Divide sect wars book.., p.1
Divide - Sect Wars: book 2, page 1
Sect Wars
Divide
A Knowles
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Cultivation/Litrpg/Gamelit Links
Litrpg
Connecting Series!
Sect Wars - Divide
Copyright © 2022 by Alex Knowles
Published by Alex Knowles
Set in the Ocean Slayers Universe © 2021
Cover Design by Atlantis Book Design
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the internet without the permission of the author and is a violation of the International copyright law, which subjects the violator to severe fines and imprisonment.
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, and place are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real except where noted, and authorised. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events are entirely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.
The author and editor have taken great effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.
This book is written in American English and includes relative diction.
Chapter 1
Sunday, August 1st *Very Late*
Year - 27515
Halara Prime
Halacar City
I sprawled out on the chair, rubbing my tired, sleepy eyes. Blood ran back to pale skin and tingled. Everything was numb, including my ass.
My internal system received a ping. The notification flashed a 1 in the corner of my HUD.
“Hey, Lan,” I said as I got up and moved to the other side of the room to check the time and stretch. It was late, so late. My legs ached, my arms ached, but the slight walking and gymnastics eased it off too. Taru cast me an odd glance. I waved her off and focused on my chosen Taharri’s Second.
“Hey,” she replied. Her face popped into view, and that surprised me. Her pale gray-blue eyes, flickered with orange at me, a trait I knew gave away her nerves. “I’ll be staying here for a few days . . .” Her voice drifted off for a moment before she sighed and inquired, “How are things there?”
I stared at Da, her face etched with concentration again. It made her appear much older than I knew she was, and more tired than I felt. Shui stood behind her, directing her with her finger. Da’s gaze met mine.
I took a deep breath. “It’s difficult,” I explained. “However, we have some ideas.” Da gave me a grimace before returning her gaze to her screen. I hoped they’d have some suggestions. “Are you all right?”
I not only heard her sigh, but it reverberated around my mind, sending tiny shivers down to my core. These beautiful women had no clue what they did to me, and I loved it. All of it. “There’s a lot more going on here than we realized,” Lan said. “I’m doing everything I can for them, and then I’ll come in and properly report.”
“Is it that bad?” I asked her, concerned for Halacar’s future and ours.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “I think this needs to be taken higher up. I’m not sure we can handle it.”
I swallowed. How could everything come crashing down so spectacularly? Oh, yeah. Typical me.
“Relax whenever you can. We’ll take care of it.” For a few beats, there was silence as she tried to smooth her hair out. “Lan?”
“I . . .” she paused.
“Say it,” I instructed, watching her reaction to using more force. “Remember, we have to be honest.”
“I miss you,” she murmured, avoiding my eyes, and my heart fluttered.
“I miss you, too,” I replied. “Please come soon.”
For a split second, her chuckle took me off guard.
“Soon,” she promised, blew me a kiss, then vanished.
I returned to my desk. “Enough,” I said.
Da and Shui had been arguing on the computer for hours, and their disagreements were becoming worse.
“We must t—”
“No,” I said. “We need to relax. There’s nothing here that’s going to blow up in a few hours. Sleep.”
Taru crept up behind me and placed her arms around my waist.
Da’s eyes widened briefly, but she nodded. “I’ll—” She turned to face Shui.
“I’ll be quite fine in one of the spare rooms,” Shui said. “Don’t worry about where I’m going to sleep from now on.”
“You’ve been wonderful to me,” Da said. “We’ll take care of you.”
Shui placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. “What about the others?”
My head shook. We were all aware of Taharri’s rules, to be polite yet firm. “They’ll have to go at some point.”
Shui dipped her head. “Can I be there when it’s time?”
“Of course. I’ll come get you just to be sure.”
Da moved, shutting off the computer and displays. “I have linked everything to me,” she explained. “I’ll get you access first thing in the morning.”
Taru hugged me tighter, but I didn’t answer. I held her eyes with mine. I knew she was concerned Da had taken control of the entire sect, but I wasn’t.
Shui led Da out of the main office, and we all made our way into the back of the Sect Lord’s quarters. “It’s lovely back here,” Taru added.
Shui turned around and grinned. “Da can attest to that. He let it go. I wouldn’t stay here otherwise.”
“It was a shambles, but you did wonderful back here, especially given how limited your budgets were.”
Shui laughed, and I admit it was good to hear and to see the two of them together had some rapport; it would help us a lot in the coming weeks. We reached the end of a corridor and Shui glanced at me. “I will see you in the morning,” she said and dipped her head and waited.
I checked the time. “I’ll get the others to meet with us at nine. That gives us five hours.” Shui still waited for something, and I looked at Taru, nonplussed.
“You’re dismissed,” Taru said with a nod, and she looked at me. “Etiquette. Till you establish rules and boundaries, everyone’s going to resort to sect protocols.”
Da directed us to the next door at the back. “The staff do clean it every day, but I—” A low sigh escaped, and her shoulders slumped with it, drained.
Taru stepped away from me. “We can’t be afraid of what your father did.” She put her hand to the door and pushed. No one would have access back here unless they were immediate family. It didn’t need another lock.
The two of them moved inside, and I trailed behind. There was no denying this. It was a lavish room. The central bed was big enough for several people. I wasn’t sure I could stay here, but it was clean, spotlessly clean. “Did he actually sleep in here?” I asked, moving to the bed, running a hand over the sheets. Cool to the touch, but soft.
“I don’t know,” Da replied. “It doesn’t really look like anyone did.”
Taru stripped off her jacket. “Any clothes in the vast array of wardrobes?”
Da looked lost, really lost, and I noted her pale complexion too. I moved to her, stood in front of her. She couldn’t look at me.
“Eyes on me,” I whispered. When she couldn’t look up, it reminded me of that morning in her room. “Da,” I said, and reached to cup her chin. I glanced around at Taru.
“I’ll go wash up,” she said.
When a door clicked behind me, I said. “What’s wrong?”
“You . . . you took her as First?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” I said. We both heard the shower start up. Taru would take her time, I was sure. The thought of her in there turned me on something wicked while Da stood before me, all vulnerable, meek.
“I knew I’d never get to be First,” she said. “But I had hoped maybe someone would want me that way.”
“Your father put you down every day,” I said, tracing the line of her jaw with a finger. “Your perception of everything is off.” I pulled her to me, feeling her qi pull at mine. “You are not only amazing”—I slipped my hand inside her waistband, feeling her shiver with my touch—“You are the most powerful woman here.”
Da lowered her head, staring at my chest. “I don’t feel it.”
I let out a slight chuckle, squeezing her tighter to me, and I pushed my now-hard cock against her. “You can feel that, though?”
She looked up into my eyes then. Now there was something different there. Her cheeks flushed. “Yes,” she said.
I grasped one of her ass cheeks in my hand. “Good.” With my other, I ran a finger down the side of her cheek, angling it slightly so I could put my lips to hers, and I kissed her deeply, our qi mixing randomly, with no control from her whatsoever.
When she went to reach down for my cock, I pulled back and she froze. “I can’t yet,” I said. “Taharri rules.”
“Oh, I know that.” Da’s eyes turned wicked, and she bit her lip.
“Damn,” I said.
When she pushed me back towards the bed and I fell, I was in trouble, and I knew it.
I watched as the woman before me changed almost instantly into a vixen, stripping her jacket off, then pushing me further onto the bed, and in a second, had her shirt off as well. I reached up to touch her.
“No,” she said, holding a finger up. That one word held such power. My whole body reacted to it, tingling all over. She’d stopped me dead.
Da straddled me. “No touching.” Her weight on my groin was ecstasy and pain.
Slowly, she unbuttoned my shirt, exposing my flesh. With her tongue, she drew great pleasure in touching and kissing every inch of me while I lay powerless.
“Please,” I begged. “I can’t stand this.”
Da looked up from my navel, her eyes swirls of qi, her energy so enhanced. I felt every single breath she took as she tugged my energy from me.
“Aww,” she purred. “Now you understand how hard this has been for me these last few weeks.” She sat up, rocking slightly over me.
I really wanted her. Needed her. But I couldn’t.
Da put a hand on my chest, easing closer to my face. “Breathe with me,” she said. “Let me take you to the edge and back.”
“Not gonna take much,” I said. When she rocked against me again, I growled under her.
“With me.”
I couldn’t do anything else but let her lead; she had me hooked in every way. In her prowess, in her energy. When she breathed out, I breathed her in. It took me to a whole other level of pleasure and pain. I honestly thought I’d come in my pants. But as soon as Da thought I was that close, she backed off. Waited, then did it all again. When she eventually slid off me, I was exhausted. Her eyes never left mine.
“A gift for you and Lan, when you get the time to be with her.”
“It helps,” I said. The energy coursed through my veins. It would really help us bond; the extra qi worked wonders on my aching body. It just ached for something else instead.
Now, though. I was cold even if my loins were on fire. Da lay next to me, panting softly. I put a finger to her lips. “You’re the queen of pain,” I said.
“Just know when you do get to slide inside me, it will be only pleasure.”
My whole body trembled at the thought, and she bit my finger. “Ow!”
The door opened, and Taru stood there in a towel, the still moist sheen over her tanned skin, her curves easy to see. Her wet purple hair draped over one shoulder.
“Fuck,” I said and pushed myself off the bed. “I can’t take this. I’m going for a shower. You better be asleep by the time I come back.”
I paused at the door, leaned into Taru and kissed her gently, then whispered, “Thanks.” She tapped my ass as I left them to it.
The bathroom was as luxurious as the rest of Yijun’s suite. Twin marble sinks. A very large tub and separate power shower. I turned the shower on, and down from Taru’s temp to something a lot colder. The cold stung for a moment, soothed my fire, and washed all the tension away.
Picking up the soap Taru had obviously just used, I washed off the fighting, the mess, and all the stress of the last couple of days, then stepped out to dry off. I’d not been that long, and I wasn’t even sure where I’d sleep or where they would. As I couldn’t hear anything, I opened the bathroom door. One silhouette lay under the sheets. Da had gone back to her own room, her clothes gone from the floor.
I stepped to the bed seeing a clean shirt there. I slipped it over my head and stood watching Taru sleep. The light from our moon lit her hair in soft purple shades, the tech of her implant glinting silver at me. I truly never expected to ever see her asleep in my bed like this, and the warmth spreading through me just looking at her was something I never expected. I was truly blessed.
I moved to slip under the covers. The mattress never moved with my weight, and she didn’t stir. I edged over to her, and she moved, turning around to meet me. “You smell good,” she murmured.
I leaned in and kissed her, happy to find her body responded to my every touch. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her, my kisses moving to her cheek, her neck. “Fuck, I want you so much,” she purred into my neck, sending waves of pleasure down through to my core. My dick hardened in an instant, and I pushed her back. I couldn’t, and she knew it, too.
“Sleep,” I said.
“Yes,” she said, and curled in even closer. Her breathing settled, and she was back asleep in but a moment.
I lay there, enjoying the sight of her, the dimple in her cheek, the way her hair fell over her ears and eyes. I reached over and lightly brushed it out of her way. She was more than beautiful, more than mine and I loved her.
Lan’s call came through to me a little later, as I tried my best to sleep. I answered. “Hey. Can’t sleep?”
“No,” she said. Her words tumbled out. “You know I want you, right, to be part of your Taharri.”
“But?”
Taru squeezed me, gently, though still stayed asleep.
“Am I stupid because it feels weird?” Lan asked.
“Stupid,” I said, shaking my head. “Can you explain ‘weird’ a bit more?”
“Like.” She sighed. “I know you and Taru were together here, that you made her your First.”
She was going to say words I didn’t want to hear, and my stomach twisted in knots. I swallowed and waited for it.
“I’m not upset,” she said. My breath escaped me in one. “I just know it was rushed. I want you to have more time with her.”
“Oh, Lan, I guess you don’t know how it works. For that I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
I eased Taru off me, and settled down on the pillow, still keeping our legs entwined. “When a Taharri’s accepted by the First, like Taru has accepted both you and Da, I have to take you in order for the Taharri bond to seal.”
“So you couldn’t have sex with her again before me?”
“No,” I replied. “And I’ll wait for you for as long as it takes for you to be comfortable with everything.”
“You’ll wait?”
“Of course. Has anything I ever said or done led you to believe otherwise?”
“No,” she said. “Nothing.”
“Good.” She really had me worried there for a moment.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” she said. “Then you can take me. I’m not rushing. I want this. I want you and this to work.”
My heart soared. “Soon, then,” I said.
“Soon,” she said. “Now you get some sleep.”
I wish I could recall going to sleep as much as I did waking up. The room felt cold. The bed, just as such. Taru wasn’t with me. I panicked at first, thinking something had happened. But there was a message.
Taru - Gone to find food and coffee. Da’s with me.
I thought out a reply and sent it.
Me - Just up, will come find you.
Taru - Da’s sent you a full map of the inner facility.
There were more clean clothes laid out for me, which I put on, taking in the slight perfumed aroma. My boots were cleaned and waiting, all of this a lot to take in from doing it all myself. I checked my reflection once in the mirror and flicked a hand through my growing hair. I looked okay. I left and headed off to find my way around the place.
