In the Northern Command Hall, the lights flickered faintly, and the air was permeated with a tense and exciting atmosphere.
Hilvia’s scepter emitted a gentle silver glow, her brow slightly furrowed, lips tightly pursed, yet she remained focused on safeguarding the barrier, pouring all her strength into the Soul Contract.
Her gaze was profound, as if it could penetrate the battlefield waves in the distant void, seeing the dawn of victory gradually emerging.
However, she knew in her heart that this was just a brief calm before a more intense battle.
David stood in front of the command platform, his entire armor reflecting a ghostly blue and crimson gold intertwined flame under the dim light.
He gripped the Frost Wolf Longsword tightly, his eyes as sharp and determined as a blade. "Our breakthrough has shattered that endless cycle, but the battle is not over yet."
He slowly uttered these words, his voice deep yet full of power.
Annie sat quietly in the communication cabin, her crystal-clear eyes reflecting the complex and ever-changing data stream images, beads of sweat slipping from her forehead, yet she showed no signs of retreat.
"The system’s reconstruction is still not fully stable, we must remain vigilant." Her tone carried a hint of exhaustion, yet she remained highly focused.
At that moment, deep within the Annihilation Mothership, an almost imperceptible yet extremely powerful energy wave suddenly surged, an abnormal reaction from the reassembled torn information networks.
A massive vortex, twisted like the void, vaguely appeared at the core position, its colors akin to an ice-cold rainbow in the night sky, composed of darkness and swirling stardust, this was — the ’Void Suction.’
This force engulfed all surrounding residual data fragments and cosmic debris, sweeping up the divine kingdom remnants and fragmented time domain pieces with astonishing speed.
The center of the vortex continuously expanded and spread, like a black hole devouring stars, twisting the Annihilation Mothership’s information dimension grid to its limit, as a brand new disaster was silently brewing.
In the command hall, various perception devices suddenly alarmed, indicating abnormal fluctuations. Faces instantly turned grave.
Hilvia stood up abruptly, her whole body surging with Soul Contractual Energy, she stared at the dancing decree runes at the top of the scepter, "This is... the Annihilation Mothership has initiated its self-evolution ’Void Suction’!"
David’s brow furrowed tightly, as he quickly received the frontline report, "Sofia’s team reports — they suddenly lost contact!"
The communicator crackled with intermittent, vague noises, "...unable to resist strong gravity... being pulled in..." The voice abruptly stopped, as if it were cut off.
Sofia, at this moment, was standing atop the collapsing wreckage of the second guardian ship, her silver-white hair disheveled and flying, but her eyes remained as resolute as an icy sharp blade.
However, the sudden massive gravity field was like a giant iron hand, mercilessly seizing all existing matter and information in the surrounding space, whether it was the steel armor or the soul contract resonance, unable to resist the infiltration of that pitch-black and extremely cold force.
Amidst a suffocating and twisted temporal rhythmic irregular shock wave, she seemed to be plunged into an endless abyss, being gradually dragged towards the massive ’Void Suction’ center enough to tear the multiverse’s rule core apart.
In her final struggle, she looked back at the familiar yet distant New Era Corps’ ground — the flame that had never been extinguished, belonging to the Guardian’s most steadfast flame burned in her eyes!
Within the Northern Fortress Command Hall, Hilvia raised her scepter high, a storm of silver runes swept around the information barrier, temporarily stabilizing the chaotic space.
But her face became increasingly haggard, those bright pupils flickering with anxiety and unwillingness.
"The commander must survive, otherwise our victory will lose its central support..."
David responded in a deep voice, "We cannot abandon anyone! Even if there’s a sliver of hope, we must strive with all our strength to fight for it!"
Annie quickly deployed a cracking plan, constantly searching for the key nodes to counter the ’Void Suction’, "I’m attempting to implant an inverse disruption program, but the complexity and abnormal degree of the opponent’s code is beyond imagination, this is a race against time..."
On the external battlefield, several New Era Corps’ patrol fleets redirected, accelerating towards the Annihilation Mothership’s periphery.
They used high-tier detection modules to capture the abnormal radiation brought by the ’Void Suction’, while dispatching several special units preparing to rescue or contain actions, to prevent the enemy from further strengthening the core crystal link or launching a world-shattering level counterattack!
Reina, though heavily injured, still struggled to support the operation of the Nova Array, providing mental resonance support for Sofia.
The Nova Magic, originally condensed into an absolute freeze state, now tended toward instability and dissipated entirely, but Reina firmly murmured, "Commander, you must survive... we are your shields..."
The endless stars bore witness to this moment, at the edge of the vast universe’s abyss, the New Era Corps soldiers gritted their teeth to withstand the critical test of life, building a fortress of despair with flesh and blood.
They faced an almost irreversible large-scale anomaly capable of devouring the essence of time, the strictest test between ethos, belief, and eternal will!
However, just as everyone was almost on the brink of despair.
Annie suddenly discovered a slight unusual frequency pulse in the data stream, it was a faint signal from outside the Soul Contract frequency!
Through rapid decoding feedback, she confirmed it was a subdimensional disruption force generated from an ancient curse remnant deep within the Annihilation Mothership’s structure, possibly used to resist and weaken the ’Void Suction’s expansion effect!
Hilvia immediately adjusted her prayer rhythm, increasing the infusion of Soul Contractual Energy, synchronously transmitting to all members, a shared goal was forming — to utilize the ancient curse energy in conjunction with the new Order Decree, jointly building a barrier surpassing space-time, aiming to plug the ’Void Suction’, strive to rescue Sofia, and completely dismantle the enemy’s last line of defense!
David extended his trembling left arm, his newborn limb, inlaid with silver radiance due to bloodline resonance, emanated a gentle blue-white halo.
He softly said, "Sofia, hold on, we will definitely find you."
The communication channel briefly restored contact, a faint but firm voice came from the other side, "...don’t give up... I won’t fall..."
The distorted energy center of the Void Suction continued to spread, like a monster with a wide-open bloody mouth, devouring the surrounding fragmented and chaotic information fragments and star dust remnants.
The air was filled with a corrosive black-purple aura, the kind of cold, piercing pressure that made any presence with life signs involuntarily tremble.
The lights in the command hall flickered intermittently, the faces of those present were heavy with gravity and anxiety.
Hilvia clutched the scepter tightly, her whole body surging with Soul Contractual Energy, infusing every rune’s power into the barrier.
Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead like cold dew, yet she showed no relaxation.
"Commander, we must proceed immediately!" She shouted with a grave expression, "The gravitational pull has already begun tearing space nodes, we must break through the field and rescue Sofia!"
David, clad in newly born armor mixed with silver white and crimson blue flames, gripped the Frost Wolf Longsword tightly, the blade radiating a cold blue-white brilliance like an arctic blade.
His expression was resolute, but there was unavoidable anxiety and urgency between his brows and eyes. He slowly stood up, "I’m going myself — I will not allow anyone to fall behind."
Annie in the communication cabin quickly calibrated the program, her fingers dancing as if playing a symphony of despair.
"I will attempt to stabilize the peripheral interference signals, clearing a path for you." Her gaze was focused, her sweaty forehead dampening her bangs.
A low rumble suddenly echoed through the air, an echo of vibrations caused by the strong gravity within the Annihilation Mothership’s internal structure.
Broken pipes and fractured nodes continued to collapse, debris spreading from all sides, slicing through the void like countless sharp blades aimed at the forefront.
David took a deep breath, he stepped forward, each step rhythmically accompanied by the dance of flame and frost.
He stepped into the edge of that black-purple vortex constructed of distorted space-time, the Frost Wolf Longsword in his hand emitted a crisp cold glint, cleaving the corrosive information ripples into cracks.