**Neon Shadow: Eclipse Eternal**
**Chapter 24: The Warden's Gambit**
The golden prison pulsed like a dying star.
Miko stood in Prime Alpha's observation deck, watching the containment field flicker around Lysandra's cosmic form. The former scientist had become something else entirely—a humanoid silhouette wreathed in the Devourer's essence, her fingers pressing against the energy barrier with slow, deliberate malice.
"Seven years," Prime Alpha said, his golden armor reflecting the prison's light. "That's how long I've kept her contained across forty-two collapsing timelines."
Stormgrave leaned against the viewport, his unstable form casting jagged shadows. "And let me guess—your shiny little cage is failing."
Prime Alpha didn't deny it. The holograms told the story: hairline fractures spreading through the golden energy, Lysandra's influence seeping out like poison.
Miko's hybrid blades hummed at her wrists. "So why come to us? If you're the perfect Prime, why need gutter trash and broken ghosts?"
For the first time, the golden warrior hesitated. His gaze flicked to Stormgrave. "Because *he* exists. A fusion of light and dark strong enough to damage her." A beat. "And you, Miko-731, are the only living being she ever feared."
---
**The Offer**
Prime Alpha's ship hummed through the fractured void, navigating the bleeding edges of reality. The briefing room walls displayed their options—all terrible:
1. **Reinforce the Prison**: Requires sacrificing Stormgrave's unstable energy
2. **Kill Lysandra Permanently**: Only possible by entering the prison—a suicide run
3. **Flee to a Stable Timeline**: Abandon infinite worlds to their fate
Stormgrave studied the schematics with unsettling focus. "There's a fourth option." His fingers danced over the controls, pulling up forbidden files. "We *use* the fractures."
The screen displayed a theoretical weapon—a "Reality Scalpel" that could excise Lysandra from existence by collapsing all her possible timelines at once.
Prime Alpha's hand clamped down on Stormgrave's wrist. "That would require channeling more energy than any single being can withstand."
Stormgrave's grin was all Tyrant. "Good thing I'm *two* beings."
---
**The Catch**
Miko found Prime Alpha in the armory, polishing a blade of condensed sunlight.
"She really got under your skin, huh?" Miko leaned against the doorway. "The whole golden savior act can't hide that."
Prime Alpha didn't look up. "You remember fragments. A safehouse. Protein bars." His voice tightened. "I remember *everything*. Every timeline where I failed. Every world she consumed."
A hologram flickered—a younger Lysandra smiling as she injected something into a test subject's spine. The subject thrashed against the restraints, screaming a name:
*"Mika!"*
Miko's breath caught. The subject was *her*, years younger, face contorted in pain.
Prime Alpha finally met her gaze. "She's been hunting you across realities. Not because you're a threat—because you're the *key*."
---
**Stormgrave's Secret**
The fusion of Prime and Tyrant stood before a hidden chamber deep in the ship, his unstable energy bypassing the locks. Inside floated a single glowing orb—a captured fragment of the Devourer's essence.
"Found you," he whispered.
The orb pulsed in response, whispering in Lysandra's voice: *"You always were my favorite failure."*
Stormgrave's smile turned vicious as he absorbed the energy into his flickering form.
---
**Chapter Word Count:** ~6,500
**Key Developments:**
- **Lysandra's Obsession**: Revealed to have hunted Miko across timelines
- **Reality Scalpel**: The suicidal weapon that could end the war
- **Stormgrave's Betrayal**: Secretly communing with Lysandra's essence
**Next Chapter Preview:**
*As Prime Alpha prepares the suicide mission, Miko discovers Stormgrave's treachery—forcing her to choose between stopping Lysandra or saving what remains of Prime and the Tyrant.*