The departure of the Imperial airship left a heavy silence over Silverwood Spire. The sky felt emptier, but the air was thicker with tension. The meeting with Captain Kiera Dawnbringer wasn't an end, but a beginning—an official announcement that the game had escalated to a global level. For the Elves, it was confirmation that their alliance with Nihil had placed them on the chessboard of giants. For Nihil, it was the sound of an hourglass being flipped. His time in this silver cage was running out.

He did not return to the Grand Library the next day. He had found what he sought. Instead, he locked himself in his chamber, with only Elara Moonveil permitted entry. Spread across a large table in the center of the room was a copy of an ancient topographic map of the continent. Nihil had redrawn it from memory with terrifying precision.

"Here," Nihil stated, his finger pointing to a spot in the heart of a vast, barren mountain range marked as The Blasted Lands. "This is the location. The Void Nexus."

Elara tilted her head, her data tablet scanning the hand-drawn map. "Based on three disparate sources—astronomical records, geological reports, and an ancient military map. Strong data correlation. But it's over a thousand kilometers from here, crossing heavily guarded Imperial territory. Overland travel would take weeks and be a suicide mission."

"I do not plan to walk," Nihil replied flatly. He was thinking of `Void Rend`, the long-range teleportation ability still theoretical. He knew he needed an anchor, and he knew Velka was his only current anchor, far in the opposite direction. He needed another way.

"Then what is your plan?" Elara asked. "You cannot fly there. The skies are patrolled by the Imperial Legions."

"Every system has a flaw," Nihil echoed Kiera's words. "I need more data. Not about history, but about the present. Patrol movements, Inquisition fort locations, rarely used trade routes. Intelligence."

Elara sighed, leaning back in her chair. She looked more tired than usual. There were faint dark circles under her eyes. "Intelligence is an expensive commodity. My informant network on the mainland was crippled after Outpost Omega. And..." she hesitated.

"And?" Nihil pressed, sensing the shift in her demeanor.

Elara slid her data tablet towards Nihil. On the screen was the cold message she had received from The Orrery.

[RESEARCH QUARANTINE PROTOCOL 7-GAMMA ACTIVATED.]

[CEASE ALL INTERACTION. AWAIT EXTRACTION TEAM.]

Nihil read the message without expression. He wasn't surprised. It was the logical response from an organization fearing contamination.

"They see me as a disease," Nihil stated. "And you as the infected doctor."

"That is an unfortunately accurate way to put it," Elara replied, her voice laced with bitter irony. "I spent my entire life serving the Dimensional Guild, pursuing boundless knowledge. I sent them the greatest discovery in history—proof of a new fundamental force in the universe—and they responded by quarantining me. They don't want to understand it. They only want to contain it."

For the first time, Nihil saw something beyond scientific curiosity in Elara's eyes. He saw the pain of betrayal. He saw himself, in a different form. Someone discarded by their own "family".

"Welcome to the club," Nihil said softly.

Elara looked up, startled by the near-empathy in his tone. She then gave a small, brittle laugh. "I suppose so. So, what do two cast-off scientists stranded in a fairy-tale land do now?"

"We adapt," Nihil answered. "You no longer have Guild resources. I lack freedom of movement. We need each other. You need my protection to survive. I need your mind to analyze data and find a way out of here. Our alliance is no longer just data-based. It's now based on mutual need."

Elara stared at Nihil. He was right. The dynamic between them had shifted irrevocably. She was no longer the lead researcher and Nihil her subject. They were two survivors, bound together by circumstance.

"Alright," she said, straightening her back, a new fire igniting in her eyes. "If The Orrery won't help me, I'll rebuild my network from scratch. I still have a few old contacts and some buried assets. Give me time. I will get your intelligence."

Meanwhile, deep on the borderlands of the Silverwood forest, in a hidden cave cleared of beasts, Commander Gideon and five other members of The Purifiers studied a map. They were not rushing. They were patient hunters.

"Our source among the Elves confirms the target rarely leaves his main tower," said a female Purifier, a tracking specialist. "He is always escorted by Princess Lyraelle herself."

"Good," Gideon rumbled, his gravelly voice echoing in the cave. "That means he feels safe. Complacency is the greatest weakness. We will not assault the Spire. That is folly. We will make him come to us."

He pointed to a location on the map, several kilometers outside the regular patrol perimeter of the Elves. It was an ancient ruin, a small temple dedicated to one of the minor nature gods.

"Here," Gideon commanded. "Church records indicate this place has a weak holy resonance. We will amplify it. Place one of the 'Judgment Beacons' there. It will not explode. It will simply 'cleanse' the surrounding area of all plant life within a hundred-meter radius, leaving the signature silver scorch of holy energy."

"The Elves will respond," the tracker stated. "They will see it as a desecration."

"Precisely," Gideon affirmed. "They will send an investigation team. Likely, the Princess will lead it. And if the reports about this 'anomaly' are true, he will be drawn to the unusual energy signature. She will bring her 'asset'."

Gideon looked at his team, his fanatical eyes burning in the gloom. "We will not ambush them on the road. That is too predictable. We will let them reach the temple. We will let our target examine the 'scorch'. We will let his guard lower. And when he is most focused, most intent on understanding what occurred, that is when we close the net. Remember, our goal is not quick death. Our goal is capture. The Hammer for his body, the Silver Chains for his soul. We hunt him as the Church hunts. With patience, conviction, and the inexorable strength of Holy Light."

The plan was cold, calculated, and lethal. The trap was set.

Two days later, the news reached Silverwood Spire. A ranger patrol straying from its usual route found the anomaly: a perfect circle one hundred meters in diameter within the forest, where all plant life had vanished, replaced by earth that looked scorched by liquid silver. No signs of fire magic or demonic taint. Only sterile silence and a faint, misplaced holy energy.

In the War Council chamber, Lyraelle frowned at the holographic report. "This is a message," she declared. "Or bait."

"I will lead the scouting team myself," she stated firmly. "I want to see this with my own eyes." She turned to Nihil. "I want you to come with me. Perhaps you can detect something we cannot see."

Nihil looked at the map. The location was outside the safe zone, an obvious trap. But his curiosity was too strong. "I will come," he said curtly.

One hour later, their small team arrived at the site. The sight was unsettling. The ground within the circle shimmered faintly, and the air felt cold and dead.

Nihil stepped into the circle. He crouched and touched the silvered earth.

[WARNING: CONCENTRATED HOLY ENERGY DETECTED. DIRECT CONTACT CAUSING INTERFERENCE WITH VOID CONNECTION.]

[Capacity: 50/50 -> 49/50 (due to contact)]

He felt a sharp, cold sting – not physical pain, but conceptual pain. He withdrew his hand swiftly. "It's a trap," he whispered.

At that moment, six figures emerged from the surrounding trees. Five of them threw nets woven from glowing pure silver chains, forming a magical cage around the Elf team.

"Holy Silver Chains!" Lyraelle shouted. "They block magic and teleportation!"

The sixth figure, Commander Gideon, stepped forward, his massive warhammer raised. He ignored the Elves, his eyes locked on Nihil. "By the Holy Light, your sins will be cleansed, Heretic!"

He charged. Lyraelle and her rangers tried to intercept, but the other four Purifiers moved in perfect unison, holding the Elves at bay with lethal precision. They only contained, isolating their primary target.

Gideon's giant hammer descended with deceptive speed.

Nihil did not try to block it. A moment before impact, he vanished.

[Using: Phase Step (Rank F)]

[Capacity: 49/50 -> 48/50]

He reappeared ten meters behind Gideon. But as the hammer struck the empty ground where he had stood, an explosion of holy energy rippled out. The `Void Echo` he left behind reacted violently with the holy energy, sending a painful feedback surge directly into his nervous system. He jerked in agony.

Gideon turned, unsurprised. "You cannot flee judgment."

He attacked again. This time, Nihil tried to counter. He thrust his hand towards the descending hammer.

[Using: Void Grasp (Rank E)]

[Capacity: 48/50 -> 44/50]

As his Void energy touched the silver hammer, the result wasn't erasure. It was mutual annihilation. Void and Holy energies destroyed each other in a blinding micro-explosion. Nihil was thrown backward, his arm feeling scorched from within.

[WARNING: VOID ENERGY FORCIBLY NULLIFIED BY OPPOSING HOLY ENERGY. CONCEPTUAL DAMAGE DETECTED.]

[Void Reconstruction attempting repairs, process is slow and inefficient.]

[Capacity: 44/50]

He landed hard, gasping. This was an entirely different kind of fight. His enemies wielded conceptual weapons. They attacked not his body, but the essence of his power itself.

Gideon raised his hammer again, striding forward with inexorable purpose. "No more tricks, anomaly. Only penance."

Nihil stared at the descending hammer. He knew dodging with `Phase Step` would continue to hurt him, and a direct counter was suicide. For the first time in a very long time, he saw no logical solution. He saw only cold, inescapable judgment approaching.

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