"

  "Not many, but not few either. In the thousand years since we discovered them, the human race has killed tens of thousands. That’s tens of thousands of Great Grandmaster level threats, including ten Planetary Class powerhouses. We have no idea where their home world is or how many are left. It’s infuriating. I’m a Psion myself, but without a fire-element partner, it's almost impossible to find them. They are masters of hiding."

  Raya sighed. She had only been a Great Grandmaster for three years and had just recently stabilized her Rank 1 foundation. Now she was being tasked with hunting creatures that were, at minimum, at her own level.

  "Well, isn't that a lucky coincidence?" Lance said with a grin. "I just so happen to be a fire-element user."

  Raya Kincaid stood frozen for a moment. She had heard from her Planetary Class instructors at the institute that the new SS-Rank genius was named Lance, but his specific background, combat data, and abilities were classified.

  She never expected him to be a fire-element user.

  "No wonder they paired you with me. You’re fire-element and I’m a Psion—on paper, we’re a perfect match. Still," she looked at him, her brow furrowing slightly, "you're just too weak."

  Lance was left utterly speechless. Weak? My peak output is Planetary Class, and you call me weak?

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly explain himself. If he told her the truth now, she’d probably think he was suffering from some sort of delusional psychosis.

  [System Alert: Incoming transmission request from a nearby vessel.]

  "Must be the Starward Defense Force stationed nearby. Patch them through," Raya commanded immediately.

  Buzz!

  A holographic projection of a middle-aged man in a crisp military uniform flickered into existence before them.

  "Generals! I am Colonel Klorol of the local Starward Defense Force," the man said, his voice thick with relief and excitement as he saluted. "Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to support us!"

  A Colonel in the Federation was typically a peak Grandmaster, usually tasked with overseeing an entire star sector. In contrast, every member of the Vanguard Elite Institute held the honorary rank of General, as they were all Great Grandmasters or higher.

  Beyond them sat the Planetary Class experts, who held the rank of Commander. And at the absolute peak were the Stellar Class powerhouses, known simply as The High Guardians—a title more prestigious than any military rank in existence.

  "Give us the situation," Raya said, returning a crisp military salute. "How many Void-kin are there? What are their ranks? Do you have a precise location?"

  These were the life-or-death details. If the gap in power was too vast, they would have to abort. However, she knew the Human Central Intellect rarely issued suicide missions.

  "Reporting, ma'am! We have confirmed three Void-kin. The strongest is a Rank 2 Great Grandmaster; the other two are Rank 1. As for their location... my scouting party was wiped out the moment they made contact. We only managed to salvage some sensor footage."

  Klorol’s expression darkened as he transmitted the data. Raya opened the file, and a video filled the screen: hundreds of thousands of Federation soldiers being systematically slaughtered by three gargantuan, blurry black shadows.

  Lance’s eyes narrowed as he watched the footage. Their combat style was purely psionic, but they possessed a terrifying secondary ability—after a kill, they could instantly fade into the background of space, becoming one with the void. It was a high-level form of stealth.

  "Confirmed, three Void-kin," Raya said, exhaling a breath of relief. "At least they’re all low-tier Great Grandmasters. I should be able to handle them."

  But as she watched more soldiers die in the video, her relief turned into cold, simmering rage.

  "Lance, the reason the Void-kin fear fire is because intense heat can disrupt their psionic camouflage. We’ll head to their last known coordinates. It’s only been two hours; they shouldn't have gone far. If we can't find them manually, I’ll have to break regulations and use the ship’s Tier 6 tactical sensors."

  She looked at Lance. Even if he was only a Grandmaster, an SS-Rank genius might have some specialized tracking method. And even if they failed the mission by relying on the ship's tech, she wasn't going to let those monsters live.

  "That sounds like a plan," Lance said calmly. "Besides, they won't have left yet. Look at the footage again—when they were discovered, they looked like they were waiting for something. They won't leave their post so easily."

  Raya and Klorol both blinked, then replayed the video several times. They hadn't noticed that detail.

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  "You're right... I didn't even catch that," Klorol said, looking at Lance with newfound respect. "A genius indeed."

  "Let's move," Raya commanded.

  The Tier 6 starship accelerated, reaching the coordinates in a matter of minutes. When they arrived, the sector was a graveyard. Dozens of shattered Tier 4 ships drifted in the silence of space. The defense force hadn't stood a chance; they were merely Rank 4, while the Void-kin were at the Great Grandmaster level.

  "We’re here," Raya said, her voice dropping to a frigid whisper.

  Lance’s gaze was equally cold. "Ship, recover the remains of our fallen."

  [System Alert: Command accepted. Commencing recovery.]

  Raya glanced at Lance, a flicker of genuine respect appearing in her eyes. As a descendant of a High Guardian, her family had sacrificed generations for humanity. Seeing this young man show such reverence for ordinary soldiers touched a chord with her.

  Lance didn't notice her gaze. He closed his eyes and expanded his Soul sense. His Grandmaster Rank 8 spirit surged outward like an invisible tide, blanketing millions of kilometers in an instant.

  There.

  Three massive shadows, tens of thousands of feet tall, were hidden against the backdrop of the stars. To the naked eye or standard sensors, they were invisible, but to Lance’s spiritual perception, they were as bright as beacons.

  "I’ll see if I can flush them out," Lance said, pretending to scan the area.

  He slowly raised his right hand.

  Vroom!

  A blinding, silver radiance erupted from his palm. The light of the Nine Heavens Starfire expanded in every direction, illuminating a hundred thousand miles of space. The ambient temperature in the sector began to climb at a terrifying rate.

  Not bad, Raya thought, giving a slight nod. That fire is intense—at least Rank 6 Grandmaster level.

  As an SS-Rank, he was clearly living up to the hype. Most geniuses at his rank would struggle to fight someone of equal level, but Lance was outputting power far beyond his nominal rank.

  SCREECH!

  SCREECH!

  SCREECH!

  Three agonizing howls tore through the void as the silver flames licked at the "empty" space. Suddenly, three massive, ink-black silhouettes shimmered into existence, their camouflage burned away by the stellar heat.

  "They're still here!" Raya shouted, her battle aura exploding into life.

  Seeing the creatures reveal themselves, Raya Kincaid let out a cold snort. With a sharp flick of her wrist, she lashed out toward the void.

  Swish! Swish! Swish!

  Dozens of flying daggers erupted from her hand like a torrential rain. Each blade shimmered with a lethal, frigid light, forged to the standard of Tier 5 Peak-grade weaponry.

  Puchi! Puchi!

  In an instant, the blades tore through the center of one of the massive shadows. However, Raya’s expression tightened as she watched the daggers pass right through. The creature's "wounds" simply knit back together a second later.

  "They’re energy beings," Lance called out from the side, noticing her momentary hesitation. "Physical attacks are useless if you’re just stacking them with kinetic force. Use your Psionic Telekinesis directly!"

  Raya snapped out of it, her mental focus exploding.

  In a flash, her Psionic Telekinesis manifested as a gargantuan hand, glowing with mental energy as it slammed down toward the lead Void-kin.

  SCREECH!

  The Rank 2 Great Grandmaster shadow let out a low, guttural roar. Its own psionic energy erupted in a conical blast, colliding head-on with Raya’s mental construct.

  BOOM!

  A shockwave rippled through the stars as the two mental forces detonated against each other.

  Splat!

  As the energies dissipated, Raya suddenly lurched forward, spraying a mist of crimson blood from her mouth. It was clear that she hadn't withdrawn her consciousness from the construct in time and had suffered a severe mental backlash.

  Is her combat experience really that low? Lance wondered, watching the exchange.

  On second thought, it made sense. Raya was only in her twenties, yet she had already reached the Great Grandmaster rank. Compared to the three-thousand-year lifespan of her peers, she was an infant. Her lack of experience in fighting non-human races was glaring—on paper, her raw power should have been enough to crush them.

  SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH!

  Seeing Raya injured, the three shadows lunged forward with terrifying speed, sensing blood in the water.

  "Hmph. Did you really think I was that weak?"

  Suddenly, the corners of Raya’s mouth curled into a smirk.

  "Psionic Mangle!" she barked.

  In an instant, her Psionic Telekinesis fragmented into thousands of invisible, razor-sharp blades.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  The mental blades tore through space, descending upon the three shadows with the force of a hydraulic press.

  SCREECH!

  The three Void-kin shrieked in terror, desperately manifesting psionic shields.

  Boom! Boom!

  The rain of mental daggers hammered against their defenses like a relentless storm.

  Crack!

  Within seconds, the first shadow’s shield shattered.

  SCREECH—!

  The creature was instantly shredded into a billion fragments of energy, leaving nothing behind but a single glowing Void Core drifting in the silence.

  Crack! Crack!

  The other two didn't last much longer. Their shields buckled and broke, and they were promptly pulverized by the psychic storm.

  "Hmph. This lady had to fake an injury just to lure you idiots in," Raya said, a triumphant grin returning to her face. "And you actually fell for it."

  Lance blinked. He had been completely fooled by her acting. Her clumsy combat style at the start was a deliberate ruse to draw them out of their defensive positions.

  "Not bad," Lance admitted, giving her a nod of genuine praise. "You even had me fooled."

  "Well, if you weren't so young and... uh... rank-challenged, I wouldn't have had to act," Raya bragged, puffing out her chest in a classic "protective senior" gesture. "I couldn't let you take any real risks, could I?"

  Lance rolled his eyes. Rank-challenged? Really?

  Ignoring his expression, Raya used her telekinesis to reel back her flying daggers and the harvested Void Cores.

  "Here. Two for you, one for me," she said, holding out the cores. One was from the Rank 2 leader, the other from a Rank 1. "If you hadn't flushed them out, I never would have found them. You did most of the legwork."

  "I was just the flashlight," Lance said, shaking his head. "I'll take one of the Rank 1 cores. Keep the others; I can't even use that much energy yet."

  Raya paused, looking at the cores and then at him. She realized he was being genuinely humble. "Alright, fine. I am close to a breakthrough, so I actually do need these. I’ll make it up to you—first meal back at the Institute is on me! No arguments!"

  Lance smiled, but as he was about to respond, his intuition flared. He turned his gaze toward the exact spot the three shadows had been guarding.

  RIIIIIP!

  With a violent, screeching sound, the fabric of space itself was torn asunder, revealing a massive, jagged rift.

  SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH!

  A chorus of thousands upon thousands of agonizing shrieks erupted from the other side of the tear.

  System Notification: A massive stockpile has been detected!

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