Lord Zephyr's hand remained on Lin Xiao's chin, but his eyes suddenly shifted toward the shadows of the nearby hut. The air in the square grew heavy, the atmospheric pressure doubling in a heartbeat as his Rank 8 aura flared.
"A rat hiding in the mud," Zephyr sneered, his voice vibrating with the power of a dying star. "You have the density of a World Breaker, yet you reek of decay and stolen energy. Show yourself!"
Before Fang Yuan could even trigger his concealment array, Zephyr flicked his wrist. A wave of golden gravity slammed into the hut, vaporizing the wooden structure into splinters.
Fang Yuan stood revealed, his dark robes fluttering in the violent wind. He didn't look like a hero; he looked like a cornered predator, his pale skin glowing with the unstable Rank 5 energy he had managed to stabilize.
"A Rank 5 intruder?" Zephyr laughed, a sound of pure arrogance. "You survived a world-collapse and crawled here to die in my garden? Pathetic."
With a casual gesture, Zephyr unleashed a Gravity Shackle. Chains made of solidified light erupted from the ground, wrapping around Fang Yuan's limbs. The density of the chains was so immense that Fang Yuan's knees buckled, the earth beneath him cracking as he was forced into a kneeling position.
"Fang Yuan!" Lin Xiao cried out, trying to run toward him, but Zephyr's presence held her frozen in place.
"Be silent, little lotus," Zephyr commanded, looking back at Fang Yuan with curiosity. "To reach Rank 5 while being so... broken... suggests you have a high-tier System or a soul-artifact. I shall peel the secrets from your mind once we are aboard my ship."
He tightened the shackles, lifting Fang Yuan off the ground like a common prisoner. To Fang Yuan, the pain was excruciating, but deep within his mind, he signaled the System.
[System Alert: Host is captured. Current status: Shackled. Estimated chance of escape: 12%. Status of 'Void-Charges' in Lin Xiao: Optimal. Integration with the Lotus-Ship's core: Pending.]