Adrian's starship docked at the Watchpoint's eastern platform, a Runithian clan officer awaited them, all four silver eyes blinking in sequence as he analyzed the newcors.
"Patriarch Adrian, Matriarch Kaelith." The officer bowed, "The Council awaits you in the central chamber; Please follow ."
They walked through corridors lit by harsh white light, passing squads of armored warriors and supply convoys.
The corridor opened into a wide atrium where the council chamber's doors stood.
The officer gestured, "Inside."
The doors parted.
...
The chamber was circular, dominated by a central holo-table that projected tactical data in rotating layers. High-backed seats ringed the table, most already occupied.
Adrian stepped inside, and the room's atmosphere shifted instantly.
Thalren sat at the far end, his hand, which had been gesturing toward the projection, froze in place.
Beside him, Seraphis leaned forward slightly, her gaze sharpened, pupils contracting as her senses probed Adrian's presence.
To the left, Patriarch Arvion of the Starforge Clan straightened in his seat, his fingers twitching toward the datapad on the table.
And finally, the Runithian Stellar Lord sat near the projection controls, his four silver eyes blinking in rapid succession as he processed what he was sensing.
They all felt it.
Adrian's presence was an absolute certainty that filled the room, dense and inescapable, like standing at the base of a mountain and knowing it could never be moved.
Seraphis's mind raced, comparing the sensation to every powerful being she'd encountered across millennia of warfare.
The twin demons, the ancient cultivators who occasionally erged from the deep Edge.
Even Thalren, who had entered the eting planning to politely recomnd the Origin Clan withdraw from Drakthor due to their "inexperience," felt his mouth falter, "This is… not a warlord, this is sothing comparable to the ancient cultivators…"
Thalren quietly deleted every thought he had prepared; this ant he was already stronger than the warlords from the empire. He couldn't suggest a being of this caliber withdraw.
Then Kaelith entered.
She walked behind Adrian, not beside him, her posture relaxed but unmistakably deferential.
Kaelith Duskbane, a battlefield monster who'd held sectors against demon hordes. She walked behind Adrian like an attendant following her superior.
Thalren cleared his throat, forcing his voice steady, "Patriarch Adrian, Matriarch Kaelith, Welco."
He gestured toward the empty seats, "Please."
Adrian moved to the table, taking a seat across from Thalren. Kaelith settled beside him.
"Let us begin," Thalren said. "The demons are gathering, Intelligence confirms millions of lesser demons, hundreds of commanders, multiple lords, and at least four warlords. Coordination is our first priority."
He gestured, and the holo-projection expanded, layers of data unfolding in three-dinsional space.
Registered forces appeared: clan nas, troop counts, Stellar numbers.
"Our combined forces currently field seventy-two Stellars and six Stellar Lords, drawn from Voidrender, Infinitus, and Duskbane Clans." Thalren's gaze swept the table, "Starforge and Runithian do not field combatants, their roles remain support and logistics."
His eyes settled on Adrian, "Patriarch Adrian… we have no registry data for the Origin Clan. Please submit your numbers."
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The request was a standard protocol, and from the origin clan, no one expected much.
Adrian's node floated forward, and the registry updated. Seventy-two Stellars beca eighty-seven, and Six Stellar Lords beca seven.
The chamber went utterly silent.
Thalren stared at the projection, "Fifteen…" His voice ca out strangled, "Fifteen new Stellars? And a Lord?"
Seraphis leaned forward, her eyes wide, "That's impossible."
Arvion dropped his datapad. It clattered against the table, the sound echoing in the silence.
For clans that had existed for millennia, gathering such numbers was the achievent of centuries. And a newborn clan had fifteen.
They all knew about the battle at the Origin Capital, even on that ti, the Origin Clan hadn't fielded this many Stellars.
"Did they hide everything from the start?
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