Chapter 897

Chapter 897

Numerous arrows were already on the way by the time anyone noticed Anton, at which point their engines were destroyed a moment later. Not that the Trigold Cluster had much in the way of proper engines, relying more on mobility formations. But Anton was able to recognize those easily enough, and he just had to break a few important bits. Nothing difficult, if he just synchronized the arrival time of a dozen shots.

Before his assault, Anton had made certain there werent any other ships for a great distance. Better for this disappearance to be mysterious which was why he immediately set around dismantling everything else. The Trigold Cluster was decent with formations, but ultimately the ships still fell in the realm of Life Transformation cultivators. As an Enrichment cultivator, Anton still had the power of a late Assimilation cultivator even away from the domains of his bound stars.

Perhaps a full squadron might begin to challenge him, and a coordinated fleet might be able to endanger him- if they could get close, that was. Even if they could slightly outpace him in speed, Anton had a great rate of recovering natural energy and could whittle them down. Then of course there was the question of making instantaneous changes in direction, which was outside the realm of most ships. Theyd have to get in range for their cultivators to fight, and most of them werent trained to fight in space unaided.

Ultimately, this group clearly hadnt expected to run into any opposition, so they were woefully unprepared in their reactions. Many didnt even have their storage bags on them, and those that did found strings and straps severed. Anything they reached for was either destroyed- or their hand was. Anton didnt have a whole lot of sympathy for the people involved, Void Scrying Sect members, Twin Soul Sect, and some Slithering Serpent Sect as well. The latter gave a bad name to snakes everywhere.

Anton inserted himself into their trajectory, making his way closer. Cooperate, and all of you will have a chance to live. That chance was extremely small, especially for the Twin Soul Sect members but it was something.

This group was much smaller than the raid on Inistra which had multiple ships involved, so he had sufficient energy restricting restraints available. After that was accomplished, he pushed the ship onto a new trajectory, as well as adjusting the path of the container they were coming for.

Then he waited, watching over them while continuing to improve his connection to Naewu. Hed be done in a few months, and that would greatly help his efforts in the area, attempting to find more similar activity. He had already sent off a message about the container a day earlier, and he provided an update. Anton didnt expect anyone to arrive for at least a month, probably two given that they would have to take a route avoiding the Trigold Clusters territory, skirting the northern edge of the border.

The Shining Cooperative would likely arrive before anyone from the Lower Realms Alliance, however. They might cut that time to three weeks, if they pushed it. Anton didnt want to rush anyone, but someone would probably notice this group never returned and they might want to do something about that. Anton wasnt able to bring a whole ship and massive container with him through subspace, so in essence they were barely moving. Close enough for proper scouts to pick up.

And while Anton wouldnt mind wiping out that second group, prioritizing recovery of the mysterious container was important. He didnt want to probe too much, just in case he might trigger some reaction. If he was making bioweapons and star destroying devices, he wouldnt want that to easily fall into enemy hands.

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The victory in Egnos had precipitated a sudden shift in the war. Though it did take some amount of manpower to keep the planet secure, that overlapped with the same personnel that were using it as a base of operations for advancement further into enemy territory. And the Trigold Cluster only had a limited number of high population worlds in the lower realms.

With one world occupied by and one destroyed by the Trigold Clusters own hand, there were only a few more on either side of the civil war they had sparked- the most important being Xeotov under control of the Void Scrying Sect and their allies, and Kunion with the Fearsome Menagerie and the others. But they would likely fight all the more fiercely because they were on the back foot.

But at least they now had an idea where some of the weapons came from. Flung through the void of space and left to drift for decades, that also meant there wasnt much hope of rapid adaptation- and if they could cut off more shipments, the Trigold Clusters position would weaken even more.

Yes, yes, they threatened you. And if you had come to us, those criminals in the basement would still be dead before they could do anything.

Wait, the womans eyes widened. That was-

Varghese let the power of the sun flare through his eyes. You didnt feel wrong. I have some slaves to go free, but let me leave you with some reminders. Youll be left with enough to live, and if you try to flee with anything youre not entitled to, your life will be forfeit. At the moment, we have no reason to take your lives. Maybe warn others about the part where being threatened isnt good enough.

Technically, there were some situations where the manager and the others could get away without forfeiting everything, but that was something for the bureaucracy people to manage. Varghese didnt have any motivation to stop anyone from leaving- there wasnt actually anywhere they could run to, since they couldnt get off planet. And while these people were complicit in the crimes, he didnt get the feeling they were the main contributors so it wasnt his job.

He entered the basement to see a ten year old kid barely holding up one of the spears. I-I wont let you hurt my family! he said as the door opened.

Bad choice kid, Varghese said, yanking the weapon out of his hands. Then he tossed a small blade at his feet. That ones both easier to use and better quality. He looked at the cowering people in the room. Now everyone line up so I can rip off those stupid slave collars.

But- a woman began to speak.

As the first person to protest she got to be the example. Certainly, it would be a shock to everyone but Varghese reached out, slicing the collar open. The energy contained with in exploded outward or at least tried to. But an explosion meant to kill people on that level was easily suppressed. At most, people saw a flash of light, before the material of the collar was tossed aside as a molten heap of slag.

Next, Varghese said. You can go, by the way, he said to the startled woman. Theres a few people outside you can talk to that will help you get things sorted out. Youll be set up with proper food and shelter.

How will I know who they are?

Theyre the only people outside the building, Varghese said. The youth stepped forward, and Varghese removed his collar without even looking. Ultimately, slavery was impractical for cultivators. They were better off engaging in similar and equally despicable practices, as the expense required to keep people in line grew with the value they could provide, in general. Ultimately, cultivation was required to go beyond a certain level in crafts and the like, so slaves mostly were used as basic servants and manual labor- but again, said manual labor was more efficient when done by proper cultivators.

Though Varghese didnt let it show on his face, he was teeming with emotions inside. He was aware of how slavery had affected his masters family in the past, and there were problems on Inistra as well- both from natives and Trigold invaders. This was one area upon which every member of the Lower Realms Alliance had to agree to join, and the Shining Cooperative seemed to support it as well.

Varghese always had an itching feeling in the back of his mind that this was beneath him, that he should be fighting in the war. And then Antons voice would always remind him that taking care of people was the most important. This was what mattered. Battle was simply necessary to reach this point where people could be uplifted, and to protect against anyone who wished to stop it.