Emperor of the Source

"So it appears that you intend to dump all the work upon me again and run away to roam across the universe?" Hestia asked teasingly, shaking her head.

Adrian offered a wry smile, leaning back slightly in his chair. "Technically, Hestia, my initial journey has not even concluded yet. The entire purpose of my departure was to learn, to gather inspiration from the wider universe, and to forge a unique divine concept for our Origin Sect. I merely came back home to ensure you were all safe, to check on the situation, and to take a brief rest."

His expression turned more serious as he leaned forward, "My journey is still far from over. And if we look at the external timeline, it has only been a little over a month since I first departed. I plan to fully utilize the one-year window we have secured before our scheduled diplomatic appearances. Within this year, I must create at least the foundational divine concept for the Origin Sect. We have to be ready when we finally step into the territories of the Kyros, Vanguard, and Oryx galaxies."

"That was a perfectly valid argument before, Adrian," Hestia countered, her tone laced with a mix of exasperation and pride. "But you have already proven yourself capable of slaughtering Navira, the sovereign of a Lesser Major Sect, inside her own territory. You annihilated her entire army with a single word. Do not pretend you are still lacking in power. Your strength is no longer in question."

Adrian let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head. "Now you are just deliberately twisting my words to win the argument. This isn't simply about accumulating raw power for myself. It is for the Origin Sect. We need a signature essence and a genuine identity that proves we are a legitimate power within this universe, rather than an unnamed shadow held together solely by my abilities."

Nearby, seated in the plush chairs of the administrative chamber, King Elyras, Princess Mariska, and Crown Prince Aelion sat in silence.

The three Elyrian royals exchanged awkward glances, unsure of where to look or how to behave. Just moments ago, they had sworn their eternal loyalty to these beings. To the Elyrians, Adrian and Hestia were practically cosmic deities. Yet here they were, bickering back and forth over travel itineraries and workloads like an ordinary, old couple.

Sensing that he was not going to win a prolonged debate against Hestia, Adrian decided it was time to make his exit.

He stood up from his chair. Instantly, the ambient mana in the room stilled as his Source Domain expanded outward for just a fraction of a second. He issued a direct command to reality. A sudden, sharp sequence of cracking sounds echoed from his body as his underlying bone structure violently shifted. Cartilage snapped and reformed, his jawline broadened, and his sharp, distinct features melted away, replaced by the unremarkable, utterly average visage of his 'Aeon' disguise.

With a flick of his wrist, the space a few paces ahead of him groaned and tore open. A swirling spatial rift materialized, threaded with violet light.

Adrian turned back toward the table, adjusting the sleeves of his robes. He shot Hestia a confident, teasing grin. "I will keep visiting frequently, Hestia. I know you wouldn't be able to miss me for too long!"

Hestia's pale golden eyes flashed, and she waved a hand dismissively at him. "Who the hell misses you? Just go away!"

But as Adrian turned and took a step toward the portal, her posture softened.

"Adrian," Hestia added, "Use your brain before your sword."

"I promise," Adrian chuckled softly. Without another word, he stepped through the violet rift.

The spatial portal collapsed instantly behind him, folding inward until not a single ripple remained in the air of the administrative chamber.

Hestia let out a long sigh, shaking her head as she stared at the empty space where he had just stood. She lingered there for a moment before turning her attention back to the three Elyrians, who were still sitting awkwardly in their chairs.

Seeing their rigid postures, Hestia offered an exasperated smile that immediately shattered the tension in the room.

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"Please, do forgive him," Hestia said, her tone light and conversational as she moved back to her holographic projections. "Now... let us return to the matter of integrating your people into the Azure Garden."

…

Far away from the relic planet, the fabric of space tore open.

Adrian stepped out of the portal, emerging into the freezing, pitch-black silence of the intergalactic void. He looked out into the distance, where the spiraling disk of the Andromeda Galaxy glowed like an island of light against the eternal dark. He had deliberately jumped to the deep space surrounding Andromeda, effectively placing himself back at the starting line of his journey.

Floating in the vacuum, Adrian raised his right hand, his eyes locking onto the dull-grey ring resting quietly on his index finger.

He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the expanse of his Source Seed, reaching directly for the chambers housing the Arcane Concepts of Fate and Causality.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was overlaid with the microscopic tapestry of universal rules. He looked down, expecting to see the golden tethers leading him eagerly toward his next destination.

Instead, Adrian frowned.

"What the hell?? This is weird..." Adrian muttered into the silent void, his brow furrowing in confusion.

The golden threads were still tethered to the ring, yes, but their resonance was incredibly weak. The magnetic pull that had previously tugged so insistently at his consciousness was now faint, stretched dangerously thin across the cosmos.

"The distance feels much farther than it did from the Virelith galaxy now..."

Adrian analyzed the sensation carefully. Back when he had been sitting in the administrative chamber within the Azure Garden, the conceptual pull from the ring had felt much closer and more potent. But here, floating near the borders of Andromeda, the threads felt as though they were reaching across an impossibly vast cosmic gulf.

"Strange..." Adrian thought, dropping his hand as the golden radiance faded from his eyes.

It defied his initial logic. He had specifically returned to the void near Andromeda because this region was an active intersection within the universe. It bordered the territories of the Kyros, Vanguard, and Oryx galaxies, teeming with Major Sects, ancient civilizations, and bustling intergalactic hubs. The Virelith Galaxy, by contrast, was an isolated, desolate backwater located far away from such active universal civilizations. It was a blind spot in the cosmos.

He had naturally assumed that whatever grand destiny or cosmic inspiration the ring was pointing toward would reside within the developed, populated sectors of the universe. Why would the threads pull stronger from the dead space of Virelith?

"Could this ring be guiding me toward a completely uncharted civilization?" Adrian pondered, running a thumb thoughtfully over the dull-grey metal. "Or perhaps... it is pointing toward the forgotten relics of an ancient civilization that was destroyed eons ago, buried in the deepest corners of the void?"

There was only one way to find out.

Raising his hand, a purple portal tore open before him. He didn't use a direct command for teleportation. A direct command would have forcefully bent reality to mask his trajectory from every scrying array in existence, demanding a devastating toll. But right now, there was no need for such extreme measures.

He was currently in the disguise of 'Aeon,' and he was not actively fleeing from a locked-down Major Sect hub. He was just another unremarkable wanderer in the void. There was no need to waste his precious mana and willforce.

Adrian stepped through the portal, and he emerged millions of light-years away, stepping out into the dark, silent void of the Virelith Galaxy.

The very second he arrived, the change was undeniable.

Adrian closed his eyes, and without even needing to actively summon the visual overlay of the Fate threads, he could feel it. The magnetic pull emanating from the dull-grey ring was intensely sharp, tugging eagerly at his mind. It was exponentially closer here than it had been near Andromeda.

Following the invisible, magnetic tether, Adrian surged forward.

He flew through the void of the Virelith Galaxy at blinding speed, his physical form synchronized with the spatial rules around him. He passed the scattered, dead worlds and the drifting asteroid belts that Morka had strip-mined for eons. He didn't stop, pushing his velocity higher and higher as the pull grew stronger.

Eventually, he arrived at the edge of the Virelith Galaxy.

Adrian halted his flight, his robes drifting around him as he hovered at the invisible gravitational boundary that separated the galaxy from the deep intergalactic void beyond.

He looked out into the expanse, and the stark difference in the environment was immediately clear.

When he had stood at the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy, the intergalactic void there had felt alive. Despite the vast distances, the darkness had been pierced by the distant, glittering lights of neighboring galaxies, the sweeping trails of vibrant nebulae, and the occasional, faint flashes of fleets navigating the cosmic currents. It was an ocean teeming with life and ancient powers.

But here, looking out from the edge of Virelith, there was nothing.

It was a suffocating abyss. The space was entirely dark and desolate. Adrian strained his enhanced perception, but he could rarely see even a few faintly blinking stars. There were no neighboring galaxies visible on the horizon, glowing transit lanes, or signs of civilization. It was a sector of the universe that seemed to have been abandoned.

Yet the golden threads of Fate and Causality bound to the ring around Adrian's finger extended directly into that uncharted darkness.