The return journey from Nexus Delta-7 was a quiet, grim affair. I moved with the speed and silence of a wraith, the Ghost Road's relay points now also bridging the gap to the Kyorian City. The revelations from my first Glimpse had settled in my gut like a chunk of indigestible lead. The Kyorians weren't just a distant, nebulous threat; they were a systematic, patient predator with a clear and chilling methodology for devouring worlds. The Crimson Blades, and a dozen other guilds just like them, were the teeth of that beast, and they were already being sharpened for places like Bastion.

Back in the safety of the Sanctum, surrounded by my loyal companions, I relayed the intelligence. Rexxar had roared in frustration, Leoric had been morbidly fascinated by the concept of the 'loyalty tax,' and Jeeves had absorbed the information with his usual cool efficiency, immediately beginning to run threat assessments and contingency plans.

But I knew it wasn't enough. I had seen the underbelly of the Nexus, the grunts and mercenaries who did the dirty work. I hadn't seen the true power, the apex predators who sat at the top of the food chain. I didn't know the strength of their leadership. Who was this Overseer? Was he still the strongest in the city? How does my own power now compare to his? Who were the strongest guild masters? To fight an enemy, you have to know who their champions are.

My first Glimpse had been a masterpiece of infiltration. For the second, I would need a masterpiece of escalation. My Veil had held against their passive scanners, which meant I could walk their streets. My previous persona as 'Chris' could still be used. I just would need to wait the five day cooldown for my Glimpse to become available, and this time, I wouldn't just be joining a guild. I would be picking a fight.

The plan I formulated with Jeeves was simple in its audacity. I would enter the Glimpse as a new persona: an arrogant, powerful, unaffiliated human who had just arrived in the sector. A high Tier-3 fighter, brimming with confidence and looking to make a name for himself. This persona would bypass the lower-tier guilds and go straight for the top — the Ironheart Vanguard. I wouldn't ask to join; I would challenge them. I would make a scene, draw out their strongest fighters, and use the ensuing confrontation to gauge their true capabilities. The climax of the Glimpse would be to force a confrontation with the highest authority possible.

The five days of waiting were a tense, focused period of preparation and cultivation. On the fifth day, I made the journey back to my hidden cave near the Nexus. Once more, I submerged my consciousness into the roiling sea of possibilities.

The Glimpse slammed me into reality. I was standing before the grand, imposing entrance to the Ironheart Vanguard's guildhall. My simple leathers were gone, replaced by a suit of dark, well-made steel plate armor I had purchased from the Sanctum's System Shop — functional, impressive, but untraceable. I wasn't just 'Chris' anymore. I was a declaration of power.

Without hesitation, I kicked the ornate doors open. The boom echoed through the opulent, cavernous hall. Two hulking Vanguard Praetorians, their armor gleaming, moved to intercept me, their hands on their weapons.

"Who are you to defile the doors of the Vanguard?" one of them growled.

I didn't answer with words. I unleashed a fraction of my true spiritual pressure, not my full Aura, but a sharp, directed pulse of my Soul Strength. It was like an invisible punch. Both guards staggered back, their faces paling, their hands trembling as they struggled to even hold their swords. They were looking at me now not with anger, but with a dawning, terrified respect.

From a raised platform at the far end of the hall, a figure rose. He was a Kyorian Pureblood, his features sharp and aristocratic, his silver armor so polished it was like a mirror. His power signature flared — a solid, powerful mid-Tier 4. He was the local guild master. "You have courage, human," he said, his voice cold and crisp. "Or you are a fool. Explain yourself."

"I hear the Vanguard only recruits the strong," I replied, my voice booming in the hall. "I have come to see if any of you are strong enough to be worthy of my time."

My challenge was a calculated insult, an act of supreme arrogance designed to bypass all protocols and force an immediate escalation. And it worked perfectly. In the three hours that followed within the Glimpse, I learned everything I needed to know. I dueled the Guild Master and, holding my true strength in reserve, fought him to a standstill, 'revealing' my power as a high Tier-3 with an unusual degree of raw spiritual force. My sheer audacity impressed him more than the feigned victory. My performance earned me not a contract, but a summons.

"The Overseer wishes to see you," the Guild Master said, his voice laced with a newfound, grudging respect. "It is not often an unaligned human of your… caliber appears in a new sector."

The summons was my true prize. I was escorted by a squad of Praetorians to the sector's command spire, a needle of black obsidian and shimmering energy that pierced the sky. As I was led through its sterile, silent corridors, I felt my Veil being tested more powerfully than ever before. Sophisticated, invisible sensor grids washed over me, probing, analyzing. They were far beyond anything at the main gate. They detected fluctuations, anomalies they couldn't quite classify, but my Mythic-grade Veil held, twisting and diffusing their scans, presenting the simple data-ghost of a powerful but mundane Tier-3 human.

I was brought to an office at the spire's apex. The room was stark and minimalist, its walls a single, seamless pane of armored crystal that looked out over the entirety of Nexus Delta-7. Before the window stood a man. It wasn't the previous Overseer overlooking the construction. He was surprisingly unremarkable in his appearance — a middle-aged human-like being with neatly trimmed brown hair, wearing a simple, practical but immaculately tailored grey uniform. There were no grand decorations, no displays of power. But his aura... his aura was a different story. Much larger than the previous Overseer, it was a bottomless ocean of immense power, so perfectly controlled that it barely registered until I was only steps away. He was a Master-Tier entity, but I could feel his true power was still weaker compared to Demon Lord Kharonus'. My Glimpse had confirmed the Sector Overseer's name from an attendant — Traichus Mac. He was an underling to House Vorr. An underling. The realization of the Kyorian Empire's true depth of power was a staggering blow.

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"The arrogant human," Traichus Mac said without turning around, his voice calm and cultured. "You have caused quite a stir. The first truly interesting thing to happen in this Nexus since my appointment." He turned, and his eyes, a simple, unassuming brown, seemed to see right through me, right through the Veil, right into my soul. "Tell me, who are you? And what gives you the audacity to believe you can stand as an equal in a Kyorian Nexus?"

My Glimpse persona was that of an arrogant warrior. So I played the part. "My strength gives me that right."

The Overseer smiled, a thin, pitying expression. "Your strength? You are a candle flame declaring itself a star. You have no idea what true strength is."

This was the climax. It was time to test the apex. "Then let me show you," I said, and I dropped the act.

In an instant, I unleashed it all. My full, unadulterated spiritual presence flooded the room. I activated my [Aura of Cindered Dominion]. The air crackled, and shimmering, incandescent flames of pure Soulfire erupted around my body, casting the stark office in a golden, furious light. The temperature in the room skyrocketed. The sheer pressure of my S+ Soul Strength was a physical blow, a gravity well that should have brought any being less than Tier 5 to their knees.

Overseer Traichus Mac, however, did not even blink. He simply stood there, a faint, academic curiosity in his eyes, as if observing an interesting but predictable chemical reaction.

"Ah," he said, his voice holding a note of genuine, mild interest. "Soulfire. A rare and potent manifestation. And your spiritual pressure is… significant. Far beyond your Tier. Quite remarkable, for a fledgling."

My blood ran cold. Fledgling?

I didn't wait. I lunged, my hand wreathed in cindered fire, my strike as fast as thought. But he was faster. He didn't move so much as… he was simply no longer there. He was standing by the window, hands clasped behind his back, looking at me with that same, infuriatingly calm pity.

"Your technique is crude," he stated, his voice calm, like a teacher critiquing a student. "You wield your aura like a club, a simple, blunt instrument of intimidation. You have not yet learned to refine it, to shape it, to give it a will and a space of its own. It is an aura, yes. But it is not a Domain."

A Domain? The word hit me with the force of a physical revelation, opening a door in my mind to a level of power I didn't even know existed.

"And your Soulfire… so potent, yet so uncontrolled!" he grunted, taking a half-step back, a shocking concession. "It burns with a primal heat, but you are not its true master! You are merely its current vessel! You have not unlocked the core of its potential, you haven't even unlocked your bloodline!"

My Bloodline? He was talking in riddles, but there was a frantic edge to his voice now, a note of disbelief. It was the sound of a mathematician discovering a flaw in the fundamental laws of his universe.

"You are a puzzle, human," Traichus Mac said, the words coming faster now. "A human from a newly Confluenced world should not possess this level of raw spiritual talent. You should not be able to manifest Soulfire of this purity, not without… No, it is impossible. The records are clear." For the first time, a shadow of what looked like fear crossed his face. "This anomaly is significant. My Master, Lord Hadrian Vorr, must be informed immediately. A potential emergent Bloodline of this magnitude, uncatalogued… he will see this as a threat of the highest order."

My time in the simulation was almost up. I gathered every ounce of my remaining power for one final, all-out assault. "Enough talk!" I roared, and the Soulfire of my Aura coalesced around my fist, forming a blazing effigy of a phoenix head. It was the purest expression of my power I had ever managed, an instinctual shaping born from the heat of this desperate battle. I pulled my fist back.

Traichus Mac's eyes widened in genuine alarm. The calm facade shattered completely. "That shape… That sigil… It cannot be! That bloodline was to have been purged—!"

He didn't finish his sentence. He dropped all pretense of a simple defense. His own aura exploded outward. It wasn't a raging fire like mine; it was a perfect, crystalline sphere of absolute order and white-gold light — his Domain. The moment it touched my own aura, my flames felt… smothered. Not beaten back by a greater fire, but systematically unmade, dissected, and neutralized by a power that operated on a higher dimensional level.

My final, desperate punch connected with his Domain. The phoenix of Soulfire disintegrated against the sphere of absolute law. But it wasn't a clean victory for him. The sheer, primal power of my strike sent a violent, chaotic resonance shuddering through his perfect defense. A visible crack appeared in his Domain, and Traichus Mac was thrown back a full five steps, stumbling to regain his footing, his face a mask of utter shock and disbelief.

I had lost. There was no question. But I had cracked his unbreakable shield. I had made him afraid.

His fear, however, was quickly replaced by a cold, terrible resolve. "An unawakened Primordial Bloodline, here… Unacceptable." He raised his hand, and from it, a beam of pure, annihilating light gathered, no longer a simple probe, but a weapon of absolute execution. "You will be dissected. Your secrets will be…."

His final words were lost as the overwhelming force of his fully mobilized power shattered the Glimpse. The simulation couldn't contain the energies being unleashed. My consciousness was violently ejected, ripped back into the physical world.

I gasped for air, my real body convulsing in the cold darkness of the confluence, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had been defeated, but it was not the effortless dismissal I had half-expected. It was a true fight. I had forced a Master-Tier Kyorian Overseer to use his ultimate skill, and I had, however briefly, found a chink in his armor. I had made him fear my potential.

A Domain. A Bloodline. Lord Hadrian Vorr. And the terrified, unfinished sentence of an Overseer who had seen a ghost. I had my answers. And more importantly, I had a new set of questions. My journey of growth was far from over. I needed to understand what was sleeping in my blood.

It was time to return to the Sanctum. It was time to pay another visit to my old tutor, the arrogant, infuriating, and undeniably knowledgeable Lord Kharonus. He owed me a few more lessons.

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