The prisoner was dead. The truth serum that Tia had created, and assured would have no side effects, had caused the sage to enter a permanent state of vegetation, just after he had just barely managed to give Erich another clue.

Because of this, Erich terminated the man and jettisoned his body into space. Where he then told Tia to plot a course to Asuran space where their next target was currently hiding, or at least had been according to his last known whereabouts.

Erich was slightly perturbed that after all the effort he had gone through in order to claim this sage as his prisoner, all he managed to get out of the man was a slight clue about where another of his order may be hiding.

But at least he had managed to get something. With this in mind, he waited on board his ship, until a time where the crew could arrive at Asuran space. After all, he should have a much easier time getting hold of this next prisoner, now that he had the great Kali among the ranks of his team.

—

Soon enough, the Vigilance arrived in Asuran space, where Kali got on the comms and used her special permissions as a Devi to secure landing access to the world of Vitala-loka. This time they had no trouble landing, where they entered a world that was built with golden structures.

This world was not like the previous one, which Erich and his crew had visited to get Kali’s help. It was not a planet wide city. Instead, it was rather sparsely populated. With thick jungles full of dangerous wildlife, and only a few small habited areas, whose golden buildings shone with the light of the nearby star.

The moment Erich stepped off the Vigilance with Kali by his side, she was greeted by a host of people, no doubt the planetary governor, or whoever was in charge of the world. Erich was still not exactly sure how politics functioned in the Asura Cabal, thus he let Kali take the lead during these negotiations.

Kali stood proudly above the planetary governor who bowed before her, as she made a demand of the man, as if she were his goddess.

“We have come in search of a fugitive. Send me the list of all elves currently residing within this world, and their whereabouts. It does not matter which race they are from, we need to know them all.”

The planetary governor was quite surprised by this request, but immediately nodded his head as he got on his comms and approved the data transfer. While the files were downloading to the ship, the planetary governor asked if there was anything that Kali and her guests needed.

“While we wait for the data transfer to go through, is there anything I can get you or your companions? I promise, so long as it is in my ability, I will fetch it for you at once!”

However, Kali simply sneered at the man with disdain. Erich was not sure why, but she seemed to think he was wholly unsuited to worshipping the ground she walked upon. Thus, it came as no surprise when she rejected the man’s offer before sending him and his host away.

“No need. I will be staying aboard the Vigilance, which has everything I need. We will, however, be requesting the support of your local forces to aid in the capture of this fugitive once we have identified their location. So have your men on standby…. That will be all. Dismissed!”

The man only raised his head once he had been dismissed, where he and his host quickly fled the scene. Erich was gazing at Kali with a peculiar look, which she noticed, before inquiring why he was staring at her in such a way.

“What? What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

Erich, however, simply nodded his head before asking why Kali had treated the man in such a hostile manner.

“Nothing, I’m just a little confused. Why you would treat your own subordinate like that?”𝚘𝒱𝗅xt.𝒸𝗈𝚖

Kali scoffed when she heard this, before informing Erich that everything was not as it seemed within Asura’s space.

“You have some misunderstandings about the Cabal. We are not all so united. This world belongs to one of my competitors. They only follow my orders so long as they do not conflict with the local despot’s interests. Thus, I will not treat them as if they provide any value other than the data and manpower that we need to complete the task.

Erich, it would be wise for you not to be so trusting. Each deva in the cabal has a different support structure and different goals. For all we know, we may have stepped foot into hostile territory. If the local despot wants to protect the Sage, then we will have to fight for him. And I hate to say it, but our team is a bit lacking if our goal is to take on a planetary warlord….”

It was only now that Erich was realizing that he may have been a bit too optimistic in regards to how easy he thought this mission would be. If the local despot wanted to resist their efforts in apprehending the Sage, then this would be a very tricky situation to get out of in one piece, let alone while completing their objective.

—

Just as the data stream begun to transfer the information that Kali had requested, the despot in question was sitting in her office. She was not quite at the level of Kali, who held the rank of Devi, but her sovereignty over her space was unquestionable.

And because of this, she did not exactly like that Kali was now prying into her business. Especially because her advisor just so happened to be the fugitive in question. The light Elven male by the name of Thyrin Shieldscribe was a Prophet 2nd Class within the mysterious Order of the Sages, and he stood by the local despot’s side, with a lamentable expression on his otherwise handsome face.

“It would appear that the Dark Sage has found me…. This would only be possible if he had taken one of my subordinate’s hostage, and interrogated him with methods that are far too brutal to speak of. This world is no longer safe for me to stay on. I must flee at once…”

However, the multi-armed asuran quickly grabbed hold of Thyrin, and held him in place. There was a serious glint in her dark eyes as she begged him to stay.

“Thyrin… I can defend you, you know that. Though Kali’s presence among the Dark Sage’s companions is unexpected, she had not brought her forces with her. The Dark Sage only has a handful of crew and a single frigate. They can not even escape this world intact if they were to invoke my wrath! You are worrying about nothing… Please, stay by my side, and advise me like you have done these last few years. I would be remiss if my favorite subordinate were to abandon me so ruthlessly!”

Thyrin looked into the beautiful Asuran female longing gaze and sighed heavily. He nodded his head, and leaned in to kiss the woman, but before he could do so, they were interrupted by a call from one of her subordinates.

“Your highness, we have a slight problem…. We have not been able to scan the frigate which the Archon landed with….”

The Asuran beauty scowled when she heard this and began to berate her subordinates for being incompetent.

“You fool! What do I even pay you for if you can’t even scan a simple Alfheim frigate? I should have your heads!”

The subordinate simply bowed his head before apologizing profusely.

“I’m sorry, your highness, but it is not so simple. The ship appears to be covered in some form of advanced coating, which is preventing our sensors from even picking up its shape. It is visible right in front of us, and yet, our most advanced sensors can not detect its existence. I have never seen anything like this before. It is almost as if our sensors are not advanced enough to breach the passive defences of the frigate….”

This response caused both Thyrin and the Asuran beauty to stare in disbelief at the hologram. Their sensors could not pick up the ship? That was impossible. There was a very fine balance in military technology between the various galactic powers. So much so that stealth technology of any kind was virtually useless in the face of the advanced sensor technology employed by the galactic powers on their warships.

This caused the Asuran female to instantly become interested in just what secrets were hidden aboard the Archons’ ship.

“How interesting… Is it possible that this is a new prototype developed by the Dominion which that bitch is using her Archon to test? I should alert the cabal right away….”

Meanwhile, Thyrin had his own people to contact. If he was found, then there was no knowing how many of their locations had been leaked. There were only a few sages left in the Milky Way Galaxy. Most had fled to a nearby dwarf galaxy. If one of their positions was compromised, then all of them were.

Thus, Kali’s worst fears had turned out to be reality, as the despot of this world was indeed working with the sages. Meaning that they would have to fight a hell of a battle just to apprehend their target.