Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1094

As Anton entered the next system, he was overcome with a feeling of dread and death. He almost instinctively called for a retreat, but he recognized the source as outside of himself before the words could reach his lips. It was not his own instincts, nor was it an active projection of energy.

“Do you feel that?” Anton asked Varghese.

His apprentice swept his senses around the system. “Is there some problem?”

That told Anton enough, and his further exposure to the sensations was making the situation more clear. “Not anymore, I think.”

During his previous scouting, Anton had not entered this particular system. At most, he had scanned it from outside. Normally, that would have picked up anything of note... but upon further consideration the feelings around him were extremely faint. It was only upon being completely surrounded by them that they were magnified.

It was quite possible Varghese did pick up on what Anton was feeling and simply did not interpret it the same way. A thin haze of spectral energy could have any number of reasons for existing. But something that made Anton react in this exact manner could only be the result of a great number of deaths.

Many had died in the system they had just come from- some allies, and many more enemies. However, their grievances upon death were broadly spread out with little lingering spite. To have the same results as in this second system, something truly terrible had to have happened to the inhabitants. Or the previous inhabitants, since the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters were clearly inhabiting this system quite happily.

Normally, Anton would have expected traces left on conquered planets- but he also would have expected that said planets hadn’t been torn apart, stripped of the majority of what made them a planet in the first place. So perhaps whatever had taken place here would remain a mystery, except that the fear and spite was denser around the planets.

As they moved further into the system, Anton let the feelings flow over him. It wasn’t pleasant to dwell in negative emotions, but sometimes one had to move through them. Anton himself couldn’t resolve the negativity of a whole system... ordinarily. But in this state, perhaps he could. Before any of that, however, he needed to bind the star. He took special care, uncertain if the spectral energy might hinder the process. But aside from the distraction it provided, Anton felt no hindrance as he opened a connection to the star.

“I’m going to try something special,” Anton informed Varghese- and the fleets with them, as he didn’t wish to worry them with his actions.

“Something regarding whatever it is you felt?” Varghese surmised.

“Spectral energy,” Anton confirmed. “I feel this system was occupied by others, in the past.”

Varghese nodded, well aware of the situation in what was now the territory of the Adamant Federation and Free Planet Guardians.

Anton immediately locked his senses onto one of the larger planets. There was a man commanding their forces, preparing them for the assault no doubt. Anton formed a Spirit Arrow, forming it with his own spectral energy. The results were far beyond what he anticipated. His bowstring resonated with the surrounding spectral energy. Soulstring. It seemed there was a connection of purpose between his bow and the surroundings- though Anton did not think it reached beyond a similar intent.

The various segments of the planets were like polygonal edges that moved to snap together, but as more planets beyond the first two began to fit themselves together, Varghese turned his attention away from the fleets.

The planets were made only of bare stone and metal. They had no ability to move on their own, but were instead controlled by the cultivators. Rather than the mix of metal and stone being a disadvantage for Varghese, however, his magnetism was put on full display as he flew into the middle of the first pair. His sword slashed around him, drawing complex curves that he inscribed inside the structure. He wasn’t creating any sort of formation that would direct the flow of energy beyond his own, but instead simply relied on his own might.

That might, of course, came from his bound stars. Azun was one of the mightiest, despite how small it was. He manipulated magnetism to pull many parts of the structure inward- while also making the field splay out in random directions, pulling the great structure of the planets into torsion. Or rather, he created a wide variety of stresses all together.

For a moment it began to collapse, then a few nodes began to resist the magnetism. Those were the next targets Anton focused on, drawing upon the surrounding spectral energy with only his main bow. Cultivators fell one after another- and the weaker cultivators simply did not have the technique to stand up against Varghese’ constantly shifting magnetic fields.

The combining planets began to collapse inward, clipping a third planet as they bent and twisted. Varghese flew out from between them, holding the fields in place to continue the accelerating collapse as he formed a connection to the next shell of a planet.

Alliance fleets had already swarmed the planets around him, though they kept their distance to allow Varghese to spread his magnetism as he pleased. Instead, they provided supporting fire to take the pressure off of him. It was clear that the planets hadn’t been set up to deal with attackers inside of their structure, though the fact that their own fleets would make use of the area should have tipped them off.

Then again, having to face rains of attacks along the way would have stopped a weaker cultivator, or even a large group of them.

They never got to see what the combined planets would do. By the time they fully understood the magnitude of what Varghese could do, it was too late. Six of the planets he entangled together, and the remaining ones- two larger and four small- were unable to reach each other. Yet they also couldn’t retreat, with Anton’s full power attack meaning they would just let themselves be worn down if they tried.

One of the larger planets tried to catch Varghese in its own inevitable collapse, their cultivators focusing their formations inward- but when Varghese noticed what they were up to, he didn’t even bother trying to break out. Instead, he let Anton take out those coordinating the efforts... and during the final moments of the collapse simply cut his way through the crumbling structure.

The planets weren’t fast enough to retreat, but a great quantity of enemy ships did flee the system. Several of the moons even had industrious individuals form something similar to the ships out of part of the planetary structure. The only thing they were missing was the proper experience.

Rather than trying to shoot down the fleeing ships, Anton focused on minimizing their own casualties. While those fleeing ships would be a problem later, Anton had a good reason to prioritize things as he did. Simply put, he wasn’t moving from his spot until the war was over. It might take them several hours to clean up the rest of the enemies in the system... at which point the retreating fleets would be at most a quarter of a lightyear away. They wouldn’t reach the neighboring system for days- and Anton could shoot them while they were in subspace.

So after they were done in the local system, Anton would move on to them. And then another system, even if they weren’t ready to attack yet. Because the enemy couldn’t stop him. Anton might not get much rest for the foreseeable future... but neither would their enemies.

If they knew what Anton did, they might be even worse off. He could feel Varghese resonating with the stars that they had bound. He had no doubt that these sects would have another Enrichment cultivator on their hands by the end of the war. Though even if Varghese didn’t advance, the rest of the Alliance were up to the task. It was simply a matter of what cost they would have to bear. No doubt their enemies would attempt to pull something horrifying, but the Alliance was ready to respond.