Elder Cultivator

Juli wished she had been able to bring an orbital platform or at least a sturdy ascension-class battleship. Neither she nor Misi were quite Augmentation cultivators yet. Facing off against a Domination cultivator was a bit… intimidating.

There was one advantage they had, however. Numbers. Not counting the void ants which would make them have a numerical advantage against anything but a full planet, Korin’s isolated location was actually quite convenient. Having large numbers of Augmentation cultivators moving to and fro would have revealed her location, so she only had a handful with her. Unfortunately, that meant that the human forces were nearly matched without even considering Korin.

What could Juli do besides watch? Not much… but observation on its own was actually quite important. If she could spot a weakness in someone, it could make all the difference. It didn’t even have to be in Korin herself. That actually made her feel much better.

She didn’t have anything she could just pull out that would be a perfect counter for the Soul Piercers, but aside from Korin none of them were overwhelmingly strong. Their attacks were also quite straightforward. She had a plan, though it would likely need Misi’s help. He’d be the one she could coordinate with most quickly.

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Korin’s first move was to impale Tessouat. He was extremely grateful for both the fact that he had void ants that negated much of her energy and the fact that she was using a weaker spear. They had her good one still. He would have used it himself, except he was uncertain if it would be wise to use her own weapon against her. Hopefully, after she was dead.

His shield, reinforced by his own energy, still nearly shattered under the force of the impact- but every blow he survived against a Domination cultivator was a victory in his mind. His own spear reached out to counter her, carrying with it hundreds more void ants. She pulled away before they could reach, but Tessouat knew there would be a few lingering in the air, individuals that might go unnoticed against the background of space. They hadn’t discussed their full strategy, but any void ant that could get to Korin would be welcome.

He wondered if this was her real body. There were signs of modification, incomplete stitching that seemed careless but most likely had to be carefully calculated. Or something of her style drew her towards madness, which Tessouat wouldn’t deny as a possibility. Either way, her power certainly inhabited the physical form in front of him.

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Runa and Emrik stayed on the outskirts of the battle, even though pressuring Korin seemed to be the most critical thing that could be done. However, they were looking for something important. The previous battle had revealed many interesting pieces of information, about Korin. Some of those things came in the aftermath as they looked at what remained of her ‘body’.

There was a connection between her and other bodies. Internal, yes. Otherwise, they could have cut that connection as it strung across the galaxy. But Crossed Antenennae had made use of that connection, and the two of them weren’t about to be outdone in their area of expertise. They would find something. They had to, because even with more void ants their victory wasn’t guaranteed.

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Crossed Antennae and Fearsome Mandibles approached from opposite angles. Swarms of void ants dropped elsewhere, but each of them moved alone except for their royal guard. It was of utmost importance that they not be noticed at a long distance, because of the human countermeasures. Many had already begun, but the humans were counteracting them. Caustic chemicals had been released around the station, floating in a large cloud. Human cultivators brushed the chemicals away with a sweep of their energy, but weaker void ants would instantly find their carapace melting.

However, the stronger void ants moved through. They could face corrosion, heat, cold, poisons, or any number of other things. They would have struggled most if the enemy cultivators simply placed themselves in a durable box, though not as much as would be expected. A hunk of metal couldn’t stop them for long.

The plan was for Tessouat and those behind him to hold off Korin for long enough for the royal void ants to pin her in. They could have used a hundred more to cover the angles better, but they had what they had. Two queens and a handful of royal guard each.

Crossed Antennae noticed Chops break away. Good. She had been stubborn to come anyway. Replacement limbs simply weren’t the same- only living void ant carapace provided the full energy nullification.

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Chops wasn’t retreating. Instead, she had launched herself towards a particular human. The woman appeared to be coordinating the release of problematic chemicals- including making sure that they didn’t float away into empty space. Chops redirected her momentum as she pushed away from the pack, cutting her way through everything in her way.

Including fire. She knew that Chidi could do better, but what was a humble void ant to do? She got most of the threats out of her way… and if her new metal limbs got a little bit scorched, she could only apologize to the creators of her new appendages.

They worked just fine, though. They followed her commands as her limbs caught onto part of the deep space station just above the meditating human. She was smart. Well armored, with no gaps that void ants could crawl through. Smart, but woefully uninformed.

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The woman reacted to the killing intent just a moment too late. No doubt she was a valuable subordinate of Korin. And if she lived, a scourge of far too many void ant lives. The power of blades flowed through Chops, and she was merely empowered by the defensive energy in front of her. Human brains were particularly soft, so it only took two attacks. One to open the skull, then a second to destroy the brain. Nobody lived long without a way to control everything.

A wild surge of energy tossed Chops away as the woman nearly exploded. Dangerous. For any humans nearby, that is. Convenient for void ants, if they could regain their momentum now that many of the hazards would be less effective- scattered by her energy and limited in quantity to begin with.

These humans weren’t nearly as prepared for void ants as they thought. Perhaps they had been counting on obscurity to save them. But that was where they failed, as other humans were prepared to track them down.

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Tessouat had an armor of void ants and a small battalion at his back, but he could barely even stand up to Korin even as she was bombarded with attacks from every angle. The worst part was he didn’t even know if he could hold her attention for much longer.

Then the time came. One of her Augmentation cultivators suddenly died, and she turned her head. Tessouat put his all into an attack, but didn’t even make it within a hundred meters of her as her aura pushed against him. He hesitated for only a moment before pulling back and flinging his spear.

She didn’t even turn as she annihilated and everything around it from existence. If she had, she might have noticed the web of void ants that flung themselves outward in a web pattern.

Korin didn’t have to look at Tessouat to fight him, but she did have to look for void ants. As she spun to investigate the death of her ally, she caught one of the queens in her sight. Tessouat could only tell because she launched an attack… and because the energy disappeared.

The Domination cultivator threw herself out of the incoming path, but the queen had latched onto her energy and would not let go. All she managed to do was drag her closer. Then the other one struck. Tessouat couldn’t make it out with his eyes, but he noticed the sudden drop in energy.

The void ant net was off-target, but it split in half- flinging in opposite directions. The two queens and one mass of void ants congregated at the same moment.

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Crossed Antennae saw her sister come under attack, and she feared that Korin would spin around to catch her as well. But instead of doing that, the Domination cultivator relaxed. As if a moment she was waiting for had arrived, and the trouble was being handled.

Too bad she saw the wrong sister. Crossed Antennae chomped through her energy. Snips bit into her spine. Bullet and Fire filled her with something that would be bad. And the best part was Fearsome Mandibles somehow latched onto Korin’s energy from her attempted counterattack.

Korin’s spear stabbed forward towards Fearsome Mandibles without any energy, piercing through the vacuum at great speed. One of her royal guards fell. Crossed Antennae didn’t even know if she had a name, and now she’d never be introduced.

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Runa moved first, her father following after on faith. The void ants were probably enough to kill Korin on their own- if it was her real body. Runa wasn’t even certain if she had a real body, but that wasn’t as difficult to handle as it might have seemed. The Spirit Slicing Sect was meant for cutting all sorts of things without form, and her instincts told her that an opportunity was coming.

One of the void ants- up close she could potentially pick the queens apart but not at a distance- yanked on Korin’s energy. Probably Crossed Antennae, since she’d done it before. Korin clearly didn’t like that, and Runa felt a shift.

She dashed past a surprised cultivator of the Soul Piercers, barely dodging the attack to avoid losing momentum. Her defensive energy was mostly depleted, but she didn’t shift anything to replace it.

A shockwave burst from Korin’s body as she exploded her armor in all directions, blasting away the void ants. A desperate move, yet it nearly stopped Runa. Yet as her energy was weakened even momentarily, Runa managed to use her voidsteel blade to carve a small path for herself.

In front of her, she felt something. A string of energy, being held tightly by Crossed Antennae. Runa had one opportunity. She was going to cut a connection, and she just hoped she didn’t do it in exactly the wrong manner. One would sever Korin from any other bodies she might have prepared, and the other would let her go. That was what Runa’s instincts told her- it was possible both options were incorrect. It was also possible both would be advantageous to Runa, but her luck wasn’t that good. She’d already used up any good luck just meeting Velvet, and everything that had come from that.

Her blade cut halfway through the connection when a backhand snapped her head to the side. Runa’s body went limp.

Emrik’s blade cut through the point Runa had attempted to sever, following the same principles. Something broke. For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened- but that was just because in the vacuum, they couldn’t hear Korin’s scream of despair.

Runa just barely retained any consciousness. Her face was pain… then something slapped into it. She forced her eyes open to see a net of void ants trying to push off her.

Her body wouldn’t move. Her spine was probably ruined. She used her energy to move her arms, pushing the net forward with splayed hands.

It wrapped around Korin just about the time she was building up another burst of energy. For someone whose neck and spine seemed to be even more injured than Runa’s, Korin sure was taking a long time to die. Domination cultivators were like that, maybe.

But she did die, a thousand tiny bites at a time. Runa watched it happen as her consciousness began to leave her. She hoped that at least her father would realize she wasn’t dead, even if she probably looked like it. She didn’t have much hope for surviving the void of space while unconscious.