The moment the teleportation light faded, I realized two things at once. One, the sky above Technographia was not where we were supposed to be, and two, we were falling.
Wind roared past my ears. For half a second I just blinked, floating and falling beside him, trying to process how we'd gone from standing in front of a spaceship to plummeting toward one of the most fortified floating islands in all of Spheraphase.
Below us, the Richinaria Palace was in chaos.
Smoke spiraled in black, violent columns. Entire chunks of the floating island were shearing off and drifting away. The ones making all of that destruction were the metallic beings.
There weens of thousands of them.
Some hovered in perfect formation with wings of articulated metal unfolding and folding. Others marched across the streets and plazas as they raised their arm-mounted emitters and fired into anything that moved.
Explosions rippled across the island and the sound boom reached us a second later.
"Okay… I definitely didn't expect the natives of Technographia to attack all of a sudden."
Beside me, Veneri—no, Protection Veneri—was already watching the battlefield with that still silence he got when something crossed the line from inconvenient to unacceptable. Even while falling, he looked composed,
"This is bad."
That was putting it mildly.
We both summoned our Flight Circles. The violent rush of wind was cut off as we decelerated. The full scale of the destruction came into view.
The outer districts were already under siege. Metallic beings swarmed through its streets, firing into crowds of fleeing civilians. They weren't even discriminating between targets. Anyone who ran got shot. Anyone who tried to fight back got shot more.
We landed almost at the same time.
Right in front of us, a group of civilians were scrambling across the plaza, dragging an injured Ascender between them while three metallic beings charged at them with emitters charging. A few Divines were trying to hold the line but even they were being pushed back.
What caught my attention wasn't just their losing ground. Every single metallic being radiated a presence that pressed against my senses like a solid wall.
Each robot was at the Fourth Enlightenment.
"You've got to be kidding me."
There were tens of thousands of these things and every single one of them carried the presence of a Fourth Enlightenment Divine. That level of power wasn't something you mass-produced. It took centuries and lifetimes of cultivation.
Yet here they were, marching around like factory-made soldiers.
"They aren't organic so how are they even—"
"We'll analyze later," Veneri interrupted. "For now, we end this."
He stepped forward and stomped his foot.
The sound wasn't loud, but the moment his heel struck the ground, a colossal wave of pressure hit the entire island. His Divine Presence surged into existence, causing every metallic being to freeze mid-motion. Then, in perfect unison, they were forced down. Metal screeched against stone as thousands of them were pinned flat to the ground. Those in the air dropped, crashing into rooftops and streets.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Civilians who had been running moments before stumbled to a halt, staring around in disbelief. The injured Ascender we saw who sagged in the arms of his companions looked at Veneri like he was seeing a myth.
And then someone shouted with relief.
"The Monarch!"
That was all it took.
Cheers could be heard across the plaza as more and more people realized what had just happened. Even the battered Divines turned towards him. Veneri didn't acknowledge the cheering. He just raised one hand and summoned a Ninth Star Healing Mystic Circle above the island.
It easily spread for several kilometers. Wherever its light touched, wounds closed. Shattered bones knit back together with audible cracks. I watched as the injured Ascender beside us gasped as his wounds regenerated. Around us, people who had been moments from death suddenly found themselves standing again, blinking in shock as the pain vanished.
Unfortunately, not everyone rose. A few bodies lay still. The healing circle couldn't restore what had already fully departed.
I exhaled slowly, scanning the plaza and the surrounding streets.
"Judging by the scale of their attack, it didn't even last five minutes."
The destruction was too fresh. Fires still burned where they first struck. This had began in the island before anyone could react.
"And Anamorsia, Leones, Adelasta, and the rulers of the Houses are all outside the island right now. Which means this place was practically defenseless when they struck."
As if summoned by the mention of leadership, a small group of Divines approached us from the direction of the palace. Their Divine Presences were stable—all of them are Immortal Humans—and despite their injuries, they moved with the composed urgency of trained officials. When they reached us, they dropped to one knee and bowed deeply.
"Esteemed Highness," one of them said in relief. "We thank you for your intervention."
Veneri glared at them silently for a moment before speaking.
"Explain."
A woman stepped forward from the group. Her armor was cracked and one of her sleeves was still soaked in blood that the healing circle hadn't fully cleaned away, but she held herself straight as she spoke.
"Ten minutes ago, the presences of the royal family and the rulers of each Richinaria House vanished."
Vanished was not a word anyone used lightly in Spheraphase.
"One moment they were present and the next, they were gone. We initiated emergency protocols but before we could even complete a full scan, these metallic beings began attacking the entire island."
She gestured toward the rows of immobilized constructs sprawled across the city.
"Each of them carries the power of a Fourth Enlightenment Divine. Had you not arrived when you did, we would have been overwhelmed within minutes."
The metallic beings were still pinned as they struggled uselessly against Veneri's presence. Veneri turned his head slightly toward me.
"Phaenora. Locate them."
I closed my eyes, My perception expanded through Technographia. I searched for the familiar signatures of his siblings, Adela and the House rulers.
I found nothing.
I pushed harder, forcing my senses even deeper. Still nothing. My eyes snapped open.
"I can't sense them. Not Leones, not Milliania, not Anamorsia… not even Adelasta. It's like they were erased from thelayer of reality."
The Immortal Humans exchanged uneasy glances behind us.
"Wherever they are, they're inside some kind of trap. Something was designed specifically to block external scanning and it's not a simple concealment. Even I'm having trouble getting a read."
That was when I knew this wasn't just a random rebellion from Technographia's natives. This was meticulously planned and whoever planned it had just managed to temporarily remove an entire royal dynasty and every major House leader in under ten minutes.
I glanced sideways at Veneri, watching the way his Divine Presence continued to crush tens of thousands of Fourth Enlightenment constructs without even the slightest tremor in his own.
Veneri stayed silent for a few seconds after I told him I couldn't sense any of them. He suddenly activated the Sapphire Bond as it began to search for a very specific resonance; Adelasta's.
By the way, even though Darling separated himself into five, they all have access to his three Aeterium capabilities since he's still an Aeterium. Also each Pentarch of his has Sapphire Bond.
I watched his expression carefully. Normally, the Sapphire Bond reacted instantly to her presence because of their marriage bond and her Bane, Servitude to One. But this time, the bond hesitated. It felt as if it was trying to push through something. Finally, it pointed toward one of the districts.
"They're still on the island."
That made my stomach twist a little. If they were still here, then my earlier scan had missed something.
"Search the island again, Phae."
I nodded automatically and closed my eyes, expanding my senses once more. This time, I followed the direction the Sapphire Bond had taken. A pocket of space, folded in on itself like a crumpled sheet of paper. Inside that pocket were multiple presences I knew by heart.
They were sealed into a localized spatial container that was sitting right there in the middle of the city like a regular building. My eyes flew open and heat rushed to my face before I could stop it.
"Oh."
Veneri glanced at me. "Well?"
I scratched the side of my cheek, avoiding his gaze for half a second.
"I… might have missed something obvious. It's layered in a way that made it feel like an empty zone."
Silence hung between us for exactly one heartbeat.
"Sorry, Veneri."
He looked at me for a while before he shook his head slightly.
"You need to be better, Phaenora. You're really losing your touch."
Ouch. That one hit harder than if he'd just yelled at me. I pressed my lips together and nodded.
"Yeah. I know."
He didn't say anything else. Instead, he stepped forward and vanished. I took off after him as I pushed myself to keep up but even then, he was already reaching the street where the Sapphire Bond pointed.
We landed on a wide terrace overlooking a narrow street lined with research facilities of Levenees. At the center of the street stood a man I didn't recognize.
He wasn't dressed like a Richinaria citizen and he definitely wasn't one of our Divines. His clothing was a strange mix of rigid fabrics and metallic panels and in his hands he held a small, perfectly black cube.
He turned when he sensed us. He didn't even have time to speak.
A flash of sapphire and Darling's arm swung. The man's head separated from his body before the shock even had time to appear on his face. The body collapsed a second later with oily blood spilling across the pavement.
The black cube flickered once in midair and a loud, echoing crack rang out. Leones, Anamorsia, Adelasta, and the rulers of the Houses tumbled out and crashed onto the ground. They were disoriented for a minute.
They were all already looking up at Veneri when they managed to understand the situation.
He stood there with blood still dripping from his hand. The relief on their faces lasted exactly one second before it was replaced by something else when they saw his expression.
"You brought a native to the island and he managed to trap all of you this easily?"
No one answered.
"Who brought the native inside?"
A long, suffocating silence followed. Then, one by one, their eyes shifted until they all settled on Leones. For once, she didn't have any witty retort or defensive glare ready. She just lowered her head.
"It was me. I thought he was a harmless injured guy. I allowed him to pass and gave him to the Levenees."
Veneri stared at her for a few seconds that felt like minutes.
"You'll take care of the damages all by yourself. Consider it your punishment."
"Yes, Monarch."
He didn't linger on her. His eyes shifted to Adelasta next.
"And you. Why did you allow her to let an unknown being from Technographia inside?"
Adelasta didn't answer. Honestly, this might be the first time Adelasta didn't try to counter what he usually said.Darling looked past her toward the House leader figures, including Adelasta's father.
"You're the oldest among them. Why were you trapped as well?"
The man's lips parted slightly and then pressed together again. He lowered his gaze, saying nothing.
I felt a strange secondhand embarrassment creeping up my spine. It was painfully obvious what had happened. They underestimated someone they thought was beneath them and it had blown up in their faces in the worst way possible.
Veneri sighed, rubbing his temple briefly as if the whole situation was giving him a headache.
"Sylveira."
From the group of House rulers, Sylveira, Matriarch of House Levenees, stepped forward.
"Yes, Your Esteemed Highness?"
He pointed at the headless body lying in the street.
"Experiment on the native's body. It's not organic so it's definitely not dead yet."
Her eyes lit up faintly with professional curiosity and she inclined her head.
"Understood."
He turned away from them all as if he'd already lost interest in the conversation.
"Adelasta," he said without looking back. "Follow me immediately."
She moved without hesitation, stepping into place beside him. He glanced over his shoulder at Leones and Anamorsia.
"You two deal with the metallic beings. Decapitate them all and give them to House Levenees for experimentation."
They both nodded. "Yes, Monarch."
"And the rest of you," he said to the House rulers, "handle the panic among the civilians. Stabilize the island."
They all bowed down.
"I just got back and you're already causing this much trouble…"
He groaned softly and then flew into the palace at high speed. I exchanged a quick glance with Adelasta before pushing off the ground and following after him. Adelasta used her flames to fly.
We flew in silence for a while. From this close, I could see his hands clenched slightly tighter than usual at his sides. Honestly, it's the one of the few times I've ever seen him this disappointed.