The target region for the counter assault had already been chosen long in advance, but the direct targets were still in flux until they actually finalized their approach. Scouts and interrogators had done what they could to gain information about the territory of the Sovereign Primacy, but it wasn’t fully accurate.
Along the course of their approach local cultivators tried to stop them. The ones that fled in the opposite direction were wiser for having done so, because everywhere that sent assailants was met with significant counter force.
The intention was to leave a lasting impact on specific islands, but to do so they had to reach their destination. It was easier once they destroyed everything that made such a task easier for the Sovereign Primacy- their ships and the ports that housed them. Obviously any cultivators of sufficient power could run atop the waves or swim after them, but it was usually both slower and more taxing than cultivators propelling a proper ship together.
Docks crumbled. John wondered if they could destroy the entire port. He decided that they could, and it wouldn’t even be that difficult. Together, he and Aldara could probably match what had been done to Urdcliffe by the Triptych. Like a nuclear bomb in the form of people.
They didn’t, though. It was both entirely unnecessary and inefficient. There hadn’t been many opportunities for John to unleash the full power of the Exalted Soul Phase, but fighting in enemy territory meant he didn’t have to worry much about collateral damage. John suspected that the trio of Sovereign Primacy cultivators needed to rest after such a grand effort, though not to the point where he would have been able to defeat them alone. The need to rest as well as the desire to taunt his reckless approach could have been parallel purposes. He was only speculating, of course, but he thought they would have likely not been able to travel away at the same speeds they displayed on the approach. Not without exhausting themselves.
There wasn’t much way to actually test it without John and Aldara pointlessly exhausting themselves and then just guessing at the spiritual energy quantities and recovery rates of three people they’d never seen up close.
With each port they destroyed, the last thing they did was topple the docks, as well as setting aflame any remaining ships… as well as a few random places throughout the port city. They could lob fire at a great distance, and it would keep any would-be pursuers occupied. It would also force them to choose what infrastructure they wished to try to save.
Then they moved on. Sometimes they clashed with two or three islands per day, each of which could have multiple small fleets. The Sovereign Primacy also frequently tried to gather their forces, but the two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators were able to pick that out from a great distance. Sometimes they targeted the location people were gathering, other times they targeted the people coming in. Either way, they could both sense spiritual energy and just see at a great distance.
While flying high into the sky was likely to reveal them as well, it was actually valuable to do so. After all, there was morale to consider. Sometimes they won a battle before they even arrived.
“Do not curse the heavens for your fate!” Aldara spread her voice over one of the islands. “Instead, curse those who lead you for their failure to protect you. They don’t have the guts to stand and fight.”
It didn’t matter whether the Triptych’s hit-and-run tactics were effective or not. Most likely, the people here only had vague reports of what was actually happening on the continents. Doubtless they had been told of great victories- some of which would be true. But they wouldn’t remember those when they were picking through the ashes of their ports and their sects.
The people of the continents were likewise subject to negative morale. That was why they had to launch this attack… and make it hurt. Otherwise, their own people would fall apart. It didn’t matter if there was actual fighting, any sort of internal discord would weaken them. People hesitant to send support to a neighboring region would destroy the continental alliance faster than three Exalted Soul Phase cultivators could.
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The actual targets that John and Astrid decided on were two islands. Or rather, one island and one small island chain. The first was the source of a unique elemental combination- fire and darkness. Presumably, this was where that one man John had killed had come from. Blightfire Island. It was a truly hellish place.
The Phoenix Forest was constantly on fire, but it wasn’t wreathed in permanent smoke. Furthermore, the earth and fire combination meant that- somehow- there were constantly living plants. Not so with Blightfire island. Rather, it was closer to a burning tar pit. It smelled just like John imagined one would, though he couldn’t recall actually being around burning tar. There was also a hint of burnt rubber, though that might have just been John’s bias related to things he thought smelled bad.
John was quite astounded that anyone lived on the island, but cultivators weren’t known for being sensible. It was probably an excellent place to study the elements, if one could endure it. Relatedly, there wasn’t a single individual that wasn’t a cultivator. How would they even survive? All of the food had to be imported from off the island, which meant frequent trips to their neighbors.
“There are a few basic options for how we go about this,” John said. “The easiest one… just cut a line to that hellscape and watch the magic happen as the ocean flows in.”
Aldara nodded. “Now that I see it… I’m inclined towards another plan. We want to make the biggest impact possible, so the whole thing should go under.”
John made a face. Just thinking about the environmental impact… actually, he couldn’t be certain. It might actually be better for the region, and that included the poor ocean that was going to be contaminated with a bunch of horrible sludge all at once. Then again, it was constantly raining horrible flecks of darkness down upon the surrounding area. Only a few extreme sorts of sea creatures lived around the island.
Sinking the whole place and dousing the fires might actually be good for the health of the sea. Eventually. John would have liked to do a full environmental impact assessment… sadly, he doubted that they would let him stay on the island for a couple months. And it would have to be him, because there weren’t many other people qualified for such a thing. Or that cared. Aldara was probably qualified, but John wasn’t sure that she cared. He didn’t want to ask. Matayal would have of course been concerned about the health of the ocean, but it might have only been within the Shimmering Islands or vaguely neutral territory. This was so far from the continent’s oceans that it couldn’t really impact any of them.
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There was a pretty big fleet building up on the nearest side. John sighed. “Yeah, we should sink it.”
This whole mission was about impact. He had agreed with Aldara that it was fine to sink an island in general. This specific one had been chosen as they got within sensory range, and he was just hesitating now.
“What is our method?” Aldara asked. “Fire and darkness can be overcome by… water and light?” Then she shook her head. “But we’re not trying to defeat the elements. Water is necessary, of course.”
“Indeed,” John said. “We weaken the foundations of the island. Liquify the bedrock. I think the biggest question is whether we try to get the island to collapse inward or outward.” It was close to a giant pipe, so the actual part they had to manipulate was just the outside ring. “We could also try to seal it off to increase the pressure and let it detonate.”
“Too efficient,” Aldara rejected the idea. “We need to demonstrate power. The two of us should fly over the fleet then split to points about a quarter of the island apart and cross our energy at the middle. Water and earth should be fine. The fire will try to annihilate the earth, which might actually be to our benefit for melting the surrounding barrier.”
John nodded. “Agreed. And the enemies?”
“We’ll work fast enough that they can’t reach us.”
John supposed they could do that. “Alright. Ready?”
“Of course.”
The two of them immediately swapped from passively observing to rushing the island. By the time anyone had much of a reaction, they were directly over the fleet. Dozens of attacks were launched, but couldn’t reach them. Then they were angling down towards the far side of the island. A few Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators gave chase.
They were the stupid ones. The smart ones stuck with the rest of the defenders, even if it meant arriving late. Because the one that chased after John found himself blindly wandering into the burning hell pits. He didn’t even realize he was on fire until it was too late.
If they weren’t planning this whole island collapse to be a big event, John and Aldara could have absolutely used the abundant local darkness element to stealthily approach. The impact of the island randomly collapsing would be good… but not as much as them openly and defiantly acting in front of the Sovereign Primacy’s people.
After shaking off the pursuing cultivator, John landed at his intended location. Not every cultivator on Blightflame Island was gathered together with the fleets, but most of them had been. Those around John kept their distance. Or at least the smart ones did.
Local residents wouldn’t be as easy to disorient, but they still knew the risks. The horrible black smoke that made the island unique was still dangerous, even if they knew how to deal with it. And the fire burned at a terrible heat.
Hot smoke and ash filled John’s lungs. He could have completely prevented that, but it was to allow him to connect with the surroundings on a deeper level. Besides, what was the point of all the advanced body tempering he had done if he didn’t make use of it?
John determined that Blightflame Island wasn’t just burning something like a heavy tar. Or rather, it was absolutely doing so- but spiritual energy was the primary component that was aflame. Otherwise the fire would have burned through all the fuel some time ago, at the rate it was burning.
Tearing open the side of the island and letting things spill out was still the easiest. However, the most dramatic would be… Yeah, John had an idea. He projected his voice around the island towards Aldara. She agreed, and they rapidly chose how to divide the labor.
John would be concealing precisely what they were doing until the last moment. It would give them something to do with the abundant darkness element. Most of the visual information was already cut off from the defenders trying to rush towards them, but he could go further than that.
Because it was his second totem, John was also responsible for a larger portion of the earth manipulation they would be doing. Aldara was of course capable in that regard, but she was far better at the manipulation of water and liquid. She had an important task to focus on.
Their elements moved smoothly together as they infused the island with their spiritual energy. A few cultivators seemed to pick up that something was wrong, but they didn’t know quite how to react. Nobody thought to reinforce the island- they just thought to protect themselves and their city.
John weakened the earth, but there was nowhere for it to fall. The seas on one side and the tar-like substance in the middle balanced the pressure. At most, various individual tubes crumbled slightly, allowing some mixing in the middle of the island.
Until all of the tar compressed- just for a moment. The seas pushed inward at the same time, while John made certain that the bedrock of the island was sheared apart. The ground trembled as the outer ring of the island was suddenly shoved inward by both natural pressure and the efforts of two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators.
Seawater rushed over the burning flame, a large part of it instantly vaporizing in the immense heat. John and Astrid protected themselves, but they didn’t have to consider anywhere else. Gouts of steam blasted some cultivators, but ultimately the island didn’t explode.
It just crumbled into nothing, sinking into the sea. The water hardened the top of the various tubes of molten tar, though the pressure caused it to burst through in various places. Meanwhile, John’s work underground had collapsed various caverns, providing room for most of the island. It didn’t end up entirely underwater, but there were mostly a few jagged promontories mixed in among the horrid sludge that remained, the remnants of fire and darkness elements continuing to burn even under the water.
The momentum of the waves dragged many of the ships into the churning maelstrom. The lucky people were found themselves pushed away.
As predicted, the survivors began to flee towards surrounding islands- a difficult but achievable swim for cultivators. Or the ships could slow down to let them catch up, but few captains were so kind. At most, they were looking for individuals they had a close connection to and any other who got aboard was fortunate.
John looked at the remains of Blightfire island. It had been awful anyway… but now it might be worse. He doubted it would maintain its unique balance of elements with the seas overtaking it. He hoped he hadn’t poisoned the sea… but if he had, it simply meant that the Sovereign Primacy was going to be busy cleaning it up. They hadn’t been restrained with their attacks, so he had little pity.
Next they were going to try to snatch some islands. Some nice ones, obviously. Even if it was unique, John didn’t really want anything like Blightfire Island, and Aldara didn’t either.
