“You’d better have something good to show after not contacting me for over a decade, young man!” Anton wagged his finger at the aforementioned individual. He was not really angry, but he had been worried something had happened.

“First of all, you’re like… sixty-something years older than me,” the scarred individual stated. “That was a big deal when I was in my thirties, but just because you’re past two centuries doesn’t make me not a century and a half old,” Devon said. “Second, I don’t just show off my powers like they’re for fun.”

“So those chains dancing behind you are…?” Anton asked.

“Unruly children!” Devon turned around and slapped them to the ground. “Which, uh, kinda tells you how it went. I mixed my power with stuff and now it doesn’t always listen to me.”

“Sounds… inconvenient.”

“You’re telling me,” Devon sighed. “But I guess I can say I’m stronger. And ironically not tied down to anything but myself.”

“That’s great news, actually,” Anton said. “Have you been keeping up with the happenings?”

“I definitely noticed some of them,” Devon admitted. “There was a giant battle over the planet that was pretty hard to ignore. But it seems like it went well.”

“It did. The Great Queen of the void ants advanced to an exceptional level of power… and they weren’t prepared for it. Anyway,” Anton shrugged, “There’s a big interstellar war between us, two allies, and a trio of enemy systems. And they have a hundred Assimilation level cultivators.”

“... That sounds bad,” Devon said.

“Well, ninety-six and nine tenths, now,” Anton corrected. “But it’s still a bothersome quantity.”

“Nine tenths?” Devon raised an eyebrow.

“One of them lost a hand and some toes.”

“Pretty sure that’s less than a tenth, but it does sound better that way. Think they can grow it back?”

“They either immediately tossed some freaky bones on there, or will have a hell of a time,” Anton shrugged. “Could have gone either way. Anyway, we’re trying to foment civil war there so we don’t have to deal with them, because they’re sure as hell not leaving us alone no matter how much ass we kick.”

“I understand why we’d want them to kill each other instead of us, but we aren’t exactly in a hurry, are we?”

“We only have like seventy years before the next invasion opportunity,” Anton said. “I’d like a half century of proper stability before then. And traveling between systems is slow.”

“Like… years?”

“Weeks,” Anton admitted. “But for every back and forth that adds up quickly. You’d be surprised how much stuff has changed, though. Fancy starships and the like all over. And Rutera is building the biggest one. But don’t tell anyone that.”

“... Sure,” Devon said. “What do you want me to do, then?”

“Whatever you please,” Anton said. “But… we could use another unrestrained person like you. Most people are Assimilated with stuff on Ceretos. It’s pretty safe here,” Anton admitted. “And if you just want security, remaining here to help out is fine.”

“No, if you need me on the offensive I’m willing to help out,” Devon said. “I’m quite attached to this place, just like you. That means leaving it behind when necessary. Besides, we rarely get to fight together.”

“How’s your range?” Anton asked.

“Pretty far,” Devon said, then realized who he was talking to. “A few hundred meters?”

“I will gladly fight alongside you,” Anton grinned, “But space battles are very long range. You’ll have to settle for having me as fire support. Though… if you have proper control over your whole range, being deeper into the battlefield could be worth it.” Even his fastest arrows had travel time, after all. Even if he could shoot an extreme distance, he ended up limited by how many simultaneous arrows he could sustain.

“I’d say I’m fully confident,” Devon said, “But if they’re Assimilation equivalent and giving you trouble, we’ll have to see.”

“People will be glad to hear the news, whenever you announce it. We just need a target. Sadly, it’s not going to be the people with the mountain sized pile of bones. Even if they deserve it the most.”

“You’ll have to catch me up on everything,” Devon admitted. “Also on who that woman with you was. Another informally adopted granddaughter, I presume?”

“Oh, Merve? She’s a captured enemy soldier,” Anton said. “And now we’re friends. The Sylanis Cluster is full of garbage waiting to burn up in an odiferous inferno.”

-----

Various codenames had existed for Rutera’s battleship. The Indomitable. Juggernaut. Invincible. Planet crusher. Some of them were too violent, some sounded like they were asking for trouble. Eventually, they went for something else.

The Independence was the first Ascension-class battleship they had produced, requiring thousands of workers and many years. It consumed a tremendous amount of resources, though in a way that was good for Rutera’s economy. It didn’t hurt that they had the scrap of a steady stream of enemy ships, though the wooden components didn’t do much to interface with Ruteran technology.

It wasn’t much to look at, being more or less spheroid in shape. It was tempting to make something narrow and sleek, but as a ship carrier it required room for everything that would be transported along with it. In addition to that, restraining it to a completely defined front was something they couldn’t afford in space combat where attacks could come from anywhere. The battleship wasn’t particularly maneuverable, but its sturdy frame and energy shields would protect it as well as its fleet and omnidirectional weapons.

Those shields were made as top of the line as possible, taking the very best of the Sylanis Cluster’s formation techniques to make adaptable barriers, along with Ruteran specific ingenuity. Anton had the honor of being the first person to attempt to destroy it, and he found himself quite certain that a single combatant would find it very difficult to even scratch. It was even tuned to filter out spectral energy, though Anton couldn’t be sure if it would perfectly resist the power of Bala. Simply having some protections against that sort of energy was more than most, however. Though given what they knew, they were integrating emergency barriers into their fighters for if someone like Bala showed up. They couldn’t just let a fleet get wiped out with no defenses.

Unfortunately, powering all of that- including the interstellar drive- took a massive amount of power. The center portion of The Independence was mostly energy storage and generation. Feeding off of ambient natural energy, it would likely take years to fill the thing up- but the Ruterans hadn’t developed technologically because they were used to abundant natural energy. The battleship had various ways to charge it, including contributions from cultivators- though Anton thought it would take him at least a week to fill the thing up. The primary method was part of the reason it had been hiding out in a gas giant. It was able to fuse most materials into usable energy, the easiest of which were the lightest gasses, hydrogen and helium.

The Independence was massive enough that it was never meant to enter atmosphere- instead being capable of siphoning off what it needed from nearby atmospheres, or gathering sources of power through some of its support ships, various ‘lifeboats’ and repair vessels that would be required for the ship to remain optimally functional. Space suits were all well and good, but mechanical assistance would be necessary if there was any significant damage to the frame.

There was one week of it sitting above the atmosphere of Rutera, where people could look at it- not that it was easy to see without assistance of some sort- and comment on how great it was. Then the time came for its first mission, and along with the many Ruteran crew, fighter pilots, and ground troops, there were cultivators from Weos and Ceretos. The other systems contributed their own ships as well, of course. It would be a terrible shame if they overestimated their new vessel and left it vulnerable to a concerted attack of some sort.

The target was Okloi- not any particular place, but rather as many places as they could hit before they deemed it wise to retreat. No doubt their whole armada would be moving slow enough for the enemy to gather local forces to retaliate, so they were choosing places where the Worldbinding cultivators should be less mobile… and where they could take advantage of rival sects that might be less inclined to come to each other’s aid. Without any real diplomatic communications or the ability to land spies they couldn’t directly sow discord, so they were hoping it would come about naturally as they did what was necessary to keep the Sylanis Cluster in check.

-----

The first target was a planet of a particularly large size, covered in ice with nearly frozen oceans beneath the surface. It was a place only cultivators could dwell, and a source of some problematic supporting elements. Healers that were injected into pretty much every attacking force. For Anton personally he hadn’t found them to be an issue, but for the war at large they were a significant factor in restricting enemy losses. If that had been all, they might not have been a priority target. However, it was determined that captives from the trifold alliance were taken there for interrogation and experimentation.

The former was part of war, accepted begrudgingly. The latter was inexcusable, and negated any moral protection they had as healers. It wasn’t clear if they would be able to rescue anyone in particular, but either way the Iceheart Ocean had to be dealt with. The entirety of the planet Atania was under their control, so any facilities that could be found were on the table as targets.

The first showing of The Independence was impressive. As the massive behemoth moved towards the planet on the outer ring of orbits, fighters were ready to be released like a swarm of bees… though they should be considered quite a bit more deadly.

Its presence hadn’t gone unnoticed, and their first target had ships in the air before they were close to the surface of the planet, but that just meant they were the first to get cut down, isolated. The Independence shrugged off the enemy attacks, while they weren’t able to stand up to the combined firepower of its many diverse weapons- specially selected to efficiently overcome the Sylanis Cluster’s barriers- especially not when combined with the fighters. The actual cultivators had basically nothing to do as the Ruteran forces took out the fleet, though Anton was of course able to contribute without putting himself in an awkward position.

Upon encountering a larger barrier protecting the facility that was their target, The Independence trained its largest weapons upon the site. Explosive munitions would need to be replenished at a later date, but holding onto them for too long would waste their presence. They were timed to follow after concentrated lasers that cracked open the barrier, slipping through the gaps and shattering buildings and ice. The facilities continued deep below the surface, but everything on Atania was anchored to the massive sheets of ice that made up its surface.

With the first powerful bombardment bringing down the barriers, troops were landed- the numerous technologically equipped Ruteran soldiers, as well as cultivators. They were there not to be picky, but to kill their enemies, free any allies they found, take what they could and destroy anything they couldn’t. There was no attempt to be completely thorough- they set a time limit for people to return, and then they moved on. No doubt their next target would be a bit more prepared… but they hadn’t even seen everything yet.

Before completely rushing off, The Independence took some time to replenish some of its power. The various chilled liquids that made up the ice covered oceans weren’t necessarily the best thing to convert into energy, but they were easily siphoned up into the power core. During that time, Anton kept a special watch for approaching enemies. Refueling was a time of weakness for The Independence, as much of its energy production had to be turned inward for the refinement. It wasn’t helpless during such a time, barriers, weapons, and of course fighters all being available, but it took some time to shift to a full battle ready state. But as long as the enemy didn’t know that, it would seem like an unstoppable force of nature- and if they found out, that was what they were refueling for before it was urgent.