Silver Stars, Ch 21: Retribution (Patreon)

Sam held onto Alora’s hand as they reached the Void. 

She had reached Level 503 while he was gone, making her one of the few Fifth Evolution defenders of her world. He was impressed by that.

She, her father, and her uncle were the only three who had reached that level before the blockade strengthened.

Fortunately, her class didn’t require hunting, so she’d still been able to make slow progress.

Behind them, he felt the strength of the enchantment he’d just finished on Verdant.

He’d taken the concept of the defenses he’d created for Emerald and made a stronger version here, one that could tap into the Wild Tree’s power. With that as a source, the enchantments could reach across the entire system.

The difficulty had been in weaving the enchantment into the world without disrupting it in the same way. He doubted Alora would appreciate half the surface being reformed.

The result was a defense that was difficult to see, but easy to feel. 

The Wild Tree radiated power across the world, so he’d channeled it into ethereal roots and branches that extended to the edge of its influence. Each of them had the force of the Wild Tree’s domain to support it.

There were no teleportation gates, since the Wild Spirits didn’t like them here, but there would be no more blockading of Verdant. 

As the two of them arrived above the world and moved out to the limit of the previous defenses, ships from the blockade immediately spotted them and began to converge.

“Halt!” A stern voice commanded. “Passage from Verdant is forbidden under the edict of Chrenes Tila’atres the Third, Lord of the Hunt, Sacred Guardian of the Stars! Your hostility toward other races has gone too far, but the lord in his infinite wisdom offers you a hope for the future! 

“Only when your government reaches suitable terms for peace will you be allowed access to the Void! Hand over the keys to Verdant’s defenses and the Evolutionary Node! Otherwise, crossing the interdiction line will be taken as a hostile action and result in your arrest or death!”

“They call themselves the Guardian of the Stars?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Special, aren’t they?” Alora replied with a grimace. “They’ve been creating one lie after another to justify their actions, like claiming that we’re the ones attacking him. I’m not sure when they started using that title too.”

Sam took her hand, ignoring the Blood Hunter as they flew higher. Starlight rippled around them, blurring their outlines until it seemed like they were fading into the background of the stars.

They crossed the line in the sand that the attackers had drawn and then they stopped, admiring the size of the fleet that was heading their way. 

Behind that ship more began to arrive until a full quarter of the flotilla was arranged in front of them. 

Weapons charged up on their prows. There were some of the same antler-like enchantments he’d seen the last time, but they were mixed with other styles. Defensive runes glowed on the hulls, sparkling in the air in a dozen colors.

There were over four thousand ships in this squadron. The Blood Hunters had really dedicated themselves to their one-sided war. They must have been building ships non-stop for the last two hundred years.

Their weapons were all pointed at Sam and Alora, creating a massive array of destructive energy at the Fourth Evolution, with two points that crossed into the Fifth.

It was enough power to destroy a normal world.

The Blood Hunter who had spoken was standing at the prow of the lead ship, glaring at them as he barked orders to his people, but Sam didn’t pay him any mind.

“Do you want to do the honors?” he asked. “The enchantments need a field test.”

“You should do it,” Alora said with a shake of her head. “I’m not familiar with them yet.”

“Alright,” Sam agreed. “They should have remembered what I told them the last time. This will be the third transgression and the last.”

The first time he was here, the Blood Hunters had been pressuring the Wild Spirits for the Wild Tree, trying to force them to give it up, which was ironic since it was lifebound to the Wild Spirits.

Even if the Blood Hunters got a hold of it, they wouldn’t be able to control it. 

They also already allowed allies to use it.

Then the Blood Hunters hid from the Outsider commander that was threatening the world and showed their cowardice. They believed they were great hunters and full of courage, but it was only a lie they told themselves.

The second time, they attacked while he was in the Dream of the Void. His Silver Nagas had helped Alora defend the world, but the Blood Hunters had a dozen more Fourth Evolution attackers and warships.

He’d arrived just in time.

He killed most of them, but he let the Wild Spirits deal with the few survivors, sending them away with a warning.

They had failed to learn their lesson again, so there was no point in giving them another chance. 

“You have ignored my command to leave the Wild Spirits in peace.” His voice echoed across the system, heard by every living being in the flotilla and across the world. 

The words burned with a vibrant stellar force and shook the chaos winds, making it feel like the Void had suddenly turned to a stormy sea.

He let his height rise to thousands of meters high, until he was as tall as the world behind him. Even the sun looked smaller in the distance. 

“My people have always been patient with the younger races, so I will give you a final chance to abandon your efforts here and to flee, but that is the last mercy I offer. If you ignore it, you will perish here.”

A flurry of shouts and terrified babble from the ships followed his words and the trajectory of a few became shaky as their helmsmen lost control in the storm winds. 

Some of them slammed into one another, scraping along the sides in a flare of defensive shields, and more shouts of anger and confusion followed.

“Get control of yourselves!” The commander who’d spoken before shouted across the squadron, lambasting his subordinates with curses. “You’re the descendants of the greatest hunters to have ever walked the stars! All the worlds of this region will fall in line before us, or we will destroy them! What are you afraid of? It’s just a giant or some type of illusion!”

“It’s an Astral Titan!” The shout rose up from one of the ships. “It’s true! You’ve tried to suppress the rumors that one was here the last time, but now it’s here in front of us!”

A desperate Blood Hunter raced toward the helm as he tried to seize control of his ship. He got his hands on the wheel, but a sharp order from the ship’s captain cut him down a second later, before he could try to turn the ship around.

“Anyone else who tries to flee will be executed as a deserter!” the commander shouted across the fleet as he tried to keep control.

But the Blood Hunter’s words had an effect. Mutters spread across the ships as the words ‘Astral Titan’ moved swiftly from person to person. A few of the other ships began to shake as their course faltered. 

Two began to turn around, their helms seized by Blood Hunters who had no desire to face something as tall as Sam, regardless of whether or not the rumors were true.

A moment later, they both exploded into blue and yellow fireballs as neighboring ships with tighter security fired on them, leaving only scattered shards of charred wood flying through the Void.

The commander had been quick to order their destruction.

“Don’t believe his lies!” The commander shouted. “There are no more Astral Titans, only imposters! The ancient hunters are long gone, leaving us to take up their heritage! They left the stars for us to conquer! We are the blessed race! He is a fake!”

His words reasserted a semblance of order across the fleet and the formation tightened up as ships straightened out and pointed their weapons back at Sam.

“How dare you impersonate an Astral Titan?!” the commander continued, shaking his fist at Sam. His wide-spreading antlers rattled as the metal adornments hanging on them swayed back and forth. “Lies! Were you truly one, I would know! Ships, prepare to fire! For the Great Hunt! Destroy this fool!”

The ships’ enchantments charged, creating sparkling blue and yellow orbs across their prows. Lines of amplifying force crossed from ship to ship, enhancing the effect as they all focused on him.

It was an impressive force, enough to wipe most Fifth Evolution beings out of existence and to turn a world to ash.

Then they fired.

Thousands of arcs of blinding blue and yellow flame filled the Void, closing the distance to Sam and Alora in an instance.

Then they simply disappeared.

All around Sam and Alora, the Void was calm and bright, swirling with a light silver mist. As the attacks passed into it, they disintegrated, leaving only stray wisps of energy behind.

The silver mist grew slightly denser with each attack, but it was almost unnoticeable, little more than trailing stardust.

It wasn’t an effect of Verdant’s new defenses, but his cloak’s passive enchantment. He didn’t even need to use his domain. Every trace of the energy was converted by the Mandate of Chaos he’d imbued.

The attacks were broken down and turned into primal essence.

Despite the massive number of ships, there was nothing this level of attack could do to him. 

He checked on Alora, but she was protected by his aura and unharmed.

“This must be an illusion from the world!” the commander shouted in disbelief. “Nothing could resist our attack! The Wild Spirits are using this to distract us. They’ve finally come out of their shell and are attacking!” 

The commander’s orders turned sharper.

“Ignore him! Turn the weapons on Verdant! Destroy them once and for all!”

The rest of the fleet that had been waiting at the rear turned toward the world and began moving forward, their weapons charging.

Sam shook his head. He’d given the fleet a chance, but they’d thrown it away. 

More than 12,000 ships were heading for the world, and the other 4,000 in front of him were moving to join them. 

They merged into an arc that curved around the world. The mana on the ships began to flow toward the horns of the arc, where it gathered into blazing points on either end. 

The concentrated force was even stronger than what they had used to attack Sam.

Perhaps the commander had been looking for an excuse to break the stalemate or he’d lost his mind at seeing Sam, but this was a full-on attack on Verdant.

As the commander continued to shout, the two points of energy ignited, shaping themselves into spears of mana targeted at Verdant’s surface.

If they hit, it would do massive damage, enough to wipe out most of the life on the world.

Alora looked worried, but she didn’t say anything, clearly trusting Sam. 

With a step, he moved in front of the two weapons, blocking their line of sight to Verdant.

His expression didn’t change as he raised his hand.

The thrum of energy from the Wild Tree resounded all around the Void, filling the system with a sense of overwhelming pressure. Golden lines of energy appeared, stretching away from Verdant into the distance beyond sight.

Then more lines of energy appeared in every color of the rainbow, sparkling with runes and bright golden light, outlining the massive shape of a tree trunk that was anchored in the world, its roots curling down through the Void so far away that they were almost impossible to see. 

All around the world, the true form of the Wild Tree appeared in all its glory, so large that its size dwarfed understanding. Branches spread outward from the trunk, each of them large enough to cover the entire system. 

The sun hung on one of them, like an apple resting on its branch but close enough to almost touch the trunk, while more distant stars shimmered on the leaves. 

The crown of the tree was visible like a nebula in the distance, its branches hazy and glowing with power, while its roots were just as far away.

Against that massive structure, the combined fleet of 16,000 ships was smaller than a single leaf.

As the two brilliant points of light reached toward Verdant, the leaves of the Wild Tree rustled in the chaos wind. A web of golden runes appeared across the surface of the tree where it surrounded Verdant.

Then a branch of the Wild Tree swept out, heading toward the fleet. Leaves rustled on its smaller branches, stirring the chaos winds into a tempest. Elemental energies cascaded around it, from Wood to Metal, Fire, Water, and Earth, all of the energy that the tree drew from the Void.

As the branch closed in, the ships were already being tossed around like flotsam, shaken left and right and sent rolling. 

The branch was far more massive than the ships, but the runes around it glowed and began to shrink, their energy condensing into a smaller branch that was a little larger than the entire fleet. 

Golden leaves and runes surrounded it, glowing with force, and the ships looked unreal compared to it. The commander’s ship was at the front, giving him the best view as the branch arrived.

Then it struck.

The fleet crumpled, its front edge collapsing inward and disintegrating as ships exploded. The commander’s was no exception. He exploded into dust that was mixed with his ship and fragments of the remains swept backward, slamming into the ships behind them.

The branch didn’t stop there. 

Its swing was only half complete as it continued through the entire formation, scattering more ships to dust and sending others flying away through the system.

The force of the explosion turned into a ring that expanded away from the fleet. Some of it headed toward Verdant, but the outline of the Wild Tree around the world was there. 

The blast looked like a pinprick as it slammed into the trunk. It disappeared in an instant, unable to shake the tree.

Even if a Vos’Rekan slammed into the world, it would barely be able to make a dent. The Wild Tree was too deeply rooted in the Void.

And now, so was Verdant.

Most of what Sam had done here was to realize the true power of the Wild Tree and to make it better able to represent the depth of the energy it held.

Before, it had been a passive thing, able to endure storms and provide some shelter to the world, but it had been a couple of steps away from becoming a full power of the Void.

Asenya’s creation was mighty, but she’d been a little too far away from primal chaos to understand how to link the tree to the Void.

He’d closed the distance.

Now it was able to make full use of its strength, including the depths of its roots in other dimensions, which provided a nearly invulnerable defense. 

It was a different enchantment than he’d used on Emerald, but even more powerful. The tree had been gathering energy for a long time.

About half of the fleet was disintegrated by the attack, while the other half was sent flying across the system, their ships shattered and enchantments broken. 

When they finally stopped, none of them were anywhere close to Verdant. 

Many individual Blood Hunters were scattered through the system, hurled far away from where their ships had been, far more than could be accounted for by the number of surviving ships. 

He’d shown mercy in the strike, sparing most of them, especially the ones who’d abandoned their ships as they saw the attack closing in. 

He’d only eliminated about ten percent of the total force, the ones most enthusiastic about attacking him and Verdant. 

“I am the Lord of Silver Stars, Astral Titan and Protector of Verdant. See this and know that this world is under my protection. On pain of death, I forbid your return to this system. I have been kind enough.

“Take this story back to your homeland and tell them the truth, that your people’s dreams of being the great guardians of the stars is a worthy goal, but you are not Astral Titans, nor the heirs to my people. Reevaluate your culture. Many things in the Void are greater than you. Any one of them is capable of devouring your worlds and destroying all life. One day, you may need the protection of your neighbors, just as Verdant may need yours. That is the only reason you still live. Now go.”

With that, he called a great chaos wind from his bracer and sent it sweeping across the system, hurling the remaining forces away.

He didn’t make any effort to keep their forces together, so by the time they stopped they would be scattered across the Void, some of them much deeper into the Wild. 

He didn’t expect them to come back, but if they did, they would find that the tree was capable of more precise attacks, and he’d marked each of them with a signature that it would recognize. 

It could send shaped leaves of energy like blades through the system or wherever its branches reached, create shields for Verdant and the Wild Spirits, and more. 

As for Verdant, he doubted there was a world as stable as this one now. He’d fused its aura with the Wild Tree, making it as hard to damage as the trunk itself. 

Even Aster Fall wasn’t this stable, although it would be one day, if he had his way. The relic would help, but it didn’t have the depth of the Wild Tree’s roots.

Perhaps he could do something with all of those realms inside the World Seal.... 

An idea sparked to life in his mind and he stored it away for later.

All across the system, the golden outline of the Wild Tree faded away as he made the enchantments subside and then his height dropped back to seven feet.

“That should be enough for now,” he said as he took Alora’s hand. “There’s no point in killing more of them when it’s as easy as turning over your hand. You can do the same with the tree. There will be no more blockades of the world.” 

With that, he spared no more thought for the Blood Hunters.

The two of them disappeared, heading back to Verdant.

The next days were pleasant as he showed Alora the finer details of the enchantments and walked through the Wild Grove with her.

Time passed from day to day, until in the end, he spent several months on the world, enjoying the time to be himself without Aster Fall weighing too heavily on his conscience.

The time differential meant that less than a day passed at home while he was here.

Eventually, however, all good things come to an end.

On that day, he stood on a plain near the Wild Grove, looking up at the stars.

“You have to go?” Alora asked, her voice a bit sad. “I know you have to, but I can’t help but hope you’ll stay anyway.”

“I’ll still be here for you,” Sam said as he turned his attention to her. “I’ll leave an avatar to accompany you. My avatars are part of me, just not quite as powerful as my true body. It’s hard to even tell the difference.”

“I’ll know,” Alora said firmly. “But I’m happy some part of you will be here. Are you really able to travel here and back quickly now? You’ll be able to visit?”

“Yes,” he agreed. “There’s still the time difference, but it’s not too difficult to keep track of it. With an avatar here, it will be easy enough.”

His new ability for Astral Transfer meant it would only take an instant to switch places with the avatar here. He could come any time.

“I’d like to see Aster Fall with you,” she offered. “Perhaps we could do that instead.”

“Let me wrap up some things first,” Sam replied. “It’s not safe yet, but it has some amazing places to see and you’ll like the sapling of the Wild Tree I planted there. Perhaps it will be your second home one day, like it was for Asenya. You might also be able to help once I rescue her. I’ll teleport you there once everything is ready.”

As a Fifth Evolution priestess from the same race as Asenya, she was more likely than anyone else to be able to heal her.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” she said. Her voice was touched with sadness, but also expectation for the future. “Don’t take so long to come back this time.”

“I won’t,” he promised.

Without saying anything more, he raised his hand in farewell and switched places with one of his avatars on Aster Fall.

He was standing on the peak of Sun’s Rest, looking down the slopes at the nearly complete structure of the Moonlight Relic.

A storm of avatars and silver-green enchantments rose in shining arcs all along the mountainside as one function after another of the relic came to life.

It was almost time to activate it.