Even before Steve and Yustina were free from the new corpse of the great spirit beast, a rain of javelins was coming their way. The Exalted Soul Phase cultivators had nearly ignored the ‘lesser’ cultivators until that moment, but now Enniaun felt the impact.

  John might have been willing to throw himself in front of the incoming javelins if it would save his friend, but it probably wouldn’t. He would just be weakened and then Steve would die once he couldn’t respond. But he could do something.

  Darkness, water, earth. These were Enniaun’s elements, but the first of them was the most important. Concealing the precise arc of his javelins, how they twisted through the air to rain down from different angles… yes, that would do.

  John dove nearly straight towards them, but not into them. He might be able to divert the path of some, but he left them untouched. His friends had to be strong enough to survive on their own… or the entire world might not make it. The Sovereign Primacy might not actually intend to destroy the world, but it would be far worse with them in charge.

  Small movements helped John avoid incoming attacks without disturbing them. Without enhanced reactions he probably would have been grazed by at least a few, and his intentions would have been given away.

  John was aware of the flow of energy all around. Foremost were the two other Exalted Soul Phase cultivators and the spirit beasts with them. Folasade seemed to have suddenly become very serious about figuring out what happened with Amalric when he charged her phoenix.

  Caelnon seemed to have figured out something was up with John, though. Maybe he’d just been paying close enough attention to his position, or perhaps he saw through the lingering presence John had left behind him. Either way, he had clearly begun to make a move against John- his chain swinging even as he shouted a warning. The chain would never reach its destination, instead wrapping around a spear.

  Caelnon seemed content to wrestle against Aldara, but as he tried to tear the spear out of her grasp it froze around her weapon. Yet at the same time, fire and lightning surged through the internal structure of his weapon towards his hands. He tried to pull Aldara in, but she stood firm on the edge of the Molten Sea, rooted in earth. Caelnon resisted so strongly that the wind cat beneath him was tugged away instead- Sitora hadn’t given up on smashing it into the earth over and over.

  As Caelnon flew slightly closer to try to loosen the tension in his own chains, a beam of twisting light and darkness surged towards him. To his credit, he adequately protected himself and managed to retrieve his chain weapon.

  All this happened in the background as John closed the distance with Enniaun. His sword flashed out, carrying every element blended in proportions that fit John’s current mood. He sliced through a spear Enniaun used to block at the last moment, his attack breaking through the man’s spiritual energy and even slicing deep into his enchanted armor. Enniaun was sent flying backwards- which was unfortunate as that meant most of the force was distributed around his body instead of just a single area.

  No traces of blood on John’s weapon… but if any spiritual energy had gotten through- even one part in a thousand or ten thousand- the man should be injured. He also stopped attacking as he was thrown back over a hundred meters.

  Steve was… a giant glowing ball of blue flames. It was almost guaranteed that he would have turned himself into ash if Yustina hadn’t been with him. The way he called upon the fire element was one where his power continuously rose until he couldn’t withstand it, his own body overheating. At least it seemed to provide adequate protection against Enniaun’s attacks.

  As he rebounded, John was aware of distant ships. The ‘western’ islands, if he read their balances of spiritual energy correctly. He was more focused on trying to strike down Caelnon now. Various chains covered in spikes or ending with heavy masses or blades flailed about, harassing Aldara.

  She was able to withstand the attacks well enough, but John was hoping to catch the man as he was distracted. Even if he was aware of John’s location, two working together could make quick work of him.

  At that precise moment, Folasade managed to blast the annoyance away from her phoenix, her momentary distraction ended. She tossed a hammer sparkling with brilliant light. John was repeatedly glad for making his eyes adjust to sudden light, as vision was still useful even in such a rapid battle.

  He rushed past Aldara, directly catching the hammer in his free hand, negating its momentum. It wasn’t an efficient exchange purely from the perspective of spiritual energy, but the intent was to influence morale. He felt good for doing so, and if their foes were even slightly hesitant? They might take advantage. Speaking of hesitance… Enniaun most certainly could have reversed his course and rejoined them already. Even if he had to run across the waves instead of flying it wouldn’t have taken more than a few moments.

  Two versus three- but it was two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators on each side, and one powerful spirit beast. Flames spewed from the mouth of the phoenix, and John just barely kept ahead of them. It was kind of unfortunate that such an impressive target like the great worm was extinguished, but they’d already made use of the same thing John was intending. If he could simply draw the flames towards Caelnon…

  He wasn’t incompetent with fire, of course. Neither were Folasade nor the phoenix. He could resist and they could control their flames to not harm him, at least to some extent. But with just a little bit of darkness… John prepared to add something.

  Aldara understood he had a plan. She moved to support him instantly, following his six element flow. It was impossible for combatants of their caliber to not have specific intentions or worthwhile plans. Their enemies had their own strategies, which were indeed wearing them down. It didn’t really matter if they lost in a great blaze or slowly bled out, it would still be their loss.

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  Light sparkled around her. The tip of her spear followed a sinuous pattern, piercing into the gaps in single chain links and catching various bits of the weapons Caelnon was flailing about. She drew in the chains, but he didn’t wrestle against her grasp directly but rather used those points as intermediate leverage, his spiritual energy flowing around her own and swinging chains with amazing fluidity and the weight of mountains. Some of them got within millimeters of striking her, barely brushing against her thinly kept spiritual energy defenses.

  A brilliant way to draw her attention while John approached. A constant field of flames spilled forth from the phoenix. John got within twenty meters of Caelnon, his sword at the ready. Then there was a sudden burst of spiritual energy- even more flames. John’s vision was washed out and both he and Caelnon were covered in fire.

  At that moment Amalric was dragging himself out of the lava of the Molten Sea where he had created a huge impact crater that rapidly collapsed to cover him. Nobody could see his face, but he was smiling slightly.

  John hadn’t actually expected the extra explosion of fire element, but it served his purposes just fine. With flames of three origins- Folasade supporting her phoenix and Amalric adding his own into the mix- John’s own fire element was even harder to detect. John’s Ethereal Flames totem was of the sixth tier, just as all of his others. Only after engaging in combat with the Triptych for some time was he able to determine that they were lacking in that regard- though only in that some of their totems had ‘only’ been promoted to high in the fifth tier. It was impossible for anyone to become an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator with inferior totems.

  John gave his best look of disappointment that he hadn’t been able to attack Caelnon. It was genuine, but only so far as he would have preferred to chop off his head if he got the chance. Otherwise, he was satisfied with the invisible flames that were slowly eating away at Caelnon’s spiritual energy, sustaining themselves.

  He ended up next to Aldara after he broke away. Instinctively, the two of them stabilized each other’s spiritual energy. How much had they used up? A third? A full half? Only Enniaun had a significant wound at the current moment, and his hesitation had ended as he was joining with the others.

  There was no time to strategize. Their opponents joined together- Enniaun leapt from the surface of the sea onto the back of the phoenix while Caelnon flew over as well. They joined their elements together more tightly, instead of the looser mesh they’d had throughout the battle.

  “You’ve done well,” Folasade commented. “But in the end, the two of you are insufficient.”

  John grimaced. They were right. And… it might be his fault. After all, as much as he knew it was stupid in a life or death battle he still had hesitations about Aldara. He couldn’t help it. What existed of their connection was quite complicated.

  “Even if there were ten thousand of you…” Aldara replied. “You wouldn’t match either one of us.”

  John kind of wanted to try to draw out any conversation a bit longer… his ethereal flames couldn’t work that quickly. But it would probably be obvious he was doing so and they might inspect themselves and discover what was happening.. He would just take it as a small advantage gained.

  “Maybe they could do something with twenty thousand,” John continued. “But there was clearly a reason they weren’t willing to fight against someone of their own phase.”

  He didn’t really expect taunting to work at their current phase of the battle, it just felt good. Besides, it was a decent signal for the enemy to attack. Even if they weren’t reckless, drawing them into his pace was best.

  John was vaguely aware of a wind beast being held under the Molten Sea and burned to death by Sitora, Steve, Yustina, and Amalric. He absolutely would have punished Caelnon for attempting to attack them, but it still felt rather callous for him to just ignore his spirit beast like that.

  The phoenix flew forward. Folasade stood on its head, the others each took a wing. Their own weight was negligible around such power. Spirit beasts could carry more energy than a human, even without advancing to a higher phase. As they generally grew more slowly, that was the only way they survived against such violent creatures as humans.

  Javelins and chains filled the area. John and Aldara danced among them.

  Was it that simple? Only a few moments before John had actively acknowledged his flaw. Now their teamwork was suddenly more effective.

  The majority of the effect was probably proximity. But truthfully… John was afraid that if he didn’t push past his hesitation that everyone would die. He already knew that, they’d trained together to maximize efficiency. But this was better. He almost wished she had a free hand, so he could fight with her like Astrid.

  But she had a shield, which made a lot of sense. He did get use out of his own free hand. For example, by grabbing onto Caelnon’s chains. He wasn’t willing to risk more ethereal flames or he might tip the man off- but Spiritual Energy Absorption with every moment of contact was valuable. Sometimes the man tried to turn his own spiritual energy into spikes as John grabbed, but John wasn’t so foolish as to fail to defend his hands when he was using them to attack or defend.

  A wall of fire passed over the pair as attacks rained down around them. Folasade slashed at them with her glaive, the attacks extending beyond the already formidable reach of the weapon. Merely dodging wouldn’t win them the battle or the war… but it felt good.

  John almost stopped thinking, just going with the flow. Aldara seemed to have a plan anyway, leading them further over the Molten Sea. The surroundings were tumultuous as massive amounts of spiritual energy clashed all over the battlefield. Storms were growing in clouds in the sky, and both seas were frothing.

  They were circling around the phoenix as it chased after them. It was a shame that they were going to end up killing such a magnificent beast. Neither of their own continents had any phoenixes of note.

  He lost track of the minute details of the battle. Did it matter if a glaive or spear was heading for his throat if the elemental balance could be countered? It didn’t matter to him whether he deflected a long chain or snapped it in two, he just went along with whatever came naturally.

  Confidence filled him. Aldara shared in that confidence. There was a reason they believed they could win. The addition of a phoenix? Irrelevant. What mattered was not their foes or the injuries either side sustained. It was the mastery of elements the two of them possessed.

  Aldara’s choice for her elements to mesh with John’s had been made long before- in another lifetime. It didn’t matter how much of her was Matayal, that part was true. John’s intellectual choice had come early in the war. It was only now that it was actually true.

  A swirling vortex of lava lifted into the sky from the Molten Sea. Fire was the current weakness of the Triptych… or not, with the phoenix. But the main cultivators were a bit behind there. And with the other spirit beasts dealt with, a bit of air element wouldn’t go poorly. Maybe some lightning… and a bit of a vacuum. According to the laws of physics, a vacuum could only create so much force in an area- but with the power of spiritual energy they could managed much more. Everyone would be pulled down into the swirling vortex.

  John smiled. It didn’t really matter whether that worked or not. The two of them would come out on top. He was certain- they were certain- and the six elements agreed with them. How could they not?