Soon enough after the darkness began to fade- light coming in from nearby systems again- Anton and Varghese properly met up. “Congratulations on your success,” Anton said, surveying Varghese. “How is it?”

“Weird,” Varghese said. “And I’m still damaged. But I think… this will bring me closer to a proper recovery. Probably.”

“I’m going to be honest,” Anton said. “I was not expecting an effect like that. So now we have a problem to discuss.”

“Which is?” Varghese asked.

“The ships that have entered the system,” Anton explained. “I thought they would not learn too much. Now, there’s a greater risk.”

The Great Queen made herself visible. “Then we should eradicate them. Except… you have more to say.”

Anton nodded. “Yes. It might still be the correct option. But I suppose I should start with this. What is the Trigold Cluster?”

“A group of thousands of stars in the upper realms,” Varghese said. “A dominating force that raids the lower realms. And I suppose also has some permanently established presences here.”

“And the Exalted Quadrant?”

“A rather arrogantly named group elsewhere in the upper realms,” the Great Queen signed. “They establish permanent colonies among lower realms planets to extract their resources and presumably also to obtain more proper ascension cultivators.”

“So a group in the upper and lower realms. And what of the Hardened Crown Sect? The Worthy Shore Society?”

Varghese frowned. “There it gets a lot more complicated. Since there are portions of them that have broken off in the upper or lower realms. Where are you going with this?”

“As the old man and the teacher here, the point is for you to tell me,” Anton said.

“... The Exalted Quadrant isn’t just one thing.” Anton nodded. “And the Trigold Cluster might not be either.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t know if that applies here, though,” Varghese said. “I mean, these people were committing biological warfare. They blew up a whole system!”

“Did they?” Anton asked. “Someone did, certainly. But let me ask… did these people, right here around us?” Anton waved his hand, indicating those who were currently in the system. “Did those who were fleeing Zunrose have a hand in blowing up the star?”

“If they did, they’re dumb as hell,” Varghese admitted. “Because I don’t think all of them made it.”

“Right,” Anton nodded. “I’m not saying that this group as a whole, or even most of them, are not equally responsible for the attempt to wipe out the populations of planets- most likely the majority of those in the systems around us. But some may simply be following the creed of the Trigold Cluster because they know nothing else.”

“Perhaps,” the Great Queen nodded. “So the purpose here is?”

“I was hoping that they would learn something here, and help grow some sort of internal conflict,” Anton admitted. “I’m not even close to suggesting we try to befriend anyone. But we must at least consider the barest possibility that some of the people here could be innocent. And I am aware it was not we who blew up this planet, but I can guarantee not all of them were actively involved.”

“Supporting a corrupt structure is just as bad,” Varghese pointed out.

“How would you count slaves in that?” Anton asked. “Commoners who have no power? Even weak cultivators?”

“Alright, I get it. So what, you want us to spare these people?”

“I want you to weigh it against whatever secrets they might glean about you,” Anton said. “And the Great Queen should consider the possibilities as well. Though we don’t have long, because now that the event has passed they are grouping up.”

“Then why are we talking?”

“We don’t have that little time,” Anton grinned. “I think it will take them at least an hour. You just can’t meditate about this for days without making a default choice.”

“They can live,” the Great Queen signed after only a few moments. “Unless Varghese feels a great weight of concern for his secrets.”

Varghese sighed. “That was fast. And puts all the pressure on me.” He rubbed his forehead. “And it was already kind of dumb of me to bind to this star wasn’t it?”

“Why do you say that?” Anton asked.

“They can destroy stars. That’s literally why I ended up like this. They could do it again, and while we’re not certain about that, it’s probably a risk I shouldn’t have taken.”

“I thought about that, you know,” Anton said. “And if they have something so narrowly tailored as to destroy an abnormal neutron star created after an artificial supernova, in a system with no system, then we’re in so much trouble I would wonder why we haven’t all been wiped out already.”

“Fair point,” Varghese admitted. “I don’t want anyone to mess with this, though.”

“Then stop them,” Anton said. “I can defend In’istra. You can stay here until the point you can control the actual star from afar, if you think that is worthwhile. If you had been next to the star when the attack came, you could have stopped them, right?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Right,” Varghese nodded.

“And they would spend a similar amount of effort here for… very little. Though I will admit there is some risk of leaving this place to be studied by them, I also think that your instincts to bind to it were not incorrect for your particular path. What did it do, anyway?”

“How should I say it…” Varghese frowned. “It shot out a large amount of… darkness? Or perhaps simply consumed light for a large distance. And a good amount of the surrounding natural energy as well.”

Anton nodded. “This is going to throw off so many of the readings people asked for. Speaking of which, have you made your decision? They’re grouping up to leave, I do believe.”

“They can go,” Varghese said. “We can hope they cause trouble.”

“Or,” the Great Queen drew attention to herself with a small bite of natural energy around her. “We can make sure they do. Either threaten them or just… ask them what they’re going to do.”

“... A reasonable point,” Anton said. “I am so used to expecting the Trigold Cluster to do the worst thing I didn’t consider it.” He frowned. “Which means spooking someone. Or a group of someones, really. They aren’t going to like me getting close.”

“Even better,” the Great Queen said. “There are methods of interrogation far short of torture, after all. You have no need to speculate, even if you don’t wish to capture everyone here.”

Anton nodded. “You ever think about taking up a leadership position? Seems like we could use practical people like you.”

The Great Queen waggled in amusement.

And with that, Anton was off. His chosen target being a ship captained an old man who hopefully didn’t have heart problems. As for why he picked that particular, it was mostly instinct guided by the snippets of conversation he’d heard from them.

As he approached the ships, they began to scatter. As he continued towards his intended target, they actually settled on a straight course to let everyone else escape. How noble, as if it would have done the rest any good. Anton could have already shot them all down, even without a bound star in the system.

“Hello,” Anton said as he spread his natural energy around them. “We are going to have a talk, now. You’re going to answer all of my questions, and I’m probably not going to answer very many of yours.” He waited for a moment as he drifted along behind the ship, keeping a matched velocity.

It didn’t take long to receive an answer, the captain’s energy connecting to his to respond. “... What do you wish to know?” he asked reluctantly.

“Let’s start with easy things. Your name and sect.”

“Tor. Of the Shimmering Spears.”

“Really?” Anton asked.

“Why would I lie?” the man asked. “I’m proud of both.”

Actually, Anton had asked because he didn’t sense the man lying. “You don’t quite feel like proper members of the Shimmering Spears.”

“Well I- how would you even know?” the man asked. “You couldn’t have met any. They’re only in the upper realms.”

“That is untrue,” Anton replied. “As they have come down in invasions. Do you not know about those?”

“Somewhat,” Tor admitted. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Well, I assume you have an incomplete method,” Anton said. “Which is odd, because then you’d be a flawed Ascension cultivator. Care to explain?”

“We only have the methods we have,” Tor replied. “I have seen no other versions of the Shimmering Spears core cultivation method.”

“Fine.” Anton said. “Why are you here, in the Zunrose system?”

“Pretty obvious, isn’t it? Star blew up. We wanted to know why.”

“And what did you learn?”

“Not much. Except that… there were some of you foreign cultivators hanging around still, somehow.”

“You should have come earlier,” Anton said. “You might have learned much more.”

“Couldn’t. Travel takes time.”

“Are you not from the core systems, then?”

“Not our branch,” Tor said. Anton could sense he wouldn’t answer where precisely they were from. Not easily.

“So, what do you know? What caused it?”

“... Wasn’t it you?”

“Perhaps you should ask those who sent the thousand ship fleet that targeted the star. Because it certainly wasn’t us. I can give you a breakdown of the proportions of sects involved, if you wish. And I would also seek answer from those who successfully fled the system.”

“There weren’t any survivors,” Tor said. “You know that.”

“What I know is that our people saw ships from all over the planet leave the system. And the artificial supernova would not have touched them.”

Anton was glad he’d been prompted to do this. They could have left with entirely the wrong information. Not that he expected the man to believe him, but there were seeds of doubt in the man’s mind to begin with. Otherwise, why would they have come to investigate despite being told what happened?

“... What did your fellow cultivator do to that neutron star?” Tor asked.

Anton could have refused to answer. Instead, he gave him a line filled with sufficient truth. “He stabilized it. Now it’s less likely to completely disintegrate and disrupt the surrounding systems.” Of course, Anton didn’t know how likely that was. But it was true that Varghese binding the star would keep it more stable. “And just so it’s clear, it was black and spooky when we got here.”

“If you say so,” Tor said, in a way that indicated further doubt. But at least he would think about things. And if ultimately he chose to accept the wrong conclusions? That would be unfortunate. But the chance that he might be the start of a growing seed of doubt throughout the wider community made Anton smiled. He liked seeds, especially when they grew up to be something good. And this would be good.

“If you heard that nobody left here,” Anton continued. “I might suggest not telling anyone you came here to investigate. Not right away, at least,” Anton suggested. “Otherwise you might disappear like those unfortunate souls. But if you look hard enough, I can’t imagine that you won’t find any.” People would have noticed a second massive coordinated effort. The fleets that came to Zunrose they might have just taken as back up without questioning them, but others intercepting refugees from the destruction, lingering in occupied systems? Those had to be noticed.

“... Do you have any more questions?” Tor asked.

“Many of them,” Anton said. “But none that I think you can answer. Don’t forget to tell your friends what I said.”

“... What?”

“What do you mean, what? You should remember just a few sentences ago.”

“I… we can go?”

“You answered my questions, didn’t you?” Anton replied. “Why should I stop you?”

“... we wouldn’t let anyone go,” Tor said.

“I know,” Anton replied. “But if it makes you feel better, your survival will help our cause.”

The man was clearly nervous as he left. No doubt he wondered if Anton planted some sort of secret information transmission formation their ship. And Anton had considered it. But if he was going to do that, it would be on one of the others. Or he’d just ask the Great Queen for a handful of void ants that they could pick up later.