The Sovereign Primacy fleets approached, preparing to bring down the continental ship and all those aboard before continuing further inland towards the battle they could sense in progress. It was unlikely they thought that only the two most obvious individuals were aboard the vessel, but there was confidence to be had in their numbers and their strongest cultivators.
The majority were water cultivators, bringing swift ships to defend the Sovereign Primacy. Their confidence was clear as they approached, and why shouldn’t they be? Their Ascending Soul Phase cultivators significantly outnumbered those available.
There was just one problem. Those who had been part of the Sovereign Primacy long term didn’t fully understand the power of Exalted Soul Phase cultivators. Those who had more recently capitulated to their reign certainly understood, but here in their oldest territories they felt secure in their strength, even if the single ship had been a menace.
As for John and Aldara, their only problem was that fifteen Ascending Soul Phase cultivators didn’t divide evenly. They couldn’t just toss one to Sitora and Elder Roi, because that didn’t solve the issue.
“I suppose one of us will have to take an extra,” John said.
Aldara rolled her eyes. “Or we just don’t count our kills.”
She was just saying that so she could win. Competitions of this sort were one of the things that had kept them sane on this journey.
“Maybe we’ll share credit,” John finally said. “Think they’re close enough?”
“Absolutely,” Aldara agreed. “Ready for some storms?”
“I’ll bring the rocks to dash them against.”
Large scale terrain modifications were something that cultivators could do in a war, but even Ascending Soul Phase cultivators didn’t expect it to happen easily. In truth, they had chosen a shallow section of ocean on purpose. One that was easily navigable in its current form, but with sufficient stone just beneath the sandy bottom to make use of.
Spiritual energy exploded out of their single ship. Two full cycles of the elements. John lent a portion of his air and water elements to Aldara as he cycled through those two, while she left him some earth and darkness. Fire and light were used by either as they struck out at random vessels.
John drew out stone from the ocean floor, creating rending shoals beneath the approaching fleets. His energy fortified them as the ships crashed against the rocky pillars. Of course, the cultivators aboard the ships didn’t simply let it happen. They simply had little choice with wind and sea fighting against them.
A few specific ships became the core of the struggle, with cultivators whose vessels capsized attempting to reach the better defended ones around which their strongest cultivators controlled the seas. Some of them weren’t fast enough, getting left behind.
Island Master Sitora controlled the air around their own sails, keeping them at a consistent distance from the enemy fleets. Elder Roi showed off the power of the Bright Trinity, sending blinding flashes of light, fire, and electricity towards the incoming ships. The cultivators there had to defend their ships against all sorts of assaults, but they were slowly gaining. Sitora simply couldn’t propel the ship fast enough all on her own.
Of course, John and Aldara could have aided her- but they weren’t planning to run. Just to draw out the enemies into a looser formation. The fastest ships ended up in front, and while that ultimately meant the strongest cultivators… being separated by even a small distance from those behind them rapidly proved fatal.
John slipped into the sea, hiding among rock formations that he rose up. It was only natural that his spiritual energy would blend in with the rest, though of course it was more concentrated within his body. He was first a darkness cultivator, however, and could conceal his presence in various ways. Up until the moment after he attacked, he actually had a fairly strong concentration of his six elements on the ship.
He cut the prow off of a ship- taking with it the first Ascending Soul Phase cultivator of the bunch. The only plan here was to kill. Even damaging the vessels was a secondary result. Flames and lightning swirled around him, while the weight of earth filled him as he landed on a ship, causing it to tilt towards him.
Cultivators rushed him, the sea rising at their command. A single spear pierced through the rising waves, finding the strongest targets among them. Aldara would not be hindered by any amount of water in her way.
John’s throwing daggers pierced into the chests of weaker targets, Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators and weaker. Along the way, he appeared to target those remaining Ascending Soul Phase cultivators. Not all of them were water element of course- an air element cultivator appeared next to him in a flash of lightning, but she caused more damage to her own ship than to John. Or rather, she hurt him not at all- he didn’t even have to squint or cover his ears. Meanwhile, his sword had pierced through her heart.
She mumbled something about it being impossible. John figured he could have done the same at the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase, so she was just being dramatic. His sword sliced its way outward to make certain she was dead instead of allowing her to detonate her spiritual energy in a desperate bid.
Occasionally, he would disappear from the battle as Aldara drew attention. It was impossible for anyone to ignore her, and cultivators leaped towards the continental ship- further dividing themselves.
John allowed it. No, he even propelled them forward while the other fleets were shoved back, wind and water surging in opposite directions. It would only take the cultivators half a minute or less to gather together once more… but that was an extraordinarily long time for a battle that involved Exalted Soul Phase cultivators. If they wished, they could wipe whole cities off the map- though that might exhaust them. Focusing their energy to take down fifteen… ten… five Ascending Soul Phase cultivators? It was simple.
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John got the last one. “Looks like I win.”
“Not if you let those ships get away. We have to count them too.”
He wasn’t going to argue with that. Though the Sovereign Primacy was massive, they still needed good vessels. They couldn’t just pull them out of thin air. The same was true for their Ascending Soul Phase cultivators. Specifically, it was important that they not be available for the expected chase that would be on its way.
Aldara pulled ahead on ships.
“I guess we tie then,” John said. “Unless you want to carefully measure tonnage and try to piece together the exact ranks of the people we killed?”
“Sounds too much like the boring parts of management. I have people for that.”
“Trustworthy?” John asked.
“Absolutely,” Aldara said. “And most of them aren’t trustworthy simply via threat of force. Most of those have been dealt with already.”
“It’s too bad the Sovereign Primacy didn’t give us time to stabilize. Or choose to peacefully contact us and increase the prosperity of the whole planet.”
“Too bad,” Aldara agreed. “Now they have to die.”
John nodded. Any other option was simply unacceptable. They would win. It didn’t matter if the Triptych was stronger or not. There could be three of them or five of them, and the answer would still be the same. People like that couldn’t be trusted with a control of any part of the planet.
-----
The journey back was far from relaxing, but they didn’t do much except travel in a straight line. Or at least, the ship did. Alternating between John and Aldara, they flew ahead and cut down any approaching ships… or really any vessels that were full of cultivators. The rare few that were manned by common citizens were left alone. They couldn’t match up to the speed required to follow them, even with powerful cultivators at the helm. If they did, the pilots would exhaust themselves enough it wouldn’t matter.
After each excursion, the Exalted Soul Phase cultivators would swap positions, one of them meditating to rest and recover as much as they could while the other one surged ahead. They were faster than even their ship, but they couldn’t keep it up forever. Meanwhile, two long shifts of their shipmates kept them running night and day.
They weren’t retreating, exactly, but they wanted to reach friendly territory before the Triptych caught up to them. Preferably, they would be rested. If they came into contact with their foes before they were somewhere safe, they would run into all sorts of problems. First, it would weaken their taunts. They would either have to continue running away, or commit to a fight in problematic territory. Any forces that could immediately come to the aid of their foes was a threat- especially if the Triptych managed to bring a large complement of others along with them.
Maintaining just the right speed to be tantalizing was important. They had decent approximations of how fast the enemy could travel, so as long as the messages had arrived as expected and their approximation of the enemy’s location wasn’t too far off- more than a couple thousand kilometers- then they should be fine. But it was still exhausting. Everything was.
-----
It was an unfortunate aspect of the direction they had traveled that they did not arrive at a heavily fortified port. Instead, they reached the Molten Sea. That was as far as they got. Over the past few days, John had been feeling a continuously growing sense of power behind them. After they reached the edge of the Molten Sea, he was confident that the Triptych wasn’t far behind.
“Watch over us,” John ordered. “We must get as close to the peak of our power as possible. Make doubly sure not to lose track of Enniaun.”
“If he approaches,” Elder Roi declared, “I shall block him with my body!”
“Just make sure we wake us,” John grinned. How loyal. But sometimes he was a bit too eager, which had been part of what led to the first misunderstanding. There were a whole lot of dead people who had negatively changed the course of history, preventing attempts at diplomacy. The results still hurt.
There was no time for grievances, however. That included any sort of inefficiency, which meant John joined Aldara in gathering spiritual energy around them. Fire and water flowed from the Molten Sea, beyond where they sat on its obsidian edge. The two elements were converted into three each, becoming the allied cycles of light and darkness. John was a little better at one side, Aldara slightly more skilled with the other. Together, they stabilized themselves.
It wasn’t clear quite how long it had been. Half a day, perhaps. The approaching Triptych was moving slowly, at least comparatively. Perhaps they had determined that their quarry had stopped, and thus they were resolved not to exhaust themselves.
“How’s the situation?” Aldara asked for a report.
“Empress,” Roi said stiffly. “We have spotted some of our own vessels. It is unknown if they will be able to rally further reinforcements. It seems the same is true of our neighbors.” He turned towards the Molten Sea. “The only ones close enough would be them. But we can’t reach the core sects in time, just whoever happens to be close. Let us hope they bear a greater grudge against the Sovereign Primacy than against us.”
John thought they should. They’d been attacked unprovoked… and while the war with the Empire had certainly been rough for the Molten Sea, those groups that ended up surviving actually gained greatly. After all, they previously had rivals within their elemental region, and with half of the area being wiped out they were able to expand. This was one case when cultivator greed could have positive results… at least for the current state of things.
“All three are there,” John declared with certainty.
Aldara nodded. “And many powerful subordinates. At least a dozen in the Ascending Soul Phase.” She looked around at the eight they had. Each was at the peak of the Ascending Soul Phase, but that might not be sufficient. Not with the other number involved.
Outnumbered in every way, they waited. John kind of wished he could have prepared a more dignified taunt… but honestly he wasn’t sure if something like that would work. Repeated attempts would lose their sting, though. He muttered to himself. “You’re going down, ugly old hag. And also that wrinkly guy next to you.”
Caelnon was significantly younger, but he was to be ignored. John just hoped his rise to power had developed some strong complexes in him. Cultivators weren’t known for being particularly stable, so it might work out.
