Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1288

Waiting for Sudin to step out a door, Chidi focused on minimizing the physical reactions his body was naturally inclined to undergo. Rapid breathing and a faster heart rate were important in combat, but he couldn’t afford to let even the slightest signs give him away as he waited across from the facility. Chidi knew that some people were going to die before the Domination cultivator came out. It was unfortunate, but it was just a small number of individuals compared to the thousands, possibly millions or more, that would be dying every day of the war.

Surely they would be able to rest easy after they were avenged.

Chidi leaned against the wall, feigning weakness- though at the moment nobody was looking. They could be, at any moment. A faint sound played directly into his ear, such that even the most sensitive cultivator could not pick it up were they not specifically digging around in Chidi’s ear.

“We’re in position, sir.”

A silent acknowledgement, not even a nod but a specialized thought that would be picked up by the device and transmit a response. They had limbs that could move based off of the impulses of a person’s body, a similar setup allowed other devices to connect with less intrusion.

Chidi felt it. Great power. The way Sudin manipulated spectral energy, how it flowed together with his Domination energy, Chidi paid close attention. It was elegant, in a way. Well practiced. It wasn’t even violent in any observable way, as Sudin drew people into bodies that weren’t theirs. Chidi felt flickers of their energy, stronger than the others. The important part was how he was drawing in those souls. Were they always with him?

No. Or at least, not precisely. Sudin reached out towards a place Chidi couldn’t quite sense. Not subspace, or even a strange partial dimension. A little explored realm beyond any sort of the material. Something living beings weren’t meant to interact with… yet cultivators did many things they might not be meant to do. It was the purposes that Sudin put his skills towards that made him evil. Though the methods themselves might have been enough, considering it used living people as vessels.

Chidi learned more about spectral energy in half an hour, just passively absorbing the energy that leaked out of the facility, than he had in days and weeks of observing lesser cultivators. He was quite grateful, because it increased his certainty that he could deal with Sudin.

Then the entire plan almost fell apart because Sudin went out a side entrance. Fortunately, Chidi was able to adjust his position by following the man’s energy signature, and he began to move in that direction swiftly.

“Target moving.” Rather than informing Chidi, they were confirming they noticed. Some long distance communications likely passed between them. “Three remain in position.”

That would have to be good enough. If they were just trying to kill him, Chidi knew it would be. Unfortunately, Sudin didn’t die like a normal man. Even being destroyed by Anton, which annihilated the physical form of his anchor, hadn’t been enough. Though, it had taken him quite some time to return. But he would be more careful if it happened a second time. Clearly, he believed he had a high chance of survival going up against Ratna, and potentially other Domination cultivators of the Scarlet Alliance.

Chidi was nobody important. His sword was just a sword. Sudin wouldn’t pay attention to a civilian that had no cultivation. Chidi even shied away properly, as no powerless weakling would approach a cultivator like Sudin. All of the cultivators left were Twin Soul Sect, but they still kept some mundane people around. Someone had to cook and clean, and they weren’t recruiting pitiful new disciples at the moment.

Rather than draw his sword, Chidi cut the sheath apart. He couldn’t afford to make any additional movements. His blade as an extension of his body helped alter the surrounding energy. Sudin turned, lunged towards Chidi in a horrifying wave of energy… and then his belly was impaled on Chidi’s sword.

Tiny sounds indicated hypervelocity projectiles striking Sudin. One took off an arm at the shoulder, causing much more sound than it passing through the air. Chidi couldn’t quite pick out what the others did. He hoped the one that hit his neck dumped some sedatives into the man’s brain. Though, in the second or so it might take blood to pump there Negation would cease.

Chidi had to move fast. Other cultivators would spring at him, and he needed to kill Sudin right. Otherwise, the man would be dead already. He flicked his sword upward at the last moment, cutting through Sudin’s torso… and his dantian. Rather than an uncontrolled explosion of energy, however, Chidi drove straight into a second instance of Negation.

A building exploded next to him. The streets cracked. He didn’t need this Negation to extend beyond a tiny bubble. As long as it was absolute for a moment.

Chidi cut, severing the man as well as attempting the same with his soul. Chikere would have been disappointed if he couldn’t cut a soul.

Something sliced in two… but the pressure on the blade was wrong. Instinct took over, and Chidi twirled the blade around, piercing into his own chest. Something dove into him. The rest went into his blade.

Pain. Not the physical pain of the blade through flesh and bone. That was inconsequential. Pain from something else, something that shouldn’t be in him. Something that didn’t belong… and carried its own pain.

Good. Sudin deserved it. Inside his own soul, Chidi began to cut apart bits that didn’t belong. He wasn’t sure if he could or should remove them… but he could make them less functional. He never sliced all the way through, just splitting bits of what he was fairly certain were Sudin’s soul.

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Chidi’s body pulled the blade from his chest- still following his direction, fortunately. Something was wrong with his sword as well. It didn’t respond right. He failed to cut down an incoming cultivator. Fortunately, he had backup. Chidi managed a partial Negation, allowing snipers to pick off surrounding targets. Then he ran.

One block later, he was getting a handle on suppressing the new aura leaking from him and his sword. Two blocks after that, he actually lost his immediate pursuit. If the local cultivators hadn’t been so confused at what they were feeling, there was no way it would have gone so well.

“... Mission report?”

“Mixed success,” Chidi replied. “Contain me when I get back. No reversal.” If he had to die for this, Chidi would. But he was still fairly confident it could turn into a full success, since he didn’t feel like he was currently losing the struggle.

If there had been more than half of a previously damaged soul wrestling his, Chidi might not have been nearly so functional. As for the half that ended up in his sword? It was finding it quite difficult to do anything. It was, after all, a completely mundane sword. Probably not on the normal list of things Sudin would have chosen to possess.

-----

“Mixed success,” Bear Hug reported.

“What does that mean?” Ratna asked.

“I assumed you would know,” Bear Hug responded, “Because I sure don’t.”

“... Right. Well.”

Did that mean Chidi had died? Sudin was merely injured? Ratna wasn’t quite certain, and she didn’t think she was going to get a more thorough report at the moment. Mixed success was still a relief, especially with Yann and the Fearsome Menagerie ramping up their attacks.

Whatever Zazil was doing must have been effective, to make them more aggressive. That would hopefully mean unbalanced and careless. There were a few surprises Ratna had in store. Unfortunately, her favorite option was taken out of the picture. Not Chidi, though she did want to see him slice a dragon in half. Instead, it was Aconite. She hadn’t quite pushed herself to Domination, but she had slaughtered the Swirling Swarm and driven off a Domination cultivator on primarily her own merit. Obviously her allies mattered, but they would not have been successful without her. Aconite might have managed half of what she did alone.

A subtly poisoned Yann would have been easier to deal with. Technically, Ratna could poison him herself- there were just very few poisons of sufficient potency that she was willing to have around her. There was also the matter of application. If she managed to strike his flesh, she was already capable of causing more damage.

Still, as part of the Scarlet Alliance she had plenty of options to call upon. Orbital platforms meant for taking out giant monsters like distortion beasts were her best option- too bad she only had a few of those. Getting them to the same place as Yann was the issue. Would a straightforward challenge work? Yann certainly had his pride. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but as a base Ratna could use it.

“You’re staying with me,” she said to Bear Hug.

“I must inform you that I’m a potential security risk.”

“That won’t be an issue.” Nobody who overheard could do anything about the situation. “I just need you to watch a system for me.”

“I’m a mediocre scout.”

Bear Hug was a lot of things. “We’ll have others performing that role. You just need to be present to pass along a message.”

“I can do that!”

-----

Ratna issued a challenge, and then she waited. She heard nothing from Bear Hug- though they informed her that was because there was nothing to be said- but Ratna had planned for that eventuality as well.

Bear Hug was waiting adjacent to the most likely route Yann would take, if he were to head for the challenge system. If Yann showed up… Ratna would go out to meet him. She didn’t expect him to come.

Not that she didn’t think he would act. She just thought he wanted to cause damage. If he wanted to fight her directly, he would have already done so the last few times they clashed. But he caused as much damage as possible while her side mitigated said damage, then Yann moved on. Certainly he wouldn’t come to the system she designated. Bear Hug was sitting around with a sensor array just in case he passed by the most direct route.

If Yann was not coming to fight her directly, then presumably he would want to cause the most damage to Ratna’s holdings as possible, as well as embarrassing her at the same time. That is to say, he would approach the convenient system just past where she was supposed to be waiting, strike, and then leave before she could even get word of it.

Ratna could have been wrong about his movements. They couldn’t watch all of the potential routes through unoccupied systems or between them, but she had to attempt something.

She lingered behind space. Her presence appeared to be at the agreed upon destination, not hidden but not displaying full power. A resting state, more or less. Good enough for him passing by, and he would be more comfortable with some sense of her location.

He moved a bit faster than she had thought, but she sensed him coming. Which meant she had been right. Soon, Yann and his fleet were committed to the attack, with local defenses prepared to face them. Ratna was already moving to meet them. However, she wouldn't strike right away.

-----

“Hey! I sense Yann!” Bear Hug signed to the general area around where Ratna had been. “... Was that helpful? Hello?” Bear Hug waited. “I’m going to assume it was helpful. I’m going to go sit on the planet and fight anyone who tries to murder me.”

That was what Bear Hug had been told to do. They were kind of expecting their other body to do something, but sometimes that was how things worked out. Their watching buddies said that if Yann was in the system, then their job was probably done. Though, they said to wait until the battle was over.

Bear Hug was fine with that, because they were the ones who knew how to operate the ship. There were so many different buttons that Bear Hug only barely understood. It was a bit chilly, but Bear Hug had plenty of themself absorbing sunlight.