Several minutes passed before the movement within Hestia's consciousness finally became still, and she opened her eyes. The golden dot created by her breakthrough had continued drawing her scattered willforce inward, condensing every current around a center that now felt as inseparable from her awareness as her own thoughts.
The unfamiliar perception that had flooded her when the Chime awakened no longer arrived as countless overlapping impressions. Hestia could distinguish her consciousness from the forces surrounding it, and the first structure she truly saw was the layered sphere enclosing her.
Adrian's Willforce Wall surrounded her from every direction. Its interlocked layers held no pressure against her consciousness, yet the intent embedded throughout them was prepared to seize anything that entered with enough force to disturb her stabilization. A narrow current extended from the sphere through the distance above Avaris, passing beyond the planetary atmosphere until it reached a solitary figure floating within the void, and only then did Hestia discover where Adrian had gone.
He floated beyond Nerath with the planet behind him and the gathered Keldovan and Ebon Meridian vessels ahead. Hestia had perceived nothing outside her own consciousness after closing her eyes. The last event she remembered clearly was the awakening of the Chime beneath the enforcement elder's attack and her decision to turn inward because she knew Adrian would handle whatever happened while she stabilized.
She possessed no record of the minutes that followed, but the defensive sphere enclosing her consciousness made his actions easy enough to understand.
The corner of Hestia's mouth lifted despite the ruined district beneath her. She knew what Adrian became whenever someone threatened a person he loved, and there was little doubt in her mind regarding what had happened to the elder who had attempted to kill her.
"That enforcement elder probably does not exist anymore." She thought.
Whatever had occurred during the missing minutes, he was now waiting between Nerath and the forces gathering around it, placing himself where anyone seeking to reach her would have to pass him first. Had their positions been reversed, Hestia would have chosen the same place.
Hestia gathered one small current around the golden dot and pressed it gently against the sphere around her. The layered wall opened almost immediately. Adrian had felt her Will across the distance, and the willforce feeding the structure withdrew as smoothly as if he had been standing beside her.
The Solvaren Clan Leader looked upward when Hestia opened her eyes. The remaining council elders had gathered among the ruins of the governing hall, several bearing injuries left by their earlier battle, while Narev remained near the broken conference table with blood darkening one side of his robes. None attempted to approach her, but every gaze followed as Hestia lowered herself into the shattered chamber.
She did not ask what had happened or offer another explanation for her interference. Her attention passed across the surviving portions of the hall before settling upon the Clan Leader. "Does the Hall of the Silent Furnace still exist?"
The Clan Leader's eyes narrowed. The Hall of the Silent Furnace predated the governing district, the imperial registries, and nearly every formation presently covering Nerath. Each Solvaren Clan Leader still entered it alone before accepting the patriarchal seal, although the ancient chamber remained closed at every other time and almost no outsider knew its original name.
"It remains beneath the succession court," he answered carefully. "How do you know of it?"
Hestia turned toward the damaged passage leading deeper into the inner district. "Take me there. Bring Narev and every surviving member of your governing council."
The Clan Leader glanced through the open roof toward Adrian's distant position before looking back at the woman who had stopped the council battle, awakened a Chime beneath the enforcement elder's attack, and now stood beneath an Anchor sovereign's protection. He still did not know her identity or purpose, but Nerath no longer offered him the luxury of refusing her.
He issued several rapid instructions through his UNI-OS and led Hestia toward the restricted levels beneath Avaris. Narev followed with the support of the senior commission elder, while the remaining council members entered the passage behind them. The ancient doors sealed once the last elder crossed the threshold, concealing Hestia and the Solvaren leadership from the ruined district above.
...
Far beyond the planet, Adrian felt Hestia's willforce touch the sphere he had placed around her and immediately withdrew the structure. The brief contact carried enough clarity for him to understand what had happened. "She has stabilized."
Within seconds, his perception followed Hestia as she descended from the ruined hall and departed alongside the Solvaren elders rather than calling for him. Adrian understood the choice without needing an explanation. Whatever remained unresolved inside Nerath, Hestia intended to handle it herself.
"No one will enter Nerath in the meantime." Adrian thought.
Adrian returned his attention to the dark-gold Ebon Meridian vessel holding position before the defensive arc of Keldovan warships. He had already decided to remain where he was until more important elders arrived, yet several minutes had passed without another elder-level figure appearing before him.
Just as Adrian began wondering how long Ebon Meridian intended to make him wait, he sensed two spatial disturbances from within the dark-gold vessel.
Seconds later, two figures emerged into the void.
Both wore the same dark-gold elder robes Adrian had seen upon the enforcement elder, and the pressure contained within their bodies immediately confirmed that they were Astral cultivators. They were also noticeably stronger than the elder Adrian had killed, possessing far greater stability in both their mana and consciousness.
The two elders stopped several thousand kilometers away from Adrian rather than approaching recklessly. Neither attempted an immediate attack. They had already seen enough of the transmitted battle records to understand what stood before them, but they also possessed responsibilities toward any threat that appeared within territory governed by their sect.
"An imperial commissioner was murdered beneath our protection, and you killed the enforcement elder sent to restore order," the first elder declared. "Disclose your identity and remain within the Nerath system. Ebon Meridian will decide what judgment follows."
Adrian did not answer or even turn fully toward him.
The second elder's jaw tightened at the dismissal. "Do not believe your cultivation places you above our sect. Our Sect Leader possesses strength far beyond yours. Continuing to resist will only lead to your death."
Adrian's gaze finally moved toward them.
Both elders saw the change and released their prepared Willforce Walls at the same instant, but Adrian's will had already manifested onto them. That instant, the layered walls collapsed around their minds, and the pressure erased the thoughts required to complete either retreat before closing upon the golden dots at their centers. Both life-signatures vanished together.
"What?" The disciples upon the vessels were shocked. They had known that the unknown man was an Anchor sovereign, but none of them had expected him to kill two powerful Astral elders so casually that neither had managed to complete a single response. More disturbing than the ease of their deaths was the complete absence of hesitation. The sovereign had not argued with them, threatened them, or even answered their demands. He had simply looked in their direction and ended both lives.
"Keep sending more," Adrian thought as he looked at the bodies drifting.
Another spatial disturbance appeared within the vessel less than a minute later. The person who emerged now possessed similar pressure as the elders before.
But unlike the two elders whose bodies remained within his sight, he did not begin reciting the authority of his sect. He stopped at a respectful distance from Adrian and studied him for several seconds before lowering his head by the smallest degree that respect required.
"Senior, I am Kethren, personal disciple of Sect Leader Orveth," he said. "My master placed me in command of the response and authorized me to negotiate a settlement. If Ebon Meridian has caused you an injury, state what you require."
For the first time since taking his position beyond Nerath, Adrian opened his mouth to answer. "My wife wished to travel, so I accompanied her into this galaxy," Adrian said. "She has a troublesome habit of protecting strangers, so when she saw six surrounding one wounded man, she stepped between them. Your elder could have questioned her. Instead, he dared to attack her and attempted to kill her."
Kethren's attention shifted briefly toward Nerath. "The enforcement elder was responding to the assassination of an imperial commissioner. If the woman interfered before he could determine—"
"I did not ask why your elder believed he was permitted to touch her," Adrian interrupted. "I killed him because he tried. The next two died because they thought your Sect Leader's name would protect them. If your sect believes any of those decisions require an explanation, your master may come here and explain why the opinion of a Lesser Major Sect should matter to me."
The explanation Adrian presented was fabricated, but only where necessary. He wove enough truth through the story to make every visible event fit naturally while deliberately adopting the manner of an entitled cultivator accustomed to standing above organizations like Ebon Meridian. He offered no name, no origin, and nothing that could actually connect either him or Hestia to Andromeda.
Kethren's gaze remained fixed upon Adrian, but the pause before his next question lasted noticeably longer. Adrian saw the uncertainty behind it. He had offered no name that could be verified, and Kethren could neither confirm that a greater power stood behind his contempt nor safely assume that one did not.
"Senior, I offer my apologies for what occurred," Kethren said at last. "The enforcement elder responsible is already dead, and I hope his death can be considered sufficient to settle the matter."
Adrian raised an eyebrow before laughter rolled through the void. "Hahaha! How outrageous. Do you truly believe the insignificant lives of a few elders are enough?"
Kethren remained silent for a moment before asking, "What further compensation do you demand?"
"Ebon Meridian will transfer every covenant, administrative office, enforcement privilege, and dependent holding it possesses throughout the Keldovan Empire to my wife," Adrian answered. "Every obligation established beneath those rights will become hers to preserve or extinguish as she chooses, and your sect will withdraw every disciple within Keldovan."
For the first time, Kethren's composure visibly hardened.
"That is not compensation," he said. "You are demanding the complete regional foundation our sect has constructed across an empire."
"Your sect elder dared to touch my wife," Adrian replied. "Everything Ebon Meridian possesses would not equal her. I limited my demand only because she would dislike governing your ruins."
Dark-gold mana gathered instinctively around Kethren's hands before he forced the reaction back beneath his robes. "No disciple or elder possesses the authority to concede such a demand. Even if a power greater than ours stands behind you, entering our territory, killing three elders, and demanding everything we have constructed within Keldovan does not make those holdings yours."
Adrian regarded him for one final moment without another word. According to the entitled role Adrian had chosen to play, allowing a disciple to continue speaking to him in that manner would have been the greater inconsistency.
He disappeared from Kethren's perception, and his fist struck the personal disciple across the face before Kethren could turn.
BOOM!
The impact hurled Kethren through the void and drove him into a nearby asteroid hard enough to break open a large section of its surface. His Astral Core surged immediately, his domain attempted to unfold, and the golden dot within his consciousness poured willforce into every prepared defense he possessed.
Adrian's willforce closed around him before any of those structures could stabilize.
The forming domain crumpled beneath the invisible pressure. Adrian's intent seized Kethren's body, tore him free from the shattered asteroid, and dragged him back across the void before another fist struck directly into his chest.
BOOM!
The resulting impact exploded through the surrounding space with a violent concussion as Kethren's body folded around Adrian's fist. Blood escaped his mouth before he was launched toward the dark-gold vessel, only for the same invisible grip to arrest his movement before he could collide with its defensive boundary.
Adrian drew him back for a third strike.
Before that blow could land, a dark figure materialized between them.
The newcomer possessed four long arms and a tall body formed from translucent black flesh. Dark-gold lines moved beneath his skin like living meridians, dividing and rejoining across his numerous joints, while a single vertical golden eye occupied the center of a face possessing no other visible features.
That golden eye remained fixed entirely upon Adrian.
The instant he appeared, his willforce surged outward. Adrian's pressure answered naturally, and the opposing wills of two Anchors descended upon the surrounding void. The Keldovan vessels recoiled farther from the confrontation, while the dark-gold Ebon Meridian vessel strained beneath the metaphysical weight gathering before it.
Kethren forced his battered body upright and stabilized himself in the void. "Master."
Without taking his golden eye away from Adrian, the newcomer extended his will and pushed Kethren away from the space between them.
"I am Orveth, Sect Leader of Ebon Meridian," he said. "Repeat the compensation you believe my sect owes."