For the first time since it had appeared within the anomaly fields, the Predator hesitated.
The immense creature had moved with relentless certainty ever since it entered the region surrounding the constellation. It had devoured anomaly clusters, dismantled ancient debris fields, and extended probing tendrils toward the triad's growing domain with quiet, terrifying confidence.
But now—
Something had changed.
Far beyond the constellation's outer boundary, the massive body of adaptive energy slowed.
The void around it warped under the pressure of its gravity-like presence. Waves of disturbed anomaly currents rippled outward in wide arcs, scattering fragments of cosmic debris that had drifted undisturbed for millennia.
The remnants of its shattered tendrils floated through the dark like fading shadows.
They dissolved slowly under the pressure of sovereign radiation leaking outward from the triad's recent attack.
Inside the constellation network, every node remained alert.
