"Huh? What do you mean the vessel is suddenly moving 45% faster?" Kintar said. "I don't remember this thing having an automatic decision system."

The console continued flashing, signaling danger. Kintar cursed. This was probably the one thing she hated about Amanas – how it didn't reward complacency. It had a steep learning curve, with very subtle cues for things Kintar considered essential.

And on the subject of subtlety, the consoles didn't project images for the user to better understand the situation. They projected small fields of symbols, which, to their credit, were intensive when giving details about the condition of Amanas, its functions and amenities, but…

'If I hadn't taken the time to learn all about these things, we would have been thoroughly fuc—'

A hand grasped Kintar's shoulder, startling her and interrupting her thoughts. Uyuniya had rushed up to the console along with Elita. Kintar frowned…only to then scowl. The looks on Elita and Uyuniya's faces said it all. The former looked especially rattled, her face white as a sheet.

"Quick! Turn the vessel and fly in the opposite direction as fast as possible!" Uyuniya cried.

"Hurry!" Elita reinforced.

Kintar intended for just that, but…

Amanas groaned and abruptly jerked to one side. Surprise resounded from everyone in Metgard, and they rose to their feet.

"The heck?" Kintar turned back to the console and read the symbols over them as quickly as she could. More information was spasming in throngs. "Pressure? What pressure? And now we're moving 96% faster?"

Amanas groaned again. It was taking damage.

"It's a Retucent!" cried Elita. "It's got us in its clutches! It will pull everything in a super massive range towards it while crushing it all the while! The longer we're in range, the worse it gets!"

"Apparently!" Kintar's scowl grew worse. Already, the pressure exerting on Amanas was enough to crush its exterior shell, and, according to the information the console dispensed, the source of the pull was nowhere near them; the vessel's scanning functions didn't detect anything within a 55 light-year radius.

Sensing her distress and the exact reason behind it, Uyuniya said:

"Don't bother trying to find it – it's nearly impossible, even with a vessel like this! Just focus on getting us away!"

Kintar cursed, clicked her tongue, and made to prompt Amanas from its default speed mode, Nordi, into a faster one, but she stopped herself in the next breath.

A rough, howl, like that of a hollow metal being crushed, resounded through Metgard.

…And then the vessel spun so violently that everyone was flung every which way. Some knocked against the vessel's walls, some bashed into each other, and others spun before blasting against both.

Only a few of the lot managed to stop themselves from being flung. Kintar was one of them. She panicked when she saw two of the consoles now flashing dangerously. At once, she rushed to one and used it to prompt the vessel to erect the Gradient Cage, a thick, cubical barrier with shades of orange, red, and magenta.

At once, the pressure exerted on the vessel subsided, but Kintar was sure this wouldn't last long. Amanas was still being pulled. She made the Metgard's walls transparent, allowing everyone to view everything outside. She immediately wished she hadn't.

Right then, Remos, Muezzi, Aegir, Sause, and Soidon spilled in from Limgard, tense. The words died in their throat as they met the view outside Amanas.

It had never occurred to anyone on Amanas that, despite how dark the great void was, it could get darker – unnervingly so. This made everything ten times more horrifying. Where the image of a great Fiend twice as large as Amanas would have been perfectly visible, now, it was nigh impossible to see, and only because everything became darker the closer one got to a Retucent.

The dimly illuminated great beast folded on itself like a roll of paper, teeth piercing its flesh, eyes popping from its head, limbs tied into knots that dug into its torso.

…And then it flashed forward ahead of Amanas at twenty times the speed of light, devoured into darkness worse than pitch.

The same went for great hunks of dead worlds easily over 100 times larger and denser than Amanas, and other pieces of matter none within Metgard could identify.

Sound was also usurped by the furious greed of the Retucent, it seemed – every bit of it. All the chaos occurred in absolute silence, and then, absolute darkness.

This was the terror of a natural disaster Deities of all magnitudes feared. They were one of the reasons vessels were essential when travelling in the great void. Even with a vehicle, though, it was nearly impossible to detect a Retucent until it was already pulling you, and past a certain point, nothing short of hopping through dimensions could save you.

To diminish the horror Retucents impressed ever so slightly, Deities had grown to call them by a different name. Void's Pimples.

"Get us out of here!" Uyuniya screamed at Kintar.

"I know, dammit! It takes a second… Fuck!" The Mage shuddered when the Gradient Cage cracked. Worse yet, it charged at the Retucent faster than before.

"Now! Now! Now! Now!" Kintar repeatedly prompted Amanas into the highest speed gear – Sliepr.

Nordi allowed Amanas to move at roughly one light year per minute, Gullin, at almost 30 light years per minute, and Sliepr at a max of 92.

In consideration of the passengers, however, the speed modes Gullin and Sliepr could only be activated after a protective cushion field was erected within Metgard, Limgard, Votgard, and Wulgardt, a process that normally took exactly six seconds.

Everyone in Metgard was flung high as the field activated. It was like an invisible, gelatinous wad that fixed the passengers in place, ensuring they weren't anywhere near materials that conducted vibrations and inertia easily.

'Finally!' Kintar thought, sweating bullets.

Amanas was moving 123% faster than before, quickly approaching the point of no return towards the Retucent, when the symbols over the console in front of Kintar charted a course away from the greedy force and…

...!

Everyone except Uyuniya was knocked unconscious when the vessel suddenly sped up, having switched into Sliepr. It became a collage of dozens of shapes only vaguely similar to Amanas. They were distorted, discolored, and inconsistent, stretching over light-years in a long, curved line. Great arches of faded light popped between each of the shapes, marking Amanas' acceleration to 92 light-years per minute!

…And then finally, the Void rank vessel escaped the Retucent's grip.