A w appeared in Anton’s n, but one he was prepared to ovee. After going from one bound system to another… he was out. He had nearly two hundred more, but not anywhere close. He certainly didn’t want to be dragging a trail of Swirling Swarm cultivators towards any of the emupied/em systems- they would probably cause enough damage to unupied ones if he lost track of them for a few moments.

    Moving on towards unbound systems would only weaken Anton’s potential. Furthermore, if they ever got around to attuning to natural energy he wouldn’t be able to stop that in regr systems. Of course, he already passed through a few between his eastern and western emcements but the point was that in his bound systems he could more or less prevent them from absorbing any energy.

    Anton had already turned it into an endurance match and he didn’t intend to stop. Thus, he did the only thing that made sense to him- he doubled back. Not directly, of course. If he were fresh he wouldn’t fear dashing directly through the Swirling Swarm, but he had been fighting seriously for nearly two weeks now, with over a month before that where he was simply drawing attention. That month he’d been able to take proper time to rest, but nottely. There was simply too much riding on his current actions.

    Conversely, the Swirling Swarm hadn’t stopped for a single moment- and they weren’t holding back. He changed his route, picking out the next system he would pass through and a theoretical route- but of course he expected it to change as the Swirling Swarm reacted.

    His attacks were focused not on actually trying to kill anything directly, but just to keep their attention. Even so, he emcould/em destabilize energy, given enough time. It would be nice if it only took a few moments- he’d be done with all the Domination cultivators already- but instead he had to keep up the pressure on any individual for hours or days. It added to the strain they were already experiencing, and then they could break down. Some simply broke down faster.

    As Anton circled around to another system, all of those cultivators following him began to twist around along with him. Anton decided to make use of that, continuing to keep just ahead of his most fervent pursuers. Then he slowly curved around towards those that had been following, almost coiling his path around them. That brought the Swirling Swarm together into a single mass- one that was always growing, as he continued towards the tail of the long train of systems that were after him.

    When the Swirling Swarm met up and their numbers increased, they grew stronger. And yet, that wasn’t a benefit to them. There was a sort of resonance between their Domination cultivators… and Anton read the flow of energy. It was in his favor.

    They got faster, though, so he had to pick up his pace as they dragged full systems of their cultivators after him. He’d been double their speed, but now he was having to increase his previous pace by about half. If all of them got together, they might even actually stand a chance of catching him. Or at least, he hoped they would believe that.

    How many tens of Domination cultivators were mixed in among them? Day by day, Augmentation cultivators among them began to disy the same traits… faster than the Domination cultivators crumbled. For the moment. Rather than focusing on taking down any individual, Anton changed his tactics to disrupting the greater flow of energy, treating the Swirling Swarm like onerge entity.

    They were anything but gentle with their own people, elerating beyond what they could tolerate as they changed trajectories to keep after him. If they did anything but move straight towards him, Anton might have been in trouble. There were so many.

    He was better at taunting than it seemed. Or perhaps he was simply remembering how herding worked. Normally, though, he’d do his best to minimize any risks to his herds- not maximize it.

    He approached the eastern star of his local pair shortly after thest of the trail slipped by. Anton didn’t want to do what he was going to do within the system, so he turned back again. He circled around the Swirling Swarm. Anton wasn’t certain he could lose their attention now, but he kept prodding them. Arrows came in from whatever angle he deemed best as he controlled another part of their flow of energy with his presence.

    Wherever he went they flowed out towards him. They were getting faster still, reacting more strongly. They even began anticipating his movements to some extent. It couldn’t continue forever… but Anton had no intention to allow that.

    Dragging along the lesser cultivators did tire the Domination cultivators more- but that was also where their power came from. Now, they were all together. An iprehensible number of cultivators strung across a great distance, a mass of power like nothing Anton had ever dealt with. If he had to emfight/em it, Anton would have lost a hundred percent of the time. It wouldn’t have been close, nor would it take long. They would overwhelm him in moments.

    Anton tightened his movements, drawing closer and closer to the blob of cultivators. He wrapped them up together, causing casualties within their ranks by sheer happenstance. Their power was further focused. Anton knew his n emhad/em to work. He might be able to flee now, but it would be his final opportunity.

    He wasn’t going to, of course. There was too much risk here. Instead, he guided the Swarm, further augmenting their fervor. A few arrows flew out, skipping between subspace and normal space- though they weren’t traveling through subspace any longer. They were emalmost/em stationary as a whole.

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    Anton had everything nned out. He had a particr target in mind, at the center of the whole mess. A few hundred arrows and he could mix up their energy and hopefully cause emsomething/em. But of course against unstable foes, ns didn’t always work.

    That was where luck would go a long way. That might still involve previous choices paying off, good ones. Anton was exhausted, but his cultivation could actually handle the power he had been using. The Swirling Swarm was not the same.

    An arrow meant to nudge someone into a different position became an idental catalyst. The flow of energy just right- or just wrong. One Domination cultivator crumbled under the pressure, their body turning into nothing in an instant. The shockwaves of energy spread. Anton observed a truly astounding few moments.

    Domination cultivators perished. Augmentation cultivators surged into Domination only to a momentter unravel. An Integration cultivator half held the aura of Domination for a single instant, dying before the transformation could even partiallyplete. A chain reaction unpredictable in direction and speed spread throughout them.

    Anton’s only recourse was to flee with Star Steps, giving up on managing anything that was happening. Each second, the chaos spread further and further. Lesser cultivators were annihted, greater cultivators were empowered beyond their capacity. One moment, a spear struck out at Anton with the power of Domination- covering the great distance between them. A trickle of blood reminded Anton how close it truly got. But the wielder was dead before he evenpleted his defensive maneuvers.

    Power surged, and Anton was d that not all of it was focused on him. Swirling Swarm cultivators attacked each other in their madness and panic. Their self preservation instincts were minimal. Instead, they aura of the Swirling Swarm that they shared was breaking down- they attacked not to defend themselves but to kill, as their instincts desired.

    It all happened so quickly, and then it reached its final moments with everything breaking down. A massive shockwave of energy, formed from dozens of different detonations, spread in all directions. Anton could only protect himself and ride it along. It threatened to disintegrate him, but without any emintent/em it simply couldn’t. It pushed Anton all the way to his nearby star- and even though the ratio of power had dropped off many orders of magnitude, Anton could do nothing but fortify the star and hope that it withstood the pressure.

    Several nearby stars winked out. Further systems no doubt losts.

    Cultivators sensitive to emotions would no doubt feel the results in far flung corners of the gxy. And yet, Anton knew that was only a small portion of the Swirling Swarm.

    A star burned around him. He held onto its warmth andfort. He had done what he could- perhaps too much. Others would have to deal with the rest.

    -----

    In the upper realms, sects joined with each other to stem to flow of the Swirling Swarm. It took time, but news of their omnidirectional advance spread faster than their movements. Those systems adjacent to them had been rapidly overtaken with no warning. Three or four systems deep, they had a chance to react.

    Further than that, and it was even possible for a system to be passed by… if they happened to be lucky. It also helped if those before them had managed to defeat one of the groups of the Swirling Swarm, usually by several groups depleting their numbers.

    The Scarlet Alliance sent reinforcements as quickly as they could, taking advantage of their spatial distortions to reach the territory of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance before moving onward from there. Though they would have liked to save everywhere, they could only arrange for passage through a few areas. Keeping their forces concentrated was necessary regardless, or they would die for nothing.

    Some would die. They couldn’t win everything. However, they couldn’t fail to offer their help. The Swirling Swarm was a threat… and even if the Trigold Cluster should have dealt with it themselves- long in the past- they had be aware of it. Furthermore, they had some responsibility for triggering the wave of assaults. Even if they couldn’t have predicted it, even if it was what they had wanted to emprevent/em, the results were what they were.

    False Domination cultivators, while indeed terrifying and dangerous, could be dealt with by emreal/em Domination cultivators. Likewise, the tactics- orpleteck thereof- were something that people could manage.

    As always in times of disaster, those who were weakest took the brunt of the damage. Few powerful sects lived immediately next to the Swirling Swarm, as they would be vignt about defending their own territory. The Fearsome Menagerie was one of the few- and they happened to have a Domination cultivator.

    A few others appeared as well, either those intentionally hidden like Joakim of the Shimmering Spears or others that simply hadn’t been prominent in the affairs of the Trigold Cluster in recent centuries.

    Ultimately, the Swirling Swarm weren’t endless, even if they seemed to be. Furthermore, they had no logic behind the assault- they simply went. Eventually, they were worn down by constantly throwing themselves against the next target. As weeks and months passed, their Domination cultivators began to break down regardless of whether they were dealt with conventionally.

    There was no rest for anyone. Catarina, Velvet, and Zazil moved from one system to another, trying to blunt the impact of what they had unleashed. Likewise, Prospero and Ratna found themselves on the frontlines. They did everything they could, but it wasn’t always enough. Sometimes, they had to abandon systems they sought to save, unable to provide sufficient force on their own.

    They, too, were mortal. Even true Domination cultivators had limits, and some of them had less experience than others. Ratna was the most enduring, having been a Domination cultivator long before they rose to prominence. However, her abilities could only do so much. She focused on individual targets, but even without Domination cultivators the rest of the Swirling Swarm continued to move- at least for a while. Their danger was blunted but not trivial without those at the top.

    The consequences of the Swirling Swarm’s surge would shake the upper realms for centuries toe, though exactly how would be impossible for anyone to predict.

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