Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1293

Special care was taken to record the most recent sects to move against the Little Alliance. Velvet would remember those she moved against, but she wasn’t able to personally visit all of those massing on the border. However, scout ships were able to pick out the various energy signatures, including approximate numbers.

Technically they might have been able to launch a successful attack even after they began losing Augmentation cultivators. Practically, those Augmentation cultivators were the leaders- and they weren’t going to stay around to be killed.

Debates about how they would counterattack took some time, though on the scale of cultivators it was relatively swift. Just a few months, during which they were readying their fleets for long distance deployment.

The Exalted Quadrant would be first. Not because they were more guilty, but because they were an easier target. Simultaneously, the Little Alliance was currently more vulnerable- though the very first target would have little direct effect on them.

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“Forest of Death!” Sly shouted into the first of many systems they controlled along the border. They had actually grown quite a bit since then… though their recent losses as they tried to probe the Scarlet Alliance’s security would be a significant blow. “Remember when you tried to kill me that one time?

Nobody said yes. They just… tried to kill him again. Probably because they were missing most of their leaders, so they couldn’t quite decide who was in charge.

Sly had a method he’d used before, and he was eager to repeat it but better. Relevant to that method was the lack of civilian population among the Forest of Death. Well, there might be a few scattered among the numerous planetoids. Someone else would handle that. It was Sly’s job to handle the heavy lifting.

A web of life draining energy spread throughout the system as Sly charged in, followed by powerful fleets. Sly was strong enough he didn’t care about the living formation. The ships had their own methods to deal with it.

A great number of Life Transformation cultivators and a few Integration cultivators were charging towards him. It wasn’t much better than last time… and that was many centuries before. Sly ignored them, except the few who got directly in his way. He slammed them into the first planetoid, held together by the roots of a massive tree. Not quite alive, but not fully dead.

Until he splintered it from head to toe, that was. He hit the planetoid headfirst, knocking it towards another. Normally, it would have shattered but he tempered his energy to spread over the planet and impart momentum equally.

His third and fourth targets also hit different planetoids as the network of energy clawed at him, but he paid it little mind. Every time he smashed planetoids into each other, the aura weakened.

Soon, Sly began to pile together already smashed pairs or trios of planetoids, making sure to pull in all of the chunks that had blown off. Just because he evenly accelerated the first of them didn’t mean that when it crashed into the next planetoid they’d happily stick together.

At the rate he was going, Sly thought he’d probably have to spend all day- probably several days- finishing his task. But nobody could stop him. And they couldn’t stop the fleets of the Scarlet Alliance either. They didn’t even have a Domination cultivator with them.

“The Exalted Quadrant won’t stand for this!” Someone finally yelled.

Sly grabbed them by the throat. Just a late-stage Integration cultivator. “What is the Exalted Quadrant? Tell me, how many Domination cultivators of yours do you think we’ve killed? You should have thought about how long the Scarlet Alliance would stand for your foolishness.” Sly squeezed tighter around the man’s throat. “Normally this is the part where I’d toss you and tell you to go tell everyone. But people will figure it out eventually once they realized the Forest of Death no longer exists.”

A small snap, and he was dead. No point in stretching things out and being unnecessarily cruel.

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Sly was done before any reinforcements arrived from surrounding systems. It had taken a lot of time to headbutt several thousand individual planetoids into a single mass, but he was done. It was just the first of their various systems, but the others wouldn’t be much better.

At most, they might have a couple Augmentation cultivators, though not many. They might also be sending them to attack the first system.

“Anyone who dares show their face here isn’t going to get to go back into the ‘safety’ of their little death networks,” Sly declared. Technically, he wasn’t solely in charge of the fleets. Practically, people were already going to do that.

Sly floated above the mega planet he had pieced together. Most likely, it had taken the Forest of Death centuries during their early existence a couple millenniums prior to set up their systems the way they were. If their network had been half as solid as it should have been, Sly thought it would have been a great wonder. There had been some discussion about taking over the systems intact, growing a network of trees in much the same manner… but building formations that thrived off of life instead of death.

It was a great idea. The Alliance could do that anywhere, though. This system was going to be horrific for a while yet, despite the structure having collapsed. Sly honestly didn’t want to set food on the mass of stone below, slowly dying as it drained the life from everything including the trees that gave the Forest of Death their name. The cultivators had mostly died days prior.

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

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A month later, Sly found himself facing off against one of their last Augmentation cultivators. A woman by the name of… something. It had come up in some sort of briefing, but that wasn’t really important. She was the sect head, or maybe the sect head’s concubine, or cousin. Or both. It didn’t really matter, she was one of the strongest people they had.

“You could have run, you know,” Sly said. “Taken refuge in allied systems. If you really were allies, of course.”

“Why would I need to do that when I can drain your life and grow stronger?”

Sly cracked his neck. “How long does that take?”

“In less than a minute you will be a shriveled husk.”

“That sounds like an eternity.”

Sly didn’t consider the possibility that he might lose. It really didn’t matter, because he knew the Alliance was going to win. Besides, the more he truly believe he couldn’t lose, the better off he was.

He charged forward. The woman held out her hand. That was how she was going to drain his life force. But Sly hadn’t coined the term Harder Crown Sect just as a middle finger to the leaders of the Hardened Crown Sect in the Exalted Quadrant.

Sly felt it, a powerful draining force. For all of a tenth of a second, before he compressed the woman’s arm into two dimensions. It was so easy, because she let him concentrate the vast majority of his power in a single place.

As Sly took stock of himself, he felt like that single instant had drained years of his life. Which was to say, a whole lot of lifeforce and at the same time… nothing. It was less than a decade, at least. Next time he’d move faster, though.

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Though the Little Alliance was waiting for the fleets dealing with the Forest of Death to be finished with their assault, they weren’t completely inactive. They also got the highest priority reinforcement relatively early on. Prospero Vandale himself. That was because he was going to take on a defensive role while Velvet went on offense.

At a time when previously they would have gone into a period of rest and recovery, Velvet was already moving. Even if the Alliance provoked another assault, they would be ready for the consequences. Over the past cycles, they had grown stronger while the great powers grew less stable. Now, there were probably half as many Domination cultivators among them, and they would be looking out for their own interests above all else.

Velvet had thought it would be less than half, given Ludek’s move against Everheart. In a way, that was still true- because there was less of Ludek than there used to be. Rather than him escaping Everheart by sacrificing an arm and a leg, it seemed more like he’d been let go. Obviously the intimate details of a Domination cultivator’s defeat weren’t public knowledge, which was why anyone who thought they knew anything about it eagerly spoke. Determining exactly which pieces of information were true was the difficult part.

When the assault came, Velvet would join the assault. Until then… she had already revealed her assassination abilities. Not that they’d been secret for centuries, but rather she’d had to restrain herself for various reasons. One of which had been her weakness.

Velvet still wasn’t confident in killing a Domination cultivator, but she was confident in concealing herself from them and fleeing if she had to. And since she wasn’t moving against any of those groups directly, the chances of facing them was quite small.

Those who had fled her blade previously would now find themselves unsafe in their own territory. She would be taking people out from the top down. Her hope was that they might not even have to fight many of them as they would effectively be destroyed before then. Or actually destroyed, depending on their particular neighbors.

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The last of the known assailants upon the lower realms had been dealt with. Anton had really wanted that to mean a time of rest… and for the Lower Realms Alliance as a whole, it was true. But even if their own people were safe and their foes defeated, there were still problems.

Specifically, unrest within the borders of the Shining Cooperative. They had specifically asked for himself and Devon’s aid. As Anton passed through their systems, he came to realize that he’d assumed for far too long that they were alright. Their planets were mostly balanced and prosperous, following many of the energy growth traditions the Alliance had shared. However, that didn’t mean they were perfectly fine.

It had been quite a long time since Anton had visited. Had he even done so after reaching Unity? He couldn’t quite recall, but if he had he likely hadn’t been paying proper attention.

Or perhaps things had escalated quickly. Certainly, the end of the cycle and the Tides of the World would reveal much unrest. Were there infiltrators from the upper realms? That was something Anton had to consider. The Shining Cooperative had seen to their own defense and was ultimately successful- but it hadn’t been a flawless victory.

Anton could sense destruction in numerous systems he passed through. It wasn’t anything near the full annihilations and resets that the upper realms had repeatedly managed to enforce, but it was still greater than it needed to be. Except… some places were perfectly fine. Perhaps they hadn’t been targeted- there were many systems after all.

For the moment, Anton just took everything in. He wouldn’t wish to act hastily. Especially not when his intuition told him there was something more- and his intuition was not something easily ignored.

Anton and Devon met up together on Netrao, since they had come from different directions. Aerona came along as well, though Anton wasn’t certain if she was technically invited. But for diplomatic matters involving Devon, it would be stranger to think she wouldn’t show herself.

They were given accommodations so luxurious Anton truly couldn’t see anyone needing or even wanting. Then again, he came from a humble background. A roof over his head that didn’t leak was about all he cared about. Maybe also a barn that didn’t leak.

Anton hadn’t personally met any of those they were meeting with. He remembered a pleasant fellow named Daris. The two most prominent individuals weren’t unpleasant or anything, just unfamiliar. Ezhil and Kazimir, apparently. Anton prepared to listen to their explanations of the situation, after all of the normal diplomatic fluff.