No More

The journey continued. On the first day, things went out smoothly, and other than a few Kingdoms from afar, they only saw the universe's blackness. Nothing happened, not even a slight sighting of other spaceships from the distance. Although that was normal, they were moving towards a Godly Space Station. There should be at least a few merchant enterprises, with supreme-sized ships traveling from one Kingdom to another to teleport quickly, but not even that.

As for their mini-fleet, the Kingdoms they contacted, which were trustable, were too far from each other, making this mission slightly lenghtier than usual. They had to go through 3 Kingdoms, each classified as upper, before arriving at the mobile space station that would remain in its current location just a few weeks longer. There was not much haste.

Even as the second day approached, they still hadn't arrived at the first Kingdom to take a portal. But the second day finally came, and Heian Ciemnosc was called by Beto. The coms opened, and Beto's voice immediately ordered him, "Heian Ciemnosc, come over for the revision. It's your time to confirm and guard the medium-sized vessel. We'll meet there. Miss Rila is expecting us."

"Understood." Heian Ciemnosc responded and instructed his Fighters to move with him. Cara had already been re-positioned a few hours ago, and Ruo Wei took her place. When Heian Ciemnosc flew close to the medium-sized merchant vessel, he saw the 3 Fighters under Beto move towards his previous position. Heian Ciemnosc ignored it and arrived at the location inside the formation. Beto's Fighter was still coming, moving slowly as per procedures, and arrived several seconds later than Heian Ciemnosc.

After an exchange of words with the vessel, its doors opened, and Heian Ciemnosc and Beto were picked up by its array formation extending over their Fighters, making them feel like they were caught in the atmosphere of a Kingdom and were no longer burdened by the flying mini-fleet's speed. They floated towards the personnel hatch calmly and were welcomed by a few guarding units, with their contractor near the entrance. Beto walked towards her, passing by the guards, with Heian Ciemnosc following behind him.

"Miss Rila! I've brought the next turn's close protector," Beto engaged in a chat with miss Rila and started conversing about the usual stuff. Heian Ciemnosc's expertise, everything, and reassuring her of his defensive capabilities. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc looked around and noticed the guarding units sneaking glances at him and Beto, somewhat enviously and wanting to see the clamored Crimsons, but actually felt honored to serve their people with the Crimsonbreaking Faction in their favor. That much Heian Ciemnosc could smell from their aura and nature.

"Very well, I'll be leaving you to it," Beto said, bringing Heian Ciemnosc's attention, and he saw the team leader leave while nodding at him. Beto walked towards the hatch and left Heian Ciemnosc behind, with the guarding units dispatched to their spots right away by miss Rila, leaving her with Heian Ciemnosc. Heian Ciemnosc turned around and saw her walking towards him. Miss Rila bowed at him after stopping 3 meters before him and gestured to walk into the storage.

"What did he tell you? How long am I staying in this position?" Heian Ciemnosc asked and walked ahead after his Spirit Sense confirmed his newly trained Fighters to stay at his order's command and stricter behavior. Miss Rila walked behind him and kept 2 steps behind him as Heian Ciemnosc watched the goods' state and counted them. "He said 4 days, starting today. Isn't that... a bit too much?"

"... Yup," Heian Ciemnosc was slightly speechless but still answered. Miss Rila seemed to see something from this exchange and said anything else about the matter. Usually, the changes of close protectors, supposed to ensure the target's safety over fighting any possible enemy in any situation, was half a day to a day. Yesterday, it was Moy's turn. Today, and in another 3 days, it would be Heian Ciemnosc's. He was clearly sent to deal with the hard work, but that was fine. Either way, if nothing happened, Heian Ciemnosc would have been the safest throughout the mission.

And even if something did happen, the fight might not involve the target, keeping Heian Ciemnosc in the safest place. Of course, that was in the best-case scenario. But since this Team was quite an expert between the Second Step's peak forces in the Crimsonbreaking Faction, it shouldn't be too problematic or deadly.

Step, step, step... Heian Ciemnosc continued walking forward when the contractor spoke as they were halfway through the daily routine of inspecting the spaceship. Although her merchant mini-fleet didn't pay for the 'full' package, they paid for protection and counter-espionage. This included revisions and free Spirit Sense reading to everyone on the ship. And for Heian Ciemnosc, someone with a 500,000 km range of Spirit Sense. This was nothing. The guards and contractor felt his Spirit Sense, though, and he could only do that after he became their close protector.

"Your team leader. He seems quite adept at working with your Team. He must be experienced. Did he participate in the 10 year war?" Miss Rila said. Heian Ciemnosc turned his head momentarily before saying, "Yes, he did. That was more or less how he joined the Crimsonbreaking Faction, as did the others. Your people didn't?"

"No, not everyone in the world participated. But not everyone had the luxury of staying away. Only a tiny portion of survivors after the war stayed away from it. The others, those who didn't survive, suffered under the endless destruction and firepower of unimaginable cultivators and Expedition Fleets." Miss Rila responded, finally showing a trace of a smile, even though it was rueful and nostalgic in a saddened way.

"..." Heian Ciemnosc was silent before saying in a neutral tone, "I imagine it was tedious, not knowing when an ally or another hiding force would suddenly emerge and burst with the desire to gain power and surge in the incoming Change. I guess... you're lucky to have not fought and survived."

His words reached miss Rila, who lowered her head and lowly muttered, "Indeed we were. Almost everyone else who did not fight died, too. Only those under great-enough powerhouses didn't fall... OR were accidentally turned into dust or a mere rock burning and crumbling in space."

"Even though the Nexus is written and inviolable, even by the Great Sage whose near-death injuries put a stop to his growing tyranny back then... There's still so much brainless destruction everywhere, huh?" Heian Ciemnosc commented, bringing the previous matter a little farther from them, still close by, but far enough so it wouldn't afflict the contractor remembering it.

"The Glorious Nexus Entente..." Miss Rila murmured lowly but loud enough for Heian Ciemnosc to hear it, even if he didn't have those absurd senses. "So divine, and the only thing above everyone else... above everything else... Yet, there's still too much mindless harm under its watch. So what if one cannot even attack those weaker than oneself? When every speck of dust in the world is declared to be at war..."

"That's... that sounds like the cruelty of every ruling party," Heian Ciemnosc said, frowning and stopping as they arrived at a wall at the end of the last corridor to check the goods from. His darkest eyes welcomed miss Rila's face, looking at him with widened eyes as if she could see the point. She opened her jaws and agreed, "What's there to care when the world's crumbling? Even their troops and people don't matter. And they are the strongest in the world. What less from 'the rest' of us?"

"That shouldn't be how it is supposed to be," Heian Ciemnosc laid out these words without a thought. They left miss Rila startled. She slightly jolted her neck backwards and lifted her hands, palms facing the ceiling. "Says who? One person? Hundreds of trillions? What does it matter when the bigger hand, or hands, don't say so?"

"Mn... oh," Heian Ciemnosc noticed his strange words and lightly nodded. However, he suddenly thought of something, and his expression slightly changed. "But wouldn't it make more sense? If no more Changes occurred, and the world became complete. Would eternal peace be really impossible? Not that there wouldn't be wars among the world's people, but... no more to dictate who rules it all."

"... Young man, now you're just envisioning what many old tales and silly stories tell. Where only a few groups, like religious madpeople, preach in the Neutral Existences. Too afraid of being questioned by the new Universal Land everywhere in this Universal Lands. Sigh..." Miss Rila looked to the side after finishing her words, failing to notice Heian Ciemnosc's curious, darkest eyes. They weren't curious. They looked like that.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I'm done here. I'll return to the Fighter close formation now. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving." Heian Ciemnosc said after looking around him once. The contractor looked at his back as Heian Ciemnosc walked away and said, halting his footsteps, "Your team leader seems to have a great upbringing. Is he single?"

"..." Heian Ciemnosc kept his head slightly low, slowly lifting it as his Spirit Sense caught the sight of the rear Fighters and Moy and Sandra chatting in their formation's location. "That, I can't say for sure. But I think it's better to think he isn't."

"I see, I understand." Miss Rila said, responding quite calmly. She clasped her hands and turned around, not going to act corny in front of her employee as she returned to the central command. Heian Ciemnosc continued on his way and exited the spaceship in silence, watched by 2 guards at the personnel hatch, quietly saluting him before he left. He only gave them a nod, but they felt in a slightly better mood already.

"... Sigh, ahhh~." Heian Ciemnosc returned to his Ornament and flew it above the medium-sized vessel, close to the rear, where the central command was. It wasn't a Fighter, half a spaceship and the other half an airship, so it didn't need windows other than fashion. His back leaned on his seat heavily as a few faces appeared in his head. From a flexible yet weak to carnal desires coworker to a few abandoned lovers and martyrs...

'Can I even talk about such things?' Heian Ciemnosc could see their faces and the sensation of memories from time spent with them, even if just diminutive with some, before his eyes as he tilted his head before closing his eyes for cultivation. He was slightly down today, and his energy fluctuations were dubious for several hours before he finally calmed down, and his cultivation continued.

. . .

Tens of hours passed.

Nothing happened on the second day, after Heian Ciemnosc took control of the close protector unit. When it was nearing the afternoon, they finally arrived at the first Kingdom, and they spent a couple hours there before getting a clearance to take the portal. This was to another Kingdom, and while the Kingdom they were taking the portal was secure, the latter might not be so.

However, the merchant mini-fleet had to move and couldn't wait months to secure the safest travel possible. If not, they wouldn't even have hired the Crimsonbreaking Faction, who have just but still high prices. There were no problems after taking the portal, and the mini-fleet continued their travel without tails or complications.

On the third day, Heian Ciemnosc realized his daily routine and continued training the Fighters around him while cultivating, not wasting efficiency or slowing down the process of neither. This Heian Ciemnosc had gone through several things and became used to many more. This little meant nothing.

Near the end of the third day, they arrived at the next Kingdom, and they only took 15 minutes past descending on a hangar when they were allowed to take the portal. Currently, Heian Ciemnosc was carrying what seemed to be bags, but they were anti-Spirit Sense, so no Second Step cultivators could see through them even if they were above his cultivation base.

Being aware of Heian Ciemnosc's Spirit Sense but still having many disadvantages brought by his low cultivation base, Heian Ciemnosc was circled by Cara and Sandra while the others continued protecting the cargo.

If anyone scanned Heian Ciemnosc instead of the bag, he wouldn't know, but the others would. After all, they were also at the last realm of the Second Step. Even Moy might get a clue about being pried on, but Heian Ciemnosc was a little puppy in between. He was only adequate for massive scanning with his Spirit Sense, nothing else.

"Something?" Beto asked Heian Ciemnosc with a Soul message. Heian Ciemnosc was frowning, and he caught up on that quickly. Heian Ciemnosc crushed a Fast-Alarming talisman in his Covert Space bag and sent a message back. "The bag was just hit with a Soul's reading. It didn't latch onto it, but it was to check the things. It's now lingering around the spaceships."

"..." Beto was first astounded by Heian Ciemnosc's Soul, not knowing how bizarre it was until now. Then, he nodded and frowned before sending Soul messages to the rest of his Team. After receiving responses from his Team, Beto contacted the contractor, whose face darkened as they were immediately next to the portal.

"Just continue on," Beto's words reached Heian Ciemnosc's mind a couple minutes later. They were finally allowed to the platform, and the spaceships flew towards it. Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes squinted, eating the sunlight, invasively striking this Kingdom's side specifically, but didn't detect anything unusual. He stepped forth with the others, and everyone boarded their spaceships before the portal started activating.

Heian Ciemnosc's dark Soul traveled between a few structures surrounding the platform and below it, where violet and black smoke condensed together, the former below the latter. And then, as the violet smoke surged forward, the black smoke rushed upwards, encapsulating the mini-fleet as the violet acted like electricity and the black smoke as water. As soon as it was activated, Heian Ciemnosc felt the sensation of teleporting, grander than ever before, but didn't grow dizzy or disoriented.

After a few seconds, the black and violet smoke disappeared, and the mini-fleet reappeared around him as the space surrounded everyone, and the spaceships and Fighters automatically activated their protection against the universe's Elemental poisoning. Immediately, Beto and miss Rila's voices sounded in the mini-fleet's coms.

"Keep your guards up. Make the formation tighter. I, Cara, and Sandra will go to the front. Clanton and Ruo Wei, you go right behind us, and the merchant vessels right behind you. Heian Ciemnosc, you keep your position. Moy, you will have 1 extra Fighter from each of us. Maintain the rear safe. Use them at your disposal." Beto's words echoed. Several Fighters with every mention. The merchant Fighters were halved and sent to be under Moy's command, while Heian Ciemnosc kept his 2 Fighters, and Beto was also left with 2.

"Listen to the Crimsons. This isn't for our benefit, for our people!!" The contractor's words sounded in the coms, bringing her mini-fleet in higher morale, ready to throw their lives away, but only after knowing these wares would arrive home safe and sound.

"..." Heian Ciemnosc watched everywhere around the mini-fleet with his darkest eyes, and after everyone went silent, his pale red lips brought them unquestionable news. "We've been sighted. There are eyes on us."

... The mini-fleet continued their travel as if nothing had happened, and they were none the wiser. Heian Ciemnosc knew that if the enemy was aware the Crimsonbreaking Faction, whom they were facing off this time, knew about them, they wouldn't attack and would wait. Wait until they reunited more forces and were confident enough to hit them.

It was something simple to understand. If a force standing between you and your goals was thunderously stronger than yours, you would want to destroy it no matter what, taking higher risks and spending more resources. In the end, the satisfaction of victory will be all worth it, let alone this act of war boosting their morale like never before.

Thus, Heian Ciemnosc kept getting sensations of being seen, even as they became less frequent and more like ghosts, simply escaping his senses. He became more alert as he kept cultivating. Heian Ciemnosc didn't want to break into the next stage after just a few days and wanted to wait until half a month... initially. Now, he was meditating all he could with his fingertips on the breakthrough 'switcher', ready to flip it.

Several hours have passed since they returned to space after briefly staying in the second Kingdom. Yet, nothing happened. While this was no problem for the Crimsons, it wasn't the same for the merchant mini-fleet. Although their Fighters were slightly trained and wouldn't lower their guard down because of this, the small-sized spaceships weren't as sturdy. But what's more, Heian Ciemnosc only knew about the medium-sized vessel and its personnel, and barely more than half should be able to keep a steady and firm guarding stance against an enemy incursion.

This proved Heian Ciemnosc's thoughts accurate as the day passed, and the fourth day finally arrived. Heian Ciemnosc no longer felt eyes prying on them, but the Team didn't distrust him. And instead, they felt more wary. On the other hand, the mini-fleet merchants started feeling a little safer, and even the merchant Fighters would've begun feeling lightly without their temporary commanders' reminders.

The contractor was still heavily on guard, and she did her best to keep her medium-sized spaceship in full attention, but slightly less than half her personnel lowered their guards as they arrived at the next Kingdom, the last they had to take before traversing a couple million kilometers more and arrive at the mobile Godly Space Station.

After the mini-fleet passed through the waiting list and took the portal, everything continued as silent as usual. The mini-fleet advanced and continued on its way to the mobile space station.

At last, Heian Ciemnosc had to give it to them. The hidden enemy was silent, cautious, took many precautions, and surely counted with more than many Fighters. Perhaps even a Frigate and whatever else. Besides that, they seemed to want to lower their guards as much as possible. They were smart and didn't take this lightly, even more so after the Crimsonbreaking Faction became involved. As rumors said, no good thing came from those who opposed the Crimsons.

Today, Heian Ciemnosc would make sure that stayed that way...

After traveling 1,000,000 km in peace, his energy fluctuations changed, and his cultivation base soared through the threshold. Immediately, his teammates noticed, and Heian Ciemnosc slowly opened his darkest eyes. They were ultimately cold. But before his teammates could say anything, as if receiving a signal of some sort other than detection, his team leader shouted and acted, flying his Fighter into a defensive position to battle!

"Move on! Stop the mini-fleet, missiles ready!!"

...-ppeeeeeeeeeeew~! Futomp! Futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp...!

From one moment to another, dozens of Fighters appeared 10,000 kilometers before the mini-fleet's defensive formation.

...