Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Seventhmonth, 1634 PTS

Once again, the elites of the Redwater Sect had gathered within the conference room. All of the Palace Leaders and Elders were present, minus Heutel, whose presence was unneeded, and Karie, who was currently training disciples. She would be updated by Rachel, later.

“How long is the situation expected to continue?” asked Kein, glancing towards Rachel and Eli. I had barely sat down before he started speaking. The past week must have been hard for him and Ran, operating under the suppression of the other underworld forces.

Even still, the Justice Office’s troops had not left the sixth district, clearly aware of what was brewing behind their backs. It seemed that they hoped the Celans could recover enough to defend themselves before their forces would return to the first district. I could barely guess as to what their intentions were behind the occupation.

Eli shrugged.

‘They’re keeping their intentions tight to the chest, it seems. But rumor has it that they intend to stay until the predators stop circling.”

I nodded. It was a reasonable choice to make for them, though one that seemed out of character for the Staiven. There had to be some reason why they were defending the Celans like this. Were they really that worried about the racial conflict?

“Perhaps they realized that the racial conflict was not a natural occurrence,” said Rachel. “If they suspect someone influenced it using the networks, perhaps they’re hunting for not only Triezal, but for a suspected Shade.”

A jolt of alarm shot through me, and my eyes snapped to Rachel. If they were able to notice the presence of a Shade on the station… Janottka was gone, leaving Rachel as the one that was left. If they were hunting for a Shade, she was the only one remaining on the station to find.

“That would certainly explain it,” nodded Jihan. “But if that’s the case, what, if anything, should we do?”

Rachel shrugged.

“If we were to tell them that we knew a Shade was present on the station but didn’t tell anyone, do you think they would applaud us?” she asked, her tone clearly sarcastic.

“Regardless, we have our own issues to handle,” said Ran, changing the subject. “You told us to delay, but we can only do that for so long. The other gangs have been interfering with our cash flow, and we need to do something. We’re starting to hemorrhage money.”

I nodded. This meeting had been called for a reason. We had finally received the money from the Umrakians, and now, it was time to fulfil our part of the bargain. I wondered whether they had already realized that we would have done this anyway. Though, perhaps we would have been more discreet.

“We’re going on the offensive,” said, my voice firm.

Orion smiled.

“Who are we targeting?”

He turned to eye myself and Rachel, who laughed.

“Everyone, of course,” she said.

Waved her hand dramatically, a three-dimensional map of the stacks surrounding the sect appeared. The region depicted not only our territory, but that of the remaining gangs around us. Despite the numerous forces we had conquered just over a month ago, in a place like Tseludia, gangsters were like worms. No matter how many you killed, more would always pop up whenever the rain passed by.

The model was composed from translucent blue light, and around half of the buildings within were colored in a vibrant green. A closer inspection revealed them to be A slender finger stretched across the map, indicating a few points, which lit up with red dots. At a glance, there seemed to be more then fifty of the dots.

“These are the locations we have noted martial artists loitering or being disruptive. In roughly seventy percent of cases, they left after being confronted by our patrolling forces. In the others, there have been minor fights and skirmishes, though there were no casualties yet. However, revenue is down twenty percent during this period,” she explained.

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Jihan frowned.

“I don’t understand. They’re scaring people away from our brothels? Why don’t we just move the courtesans?”

“We own the brothels and some of the restaurants,” Rachel explained, “but most of our money comes from our protection racket. That is what they are primarily targeting.”

I already knew most of what was being said, but I listened carefully regardless. Heutel was not present, but my mind inevitably drifted to her. Despite our hopes, the pharmaceutical development in the Linen Palace had yet to bear fruit. It seemed to me that the sect’s investments so far had all been long term, while the pressing issues required short-term solutions.

For now, all we could do was fulfill the terms of our agreement with the Umrakians. Their money was exactly what we had needed at this time.

“We’ll need to establish the division of our forces. Ideally, we will push out most of the other forces at once, and pressure them at the same time. They will need to learn their lesson, or they will think we are weak.”

“Will I be in charge of this affair?” asked Orion. As always, his eyes contained little but naked ambition.

Rachel shook her head.

“It’s too large of an area, so we’ll split our forces into three groups, led by you, Jihan, and Karie.”

He nodded, clearly miffed, but to his credit, Orion did not say anything.

“I’ll handle Lao Feng,” I said, suddenly.

Rachel gave me an odd look.

“But the Feng Gang isn’t…” She smiled, finally realizing my thoughts. “Well, why not? Some exercise might do you well.”

Jihan glanced at me, unsurprised by the suggestion. For these past weeks, I had made little progress. Progression remained at the forefront of my mind, but focus alone would not grant the enlightenment I needed. I was flagging. Was this the limit of my talents? Perhaps, I had thought, what I was missing, what I needed in order to improve was battle, a true test of my capabilities. I had been using him and Karie as sparring partners every day, hoping to experience a spark of inspiration regarding my bottleneck. I had not been so lucky, and so now I would seek out alternative sources of inspiration. There were not many targets who could effectively spar against me. And given the current stalled status of the underworld, I was currently limited as to the feathers I could risk ruffling.

Fortunately, a convenient opportunity lay before me. And while I was at it, perhaps I could deal with the loose end known as Triezal.

“I have an alternative suggestion, Sect Leader Yu.” The words came from Jihan, who had remained mostly quiet in the meeting so far. I gestured for him to continue.

“I believe you should have a discussion with Sirena Hadal,” he said. “Ideally, while this effort is underway.”

His words were a surprise, and prompted a flurry of discussion around the table.

“And why is that?” asked Rachel. The sanguine practitioner met her gaze, his face expressionless.

“Because I would be surprised if they ignore what we’re planning, today. They were the ones who started this.”

I agreed with him. The time had not yet come where we would cast aside our relationship with the Hadal Clan. Our forces were too few, and their Supreme Elder alone was enough to destroy our entire force while hardly even breaking a sweat. Still, I knew that if I spoke with her, she would almost certainly order me not to interfere with the other gangs. Every time we expanded our power in that manner, we dug into their bottom line. There was only so much that the clan would allow before the Matriarch’s goodwill ran out. And even still, whatever plan she had for me had yet to achieve fruition.

The question, however, was how much Karie Hadal should be involved in such discussions. I would need to speak with her before making the decision. I sighed, rubbing the spot on my forehead where my cerebral dantian had once rested. It seemed as if all a sect leader did was go to meeting after meeting. Even by handing over most of my duties to Rachel, I still found myself trapped with far too many responsibilities.

Still, I thought. It was better than being alone.

The meeting continued for several more minutes, as those present discussed each of their roles, as well as plans and backup plans for the engagements. While on the surface I was quietly listening to the discussion, internally I could not help but be distracted by my thoughts.

I needed to fight, and yet my responsibilities stood in my way. If necessary, I would abandon the sect, or let it be threatened, if it would allow me to break through my bottleneck. One could slow their progress along the path, but I knew that every day I did not move forward ate further and further into my remaining life force. As an unorthodox practitioner, I could not be careless. I was not selfless enough to die for a cause.

Even if it was not the optimal scenario for the sect, I would be participating in the raid.

Before long, the meeting came to its conclusion, and we made plans to take action in one day’s time. As the others filtered out of the room, Orion stayed behind, causing me to raise a brow.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

He smiled.

“Sect Leader, I would like to ask your permission for something.”

Borders of the Pantheonic Territory: [Borders of galactic territories are something that has always been hotly contested between factions. Most of the explored galaxy is under the control of various Osine factions, with the rest under the power of ascendants such as those of the Pantheon. While the borders between such powers are not as hotly contested as those between the Osine nations and the Incursion, the Pantheonic Territory’s borders are still constantly shifting as threats and deals are made between factions. Fortunately, the firm treaties the Pantheon have made with the Sheneth-Ari have reduced the burden, and allowed their navy to focus on other threats.]