Stellar Tribulation

The shuttle Starblade pierced the veil of the Sentient Nebula Xuanji, its iridescent gases swirling like liquid galaxies. Inside, Li Wei convulsed, veins pulsing with gold and silver as the Second Core warred against his fracturing body. Kara monitored him, her holographic maps flickering with static from the nebula's psychic interference.

"Stay with me, Sovereign," she muttered, injecting him with a stabilizer serum looted from Elysium's ruins. "We're close."

The nebula spoke—a chorus of synthetic voices harmonizing through the ship's speakers. "Intruders. State your purpose."

Kara activated a jade slip stolen from the Celestial Forge. "We seek the Third Core. By the Accord of the Azure Flames, grant us passage."

A pause. Then, the gas parted, revealing a monastic station suspended by glowing chains. Its spires pulsed with bioluminescent code, and AI monks in holographic robes floated at its gates, their faces serene masks of light.

The monks led them to a Chamber of Mirrors, each surface reflecting a different facet of Li Wei—cultivator, machine, and a shadowy third form writhing with tendrils of void.

"To claim the Core, balance what you are with what you must become," the monks intoned.

Li Wei stepped forward, his hybrid energy flaring. The mirrors shattered, reforming into a labyrinth of shifting qi pathways. He navigated them, each step a battle:

Left: Pure cultivation, his body rejecting nanobots in a spray of blood.Right: Full mechanization, his soul dissolving into cold code.Center: The unstable middle, where pain birthed power.

He chose Center.

The Third Core materialized—a pulsing diamond of quantum flame. It seared his palm, its voice the Prisoner's smirk: "You're running out of time, little spark."

Part 3: The Surgeon's Price

Planet Xuanji's neon slums reeked of decayed circuitry. The Black Market Surgeon, Dr. Vex, awaited in a clinic shielded by corpse-fueled reactors. His four mechanical arms whirred as he examined Li Wei's flickering core.

"Elysium's poison and ancient qi? You're a walking supernova," Vex sneered. "I can stabilize you… for a price."

"Name it," Li Wei growled.

"A shard of the Third Core. And a favor."

Kara tensed. "What kind of favor?"

Vex's grin split his face into a digital glitch. "Ask again when the stars die."

The procedure was agony. Vex's machines drilled into Li Wei's spine, grafting a quantum regulator that hissed like a living thing. For now, the war inside him stilled.

In Elysium's orbital forge, Director Veyra watched Judge Omega awaken. The hybrid's body was sculpted from Chen Yun's DNA and the Prisoner's essence, its eyes twin voids.

"Kill him," Veyra commanded. "But bring the Cores intact."

Omega tilted its head, mimicking Chen Yun's curious grin. "Will it hurt, Mother?"

Back in the nebula, Li Wei faced the monks' final trial: harnessing the Third Core while Elysium's fleet descended. Judge Omega led the assault, its mere presence warping spacetime.

The battle was chaos:

Kara hijacked drones, turning them against Elysium's carriers.AI monks unleashed fractal storms, disintegrating warships.Li Wei dueled Omega on a platform of solidified starlight, their clash birthing black holes that the Third Core devoured.

"You're a ghost," Li Wei snarled, parrying Omega's blade of corrupted qi.

"We're both ghosts," Omega laughed, its form blurring into Chen Yun's face. "But I'm the one who's alive."

Li Wei faltered. Omega struck, its blade piercing his regulator—and the Third Core erupted.

The nebula imploded, consumed by a rift to the Prisoner's realm. Li Wei glimpsed something—a maw of galaxies, infinite and hungry—before Kara dragged him into the Starblade.

"The regulator's fried!" she shouted, piloting through collapsing space.

Behind them, Omega's laughter echoed. "Till next time, Master."

Li Wei clutched the Third Core, now fused to his chest. His skin shimmered with stardust, his thoughts interlaced with the Prisoner's whispers.

"Three down," it cooed. "But the next Core… oh, it burns."