There was a slight comfort to be gained that however Scarlet Alliance cultivators were being controlled by the Heartbound Palace, it didn't seem to be perfect. Whether it was the difficulty of controlling many, a limitation caused by limited time, or merely the refusal of certain technological components to comply with their attacks, they were slightly weaker. Enough for the other defenders of Xankeshan to hold them off nonlethally for the most part, though not forever.

Zazil continued to seek out the individual she could only presume was Rambert Glas himself, sect head of the Heartbound Palace. Whoever it was, she was quite certain they were no longer 'simply' an Augmentation cultivator. Domination had a particular feeling behind it, and this individual was not the most stealthy after the attack.

She had almost pinpointed the location she needed. Her ring blades sliced through wide spans of space, never truly severing any energy connections but getting a feeling for things. And when she simply rotated ring blades around an area, she could create a sphere of influence that confirmed whether or not her target was there. Each ring was expanded to the size of a proper planet, though they would be easily destroyed if someone took an opportunity to attack.

But that would have just revealed Rambert sooner. Every minute he delayed was a boon to his overall effectiveness. But Zazil was determined to keep things as short as possible. Finally, she sent out dozens of rings blades to one particular area… and fused them into one shape.

It was close to a small moon in size, expanded with her energy. Then it began to shrink towards her target. Normally, the threat from such a maneuver would be negligible- the ring blades were sharp on the outside after all. But just because that was how they were didn't mean it was how things had to be.

She inverted the blades- their physical form was less important than how her energy built atop them. A shell of energy crossed between them, providing no way out- unless he wished to directly clash with her energy. Of course, she was going to force him to do so anyway.

The structure collapsed, striking her target. Zazil wasn't in an optimal state, still recovering from Yann's defeat, but she also suspected that her foe wasn't the greatest at straightforward combat.

A burst of energy tried to climb through her own, to reach into her, but Zazil was already prepared for such an eventuality. Even if the Heartbound Palace had developed new techniques recently, the Scarlet Alliance was well apprised of their fundamentals. Attacking cultivators through their energy wasn't so unusual for mental cultivators.

But Zazil was a Domination cultivator- and even if Rambert Glas was as well, he'd never fought one. Having advanced sometime around the Swirling Swarm incident- or even because of it- he was new to his abilities. Here, in the void between planets, Zazil had her anchor to aid her. Even if it wasn't optimal positioning, it still empowered her more than whatever her foe had, far away. Here, her energy was nearly inviolable.

They clashed. Then, he broke out of her cage- but Zazil was not concerned. Rambert Glas was now fully revealed. She could concentrate her energy on killing him rather than searching for him. Furthermore, his control of Alliance cultivators was at least momentarily disrupted, but she didn't plan to let him live long enough to figure out the details.

-----

Void ants dangled from strands of energy. Third Watch whipped her squad around, catching on Clotilde herself. Just her sleeves, but physical contact was huge. A moment later, the royal guard was pulled behind them through the same connection.

The woman's hand slapped down, moving at incomprehensible speed with the weight of a mountain. Third Watch stood tall, mandibles pointed to the sky. Her exoskeleton took the momentum of… a normal hand, slapped down at the speed an adult human could typically manage. The augmented speed simply didn't exist without natural energy. This divinity was nothing but a normal woman.

Third Watch still buckled under the weight- but her stance wasn't random. One of her legs pierced through the cloth material of the woman's sleeve. The angle wasn't perfect and Third Watch felt a few things crack… but she was larger than any of those under her command. And when Clotilde pulled back her hand, Third Watch's mandible were embedded in the palm.

"You pests!" The booming voice would have killed most humans. To void ants, it was just a woman screeching. "You will be destroyed!"

This woman wouldn't speak any languages the void ants could respond in. Third Watch merely responded by tearing at her palm as the woman slapped her hands together.

One of Third Watch's remaining good legs was caught, but she knew how to skitter properly. If the woman had proper training to best void ants, she wouldn't have gotten past the first blow- a single finger would have been better to crush her. No, she could have simply squeezed her arm and all of the void ants would have died or been brushed away.

Third Watch knew she wouldn't kill Clotilde like this. She didn't have the mighty blade insights of Snips or Chops, nor the poisons of Fire or Bullet. But she knew how to move and how to bite. She nipped at the wrist, not because she expected to reach the veins inside but because it kept this woman focused on her.

Third Watch could feel how her squad was dimming the woman's energy, inside her sleeve. She also felt three other squads had reached the woman- two on her left leg, and one on her torso.

Third Watch had her head jammed into the vein she targeted. Perhaps she should have gone for the tendon, if she was going to be helped so much. Her exoskeleton barely held, but it did. She ripped herself out as Clotilde wound up for another slap. But her assault wasn't the important one. Instead, she grabbed at the woman's energy and pulled. It had a strange taste, of many different people. It wasn't as good as Third Watch thought it should taste. But her action alerted the others… and they struck.

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Clotilde screamed as her own energy was turned against her body. They barely controlled the tiniest slivers, but human bodies were fragile. It was a shame she had enough life left in her to scream, and even more so to crush Third Watch. But the void ant knew she wouldn't have been making it home anyway.

As her consciousness faded, she was just happy that her task was completed. And maybe her closest sisters would find out someday. Though it wouldn't be so bad if the glory went to any of them.

-----

Anton reached Enduriel shortly after Aerona reached Unity. In fact, it was her advancement that propelled him over the last of the distance. It was inspiring, of course, but practically it smoothed the flow of energy between himself and Enduriel's star. The final scraps of distance were covered as Anton stood on the surface. He took a shot at Isiah, of the Divine Meteor. The man's energy was already chaotic- but he wasn't the only one.

No wings had disappeared yet, but that didn't mean the divinities weren't faltering. Instead, the effect was spread out more widely. Before Aerona, there had been something else. Adelardo shouldn't have been so terribly snippy with that woman- Chiara. Could cultivators of their level lose control of their own emotions so easily? Not without something exceptional happening. Anton didn't know what, but he would take advantage of it.

Lev was still getting pummeled. Four attackers and one powerful defender against only him as the Unity cultivator. But now it was three versus five, instead of two at best. And Anton could draw fire to himself.

He wasn't moving anymore. One hundred percent of his power could go into offense- because he was standing directly on the star. Daria had seen his power up close before… and had only barely lost the engagement because of Nthanda and some void ants. Anton took a few shots at Tammuz as Daria began to approach him, but soon her wings were stretching around the star, blocking off his easy attack routes.

Obviously Anton could skip by her defenses with subspace manipulation, but he wanted this conflict. Especially with how confident she was. "There will be nowhere for you to run this time. And I am certain you don't have that strange woman with you."

It was true. Anton hadn't been with Nthanda, so he couldn't carry her along. He did have another strange woman with him. One that was nipping at his energy. What did she want to say in the middle of battle? Anton looked down at his arm, trying to keep it steady while still firing arrows. He didn't want to give anything away.

"Are you certain?" he asked. If her words were true… but she would be the one who knew best.

"I am certain," the Great Queen said. "One of their divinities just died."

Anton smiled. Then he did send a few arrows past Daria's spread wings. However, they then burst into a shower of aura that transmitted his words to the entire system. "Why should we be the ones to run? One of your divinities just died, back home in your own lands. Your people will know this. They have witnessed death with their own eyes. Just as those here will witness yours."

"You… liar!" Daria's words blasted throughout the system- but there was one more power that came into play. Aerona connected everyone together. Daria's words spoke of a lie- but her heart spoke the truth. 'How did they find out?'

Anton didn't actually know how the Great Queen could tell. What he did know was that one of Daria's copious wings disappeared. She might not even have noticed, as they continued to condense around Anton.

Anton silently apologized to Enduriel. He flared the energy of the local star outward. He hoped he only took a few million years off its lifespan. If he was lucky, it was less than what he'd added from Unity, but now was not the time to concern himself with such trifles.

As a guardian of sorts, even the direct power of a star couldn't kill Daria. But that wasn't important. What was important was that a small part of the flare pushed through and burned Daria's face, proving her vulnerability. Anton waved his arm dramatically, spreading his arms wide. "You think yourself invincible? I don't need to escape, regardless of how poor our matchup is."

Daria's wings scraped along the surface of the star, rapidly shrinking the covered area until she reached behind Anton, encapsulating him in a small bubble just a few kilometers across. She was aiming to crush him, and Anton had to admit he probably wouldn't be able to break through her defensive energy in time.

Her eyes were filled with rage. "You will d-"

Her head was entirely severed from her neck in that moment. Anton had to admit that he hadn't been aware that the Great Queen could do that, but it didn't seem unreasonable. A fifteen hundred year old void ant that had gained many insights should just be able to kill a person. He wondered if she'd been waiting for ironic timing. He was pretty sure his toss should have gotten her there at least a few seconds before that moment.

Some powerful cultivators exploded when they died. Daria imploded, her energy crumbling in on itself. But that wasn't the end of things. Anton felt how her sudden death impacted the rest of the divinities present. More importantly, how it affected the other Holy Stars cultivators- and how that affected them.

Anton could see dumbfounded expressions. It was impossible to deny what happened in front of them- but they couldn't believe it. The contradiction of absolute truth and absolute impossibility simply shut many of them down.

Then chains suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, wrapping around Siro of the Watchful Sting. Of course, they didn't come from nowhere, but were instead channeled through Aerona. Devon was still some distance away, but nobody was closer to him than Aerona- a perfect channel for the energy of Unity.

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