The tactics used by Devon were more or less the same as when he’d been fighting the Numerological Compact previously. While their ships from the upper realms were constructed slightly differently, they still had their primary controller at the core. Their cultivators used the principles of Confluence in their advancements to Integration and Augmentation, focusing on directing the energy of others.

Just like before, they carried with them unwilling slaves to use as batteries. The rank of such cultivators’ cultivations was higher, but being from the upper realms they weren’t adapted to natural energy.

Despite the risk, Devon still intended to focus on keeping the innocent cultivators alive in a war, but Devon had enough leeway given his position in Enrichment that it was worth it. He also had a team of skilled formation experts who would be able to swiftly dismantle the formations and thus allow him to roam freely in a short time. He didn’t want to be locked down for the duration of a battle just to save some people they had no connection to- except perhaps emotionally.

The Augmentation cultivators among them had what Devon could only presume were Magnitude V ships, with up to a half million cultivators contained within them. The power contained within was as much as some of the cities Devon had dealt with, but controlled by a more powerful individual.

He picked out the strongest target first, and despite the total amount of energy arrayed against him he felt confident in himself. After all, he had experience fighting against the Compact’s particular style, while they would at best have only received transmissions about him. Devon’s power hadn’t remained static over the last centuries either.

There were actually a relatively small number of ships on either side of the battlefield, though that was because most were packed to the gills with cultivators- willing or unwilling. When the exchange of attacks began, Devon didn’t hesitate to charge forward. There were three Magnitude V ships that focused on him, grand behemoths brimming with power.

Devon danced back and forth, seeming as if he could not approach with their combined firepower cutting off his mobility but in actuality he was trying to test their limits and the placements of their weapons. Having perfectly redundant weapons facing in all directions was expensive, even if it might have fit ships of that particular style. He found a weak point, and pulled the team behind him along as he dove forward.

Beams of energy tore towards him, but Devon had new techniques. He smashed his way through the outer barrier that was a shell around the whole vessel- though individual sections of ship were protected by more durable barriers over them specifically. However, Devon was prepared for that. His chains snakes around the nearest segments of the ship, cutting off the flow of power to the core and preventing the counter flow of energy that would signal parts of the ship to destruct.

He didn’t slow for a single moment, swinging himself with the chains as attacks tried to keep up with his movements. He did his best to be unpredictable, generally spiraling inward but not entirely.

Devon knew that everyone not fighting with the first line of defense was standing below him on the planet watching and waiting, and the devotion from the Shattered Chains in particular but the Turilia in general where they were making their stand kept him energized. A drawn out engagement might benefit him, as the enemy could not replenish their upper energy. But at least for the first ship he needed to be quick, to take out as big of a portion of the enemy’s strength as possible.

Devon’s shielding chains brought the formation masters the rest of the way inside the ship’s defenses about the time he reached the center. While the man controlling everything might find them suspicious, he really had to focus on Devon.

The innermost barrier was a bit more tricky, retaliating as he kicked into it. However, Devon’s chains encircled the branching pathways, cutting off the majority of the flow towards the core at the same time he squeezed the barrier. The bridge cracked and he slipped through the destabilized barrier to see the man inside.

He still had an Augmentation cultivation… but an Augmentation cultivator away from his home and an Enrichment cultivator were not as balanced in strength as their technical cultivation tiers would otherwise imply. The man also clearly wasn’t that specialized in single combat.

He wielded a long spear, trying to catch Devon… but soon both man and spear were entangled in sharp chains. Devon was fairly certain that having detached himself properly from the core the ship would not self detonate, but he bound the man properly instead of directly finishing him off. He then loosened his grip on the flow of energy throughout the ship, so that the ship’s automatic defenses would replenish from the power of the surrounding cultivators- to defend the formation masters against the other Augmentation cultivators.

One down, two to go. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemy fleets were experiencing just how much proper cooperation could surpass technically higher quantities of energy. Oh, and exactly what the will of hiveminds could do. He wondered if the enemy even understood what was happening with those cultivators. He was fairly certain he sensed a few of them flooding the smaller ships with their combined thoughts and power.

Not every enemy ship could be spared, despite the lives of innocents. But everyone was motivated to do their very best.

-----

The path of the fleets approaching In’istra took them first through the system housing Azun. No doubt they thought little of it- it was just a neutron star, after all. They didn’t intend to drive their fleets into the star for no reason, so it should have been perfectly safe.

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But Varghese was waiting there, and though their approach seemed quite distance considering they could barely even see the ten kilometer across ball of flame, they were practically touching it.

Varghese channeled magnetism from the star, using his blade as an anchor. It was unfortunate in some ways that the majority of the construction of enemy ships was wood and not metal. It was quite difficult to magnetize so much that wasn’t naturally that way.

So he didn’t bother, instead focusing on weapons and armor. His magnetic fields pierced through the traditional barriers of the ships, pulling on cultivators. When weapons and armor began to press against the side of the ships, it was only slightly different from directly pulling on the ships.

The enemy didn’t just stand there and let him of course. Some launched attacks, though those splattered uselessly into the ultra dense surface of Azun, pulled away from Varghese by the massive gravity around him. Others simply did their best to negate his hold on their weapons and armor.

Despite being in his domain, Varghese couldn’t counter an entire invasion force alone. Perhaps if it had been of the same magnitude as caused the devastation of In’istra in his early memories, but the enemy fleets were quite serious this cycle. Otherwise, they would have been annihilated after barely crossing the border.

Some weapons and armor tore through the hull of ships, while other ships remained durable which was ultimately a worse fate as they rapidly reached the pull of Azun from which they could not escape. Varghese was an exception, being bound to the star.

He wasn’t able to defeat the whole fleet in a single attack. Indeed, when all was said and done Varghese incapacitated at most a tenth of it- counting partially crippled ships and a few injured cultivators. Some abandoned the ships as they were pulled closer, but those who were not swept up by others along the way simply couldn’t catch up. Varghese finished them off, before taking a different route to arrive at In’istra before the rest of the fleets.

Since he was going from bound star to bound star, a bit of Anton’s techniques and the constant flow of power to him allowed that to be possible. Besides, the fleet had to travel at the speed of its slowest members- or if not, they could stagger into In’istra’s territory in waves, which was also a victory.

-----

“Your sect head lost to one of ours, a man of true spirit!”

Naamah wasted no time in taunting the Hardened Crown that came to assault Nidec. Technically, she didn’t know Sly all that well. He’d ascended before the branch on Ceretos chose to ignore the orders to fight the locals.

That choice had resulted in their exile to another system, but Sly was imprisoned in the upper realms for something that ultimately wasn’t his fault. But instead of being angry with Naamah or the sect, he had shown a stubborn resistance to what became the other Hardened Crown.

Sly could call the branch in the upper realms the Harder crown if he liked. Naamah didn’t have to do that, because he couldn’t punch her from there.

Naamah stood alongside Vera, from the Nidec branch. They had brawled into cooperation, and ultimately decided that the upper realms telling them what to do was the antithesis of their creed. They could still respect Sly’s browbeating, though.

“Sly is not here to protect you,” said the older man at the head of the invading segment of the Hardened Crown. “We will see to it that you properly capitulate.”

Naamah grinned over at Vera. Just as they expected. The main sect wanted to beat them back into line. Technically, they didn’t mind such a philosophy- but they’d have to be able to back it up. And to do that, they’d need the right motivation. As the defensive side, their stubbornness gave an advantage to the lower realms.

Not that being on the ‘defensive’ side would make them do something silly like hide behind their planetary barrier. That was for the rest of the people, and the rest of the fleet.

“This guy looks weaker than Devon,” Vera said. “Look at his nose.”

“Hasn’t even been broken once,” Naamah shook her head. “Let’s fix that.”

The two of them charged forward, along with the other higher ranking members. A head on clash was the only way to settle the battle, perhaps literally.

-----

Good news continued to pour in, though not all victories were as impressive as Akrys. There, they had severely underestimated what would be required, most likely not even expecting active cultivation. Some systems might not have made it at all, if not for the blunting impact of the void ants. Even then, there were some severe losses, and some were still facing fighting on the ground as they failed to prevent the invaders from taking a foothold.

But unless the defenders experienced total annihilation, it was still a victory. No, even total annihilation of a system would only matter if the entire Lower Realms Alliance fell. If they did not, they would still keep their techniques and heritage, instead of having everything forcefully reset. Not that the loss of so many lives wouldn’t be a tragedy, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as letting the old cycles continue.

Anton continued to feel the incoming fleets. They would reach Eckit about the same time as other fleets reached the core worlds. Within the margin of error of the time lag of communications, at least, so most likely each conflict would be over rapidly. This time, they had the option to prevent their enemies not only from reaching particular cities or continents, but to entirely keep them off of their planets. That hadn’t worked perfectly so far, but forcing the enemy to breach planetary barriers was still valuable.

Soon. Soon this fleet would be within range of Anton’s bow. Then he would be able to resolve the tension that had been building within him. Ekict had throughout its history leaked a greater amount of information to the Twin Soul Sect in the upper realms, and it was theorized that some of those who had stolen their cultivation had ended up in their clutches. That was the only thing that explained the response they saw here, perhaps even more than worlds like Ceretos.

Anton concentrated on the field of stars that stretched off into forever, his hand clutching his bow tightly. The upper realms would not be allowed to get away with minor consequences for their evil. Not now, or ever again. And for the Twin Soul Sect in particular, he had spectral energy with their name on it, courtesy of his inability to reincarnate.