Chapter 501: The Name Aeon Spreads

A short while later, Adrian's UNI-OS token notified him that headquarters had approved his registration. He turned from the supply ships passing beneath the platform and opened the mission board. The notice that had kept the page empty disappeared, and he selected the assignments requiring Anchor consciousness.

— MISSION BOARD —

› Selected Board: Astral (Anchor)

› Open Missions at Current Clearance: 4

1. Convoy Under Attack — URGENT

› Location: Selvaris Galaxy

› Objective: Reinforce the convoy and secure its arrival at the receiving base

› Contribution Reward: 4,000

2. Reinforce the Supply Raid

› Location: Vardelis Galaxy

› Objective: Support the assault and destroy the designated Bloodfang supplies

› Contribution Reward: 5,000

3. Eliminate the Relay Raiders

› Location: Kelrath Galaxy

› Objective: Eliminate the Bloodfang force attacking the outer relay

› Contribution Reward: 3,600

4. Officer Escort

› Affiliation: Azure Ascendant Sect

› Objective: Escort one officer to the assigned destination

› Contribution Reward: 4,000

› Route Details: Provided at briefing

Adrian opened the urgent request. A supply convoy travelling through Selvaris had come under attack, and the Anchor protecting it was fighting a Bloodfang Anchor while their disciples battled around the transports. Several ships had already been damaged. The assignment required another Anchor to help break the attack and remain with the convoy until it reached its receiving base.

The second request concerned an allied assault on a Bloodfang supply group gathered within Vardelis. Its defending Anchor had held back the attacking elder, leaving the allied troops unable to reach the transports beneath the enemy's defensive formations.

In Kelrath, three Bloodfang Chime cultivators were leading an attack against a relay whose own formations were still holding. Its defenders needed someone strong enough to defeat the Bloodfang Chime cultivators and clear the surrounding force.

The escort entry contained little beyond the officer's affiliation and the required consciousness stage. Adrian returned to the first mission and accepted it. The convoy's latest coordinates appeared alongside the reference for an allied arrival point beyond the fighting. He used it to establish Continuity Gate and stepped through, leaving the base's traffic behind.

Supply vessels filled the void ahead of him. Several had drawn together behind overlapping barriers, while smaller craft carried wounded cultivators through openings in their hulls. Thousands of figures fought between the transports and the advancing Bloodfang force. Adrian could distinguish several races among the defenders, with different sect insignias upon their robes and armor, but their formations all faced the same approaching crimson light.

Above them, two Anchors fought where a pale-blue domain met a crimson one. A broad wave of blue essence broke against a curved blade, and the light scattered across the space separating their battle from the transports. Adrian turned toward them as the Bloodfang cultivator gathered willforce for another attack.

…

The elder swept his staff across an approaching blade and drove a pale-blue spell toward the Beastborn's chest. His opponent turned aside, but another current of hostile willforce was already reaching toward the disciples behind him. The elder met it with his own consciousness, breaking the pressure before it could settle upon the convoy's defenders.

An accepted reinforcement request appeared beside the battle reports above his wrist. He caught the name Aeon before his opponent abruptly looked beyond his shoulder. A man in white-grey robes was approaching from the allied arrival point, and the dense willforce presence accompanying him left little doubt that another Anchor had reached the battle.

"Pull back to the ships!" the Beastborn ordered. He drew his crimson domain closer and began retreating, sending a curved blade of essence toward the elder to interrupt pursuit. Below them, several Bloodfang groups broke away from their opponents and turned toward the vessels waiting behind their force.

The elder shattered the approaching spell with his staff and followed. "You think I will let you leave so easily?" he asked, driving another attack across the Beastborn's retreat. His opponent raised his weapon to meet it while continuing to move away from the newcomer.

"There are two of you now, but that does not mean you can stop me from leaving." The Beastborn glanced toward the newcomer again, and his movement suddenly stopped. The crimson light gathered along his blade scattered before he could release it, while his mental defenses shook under Adrian's pressure.

A chill passed through the elder despite most of that pressure being directed elsewhere. This Aeon's weight of consciousness was so immense, and it merely bearing down upon the enemy's mind made him freeze. The Beastborn's raised weapon trembled, but he could not bring it across to meet the staff already approaching him.

The elder drove its pointed end through his opponent's chest. Pale-blue essence burst outward inside the body, tearing through the Beastborn before he could recover control. His weapon fell from his hand, and the crimson domain vanished as his torn body drifted away from the staff.

Below them, the convoy's defenders pressed forward. Bloodfang's retreating groups lost the support of their elder's domain and began breaking apart beneath the pursuit. The allied elder ordered his disciples to cut them off from the transports, then turned toward the stranger who had made the opening possible.

"Did a Weave cultivator answer the request?" He brought the reinforcement entry closer with a small movement of his fingers. The details appeared while he crossed toward Aeon: Astral cultivation, Anchor consciousness, Independent Mission Service.

His gaze paused upon the consciousness entry. He had been fighting that Beastborn for some time, testing his defenses and trying to force an opening without leaving the convoy exposed. Yet another Anchor had arrived and stopped the same opponent with raw pressure alone. "Is he close to advancing? How much stronger would a shaped attack from him be?"

The elder lowered the display as he reached Aeon. "Thank you, Senior. I could not finish him while keeping his attacks away from the convoy." He glanced toward the disciples pursuing the broken enemy groups. "We should be able to clear the rest now."

Adrian looked toward the transports, where recovery craft were still moving between scattered groups. "I will stay until the convoy reaches the base," he said.

For the record, this text came from without the author's consent; reading the author's chapter there supports the writer.

The elder nodded and opened his communication channel to direct the returning ships.

…

By the time the surviving Bloodfang troops had been dealt with, several transports were still waiting for their last recovery craft. Adrian boarded the convoy's command vessel while crews brought the wounded inside and stabilized the damaged ships. One vessel had to be secured between two others before the group could resume its passage, and the elder remained beside the command display until every ship was moving.

The remaining journey ended without another attack. About an hour and a half had passed since the battle when the last transport entered the receiving base, most of it spent recovering the scattered personnel and preparing the damaged vessels to move. Adrian descended onto the command vessel's landing platform, where the elder joined him after confirming the convoy's arrival.

"Your contribution has been confirmed, Senior," he said. "Thank you for staying with us. The supplies and everyone we recovered are inside the base now."

"I am glad they arrived safely. I will take my leave." Adrian gave him a small nod and continued toward an outer passage. He opened his service record as he walked, finding the completed mission beneath his earlier contribution.

› Mission Completed: Convoy Under Attack

› Contribution Received: 4,000

› Current Contribution Points: 6,400

"The fight took only a moment, but finishing the assignment took another hour and a half." Adrian moved the display aside as a group of crew members passed him. "Even after the attackers were dead, those ships could not leave until their people were back aboard and the damage was dealt with. I need more assignments I can finish without waiting for a whole convoy to be ready."

The image of the tailed Beastborn escaping beneath the protection of another being's Will returned to his mind. Adrian had been strong enough to kill the man, yet he had failed to stop him from leaving. Even now, the future he and Hestia had seen could change before those peaceful days ever arrived.

"I need to reach the central fronts and learn how those cultivators use Weave. I cannot keep relying on the elder being unable to leave his assignment." He opened the board again and checked the supply raid in Vardelis. Its latest report still showed the two sides fighting around the defended transports. "This assignment ends when those supplies are destroyed. I can finish it much faster."

He accepted the request and headed toward the nearest outer platform, already bringing its arrival reference into view.

…

Within Vardelis, an Azure Ascendant elder drew his sword back from a crimson barrier and shifted aside as a heavy axe passed across his chest. The Beastborn opposite him followed with another blow, forcing him away from the supply ships again. Farther below, allied disciples were attacking the formations around the transports, but the defensive light closed over each opening before they could widen it.

His UNI-OS token announced that an independent Anchor had accepted the request. The elder sent the latest position and glanced toward the allied arrival point, intending to explain where the enemy had concentrated its defenses. A gate was already opening there, and a white-grey figure stepped out before his message was complete.

A dense consciousness appeared from the newcomer and bore down on the Beastborn's mind.

That instant, the Beastborn's control faltered, and the crimson domain thinned around him. Adrian used the opening to disappear from beside the gate and emerge near his opponent, a white-grey blade passing through the exposed neck.

"What the hell??" The elder thought as he stopped his own strike as the severed head drifted across its path, then turned toward the supply vessels whose defenders had already begun to scatter.

"Bring your disciples away from those ships," Adrian said. White-grey spheres were gathering around him as he looked toward the transport group. The elder sent the order at once, directing his people clear while keeping his own domain pressed against the retreating enemies.

The spheres crossed the cleared space and struck the remaining defensive formations. Barriers vanished around the points of contact, followed by broad sections of armored hull. More spheres entered through the openings, destroying the loaded transports while the elder's disciples attacked the Bloodfang troops trying to escape around them.

Within minutes, the supply ships marked for destruction had been reduced to scattered wreckage. Adrian approached while the elder was checking the final vessel's broken hull against the mission record. "Are any of the targets still intact?" he asked, lowering the blade until it dissolved beside his hand.

"No, Senior. That was the last of them." The elder confirmed the destruction and sent the completion report. "Your contribution has been recorded." He looked up to say more, but Adrian had already thanked him and turned toward a new passage opening in the void.

…

At the outer relay in Kelrath, a four-eyed officer watched another section of the station's barrier darken beneath the incoming attacks. Two of the Bloodfang Chimes had moved closer to that section, while the third directed spells against the defenders trying to reinforce it. The relay's own Chime commander was occupied with keeping their mental attacks away from the crews. Beyond them, Rule cultivators spread out to catch anyone who attempted to leave.

The officer sent his reserve toward the threatened section, expecting another heavy strike before they could reach it. Instead, the attacks outside abruptly stopped. All three Chimes had turned toward a man in white-grey robes beyond their encirclement, and the officer checked the reinforcement notice that had just appeared beside his orders. "It's an Anchor! We are saved!"

One tried to retreat. His body stiffened halfway through the movement, while the others struggled to raise their weapons under the same pressure. White-grey light crossed between them, and the officer watched one head separate before a blade passed through the second cultivator's chest. A sphere struck the third as he attempted to gather a spell, erasing his upper body.

The officer sent his waiting troops outside. They struck the nearest Bloodfang groups as the stranger moved through the others, breaking apart the formations surrounding the relay. The defenders who had spent the battle pressed against their own station were soon pursuing enemies beyond the reach of its barriers.

When the officer reached Adrian, the immediate threat had been cleared. He thanked him and confirmed the mission's contribution through his token. By the time he returned to the relay's outer platform, the gate behind their departing reinforcement had closed, and the crews were moving outside to inspect the damaged barrier.

…

On the alliance's war forum, a disciple from the Selvaris convoy attached a short recording to his account of their return. It showed the final exchange between the two Anchors, including the moment the Beastborn stopped moving before the allied elder's staff struck him. Several replies asked about the unfamiliar man standing nearby in white-grey robes.

"His name is Aeon. He answered our reinforcement request," the disciple wrote. "Our elder was fighting that Beastborn before he arrived. Aeon looked at him, and he could not even move his weapon to block the next attack."

A cultivator from Vardelis recognized the robes and replied beneath the recording. "He just helped us in Vardelis. Once their Anchor was dead, he had our elder call us away from the supply ships. He destroyed the whole transport group himself."

The relay officer in Kelrath found the same discussion while submitting his account of the attack. He added that Aeon had answered their request as well and was already gone, having finished before the crews could even inspect the damage. When someone asked whether the man was serving with one of the alliance's expeditions, another participant identified him as a newly registered independent cultivator from the Origin Sect.

Replies began arriving from people who had never heard of that sect. Others wanted to know where Aeon was taking his next assignment, while several compared the times of the three engagements. As the discussion spread, cultivators on other routes began asking about the newcomer as well.

…

Elsewhere in the void, Adrian opened his service record beside the mission board. The latest contribution had been added, bringing the three completed requests together beneath his earlier record.

— SERVICE RECORD —

› Name: Aeon

› Service: Independent Mission Service

› Contribution Points: 15,000

— MISSION BOARD —

› Selected Board: Astral (Anchor)

› Open Missions at Current Clearance: 1

1. Officer Escort

› Affiliation: Azure Ascendant Sect

› Objective: Escort one officer to the assigned destination

› Contribution Reward: 4,000

› Status: Open

Adrian refreshed the page, but the escort remained the only entry. "Another escort could keep me occupied for hours. I should see whether another attack request appears."

He left the board open and checked the latest notices while waiting, returning to the mission list several times over the next few minutes. But no new Anchor request appeared.

Adrian looked at the single listing before opening its description. "Finishing missions quickly does not mean another one will be waiting for me. They request an Anchor when they actually need one, and I cannot decide when that will happen. Standing here waiting will not help me reach the central front either."

The officer's name appeared beneath the expanded heading, followed by the place where the escort was to report.

— OFFICER ESCORT —

› Passenger: Orynden

› Affiliation: Azure Ascendant Sect

› Required Cultivation: Astral (Anchor)

› Reporting Location: Istraven Defensive Base, Selvaris Galaxy

› Destination and Route: Provided during briefing

› Additional Instructions: Report to the passenger before departure

Adrian considered the assignment for another moment before accepting it. The reporting location appeared immediately, together with the base's authorized arrival reference.

He formed Continuity Gate before him, watched the connection stabilize, and stepped through toward Istraven.