Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1095

Elder Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion may not have seemed like the optimal sort of individual to bring to defend a system from invaders. His armor might have fooled people, but his style didn’t exactly scream ‘defense’. However, just because he wasn’t going to be sitting around blocking people didn’t mean he wasn’t a valuable part of the Alliance’s defensive strategy.

These ‘Imbued Fragment’ cultivators controlled metal, so he really didn’t want to hang around them longer than he had to. But his natural style worked just fine for that. He picked a target- usually a nice big ship- charged headlong towards it at maximum speed, and sent it on a trajectory headed for one of its allies, crushing both ships and optimally sending them towards a third and sometimes fourth vessel. Chain reactions longer than that were difficult to set up when every cultivator aboard actively controlled the structure of the vessel.

Sudheer paid no attention to anything trying to get closer to the local planets. His only job was to find his next target- preferably one of the rock ones- and hurl them at the next target. Rinse and repeat, building momentum and transferring it all to his enemies. It actually took special techniques for him to not simply create a body-shaped hole in the vessels.

Targets were chosen in some part by proximity, but also by power. Strongest first, because that would cause maximum damage and he didn’t want them hanging around. Highest on the list were ships he felt were avoiding him- though at the same time, others were the lowest priority. It relied on snap judgments to differentiate between types, but ultimately Sudheer focused not on those who were shying away from them, but instead those who were trying to slip past. The former were just around- the second had a goal. And whatever the goal was, he didn’t want it.

He slapped his chest to collapse his breastplate back into its place. He was going to need to spend a good long time with some smiths getting the thing ironed out, but even his defensive energy couldn’t completely stop the enemy’s manipulations. They primarily focused on trying to stab him with his armor, but when they found that didn’t work because it had a good sense of form they tried to separate the pieces. Fortunately, nobody ever got to affect him for more than a few instants.

Swiveling his head, Sudheer found his next target. He was breaking all of his guidelines about strength and proximity. Honestly, he almost hadn’t noticed the ship at all... but instincts told him to look. And there it was, a tiny ship flying far away from the other vessels. It didn’t have any notable energy coming off of it... which was actually probably what tipped him off. It was too minimal, as it didn’t even have the fluctuations of natural energy the ship had to have with the cultivators who were effectively shoving it about.

He knew he made the right choice when suddenly other ships tried to block him. And instead of letting them distract him, he just continued to speed up. Anything that got in his way was flung aside callously, unless it was angled right for him to stomp off of and boost his own momentum.

With only ten or twenty layers of ships between himself and the edge of the fleet, Sudheer was out of there in no time. Meanwhile, the little ship was not particularly impressive in its manner of acceleration. It did make a sudden lurch as he approached, but Sudheer wasn’t planning to impact it with pinpoint accuracy regardless. He didn’t have to hit it with his body, just his energy.

Sudheer was an enormous rhino rampaging through the stars, just as he liked it. His presence extended widely, and he impacted the tiny ship... only to be met with a counterforce that sent him flying backwards into the fleet he’d just departed.

The first thoughts to flicker through his head were, ‘huh?’ and ‘What’s that dense’ and then ‘Where’d they get worldheart?’

The answer to that final question wasn’t actually that difficult to figure out, either. From what he’d heard from the frontlines, they were literally ripping apart planets every day. Perhaps it was surprising he hadn’t seen a ship sized chunk before.

As he righted himself, Sudheer was at least glad to see that the ship hadn’t managed to maintain its trajectory. It was able to force a massive rebound force upon him... but he wasn’t so fragile that it could crush him. The ship didn’t seem to have been damaged either, a number of solidly powerful Life Transformation cultivators holding it together along with whatever formations it had.

He was pretty sure he’d knocked loose some of their stealth stuff, because he could feel them now. He wasn’t sure he could break that ship. Maybe he should throw it into the sun?

Sudheer was already charging them, of course. Thinking was done in the moments between motion and impact. He decided not to toss them into the sun simply because they looked like they were going towards it. And if he couldn’t break the structure, he just needed to impact in a different manner.

He crashed into the ship, his momentum instantly negated. The ship managed no counterforce, however, because all of that kinetic energy bypassed the hull and transferred to those inside. Sudheer thought they would probably be shocked, if they had comprehended the situation.

Then the ship exploded. Oh right, whatever they were doing involved something inside that ship. Sudheer got a shard of worldheart piercing through his heart and out his shoulder blade as worldheart turned into shrapnel. Fortunately, no one else was near enough to be hit right away- though the planetary barriers in the system were going to have a field day deflecting that debris.

The bindings around her ankles were stronger, and her fingers gave out before the metal. She spent months in recover, but made another attempt as soon as she was ‘healthy’. First one ankle, then the other.

When she was done, Devon expected a shout of joy. An exclamation of victory. Any sort of response except for standing up and stretching. “Ah. That feels better,” she nodded to herself. She did eventually come to find Devon. “I’m done,” she said.

“Congratulations,” Devon said. “Now you can begin cultivating in earnest, having freed yourself.”

She smiled at him, a big smile with many missing teeth. She hadn’t exactly received proper care in captivity- having any teeth left might be a sign of her stubbornness. “Nah. I’m done,” she said. “Just wanted to let you know.” Then she sat down directly in front of him, closing her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Devon asked.

She opened one eye. “I thought it was pretty straightforward. I’m done now. So I’m not going to do... anything.”

“If you merely wanted to be freed... the option was available,” Devon said. “I didn’t mean to force anything upon you.”

“Oh no. You were right, sect head. Teaching me to do it myself has made me the most free I’ll ever be. So I can finally decide what I want for myself. And on my own terms... I’m done. With everything.”

It didn’t take a great level of insight to understand her. She wasn’t hiding anything, after all. Even so, it was not what Devon would have expected.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you otherwise? You still have potential.”

“I’ve already heard you speak about Anton. And aside from knowing that I don’t even have a sliver of his talent... I don’t care. I don’t mean to seem ungrateful for your rescue. But I’m done.”

“Are you just going to sit there until you die?” Devon asked.

The old woman frowned, then slowly pushed herself to her feet. “I should at least get somewhere out of the way, shouldn’t I?”

“That wasn’t really the issue I had,” Devon sighed. “In that case... could I at least encourage you to share your story with others? Some have become discouraged about their lack of progress, and I am not much good at encouragement in that regard. Saying I understand would be disingenuous.”

“Well...” the old woman tapped her wrinkled chin. “I suppose I might as well. Until my heart or lungs give out. Or perhaps my liver. Or anything else. Doesn’t hurt to yammer on a bit.”

Devon smiled slightly. He could understand something of what she felt, even if he hadn’t experienced it himself. Anton spoke of accepting his end in a peaceful manner, until he’d been disrupted. For Gaila, it had simply come in a different order. But still... she might find something more, if she stuck around for a while.