Elder Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion may not have seemed like the optimal sort of individual to bring to defend a system from invaders. His armor might have fooled people, but his style didn’t exactly scream ‘defense’. However, just because he wasn’t going to be sitting around blocking people didn’t mean he wasn’t a valuable part of the Alliance’s defensive strategy.

These ‘Imbued Fragment’ cultivators controlled metal, so he really didn’t want to hang around them longer than he had to. But his natural style worked just fine for that. He picked a target- usually a nice big ship- charged headlong towards it at maximum speed, and sent it on a trajectory headed for one of its allies, crushing both ships and optimally sending them towards a third and sometimes fourth vessel. Chain reactions longer than that were difficult to set up when every cultivator aboard actively controlled the structure of the vessel.

Sudheer paid no attention to anything trying to get closer to the local planets. His only job was to find his next target- preferably one of the rock ones- and hurl them at the next target. Rinse and repeat, building momentum and transferring it all to his enemies. It actually took special techniques for him to not simply create a body-shaped hole in the vessels.

Targets were chosen in some part by proximity, but also by power. Strongest first, because that would cause maximum damage and he didn’t want them hanging around. Highest on the list were ships he felt were avoiding him- though at the same time, others were the lowest priority. It relied on snap judgments to differentiate between types, but ultimately Sudheer focused not on those who were shying away from them, but instead those who were trying to slip past. The former were just around- the second had a goal. And whatever the goal was, he didn’t want it.

He slapped his chest to collapse his breastplate back into its place. He was going to need to spend a good long time with some smiths getting the thing ironed out, but even his defensive energy couldn’t completely stop the enemy’s manipulations. They primarily focused on trying to stab him with his armor, but when they found that didn’t work because it had a good sense of form they tried to separate the pieces. Fortunately, nobody ever got to affect him for more than a few instants.

Swiveling his head, Sudheer found his next target. He was breaking all of his guidelines about strength and proximity. Honestly, he almost hadn’t noticed the ship at all… but instincts told him to look. And there it was, a tiny ship flying far away from the other vessels. It didn’t have any notable energy coming off of it… which was actually probably what tipped him off. It was too minimal, as it didn’t even have the fluctuations of natural energy the ship had to have with the cultivators who were effectively shoving it about.

He knew he made the right choice when suddenly other ships tried to block him. And instead of letting them distract him, he just continued to speed up. Anything that got in his way was flung aside callously, unless it was angled right for him to stomp off of and boost his own momentum.

With only ten or twenty layers of ships between himself and the edge of the fleet, Sudheer was out of there in no time. Meanwhile, the little ship was not particularly impressive in its manner of acceleration. It did make a sudden lurch as he approached, but Sudheer wasn’t planning to impact it with pinpoint accuracy regardless. He didn’t have to hit it with his body, just his energy.

Sudheer was an enormous rhino rampaging through the stars, just as he liked it. His presence extended widely, and he impacted the tiny ship… only to be met with a counterforce that sent him flying backwards into the fleet he’d just departed.

The first thoughts to flicker through his head were, ‘huh?’ and ‘What’s that dense’ and then ‘Where’d they get worldheart?’

The answer to that final question wasn’t actually that difficult to figure out, either. From what he’d heard from the frontlines, they were literally ripping apart planets every day. Perhaps it was surprising he hadn’t seen a ship sized chunk before.

As he righted himself, Sudheer was at least glad to see that the ship hadn’t managed to maintain its trajectory. It was able to force a massive rebound force upon him… but he wasn’t so fragile that it could crush him. The ship didn’t seem to have been damaged either, a number of solidly powerful Life Transformation cultivators holding it together along with whatever formations it had.

He was pretty sure he’d knocked loose some of their stealth stuff, because he could feel them now. He wasn’t sure he could break that ship. Maybe he should throw it into the sun?

Sudheer was already charging them, of course. Thinking was done in the moments between motion and impact. He decided not to toss them into the sun simply because they looked like they were going towards it. And if he couldn’t break the structure, he just needed to impact in a different manner.

He crashed into the ship, his momentum instantly negated. The ship managed no counterforce, however, because all of that kinetic energy bypassed the hull and transferred to those inside. Sudheer thought they would probably be shocked, if they had comprehended the situation.

Then the ship exploded. Oh right, whatever they were doing involved something inside that ship. Sudheer got a shard of worldheart piercing through his heart and out his shoulder blade as worldheart turned into shrapnel. Fortunately, no one else was near enough to be hit right away- though the planetary barriers in the system were going to have a field day deflecting that debris.

Sudheer looked down at the huge chunk of metal through his heart. It fit pretty snugly, so at least he wasn’t bleeding much. Time to look around to see if there was anyone else he should butt heads with.

-----

Elder Sudheer was not the only one to discover a ship made of worldheart bearing weapons. He was the only one to cause one to explode directly next to him, and fortunately he was also the only one to cause one to explode in general. The Alliance managed to capture a couple ships, their various sensors picking them out as a threat. More than a handful of others determined they couldn’t complete their mission and were able to retreat from the various systems.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As for the payloads, experts determined that they had a similar effect to what had previously taken the Trigold Cluster an entire fleet- a destabilizing force meant to destroy stars. Sudheer had actually been around for the first such incident with Zunrose’s star, where they’d even been willing to destroy their own people.

There was a reason the Lower Realms Alliance had sent him and so many others as reinforcements- they feared something like this was possible. Fortunately, they didn’t have to experience anything the hard way. If they had merely brushed off their enemies as a bunch of Life Transformation cultivators, the results would have been catastrophic.

-----

Gaila was a determined and diligent student. Devon paid close attention as she focused on her training. She wasn’t particularly filled with great cultivation talent. It took her four months to complete her first step of Body Tempering, though some of that was because she needed to recover from her nutritional detriments.

Her determination reminded Devon of his grandfather- though it also showed Anton to be a wild exception to the norm. By four months, he’d ignited four stars. Even if his physical condition and health had been better, his training methods hadn’t actually been as good. Devon knew that because Anton himself had helped develop new training methods for both those young and old.

Perhaps the Shattered Chains was simply a worse cultivation style for an elder. Then again, if it was sub-par then someone of advanced age wouldn’t be able to take even the first step of energy cultivation.

Yet despite all that, Gaila didn’t give up. Now she was lugging around her heavy ball and chain, making laps around their base. Any former slaves who wished to were able to be taken away from the frontlines, but she desired Devon’s personal instruction. She wasn’t the only one, and though Devon hadn’t quite intended it to end up that way he certainly had made an impression on the locals. Despite the minimal involvement of slaves, over the various planets they had gone through he found more than a few batches of new disciples.

All of those interested in learning the Shattered Chains accepted Devon’s declaration- and they continued to move around with their chains. They could have them removed at any time, but it would be better if they could do it themselves.

Four months became one year, and where the most talented disciples were breaking into the late Body Tempering stage, their success was through talent more than determination. Not that Devon would disparage the success of any of his disciples, but Gaila might have become something amazing if she had talent. No, Devon supposed she still could. She should still be coming out ahead on lifespan, at least. Her wrinkled face wasn’t growing any smoother, but that was probably from her constant expression of determination.

After a year and two months, she broke through to the first tempering, besides the full body tempering. She chose muscle, an unsurprising choice among the Shattered Chains. However, Devon found it somewhat risky.

Following her breakthrough, she took several days to ready herself… and then she set about breaking her shackles with her bare hands. It was not pleasant to watch. Even with the first general tempering, her skin was thin like paper. Blood flowed down her fingers when she was barely started, grasping the inside of one of her restraints. But it didn’t stop her, even when Devon felt her bones straining. The metal gave out first… though just barely.

Gaila fell unconscious, only one out of four of her targets down. Devon wrapped her hands in bandages filled with medicinal herbs to help stop bleeding and promote recovery. When she woke, she replenished her natural energy by eating and meditating. He wasn’t certain if she even noticed the bandages, and at the end of the day she repeated her efforts with her other wrist.

The bindings around her ankles were stronger, and her fingers gave out before the metal. She spent months in recover, but made another attempt as soon as she was ‘healthy’. First one ankle, then the other.

When she was done, Devon expected a shout of joy. An exclamation of victory. Any sort of response except for standing up and stretching. “Ah. That feels better,” she nodded to herself. She did eventually come to find Devon. “I’m done,” she said.

“Congratulations,” Devon said. “Now you can begin cultivating in earnest, having freed yourself.”

She smiled at him, a big smile with many missing teeth. She hadn’t exactly received proper care in captivity- having any teeth left might be a sign of her stubbornness. “Nah. I’m done,” she said. “Just wanted to let you know.” Then she sat down directly in front of him, closing her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Devon asked.

She opened one eye. “I thought it was pretty straightforward. I’m done now. So I’m not going to do… anything.”

“If you merely wanted to be freed… the option was available,” Devon said. “I didn’t mean to force anything upon you.”

“Oh no. You were right, sect head. Teaching me to do it myself has made me the most free I’ll ever be. So I can finally decide what I want for myself. And on my own terms… I’m done. With everything.”

It didn’t take a great level of insight to understand her. She wasn’t hiding anything, after all. Even so, it was not what Devon would have expected.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you otherwise? You still have potential.”

“I’ve already heard you speak about Anton. And aside from knowing that I don’t even have a sliver of his talent… I don’t care. I don’t mean to seem ungrateful for your rescue. But I’m done.”

“Are you just going to sit there until you die?” Devon asked.

The old woman frowned, then slowly pushed herself to her feet. “I should at least get somewhere out of the way, shouldn’t I?”

“That wasn’t really the issue I had,” Devon sighed. “In that case… could I at least encourage you to share your story with others? Some have become discouraged about their lack of progress, and I am not much good at encouragement in that regard. Saying I understand would be disingenuous.”

“Well…” the old woman tapped her wrinkled chin. “I suppose I might as well. Until my heart or lungs give out. Or perhaps my liver. Or anything else. Doesn’t hurt to yammer on a bit.”

Devon smiled slightly. He could understand something of what she felt, even if he hadn’t experienced it himself. Anton spoke of accepting his end in a peaceful manner, until he’d been disrupted. For Gaila, it had simply come in a different order. But still… she might find something more, if she stuck around for a while.