Tirto was far enough away from the attack on Blightfire Island that he hadn’t been able to see it. But any cultivator with any sense of spiritual energy sure as hell could feel it. A couple dozen kilometers wasn’t much against the scale of such an event. It didn’t take long before the effects on the local ocean were obvious to him, even with the actual attack happening beyond the horizon.

  He had of course witnessed the ‘duel’ between the two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators over the capital, but it was extremely clear how much they had been holding back in some ways. The capacity of powerful cultivators for widespread destruction was immense. Witnessing it directly instead of just the aftermath was something new for Tirto.

  Verusha prodded him. “When do you think we can do that?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think putting a timeframe on something like that makes sense. Even if we’re near the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase… my father has several decades of experience on us.”

  “Ah, so not that long then?”

  “If we assume he didn’t run into exactly the perfect circumstances to advance? Sure. But look at that,” he gestured broadly.

  Obviously, they still couldn’t see anything with their eyes except the presumably normal amount of smoke coming from the island. But rather than two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators, it felt more like a single far more powerful cultivator. Six elements blended together seamlessly as they wreaked destruction.

  Tirto and Verusha could do that… to some extent. But at all times the water element was notably more his while the fire element was notably more hers.

  His mother’s death had been one of the worst things that happened to the family. But whether or not Aldara was fully Matayal, her reincarnation was certainly one of the best things that could have happened for the continents. Tirto remembered his parents fighting alongside each other. It was at about the same level as himself and Verusha. Powerful, but not uniquely so.

  -----

  After Blightfire Island sunk, John could feel the spiritual energy of the region going wild. Water mixed with the fire and darkness, though whether the innate spiritual energy won out or the inflowing ocean did was still yet to be seen.

  John and Aldara didn’t stay long, though. Instead, they rejoined their fleet and moved on towards their next target. It came to mind that at any point before they actually attempted to enact their plan, they could choose something more… sensible. Sinking one island and assaulting one chain would at least match what the Sovereign Primacy had been doing with their Exalted Soul Phase cultivators, so they could choose a conservative approach.

  But that wasn’t likely to achieve quite the results they wanted. Tactically striking several of their islands and removing them from being potential resupply points had some value, but cultivators didn’t really need it as much. They could hunt beasts from the sea for food and freshen water. If they were practiced enough in the right elements, they could repair low to moderate damage to the hull without needing spare materials. In short, a few islands here or there becoming unusable wouldn’t cause a catastrophic issue for their military force… but an inconvenience might be sufficient. John hoped that they would expend a significant amount of effort trying to reclaim Blightfire Island.

  Settling for a reasonable amount of damage wasn’t going to be enough. They needed to have an impact- a psychological one. Even at the level of an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator, thinking to destroy an entire planet-spanning empire by hand was a bit much. John didn’t want to be dealing with the war until he was old. Not that he thought the war could possibly stretch on for a century and the planet and survive. Not without long periods of stalemate.

  A stalemate or white peace wouldn’t be a great result, but it would be acceptable. Of course, that came with the gamble that either the Empire of Elements or the continental alliance would produce more Exalted Soul Phase cultivators before the Sovereign Primacy. That was unfortunately not guaranteed, especially considering the current balance.

  The fleet approached the Rainbow Reef, a series of islands that possessed the elements of the core cycle. If they weren’t so small, they would have been an excellent seat of power for the Sovereign Primacy. The spiritual energy in the area was powerful, and useful for a significant majority of cultivators. Clearly the Sovereign Primacy recognized the value, as they had focused many of their local defenses in the area.

  Before any special plans could be enacted… they had to defeat the local defenders. Unless they wanted to try to hit them with their own islands? John was already thinking that idea was stupid before it even finished forming. If they were going to do that it would be along the way… as they dragged them out of Sovereign Primacy territory.

  -----

  The elements of the islands were arranged into quadrants, with the cycle flowing in a circle from water to fire, earth, and then finally air. If it had followed traditional elemental arrangements, the spiritual energy would have flown cross-patterned instead of in a circle. However, in that case the elemental regions would have ended up less distinct and more homogenized. Perhaps it would have looked like Astrein, where people hadn’t thought there was much in the way of spiritual energy at all despite the total quantity being technically higher than average.

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  The attackers spread out towards optimal regions for them, though the Sovereign Primacy still had the advantage as defenders. Unlike Blightfire Island, it wasn’t just the Ascending Soul Phase cultivators so they were actually able to respond.

  The attacking forces mainly focused on the elements that were dominant over each section- that would be advantageous against the natural sects, if not necessarily the additional defenders. It was already anticipated that they would be supported by those who could overcome their own weaknesses. Fire was weak to water, so they wanted to be supported by air. Ultimately that meant the spread of cultivators was mostly even, with concentrations of the prominent element by the defenders and of the dominating element from the attackers.

  For the incoming fleets to split up and fight the defenders was inefficient. Focusing on one island at a time would have been better. However, that was ignoring the influence of Exalted Soul Phase cultivators on the battle.

  John and Aldara began on opposite corners. John was focused on the fire element quadrant, while Aldara ended up in the air element section. The continents didn’t have an endless supply of Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, but they brought as many as they could spare. Tirto and Verusha were among those attacking alongside John, while Aldara had a man at the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase as well. There were a few more scattered about, though their main task was to draw things out while the two powerhouses provided opportunities.

  The fire element section gave only a token effort to defend their docks. They attempted to set some sails on fire, but didn’t oversay their welcome when they saw how easily the water cultivators could prevent any real damage. They rapidly withdrew to a main citadel with the best defenses.

  Rather than building higher walls, the largest sect in the fire element section supplemented their defenses with walls of fire. As the first attackers approached, flames rose up that frankly dared the attackers to try to force their way through. Even water cultivators couldn’t be careless with the intensity of the flames. A basic tactical maneuver would be to stand at a safe distance and let the flames run themselves out- though that might take a very long time, given how the cycle of elements fed into each other.

  Indeed, as the attackers stood in an arc around the walls only a small portion of them moved forward, with the rest simply forcing the defenders to watch a wider area.

  Tirto and Verusha led the charge through the flames. They carried a significant portion of the ocean along with them. It wasn’t a short distance, but it was still more efficient than using pure spiritual energy to quench flames. Tirto hadn’t anticipated this specific form of defense, but having a physical representation of his element was always good.

  The flames licked at the sphere of water that he held firm around himself as well as the advancing frontline. They threatened to evaporate the water, but as Verusha empowered Tirto with her own fire element the water actually tended towards developing a layer of frost instead. Fire element didn’t have to just be heat, after all. Verusha also deflected some of the heat, since forcing a direct confrontation was unnecessary. Once they got near the walls, that deflected heat could actually harm the attackers.

  The Sovereign Primacy didn’t just sit there slack jawed. They launched attacks infused with various elements, either special techniques that worked at range or siege engines of various sorts that only had to hold onto their spiritual energy for a few moments as they rained down on the enemies. No matter what they did, the gap continued to close- then they clashed.

  Tirto and Verusha found themselves facing off against some of the air element defenders against their will. Tirto was well trained against storms, but that didn’t mean he liked resisting lightning. Fire cultivators were far easier to defeat.

  He regretted that Ursel hadn’t been available, but she had been sinking ships off the western coast of the Viridia Wildlands last he heard. Something about walking along the sea floor before swimming up to rip apart the hull with her bare hands. Tirto had no idea if that report was accurate, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it was. It at least sounded like something she would do. Or she could simply be driving spikes of stone through the ships.

  Verusha wasn’t weak against air cultivators, so she was quite happy to launch attacks behind the safety of Tirto’s barrier of water. They were up against a trio of mid-phase Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, but she wasn’t impressed.

  Sure they whipped up a whirlwind that caught her flames… but Verusha wasn’t concerned about that. It wasn’t like the flames were gone. They were just stored for later. Like the moment any of them got even slightly careless. She burned off the eyebrows of one woman who thought she could hit Tirto with lightning. The woman had been half right, because she got all the way through the shell of water to Tirto’s shield.

  The shield melted off of Tirto’s arm… as it was designed to do. One final defense against lightning was a hunk of metal that was even more attractive to lightning than the most conductive water or spiritual energy. He could resolidify it in a moment, spreading out the spiritual energy use over a slightly longer period rather than trying to directly stop the attack. The material actually had a relatively low melting point, which absorbed more energy up front.

  The air cultivator who had her eyebrows signed off thought she could blast away the rest of Verusha’s fire. Unfortunately for her, as she created pressure in one direction, negative pressure formed behind her. Just enough to allow Verusha to tear away more captured flames from the others and assail her from behind.

  It wouldn’t have been enough to kill the woman if she hadn’t been suddenly distracted by one of the others turning to stone. Even Verusha thought that was excessive, because the other woman had already been run through by John’s sword before his Bite of the Gorgon really started to take effect.

  It was good for morale though. Specifically, the attackers. They obviously hadn’t been ignoring the Exalted Soul Phase cultivator, but they thought he’d been slightly more tied down. Then he broke through and instantly took out one of their strongest cultivators- while another was consumed by flames at the same moment.

  Ignoring the presence of Aldara not so far away was impossible. Many cultivators turned to flee- as if there was somewhere they could escape. Deeper into the sect behind more layers of barriers just meant their inevitable loss would be a bit slower as anyone who couldn’t reach them died first. Some of the water cultivators could flee for the sea, but they’d have to get past the attackers first.

  The third air element Ascending Soul Phase cultivator tried to fly away. John shut her down in an instant, using the grounding techniques from the Sky Islands. She crashed among a patch of darkness and earth cultivators and was quickly overwhelmed.

  On the other side, gouts of lava were spewing into the air and devastating hordes of defenders, and that hadn’t even gotten to the impact Aldara was having.