Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1290

“It’s kinda boring out here,” Bear Hug commented.

Anton shrugged. “It’s better than being near the… excitement.”

Since Anton wasn’t planning to be within several systems of his foes, it was safe enough to have Bear Hug around, and quite convenient for staying in communication. Though Anton couldn’t wait to have other options so that he didn’t have to drag Bear Hug around. Anton’s algae friend was great to have around, but he’d rather choose when they were spending time together instead of it being mandatory.

Anton would have liked to be helping to defend the Little Alliance against the current aggression, but he was at his furthest east star on the opposite end of things. He might be able to launch some minor attacks across the border via the star, but they would be… disappointing. Though perhaps that was an area he could stand to improve. If Anton could form parts of an arbitrary star into a bow nearly as good as the one he held and properly manipulate it, he could fight against more than those that came too close to the star itself. Retaining a high enough proportion of his power to fire thirty or so lightyears out would be a tall task still, but if he could cover neighboring systems at least he would be more versatile. Perhaps he should have already devoted several centuries to that sort of growth.

“The Swirling Swarm is kind of scary,” Bear Hug said. “I haven’t really been close, but sensing them all packed together from a distance they’re like a school of mean fish.”

“That’s good insight,” Anton said. “They do operate that way, avoiding the easy targeting of individuals. The main difference is that some of them are actually stronger, whereas in a real school of fish they’re all nearly the same. Certainly, all within an order of magnitude.”

The difference between each stage was about that much, though it depended on many factors. Even being on opposite sides of a threshold was still somewhere around double power in most cases.

Anton truly found it difficult to lock onto any individual members of the Swirling Swarm. In the various systems that the Lower Realms Alliance had fended them off, they’d found it difficult to stop all of them. Word from Temine was that a Domination cultivator got through somehow. But they were ultimately victorious, which meant that the Alliance had done enough.

The Swirling Swarm was attacking through more than a few streams. Some were far enough that it was impractical to send forces, as it would require splitting fleets into unacceptably small components. Thus, some of their targets went unprotected, no doubt including a vast number of unknown regions beyond the Alliance’s reach.

Anton was positioned between several parts of the Tides. He was waiting to catch various groups on their way back. It would have been far better to prevent their intrusion in the first place but if that wasn’t possible, making sure as few of them as possible didn’t return was all he could do.

The first group that passed by Anton did his best to slow by damaging their vessels. That split them up, because nobody cared about those who were left behind. He swept his senses through them, trying to pick out anyone who was higher in cultivation. It was difficult, of course, but he thought he might come up with a proper technique to counter their chaotic motion. Because of their vast numbers he couldn’t even get close to wiping out the group- even with arrows that pierced a hundred foes or that detonated to kill a thousand. Not without exhausting himself on the first group, anyway.

There were anomalies in the second group. Individuals he could pick out. Unfortunately, they weren’t Swirling Swarm members. That didn’t mean that some other sect had miraculously joined up with them and survived- that might be possible, but the reality was quite different. It was simply that this second group took captives whereas the first did not.

Anton didn’t know what the logic was for such things. He didn’t know if the first had completely exterminated their foes or been repelled or simply been uninterested, but either way the second group forced Anton to change his tactics.

He wanted to save them, but he felt like the Swirling Swarm would probably rather slaughter their captives than let them be saved. After a minute or so of deliberation- such a short time would hardly affect the total time he was able to act upon the group- Anton had prepared his tactics.

Anton recalled Alva’s techniques, how she used subspace to fire her arrows. Anton had been doing something similar, but mainly to maximize his distance. What he needed here wasn’t more power, but more precision.

His arrows jumped past barriers, finding their way inside ships. Rather than saving energy, Anton actually found it quite a bit more expensive than simply puncturing his way through. He also had to control their velocity inside, routing around the vessels to take down Swirling Swarm targets while minimizing the numbers of doors and walls he hit. Focusing his senses to that level of granularity was more mentally taxing, limiting his number of simultaneous attacks.

He didn’t focus on any one ship, instead distributing his attacks evenly between a great number. He also didn’t disable many vessels. Just a few seemingly at random. He didn’t give away his actual targets easily. It was just him killing people inside the ships, as far as people should be able to tell.

The most difficult part was killing people at the helms of vessels at just the right time for them to swerve off course, towards the edge of the tides, while also not running into surrounding ships. Fortunately, the Swirling Swarm had at least enough self preservation instincts to avoid ships that suddenly had no one at the helm.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Once a ship was going off course, he killed anyone who tried to correct it. He also killed some of those who fled the vessel, though most of his attacks were focused on those who remained. After all, his goal was to clear the ships of the Swirling Swarm.

Then, finally, he focused even further, launching just a few arrows at a time as he sliced through the restraints on their captives. Anton couldn’t reach the ships himself in any reasonable time frame- it would take half a week at minimum. People would have to take charge themselves, which Anton facilitated after the vessels had pulled away from the rest of the swarm.

Anton strove for perfection, but he failed to achieve it. Even with the power of Unity, he couldn’t herd the vast fleets of the Swirling Swarm. He couldn’t save everyone. A few ships caught on to what he was doing, killing some or all of their prisoners before Anton slaughtered them. Others turned to try to recapture ships, though Anton managed to pick off most of those before they made it far. The difficulty was when he couldn’t just explode the ships directly because of other captives.

It was a grueling stretch of days, but Anton saved as many as he could. He even guided them towards each other, to coordinate as they could. That was hindered by most of them being weaker in cultivation, as well as many bearing injuries. However, they did have whatever rations remind on their vessels.

Anton sent messages with their coordinates to see if some Alliance vessels could help them out, either to guide them back to their homeworlds or at least somewhere they could survive for a while. But for the moment, they were turning back into the Tides and retracing their path as best they could. Plus, dealing with the bodies. There wasn’t much Anton could do about that- the only option would be to burn them which would really hinder the air quality on the ships. They’d have to toss all the bodies themselves.

The next group should pass by within a week or so. Anton needed to rest. His replenishment was quick, but his capacity was great… and he’d been active against two fleets already. Plus, the long term drain for the whole duration of the Tides. There wasn’t time for a proper vacation while at war.

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“Hello,” Chidi said.

“Hello yourself,” Catarina replied. It was a shame they could only talk through a video feed at the moment. It was quite clear that Sudin and the Twin Soul Sect didn’t have the technological expertise to slip out through that, but they couldn’t be fully sure about other things.

“Whatever you did helped significantly,” Chidi commented.

“Thanks,” Catarina responded. “But I’m not sure if I should believe that until I know the process is complete.”

Chidi couldn’t blame her. Especially since this was at his request. Still, he knew that things were… easier. He wasn’t completely going to let down his guard, just in case Sudin was faking suppression.

As for his sword, he didn’t have direct access to it. However, it had been magnetically locked in place. Unless Sudin could possess air molecules or electromagnetic fields, that part of him wasn’t going to be doing much anytime soon. If he could… they were all screwed anyway. But given that it didn’t seem like he intended to enter the sword Chidi wasn’t too concerned.

The sword was still kept near enough for Chidi to help suppress it, but it was beyond a barrier so that he couldn’t touch it. That was what they had agreed upon when he explained what he knew, with his mother making her best judgment about his mental freedom.

For the first few days, Chidi could have guaranteed that he was fine, and that the possession wasn’t taking root. However, he was so tired now. Slicing into Sudin’s soul was draining, and he wasn’t sure if it was causing sufficient damage. He was lucky that he’d managed to cut it into two parts, one of which was currently impotent. Otherwise, they might not have made it to Xankeshan.

-----

Catarina watched her son, his face strained even if he tried to hide it. Such glimpses were infrequent, as she was spending the majority of her attention on active formation construction.

The basis of the work was the same as they used to attract ascenders and the souls of their allies who practiced reincarnation techniques. However, the latter was not deeply explored. They could guarantee any reincarnated soul would end up within their domain- even within their old core- but they hadn’t seen a need to go much further. It didn’t cover any aspects of forcibly removing souls. It simply didn’t come up often enough.

All of the experts from the Scarlet Alliance were gathering, not just because it was Chidi but because annihilating Sudin was also important to the Alliance. Catarina wanted to save her son, but she didn’t mind if others wanted to save a valuable asset to the Alliance. It would have the same results. And If Chidi died…

At least they would be set up to recapture his soul. Whether he would retain any memories was a different issue. If he didn’t, Catarina would have to accept his death. But until such a point she would do everything in her power to support him.

The most difficult part was that she couldn’t do it directly. She wanted to comfort him, to lend her own energy to his aid. But that would risk too much, while not necessarily increasing his chances.

Even if Chidi hadn’t been considered young in over half a millennium, he was still her first child. Catarina would fight just as hard for Yuval, who had less military value.

She reshaped materials with her own hands, carving runes as fast as anyone could have put them into a system for it to replicate. As with anything, technology existed that could aid in the production of formations, but Catarina was better able to imbue power into her formations when done by hand. She called upon her power of Domination, wishing she could activate part of the formation to help. But until it was fully complete, they couldn’t risk anything more than the simple formations they had active.

Soul suppression formations. They were slowing down whatever process was happening, giving Chidi more time… but also increasing his mental strain. He should come out ahead. He just had to endure for a few more days. It would normally take longer, except Catarina wouldn’t be taking a moment’s rest until she was done. That, while actively using as much Domination energy as she could maintain, plus a little more.