Ascension of the elder

"Welcome back."

With a warm greeting Nettie met them at the entrance. Seeing Kyle she gave him her trademark grandmotherly smile. It did look a little strange now that she looked to be in her late 30's but the warmth and care was undeniable.

"Nettie it's good to see you but what are you doing here?"

This was a secret bastion and even though his people were aware and had access to them they wouldn't go to them for no reason. The fact Nettie was here was an anomaly and after a mission like he had just ran Kyle didn't like anything being out of place. Nettie apparently understood Kyle's position and explained what was going on.

"One of Faye's girls came by to find me, she told me what was happening and also what you suspect these women may have gone through and that they may need some support and even though Faye's heart is in the right place she isn't a big talker so they thought I might be a better person to help."

Kyle looked at Faye who was a little red in the ears but she nodded never the less.

"It was probably my second in command, I let her know about the mission before we commenced and she probably felt this would be for the best."

Kyle also thought about this and realised that even though he had planned and executed the mission he had only thought about their physical protection but as he knew from news stories about kidnappings and abuse it may take a long time for these women to recover even a sliver of their past selves.

"Thank you Nettie I hadn't thought fully of the aftermath. I think it would be best if you run this we'll call it a refuge for now. I would also like to allow certain younger men around like Theo, Chad, Bruno and myself so that the ladies can get used to being around men who won't hurt them."

"Yes I think that is a good idea Kyle also don't worry too much about not thinking about these kinds of things as we all know you've got a lot on your plate right now."

Kyle gave Nettie a little bow with amusement on his face while they were being watched by the group of women. Hearing the conversation between Kyle and Nettie they realised these strange people were truly here to help them and with that understanding more than a few fell to the ground and began crying. The relief and freedom that was now in their hands was both shocking and a little scary.

Kyle looked around and started to panic a bit as even with his combat knowledge from this life and his decades in his past life he still didn't know how to deal with crying women. Drunken women are easy to handle the same with angry women but crying is blackmail. Luckily super Nettie was already on site and she quickly moved amongst them calming them down and even getting a little laugh here and there. Few dodged a bullet right there Kyle thought, once everything had calmed down he took the women to this bastions kitchen as after all this they would probably be hungry or at the very least thirsty.

Once everyone was fed and watered Kyle decided it would be best to explain the seal that had replaced their previous slave seals. Kyle always believed in openness with his people and unless there was a specific reason not to explain he would always be upfront with information.

"Okay ladies could I have your attention. I'll need to explain the current situation; this includes your situation, the city and the empire in general. First off is about the slave seals that were placed on you previously, these have been replaced with a new seal of my own devising we call this the 'secret seal'. The function of this seal is to prevent you from divulging our secrets unknowingly or intentionally. This will not control your actions and cannot be used to cause pain or death in any way. You can also use this seal to detect others with the same seal try to use it now and you'll understand."

The women not understanding how to use the seal as Kyle said tried to feel and focus on it, amazingly they could feel the seal easily it was like a gentle warmth coming from their very core and once they were able to sense it they could feel the same warmth from the others around them and also from Nettie and the members of 'steel lotus' but from Kyle they could feel the same energy but much, much stronger one of the women spoke up with slight confusion.

"Do you also have a seal in you young man?"

Kyle was happy that the lady had asked a question as this gave him hope that they could come through this together. This was also an effect of the seal albeit an unexpected one, due to the seals all containing some of his soul energy anyone with one could sense others like them but it also established a form of communal network. It wasn't at the level of telepathy or something like that but it did create an emotional buffer of sorts which allowed people to push further and recover quicker from emotional turmoil. It was like having your best friend always having your back even if they aren't anywhere near you.

"No I don't have the seal but as I am the source it carries some of my energy."

Kyle put it like this as this was the simplest explanation and he didn't want to info dump on them about souls and their relative strengths.

"Okay now once the problems in the city are sorted you can choose to follow your own life and make your own choices, at that point I'll be in the open so I'll remove the 'secret seals' and we'll support you in whatever you choose. If you wish to ally with us at that time we'll give you the strength to be one of us but the seal would have to stay in place."

The women were looking between each other trying to see how the others were leaning but were snapped from their thoughts as Kyle continued.

"You don't have to rush; you are welcome here as long as you choose to stay. Speak to Nettie and the other's who will be helping out and decide what you want for yourselves. Now onto the situation in the city we are expecting street wars to break out at any time but my instinct is saying to me it will be at the harvest festival. If you have any information even anything in passing please let us know as it may help us in the upcoming battles."

Kyle let them digest this for a moment, the fact he was telling them this made them think if they had heard anything about this from their slavers during their incarceration. A few of them had a couple of names and ideas about who was also involved and decided to tell Nettie about it later. They had unknowingly begun to look at Nettie like a motherly figure given her overall aura, the only one who spoke up was Lilith as she had heard something from her father while he had been having his fun with her recently.

"Excuse me I may have heard something from my father. When he was beating me the last time he kept shouting out about 'sect bastards', the only other time I heard him shout like that was when he was cursing a cult of evil cultivators who were operating in his territory but I think this time he was cursing because he was involved in some kind of deal with them. I'm sorry I wasn't really paying attention at the time."

Lilith finished a little limply as she realised that she had spoken up and without knowing all the details she may be punished. Kyle merely smiled at her warmly surprising her.

"Thank you Lilith, you don't need to worry nobody is going to hurt you here and the information you have just given me confirms something I already suspected."

In this world evil cultivators were those who joined secret cults who practiced various atrocities to gain power but this was all bull. Kyle and his people had taken down a cult or two and found that the reason these cults had higher than average strength was due to the techniques they trained in. These techniques were brutal and damaging but they could also allow for great strength, by pushing separate streams of mana to impact each other at certain points in the body would strengthen them far beyond the norm as their bodies recovered.

The downside of doing this and the reason Kyle never did this was that quite often these techniques would cause brain damage and with the mana in their bodies trying to repair or evolve those damaged parts it would gradually make them insane. As the man once said 'you should never cross the streams'.

For the atrocities they committed Kyle believed these were merely the perversions of the original creators of these sects. He also believed all these sects had a single source as the damage these techniques caused seemed to be the same in the sects they had already taken down but this may also have been due to them being in the same city just with differing doctrines.

Now Kyle knew that the Miles family had contact with these cults he would be able to prepare for them. Their members would attack without thought for themselves but if his people could recognise them they would lose their shock value and could be taken out with ease.

"Now onto the final point, the empire is entering a dire state. The northern territories are going to be cut off in the next couple of years and I intend to be ready. This refuge is a powerful fortress so you will be safe here but we also have other means to protect ourselves. Forgive me but I won't give out to much in the way of detail but just know you will be protected regardless of what you choose to do."

Rose had been listening to Kyle was the first to realise what would happen when the empire was cut off. Without their oversight each city would try to dominate the rest and is the imperial army was off the leash it could mean chaos and war everywhere until the beasts took them.

"So this is going to be a new war, but this time it will be everyone against everyone."

"You should know that in all the history of man "War never changes"".