"...I shouldn't have done that," Rex muttered while he watched the three spikes become many more. A reckless grin then split his features. "Oh well... in that case, let's see how much you can increase the intensity!"

His massive claymore materialized in his hands in a flash of silver light. Instead of retreating, he surged forward, meeting the storm of black spikes with sweeping waves of pure planetary energy.

Each arc of silver light sliced through the dark projectiles, shearing them cleanly in half. And thanks to the unique, nullifying property of his Silver Clan heritage, the severed shards lost their animating force. They did not reform or re-energize; they simply shattered into a harmless, glittering black rain.

But the Mothership learned. As the black dust settled onto the meteorite's interior surface, it was instantly reabsorbed and reenergized, launching back at him and his ship in an even denser, more furious volley.

"Tsk, this is a real pain to deal with!" Rex grumbled. What followed was a breathtaking display of power and precision. He became a blur of motion, teleporting in flashes of light around the ship's perimeter.

With every reappearance, his claymore swung, releasing another wave of energy to intercept the endless barrage. To the awe of everyone watching, he seemed to possess limitless reserves, teleporting and unleashing devastating attacks without a single sign of fatigue.

The other two Champions had no time for amazement. Though the majority of the defense system's fury was focused on Rex, they were still under relentless assault.

Their strategy was one of pure endurance; they erected shimmering, massive barriers around their ships, allowing the spikes to slam into them, expend their kinetic energy, and then retreat back into the walls.

Cleo, however, presented a different picture entirely. As an Empress-class Kaelzar, her strength was not in brute force or impenetrable defense like her warrior-class sisters, but in the sheer, overwhelming density of energy she could command and compress.

When a black spike shot toward her ship, she didn't block it. She simply raised a single, graceful hand. A lance of pure, concentrated lightning, brighter than a star, lanced out and struck the projectile. There was no explosion, no shattering; the spike was simply vaporized, erased from existence in an instant.

Through this storm of darkness and light, they finally pushed through to their next objective. "The membrane is right in front of us!" the Planetary Champion shouted over the comms, his voice strained and breathless. "Pierce through it!"

The ships pressed forward, their hulls meeting a strange, gelatinous resistance. For a moment, it felt as if they were pushing through thick, sentient jelly, and then they were through.

Absolute, consuming darkness greeted them. It was a void within the Void, a blackness so profound it seemed to swallow the very light from their ship's external lamps.

"Release all scout drones! Maximum light intensity on all frequencies! Sweep the area and begin a slow, controlled descent!" the Champion commanded, standing at the very edge of his destroyer's hull, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

While the fleet buzzed with activity, deploying drones and flooding the cavernous space with light, Cleo was a picture of quiet efficiency.

From a specialized backpack she carried a necessary tool, for she lacked a miraculous artifact like Rex's Emperor's Crown for storage; she released a flock of nanomaterial pigeons. They were intricate bots, their eyes advanced radar systems, designed to map the unseen.

A soft chime sounded on her arm device.

[Rex: are you scared?]

Her fingers moved swiftly in reply.

[Cleo: No.]

A moment later, another message arrived.

[Rex: What a shame. if you said you were, I was planning to go and hug you. What a shame, seriously.]

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips as her mechanical pigeons vanished into the endless dark.

Before she could return to her work, a pair of strong, familiar arms encircled her, pulling her back into a firm, secure embrace.

"Maybe you're not afraid," Rex's voice murmured, a private sound transmitted directly into her helmet, "but I am." In the airless void that mimicked the emptiness of space, their sealed armor was the only thing preserving them, and for Rex, who still relied on the simple, vital act of breathing, the oppressive darkness felt like a physical weight.

As the fleet continued its cautious descent into the absolute blackness, Rex held onto Cleo, his grip unwavering. He seemed determined to anchor them both in the nothingness.

For her part, Cleo, after a brief moment of surprise, surrendered to the embrace, allowing herself to be held while her consciousness continued to direct the scout pigeons mapping the terrifying expanse below.

"My Lord, our scout drones have confirmed landing. We are currently hovering five kilometers above the surface. What are your orders?" an officer's voice crackled over the shared comms channel.

"Continue the descent to one and a half kilometers. Then, and only then, will we deploy the transport ships with our soldiers and equipment," the Planetary Commander ordered.

His voice was a model of steadiness, a stark contrast to the nervous tremor in his hands, which he clenched tightly behind his back. The inability to see, to know what horrors might be lurking just beyond the reach of their lights, was eating away at him.

It took another two grueling hours to establish a foothold on the ground. The soldiers of Nexum Dynamics moved with practiced efficiency, erecting a heavily fortified encampment that blazed like a lone star in the eternal night.

Powerful scanner arrays hummed to life, casting electronic eyes into the void, while patrols of tanks, armored infantry, and bipedal mechs began a slow, methodical sweep of the perimeter, buying time for engineers to assemble defensive turrets.

Inside the central command tent, the four Tier 5 powerhouses gathered around a holographic table, the light from the display casting sharp shadows on their faces.

"Let me get this clear," Rex said, his gaze fixed on the Planetary Champion. "You want to split our strength into three advanced scouting parties to hunt for these void gems, while one of us remains here to babysit the camp?"

His eyes then flicked to the noble champion before returning to the commander. "And who, exactly, gets the honor of staying behind?" The question hung in the air, and a slow, knowing smile spread across Rex's face as the two men exchanged a wary glance.

"Cleo and I will lead one of the advanced parties. We will not be separating in this place."

"That is unacceptable!" the noble champion shouted, slamming a tentacled fist onto the holotable, making the image flicker. "We must maximize every resource we have to secure as many void gems as possible before our rivals claim them all!"

Rex's unwavering smile didn't falter. He looked at the noble as if he were a mildly interesting insect. "It seems there's a misunderstanding here," he stated calmly. "She," he said, gesturing to Cleo with a tilt of his head, "was never part of the deal I made with this guy over here." He thumbed casually toward the Planetary Champion.

"She simply came with me because I don't want to be alone. After all," Rex continued, his voice dropping into a tone of mock vulnerability, "it's so dreadfully dark in here. I'm so afraid I could just start crying, you know?"

His words left a stunned silence in the tent. The two champions were utterly speechless, their minds struggling to process the sheer audacity.

Across from them, only Cleo maintained her composure, her face a perfect, unreadable mask, a master of the poker face who gave nothing away.

After a tense and protracted debate, a fragile agreement was finally reached. The noble champion, seething with indignation, would remain behind to safeguard the encampment alongside his elite guard.

Meanwhile, Rex, Cleo, and the Planetary Champion would lead two separate scouting parties deep into the unknown, hunting for the precious void gems.

Their convoy rumbled forward, a lonely procession of light that was soon swallowed by the all-consuming darkness. One by one, the comforting beacons of the base camp vanished behind them until there was nothing but the void.

They had traveled for what felt like an eternity when Cleo, perched beside Rex on the command tank, suddenly went rigid.

"Everyone, stop!" Her voice was a sharp, clear command over the comms. "Kill the engines! Absolute silence! Ready your weapons!"

Instantly, the low growl of the engines died, plunging the world into a silence so profound it was deafening. The only sounds that remained were the faint, metallic clicks of weapons being checked and the ragged, nervous rhythm of breathing inside helmets, each breath a testament to the palpable tension.

While the others were blind, Cleo's helmet display was a frantic map of destruction. One by one, the signals of her scout pigeons, sent ahead to map their route, were winking out of existence.

Sensing the shift, Rex leaped soundlessly from the tank. He took a few slow, deliberate steps forward, his senses stretched to their limit, peering into the abyss.

But no matter how he strained, the darkness yielded nothing. The powerful lanterns mounted on his shoulders and helmet, which could normally illuminate a city block, seemed to cast no light at all, their beams simply absorbed by the hungry void.

It was then that his infamous luck chose to strike. A single, piercing sound echoed from his arm device, the sound of an incoming message. In the absolute silence, the noise was as jarring as a gunshot.

Beep.

The sound seemed to hang in the air for a moment, a digital sin in the cathedral of silence.