At the center of the Shadow's Sovereignty's lower deck, Nareth surveyed his surroundings. Confirming all fifty-one Khrave Progenitors were present, he moved his mind.
In the first layer of the Kingdom of Disorder, the Jokaero immediately began to concoct the Sequence 5 "Reaper" potion, using ingredients including the Pale Hunters harvested from the now-redacted 2nd Legion's homeworld.
The "Mentor of Disorder" raised his left arm, channeling all his spirituality into the Hand of Order power fist on his left hand.
Golden light blazed, turning the deck, which had been re-designated as Section XXXIII after its pre-battle modifications, into a realm of gold.
Nareth, his spirituality drained, felt a stabbing pain at his temples.
The crimson chain wrapped around his right pinkie glowed, and the pain subsided.
He moved his mind. As the chosen Progenitor of the Kingdom of Disorder, he drew upon the power of its source substance, allowing it to seep into reality.
Black mist, forming at his left fingertips, enveloped the Hand of Order gauntlet.
The blazing golden light spread rapidly, covering the other three hundred and sixty-two sections surrounding the center.
All ten levels of the lower deck were suffused with golden light.
In the "Mentor of Disorder's" vision, countless threads of rules, of various colors and shapes, painted a strange landscape.
Blue threads of teleportation, red threads of flame... layers of threads, interwoven and chaotic.
The Khrave looked around, their tendrils twitching uneasily.
The Khrave King, his ancient limbs sliding, summoned a Warp Distortion that crackled with reality-tearing power.
His body flickered in a series of micro-teleports, leaving an afterimage as he lunged at Nareth.
Nareth's eyes blazed with gold. He raised his left arm, intoning with authority.
"I am the Agent of Order. By my will, I remake the rules of the Shadow's Sovereignty's lower deck."
"Decree: Khrave Progenitors are stripped of their teleportation abilities."
The Sequence 1 Hand of Order of the Justiciar Pathway is the Agent of Order, wielding a portion of the Authority of Order.
The rules he establishes can modify or temporarily remove existing rules.
The rules need not be impartial; they follow the will of the Hand of Order.
Since the Khrave Progenitors had fallen into the trap, they would not leave.
They were all potion ingredients for the "Earl of the Fallen."
Besides the Khrave King, already claimed for his own use, every Progenitor gained meant one more Sequence 4 demigod of this pathway.
Thwip!
The Khrave King was frozen in mid-air.
The Khrave's tendrils writhed in panic. They had lost their teleportation ability, even in their own source domain.
The King sent out a psychic wave of alarm, summoning all Progenitors and Khrave.
A thousand forms moved at once. The Khrave Champions, teleporting in a series of micro-displacements, converged on Nareth.
The Progenitors, their withered forms trailing afterimages, though slower than usual, still moved far faster than the Champions, closing on Nareth.
Nareth beat his golden wings, wreathed in golden fire.
Bang!
With a thunderous crack, Nareth broke free of the Khrave's encirclement.
"I decree: Forty-seven independent, sealed battlefields."
With a thought, forty-eight of the three hundred and sixty-two sections blazed with silver light.
They were evenly distributed, separated from each other by other sections.
His unfurled consciousness felt Hasik Noyan-khan, Thibault, and the other "Conspirer" Captains exiting the elevators.
A flicker in his eyes. Among the fifty-one Progenitors, he selected the fifth-most powerful by his Warp Insight and pointed.
"You, Hasik, and Thomas. Section I is your battlefield."
Golden light coalesced into a beam, enveloping the fifth-most powerful Progenitor, Hasik, and Thomas, who stood beside him.
Whoosh!
The Progenitor was torn from his kin, teleported to Section I.
Hasik and Chief Librarian Thomas were also transferred there.
A vial of crimson liquid materialized in Hasik's hand.
A voice of Majesty echoed in his mind.
"Carry out your plan. After capturing the Khrave Progenitor alive, reveal the full scheme to him, then consume the potion."
Hasik brought his hands together in an inverted clasp, facing the Black Emperor's direction.
"By Your will."
As he bowed, the "Constellations Master," Thomas, raised his hands, his spirituality bleeding into a statue of coalesced starlight.
The statue shattered. Light radiated outward.
In an instant, starlight filled the entire deck, spreading rapidly to adjacent levels.
Bang, bang, bang...
A cascade of starlight statues shattered, transforming fifty decks of Section I into a star-field.
Simultaneously, liquid metal spread, covering the black armor encasing Nareth's body.
A torrent of aetheric flame, of every hue, hammered against the Burning Fragments.
Boom, boom, boom!
The aetheric flames clashed with the solar-core flames of the Fragments, creating deafening explosions.
Nareth beat his golden wings, colliding with a Progenitor whose chest bore black crystal spirals.
Bang!
The Progenitor was hurled back, golden flames licking at his form.
Nareth pointed, selecting the fifth-most powerful Progenitor. "You, Porti, and Mikael. Section VII is your battlefield."
Captain Porti of the Seventh Chapter's 7th Company and Chief Apothecary Mikel were transferred to his chosen section.
With a thought, the "Reaper" potion materialized in Porti's hand, and a psychic pulse conveyed Nareth's command.
"Carry out your plan. After capturing the Khrave Progenitor alive, reveal the full scheme to him, then consume the potion."
As Nareth continued to assign the Khrave Progenitors to the battlefields he had created, the golden light of the Hand of Order gradually dimmed.
After sending the weakest Progenitor and a "Conspirer" Captain to the forty-seventh battlefield, the gauntlet's light receded to Section XXXIII.
The "Mentor of Disorder," his spirituality fully restored, again channeled it without reserve into the Hand of Order.
Nareth knew that he could not completely strip the Khrave of their psychic powers without drawing on the Kingdom of Disorder's power.
Furthermore, to ensure the Progenitors were strong enough to challenge the advancing "Conspirer" Captains, he could not use the Red Priest Uniqueness to simply sacrifice them. He decided to partially suppress them.
The stronger the captured target, the better the advancement ritual for "Reaper."
"Object of sanction: the Khrave Progenitors within the forty-seven battlefields."
A dawn-like light flickered across Nareth's form. His power fist gleamed with a pure luster.
The golden light spread rapidly, covering the entire lower deck, then vanished in an instant.
The Hand of Order dimmed rapidly.
Nareth, weaving through the cascading lightning, looked appraisingly at the remaining four Progenitors.
Two of them bore black crystal spirals on their chests.
They, along with the Khrave King, were the three Progenitors who had overpowered the Lion in Nareth's memory.
There was also a fourth Progenitor, whose power, in his Warp Insight, seemed to lie between the King and the other two.
....
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