With the lost flag retrieved by Alva, Koralo was able to reform a smaller bubble of safety, though the instability had caused a permanent deterioration in the flow of energy that could only be resolved in a safe space by completely taking down the formation. As they were still in a void between the relatively stable partial dimension subspaces of the Nighstar sect, that wasn’t possible at the moment.

They continued forward one small step at a time, no longer in range of the other Exalted Light cultivators and Elder Ludek. They bore both old and new wounds, especially Alva who had stepped out of stable space to retrieve what they could of the formation flag. As the group trudged along, Velvet and Alva did their best to support Koralo’s energy holding together the formation.

Alva sensed the incoming danger first, but their uninvited guest was already properly positioned to react. Lelka responded to Alva’s sudden alertness by calling upon as much of her energy as she could, her mirror shined shield blocking the rear of the group.

A beam of light the size of their entire bubble appeared, tearing through the void. It was a mixture of the energy of Elder Ludek and all of the others with him, who apparently hadn’t given up just yet even though he was beyond their best senses.

The struggle took only an instant but it felt like an eternity. Lelka kept her shield pressed as far out as she could, as their already unstable bubble couldn’t endure the intrusion of more foreign energy. It was greatly diminished by distance and unstable space, but she could barely defend against it. She had no additional strength to keep herself in place and began to stagger back.

She was caught by Durff, bracing her with his forearm pressed against her shoulder blades and pushing her back forward. “You’re a pretty decent person,” he said. “You can’t just lose to some guy who doesn’t even have the fancy title he’s going for.”

His words came too late to actually help with the struggle, but his support had been enough. The diminished energy had only caused a minor disturbance to their stable zone after all was said and done. Though all of them were running low on energy.

Alva grumbled. “They’re still in the same spot… I could probably shoot some of them…” she shook her head. “But we need to be prepared in case that happens again.”

She shifted herself to the rear, Velvet moving in front of Koralo alone. They continued moving, further and further. Two more attacks came, but each were greatly diminished in power as the separation between stable spaces became too much for any amount of pure strength to overcome.

There was one more they sensed, but it passed far from them. Whether it was a ploy to keep them off guard or a true lapse in targeting they did not know. Velvet wished she could conceal them, but her techniques would risk disrupting their hastily constructed moving zone so she could only use what power she had to support Koralo.

Each step they moved along, they wished for true darkness around them instead of staticy cracks in reality. What seemed like a mobile field of stars swirled around them and blinked in and out of sight.

The bubble shrunk even further, until they had to crouch as they moved, packed together to conserve energy and maintain what stability they could. None of them could say precisely how long it was at the time, but eventually they sensed something. And anything but a distortion beast in this place was a good sign.

As they drew closer, Alva was the first to confirm what was ahead. “It’s the same space from Metenin,” she said. “The connection was successful.”

They still had to reach it, but were filled with newfound vigor in their approach. That lasted for long enough that they pressed into the mostly stable space. They were able to breathe an actual sign of relief, finding themselves somewhere they weren’t constantly expending energy and could even recover slightly. Most of them even found it quite refreshing, as it drew upon the power of the local star. Even Lelka’s tangential connection aided here.

Durff had no affinity for light or fire in his nature or his techniques, so he simply curled up on the ground, exhausted.

“So,” Alva said. “Nothing to be alarmed about but… it’s different than I remember.”

“How so?” Velvet asked. She hadn’t memorized the layout, nor was she sure it was entirely possible. With the overlapping states and positions of things, it was a chaotic mess to begin with, especially as it had been damaged when they arrived.

“Like I said,” Alva commented calmly. “It seems alright. But it almost feels… more stable? Either way, someone has manipulated it. Did the Alliance do anything…?”

“We secured the higher layers,” Velvet said. “But I don’t think we had done anything this deep. And it would be odd timing, with the war.” She frowned. “We’ll need to, though. We don’t want enemies to be able to sneak into our territory like this. And even if they don’t fully understand how, the fact that they saw us is enough. A shame about Ludek, though. Running into him and his survival both.” She looked suspiciously at Lelka. “Still, thank you for the warning. And your aid.”

Lelka nodded. “My reasons aren’t that complicated. You still seem like better people to stake my future on.”

“I think that’s enough here,” Koralo said. “It’s still somewhat unstable here. If we can find where you broke back to the higher layer, we can reach true safety soon enough,” he said.

“I’ll lead us there,” Alva said. “Follow my movements carefully.”

Everyone was well aware of the hazards, including Lelka and Koralo given what they had recently experienced. Alva had the senses to predict what they would run into instead of being surprised by a sudden unfortunate overlap. And tired as they were, it would be harder to avoid damage if they had something trying to share space with them.

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They dragged themselves to the location three of them had been before- with Durff and the others having been extracted via this location. Koralo didn’t find much useful in terms of lingering remnants, but with the stability forcing themselves to the ‘normal’ level of subspace was more achievable.

Koralo set up a temporary formation that shunted them closer to where they wanted to be. When they arrived, they found that the area was indeed populated by a number of guards who rushed towards them. Fortunately, they could recognize the aura of various Scarlet Alliance sects, including the One Hundred Stars and the Dark Ring.

Even though they recognized each other’s cultivation styles they approached cautiously. A young woman led the group of guards. “How did you get here?” she asked as she looked down at a scanner that should find their registered energy signatures. At least, most of them.

“Same way as last time,” Alva said.

“And what does that-” she stopped as she seemed to get a final reading. “My apologies. I was unaware any of the founders would be here.” She still looked slightly suspicious, which made Velvet proud.

“It’s not a secret,” Koralo commented. “As guards here you should have been apprised of the deeper subspace. We were… forced to traverse it.”

“One of you is unregistered,” the woman said. “Is she…?”

“A prisoner,” Lelka assured the woman. “My restraints were eased due to the dangers of travel.”

Velvet nodded, taking the cue to pull out her secondary pair of restraints. She couldn’t carry that many of the necessary quality to bind an Augmentation cultivator, but it helped when they were placed willingly. Lelka let herself be restrained again, and soon enough they were escorted out of the secret realm.

“Do you know the status of the war?” Alva asked the guard.

“We don’t have many details, but it seems that the enemy retreated,” she replied. “We’re a bit remote here so the rest…” she shrugged.

The full news was something they could only hope to find out when they returned properly, then. But they sent a message ahead and took solace in being somewhere safe for the moment- even Lelka.

-----

With the infiltration group returned, the infiltration group met up with Timothy and Catarina, along with other leaders. Lelka was taken to a secure, if comfortable, facility until they could be certain of her legitimacy, though her efforts had proven her words sincere to those with her.

Together, they began to put together the whole story.

“Our timing seems to have been perfect,” Velvet commented. “The battles took place simultaneously… and I think we might not have survived otherwise.”

Catarina nodded. “It is a shame that Chikere was unable to return alive. She was responsible for what appeared as a small wound, but that might have been sufficient to tip things on our end.”

When Chidi’s slash cutting off Zaur’s fingers was revealed, Durff had a comment. “Should have cut off his whole arm.”

Chidi laughed. “I was aiming for a full bisection of the man. Getting that much is quite fortunate.” He shrugged. “I wish I could show Chikere.”

“I have this, still,” Durff pulled out her arm. “She gave it to me, I guess. But it’s the wrong arm. And I don’t know if she really meant for me to use it or was just saying that because it sounded good at the time.”

Chidi’s face suddenly lit up. “Can I hold it?” Durff tossed it to him with no further prompting. Chidi’s fingers traced the metal. “I still feel her energy.”

“Is she alive?” Catarina asked hopefully.

“I don’t think so,” Chidi shook his head reluctantly. “Not in any way we’d recognize, at least. Some of her is imbued in this arm, though.”

“She also cut the planet in half,” Alva said. “I don’t think we got to that part. But I’m not sure quite why.”

“Because that way nobody could forget her,” Chidi said simply. “Plus, she could prove she was the best. I’ll need to visit someday.”

Tauno laughed. “You say that like it’s not deep in the heart of enemy territory.”

“We’re going to destroy his anchor eventually,” Chidi shrugged. “So maybe it will be then.”

“Anyway,” Alva said. “We learned some important things. A Domination cultivator can protect their anchor from any distance, it seems. But they’re harmed by damage to it. How long do we think Zaur will be injured for?”

“Those fingers aren’t coming back,” Chidi said. “Not that he really needs them. He could be back to full fighting strength sooner except for whatever that means for his anchor. I have to ask, was it damaged already? Signs of repairs?”

“Not that I noticed,” Alva said.

Velvet shook her head. “No. I’m not quite sure what that means.”

“Potentially perfect recovery,” Zazil said. “Which would be quite problematic- though I’d bet this takes a long time to recover from. However, I would postulate it is more likely this was an exceptional circumstance. Most injuries should not transfer to the Citadel. Like the fight with Ratna. But we don’t have an easy way to find out.”

“We do, actually,” Velvet said. “Because Lelka was there the whole time. She could have witnessed any changes. She should also have quite a large amount of other information.”

With that, their discussion turned to how to handle their new captive. “We should get what information we can and get rid of her,” Tauno said. “She’s too dangerous to have around.”

“I would not accept that,” Timothy said. “She came freely to offer information. Even if we don’t trust her, we can simply not allow her freedom of movement. We can even keep her energy bound. That would result in a lessened lifespan, but her only desire seems to be life. We should at least provide that.”

“The Scarlet Alliance should also be seen as fair and balanced,” Prasad commented. “There was an implicit acceptance of her terms, at least to some extent.”

“Publicly accepting her could be valuable,” Zazil added. “Though it may provoke further conflict with the Exalted Quadrant. I would not wish to risk that in the near future, regardless of our apparent victory.”

And a victory it was, because even without the damage to Zaur and his show of fear their losses were relatively minor in comparison. Not that the death of someone like Chikere wasn’t a huge sting, not the only damage they suffered. But it was another chance to continue on and build strength for whatever came next. Hopefully, nothing too soon.