Elder Cultivator

Avoiding people was not simple when the individuals involved could extend their energy senses to the entirety of the allowed area. Their little military outpost only numbered in the thousands, and hardly took up a lot of space. Only the least competent of those present wouldn’t be able to sense a handful of kilometers away. However, the great number of people involved made things more difficult- Vari had to focus her efforts on concealment of her own abilities while doing her best not to end up anywhere people could make up excuses for not noticing what might happen.

Vari couldn’t fully avoid Iva herself as they trained together under spearmaster Jafet. She was clearly not a fan of Vari, but seemed content to avoid acting… for a while. Whether that would be weeks, months, or years Vari was not sure. Hopefully she did not have to wait around for the latter. Before that point she would prefer to try to make her own way off planet sometime in the dead of night, though she had to admit her interstellar travel abilities were undeveloped. Aside from knowing the basics, she’d always traveled on ships- and who wouldn’t, since the option was widely available and better in pretty much every way. Except when it wasn’t available.

For the time being Vari was content to make some additional ‘mistakes’ in training, lowering her status but not so much she seemed like an easy target. Then she simply had to wait… and wait.

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Soft ripples of energy woke Vari. Someone sneaking about? No, it was dull from distance. She slowly circulated energy through her head to shake off the grogginess. She was woken up often enough from small things lately, always on edge. Was this just more of that? She waited, trying to take in anything happening.

It came again, a wave of energy. Vari was tempted to reach out for it to learn more, but she kept herself passive for the moment. Until her roommates awoke, at least.

“What is that?” One of them asked, stretching her energy senses towards the source.

Her roommates were individuals the previous Vari would have gotten along with fine. Devoted practitioners of the Holy Harmony Technique. From what she could tell, there were no cracks in their faith- their general lack of experience and isolation had kept them ignorant, as the Harmonious Citadel intended.

“... more recruits, maybe?” Another commented. “It feels like ships.”

By that point Vari was reaching out, to finally- blissfully- feel something that didn’t fit with everything else. These ships were not part of the Harmonious Citadel, and though she did not recognize any of them she felt behind their barriers diverse cultivation styles.

Then the attack began, with alarms ringing out throughout the outpost moments later.

“We’re under attack!” said the third woman. “Everyone get ready!”

She didn’t really have to say that. Vari only took a moment to slip on her armor- a lighter flexible variety. With enchantments the difference between metal armor and others was less significant, but this kind was good for exactly this circumstance. Her boots went on next, arguably more important. On the way out, she barely remembered to pick up her spear.

She’d thought about this day a lot, but now that it actually came… she wasn’t sure what to do. Obviously she had to fight against the Harmonious Citadel, but she couldn’t exactly just attack them by herself. Nor was she a capable assassin. Instead, she needed to find a friendly face so that her own side wouldn’t accidentally misidentify her.

That distracted her enough that she didn’t pick out the group ahead of her until her roommates stopped in their tracks.

“Leave.” Iva’s voice was a command for that, and for future silence. If Vari had even attempted to befriend her roommates, she might have tried to convince them to aid her. On the other hand, it was just as well for them to leave.

The corridors they were in were much more open- better for five people to all menace Vari at once. She looked over Iva’s goons. “I thought one of you would have been smarter,” she said as she hefted her spear. “You get two chances to go. This is one…” Vari looked for a response. “And this is two.” Her arm snapped back and then forward, throwing her spear the few scant meters between herself and her least favorite of the goons. Normally there was more windup for such an activity- the Harmonious Citadel’s techniques assumed that someone desired to have their weapon back after they threw it. Vari didn’t, and as her spear stabbed through one, another bolted.

That left her with two Life Transformation cultivators and one Integration. Better than that, she was not off balance from adjusting to natural energy. This planet was at least modestly endowed with enough for her to return to a proper equilibrium.

“Get her!” Iva called out. “She’ll just be another casualty of the battle now.”

The woman stabbed her spear towards the unarmed Vari. Rude, perhaps, but not really inappropriate by most cultivator standards- Vari did that to herself, after all. And as it turned out, she wasn’t exactly in a worse state.

Her arms reached forward, spinning away Iva’s thrust with one hand while doing the same for the other two with her left, a quick circle bridging the timings between the two thrusts. Perhaps it was too early, but Vari presumed most eyes would be on the outside threats… and not on her. She dropped any pretense of hiding her own cultivation. If there had been any saints on the planet they would have immediately clocked her- as it was, any powerful Glorious Harmony cultivators would feel something was off.

“You- I knew it! You’re a spy!” Iva held her head high with self-righteousness.

“Don’t bother with that,” Vari said. “You were absolutely planning to kill one of your own sect mates and it just happened to be me.”

That exchange of words was already quite long to happen in a battle- Vari didn’t stop dancing around spear thrusts and sweeps, parrying with her own arms. The Life Transformation goons were looking a bit nervous. They had a stronger supporter now but they were the most easily taken out.

Which was why Vari stepped towards one of them, fully expecting the protective stab from Iva. It was one of the textbook moves, and it had a textbook counter- just not one in the Harmonious Citadel’s textbooks. Vari was already spinning, ignoring the flinching individual who only managed a worthless jab towards where she appeared to have been moving.

A barrier extended beyond her arm, providing a solid surface for the spear thrusting towards her to slide up instead of directly countering the attack. Then Vari grabbed behind the spearhead. The Harmonious Citadel had techniques to deal with that, of course. Flowing energy through the spear in just such a way could have it burst out on the individual grabbing the weapon, and Iva was good enough to attempt that- but Vari’s metal-booted foot kicked the middle of the spear, only a standard defense protecting Vari’s hands. If she’d tried to yank the weapon away, Iva would have been ready. But nobody in the Harmonious Citadel fought like Vari- and not just because it was usually beneficial to carry weapons.

The boots probably counted. Certainly, they were tough enough to bend the spear as grips held it tight on both ends. That bend disrupted Iva’s flow of energy, causing the burst of energy to only make Vari’s hands numb instead of sharpening to try to cut off her fingers.

Instead of pulling away, Vari stepped in further. Two spears thrust at her from behind, but they had to pull back as she stepped aside one of them. Iva was directly past her, after all. The second spear might have injured Vari if the other had been willing to fully commit.

Hands grabbed onto sleeves and then Vari flung Iva towards her remaining lackeys. She was only a fraction of a second behind as they hit the wall together, slamming into them feet first. Her metal footwear also doubled as armor from that perspective, spears deflected to the side. The structure crumbled behind them, but the impact clearly went through.

Iva barely managed to get to her feet in a daze as Vari continued to press her advantage. She could vaguely feel that some of her own energy was being drawn into her opponent in a manner she couldn’t stop, but she couldn’t understand why. And she never would, as Vari held her head and kicked directly into her chin, a feat of flexibility.

As the two lackeys ran, Vari tossed Iva into a bag- her stuff was worth something, after all- then did the same with ‘her’ spear for the same reasons. In that short time she could already feel attacks bombarding the formations at the edge of the outpost, and though she could vaguely pick out several familiar energies, the one with the least amount of the outpost between her and it was what she chose. It also happened to be the most obvious one, as it involved not one but two loud wolves.

There wasn’t even a gate on that side, but nothing would stop Vari from getting out- but by the time she reached the walls, there was a sizable hole in it. Formations would prevent directly molding the material with energy, but only to some extent. Spikes was quite good at what she did, and the Harmonious Citadel’s defensive formations were only so good. There had obviously been some setup for this ‘special excursion’ ahead of time, but it wasn’t the same as a planet that was occupied for decades or centuries.

“Alva!” Vari called out as she approached. “I thought you’d never make it.”

The surrounding cultivators seemed to recognize Vari as one of the Harmonious Citadel even as she kicked someone out of the way- but they could also feel that she was an Integration Cultivator, which put her under the purview of Alva, Fuzz, and Spikes.

“Vari!” Alva called back- taking a shot at some people approaching their front lines. “Good to see you! Everyone, this is the one you were told about!”

The Harmonious Citadel had a significant number of Integration cultivators on planet- but not so many that any random spot on the walls could be a match for three together. With dozens of ships either already having landed or flying over, the sudden invasion was difficult to react to. One hole in the walls might still let the formations as a whole remain in place and some people trickle through, but it seemed the alliance had prepared well for this attack. This was a rare opportunity to catch a large group so relatively vulnerable and far from the Harmonious Citadel’s territory.

Vari remained in a somewhat defensive position near Vari, both so her allies would not confuse her with anyone… and because she didn’t really want to kill any casual acquaintances. There were a good number of people in the Harmonious Citadel she wouldn’t mind killing, of course, but the random people making up the forces weren’t all equally at fault.

Then again, they didn’t have to kill everyone. Many were already fleeing around them, and with the advantage of strength in the area around her they could afford to hold back a little bit. Or at least Vari could- though shattered ribs or a blow to the head could still be lethal. That didn’t stop Vari, because she already understood that this was war- and the people here had never been her friends to begin with.

Still… “If you surrender we won’t have to kill all of you,” Vari commented, slamming her fist into her palm. That was a legitimate strategy for multiple reasons- if people stopped fighting, fewer on either side would die. There wasn’t a lot of negotiations between the sides, but prisoner exchanges or ransoms still happened occasionally.

Vari tried to sense the rest of the battle. Most of the strongest individuals, the instructors and various leaders, were still alive- and fighting side by side. They certainly hadn’t won yet, but the opener was quite effective.