Elder Cultivator

Hundreds of lightyears away from the Imbued Fragments’ territory, two individuals felt the death of a Domination cultivator. One was angrily crawling out of a star, momentarily stymied in their progress. The other was locked in combat with a number of cultivators and a larger number of vessels.

The former burst out of the star, prepared to re-enter combat… but there was nobody and nothing in the system except a single orbital platform and some stray asteroids. Streaking off in the direction of the nearest system, with the full power of a Domination cultivator they would arrive in merely a few days. Perhaps a bit slower, with the recent shock.

The latter stalled for just a moment, their defenses weakening. Still sufficient to protect against the various incoming attacks aimed at the general mass of people around them… except for one. An attack that came from nowhere and disappeared just as quickly- after nearly slicing through their neck. For a cultivator of their level, it was a small effort to cause blood to flow cleanly through slashed veins and arteries, but a slightly slower reaction might have resulted in decapitation. Either way, the expense of energy was small against those outside of Domination… but could be a critical factor against others of equal might.

Such as Everheart, who was nearly finished with his clash against the Silver Fang. He could move onto the Fearsome Menagerie… or come for the Swirling Swarm.

-----

The Trigold Cluster had been weakened enough. Everheart wasn’t going to gain much more from bullying the Silver Fang at the moment. But he wasn’t looking to get caught up in all that trouble with the Menagerie and Swirling Swarm either. He was also self conscious enough to accept that he was afraid of Shelach.

Time to move onto a new target. He’d been trying to find the flow of the local formations since even before the battle began, but he found that his extra half millennium of experience wasn’t enough to instantly outdo Catarina anymore. He might be able to force the issue, but her efforts were sufficiently hindering mutual enemies. Such hostility might also draw ire towards his own forces which were currently barely clashing with the Scarlet Alliance. Everheart was just planning to snatch a few ships, nothing much. Maybe an orbital platform if it was convenient.

The best battle to interfere with was the one with Cynbel, because screw that guy. Also because while Timothy could more or less indefinitely defend against the man’s attacks, he couldn’t create a proper counterforce against continuous assaults like Cynbel’s oceans. Timothy wouldn’t be a threat to Everheart even once he was less occupied there.

Everheart hadn’t had a chance to properly remove any Domination cultivators, either, and that needed to change. If they were going to be dying left and right, he needed to get on the scoreboard.

Everheart had about half a million stealth techniques he could use, so obviously the proper choice would be to… completely ignore that. Everheart sent out a signal to bring something he’d kept in reserve outside of Scarlet Alliance territory. After all, he hadn’t wanted his new pet, barely a century or two old, to come to harm.

But it was worth risking it. Everheart took a circuitous route to go meet his turtle, first running behind Cynbel’s back to kick Titan’s head towards his own incoming turtle. Unsurprisingly, that drew Cynbel’s attention.

A great flood of water was redirected towards Everheart as he rushed through Exalted Quadrant forces. He didn’t even have to worry about attacks from behind, as everyone would be swept up or pushed out of the way. Then he stood on his turtle’s back, looking towards the incoming sea.

“I brought some refreshments,” Everheart said, indicating the head that was far larger than his own turtle. Plus the incoming ocean, but he doubted his turtle was that thirsty.

Everheart then pulled a star out of his pocket. Or rather, a small subspace connection to some of the solar platforms he had made. There was a continuous transmission of energy through the device, which in its ‘inactive’ state was self-negating. But with a simple switch, he released a beam of solar energy that instantly began to boil Cynbel’s energy, from a central point outward. He tossed the device away.

It was too bad that it was constrained by the laws of physics. Only weak, lazy cultivators could get caught by something going merely the speed of light. If Everheart had the energy to augment such an attack, he could probably just create it. However, he’d probably need another few centuries at least to grow into greater Domination prominence. Killing someone like Cynbel would be a good start.

“You dare-!”

Why did people always say that? “Of course I dare,” Everheart shrugged as Cynbel tore through space, rushing towards him. Everheart created a large hand to pat his own turtle on the head as it was munching on the easier to chew bits of Titan’s neck. “It’s okay, Pipsqueak. You’ll grow big and strong in no time at all. You’ll be the biggest turtle in the upper realms.”

No promises about the rest of the galaxy, though. That Paradise apparently snacked on distortion beasts regularly. It would take forever to even think about catching up, if it was possible.

Cynbel was probably stronger than Everheart. With Titan, he certainly would have overpowered him- the fact that a simple Augmentation cultivator killed the turtle was astounding. Cynbel hadn’t been properly protecting his mount.

That was not a mistake he planned to make. Even if Everheart could just grab another one, he didn’t want to replace Pipsqueak. The little guy had finally gotten to a hundred meters from head to tail.

The one thing that Everheart knew about fighting people that were stronger than him was to make certain they fought stupid. Cynbel made that easy. It was like Everheart had been the one to kill his turtle or something. Frankly embarrassing.

Another straightforward attack. A proper ocean’s worth of power, coming straight for Everheart. Another device, another boiled away ocean- which became nothing once Cynbel’s Domination energy ceased willing it into existence. Everheart tossed his device off to the left.

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This was going great. He was glad he hadn’t started with Cynbel. He would have been far too focused. Everheart really wouldn’t have wanted an ocean’s worth of steam crushing down on him, but if the man willingly dispersed his energy it was probably for the best.

Cynbel was going to punch Everheart in the face. Or maybe smash Pipsqueak. Everheart pulled out a third device. A blast of solar energy reached out, and Cynbel pulled away. There was no way it would touch him.

Unless he was stupid. Of all the directions he could dodge back and to the side, he picked one of the ones with one of Everheart’s ‘spent’ devices. Everheart triggered it and… caught Cynbel’s sleeve on fire. Somewhat disappointing compared to the intended result of turning the man into charcoal, but embarrassing enough. He wasn’t likely to make that mistake again.

There he went, crushing the free floating devices. They exploded and wiped out the excessive energy he used, so it wasn’t a pure loss… but Everheart was going to have a talk with the man’s management about destruction of property.

“This was a great fight,” Everheart said blandly. “Really. But you’ve gotta watch your anchor more carefully.”

-----

Chidi appeared to be doing nothing. Realistically, he couldn’t properly use Negation within the Swirling Swarm. The Creeping Fire Sect might have been a fine target, but he couldn't engage Koronis. Not with the information his mother had provided.

Tauno was somehow fighting Yann without instantly dying. Even with backup, each hit he took should kill him. Yet Tauno managed to keep a physical form, striking back against the serpentine dragon form of Yann and even causing injuries- small ones, but real nonetheless. That guy was either going to die or reach Domination today.

Chidi kept his senses alert as Durff slowly staggered over towards him. Everything seemed to happen all at once, yet so slowly. “I don’t know if he’s coming,” Durff said to Chidi. “Sorry. I tried to draw him out and got in a brawl with that snake guy.”

“It’s alright,” Chidi shook his head. “The battlefield is complicated.” He was going to have to trust that Durff could handle himself. Chidi couldn’t afford for there to be any signs. “I appreciate your effort.”

There it was. Chidi had thought he was ready, but he wasn’t. A needle appeared from nowhere, only for Aconite to pull herself in front of it. It seemed she had sniffed out their target, at least.

Aconite would have died, if not for the formations controlled by Chidi’s mother. The suppression formations were activated just in time for Shelach’s energy to not just instantly kill Aconite on its own. He was a Domination cultivator after all. Even if he didn’t focus on such things, most enemies he could probably kill directly.

Aconite curled up into a ball, whimpering. Chidi grit his teeth. He couldn’t even tell where the attack had come from. If Shelach had a proper blade… but he didn’t. His stealth techniques were top tier as well. Chidi should have been able to pinpoint him after the attack, but he was just floundering. His sword was pointed at nothing, hoping he was at least facing the correct hemisphere.

Durff reached his large, gauntleted hand and pat Chidi on the head. “It’s okay. We’ll get him. Hey! Shelach! I bet you can’t kill me!”

But no attacks came. Not for an eternity.

-----

Hoyt and Prospero fought together at the center of a field of Falling Stars. They were starting to make a significant impact- along with all the other forces- on the Fearsome Menagerie’s forces. When they got a chance, they would harass Yann with attacks. Just enough to keep him slightly off guard. They weren’t as crazy as Tauno to directly confront Yann.

Elsewhere, Alva was covering for Fuzz and Spikes, who were engaged in heated battle against the Ponderous Turtle Clan. Each of her attacks was full of her desire to protect this place they had carved out in the world. If the Scarlet Alliance fell, the galaxy could be set back a thousand years. Probably not quite that far- the lower realms were irrevocably changed- but it would still be disastrous.

The worst part was that they just wanted to live. It was the others who had a constant desire to lord their power over them that were the cause of every trouble.

-----

The battle of the Chaotic Conglomeration and the Exalted One Ramil had barely begun. The Disciples of the Beyond stood firm against the fleets, confident in the power of their Domination cultivator.

Massive distortion beasts- or projections of them, for the most part- filled the system, making it impossible to attack the Disciples directly. They would have to be worn down slowly, but during that time Ramil could take out the strongest enemies.

He’d already killed a few dozen Integration cultivators, and it looked like several Augmentation cultivators were next on the list. The border sects that were the biggest thorn in the Exalted Quadrant’s side were timid, but they would be hunted down soon enough.

Everything was going well. At least, up until that point.

-----

Fearsome Mandibles and Crossed Antennae, along with their royal guard had wound their way through the projections, tearing apart energy only where absolutely necessary to minimize the effects of their presence. They had reached Ramil and his vulnerable human flesh. The very instant they’d begun their attack, he did the one thing that a Domination cultivator could do that guaranteed their survival. He immediately fled, using his full power simply to move away.

He dropped the strands of energy that the void ants had caught hold of, abandoning it in an instant. It was barely a few seconds before he could be considered to be outside of the system, but he didn’t stop there.

“Coward,” Fearsome Mandibles signed.

“A wise coward,” Crossed Antennae countered.

“Do you think he’ll come back?” Fearsome Mandibles pondered.

“If he doesn’t turn around right this instant, he’s coming back to nothing.” Crossed Antennae said. “We’re picking our next target. The second strongest one that remains, to throw people off.”

Some styles were particularly weak to void ants. Or more broadly applicable, most cultivators would die if void ants reached their body. Korin had been a partial exception. That was why the humans were so terrified- each stage they grew above their peers, they became closer to truly invincible. And yet, void ants could just kill them. Only the strongest, because at some point a lower ranking void ant couldn’t resist enough energy, but Ramil had sensed his death and wisely decided he was more important.

If his followers didn’t realize that he had truly abandoned them and flee themselves, they would find themselves decimated. All for the Scarlet Alliance… and their allies here. The rest of the Chaotic Conglomeration was good at filling up space and being targets.

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