Somehow, despite what the numbers said on paper, Varghese felt like they had lost. Their casualties mainly amounted to those from the initial attack on Zunrose, and the fighting around the planet while besieging the planetary barrier. All told it wasn’t very many lives.

Meanwhile, the Trigold forces lost countless times more. The entire fleet that somehow destroyed a star should have been erased- Varghese felt it happen in the last moments- and of course the entire planet with everyone except those who had swift access to ships capable of interstellar travel. The total numbers should be in the billions of lives. Lives of their enemies.

But still… it felt like a loss. Not just because of the damage to his own cultivation. Varghese knew he wasn’t that important, though he had to admit some bias because of the personal injury. But beyond that, it was that the enemy did something they couldn’t have even predicted was possible, and they didn’t know how. And if they could stop it from happening to their stars.

Fear. That was what it was. Fear for himself, for their entire alliance. They didn’t have to be able to do that upon a whim. Just one time in one of their more populated systems would be sufficient to completely devastate them. Not in terms of military power, but morale.

He wondered what the Trigold cultivators in the lower realms were feeling. Did they even know? Did they think it was a plot by the other side? Could those who had sacrificed themselves really known what they were doing?

Perhaps there were Twin Soul Sect cultivators among them, but Varghese had the feeling that a sun going supernova would have sufficient energy to tear apart their souls as a minor side effect. Natural energy barely interacted with souls without changing its attributes, but at a sufficient magnitude… well, it was just speculation. Obviously he hadn’t tested it.

Their entire fleet more or less limped their way back to friendly territory- they’d escaped much actual damage, but everything still felt lackluster. Nobody suggested even for a moment trying to hold the ground they’d gained, however. There was a silent agreement to return home and hopefully protect their borders.

When Varghese was back to In’istra, he felt drained and empty. Perhaps that was better than he could have been- dead- but it didn’t feel much like it. But there was a spark of hope the moment he arrived and felt a familiar presence.

-----

Even before he got the first message, Anton sensed something. There had been a growing agitation since it had happened. He’d been involved in the creation of two stars- once a very messy affair and one much more carefully considered. The destruction of a star, however, was not something he had experienced.

He had no connection to Zunrose and its star, but he still felt something. A twinge of pain, like the world was wrong. Like scars aching in the rain, or his instinct to go check on a sleeping grandchild.

The feeling clarified itself when he got the message and knew what had happened. Or rather, messages. So many of them, propagating first from those in the system itself and then from major planets as they were reached. Poriza, In’istra, and everyone in the Shining Cooperative who could contact him. No doubt everyone in the combined systems were going to be aware of the news in a very short time.

The message from Varghese came last. Anton had been fairly certain he was alive from other messages, but having been bound to that star he hadn’t been certain. It was a time lag of only a few hours, but it was uncomfortably long.

Obviously Varghese was not well. He mentioned the damage to his cultivation. By that point, Anton was already on his way to In’istra. From there, he was considering flying straight into enemy territory… but word of their fleets withdrawing had him wait for Varghese’s arrival instead.

-----

“I’ve seen worse,” Anton said. That sent Varghese into a hacking and coughing fit as he tried to laugh. Anton was a little bit sorry about that part, but the lingering half grin on his disciple’s face was good enough. “Would you like to hear about a new technique I’ve developed?”

“I-” Varghese frowned. “I’m going to assume this is relevant somehow. So yes.”

“You’ll need some time to put yourself back together first,” Anton said. “But I can still explain it. It involves replacing your first ninety-nine stars with other stars. Perhaps a bit uncomfortable to think about at the current moment, but it is an expansion of the path we both walk.”

“So we’d have a larger territory?” Varghese asked. “That’s… good. But there’s another area I’d need to improve first. Once I can… do things,” he vaguely gestured to his gut. “It’s not looking good in there.”

“I’ve recovered from pretty terrible things before,” Anton said. “Between my first time binding a star and the time in Ekict, I think I can give some half decent advice on how to recover. You’re wise to avoid using any natural energy for the moment. But you will have to at some point, and it will hurt.”

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Anton scanned Varghese’s cultivation, and while it was certainly not in the best state he still felt the most important thing. Each of his stars, the basis of his cultivation, were still intact if perhaps a bit wobbly. There was a clear scar where a bound star had clearly once had a path, and Anton expected that he might permanently lose the benefit of that rank. Or he could be fortunate like Anton who was forced to thrust away his connection to Ekict’s star, merely needing to spend the time to rebuild his cultivation for a single star. But to Anton’s eyes, it felt worse. Perhaps if Varghese had time to sever his connection it might have gone in that direction, but here he might be permanently scarred. Anton hoped it wouldn’t affect his ability to reach Enrichment, but that was a long time coming still.

Varghese was quiet for a while. “Did you… sense this? Is that why you stayed out of the conflict?”

Anton immediately wanted to deny it. He would never send Varghese into a danger like that on purpose. But he took the proper time to seriously consider it. He knew what his disciple wanted to know. Ultimately, Anton had no answer for him. “I don’t know,” Anton admitted. “I’m not a true diviner of any sort, who gets proper predictions about the future. It was just a feeling that I shouldn’t be involved. I made up some reasons after the fact, as people tend to do.”

“Do you still… have that feeling?”

“Right now?” Anton asked. “Right now, any sense of caution and restraint I have is being pushed to its very limit. You want to know what I feel?” Varghese nodded. “I feel that they already had one star destroyed. Why not a few more? I’m a single moment away from asking for the best targets in their core systems, binding all their stars, and finding a way to destroy them all together.”

“... You don’t sound angry,” Varghese said.

Anton sighed, “It’s the one area I learned to lie well. Mostly for the sake of children. And if I let myself actually act in anger, I could topple over that precipice.” Anton took a deep breath. “But I hope you can forgive me for not going on a suicidal rampage. Or any sort of rampage, just yet.”

“So there is a rampage coming?” Varghese asked.

“Right now, I can promise they won’t even touch the outermost dust of this system alive,” Anton said. “Anything beyond that, we’ll have to learn more about their tactics going into the future. But enough of that. You mentioned another area you wish to improve your cultivation.”

“Sensing from a star,” Varghese said. “And I suppose calling upon the power of a star from further away. Like, actually directing it, not channeling it into me.”

“They’re connected,” Anton said. “Improving one will likely improve all parts. Including the perception. I have plenty of guidance for you in that regard.”

“I feel like I could have stopped it, if only I were ready.”

Anton smiled sadly. He knew that feeling. Before the beginning of his cultivation journey, the attack on Dungannon. If he’d only been there… well, he would have died. But he had still felt like he could have done something. “That may be the case. But neither of us can predict the future for our training, nor say for certain how it might have changed the past. If you can, I’d like to hear what happened, in your own words.”

Varghese took a while to begin. “It was fast. Far more than it should have been. They had… something. They dropped it into the star.” Varghese frowned. “I didn’t notice that at the time. Then they began attacking the star… or pouring in their energy, I suppose.” Anton waited. “The connection with me… it acted like a catalyst, I think.” Varghese frowned. “Maybe they didn’t mean for it to happen quite that way. And there are other issues.”

“Such as?” Anton prompted. He could think of more than a few on his own, but he wanted to see if Varghese thought the same.

“How did they know? Why were they ready with that?” Varghese shook his head. “I bound the star upon entering the system. They had to have already been on their way. Perhaps they had their own diviners among them?”

“The Trigold Cluster has indeed been known to have diviners,” Anton said. “The Unseen Eyes among others. But that is not the only possibility.”

“Spies,” Varghese said. “Not Twin Soul Sect, hopefully. But perhaps others slipping into our borders. Or locals, bribed or threatened into it.”

“That does tend to be how they work,” Anton agreed.

“They could have heard about your starbinding abilities,” Varghese supposed. “That information is more widely available. Or they could be here on In’istra. It’s not exactly a secret. There would be some number of people who could sense each of the two of us separately binding the star, and our connection.”

“I had all of those thoughts,” Anton agreed. “And another, unsubstantiated one. What if they didn’t know about you or more- or at least weren’t considering it?”

“... Why would they blow up their own star, then? What’s the point?”

“Pettiness,” Anton said. “They didn’t want us to have a developed planet. Or security. It would be a good staging ground for future attacks on the core worlds. Or perhaps there was something in particular that was secret there. Something they couldn’t move.”

“Whatever it is… the system is gone,” Varghese sighed.

“Is it?” Anton asked.

“Well… supernova,” Varghese said. “So yeah.”

“An artificial supernova. There may be some remains. No, even then there should be something should there not? A nebula… perhaps a neutron star. And perhaps if we’re lucky, some highly protected enchantments.”

“A neutron star…” Varghese frowned. “If there’s still a star, why am I not bound to it?” Varghese asked.

“Many reasons, I suppose,” Anton said. “Perhaps you are not yet ready to be bound to a star undergoing a transformation so powerful. For Enrichment, I merely pushed along the advent of a red dwarf, the smallest of stars. I bound to it as the creation happened. A larger star going supernova in an unnatural manner? I don’t know that even I could handle that, without experience.”

Varghese reached down, hand over his dantian. “If there’s a neutron star, I’m binding it and making them regret everything.”

“Careful. It might not be stable. Nor is it likely to possess the same properties as Azun. Magnetars and pulsars are only a portion of neutron stars. Though its density would still be something significant.”

“I’m not healing,” Varghese declared. “Or rather, not yet. I need to see it first.”

“You’re not in much of a state to travel back there,” Anton pointed out.

Varghese smiled. “I’ll need some help, obviously.”

Anton nodded. “I suppose I need to see it myself as well. I might gain something from the energy fluctuations.”