Elder Cultivator

Of the three systems in the trifold alliance, Anton had spent by far the least amount in Weos. It was neither his home nor did it require his help in the same manner as Rutera had. Because he was so unfamiliar with the system, one of the few features he did remember being missing made it feel off. Oluchi had been his companion in the war to eradicate the Twin Soul Sect from the system. She had even advanced to Assimilation, only to perish against the Ivory Maw. A reminder it was not just the powerful cultivators of the enemy that could meet their end.

Anton was still acquainted with Anzela and Rikuto, his introduction to the system. They were simply staying away from the potential battlefields where he now found himself. Weos had come to the realization that it simply had too many occupied planets to cover even with their new Assimilation cultivators. And, as seemed to be the case for most Assimilation cultivators, most were bound to a particular location or planet to make optimal use of their power.

Nthanda was already in the system, and the Great Queen came along with the same intentions she had for Rutera. The more powerful a cultivator, the more the ability of the void ants became relevant. Against armies the void ants required far too many of their own to fight, but against a few powerful individuals they were exceptionally dangerous.

Weos had noticed signs of spatial intrusions in the same way Anton had- except their cultivators were as a whole more familiar with the practice. They could not measure things precisely like Ruteran technology, but they could get a good feeling for something being off. They had been cautious with their maneuvering ever since Anzela’s scout ship dropped by Ceretos, accidentally taunting a distortion beast to approach. Distinguishing effects from their own ships and outside influence was simple enough with numerous eyes looking out for trouble.

The phenomenon was indeed familiar to Anton when he arrived, but instead of attempting the same thing as before, Weos had a different- if similar- plan. Anton found himself and the others above Bavore, one of their gas giants. The overall population of the planet was minimal, but what cities existed floating through the swirling storms of the planet were filled with strong cultivators. How could it be otherwise? It was a harsh environment that required constant formation work to stay safe- though the density of natural energy made up for it, powering the same formations that the planet was straining. The great amount of natural energy was actually too much for weaker cultivators to handle, much like the higher density of energy at the top of the peaks in the Order.

Their current plans were being organized by Ingeborg, a formation master from Weos. Though the older woman had a good understanding of formations, her personal power was stuck at the peak of Essence Collection- surprisingly weak. Or perhaps Anton was just biased by what had happened with Ceretos, where everyone was encouraged to cultivate. Reasonably speaking, even on Ceretos most people didn’t make it to late Essence Collection. Anton had just trained among a generation that quickly surpassed it and even Life Transformation.

Ingeborg had a local fleet organizing themselves carefully, preparing to find and draw out what was causing the trouble. That would likely come with a distortion beast, intentionally baited by the troublemakers, but the plan was to have the troublemakers entangled as well. Anton had no way to tell if they were currently around or not, unless they became particularly obvious with their actions. As the fleet spread out around the planet, flying in peculiar patterns, the only spatial distortions he could sense were the ones they created, more blatant than the subtle ripples underneath.

A pile of ants clung eagerly to Anton. Their weight was negligible, though he was discomforted more by the fact that he could feel them with only his bodily senses. He was not concerned about the danger they might pose to him- he trusted the Great Queen and the loyalty of her royal guard. He had no trouble carrying a bare blade, though he could not help but remain aware of it. If a distortion beast was the only opponent to appear, the void ants would extricate themselves from the situation- they were simply ineffective against large creatures. Even if their jaws could cut and tear what they could reach, it would take all of their colonies to cause sizable damage to the one that appeared above Rutera.

When the signal came, Anton prepared himself. He didn’t know quite what would happen, but his expectations were immediately shattered. Having encountered two distortion beasts, he had some idea of them in his head. When an eye opened to gaze at him, he was a fraction slower in his reaction.

It was strange, watching the lids of space itself widen to reveal an eyeball. Part of it was still hidden, as by proper eyelids, and behind the eye was nothing. It was only the shell of the front of the eye- no depth, no rear.

Seeing and feeling that all at once, Anton responded with a volley of Spirit Arrows, answered by a beam of energy from the center of the eye. Anton threw himself to the side, avoiding the combined natural and spectral energy. Star Steps instantly accelerated him, but the eye continued to lock on his position, never turning but always facing him. The beam itself, at least, took a few moments to travel the distance between himself and the eye. He circled around, uncertain if his shots could hit anything but the ‘front’ of the eye itself. When they struck, the eye closed in reflex or pain.

This was not the only eye to appear, though Anton was the only individual picked out. The others targeted ships from Weos, hulls directly damaged by the beams with no regard for the spatial distortions their rings created. Still more found two larger targets. One was familiar- a mountain of white bone being forced into view, while the other he had only heard described. A similarly sized mountain of flesh, writhing muscle dark red with flecks of other colors. Extending out of the muscle Anton saw something of concern- tendrils of darkness, clearly unused to acting according to natural law but a danger nonetheless. Anton couldn’t be sure, but he saw at least a decent portion of what imagined to be the same creature that they had pulled out over Rutera.

So it had been the Ivory Maw, and either by plan or coincidence they hunted down the remains of one distortion beast to augment their powers. That second mass would be Leonas, the controller of muscle and flesh.

The two mountains still carried scars of battle. Bala Sykora’s bone mass had a few particularly recognizable features Anton had seen broken in their earlier battles, still apparently valuable enough to keep. But there was more- indicating that at least the assault within the Sylanis Cluster had been a serious affair. The two had still kept their lives, but damage had been done. Anton just wasn’t sure whether or not they were ultimately weaker now, with the distortion beast added to the mix.

Then he saw her. No, it was more correct. Oluchi’s body. Empowered by masses of spectral and natural energy, the spear user’s corpse moved unnaturally. If Anton judged correctly, the muscle and bones were moving independently, control split between the two Worldbinding cultivators.

“Which target?” Anton plucked the Great Queen into his hand, his energy allowing for sound to vibrate without atmosphere. The royal guard rushed down his arm to be with her, ready for her choice.

“Bala,” the Great Queen signed, pointing towards the bone mountain.

“A good choice,” Anton said. With the Great Queen having experience against her, even if she was a somewhat tough opponent for them they would at least be prepared to fight her. Leonas was an unknown.

He pulled his arm back, the ants gathering into a ball in his palm. Then he snapped it forward, flinging them with as much momentum as he could provide, including a sudden acceleration from Star Steps. Then they were off, it now being the Great Queen’s responsibility to control their motions by how she pulled on the threads of natural energy around them.

Anton’s actions got him the attention of the distortion beast once more, another eye opening. This time Anton was prepared, fingers quickly forming an arrow of light on his bow, the attack snapping from the string to his target nearly instantaneously. Anton wasn’t certain if what he saw as eyes actually were, but the sudden attack striking before the eye fully opened compelled it to shut again. He would have to keep some of his energy bows ready to do the same, though avoiding drawing attention would be better. Best for the Ivory Maw’s two Worldbinding cultivators to get the majority of that. Anton couldn’t do anything about Weos’ ships being targets, so getting himself in danger seemed pointless.

A notable exception to the distortion beast targeting powerful opponents was Nthanda. Even the not-Oluchi was seen as a threat of some sort, but Nthanda fought from a small platform placed in orbit for her with no attacks coming her way. No doubt she would draw the attention of Bala or Leonas if they had the capacity to respond- her arrows were heavy chunks of metal burying themselves in the mountains, causing damage and disrupting energy flow.

Most of Weos’ ships were on different parts of the planet, and Anton could sense Ingeborg directing them to continue their motions, keeping the formation that had pulled the Worldbinding cultivators out of hiding active. Anton wasn’t sure exactly how it would work, but drawing out the situation to give them a chance to escape didn’t seem like a good idea.

Ascension energy was drawn back on soulstring, targeting Oluchi upon Leonas’ mass of muscle and flesh. The corpse was basically intact, and somehow managed a semblance of her power. It had thrown her spear through one of the ships from Weos, the remnants of her techniques overcoming the spatial distortion barrier. Before the spear could continue to cause devastation, Anton intended to take her out.

Drawing and firing the arrow took only an instant, then it was away. Before it could reach its target, a journey that would only be a fraction of a second, Anton found himself surrounded by teeth. A shell of them, all different sizes and shapes. Long, sharp teeth. Crushing and grinding molars. Flat blades. The maw closed down around him, Anton only barely managing to squeeze out through a less dense area. He got a long gash along his right arm, a deep wound into his left thigh, and numerous smaller lacerations as his energy defenses were torn through. If there had been flesh of a proper mouth behind those teeth perhaps he would not have escaped, but Anton wasn’t sure if such physiological normalities applied to distortion beasts.

The maw disappeared as quickly as it had come- then reappeared along the trail of his arrow. But the ascension energy flew quickly without reliance upon spatial distortion and was not so easily caught up to. The speed at which the teeth had appeared was still concerning, though Anton was making the perhaps incorrect assumption that the creature had but one spherical maw of teeth.

One of the black tendrils carved from the other distortion beast’s corpse folded in front of Oluchi’s corpse, Leonas sensing the attack, but he was occupied with many other difficulties at the moment. The simple barrier was mostly circumvented, Anton only having to burrow through a meter at the edge of the tendril before it could strike Oluchi. His target was her shoulder, and his attack found its mark, blasting it apart. He did not relish destroying the corpse of a former companion, but it was better than letting it be used against her own people.

As the arm fell, upper arm muscles stretched unnaturally and grabbed onto the shoulder. The damage wasn’t healed by any means, but the limb wasn’t completely lost. It would certainly be less effective, but Anton needed to cause further damage or disrupt the flow of energy if he was to fully deal with the creature.

As Anton dodged eyes that seemed to be offended by his continued existence, he began to direct himself closer to Leonas’ mass of flesh. The long tendrils of the distortion beast were only a minor threat unless he got close- they writhed slowly, lacking the vigor of their previous owner. Not that Anton would bet they couldn’t be focused more, but the ready distractions were the reason he was approaching. If he avoided the beams, they could bombard the mountain of flesh, achieving two goals at once. And the way the eyes followed him through Star Steps meant he could actually be fairly certain of that.

He did not forget to rain some arrows down towards convenient eyes assaulting allies, nor did he neglect Bala’s bone mountain. He was simply focused on Leonas and specifically Oluchi’s presence, a dangerous entity he could weaken.