Rather than approaching openly, I descended toward a remote section of the Soul Sea.
Hidden beneath the waters was one of the many Ironhart outposts I had discovered during my time exploring the family archives.
Most people assumed the Ironharts merely observed events.
In reality, they had hidden infrastructure everywhere.
Including Region Four.
After activating the concealed teleportation formation, space shifted around me once again.
The next moment I appeared deep within Region Four itself. The outpost remained exactly as described in the records. It was in the basement of one of the administrative buildings.
Before leaving, I covered myself in an illusion formed from condensed Soul Force. Layers of shimmering energy wrapped around my body until every trace of living vitality disappeared.
Moments later I looked exactly like any other resident of the Null Realm.
Satisfied, I stepped outside. The streets beyond bustled with activity. Countless races moved through the city.
At one point I passed a demon whose clothing appeared to consist entirely of belts. An impressive number of belts.
I stared for several seconds.
The demon stared back.
Eventually I decided I didn’t actually want an explanation.
Some mysteries were better left unsolved.
Continuing toward the central district, I allowed myself to blend naturally into the crowd while observing everything around me.
Region Four wasn’t significantly different from the other regions controlled by the Eternals.
The same underlying tension hidden beneath everyday life. Somewhere within this region existed two Eternals. One of them potentially knew answers I wanted.
My goal wasn’t to start a war. It wasn’t to announce my presence. And it certainly wasn’t to alert Verilux.
This time I intended to be subtle. I was going to find an Eternal.
Kidnap an Eternal.
Interrogate an Eternal.
And hopefully leave before anyone important noticed. As plans went, it sounded surprisingly reasonable.
A few interesting things immediately stood out.
I was keeping my perception controlled and spread into a limited area only to avoid any kind of detection by the Eternals. Normally, there was very little in the Null Realm capable of escaping my senses, but this wasn’t a situation where overwhelming power solved every problem.
If either of the Region Four Eternals noticed a Saint-level consciousness casually sweeping through their territory, the entire operation would become significantly more complicated.
As a result, I moved through the city the old-fashioned way.
Walking, observing and listening.
Occasionally wondering why some races seemed determined to make their clothing as impractical as physically possible.
Eventually my attention settled on a massive structure located near the center of one of the administrative districts.
The building stood nearly twenty stories tall and towered over the surrounding streets. Streams of people entered and exited continuously through multiple entrances while formations hidden throughout the structure monitored every movement.
At first glance it appeared ordinary. At second glance, it became far more interesting.
Phantoms.
Lots of them.
I slowed slightly while continuing down the street.
Unlike normal residents, the phantoms weren’t merely passing through. They were entering specific floors, carrying documents, exchanging information, and moving with the organized efficiency of people performing assigned duties and not the absolute killers that they were supposed to be.
That immediately attracted my attention.
Administrative centers existed everywhere. Administrative centers filled with phantoms were considerably rarer.
Without changing my pace, I walked past the building and entered a nearby alley. A moment later space folded around me. The next instant I appeared inside the structure.
The illusion covering my body remained perfectly stable as I materialized inside a deserted corridor.
The security was either very confident or very incompetent.
I briefly considered informing them of this vulnerability before remembering I was currently invading their building.
The helpful feedback could wait.
Using short-range spatial shifts, I moved through the building while avoiding heavily monitored areas. Several floors contained storage archives. Others appeared dedicated to transportation records, population management, and resource distribution.
Eventually I reached the fifteenth floor. The moment I arrived, my interest increased considerably.
Unlike the lower levels, this floor was filled almost entirely with information-processing rooms.
Large projection arrays displayed countless streams of data. Rows of workers sat before projecting terminals. Dozens of races were represented among them.
Several species I had never encountered before.
More importantly, not all of them were natives of Prime territory. I remained hidden within a corner while observing.
The information displayed throughout the room was surprisingly comprehensive.
Population movement, settlement growth, death rates, new soul arrival rates, conversion statistics and many more.
Even communication traffic between distant sectors. Every piece of information was being collected, organized, and analyzed.
For several minutes I simply watched.
Then I noticed something even more interesting.
The phantoms.
Unlike the other workers, the phantoms possessed access to significantly more information.
They entered restricted rooms.
Carried sealed reports.
One particular phantom caught my attention almost immediately.
The creature possessed four arms and a strangely elongated torso covered in constantly shifting strands of dark mist. Glowing red horizontal eyes floated within its skull-like face while traces of Transcendent-level energy radiated from its body.
A senior operative.
Exactly the kind of person I was looking for. I settled deeper into concealment and waited.
Patience was a useful skill. Especially when kidnapping people.
Several minutes passed.
The phantom continued reviewing reports before eventually leaving the room.
I followed silently.
The phantom continued down the corridor, its heavy footsteps echoing through the polished metal halls of the administrative complex. Personnel moved around it without paying much attention. A few glanced its way before quickly looking elsewhere, unwilling to draw the notice of a Transcendent.
I followed at a leisurely pace.
When the corridor finally emptied and the nearest groups disappeared around distant intersections, I made my move.
My hand settled lightly on its shoulder. The phantom frowned and began turning.
It never finished the motion.
Space folded.
The corridor vanished.
For a brief instant reality stretched into a blur of distorted colors before snapping back into place.
The phantom found itself standing in a vast underground chamber.
Its instincts reacted immediately.
Deathmist erupted from its body like a volcanic explosion. Four massive arms shot outward, each carrying enough force to devastate entire mountain ranges. The chamber trembled as a Transcendent-level attack surged toward me with overwhelming fury.
I raised a hand and with a wave shattered its attack. Simply erased, as though it had never existed.
The phantom stood motionless.
For several long seconds it simply stared.
Confusion slowly replaced its initial fury. Its head darted around the room, taking in the reinforced walls.
The realization arrived piece by piece.
Confusion became disbelief.
Disbelief became dread.
I offered it a pleasant smile.
"Hello."
The phantom’s gaze snapped back to me.
"Where..." it began hoarsely.
I pointed toward the ceiling.
"Basement."
The creature blinked.
"What?"
"You’re in a basement."
Its expression somehow became even more confused. I gestured around the enormous chamber.
"Personally, I think it’s a very nice basement."
For a moment the creature remained perfectly still. Then, to my surprise, it threw its head back and burst into laughter.