Something had done a lot of claiming of the area- no, some things. There was clearly more than one scent on the mountainside, though the dominant creature was just one type. As Fuzz pushed his way through the snow which came up to his belly, he tried to look for other signs of the creatures. Hunting with Alva he had learned other ways to detect creatures, though scent was always the best. Strangely enough, the one thing that should have been easy to find was not present. In such snow he should have been able to find tracks of some sort, but even though he hadn’t seen it snow there were only small critters… and the strange scent of something atop the snow.

He soon was close enough to smell creatures firsthand, though with his sensitive nose that was still quite a distance. He intended to avoid them, though figuring out their exact location was difficult with the current winds and the shape of the mountain around. He didn’t need to fight. He wasn’t hungry and just wanted to look for settlements from the peak. They might start something anyway, but the plan was to avoid them.

The scent of blood came on the wind, a scent very familiar to Fuzz. There was a battle happening, but he didn’t have to involve himself with it. Soon he heard the sounds of battle and felt the fluctuations of energy- few beasts could survive without natural energy. Void ants were an exception. In this case it was the new energy, of course. Bigger and stronger, but not without its own flaws, as had been shown in the invasion.

There should have been no reason to involve himself, but an intriguing scent caught his attention. Familiar yet unfamiliar, and enticing regardless. He couldn’t help but shift his trajectory to head towards the battle with greater speed, bounding in and out of the heavy snow drifts as he did so. He was supposed to be looking for his pack, but he could allow himself a little sidetrack here and there. They always said they could do things he wanted, but usually he just wanted to do whatever the pack wanted. But for some reason, he was curious here.

Sounds were the next part of the battle to reach him. Growls and snarls along with noises he had no way to explain. Sharp, sudden movements of something, but not the combatants themselves. As he bounded over a ridge he was able to see… a red furred wolf standing alone in a blood-splattered snowy field.

No, that wasn’t right. Flashes of snow-white creatures flickered before his eyes, and more importantly he could smell them. And the wolf wasn’t red furred, but perhaps a stony gray under everything. He picked up his pace, approaching the battle with haste.

As he got closer he was able to pick out the camouflaged creatures. They blended in with the snow and had minimal discolorations, but a bit of visual as well as olfactory and energy provided him with a clearer picture of what he was facing. There were large cats- maybe half the size of Fuzz himself- attacking with not just claws but forming spikes of ice out of the air that bombarded the wolf, a creature similar in size to Fuzz himself. They also moved in to attack with their teeth and claws, leaving behind specks of color on themselves where they drew blood. Their tactics seemed more like that of wolves, menacing from all sides while mainly attacking from the rear. When the wolf tried to swipe at them they leapt back, landing on the surface of the snow without sinking into it, at least sometimes.

Things weren’t going well for the wolf, but they managed an impressive counterattack that provided a bit more time. They repositioned to a seemingly analogous position to the others, but when an attack came from behind their tail slapped down into the snow. A bit of spraying fluff wouldn’t stop any beast of note, but the spike of rock that formed from a buried boulder seemed to do the trick. The fight was still in a critical stage, however. One wrong move, and it could be over.

Then Fuzz jumped into the thick of things, coiling flames about himself as he leapt upon one of the great cats. They should have sensed him coming, but perhaps they were too focused on their hunt to realize something might come after them. Either way, he tackled it to the ground and tore out its throat. The flames around him scorched its fur and began to melt away the snow.

The beasts reacted quickly, half of the pack shifting to target him. However, Fuzz was fresh and they were not. His own tail flicked behind him, punishing anything that dared to come from behind. Anything that approached him from the front could have their head bitten off… and it was simple to swipe to the sides. The flames around him weren’t just for show, either.

The battle was a swift storm of fangs, claws, and elements- but Fuzz had the enemies outmatched in every part. These creatures no doubt had dominance over their mountain, but they had not fought their way through ascension to reach this world. After taking a few losses, they realized they couldn’t afford to continue the fight. They turned to flee, especially since the others portion of the pack were taking their own losses, the melted snow allowing the other wolf to reach the rocky earth beneath, which helped significantly. More stone spikes created flowering barriers or were launched as projectiles.

With the battle over, Fuzz turned to the other wolf, sniffing. The wolf growled, baring their teeth. It seemed they weren’t trusting. Before Fuzz could do anything else, they leapt at him. Perhaps if they had been full strength they might have provided some challenge, but weakened all Fuzz had to do was bat them away with a paw, flipping them onto their back. His fangs rested gently against their throat with a soft growl. They didn’t need to fight.

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If Anton had not been paying particular attention to the sky, he might have missed the opportunity he was waiting for. It was strange, because the event was powerful enough to wipe out the entire planet, and yet he could barely sense it among everything else. That was because the sun was so far away… and also why it was so difficult to do what he was planning to attempt.

He immediately dropped what he was doing, rushing towards the highest peak in the sect. It was a bit awkward, but he stood atop the observatory and began to lift himself higher while reaching out with his energy. The tiny change in distance on the close end would matter less than the amount of atmosphere he could get out of his way. He stood aloft on a pillar of energy, reaching towards the sun.

With his eyes properly shielded he could make out the more subtle features of the sun, and instead of a relatively smooth surface it was twisting and bending. This was a solar flare, a great release of energy from the burning ball of fire in the sky. And it was also a star, like many others.

Perhaps Anton was being too literal, but if he could not form a hundredth star that would be of use to him, he intended to make use of one that already existed. The sun wasn’t alive like Grandfather Willow, but it certainly had power.

Anton’s reach stretched further and further as he held himself aloft. If he made his strands of energy too thin they would snap under the power of the sun, but if he made them too thick he would lessen his reach, and he needed to stretch as far as possible.

Not that he thought he could reach the sun. The moon was already an unfathomable distance that he might or might not have brushed up against. The sun was hundreds of times further away. But he didn’t need to reach the sun directly, but simply to reach the flow of its energy.

If he reached the limits of his energy, he would not only fail but fall- unprotected by his energy. Anton shoved away that thought of failure, only to have it immediately replaced by another. Succeeding halfway would be even more dangerous, as he would be inviting a great power into himself. It could easily consume him. That thought too was set aside. He already knew this and had made his decision anyway. If he were to have a continued impact on the world, he needed to continue his cultivation- for the sake of lifespan along with the power. But if he failed… he could happily accept that he at least tried. He already had two complete lives, which was more than twice what most people got.

Soon the burning power of the sun became stronger as Anton reached out, the waves of energy it let off providing more than just heat but other power as well. He grasped onto it, pulling himself and the power together. It was already headed in his direction, but the tug made it faster.

Cultivator and power slammed into each other like crashing waves. Anton wasn’t just satisfied with absorbing the energy into himself- that would at best result in a violent cultivation session. He wanted to be part of it, for it to be part of him.

The struggle for control began. Anton understood that directly fighting against this power was pointless. It had no will, but beyond that it was effectively limitless. Some flowed into him, scorching his meridians as it did so. That energy was pulled into his dantian and refined, then sent out to repeat the process- he continued tugging on the energy while pushing most of what came around him.

All thoughts were burned away, and he simply became a cycle of flames. Absorbing, quenching, reigniting, assimilating it. He stretched further, deeper, connecting himself to the flow instead of just drawing from it. The more he succeeded, the greater the power that flowed into him, and the harder it was to wrestle it for control- but power without will would undoubtedly tear him apart. From the outside, Anton felt his hair burn away first as the energy pierced through his defensive energy. His skin was already darkened by the sun, but it reddened and burned, blisters rapidly forming. His insides weren’t doing much better, his meridians barely holding together. A small lapse in concentration, and he would turn to a pile of ash.

Was he going to fail? Was it impossible, or was he simply not good enough? All it took for a cultivator was overestimating themself once, and their end could come. All the praise for him and his potential meant nothing if he failed here.

Beneath his skin, his muscles and bones began to burn. From the other side, his meridians were punctured, their metaphysical adjacency to blood vessels igniting them. It hurt, but it was just physical pain. Maybe a small bit of disappointment, but unlike the start of his journey he wasn’t leaving behind people who needed protection. The people he cared for had gained their own strength, and those that hadn’t could seek the protection of the Order and Graotan in general, improved in strength.

As he felt his eyes might burn away, Anton took one last look towards the world below. Ceretos. As good of a name as any. And it was… beautiful. White clouds, green land, blue oceans. He hadn’t even realized how far he was. At least he didn’t have to worry about falling now. Not that there would be anything left to fall.

Anton turned once more to face the sun, accelerating the process of drawing in the energy, pulling himself away as he did so. The light blinded him. He had no energy to spare for trivial things like using his eyes. His internal energy was dwindling rapidly even as he converted more of the sun’s power to be his own. He could stop drawing it to himself and he might survive. Every moment took him further and further from that opportunity.

As his body was scoured, Anton felt the pain begin to fade- not because he was no longer being damaged, but because his body no longer had any basis to interpret pain from. Anton stretched out his hand, widening his pull of energy instead of holding back. There was a flash of fire as a great flame ignited inside him and then… nothing.