In the time that the Little Alliance had begun to form into its own thing, Runa had seen a great number of changes in how they did… everything. That included battle, especially with the rise of void ants. While she could absolutely try to cut apart her foe’s defenses with her voidsteel blade, it wasn’t a terrible idea to also just toss a fistful of void ants at them at the same time.
Human cultivators moved faster than void ants could- that was the big limitation on whether they could kill powerful cultivators. Generally, they had to be stealthy. Then again, the stronger ones learned methods to move rapidly via the consumption of surrounding energy- like the Great Queen. Still, human cooperation helped significantly.
Runa didn’t carry anything close to the number of void ants Tessouat did, though. For a guy who had hated them so much, he sure chose to spend a lot of time literally covered in them.
Runa dodged and weaved among bombardments from the Twisting Impact, formerly her allies. At least in name. As calling it the Chaotic Conglomeration implied, they were really more aligned against the Exalted Quadrant than actually planning to work together. They devoted more resources to be thrown at the eastern end of things… but Runa realized it wasn’t as much as they could have. Nobody was trying to win. Just to keep people away from the real sects.
Or maybe that was her pessimism speaking. And the fact that some of those people were trying to kill her with blunt force. It was a good thing the planetary barrier would deflect such things, or they would be causing significant damage to the cities below.
Runa was moving in on some of their stronger cultivators. She circled around behind, not because she didn’t think that they would be able to keep track of her but for a simpler reason- they were less likely to carelessly fling attacks towards their own ships. That was where she released her package of void ants, moving along a set trajectory as fast as she could fling them without harming them. That movement was disguised with another attack.
She continued to curve around, drawing attacks away from them. She also severed some of their connections to their own projectiles, not that there was much for them to hit off into the void of space. It was all to keep them distracted… though she wasn’t against killing enemies when she got the chance. She slashed with a void blade, using a more conventional blade to follow up before her foe reasserted his defenses.
An arrow flew right past her ear. For no reason at all. There were literally an infinite number of other trajectories Anton could have chosen. But she didn’t mind too much because… each of his strikes made a change to the battlefield- either killing someone, wounding a stronger cultivator, or stopping people from joining their allies.
And usually, they exploded. That was, theoretically, a weakness. Somehow, he made that into a boon instead. He couldn’t arrive in person- and he couldn’t reach much further than their systems bunched up against the border of the realms- but he could certainly cause real damage.
It was a good thing that nobody expected Anton to do everything, because he really couldn’t. Covering people in the western systems alone would have been enough of a task, juggling a huge number of individual combat points. Attacking a Domination cultivator at the same time? That was difficult.
Ramil couldn’t even counterattack. Anton wouldn’t guarantee that for everyone, as tracing something back to him through his own energy might be possible, but Ramil wasn’t the right type. However, it still took much of Anton’s focus otherwise his attacks just wouldn’t matter. As a Domination cultivator, Ramil was a nearly endless font of power. Anton was drawing from his own stars, of course, but the recovery rate of Ramil seemed to be higher.
That appearance might be all the problem, because Anton couldn’t tell if they were winning. Ramil also wasn’t winning. Tessouat was surviving inside the projection, taking out supporting cultivators. Anton was more focused on them as well, since they were permanent damage that could be caused to the Disciples of the Beyond. If an opportunity arose to kill Ramil Anton would do his best, but he wasn’t having any luck.
He was absolutely going to drive the man off- and if he retreated even for a short time, then he wouldn't be in sync with the western attackers. There was no way they would stay coordinated long term, though fear was a pretty good motivator- and people were afraid of the void ants. As they should be- which was the real reason they should stay away.
Juli had already given everything she had, and the battle wasn’t over. Now she was just directing whatever energy could get to her cannon. Her personal growth hadn’t been a significant factor in her life recently. She was growing stronger- her passion for tech was a good core for Augmentation. However, a bit more focus would have been good. She was too weak. Normally, she saw how she was surrounded by those who were far greater and it didn’t matter. Now, she was experiencing how far things could go once more.
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Ramil had learned from his previous encounter, and was far more cautious about the void ants. He was even standing up to everything they had plus Anton. He was taking things more seriously, and Juli had thought it would be like before… or easier.
They wouldn’t let him win, though. In the worst case, they could force him to remain too long. The Great Queen and the defenders the next system over would be a great boon to their power- but there would be too many sacrifices.
Juli loved machines. Tech was so interesting. But it could always be rebuilt- and sometimes even better. People couldn’t.
She could dismantle the limiters on her cannon. That would cause it to explode uselessly, but she could. They were there for a reason, though. But she might be able to create some sort of meaningful sacrifice… hopefully not involving any more lives.
What did they need? They needed Ramil to be dead. Okay, she couldn’t do that. What were the alternatives?
She just needed to convince Ramil that he could be killed. So it was only a question of how much power she could call upon without disrupting any other battlefield plans. She hadn’t expected to do so much comms work in the middle of a heated battle, but here she was.
She had a plan. A simple one, but quite spectacular in presentation. It was a bit late to do the most visually impressive version, and the enemy likely wouldn’t let themselves be flanked easily, but she began to have people maneuver into position.
Then they were all going to focus on a single point. Not a target, like Ramil. But a single small point just in front of him. A Domination cultivator’s defenses wouldn’t fail against even several dozen orbital cannons and a few Augmentation-class battleships, but they could rally an impressive amount of power.
They just had to avoid getting near Tessouat… but he wasn’t close enough to Ramil to be in peril just yet.
“Alright everyone… firing in three… two… one…” Obviously her verbal countdown didn’t mean anything. They had computers for that. Still, there was a mental aspect to such things. Connections to be made.
Dozens of beam weapons fired at various angles, piercing through the projected distortion beasts with their maximum power- or slightly beyond. They met precisely where intended- at least enough of them. Some people forgot to factor for spatial distortions.
A brilliant flash lit the battlefield- one the Little Alliance was prepared for. The explosion was something Ramil was not prepared for. He hesitated a moment after it happened, and the cannons began to charge up once more.
Then he left. Just like that. He swept along most of his subordinates with him, heading back towards their waiting long distance vessels. As for why those hadn’t been targeted, it wasn’t that simple.
And, technically, they had. Hopefully it worked.
Boarding Team 002 landed on the biggest, most luxurious ship the Disciples of the Beyond had brought with them. It was a complete non-factor in the battle. It wasn’t actually any faster than the individual cultivators aboard- except at long distances. In short, it couldn’t fight and couldn't help them escape, just ease their path if they had already done so.
There had also been a planet sized projection of a many-faceted distortion beast in the way, so it had been difficult to target. But that was fine for Boarding Team 002.
Even before scans had begun, they were circling around. They knew they would pick a target eventually. A tiny ship carried them, powered by nearly pure tech. It contained miniaturized stealth systems and everything the team of void ants might need to reach their destination.
Then they received the incoming transmissions and picked their target. The void ants had a goal, and it happened to perfectly align with what the humans wanted. They would even know it was part of the plan this time… at least some of them. Only the higher ups, just in case people were captured.
The landing was more of an impact with the hull, but Boarding Team 002 didn’t care to differentiate. There was no time to match velocities, and they needed to break through regardless. Yes, some of them died in the impact- but it was an acceptable number of losses.
The ship was nearly done with its mission. All it had to do was tear open a small gap in the hull for them to crawl through, while keeping itself steady. That was where the genius of its construction came in. It would blend in with the defensive formations, becoming part of them given time. Otherwise, people were more likely to suspect.
The squad leaders directed their own people as they scoured the ship. It was quite sizable, but they crawled through passages meant for air. Ironically, those were copied from Alliance designs- normally cultivators just refreshed their own air or had a central point. But it was more comfortable… and left a lot more room for void ants to crawl through.
They would have fit under doors anyway. Or clawed their way through metal walls if they had to. This was serious business.
The team that found their goal wasn’t completely certain, but they scattered to compare with the other squads, leaving half-certainty directed pheromone trails throughout the ship. It had taken half the battle to reach the vessel. They weren’t done exploring it until well after the battle. Currently, they were outside Little Alliance territory. Even Anton had stopped assaulting the fleeing vessels- which was to the advantage of Boarding Team 002. He could have blown up the ship without killing Ramil.
When he went to lay his head down, half of the squads were already in his room. He used a void ant sensing technique that was common in the Exalted Quadrant… then relaxed.
This was why constant innovation was important. Obviously the void ants wouldn’t let themselves be picked out so easily. Their own ability to manage techniques was pretty much null. However, they did have tiny concealment suits that replicated a small level of energy responsiveness. Enough to hide their shape while still just appearing to be… stuff.
This gear, though tiny, cost a great fortune. That was why they had to be successful. None of the other teams had made it- perhaps they were too close to the battlefield or chose different targets. Regardless, Boarding Team 002 was here.
They waited with utmost patience until Ramil’s breathing became steady and rhythmic. Fire and Bullet had missed their opportunity, but the void ants would redeem themselves.
It was unfortunate that all of Boarding Team 002’s medals would have to be posthumous, but that was how it had to be. They would do their best, but they would have to slay every cultivator aboard and pilot the vessel back, while not alerting the rest of the fleet.
Not that any of that really mattered. Because Ramil was going to die.