Chapter 890

Chapter 890

After a visit to Akrys, Anton found himself at the northern end of the lower realms, as they knew them. This was his best chance to test his actual progress with an outside perspective available.

Outside of a planet, there was nothing akin to a horizon. To that end, a name like Horizon Shot was inappropriate. But none of the names Anton had gone through were particularly better. And in a way, perhaps the name was still appropriate on a grander scale. Shooting between disconnected horizons, to the edge of systems, beyond a galaxy

The latter was far beyond the scale Anton could comprehend. But his range had improved significantly. With adjacent systems bound to him, he could manage to reach one from the other with an arrow- though perhaps it might be more efficient for him to launch an attack from the second star.

But he couldnt bind to stars in the upper realms. He couldnt even get close, and even thinking about it made him feel queasy. The local energy there would reject him, with his practice of Fleeting Youth.

He sent a message ahead of him to Crossed Antennae. The void ant queen should be the one most able to detect whether he was successful. Anton himself should know, but he might lose connection to his attack at some point. It would be weak and dissipate rapidly if it did arrive, so he was not worried about collateral damage.

His fingers traced along the spine of his bow. Worldheart was the material, and Anton continued to wonder where Everheart had acquired it- either the material or the bow itself. Hed given it up rather easily, but perhaps hed had the intentions to take it back from Anton later. The man could have destroyed a world for the worldheart, and Anton couldnt say he would put it past him. But something about the bow felt melancholy. Whoever had constructed it had some connection to the world that birthed his bow. This was not something stolen through devastation, but something reclaimed after a tragedy. At least, that was what his instincts told him. If he had suspected a more foul origin, he would have rid himself of it long before.

The soulstring also spoke of the deaths of many. Anton hoped he was worthy of the legacy of those who had died. And he hoped to be worthy of fighting for those who yet lived.

The war with the lower realms Trigold cultivators was something that needed to be taken seriously, but Anton was already looking beyond to what came next. And for that, he needed to continue to grow.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

He drew back his bow, a single arrow created to near perfection. It flew forward from his bow, along with his thoughts. Time and space distorted around him. There was a nearly unfathomable distance between star systems, and the nothingness between upper and lower realms where neither energy lived seemed to tear away at him. But then, he reached the ascension energy. He let his connection fade, as it lunged towards him.

There was that issue he still had to consider. Energy from him could still be recognized as an enemy. That would mean any of his attacks couldnt pierce very far into the upper realms. But then again, he didnt really need to. Distance was the important part.

He spent the next several days attempting the same shot again and again, just hoping to get it close enough to Bounty that Crossed Antennae would be able to notice. And he tried to prevent its decay, not only from time and distance but from clashing with upper energy.

He did get a message confirming something being sensed- but Crossed Antennae noted it was mostly irrelevant at that distance. And Anton was okay with that, because that was only how things were at the moment. The most important thing was he wasnt playing tricks on himself. His spirit arrows could reach that far, with sufficient control. All he had to do was improve them so that he could actually be effective from a better range than simply the edge of a system. Three to five lightyears was a big ask. The travel time on such shots, even traveling through subspace at tremendous speeds, was such that he required some way to predict a target. That was especially so since his senses couldnt really stretch that far.

Perhaps it was a foolish task, seeking infinity when hed already reached far beyond what people considered as practical limits. And to those people, Kseniya would probably say they were fools. What the archer lacked in tact and teaching ability she did make up for with gumption and talent. She should still be kicking around in the upper realms. He would have certainly heard if she had perished. Perhaps he should try to arrange some sort of exchange at the border though without the Tides of the World she couldnt come down, and he could never go up.

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So I should let them go?

Not at all. I would simply suggest we take that one down subtly.

And by that you mean?

Toss some of my subordinates into its trajectory. With precision.

Nthanda grinned. A difficult task, to not crush them while giving them enough velocity to match a ship going who knows where. I imagine theyre more likely to perish than not.

A sincere attempt will be acceptable.

Just because you wouldnt feel bad about it doesnt mean I wouldnt.

I would feel their loss, the Great Queen said. But I believe it worth the risk.

Nthanda sighed. Get some volunteers, then. Though she asked for volunteers, in truth any void ant would volunteer if the Great Queen asked for any. It wasnt a concept she quite got. Even if working towards a common goal, she still saw herself as an individual. And she knew that these ants were developed enough to be more than mindless insects.

But how many lives was it worth to stop whatever was on that mysterious ship? How many deaths could they cause with some sort of weapon? It could be a whole planet. Or multiple. And she just had to not crush the ants.

Soon enough she had a clump of ants the size of her fist. She had asked them to remain loose, so they could absorb the shock. Then she chased after the ship herself as it angled out of the system, trying to reduce the amount of instantaneous acceleration the void ants would have to experience. When she determined the time was right, considering the velocities involved and likely changes in trajectory, she tossed the void ants.

If she missed, they would die from exposure before they could be retrieved, which might be a worse death than being crushed. And yet they had simply clamored to be a part of the operation, to the point shed had to force some to remain behind.

Visual confirmation told her that the bundle of ants was properly flying through the empty space towards her target, and intact. She just hoped that their velocity would be close enough to the ship when they crossed paths.

But she couldnt think about that long, because the Great Queen was prompting her. Now was the time for the ship carrying the worldheart. She readied her bow. They most likely had barriers with excellent energy defenses, but could they survive the kinetic energy equivalent to a full ship impact, compressed into the space of an arrow? She doubted it.