The void was quiet. Too quiet.

  Where Je walked, the remnants of Arc 1's devastation still lingered — broken stars, fractured worlds, and the silent echoes of beings who would never rise again. Yet silence is never truly empty.

  A faint hum seeped into the edges of his consciousness… a whisper not from the system, but something older, something hidden between layers of existence.

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  > "Devourer… fragments of eternity await. Will you hunt, or be hunted?"

  The Galaxy Devourer's system interface flickered. New quests bled into reality:

  Devourer's Directive: Consume the Energy Crystals hidden within cosmic beasts.

  Unknown Addition: ??? (Condition Unfulfilled).

  Je tightened his hand into a fist, though the cold void carried no warmth, no pulse. His journey was no longer about survival. Something unseen was calling to him, guiding him toward the threshold of greater prey.

  And somewhere, unseen, someone else was watching.

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