Though a few fools stayed behind in the Everheart system to try to capitalize on the moment, the delegation from the Scarlet Alliance was not part of that nonsense. Instead, they swiftly boarded their ship and set off for their own territory, without waiting to see the Domination cultivator’s reactions. Staying in the system was unwise for any number of reasons.

“Anyone want to try to make sense of what happened back there?” Vari began.

“I only saw Everheart’s leg remaining,” Alva commented.

Chikere shrugged. “It wasn’t cut off,” she added.

“What do you mean?” Tauno asked.

“Nothing more and less than I said. His leg wasn’t cut off. I wasn’t paying attention to see if it was connected or not.”

“Ah,” Tauno rolled his eyes. “I mistakenly took your hyperfocus for observation. Then, knowing what we do, I am willing to put forward the possibility that Everheart lost a leg.”

“... Didn’t he get disintegrated except for the leg?” Aconite growled. “Then the leg too.”

“That’s the least likely scenario, though,” Vari said. “Even if it was very convincing.”

“His entire system is unstable,” Aconite pointed out. “It might collapse due to all of those formations. Would he allow that to happen if he were not dead?”

“Absolutely,” Alva commented.

“If he thought he could harm anyone he didn’t like,” Tauno nodded.

“I don’t know whether it would be worse to try to take his things when he was alive or dead…” Chidi furrowed his brow. “I could imagine him making particularly wild formation decisions to take place post mortem.”

Aconite sniffed. “I never got a chance to take a good pass at the final scene. But it’s odd.”

“What?” Chidi asked. “Everheart potentially faking his death… again, apparently?”

“How do you feel?” Aconite asked.

“Exhausted,” Chidi said. “Annoyed that we came out here. Why?”

“So no internal hemorrhaging or spontaneous organ failure?”

“... no?”

“Remember the part where the food was poisoned?” Aconite asked.

“Well, yeah,” Vari said. “But then he mentioned the poison he’d released into the air as well…”

“Are your pores bleeding?” Aconite barked. “Energy rebelling? Soul disintegrating?”

“... no?” Vari tilted her head. “I sure hope not.”

“Then what did the poison do?” Aconite growled.

Tauno crossed his arms. “I suppose you would be the one best equipped to answer that.”

“If only I had solid answers,” Aconite pawed at the floor. “I did not notice the airborne toxins early enough. Indeed, I have only barely been able to pick them out from their traces within our bodies.”

“... Are we all going to die?” Alva asked.

“No,” Aconite said. “But I don’t know why.”

“Well, he likes me,” Vari said.

“That doesn’t change my point much,” Aconite replied. “Why would he pass up the potential to kill Domination cultivators? And if he wasn’t going to try… why invite them?”

“Well, he said it, didn’t he?” Vari pointed out. “It was his ascension to Domination.”

Tauno stared daggers, though not at anyone in particular. “I hate everything.”

“Is that not right?” Vari asked. “I don’t get how or anything but… it makes sense, right?”

“So we’re left with the options of Everheart being actually dead, or having advanced to Domination,” Tauno grumbled.

“Did you not want him dead?” Vari asked. “I mean, I didn’t but I know that… most people disagree.”

“If there are two options and one of them involves Everheart actually being dead, he’s not dead!” Tauno grumbled.

“Pretty sure that would be true if there was only one option,” Chikere pointed out.

Tauno sighed. “At least as far as the Alliance goes, we can only assume he’s in Domination. Because if he’s not… then he’s dead and everything is fine. Except we’d be the only targets in the Scarlet Midfields. But either option involves fortifying our security even more.”

Everyone collectively agreed, whether verbally or not. There really wasn’t a good option for them.

-----

“Chidi?” Aconite nudged her friend some time later.

Chidi started, turning his head vaguely towards the canine. “Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking.”

“About what, if I might ask?”

“Just how I can do the opposite of that,” he shrugged.

“The opposite of… drawing in a bunch of people and ascending to Domination? I suppose it makes sense for you to enter Augmentation solo,” Aconite replied.

“Nah, I’m not doing that.”

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“Well, I will be there if you wish of course.”

Chidi shook his head. “I’m not entering Augmentation.”

“I understand it might be a while. I don’t intend to pressure you into doing anything before you’re ready, but everyone knows you have the talent.”

“Sure,” Chidi nodded. “But I’m not.”

“You’ll have to explain that,” Aconite said.

Chidi tilted his head. “I wish I could. All I know is it’s not that.”

“... Are you talking about an alternative path?”

“I guess that’s what it would be,” Chidi admitted. “I just don’t know what the point of growing my personal energy is if there are Domination cultivators in the world. There’s always going to be someone with more. So it would be easier to deal with them if they were just… not.”

“Not what?” Aconite asked.

“Not stronger than me,” he replied.

“But that’s why we train to surpass such people.” She looked at her friend, quite confused. He didn’t seem unmotivated. Just in an odd state.

“Well, look at Crossed Antennae. No matter how much I train, she’ll be just as capable of killing me.”

“That is the peril of void ants,” Aconite agreed. “But I do not think we need to be concerned about her. We are friends.”

“I know,” Chidi agreed.

“And so…?”

“So… that,” Chidi said. “If I can negate my opponent’s energy, I can defeat anyone. So I’m not going to increase my own energy.”

“... I’m sure that makes sense to you,” Aconite said. “But what about those who are lower in cultivation than yourself?”

“What about them?”

“They will still be able to gather together to kill you.”

“Not if they die first. Besides, I have friends.”

“I would prefer not to have to spend my time protecting you from hordes of attackers,” Aconite grumbled. She would of course, if it was necessary. Then again, even if Chidi didn’t grow any stronger he could defeat pretty much anyone below Augmentation with his current strength. So perhaps it wasn’t necessary for him to increase his personal energy. Though Aconite still didn’t think it was a good idea.

She grumbled to herself, trying to figure out what those stupid poisons did. Damn that Everheart, if there was some sort of lingering danger she was going to murder him to find out how to fix it.

-----

“There were no signs of any of Everheart’s associates in the aftermath,” Zaur declared. “Nor did we find any traces of Nadzeya, despite her appearance.”

Lelka listened patiently, quietly pondering how this was going to become her fault.

“Tell me, how did she react to you when you approached her during the chaos?” Zaur asked.

“I did not have the opportunity to get close,” Lelka replied.

“You could not even manage such a trivial thing, even though I was holding off Ratna?” Zaur growled.

He was the one who had told them all to focus on Everheart, of course. Lelka wondered if perhaps she should have stayed behind to die in the collapse of a system. It would have certainly been a rare experience. “My deepest apologies.”

“If I give you another chance, I expect you to do better,” Zaur said.

Was she being replaced? She certainly hoped so. She might be able to have a useful position other than poorly managed secretary for the Exalted One. But she might also be demoted to an even worse position. Not that there was much lower she could drop with her cultivation. Though working for Zaur was supposedly a high position.

-----

“Hey, do you know the sword guy?” a wolf growled, shoving her face at an eagle. Then she was yanked by the scruff of her neck. “Hey, what gives! I’m not a kid anymore, mom!”

“I would believe you if you did not act like one, Agom,” Spikes replied. “And if you were going to ask our Akrysian fellows absurd questions, it would be reasonable to learn their language.”

“But… everyone knows how to speak the language.”

Spikes set Agom down and looked at her. “Everyone?”

“Yeah! Even humans!”

“While it is true quite a number of individuals speak this language, it is not the same as the language of Akrys.”

“Why not? They have wolves!”

“Indeed. But our language was created specifically so wolves could speak to each other,” Spikes growled. “There are quite a few things other than wolves there, you know.”

“Obviously! Even though you wouldn’t let me talk to the tortoise I can see that eagle right there and the sword guy isn’t a wolf either.”

“I’m glad you understand the language barrier.”

“Yeah,” Agom said, twisting her head to reach the sword sheathed along her back. “So I’ll ask this way! The language of swords is universal!”

Spikes slapped her daughter away from the ascension receiving grounds. She had brought her along because Agom asked nicely, but Spikes had some actual business to attend to. And Spikes had learned the language herself.

-----

The official stance of the Scarlet Alliance agreed with their delegation. Everheart most likely wasn’t dead. And while they had no proof of him being in Domination, it was not harmful for them to assume the possibility and the dangers involved. They still had to fortify their borders anyway.

They kept a careful watch as Exalted Quadrant forces returned home, both on those skirting the border and those who actually dared to cross it. Technically, crossing the border was illegal. Practically, they couldn’t enforce that against the Exalted Quadrant at the current time- unless they were coming to cause problems anyway. When simply passing through, they had to accept it.

But they weren’t going to let that last forever. They were at most five decades out from tighter border security. And while that sounded like a long time… considering the scale they had to work with it was quite reasonable.

It would be the second round of boosts, not just funneling people into particular locations but also bolstering their ability to deal with anyone intruding. Formations were only a small part of their plans.

-----

Refusing to go to Xankeshan was best for all parties involved, Crossed Antennae reasoned. She understood their intentions, but the risk was too great. Even what they had offered as an alternative was dangerous. But she couldn’t bring her people to settle colonies on new worlds without functional ships, and she couldn’t get those ships without humans. Even though said ships were small scale, they required precise testing.

Thus, having a team of engineers arrive with a whole factory in tow had been a relief… and a moment of concern. But being able to exchange ideas more directly, without time lag for communication and testing… it was worth it. Their efforts were rectifying her timescale for planting colonies. She needed to be finished at least a century before the cycle allowed the invasion of the lower realms. Optimally, she would have established her colonies a century before any invading armies formed up on the border, which was a harder time frame.

There were simply too many worlds to settle… and it wasn’t as if the actual growth in population was the difficulty. Void ants could increase their population as long as there were resources, and with the knowledge to sustainably increase their food supply… they were unstoppable.

Except, of course, humans were much better at growing even better food. If humans were managing the upper energy of all of the planets they would do much better- but it would also be painfully obvious to anyone who showed up.

They would only have one chance, as they revealed themselves. Many void ants would die, and they needed to make it worth it. Crossed Antennae understood the possibility that another extermination effort would arise and she and all of her children might perish in the process. But if they caused such a phenomenal ruckus, perhaps they could push back the threat one more cycle. That would be worth it, as her people would live on in the lower realms, and her allies would have an opportunity to flourish.

It had to be worth it. Which meant that she couldn’t mess things up.