Chapter 487: The First Consequence of Attention

"We are going to have more visitors like them," Hestia said as the chamber doors closed behind the brothers. She turned toward Adrian, who was still looking at the entrance. "The reports have only been spreading for a few days, and two Anchors have already come asking for something we cannot sell them."

"Yeah. And this Oskel was close to doing more than asking," Adrian replied. "He grew much more hostile at the end. If his brother had not stopped him, this might have turned into a fight."

Although Adrian was speaking about the confrontation that had just ended, Hestia understood the larger problem behind his words immediately. Nightshade had only just left after asking how Crimson Vital intended to protect the weaker sects of Andromeda from powerful outsiders, and before their next meeting was even over, one of those outsiders had threatened the rulers of the galaxy inside their own headquarters. The timing made Nightshade's concerns feel considerably less theoretical than they had less than an hour earlier.

"We need to make it clear that coming here does not give anyone the right to threaten our people," Adrian continued. "Perhaps what they have seen of our strength is still not enough."

"No. Absolutely not," Hestia replied at once. "We are already dealing with the consequences of what we revealed. Some people are afraid, as you intended, but many others are more curious about our growth than frightened by it. If we reveal even more of our disciples and how quickly they have advanced, we will only make outsiders more interested in discovering what we possess."

Adrian turned back toward her. He understood her concern. Strength could create fear, but the deterrence he truly wanted required something far beyond simply being stronger than the surrounding sects.

Crimson Vital needed enough overwhelming power that threatening it became an obviously foolish decision before anyone even considered what they might gain. Anything less could have the opposite effect. Showing outsiders that the sect possessed unusual strength without making that strength appear completely unreachable only encouraged them to ask where it came from and whether they could obtain the same advantage.

Until Crimson Vital grew powerful enough to make demands like Oskel's unthinkable, they would need to prepare for both reactions.

"You are right," Adrian said. "For now, we should at least make certain they actually intend to leave peacefully."

"I will ask Xeolze to follow them," Hestia said, opening her UNI-OS. "He can watch their movements and report anything unusual."

Adrian nodded while she sent the instructions. The defensive bases they had discussed with Nightshade would take time to arrange, and even when they were ready, ordinary reinforcements would be of little help against two Anchors.

…

A starship travelled through the void along one of the routes leading away from Sanguis Prime. Merchant vessels occupied the wider lanes beside it, while smaller ships separated from the stream wherever the navigation markers directed them toward another route. Inside the starship, a sharp crack sounded as Oskel's palm struck the low table between the seats.

"Damn it. They are clearly hiding something." He pulled his hand away from the split surface and looked at his brother. "Why did you stop me? We had barely put any pressure on them."

"Because we were sitting inside their headquarters," Rethan replied. "Adrian is an Anchor. Hestia is an Astral, and we do not know everything she can do. You wanted to start a fight with both of them while surrounded by their people and formations."

"I wanted them to take us seriously. We offered enough for them to help one person."

"And if they refused after you released your pressure? Would you have attacked?" Rethan waited, but Oskel did not answer. "We do not even know whether the organization behind Crimson Vital is real. If it is, there could have been someone stronger than him nearby, or several more Anchors. You were letting your anger decide before we knew what we were facing."

Oskel glanced toward the broken table. Rethan had been angry too, but he had kept it to himself. Nothing they had learned during that short visit justified starting a fight there.

"They offered to meet Mireth," Rethan added. "We could have heard what they were willing to do before you threatened them."

"More lessons and another training chamber?" Oskel looked back at him. "We have tried all of that. We have taught her ourselves, paid for facilities, and taken assignments across more galaxies than I care to count. Every time something helps, she gets a little farther before we have to begin searching again."

He gestured toward the reports still open beside Rethan. "Look at what is happening here. All those cultivators are advancing together. This is the first time we have found something that might keep helping her, and they expect us to believe it is only ordinary guidance. You believe that?"

Rethan studied the reports. Some disciples might already have been close to advancing, but that could not explain everything he had read. There were too many new Astrals, including elders whose earlier cultivation was well documented.

"No," he replied. "I think there is something they did not tell us. That still does not mean we can take it from their headquarters."

"We cannot just leave," Oskel said. "Whatever they have, we need to find out whether it can help Mireth. I am not going back to her with another resource that might help her understand a few more rules."

Rethan moved the cultivation reports aside and returned to the accounts of Hestia's rule. He had read them while researching the sect's growth, paying little attention then to the freedoms she had granted after Andromeda's war. Now he examined the public statements more carefully, including her promises to protect people who remained under Crimson Vital's authority.

"We do not need to enter their headquarters again," he said. "Hestia has made it clear that she values her disciples. If we hold some of them, she will have a reason to continue the discussion."

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Oskel leaned forward. "One of their businesses?"

"Outside a UNI hub," Rethan replied as he opened a commercial search. "Anything inside one would bring UNI into it. We choose a branch elsewhere, keep the people alive, and leave the property intact. We want her to agree to help Mireth."

"And the people who might be supporting them?"

"We will be away from their formations, and they will have to consider the captives before they attack us," Rethan replied. "Someone stronger could still come. But if we keep the people alive and the branch intact, Hestia may choose to settle this before anyone is harmed." He paused before continuing. "You cannot start killing disciples because they refuse to answer. If we want an agreement, there must still be a reason for them to make one."

Oskel nodded, and Rethan returned to the display. Sixteen nearby Crimson Vital branches appeared, with their products, locations, and estimated travel times listed beside them. He passed over the outlets inside UNI premises and selected one close to their current route. "Set our destination here," he instructed the ship.

The ship's navigation system accepted the coordinates through his UNI-OS and displayed a journey of twenty-seven minutes. Outside the window, the surrounding traffic shifted as the ship left its current lane and followed the markers toward the selected branch.

…

The Crimson Vital branch occupied a compact station suspended in the void near a busy junction between travel routes. Several docking arms extended from its central structure, where illuminated signs advertised alchemical supplies and healing artifacts. Ships approached in a steady line while those leaving the station joined an outward lane kept clear of incoming traffic.

Their vessel settled into an assigned berth. Rethan remained seated for a moment as his perception passed through the station, examining the people within its trading halls and docking sections. The busiest areas held several thousand customers and staff, but he found no consciousness comparable to his own among them.

Oskel finished his own examination and rose. Together, they left the ship and crossed the docking platform before lifting into the void above it.

VUMMM!

Two domains spread outward, passing through the station and enclosing its docking arms before the nearest vessels could withdraw.

Orange light washed across the viewing windows. Heat gathered in the corridors, and fine metallic sparks drifted above the floor without falling upon it. Both domains carried the same underlying primary rules of Fire and Metal, though the light around Oskel burned brighter as his authority spread through the occupied halls.

Protective formations brightened along the station's outer walls, but Rethan suppressed them before they could seal the docking exits. Crimson-robed disciples reached for their communication devices as warning symbols appeared across the displays behind their counters.

"Everyone who does not belong to Crimson Vital may leave," Rethan announced, his voice carrying through the halls and docking sections. "This branch is now under our control. The sect's disciples will remain here until their leaders come to speak with us."

Customers hurried toward the exits, leaving unfinished purchases on the counters. A disciple standing beside a row of healing artifacts began directing them toward the nearest dock, but when she tried to join a departing group, an unseen force stopped her. She tried to step forward again and found that she could not lift her foot.

"You were told to remain," Oskel said. His voice reached her as clearly as though he stood beside her. The customers passing through the same doorway hurried onward, afraid that they too might be stopped if they lingered.

Across the station, other disciples met the same restraint. Those already in the docking sections were held beside their vessels while customers boarded and withdrew. The station's staff could still speak and send messages, but neither brother allowed them to follow the departing ships.

Recordings began appearing on Andromeda's local forums before the first vessel cleared the docking arms. A merchant uploaded the announcement with an image of the two figures above the station. Another account showed customers rushing past a crimson-robed attendant who remained trapped beside the entrance.

A reporter visiting the branch to cover its healing artifacts raised a small recording device as he boarded his ship. Once inside, he turned the device toward a viewing window, where orange light enclosed the station behind the departing vessels.

"Customers are being allowed to leave, but Crimson Vital's disciples are still inside," he said as the live connection opened. "Two cultivators have taken control of the facility. Neither has attacked the departing ships, and they are demanding that the sect's leaders come here."

Local networks began carrying the transmission, and larger channels picked it up as more witnesses shared their recordings.

Farther from the station, Xeolze stood before a projection inside another starship. His black helmet reflected the orange light in the displayed image. He had followed the brothers at a distance through the ordinary traffic, without extending his consciousness toward their vessel, and had remained outside the station when they docked.

He had sent Hestia the coordinates and a first warning as soon as the domains spread and Rethan announced the seizure. Now he added the live transmission and confirmed that the disciples were being held inside. He kept his vessel among the ships outside the brothers' domains and waited for instructions.

…

Less than an hour after the brothers had left, their images appeared above the meeting table in the Crimson Spire. Hestia opened Xeolze's report, then enlarged the live transmission beside it. Adrian watched a departing ship pass a docking platform where several disciples stood unable to move.

Hestia rose from her chair and opened a connection to the branch. "How dare they!"

"Calm down, Hestia. I will go," Adrian said, standing beside her. "Keep Xeolze outside their domains. We need him to continue reporting what happens around the station."

She turned toward him. "There are two of them, Adrian. The information we have on those brothers says both have been seasoned Anchor-stage beings for several million years."

"I know, but we cannot leave our disciples in their hands. And right now, I am the only one who can face them."

Adrian looked toward the two figures suspended within the live transmission. Their consciousness stage alone was enough to make the situation dangerous, and everything recorded about their histories suggested that neither was a newly advanced Anchor still learning to control that level of power.

Yet there was no one else available who could reasonably confront both of them.

Hestia understood that as well, and she turned back toward the report while forwarding the station's location to him. "I will stay in contact with Xeolze and the branch. If anything changes, you will know."

Adrian nodded. Space shifted around him, and he disappeared from beside the meeting table while the live transmission continued playing above it.

…

Within Andromeda's UNI hub, an officer stood before Vaelon as the same transmission appeared in the overseer's chamber. The golden-skinned elder watched the ships leaving the station, his hands resting upon the arms of his chair beneath the loose sleeves of his robes.

"The facility belongs to Crimson Vital," the officer reported. "Their disciples are being held inside. Should we send anyone?"

"Have they interfered with our hub or any of our operations?" Vaelon asked. The officer checked the accompanying reports before shaking his head, and Vaelon returned his attention to the projection. "There is your answer. The station is theirs, and so is the territory around it. Its protection is their responsibility."

"Understood, Senior Vaelon. We will continue watching."

"Make certain the others understand as well," Vaelon said. "A Great Sect does not send its people whenever a lesser sect fails to defend its holdings. If their conflict threatens our operations, inform me. Until that happens, no one is to interfere."

The officer bowed and withdrew to pass on the order. Vaelon remained seated as another vessel left the station, and the recording turned toward the disciples still trapped behind it.

Even if the fighting spread through the rest of Andromeda, Vaelon saw no reason for UNI to involve itself while its own operations remained unaffected.

He settled more comfortably into his chair and continued watching, treating this as mere entertainment to pass his time.