There were various locations that the Six Elements Crossroads planned to visit in the Shimmering Islands, but John was only really interested in one of them. It was a bit selfish, but after so long traveling he just wanted to see family.

  The first one to come greet them was Carl, much to the surprise of most of the disciples and the captains of the vessels they were riding upon. The young leviathan was far smaller than its parent had been, but still larger than most ships. A face poked above the surface rather suddenly.

  John leaned over the railing and waved. “Good afternoon, Carl.” Her parents letting Nitza name the leviathan had resulted in endless amusement for John. He imagined Tirto and Verusha alternated between amusement and regret. Cute names were good when you wanted warm and cuddly, but if you were offering a threat it just didn’t hit the same.

  Then again, two early Ascending Soul Phase cultivators saying they would send Carl after someone might be somehow more intimidating. It sounded so plain, but how could anything related to them be ordinary? Perhaps it could be a codename.

  And of course, once people saw the leviathan they would be quite appreciative of the danger. As a beast, he could not be directly judged by the standards of cultivation phases. In some ways he would be inferior to an early Ascending Soul Phase cultivator- specifically finesse and special techniques- but in raw power and durability he would outclass them. Tirto or Verusha after their advancement could certainly defeat him together or individually, but it wouldn’t be easy.

  Not that they’d ever need to. Carl was a good boy. Which wasn’t to say he always listened, but he never hurt anyone he considered a friend- even accidentally. Potential foes, however, were at greater risk.

  John jumped down onto the water to pat Carl on the head. His actions served the dual purpose of calming the worries of the disciples and ship captains and also being fun. How often did one get to pet a giant sea beast? For John, it was every time he came to visit the Shimmering Islands which was… not often enough.

  When they were young he’d managed to spend more than half the year with his children- even if only two months of it also included Matayal. Now they were fully responsible for their own clans- or Ursel. So he didn’t even see them all every year.

  Why had he even founded a sect? To grow strong? What was the point of that, if he couldn’t spend time with those he cared about?

  John knew the answer, though. He’d rather have infrequent contact with those he loved than none at all because either he or they perished in battle. As cultivators, it was far and above the most likely result even if they never sought out conflict.

  -----

  Nitza didn’t jump into his arms. How disappointing. John supposed she might be going through a phase. It could also have something to do with the fact that she wasn’t a little kid anymore, but a young woman.

  At least she hadn’t lost her youthful enthusiasm, even if it didn’t include her poor grandpa. “Carl!” She jumped into the water next to the leviathan. “You went and found them coming in. Good job!”

  Carl did not fit in the inner ring of Pualani. He very much wanted to, but it was too shallow even for the parts of him that were more flat. There were some clear gouges in the sea floor where he had tried to maintain a path as he grew larger, but ultimately he was limited to the outside of the island. It was probably for the best, because he wasn’t meant to be just a pet but a defender. He would protect the Brandle clan, and all the others around them. Not that any threats would easily reach them in the current circumstances.

  -----

  The one good thing about visiting on official business is that John had a good excuse to see Tirto. There wasn’t anything they actually had to talk about, but taking time out of their schedules together was simple enough.

  “How are you settling into life as an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator?” John asked. Tirto and Verusha had advanced because of the initial Stormy Sea Sect trouble, and Morana’s involvement. Without that, they might still be a few years short of making the leap forward instead of just past it.

  “It’s about what I expected,” Tirto said. “Which is to say… not different at all. Except more people want to visit.”

  John nodded. “It turns out being stronger doesn’t make the world fundamentally different. I trust that means your… totem swap… worked out well?”

  Tirto nodded seriously. “Our combat synergy has increased to an even greater level. We might even be a threat to you.”

  “I’d actually be quite interested to see that,” John said. There were four ranks of cultivation between them, after all. Advancing from the early to mid Ascending Soul Phase wasn’t a small increase in power. In theory, John should be able to overpower the two of them at the same time. Most likely, he’d actually find it more difficult than that if he focused on raw power. Not that he ever did, especially not since coming up against Abritt.

  He’d been reminded at how far the gap between people could be, though he had made up a significant section of ground since then. He still had reservations about any late Ascending Soul Phase opponents. And while he hadn’t heard of any Exalted Soul Phase cultivators even in surrounding areas, the potential for their existence was plenty of reason not to get complacent.

  “Before we get into sparring,” John said. “How’s Nitza doing? She certainly seems happy, but it’s hard to really say with just a short time.”

  “Her main complaint is not spending enough time with her cousin,” Verusha commented. “However, she has found some local friends beyond Carl. Hopefully they last this time.”

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  “What about previous friends?” John asked.

  Verusha shrugged. “You know how it is. Power imbalance makes people feel intimidated. Those who aren’t afraid of her might want something from our clan. And while that is acceptable to a certain extent… it is difficult to build certain lasting friendships. Like yours with Steve.”

  John nodded. “We hit it off surprisingly well right away. It helped that he didn’t have any idea about clan politics, among other things.”

  “His strength?” Tirto asked.

  “It certainly made it easier to maintain the friendship,” John admitted. “Though I suppose it was most important that we were closely matched. We also had certain common interests.”

  Like food. Though they hadn’t actually been able to indulge in most of Earth’s ‘delicacies’ since they didn’t quite exist in this world. Now that John had popularized burgers in Astrein, however, he was thinking he should find an opportunity to promote pizza. There were other flatbreads with various toppings, but the exact combination of a good pizza was hard to replicate with merely similar ideas.

  -----

  The duel took place on Brandle clan grounds, set up among various pools of water. It was advantageous for local cultivators, but that was to be expected. A deep sea battle would probably be better for John, but they wouldn’t have the available protections. Even if cultivators with deep control over their power intended to not cause real harm, accidents could happen in the heat of combat.

  The battle would be displayed for the edification of the disciples and clan members. John wouldn’t have to hold back, because the battle was more or less fair. Everyone would learn best if he maximized his efforts. If they were wrong about their assumptions, future attempts could be adjusted.

  When the battle began, Tirto immediately pulled the water from one pond to him. In turn, John leapt at an angle onto the surface of the next closest source. Rather than draw upon the water himself, he circulated his energy to draw from it. Heat, which he turned into a blast of fire. Verusha split the flames easily, but John had pretty much expected that. What he did not expect was Tirto’s immediate response, sending a gout of water through the flames before the torrent even ended.

  The couple’s mixed energy allowed the water to be superheated. John threw up a wall of earth in front of him, not wanting to test a direct hit. Previously, John had thought he would feel the flow of energy between them to predict their actions, but their mixed totems made that difficult. There was a connection, but it was difficult to discern what they were going to do through it.

  The impact created a steamy fog even as the wall crumpled, and John called upon his stealth skills to drop from their perception. He made as if to move towards another pool to cut off their access to the water, but he actually moved towards them. He had to separate them somehow.

  He rapidly gathered elements creating a concussive burst of water and air between the two of them, by their feet. Such undirected force was not terribly dangerous, but difficult to avoid. That meant that simply letting it push them apart was the simplest option, as fighting it would strain their defenses.

  Their hands slipped apart as they allowed it to happen. John prepared water to counter Verusha, and lightning to counter Tirto. That left fire, earth, and darkness flexible. That was good, because John immediately found himself in the middle of clashing fire and ice.

  His lightning chained through shards of ice Tirto was launching in a continuous stream, trying to find their way to their ultimate target. John knew Verusha was familiar with water so he hadn’t expected a perfect effect, but he was surprised at how quickly his own assault was vaporized. The flames continued forward, and he was just barely able to counter them with his own fire. He had to block the shards of ice with another temporary wall of earth, but John found his energy being worn faster than he could bring it to bear.

  His saving grace was creating a flash of light that neither of the two were expecting, creating a moment where he could slip out from between the two of them with a burst of darkness energy shielding him. It turned out separating them wasn’t as useful as he thought. Or more specifically, standing in between them was clearly not the right way to go about it.

  John decided to change his plans entirely. His earth element gathered, a bamboo shoot rocketing him into the sky where he remained. The move had been too fast for either of them to counter, and now he was lingering out of easy reach for them. He also wasn’t trapped between them.

  The two of them moved back together, holding hands. John had no idea if that was actually at all functional anymore, or simply a false flag. Certainly, it had led him down a dangerous path. Returning together was either an admission of some actual flaw, or a secondary ploy. Either way, John wouldn't be attempting to separate them again just yet.

  Twisting flames and water shot towards him. Gravity pulled it down, but that wasn’t sufficient to negate the attacks of a cultivator- just weaken it slightly. That was good enough for John’s purposes, and he had a wide degree of mobility. He used a portion of his earth element to feed into air, boosting his movements even further.

  That left him mainly water and fire to attack the two cultivators, which wasn’t optimal. However, he felt he was using his true weakness against them well enough. Air defeated water, and even water elemental spiritual energy was ‘heavy’, forcing Tirto to expend more energy to attack.

  Until the couple changed their tactics, creating blasts of steam that rapidly rose into the sky. They were invisible to the naked eye, but the spiritual energy was obvious enough for John to avoid them. However, he was forced to maneuver rapidly. He didn’t have so much air element that he could fly at a combat pace forever, even when he drew upon the local air element of the Shimmering Islands.

  John was going to have to cause some damage. He gathered a portion of each element to prepare for the attack. With a wave of his hand, John sent a rain of water sprinkling down over them, each drop infused with lightning. Tirto caught it, but he had to hold onto it to prevent the lightning from breaking out.

  That was when John dropped a boulder on them. It wasn’t a real boulder, obviously. If he’d had the opportunity he might have liked to try that, but it was just an energy projection. Verusha blasted it out of the sky, cracking it in half. That was exactly what John had wanted, as the concentrated fire element inside burst out, the rapid change in elemental balance destabilizing Tirto’s grip on the falling water.

  A few zaps wouldn’t stop the two of them, however. John gathered what remaining light element he had, creating a thin film of core elements to keep it from his darkness. That twisted mass was dropped in front of them, creating a blast that triggered the formations to protect them.

  John was already preparing tactics for the next round, as the two of them wouldn’t likely accept a single match- nor would they fall for precisely the same tactics twice. If John could consistently create attacks that made use of annihilating light and darkness it would be difficult to counter, but he was limited in both quantity and control of light element. Then again, if he stuck to just one thing- even if it was quite powerful- he’d become far too predictable.