Chapter 3112: Authority

"The Commander is as uncertain as you are. The situation is more troublesome than we expected."

Veyarel’s voice carried across the Khaos Domain, his tone more serious than usual.

The Commander he referred to was Supreme Rivan, the Grand Marshal of the Armada, the highest-ranking authority overseeing the entire mission. Although Rivan was not as seasoned as Rosin Karat, his higher cultivation and rank placed him above the veteran Supreme in the Alliance’s command structure.

Veyarel explained that the armada had encountered another massive Scourge swarm only a day earlier. The battle had forced them to divert part of their forces and slowed their advance, further complicating an already uncertain situation.

Given how dire things sounded, the Supremes commanding the armada had decided against approaching the Pardera homeworld too quickly for now.

It wasn’t only the Scourge infestation that worried them.

Tartarus had already endured decades of war. Its surviving populations were cornered, exhausted, and increasingly desperate. The sudden arrival of a foreign armada could be misunderstood. That was a complication none of them wanted to risk while they still knew so little about the political situation.

Besides, there was little the armada could actually do from its current position.

Even under favorable conditions, they were still at least two to three months away, and there was no shortage of obstacles between their present location and the Pardera home world.

"The commander want you to learn more," Veyarel continued. "What these people actually need. What their real intentions are. What kind of help we can offer."

Emery remained silent, listening carefully.

The reasoning was straightforward enough.

The Magus Alliance might be foreign to this realm, but they were fighting the same enemy. The Scourge threatened both sides, and helping Tartarus survive the invasion would ultimately strengthen the Alliance’s own position as well.

The next morning, Emery acted on the one thing he had been cleared to do, and with Ivaris’s help, it was not difficult to arrange.

He handed over a batch of the Magus Alliance’s advanced countermeasures—their improved Scourge detection formula and Superior Suppressant pills—to the fortress’s own research effort. Given how severely Tartarus had been affected by the Scourge, Emery hoped the knowledge would prove useful, even if it could not immediately change the larger situation.

Ivaris led him directly to the small team assigned to the work.

The laboratory was modest, tucked within one of the fortress’s older stone structures, with only seven alchemists working inside. Despite its limited size, the room was clearly being used for more than ordinary research. It served as both a treatment center for infection cases and a research facility dedicated to understanding the Scourge.

Shelves and worktables lined the walls, crowded with alchemical equipment, formation tools, sealed containers, and stacks of handwritten research notes. Along one side of the room, several live and dissected infected specimens were kept behind reinforced containment barriers.

"This is Grand Master Milia."

Ivaris introduced Emery to his superior.

Grand Master Milia was a composed, middle-aged woman whose calm expression and deliberate movements gave her an air of quiet authority. She was a Three-Cosmos cultivator, but her presence was remarkably restrained, with her attention focused almost entirely on the research before her.

The moment Emery’s pills and formulas were laid out, however, that focus shifted completely.

Milia barely exchanged more than a few words of greeting before moving directly toward the materials. She carefully examined the pills, then immediately began studying the accompanying recipes and formulas. Her expression revealed almost nothing, yet the speed with which she abandoned whatever experiment she had been conducting to concentrate on Emery’s contribution spoke louder than any words could have.

"She’s always like that," Ivaris murmured beside Emery. "Hope you don’t mind."

Within minutes, Milia had called the entire team over and pulled Ivaris into the work as well. The seven alchemists gathered around the formulas, examining them from different angles and quietly discussing the principles behind each step.

Emery gave them a brief explanation of the formulas, pointing out the key methods and ingredients on crating the pills.

Once he finished, the laboratory gradually fell silent again.

Only the faint clinking of alchemical equipment and the occasional murmur between the researchers broke the silence as everyone became fully absorbed in the work.

Without proper clearance to assist further, however, there was little more he could contribute.

He eventually excused himself and left the laboratory.

Whatever came from the research, Emery suspected the contribution would at least earn him some goodwill and hopefully some of the king’s trust.

With that handled, Emery turned his attention to Soltz, hoping to finally receive some word about his condition.

Access was denied outright.

Emery pushed the matter anyway, refusing to simply accept the silence. Several hours later, Haru finally arrived with a limited explanation.

"We’re attempting to extract the possessing entity from Grand Magus Soltz," the Warden said, his tone clipped and guarded. "It will take time to do so without damaging his soul."

Haru remained cautious throughout the rest of the exchange, offering little beyond that brief explanation. Still, what Emery managed to piece together was unsettling enough on its own.

The entity possessing Soltz was apparently not a stranger to the fortress.

She was known as Eternal Night fairy, a Supreme-level figure who had spent centuries sealed away in voluntary seclusion somewhere within the Zero Black Crevice. Exactly why she had remained there for so long, or what connection she had to Soltz, Haru did not explain.

Nothing more came from the conversation, but Emery did not need much else to understand that something was wrong.

The tension he had sensed during his exchange with the Sea Tide Supreme the previous day carried some weight.

Whatever history existed between the Sea Tide Supreme and Eternal Night, it was clearly not a friendly one.

For now, there was nothing Emery could do except wait, and there was no clear indication of how long the treatment would actually take.

The problem went beyond simple concern for a friend.

Without Soltz, Emery had lost his anchor point for the important Khaos waypoints.

Ivaris had mentioned that the next Rainbow Bridge would not open for another four months, while the Star Gate remained inactive with no indication of when it might become operational again. Emery had no intention of sitting idle for that long.

His original plan had been to use the Khaos waypoints to scout the three other surviving planets directly, gathering intelligence with his own eyes. With Soltz anchoring the return point, Emery could travel freely while still having a reliable way back to South Star Fortress.

Now, that option was gone.

He couldn’t simply trust anyone in the fortress to become a Khaos seed either. As for Ivaris, he had no affinity with Khaos energy, making him unsuitable as an anchor point.

With no further word from King Valder and nothing else immediately available to push forward, Emery eventually returned to his quarters.

He refused to let the waiting become wasted time.

Once inside, he settled down and turned his attention back to the spatial shard, deciding to continue refining it in hopes of gaining a deeper comprehension of the Law of Space and hopefully achieving a breakthrough.