Chương 399: A Ban on Gravity

Before we stepped through the Eastern Spire, I met with Rexxar and Jeeves in the central planning chamber to ensure our local defenses were locked under their care.

"I'm taking Nyx with me," I told them, adjusting my traveling cloak.

"Her shadow-infiltration skills are unparalleled, and if we are entering an un-catalogued system near the Court's boundaries, I need a scout who can move through the Lattice without leaving a single trace. Rexxar, you and Lucas keep the Academy training grounds secure."

"THE LION WILL GUARD THE CUBS, EREN!" Rexxar bellowed, slamming his massive hand onto my shoulder.

"GO FIND YOUR ORIGIN, AND BRING US BACK SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING!" Jeeves offered a polite, dry bow.

"I have already synchronized Nyx's soul-bound spatial relays with my own. Should any systemic emergency arise, we will notify you instantly." With Nyx slipping silently into my shadow, and Aion standing by my side, we stepped through the Spire-portal. Our journey to the uncompiled galaxy of IC-1023 was far more grueling and visually spectacular than my usual lone transits.

Because I was traveling with others, I couldn't simply use my [Void Emperor's Omnipresence] to execute massive, multi-million-mile raw void-steps. The sheer gravitational friction of such a transit would have shredded Nyx's shadow-form and put too much strain on Aion's newly repaired silver-lead core. Instead, I had to take shorter, highly calculated jumps, stepping through the "islands of gravity" in the uncompiled sectors.

Every spatial translation required my star-cores to cycle at a specific, safe frequency of four thousand cycles per second to prevent gravity-drag on my companions. The cosmos unfolded around us in a series of breathtaking, silent vistas. We bypassed a massive, glowing stellar nursery — a giant, un-catalogued nebula cloud of crimson and gold gas where newborn stars were slowly compiling their first gravity-fields, their raw fusion fires casting long, dramatic shadows across the dark void.

We glided past a dead, ice-locked planet wreathed in ancient, frozen rings of silver kinetic quartz, the planetary debris reflecting the distant, pale light of a dying sun in shifting, beautiful patterns. Every jump required me to mentally map the shifting Lattice, balancing our coordinates with a clinical, stubborn focus to prevent the local spatial-shears from registering our transit. During one of our rest periods on a drifting asteroid of raw gravity-ore, I looked at the silver-lead sentinel.

"Aion," I said, my voice quiet in the vacuum.

"The Sunder-Kin refugees. Did they stay together after crossing the gate? Did they establish other strongholds like the one on Bir-Z, or did they scatter?" Aion's mirror-face rippled, his blue-light eyes staring into the dark.

"I... my memory-lattice is blocked, Sovereign. I remember the flight, and I remember the fear. But when I try to trace the coordinates of our people after the Gate... the uncompiled files are locked behind a high-frequency conceptual partition."

"A security feature?" I asked.

"Yes," Aion nodded.

"My Master, Paelus, wove the partition directly into my core. He believed that if our stronghold were ever captured by the Court Judges, they would use my memory to trace our remaining nurseries. The firewall will only dissolve when my soul gate registers a specific, high-frequency Void-current that matches his own." It was a smart, highly paranoid design, but it was a frustrating bottleneck for my current investigation. Still, I didn't press him.

If the Sunder-Kin had survived the Primordial War, they had earned their secrets. By the end of the day, we arrived at the coordinates of the first system Aion remembered. The planet was a massive, ocean-dominated world named Oros-43. It was wreathed in giant, glowing rings of pale-blue kinetic quartz that defied gravity, orbiting the planet like a liquid crown. As my [Omnipresence] perception scanned the surface, staying tightly hidden under my [Nullifying Veil], I analyzed the local density.

It was remarkably high. The uncompiled mana-currents of the atmosphere were wreathed in a stable, highly coordinated gravity-grid, indicating the presence of multiple Tier 9 Ascendants.

"There are at least a dozen Ascendants on this world," I noted, my eyes scanning the massive, floating crystalline spires of the surface.

"But the signature we are tracing... it isn't exactly your Master's. It carries a similar geometry, but the texture is colder, sharper."

"A sibling lineage," Aion whispered, his chest-core humming.

"Or a descendant of the Sunder-Kin." We landed on a floating basalt platform wreathed in the silver clouds of the upper atmosphere. The air here was thin, freezing, and carried a rhythmic, harmonic chime that vibrated through my boots. Before we could even take a step, three figures materialized from the silver clouds. They were humanoid, but distinctly non-organic. Their physical forms were carved from semi-translucent, light-absorbing obsidian, their limbs slender and angular.

Instead of hair, their hairless heads were crowned with cascades of glowing, fiber-optic-like silver threads that hummed with a quiet, uncompiled mana-vibration. They wore flowing robes of silver kinetic-silk, and their faces lacked features, containing only a single, horizontal band of glowing blue crystal that served as their primary sensory organ. They carried long, quartz staves that vibrated with a dangerous, high-frequency kinetic resonance.

"Un-registered coordinates detected," the presumed leader — an Ascendant-tier wreathed in a stable Tier 9 Domain — spoke, his voice carrying the deep, resonant chime of a struck bell.

"You have initiated an unauthorized spatial entry, violating the High Lith-Chord of Oros. You will submit to the Shattered Spire for processing." Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"We are travelers," I said, dropping my veil just enough to let him see my open hands.

"We are investigating an ancient signature, and we come in peace."

"The Resonance Codex does not recognize peace without registration," the Ascendant replied, his quartz staff flaring with a violent, pale-blue light.

"Submit, or your coordinates will be permanently silenced." They didn't wait for my response. The three Lith-Chords raised their staves, and a sudden, deafening sound-wave of kinetic vibration slammed into my Domain. The air itself cracked, the harmonic wave designed to shatter the mana-conduits of any intruder. I didn't move a single inch. I wove my star-cores into a high-speed battle-tempo, pushing my newly developed [Temporal Slide] into a fully active state.

In my vision, three overlapping amethyst silhouettes of my body appeared. I chose the right-sliding coordinate, anchoring my consciousness to its path. With a silent hum, my physical body translated. I manifested directly behind the lead Ascendant, bypassing the sound-wave entirely. Before he could even register the translation, I reached my hand out, letting my zeroth-tier [Symphony of the Animus Arch] harmonize with the uncompiled vibration of his staff.

"Mute," I commanded, accessing my [Apex Mana Authority]. The kinetic vibration in his quartz staff instantly died, the glowing blue light of the crystal snapping into absolute, inert stillness. The Ascendant went rigid, his internal mana-conduits temporarily locked by my authority.

Nyx materialized from his shadow, her light-eating daggers resting gently against his obsidian neck, while Aion's gravity-well pinned the two remaining Elite guards to the platform, their limbs unable to resist the sudden, planetary weight of his mass. The entire confrontation lasted barely three seconds. I had systematically dismantled their ultimate defensive rotation without spilling a single drop of essence.

"Can we please just talk?" I asked, stepping in front of the locked Ascendant. Using my [Syntropy], I let a gentle, white-gold light flow into the hairline cracks that had blossomed across his obsidian shoulders during the gravity-pin, re-knitting his crystalline frame to wholeness. The Ascendant's blue visor flickered, his telepathic voice completely losing its authoritative pitch.

"You... you have silenced the High Chord with a single command. You are... who are you?"

"I'm just a traveler looking for answers," I said, leaning casually against my sabre.

"We are tracing a pre-System signature. A gravity cultivator who arrived on this world during the early cycles of the integration." The Lith-Chord guards exchanged a series of rapid, anxious clicks, their fiber-optic hair shifting through a defensive, pale-pink light.

"There are no gravity cultivators on Oros-43," the lead Ascendant whispered, his voice wreathed in a sudden, cold dread.

"Our Lord... the Planetary Regent... has banned the cultivation of any variation of gravity mana. Anyone who manifests the signature is systematically stripped of their coordinates or in minor infractions, exiled to the deep oceans." I frowned, my star-cores humming with a sudden, cautious interest. A ban on gravity. On a world that carried the uncompiled signature of a Sunder-Kin.

"Why?" I asked.

"We do not know," the leader replied, his head bowed in respect.

"It is the absolute law of the Regent. We cannot question the High Chord."

"Then point me to the capital," I said.

"I'll ask him myself." The Ascendant hesitated, his visor flashing, but the silent, unyielding gravity of my presence left him with no choice. He pointed his four-jointed hand toward a colossal, floating crystal spire that rose from the horizon — the floating capital he called Reson-Alpha.

"Thank you for the directions," I said. I engaged [Void Emperor's Omnipresence], grabbing Aion and Nyx's shoulder. With a single, silent translation of coordinates, we vanished from the basalt platform. We reappeared directly inside the grand, non-Euclidean throne room of the capital spire. The chamber was a cathedral of glowing, pale-blue kinetic quartz, and sitting upon the high-backed throne in the center of the dais was the Planetary Lord.

The moment our physical forms manifested, dropping our veils, the Lord's giant visor flared with a violent, blood-red light. He stood up, his Tier 10, ironically mostly gravity mana flaring with a crushing, suffocating density that made the crystal pillars of the chamber vibrate. As the Lord's gaze locked onto my black carapace, I knew we had just found our host. The spatial pressure inside the crystal throne room was immense, a heavy, grinding vibration that tried to force my boots into the starlight-marble floor.

The Planetary Lord looked different from his kin; his tall, nine-foot frame was carved from a single, continuous block of deep, lightless cobalt-obsidian that seemed to actively bend the ambient blue light of the quartz spires. His voice was a physical, low-frequency rumble that shook the basalt foundations of the spire.

"You have bypassed the boundary veils," the Lord declared, his blue horizontal visor flaring with a sharp, hostile light as he raised a massive, two-handed claymore of unpolished kinetic quartz.

"And you carry the uncompiled signature of the forbidden. By the decree of the High Chord of Oros, your coordinates are forfeit." I stood my ground, my star-cores spinning in a fast, perfectly stable battle-tempo. Under my [Sovereign Shroud] stealth, the gravity-shear of his Domain brushed harmlessly against my suppressed density, his crushing pressure unable to find a coordinate to grip. Beside me, Aion's blue eyes flared, his silver-lead frame tensing as his chest-core gave a loud, resonant thump.

He recognized the signature of the Lord. It carried the exact same uncompiled geometry as his old Master, Paelus — a sibling current of the Sunder-Kin.

"He isn't one of us, Sovereign," Aion whispered, his metallic voice quiet through our link.

"The... the balance of his core. He does not carry the Blood of the Void." I looked at the Planetary Lord, a dry, confident smile finding its way onto my lips. I didn't draw a weapon. I simply stood before his crushing Domain, my posture relaxed, my hands open.

"I didn't come to 'steal your coordinates', Regent," I said, my voice level and quiet, yet easily cutting through the roaring pressure of his gravity-mana.

"I came to investigate a private curiosity, it just happened to lead me here. I do have a few questions for you though, like why have you placed a ban on gravity mana?" The Lord's visor flickered, the violent blood-red light of his aura pausing for a fraction of a second as my words registered in his logic-engines.

The high-frequency tension in the throne room wreathed us in a silent, freezing stasis, the giant blue-light of the capital spire casting long, skeletal shadows across the obsidian floor as we waited for his decision.