Kairen hovered in the dark expanse of space, mind expanded as she tried to pierce through the wall of nothing blocking her sight from the past event of this system.

  She knew that bringing in a higher-level Primarch had a greater chance of breaking through this barricade, but doing so would be an admittance that she was unfit for the task granted to her.

  "Adjudicator Kairen, I would like to advise you to reconsider your choice not to invite assistance from the higher-tiered Primarchs."

  Over her shoulder, a tiny figure said. Her minder, Nar, was putting on a fitting black dress with silver stripes, in contrast to her golden yellow skin. Her hands were gracefully folded over her belly as she turned to regard her controller.

  "Certainly, their assistance would go a long way in solving this... Anomaly that seems to plague us. There's a high chance th—"

  "No," Kairen interrupted. "Focus on your job and leave me to my troubles. Should I need any assistance, Nar, I will make such a request myself, not you. Is that understood?"

  Nar nodded. "In that case, a second anomaly such as this has been found. Two, in fact."

  "Where was this?"

  "One occurred at an Aveanii outpost on the fringe of the Lese territories. Almost two weeks ago, a battle took place on the dead world, with a major clash between a Lese Divine King and an Aveanii's. An ascended technique was used, but that's not why I called your attention to it.

  "From what I'm reading, something was taken, something very important to the Aveanii hegemon of this region. They're saying nothing about it, which makes the issue all the more intriguing. I—"

  "Tell me you didn't just draw my attention from an important task to gossip about the goings ons between the local hegemonies of this fringe system?"

  Kairen turned to stare at her minder, watching as the creature suddenly became flustered, as she should be.

  On a normal day, news like this would have been worth noting about, and even to a greater extent, worth investigating. The debt of a fringe hegemony, even ones as small as this, was something she wouldn't pass up a chance at acquiring.

  But they were on a task, a very important one that had drawn the attention of even the high and lofty Transcendants. Gossiping was as far from her mind as the earth was to the sun.

  "Ah," Nar stammered. "Um, no, Adjudicator Kord, I was merely trying to point out the fact that despite the involvement of multiple primarchs, the identity of this thief seems to still be in question."

  Now that was worth knowing about. The hegemonies in this corner of the Galaxy might have been weak in comparison to those on the inside, but the Ascendants who headed them were no slouch. Any one of them could give Kairen a run for her money, if she was being fully honest.

  The fact that an Aveanii, a race innately blessed with high perception amongst other things, couldn't find this thief... The answer pointed at two things.

  Either a powerful Primarch—one seldom seen even in the inner galaxies— had come to this part of the Galaxy, or Transcendent play was at work here. And between the two, she knew which one was less likely.

  But first...

  "Tell me about the second instance," she demanded, now fully focused.

  Nar's lips twitched as she tried and failed to hide her joy. Kairen paid no attention to it, waiting for her next words.

  "A small fleet of WorldSackers, including a worldship, was destroyed a system away from the Fringe, in a small system owned by a minor hegemon, the Zelaran. A significant force from the Millennial Wardens were alerted and rapidly dispatched to ward them off, but from what I'm getting, it seems that they were too late. Someone else had already gotten to the WorldSackers."

  "How many Ascendants were there?"

  "Well, considering that a WorldShip was used, I calculate no less than ten ascendants being present to provide greater protection."

  "Ten primarchs, taken out just like that," Kairen said as she slowly digested what had just been said. "A battle like that would surely have sent ripples through space far and wide. Did this site yield any answers?"

  "Nothing," Nar shook her head, and then paused. "Hold on, it seems a few survivors managed to come out alive, but they seem to be completely mute."

  "Soul oath?" Kairen guessed.

  "I be—" Nar began but was cut off just as a ripple washed through space, carrying with it a feeling of intense dread.

  Kairen turned just as her body was flooded with power, igniting the system in a glow of golden supreme power.

  A halo of pure, glinting gold rose behind her head and her eyes burned with power. She knew that feeling very well.

  "An unreal born," she breathed.

  Nar, thankfully, got down straight to business. "It seems to be originating from deeper into the Lese system. I'm sorry, Adjudicator, but that's all I can get. Space is being eroded as we speak, which is disrupting my information gathering processes. I believe we'll know more once we get deeper."

  Nar was barely finished before Kairen moved. With barely a gesture a portal opened up before her, a swirling circle of a golden yellow. One look at it told Kairen that stepping in there would most likely not spell well for her.

  Her authority over space would most likely see her come out on the other side alive, but there was no point in going there to render help if she ended up coming out looking like one who needed help.

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  Time visibly slowed to a crawl and space warped and shifted, twisting into a tunnel as she took a step, blinking out of her previous location to appear a hundred light-years outside the former system.

  She moved again, warping space and time to move her hundreds of light-years towards the tear in reality.

  At some point when the fabric of space became too turmoiled to spatially move, she transformed into a beam of light that stretched across space like a ray of sunlight. With speed faster than that of light she moved, flowing across space in a long stretching beam of light.

  Having dropped whatever working was keeping her presence shrouded, many eyes, or whatever senses some used to see, turned towards her, watching her passage until she'd gone past their various territories.

  She blitzed past dozens of dimensional ships, flying past and igniting all forms of sensors embedded inside their hulls.

  Eventually, as she drew closer, she began to notice a slow migration as hundreds upon hundreds of ships from surrounding systems fled the area, both those owned by the wealthy and commercial ones.

  A few minutes later her light died down and she reduced her speed, slowing down gradually until she finally came to a stop on the outskirts of what her senses were telling her was the area of intrusion.

  "This is the home system of the House Verrille, correct?" She said slowly as suspicion crept into her mind.

  "Yes, Adjudicator," Nar responded.

  "How many Primarchs were present at the time of the intrusion?"

  "Officially, the Head of the house, Attrevia Verrille, left a minor avatar to watch over the system alongside her daughter and two other Ascendants from the cults of Life and Water."

  Add those alongside the Sun spirit and the two World spirits occupying the system, then there should have been enough to at least push back whatever creature it was that had intruded.

  Standing before a metaphysical wall of utter darkness that she knew no doubt encompassed the entirety of the system, Kairen prayed to her celestial that this was not an actual creature of the unreal. A hollow they could deal with, but anything greater would no doubt see the descent of the Transcendants.

  The galaxy would not survive such an occurrence.

  Instead of retreating back like any wise person should to call for help, Kairen drew back her fist, and the atmosphere ignited for thousands of miles as it came back down on the barrier.

  Unbothered by the shockwave that rolled out, she pulled back her fist again and punched down, this time using all of her strength. She watched as cracks ran down the surface of the construct, only to repair itself a moment later.

  Kairen paused, stepped back a bit, and with both fists pulled back this time, she began punching again. Wide cracks broke open as her fists connected with the barrier, tearing of chunks that she felt wasn't enough to see her pass safely.

  Eventually, she broke off a hole large enough for her to pass through, and before the barrier could close back, Kairen stepped through.

  Otherworldly darkness greeted her the instant she went through, and Kairen immediately felt the essence of the unreal slowly encroaching on her position with an intense feeling of hunger, dreadful and unimaginable hunger.

  Order was the Celestial at the forefront against the ever encroaching devouring essence of the unreal, which made her, to a lesser extent, somewhat immune to the same essence.

  Her halo glowed golden and her figure ignited like the sun, pushing the darkness away. Instantly, she felt the attention of the creature snap onto her, and Kairen's first action was to take a deep breath. This was a hollow, a pseudo unreal. It was powerful, yes, but nothing a dozen or so ascendants couldn't deal with.

  Her eyes widened when she felt its aura spike, and instantly she knew that they were down an Ascendant. This creature had just become a whole lot stronger.

  With barely a gesture, reality twisted and Kairen tore a hole through the darkness surrounding her.

  An action like this would have been a whole deal harder had the creature not been occupied by what she recognized as a wielder of Life. The Ascendant of the cult of life.

  Barely waiting a second more, she moved, tearing through the hole and out into a system enveloped in pure utter chaos.

  On one side, two ascendants and a Sun Spirit were fending off the corrosive essence of the hollow. On the other side, a single ascendant, weakened by many tiers, dueled the combined might of two adult dragons.

  She at first wondered how the Avatar of the Desolate Duchess was still alive, until she remembered that those two dragons had been imprisoned for millennials and were no doubt still weakened from their imprisonment

  Still, this was a situation that needed to change, so she acted.

  "Order," her command rang out, and the golden light of order spread throughout the system, enforcing those who'd made themselves its heralds; the Desolate Duchess, the Life Ascendant, the Mistress of Madness, as well as the Sun spirit. All their powers were increased manifolds, which immediately pushed back the powers of the temporary territory that the creature of the unreal had set up.

  Both dragons retreated a bit at the sharp increase in the duchess's powers, and they turned their wrathful attention on Kairen.

  "Leave," Kairen said, invoking the authority of her cult. "Or I shall be forced to bring down the might of Order on you."

  "A mere servant dares threaten us," the male said and then opened its maw, causing the entire system to tremble as light glowed down its throat.

  "How certain are you that you will live to make such a report?" Amusement dripped down the throat of the female as it too opened its maw.

  A feeling of unease crept down her spine as the auras of both dragons washed down over her. She knew that each of them could have killed her without much problem in their full power, but that was the thing, wasn't it, they weren't in full power.

  Even if they managed to kill her here, that would only leave them so weakened that the Duchess wouldn't need much assistance in ending them.

  She knew it and slowly she saw the realization creep onto them.

  On cue, both planetary bodies lit up and eight powerful auras washed over the system.

  Both planets shook as their sentinels were awoken, their ascendant level powers soaring to new heights as the power of order empowered them.

  Kairen moved to stand between both planets just as more than half a dozen humongous creatures of unimaginable lengths rose into the sky.

  They varied between felines with multiple heads to avians with authority over the winds of an entire world.

  Crimson serpents with lengths stretching across multiple continents rose up with roars that shook the entire planet and sent tremors running down the system.

  Kairen smiled as they rose up past the barriers set up by their creators, flying to hover threateningly above both planets.

  With renewed confidence, her eyes glowed. "This is a fight you will not win, Dragon."

  They seemed to have realized the same because their maws slowly closed. They bared dreadful looking fangs at her and then turned to face the duchess who'd been watching this whole display with wrathful patience.

  "We shall be back, Attrevia. Your meat and those of your spawns shall serve as sufficient tokens of apology."

  Attrevia Verrille said nothing, which Kairen was grateful for. They watched as both dragons turned their backs in what constituted a show of utter confidence.

  With a flap of their massive wings, they tore their way past the territory of entropic energy and out of the system.

  "Thank you, Adjudicator," Kairen turned at the voice of the duchess. The withered looking woman nodded to her in a gesture of respect. "Without your presence, I dread to imagine what would have become of my home."

  "My presence did nothing but lengthen the demise of your home and all who dwell in it," Kairen said as she turned her full attention to where the second battle was still going on in full swing. "If nothing is done about that creature, I fear the death of your home system will be the last of our concern."

  The Duchess nodded and Kairen brought forth her power again, this time empowering the energy barrier of the two planets and their sentinels.

  "Go," she said to the duchess and the sentinels. "I shall protect your home. Attrevia, you are free to end this as you see fit."

  Both ascendants locked eyes, understanding what was meant, and then The Desolate Duchess nodded.

  "Thank you."