While the overall power output of a star was quite predictable, on a smaller scale it could be quite chaotic, with some solar flares being significantly hotter than the star as a whole. That was the sort of power Varghese needed, as waiting around to see what sort of response the Twin Soul Sect had was not on his list of things he wanted to experience… ever.

Whatever had happened on the other side of the planet was already quite extreme, and that was the Void Scrying Sect at the helm. The Twin Soul Sect was even less afraid to perish, and they might know some rather unpleasant methods to kill people.

So Varghese drew upon all the power he could, extending it towards the Twin Soul Sect and their buildings. His energy was also supplemented by Devon, who was on the verge of reaching the Enrichment stage. They were not the only two involved in the attack, but Varghese’s focus narrowed to the point he could barely even discern the energy of the enemies hiding in their sect.

He pushed through their barriers, a tiny point of energy expanding and growing. It contained only the heat of the tiniest portion of a star, but Varghese still wouldn’t have unleashed it on a planet within the atmosphere without some sort of assurance it wouldn’t cause a chain reaction. His assurance in this case was the cage Devon had created around the area combined with his own control.

In truth, Varghese didn’t have the ability to draw upon enough of a star’s power to reach its full power even in a tiny point, but the cage provided its own sort of amplification in that regard, trapping the heat within the area.

Light flared, making it impossible to see the sect with the brightness of the flames, but Varghese’s senses told him that the whole area was aflame, burning away or melting stones like candles. All of the local Life Transformation cultivators were joined together, resisting the assault- but their combined efforts only lasted for a few moments.

A few moments later, the only energy Varghese could detect came from himself and his allies. A moment after that, his assault began to taper off, though not because he chose for it to happen. He was simply running out of his energy, having drawn from his stores far more rapidly than they were replenishing.

When he finally let go, he stood unsteadily on his feet. The light faded, but much of the heat remained. Even through the cage Devon had around it, he could feel the heat leaking out- though perhaps that was on purpose. After all, if it couldn’t go anywhere it wouldn’t suddenly cease to exist. Releasing it all at once would be problematic for the nearby area, as even a small portion of that energy could kill weaker individuals in nearby populated areas.

Varghese thought that perhaps he had gone too far… but it wasn’t as if he’d acted rashly or alone. Decisive action was necessary when dealing with the Twin Soul Sect.

He could feel them, vaguely, trapped in the cage that Devon had created. Their souls, of course. If the Twin Soul Sect acted as they did because they always believed they could get away with anything without consequences, they would provide them the most real consequences they could. It would also mean less information getting back to the upper realms, though it wasn’t as if they were unaware of the whole war. Indeed, the upper realms had been relatively involved with their problematic additions to the armaments of their lower realms brethren. Or perhaps test subjects.

-----

Within the course of a few days, the assault on Rotaire was finished, with a clear dividing line splitting the planet more or less in half between the other Trigold Cluster faction on one side and the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance on the other.

Tensions were high, because even as their campaign had completed, nobody was quite sure if the war was over… or simply on hold for the moment while both sides assessed their options.

The Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance were split on what to do, not directly between their respective groups but instead based on individual thoughts. The Fearsome Menagerie and their allies weren’t particularly less responsible for the conquests in the lower realms than the rest had been. They simply hadn’t been involved in the most recent atrocities, which was hardly a great selling point. On the other hand, there was some hope that seeing what the upper realms would do to them that they might change.

What actually happened depended in large part on the remains of the Trigold Cluster’s population. That is, except those from the third and significantly smaller faction that seemed to have never been treated as a true part of the Trigold Cluster at all. They had been more willing to engage in proper diplomacy, though some would argue that the other faction being more cautious in that regard was quite reasonable.

-----

Rotaire actually provided a unique opportunity. With split occupation, it was the closest to a neutral zone that they had ever had. And there was also no time lag for remote communications, which was quite problematic for proper diplomacy.

The only question was whether or not the Fearsome Menagerie would engage with their attempts, but that was only a concern for a very short time. At that point, the course of the future left the hands of people like Devon and Varghese, and instead was guided by those who had chosen to focus on things other than martial power. Though nothing stopped people from having both martial ability and training in other areas.

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The initial back and forth exchanges didn’t indicate whether or not the other side wanted a lasting peace, but it at least showed that they were equally fatigued, and wanted to take a break from the constant fighting. Or perhaps they wanted to catch people off guard with a sudden assault- that was something that had to be considered. Then again, judging the sincerity of their negotiation counterparts was an important part of their diplomat’s responsibilities, and like any professional trust had to be placed in them.

Even if there was a peace treaty drawn up, they weren’t suddenly going to withdraw all their forces in the region. That could easily result in destabilized planets- causing more trouble than their occupation already did. However, they also didn’t have any intention to keep control of the planets forever, so long as they could assure that the influence of the upper realms would be gone.

With the war lasting several decades, even if there was no further conflict the aftereffects of the war would most likely last at least that long. In some regards it had been a swift resolution to a conflict with a new group that spanned many systems, and in others it had dragged on too long. Both sides had lost many people. The Trigold Cluster had taken the most losses, though aside from their highest ranking members the vast majority of deaths were at their own hands due to the complete destruction of Zunrose.

That was an event that would be difficult to forget. A vast number of lives gone all at once, not even a matter of last ditch desperation but some form of human greed. The full story would likely never be revealed, as much of it had previously lived on inside the minds of cultivators now slain, but the records they had that spoke of the project indicated the worldheart was a secondary objective.

Its main purpose was to rile up their people against the ‘invaders’, a plan that greatly backfired when curious individuals learned the truth- including powerful factions like the Fearsome Menagerie that had been left out of the loop.

In addition, though so far they hadn’t found any indication of what they planned to do with it, the intent had been to obtain a starheart for something. In that manner, Varghese’s initial binding of Zunrose’s star might have drastically shifted the course of the war. That failure appeared to be responsible for some of their other reckless and high cost tactics. There was no indication if the assault on Egnos’ star was intended to produce a starheart or simply wipe out the occupied system- and through connected resonance, others Varghese was bound to.

Very little was written down in clear words, most likely because if that was the case it could be found and used against them by their detractors… other factions that wouldn’t appreciate their lives being thrown away for nothing. When it could be said that everyone died at the hands of foreign invaders, everything seemed believable- but there was only so much that the spread of true information could be controlled in a population of tens of billions, perhaps surpassing a hundred billion throughout all of their core worlds.

-----

The relief within Anton when he heard the war was over, even if just for the moment, was significant. He knew that war was not something easy to avoid, but he kind of hoped they would have been able to last until the end of the cycle and the next invasions. He didn’t find that war ever ended up as a net positive. Whatever strength people gained through experience would be offset by the loss of life, in Anton’s opinion. And there were plenty of ways to train necessary combat skills without actual war.

Anton would have liked to bury himself in soil, digging in the dirt and planting seeds on every planet that would take him. But he still had a role to fulfill. Just because the war was over didn’t mean dangerous munitions weren’t still entering the lower realms on their decades long time lag. Whether or not the remaining faction was connected to any of that, they didn’t want any of it to fall into their hands. Thus, Anton imagined he would spend the next few decades binding stars in the area, improving his dominion over the area.

He wasn’t the only one responsible for that area of space now, and indeed their alliance was setting up proper long term bases in different systems where they could monitor anything that passed through, but that project would take time and he was available immediately.

Every time he thought about it, Anton sighed at the massive wealth of the upper realms- and how mishandled it all was. If they spent the same amount of effort improving the quality of their citizen’s lives instead of developing superweapons, how prosperous would the Trigold Cluster be? It wouldn’t necessarily make them any weaker, either.

In addition, if they had simply settled worlds in the lower realms that were previously unoccupied- and the ability to terraform worlds to suit their survival needs was well within their capabilities- he would not have begrudged them obtaining resources from the lower realms. Their own connections to the upper realms and the Scarlet Alliance had taught them the importance of ‘lower’ energy in the early cultivation of people in the upper realms, and how it could shape their future strength.

If the great power of the upper realms had been angled to produce more of that, Anton wouldn’t have even been terribly upset if they extracted a bit recklessly. Obviously he didn’t like the idea of completely dismantling planets for their resources- something the Trigold Cluster apparently did- but that was far better than stealing them from others as if human lives were worth less than livestock.

Far less than livestock, because a good rancher wouldn’t kill livestock for nothing. They might kill a cow for its meat, but if they wanted its milk they could get that in other ways. The Trigold Cluster, however, more or less killed cows for their milk, not even putting in the effort to get anything in other ways. They might happen to also eat the meat at the same time, but their practices were anything but sustainable. The only thing that let them continue was how truly vast galaxies were, even the small slice that all of the known population lived in.