The nucleus closed around them.
It was closing not like a door, but more like a throat.
Darkness swallowed the light in a slow spiral, and the pressure multiplied instantly. The last thing Sarya saw before everything went black was the faint outline of the figure still gripping her arm.
Then there was no up or down.
There was no floor, there was no sky.
Only weight.
The filament in her chest did not flicker this time.
It burned steady.
She felt the pull immediately. The collapsing core was not exploding outward. It was folding inward, compressing all of its structure into a single collapsing point.
And she was caught inside the fold.
The figure tightened its hold on her arm.
"Integration initiated," it said, its voice clearer than before.
Now it did not echo. It spoke close. Direct.
She twisted sharply and drove her elbow into its torso. Light cracked along its surface, but the darkness around them swallowed the glow quickly.
