Long distance sensing tended to involve narrowing perspective to a smaller area. That was the basis of Anton’s abilities, but of course he had long ago ovee the main limitations. After all, it would be pretty much impossible to find anything in three dimensional space if he only used a narrow sensory band to sweep across things. The fundamental core was still there, but Anton picked up minute fluctuations in energy from surrounding areas.
It was rather easy to find people within a system, ass all gave off their own potent energy signatures and from there it followed the same principles he’d been using since the beginning. If looking for people between systems, he took advantage of how thin the natural energy was- anyone in the area or that had passed by would leave obvious traces. Sifting through such information quickly allowed him to eventually lock onto a target.
It was easier when they were powerful, like beacons that drew him in. Unfortunately, Anton hadn’t actually been looking forward to powerful enemies. He was quite content with a peaceful life, but the world wouldn’t let him live one of those. Not unless he ignored most of it.
“Contact,” Anton warned his allies. “They’re still far out, but obviously headed this way. And… the situation is quite serious.”
Erin was hosting all of them atop Paradise’s head. It was easiest for the turtle to listen there, though of course Paradise never really <em>said</em> anything. Anton was fairly certain the turtle could understand speech and could <em>probably</em> replicate it with his level of intelligence, but he never did. He was always willing to fight their foes, though.
“How many of those… angels… do they have?” Erin asked.
“Seven,” Anton said. The number was probably not random. If they were nning to deal with what they had seen from him, plus the remaining locals, two would have been enough. Given how the Holy Stars were portraying themselves, they doubtless thought the number seven had value.
“That’s fine, right?” Nthanda asked. “Thats one for me, Anishka, Erin, Paradise, and Bear Hug can take out that Aniello guy. You can handle two, can’t you?”
Anton shook his head. “I will be busy. They also have… a Unity equivalent.”
“Well damn,” Anishka said. “We should have brought Devon.”
Erin thought for a moment. “What did they call that stage… Divinity?” She spat off the side of Paradise’s head. “How arrogant. Anyway, as long as you can handle them my sect can probably hold off the rest of those… Angels.”
“Um,” Bear Hug hesitated slightly. “Briar wants to know if Aniello is there.”
Anton grinned. “You can say that <em>you</em> want to know. It’s okay.”
“I’m going to squash him in a very impolite manner!” Bear Hug said, iling their energy around.
“He <em>is</em> there,” Anton said. “So you and the people of r can take out him and his troops.”
The Lower Realms Alliance had sent more than just Erin’s sect to fill out their ranks. There were a number of Ascension-ss battleships and troop carriers. Nobody had been quite certain what level of response was appropriate, but stationing people in a border system that had just been attacked had seemed appropriate.
Others were mobilized elsewhere- which was a good thing given what Anton had sensed with Maheg. Even if that hadn’t been an intentional attempt to bypass their border security, it had still been a concerning situation. They did determine that Angels could die, though.
“How long do we have?” Erin asked.
Anton took some time to estimate their speed. “If they keep their pace, without stopping long for recovery, I believe they are about a week distant.”
Nthanda nodded. “How long before you begin your attack?”
Anton thought about that. “I think I’ll attack when they’re two lightyears out. I have no good way to estimate the strength of their leader with so few points ofparison. Whether she has just passed the threshold or is a long established peak cultivator is a mystery. I would prefer to give them no opportunity to retreat. And if they get that close… we’ll have an opportunity for diplomacy.”
Specifically one that wouldn’t involve Anton overexerting himself to maintain a connection. He wanted to include others. Was he extremely upset about Bear Hug being harmed? Absolutely. Would Bear Hug want them to go to war, risking many thousands of lives in just the first battle? Not if it wasn’t happening already. It was important to consider the whole of the Alliance.
That said, they couldn''t show weakness. An army showing up at their doorstep was certainly an aggressive move. They would have to be willing to offer some reparations for their previous actions. Anton might demand Aniello’s head, but he would be willing to negotiate down from there if he thought it would lead to a viable peace. He didn’t get the sense that the approaching group intended to speak, though.
Before anything else, Anton sent a information back to the core worlds. Paradise obviously had permanent long distance instantmunication stations set up. His required special tuning because the normal ones didn’t have significant rtive motion normally, but since Paradise was practically a small of his own it would be strange not to have anything.
Traditionalms were fine, but Bear Hug hadn’t subjected themselves to centuries of study for people to <em>not</em> use instantms in as many situations as possible.
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The Lower Realms Alliance might be able to estimate a general area of where the Holy Stars had their territory, based on the time dy and such. Obviously it would be imperfect, because it was impossible to assume a set velocity, nor did most space travel have actual straight lines. Going from system to system was the norm, and Anton saw that was much the same with the approaching group. They would enter a neighboring system first, instead of cutting across the empty space. Their speed was fairly impressive, but it was mainly supported by the one leading them. Anton <em>refused</em> to refer to them as a Divinity. Unity wasn’t correct either, but since there was no one else to get confused with at the moment ‘leader’ was fine.
-----
It was time. Anton’s estimate was off by a day because the fleet had stopped in the neighboring system for longer than expected. Whether they <em>needed</em> to rest or simply chose to Anton was uncertain. He wasn’t willing to risk a close inspection of such a powerful cultivator, or he might risk revealing himself. Thus, determining if they were fatigued was only a guess. Since he hadn’t observed a previous rest cycle, there wasn’t much he could go off of. It was possible they had to rest between every system or two, or that they flew the entire journey in a single pass without stopping.
Anton stretched out his energy, also prepared to recreate any feedback he got to those around him. He would be able to transmit <em>their</em> energy if they had cause to speak, though generally as the strongest cultivator he would be given the burden of authority.
The reaction to energy contact was immediate, but Anton’s voice was flowing before any sort of attack could beunched. “You are entering the sovereign territory of the Lower Realms Alliance. You know this, given yourpany. State your business.”
Firm, but not <em>too</em> confrontational. That was his intention.
“Is this the one?”
Anton risked a closer inspection of the leader. A woman, it seemed. She was addressing Aniello.
“It is, Divinity,” he bowed his head as he spoke. “The coward.”
Anton was strained between his desire to ignore petty insults and his duty to show strength. Ultimately, he didn’t annihte Aniello because the woman would probably protect him. Plus, Bear Hug wanted personal revenge. “Strong words for one who ran away from a mere spark of my presence.”
“I did not speak to you, <em>outsider</em>.” The woman brushed aside Anton’s energy.
He sent it back in greater force, his aura washing over the fleet. “This is the territory of my people. I will listen as I please, and respond as I please. From your dismissive manner, I expect you are not here to pay reparations. I will give you one warning to leave, nameless invader.”
Anton wasn’t even very rude, but her reaction was over the top. “How <em>dare</em> you? I am a Divinity! My name is so great that your tongue is unworthy of uttering it, but I shall speak it once, that you might know who brought you low. I am Daria the Divine! Remember this, in the time before you perish.”
Anton just looked at those around them. What was he going to do? They mostly shrugged. Anishka made a rude gesture that Anton did <em>not</em> transmit through his connection.
“You are formally renouncing your chance for peace, then?”
“We do not seek peace with our lessers!” The woman once more scattered her aura, brushing away Anton’s energy.
Anton took ten seconds to decide on his target. Daria herself… if he could kill her, he would dly do so. But he might get a better picture of what she could do if he targeted someone else. From what Anton could tell, she had the same style as Aniello- that of the Purified Wardens. She would serve as an excellent guardian, so seeing her at work was a desirable oue.
If he found any ws, he would exploit them immediately. Either way, she was far too close to flee now. Though perhaps she wouldn’t <em>know</em> that. Anton had intentionally vastly limited the distance he contacted them at. It was better that his foes not know the full extent of his abilities. They would likely underestimate him from the previous time- not realizing how limited he had been.
As Anton held his bow, he wondered how Everheart would feel about this group. The man seemed to hate the upper realms for their intrusion, but surely he would also be annoyed by lower realms individuals. Anton also frequently wondered why Everheart had had such an exceptional bow, though he was known to collect <em>everything</em> so the answer to that was probably ‘because he saw it’.
It was such a nice please-don’t-kill-me gift. Anton was certain Everheart would approve of using it to kill these particr people, if only because Everheart liked to be the arrogant one. Though most of the time, his arrogance was rtively justified.
Anton didn’t consider that he might lose. It was a useless future to consider. He would have plenty of time to assess his opponent. Unless she could skip two lightyears in a moment, in which case Anton really wouldn’t have a chance to begin with.
The target was one of the seven that wasn’t Aniello. A woman from another sect. It would either be more or less embarrassing for Daria to lose such a person under her care. If he could cause a little bit of internal strife in the ‘holy stars’, Anton wouldn’t mind that.
His arrow departed. It would take long enough to arrive that even if Daria had anticipated some sort of attack she likely wouldn’t be fully on alert the moment it arrived. Of course, Anton would be following up with a number of additional attacks. Whether his first shot was sessful or not, he would need more. At this point, he had to kill at least two ‘Angels’.
Too bad she stopped him. His arrow approached, and suddenly wings the size of a star- a fairly typical yellow star, of course, nothing absurd like a giant or supergiant- covered the entire fleet. Anton’s arrow was dashed into nothingness, its own energy easily dispersed.
Anton did try another angle. Every angle, really. He kept the same target to test Daria. She was blocking arge enough area that it really wouldn’t matter if he changed his target anyway, but he wanted to see if she would be more efficient.
She didn’t. Maybe she couldn’t, or maybe she just didn’t bother. Either way, her massive wings curved around a huge area, covering everything. There weren’t tiny areas to slip through, as the intervening space was still protected by Daria’s energy. The wings were more of a visual re, Anton supposed.
He wondered how much energy it took to maintain them. Anton considered trying to overpower them, but he had the feeling that wouldn’t work. Not because she was necessarily stronger, but because defense was clearly her strong suit. Even if he was near full power with his attacks, he didn’t want to risk failure. He could learn more before that. And he had quite a bit of time before they would arrive.
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and
continue reading tomorrow, everyone!