The development of Crimson Hawk entered a strange, almost unsettling phase of calm.
After weeks of relentless pressure, conversion, and silent conquest across the Eastern Continent, the Azure Dragon Sect went quiet. Too quiet.
No assassination squads appeared at night. No mercenary coalitions were mobilized. No sect edicts thundered across Astralis Border Seven. Their banners still flew over their core territory, proud and defiant, but their influence no longer extended beyond it.
To most, it looked like restraint.
To Vahn, it looked like preparation.
Power did not disappear when it retreated. It condensed.
Crimson Hawk, meanwhile, grew with frightening efficiency.
Trade caravans now requested Crimson Hawk escorts rather than sect protection. Independent cities offered docking rights and tax exemptions. Minor factions sought protection contracts, swearing allegiance not to a sect, but to a mercenary dominion that operated with iron order and terrifying predictability.
