Chapter 914
Watching the borders of the Scarlet Midfields was very important for the Scarlet Alliance, because even if they didnt claim all of the territory in between the two giants they still needed to watch for potential enemy movements.
Previous victories against the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster were only relatively minor in the grand scale of things. While it was true that they both had other enemies tying up their resources, they were still major threats with just a small portion of what they had available.
The Trigold Cluster was a serious concern due to recent events in the lower realms. While it was believed that there was no knowledge of the connection between the Lower Realms Alliance and the Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms, it was possible for it to be discovered during the war. It hadnt exactly been kept secret in the lower realms, though most people who werent closer to ascension didnt tend to know many details.
Even if that wasnt an issue, the experiments of the Trigold Cluster like the ability to destabilize stars and various bioweapons was a concern. They would be able to employ such things more easily, though at least the main form of star destabilization they were aware of shouldnt be functional. If it relied on an imbalance between upper and lower energy, at best they could source a somewhat weaker version to do the opposite in the lower realms. But the mere fact that they had attempted it raised concerns about what they might be capable of with their full resources.
As for the Exalted Quadrant, they had actually remained a looming threat for some decades. One of the incidents with Everheart had brought their members closer to the border, and the Exalted Quadrant had not limited themselves to simply harassing the Everheart system.
So far, there hadnt been any trouble in systems under the banner of the Scarlet Alliance, but it didnt seem like the sizable forces they had brought into the area were going to back off any time soon either. Then again, it was equally likely that they would simply continue to remain in their general location for another few decades without doing anything.
The biggest danger for the Scarlet Alliance in that regard had been accepting Sly of the Hardened Crown Sect and Margriet of the Worthy Shore Society into their ranks. There had been an assault when Chikere returned from her battle with the Limitless Edge, dragging them along, but the defeat in that incident was actually likely to make another assault more probable in the future.
Fortunately, monolithic factions tended to move quite slowly in regards to such issues, so they had done very little in the last century. Perhaps the battles against the Chaotic Conglomeration kept them busy, but it didnt seem as if that lack of activity was going to continue forever.
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The first clear signs involved disciples of the Limitless Edge showing up on worlds outside the Scarlet Alliances sphere of influence. Most likely they were not the first cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant to pass through, but they were one of the most obvious. The blade they carried identified them along with their cultivation aura, but it would have been easy enough for disciples of any of the myriad minor sects from the Exalted Quadrant to pass through the area without raising a fuss.
Landing on the planets controlled by the Scarlet Alliance in large numbers would be more difficult. Even if they allowed most traffic, they still monitored those who were incoming. As for those planets outside of their own systems, information came from any informants willing to work for a reasonable fee, as long as they proved to be reliable.
Further information indicated a pattern of fleets approaching the northwestern portions of the Scarlet Alliances territory. There was some hope that they might be gunning for the Everheart system, but if that was the case they werent following the usual patterns. Traffic along the northern border of the Scarlet Midfields flowed freely, as the Scarlet Alliance had no interest in preventing people from entering Everhearts trap system. And while some of them came out ahead, they could assume that overall resources were flowing into the system. A true casino mentality that had worked out for Everheart in the past.
Since the fleets werent immediately continuing their travel, they became the concern of the Scarlet Alliance. They had to respond with fleets of their own, though they kept inside their own borders. Even if the mere presence of Exalted Quadrant fleets hurt nearby planets, they couldnt resist provoking them if they werent actually going to cause trouble in Scarlet Alliance territory.
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Chikere was one of the first to move out towards the border. Her reason was simple- Limitless Edge disciples. They might not be relevant to her training at the moment, but she was hoping for a rematch with the Limitless Edge. Especially after she had heard of Rahayus victory against her sometime back. She knew it wasnt quite that simple, but it had brought the woman back to mind and Chikere wished to fight the woman again now that she was properly in Augmentation herself. And that meant getting her to leave the Exalted Quadrants territory, because she did not find her odds favorable if she went to the Limitless Edge.
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Even if she won that battle, the Exalted Quadrant would descend like cultivators. It would be one thing when she was a mere Integration cultivator, but even then theyd set a trap for her. Now she was more important to the Scarlet Alliance, so they could hardly afford to let her go. And what was worse was that they probably wouldnt even let her have a proper match. So drawing out the Limitless Edge was the best option.
Or perhaps she might be lucky and run into another Augmentation sword cultivator from the Exalted Quadrant. There simply had to be more. Their vast population and the commonality of the weapon type made that clear. Chikere had focused on a single one, but in truth she wasnt picky, as long as they had the requisite skill to reach Augmentation they would be worthwhile opponents.
Obviously her disciple would be participating in the war as well. He could likely learn something from the insane style of the Limitless edge, especially how the disciples were made to use inferior sword forms for the benefit of their sect head. Even if they were incorrect, the skill with which they were executed was a valuable learning tool.
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The Scarlet Alliance was no longer lacking in Augmentation cultivators. From Zazil, Tauno, and Prasad to the various individuals from the lower realms. Most of the first generation of disciples from the Order of One Hundred Stars had reached Augmentation over the last century or so, a group which included Catarina, Timothy, Velvet, and Hoyt. Prospero had reached Augmentation as well, though he was not ascended like the rest of them. Kseniya had ascended with them, but like Alva she had not quite reached Augmentation. Neither archer had found quite the right stimulus or inspiration to push them over the edge, though perhaps they might do so over the course of the war. Likewise, Sly and Margriet were close to Augmentation as well.
Overall, the Scarlet Alliance greatly outclassed the former Harmonious Citadel. They had greater power but also a significantly larger territory. Because of that, they still had to be cautious not to overcommit in one area, as they might leave the rest of their territory insufficiently defended.
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Crossed Antennae was now in frequent contact with the Scarlet Alliance, and when she heard about the looming war she wanted to immediately join up with them. But that was not something she could do. Her purpose in the upper realms was quite clear, and it had nothing to do with fighting in a war. Not yet, at least.
Instead, it was her job to help defend the lower realms, securing the borders against invasion. For that, she had to establish colonies on various worlds and prepare them to thrive while remaining hidden, so that they could take out the gathered forces at an opportune moment.
She was no fool. She knew that such a thing would provoke a response from the great factions, and they would attempt another extermination of the void ants. But they simply couldnt be allowed to continue their practices. Several centuries sounded like a long time on the surface. How many colonies could she establish in such a time? The answer was not enough. Not alone. If she wanted to do the bare minimum, there were easily a hundred systems to consider along the border. Traveling to each planet and birthing a queen or two was not a terribly long or strenuous process, but that wasnt enough.
Each queen had to be educated on their purpose. If they failed in their task, they would either be unready for invaders or worse reveal themselves and thus the others too early. Making sure there was a reliable collection of queens- and that the colonies would cover a large enough portion of the planets such that they could even reach the temporary garrisons- was a task that really deserved a proper human lifetime of teaching. At least a decade or two.
Unlike the Great Queen, she didnt have the accumulated power to birth queens who would rapidly grow into their greater humanlike intelligence. Instead, it would take time- and to reach the intelligence of herself or Fearsome Mandibles would take quite a bit longer. If that wasnt the case, she could entrust her own children with passing on the same message. And indeed, she very much hoped that some of the first queens would be ready before the end of the cycle but she couldnt guarantee that.
Because of that, she had to make some hard choices. And one of those was to initially colonize fewer planets than the bare minimum. Because if she had to choose between performing a poor disruption on a wide scale and an effective and targeted disruption that greatly mitigated the threat to a few planets, she would lean towards those more focused efforts.
She wasnt truly alone in her work, but aside from the humans tasked with carrying her from planet to planet she was rarely in one place long enough to feel less alone. Being surrounded by millions of other ants did very little for her when they could barely converse.
That was another reason she wanted to focus on specific planets. Predicting where humans would concentrate their forces so that the void ants could cause more damage was an admirable goal for their alliance. Crossed Antennae believed it was a good thing to do. But regardless of what happened after, she also wanted the void ants to have access to each other. Spreading colonies out over many planets was a good way to jumpstart the void ants population growth, but if the queens did not have any peers to engage with they would also become lonely.
A phenomenon that had been observed by the Great Queen was that each generation removed from her developed more slowly. Not because there was anything special about her. Indeed, she admitted to barely having sapience when she first encountered Anton, and acted more on instinct than with a plan. Instead, it was a matter of how void ants grew. A more developed queen could make better eggs, so if successive generations of queens hurried to create new offspring they would gradually progress more towards their base intelligence. Even ascension energy only helped that process so much.
The fear was that they might lose their cooperation- not within an individual colony, but between colonies. That was what made the current void ants something special. If they lost their ability to farm, they could only be in competition with their brethren, and their purpose would be lost. There would be nothing strictly wrong with letting such void ants develop, but Crossed Antennae wanted to do her best for her mother, sister, and her various friends.
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