After the defeat of Yann, the Scarlet Alliance had high morale and significant momentum on their side. The great powers hesitated- aside from Everheart. Fortunately, his forces weren't making direct attacks on their forces but instead against the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. The increased pressure from him also helped ease the pressure on the Alliance.

But unfortunately the world of cultivation was full of endless trouble. There were always more threats, looking to take advantage of situations. And it didn't happen to be those beyond the Trigold Cluster trying to claim territory from them, but instead another move against the Alliance. The Chaotic Conglomeration never seemed to have gotten over how their own sects left them behind when the majority of their people didn't provide sufficient support. Somehow, it was almost more than their ancient grudges against the Exalted Quadrant.

Runa thought they should have pushed harder there. It would have made sense. They were already fighting along that border. But no, they had to come to the Little Alliance and cause trouble for her. Though the one thing that she could say in their defense was that they were mostly different factions looking to take advantage of an opportunity. Not too many repeats.

It made sense. Most of those who had come before were dead.

Normally, the forces they brought wouldn't have been enough. With a Domination cultivator protecting the Little Alliance, they were fine. But even if they could call upon one, they couldn't constantly have one at their disposal without risking the rest of the Scarlet Alliance.

Which unfortunately meant that they had to deal with the current trouble on their own. Perhaps they could get a Domination cultivator within a week, but that would both pull them out of position and show too much of their hand. They still hoped that nobody knew quite how quickly they could traverse their wide territory.

The Chaotic Conglomeration was not subtle in their approach, so there was some time to react before they reached any systems. Runa and the Spirit Slicing Sect went to one, Tessouat would cover another, and Durff was stationed at another location. More would come to support wherever the incoming fleets actually targeted, but they might not make it in time. Durff didn't have the support of a specific sect, but the Little Alliance had plenty of people willing to fight alongside him. Not really following his commands, though he wouldn't really want to give any. He was aware of his lack of tactical insight, but he could take down a target.

The Spirit Slicing Sect appeared to have won the lottery. Their beacons picked up incoming cultivators from the Flashing Foil… and numerous others. However, the most powerful individual was from that particular sect. Sword cultivators… to an extent. Duelists, by certain naming. Chidi would have done well regardless, but he was just as critical as Domination cultivators in terms of dealing with greater threats.

Peak Augmentation… wasn't actually out of Runa's league. She was something close to the same. She even had hope for Domination, but hope didn't equate to combat power. Not for her. Iivari wasn't someone she'd ever encountered in person. At most, his name had been overheard by her in longer compiled lists. They'd been more or less peers since Runa was first conscious of the galactic level of things. Her knowledge of the Flashing Foil's specific techniques was limited, but she would adapt.

"The strongest among you will stand forth and duel me!" the man declared as soon as he was within something resembling shouting range. They weren't even in the system proper yet.

The way he said it kind of annoyed Runa, but if she wanted to stab him… wasn't this what she was supposed to do? She was of course wary of anyone who sought out single combat, but he did at least move ahead of the rest. Clearly he wasn't looking for only a duel, though. From the way others spread out, he also wanted to occupy her while the rest of their people attacked the system.

Given that she wasn't good at wide area combat to begin with, Runa had little choice but to fend him off. "Make sure nobody tries to flank me, father."

Emrik nodded. "I'll handle it. You just focus on that one."

From his initial declaration, Runa had made some assumptions. At the very least, she thought that Iivari would speak some sort of taunt… but as soon as she was within range he immediately attacked. A sharp point brushed past Runa's ear. She could have sworn the man himself stood holding the blade there instead of it being an energy extension of his weapon. Was it an illusion, or a temporary reality? She refused to believe he was so fast- if only because otherwise he would have turned his blade and impaled her when she moved to avoid it. It wasn't meant to brush past her.

Depending on how it worked, she could completely negate the attack with a voidsteel blade. And that was precisely why she didn't even try. The small failure chance was relevant, of course, as her weapon might be destroyed. But it was also best not to give away what she could do too much. He would of course have some notion of how she and her people fought, but as Velvet could attest it was far different in person.

Stolen novel; please report.

She did happily parry with her other blade, and frequently needed to. Attacks came in from many angles as Runa tried to close the distance. She preferred to fight in true melee range because of her voidsteel blade, but she was of course still capable of attacking at a greater distance.

Two figures danced around each other, attacks piercing large swaths of space. Runa didn't have time to consider whether she was superior. At the very least she wasn't terribly inferior- or she would have lost already. But she never managed to do more than nick the man's defensive energy as Iivari moved around.

If he let a flow of energy move past her, she could sever it with her techniques. Voidsteel wouldn't be necessary for that- even though cutting a strand of another cultivator's energy wasn't usually as simple as it seemed. If a normal person tried it, they would at most momentarily disrupt it- but once their attack passed through the connection could be reformed. Spirit Severing was about making that impossible or at least many times more difficult.

She felt the flow of his attacks before he made them. Even the best cultivators had to lead their attacks with slight traces, and Runa's style revolved around sensing even tiny fluctuations. Unless he was willing to cover vast areas with his attacks- and eat the huge cost in energy that would take- then she could continue to avoid his attacks with small adjustments.

If he had been the sort to flood the area with his energy, Runa would have defeated him in a few moments. The Spirit Severing Sect very efficiently dealt with wide area attacks, preventing their foes from recovering energy that they otherwise could have.

Each thrust, stab, and swing pushed Runa to her limits. Iivari was an impressive fighter- it was almost a shame they were foes. But Runa suspected she wouldn't actually like him as a friend- after all, he came here to attack systems just because he could.

Looking for openings, Runa used her daggers to counter but she never found a moment for a decisive blow. He was too cautious about his own self, either because he was familiar with her style or others like it. It was quite possible he had killed some disciples of the Spirit Slicing Sect in the past, but there were others with similar origins.

The moment she saw an opening, she prepared to strike. His back was turned… but then he was out of her reach. When Runa came to her senses, she realized that the entire fleet was retreating. She'd been so focused on the duel that she hadn't been paying attention to anything around her. Runa needed to be, because any less he would have certainly found an opening to take her down.

She wondered what would have happened if she chased after his retreat. Was it a true opening? She had been prepared to take it, but it faded too quickly.

Next time, she would have to be better. It was unlikely he was going to stop with just once… especially as it didn't look like they gained anything. There weren't terribly many dead cultivators either, as it was just a short skirmish. Probing, perhaps. Meant to determine if Runa could keep up- or perhaps whoever happened to be in this system.

Runa knew that Iivari would die if Tessouat faced him. Durff could go either way- depending on whether he could pierce Durff's armor. One hit from Durff would bring him down, and his attacks weren't slow. Sometimes they appeared that way, but assuming they actually were was a mistake that would get people crushed.

"Thank you, father," she said to Emrik. "I'll get him next time." Letting Tessouat face him was the correct option. He could block a few attacks, and then get some void ants on the man. But Runa refused to accept that option. It might happen, but she would be seeking out Iivari.

It might be a mistake. He could very easily learn from this encounter and kill her. But she wanted to grow, and he was just the right foe for that. It might even be enough for… well, Runa supposed she would have to consider an anchor before that. Domination was a bit out of reach still.

-----

Reneden's perfect plan had fallen apart. But at least it was now able to directly interface with the Lower Realms Alliance. Not too many people had said things directly to Reneden, but it was quite certain that people were afraid. Nobody strong, though. Nor friends, which mostly overlapped with the other group. Most people knew better, but they couldn't help but worry. Reneden was also afraid of new things. Anton and Bear Hug had both been new when they showed up- Reneden had only ideas about foes before then.

Somehow, they were more terrifying than Anton- if that even made any sense. A Unity cultivator was unmatched in the lower realms. Reneden thought that included divinity. He needed to catch one of them out of position. He could do it now, and faster. The Alliance could make the decision when to react, and he would just transmit the information immediately.

It was a lot less stressful, even if Reneden was probably in trouble. Nobody was dismantling any part of Reneden, so it was fine. And nobody needed to study Reneden to figure out instant communication, since they'd already done that. Reneden had learned secondhand from Bear Hug and thirdhand from some of those devices.

Aside from watching for physical foes, Reneden was battling computer code. There, Reneden had a distinct advantage- Renden wasn't a computer. It didn't even need functioning components. Of course, the Alliance would much prefer it not completely wipe the various devices or physically break them… but it was an option. Reneden could also stop messages from being sent. That was how a virus replicated, and Reneden could just make nothing at all happen instead.

Apparently, there was some guy named Everheart that was responsible. Everyone hated him, and also a few people liked him. He came from Ceretos, apparently, and they were the ones who hated and liked him the most. How odd. Reneden didn't fully understand people yet. Humans seemed to naturally understand each other with just a short number of years, but Reneden didn't find that was the same for it.

Same with Bear Hug. They were just fundamentally different. And yet, they could be friends. Renden very much liked helping friends, especially when that help could be acknowledged. Maybe it shouldn't have been so afraid to begin with, but that was one thing people shared the most. And they also could learn to overcome it, which sadly didn't mean never being afraid again. It was much more difficult than that.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.