Elder Cultivator

Chapter 971

When Endymion’s ship malfunctioned, Anton didn’t spend a single moment thinking about whether it was a ploy or whether it was real. He simply acted. There was a brief break in the flurry of attacks from Elder Joetta’s ship targeting Anton, and he called upon a burst of Ascension energy. Over a hundred smaller arrows followed along with his first shot, following it through the hole he tore in the ship.

Outer and inner barriers were both pierced directly- their adaptations to Anton’s energy being insufficient. The main arrow pierced straight through Endymion’s heart- a risk, but a man such as him would not die immediately from such a move. Meanwhile the rest of his arrows simultaneously sought out parts of the formation. Even though the size and complexity of the larger ships was different, the core fundamentals were the same- and thus the reactive connections to the slaves could be cut off.

With his heart pierced through, Endymion didn’t just surrender his life. No, he did what any rational cultivator would do- at least those who were not expecting another life like the Twin Soul Sect. He immediately focused all of his energy on his heart, controlling the flow of his own blood. That only took a small portion of his actual energy, but a great quantity of his focus. Endymion did counter with attacks from the ship aimed vaguely at Anton or surrounding ships, but the energy beams were thin and insubstantial.

Yes, something had very much limited his output of energy. His barriers had hardly begun to repair themselves when Anton shot volley after volley, moving to destroy arbitrary parts of the vessel’s formations once he was certain there would be no feedback to the enslaved cultivators.

Devon, meanwhile, had broken through to the core of Joetta’s ship. Within moments, she was unable to connect to the energy of the fifty thousand or so individuals aboard. Rather than waiting for a formation master like Ashildr to properly dismantle the formations, Anton switched his focus. With Joetta’s energy restrained, she was unable to control anything and the vital formations of her ship were quickly torn apart.

That made it possible for Devon to completely seal her energy, instead of keeping her partly attached to the ships. An allied vessel was already boarding Endymion’s ship to capture him.

“Your elders are defeated!” Anton flexed the power of Turilia’s star, sending ripples of energy over the battlefield. The less populated planets in the system would feel that as well, though they might not hear his message directly. “Cultivators of the Numerological Compact, surrender and you will have a chance to survive. Everyone else… our quarrel was not with you.”

It would have been nice if people neatly surrendered in such a situation- and some did- but the chaos of war was not always easily overcome. More importantly, the planet below was still in a state of chaos… the barrier flickering oddly even though the assault on the planet itself had not yet begun.

-----

“Oooh!” Queenson felt the wave of energy. “Anton’s saying something! Hi Anton!” he waved, though he didn’t expect any sort of response. Due to being in actual atmosphere, he actually managed to hear what Anton was saying, as he made actual use of sound waves once he touched the atmosphere and not simply relying on his natural energy to carry his voice. “Yeah, they should surrender, you’re right! Oh, I should go tell Luci and the others that they’re on our side, in case they didn’t know that.”

But first… he had to make sure things would be safe at the front. They’d taken down several waves of attackers now, and with the way things were happening in space it was doubtful anyone would be so concerned with them at the moment. The first slaves freed from the power station were now able to move independently- and they rapidly began freeing the others.

Queenson wondered when that ‘hivemind’ thing came into place, but it was fully natural for people to free those in a similar situation. They probably didn’t ask Luci and the others too many questions. Choosing between perpetual slavery and anything else wasn’t much of a choice, really.

He flew into the building, following the signs of Luci’s energy through the various hallways. The building was placed in regular segments so it wasn’t difficult to go straight to her, but there were a couple odd turns where they could have had a straight hall and chose not to. Maybe for defensive purposes? For all the good it did them.

Queenson flew in circles in front of Luci to get her attention. By that point, they were on the latter half of the massive power station. “Anton is a friend,” he gestured. Obviously, he knew she didn’t speak void ant sign- but the point was that he wanted to communicate.

“Is it urgent?” she asked.

Queenson swayed back and forth. Urgent? Well, it both was and it wasn’t.

“You rushed here during all of this. Is there immediate danger?” He shook his head. “But it’s still important, I presume?” He nodded.

Fortunately, she carried ink with her now. Queenson wrote on the wall, not concerned about who was going to have to clean it up. “Did you hear that voice?”

“Everyone did,” Luci nodded slowly. “I… can’t say I’ve encountered anyone like that.”

“That’s Anton! We’re friends!”

Frankly, Queenson thought that explained more than enough. After all, his friends could be trusted. But Luci still had questions.

“How is he- no, that’s not important. Is he… safe?”

“For you,” Queenson replied. “He’s here to help. Truthful.”

“I… suppose that anyone capable of making friends with exotic people such as yourself shouldn’t be too terrible for fellow humans.” The planetary barrier trembled. “... Are you sure?”

“Just don’t protect bad guys,” Queenson wrote. Though by the time he finished that sentence, the barrier had broken open- partially because their local city was not supporting it, and likely from others.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Ships began to pour through the barrier, and Luci recognized the power in one of them. “Byron! But he’s in… one of those ships.”

Even as her face filled with worry, Queenson rapidly scrawled more.

“Trust your friends.”

She sighed. “Well, if he turned and chose to exterminate us or something… we wouldn’t be any worse off than we were before. And if your allies will free us… even if they are not so grand as you say, we can only accept the results.”

Queenson was very much beginning to feel it, now. The connections, all around him. He turned his senses towards some of the freed cultivators. They had almost completely freed everyone in this facility, as they had more and more active people to take apart the restraints. The bonds between them strengthened with each one.

And then… a flow stretched to the north. Then east, west, south, and every angle in between. Even though the planet itself, the strength of the bonds grew so strong. A ripple of energy covered the planet. It was beautiful and terrifying. Queenson hoped the planet didn’t blow up.

There was an explosion… but that was just the building they were in, being blasted apart from inside out. All of the cultivators acted as one, obliterating the structure that had held them captive. So many acting in concert was something that could be felt from anywhere on the planet, and it repeated one by one. Even in places that Queenson was fairly certain they hadn’t sent anyone to free the slaves.

-----

Within a few minutes from when the first group acted, Anton felt the whole planet light up. Immediately, the only flow of energy around the planet came from one thing. The local hivemind. There was a slight background hint of unassociated cultivators, but the planetary barrier had nothing powering it, and all of their formations that relied on slaves to power them were completely empty.

The ripples of power spread not only from one city to another- a previously unseen phenomenon- but also up into space, and the remaining ships that had been trying to regroup on the other side of the planet or that were beginning their retreat to other planets. The energy of each individual was negligible, but millions became tens of million, hundreds of millions, until over a billion lives were networked together.

Anton felt surges of energy that broke the shackles on the ships, the barely conscious cultivators aboard then using the rest of their energy to kill the Confluence cultivators aboard.

Something different happened on Byron’s ship, however. The ripples of energy and the grand web of connection expanded from the planet, washing over and around his ship- but crashing into it like waves around a rock. Some combined flow of the consciousness might have recognized something similar, or perhaps even the way the ship had been changed.

The same happened with all the segments of smaller hiveminds, the energy waves circumventing them. And cultivators like Anton and the others of the Alliance were left alone, as the force for the most part sought out the Numerological Compact. Most likely, all of their members on or around the planet were dead. A decisive purge… and the will of so many people was not something that could be resisted.

Even Anton might have only been barely able to shield himself by hiding inside his star, not that he could have reached it. The escalation was so rapid, nobody was really able to react.

The majority of structures had remained intact, and it seemed that the unassociated cultivators were by and large in good health. They were for the most part potential slaves for the Compact, after all. Anton was glad that these hiveminds seemed to understand that, even though they could have simply lashed out at anyone that was not them. Though of course, some were part of the problem.

Had they been dealt with, like on Waral? Or was that something that would come later? It was difficult to tell, with everything that had happened. There was no shortage of death and destruction. But hopefully, it would lead to something better.

A twisted cord of energy reached up to Anton, lingering in front of him. “You will not harm us,” an echoey voice declared.

“No, I never intended to,” Anton replied, projecting his sincerity. The twisted energy recoiled slightly.

“Why are you here?” thousands of voices asked.

“I could say to free you… but mostly because my grandson wanted that, and needed my help.”

“The one of chains,” the voices said.

“Yes. You know, you can just speak to Devon.”

Was that… embarrassment? Anton certainly felt a wave of emotion from the planet.

“We will also do so. But our conversation will continue here. We feel you in the star. Or the star in you. Why is that?”

Anton shrugged. “It’s my cultivation. I needed the power to fight this battle. I’m not planning to try to take away your system’s power.”

“Why?” the voices sounded confused.

“What do you mean?” Anton asked.

“You have strength. Why not take advantage of it?”

“I do. But I don’t need to take strength from others, when it could be given freely.”

Voices murmured indistinctly. “Your people are strange. We have spoken to all of them. And our own. It makes no sense.”

“That’s just because you’ve been brought up in horrible circumstances,” Anton said. “It will make plenty of sense later, when we’re friends.”

“But what if we do not become friends?” the voices replied. “What if we acted as enemies?”

“Well, I understand why you would be upset at the world. But if you were the type I think we’d already be dead, here. And there’s no reason we shouldn’t become friends. We’ve met others of your people. And we did come to help.”

“... Nobody ever meant it before.”

Anton shrugged. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that.”

There was silence for a time- at least around Anton. He could feel numerous cords of entangled energy stretched all over. Fortunately, they should get reasonably unified answers. Plus some stuttering bafflement, but Anton imagined the hivemind would understand that with the combined insight of its members.

“... What are these ants?” the voices asked. “They seem to be associated with some who helped free us?”

“Yes, those are our friends,” Anton said. “We sent them to spy on the Numerological Compact. Can you point me to them so I can pick them up?”

A line of energy directed Anton, and his senses picked up the lack of anything that indicated void ants.

“Great. Do you mind if I land? This is your planet, after all.”

“We sense your truth. We appreciate you asking, and grant your request.”

Anton flew down towards the city he was directed to. Clearly some of the cultivators nearby were nervous, but he landed gently near Queenson, and the rest.

“Hi Anton!” Queenson waved. “Oh, sorry. I mean… greetings, Sect Head.”

“Well hello Queenson,” Anton grinned. “I see you’ve made some friends.”

“... Can you actually understand him?” a woman nearby asked.

“I was the first human to learn the language. Which ultimately makes me something like the second ever, as it was still being developed at the time.” Anton looked around. “You’re not part of the hivemind, I see. We can get you connected to people who can help explain what’s going on.”

“I tried to explain,” Queenson signed.

“I’m sure you did,” Anton said. “But you know it’s hard.”

“Writing is difficult,” he agreed.