Golden chains wrapped around a gaunt man, spike growing out of the chains piercing into the man and holding him still despite his struggles. The binding wouldn’t last forever, but it was long enough for Taalay to make his move. His fist came down, completely crushing the man’s head. While the Ebon Skulls were able to keep themselves alive with grievous wounds, there was a limit to what they could withstand.

That had been the last of them. Devon and Taalay working together had managed to pierce through their armies, fighting past their strongest vessels to kill the leaders. Now, everything began to return to its natural state as a corpse or pile of equipment.

Taalay turned back, intending to go to Anton’s aid. After all, the archer was dealing with five cultivators himself, and more besides. He felt the clash of heat, as Anki struggled against Anton with his nearly invisible flames. Or at least… Anki struggled. Anton himself seemed to be focused more on other things than the eradication of that particular individual- though Anki didn’t seem as if he would last long the way things were going.

Taalay recognized the three elders and the sect head of the Invincible Gate by looks… but not by feel. Previously, he had thought they possessed a somewhat dominating aura. That lost its edge when they were attempting to flee. Their attempts were stymied by the aura of magnetism around Anton… but also a hail of arrows making any movements further away fatal. More fatal, because they were accumulating wounds with every moment even as they did their best to avoid the assaults.

It was an impressive feat, and Taalay almost wanted to just watch to see the results. But a clearer head prevailed, and he joined Devon to help finish them off. There would be no capture for them, as they were too deeply entangled with the Trigold Cluster.

Too easy. That was what he felt as his palm collapsed the chest of one of them. With their defensive energy diminished, the man was only protected by his armor, unable to stand up to the might of the Supreme Silver Sect. Devon’s chains snapped the neck of another. And with two of them dead, Anton focused more of his efforts on those who remained. Anton’s own fire consumed Aghi, the fire cultivator seemingly baffled that his end came in the manner it did. A handful of swift arrows pierced into the vitals of the remaining two of the Invincible Gate.

There was a moment of stillness. Then there was a crashing sound from within the sect itself- the grounds of the Ebon Skulls. A building toppled piece by piece. Taalay’s senses reached out towards it… and found the situation well handled. Crushed under the debris, the last remnants of her life fading, was Sovann of the Poisonous Gold Sect- until recently keeping cover as the Precious Palm Sect.

“And stay down!” Cai’s voice echoed across the battlefield.

The only enemies remaining were about a third of their armies- which amounted to much less than that proportion of their total fighting power, given the strength of Anchoring cultivators. More than that, a good majority of the Life Transformation cultivators had been early targets.

Taalay watched the battle continue. It was best for the weaker cultivators to get some experience, though he intended to step in if anyone seemed particularly in danger. Desperate cultivators could fight back just as well as cornered tigers.

But the matter already seemed to be handled. Flashes of light, swift arrows shot from the myriad of bows around Anton continued to fly around the battlefield, resolving issues before Taalay could even become aware of them. Though perhaps those involved in the battles might not parse the quick bursts of energy, with nothing to distract him Taalay could see how much they affected things.

Then, the battle was over. He sought out his elders. “What were the casualties?”

“We’re not entirely certain but…” one of the elders brows was furrowed. “Aside from injuries that are being dealt with and some loss of vitality due to the necromancers… a minimum of deaths.”

“How many?” Taalay asked. “Five percent? Ten?”

“I don’t want to speak too early but… none, so far.”

Anton was paying attention from a distance. It was quite possible for people to grow overconfident with such a victory… but he couldn’t justify letting people die. In his current state, he wasn’t required to pick and choose his actions on the battlefield. He hadn’t truly fought since he reached Enrichment, but he was beginning to comprehend how much difference it made. Among other things, the very fact that he didn’t have to conserve his energy but could fight near his maximum capacity continually was phenomenal.

-----

It took some time for Vrelt to process the aftermath of the battle. More than a quarter of the Trigold’s Anchoring cultivators were now out of the picture, between the latest battle and those that came before. Killing Yamanu and one of the elders of the Creeping Fire Sect had seemed like monumental accomplishments, one triggering the war and the other being a good first step. And now… two sects wiped out, and the Poisonous Gold Sect filled with regret that they thought Sovann and those with her sufficient for the upcoming battle.

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Both sides were somewhat disbelieving of the results, but Taalay saw it with his own eyes- and morbid as it was, he was able to show proof to others around the globe. Because it wasn’t long after that ships from the Lower Realms Alliance began arriving in force, carrying not only Assimilation cultivators but also a large number of Life Transformation individuals.

The ships themselves were not something to be trifled with, either. Though they didn’t bring any Ascension-class battleships, what they had were quite capable in combat and more importantly a massive boost to logistics with their ability to land anywhere on the planet within a few hours. Or less, for the smaller fighters.

Taalay was aware of the promises Devon had made, but just like with his grandfather he thought there was some exaggeration involved. If those who had arrived were every single Assimilation cultivator from the alliance, a single word from them could force all of Vrelt to bow their heads. And if they weren’t… it was even more astounding. Then again, it wasn’t just a single world, was it?

He had thought that there might be a period of downtime after they began to secure their new foothold, and he personally got to rest. But around the globe, other sects began to move with the reinforcements. It wouldn’t be possible for the Trigold Cluster to resist everyone. And then there was Anton, able to fight on two or three fronts at a time. Especially since the Trigold Cluster wasn’t able to gather their forces to such an extent again. They weren’t given the warning of an army marching obviously towards one of their allies. Instead, the whole planet moved more or less at once. Or at least all of the strongest cultivators. The modified planetary barrier began to dissolve as more and more enemy sects were captured, the cohesion of the greater formations collapsing and leaving only the local defenses. Defenses Taalay had previously considered adequate.

By the next day, when Taalay had rested and was beginning to take in the enormity of what was happening, he had received word of at least another five Anchoring cultivators dying- only on the enemy side. And while Anton couldn’t truly be everywhere, the supporting forces were powerful enough that they would not be losing any Anchoring cultivators from their side.

-----

Rui didn’t believe what he was told. How could he? That the territory of the Wavecallers was secured, separated from the Trigold Cluster’s forces… he had hope that it might be true. But the rest was too much to take in. When he was taken into one of the foreign ships, he thought he was being brought away to be killed outside of the view of his sect. But instead, he was transported around the planet to see what was happening. An overview of the rapidly shifting frontlines, where he sensed the forces on either side… and those who had fallen.

He might not have understood everything. He certainly had no idea how things were happening as they did. But he would be completely foolish not to take the opportunity for mercy, to support the true citizens of Vrelt against the Trigold Cluster. It was what he wanted to begin with, he’d simply been unable to see himself of his sect surviving if he acted differently. Now… there would be consequences for his mistakes, he was certain. But he couldn’t resist the flow even if he wanted to.

-----

Ashildr had been nervous, sheltering in the Runic Complex and waiting for something to happen. Now, her hands were completely full as she was practically swarmed with formation experts trying to learn about the transmission formations. She’d thought that the haste to come up with a plan to corrupt the transmission had been a bit unnecessary, but now she saw the reason for it.

The last few days had been something wild. She’d sensed the battle around the Ebon Skull’s territory from afar, though the fine details had eluded here. Now, it seemed as if they might control all of the formations- no, all of the planet- within a week. She was aware that things could stretch beyond that time to truly cover everything… but as the enemy forces began to crumble their own simply built momentum. Perhaps she should have tried to get a message to these visitors from other systems when they had first been noticed in the skies.

She could only hope their goals would continue to align in the long term. Either way, she had to help solve the problem she was partially responsible for. Determining exactly how to best corrupt the transmission was difficult. The early parts of their information on Anchoring and the insights connected were already sent. It was impossible to change that now, and saying that everything was wrong would be massively suspicious. No, they had to add just enough poison to taint the comprehension of the techniques as a whole. If nothing else, they could force the enemy to waste time comprehending the complete truth. And if they were lucky, they could cause a few people to spiral into cultivation deviation. It was a fine thought, at least.

Along with altering the transmission formations, there was another formation Ashildr had to help with. That one was mainly handled by the Lower Realms Alliance, but she understood its purpose even before it had been explained. Simply put… it was to make certain that the Twin Soul Sect and indeed the souls of any others would not leave the lower realms to report about what had happened. Instead, there would only be the tainted cultivation knowledge… and perhaps they might feed more false information to the Trigold Cluster. If they dared.

Was it odd that she already worried about the next cycle and the potential retaliation? No, even the Lower Realms Alliance spoke of it. And how they would help bolster Vrelt to resist. Whenever she thought that the Lower Realms Alliance seemed too good to be true and impossibly pure, she thought of how focused they were on this retaliation. And perhaps… there might actually be some greater good that they had within them. She enjoyed the thought, even if she somewhat doubted it.

Not that Ashildr was going to complain. While they didn’t have any real choice but to accept this Alliance, the promises they had made- and the ones they were already fulfilling- were tempting enough she would be willing to put up with even a vaguely tolerable group. But even with a pessimistic view of things, she was content with how things were going. In the actual worst case… at least they would be wiped out quickly instead of it being drawn out.