While void ant queens were always stronger than others, they weren’t all exceptional. Even an average queen could run a colony that was prosperous- they were all raised with at least that level of competency. It was significantly more difficult on planets where they couldn’t take advantage of human resources and even had to hide from them, but the necessary techniques were already prepared in advance.
Primarily on the western end of Swirling Swarm territory, void ants developed their colonies in secret. Insects were not unknown, and void ants knew how to keep a low profile. Even if many of them had never needed to, the Great Queen had access to the experience of those who did and trained her daughters.
That didn’t mean void ants would be perfect. They could fail, or through no fault of their own catch the interest of locals. Fortunately, the Swirling Swarm were disorganized for where they should have been. Several nests had been discovered- and even annihilated- but the news hadn’t spread far. In fact, it was the spies that had confirmed such things rather than the Swirling Swarm themselves.
It was possible they were keeping the infiltration secret as they developed plans to find the void ants. However, their human allies didn’t see any such signs. Furthermore, void ants knew what techniques meant to find them would most likely feel like. The Alliance had experience with many, developed over many centuries but not always from a hostile direction.
It would have been more miraculous if many hundreds of nests had gone completely unnoticed without the support of the locals. Even the Chaotic Conglomeration- those sects that were now the Little Alliance and secretly other sects- hadn’t had so many nests among them. It had been a risk that the Alliance had to take. So far, it seemed acceptable.
-----
A small group gathered together on Xiopia. One void ant queen, some royal guard, and two humans plus the void ants that regularly accompanied them. The queen suggested some rather extreme ideas, though her previous record made them at least worth considering.
“I believe we could probably manage one a week. They might not notice that much.”
“... Are you crazy?” The one who called out Devours Villains was not Madiha but instead Taj. They shook their head. “I know for you Augmentation cultivators aren’t that different from others, but for any sect? I haven’t lived outside of the Swirling Swarm, but there’s barely a handful on this planet. People will notice if they disappear.”
“Do not be silly,” Devours Villains signed. Taj had spent enough time learning to understand void ant sign nearly as well as human speech. “I do not mean simply here, but all throughout the territory we have infiltrated. Many months of preparation may take place for a single operation among numerous planets. But perhaps it would be better done all at once.”
“I- what?” Madiha’s eyes widened.
“Scheduling would be quite difficult,” Devours Villains admitted. “However, if we give ourselves twenty-four hours, there is no reason we cannot take out every single Augmentation cultivator. Then they will have nobody to become Domination cultivators, you see.”
Madiha grimaced. “There are more than a handful here, you know.”
“Our colonies still outnumber them. It will not be an issue.”
“Wait, there are more?” Taj asked.
Devours Villains nodded. “There are. You just cannot sense them among the aura. Many of the strongest become part of the Swarm in all respects. It is why their Domination cultivators hide so well.”
“I never experienced them,” Taj admitted. “Are they… here?”
“I don’t know,” the queen admitted. “I haven’t seen one in person. Only sensed them in simulations.”
Madiha interrupted to assuage Taj’s worries. “There aren’t that many Domination cultivators. The chances of one being on this planet are practically nonexistent.”
“... Velvet was here.”
“Yes, but she came here to find me,” Madiha pointed out. “And she’s visiting many locations to help with the infiltration. Relatedly, I don’t think I can support this assassination plan.”
“Which one?” Devours Villains asked.
“Either one,” Madiha said. “They’re both too risky.”
“It is riskier to do nothing. We don’t have to do the plan,” the queen said. “But we should have it. Just in case. Finding the anchor might not be possible. Actually… the Augmentation cultivators should be most connected to it. They have to be close. We could learn something as we ate their energy!”
Obviously void ants wouldn’t actually eat the people. Just their energy would be sufficient. There was no knowing what diseases the cultivators might have that could be spread to human friends of those very same void ants.
“I suppose we can make the plans,” Madiha said. “But this is something that definitely has to be passed through the core alliance.”
“Obviously. We can’t even get in contact with every other agent ourselves.”
-----
Velvet had absolutely no intention to approve the ‘eat all the Augmentation cultivators’ plan, but it did have some good points. Actually, if it came down to all out war they would absolutely be implementing it.
For the more hopeful futures, however, it did bring up a good point. She didn’t have to find a Domination cultivator connected to the anchor. An Augmentation cultivator might be enough. She could even have a few attempts, because it was probably true they wouldn’t miss the first few. Velvet didn’t have to do it herself either. Bringing void ants along would be perfectly reasonable.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She would be able to get into position more swiftly, though.
That plan still wasn’t going to be implemented soon, but eventually it might. Discussing that thought with others did bring up some alternatives.
Of course Catarina thought of formations. That was all she thought about.
“We just set them up all throughout Swirling Swarm territory. Little thing. Together, they figure out the flow of the aura. Simple.”
“Simple,” Velvet nodded. “I can’t do that though. But if you make it…”
“Hmm…” Catarina tapped her chin. “We’ll need some background recordings to test with. How much tech can you smuggle there?”
“Each visit is a greater risk to our ships and our agents,” Velvet said.
“Hmm, fair point. We’ll have to combine that with other missions. It’s a shame it takes so long to make the trip.”
Velvet waited for a few moments. “This would be a great time to tell me that you’ve invented a way to get there faster.”
“Me? No. Well, not with the Swirling Swarm still in existence. Theoretically we could try to smuggle a long range teleportation platform into a distant system. Practically whoever we want to get there could just ride on the ship that brought the components.”
“Disappointing,” Velvet said. “What if we drop something into the black hole?”
“An excellent idea. Let’s try it. You’re volunteering?”
Velvet grinned. “Maybe not today.”
Catarina nodded seriously. “The overlap between people who would actually volunteer and people who I think might survive is… very small.”
“How small?”
“Without a good reason? Nobody. But I think some of us might manage it.”
“Let’s hope we never need a good reason for it then.” Catarina was confident in many of her understandings. ‘Might’ was a bit too uncertain for Velvet. The black hole thing was just a joke anyway.
-----
Anton was once again in the strange system Lantilwe occupied. Or rather, the system itself was not as strange as their cultivation path. The people themselves were quite pleasant, and they were also helpful in various ways.
Caomh, who was the first contact they had made, had shared a decent amount of information about what they knew of the upper realms. They had less conflict, and no secret knowledge about the Swirling Swarm, but it was a useful visit anyway. Plus, it would leave Anton close enough to where he might need to be if he had to move against the Swarm.
Caomh had much to discuss with Bear Hug- much like any of the cultivators from Lantilwe. Their artificial ascension type cultivation that utilized upper energy while in the lower realms was quite unique. Bear Hug only used one or the other, but possessed the necessary insights to exchange thoughts with them.
“You have to keep on your toes when you have different sorts of energy,” Bear Hug commented. “But I don’t have any toes!” At least, they didn’t until they wiggled a few temporary digits on their feet. “You’d think it would just be the same but more. It isn’t at all. My natural energy gets just as dense. You just have to pack it differently!”
Caomh nodded along, as did Ankhesa- another cultivator from Lantilwe. “Despite filling any space, it isn’t always so simply arranged as it might seem. Unlike a liquid or gas.”
“It’s feisty!” Bear Hug said.
“Stubborn,” Anton added. “Upper energy might even be a little bit proud.” Though the reason for its rejection of him might be more of a matter of causality related to Fleeting Youth, he couldn’t deny attributing some personality to energy. Several people he knew might be more energy than the physical forms they inhabited. Maheg the star, Bear Hug and the plants, and now Reneden most recently.
Anton and Bear Hug shared many details of such things, though they did keep Aretis somewhat secret at their request. It was unlikely that Lantilwe would bother to move so deep into the realms away from their home system to bother them, but word might accidentally spread to less trustworthy individuals. Those groups near the Alliance were even further than Lantilwe.
“So, about this trouble with the upper realms,” Ankhesa commented. “I tried to arrange for a meeting of sorts. You said your energy can reach into the upper realms? Enough to speak?”
“Barely. If they’re at the border,” Anton explained. Attacks were actually easier- more energy took longer to tear apart. Well, he could transmit his voice with as much vigor as an attack but he was actually far less efficient at it so it would still be a bit rough. And he couldn’t use the automatic destruction of the energy to his advantage. Instead, he would have to protect his conversation partner from the energy coming after him.
“Well, it’ll have to do,” Ankhesa commented. “There are a few sects that would like to coordinate against the Swirling Swarm.”
“Thank you for making the effort,” Anton said. “When can I expect this meeting to occur?”
“Well, normally we don’t communicate with the upper realms, so I had to send a message the slow way. It will reach the upper realms in another decade. I set a date range for possible communication. Normally, we’d just wait until the shift in the tides.”
That absolutely wouldn’t do. The Scarlet Alliance might wait for many things, but the Swirling Swarm was becoming a persistent issue that couldn’t wait. Unlike most sects that were relatively stable between cycles, the Swirling Swarm didn’t care about the losses they were suffering and even seemed to be growing more powerful. At the very least, the Alliance was more aware of them as an issue and didn’t want to wait.
A decade wouldn’t be too bad. They might have solved things by then, in which case Anton could have a pleasant chat with some neighbors across the way.
-----
Taj roamed the streets, careful to not draw undue attention. Spirit Building cultivators were not big enough fish that others would avoid them. However, it was nice to not be the smallest fish in the sea. Making it to Spirit Building was actually a significant accomplishment.
Taj hadn’t expected to become an adult. Let alone a capable one. Obviously they went hand in hand, but as a kid there hadn’t been much to think about. Madiha had commented on how fast Taj was growing stronger, but when pressed had to admit that they were below the threshold that the Alliance normally considered ‘talented’. And yet, the path forward remained smooth. Madiha expected Taj to reach Integration. Not just hoped.
Taj hoped, though they were a bit uncertain of the possibility.
If they ran away to the core Alliance, apparently they would survive. As close as anything could be guaranteed. But somehow, Taj just couldn’t do it. There were things here that needed to be accomplished.
A pure tech device was carefully buried in a wall that nobody would look at. If they did, they wouldn’t know what to do with it. Madiha was placing a few more around the city- their domain. There were other agents in other cities, but Madiha and Taj had their own.
This was the mission. Taj carried one more, ready to place it in its final resting place. Unfortunately, an incident pulled them away. Normally Taj wouldn’t mess with conflicts- saving innocents was good, but how many existed here? One less, soon enough. Unless Taj acted swiftly.