Being exposed to the vacuum of space was not pleasant for the Sergeant, but she was the one best suited for chewing through some troublesome formation markings connecting the structure of one capsule to another.

Fortunately, they did not have to deal with decompression issues as much as they might have. Byron was a clever individual, and seeing that the void ants needed a path out created a single hole the size of a finger. Void ants remaining nearby were still yanked towards the hole, but it was only for a moment. A shield of natural energy curved over them, sealing off the air- but leaving them outside.

The entangled void ants only had to hold on for the initial burst, then they were able to scurry along the structure. Exoskeletons weren’t enough to make vacuum completely safe, but they could manage for a few moments.

Jaws snapped down on precious materials, tearing into energy where the materials themselves could not be directly assaulted. The Sergeant had to chew through several layers of metal, shaving it away as she burrowed inside to deeper formation markings. Other smaller ants followed after her, until the formations completely faltered.

Surges of natural energy had tried to connect to capsules beyond the one in which Byron was imprisoned, but those had been gobbled up by the void ants. Whatever destruction they were meant to cause didn’t make it past their vigilant guard.

Then their task was complete, their bodies straining as air tried to pull itself from their bodies. The Sergeant had to drag a pile of her companions along with her when they could no longer move, but soon they were crammed into the hole in the ship… and Byron created another barrier of energy behind them before removing the one in front.

A simple solution to the problem of disruption, and one that could have been meticulously planned if they had the time. But instead they were rather rushed. They were just pulling themselves inside, the Sergeant preparing to ask what would happen next, when Byron’s fist slammed against the wall behind them.

The sound of metal groaning and snapping rattled through the structure as their connection to the rest of the ship was broken. Another shove of his energy, and they were rushing away from the ship that contained Elder Joetta, along with the modular pieces further out. They had been held on by further structure, but that was torn away with Byron’s force.

They went not a moment too soon, as the surrounding units were detonated. They would have been crushed had they still been between them, but instead they were shoved further away from the ship. They didn’t have any self-mobility, however, and several weapons from the large ship were trained on them.

“Sorry about this,” Byron said- apologizing not to the void ants, but to the other cultivators. He leaped across the room, and energy suddenly pulled towards him- without him even touching any of the adjoining formations. That energy was redirected into a barrier covering their wayward vessel… but it couldn’t stand up to the incoming attacks. Beams of energy tore completely through the cell that had once held Byron, coming out the other side.

A burst of air left the chamber, but the void ants were already holding on for dear life- and with so much flow in opposite directions, they hardly stirred from their perch.

Another round of attacks seemed poised to come from the Magnitude IV ship, but several events happened simultaneously. Just as Joetta had discovered their escape plan, so too had their other allies outside the ship taken notice. One of those redirected a swarm of Spirit Arrows to all of the weapon emplacements most directly suited to attacking them. That would be Anton, of course. A reliable figure, clearly friends with the Great Queen for good reason.

The other respondents were a small squad of ships. They nearly collided with the section of ship torn away from the Magnitude IV beast, but their energy was not intended to be destructive. Instead, they created chains that crossed each other, dragging along their group.

A moment later, humans were communicating- through natural energy, which meant that it was like listening through soup. It was meant to directly cause vibrations with natural energy for people to hear as sound, but since void ants disrupted the flow next to them it came out… less consistent.

“... are…?” Byron raised some sort of question to those around them.

“Not… with that,” other cultivators replied.

Byron looked to the Sergeant for answers, but she had none. She had not met any of the individuals in question. It seemed that Byron was not too worried about anyone who would be bringing him further away from danger at the moment, however.

Meanwhile, the rest of the battle still continued around them.

-----

“Perfect,” Devon said as Ashildr disconnected Elder Raeburn from the ship. Restricting the man completely was much easier once that task was accomplished. He was at most a slightly stronger Confluence cultivator, but his personal power was nothing like a strong Assimilation individual. Maybe it could be, but they simply hadn’t seen all of the examples. “... What’s happening over there?” Devon said, his senses drifting towards the other fleet.

“Chaos,” Ashildr said. “It appears Ty Quigley has chosen new targets. I was just as focused as you on this situation, however, so I don’t know more.”

“It appears some of my disciples are in trouble,” Devon said. He grabbed Raeburn into a headlock. “You’re coming with me as a human shield.” Frankly, he would barely prevent anything even if he wanted to, but it was easier for Devon to keep the man’s energy sealed if he was nearby. And it would be easy enough to kill him if there was any risk of him getting free instead.

With Raeburn’s ship inactive, the first fleet that they had encountered was floundering- many of its members were fleeing, but the retreat was far from orderly. That gave some leeway to deal with the other situation. If all went well, they might take out two of the top three enemies all at once. With Anton around, Devon was feeling confident.

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A small squad of local ships, piloted by Ammar and some other disciples in the hivemind, were dragging along a battered segment of Joetta’s ship… containing a Confluence cultivator, for some reason. That was something Devon would figure out later.

First, he charged forward, surrounding his disciples with a barrier of chains. They were doing an excellent job with avoiding most of the incoming fire, but several of them were floundering, their energies nearly depleted and their ships damaged- merely being dragged along by their brethren. Some were dead, and while Devon hadn’t known them for long they were still his disciples. If only he could directly enact vengeance without killing innocents.

Ty’s insane antics still seemed to work, however. He tore through enemy ships, precisely cutting apart their formations and killing the captain. It looked like there was even a cored-out Magnitude III ship in the mix.

With Devon and Anton both focused on the second fleet suddenly- plus the planetary artillery from below- their assault suddenly shifted. Maybe it had to do something with the way Devon was dragging one of their leaders around with him like a sack of potatoes, or the damage Anton was doing to their ships, or any number of other things, but they were soon accelerating around Waral rather than towards it.

Devon started to dive towards the Magnitude IV ship, but Anton’s voice stopped him, transmitted across a third of the system. “Let her go for now. Focus on the other ships. I need to conserve my energy.”

His tireless grandfather talking about conserving energy? Well, he had been firing a constant barrage of arrows powerful enough to pierce through the barriers of a Magnitude IV ship. And Devon was reminded that their problems weren’t just local. He nodded. “Got it.”

On his own, Magnitude III ships took some work to break through. Following Anton’s guidance, however, he broke through one after another sequentially. Three of them, in fact, before he reached the limits of what he could contain at once. By that point, the enemy fleet had continued to accelerate away, no longer able to return to an approach vector on Waral. The first fleet had scattered as well, and they had many gutted ships to bring to safe harbor.

There had also been many ships completely destroyed on both sides. Several of their Ascension-class battleships needed repairs that likely couldn’t be done locally. Once again, the Numerological Compact had lost only a small number of individuals… but all of them were Confluence cultivators. Most likely, they were greatly eating into their numbers- and their available ships as well.

Even taking down just one of their elders and a single Magnitude IV ship was also worthwhile. Plus, they had the strange individual protected by his disciples. There were clear holes in it- and Devon noticed some clumped up void ants barely holding on, their presence only notable through the deficit of energy around them. It seemed that whole thing would need help getting lowered into atmosphere. Meanwhile, Anton could do whatever it was he needed to do.

-----

Through the local star of Kathariel, Anton could feel an enemy fleet approaching- though only because of the power they had. They were still a good half a day outside of the system. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be passing particularly close to the star itself. He hadn’t revealed that particular detail yet, though their spies might have learned it. Either way, he wasn’t exactly in a good position to involve himself in the battle.

But what was the point of all of his training if he didn’t try to make any practical use of it?

Anton knew his own limits. Even if he was willing to destroy a ship with tens of thousands of innocents aboard, he couldn’t attack several systems away and still have the power required. But maybe they didn’t need to know that.

Taking in information from his senses, Anton set up initial trajectories for three shots. That was all he felt he could manage. The string of his bow vibrated beneath his fingers as he gathered energy. Taking into account the gravitational pull of the nearby systems, he fired his shots.

Each of them tore through subspace, going far beyond the speed any ship could travel. That speed was improved even more by Anton’s growth making pathways for himself. A simple arrow of energy could handle a lot more than the body of a cultivator, even guided by natural energy.

Such a distance was utterly impractical if the battle had already been raging, but there was still sufficient time. Each arrow arrived, striking its target precisely. Operators of Magnitude II Vessels, specifically. They transformed as they arrived, two of them widening inside the barrier. One cut off the right arm of a particular individual. The other the left leg. The third took an arrow straight through his stomach.

While the third of the group seemed to have suffered the least harm, the threat should be apparent enough. He could hit precisely where he chose to, and there was little difference between a hole in the stomach and a hole in the heart. Certainly, at their levels cultivators could not hope for ribs to be a significant factor in protecting them after something got through their natural energy defenses- and their ship’s barriers, more importantly.

After his attacks landed, Anton stretched his energy, not from his body but from Kathariel’s distant star. He reached a narrow line of it outside the system, enough to reach the fleet and spread to cover it.

“This is your single warning. You have three hours to turn back, or all of you will lose more than unnecessary extremities.”

It was true, if not exactly in the way Anton said it. Most likely, he couldn’t do more than kill some of their weaker members- and that was only possible because he was shooting between two bound systems. But it was true that if they continued the attack he would hunt them down and fulfill that promise.

Anton released his breath after his arrows arrived. Unfortunately, he couldn’t fire consecutively as it took his full concentration for the entire duration of the flight. He considered returning to the system himself, but with less than half a day remaining he could only make it a quarter of the way at best.

That was still a significant distance covered, and far better than he could have done previously. At one point it would have taken him two weeks. That had slowly improved to six days, and now it would be closer to two.

He hoped his intimidation would work… but rather than simply hoping, he needed to act. Even if his intimidation was successful- making Endymion think he was still in Kathariel, and more powerful than anticipated- once they communicated with Waral they would know he actually wasn’t there. If they hesitated long enough Anton had a good chance of getting there in time.

And if he needed a boost to start things off, there was a powerful flow of devotion from Waral. They had clearly felt his power during the battle. It wasn’t as much as was directed at Devon, of course, but the focus of the hivemind was interesting. It was worth several times as much per individual than the rest, even that which was local.

Devotion wasn’t generally much good for direct usage, and was generally used for long term cultivation, but there were some things that had made Anton doubt that that was necessarily the only way of things. Even Vincent’s Assimilation took the core of his power from connections.

Anton focused between his two stars, squeezing a pathway through subspace as he sped on his way. Devon and the others could handle the rest, even if the enemy fleet returned. He was confident in that. And while he knew he couldn’t protect everyone, he wanted to do what he could- and he couldn’t help but worry he’d been drawn away on purpose.