Starborn Renegades: Anthem of the Flawed

The eighth star of the Northern Dipper fractured like shattered glass, spewing luminous stardust into the void. Hayate's boots ground against floating gear fragments as cracks in his Stardust Eye spiderwebbed under the magnetic storm. The compass in his palm spun wildly, its needle screeching like a dying machine.

"This isn't a maze. It's a stomach," he spat, blood-tinged saliva glittering with quantum code. Inverted mechanical trees loomed through the fog, their rusted data cables dangling from canopies—each entwined with frozen eel carcasses. Fluorescent droplets from the eels' spines hardened midair into inverted Sakabane crests: the Church's hunting sigils.

The compass froze, its needle piercing the glass face vertically. Hayate's right eye burned as three-second precognition triggered:

Steel roots will impale left shoulder in 2.7 seconds｜Eel swarm activating combat mode｜Holographic interference source at 11 o'clock—

The vision shattered with a laugh.

"Lost little stormcrow. Need directions?" Vela's hologram materialized from the needle's tip, her mechanical eye flashing Church crimson, the left side of her face masked by Paradox Corsair bioluminescent tattoos. Her projection pressed a finger through his chest, igniting a violet Lie-Fuel flame over his heart.

Hayate swung his wrench, scattering data ripples. The flame revealed the Northern Dipper's distorted trajectory—black ooze seeped from the eighth star's crack. "What poison did you mix into the gene map?" He gagged on stardust-induced metallicity as the ooze reconfigured into Church contract clauses.

"Just seasoning." Vela's image split into twelve copies, each flipping Lie-Coins of different suits. "Every breath increases lung stardust concentration by 3%. Will you find the exit first…or combust as Church lighthouse fuel?"

The eel swarm awakened. Their rotating scales exposed honeycombed artillery ports. Hayate vaulted onto an inverted root, Stardust Armor erupting from his right arm as he glimpsed tree rings etched with gene sequences.

"Found you." He drove his wrench into a spiral groove. Buried memory data erupted—Vela at seven, screaming as the first eel spine pierced her vertebrae.

Shadow-devouring hounds growled through the fog. Cracks now reached Hayate's cheekbone. When the first hound lunged, his compass exploded. Needle shards formed a burning Paradox Corsair flag midair.

"Now we're talking." He licked blood from his lips, Stardust Armor encasing his face.

The eighth star's fissure burst open. Beyond the void, the true Sea of Paradox bared its fangs.

The eighth star's fracture spewed void matter into the broken dimensions, its stardust fangs crystallizing into jagged waves of the Sea of Paradox. Rin's crystalline left arm convulsed—its resonance with the rift's hidden presence undeniable.

"Focus!" Hayate's shout drowned under metallic snarls. Three Shadow-Devouring Hounds tore through the mist, their steel hides pulsing with the Church's blood sigils. Frozen eel spines embedded in their eye sockets shrieked.

Rin's blade, Oborogenkū, carved an ice-blue arc. As steel met the first hound, the Cursed Veil coiled around its body snapped alive. Translucent energy filaments lashed the sword, unleashing a chorus of hundreds of wailing spirits.

("Subject 777. Pain tolerance test, 49th iteration.")

The mechanized voice detonated in her skull. Lab fluorescents replaced the battlefield—strapped to an electrode chair, a researcher jacking eel venom glands into her crystalline arm. Memory-pain fused with the Veil's constriction.

"Get out of my head!" She spun, blade shredding the Veil. The splintered spirits coalesced into a childhood version of herself—chains binding her to a growth pod, "E-Ω777" glowing on her chest.

Hayate's wrench smashed through the apparition, Stardust Resonance scattering residual ghosts. "Church memory-weapons! Don't meet their gaze!" Too late. Rin's sword had already pierced the illusion. The blade's etchings flickered—a silhouette of her mother materialized.

("Flaws aren't curses. They're blades to shred iron curtains.")

Memory-mother smiled while erasing lab data—a Church soldier's energy blade erupted through her back. Rin's arm blazed cobalt. Real and phantom blood splattered her armor.

"Pillar Contract Clause VII," the spirits chanted in unison, bodies dissolving into holographic text. "Voluntary Stardust vessels forfeit genetic sovereignty to the Church…"

Rin's blade froze mid-strike. The signatures glowed—her father's handwriting, matching the etchings inside her eel spine implant.

Hayate's Stardust Eye hypercharged. He saw the Veil's truth: each spirit was a Sakabane ancestor's memory backup, weaponized by the Church. As he grabbed Rin, her crystalline arm lashed back, locking onto his wrist.

"They…fuel themselves…with my agony…" Her pupils dilated into quantum vortices. Oborogenkū veered toward Hayate's throat.

Precognition overload.

His wrench parried the blade, Stardust Armor screeching against crystalline spikes. Rin's memory-data flooded him—hundreds of clones slaughtering each other in simulation pods, each kill spiking her corruption rate by 5%.

"Wake up! You're not 777!" He ripped his collar open, revealing the Paradox Corsair crest tattoo. The bleeding brand resonated with her arm's genetic code.

Oborogenkū wailed. The blade's reflection of memory-mother reached through holograms to touch Rin's face.

("Souls washed by tears can't be tainted.")

Memory-mother crushed a Church contract chip, cobalt umbilical cords snaking from her wrist to infant Rin's arm. Reality snapped back—Rin reversed her strike, driving the blade into her own shoulder!

Crystalline fractures spewed fluorescent blood. The droplets reconfigured midair into the Church's hidden Pillar Contract schematics—thousands of Sakabanes pinned to gene decoders, eel spines siphoning stardust from their marrow.

"We're…living ink for their contracts…" Rin shattered her arm's outer crystal layer, exposing a hidden Paradox Corsair tattoo. When aligned with Hayate's crest, the eighth star's rift collapsed into a wormhole.

Vela's laughter echoed from the void. Her mechanical eye projected a burning countdown—23:59:59—the Ark of the Flawed's coordinates flashing within the inferno.