Elder Cultivator

Falling Stars suddenly found themselves free to seek new targets, as Zaur ceased to be a threat. Even if someone managed to avoid them on one pass, they would inevitably strike somewhere in the enemy fleets.

While the Scarlet Alliance had kept an advantage even with fleets from both the Citadel’s allies and the Trigold Cluster, their enemies suddenly became aware of how much of their energy had been devoted to suppressing Zaur. Of course, the Domination cultivator had caused significant damage and strain on their forces… but even just a few moments after his death the course of the battle shifted.

Morale was a serious factor in battles, even among those who were not cultivators. Those who were afraid to fight could hardly be effective. For cultivators, the rift was actually larger. Without strength of purpose behind them, their use of energy was severely hampered.

That wasn’t counting the actual disciples of the Citadel of Exalted Light, because they were in a far worse state than any others. Many others tried to organize their withdrawal, some broke into a chaotic retreat- but the disciples of the Citadel simply… stopped. Not all of them, but the psychic shock was so great that some of them died due to their energy running amok inside them. Cultivation was a practice of belief- in one’s self or also in others. When an ‘invincible’ leader died, what were people to do?

The Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters had been trying to take advantage of the situation, though it wasn’t clear what their final goal was. However, with Zaur’s death they quickly began to withdraw as well. That included their great battleship made entirely of worldheart, though it likely would have had to withdraw regardless. Though Aconite’s metal-eating bacteria weren’t infinitely sustaining like on lesser metals, their ship had numerous patches of damage that they could not repair, at least not at the moment. Keeping such a valuable ship intact was more important than whatever else they could retrieve from the battle- though it was seen that they did drag the remnants of various ships with them.

At some point in the past, the Scarlet Alliance had considered various modifications to their spatial distortions. One of those was to not only draw everyone to Xankeshan, the most fortified location… but also to make the trip one-way. It was a nice thought, preventing their enemy from retreating, but simply infeasible unless they had a massive advantage. They might be the victor here, but their own forces weren’t limitless and all powerful. Forcing those who remained into a battle to the end simply wouldn’t be worthwhile. They did cut down all those who were still fighting and if they had the opportunity, all who were attempting to flee.

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For those deep inside the Citadel of Exalted Light’s territory, the bad news was that every disciple knew what had happened and would kill them if given the slightest opportunity. The good news was… they were in no state to pick out a single hidden ship. Not every single cultivator within their systems was a disciple of the Exalted Light, but all those who were simply… couldn’t.

Velvet had the misfortune of dropping right next to one of their fleet patrols when attempting to stop to replenish their ship’s energy. She could hide a lot, but the spatial fluctuations from rising out of subspace came before she was able to affect anything in her current state. Well, she was able to make it about half subtle.