
"I don't know how to…"
"Feel it!" Lyra snarled. "You absorbed combat energy earlier. Do it again, but this time pull from us willingly. Be the conduit."
Seris moved to his other side, her cooler refined energy touching his. "Princess Lyra is crude but correct. Your universal compatibility extends to cultivation. You can channel different energy types without rejection."
The Voidborne creature shrieked again and advanced forward.
Ethan stopped thinking and just felt. The energy in his body, still wild from his breakthrough. Lyra's power, hot like a star going supernova. Seris's energy, cold like the death of galaxies. And somewhere in the mix, Dr. Senna's surprisingly potent life force as she added her strength to theirs.
The energies collided in Ethan's core, and for a terrible moment he thought they'd tear him apart. Fire and ice, life and void, all screaming through channels that weren't meant to handle this much raw power.
Then something suddenly happened. The Immortal Path system activated protocols that were older than any civilization present, guiding the chaotic energies into harmony. Ethan became the center point, the anchor around which three vastly different powers orbited.
"Now!" Seris commanded.
They released the combined energy as one, the blast was silent. It hit the Voidborne creature mid-charge and simply stopped it cold. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the creature began to solidify, its reality-warping nature forced into a single stable state.
"It worked," Senna breathed. "You stabilized its quantum state…"
"Kill it before it adapts!" Lyra moved forward, her claws wreathed in the residual combined energy. She struck the now-solid creature with everything she had.
The Voidborne shattered like glass as the fragments of its form dissolved into mist that dissipated harmlessly. Within seconds, nothing remained except the scorched deck plating.
Ethan collapsed, he slightly felt Lyra's hands catching him.
"Impossible," Seris murmured, staring at where the creature had been. "We just killed a Voidborne entity with cultivation techniques. That shouldn't be possible. They exist partially outside our reality…"
"He anchored it." Lyra's voice muttered. "The human's universal compatibility doesn't just apply to genetics. It extends to fundamental forces. He can bridge incompatible energies."
She looked down at Ethan with an expression that made him deeply uncomfortable. "You're not just valuable for breeding. You're potentially the most powerful weapon in the galaxy."
**[QUEST UPDATE: SURVIVED VOIDBORNE ENCOUNTER]**
**[BONUS REWARD: ENERGY CHANNELING TECHNIQUE UNLOCKED]**
**[WARNING: POWER SIGNATURE NOW VISIBLE TO ALL MAJOR FACTIONS]**
**[TIME REMAINING: 22:47:33]**
Through his exhaustion, Ethan managed a weak laugh. "Great. So now everyone wants me even more."
"Considerably more," Seris confirmed, her silver eyes glowing. "What you just did will be reported to every major power within the hour. The bidding war for your allegiance is about to escalate dramatically."
Alarms blared throughout the station—different ones this time.
"Multiple fleet signatures dropping out of FTL," a mechanical voice announced over the speakers. "Solar Empress Kara's forces have been joined by the Obsidian Matriarchy, the Crystal Dominion, and the Eternal Gardens delegation. All are demanding access to the station. Sanctuary Prime neutrality is officially compromised."
Princess Lyra helped Ethan to his feet, her touch surprisingly gentle. "You saved my warriors. By pack law, that creates a debt. I will honor it." She met his eyes seriously.
"But I won't lie to you. After this, every matriarch in known space will be hunting you. Your only hope is to choose the strongest protector and hope their enemies aren't willing to risk all-out war."
"Or," Dr. Senna interjected, "he finishes his quest and becomes strong enough that protection isn't necessary."
They all looked at her.
"You heard him mention the twenty-four hour timer," Senna continued. "Whatever his system is planning, there's a reward for surviving that long. Maybe one that changes the balance of power."
Ethan checked his internal timer. Twenty-two hours and forty-seven minutes remaining.
*****
But as of then, to me it seems like an eternity. Of course it would if the entire galaxy wanted to own you… (me)
*****
"Then we run," Ethan said. "Let's keep moving, so we can stay ahead of them all, and see what this system gives me when the clock runs out."
Seris smiled. "A gambit. I appreciate the boldness. But you'll need allies for this to work."
"Are you volunteering?" Ethan asked warily.
"Perhaps. For a price." She gestured, and a holographic contract materialized in the air. "We'll negotiate terms. But first, we need to get off this station before it becomes a war zone."
As if on cue, the first energy weapons fire lit up the viewport behind them. The fleets had begun shooting at each other, Sanctuary Prime forgotten in their eagerness to claim the ultimate prize.
One human male, last of his kind, who'd just proven he could bridge the impossible and kill the unkillable.
Ethan wondered, not for the first time, if being the last human alive was actually a curse worse than death.
But he was a fighter pilot. Running from impossible odds was just another Tuesday.
"Let's move," he said. "Clock's ticking."