Sometimes threats could be seen far in advance, and sometimes they came all at once without warning. The Scarlet Alliance had been keeping an eye out for a particular case for a while. Plans had been drawn up, but when the time actually came they weren’t finalized. That meant some improvisations would be necessary.

Of course, the incoming information could mean nothing. Movements within the Exalted Quadrant happened all the time. This particular mobilization, however, checked several criteria. First, a large-scale mobilization of the Citadel of Exalted LIght. None of their allies, at least not yet, but that was worrying enough. Then there was Zaur. They didn’t know where he was, which was a bad sign. They could only assume he would end up in the worst possible place.

Or at least, that was all Velvet was willing to assume. Her preparations needed to be done quickly, which meant a small team. Unfortunately, that also meant not being able to inform people ahead of time. She had to pick from those who were available, and she was ready to be rejected numerous times.

First, though, she needed someone of a particular type. One that she was definitely not. An individual who fought in the category of destruction. For anything else, she would have chosen Chikere. Actually… maybe she still would. Velvet would just tell her there was something that couldn’t be cut. That should work, though Chikere might be busy. And having more than one person for a critical part of the mission was probably a good idea.

“Durff!” Velvet moved far faster than people usually did to get to a different part of the city. She had to speak to him in person. “There’s a mission I need-”

“Okay,” Durff nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Uh-” Velvet’s whole spiel was suddenly tossed over on its side. “You should probably… hear what the mission is first.”

Durff frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why? Do you… not want me to do the mission?”

“Well, no. Yes.” Velvet was going to confuse herself with all of that. “I did come here to ask you to do it, because that’s what I want.”

“Then I agree. It’s something I can do, right?”

“About as well as anyone, I think,” Velvet said cautiously. “Though it would be better if you were an Augmentation cultivator.”

“Obviously everything would be easier if I were stronger,” Durff agreed. “Do I have time to do that first?”

“Uh, no. We’d have to leave within a week.”

“Hmm,” Durff nodded. “Yeah, a week isn’t nearly enough time.”

Velvet smiled. “I wouldn’t think so. Augmentation isn’t that easy to reach. Cultivation takes time.” Durff was somewhere in the mid to late Integration stage- it was difficult for Velvet to know for sure given it was an unfamiliar style that he practiced. Not everyone had clear markers, either. “Anyway… I should still explain. We need you to break something.”

“Oh, my specialty,” Durff flexed. “Consider it done.”

“Yes, well, it will be something very durable protected by a lot of people who don’t want you to break it.”

“It usually is,” Durff nodded. “I assume we smash them first?”

“That’s the thing… we might not have the luxury of doing so. And… our target might not even be what we’re looking for. If it is, it might be unbreakable.”

“Nu-uh,” Durff said. “Aunt Eka told me that nothing is unbreakable.”

Velvet wondered if she actually meant that. Though ultimately, she would have to agree. But just because something was technically breakable didn’t mean it would be simple. It might not even be something an Augmentation cultivator could do. Maybe an army of them, but… it wasn’t possible to get an army to their target.

Ultimately, Velvet just had to be honest. “The most likely result of this mission, even if we succeed, is that we die,” she continued. “So… don’t feel obligated to join.”

“You’re going?” Durff asked.

Velvet nodded. “I’ll be responsible for getting us to the target alive.”

Durff pointed to Velvet. “You’ll die if the mission fails, right?”

“Well…” there was a small chance of getting out. And if anyone did, it would be Velvet. She’d be willing to give her life for the cause, but she was also the least likely to actually be able to damage anything. Durff should have more destructive power even though she was an Augmentation cultivator. “I wouldn’t expect me to make it back either.”

“Then, as your friend, I should go,” Durff concluded. “What about Jyotsana and the twins? Are they coming?”

“Jyotsana is… not strong enough, just yet,” Velvet shook her head. Aside from not being suited, she was still in the Life Transformation stage. Maybe given a few more decades she’d reach Integration and even surpass her previous peak strength, but as things were she wasn’t enough. “I don’t think the twins would be good for the mission, either. Though…” it wouldn’t hurt to have a formation master along. Sure, Misi was barely at the point he could be called that, but Velvet couldn’t bring Catarina. She’d be needed here. “I might invite them.”

“Okay. Who else?” Durff asked.

“Alva… potentially Sly, if we can get him. And Chikere.”

“Oh, I like her. She’s nice.” He pat his bulky hammer, hanging on his back. “She helped me make this. It isn’t anything like swords anymore.” Durff stroked his chin. “Is Alva good at breaking things? I know she’s strong, but more in the way of… killing people by shooting behind their armor. I assume we’re not planning to break a person. Otherwise, you could probably do it without me.”

“Yeah. Not a person,” Velvet agreed. She was actually glad she hadn’t given a full explanation to Durff, not because she wanted to lie to him but because she couldn’t know what information he might accidentally give up. Even in the most extreme paranoid fears she had Durff wouldn’t be sympathetic to the Exalted Quadrant.

-----

Sly was pretty high on the list of people that could break things, but with him being the head of the ‘Harder Crown’ it was really necessary to have him around if there was a big conflict. Velvet would gladly fight with Hoyt and Timothy, but neither of them were quite at the necessary level of destruction. Maybe Hoyt if he had time, but ultimately the mission was likely going to be short and deadly. He couldn’t hang around spinning falling stars around him in sight of the Citadel of Exalted Light itself.

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“You want me to cut the enemy’s headquarters in half?” Chikere had asked.

“Pretty much,” Velvet agreed. “Or smaller pieces, if that’s easier for some reason.”

“And we’re going to be attacked by everyone still there while I do that?” Chikere confirmed.

Once again, Velvet was forced to confirm her words. “Unless you can do that without letting off a ripple of energy for people to detect.”

Chikere furrowed her brow, clearly thinking deeply. Good, this was something people needed to consider clearly. “I guess that’s a good enough way to die. I’ll do it.”

At least she didn’t ask if they had swords. Then again, Chikere seemed to have moved past that phase, since she no longer kept swords for herself.

-----

Alva had agreed easily enough, once explaining what her role was and why it was a necessity. “I might not be able to actually speed us up much, especially in enemy territory,” Alva explained. “But I’ll do my best.”

“You were working with some of the ships, though,” Velvet said. “And I’m familiar enough with you to better be able to hide your energy signature. Your role is… either the most important or superfluous, honestly. We just need to arrive on time, but arriving early might be pointless.”

“Maybe I can help break stuff,” Alva commented. “Since I’ll be there anyway. People tend to put delicate parts behind cover, after all.”

“That’s… a good point,” Velvet agreed. “I wish we had a proper layout, but I think that would take a century of getting good spies killed. The fact that we’re learning of the mobilization is… already about as much as can be expected.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’re going after someone else,” Alva said.

“I hope it’s Everheart,” Velvet said. Though, if it was Everheart… they might want to try to complete the mission regardless. Because whatever else she believed about that guy, she knew that he had no intention to wipe out the whole Scarlet Alliance. Unlike, say, Zaur and the Citadel of Exalted Light who would do it just because he failed to do it the first time.

Too bad his injuries hadn’t festered and killed him, but if Domination cultivators were that easy to kill Ratna probably wouldn’t have risked the battle.

-----

Velvet had a high opinion of Misi, but the truth was that he was relatively new to formations. At least, compared to the amount of experience they needed someone to have. Besides, if they recruited Misi then Juli would want to join as well… and while she was quite good at what she did, none of it was practical for their mission.

But going without a proper formation master would be foolish. Catarina was the very best they had, which was why she was needed on Xankeshan. However, just because she was the best didn’t mean they didn’t have many other competent formation masters. It wasn’t possible for her to handle important work for all of their planets, even ignoring the various branches of research that the Scarlet Alliance always had in development. With neighbors like theirs, they couldn’t feel comfortable saying what they had was ‘good enough’.

Among other things, several generations of formation masters had apprenticed under Catarina. She didn’t horde information all to herself, after all. The only limitations were on the level of trust people could have, since certain information could be dangerous in enemy hands.

Velvet was able to secure the assistance of a man who had begun an apprenticeship under Catarina four hundred years prior. Koralo was his name, and while his official title had changed, he still considered himself an apprentice.

“I’m still learning from her every day,” he explained. “Even if I am up to her level of expertise from when I first began- which I’m not quite convinced of- she still maintains a certain distance ahead of me. It would be more, if she wasn’t dragging me along with her.” Koralo nodded. “I owe her and the Scarlet Alliance much. Of course I will go with you on this mission.”

-----

Five people packed up into a small ship, where they would be living for the next year or so. After all, they had to travel hundreds of lightyears. That was a big step up from the earliest interstellar ships Velvet had seen, going half a lightyear per day sometimes. Here, they were hoping to surpass two. They could actually outpace that by quite a bit, but not over such a long distance. The ship would need to replenish its energy stores, as well as any cultivators on board. It could probably fly continuously for a month, but that meant a significant number of required rest stops.

Those were easy enough in the Scarlet Midfields. Pop out near any convenient unoccupied star, and they could top off. The route through Exalted Quadrant territory would be more difficult.

If everything went well, they would arrive early. Or rather, approach their destination early, and hide somewhere appropriate until the time came. If everything went poorly… Zaur would appear the moment they left and start destroying planets in anger.

Velvet seriously doubted it would be the latter option, but the point was that even if they could easily outpace the enemy fleets, there was no guarantee of that with the Domination cultivator- especially since it wasn’t clear where he was.

There had been some hope that the reports were missing something or that the Citadel of Exalted Light had mobilized to attack a rival within the Exalted Quadrant. That was slowly fading as a few other sects had begun to mobilize and move towards the border of the Scarlet Midfields. Most likely, they were joining up to gain favor in Zaur’s eyes. Or because they were afraid of him, but that didn’t change the end result.

“Alright, so,” Chikere said, sitting stiffly opposite Durff in some of the few chairs they had in their light craft. “We’re agreed that I’ll cut everything into pieces and then you can smash that stuff into dust.”

“... No? We agreed that whoever is successful first will do so. That means if I smash this citadel thing to pieces, you then cut them into tiny bits.”

“Right,” Chikere nodded. “Which means that it’s getting cut into eighths or whatever’s convenient depending on the shape. Because I’m obviously going to be successful first.”

“Oh!” Durff nodded. “It’s a challenge. I see.”

“Hmm. It’s not that I doubt your resolve, but without being arrogant I can say that I have sufficient skill that you can’t make up for the gap in cultivation.”

Durff frowned. “That is a problem. I don’t think I can reach Augmentation here, either. I’d probably break the ship.”

“Is the time limit not an issue for you?” Chikere asked.

Durff shrugged. “I don’t know. I can do a lot of stuff in a year. A year-ish.”

“Are you at the peak of your cultivation for Integration?”

Durff tilted his head. “I guess I’d have to be, huh. Well, I don't really know. I only really cultivated hammers and the stuff Aunt Eka made for me. I didn’t really get all of the Veiled Brilliance stuff so she made something simple. The hammer stuff was just around, though.”

Alva poked her head into the bridge. “I don’t mean to pry,” Alva said. “But I’m sure you are aware the ship isn’t exactly private. Is your focus actually hammers? Because it feels different.”

“Heavy stuff,” Durff shrugged. “But I don’t think there’s anything better for me than a hammer. Whatever I do, I’ll definitely be smashing stuff. You think this citadel will be difficult to break?”

“It might be the most fortified thing in the entire Exalted Quadrant,” Alva said. “If not… it’s in the top rankings equivalent to however many Domination cultivators they have.”

“It’s too bad that Zaur guy is such a jerk,” Durff said. “I’d prefer not to have all my friends die.”

“That’s why we’re trying to stop it,” Alva agreed. “Because I saw Zaur fight before… and even with all the defensive improvements we made I doubt it’s enough.”

Chikere yawned. “Yeah, he was pretty strong I guess. Doesn’t mean he isn’t going to die though.”

“That’s the plan,” Alva agreed. “Maybe it will turn out to be flimsy. I could snipe it from three systems out. Of course, that would require already having attacked it to know, or we just give away our presence. So I won’t actually do that.”

“Good,” Durff said. “Because I have to be near it to smash it, and I’m gonna win. Or we all die or whatever, but that happens to cultivators all the time.”