Elder Cultivator

There was not a speck of hesitation in the Swirling Swarm as they appeared before Zazil. They seemed wholly unconcerned that they had appeared separate from a majority of their own fleets. No, Zazil wasn’t even certain they were aware. They simply moved towards the greatest concentration of energy they felt and didn’t concern themselves with anything more.

Compared to the hive minds, despite surface similarities, they were entirely different. It was the difference between a flowing river where all moved in the same direction and a machine where all worked together. For the most part, the Swirling Swarm was just a bunch of individuals that happened to have aligned goals. Or at least goals that involved going to the same sorts of places.

Zazil felt no Domination cultivator among them, but that had always been the case. One would have to be revealed, if they had any. The best way to do that was to thin their numbers and force them to act. She had to protect herself while doing so, but that wasn’t an issue for Zazil.

They had appeared several hours from the system where Zazil waited. They moved with great eagerness, or urgency. It was difficult to tell which, though either way they were expending quite a bit of energy on their approach. Perhaps that was irrelevant to them, as it would mainly be their ships reserves that would be exhausted, not the cultivators themselves. Though soon they would be close enough that they would begin pouring out of their ships.

About the time that happened, the first Alliance skirmishers began to strafe their fleets. Fast ships launched attacks, turning away as the Swirling Swarm lashed out. Some Alliance forces fell, but that was war. Death came on both sides… though more Swirling Swarm cultivators would certainly die.

Orbital platforms began to fire from their emplacements, drawing upon their stored energy. Though they were largely immobile- only being able to anchor themselves to a side of the planet- they were far more powerful than most ships. Gunners focused on individual weapons at the direction of a targeting coordinator- though against the Swirling Swarm no one needed anything more than to point at the mass of enemies and they would certainly connect and cause massive damage.

A ring blade over a hundred meters across chopped through the Swirling Swarm. Zazil barely even noticed any difference, their numbers folding in around the path she carved. Her power was slightly below its peak at the moment- after all, she was in friendly territory. That couldn’t be hidden and overlooked, so her anchor was lingering elsewhere in the system. She was still a Domination cultivator, of course.

A single large blade was too limited. At most, she was cutting out a slice. Zazil needed to think more in three dimensions, and so she flicked her arms, releasing the rest of her dozens of blades. They danced around her, forming a sphere as she dove into enemy ranks. Though her sphere only stretched about thirty meters from herself, she cut down far more enemies as she moved through their ranks. None passed through her shell of blades alive.

Zazil understood she would only have a small time to react to a Domination cultivator, but she believed it was an excellent way to attract them.

Chidi merely watched as Aconite directed their ship towards the mass of incoming cultivators. They were still far from the system they were defending. Bringing a single vessel against the Swirling Swarm was a bit of a stretch, but Aconite wouldn’t be as effective if they waited.noveldrama

Helpfully, the Swirling Swarm didn’t try to avoid them. It was obvious the Alliance was laying a trap, and nobody cared. Not even after the previous time. Perhaps the Swirling Swarm hadn’t shared the information, or maybe they had a counter.

If so, Aconite was going to be so disappointed. Actually, Chidi thought she might be more disappointed if they didn’t have a counter, because she’d come up with anti-counter techniques depending on how they attempted to stop her virus.

The battleship they were on blasted the front of the Swirling Swarm. It was more of a token gesture, but it also allowed Aconite a moment to prepare her energy without being the focus. Though Chidi couldn’t tell what the Swirling Swarm were paying attention to except for the ship.

The forward blast actually slowed their momentum. In a moment they were matching the mass of cultivators in velocity, then they reversed. Normally the kickback would be negated by the ship, but in this case they allowed it to be a sort of extremely dangerous engine pushing them away.

A pulse of energy rippled out from Aconite, carrying tiny particles passengers that they Swirling Swarm should surely be expecting this time. Mixed in among the virus were small particles of radioactive material as well as sticky poisons that would activate if the Swirling Swarm hit atmosphere.

Aconite’s energy only bypassed the defenses of a tiny percentage of the front of the swarm, but it certainly hit its target. And then they were off, keeping their distance as faster vessels among the mass of foes tried to spring towards them. Chidi was waiting to feel something different. At least the flow of energy, if chaotic, was all of one kind. When a Domination cultivator revealed themselves, he would immediately activate his Negation on a wide scale and cut them down.

Of course, that meant his sword would have to bypass anywhere between a hundred and a thousand people, but that was a task he was up to. Cutting only what and where he pleased, even without the benefit of energy. That said, he would very much prefer they were closer.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Aside from the ships they were shooting down, Chidi felt a change in the flow. Aconite’s energy was attached to the virus she spread among the Swirling Swarm, and though it was subtle it was spreading. Chidi thought he sensed some of them falling away, but he couldn’t be certain. Perhaps it was wishful thinking.

-----

Timothy isolated segment after segment of the Swirling Swarm, momentarily creating barriers. That forced them to clash with his Domination energy. Their momentum caused some of them to be crushed, and they barely even seemed to care. They were still people with emotions and fear… but when they were massed up they really couldn’t be seen as much more than a fluid. An evil fluid.

Timothy never held his barriers in place for long. Sometimes he created a flat plane, just blocking movement of some parts. Other times he surrounded a group. What he was looking for were the Domination cultivators. If he managed to entrap them, he thought he could feel them. When it was ‘just’ a few hundred or a thousand at a time, it wasn’t so hard. He even made barriers in multiple places at once.

It wasn’t his strategy. Instead, it was at the suggestion of Catarina. Even though he was only interacting with a tiny fraction of them at once, it was far more than he would individually face with his normal tactics. And with several distinct barriers forming every second, remaining for a few seconds and then dispersing when he hit his limit of a dozen or so solid barriers, he could force probability. Even if the individual chances of each barrier intersecting with a Domination cultivator was less than one in a thousand, if he did it hundreds or thousands of times he would approach statistical likelihood, and then statistical certainty.

Or if they revealed themselves before that, he could focus on a larger area and seal them in. He could at least slow them down long enough for the other local forces to get a better bead on them.

So far, he’d had no luck. But he was still killing enemies, and quite efficiently by his standards. Though they were mostly killing themselves. Yet they didn’t stop rushing towards Alliance cultivators, no matter how many were crushed.

-----

There was a time when Chidi was uncertain how much Aconite’s virus was having an effect on the Swirling Swarm… and then it hit critical mass and even a blind person like him could see the effects. Well, no, he still couldn’t. But he sure felt it.

The entirety of the Swirling Swarm just… slowed. This was the point that their Domination cultivator should have been revealing themselves, beating down Aconite’s energy and freeing the Swirling Swarm. Any moment now.

The Swirling Swarm went from slow, to weak, to convulsing, to dead in a matter of a few minutes. They had barely even engaged the system’s local forces at the time.

Chidi focused on the mass of bodies, trying to sense anything alive. But all he sensed was upper energy dispersing from death.

“... I guess we didn’t get any of the Domination cultivators," Chidi commented.

Aconite stood proudly. “It seems so. But at least we dealt with what came.”

Eager energy rapidly approached. “Yes, hi! The battle is over so I’m supposed to report now!” Each system had an ‘instance’ of Bear Hug. After all, they wouldn’t be able to coordinate with each other or Catarina at all without. Not unless they had people passing back and forth across the spatial distortion’s borders, but that would be limited to one of the options. “Zazil said- well, she didn't actually say anything. But she needs your help.”

-----

Zazil felt it. Someone didn’t die to her blades. Immediately, she changed her direction, launching towards them. The Domination cultivator didn’t try to hide after that, instead directly breaking through her shell with a metal encased fist. That wasn’t a weapon she had expected, but Zazil still danced around her foe as the woman charged her.

She withdrew only a pair of rings to hold in her hands, fending off the swarm with her others and they slashed and whirled. Her current momentum would soon take her out of the area, where she could fully focus on the Domination cultivator in front of her.

As gauntleted fists struck at her, Zazil deflected them with her ring blades. She also noticed the boots her foe wore, so she was prepared when kicks became part of the mix. But as far as Domination cultivators went, the Swirling Swarm had shown repeatedly that they were weaker. Immortal, perhaps. No, that wasn’t right. They didn’t usually have a clear opportunity to see a face, but this woman certainly wasn’t one of those they had fought before. That lent itself to the thought that they were replacing their Domination cultivators rapidly. That was a more tolerable result than the one where they immediately reincarnated and potentially had more than three.

Zazil was too relaxed in her position as she felt herself nearing a more open space. She and her opponent were moving faster than the main body of the Swarm could keep up, and Zazil was well aware that none of their normal members could break through her barrier. So she wasn’t ready when a giant blade tore through her outer layer of defenses, energy extending towards her. She wasn’t ready… but she wasn’t so easily ambushed that she would be taken down by a single blow.

She did still take a slash across her thigh, but since she wasn’t exactly standing on her legs it wasn’t a critical blow. It was unfortunate that she’d apparently ended up with two of the Domination cultivators, though.

-----

Timothy was actually surprised when he finally caught one. He was surprised to see she was wielding a javelin. It was a decent stabbing weapon, but certainly meant for throwing. The Swirling Swarm Domination cultivator stabbed his barrier a few times immediately after he entrapped her.

Then she seemed to get angry and kind of… exploded. Her energy blasted in all directions, annihilating all of the other members of the Swirling Swarm around her. Timothy’s barrier held up just fine, especially as he was now focusing half of his energy on that one position. The rest was reserved to defend his body.

After everyone but the Domination cultivator was slaughtered, Timothy condensed the size of his barrier. He felt his connection to his anchor thrumming with power. It wasn’t easy to contain an enraged Domination cultivator… but Timothy had also taken up harder tasks. Relative to his power at the time, at least.

It was almost pathetic. But this time if they could actually capture one they might learn more about the Swirling Swarm for the sake of dealing with them in the future- and there was no doubt this wouldn’t be the last battle between them.