The air didn't just turn cold; it curdled.
The purple stone beneath Elias's paw crackled as it began to dissolve into blue starlight, but the process was violently cut short. A heavy, iron-tipped bolt thudded into the tree bark inches above Lyra's head, vibrating with a low, menacing hum.
"There! The heretic and her familiar!" a gravelly voice roared through the trees.
Elias's sapphire-blue eyes flared. From the dense brush emerged five men clad in "Eclipse Armor" black steel etched with runes that seemed to drink the moonlight. At their lead was a hulking knight whose visor glowed with a sickly, artificial red light.
[WARNING: ELITE HUNTERS DETECTED]
Current Level Insufficient for Direct Confrontation.
Recommendation: Tactical Retreat.
"No..." Lyra gasped, clutching the half-cleansed Void Stone to her chest. She tried to stand, but the Shadow Blight had left her limbs like lead. "Elias, run!"
The hunters didn't wait. The lead knight raised a heavy gauntlet, and a wave of pressurized gravity slammed into the ground. The earth groaned and buckled.
The Desperate Gambit
Elias felt his instinct take over. He wasn't just a cat; he was a conduit for the cosmos. He didn't run. Instead, he leaped onto Lyra's shoulder, his claws digging into her silver cloak.
[EMERGENCY SKILL OVERLOAD: VOID STEP - AREA EFFECT]
Cost: 90% of Current Mana.
Warning: Dimensional Stability at Risk.
Do it, Elias commanded the System.
As the hunters lunged, their swords swinging in wide, lethal arcs, Elias released a pulse of pure astral energy. The world turned inside out. The forest, the hunters, and the sky blurred into a tunnel of shimmering indigo light.
But as they transitioned through the void, a second bolt, this one glowing with a crimson "Anti-Magic" seal, struck the ground exactly where they were vanishing.
The explosion was catastrophic.
The Separation
The dimensional tunnel fractured. Elias felt a violent tug, like a giant hand ripping him away from Lyra's shoulder.
"Elias!" Lyra's scream was a thin, fading echo as she was sucked into a golden rift to the west.
Elias, meanwhile, was tossed into a chaotic spiral of purple energy. He clawed at the air, his Galaxy Dragon power flaring brightly against the encroaching dark, but the force of the blast was too much. He hit a dimensional wall and felt his consciousness shatter.
A Lonely Awakening
When Elias finally opened his eyes, the forest was gone.
He was lying on a cold, obsidian floor. High above, three moons of different colors hung in a sky that looked like bruised silk. He was alone. His mana bar was a flickering, empty grey line, and his silver fur was matted with soot.
[SYSTEM REBOOTING...]
Connection to Subject 'Lyra' lost.
Current Location: Sierra Madre
Distance to Target: Unknown.
Elias stood up, his legs trembling. He let out a low, mournful growl that vibrated with the power of a dying star. He had been reborn to protect, to grow, and to survive. He had lost his first companion, but his blue eyes now burned with a new, singular purpose.
He would find her. And woe to any hunter who stood in the way of a Galaxy Dragon.