Without speaking a word, Chidi and Rahayu broke away from the rest of the soon-to-be battlefield. They set foot on a modest asteroid that barely had gravity to speak of. It was still sufficient to give them a surface for their footwork. Both wanted to display the best of their abilities, and to fight their opponent at their best.

Even so, Chidi found himself curious. "Why only now? We could have arranged for this earlier. Then whoever was left could impact this battle at full strength."

"That's simple," Rahayu said. "I know you'll be most serious here. It's precisely because you have to think about your allies that you will fight your best. I wouldn't want anything less. And you presume too much if you believe I care about this battle. I am aligned with Everheart merely because he provides sufficient opportunities to fight strong opponents."

Chidi nodded. The master of his master had always been like that. He wasn't a bad person, but his dedication to the sword was above everything else. Chidi found it admirable in some ways, but he also believed there was much more to life. He rested his hand on the hilt of his blade. At any moment, their battle could begin. Everheart and his rather large turtle were already radiating aggressive energy. Chidi hoped Vari managed to kick her dumb uncle as she intended.

Chidi took a deep breath. It might be his last. It certainly could be the only one he took in their battle, as he would likely not have access to his energy if all was going well.

He could feel Rahayu's blade, eager to cut his neck. The sword itself was more real than everything else. The sword and then the cultivator himself were far more clear than the rest of reality. More real than the ground beneath his feet.

Neither of them made a formal declaration of the beginning of their duel. They just moved. Chidi's sword came up from below as Rahayu sliced down from above. The material covering Chidi's shoulder was sliced open as he only just barely managed to negate Rahayu's energy. The man's swordsmanship involved his energy as much as Chidi's involved negating it.

As Chidi pushed away Rahayu's blade, he had to focus some of his attention on the ground upon which they fought. The asteroid was more to his advantage than Rahayu's, and it wouldn't be unreasonable for the other man to destroy it- either as a side effect of other attacks or as an intentional move. With his Domination energy, it would barely take a thought- but Chidi had advanced Negation, more than sufficient to battle the same.

But only if he was better.

There was never a doubt in his mind. If he wavered for even a moment, such doubts would come true. Confidence was important, and Chidi had plenty.

He took in the slight tremors of the ground as Rahayu stepped. The precise fluctuations of energy as he moved. The angles at which their swords clashed. Rahayu had prepared a special blade- it was stronger than others. Similar to Chidi's own sword, it wasn't specialized for augmenting energy but instead optimized for functionality without energy. A sword that was only meant for a single purpose- to kill Chidi. Or to cause him a defeat that would have the same results.

There was no malice in Rahayu, but it was almost certain one of them would die this day. The margin of error for defeat without killing was infinitesimal, and Chidi couldn't afford to make the attempt. Not today. After all, Chidi was more than just the sword. Aconite was already going to be annoyed enough that he wouldn't let her fight alongside him here. She understood how his mind worked, but she would still err on the side of victory rather than individual combat. And against most opponents, Chidi would agree.

But he needed to do this. And also to win. Neither of them had properly gotten to say goodbye to Chikere when she was alive. A beloved apprentice and master, she had bought sufficient time for others to flee both a planet of angry warriors and a Domination cultivator. Zaur Beridze had been the first such conflict the Scarlet Alliance had faced, and given their relative weakness at the time one of the greatest threats.

Everheart might be more. Chidi needed to win.

The tip of his sword tasted blood. On Rahayu's end, he'd sliced off a bit of one of Chidi's ears. Little enough that it would be easily regrown… if he survived. Yet close enough that a slightly different angle and a bit more speed might have turned that into half of his brain.

The battle was a constant flow of motion and energy. Rahayu was familiar enough with Chidi that it was nearly impossible for Chidi to achieve perfect Negation. The other man's swordsmanship skills kept him busy attacking, parrying, and countering. He couldn't rely on wearing down the other's weapon. He simply needed to be better.

He was confident that he was. If Chidi was proven wrong, he'd never know- because he would be dead. He just had to find the right moment.

-----

Aconite could feel Chidi's battle. It distracted her too much… but fortunately her task didn't require all of her concentration. She was just keeping people at bay. It was quite simple to lock off a large area of space when people were deathly afraid of passing through it. Because of the poison, of course. And the deadly viruses and bacteria. Everheart's followers were intelligent enough to give Aconite's domain proper respect.

It would have been so much more if she had reached Domination. It was very close, but she hadn't been willing to attempt some of the options. Her best chance had been against the Swirling Swarm- she could have formed an anchor then, but it might have been transient. She wanted something better, but her allies were also not thrilled at the prospect of being infected with a virus. And the insights necessary were quite difficult.

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Because her foes were hesitant about entering the area her energy controlled, Aconite was able to preserve her poisons. She could maintain their potency even in environments they normally weren't suited for. Powders wouldn't settle, even if she was fighting in gravity. Likewise, if she coated her paws and teeth in liquid poisons they would cling to her by her own intention, not rubbing away in dirt or dissolving in blood. Every speck of poison she withdrew would eventually find a target.

She moved among Everheart's followers- none with consistent enough styles to have more than a squad of any cultivation style. Elemental cultivators were mixed with weapon cultivators of all sorts. More obscure types existed too… but none of them strong enough to matter. Nor were there any innocents. For all that Everheart was usually an annoyance to the Alliance, he had done enough foul deeds that anyone who signed up with him knew what they were getting into. The Alliance couldn't afford to hold back while defending their homeland.

-----

With the element of surprise on her side and all of her power, Vari managed a single kick. She'd kind of hoped to knock out a few teeth, but she barely managed a cut on her uncle's lip.

"Nice to see you too," he said. Then he slapped her downward into the head of his giant turtle- Pipsqueak or something. When Vari bounced off of it, he punched her in the ribs hard enough to shatter most of them. And that was with Timothy protecting Vari.

Vari coughed up some blood. So he was serious. "Why are you even here… Everheart?"

"No uncle? How sad." His face didn't show it, of course. Though she wasn't even sure if the one he was currently wearing was his face. He looked a bit too young at the moment. It was possible that Domination had granted him more youth, or it could still be his own vanity. "It's quite simple. The Scarlet Alliance has grown too powerful. I can't abide by a threat like that."

Timothy stepped forward as Everheart directed his turtle to attack. It could have taken out a small fleet with its chomp, but he shoved it back with his shield extended to cover several kilometers of space. "You know we're no threat to anyone who does not harm us first."

"We have history. And I know people too well," Everheart said. "They can always change their mind."

"We'd be willing to form some sort of pact," Timothy said. "I'm certain you have techniques that can bind people to their promises."

Everheart shook his head. "That's worse than trusting someone. I wouldn't even know when you would figure out how to overcome the technique. Ah, don't worry. I'll probably just kill some of you. I still need the Scarlet Alliance to counterbalance those fools."

Zazil stood at the ready. She was looking for an opening to attack. She might be able to harm the turtle… but Pipsqueak wasn't the real danger. She might also have to fend off some of the numerous Augmentation cultivators Everheart had with him. Luksa was there- from the old Harmonious Citadel.

There was also a conspicuous vessel that bore the hallmarks of the Numerological Compact- though it was closer to the Alliance's current style of combined cultivation. Probably only because it actually was more practical to have willing participants than slaves. If they were allowed to train, they had more power.

Everheart had a great many more threats with him… though Zazil also knew there were many people he had that weren't here with him. Were they elsewhere, seeking other objectives? They could be after the Alliance, or causing trouble with the other great powers. Hopefully, Everheart's clones were doing just that. It was merely that this current assault seemed a bit much to be a distraction, but it was impossible to say what Everheart was thinking at any moment.

-----

Reneden had it, the true path of the Holy Stars. Now all Reneden had to do was keep them in sight with the few remaining surveillance beacons in the area to make certain they did not veer from their path.

Unfortunately, Reneden couldn't prevent them from reaching the first system- nobody could. But the Alliance had over time developed larger carriers of people. Abandoning entire planets was not an easy task, but they could still bring many. Others had their own ships, or could fly through space on their own. It wasn't that rare for humans to be powerful enough for that. Reneden simply didn't breathe and most of its current bodies were made for space, so it had never been a consideration for it.

There was nothing important about the first system- but did there have to be? The Holy Stars might just want a victory. Or more likely, it was a single stop on their path to deeper parts of the Lower Realms Alliance. But whatever it was, Reneden was confident enough in its assessment of the situation- and others agreed- that their Unity cultivators should gather. They had to respond.

Reneden crept along behind their fleets, feeling the lingering energy they left behind. Powerful natural energy, tinged with the auras of many. Different from Unity, but not entirely. Even at a distance of a lightyear or more, Reneden had to actively conceal the device. Some of the gathered divinities clearly didn't like being tracked. They would likely be more annoyed if they knew how information was sent ahead of them instantly. More people would be abandoned than they expected.

They might still slaughter some. Or they might only be after whatever was left behind on the planets. The territory of the Alliance was simply too large to perfectly defend- though Reneden heard they planned to do something like the upper realms. It was just difficult. Upper and lower energy, the people they had available, the arrangement of systems- all were important factors. Like in formations.

Reneden continued to count the people ahead of it. The ones that mattered. If some saints trickled off, they would simply die to any outpost. Even Reneden could kill them with surveillance beacon weaponry. Angels were more trouble, and then there were the divinities. Five of them, all gathered together. If they weren't looking for a sudden victory, they at least intended to cause great destruction. That simply couldn't be allowed. Reneden didn't have the power to stop them itself, but it could inform those who had the power. They were all converging on this location.

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