The Scarlet Alliance had to defend their borders against a constant onslaught of cultivators from the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant, but with the ability to redirect forces to certain areas they were holding on well enough. But merely enduring wouldn't be good enough. In the end, everything would come down to Domination cultivators. They couldn't say precisely how many each power had, but either one might have enough to seriously threaten the Scarlet Alliance if they gathered their forces. On the other hand, if they could take out one or two they would not only avoid that particular threat, but their sects likely would withdraw from the war.

There was always a chance that they went mad and sent every last one of their cultivators to fight, but with nobody directing them to die they would likely prefer to reform. Either way, the Scarlet Alliance wasn't going to make a move on those who weren't already attacking them- leaving them only a few targets.

Once they sorted through the various criteria, they came to an obvious choice. Nobody that was too distant- if their assault force had to spend months on the run, there might be time for their foes to work together. That ruled out much of the Exalted Quadrant, though not entirely. However, the other factors ultimately led to a specific choice. They wanted a reasonable guarantee of success. Obviously they couldn't assume that killing a Domination cultivator would work, but at the very least they wanted a foe they were familiar with- in a way they believed they could take them out.

Of those that were not too distant, well known to them, and actively at war…? Yann perfectly fit the bill. And Zazil had some spare time on her hands. Not truly, of course. Her schedule would be filled with some defensive position if it was not an offensive task. The last few years her only rest came on active duty defending the Alliance, between enemy assaults. But she made time.

A mission involving just a few people didn't seem like it should be terribly costly, and that was true from certain perspectives. The stealth ship they would be using was expensive, but it was just one small ship. It wasn't something that any individual could afford- not even the Domination cultivators- but the true costs didn't come with the vessel. It was Zazil not taking a defensive position, and what that meant for the Alliance.

Normally she would intercept incoming fleets before they even entered friendly territory. Having to fight battles meant people would die, ships and orbital platforms would be damaged or destroyed. And those couldn't be somewhere else, defending other systems. That was the cost.

That was just for Zazil. It was even more costly, but necessary, to take along one more. It was pretty clear who would come on an assassination mission, as they only had one optimal individual. Velvet would be joining her, because since they were launching this mission they had to succeed.

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Tracking down Yann's location wasn't trivial, but they didn't have to wait for him to be alone. No, expecting him to be isolated at any point in the near future was a mistake. They could wait years… and even then he might be on higher alert when he felt vulnerable.

But he'd fought Zazil before, and as long as he wasn't otherwise occupied he would be stronger. Previously, she had only managed to attack his anchor while Yann was otherwise occupied- and though she'd caused lasting injuries, he wasn't dead. As unfortunate as that was, the Alliance hadn't been willing to push to finish him off at the cost of more lives.

But though he'd briefly shown favor to them after the Swirling Swarm incident, he had fallen in line with the greater flow of the Trigold Cluster. Or perhaps it had simply been convenient for him to pretend passable relations for a time. The Alliance had learned the troubles of fairweather allies- or even simply 'neutral' cultivators- with Koronis. Ultimately, she had never stopped being trouble until the end.

Zazil revealed herself before she attacked. That was the plan. Her aura swept out over the moon on which Yann was staying. "Yann of the Fearsome Menagerie. I challenge you to a duel."

How things went from there would greatly depend on him. Zazil might actually win a duel, if he was still injured. He might have recovered from even terribly serious wounds. He'd lost limbs, but those weren't impossible to regrow. Sometimes it was just better to replace them with prosthetics, though. In the Alliance, unless it would hinder a specific cultivation path, that was the norm. They were generally just as functional as normal limbs- perhaps even better. But certain styles couldn't have metals in their body or 'unnatural' pieces.

Adapting limbs to specific individuals was a bit more costly… but still better than finding ways to regrow limbs that were lost to extraordinary circumstances. If someone lost an arm to a regular accident, it was actually quite easily recoverable. But battles between cultivators could leave wounds that were more enduring than simply the loss of flesh.

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"And why should I accept?" Yann commented. "We are at war. I could simply kill you with my forces here. Or you could flee, while I send ahead of you messages that allow the Scarlet Alliance to be attacked."

"If you have not the bravery to fight me alone, so be it," Zazil said. In truth, it was better he didn't accept the duel. "But we will still fight regardless."

"How brave. Do you believe yourself to have transcended to another phase of cultivation? A few more decades of experience in Domination won't save you."

He hadn't attacked yet. She suspected he was wary of some sort of trick… for good reason. And perhaps he was still weakened sufficiently.

Zazil prepared her attack. Her anchor was already in place, lingering in the space that the Fearsome Menagerie didn't occupy. Their theoretical claims to the area didn't matter- what mattered was that the space was not frequented, which meant anything out of the common paths throughout their systems and their planets themselves could be Zazil's domain. She possessed more power than she would have otherwise, with certain restrictions that applied more defensively.

She started off big. One giant ring blade, spinning at an oblique angle to the moon. The side where Yann was staying seemed to be mainly a military base- no significant civilian population. She needn't have bothered with such thoughts, however, as the planetary barrier absorbed enough of her attack that it wasn't of any threat to the moon afterwards.

It did take down a number of people in the base, while also forcing Yann to block. Zazil thought his arm seemed stiff- but he certainly had all his limbs. That was easier to observe once he turned into his favored form of a giant serpentine dragon, coiling around the moon.

"You made a mistake coming here," he said.

He hadn't actually been hesitant to fight. He was just calling on some of the local fleets to flank her. It was logical, to prevent her from running. They might also be looking for the ship… but it was nowhere they would find. They couldn't trawl every cubic meter of space between systems- and even if they could, it could just move. Zazil wasn't relying on it for a retreat, because her fleeing to it would reveal its location. It couldn't stand up to even the most unserious attack from a Domination cultivator, which meant she would have to take any hits.

Smaller rings circled around Zazil, growing and shrinking as she picked out her targets. Yann attacked straightforwardly, but he was surrounded by others she couldn't ignore. Zazil didn't even have to pretend to be on her back foot as she focused on the weaker cultivators. She could only do her best to kill them while fending off Yann. She had no idea when Velvet would act. She couldn't even find her. If she didn't know better, Zazil might have thought she had been abandoned. But the one thing she could rely on with the Alliance was solidarity- if she was going to be left to herself she would at least have been informed.

But that wasn't much comfort when she was slapped by a dragon tail and knocked halfway across the system. Yann managed to get around behind her so that she couldn't retreat- even though normal physics said that a straight line should have been faster. Then again, Zazil was actively trying to slow herself as she distributed the force of the blow.

Massive jaws came to swallow her. Zazil tried to expand her ring blades to stop him, but his power surged. Her true weapons shattered as he bit down. Zazil didn't have time to change from a block to a dodge, especially not after having just barely recovered from the previous hit. She was going to have to take the hit with whatever energy she could muster.

That would have been a perfect time for Velvet to stab him through the brain. If she had the same perspective as Zazil, it might even have been easy. But instead the jaws closed. Zazil had to dive deeper beyond the teeth, simply to avoid death for a few moments longer. But though Yann's energy didn't pierce her body, it crushed down around her.

Had he always been this strong? Was it as simple as that, or was he more determined?

Zazil had come into this battle believing it would be an easy victory, for she had Velvet alongside her. But she had failed to make a proper opening. Perhaps she rose too quickly. But she wouldn't be giving up now regardless.

With a mighty yell, she circled her arms above her head. She sliced away the pressure as she cartwheeled deeper, turning herself into the blade. The soft palate just above her was... worthy of a true dragon. Even a vulnerable location like that was beyond her, as she barely sliced through Yann's defensive energy leaving only a thin line of blood where she had intended to cut completely through- and perhaps out.

It wasn't merely her destroyed weapons limiting her killing power. His weaknesses were well covered- and why should he form a vulnerable part inside his mouth? He wasn't a creature that had to live that way. The Fearsome Menagerie could transform into idealized versions of the creatures they emulated. The only limitations were their energy and their mental fortitude. A divergent image of a perfect, invincible being would actually be weaker than one with carefully thought out defenses, close to the original in form and function. Or at least, that was what she had heard. Yann was the best of them, so a simple thing like strengthening his upper palate wasn't unreasonable at all.

His mouth opened, tempting Zazil to flee. The moment she moved, the jaws would snap shut once more. She would be nothing. Yet remaining still wouldn't work either. His teeth had energy projections pointing towards the inside of the mouth, no matter where she went she would be targeted. Nor could she go deeper as his energy blocked the way.

If his upper jaw was protected, perhaps his lower jaw might be vulnerable. It was the best shot that she had, to cut her way out. She dove around the tongue, such as it was. Yann couldn't possible focus enough energy to stop her on every portion of his body. He wasn't so much stronger that she didn't have any chance, though her energy had taken several serious blows and without her weapons her offense was diminished. Yet she merely had to solidify the form of her blades in her mind, recalling their presence, to get a decent semblance of them. She was the ring, slicing down through Yann. She got perhaps halfway, before muscles pressed in around her. Yann's energy condensed into an ever tightening bubble. Soon, he would crush her.

Zazil hoped that whatever timing Velvet chose, it would be before that. She would very much prefer to be around for the victory.

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