The world shook again. Yun didn't know if it was the ground, the sky, or his own heartbeat pounding too hard inside his chest. His arms tingled with leftover star energy, his clothes were half burned, and his breath came out in short uneven gasps.

He had never felt this tired before,Or this alive.

The monster he blasted apart like three minutes ago if it even was a "monster"was still turning into drifting ash, like silver sand blowing away in slow motion. Yun's hands shook as he lowered them. Shen Yu stepped beside him, steady but tense, his eyes scanning the smoking treeline.

"That was reckless," Shen Yu muttered.

Yun swallowed. "But it worked, didn't it?"

Shen Yu paused… then nodded once. "Yes. But the problem isn't the one you destroyed."

Yun blinked, confused until the sky itself cracked.

A thin line split through the clouds, glowing purple, humming like a giant tuning fork. Yun felt the vibration in his teeth. In his bones. In his stomach. The villagers fell to their knees, clutching their ears.

Yun's vision blurred. He wiped his eyes, but the crack in the sky only widened. Something—no, somethings—moved on the other side. Dark silhouettes, shifting between forms, too big for the world, too wrong for human eyes.

Shen Yu whispered, "Cosmic Hunters… they shouldn't be here yet."

Yun's heart nearly stopped.

"They're looking for me, aren't they?" Yun's voice was small and cracked.

Shen Yu didn't answer… which was the same as answering.

The Crack Opens Fully

A hand forced itself through the sky.

Not a human hand.

Not even close.

It looked like a shard of night shaped vaguely like fingers—fingers made of shadows, starlight, spinning galaxies, and something like liquid darkness dripping down.

When it touched the clouds, the entire sky shivered.

Yun staggered back, his stomach twisting. "I… I can't fight that."

"Not yet," Shen Yu agreed. His voice wasn't comforting. It was too honest.

Still—Shen Yu stepped forward.

Wind howled around him, his robe whipping wildly. The faint, calm aura he normally carried burst open into a storm of white flame-like energy. Stars shimmered inside it, tiny motes circling around him.

Yun stared. "Y-You're— you're not human either, are you?"

Shen Yu's jaw tightened. "There's no time."

The giant cosmic hand slammed downward.

The world roared.

The ground cracked like broken pottery.

Shen Yu thrust both palms upward, unleashing a pillar of starfire that met the descending hand. The collision shook everything air, trees, even Yun's thoughts felt rattled.

BOOM.

The shockwave flung Yun backward. He rolled, dirt filling his mouth, breath knocked out of him.

He forced himself up, vision spinning. Shen Yu was still standing, but barely. His arms trembled, cracks of light spiderwebbing along his skin like he was overloading.

Yun's panic thrashed inside him.

Then something deep in him pulsed hard.

Inside the Cosmos

Far away, in the star palace, Yun's mother suddenly clutched her chest.

"He's pushing his core too soon!" Empress Yueran gasped. "Lianxing, he's hurting"

Her husband's face darkened. "The Hunters reached him. They pierced the boundary."

He struck open a cosmic map with a sweep of his hand. Countless galaxies flickered like lamps. A large cluster dimmed where Yun was.

Yueran's voice cracked. "We can't warp to him. The Court's blockade"

"Then we break it." Lianxing's eyes blazed. "I no longer care about their rules."

He summoned his halberd an entire constellation forged into a weapon. When it materialized, whole nebulae rippled.

But as he prepared to open a portal a shadowy spear pierced their palace shield.

Yueran screamed, "The Hunter King!! He came himself?!"

The cosmos shook under a new terrifying presence.

Yun was in more danger than even they realized.

Back on Earth – Yun Awakens Again

Yun stumbled toward Shen Yu.

"I won't… I won't just watch!" His body shook so much he almost fell again.

The thing behind the sky crack began forcing its whole upper body through. Its torso looked like a mix of smoke and broken universes, pieces of starlight swirling through it. Its voice if that horrible rumble was a voice made Yun's bones buzz.

Yun felt something inside him answer that sound.Like something calling back.

A star pulsed inside his chest hot, bright, painful and then exploded outward.

Silver light burst from his skin.

His vision turned white for a heartbeat, then clearer than ever. The whole world looked sharp, like every leaf and particle of dust had been drawn with divine ink.

His hair lifted.

His veins glowed.

His heartbeat echoed like drums of war.

Shen Yu looked back eyes widening.

"You awakened… again?! This soon? Yun, that's—That's impossible!"

Yun didn't feel impossible.

He felt… awake.

He stepped forward, energy swirling around him like a small storm.

The cosmic monster paused, sensing something new. Its many eyes turned toward him. Yun felt his legs buckle but he didn't fall.

"I'm… not running," Yun said, voice shaky but strong. "Not anymore."

The creature extended another limb toward him.

Yun raised his hand without thinking.

Silver energy shot out.

Not a beam. Not a blast.

More like a wave, or a ripple, or a star breathing out.

The cosmic limb recoiled, hissing silently.

Shen Yu stared at Yun like he was seeing a myth.

Yun was trembling, sweating, barely standing…

but he'd hurt it.

Even if only a little.

And that changed everything.

The creature screamed, louder than thunder.The sky cracked further,More figures moved behind it.

Shen Yu shouted, "Yun, fall back! THAT THING called its kin—"

But Yun shook his head, teeth clenched.

"If I run… my body might keep running forever. I won't."

The giant creature slammed a galaxy-black fist toward him, Yun braced himself,Stars awakened inside him but not enough.

At the last second, Shen Yu shoved him aside and took the full hit.

The impact blew half the forest away.

"SHEN YU!!" Yun screamed, stumbling to his knees.

Dust swallowed everything.

The world fell silent except for Yun's ragged breathing.

And the giant cosmic monster lowering its head as if studying Yun like prey worth chasing across galaxies.

Yun's whole body trembled.

But his eyes stayed locked on the monster.

He wasn't done.

He couldn't be.

Not when Shen Yu had just...

The dust started to clear.

And Yun saw a faint silhouette inside it…

Not Shen Yu.

Something else.

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