Deep within the heart of the Aethelian Imperial Palace rested a place no citizen, no court scholar, and not even most royal bloodlines knew existed. It was buried beneath countless layers of fortified stone and space-warping formations, its presence erased from every public map and royal archive.
Only one corridor led to it, and even that corridor seemed to distort the senses; light bent strangely along its walls, and sound faded as though swallowed by an unseen tide.
The Emperor of Aethelia, Helcarion Vaelthir, walked this path with trembling steps.
His gilded robes, symbols of absolute authority across hundreds of star systems, felt suddenly meaningless here. The ceremonial crown that had witnessed countless executions sat heavy on his brow, a weight he barely noticed against the oppressive atmosphere surrounding him.
When he reached the chamber's entrance, even standing outside the sealed door made his body tremble. It was as if he stood in the presence of a god, something so far beyond mortal comprehension that his very cells recognized their insignificance.
Then a voice emanated from beyond the sealed door, calm, ancient, and indifferent.
"Enter."
Helcarion obeyed instantly. His hand moved to the door before conscious thought registered. The metal parted soundlessly, revealing the interior.
The chamber inside was deceptively simple, a circular space carved from unknown metal. The walls bore no symbols, no inscriptions, no decoration of any kind. Yet the emperor felt the surrounding pressure was like standing in fire and ice at the same time; burning and freezing, crushing and elevating, all at once.
And at its center sat a humanoid figure, cross-legged, motionless.
His skin shimmered in shifting shades of silver and pale blue, as if made of condensed starlight given flesh. His aura was sealed, but even sealed, it made the very chamber hum with suppressed force.
The figure opened his eyes, "What is it now, Helcarion? Why have you disturbed me?"
The Emperor immediately bowed low, pressing his forehead nearly to the cold metal floor, "Ancestor Arcton… I have come to report an anomaly within our dominion. A clan called Origin has risen with unprecedented speed, and its patriarch is a threat that grows beyond control."
Arcton's expression didn't change; his silver hand gestured lazily.
Helcarion withdrew a node containing every scrap of intelligence the empire had gathered.
He extended the node with both hands, as if presenting an offering to something divine.
It floated toward the silver-blue figure, stopping before him without being touched. Within seconds, every record of the Origin Clan, their meteoric rise, their battles, the knowledge spheres, the siege at Nyseren, Adrian's defiance, played across Arcton's perception in compressed streams of data.
Arcton watched in silence.
"Such an interesting specimen," he murmured, as if examining a curious insect.
Then his gaze slid to Helcarion, "So, Helcarion… you acted against a prodigy of this caliber?"
Helcarion stiffened, forcing his voice to remain steady.
"Ancestor, I was only following your edicts. You ordered every rising clan within Aethelia to be brought under imperial authority. Adrian refused from the very beginning; I merely attempted to bring him under the empire's command, but now… his growth is beyond anything expected."
He swallowed, continuing carefully.
"The deployment to Drakthor was meant to kill him, but even Arkan felt threatened by just Adrian's presence."
Arcton's eyes narrowed, the faintest sign of irritation.
He was the one who had crafted Aethelia from the shadows many millennia ago, shaping it as a net to gather talent, resources, artifacts, and comprehension. Every emperor who sat on the throne served as his puppet, steering the empire according to his will.
He had watched the rise of Lexaria, observed how they monopolized knowledge and grew fat on the galaxy's desperation. He saw the advantage of having an empire of his own, so he created Aethelia as a personal reservoir, as his farm, as his wellspring of power.
Aethelia was never built to rule the galaxy; it was built to feed him.
Every prodigy born within imperial borders eventually found their way into his hands. Every breakthrough, every artifact, every scrap of advanced comprehension, all of it flowed downward, through layers of intermediaries and secret channels, until it reached this chamber.
And the idea that a clan could rise outside his grasp was, to him, intolerable blasphemy.
He glanced again at Adrian's projection, watching the boy's face frozen in the node's display.
"A mere lesser being should know its place," Arcton said coldly. "You should have crushed him the instant he defied imperial command."
Helcarion's jaw tightened, but he remained silent.
Arcton stood.
The movement was small, merely rising from his meditative seat, but the entire chamber groaned.
Helcarion stumbled back involuntarily. His knees buckled despite every effort to stand firm, every instinct screaming that he was standing before a higher existence, not merely a powerful cultivator.
This was something beyond Stellar Warlord.
Arcton spoke again, "I shaped this empire so all enlightenment flows to me. Every treasure found, every advancement made, every prodigy born. All of it belongs under my hand."
He took a single step forward. "No clan under my domain is allowed to rise beyond my reach."
"I will go myself."
Helcarion felt a shiver of triumph cut through his fear.
Arcton was an ancient cultivator who existed before the formation of the Six Empires, before even the Demon Emperor carved his throne from blood. And he was moving personally.
"I will show this Adrian what it means to defy a higher existence," Arcton said.
Then he shot through the ceiling, vanishing through layers of fortified stone and spatial formations like they were nothing but air.
When the emperor finally staggered to his feet, he moved to the chamber's entrance, staring upward.
Far above, beyond the palace, beyond the atmosphere, a streak of silver light burned across the void, heading toward the farthest edge of the galaxy.
Helcarion stared at the fading trail of brilliance with a slow, satisfied smile spreading across his face, "Adrian… Origin Clan… your fate is sealed."
He felt invincible now. Other empires had to beg for ancient support, negotiate for scraps of attention from beings who cared nothing for mortal concerns. But Aethelia's founder was an ancient cultivator himself, the hidden pillar that allowed the empire to act with arrogance for generations.
With Arcton moving, the empire had already won.
Or so he believed.
...
Arcton was not a space cultivator; his mastery lay not in traversal. He could not bend distance, fold through void cracks, or slip between spatial layers the way Adrian does.
Yet his speed was still monstrous.
His body tore through the void, leaving silver trails that burned across the darkness. Within a few hours, he arrived at the Drakthor Sector.
What he saw made even him pause.
A massive star-system-scale formation hovered above the Origin Capital, its lattice of glowing runes stretching across the darkness like a web woven from light itself.
The formation felt alive, breathing, thinking, protecting.
Arcton's eyes narrowed, reflecting the formation's luminous arcs, "Such magnificence…"
He drifted closer, his admiration quickly twisted into greed, "A treasure like this born within Aethelia… how could it belong to anyone but me?"
He lifted a hand and pressed his palm forward, attempting to enter the capital's perimeter.
The formation reacted instantly.
Space twisted like ribbons, a barrage of converging distortions shot toward him, collapsing every direction around his body into lethal funnels. Gravity wells opened beside him, attempting to drag him into compressed singularities.
Arcton raised an eyebrow, he flicked two fingers, and the distortions shattered like glass.
"Even the defensive response holds elegance…" Arcton murmured, his voice carrying satisfaction, "I will enjoy claiming this."