The Akkadian Scrap-Yard, a realm of rust and ruin, was instantly besieged. The Junk-Eaters were monstrous, chaotic fusions of corrupted flesh and salvaged metal, driven by an overwhelming greed. They swarmed the damaged shuttle, drawn by the unmistakable scent of high-grade energy leaking from the cracked Purity Suppressor.
"Defensive perimeter, twenty meters!" Silas barked, his calm calculation the only order in the chaos. He positioned the containment unit Kael's coffin directly behind the toughest remaining strut of the shuttle wreckage, his Sovereign Siphon at the ready. "Talon, close combat! Echo, manage the breach points!"
Talon, the massive Enforcer, became a raging bulwark. He abandoned subtlety, using his mass and power to meet the chaotic rush. He slammed his armored shoulder into a massive, clawed figure, sending it skittering across the metal ground. He was strong but slow, and the creatures were relentless, their attacks fueled by the hunger for the rich, untainted energy they sensed.
Echo was a ghost in the melee. Her silent, suppressed weapon fired hyper-velocity darts, targeting the Junk-Eaters' poorly armored joints and exposed optical sensors. She moved constantly, a whirlwind of swift, efficient neutralization, preventing the perimeter from total collapse.
Silas, however, was in a Catch-22. He fought the Junk-Eaters, but his priority was securing the package. The crack in the Purity Suppressor was widening, and the faint, ethereal glow of Kael's residual purity was a visible, tempting lure in the dim light, fueling the scavengers' frenzy.
"The unit is failing!" Silas projected to his team. "The leak is increasing! They're drawn to the purity!"
A hulking Junk-Eater, larger and more tenacious than the rest, managed to tear through Talon's desperate defensive line. It lunged, not at the Enforcers, but directly at the glowing seam on Kael's containment unit, its grotesque, clawed hand outstretched to devour the exposed power.
The air around Kael's damaged prison suddenly grew cold.
In the deepest void of his unconsciousness, Kael Ardyn's core essence registered the catastrophic stress. He didn't see the creature or the metal claw. He only felt the overwhelming, brutal, unjust debt of hunger the raw, desperate consequence of being a Scavenger in this brutal realm.
An involuntary, spent surge of Absolution lashed out. It didn't destroy the creature's life, but it violently cleared the single, most immediate karmic debt: the debt of immediate, blinding hunger and raw aggression.
The Junk-Eater froze mid-lunge. The raw, driving impulse of its existence vanished, replaced by a sudden, total lack of motivation. It hung in the air, a massive, grotesque statue of confusion, its claw inches from the exposed purity.
The paralysis was momentary, but it was the exact window Silas needed.
"Now!" Silas roared, pouring the last of his suit's external energy into the Sovereign Siphon. The gauntlet unleashed a massive, chaotic blast not a precision shot, but a wide, defensive wave of pure, concentrated negative karma designed to clear the area.
The Junk-Eaters, including the paralyzed one, were thrown backward by the force, scattering across the broken terrain.
Silas didn't hesitate. He grabbed the Purity Suppressor, ignoring the protests of the damaged seals, and dragged the massive unit across the treacherous metal landscape, pulling it toward the deepest, most concealed wreckage he could find.
"Fall back! We need to stabilise the package and the jump drive!" Silas commanded, his breath ragged.
Talon and Echo followed, laying down covering fire. They were alive, but pinned down. Kael's unconscious power had saved them, not through cooperation, but through a reactive, desperate, karmic defence. The Enforcers had captured their prize, but they were now trapped in a hostile realm, forced to fight a continuous siege for their very survival all because Kael Ardyn's essence refused to accept the final debt of capture.