The metal blade-bow in Anton’s hands was still the optimal medium for turning his Spirit Arrows into sharp, wide attacks. He had learned how to control his energy to amplify or minimize the effect, should he wish to, but right now wider scale attacks seemed useful even if there was only a ‘single’ opponent.

A blade of energy several meters wide cut into and through white bone, reflecting the dull light of the distant star. As the bones fell and shattered into the mountain that they crawled out of, more came to replace them. There was always more… but Anton couldn’t think of much else to do but at least act like a threat.

The hostage exchange had gone perfectly, until this thing showed up- a mountain of bones of all shapes and sizes, ripping itself out of space behind space to attack those who were leaving. One of three ships was nearly wiped clean of life in the first wave of deadly spectral energy, bypassing the standard barriers the Sylanis Cluster used. One would assume that they would be on the same side, as the individual who was presumably Bala Sykora at the center of the whole bone abomination was also part of them. But Anton was already aware that the Sylanis Cluster’s internal politics weren’t actually united.

But as much as Anton would absolutely like to see them fight each other to the death, the two he had captured were still weak and wouldn’t put up much of a fight- and if they died this first attempt at some sort of diplomacy would be ruined. If they were going to die, they needed to do so back on their own territory or at least after reporting this situation. Thus, Anton and the others from the trifold alliance would fight against this thing.

Something about Anton’s assault was sufficient to draw attention, though he couldn’t imagine he’d done any notable damage yet, even with the others’ initial volley. But perhaps there was some weakness to be found, or they simply thought it would be more entertaining to kill Anton. He couldn’t tell.

The one thing he knew was that he had to dodge the bolts of spectral energy coming for him. In the grand scheme of things this battle was fairly close- only a small number of kilometers between him and at least the edge of this mountain of writhing, flowing bone.

His eyes were useless in determining the trajectory of the spectral energy, but he found the bolts weren’t exceptionally quick… by his standards. Even as they bent towards him, he was able to direct his movement to avoid it. Unfortunately, his attempts to shoot down the incoming attacks were fruitless. Just like his own usage of spectral energy, it was nearly non-interactive if its controller didn’t wish for it.

Anton didn’t hesitate to draw up on some ascension energy, attempting to pierce deep into the core of the structure. He had a decent idea where the controller of it all was, and his shot drilled its way through bones. Humans bones were extremely common as he sunk into the mass of bones, but he also noted beasts of all kinds. From small woodland creatures to sea life and birds, there were also larger specimens. Great turtles, snakes, lizards, something Anton could only assume was a dragon of some sort, and large humanoids. He even thought he saw phoenix bones- somehow not turned to ash upon their death but entrapped in its current form. Then, he faded.

He hadn’t actually expected his attack to reach his target to begin with- he merely wanted to remain a threat. The point was to have the focus on him, and minimize attacks on others. It worked… to some extent. The actual bolts of spectral energy remained targeted on him, fading away after they went past him. He couldn’t be certain that was the actual limit of this opponent or if they were merely trying to throw him off, so he had to keep his senses alert in all directions.

Unfortunately, the bone mountain-ship released another large pulse of energy, this time finishing off whoever was in the closest Sylanis Cluster ship, not that Anton had sensed much life. And, despite the other two ships pulling away, the bone ship had pulled closer to them. One was inside the area, the pulse of death drawing from those on board… and Anton sensed the life of Zarina winking out. The one that bound herself to ships, apparently too weak to take control of her ship’s barrier… or more likely never capable of resisting spectral energy to begin with. Not fully.

Those deaths were unfortunate, but only because of the current circumstances. What bothered Anton more were the Ruteran pilots who perished, along with other cultivators that had launched themselves towards the attacker. It wasn’t any comfort that some of the now pilotless ships crashed into the mountain, leaving sizable craters. But one of them went in at a glancing angle and cut out the other side- then turned around to do it again. So that pilot wasn’t dead. Anton recognized that ship, of course. Ty Quigley. He was alive, at least- but that was the best Anton could say for him. Even with everything else that was happening Anton could sense the damage to his life force.

As for the cultivators who actually were in contact with the mountain itself? Few survived. Elder Intan didn’t seem to be fazed by something small as having his everything nearly destroyed, though his slices were slower. There were a few cultivators from the Grasping Willows tossing chunks of bone away from the mass- though it was unclear if the effort was worthwhile. And somewhere in that, hopefully alive, was the Great Queen. Because she certainly wasn’t sitting on Anton anymore.

Beam weapons from Ruteran ships tore into the mountain, charring bone into ash. Yet it seemed pointless- small scars on a landscape that they were trying to fight. Anton was quite certain he could destroy a mountain, but when it was fighting back it was an entirely different story. And being at the limit of where he could draw from Rutera’s star, he wasn’t at maximum strength.

Just for the sake of experimentation, Anton shot a spectral arrow- covering its approach with dozens of others from a wide array of energy bows around himself. The damage from the others was nothing much, but the spectral arrow pierced through the bones without resistance, diving deeper and deeper until it found its mark- at the very core of the entire thing. Through the connection with his arrow, Anton saw a face flash between surprise and a wide grin in an instant- then he collided with a rippling barrier. It was like pouring a bucket of water into a lake. Anton didn’t have nearly enough access to spectral energy to consider using it defensively… whereas Bala- he was certain it was her now, given the descriptions he’d gotten- seemed to only have spectral energy. Of course she could stop his attack.

His experiment provoked more of a reaction than he expected. In addition to more waves of spectral bolts seeking to cut him off, the bone mountain burst apart, sending masses of itself towards him, clumps of bone ranging from a boulder the height of a man to ten or twenty meters across.

The bone masses were slow- the relative momentum of the mountain was not mainly towards Anton, but at an angle between him and the remaining Sylanis ship. But though their initial speed was of no concern, they began to move more quickly. Anton was forced to dodge spectral bolts, certain that he would regret even the slightest touch. Those kept him occupied while the masses of bone moved closer- and though they inevitably slipped past him, unlike the spectral bolts they were already redirecting their own momentum to come at him from behind.

Soon enough, he was surrounded by dozens of masses, with skeletal arms reaching out for him. That was the least disturbing thing to reach for him, as legs twisted in unnatural ways along with tails, spines, and rib cages grasping for him.

But despite the personal situation he was in, Anton thought things could have been going worse. The Sylanis ship had continued to accelerate, clearly uninterested in even attempting to fight back. They were swiftly pulling away, and soon enough they would be out of the influence of the system, able to move faster than light.

Another blessing was that there had been no further wide scale pulses of spectral energy. Perhaps those were too intensive, or controlling the individual piles of bones moving to entrap Anton required too much effort. Anton really hoped it was a sign of limitation, and not a lack of desire… but even now, he could feel Bala’s power. He wasn’t certain if she had reached the next step in Worldbinding- some Augmentation equivalent- but if she hadn’t, she wasn’t terribly far from that in power. He wouldn’t want to fight her even if he was around Rutera, and if he was alone… being anywhere but in a star was too far to even think about it.

Then, the Sylanis ship disappeared- not just invisible, as they could, but properly gone out of the range of Anton’s senses. He’d already called for everyone to fall back towards reinforcements- they had honored the deal, but knowing what could go wrong there was another small fleet coming after them. They’d been a good half an hour behind for various reasons, but if they met up in the middle it wouldn’t be quite so long.

The issue was whether or not they could manage to survive that long. After the second pulse the Ruteran fighters had kept their distance- or rather, the sane ones had- but the larger ships were still oriented towards the incoming bone ship. It would take them some effort to turn away, but they were already on a path where they were planning to circle the bone sphere.

Shards of bone exploded near Anton, and he was quite glad for the assistance of others in destroying the various sized blobs of death. He was unable to provide any significant suppression to the main ship now, having to focus on defending himself, but he was glad there were at least reasonable sized targets. Even better, when the bones were broken and destroyed they seemed to stay that way. He wouldn’t bet on it, of course. His defensive energy kept the shards and bone dust away from him.

The bolts of spectral energy were still the most lethal threat, but he had to dodge individual grasping arms now. Some he destroyed, the myriad of energy bows around him shattering them to dust. Most he managed to avoid. A small few reached him with bony claws or other appendages, scraping against his energy defenses- and then stretching inside, spectral energy buried within them sinking into his shoulder, his side, his thigh. The latter, at least, was not immediately concerning.

The organized retreat of their fleet brought them deeper into the system. Anton only had a small increase in power, but he needed everything he could get. At the moment, he was looking for an optimal route to escape the piles of bones around him. They were being constantly replaced from the main body as they were destroyed, but not quite as fast as they were being taken out, and the travel time to him was another factor.

Anton had no intention to sacrifice himself for the rest of the fleet- not even if he thought it would actually work, which he didn’t believe. Once his opening came, he would withdraw. He wasn’t sure if it was imagined, but he thought he just felt the other small fleet at the edge of his senses. Reinforcements should be soon, he hoped.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped. Whatever trajectory the bones around him were on the kept, The small masses didn’t have their own gravity, and without whatever control was over them they began to split apart. There were no more bolts of spectral energy.

Anton continued to destroy the bones around him, in case it was a ploy, while his senses focused on the main mountain. Bala Sykora… was not dead. Or even injured, as far as he could tell. But the great bone hands stretched from it, tearing into space itself… and it began to pull itself away. The background of the stars stretched around the vessel… and then it was gone- leaving behind the bones around Anton, and the bodies of the cultivators who had landed upon the main bone mass. All were dead- many from the second pulse, but others from fighting against the thing itself. That included Elder Intan. That hurt, not just because he was a friend- but because he was one of the most likely candidates to reach Ascension or Assimilation. Even if he had chosen Ascension and left, Anton would have known he was doing something somewhere. But now, he was gone.

Ty Quigley was… alive. His ship nearly crashed into the hangar, a dozen cultivators on board being the only thing that stopped it from a violent impact. Even from afar, Anton could sense the changes. Stark white hair, wrinkles far beyond his age. But as the man staggered out of his cockpit, the grip he had on his sword was determined.

Finding the Great Queen was impossible. Looking for a palm sized pocket of nothing in a volume of so many cubic kilometers was more than even Anton’s exceptional senses could manage. Fortunately, she found him. As everything remaining was being recovered- bodies and valuable materials from broken ships- the Great Queen landed on Anton’s forehead. She pulled back slightly, fluttering around in front of him. Several of her legs were mangled, but her front limbs and antennae were intact- sufficiently for her to sign, at least. “Unfortunately, I was unable to reach that foul demon. I need a nap.”

And she no doubt deserved it. Anton had the idea that she was a significant contributing factor to Bala’s retreat, though of course he would have to wait for a full explanation. Until then, Anton and the others would have to return to Rutera, binding their wounds as they could.