The assault on the Scarlet Alliance came almost precisely on schedule. That wasn’t due to any clever manipulation on their part, it was simply their enemies sticking to their pace. They didn’t linger nor try to speed up to throw off the Alliance’s timing.

Maybe the Exalted Quadrant would come to regret that later. For the moment, they had sufficient power to be confident in their assault. After all, the last time they only retreated because of the interference of another Domination cultivator.

Since then, it had only been a couple centuries. They didn’t expect much change. Frankly, that was one of their biggest flaws.

It was unfortunate that they couldn’t connect the enemy directly to Xankeshan. The planetary defenses there were several times better than at the border, but they simply hadn’t completed the necessary project. It wasn’t even guaranteed to work even if they’d had the time.

There were quite a few different sects in attendance, though the Citadel of Exalted Light still made up the bulk of their number. Zaur Beridze’s initial reason to hate the Scarlet Alliance, the capture of Nadzeya, was long gone. He had learned that Everheart was at fault, and even clashed with the man.

But the mere fact that they had resisted was reason enough for Zaur to want to strike at the Scarlet Alliance again. Most likely, that was the same for the whole of the Exalted Quadrant. They just couldn’t stand anyone who thought they could match up.

The initial assault was about what was expected. Ships poured into the system one after another, carrying cultivators. That, then, was where they had their greatest failure. Instead of waiting for the incoming ships to approach any of the planets, even though orbital platforms would give the Alliance a defensive advantage, their own fleets rushed towards the approaching enemies.

Ships began to fall one after another, except those that contained particularly powerful cultivators. Though their inhabitants wouldn’t suddenly perish just because the ship they were on was destroyed, it did make them vulnerable as many of them weren’t proficient in maneuvering in empty space. The ships were more or less just to carry people between systems and nothing else.

Meanwhile, the Scarlet Alliance’s ships were all made to augment the power of the cultivators that rode in them. Some of their cultivators were still more efficient without a ship, but they had a great many able to take down the majority of the enemy ships, and the free-floating cultivators that survived their destruction.

Of course, there were numerous powerful Integration cultivators among their enemy, and they weren’t lacking in Augmentation cultivators either. Zazil and Tauno clashed against enemies from the Void Blades and the Forest of Death. Some of the few decent ships the enemy showed in the first wave were manned by members of the Worthy Shore Society. Though the cultivators of Ceretos had broken away from them, the main sect was still part of the Exalted Quadrant. Their formations were higher tier, making their ships more durable.

Hoyt and Prospero took that as something of a challenge, making the best use of Falling Stars that they could. Solar energy crashed into the ships, and while they were able to endure- indeed, even sharing barriers between ships- simply enduring wasn’t sufficient.

The enemy wasn’t without their own strengths, of course. Aside from having tens of Augmentation cultivators- numbers the Scarlet Alliance still found difficult to match- they had a few exceptional individuals as well. That included Kigal from the Hardened Crown Sect.

The old woman might have been even more scraggly than before, though perhaps that didn’t mean anything. Either way, the power her body held was real. She seemed intent to crush as much of the Scarlet Alliance as she could as rapidly as possible.

She was particularly interested in one of the larger ships, and had been kicking, punching, and headbutting her way through the fleet towards it. Finally she had an open path, and charged straight towards it.

Obviously she sensed sly coming, but she didn’t change anything. His fist met hers head on with a great pulse of energy cracking across the battlefield. “I’m surprised,” Sly said. “I thought you were strong, once.”

“I am strong, brat,” Kigal said. Energy rippled off of her in great waves as she stared him down. “Don’t think I haven’t gotten stronger since last time, either.”

“Nah,” Sly said. She kicked him in the side of the head. Two things cracked. One was part of his skull, one was her ankle. Sly didn’t move, even though slowly absorbing the force of the blow would have been ‘optimal’ from a certain perspective. “See, the thing is… I’ve been here the whole time.”

“So?” Kigal said. “It’s not like this region is particularly affluent with upper energy.”

“First, you’re wrong about that,” Sly retorted. “Second, I noticed you haven’t been here in the last two centuries. And I realized… that’s because you’re afraid to go anywhere without your dear leader.”

“Hmph. You think I’d believe your alliance wouldn’t have banded together to take me down?”

“You know they wouldn’t have,” Sly said, taking a punch straight to his chest. Ribs cracked. And one knuckle. “Not that they would have needed to anyway. Because you see, I’m a sect head.”

“I heard about your dumb Harder Crown Sect,” Kigal spat. “But I don’t see much. You’ll be ground into powder soon.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“At least I’m actually the head of a sect instead of just a lackey of some other sect,” Sly said. “Also,” he beckoned her closer conspiratorially. Then he slammed his head directly into hers. Yes, it was ‘better’ to try to smash her nose through her brain, but… then he wouldn’t make his point. “My head is harder so everything else you say is invalid.”

-----

Engineer Uzun watched the battle between Kigal and Sly from the rear. He honestly didn’t know if Sly remembered that he was supposed to be delaying Kigal to the best of his abilities, not actually trying to fight her. But… he seemed to be doing pretty well, all things considered. His body wasn’t being destroyed particularly faster than his opponent’s.

The instruments on the panel in front of him indicated everything was in order. Good. It was time to start drawing out the enemy’s true strength. Even their fleets had to be better than this. And of course, Zaur should be somewhere among them.

Kigal was decent cover. Obviously her physical form didn’t do much, but she provided great confidence for the area behind her. So they weren’t ready when Uzun’s ship fired upon several of their strongest cultivators, beams of energy empowered by thousands of cultivators aboard. That wasn’t enough to kill Augmentation cultivators directly, but when they were locked in combat… people like Tauno had the beast like reflexes to take advantage of such an opening.

Kigal clearly wanted to block the attacks, but Sly had drawn her into a headlock and thus her significant quantities of energy were focused on dealing with that.

Enemy ships continued arriving, but they were cut down nearly as fast as they arrived. And not just by ships. There was a particular eagle flying among the various cultivators. Oh, and some extremely odd fish. None of the cultivators from Akrys were Augmentation cultivators, but they were all unique enough to throw off their enemies. Thinking of them as mere beasts or some sort of bonded companion was a good way to get killed.

There were other factors at play as well. Though the number of Integration cultivators appeared to be balanced, many of the Exalted Quadrant’s were from the upper realms. While it was not an insurmountable position to make up for the way Ascension affected an individual, it was significant enough. And the Scarlet Alliance had over a dozen strong systems to call upon from the Lower Realms Alliance, plus a small portion from the Shining Cooperative.

Meanwhile, over the last cycle the Exalted Quadrant had lost a good handful of those very same systems, as the Lower Realms Alliance would no longer allow them to maintain a foothold since their initial betrayal on Ceretos. If they had been willing to live together, they could have even had a greater number of recruits. Instead, they lost out.

They doubtless had others beyond the reach of the Lower Realms Alliance, but that was spread through many different sects. It wasn’t something they couldn’t make up for, but each additional factor in the Scarlet Alliance’s favor gave them more of a fighting chance.

Now where was that blasted Domination cultivator? Was he going to wait until the rest of his forces were defeated? That would actually be quite convenient, though the Scarlet Alliance couldn’t exactly go all out until he was present. Catarina and Timothy especially would be waiting around for nothing.

Then an alarm beeped. Ah, there he was. What excellent timing.

Zaur moved at a speed surpassing light, cutting through a dozen ships on the way to Uzun. The grand ship was barely able to withstand the blow, being blasted backwards towards the planet they were defending.

Uzun was quite proud of his work. The structural integrity was still sufficient to take another few blows, though of course the complexity of the formations helped. The adaptive barrier was tuned to Zaur… which was probably necessary to avoid complete annihilation.

Though Uzun wasn’t particularly fond of battle, he’d been needed for this. The Scarlet Alliance couldn’t afford to hold back in this war. Preferably, they would end it early- though that somewhat depended on factors out of their hands for now. Either way, Uzun was part of the local plans.

So he focused all of the weapons on Zaur. As expected, he shone brighter than a star and came out without a scratch. But instead of killing off their Augmentation cultivators, vulnerable on the battlefield, he chased Uzun.

The second hit tore a hole right through the center of the ship. That wasn’t great, but the barriers kept the atmosphere in… and there were backups. Shame about the crew, though. A portion of them were wiped out.

Even so, none of them lost determination. Uzun guided their will into one final attack, blasting Zaur in the chest. He charged forward. Uzun saw his demise- then the man disappeared.

-----

Catarina grimaced. Someone had to be inside the formation, and she’d done her best to convince Timothy it should have been her. Then he had to ruin all her arguments with a single line. “I have a shield.”

She could hold a shield. That’s how she should have responded. Instead, she was standing on the outside of the formation. It was precisely made, tuned to Zaur’s energy specifically. An ultimate suppression formation.

A pulse of energy. That wasn’t a good sign… but it wasn’t the worst possibility, either. It had been ten seconds, and Zaur hadn’t broken out of the formation yet. That meant it was working, at least a little.

Twenty seconds, another pulse. Catarina’s heart squeezed tight, but something told her the worst hadn’t happened.

The next pulse came at twenty-eight seconds. Then faster and faster, until light began breaking out of the formation. She clamped down on it, modifying the way it reacted. Domination cultivators were such cheaters. Nobody should have that much power.

The formation exploded just shy of the one minute mark. Catarina thought it did pretty good. Look, even Timothy was still standing there. He was… still alive, at least. The hole through his lower torso wasn’t immediately life threatening. And of course Zaur stood there, looking uninjured.

Catarina blinked. Zaur had a cut on his cheek. She was supposed to activate a secondary formation now, but she couldn’t help but voice her surprise. “Timothy… you injured him?”

Timothy stood tall and straight, his shield scattering a constant beam of light that Zaur was shooting towards him. “I most certainly did not. It just happened.”

At that, Zaur became curious. He idly raised a hand- the other still pointed at Timothy, attempting to disintegrate him, almost casually. His fingers touched blood, and he looked at them. A very complex expression came across Zaur’s face. The main thing Catarina recognized was rage as the secondary formation bloomed around Zaur, Timothy, and one other, standing nearby.

Too bad their optimal projections hadn’t succeeded. Zaur could have been dead, and Catarina wouldn’t have had to watch her husband and son face off against the deadliest enemy their alliance had ever seen.