Elder Cultivator

The moment he was away from the ship, Anton felt one of the Life Transformation individuals trail off in that direction while the others continued to move towards him, jumping between clouds. Given the prevalence of those, it was nearly akin to flying. Anton projected his voice towards them, not interested in dealing with politeness with the way they had composed themselves. “Where are Matija and her crew?”

He did get a response, but it was barely intelligible like reading through old tomes from several cycles previous, the majority of which were documents of little to no importance. Anton did understand what he thought was ‘Primary Peak’.

“Inform me where the owner of that ship is,” Anton gestured. They seemed to understand ‘ship’ at least, Anton quickly picking out words he’d never actually heard spoken. Not the way they were being used. He could at least get a decent handle on what was being said.

“It is ours now,” said a woman leading the group. “As will be everything of yours, intruder.”

There was no way Anton could have missed the level of aggression in the group even if he were merely at the beginning of Spirit Building, having just trained in Insight. There was little attempt to conceal that, nor their overwhelming confidence. Perhaps it was reasonable, as they were two Life Transformation cultivators against one in their home territory.

Indeed, Anton felt sluggish and weak. He felt it rather difficult to dodge the clouds suddenly swirling around him, and was keenly aware that he had not assimilated the local star. Though it was not a long process, it wasn’t something he could do during combat. At best, like Rutera’s star, he could finish a half-done process.

But he still wasn’t a mere Life Transformation cultivator, and though some of his power and much of his recovery of energy were limited, there was a portion of his abilities that were not affected by proximity to a bound star. Ascension energy was drawn from the upper realms through him and out, the power of Fleeting Youth reminding him he could never ascend nor even venture close to the upper realms.

Anton’s first shot was aimed at the heart of the leading woman, but she avoided it by leaping to the side, a platform of ice appearing momentarily. The same was true for the man behind her, and his arrow continued without striking a single hair. But it only took another moment for it to arrive at its true target, the third one which was distracted with chasing the ship. An outstretched arm was pierced at the shoulder from behind, the arrow working its way through the arm and leaving little worthy of being called that name behind.

It was unlikely the arm gesture was required for the control of snow, ice, and water in the atmosphere- but it was very distracting to receive such an injury. The arrow also served another purpose, concretely informing the gunners on the ship that they were cleared to engage. Anton could have said the words, they were hardly distant enough to cause him trouble in that regard, but the arrow was just as swift.

“We came in peace,” Anton said, “But if you require war, you shall have it.”

Flames burned within and around him, the shadows of six distant stars drawn upon for every trickle of power Anton could get. Underestimating his opponents would be foolish. The sky itself attacked Anton at the behest of the two individuals he was facing, and he had no spare moments for decisive moves. He continued to shoot at the two individuals with bows all around him, no longer falsifying his accuracy. As he did so, he climbed higher into the sky.

A strange heat filled him in the icy sky, not as pleasant as it might seem. The thinning atmosphere allowed greater amounts of radiation through, a complication Anton did not wish to deal with. The two chasing him found themselves slowing even as they attempted to maximize their speed.

Perhaps if they had patiently waited for him to land, he would have been enough inside their domain that they could have defeated him. But despite the inefficiency of his technique and his lack of a portion of his power, he was still an Assimilation cultivator able to fly through the skies and space itself. His opponents could only control so much, and by the time they began to mimic his techniques, propelling themselves purely with natural energy, it was already too late.

Their attacks were now unable to reach him, even if only for a few moments, while their efforts were divided between controlling clouds on the offensive, moving through space that would not easily carry them, and their own defensive energy. Anton’s arrows pierced into any weakness they could find, puncturing holes in arms, legs, and a few more critical blows into the torso of the two.

“Surrender!” Anton commanded them. A flash of anger in the woman’s eyes at the command, yet understanding. It was impossible to simply retreat now- though they could not know Anton’s true range, it should at least be more than sufficient to fire upon them on their way back to their sect and whatever security it might offer. There was a moment of contemplating charging the distance between them- Anton was ready with Star Steps for an impossible acceleration away from any such attempt.

Finally, the woman nodded. “We surrender,” she held her hands to show they were empty- though weapons weren’t Anton’s main concern. The relevant part was that she and her companion dropped their control over the majority of energy around them, letting the reaching clouds fall.

Anton made certain that the ship had finished its own battle without issue. It should have been fine, there were more than a few Essence Collection individuals aboard. Anton realized he should have probably carried at least a pair of Life Transformation cultivators as backup. The intent had been peace, but he’d been more than a little careless. Merve had wanted to come along even though she was in the midst of critical insights gained during the final battles of the war. Anton had refused her specifically for that reason, and because he didn’t want her to remain tied to him. She was finally building some trust with others upon Ceretos. But he should have taken someone else.

Anton did not make a move closer to the two below. “Your name?” He pointed to the woman. “I am Anton, Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars.”

The woman who appeared middle aged frowned. “Liese. The First Peak.”

He thought about just killing her, and the man behind her. That would be easier, but he wanted to have a decent impression on the planet, and coming in and just killing their people might not be the right one. It was confirmed that this was not the woman Matija had been around, though. Janae. “Where is Matija? The foreigner who came with that ship?” Anton included as much as he could in gestures, repeating with slightly differing language to try to match the older speech patterns. It didn’t take long for Liese to understand sufficiently.

“Dead.”

“Where?” Anton asked.

“The Third Peak,” she pointed off into the distance.

“Bring me,” Anton gestured, following a good kilometer behind the two. He took careful measure of how much energy they were expending, ultimately determining they were not able to walk on the clouds indefinitely. The third peak was more than just a small distance away. The planet Gnadus was relatively small and the peak stood so high over everything else that they were visible from a great distance, but the trip still took hours- mostly limited by the travel speed of the two Life Transformation cultivators. Above them, the ship from Ceretos hovered and watched.

As they approached the Third Peak, cultivators gathered together defensively- guarding an entrance to the inside, and not their own external structures. Anton didn’t sense any Life Transformation cultivators. “Where is Janae?” Anton projected his voice to the other two.

Liese shook her head. “I am unaware.”

Anton pulled out two pairs of shackles and tossed them the kilometer to the others. “Put those on.” He hadn’t bound them before because regular shackles wouldn’t do much, and he didn’t want to carry them even if their energy was bound by these. Anton watched, wondering if they might refuse, his fingers playing with the string of his bow. His senses told him the ship was ready as well. But they made the correct choice, accepting the shackles. But from their surprise when they actually clasped around their wrists, perhaps they didn’t understand what they truly meant.

For Life Transformation cultivators, the flow of natural energy would be almost completely cut off. Enough, at least, that they could not damage the shackles unless they were one of the few styles that tempered their body far beyond the norm- but they were clearly more focused on energy. At best, Anton knew they were cold adapted. Their bodies certainly weren’t extra durable to punctures.

With the two restrained, Anton moved forward, approaching the local disciples. “Is your leader here?” he asked, “Janae?”

A few moments of discussion Anton couldn’t quite make out, not because the sound didn’t reach him but because he was still unfamiliar with the ancient form of speech. Though once he’d exchanged more than a handful of sentences he thought he’d do better.

Seeing the subdued energy of the two Life Transformation cultivators, and perhaps their displeasure, they decided that Anton was not immediately going to attack them. A disciple stepped forward, bowing towards Anton. “Esteemed elder. You defeated the First Peak?”

“Yes,” Anton said concisely. “Where is Janae?”

“The Sect Head descended into the mists after driving off the attack of the First Peak.”

“Why?” Anton asked. He had some idea, but he wasn’t certain.

“Our guest fell into the mists. Matija.”

“Matija is my friend,” Anton said. “I plan to seek her out. And your sect head.” He gestured to Liese, and the other whose name he had not bothered with. “Can you watch over these two?” The disciples looked hesitant, so Anton took some time to explain. “The restraints will keep them at this level of power. Any of you Essence Collection cultivators could subdue them both,” he pointed to a few individuals who should be more than strong enough to deal with them. He gave orders to the ship to remain in flight. They needed to be able to retreat should enemies they could not handle arrive.

Anton was directed to the signs of a battle, only a few remnants of footprints due to subsequent snow and general manipulation via energy. That, apparently, was where Matija fell. His senses dove down into the mists. He could tell they stretched more than a few kilometers beneath the high peaks… but though he expected his senses to go hundreds of kilometers through atmosphere, he quickly found that something about the mists restricted him greatly. It was more difficult than sensing through water, and even most solid ground. If he was fully immersed, his senses would stretch less than a kilometer, maybe not even a few hundred meters.

He held the communication device in his hand, focusing his energy. “Matija. I am at the Third Peak. I will find you.” With practically no distance to travel, the message should arrive instantly. Anton could not sense where it would have gone, the connection between them not covering the space between such devices. Nor did he get a response- though why was unclear.

It would have been more dramatic to jump down into the mists, but Anton thought it more practical to descend at a measured rate. He began to climb down, the icy rocks and stone providing little grip, but his natural energy finding holds nonetheless as he moved hand over foot downwards. Soon, he was on snow covered ground, barely able to see his hand in front of his face. His bow was in hand.

It was just like going on a little winter hunting trip, only supernaturally cold.