Reborn With A Technology System In A Fantasy World-Chapter 287: Against The Concordat (1)

The room was a perfect cube of sterile, blinding white light. There were no shadows here, no corners to hide in, and no sound other than the terrified breathing of the two humans seated in the center.

Fabian and Diana sat on floating grav-chairs, their wrists bound by bands of shimmering energy. They looked exhausted, their white hair matted with sweat, but their eyes held a gleam of triumph.

They had been transported here days after their report went through. And now facing them, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, was a figure who seemed to absorb the light around him.

Arbiter Valdis did not look like a monster. He looked like a statue carved from diamond and starlight. He was tall, his skin a flawless, pale alabaster, and his eyes were not organic orbs but swirling nebulas of contained energy.

He wore the high-collared, white and gold robes of the Concordat’s inner circle; the Star-Eaters.

He was a being who had existed for eight centuries. He had sanctioned the glassing of three solar systems. He had erased species from history books because their existence was inconvenient to the economy.

To him, the two humans in front of him were less than insects; they were dust motes momentarily caught in his gravity.

"Repeat it," Valdis said. His voice was soft, melodic, but still heavy to their eardrums.

Fabian swallowed hard, straightening his spine. He believed he was negotiating.

"I said he’s a thief," he spat, the hatred for his cousin overriding his fear of the being before him. "And a hoarder of forbidden energy. You want proof? Here."

Fabian reached into his pocket with trembling fingers and withdrew the object he had stolen from Karl. He held it out, the small, jagged shard pulsing with a rhythmic violet light that seemed to eat the sterile whiteness of the room.

Arbiter Valdis didn’t reach for it immediately. He gestured, and the shard floated from Fabian’s palm, hovering in the air before the Star-Eater’s eyes.

Valdis’s nebula-like pupils swirled as he inspected the object at a microscopic level. His expression, previously one of bored detachment, shifted imperceptibly.

It wasn’t a raw Void Crystal. Raw Void energy was volatile, chaotic, and corrosive to standard reality. But this... this was stabilized. The lattice structure of the energy had been altered, deconstructed, and rebuilt into a safe, usable form.

Valdis’s mind raced. The Concordat had spent forever trying to achieve stable Void fusion and had failed. Yet, this slum-dwelling rookie had achieved it?

This made Adrian Sparkborn far more dangerous than a simple insurgent. He wasn’t just wielding a weapon; he was wielding a superior science.

"Tell me more about his unique abilities," Valdis commanded.

Fabian and Diana looked at each other, sensing the shift in the atmosphere. To the best of their memory, they began speaking, eager to feed the fire.

"He’s able to bring out things from thin air," Fabian said hurriedly. "He can disappear into thin air as well. And all these were even before we came to the Nexus."

Diana nodded fervently beside him. "And he’s good at making stuff."

Fabian, recognizing Valdis wasn’t listening to the small details, added hastily, his voice rising in pitch. "He plans to overthrow the Concordat like he did to us! He killed our father... he destroyed our House... He’s a monster! He has no loyalty to order!"

Valdis stood silent for a long moment. He was processing the information, cross-referencing it with the data on Adrian that he had gotten before.

The sudden economic boom of the Sparkborn civilization. His increasing strength in the Arena. It all made sense now.

Adrian Sparkborn wasn’t just a criminal. He wasn’t just a rogue cultivator. He was an Out-of-Context Problem. He possessed a technology or a power source that bypassed the fundamental laws of Tech exchange. He was a cancer cell in the carefully curated body of the Galactic Concordat.

"You have been thorough. Your help is appreciated," Valdis said finally.

Fabian smiled with an ugly expression. He looked at Diana, then back at the Arbiter. "We told you everything. We betrayed our own blood for the Concordat. Now... our reward."

Valdis looked down at them. His expression was serene, almost pitying.

"I did promise that," Valdis agreed. "And the Concordat always pays its debts."

Fabian and Diana practically vibrated with relief. They had done it. They had escaped the Slums. They had destroyed Adrian and saved themselves.

"However," Valdis continued, his tone not changing, "there is a fundamental flaw in your character."

Fabian’s smile faltered. "Sir?"

"A traitor who betrays his own blood for personal gain," Valdis mused, raising one hand, palm open, "will eventually find a reason to betray the State. Your loyalty is transactional. And the Concordat requires... absolute faith."

Fabian’s eyes widened. "Wait. No. We—"

"Your usefulness has ended," Valdis whispered.

A pillar of pure, concentrated starlight descended from the ceiling. It made no sound. It generated no heat. It simply occupied the space where Fabian and Diana were sitting.

There was no scream. There was no struggle. The light flashed once, brilliantly, and then vanished.

The grav-chairs were empty. No bodies. No ash. Just... nothing. Fabian and Diana had been erased from existence, their atoms scattered into the background radiation of the room.

Valdis didn’t even blink as the particles of the two traitors faded. He turned his back on the empty chairs, his mind already moving to the next phase of the operation.

He immediately accessed the command network, slicing through the Concordat’s databanks to locate the target.

And he did. A flicker of recognition passed through Valdis’s mind when he realized who his escort was.

Greg was a capable asset. He was one of the strongest Enforcers within the Concordat, a being whose strength was respected even within the upper echelons of the Concordat.

He wasn’t just a pilot; he was a walking arsenal, a veteran of the Outer Rim pacification campaigns.

Valdis sent a Priority Red command through the secure link directly to Greg’s neural interface.

"Detain the target: Adrian Sparkborn. If resistance is met, pacify with extreme prejudice."

He waited for some time as everything was going accordingly. He believed that Greg, with his vast combat experience and raw power, would easily handle the human.

A rookie from the slums, no matter how gifted or how many "toys" he had built, should have been a trivial capture for an officer of Greg’s caliber.

Valdis monitored the feed, expecting a "Target Secured" confirmation within seconds.

But then, the connection severed. It wasn’t a distress signal. It wasn’t a request for backup. It was absolute silence.

Valdis frowned, a rare expression for the ancient Arbiter. He ran a manual ping on Greg’s coordinates. The system returned a result that made the air in the room drop by several degrees.

[STATUS: NULL]

There was no signature. It was as if Officer Gregory had simply ceased to exist.

Greg was powerful. For him to be nullified so completely, and so quickly that he couldn’t even send a final report, meant that Adrian Sparkborn wasn’t just hiding technology. He was wielding a power that could erase the Concordat’s elite.

The threat assessment in Valdis’s mind shifted from "Rogue Element" to "Existential Crisis." If this boy could delete an Enforcer like Greg, he could tear through a standard patrol fleet.

Choosing not to make any compromises this time, Arbiter Valdis decided he would lead the hunt himself.

Valdis tapped his comms link. He didn’t contact the local police. He didn’t contact the sector patrol. He bypassed the entire chain of command.

"This is Arbiter Valdis," he spoke, his voice booming across the secure military channel. "Authorization Code: Omega-Zero-Starfall."

A robotic voice responded instantly. "Authorization confirmed, Arbiter. Awaiting command."

"Mobilize the 7th Erasure Fleet," Valdis ordered, his tone brooking no argument. "All hands. Activate the Reality Anchors. Prepare the Dreadnoughts Indomitable, Silencer, and World-Breaker."

"Target parameters?" the AI asked.

"One human male," Valdis said, his eyes glowing with the intensity of a supernova, the starlight leaking from them cracking the floor beneath him. "Location: Sector XA-6. Threat Level: Cataclysmic."

"Understood. Warp engines spooling. ETA to Sector XA-6: Three minutes."

Valdis walked out of the white room, his cape flowing behind him like a shroud of judgment. He moved with a purpose he hadn’t felt in a century. The boredom of immortality was finally lifting.

"You want to be a god, little human?" Valdis murmured to the empty corridor. "Then let us see if you can bleed like one."