Chaos was where Everheart thrived. That was why he did his best to foment more of it. Though of course, he didn’t want continual chaos. He was only one man. Sometimes thousands or more of one man, but the point was that he did need some downtime. There were all sorts of things he needed to do with all the resources he picked up, after all.

Zaur Beridze’s death was something he had been prepared for, unlike Sudin. Thus, he had been on site shortly after, running into the area about the time the Scarlet Alliance was running away. And they left behind so much of value.

Everheart was annoyed they had apparently destroyed most of the Citadel itself. He hadn’t actually been close enough to tell what they were doing until after he was certain Zaur was quite dead. Was it technically the correct choice? Probably. Even if the chance was low that Zaur could somehow revive himself from shattered remains of the Citadel it wasn’t nothing. Though it would have been once Everheart got his hands on it.

But in the shattered remains of the Citadel’s core planet, they left behind a perfectly good chunk of Worldheart. Maybe they didn’t think it would fit in their ship. But it wasn’t like leaving that behind would save a planet that had been turned inside out. The planet was dead, so regardless of their morals it was now just material.

He dug through the rubble of the planet and swept up any books he could. Most likely they were things he already had, but duplicates didn’t hurt. And there could be a few things. Zaur’s personal notes were likely on the man himself, and his real body had been attacking the Alliance. They probably wouldn’t survive his death, but the man might have stolen some useful details to teach his sect.

Then there was Rahayu. The man didn’t speak much, but when he volunteered to do something Everheart knew there was a good reason. His reasons this time were clear enough- if it wasn’t Chikere, what else could it be? It would have been to retrieve her sword, if she had one. But somehow she’d transcended that. Everheart had no personal investment in using his blood as a weapon, and he didn’t have enough devotion to any weapon path to replicate the same thing.

“It’s a shame when the apprentice dies before the master, isn’t it?” Everheart commented.

Rahayu shrugged.

Rather than uncaring callousness, Everheart chose to interpret the man’s actions differently. Perhaps it was that Chikere had no longer been his apprentice for centuries. And that sword cultivators of their type didn’t seem to care about death in the same manner. Everheart didn’t really get it, but they seemed to see dying in battle as somehow both inevitable and correct.

The swordmaster moved unerringly towards a certain point. Then he swung his sword, cutting the flipped planet in half again. His arms didn’t stop, slicing the planet into numerous pieces. Though his energy didn’t linger, so the planet simply settled back into its same mass.

“If you were looking for her arm,” Everheart commented. “I do believe it ended up leaving with them last time.”

“Just testing something,” Rahayu said. He then moved out to a lonely point in space. His sword didn’t cut through a planet consecutively there, and indeed his energy didn’t go beyond the edge of his blade, but Everheart thought there was something equally profound. “I need to fight Chidi someday.”

“Well, don’t go starting a war with the Scarlet Alliance. They seem quite good at killing Domination cultivators.” Obviously Everheart had plans for what would happen if they came after him. He wasn’t going to foolishly play by their rules, attacking their well fortified capital system. But his main plans were to just avoid them because it wasn’t beneficial.

“He’ll want to fight me as well,” Rahayu said.

“I’m sure we can arrange for a spar through Vari,” Everheart said.

Rahayu shook his head. “No. It will be real, when the time is right.”

If Everheart was talking about the time being right, he would be looking at something like an ambush. Or cleaning up after a battle. Just because he could fight and defeat people head on didn’t mean he was going to risk that. Rahayu probably meant something more profound. Maybe the two of them would wander off to an isolated system by instinct. Everheart wouldn’t put it past them, despite claiming no foretelling abilities.

-----

Trying to carve out a small divot shouldn’t have made Catarina’s hands hurt, but it did. She had also been finding random wounds on her arms, blood trickling down. She was worried she had some sort of mysterious illness, or lingering side effects from her trials. Visiting a proper medical practitioner revealed to her the awful truth.

Everything she was experiencing was normal. That happened when people got older. And without her energy maintaining her body, it was beginning to revert to something more resembling a non-cultivator.

It was awful. Nobody should have to live like that. Getting old was way worse than Anton had described it. Fortunately, nobody did have to live like this. At the very least, cultivators who grew old while still having their energy were more… functional. Probably. Catarina didn’t exactly have a large cohort of people who weren’t constantly improving in cultivation.

“Do all of your joints hurt?” Catarina asked Timothy after slowly limping her way back from the lab.

“All the time,” he confirmed. “It’s much harder to swing a sword, and I can barely lift my armor. But if I don’t move, I feel even worse.”

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“This is my fault,” Catarina said.

Timothy shook his head. “You shouldn’t blame yourself for keeping us alive.”

“I didn’t have to suggest we stay… like this.”

“And I didn’t have to agree,” Timothy shrugged. “I trust your insights.”

“I’m so close,” Catarina sighed. “But I feel like I’ve been saying that for the last decade. I’m worried… I don’t have a plan for you.”

Timothy looked far into the distance. “I’ve experienced Domination energy in battle, and I’ve felt it flowing through me… for quite a long time. I don’t think I can be any more familiar. I have my own plans. They’re actually quite a bit like your own.”

“... Formations?” Catarina tilted her head.

Timothy chuckled. “Oh no. Not at all. I was referring to the solar platforms. The teleportation pads. They draw a great quantity of power from the stars. Their barriers are quite powerful. I think that would fit me quite well.”

“Just like that?” Catarina asked. “You don’t want to… make any modifications?”

“Nope.”

“But I- what if it improves your chances? Just a little bit…?”

Timothy smiled. “Do you think I would intentionally leave you, after all this? Your style is to take care of all the fine details. I just do what I must. I don’t intend to die, you know. Protecting people… it’s not just about keeping my allies from being injured, you know? I’m perfectly aware of how you would feel if I sacrificed myself. So I have to be strong enough to not get wounded myself.” He looked down at his hands covered in new scars. “These don’t count. My skin tempering is wearing out just about as fast as yours.”

“I’m not going to live if you don’t,” Catarina said. “I don’t think… Chidi and Yuval don’t need me. The Alliance, while they have my loyalty, wouldn’t be enough reason to stay. So you have to live.”

Timothy frowned. “I could say the same to you. Which very much lowers our overall chances. Though there is one thing we need to do to improve our chances.”

“What’s that?” Catarina asked.

“Make an announcement,” Timothy pointed out. “Say exactly when and where we will be advancing. Or at least when. Because Domination is even more devotion based than anything else before it. We need the support of our people. I doubt that Everheart invited people just for fun, you know.”

“Well, it was probably also to harm their dignity,” Catarina shrugged. “But I see your point. Which means… I need to lock in a plan. I could keep striving for perfection forever, just one more day. But I already know that I might be lowering my chances. Especially if our bodies weaken too much.”

“Don’t worry,” Timothy said. “Your insights are good. Being like this, devoid of energy, will provide us great opportunities.” He didn’t mention the possibility that they might instead be overwhelmed by energy and get annihilated. That was possible for anyone trying to advance to Domination. Saying whether it was more or less likely in their cases was a bit difficult.

“Five years,” Catarina said. “No… seven.”

“Four,” Timothy said. “Unless you want to invite other Domination cultivators to watch.”

“Do you think that would improve our chances?”

“Well, that depends on whether they want to kill us,” Timothy said flatly. “How’s your relationship with Everheart?”

“Volatile.” Catarina thought for a few moments. “Yeah, I’m not up for letting any Domination cultivators enter our borders. Even Ratna. How about we arrange for the announcement to be secret. We’ll only tell the people we trust.”

“That’s hardly publicizing it.”

“And then a few months before the date, we’ll tell a few other people and inform them of how very secret it is,” Catarina continued. “Nothing travels faster than secrets. And I say this fully intending to anchor myself to a teleportation network.”

“Ants in the Chaotic Conglomeration will probably hear it by morning,” Timothy agreed. “I’m sure the council will be glad to hear our announcement as well. Everyone’s waiting for someone to go first. And they’re hoping we’ll succeed to guide them, but they can also learn from our failures.”

“Sounds about right. So the real question is, which one of us is going to be the first Domination cultivator from the Scarlet Alliance?”

“I think we’ll leave that for others to speculate on. I don’t know about you,” Timothy grimaced, “But I don’t think having your example of success would inspire me in the right way. I’d be more nervous about potential failure. And then I’d think about how being nervous would cause me to lower my chances. There’s no recovering from that spiral. So, I think we should aim for the same time.”

“And we won’t be around for everyone to yell at us if we totally destroy the teleportation network,” Catarina agreed. “A good plan. This is better than trying to bind to the grand spatial distortion formation too. I feel like that would feel too much like saying ‘look at me, I’m the Scarlet Alliance’.”

“Or you could act like you’re giving it a big hug,” Timothy pointed out. “Sheltering the Alliance.”

“Well I’m sure that would work for you,” Catarina admitted. “But personally I’d rank myself no higher than third or fourth in terms of spatial insights in this family. And I couldn’t help but approach it from that angle. I did think about anchoring Xankeshan, though. Since we awakened the old formations and all that.”

“What made you change your mind?” Timothy asked.

“Too limited. The teleportation network can expand.”

“That’s… actually an interesting point. I don’t know if the Citadel of Exalted Light ever got added on to, however.”

“Well, maybe Zaur was an idiot.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to say that having not yet reached Domination,” Timothy said. “Perhaps there’s a perfectly reasonable limitation about immutability or something.”

“Alright,” Catarina agreed. “I’ll hold my judgment for after. Five years.” Timothy shot her a look. “Four years from now. And… maybe a few months?”

“We can look for an auspicious date in a several month range around four years from now,” Timothy agreed. “It could even be a little early.”

Catarina’s face twitched as she looked down at her fingers.

“Do you have to carve the changes yourself?”

“I do.”

“Requisition some super-mundane tools. Like Chidi’s sword.”

“Good plan.”

“And wear gloves.”