Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1269

Catching up to Sevinc was a problem for Chidi, at least without making his reveal obvious. Fortunately, he was able to chase her along with various other ships without disrupting the combat patterns, because they needed to help head off those trying to chase after her.

The moment that Chidi nearly ruined their opportunities was when the woman suddenly spread her aura over the planet. As it battered against the incoming ships, Chidi nearly countered it directly, revealing his presence. Fortunately, he trusted everyone around him to keep the ship from collapsing around him. That was a lot harder than it seemed, as despite in some ways being more powerful he was also more vulnerable.

But it wasn’t an attack, at least not in the most direct sense of the word. Otherwise, a Domination cultivator would easily take out any ship in their little fleet- or most of them at once, even with a few Augmentation cultivators around.

Chidi pressed himself against the outer edge of the ship, feeling how her aura interacted with the ship's barrier. It sought out every person, an oppressive force for her enemies and a bolstering force for allies. There was a stronger connection to Timucin- a fellow Domination cultivator couldn’t be meaningfully impacted by a halfhearted effort.

Interestingly, she didn’t make any attempt to suppress Ratna. Perhaps there were limitations there. Chidi’s job was to seek them out, which was why he was immersing himself in the flow of her energy. This was what he had to fight, not her. She likely had some weapon skills… but that didn’t actually matter. After all, it wasn’t Chidi’s job to kill her.

Chidi was worried that Sevinc would run off, but instead she posted up in her position claiming a section of territory. This was actually ideal from his perspective- though probably not great for the city she landed in. It simply wasn’t feasible for the defender to hold back against her, so the collateral damage rose rapidly. If the planetary barrier had been a bit more durable, she might have been stopped outside…

But Chidi wouldn’t have been as effective. An unfortunate tradeoff. He had to make it worthwhile. He needed to save more than they had already lost, not that it was his choice for things to end up like this to begin with.

It was quite comfortable to jump out of a ship into normal atmosphere instead of the void of space. Chidi could take care of himself in space, even with his limited energy… but that was only when energy was flowing. When he activated the full might of Negation, it was just him and nothing. The same was true for his foes, though.

Sevinc picking Chidi out from among the others was inevitable. A single weaker cultivator coming for her? That stood out. But her first attacks were swings of a staff that knocked away several Augmentation cultivators. Not a lethal blow, but one that would delay them while still damaging their energy stores. Meanwhile, Sevinc was drawing upon the power of her anchor.

As one by one, foes charging towards where were taken out of the picture, Chidi no doubt became a more prominent target. However, she didn’t bother to do anything about it, letting him continue to fall.

A single instant of negation, far too short for even those looking for an opportunity to register. Chidi was glad that they didn’t take a shot, or they could reveal the plan. Chidi’s blade cut towards Sevinc, but even without her defensive energy he only caught the very tip of her nose.

Sevinc grinned, the sound more prominent to Chidi than the physical location of her face. Not that most people would even consider there to be a proper sound to such things. His blade sliced towards her again and again as she parried his incoming attacks.

“Your tricks I know,” she declared. “You control the flow of energy. But the Tilki clan is not so easily overcome. We grow and adapt.”

“I must admit, it’s quite tricky,” Chidi agreed. She didn’t look pressed at all, though she took some rather serious swipes at him. Fortunately, he kept ahead of her killing intent. “If I were to try to name the core of your technique…”

A flash of his own energy. His blade cut the final marking he needed, adding in the additional element he’d thought he might suffer to gain, but instead received freely. Negation. He dodged her incoming attack through memory, then the following twirls through the sound of the staff through air. And then… Chidi’s eardrums burst.

It was unfortunate, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made for victory. The killing intent behind the attacks was real… but it didn’t matter, because Sevinc couldn’t dodge them. After all, at the moment she had been nothing more than a slightly enhanced human… and these were projectiles launched at supersonic velocity.

Chidi was impressed that she still had a body at all when things were over… though he cut off one of her fingers as his blade slipped along her staff. Her skills were fine, but she really relied on her overpowering energy.

“It’s blood, obviously,” Chidi said as she jumped back. Energy returned. He couldn’t hear her if she was saying anything. Actually, she probably couldn’t hear either, as there was no way her ears were tougher than his own. Maybe she could read his lips. “Clans like yours are so focused on bloodlines, that obviously your energy acts on blood. Or there would be no way to distinguish friend from foe perfectly on a chaotic battlefield such as this, not as easily as you do.”

He got through about half of what he meant to say before she was crashing against the planetary barrier… from the inside. It was a shame, he couldn’t catch her speed and his Negation couldn’t easily reach that high. Especially not with her focusing solely on herself.

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He remained cautious in case she reversed course, ready to act.

“What a bunch of inbred fools.”

He didn’t actually know that. He was just guessing. He really appreciated her letting him get that drop of blood, though, or piercing her flow of energy would have been ten times as difficult.

-----

Aconite could have fought alongside Chidi, but she was currently a bit vulnerable comparatively. Domination cultivators were outside of her field. However, she was growing in a direction that was rather dangerous for anyone below that point- and potentially them as well.

Today was a testing round. She couldn’t do any of these tests elsewhere, because they were unethical. Even using anything on the rank-and-file might be a bit much, as they likely had less say in being part of an invasion. She was still going to kill them, but not in potentially unnecessarily horrible ways.

Aconite couldn’t have asked for a better testing ground, because in front of her were a large number of genetically connected individuals, more than normal planetary populations. While diversity in testing was better in certain circumstances, Aconite needed a basic proof that she could avoid any… unnecessary mutations.

Swirling blasts of powdered poisons splashed among her foes, but those weren’t anything special. They had rapid effects and very short lifespans- anyone not directly in the blast would barely get sick if they scooped up a handful. It reduced overall mortality, which was a concession made when fighting alongside allies. Very few were going to be as resistant to poisons of all forms as Aconite herself.

The real test came on her claws, as she slashed her way among the ranks of the Tilki clan. Her energy lingered on certain things that could only generously be called poisons- but ultimately, it was a substance that caused significant damage to the biological processes of humans.

For several minutes, there was no effect… but gradually she felt something growing, pockets of her energy developing among those she had struck even a glancing blow to. She needed to control it, both how it spread and how it killed. Anywhere it got close to touching allies, she killed it.

It was a mix of bacteria and viruses meant to multiply rapidly with access to energy, a cultivation plague that partially relied on human anatomy. More or less safe for her, and not in the way that she built an immunity.

From a hundred test subjects to a thousand to ten thousand in just half an hour, and Aconite had much to consider. People were right, of course. Significant energy resulted in rapid mutation- good ones from certain perspectives. But that wasn’t necessarily her perspective or those who were infected.

She could fool herself and say that it would be fine if she started with benign forms… but she knew that wouldn’t be the case. She needed to achieve some sort of breakthrough in understanding or perhaps completely rethink her method. Though if she could get a little bit more testing-

And there they went. Aconite wasn’t planning to reuse any of that, so as Tilki clan cultivators began to pack up and flee she considered letting it run its course. But they might pass through if not innocent systems, at least ones Aconite didn’t want to accidentally kill with a plague. Regrettably, Aconite had to detonate the remaining cells, breaking down vital components of the spreading.

Nobody suffered unduly. A short period of pain and confusion- usually before being cut down. Not that the Tilki clan didn’t deserve worse, but the Scarlet Alliance had standards to uphold.

-----

Ratna was well aware how swiftly battles between cultivators could move. Sometimes, they ranged on for hours or days. Other times, the slightest tipping point led to a chain reaction… or a single blow resulted in victory. She couldn’t quite manage that herself against Timucin. He had hundreds of chains lingering in the skies, blocking off her approach and catching anyone that made a move against him.

It was a tangled web of madness, one in which Ratna had a partial hand in creating. She was, after all, simply distracting him. She didn’t know how long Chidi might take, but she had to trust his abilities.

Timucin wanted to punish Ratna for resisting. For existing. In some branch timeline, he would likely have been successful- or perhaps she wouldn’t have even stood up for herself, capitulating to them. Or having nothing they wanted to begin with.

“You can still survive if you give up the planet and its resources,” Timucin declared.

“Oh, sorry,” Ratna said. “I’ve turned that over to the Bear Hug foundation. I’m not really in control of it.”

“... What?”

It was too bad her astounding statement just brought a look of confusion and not any actual combat advantage. It was only partially true anyway. She could do whatever she wanted with the resources… but she was delegating that to people she trusted. Not that she didn’t keep track of where Second Gift’s bounty went- but she didn’t decide for herself. If anyone began to do anything crazy- off planet, since Bear Hug would likely report anything happening on planet- she would figure it out.

But it probably surprised Timucin that she wasn’t plucking each resource herself. The Tilki clan may have been family, but that didn’t mean they would go so far as to trust each other. Oh no.

Ratna danced behind space, where sadly chains also waited for her. And then… half of the chains disappeared. A ploy? No, the connection to Sevinc was gone. Only for a moment of Negation- the second one- but this time it wasn’t reestablished. Then the woman was crashing against the planetary barrier from the inside.

Ratna moved to strike her down, but Timucin held her off. A shame, but he was more vulnerable when trying to protect another. With but a few words, the Tilki clan began to retreat. Ratna wasn’t quite done with them, but she also wasn’t going to follow them out of the system alone. Two Domination cultivators, even with one badly wounded, was not her idea of a pleasant fight.

Alliance forces did take down as many of the enemy ships as they could, though. And if Ratna read Sevinc’s wounds correctly, the end of the battle might be the end of the war. She might not be dead, but it could be decades of recovery- and another battle with Timucin alone would not go well for them.

They might still have to annihilate other forces, so the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance couldn’t relax just yet- though Bear Hug commented that Zazil’s assault was going well.

“There’s big sharp rings everywhere and so many dead enemies.”

Always good to hear.