Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1292

With the withdrawal of Fearsome Menagerie forces from Veiled Brilliance territory, they were able to swiftly strike against the Twin Soul Sect. They had very little true power with Sudin gone, and their defenses were still shattered from when they conquered the systems. Their main efforts had been to increase their numbers, which had been happening at an alarming rate. The full extent hadn’t been obvious until shortly before Chidi took down Sudin.

Ratna’s plan was to deal with them swiftly. Without Sudin she wasn’t needed in person… but she could greatly shift the tides of battle. That was why she joined after they confirmed that Yann wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. However, things weren’t over with the Fearsome Menagerie. The Scarlet Alliance intended to strike back- Zazil’s contributions weren’t the end of things.

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Chidi was drawn to high alertness when he suddenly found himself in a different spot. He could tell precisely because he was able to sense more outside of it. The flow of energy had been muted, but now it suddenly changed. With no movement, he suspected he had been teleported along with the magnetic field generator and his sword.

Before he could really think about what was going on, a straight sword pierced through the roof. That probably wasn’t great for the security of his cell.

Chidi felt himself pulled towards the blade, but he resisted. It wasn’t a good idea to touch random things in unknown circumstances. Something inside of him, however, felt differently. A sudden surge that seemed as if it had been waiting for an opportunity took control of his body, just enough for him to lean forward and touch the flat of the blade with his forehead.

Something was pulling him. Chidi could either fight the pull or restrain the extra soul inside of him. He chose the former, not wanting to fall into an unknown grip. He felt the remnants of soul, cut and scarred but not destroyed, slip into the blade. From there, they wanted freedom.

Both blades, Chidi’s and this one that suddenly appeared, suddenly strained. If Sudin’s soul got free, Chidi didn’t believe he would be sufficiently damaged to never return. He’d been unable to accomplish the job properly, especially working inside himself.

Chidi’s will clamped down on the swords. Now that Sudin was in there, he would stay.

Sudden movement didn’t stop him, merely jerking him away for a moment. Proper movement this time, not teleportation. There still hadn’t been much time to grasp what was happening. There was another layer around him where the sword had come from, as well as further formations, but his senses still cut off.

Then, suddenly, light and heat. Chidi only knew about the light because he was trained to be sensitive to such things. It was sufficient that he thought he might have gone blind, if he had eyes. He might burn to death, with his energy restricted.

One sword shot out of the cell. Chidi’s sword. He wanted to reach for it, to call it back, but he was already doing the most he could to suppress the soul inside of the two blades. The second followed a moment later, caught up in the magnetic fields. Intentionally launched.

Chidi could feel much more, and as the two blades hit the star in sequence, he felt his father’s energy. A barrier formed around the star… and the two swords ceased to exist in that form after an instant.

The formations around Chidi were disabled, and he instantly rallied his energy to protect himself from the heat. He probably already had an awful sunburn.

“Sorry about not consulting you.” His mother. Her energy was also involved in whatever was happening. “But that might have led to other problems.”

Chidi nodded. “I understand.”

“We’re especially sorry for destroying your blade. It won’t be trivial to replace your connection. But I’m sure you’ll agree its preferable to dying.”

There were a few swordmasters who might disagree. But while Chidi had a strong bond with his sword, it had in the end been a mundane blade. Specifically mundane, if extremely high quality. “... Can souls burn?” Chidi asked. At the moment, he was most concerned in the success of the matter at hand, and not his later recovery.

“With sufficient power, they can. And they’re also affected by gravitational distortion to some extent. How do you think they end up on planets?”

“I truly hadn’t considered it,” Chidi admitted. He wasn’t practicing any sort of reincarnation technique. “I assumed they would be drawn by the people.”

“That too,” Catarina said. “Anyway… Sudin isn’t getting out.”

Chidi hoped not. Speaking of which, he took a good hard look inside himself. He really didn’t want any remnants.

“If it makes you feel better, we calculated that sword would draw him out with certainty.”

It would, once Chidi had finished checking. “How did you know?”

“It was made out of special soul-related materials,” Catarina said. “It would be quite attractive to loose bits of soul.”

“And my own soul.”

“As if you’d get trapped inside a sword accidentally,” Catarina laughed.

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Chidi also did. It was quite a relief to feel free. But while he didn’t have any physical wounds, he thought he would need some time to recover. And to get a new sword, though unless someone had intentionally erased the records of how they made it that wouldn’t be so bad.

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A pause in strife didn’t mean everything was over. In fact, even if the great powers were not planning to act in the near future… the Alliance wasn’t going to accept things being over. There was only so much support the lower realms could provide- generally doing what they would have anyway which was annihilating the invaders and making sure they didn’t profit from their attempts- but the Scarlet Alliance had grown significantly.

They just needed to figure out what their target would be. They were capable of launching proper counterattacks. The Twin Soul Sect had only managed to take over a small region during their meteoric rebirth, so they would likely be handled first. Then they had to choose between focusing on the Exalted Quadrant or Trigold Cluster. Both acted against the Alliance when they thought they had opportunities. This time, the Alliance was stable enough at the conclusion to counterattack and they had the Domination cultivators to back their actions.

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Ludek had gotten too big for his britches. Honestly, he thought he could revive the Citadel of Exalted Light? He wasn’t even brave enough to prominently display his anchor. That was the only thing that had made Zaur even halfway worthy.

What was Ludek going to do, flash light in Everheart’s eyes? Ludek was older than Everheart… but he’d reached Domination later. Thinking he could win was foolhearty.

Everheart wondered if it would be better to spare him. It would be a good test to see if crippled people could provide as much negative devotion. Most likely, keeping him restrained would cause him to weaken and be less productive… but if he just cut off an arm or two, would Ludek really be weaker? His energy would be just as strong. Of course, Everheart would have to adjust his calculations for another factor- how much Ludek ended up hating him. The results would be inexact, so maybe he should also do something similar with the Tilki clan.

After all, having vaguely intact Domination cultivators insecure in their own positions was the perfect way to make sure no others came up in their territories for a while. Yes, he was liking this plan more and more.

Anyway, Ludek. He dared to launch an attack on the 2nd Everheart system? And no, it wasn’t actually second. Obviously Everheart didn’t want people to learn anything from the numbering. There was some random variance, mystifying the total number and when they came to be.

Ludek came in, jumping around slightly beyond the speed of light. All that Everheart had to say about that…

“Too slow.”

Seriously, didn’t he know it would take years to reach a neighboring system like that? If he was afraid to jump at interstellar speeds because he might end up in a planet or something, he would never make it.

Everheart prepared to annihilate his fleets, then thought better of it. Those ships were valuable, and he could poach some members. One might normally question the loyalty of those who were coerced into swapping sides, but Everheart had good perks to offer. He could get some extra hands for when he needed them, and if they turned on him they could be replaced.

There was never enough Everheart to do everything… and more projections was the sloppy answer.

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“Timucin! Your nose is huge and ugly!”

It wasn’t the most elegant way to draw someone out, but Everheart found that sometimes you needed to be direct. It would serve its purpose regardless of whether Timucin came out angry.

Soon enough, Everheart found himself facing off against one very calm chain user and one stout supporting Domination cultivator.

“How brave of you,” Timucin said. “To face the two of us in our own territory, alone.”

“How dare you. Pipsqueak is with me,” Everheart slapped the shell of the turtle.

“Hardly a threat to a Domination cultivator. I might be concerned if you were setting up massive formation pillars, but I’m sure you know we would crush them before they could become anything meaningful.”

Timucin Tilki wasn’t polite enough to fight with just himself and Sevinc, obviously. Other cultivators were swarming throughout the system, including a number of Augmentation cultivators.

Not that Everheart was polite enough to not bring reinforcements when he had them. They were just better hidden.

Timucin made the first move, without Everheart even needing to provoke him again. He threw out his flail, the heavy end curving as the man manipulated its trajectory around Pipsqueak. The turtle sped forward, swimming through space.

“You missed!” Everheart said. He counterattacked with his bow, shooting arrows at the two Domination cultivators. He would be embarrassed if he used such moves in front of Anton, but he thought overall his shots were decent. Not enough to do any damage, though. He switched targets to some of the Augmentation cultivators that might actually get close enough to be a problem.

The lingering trail of chain was soon joined by a second and third as the man continued his attacks. Sevinc stood with him, her aura bolstering the attacks along with the lingering chains.

Everheart found it fascinating how taunting people to attack worked. Then again, what were they going to do- not try to kill him? It was precisely the best tactic to take regardless of what Everheart wanted. And in this case…

“Hmm. I appear to be running out of space.” Pipsqueak was the problem. He was huge. It was rather difficult for Timucin to rapidly cover the area such that a human sized figure could be caught- though he would eventually. For something many kilometers across, however, he was making a nice cage. “You’re going to need to suck in your gut,” Everheart commented to his mount.

Soon enough, Timucin had formed a cage that Pipsqueak couldn’t fit out of. “I don’t know what you intend,” Timucin commented. “But your time is running out.” He twisted his arm, drawing in the chains.

“Seems so,” Everheart agreed. Instead of shooting his next arrow, he flipped it over in his hand and scraped it along Pipsqueak’s shell.

Who even needed formation flags or pillars when you had mobile versions? Pipsqueak’s shell flickered with Everheart’s Domination energy. What had already been set up outside the system reacted, filling the area with energy. And then, as the chains drew inward… Everheart slipped through them. He had to focus to keep them sliding inward.

Timucin didn’t realize what was happening right away, until his own people began to get swept up in them. He fought viciously to take back control of some part of them, but this was a proper formation now. He couldn’t get much more than what was directly around him. People tried to flee between the chains, but of course Everheart wouldn’t let them. The outer shell was a proper solid barrier now. The chains were just there for structure.

And to think, they thought he hadn’t brought any formations with him. He’d simply been nearly done before they started.

Everheart wondered what sort of damage would be best. He’d start with smacking the two Domination cultivators into each other. Maybe that would knock some sense into them, but probably not. Otherwise, they would have sought to settle their grievances long ago.