Though it was risky, Madiha found it was important to get in contact with other agents on Xiopia. It was just one of manys, and she couldn’t affect all of them directly, but she could make certain those nearest to her were having sess.
Previously, she had been so focused on the mission that she hadn’t considered what the mission was <em>for</em>. She’d been blinded by the stated goals such that she didn’t remember the true purpose behind them. What the <em>Alliance</em> stood for.
Madiha had acted as if it was an annoyance to help someone who could not help themselves. A distraction from her task. Her brain had told her that a single individual wasn’t worth her time, but brains were where all the foolish thoughts humans had came from.
It wasn’t like she’d been doing anything important. Her infiltration efforts simply involved <em>living</em>, and asionally being around groups of stronger cultivators to see if they would say anything useful. She could observe their cultivation, perhaps finding a connection to the anchor that had to be <em>somewhere</em>. None of that was a specific incident that had to be resolved now, or anytime within the next several years.
The agents should have been swapped out every year. At most, every decade. Unfortunately, with thepleteck of mobility between the Alliance and Swirling Swarm- or really the Swirling Swarm and anywhere else- that was infeasible.
They’d predicted deleterious effects from the local aura. Madiha had <em>known</em>. But it still almost got her. Fortunately, void ants were far more resistant to such things. A diffuse aura simply wouldn’t affect them. Concentrating it enough that it would bypass their resistance would probably destroy whatever district they were in- and the Swirling Swarm would have to have a reason to do so anyway.
Madiha wanted to create a technique to resist the aura of the Swirling Swarm. She’d worked on it for a year before she realized that it was a stupid idea. She wasn’t the kind of person who developed new techniques. She followed a well trodden path to be a spy of the Scarlet Alliance. Adaptability was important, but that was precisely why it was a terrible idea toe up with a new technique. Especially once she came to a realization that she already had a solution.
Void ants. They weren’t <em>always</em> riding around on her or the other agents, and that was the problem. When they were, it significantly reduced the effects of the pervasive aura. It was a slow trickle to begin with- at least for those intentionally resisting the call of the Swarm. Everyone had a decent cultivation to begin with.
Madiha didn’t know what the actual names of her fellow agents were. She didn’t even necessarily know what they looked like. However, she did manage to get a few at a time to slip into an empty room with her and just… sit. Taj was included, of course. They were actually in far greater need ofpanionship and void ant assistance, considering their low cultivation.
Madiha felt Devours Viins nibbling on the energy around her. It was unclear if all void ants could influence deeply infiltrated energy, but queens seemed good enough. Devours Viins would teach others if they weren’t.
“I have a challenge for the two of you,” Madiha said to the two other agents. “Each year, I want you to find one innocent- I do understand that will take effort- and help them.”
The man frowned. “Won’t that distract us from our overall task? Overall, we will save far more than one person per year by focusing on our mission. No, it should be many hundreds per day even split across every agent.”
The other woman didn’t seem to understand either, so Madiha exined. “It might seem like a distraction, but it’s the most important thing you can do to make certain you’re around toplete the mission- aside from making certain your void ants help protect you. They can stop active breakdown of your faculties, but only active effort on your part can restore your empathy.”
There were many problems with the Swirling Swarm. Ack of empathy was just <em>one</em> of them, but it was the most problematic for outsiders like them. Without it, they might not even see any reason to continue the mission. It would require some logical leaps, but human brains were pretty good at making those even when it didn’t serve their purposes.
“Must we take a disciple?” the woman asked, looking at Taj.
“Not necessarily,” Madiha said. “But whatever you do, a thorough job is necessary. Leaving people in a state where they will be endangered in mere moments or the next few days is quite inappropriate. Taj here would have finished breaking down within the year.”
The fact that Taj hadn’t <empletely</em> crumbled during their formative years was already impressive. Now, Taj carried a small army of void ants everywhere. It was a risk, but the void ants being revealed might not be as big of an issue as somewhere else. After all, if the void ants weren’t devouring a particr person, why would they care? They might still join in battle to exterminate them, but they might <em>not</em>. And putting in the effort to seek out further danger was beyond most.
From what Madiha had seen, Swirling Swarm cultivators at Integration or beyond were higher functioning. They had their own plots, but they tended to have poor long term nning skills. Frankly, it was more probable that the Swirling Swarm would have been destroyed by a nearby sect or copsed on their own than to end up where they were now. That would have been great, but the world they had to live in was the one where the Swirling Swarm was quasi-stable and growing.
They just needed the right shift to cause them to copse. Unfortunately, none of the structure was anything logical, so it was difficult to cause that copse on purpose. That was why they had so many people infiltrating variouss.
Ultimately both agents agreed. Madiha hadn’t been nning to let them go if they couldn''t, for their own sakes. She didn’t want the Alliance to lose anyone unnecessarily. Obviously some <em>would</em> be lost to violence, and perhaps they might not prevent them all from being corrupted by the aura- but they had to try.
This text was taken from NovelFire. Help the author by reading the original version there.
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Madiha was walking away. Taj scurried through the crowds after her. It was no longer her ignoring the child- almost teenager now- but instead a facade for the public. People here didn’t usually take care of children. That usually meant they died, and that was a merciful fate. It was unusual enough that Madiha wouldn’t be seen with Taj if she could help it. Everywhere was too public, except when they could find a few moments. Taj had gotten used to it.
She was still watching out for them. They were right in the middle of the markets- such as they were. Killing and robbery were nearly asmon as purchasing goods, but there was still some sense that it was easier to let customerse and pay for things than to shake people down or kill them. It would have been strange for cultivators to value currency, but most trades came in the form of various cultivation materials.
Madiha noticed instantly when Taj’s aura shifted into a fighting state. She was instantly ready to slit the throats of one or ten people. She moved, but she was too slow. Taj was tossed into a nearby building. Through the wall. Most people scattered, not wanting to be part of the trouble.
It happened so quickly that Madiha was positive she couldn’t defeat this enemy, even as she chased the man through the open wall into the building. She wasn’t going to let that stop her. She would probably die, but maybe the void ants with her could manage something afterwards.
Madiha rushed inside and was instantly tossed next to Taj. She could have been dead- perhaps <em>should</em> have been. Anyone who could grab her like that without her energy resisting could certainly kill her. Madiha could only hope that her void ants grabbed on in that instant.
Taj was on their feet at about the same speed as Madiha- the many levels of cultivation between them made the kid slower. Both of them held des at the ready, but something felt off- aside from them not being dead yet. Some Swirling Swarm cultivators weren’t efficient.
They both moved forward. Madiha would have told Taj to run, that she would fight herself, but there wasn’t time and Taj probably wouldn’t have listened. Madiha was knocked away twice before Taj even reached the target.
What were the void ants doing? Madiha might be outmatched, but void ants should have a good chance of killing any Augmentation cultivator in a few moments. She didn’t even sense any wounds.
But that was only true if this was an Augmentation cultivator. The void ants would be simrly powerful against an Integration cultivator, but Madiha could fight one of them herself. On the other hand, void ants <em>did</em> sometimes struggle against one form of energy. Domination.
Madiha trembled. They’d been discovered.
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The mysterious figure darted around the room in a way that kept Taj and Madiha contained while still avoiding void ants. No doubt the thought to break through another wall crossed Madiha’s mind, but there was no way to build enough distance. Not for her, nor for Taj.
Madiha’s supposition was correct. Her opponent <em>was</em> in Domination, a level of power she could do nothing against. However, before Madiha could panic and do something stupid, the figure revealed their true form.
“That should be sufficient,” Velvet said.
Her illusions covered the hole in the wall that she had made, but no longer her own body.
The kid, Taj, rushed her again. Velvet flicked them in the forehead, using just enough energy to break through their defenses. That should have been the first pain Taj suffered in the current battle.
It wouldn’t actually have surprised Velvet too much if Madiha had <em>also</em> continued attacking. It was a reasonable option. The void ants had probably already begun to figure it out, though.
“Sorry about that,” Velvet said as she grabbed Taj’s wrist and flipped the aggressive kid over Madiha’s head. “I didn’t have time to go through proper channels to contact you. I’m pretty busy. Everyone has shuffled far enough from the building that they shouldn’t notice my illusions here.”
Technically, Velvet could have had a private conversation with the two while in the middle of the street with very little risk. However, she wanted to be a bit more thorough. She <em>had</em> put in the effort to conceal the visage of both herself and the other two so that when they appeared uninjuredter nobody would find it strange.
“Grandmaster Spy Velvet,” Madiha inclined her head. Madiha grabbed the back of Taj’s shirt, stopping the kid. “This is the person who sent me. A friend.”
“She attacked us!” Taj protested.
“Why do you think you are uninjured after being thrown through a wall?” Madiha asked. “Sure, it was a flimsy wall but you’re not there yet.”
“How do you know <em>this</em> isn’t a spy too?”
“I know her,” Madiha exined. She’d received training from this woman- it would be impossible to forget her true aura, and equally impossible for someone to replicate it so well. “May I ask why you are here? Is there an emergency reassignment?”
“I’m here to talk about what you’ve been doing,” Velvet said. “I’d like your assessment on your methods. I’ll take my own look at all the agents here, but I’d like to hear your own opinions. I think we need to implement simr practices on others.”
“Ah… it wasn’t really my idea,” Madiha admitted. “Devours Viins started it.”
“She saved me,” Taj said. “Uh, the queen. But also Madiha.”
“So I’ve heard,” Velvet said. “What do <em>you</em> think of things, Taj?”
“Uh… the aura here is really bad,” Tajmented. “I haven’t been anywhere else, but… I know it’s not good. Because Madiha’s aura is nice. And feeling <em>nothing</em> is also better.”
“Do you want to leave with me?” Velvet asked. They could certainly fit one more person aboard the ship.
Taj looked over at Madiha. “Not unless she’s leaving.”
“How bold. Take good care of this one, Madiha. I’ll also be doing my best to make sure you both get out of here as soon as possible.”
There was truly no guarantee. Velvet was aware the two of them could get in a more serious fight the moment she left, or that the mission could drag on forever. But with so many agents distributed across arge area, they had to learn something useful soon. It not now, once the next generation of support came with devices meant to track the source of everything. Assuming there <em>was</em> one, and it wasn’t a situation where they had to call upon Aconite.
Velvet knew innocents like Taj were few and far between- and that they would die regardless- but nobody wanted to subject them to death at the Alliance’s hands. Even though it would be swift and merciful.
Everyone was hoping that there was a single anchor- or a group of them- and that the Swirling Swarm hadn’t somehow split between the whole sect. That was the absolute worst case, extremely unlikely, but the possibility still remained until they found the truth.
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