The forces defending Rotaire might have been sufficient to hold off for some time against either of the two threats present, but against both they could barely handle it. A significant portion of the Trigold Cluster’s total forces in the lower realms joined with the Fearsome Menagerie after the ill-advised destruction of Zunrose, and the losses throughout the war had been too much for the Void Scrying Sect and their major allies.
Not that anyone held any pity for them, as they had brought everything upon themselves. Nor had they shown any remorse, instead doubling down on their ruthless methods. The majority of their assaults on other planets had been aimed at causing the most loss of life possible without regard for whether or not those involved were combatants in many forms. Plagues were their bread and butter, and the destabilization of stars was not a one-time effort. Fortunately, they hadn’t been successful with subsequent attempts to destroy stars, but they only continued to escalate even as they continued to lose.
If they were not tightly confined to their defensive formations, it was expected that they would try similar tactics again. The alliance had done their best to rule out weapons of a similar caliber, but they couldn't be certain they got them all.
-----
Technically, just because the Son of the Queen had a different title, it didn’t mean his rank had officially changed from private. Then again, the only thing that really mattered was how people responded, and he had a good company assigned to him. Loyal and steadfast, as well as effective. Yet despite his best efforts, they had suffered losses. Perhaps his leadership was imperfect. Perhaps their mission was impossible to complete flawlessly. Either way, he constantly studied the past to help inform the future.
Not that he intended to wallow in deaths. No, they still had more to do. It had been difficult, surviving on the planet when there was a manhunt out for them. They’d learned of many active methods to seek them out, usually when it was already being used against them. But Rotaire’s defenses were imperfect. There were too many holes that they could slip through, both literal and figurative.
Poisoned food was left in locations far too obvious for thinking individuals to consume. However, they had fallen for tainted stores that had seemed safe. Only once, and fortunately they at least had checked with a small portion of their members instead of consuming greedily. The Son of the Queen had been filled with foolish thoughts of rearranging the food stores to catch humans unaware, but most likely they would only poison a single one at most for a huge expenditure of effort. Moving things was difficult.
Aside from securing food and shelter, however, the void ants had other goals. Mere survival was one of their plans, but they had done their best to gather more information. They were able to transmit several more sets of data off planet in the last few months, though each time they suffered further losses.
Now, explosions rang out in the sky. The time for their retrieval had come. Not that such was the point of the assault. And they were not finished with their work, either.
“We can only reach one target in the time we have available,” he explained. “Our mobility isn’t sufficient to achieve more, and the timing caught us unprepared. But given the information we have, we can target either the air defenses, protective formations, or the vaults. If our numbers were full, perhaps we could manage all three… but I would not risk splitting us now.”
The other void ants paid close attention. They were good at that. Perhaps he should have been better at it himself, as his uniqueness hadn’t necessarily resulted in more efficiency. The Great Queen had seen something in him, and he could only hope to live up to those expectations.
“My own estimations cannot determine the best approach. And such, we will have to rely on our larger instincts.” This was something they had done several times before. They would split into groups based on what each individual thought- and then each would support the majority. It seemed chaotic and random from the outside, but in truth there was something reliable about it. There were many details that people could notice subconsciously, and they’d had good success before. That said, they only used such a method when there was no clearly superior goal. Perhaps that was a weakness in him as a leader, but relying on his people never felt wrong.
The majority of the group indicated that they should assault the defensive formations- and with there being three options, that was by far the largest group. The Son of the Queen thought he might have been leaning that way as well, but he couldn’t quite say why. Perhaps he simply considered that their own forces- mainly humans- could adequately defend themselves. Meanwhile, barrier formations were a bit more efficient.
In truth, their efforts might not affect the scope of the assault much. It was one small sect in one small region of the planet. They were not going to take down the formations of the main grounds of the Twin Soul Sect or the Void Scrying Sect. It was the second smallest branch of the Poisonous Gold Sect they’d passed by. But it was something, and they hadn’t exactly been able to receive communications warning them of when the assault was incoming.
Following the flow of natural energy was trivial for void ants, and unlike their last few harried months, the void ants weren’t the first thing on the mind of local sects. For one thing, they’d done their best to stay hidden so that their location wasn’t revealed, and for another they really weren’t the big threat when compared to Assimilation cultivators up in the sky.
They chewed their way through simple barriers, the density of which stopped even void ants for a moment. They weren’t completely immune to the effects of natural energy, after all, it simply took impractically large amounts to damage them as either individuals or groups. And humans had to know how to do it, since some methods were better than others.
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Obviously they could interact with natural energy, so when it was formed into dense barriers it still mattered a little. But they chewed a hole through, keeping the edges from recovering with their bodies as they poured through. Then those holding the barrier in shape were pulled through, letting the fist sized hole seal behind them.
With attacks raining from above, a small expenditure of energy such as that couldn’t be noticed. Nor would typical traps for void ants be active, unless they were completely separate. They still kept an eye out, as they moved together as one along the ground.
A dozen cultivators were manning the formations, intentionally channeling their powers to boost the efficacy of the barriers. One of them was more important than the others, but it wasn’t the one in the center. Oh, that was probably the branch head and his role in the formation mattered, but there was actually a weaker link channeling energy in a particular direction. A weak link that was, ironically, the one best at formations in the group. Because if the man fell, the rest would be more greatly burdened. Not that they planned for any of these humans to live long.
They rushed forward along the ceiling. As it made little difference for their own movements, that path was less likely to get them noticed. It wasn’t as fast as rolling along as a group, but that required being on the ground.
They dropped as one onto the man’s head, draping over his body and attacking as a swarm. Yet they didn’t remain in place, knowing how humans reacted. When the man clawed at his face, they dropped down to his chest, back, and shoulders. Their mandible bit into the man, disrupting his own energy flow to cause greater damage than the size of their bodies could cause alone. Several hundred small wounds became something much greater, and the natural energy the man was channeling for the formation tore him apart.
Obviously the other humans noticed, both the man’s cries of alarm and the way their formation began to destabilize. But the void ants only spent a single moment reorganizing into several small mobile groups, tumbling towards the sect head in the middle. With the formation expert gone, the larger power of the sect head was the next most important target.
He seemed to be almost ready to fight void ants, attempting to stomp them with his foot. But unfortunately for him, he relied too much on natural energy and not a nice flat sole. Some of them were crushed, but many were not as they fit into the curves and pockmarks of the leather. And from there, they were crawling over his ankles and up his legs.
Humans were not good at fighting void ants, especially when panicking. The other humans launched energy attacks towards their sect head- only a single round, but that threw him off enough for the void ants to reach optimal offensive locations. The man tumbled to the ground moments later as his body weakened, and his natural energy couldn’t plug the gap.
It only took another moment for the formation to crack upon the sudden backlash as it went from careful control to chaos. And less than a few seconds later the incoming fleets began to bombard the sect. That included both the anti ship weapons they had pointed at the sky, and the core of the formation.
The Son of the Queen signaled the retreat with strong pheromones. A burst of energy might do nothing to them, but if it toppled a wall onto them they could be crushed quite easily. They retreated to the corners of the room, looking for the most structurally sound positions- or those that had already collapsed, sneaking in among cracks to take shelter.
Another successful mission… but once again with too many losses. He should have done better… somehow.
-----
Devon and Varghese were part of the assault on the main Twin Soul Sect grounds. Everything was going smoothly until a certain point, when suddenly they felt a massive burst of energy. It was far away- enough that it had no chance of harming them. Indeed, it was probably a quarter of a planet away. Even so, it drew their attention.
“What was that?” Devon asked into his comm.
Nobody needed to ask which thing he and many others were asking about, and a moment later a report came from ships above.
“The Void Scrying Sect’s grounds, and dozens of kilometers around it, have been leveled in a single explosion. Initial reports indicate it was a combination of the worldheart cannon and some sort of defensive countermeasure. Fearsome Menagerie forces have also suffered significant losses.”
Varghese sighed. “We’ve come this far and they’re still blowing things up. I’m kind of surprised, honestly, but perhaps they thought the Fearsome Menagerie would make their capture worse than death.”
“They probably would,” Devon agreed. “So, what do we expect them to do here?”
“They’re Twin Soul Sect so… something equally suicidal, but carefully orchestrated to not damage their souls.” Varghese shrugged. “No idea what that might be.”
“Sounds about right. I think we should pre-empt them.”
“How so?” Varghese asked.
Rather than immediately explaining, Devon stretched out his arms- one of which Varghese felt calling to his magnetism. Chains spread out throughout the area, creating a dome. “I’ll contain any side effects- and escaping souls. You just need to cause as much damage as you can as quickly as possible.”
“I appreciate your confidence, but I can’t take out an entire sect all at once.”
“I’ll also be providing a boost to your energy.”
“Hmm.” Varghese certainly had no compunctions with trying. This was the Twin Soul Sect, after all. With Devon containing the destruction, it wouldn’t harm any nearby innocents either. As for what he could do… well, anything was better than waiting to see the Twin Soul Sect’s choice. He began drawing upon the local star as quickly as possible, ready to channel that power into something a bit more reckless than he was used to.