Elder Cultivator

Chapter 964

When the Numerological Compact fleets reached Kathariel, they had already been softened up by Anton. Unfortunately, that mostly referred to the smaller ships in their fleet, with the Magnitude III ships and of course Endymion’s ship being so far unscathed.

Anticipating the attack on Waral, many of the local forces had been redirected there. However, that didn’t mean they left the area defenseless. It was simply that the biggest loss of local power was no longer having Anton’s presence- the Alliance didn’t have so many Enrichment cultivators they could just position them wherever they pleased. It was already a sign of how serious they were that both Devon and Anton were present. Lev was less mobile, or he might have been involved.

Arguably, Paradise counted among their numbers as well. However, his position was very clear. He had been a guardian of the seas of Ceretos, and he had simply expanded his territory to several stars. It was unclear if he would even retain his power fifty lightyears or more distant.

The local forces had several Ascension-class battleships among their fleet, though they were smaller ones on the scale of the Valor. Along with various Assimilation cultivators, they also had Nthanda present. Though her path of cultivation was entirely different, she was usually included among them.

“... We’re not particularly the best here, are we?” Nthanda spoke to her surroundings in general.

She got a response from Anton, whose energy was spread from the local star- significantly weaker than his person, however. “We might not be. On the other hand, I think you will be able to cause them some significant consternation. You might be able to damage Endymion’s ship.”

“Sounds tough,” she admitted. “The next size down I’m confident about, though.”

“That could be worthwhile as well. As you must have noticed… I left everyone alive.”

“I assume the plan should result in more of us surviving here,” Nthanda said.

“We just need to get them to flee. And once people start… well, having people fearing for their lives will help. They would likely have fled already, if not for Endymion.”

Even as he spoke, Anton targeted some of the smaller ships. The enemy was less than a minute away from making contact with the local fleets, but that time was still valuable for causing damage to smaller ships- or their Confluence cultivators.

“I’ll go for one of the medium ones, then,” Nthanda agreed.

She began to shoot arrows of her own from her position in high orbit. Each shot imparted significant momentum pushing her ‘back’, so she had to be intentional about her positioning. Unlike a pure energy based cultivator, controlling her own position in space was a more complicated issue. She could, but it was unnecessarily draining.

Even though she was among the closest targets, her personal energy didn’t make her seem like a threat. She was happy to take advantage of that while striking at her targets. Her heavy arrows flew forward, puncturing barriers and wrecking the body of the ship. She did her best to not pierce through any of the segments carrying slaves- and when she had to, she avoided hitting any of the individuals.

Unsurprisingly, Anton knew what he was talking about. The enemy barriers were relatively strong, but they could only withstand so much force. Nthanda was able to consistently batter through them, striking towards the Confluence cultivators. She agreed with the Alliance policy that avoiding killing them if possible was best- but in the current situation practicality won out. Someone would probably have to die to spark the fear in their enemies.

As she continued to assault the larger ships, they soon realized that she was more of a threat than she seemed. Beams of energy aimed towards her, and she took advantage of the kickback of her weapon to help avoid them, choosing her targets based on location in the now overlapping battle.

With no single powerful individual to draw fire from Endymion, he was able to rapidly take out some of their smaller to mid-sized ships- while fully occupying the efforts of several Assimilation cultivators. Losses were expected, but they were increasing at a rate the Alliance could not sustain.

An unexpected energy appeared, rushing away from the planet. Nthanda recognized Nindaanis, freed from her confinement. She took aim and-

“Let her go,” Anton’s voice echoed in her ear.

-pierced through a nearby Magnitude II ship. Her arrow went all the way through, including damaging the far side of the barrier. Along the way, it took out the Confluence cultivator’s lung. Normally, she would have used some of her sparing natural energy to detonate inside her opponent’s body to kill them instantly. Instead, letting them live- while greatly distracted by life-threatening injuries- was part of the plan. It had better work, or they were maintaining danger for nothing.

Nthanda still kept track of Nindaanis, crashing into the barrier of a Numerological Compact ship. After a few moments, it relaxed to let her through. What was the purpose…?

A beam of energy from Endymion’s ship caught Nthanda in the shoulder. Even condensed to a tight spear, it was the whole shoulder… but while it burned, it was not enough to instantly take her arm off. She pushed herself out of the way, moving without any natural energy to give away her intentions.

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Now that she had already been targeted, she might as well take a shot at the big ship. If she could actually focus his attention it would be dangerous for her… but that would likely be worth it. Arrow after arrow landed at the same relative position on the barrier, not breaking through… until the third, fourth, and fifth cracked and then pierced the barrier. It was fairly strong, but it had an interesting flaw. The barrier sealed itself… but two of Nthanda’s arrows were half stuck through the barrier.

She only had a moment before it would crush them, but that was enough to shoot two new shots directly through her arrows. One aimed for the nearest component she thought she might be able to damage, while the second went straight for Endymion. It crashed against an inner barrier around the command deck, but it still drew his attention. Anton also took the opportunity to fire sun-arrows through the very brief gaps in the barrier, targeting mainly weapons.

Nthanda called upon the limits of her ability to control the matter around her, including her gear and her own body. Beams blasted through where she was, criss-crossing across her body as Endymion tried to lock onto her. However, with her natural energy being weak he couldn’t focus on her easily- and she moved in ways he couldn’t anticipate. Her body was scorched in several places and her armor was feeling it as well… but that drew attention away from the rest of the fleet.

Then something unexpected happened. A source of energy winked out among the Numerological Compact, where there had been two. The ship where Nindaanis had sought shelter… or so it had seemed. Because she was the one who was alive… and suddenly in control of the ship.

That incident did not escape the notice of Endymion, and Nthanda could feel the outrage in his energy as several beams were directed towards the small Magnitude II ship. However, Nindaanis had clearly anticipated the possibility, and was already weaving her way between other Numerological Compact ships. Endymion still hit her, but while his beams cut through her barrier like butter and took out several segments of her ship, he also destroyed another one.

A cultivator of his level should be able to control his energy well enough to not cause collateral damage. Indeed, Nthanda thought it was all well within his control. And perhaps the others realized that as well, as the flow of the battle suddenly shifted.

Numerological Compact ships tried to pull away from Nindaanis, but she drew upon the power of her damaged ship with great intensity. The local fleets didn’t neglect the situation either, focusing fire on the Magnitude IV ship.

While most of their attacks did little, some formed cracks through which others managed to damage the ship itself. The outer segments absorbed most of the damage- which included several containing entrapped cultivators- but weakness was shown. And with multiple angles to attack from, Anton began to weave arrows fired from the star into the most vulnerable sections of the ship.

Taking out all of the formations at once required great precision, but causing more modest damage to them wasn’t as likely to create a chain reaction of death. After all, Endymion was still in control- he wouldn't want parts of his ship exploding for nothing. At the very least, he would want to take out some enemies.

But it seemed he was doing more to take out allies now. Nthanda realized his energy was spread throughout the area… perhaps taunting people. But diffuse like that, she had subconsciously erased it.

She did hear some sort of response from Anton, however. “Trusting him will get you all killed. Flee, and live another day.”

Even though the man himself was not present directly in the system, his words carried power. Numerological Compact ships began to pull away from the battle- partly to avoid Endymion’s wrath.

Somehow, Nindaanis’ ship was still holding on, its barrier getting moments to refresh when behind obstacles. Of course, it also helped her that Endymion’s ship was under heavy fire, and much of his energy flow was going towards that. He was not focusing so much on Nthanda… and she decided to make him regret that. She would use every last one of her arrows battering through his barriers if she had to.

Miraculously, Nindaanis managed to keep at least seventy-five percent of her ship intact by the time she drew close to Kathariel and began using its atmosphere as cover. She had gone far from the barrier protecting the base below- most likely because it wouldn’t allow her through.

Endymion seemed to realize that his focus on her was a waste of time- she was just one insignificant ship, after all.

“Enough!” That single worse pierced through Nthanda’s energy absorption abilities.

All of the Magnitude IV ship’s remaining beams concentrated together on the barrier protecting the base below. They would have instantly blasted through, if he was at full strength… and if the barrier hadn’t received adaptive energy information from other ships he had been targeting. Unlike the Numerological Compact fleet which had only just begun to implement the stolen feature, they had long since perfected it.

The adaptation didn’t make their barrier perfect, but it was the difference between it being completely annihilated in an instant and having only intermittent beams striking the planet below. Buildings crashed and crumbled, but the majority still remained.

Endymion swiftly realized that his assault wasn’t enough. Not could he withstand the barrage of a nearly unhindered fleet, only a few of the most loyal or intimidated ships remaining with him.

The Magnitude IV ship began pulling away. Despite their progress it was not close to being destroyed, with only a small portion of Anton’s power accessible. However, they were causing damage to it- and they could only assume that such a ship was expensive and time consuming to repair.

They weren’t able to chase him all the way out of the system, however. The ship didn’t have a fixed orientation that limited to attacking in the direction it was moving- if they had, the war likely would have been won long before. Thus, he was still able to fire while retreating, and he still had sufficient power to take out many of their ships. Once Nthanda ran out of arrows- she had to use heavy physical arrows to make use of her strength- and a portion of the enemy fleet had gathered around him, they let him go.

Everyone except Anton, who wasn’t able to be counterattacked. While his attacks did diminish in strength as the enemy got further from the star, he just wanted to keep Endymion pressured. And a portion of Anton’s attacks focused on smaller ships, trying to tear away segments they could hopefully pick up after the enemy was out of the system. It wasn’t a viable strategy where the was a pitched battle because they would be caught in the crossfire… but the retreating fleet seemed uninterested in the pieces that were left behind as they continued to accelerate out of the system, until they could dive into subspace.

Anton didn’t lose track of them there. However, he could no longer attack them in any meaningful way. Not from the star. He did have some other ideas however, even as he was between systems with his actual body.

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