Elder Cultivator

Once more, the trifold alliance was preparing an assault on the Sylanis Cluster. This time, they would be focusing their efforts on a single place, a combined assault stronger than their previous probes but retaining more defensive forces in each of their systems. They would prefer not to mistakenly assume the Sylanis Cluster was out of options for a stronger assault- recent damages would either motivate stronger retaliation or cow them for a short time. Having displayed four sufficiently mobile Worldbinding cultivators, they might have more.

Along with Anton and the Great Queen of the void ants came a fleet of a few dozen vessels of various sizes, though all of them significantly larger than Rutera’s fighters. Whatever secret project Rutera had going- which Anton presumed was a much larger carrier ship- for the moment they only had some smaller ones capable of carrying a half dozen fighters along with some passengers and the crew necessary to operate the larger ships and their weapons. Carried on various vessels from the alliance was a small cultivator army consisting of mostly Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivators. In addition, they had a handful of formation masters to help deal with whatever they encountered on their target planet of Zimora, a larger number of formation specialists that couldn’t be called masters, and tens of thousands of void ants.

The number of void ants was actually rather conservative. That was, in essence, enough to make a few combat formations out of the weaker ants, with only a few dozen of any individual prowess. Unlike human cultivators, the void ants could not only fit in a smaller place, but were mainly focused on fighting together in a group. Ceretos could have brought as many human cultivators if they had the space, but they simply didn’t- and they would have needed to start dipping into Spirit Building cultivators rather quickly. The fact was that Spirit Building cultivators could easily die to aftershocks from Life Transformation combatants, let alone the involvement of cultivators stronger than that. The few that were present were those at the peak who were looking for an experience to push themselves, aware that they had a high chance of death like the individual lesser void ants.

It was the last day of their approach to the Okloi system, and Anton could feel his connection to the twin stars sharpening. He found it much more relaxing to travel inside a proper ship where he didn’t have to put in effort to his own travel, and was able to focus on important things like his continuous effort to extend the reach of the stars he drew upon. That was especially important for Okloi, because the more he could exploit the binary star system the better. For their current moment it hardly mattered- Zimora was one of the closer planets to the first star in the system, so Anton would be at optimal force. And if anyone was stupid enough to draw a fight closer to the star, he could pull off some amazing moves.

They were not intending to take over or even assault the entire planet. Their forces were simply insufficient to do such in a timely manner even if there were no other factors to consider. Instead, they were targeting a weak point to prove something. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect, which had attacked Ceretos. They considered the sects of Alaia and Zarina, the two women Anton had captured and not yet ransomed, but the Ultimate Phoenix Sect was stronger and thus a better target to mean something. More importantly, the planet shouldn’t have another Worldbinding cultivator in residence.

The head of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect had been sufficient to place them as a top sect- as any Worldbinding cultivator would- but he had underestimated the defensive preparations of Ceretos. In addition to being completely blindsided by the mere existence of void ants, his fate had been sealed. Without the Great Queen he might have managed some success in his assault.

While it would have been nice to use the Great Queen for assassination attempts, she was conscious enough of her mortality to not want to go into actual enemy territory alone- a ship in the midst of combat was an entirely different matter than going to an enemy system alone, or at least without immediate reinforcements available.

As they approached Zimora, around the same size as the home planets of the alliance but not in a proper habitable zone. In short- it was hot enough to kill any non-cultivators rapidly. The younger void ants would need to stay in the protection of the ships until they broke through into a habitable formation- even fire cultivators didn’t want to live in temperatures hot enough to boil away every trace of water at every moment of their life. In addition to revenge, that was another reason for the assault on Zimora- no real civilian population. While there were likely some who would fit the description, they wouldn’t be contained in the core portions of the sect. Potential disciples were taken from that small population and promising cultivators on other planets.

The tilt of the Okloi system provided an easy route to Zimora that wouldn’t pass close to other planets. The direction of approach would likewise be somewhat predictable, but the enemy would have to know an attack was coming to react. Because of Anton’s previous visit he didn’t think they had a way to sense people coming, but chances were much higher that some part of the fleet would be picked up. Since it wasn’t just Anton he couldn’t begin the assault from an absurd distance without giving the enemy time to prepare while they got closer, which unfortunately meant the assault would likely begin as soon as they were spotted.

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It was not a matter of the Sylanis Cluster’s formation skills being insufficient that meant there was no planet wide defensive formation. Rather, it was one of practicality… and a lack of trust. Especially on an intense planet like Zimora, it was impractical to attempt a barrier covering all of it. It would have to be selective in how it handled heat if nothing else, or they would lose part of the purpose of the chosen location. As for the trust issue, that was simply a matter of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect- and the other forces on the planet- not wanting to allow others to be in on their secrets.

The Worthy Shore Society had contributed the formation master Naid Conaire to this endeavor. As they approached Zimora, the fleet maneuvering to align where they intended with the planet’s rotation, she began the process of coordinating efforts to pick apart its energy flow. There was little that could be done from afar, but they could at least feel it with its significant power.

Naid spoke to the other formation masters, along with the Great Queen and her elite soldiers. “We’ll be looking for weak points to exploit. I understand that you naturally feel the flow of energy, but what we’re looking for isn’t necessarily the weakest or strongest flow. We want to cause more than just a momentary disruption.”

It would be easy enough for the void ants to chew a hole in the barrier given a few minutes unrestricted- perhaps faster given the Great Queen herself- but that would leave them separated from the rest of the forces unless it brought down a significant section of barrier. The Great Queen waited patiently for direction on where to attack, prepared to move when they were closer.

Soon enough, forces collided. The fleet reached atmosphere without issue, but it was around that time that their presence was noticed, and the responses were immediate. Yet Anton could feel the signs that they weren’t fully prepared for an assault. Archers responded immediately, but the way that people scrambled behind the barrier indicated many were without weapons or out of position. The barrier prevented Anton from discerning finer details, but it wasn’t able to completely block him. Thousands of cultivators rushed for weapons, ships, and phoenixes. The latter were the quickest, riding into the sky along with cover from what archers the sect had.

Anton judged the ranged attacks to be of decent quality. Nothing impressive for Life Transformation cultivators, but they clearly weren’t slacking. There was only the issue that those of sufficient strength could be counted on his hands, and Anton could shoot down all of their attacks- or at least disrupt them sufficiently enough that they wouldn’t reach the heights of the ships. That, with sufficient concentration remaining to fire shots powerful enough to kill Life Transformation cultivators.

But those weren’t his first targets. Instead, he aimed for the collars on the necks of the phoenixes. They were powerful pieces of equipment, made of durable and highly enchanted materials. Yet there was a significant flaw they possessed in that the natural energy of the phoenixes was restrained from affecting them, which included a weakening of their defenses directly beyond it. It was a narrow band, and the only attacks that would slip through would instead have to contend with the durable metal collars instead. Even Anton would be hard pressed to manage to break the collars and cause significant damage to the birds’ necks beneath.

Not that he wanted to. Anton knew that not all of the phoenixes would recognize their freedom as collars shattered, and some would be cowed into obedience regardless… but for some portion that overcame both criteria the riders on their backs quickly found that the flames protecting them becoming flames of vengeance were sufficient to cause them a great deal of damage. As fire cultivators, except those careless enough to not have any of their own defenses raised, they would survive- and their positions still allowed them to easily counterattack. Many phoenixes fell into ash, but just as many enemies did the same.

Some of those freed of both collar and rider turned to flee the area, while others assisted their brethren. Both were sufficient to disrupt the enemy’s efforts and allow the fleet to approach with minimal damage, the enemy vessels only just beginning to lift off.

At the same time, those charged with breaking open the formation moved into full swing. Along with the subtler manipulations of the void ants- dropping down nearly invisibly through the open sky- and the formation masters, there were the bruisers like Oluchi throwing her spear, causing as much pressure as possible to the barrier. Cultivators leapt from the attacking ships, intending to land on the battlefield at the earliest possible moment.

Waves of concentrated fire burst from the barrier where attacks fell upon it, intended to prevent further attacks and injure enemies. Some fulfilled their purpose, and others were wasted energy. Nearly unnoticed among all of the attacks was one section that was constantly spraying fire as void ants chewed on it.

Though fire could harm void ants, fire made primarily from natural energy was significantly less effective. The Great Queen had no concern for her own safety unless the enemy organized specific efforts to take her out. Her guard were also durable enough to withstand the struggling formation.

Strangely enough, the first hole in the formation did not occur next to the void ants, but at the base of the formation. The barrier and its minders did their best to react to the incoming attacks, but along with the bombardments energy simply being torn away overwhelmed them, and a momentary gap opened up. Unfortunately for them, it was enough for a handful of cultivators to slip through… and one shot from Anton that went straight for what he recognized as a power conduit supporting the barrier. The actual storage of power would be contained further within, likely underground, but it had to get to the shell somehow. He still wouldn’t title himself as a formation master, but he had enough knowhow to break things that were important when they were exposed.

The edge of the formation wobbled and pulled open, still preventing attacks from above if they weren’t able to twist, but allowing the landed cultivators to enter. Further up, a hole about a hand’s width let through dozens of small black shapes. Ships began to land to deposit more combatants while the first through the barrier secured a foothold. The first step of the plan was complete, but they still had to fight through somewhere around a hundred Life Transformation cultivators, and ten times that many in Essence Collection.