Keynes watched as the last of the monsters tore themselves apart. They were swift at killing each other. Why was that?

Dominion monsters are built differently from their rift counterparts. I do not have access to details but it has something to do with a mind input overload and their severed connection to a dominion, Alice explained.

This wasn’t the only thing on Keynes’s mind though.

It made him uneasy to be so indifferent to the carnage unfolding before his eyes. It wasn’t a new development as he’d already noticed this growing disassociation. But was it necessarily a bad thing? He didn’t think so. Being able to stay clear-headed in the heat of a battle was critical to survival.

This dominion had shown him that encounters would only get harder with Levels. From snippets of his conversations with Alice, it wasn’t difficult to form a picture: at higher Levels, enemies were more sophisticated and intelligent.

His musing was interrupted by a novel sensation at the back of his mind—his dominion.

Of course. He was now the sole owner of Altera’s dominion, or more precisely, the lair’s part. Keynes’s new dominion encompassed the island and the lake around it. He half-expected to be able to control his dominion the same way the sub-boss could but this wasn’t the case.

Before Keynes’s mind plunged into the dominion’s menu, he sensed Esopp’s state. It didn’t look good. His friend had sustained a lot of damage and exertion, to the point where his body was not able to recover on its own.

That was an oddity. An ascender’s body should be able to regain lost health from as low as 10% of total health.

That is not entirely true, Alice softly said.

Her words surprised him. Somehow, she was quite forthcoming. Usually, information had to be pulled out of her mouth with painful effort.

A lingering debuff?

No. At some point, physical damage starts seeping into a spiritual matrix and when that happens, a body is unable to recover on its own and requires external intervention. To encounter such complications before Level 5 is extremely unlikely though.

Sounds like a pain, Keynes thought. Does this kind of damage—the spiritual one—show as a debuff at least?

It does not. The underlying principles are very different.

Keynes didn’t push for details though. The time wasn’t right. He had a friend to save.

Alice presented him with a curated list of health regeneration buffs. They were quite potent—his reward for defeating the first global sub-boss. Each of the presented buffs would affect a spiritual matrix and force its regeneration. Here, Alice made sure to point out that there were thresholds to spiritual damage and beyond some of them even a direct help of a healer wouldn’t do much. The message was clear: healing and regeneration wasn’t a simple affair

At that moment, it didn’t matter.

Innate Health Regeneration buff (strong) activated.

It was the best pick according to Alice and after her explanation, Keynes agreed. The innate health regeneration was the most natural type of healing, offering the smallest risk of complications. The buff boosted Esopp’s natural regeneration to a point where it could start fixing spiritual damage. The drawback of this particular avenue of healing was its glacial slowness. What a skilled healer could restore within minutes, the buffed innate healing would do in a day at least.

But that was of no consequence to him. With monsters taking care of each other; Keynes and Esopp were safe…

What’s happening? Keynes asked, alarmed, feeling his consciousness slipping away.

Your body and mind is exhausted, master. I have kept the weariness at bay but with the buff active there is no point to keep you awake.

Before Keynes’s mind totally drifted away, he’d managed to ping the rest of his group.

***

Keynes woke up with a start to a sensation of intrusion.

You have not fully recovered, Alice warned him.

Then why did you wake me up? As he asked, the sensation of intrusion expanded and deepened, providing an answer to his question.

People entered his dominion, people he didn’t want here.

It would be best if you avoided them, she said. One of them is Level 7. You met him in Geneva.

Keynes remembered, of course.

What about debuffs? Are they any good?

That is a vague and imprecise question but you should know that at this point your dominion does not offer damaging debuffs.

That wasn’t ideal. What was worse was the sheer number of available debuffs and the fact that once Keynes picked one, he couldn’t change it. Problematic.

And he wished to avoid making a choice in a spur of a moment. Hiding it is then, he thought somberly and turned toward a line of trees only to sense more newcomers. His allies were coming. Serrata was among them and someone else, someone who somehow repressed their spiritual presence. In fact, if not for the dominion, Keynes would never sense this presence.

Can you investigate?

Alice shook her small head. I cannot do it. I do not sense this person at all and I am not synchronised with your dominion to be able to use it to augment my senses.

In that case, Serrata would have to suffice.

“Comes the worst, I’ll use [Chaos Aura]”, he muttered unhappily. One glance inward told him that his body wouldn’t take another fight without incurring serious consequences. [Chaos Aura] tended to have heavy mana and spiritual cost.

A few moments later, several helicopters dropped ascenders onto the clearing where Kenyes stood. He narrowed his eyes, sensing the hidden presence inside a helicopter above them. Who the hell was that?

“Keynes Kid, you have done it,” Serrata said as she approached him together with his team. “You achieved the impossible.”

Ignoring her, Keynes ordered healers to tend to Esopp, he might need him if Turtelli would try to play dirty. Only then he turned his attention to Serrata.

“I did,” Keynes agreed then asked. “You haven’t come alone. Who’s up there?”

Surprisingly, Serrata didn’t know what he was talking about. He believed her but this only deepened his frown and worry. Who was hiding among his people?

The remained unanswered as his attention was snatched by the arrival of the intruders who had circled above their heads. Six helicopters lowered their altitude and people started to jump off. In a matter of minutes, forty-five intruders stood amid a hive of activity that was Keynes’s and Serrata’s subordinates, breaking a camp.

“That’s the Solar Council,” Serrata supplied, stepping next to Keynes. “André Turtelli is leading them.” She sounded unsure, almost worried.

Keynes made use of his new dominion sense and with a welcome surprise was able to tell how strong each person within his dominion was—except for the hidden person in the helicopter—at least as far as Levels and spiritual stages went. He mentally added everyone from his and Serrata’s team to a dominion’s friend list. By default, a dominion saw people inside as neutrals. It was possible to change the default setting but for now he would manually select his friends and enemies.

Additionally, there was also an owner, administrator, moderators and specials. Just how complex this whole thing is to need so many options? Keynes asked.

Complex enough, Alice replied.

Once everyone on his side was added to the friend list and received the buff, he asked Alice to screen debuffs and pick those that could maximise their chances against the newcomers if it came to fighting.

He hoped he wouldn’t need to resort to this.

As the Solar Council group started their march toward Keynes and Serrat. Everyone stopped their tasks and got out of their way, others joined their leaders.

“Get ready,” Serrata commanded, as their people stepped beside them. Keynes noticed Taker and the remnants of the elite squad.

Some of the council’s men headed straight for the dead body of the sub-boss. Keynes didn’t like that. This was his dominion and the sub-boss was dead because of his and Esopp’s effort.

“Tell your people to stay away from the sub-boss,” Keynes whispered but inside his dominion, his voice would reach everywhere if he wished. Somehow, the dominion made him quite possessive.

André Turtelli froze, some of his people glanced around nervously. Turtelli narrowed his eyes and strolled toward Keynes with redoubled determination.

“This is officially—”

“You’re inside my dominion,” Keynes cut him off.

Turtelli blinked, then his glare moved on to Serrat. The councilman’s emotions spilled like water through a sieve. He was bad at hiding his hatred.

“Care to explain to this young man the consequences of his refusal?”

“No,” Serrata replied surprisingly dryly.

Turtelli glanced around, considering the witnesses. He was the head of the Solar Council and couldn’t afford being seen insulted without repercussions. Most ascenders in the clearing were at least Level 3 and their hearing was good enough to overhear the conversation.

Hence, as if reading Keynes’s mind, Turtelli pulled out an item that created a privacy bubble around them. It was similar to what Bonolo’s wife had used in the capital.

“You’re not in position to antagonise the Solar Council,” Turtelli said gravely, glancing between them. “Not recognising our claim here would see you arrested and trialled.”

“Don’t forget that I am a member of the council too, Turtelli.”

“Then act like one!” Turtelli snapped. “Because until now you are acting against the Solar Council’s best interest and that is considered a treason.”

Keynes had enough of this man but starting a fight with so many people around wouldn’t be smart. Esopp was still unconscious while Turtelli had more higher Level ascenders with him. If their encounter escalated into violence, Keynes’s side wouldn’t win. Keynes himself wouldn’t let them catch him but those who couldn’t fly away would be arrested or killed.

Before any of them reacted to Turtelli’s threat, an arrogant-looking Level 5 ascender strode forward with several servants at his tail.

“André!” he called out. “What’s going on? Who are these people?”

Turtelli dropped the privacy bubble and replied.

“Brenton, you were meant to stay in the helicopter.”

Brenton wiggled his finger.

“No deals without me!”

Both Turtelli and Serrata sighed, irritated. Keynes didn’t know who this Brenton was but judging by the way the man carried himself it was easy to imagine why they reacted this way.

“We’re in the middle of something,” Turtelli said, when Brenton joined them but the newcomer paid little attention to the councilman’s words as he glared at Serrata.

“What’s Artefact Exchange doing here?”

“Should I ask the same about your company? What was it called again?” Serrata asked, a little venomously.

Without the privacy bubble, others were able to hear their exchange.

“You're an amusing one, aren’t you?”

Turtelli grunted, cutting off any response from Serrata.

“We don’t have time for your bickering. We must gather as—”

“You won’t take anything from my dominion. It is off limits to anyone without my permission. You will take your people and leave my place.”

Brenton looked confused but Turtelli’s face darkened. Keynes had considered de-escalating the conflict but then the other man assumed he was free to do as he pleased and that was unacceptable. Keynes and Esopp had defeated the sub-boss through their effort and with some of Serrata and their teams’ help. Coming here with demands grated on Keynes’s patience.

“I have two thousand soldiers surrounded this island.” This time Turtelli didn’t seem to care if others heard him. “If you keep behaving unreasonably, I will take you with me. Is that something you want?”

“I thought we'd made a deal,” Keynes replied. “I open rifts for you and you leave me and my company alone.”

A sharp inhale told him that only now Brenton released who Keynes was.

“Remind me, how many rifts have you opened for us?” Turtelli asked and without letting Keynes reply, added. “Don’t bother. I'll tell you. Zero. Meanwhile, the marketplace is flooded with Level 4 items and materials coming exclusively out of your company.”

“T—th—this is the Kid?” Brenton stuttered in the background.

Ignoring the man, Turtelli continued.

“Without Level 4 rifts, not only the Solar Council but everyone is at risk.” Turtelli started radiating off confidence. “And the new threat is bigger than Windsor Freeman. Check the dominion ranking and see for yourself. Sandman. That man has twice the amount of points of the second place in the all time ranking. He’s growing stronger by minute while we squabble without a point.”

By now, Keynes was aware of Sandman. His henchmen had tried to force Keynes and his team to leave the sub-boss alone. But he didn’t like how easily the other man dragged Sandman into this. Despite his vault of knowledge, he was ill-prepared to deal with a situation like this one. Their first meeting had ended up in Keynes’s favour only because of deception on Keynes’s part. This time, he wasn’t going to pull off a similar stunt.

In a moment of tension, Brenton made his move and said.

“We must take the boy with us! They have no one on their side.”

Just like that Keynes was plunged back into the old, treacherous waters where his freedom could be snatched away from him in a blink of an eye. His instinctive reaction was to shoot into the air and fly away. But nothing was as simple as before. He had to consider other people. Esopp. Taker and his team. Serrata and her team. If Keynes fled now, he'd be a coward and nothing else.

You are too hard on yourself…

“That would be a crime,” Serrata said. “Are you a criminal, Brenton?”

“Nonsense,” Brenton scoffed, puffing his chest and narrowing his eyes on Serrata. “He’s a crucial asset and taking him with us is a duty. This boy belongs…” He trailed off as if a new thought occurred to him, which he voiced a second later. “You think you can keep him for yourself, don’t you? That’s your plan.”

Master, this would be a perfect moment to make an exit, Alice informed him but Keynes dismissed the idea. Aside from the fact that this was his dominion, he was transfixed by the unfolding events. Was this everything he was to others? A crucial asset? This reminded him too much of Windsor Freeman and his complete disregard for Keynes’s freedom.

As the tension grew further, Keynes considered his next step. In the case of a fight, his group was going to lose unless he used [Chaos Aura] and killed the Level 7. Something he would rather avoid but remaining quiet and passive was no longer an option. Whoever this Brenton was, was asking for a beating.

Fearing that appealing to Turtelli’s goodwill would most likely fail—especially given their history—Keynes decided to play a deception card again, but of a different kind.

“Don’t be so full of himself.” His words were aimed at Brenton who almost stepped back, his aura flaring with hints of fear and doubt. “Syberius Sael tried to kill me and he paid for this with his life.”

Read their auras, he commanded Alice.

The shock spread throughout the clearing like a bolt of lightning. Some auras were strong enough to produce an overlapping effect of complete disbelief.

Brenton paled, making a step back. Turtelli remained rooted in place.

The lie was a wild gamble—a little ambitious too—but he had to shake them to leave him alone.