Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1232

Just in front of Zazil was the domain of Koronis. She could sense the Domination energy there, diffuse but potent. In a way, this was the exact thing that provided Zazil the confidence in her own path. A nebula was certainly not a discrete object like most anchors. It was grand and encompassing, as well as not easily destroyed. Yet it wouldn’t easily be able to concentrate power anywhere except in Koronis herself.

Or so Zazil hoped. It would be a little bit disappointing if she went out by being crushed from a distance. Even then, Domination energy was powerful enough she was hesitant even if the energy couldn’t all assault her.

Hesitance would kill her more than anything else. She pushed forward. Zazil had chosen one of the outer systems in the nebula, because she had no guarantee she could reach any deeper part without being discovered. Koronis probably wasn’t far- Zazil just hoped that she was several systems away. It would take at least days to reach her then, and Zazil intended to be finished in hours. One way or another.

A long attempt simply wouldn’t do.

Zazil entered the empty system. It had nothing to recommend it except for that very thing- no great resources, so no people from the Creeping Fire Sect had moved to occupy it. Thus, it precisely fit Zazil’s requirements. A location within enemy territory that they did not watch carefully.

Being surrounded by Koronis’ Domination energy, Zazil was actually surprised she hadn’t been spotted yet. Or perhaps the woman was trying to lure her into a false sense of security.

Zazil hurriedly settled next to a gas giant. It had many moons and a great ring. It was a good starting point.

Her energy gathered around the rings she carried with her as her weapons. Into each, she distributed some of the materials for her advancement. They spiraled outward into the rest of the system.

Zazil shivered. Someone was watching her. Someone angry. She hoped she hadn’t been entirely wrong.

The world around her was suddenly infused with green flame. Zazil grit her teeth as she resisted the power of the assault. The fact that she could withstand for even a moment was a good sign. Whether it was inability or hesitancy, she would seize her opportunity.

Every aid she brought with her, from formation flags to defend her and the resources full of condensed energy was released. She pushed back against the energy around her… but only for a moment.

She wouldn’t be able to sustain that. Nor should she. Her intent wasn’t to wrestle cultivators within their own domains. Instead, it was to slip into the cracks in their perception, the neglected locations. She let the flames wash over her, and she quickly found that they didn’t know where to target.

Zazil wondered if there was any better source of Devotion than a Domination cultivator actively fixated on you. She suspected not. Waves of power flowed towards her, and it didn’t even matter that Koronis wanted to kill her. This was why Everheart had been so successful. Zazil didn’t have the audacity to invite two enemies into her home and let them try to kill her, but she wasn’t being timid either.

Power filled her. It would destroy her, if she could not control it. Her instinct was to contain it, but she knew better. She let it fly out towards her many rings, spreading throughout the system.

Complicated anchors were a terrible idea. Why did she want something so indistinct as ‘enemy territory’? It would be so much easier to bind to this system.

And she would immediately get herself killed, if she didn’t die to her own cultivation being imbalanced. The concept within her was what would hold the power ready. She just had to let it.

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Koronis was enraged. Who would dare enter her territory without permission? Who would be so foolish? The answer, of course, was another cultivator from the Scarlet Alliance. They were unmatched in the area of ambition, if nothing else.

Koronis was going to kill Zazil. There was no way the woman could escape. Each moment she spent on her sabotage meant Koronis would be closer. She would crush her in person, burn her to ash, and turn the ash into nothing at all.

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The best part of having a network of systems throughout a wide section of the galaxy was the information available. Everheart grinned as he picked up a new energy. The 16th Everheart System was near the territory of the Creeping Fire Sect. Even he hadn’t been so wild as to try to construct anything within Koronis’ nebula, though.

How amusing. Whatever was going on there would be over and done with by the time he could interfere, but he wished the individual well. Based on his recollection of the stronger individuals, in the Scarlet Alliance it should be Zazil.

He was filled with serious concern as he considered how many Domination cultivators they would have if she was successful though. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed so hard to make Ceretos reach independence. There were far too many ripples from there.

It was far too late for that, though, and even if he accidentally created a new major power Everheart honestly thought that was better. When they inevitably came to destroy him, he’d have two different options to turn against them. A more complicated political situation was probably to his advantage.

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Good thing Anton was locked up in the lower realms. Though what they’d done there was perhaps more frightening than the handful of Domination cultivators or near equivalents the Scarlet Alliance might soon have. They didn’t even have all the power concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. Certainly not to the same extent.

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Zazil took a deep breath. She was alive, currently. That was good. She was also brimming with power. So she’d been successful in some regard. Now she just had to hope she had actually matched her intentions, because Koronis was rushing towards this system. Zazil had no doubt that she would be killed if she was caught- she hadn’t even stabilized yet, and presuming she would be stronger than another Domination cultivator even after that period seemed like a good way to cut short a potentially limitless stage.

She ran. And if her anchor wasn’t mobile, she would still die. She had no doubt that Koronis would destroy the system to be rid of her.

It was likely just bad luck, but Koronis’ approach vector forced Zazil deeper into her nebula. Unless she had predicted Zazil’s arrival and been waiting… in which case she’d been further than necessary. That was exceedingly unlikely. But either way, Zazil had to move further into the Creeping Fire Nebula.

She found she was faster. How much was hard to judge, without taking time to measure relative to something else. Not faster than Koronis, she thought. That was the most important point.

She picked a system. If her anchor could not extend there, she would die. That seemed inevitable.

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The woman was too slow to flee. Koronis had nearly caught her by the time she moved. However, she slowed down when she sensed the woman’s stench permeating the system. Was this… Domination energy? A pathetic attempt. Had she wanted to draw upon Koronis’ own power?

Koronis made a face. Everything was wrong, now. She couldn’t have this within her nebula. She called upon her power, channeling it through her and out to the system. She started with the smallest planets, melting them and flinging them towards the star. She ignited the gas giants, ignoring whether they were flammable or not. Their moons crashed into them, breaking their shapes.

Flames pushed everything towards the star, where all would be cleansed. As for the star itself, Koronis felt only the slightest taint. Her flames burned it from within, purifying it. The half formed anchor in the system should be destroyed. But, she sensed that Zazil still lived.

Where was she? She’d been heading towards… one of the neighboring systems. But which one? Koronis spread out her energy. She should have enough to cover several nearby systems.

What she found was nothing. Each system felt entirely normal. Just like she remembered them. Not that she took detailed notes on such trivial locations. One had a rather interesting planet that alternated between fire and ice, but it was completely untouched.

Koronis began to wonder if she hallucinated the presence of someone to begin with.

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“How does Ascension work?” Bear Hug pestered Anton. They had already asked Lev, but he was off in the upper realms. Getting to Anton wasn’t too hard, though.

Anton took some time to ponder the question. “I thought you were on the path of Assimilation?”

“I want to know everything to pick the best one! Tell me more about Assimilation too!”

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Anton was a dutiful teacher, patiently explaining the pros and cons. “The most important thing, even if it doesn’t seem like it, isn’t the sort of power you end up with. It’s where you can wield it. If you Ascend, you’ll only be suited for the upper realms from now on. Likewise, if you reach Assimilation then you will never be strong in the upper realms. You can still go, unlike me, but it will be inconvenient.”

“Which one is stronger?”

“That is very difficult to compare. Because there will never be an even playing field. Even the boundary between realms will disadvantage Assimilation cultivators to some extent, as they have some connection to a location or locations. Usually. And the answer of who is stronger is generally whichever one is in the correct realm.”

“But you killed a guy from here. Or more.”

“Hmm,” Anton nodded. “I suppose that’s true. But I made use of my particular advantages and even wrestled my disadvantages to my benefit, while at the same time requiring the Tides- even if one was artificial. Sudin was worn down by me before he fled the lower realms. The Swirling Swarm cultivator… many others were fighting them. Either way, it’s too late for you to expand your range to the same extent, I think. Unless you have a fundamental shift in your core guiding factors.”

Bear Hug considered that. “I don’t think I’ll be a sniper. Unless I can do it with words. Making friends from systems over! But most people would probably find that strange.”

“And difficult. Launching attacks is easier than something fluid like speech. So, why the sudden interest in Ascension? Is this about that planet?”

“Second Gift!” Bear Hug declared. The ‘capitalization’ was speaking with a certain gravitas behind it. “Because it’s the second one.”

“It’s as good of name as any,” Anton said. “But you realize it’s going across the border, right? Unless you can get someone to keep it whole along the way- which is difficult alone even for me- it wouldn’t matter even if you could ascend and carry it from there.”

“What if I ascended from halfway?”

“If that is possible,” Anton said. “You would be flung many hundreds of lightyears distant. Or to a random point in the ‘nearby’ upper realms that would probably be quite a bit further inside hostile territory, if you did not allow us to attune your energy. So I would very much recommend against it.”

“Oh. Making decisions is hard. Why can’t you keep a planet safe?”

“I could, at least until the border. Outside of the lower realms, I simply wouldn’t have the recovery. And I don’t have the time to devote to the project. It would be more than a few decades, and since it’s not for the sake of millions of people but instead exactly zero people, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

“But the fishies?”

“I’m sure they’ll be tasty enough after they unfreeze.”

“What about the poor plants?”

“They don’t have thoughts or souls. It will be okay, Bear Hug. It should happen quickly enough that there won’t be much suffering.”

Bear Hug hadn’t even considered that part. All they knew was that they didn’t want these specific things to die… because. There wasn’t really a reason why. It just seemed sad.