Chapter 488: The Law of Andromeda

A few minutes had passed since Rethan and Oskel seized the Crimson Vital station.

Orange light still covered the Crimson Vital station, reaching along its docking arms and through the windows of its trading halls. Heat gathered inside the corridors, while fine metallic sparks drifted above counters where unfinished purchases remained. Rethan watched another customer vessel withdraw from its berth, keeping his attention on the crimson-robed disciples who had been forced to remain behind.

Oskel floated a short distance beside him, his domain overlapping Rethan's across the entire station. Both of their fused Divine Concepts had reached Ultimate tier, each granting a full ninety percent authority. Within the overlapping domains, that share was divided evenly between them, leaving each brother with forty-five percent. Neither had any reason to challenge the other's control, and the station's defenses had already been suppressed.

Their consciousness extended through the occupied halls alongside their domains. Rethan could follow a disciple reaching for something on a counter, another speaking into a communication device, and several waiting beside ships they were forbidden to board. Beyond the domains, vessels had begun gathering at a distance, some remaining after evacuating their customers while others approached with recording devices pointed toward the station.

HUMMMM!

A sudden chill passed across Rethan's skin, raising the fine hairs along his arms. He turned toward the void beyond one of the docking arms and found Oskel looking in the same direction. Something was watching them from there, and the feeling was strong enough that Rethan immediately extended his perception farther, searching among the vessels and the empty space between them. He found nothing that explained it.

WHIZZ!

Before he could narrow the search, a disciple vanished from one of the station's inner passages, disappearing from his awareness without moving toward an exit.

WHIZZ! WHIZZ!

Rethan's attention snapped back to the passage just as two more disciples disappeared from separate parts of the trading hall.

"Someone is moving them," Oskel said, spreading his consciousness through the station.

WHIZZ! WHIZZ!

Another disciple vanished beside a closed storage room, followed almost immediately by one standing near a counter. There had been no approaching presence, no portal they had detected opening, and no trail leading away from any of the empty positions.

"Lock Arcane concepts of Space and Shadow!" Oskel imposed a direct command throughout the station. The restriction settled across the docking arms and occupied halls while Rethan searched for any Divine spell that might be concealed among the remaining disciples. No one else disappeared, but he still could not find the person responsible.

The feeling of being watched returned before he could speak, pressing against his awareness from below. Both brothers turned toward the station, their gazes settling upon the entrance beside one of the outer docking platforms. Adrian stood there in his crimson robes, his head raised toward them.

Rethan recognized him immediately, and the cold feeling across his skin grew stronger. Adrian was already inside their domains, standing close enough to the remaining disciples that he could have spoken to them without raising his voice. Neither brother had sensed his arrival, and even now Rethan could not identify the technique that had allowed him to enter and remove people from their control.

Beside him, Oskel drew his arms slightly away from his sides, gathering willforce as he studied the man below. The gaze that had made both of them search the void belonged to Adrian. Rethan could no longer trust his earlier estimate of the man's strength.

Adrian looked from the two brothers to the disciples stranded farther along the docking platform. A young woman stood beside a loading marker with her communication device still held against her chest, unable to follow the customers she had helped evacuate. They had seized people who could not even resist the pressure of their domains, and now they were holding them as something to bargain with. Adrian's anger deepened as he raised his eyes toward the men above the station.

"You came into my territory and took my disciples hostage," Adrian said, his voice carrying through the docking sections. "Did you think you could threaten my people and simply walk away?"

He extended his right hand toward them. Smoky willforce gathered around his fingers and divided into two streams within the Metaphysical Plane, reaching toward both brothers' consciousness. Rethan and Oskel reacted before the attack reached them, raising dense Willforce Walls that enclosed their minds in overlapping layers.

The smoke spread across those defenses, separating into countless fine threads that searched along the joins between layers. Most met resistance, but others found small gaps and slipped deeper before the brothers could close them. The threads that entered disturbed their concentration, leaving thoughts unfinished and making their bodies slow to obey them.

Rethan's hand stopped halfway through a movement. Beside him, Oskel's body tilted forward before he forced himself upright, the orange light around his shoulders flickering as his control faltered. Both poured more willforce into their walls, trying to reinforce the sections through which the smoke continued entering.

Adrian kept his hand raised, adjusting the two streams whenever they strengthened a layer. The brothers tried to gather willforce to strike back, but each attempt left their walls weaker and forced them to return their attention to defending themselves. Their domains still covered the station, yet neither could spare enough concentration to turn that control against him.

Inside a nearby ship, the reporter moved his recording device closer to the viewing window. He had enlarged the image enough to show Adrian standing on the platform and both brothers above him, but there was no visible attack between them. Oskel's hands were raised before his body, while Rethan had sunk lower and was struggling to remain beside him.

Not on NovelPhoenix? Then this is a pirated copy.

"This appears to be a willforce attack," the reporter said, keeping the device steady as he watched Rethan falter again. "It will not appear in the recording. Elder Adrian is facing both Anchors alone, and neither of them has been able to strike back."

When the two brothers first took control of the station, the reporter had immediately gathered whatever public information he could find about them. Both were long-established Anchors whose histories stretched across millions of years.

From the moment he learned that, he had expected Crimson Vital's response to involve multiple powerful cultivators and a battle violent enough to destroy the entire station.

But what was happening now looked nothing like what he expected. Elder Adrian had arrived alone, and he was somehow suppressing both of the Anchors simultaneously. Watching Rethan struggle to lift his head, the reporter began to wonder whether either brother would leave the station alive.

On the platform, the young disciple lowered her communication device slightly. She could not see what her elder was doing, but she could see the two brothers, and the fear that had held her attention since the customers left began to ease. Another disciple beside the entrance straightened as he watched Adrian, pride spreading across his face despite the restraint that still kept him from leaving.

Above them, Rethan forced another layer into his wall and briefly cleared enough of the smoke to look toward his brother. Oskel was struggling to remain level with him, his raised hands trembling under the effort. Rethan tried to call his name, but a fresh wave of pain broke his concentration before he could speak.

He had brought Oskel here because he believed holding Crimson Vital's disciples would give them a chance to negotiate. Now he could barely keep his own thoughts steady enough to speak. Any attempt to seize a disciple or turn his authority against the station would leave his wall open to the willforce already pressing through it.

Rethan shifted closer to Oskel and caught his brother's upper arm. "Leave while I hold him," he said, pushing him toward the void beyond the station. "Mireth is waiting for us. If we both die here, who is going to look after her?"

Oskel caught his wrist instead of moving away. "And what am I supposed to tell her? That I left you here to die?" His body dipped again, but his grip remained firm as he forced more willforce into the wall around his mind. "I am not leaving you. We got into this together, and we are leaving together."

"You can still get away if I keep him occupied," Rethan insisted, though he could not be certain even that much was possible. He tried to free his arm so he could push Oskel farther away, but his brother stayed beside him, refusing to release his wrist.

"She needs both of us," Oskel said, his voice strained as another thread slipped through his defense. "Help me hold him back. I will not go without you."

The wall around Oskel's consciousness grew denser as he spoke. Its overlapping layers pressed closer together, closing several of the small openings through which the smoke had been entering. He steadied himself beside Rethan, and the grip around his brother's wrist stopped trembling.

Rethan felt the change and gathered his own willforce around the thought of bringing them both home. The pressure still hurt, and the smoke continued searching their defenses, but his wall began holding more firmly. For the first time since Adrian raised his hand, both brothers managed to remain upright without repeatedly correcting their positions.

Down on the platform, Adrian noticed the change in their resistance. The smoke that had been slipping through several weak points now gathered against reinforced layers, forcing him to search for other openings. Their concern for each other had strengthened the intent holding those walls together, enough to slow his attack despite their exhaustion.

A faint smile touched his lips as their defenses steadied. "Interesting," he said quietly. Their determination to protect each other gave him a reason to hear them before deciding their punishment, and he raised his voice so both could hear him. "Surrender, and I will spare your lives. We can speak in private."

Rethan looked down at him, struggling to decide whether lowering his defenses would mean dying before he could say another word. Oskel remained close beside him, still feeding willforce into his wall. Neither answered immediately, and the two streams of smoke continued pressing against them.

Adrian waited several moments before speaking again. "I see you are not going to surrender that easily."

Suddenly, points of condensed willforce began appearing behind him. Both brothers' eyes widened as they witnessed tens of thousands of needle-shaped willforce structures filling the void behind Adrian like a field of stars.

"What the hell is this?" Rethan muttered.

Oskel swallowed as he stared at the formation spread across the space behind Adrian.

In all the millions of years they had lived, neither brother had ever witnessed a willforce attack of such scale. They had seen techniques that could shatter an unprotected consciousness and had survived battles against other Anchors, but nothing they had encountered resembled the vast formation now held above the station. Every needle remained steady, each one carrying concentrated intent while the smoke already forcing them to their limits continued without weakening.

The willforce pressing around their bodies grew heavier. Rethan's arm sank despite his effort to keep it raised, and Oskel tightened his grip on his wrist. Neither could look away from the needles while the smoke continued wearing down the defenses that would have to withstand them.

"Are you going to surrender now or not?" Adrian asked, looking up at them beneath the countless needles. His voice was no louder than before, and he made no further movement while he waited for their answer.

Rethan understood that their strengthened walls would make little difference if that formation struck. He had been trying to give Oskel a chance to escape while Adrian was holding this much strength in reserve. If he refused the offer now, there would be no one returning to Mireth.

"We surrender," Rethan said, his voice carrying toward the station and the vessels watching it. Oskel turned toward him as though he wanted to object, but Rethan tightened his hand around his brother's arm. "We will release everyone."

Oskel looked once more at the formation behind Adrian before lowering his eyes. Together, the brothers withdrew their domains, drawing the orange light away from the station and releasing the restraints throughout its halls and docking sections. The young disciple beside the loading marker stumbled when she could move again, catching herself against the nearby railing as the metallic sparks faded around her.

Adrian lowered his hand, and the needles vanished along with the smoke. Rethan's shoulders dropped as the pressure left him, but the pain within his consciousness remained. He needed several moments to hold his position steadily, while Oskel pressed a hand against his temple and kept the other on his brother's arm. Rethan could feel how close he had come to losing consciousness, and his brother seemed barely better off.

Inside his starship, the reporter stared at the station as its protective formations began brightening again. His device was still pointed toward the platform, and suddenly, Adrian turned and looked directly into its lens.

A chill ran across the reporter's skin. He took an involuntary step back from the window, keeping his device pointed toward the platform. There were other ships nearby and other devices watching Adrian, but he had turned directly toward this one. Through its lens, Adrian faced everyone watching the transmission.

"No matter who you are, if you enter Andromeda, you have to obey its laws. If you threaten the people under our protection, I will come for you. Do not expect me to spare you."