Fantasy: The Counterattack of the Female Sovereign

The vibrations in the core grew stronger, like a bomb about to explode, unleashing a terrifying force. The energy ripples were like incredibly sharp blades, ruthlessly slicing through the surrounding space, leaving hideous cracks wherever they passed.

Calvin pressed his hand tightly against the Shadow Vortex device, his knuckles turning pale and bloodless from the excessive force. Sweat trickled down his forehead, dripping onto the cold metal surface with a slight "tick-tick" sound.

"Song Yao, give me the energy reading quickly!" He growled anxiously, his voice revealing a hint of anxiety and tension.

Song Yao quickly looked down at the datapad in her hand. The data on it was jumping wildly, and the red light was constantly flashing, even a little dazzling. She shouted, "The frequency has far exceeded the threshold! The core is reverse-eating our stabilizer. If we don't take action, the entire system will collapse!" However, her shout was quickly drowned out by the huge roar, almost inaudible.

At that moment, the mysterious woman, who had remained silent until then, suddenly raised her hand. A silvery-white light instantly emanated from her fingertips, dazzling like lightning across the night sky. This light rushed towards the raging energy field at astonishing speed, forcibly tearing a narrow crack within it.

"Go in from here!" The mysterious woman's voice was as cold as an ice blade, devoid of any emotion. Pointing at the newly appeared rift, she said, "The awakening point of the Shadow Core... is at its 'heart.'"

Everyone looked in the direction of her finger, only to see a chaotic void beyond the rift. Within the endless darkness, countless dark purple tentacle-like substances slowly wriggled. They looked like both materialized energy streams and the blood vessels of some unknown creature, brimming with an eerie and mysterious aura.

Arya raised the muzzle of her gun, and arcs of blue electricity danced and burned on it. She stared at the writhing tentacles and asked in confusion, "What exactly are these? Is it materialized energy? Or some unknown creature?"

However, no one could answer her question, because at that moment, the roar of the core suddenly sounded, as deafening as thunder.

"Stupid intruders...you are awakening the taboo!" The core's roar resounded throughout the space, making people shudder.

Within the void, the seemingly boundless and stable space suddenly began to collapse with a frightening force. As if being kneaded by an invisible giant hand, the entire void was squeezed inward at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a huge dark rift.

The woman, always shrouded in mystery, leaped without hesitation, charging headfirst into the rift. Her vast black robe was instantly ripped to shreds by the turbulent energy, transforming into shimmering stardust that dissipated into the void. As the robe shattered, her form beneath was fully exposed. Shockingly, her entire body was covered in dense, silver runes, emitting a strange glow, like the brightest stars in the night sky. Even more astonishing, the shape and arrangement of these runes were nearly identical to the patterns on the core's surface.

Calvin, standing by and witnessing all this, suddenly felt his pupils constrict. A fragment of memory, buried deep within his mind, seemed to receive a powerful stimulus, suddenly pricking his nerves. From deep within his memory, an image surfaced: a similar symbol had appeared on a dilapidated stone tablet at the Shadow Vortex's original research base. He hadn't paid much attention to it then, but now, seeing the scene before him, the memory involuntarily flooded back.

At this moment, Arya grabbed Song Yao beside her and rushed towards the collapsing crack without hesitation, shouting, "Follow me!" Before she finished speaking, the figures of the two of them had disappeared into the darkness.

In a split second, when Calvin regained consciousness, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar and bizarre world. The ground here was not solid earth or rock, but a flowing black mirror. The smooth surface reflected countless distorted images of the starry sky, making him feel as if he were in an illusory dream.

In the very center of this upside-down world, a dark red crystal quietly hovered in the air. It pulsated slowly and powerfully, each pulsation causing overlapping phantoms in the surrounding real space, as if the entire world had become unstable due to its beating.

The mysterious woman's snow-white hair seemed to possess life, dancing on its own without the wind's touch. She gazed at the dark red crystal and spoke slowly, "This is the original form of the Shadow Core... and also the final tombstone left by that long-vanished ancient civilization."

Without warning, the data tablet in Song Yao's hand plunged into darkness, as if an invisible force had swallowed up all the light. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and her fingers pointed tremblingly at the bottom of the dark red crystal.

There, tens of thousands of transparent coffins were stacked tightly together, forming a terrifying, gigantic altar. Inside each coffin, a humanoid creature clad in silver armor crouched silently, motionless like ancient warriors slumbering for millennia.

"The energy resonance test results actually show... they're still alive?" Song Yao muttered in disbelief, her voice hoarse with fear. At this moment, spiderweb-like cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the dark red crystal, and a tense and oppressive atmosphere instantly filled the entire space.

At the same time, the mysterious woman, who had remained silent until then, suddenly pressed her hands to her temples, as if she had suffered a severe shock. Blood slowly seeped from her silver eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

"They are warning us... This so-called core is not a powerful weapon at all, but a terrible cage!" The mysterious woman spoke with difficulty, her tone full of fear and despair.

Meanwhile, Calvin's meticulously crafted device completely lost control at this moment. The swirling shadows that had once surrounded it, like a wild horse, quickly transformed into a surging black torrent, sweeping towards the dark red crystal with overwhelming force.

As the altar began to slowly sink, the silver-armored men who had originally closed their eyes suddenly opened them one after another. Their pupils burned with strange dark purple flames, like evil spirits from the depths of hell, giving people a chill.

Arya's weapon system also emitted a sharp and piercing alarm at this moment: "Serious anomalies in vital sign scans! After analysis and judgment, these are definitely not ordinary corpses, but terrifying beings with extremely powerful energy parasitic abilities!"

"Evacuate! Now!" With this cry, the mysterious woman quickly formed complex and mysterious hand seals. Rays of silver light emanated from her fingertips, entwining and twisting in the air like nimble snakes, eventually converging into chains of gleaming runes that shot straight towards the dark red crystal like arrows.

However, it was too late—the silver-armored figure, who had awakened first, ripped open the coffin lid with astonishing speed and strength. From beneath the cold visor, a chilling, overlapping voice echoed: "Finally... a new container." Before the words had finished, the dark red crystal exploded like a ignited bomb. In an instant, a torrent of incredibly violent energy swept out, threatening to consume everything around it.

Amidst this surging energy, the silver-armored figure instantly transformed into a dazzling streak of purple lightning, lunging towards the crowd with unparalleled force. Facing such a formidable foe, Arya remained undeterred. Her ion blade flashed with a dazzling blue light as she fiercely slashed at the silver-armored figure. However, to everyone's astonishment, this seemingly powerful blow only caused faint ripples on the silver-armored figure's body, inflicting no substantial damage.

"Physical attacks are ineffective!" Arya shouted, her face darkening. At that moment, Song Yao decisively thrust her datapad into the altar's groove and rapidly entered a series of commands, attempting to forcibly activate reverse resonance to counteract the terrifying energy. "Give me thirty seconds to analyze the energy structure!" she gritted her teeth, beads of sweat already forming on her forehead.

Meanwhile, Calvin and the mysterious woman fought side by side, back to back. The mysterious woman waved her hands continuously, and silver-white runes shot out from her hands, colliding violently with the black light released by the shadow vortex emanating from the silver-armored man, bursting out countless brilliant sparks.

"Did you know this would happen?" Calvin loudly questioned the mysterious woman beside him amidst the deafening roar. The woman was silent for a moment, then suddenly stretched out a hand and without hesitation, placed her palm on Calvin's chest.

"My memory is sealed in the core... Now, it's time to return it to its rightful owner." As these words fell, a strange power surged out from the woman's palm and continuously poured into Calvin's body.

A heart-wrenching pain instantly swept through Calvin's nerves like a surging tide. He closed his eyes in pain, but completely unfamiliar and heart-pounding scenes flashed involuntarily in his mind.

Amidst the boundless starry sky, a vast, silvery, and imposing army stood arrayed like a glittering constellation of stars. However, in the blink of an eye, this mighty and majestic army was suddenly struck by a mysterious force, melting and annihilating like snow under the blazing sun, ultimately vanishing without a trace.

Immediately afterwards, a mysterious woman in ornate attire slowly appeared before a massive, solemn altar. She knelt on her knees, her hands devoutly cradling a crystal emitting a strange glow. She muttered something, as if performing a crucial ritual. As she moved, the light continuously poured into the crystal, making the already translucent crystal even more dazzling.

The dark red crystal now seemed to have been given life, pulsating rhythmically. Each contraction was accompanied by a powerful wave of energy that suddenly exploded in the air, tearing open a series of shocking blood-red cracks, like the hideous fangs of a demon, making people shudder.

Meanwhile, Song Yao stood expressionless by, her slender fingertips mechanically tapping on the shattered remains of a data slate, seemingly out of control. Her nails had already cracked from the excessive force, and crimson blood gushed out, staining her fair fingers and the cold metal fragments red.

Looking over to the other side, Arya's tactical goggles had been riddled with cracks, interwoven like a spiderweb. Through the cracked lens, she could clearly see a group of enemies clad in silver armor. Strangely, their faces were devoid of any facial features, only a mirror-like silver mask, creating an inexplicable sense of oppression. Even more shocking, their attacks seemed to converge and align in some ancient and mysterious formation, emanating a chilling aura.

Finally, the camera returns to the mysterious woman. Above her cascading silver hair, the faintly shimmering runes gradually peel away, revealing the pale, bloodless skin beneath. This pale skin is covered in charred black marks of varying sizes and shapes, as if she's endured the most brutal torture, evoking both pity and fear.

When Calvin finally struggled to free himself from the surging, turbulent torrent of memories and gradually regained consciousness, he realized with horror that he had completely lost control of his right hand! It was as if an invisible, yet suffocatingly powerful force was manipulating it, and it stretched straight towards the faintly glowing crystal debris in front of him.

At the same time, an extremely deep shadow vortex began to form rapidly in his palm, and it continued to twist and deform in an extremely strange and crazy posture, and finally turned into a terrifying existence as deep and bottomless as a black hole.

At this moment, those people in silver armor who were originally standing upright suddenly knelt down on the ground as if they had received some instructions. The whole scene looked shocking and full of mystery.

Then, a gentle whisper, yet filled with an immense sense of sadness and relief, reached Calvin's ears. It seemed to come from the mysterious woman who had always lurked in the shadows. In an almost ethereal voice, she murmured, "Welcome home... the last gravekeeper."

Hearing this, Calvin's heart trembled, and countless questions suddenly flooded his mind. However, he had no time to think about them at the moment. Because, deep in the distant cluster of coffins, which had not yet been activated, one of the silver coffins with the Earth's coordinates engraved on its surface began to slowly open automatically...