There was one thing that baffled Reneden about the Holy Stars. Actually, there were a lot of things that didn’t make any sense to Reneden about how humans operated, even if they were the ones that had been responsible for its emergence. There hadn’t been any around for Reneden to get used to during its long development, and learning about them afterwards was still strange.
Ultimately, Reneden understood that humans wanted to expand, and for that they needed resources. Though ultimately they could probably get by with less, it still made sense. Reneden just didn’t understand why the Holy Stars would go so <em>far</em>. They were almost as far from their home as Reneden was!
The parts in the surveince beacons. Every time there was contact between bits of Reneden, the thoughts only propagated. The Alliance also thought it was odd that they would go so far. Did they <em>need</em> to take from others?
Reneden didn’t think there could be a satisfactory answer. Either they didn’t need to and simply chose to, in which case they were terrible people, or they needed to and had developed in entirely the wrong direction. Which made them bad people. They would have had quite a long time to choose a better path.
Whatever the case, it was clear that they weren’t giving up. Reneden continued to slowly improve the efficiency of each surveince beacon in which it was propagated. The more that they could catch, the better. There was yet no proof that capturing Holy Stars cultivators alive would make them lose their devotion to others, but the Alliance was still working with that assumption. There were also people interested in ‘deprogramming’ them, whatever that meant. Something about making them realize the Holy Stars weren’t as great as they were told.
It should have been easy. They’d just have to talk to Bear Hug. But maybe they were so far gone that even that wouldn’t be sufficient.<fn0abd> This text is hosted at FιndＮovel</fn0abd>
Reneden didn’t have much context for saints and angels and divinities. It only knew that one side put a lot more emphasis on those titles than the other. The Alliance actually refused to capitalize them in publicmunications, unlike other cultivation stages. A judgment with their very words. Reneden liked that.
It didn’t like having to deal with angels, though. They were faster and harder to pin down, which meant the messages of their presence were oftente for optimal impact. Still faster than they could move, but not instant. Reneden was trying to study Bear Hug and instantms devices, but they weren’t good for replicating into. They weren’t alive enough. And that was saying something, given that Reneden’s main body had been practically a husk of aputer system that shouldn’t have been functional anymore. After it had been repaired- after thorough investigations to make sure the humans wouldn’t cause any harm- Reneden had felt so much more functional.
Another angel to the southwest. Further over than normal. Reneden wondered if it was okay to attach that note to themunication. Was there a standard alert that would provide the same information to the humans? It was hard to do that without revealing too much. Some people wouldn’t be happy Reneden was helping. Or rather, they might think that Reneden <em>wasn’t</em> helping.
Because humans were scared. That was one thing Reneden understood. New things were scary, and even if Reneden had been in contact with the Alliance for over a century everything was still <em>new</em>. Especiallypared to Anton and those like him. What was it, a millennium and half? Possibly older than Reneden! Certainly older than <em>conscious</em> Reneden.
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Devon had his main base of operations in the Unified Sector, where the Shattered Chains had first found its home. He wasn’t a hivemind cultivator and never would be. He had no interest and it was likely impossible to properly integrate after reaching Unity regardless. It was a fundamental thing that needed to be chosen early on, at least in the grand scheme of things. There was a fairly wide window of possibility.
Reports from surveince beacons had been analyzed, and it seemed that the Holy Stars were probing the entire border of the Lower Realms Alliance. They might soon find their way to the Unified Sector. The former Numerological Compact systems, plus their neighbors that the hiveminds had been expanding into, were quite capable of defending themselves against most threats but even with Devon they probably couldn’t deal with two of their enemies top cultivators.
Devon would probably handle Daria better than Anton. Not that he had more power behind his striked, but because he could deal with an opponent that was purely defensive. Sealing chains were actually quite valuable for such situations, as he could slowly condense the area she was able to operate. He had undergone hundreds of training scenarios with the recordings they had, just in case he <em>did</em> have to go to battle with her.
For the moment, Devon remained at a forward outpost as far as he dared to be. He could move back to the center of the Unified Sector if needed, or out to any disturbance that called his attention. Properly analyzing the threats was necessary so that he didn’t get pulled out of position. Most things didn’t merit his attention.
A handful of ‘angels’ did. He set out towards their scouting group, preparing to fend them off however was necessary.
The Holy Stars had quite arge number of Enrichment equivalent cultivators. Even if they were sending a significant proportion of their cultivators to scout out the Lower Realms Alliance, it was still notable. The Alliance might actually be outmatched for the first time in many centuries. Though that just meant they had to go back to the times where they overcame odds stacked against them. It was simple enough, and Devon refused to ept a world where that was insufficient. It wasn’t like he’d survive to see it anyway, so he would have to do his best and act without regret.
They did have void ants. It was possible that the Holy Stars didn’t really <em>understand</em> that yet. Yes, they had attacked Daria but she hadn’t really had time to take a good look at them. She’d instantly sted away a strange attack. A number of their other cultivators had been brought down in r by the same. Not enough for them to have proper counters. Plus, the Alliance had void ants <em>everywhere</em>. It would be hell for anyone to try to conquer theirs with void ants living on the surface.
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The Holy Stars cultivators he found were nothing like what Devon had experienced before. A few cultivators of the Burning Hearts had previously appeared around r, and Devon had already thought it strange how they turned part of them into fire. That didn’t seem to be their limit, as the effect spread from there until they were purely fire.
It wasn’t just a visual effect. His chains passed through them, finding no purchase. The spikes tore no flesh, and the mes happily fused back together. The same was true even when he sted them further apart with waves of his energy. The Burning Heart cultivators simply reformed, seeming undamaged.
Yet their attacks were as real as anything could be. Devon was kept busy protecting his allies, both Shattered Chains disciples, and Confluence cultivators. Plus anyone else that joined up with the Unified Sector’s forces.
The Holy Stars seemed quite fond of taunts. One of them that Devon thought had been a woman- and now was a nondescript mass of me- tried to call him out. “How pathetic. A mere shadow of true Divinity.”
Devon’s instincts were tosh out and prove her wrong. But those were <em>base</em> instincts, not proper wisdom or cultivation attainments. In fact, Instinct told him that attacks wouldn’t work at all. “Is that so?” Devon asked. It could be risky to respond, giving them legitimacy to their taunts. However, if he could knock them down a peg it would all be worth it. They didn’t seem to handle failure well. “How then would one of your just as false divinities handle you?”
“You ask me to speak of my weaknesses? How pathetic.”
Devon grinned. He knew his words didn’t mean much. He just wanted another jab while he prepared himself. “I was just wondering what they would do with your wings.”
That was one thing consistent about all of those who were ‘angels’ or above. Even between cultivation styles, they had wings. A representation of their power. Perhaps a bit more durable but slightly less flexible than keeping energy free to move exactly as it pleased.
Long chainsshed out. The woman didn’t even bother to dodge as he swept through her torso. She just flung a ball of me at a target nearby, which one of Devon’s <em>other</em> chains blocked. But even though he’d told her his target, the woman didn’t seem to think it meant much. Devon had just wanted to take a few moments to be certain he would do it right the first time.
Two loops of chain stretched out behind the woman, wrapping around two wings. Then they constricted. He could have ripped them off right there- and Devon thought she would have had trouble recreating them, at least in the near future. But he didn’t. Instead, he let her cry out in pain as the others set in on him.
He yanked her in front of their attacks. Spectral fire should be able to hit spectral fire. That was all the justification he had for such a maneuver. Obviously cultivators could <em>normally</em> handle what their energy did. Anish had been famous for mes that would only harm enemies, so insubstantial cultivators might do even less. But that was only if they were both fully in control. Devon’s chains didn’t just bind physical objects. They bound insubstantial wings and dragged the woman around. Of <em>course</em> he would make her more solid right as the attack struck.
He could have just killed her. With his chains already around her wings, she wouldn’t be able to avoid him. But it was more impactful for <em>them</em> to hit her, even if she lived.
Devon didn’t enjoy hearing people scream. He didn’t like holding them captive. But they were foes, and he never held someone in very nor allowed captives to be treated poorly. He didn’t enjoy hearing the woman cry out in pain either, but he <em>did</em> enjoy seeing the others flinch away.
“Yourck of cultivation understanding has led to quite a bit of arrogance,” Devonmented. “I’ll give these four fools in front of us one more chance to flee before I pluck out your wings.”
“As if they would ever-”
“Shush.” Devon suppressed her energy, and her words could not travel through vacuum. “Your opinions aren’t part of this. As for the rest of you, go ahead and run along. Tell your people about your failure.”
Devon didn’t think they would, but it was Alliance policy to embarrass the Holy Stars as much as possible- for actual tactical advantage. Hopefully.
They didn’t run. So Devon was forced to rip off one pair of the woman’s wings to keep his word. If her first words had been asking him <em>not</em> to instead of saying her allies would never surrender, he might have reconsidered- but he listened to her finish her sentence even if he suppressed her words from traveling further.
He still kept the woman bound, the chain having snaked around her midsection and binding her arms to her sides. She was nearly returned fully to her physical form, the mes fading. Just a couple pairs of burning wings left.
“How dare you!”
Devon shook his head. “How dare <em>you</em>. You respect your own as divinities, but trample upon our territory with no thought for any of our people.”
Long chains spiraled out in mysterious patterns, blocking dozens of iing fireballs and even tying up huge cones of me, turning them into little more than puffs of orange. It was an unnecessarily dramatic way to do it, but that was unnecessary in the <em>normal</em> sense. Long term, the drama might win something.
Devon had enough chains to wrap a, long before. He could absolutely catch four cultivators. His chains confidently closed in around them, and as they intentionally discorporated to try to get around them, he caught them regardless. He then shoved their bodies back together before forcing them into corporeality.
It was taxing to suppress five cultivators of such strength, but Devon was specifically suited for such things. If they were more cautious, they could have put their effort into speedy avoidance instead of relying on their insubstantiality- after they had already seen it fail.
Soon enough, they would have the best power suppression shackles fitted to them. Hopefully, some ‘divinities’ would find themselves suddenly missing some wings, though it was likely more impactful if their failures came while physically present. Maybe sending groups like this was to avoid negative consequences, but more likely it was because they couldn’t risk venturing into the unknown. Which was <em>also</em> a great thing to tell people to weaken them.
“The rest of you can run along and report back,” Devon said. But the lesser cultivators didn’t. Apparently, they couldn’t go back without their superiors, so they surrendered. Devon wondered if they would have been killed, or simply had too much honor.
So much for sowing uncertainty with this batch. But at least they had… way too many prisoners. Good thing they could spread them out through multiple systems.