The system of Zunrose was little more than dust, but there were a few more sizable hunks of rock, metal, and other more durable materials strewn about. Anton also searched beyond the limits of the system proper for anything that had been pushed away at high speed. Fortunately he only had to search the orbital plane instead of everywhere in all three dimensions.

There were a few things of interest. Chunks of formations and the like that he documented and recorded for later revision, mostly by others. Spread over such a large distance, it really didn’t feel like enough to make up the planets of the system- but Anton knew that was just the limitations of the mind. Proper calculations would no doubt confirm things.

Except… something was missing. Something Anton expected to find. He had to admit he knew very little on the topic, but he had a single point of comparison and the word of an expert. And for how deceptive Everheart was, he also tended to be quite factual when the time came.

Anton clutched his bow in hand. It was constructed from Soulstring and Worldheart. He imagined the former had a more complex process for forming than merely the death of many individuals, and could have easily been overpowered by the artificial supernova. But the Worldheart, as he understood it, was a core that developed within any cultivator planet and sometimes even separately in particular cases. He had little more knowledge than that, but he knew it was not so easily destroyed.

There were a few simple possibilities. First, one had never formed in Zunrose. Second, it had been destroyed somehow- the least likely. Third, it could have been flung off in an odd direction somehow. In Anton’s understanding, it wasn’t necessarily terribly large on a planetary scale so it was possible. But the fourth and most likely result was that the Trigold Cluster- who had more than a month to scavenge the area- would have found it and taken it. Most likely whoever was ultimately responsible for the destruction of the star. Anton doubted they would have been foolish enough to be around for it, though it was possible that the effects would have been entirely secret to everyone in the lower realms. He wouldn’t necessarily put it past the upper realms Trigold Cluster.

They had yet to determine why the enemy was so ready with such a response, however. But the more Anton considered, the more likely it was some ploy to obtain a Worldheart and perhaps pin the blame on them at the same time. Or their diviners predicted the war going directly against them should that system be taken over. Whatever the case, the Trigold fleet had launched before the attacking fleets arrived in system.

“I’ve learned what I can here,” Anton said. Varghese was meditating on the surface of the strange neutron star, which Anton found much more comfortable now that Varghese had some control over it. “I just have some final questions for you.”

“I doubt I learned anything you haven’t noticed,” Varghese said. “But ask.”

“It’s about this,” Anton pointed to his bow. “The material.”

“Worldheart, right?” Varghese asked.

“You didn’t happen to sense any, did you?”

“Now that you mention it… no, I didn’t. There should have been some, shouldn’t there?”

Anton nodded. “I don’t suppose it got sucked into the star somehow?”

“I can’t say for sure,” Varghese said. “But I have the feeling that’s not the case.”

“I know the normal process shouldn’t have pulled in anything that far,” Anton said. “But it was just one of the options. I would feel better if that’s where it ended up.”

“Then it almost certainly isn’t there,” Varghese said. “I don’t feel anything aberrant in the composition, but perhaps my senses just aren’t that fine tuned yet.”

“How is your technique growing?”

“This is definitely a matter of months or years rather than hours or day,” Varghese said. “But my connection is improving, and I could sweep my senses far enough to find you when you were out there. Though you’re not exactly difficult to spot.”

“It’s true,” Anton said. “Usually I manage my stealth through sheer distance. Now then, you’re staying here I presume?”

Varghese nodded. “I think I should be safe. Unless they can get close enough to pick me without them or their attacks being sucked into this guy,” Varghese pat the unnervingly dark surface of the neutron star. Anton understood the instinct to do things like that, but he kept his distance as he was not bound to that particular star. “If they try to assault it, I am much more capable of active defense.”

Varghese raised a thin string of matter from the neutron star- so thin Anton couldn’t actually see it, only sense it for how it distorted the world.

“I could whip that through a fleet and take them out, if they got within a couple thousand kilometers. Not that it would be easy to damage this thing in its current state, even with disturbing artifacts from the upper realms.”

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“Speaking of which… I don’t sense as much ascension energy anymore.”

“That sort of got burned away or absorbed when I bound to the star,” Varghese explained. “I’m not completely sure why, but I can guess. The remnants of whatever caused this were probably also consumed. If I learn any details, though, I’ll certainly share them. Perhaps from the… memories? Of this star.” Varghese shook his head.

“I get what you mean,” Anton said. “There may be something. We will talk later. Make sure to recover properly.”

Varghese just grinned and waved.

Anton went to pick up the Great Queen where she was waiting- she had some good reasons for not wanting to get anywhere close to a neutron star, especially of strange origins. That was one thing that could certainly kill her, and the gravity at the surface of a star was pretty hefty. Anton wouldn’t have gotten as close as he did if Varghese weren’t making things easier for him. And of course Varghese could avoid flattening himself.

“Let us return to somewhere more lively,” the Great Queen communicated. Anton absolutely agreed.

-----

Among the various things that Anton got scans of, one of the formations was a core part of the planetary barrier. Or rather, a very small part of it- somewhere around a single percent or less of the important part. But even that was still good enough to give the formation masters of the Lower Realms Alliance some ideas how to break through them in the future.

Anton was happy to let them research such things while he remained on In’istra, protecting it in Varghese’s stead while his disciple was occupied.

It was four months later when a few ships slipped into the system. They’d managed to get past all of the scouts, but Anton was very sensitive to new entrants into his shared domain- especially since he was currently on guard.

Arrows were on the way before he even gave them his warning. “Access to this system is forbidden to you,” Anton spoke directly into the small ships. The response he got was them pushing more energy into their shielding systems.

That was more than sufficient for Anton. He had scanned those in control of the vessels and determined their cultivation styles. This wasn’t some additional unknown force, just the Trigold Cluster again.

His arrows tore through their ships a few moments later, and then he began to gather up the survivors, ships, and anything on them. With these numbers, they had to have something equally or more concerning than the virulent mold. Or perhaps they were simply spies who were going to land on the planet somehow- though there was no way those ships could actually land. They had none of the markings of alliance ships.

Anton had to admit, they were pretty clever. Because there was one more ship. It was concealed better than the rest. That one Anton approached personally, attacking from up close and tearing it into pieces as it exploded- explosions not of his own devising, but of formations from that very ship.

The most the people of In’istra should have noticed was a slight flickering of the local star. Someone would come along to pick up prisoners… and others would be taking bits and pieces to secure locations in isolated systems to determine what sort of deadly plans they might have had.

Anton’s thoughts went to Poriza nearby. It was more than just a thought exercise- he could actually picture the system to some extent through the star. He wasn’t able to pick out any ships, and without his personal presence he couldn't be certain. But they were already looking for hidden ships, so another warning would likely be insulting.

Anton pondered. What if something happened in both systems at once? He had ties to Poriza as well. It was not a short journey to get there. Even traveling between two bound stars with his new technique, it would be a matter of days. It wasn’t quite an adjacent system either- otherwise Anton could have at least shot an arrow that far, if not in a useful fashion.

But perhaps now was the time to work on continuing to expand his range. Otherwise he might never properly develop a cross realms shot. He did give both systems a warning about that. It wasn’t anywhere close to the same expenditure of energy required to take down a few small ships. He needed power and control, and the former would diminish with distance. The latter as well, to some extent, but as it drew closer to his next bound system he got a momentary uptick in control. But ultimately over ten lightyears was still too far for him just yet.

Nobody ever hit a far target without practice. He couldn’t shoot thousands or tens of thousands of arrows like that per day, but he could easily shoot a handful per hour. And perhaps he would grow more efficient.

-----

The Shining Cooperative, after the plague on Mazlerth, had strengthened their borders- especially where it concerned directly facing the lower realm Trigold systems, as they learned of them. Unlike people like Anton, most Life Transformation cultivators and below had to eat and ships needed fuel. In short, there were logistical issues for them going around the defenses. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to defend the border- they had to defend in three dimensions, after all.

Ultimately from what Anton understood, they had fleets stationed up to two or three systems out, watching for any approaching fleets- or anything trying to sneak by. Even though the stealth systems of the enemy weren’t completely reverse engineered yet, simple knowledge of what they had made it more possible to defend their border.

Information didn’t come directly to Anton, but he heard they stopped at least a handful of attempted intrusions themselves. They were less able- or willing, honestly- to capture enemies with potential bioweapons or the like. From what he heard, most of the ships were turned to dust, and Anton couldn’t argue with the results.

In fact, he was quite glad with the vigor they showed preventing even their least populated systems from danger. They’d had a bit of a slow start in the war, but perhaps that was more reasonable. Mobilizing fleets across dozens of lightyears wasn’t a trivial task. And if Anton was going to bet, they had mostly been focused to the south and west where the Lower Realms Alliance was before that. He wouldn't blame them at all for being cautious.

The other reason for their slow start was that many of their strongest cultivators had gone into intensive cultivation sessions, trying to surpass the Assimilation threshold. It wasn’t so easy, so most likely only a small portion would succeed with the insights the Lower Realms Alliance had shared with them so far. But everyone was going to at least assess the possibility. And Anton expected a decent few should have recently finished the process. He just wished there had been more time to get to know these particular neighbors before war came upon them.