A female voice pierced the absolute silence of the Void. "The levisnic just sent word. The human-drow survived and got rid of the Void Miasma Container."

An androgynous voice snorted. "I told you that would happen. You insist he's just a first-class talent. You weren't in elite combat training with us. I trained him; I know his potential."

"But," the female continued, "Luttus Vailus accomplished a positive first contact with the Hopeless Wanderer. They believe the dragon might be willing to join us if we present our cause in the right light."

An ancient old voice replied, "The Hopeless Wanderer is too weak to matter. And unstable."

A timid-sounding child said, "He's easily controllable and disposable. Samir is a useful front-line. We can use it and the chaos of the Void Tide to reinstate some projects."

The androgynous voice disagreed, "That'll reveal the levisnic's betrayal. We got word of SpecOps and the Primordial Bridge meeting at least a few times during the Calami—"

The voice owner disappeared from the Void, popping back into Reality. His sudden disappearance caused discomfort in the others, who all immediately left their meeting point and returned to Reality.

The Silent Brother was the first to leave, and he wasn't surprised to find himself surrounded by Demi-Primordial Chains wielded by a cthulhu. His fortress was gone, replaced by the star-system-sized body of the self-important octopus. The creature itself also surrounded him, although, for all its size, its presence was less threatening than the chains.

Their Realizations clashed passively, their Paths vying for control over the region, but none had yet attacked.

"Will you come willingly?" its whispery voice asked. "We would rather not lose any A-rank in a Void Tide. You could pay for many of your sins by assisting us."

He considered it. He would likely manage to escape if he fought, but leaving the Alliance would be a shame. Even if his life's work had just been destroyed, he had learned to enjoy the place more than the damn Collective. Those people were idiots for not joining the Alliance.

He tilted his head, answering the question. His meaning was conveyed through his Realization. He would consider giving up if his hunter explained how it had found them.

The cthulhu also tilted its massive head in answer. Space broke, and Tears into the Void appeared. They immediately closed by the thing's sheer will. It didn't use its Realization, only—

The Silent Brother widened his eyes at that. That was the infernals' Absolute Horizon! But she wasn't an infernal—

Understanding struck him. So that was it. These damn millions-of-years-old creatures plotted as well as the inferior ranks believed every A-rank could plot. The reach of their every tentacle was more extensive than anyone could guess.

They had prepared the human-drow and thrown him in the river long before the Perpetual Faction started fishing for the one they believed to be a minor fish instead of bait.

It started with the Dreamer's death. The Republic of Imperia had acted behind the scenes, while the drow and high elves had acted overtly to dispose of their Faction's very useful puppet. That the Dreamer had already betrayed them was irrelevant.

Their Faction knew better than to get revenge anytime soon because they knew the Bridge would keep a watch over those three powers. However, targeting small people here and there would cause no issues. Such targets were too far disconnected from them. The most obvious of them was the human-drow. The three powers were interested in him, and their Faction would link him to the Void Miasma Container and cause an investigation against the three races. He would also die in the process, in the military, a show of power against the three powers.

They had investigated and knew for a fact that no one that mattered was near the boy at that moment or paying close attention. The Void Tide they knew was coming would ensure that.

The Queen of Spring and Autumn was in La'sing. Imperia's Grand Senator was mid-teleportation. The weird B-rank drow, Darla, was injured and recovering. The Drow Triarchy was fighting the Calamity, which would take a few extra weeks to settle, at the very least. The Hopeless Wanderer wouldn't stop the attempt because of its personality. The cthulhu near the dragon was forbidden from interfering unless it detected an S-tier threat. The A-tier Monitoring Priority would record Luttus acting in SpecOps's interest, nothing else.

But the Bridge had prepared long ago. The day the former Drow Maiden Realized her Path, ranked up, and killed the Orc Rising Star, the Bridge's hunting dogs, the cthulhus, got to her and read her mind. They followed the lead of her memories to the boy because he might be connected with the Hopeless Wanderer, whom they were pursuing back then.

Then, they read his mind and, as an "apology," gave him a Realization Impartation.

That increased the boy's willpower, who already had a Triple-Layered Aura and a first-class talent. The Silent Brother didn't know if the Queen of Spring and Autumn was also in on it when she used the Baptism of Self on him, but it was likely a happy "coincidence" the Bridge expected to happen because of her son's friendship with the boy. However, they were probably involved in placing the boy coincidently under a B-rank that could add to the Baptism and give the boy a True Self.

The factors required to produce an Absolute Horizon were in place. It happened. It attracted the ire of the infernals.

The Perpetual Faction approached the infernals to make a deal and connections. The Faction would get legally rid of the boy, and the infernals wouldn't need to dirty their hands.

That's when the Primordial Bridge found the Faction; they had planned for that from the beginning.

Well, "finding" was a bit of a big word. Everyone knew who they were and what they stood for. But only by being at the right place, at the right time, could anyone link them to anything illegal and start investigating. They were A-rank, after all. That deal with the infernals caused them to illegally interfere with SpecOps. From there, looking into their past and figuring out their sins was a piece of cake for A-ranks with control over Time, like these hunting dogs.

A simple Realization Impartation back then had cascaded into the Faction's demise.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

In fact, what surprised the Silent Brother the most was how quick everything happened. A-ranks' schemes were measured in at least hundreds of years. Everything had to be in place for that plan to work. The cthulhus had already had other ongoing plans but knew precisely when to steer them to use the boy against the Perpetual Faction.

Even then, that was a bit too much of a coincidence. Noticing and using a boy who was D-rank at the time? Impossible without privileged information.

He tilted his head again, asking if anyone had betrayed them.

"Put the chains, and I'll answer you," the female voice replied.

The Silent Brother complied. If the Bridge had planned that far and thoroughly, they likely knew how to trap him if he attempted to escape. Spending a few hundred thousand years in forced labor was better than the millions of years he would be sentenced to—and not survive as long—if he resisted and was captured.

Feeling the lock in his soul was horrible, but he would survive.

"The Starseizing Tower has secret rules," the cthulhu replied as it started decreasing in size. "They never help anyone who only seeks them after trying to groom their competition. They sold you as soon as the Dreamer died, and you considered purchasing their services."

That shocked him. The Starseizing Tower was known for never betraying its clients. It also claimed not to fear anything or anyone. Yet it did fear competition and sold anyone who tried to create one for them?

He stared at the creature, asking if it was a lie.

"You wouldn't understand," the creature replied. It was almost the height of the Silent Brother already. "You look at Time as just another Axiom, but it's also an Expression of Reality. That changes things."

He frowned. The cthulhu had misspoken. Time was an Aspect, not an Expression.

It understood his confusion but chuckled in answer. It was a horrifying sound that formed nightmarish creatures in the shadows of Space. They weren't real until the Void reached from beyond and absorbed them, giving them a Will to destroy at the fringes of Reality. Then, they started existing just beyond the veil, preparing to consume all that was. They were still connected to the cthulhu; still under its control.

The Silent Brother's eyes widened in shock. That was treason! Had the cthulhus betrayed the Bridge? That sounded impossible.

The alternative was...

The Primordial Purge was coming. Not in the future, as the Perpetual Faction expected, but soon. Already, the Bridge was deploying forces for when the time came. Even as they helped one side in the Calamity, they already expected that not to be enough to appease the Primordials. This very Void Tide might have been provoked by them after they noticed the Calamity was getting nowhere.

After a moment of astonishment, the Silent Brother relaxed and smiled. So he would fight with the Bridge against at least some of his old enemies. That didn't sound so bad.

The creature twisted spacetime to open a portal, leading the Silent Brother away.

‎ ‎

‎ ‎

Shen opened his eyes and found himself still in the vault. The mana barrier was gone, and so was almost everything else. Only the chains that had once been attached to the walls remained on the ground.

He grunted as he stood up. It felt like his soul had been mowed, crushed, ground into dust, pushed into a too-small container, and then glued together with the spit of derision of Void Spawn. His soul's trouble withstanding his domain was just part of it; the unnatural progression of his Path and stats also caused issues. And that ripple couldn't have helped, though at least he saw nothing wrong with his True Self.

His equipment had fared worse. He was naked, and his armor and spears were gone. So was his spatial ring.

"I lost my equipment in the line of duty," he informed the system. The mana barrier was gone, so it had returned. "I request someone help me recover the contents of my spatial ring." Whatever got destroyed during deployment was on him, but he would get a discount at having a B-rank help him recover the items inside the ring.

‎ ‎

| Request sent. Estimated Response Time: 3 days

‎ ‎

Samir was in chaos, so it would be a while since anyone cared for such a small business.

Next, he went for some discomfort release. His stats were suppressed to C-. He had to buy authorization from the system for them to reach C.

He went further, though. "Upgrade strength, agility, and resistance to C+," he requested.

As a cultivator, he wouldn't improve his stats to C+; he would only buy permission from the system not to have them blocked in the future. He had to cultivate on his own. He had planned to wait until any stat required an upgrade before purchasing the permission, but his domain made it a bad idea. He might use his domain, reach C+ stats in a place with the system, and be blocked. Even if he quickly purchased an upgrade, the slight delay in a fight might cause his demise.

‎ ‎

| Purchased: Strength Up (C) | -6,092,800 AP

| Purchased: Agility Up (C) | -6,092,800 AP

| Purchased: Resistance Up (C) | -6,092,800 AP

| Purchased: Strength Up (C+ [Potential]) | -12,185,600 AP

| Purchased: Agility Up (C+ [Potential]) | -12,185,600 AP

| Purchased: Resistance Up (C+ [Potential]) | -12,185,600 AP

| Total cost: -54,835,200 AP

| Remaining AP: 292,983,174

‎ ‎

His True Self relaxed a little when the blockade on his stats disappeared, but he still felt like shit.

The bad part was the absolute lack of notifications. He hadn't gained any AP for his trouble. The worst part was all the potential willpower gain he had lost. At least he was alive.

He checked the system's clock. He had been unconscious for a few hours. There were no messages or notifications about anything on the outside, and his Brigade should be going crazy at having to hold on to fugitives, so the vault door was still blocking some of the system's functions.

"I want to make a report," he said, then reported everything that had happened there.

Shen didn't hide a single thing. He didn't know which knowledge was valuable or what might upset whoever had thrown him in that place, so he might anger someone. Still, that was only a possibility. Hiding critical information about the Void, on the other hand, would be a horrible idea. The Void Tide made the Alliance less tolerant, and he belonged to an Exemplary Brigade. He wouldn't survive if anyone ever investigated the matter.

‎ ‎

| Report received

‎ ‎

Surprisingly, he merely got that confirmation notification when he was done. Were the cauldron and mist that irrelevant?

He sighed. As expected, the higher-ups already knew about it. He was just a sand grain in the desert, ignorant of the bigger picture, moving in whichever direction the wind blew. But if he had tried to hide his contact with the Void...

Shen spent a few extra minutes double-checking himself and his gains. His True Realm couldn't be deployed without using his domain, and he wouldn't be able to use it again for a couple of days. His soul needed to recover from the stress. Even then, he would only be able to use it for a second. A full recovery, for the ability to use it for five seconds, would take at least a few weeks.

Still, he was much stronger than before. And for all the potential gains his domain had taken from him, he had lucked out in not having qi during the fight. All his combat abilities were upgraded to be better without qi than they had been when he used them with qi, but that was it. Now, he could improve their qi-fueled version by himself. It was a thin silver lining considering everything he had lost, but he would take what he could.

He could also investigate how his stats were connected to his cultivation. He had improved in ways he didn't understand. The very Laws of Reality, under his domain's control, had changed him without good old cultivation, which he hadn't thought possible without the system's mana or his qi. Researching it might let him learn something more useful than merely cultivating for a long time and the small willpower improvement it would give him.

Shen took a spare C+ cultivator robe, footwear, and spear from his Inventory. He left it there just in case he ever lost his ring. He would need to recover the ring's contents, though.

That should be it. He had been gone for too long. It was time to see what had happened to the world outside while he took a nap.

"I'm First Lieutenant Shen, and I have the authority to check this safe's contents," he declared to the massive door. "I have already checked. I want to leave."

Unlike last time, the mana pulses released by the door's enchantments went far away and returned. A few seconds later, the massive thing started opening up.

Just in case, Shen rushed out of it as soon as the opening was large enough for him to pass through.