[Scene 1: The Pursuit of Shadow]
The prophecy from the Somnus Fountain—that the Umbra Weaver was hunting Leo's regrets for the Mirror Maze—galvanized the team. They were no longer fighting for clues; they were fighting for Leo's psychological past.
"The Umbra Weaver operates through spiritual anchors," Lys Delmar stated, her Echo Lens tracking the cold, sorrowful psychic signature. "The signature indicates a powerful Void Whisper General is ahead of us. It is the manifestation of Temptation."
"Data log: Target is a morale killer," Astrid analyzed, her voice sharp with professionalism. "We can't let it anchor in the Mirror Maze—it will magnify Leo's guilt. Petra, is capture statistically viable?"
Petra Vale bounced on the balls of her feet, adrenaline masking her previous terror. "Capture viable! If I can hit it with the Static Netcaster while its form is unstable, I can trap the consciousness like a Glitch Packet! But it's risky—it needs extreme proximity!"
Leo, still fighting the psychic exhaustion, felt the subtle pull of the General's power. It wasn't urging him to Sloth; it was tempting him with easy power. Why struggle? Just accept the nap.
"Lulu and Tank, perimeter! We jump now! Leo, you're the Anchor—stay in low-level Inertia. You draw the threat; we net the prize," Astrid commanded.
[Scene 2: Static Trap in the Psychic Network]
The team jumped, landing in the residual psychic network of the Whisper Bazaar—a shadowy space where discarded secrets still hung in the air. The Temptation Whisper was massive, amorphous, and shimmering with alluring colors, promising satisfaction.
"There it is! General Temptation," Leo rasped, pushing his Consciousness to perceive the entity's weakness. "It feeds on unfulfilled desire! Don't look at what it's offering!"
Petra immediately positioned herself. She needed a clear shot. She fired her Static Netcaster—a blinding web of pink-and-purple psychic feedback aimed at the General.
WHSSSHHH. The net struck the entity. Instead of being contained, the General wrapped itself around the net, using the energy to stabilize its seductive form. It had turned the Static Netcaster into a psychic amplifier.
"Capture failed! It weaponized the feedback!" Astrid yelled, panicking.
The General focused its shimmering form, ignoring the rationalists (Astrid) and the physical threat (Tank). It sought the purest, most easily corrupted soul: Lulu Vance.
[Scene 3: The Temptation of Creative Power]
The General manifested a vision directly into Lulu's mind, bypassing her logical defenses and hitting her deepest, most innocent creative desire.
"Lulu Vance. Why rely on your brother's failures? Why live in shadows? I offer you pure consciousness—the power to rewrite the protocol and instantly fix all of Leo's flaws."
The vision was potent: Lulu saw Leo instantly becoming the perfect, responsible hero—immaculately dressed, always alert, and capable of saving the universe without the fear of his own self-erasure. A clean, neat, perfect hero.
Lulu gasped, dropping her Candycut Bow. The temptation was overwhelming: the power to save the person she loved most by eliminating his weakness.
"No more sloth... no more risk..." Lulu whispered, her eyes wide with desire.
[Scene 4: The Moral Duel]
The General pressed its advantage. It began siphoning energy directly from Lulu's creative spirit, the psychic pain causing Lulu to double over.
"Lulu! Resist the ego!" Leo yelled, pushing his Consciousness to its limit, despite the paralyzing pain. His compassion for his sister's moral integrity was agonizing. "He's offering to steal my struggle! My Sloth is part of the solution! Don't let him erase me!"
Astrid, witnessing Lulu's suffering, saw the psychic data point instantly. "Lulu, the flawless hero is a statistical lie! The truth is in the flaw! You must accept the chaos! Facts first, feelings later!"
Tank roared, running toward the General, ignoring the advice. "Let's smash AND grab! I can't smash it, but I can distract the logic! Look over here, Shadow!"
The team, fractured and desperate, was fighting for Lulu's soul. Lulu, hearing the desperate cries and the illogical, loving chaos of her family, saw the truth. The flawless hero was a monster. The messy, loving, procrastinating hero was her brother.
She picked up her Candycut Bow. "My brother is messy! And I love the mess!"
She fired a Candycut shard—not at the General, but at the reflection of the flawless Leo projected in the entity's shimmering form. The shard shattered the illusion, reminding her that creative compassion was the true strength.
[Scene 5: The Shattered Net and The Vow]
Lulu's decision weakened the General's hold on the Static Netcaster. Petra, seizing the micro-second of instability, reversed the polarity of the net.
The General shrieked. The psychic feedback exploded outward, shattering the Netcaster into metallic shards. The General vanished into a rift, defeated not by force, but by moral purity.
Petra stared at the smoking wreckage of her Netcaster, her face grim. "The net is destroyed. Physical assets lost. But the psychic target escaped."
Astrid was at Lulu's side, her logic replaced by a profound, relieved embrace. The betrayal of Sanaa had been devastating; the resilience of Lulu was healing.
Leo, utterly drained but victorious, knew the threat wasn't gone. The Void Whisper General had escaped with a piece of their focus.
CLIFFHANGER:
The General's consciousness, still lingering in the psychic residue of the broken Static Netcaster, projected a final message before fully dissolving:
"The Mirror Maze demands your Regrets, Sloth King. I failed to steal your heart, but I will seize your Zodiac Key. The cost of your sister's purity is My Vow."
The psychic residue coalesced, forming a chilling symbol: a stylized picture of the REMulator Band (Leo's stolen key), and a coordinate for the next strategic asset that would fall to the General: Dice Morelli's Spiral Keychain.
The escaped General had promised revenge by stealing the assets necessary for their next two missions. The threat wasn't gone; it had merely been delayed and redirected to a new, vulnerable target.