Elder Cultivator

It was a good thing that Chikere was young, otherwise even with a clean wound and good treatment it would have taken her more than a few months to recover. Any advantage she got from her early arrival was negated by the foolish battle she got into with Everheart. And the fact that she knew it was him, though Anton was more concerned about her revealing it by accident rather than out of some form of grudge.

Regardless of the circumstances, Elder Vasu seemed quite pleased to see Chikere again. “She’s an inspiring figure to many of us,” he explained to Anton. “And it will do those from the last century some good to see that she is not an exaggeration.”

Chikere’s eyes fluttered open, “Are we talking about my sparring with people.”

“Don’t stand up,” Anton said. “You have to at least wait until it’s safe to walk around.”

“Tch.” Chikere rolled her eyes and folded her ‘arms’ across her chest, though with only one it was a strange gesture.

“Who did you fight that could do this to you?” Vasu asked.

“It was-”

“Scholar Eulogius,” Anton cut her off. “He has quite a variety of techniques under his belt.”

“I hadn’t thought much of him,” Vasu said. “He doesn’t give off the aura of a swordmaster. Perhaps I should change my opinion. I suppose I could-”

“No fighting until the war’s over!” Anton declared. “Just… wait a few more months, alright? And the faster you win the war, the faster you can go back to nearly getting yourselves killed.”

Truthfully speaking, it was these sorts that were the least of his troubles. They were itching for growth through exertion, and while that often led to violence that didn’t become their only way of life.

Everyone else he hoped would behave until the invasion. They should- at least most of the leadership was reasonable. The best cultivators were those left over from the previous invasion, which meant any upstarts had big ideas, they couldn’t be in Assimilation just yet. After the war, hopefully anyone with big ideas would focus them externally instead of aiming for any sort of internal conflict.

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The flow of the tides changed, in Anton’s estimation, from a river flowing wildly to one carrying an incoming warship. Minus the actual ship, as far as he was aware. Previously they hadn’t seen any, and their spying didn’t indicate intent to construct any that could function entirely in the lower realms. If they did have any, Anton expected Ceretos to be better in that regard, having learned from both Weos and Rutera.

As expected, there were two Augmentation cultivators among them, one that Anton recognized. Having advanced from Integration to Augmentation in the previous invasion, she had felt unbeatable. Though having just advanced, she had not been willing to lead an attack against the armies gathered around her. Now she was more established in the Augmentation stage… and Anton wasn’t that impressed. But he knew that for someone like her, even if he could defeat her in single combat it wouldn’t be a fair judgment. Which was exactly why he wanted to find the opportunity.

Unfortunately, she carried a large portion of the incoming forces with her. There simply weren’t many of Ceretos’ Assimilation cultivators who could rally against her, and they couldn’t afford to just abandon the continent and hope they stopped people. That was why they had huge, expensive defensive formations to begin with.

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It was not Anton’s responsibility to deal with the second group, headed for Aicenith… but his first shot went to that bundle of cultivators regardless. Things were already on a course where the enemy could not choose to withdraw, the tides of the world moving in only one direction until at least months if not a full year or more down the road when they would begin to reverse. Likewise, he didn’t expect anyone to push the boundaries of his maximum range ever again, so it didn’t matter if they learned it.

He didn’t have to attack Juta, and might have been served better trying to pick off someone under Fajra, but the less familiar Augmentation cultivator was still mostly a mystery. He had to see what the Fearsome Menagerie could do.

His attack came near the limits of his range, but he restrained himself slightly on speed. The approaching cultivators were already somewhat on guard, in anticipation of impacting the atmosphere if nothing else. Thus, he needed a bit more in the way of power instead of trying for a surprise. Though they might encounter surprises later, if they got careless.

For this matter, it seemed entirely appropriate to use some of his pilfered ascension energy, as that was not only stronger but could also throw off their balance. Chikere mentioned how difficult it was to re-adapt to natural energy, and she was from Ceretos. Juta may or may not have been in the lower realms before, but she had certainly not been to Ceretos.

Anton flew with his arrow, out into space and rushing against the current of the tides- a strong force, but only due to how it crossed such a significant span of the galaxy. It did little to slow his assault.

A thin point of energy flew towards his target, who would no doubt have sensed it coming already. It did take over a second to arrive, since this particular one was traveling below light speed and they were still approximately the distance of Ceretos’ moon. In that time, Anton saw a transformation from a relatively peaceful and calm woman into a giant lizard, a great roar shaking him as the arrow. The creature’s claws covered a sufficient area he could not go around them as he approached- and he was interested in testing a head on collision regardless.

That was one his arrow lost, but if he’d won that exchange then he wouldn’t need the rest of Ceretos behind him. His arrow turned into specks of light, but he was quite certain he’d made a small scratch in the scales of that palm. And learned that Juta was capable of overreactions. Both useful pieces of data.

Then he focused his efforts on Fajra’s group. It was a simple barrage of shots, but it would never end. Shooting at only the rate he could replenish energy from the connected star seemed like a minor assault, and it was… except that the biggest weakness of the invaders was that they could not recover ascension energy. Even if they fully converted to use natural energy they would be weaker, so while Fajra blocked his arrows purely with her aura… Anton didn’t care.

There was a reasonable time of that before the groups fully dropped out of the tides, splitting towards the two continents. Anton had Brogora to worry about first, and would wait to assist Aicenith until Brogora was completely handled or they specifically called for aid.

Anton sensed something from the northwest- though only after the attack was launched. He was standing outside the atmosphere, his senses focused mainly on the approaching invaders- not their own stations.

An arrow flew towards Fajra, though calling it an arrow was almost an insult. Anton gained nothing by increasing the size of his shots, unless he was incapable of further condensing the energy- but the other archer above Ambari had different restrictions. The hunk of metal was thicker and longer than a spear, sized as it was because that was required to get the mass and volume for optimal power and enchantments.

That was, of course, Nthanda- and the unexpected all out attack almost won the war right then and there. It tore through space, covering the distance between Nthanda and her target in an instant. Because the attack was more kinetic energy from Nthanda’s tempered body and bow than natural energy, it hadn’t been telegraphed. Even so, one of the crowd of invaders managed to react in time, throwing himself in front of the arrow.

A burst of heavy energy exploded from the man as the arrow struck him- and passed through him- but he slowed the attack enough for Fajra to focus her defenses, raising her hand to block the incoming projectile. Something broke there- Anton hoped it was more than just her wrist snapping, hopefully a crippling injury, but unfortunately she was not dead. And Nthanda didn’t have arrows that powerful just sitting around all the time. If Anton was not wrong, it came with some void ant chitin interlaced into its structure, but there was only so much energy even such material could resist. Though Nthanda had killed a cultivator of the same ‘stage’ in a single blow and nearly taken out one of the biggest threats. If there were only a single Augmentation cultivator among their enemies, Anton imagined the battle would be over immediately.

As the enemies were still rapidly approaching, and Fajra sadly not dead, Anton dropped into the atmosphere instead of continuing to fly above the planet. No point in exposing himself when they had perfectly good formations in place.

Instead of splitting up, Fajra impacted the barrier with the whole army she had- which meant dozens of Integration cultivators as well. They landed vaguely over Estary, the same place they had successfully invaded last time. Their combined might strained the barrier as they began to attack, Fajra’s aura pushing against it… but it also let the barrier reinforce a single point.

Anton was surprised at how quickly a continent had turned into a ‘small’ area from his perspective. Along with himself and Nthanda, who had no trouble making shots from hundreds of kilometers inside of atmosphere, the area was also close enough for many others to move in to fight.

Elder Tola of Infinite Wisdom Forest was in her element, but even Lev, Anish, and Annelie from Ofrug to the southeast would be able to join the battle soon enough. As for Everheart… Anton felt the way the barrier was reacting, more intentionally that it might have otherwise. Clearly he was making contributions in his own way, which might be for the best.

Attacking through the barrier had some loss of efficiency, so Anton instead remained just atop it, assaulting the group from afar. He specifically aimed for what looked like some formation masters throwing out flags to try to break through the formation. He wasn’t allowed to just strike them easily, Fajra’s aura hindering him and empowering her followers to block. Now that she was no longer protecting them from their travel and fall, she was more effective in that regard.

In addition, her aura seeped through the barrier, incapacitating many of those below who would be contributing. Much of Infinite Wisdom Forest, Tranquil Cloud Palace, and others from Estary were obviously keen to contribute to their own defense. However, many of them were unable to act because of the aura- either because it was too overpowering or because they were protecting their weaker allies. The power of such an aura could easily kill people below Spirit Building if left unchecked.

But Ceretos wasn’t a planet where just a few people cultivated. Beyond the sects and clans, the cities themselves were forces to be reckoned with. Even if the individuals there were weaker, they could combine their power into siege weapons. The barrier lowered the power of those as well- as selective as Everheart could make it, nothing could pass through freely without some disruption.

A hole opened up in the barrier, and Anton clenched his teeth. Once they were inside, they could wreak havoc… even if he was quite confident they couldn’t win a war. People began to drop through the barrier around the formation masters.

Then the barrier snapped closed, including crushing those partway through. That didn’t even require active flow, that was just how it worked. Anton smirked. Of course people couldn’t break through Everheart’s barrier in just a handful of minutes.

But, at the same time, he felt something break. Far to the north, where none of the invaders were present, the barrier weakened. Clearly Fajra and her army noticed, and as if they had been waiting for that moment they were swept up in a great wind, moving together in that direction.

What was it? Who was it? Anton’s senses spiked in that direction. Internal traitors? Were there more than just the Twin Soul Sect?

When his senses locked on to the area, he realized that was only half right. They were definitely traitors, but note quite internal. The Exalted Archipelago. Even the Soaring Air Sect, which he had graciously allowed to continue existing. So, they were working with the Trigold Cluster. That might actually be the only thing to tip the balance, with their Assimilation cultivators. Except… Anton didn’t sense any he would consider friends or allies among them. Perhaps Treloar and the Worthy Shore Society were traitors, but none were present. Though if Treloar was working with them, he had to know Anton would have shot him first.

For the moment, he’d have to remain cautious of his ‘allies’ there… and begin pruning those who thought it was a good idea to come to his continent. Because while Anton didn’t believe he could take on the whole enemy army alone, he could pester them continually for at least a week. Two, if he was willing to push himself.