Elder Cultivator

The Scarlet Alliance now had a temporary corridor to the Little Alliance, though there was some intention to make it permanent. There were some issues to be had with extending themselves in that way, but all they really needed to do was put on a convincing portrayal that they had to pass through that corridor. In truth, they could make use of their spatial distortions to bring people back and forth without dealing with the whole mess of hundreds of lightyears in between.

It was a worthwhile project to maintain the deception a bit longer, disguising their full capabilities. Because even though the Scarlet Alliance was fairly secure in their position, they needed a bit more time to pull ahead into a truly dominant position. That was a significant change from the past where they had to avoid drawing the attention of the great powers- powers which weren’t quite as great anymore.

The Exalted Quadrant was actually drawing close to losing that qualification. They were still a threat if they could work together, but they were severely lacking in Domination cultivators. Many of their biggest powers had fallen apart with their loss. It wasn’t quite to the point where the Alliance could do whatever they wanted… but they’d been quite confident digging into the less populated southern territory as well as dealing with the Forest of Death on the border.

Currently, another sect was moving into that area with the permission of the Alliance. Implicit permission based on an informal contract, but permission nonetheless. The idea was simple- don’t mess with the Alliance, and they won’t cause trouble back. For a burgeoning sect it was a valuable location… as long as it was safe. Rivals might not want to push into the area and get close to the Alliance, so as long as the Alliance could be trusted to ignore them it was a good deal.

The Cracking Deep was a strange sect with a recently developed technological focus. However, they didn’t subscribe to the general technological innovation of the Alliance, instead focusing on only what meshed with their cultivation practices by creating burrowing machines. But whether odd or normal, the Alliance didn’t care as long as they acted as a buffer zone against the bulk of the Exalted Quadrant.

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The 16th Everheart System was functioning happily without a care in the world, until it was assaulted in a completely unjustified and unprovoked manner.

Koronis and the Creeping Fire Sect were the closest to the system, and Koronis herself claimed that Everheart had stolen from her people. However, there was no proof. Everheart had made sure of it.

Just her alone wouldn’t have been too much of a bother, but the Tilki clan clearly hadn’t learned their lesson. Perhaps Everheart should have gone for the kill instead of crippling their elders.

Then there was Yann. The Fearsome Menagerie was probably just holding a grudge for that time he’d stolen their sacred bones and turned them into soup. Or maybe Yann wanted to get a win for once.

If it was just those groups, the 16th Everheart System might have held on. Only so many forces that Everheart wielded were in one place, but he had many preparations. Vast quantities of bewildering formations, barriers, and of course killing formations. The problem was if they threw enough people to exhaust the energy of his formations.

Or in this case, they were using brute force combined with human wave tactics, launching attacks throughout the system that would overwhelm his barriers. They’d kept the assault pretty well under wraps, too. Everheart hadn’t suspected anything until a few weeks before they launched their attacks. That was barely enough time to ramp up his defenses, but it wasn’t enough. Ultimately, they were going to claim the system- or Everheart was going to lose more than it was worth defending it.

Rahayu stood by Everheart. The man was constantly getting stronger, but he was still constrained to the level of Augmentation. In short, he was nearly invincible against Augmentation cultivators unless they were a perfect match for him… but he still couldn’t kill Domination cultivators. If the man ever made that step he might bypass a number of other Domination cultivators all at once. And then shortly after he might find himself among the lowest ranked.

Not because he would suddenly get worse. But people who were dead didn’t count among the rankings. That was why the Scarlet Alliance might have a few people within the bottom ten ranks of Domination cultivators. There had never been terribly many to begin with, and now there were far fewer.

The total number of Domination cultivators and how he measured the rankings depended on exactly what was going on with the Swirling Swarm- Everheart really wasn’t interested in getting entangled in that mess. It also depended on how he counted himself, but for the sake of convenience he just placed himself at the number one spot. It was only appropriate.

“I can kill Yann,” Rahayu commented as they watched the approaching fleets tearing their way close.

Everheart sighed. “Can you do that and survive for important battles later?”

The swordmaster looked at the form of the dragon encircling a significant part of the system. “... No.”

“Then we’ll have to stick to the plan.” Everheart cleared his throat. “Hey cowards, I bet you couldn’t beat me with just the four of you!”

Everheart usually had a pretty good knack for making people angry. Sadly, this time it wasn’t good enough to make his foes act like complete idiots. They continued to send their forces and their conscripted ‘allies’ in front of them, battering their way through all of his nicely constructed formations. It was extremely wasteful both of the resources Everheart had spent and of their own people. And Everheart didn’t even like people.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“It’s time to get going,” Everheart said. “Before they completely finish tearing apart the formations.”

Rahayu nodded. A blade was drawn. The two of them moved, along with a small host of others. Everheart’s subordinates would be better able to navigate the local formations, especially with his active control over them.

Yann was a pathetic sight as he charged Saiful Rahayu. One eye was gone now, and his serpentine movements showed clear damage along his spine. The missing leg in the rear finished up the most prominent wounds.

But he was still a massive dragon, and with a focus directly on Rahayu and no personal fatigue, a Domination cultivator was a force to be reckoned with. The swordmaster maneuvered expertly, his sword slashing into Yann’s scales from all directions as he dashed from point to point. However, the damage wasn’t as much as it should have been- courtesy perhaps of Sevinc Tilki supporting the other Domination cultivators. Her aura permeated the battlefield, shifting things in their favor.

With Rahayu vaguely holding off Yann, Everheart had only three Domination opponents. Sevinc, Timucin, and Koronis. All he had to do was deal with two people he’d beat before and one extra variable. Before all of his forces were annihilated by their allies and he was completely surrounded, of course.

Timucin’s flail left trails of chain literally everywhere. Everheart’s flail did the same. It was a simple enough concept. The problem he kept running into was that Koronis was creating a whole mess of flames over and over that swept through the system, leaving behind not even bodies of his people. He couldn’t just let her act unimpeded or she’d completely wipe out his armies and the precious orbital platform around the system’s star.

Everheart swapped his style to archery, taking a few shots at the hesitant Sevinc, then trying to annihilate Yann’s second eye. He didn’t really need his eyes to function, but it would be fun to get rid of it. Besides, then he would match Chidi and Rahayu might get extra motivated. Or something like that.

As Everheart found himself herded around the system by various attacks, he switched to a threadweaving style he had picked up in the past. It was quite similar to Timucin’s chains, but much more subtle. It invisibly intermingled with the chains, and the best part was that he could concentrate the energy such that the threads didn’t burn up. Everheart managed to bind Koronis for a moment.

He went in for the kill, wielding a wicked looking dagger. Sevinc’s club hit him upside the head, blasting him away. Obviously not a direct hit, as he wouldn’t be so careless, but Domination cultivators still packed a punch from a great distance.

Rahayu was clearly struggling against Yann. Previously, the man had been somewhat tired out from killing Tauno of the Dancing Slayer Sect. Now, even if he was injured, his focus was sharp. Rahayu was only just able to deflect the claws, more like spears than swords.

Then, he was a step too slow. Massive jaws closed in on him. He cracked a massive canine, not even able to properly cut it. Then his body was pierced through. Yann immediately noticed something was wrong. He spit out Rahayu’s body, but there wasn’t much to spit out. Just a mass of energy already dispersing.

Everheart was slowly being roasted, along with vast numbers of allied ships. There was a reason no bodies had survived the flames… and why any molten slag left behind was flimsier than it appeared. “Damn, I have to retreat!” Everheart said, rushing towards his orbital platform.

The trio of Domination cultivators reached the star in an instant, following Everheart’s path through mostly annihilated formations. As Everheart attempted to step onto some sort of teleportation platform, Timucin bound him up. His skull was crushed and his body burned without hesitation.

That was when the orbital platform exploded… along with the star. Or rather, the star imploded. A sudden force pulled the trio in, but they resisted. Yann was far enough away. That was also the case for the majority of their fleets… but not all of them. Perhaps a quarter were too close and were pulled into the sudden black hole.

Once things stabilized, the actual gravitational effects of the new black hole weren’t any different from the star that had been there previously. The pulling effect was actually from something else. Furthermore, the star was too small to properly become a black hole- and such things didn’t happen in a few moments.noveldrama

Surveying what remained around them, however, it became clear. The main target of the pull had been the remaining planets in the systems. There was nothing left but an artificial black hole, as well as some bodies. If Everheart couldn’t have the 16th Everheart system, nobody could.

Nobody was under any illusions that they had actually killed Everheart this time. Especially not when they launched similar attacks on other Everheart controlled systems in the Trigold Cluster. They did face powerful projections, but as for actual kills they couldn’t be certain how many they got. Nobody important, at least. And no resources. At most, they removed a thorn in their side but gained nothing beyond that.

A worthwhile campaign, but hardly a resounding victory.

And Everheart wouldn’t forget what he lost.

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At various points in his life, Anton had regretted his inability to reach the upper realms. Currently, he felt it was a blessing. Being completely unable to affect anything beyond a few systems at the border absolved him of the guilt that would come from not trying to solve everything. Of course, Anton knew he couldn’t and shouldn’t try to solve all of the world’s problems himself, but that didn’t mean the thoughts never came up.

Currently, he was relaxing on the beach. He’d probably do that for exactly one day. Leisure wasn’t really for him. He didn’t have to do anything important, but he liked to keep himself busy. Maybe he’d return to Maheg and do some farming for a while. Or literally anywhere else.

That could be his contribution to the upper realms. A whole shipful of vegetables, for people to eat and grow big and strong. Not that they were lacking in food. At most, shipping it to the right places was the issue- and having more hardly solved that. So maybe he’d have to sponsor a small fleet.

Then there would probably be more trouble near lower realms Alliance territory. Maybe it would be a decade, maybe a century, but problems never really ceased. Even with their dominion natural disasters on individual planets still happened, and Anton was quite happy to help fight volcanoes and earthquakes. And to inspire people who were going to the upper realms to hopefully resolve that mess once and for all. Or at least for the near future. Forever was a long time.