From the vehicle, a woman stepped out. Her uniform was black, completely different from the usual green colored military uniform. Her outfit carried a different as her boots made sharp unhurried sounds. She looked over the soldiers who had just finished saluting her. In her eyes, to those on the parade ground, it looked like the world was in her pupils.
Imperial Armature Valessia Kurn.
One of the five known living Imperial Armatures within the Empire and known for her ruthlessness during the siege of Mirghan. She was called The Dagger Regent.
Her glacier green eyes swept across the parade ground. Her face was calm, but there was something in the way her gaze lingered on the empty space where officers should have stood that made the wind hold its breath.
She turned to the parade officer stationed at the forefront.
"Where are the rest of your officers?" Her voice was soft. Too soft that it was eerie.
"Imperial Armature, ma'am—"
"Were they not notified of my arrival?" She interrupted.
"They were, ma'am."
"But they have chosen to remain in their quarters." Her tone didn't rise, yet it cut through the air like a blade. "Tell me, do the Eastern Mansion officers no longer understand the hierarchy of the Empire?"
"Apologies, ma'am! We will notify them again—"
"No," Valessia said, already turning away. "You've done enough."
It wasn't only the Oasis team members who were absent, more than sixty percent of the officers in the Eastern Mansion's Palace Barrack were absent.
Those who had lined up were the officers who were recruited a decade ago, but every other soldier who had been in the Eastern Mansion before then refused to come out.
Valessia lifted a finger and energy twisted around her form, then it flared outward like a fan unfolding. A pressure rolled across the mansion like an incoming tide, its presence ancient and undeniable.
Within seconds, the entire Eastern Barracks groaned in response—buildings rattling as the energy found every room, every corridor. Just before the windows on the buildings were about to crack, auras equally or even more powerful than hers pushed the energy back.
Boom!
Like a receding tide, the energy flowed back to Valessia.
With a snort, she dissipated the energy.
"Valessia," a masculine voice echoed from the distance. The voice carried across the ground without hurry.
"Don't try to throw your weight around here. This is the Eastern Mansion's Palace Barracks. Step on the wrong toe, and you might leave a few kilograms lighter."
The voice vanished, but its presence lingered.
"It seems like this place has truly forgotten about the hierarchy of the Empire." Her eyes narrowed as she looked in the direction the voice came from.
"Hierarchy?" The voice echoed with disdain. "The only hierarchy that exists in this barracks is the one of power, not rank. Be grateful that we have calmed down after a decade. Find who you came for… but if you reach for another man's bowl, don't cry when the spoon breaks your teeth."
Valessia didn't respond. She simply stood there with an unreadable face.
She had come to this barracks without subordinates. Just a driver who remained in the car.
I thought the Eastern Mansion's branch in Nile would have fallen to the gutter after the Imperial Edict a decade ago.
Yet the weight of those retaliatory auras proved otherwise.
However, it looks as if they still have a few strong people who weren't affected by the Edict. For sure, there are monsters hidden within these barracks.
Their aura made her feel some mortal threat in her heart.
Nonetheless, she wasn't angered by their attitude. It seemed normal to her. Valessia was well aware that many individuals in this barracks were twice her age and had twice her experience in life.
They weren't to be messed with carelessly, even if her rank surpassed theirs.
She stared toward one of the upper floors… and saw him.
Nexus.
Miles away, still in his office, and yet, as if summoned by her attention, a smile stretched across his face. She could feel it and sense it.
"Val, come to see me after all these years?" He said.
The moment she heard his voice, her calm face morphed into carnal anger, to the point where the distance between her and Nexus seemed to compress into a few centimeters. The world became empty and the sky inverted.
Scarlet whips of Wilder Force burst from Valessia's body, writhing through the air like serpents hunting blood.
"What, you're still angry? It's been what, twelve or thirteen years?" Nexus feigned surprise as he placed a hand over his chest. "I know that they said women could hold a grudge, but damn." He chuckled. "I've been living rent-free in your head for so long, haven't I?"
The more he spoke, the angrier she got. But she couldn't move an inch, despite the mutation of the space between them. It was as though she had been locked in a spot.
"Do you want me to pay undue rent now, or… you'll waive it off?" This time, Nexus's voice carried a hint of his intent. One that was more potent than what he infused in the medal that he gave to Marcus.
The moment it touched her, clarity pierced through the haze of her rage. Beneath her wrath, a primal part of her recognized the threat… and recoiled.
Her anger began subsiding as everything slowly returned to normal, except for the mutation in space.
"You've comprehended a Martial Intent." She uttered softly.
"Is that enough to scare you off?" He reeled back. "After ten years you still haven't comprehended any?" Once again, he began taunting her. His mannerisms matched his words.
However this time, she didn't react, as though it wasn't the same person who almost couldn't contain herself a minute ago.
"To imagine that they kept on comparing our talents then. I might be a few years older than you, but even with the restrictions, debt, and demotion, you still failed to achieve half as much as I have. Your master would have wept." He added.
This time, she exploded with a horrifying anger that slowly dyed the area red, as though blood was seeping from the corners of the world. The energy around her intensified, and her aura surpassed what was coming from Nexus's being.
"There it is, there's the Dagger Regent I know and remember. Why were you hiding this? You've broken through the Domain Realm." He was somewhat surprised to see this, however, his surprise soon morphed into a smirk.
"A Realm above me… in that regard, you have indeed surpassed me." He began clapping for her with a proud smile on his face.
A suppressive energy wrapped around Nexus and attempted to devour him. The moment the energy came close to him, it vanished.
"While you have made some progress, you should know that Realms doesn't determine who the strongest is. I could already fight toe to toe against Domain Realm Awakened and Cultivators over a decade ago. How strong do you think I've grown now?"
"You've become a talkative, fight me, and stop running your mouth." Valessia took the step that she had been apprehensive of taking since her arrival here.
Still seated and grinning, Nexus threw a casual punch through the air, and reality within the domain cracked.
The domain they stood within shattered like glass.
Valessia crossed her arms to block, but she was too slow.
Boom!
She vanished, flung out of the parade grounds and out of the Eastern Mansion's Palace Barracks completely.
Silence followed, and then Nexus exhaled.
"She ran." He clicked his tongue. "Tsk."