Sentinel, Aurelia, and Aerin explored the UNI-Hub together, moving through the vast and lively food district that stretched across several interconnected streets.
Aerin darted excitedly from store to store, tugging at Aurelia's hand whenever she spotted something new. Exotic scents filled the air. Colorful displays of mana-enriched delicacies lined both sides of the street, vendors calling out in languages that shifted seamlessly through UNI-OS translation. Her curiosity showed no sign of slowing, and for a time, everything felt peaceful.
Aurelia glanced at Sentinel, who walked beside them with his hands clasped behind his back.
"She's going to bankrupt us at this rate," Aurelia said, though her tone carried no real complaint.
Sentinel smiled, "Adrian gave us enough. Let her enjoy it."
Aerin had already stopped at another stall, eyes wide as she examined a tray of shimmering spheres that pulsed with contained spatial essence. The vendor, a six-armed being with scales instead of skin, gestured enthusiastically.
Then Aurelia felt it.
A sudden distortion rippled through space, subtle at first, like a thread pulled taut.
In that same instant, a being within the crowd activated a formation token.
The air compressed violently. Everyone within a fifty-meter radius was pulled inward, space collapsing around them like fabric drawn toward a single point. The street, the shops, the bustling noise, all of it vanished in the span of a heartbeat.
Aurelia's hand shot out, grabbing Aerin by the wrist and yanking her close. Sentinel's arm locked around both of them as the world inverted, twisting through a passage that wasn't meant to exist.
Then they were elsewhere.
Because the area had been densely packed, more than a hundred beings were dragged into the formation's effect, including Sentinel, Aurelia, and Aerin, who had been standing well within its range.
Outside, several onlookers noticed the sudden disappearance and immediately reported the incident to UNI Enforcement.
...
Inside the sealed space, Aurelia reacted instantly.
She pulled Aerin close, gripping her firmly, while her senses swept outward. They were no longer in the UNI-Hub. Instead, they floated within a vast, empty void with no stars in sight, its boundaries clearly sealed, yet crowded with many beings.
The void pressed against her awareness. No ambient mana flowed here, only what each cultivator carried within themselves. The formation had severed this pocket entirely from the surrounding reality.
Beings floated everywhere, confusion and fear spreading rapidly through the crowd. Just moments ago, they had been walking through a food district. Now they were trapped inside what was unmistakably a sealed pocket of space.
Aurelia turned slightly and saw Sentinel gripping her hand tightly.
"Stay close," he said quietly, his voice stripped of its earlier warmth.
His gaze swept the void, cataloging threats, exits, possibilities.
Aerin, sensing the danger even without understanding it, stopped moving and watched her surroundings with uncharacteristic seriousness. Her small hand clenched around Aurelia's sleeve.
"Mama?"
"Quiet, sweetheart."
Like them, they noticed that everyone trapped inside was Stellars. It looked like someone had targeted Stellars specifically, or something else was going on. Everyone's expressions ranged from shock to rising panic, but none of them fully understood what they had been pulled into.
A four-armed woman nearby activated a defensive artifact, golden light flaring around her body. Others followed suit, barriers and shields materializing in rapid succession. The void filled with the glow of desperate preparation.
"This is illegal!" someone shouted. "UNI Enforcement will—"
A voice boomed through the center of the sealed space, "I know you are here, Lyra. Come out obediently."
The voice echoed unnaturally, carrying authority that pressed against everyone present.
A Stellar near the edge of the crowd bristled and floated towards the center, anger overtaking his fear. He had seen this being activating the formation.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" he shouted, fists clenched. "How dare you drag us all in here? Release us immediately, or you will die when UNI Enforcement arrives!"
The being at the center turned slowly.
He was humanoid, with red-toned skin and four eyes arranged symmetrically across his face. His robes were pristine white, unmarked by blood or wear. His gaze fixed on the approaching Stellar without any visible emotion.
He did not reply. Instead, he raised his hand and cast a divine spell.
A pale blue fireball streaked forward, no larger than a fist. It moved fast, leaving no trail, and struck the approaching Stellar.
The impact was instantaneous. The Stellar's body disintegrated into ash before he could even scream, his defensive artifact shattering like glass.
Silence fell over the sealed space, and fear spread.
The remaining Stellars retreated instinctively, their confidence collapsing. Whatever assumptions they had held, that UNI Enforcement would intervene, that numbers might matter, that being inside the Hub offered protection, all of it vanished in that moment.
This was a Rule Stage cultivator, and he had just demonstrated that their lives meant nothing to him.
Sentinel's jaw tightened. His hand shifted slightly, positioning himself between the four-eyed being and his family.
The four-eyed being swept his gaze across the crowd again, his voice cold and deliberate.
"I said, Lyra. Come out."
No one responded.
The crowd pressed tighter together, instinctively seeking safety in numbers despite knowing it was meaningless. Many realized they had been dragged into a personal vendetta that had nothing to do with them.
Sentinel leaned closer, his voice barely a whisper. "This isn't about us. But if it escalates, stay behind me."
Aurelia nodded silently, her eyes never leaving the four-eyed cultivator.
They too understood the issue. This was not an attack on them. Someone among them was the true target, and they were simply collateral bystanders caught in a hunt.
Then someone stepped forward from the crowd.
A female humanoid with elongated ears and pale blue skin emerged into view. Her robes were worn, dried blood stained her side, evidence of injuries that had not fully healed. She stood tall despite her condition.
Her presence drew immediate attention.
Several Stellars near her edged away, unwilling to be associated with the target.
"I'm here, Varkas," she said.
Her voice was steady, but everyone could sense that the woman was exhausted, her aura flickering faintly like a candle struggling against the wind.
The four-eyed being smiled slowly. "Lyra," he said, savoring the name. "You're quite skilled at running."
His voice carried the satisfaction of a hunter who had cornered wounded prey after a long chase.
Lyra glanced briefly at the trapped Stellars around her, guilt flashing across her expression.
"I never intended to involve anyone else," she said. "Release the formation. This is between you and me."
Varkas chuckled softly.
"Release it?" His smile widened. "I spent so much effort capturing you. Do you truly think I would be dumb enough to release the formation and allow you to crawl back to your sect?"
Lyra clenched her fists. Around them, the trapped Stellars shifted nervously. Some kept edging away from Lyra, as if distance might somehow exclude them from what was coming.
"Hand over the key," Varkas continued coldly, "and I might consider letting you die quickly."
"Never," Lyra snapped. "That key is the only hope I have to heal my sect leader. You think you can do whatever you want? When my sect finds you, your death will be far worse than mine."
Her voice carried defiance despite the exhaustion bleeding through her aura.
Varkas sneered, "You believe you will survive long enough for that to matter?"
Seeing no point in further words, he activated his divine domain and surged forward, roaring as he attacked, "I will take the key, even if I have to kill you!"
Lyra activated her own divine domain in response.
The collision was immediate and catastrophic. Two divine domains slammed together, reality buckling where their authorities clashed.
The trapped Stellars could not even perceive the battle properly. Without the ability to see rule symbols or authority flows, the clash appeared as nothing more than distorted flashes and crushing pressure that threatened to pulverize their bodies.
And they did not have time to think about this, as the force of the colliding domains slammed into everyone present.
One by one, Stellars activated their domains just to survive the weight of two divine domains pressing against them.
Aurelia and Sentinel activated their domains as well, shielding Aerin between them. Aurelia's domains were reinforced by Sentinel's domains, the two working in perfect synchronization.
"Everyone, move back!" someone shouted.
But there was nowhere to go. The sealed space had boundaries, and the battle filled everything between them.
Even with their domains, the intensity was overwhelming. Some were killed outright by the shockwaves, their bodies torn apart without ever being directly targeted.
A four-armed woman's golden domain shattered as she screamed once before a pressure wave crushed her completely.
Another Stellar tried to flee toward the edge of the sealed space. The formation's boundary rejected him violently, and the backlash from the divine domains caught him mid-recoil. His body disintegrated into mist.
Sentinel's jaw clenched as he watched beings die around them.
"This is insane," he muttered.
Aurelia tightened her grip on Aerin, who remained unnaturally still between them. The child's eyes were wide, watching everything.
Suddenly, Lyra was hurled through the space and smashed violently into a cluster of Stellars. Those caught in the impact died instantly.
Their bodies crumpled, as blood sprayed outward in a crimson arc, which froze in the void.
Sentinel and Aurelia had been dangerously close to the impact. They barely managed to blink away in time, reappearing with Aerin held tightly between them.
Lyra stabilized herself and floated upright slowly, her gaze passing over the dead bodies drifting nearby. Pain and guilt flooded her expression.
Her hands trembled as she stared at the corpses.
"You've crossed the line, Varkas," she roared. "Even if I die today, I will not let anyone else die because of me!"
Her Rule Core surged. She brought her hand toward her chest, and her hand began to dissolve into pure energy.
The transformation was immediate. Flesh became luminous essence, spreading from her fingertips up her arm.
Varkas's eyes narrowed instantly.
"Using Energy body art in your condition?" he scoffed. "You'll kill yourself before you touch me."
"Risking your life for these insignificant mortals. Idiots like you are exactly why your sect has fallen into decay." He sneered.
He raised his hand, and a divine spell began to form, draining nearly 20% of his mana in an instant.
The spell materialized as a sphere of condensed blue fire, small but impossibly dense. An unbearable pressure descended on the sealed space. Everyone could feel it. If that spell detonated, no one here would survive.
"He's going to kill us all!" someone screamed.
Panic spread through the remaining Stellars.
Domains flared desperately, barriers layered upon barriers, but everyone understood the futility. A divine spell of that magnitude would erase everything within this sealed space.
Lyra did not retreat. Her hands pressed against her chest, her body continuing its transformation as she prepared to absorb the spell herself.
Her torso began dissolving now, the energy spreading rapidly. Pain etched itself across her face, but her resolve never wavered.
Sentinel pulled Aurelia and Aerin closer, his domain compressing tighter around them.
Aerin, held tightly in Aurelia's arms, saw it all. And in that moment, her eyes turned white-grey without her realizing it.
The miniature Source Seed within her pulsed once.
At the exact same instant—
Inside the UNI-Residence, Adrian's Source Seed pulsed violently.