The ambush was sprung as soon as the enemy cultivators crossed an invisible threshold. A woven net of light around them countered the natural darkness element of the area, random rays extending beyond to pierce illusions. Thus, a more mundane approach to concealment had been taken- hiding behind things.
But at a certain distance, the enemy’s senses would notice the waiting cultivators or the traps they had set up. It was better to act before the enemy had a chance to respond.
John released the frozen wall of ice stopping the dam he was responsible for. It had taken weeks of effort to set up a sufficiently sized trap, but that time had been made productive instead of waiting uselessly.
The final touch was part of the active control John held as the enemy squads approached. His own water element comingled with the water as it flowed. At the same time, Astrid’s fire element flowed to him, bolstering his water element.
A sizable lake poured onto the approaching squads- the water reaching further than it should have naturally, arcing down from the crags instead of merely dropping directly downward. The pressure of the water knocked about some of those in the middle of the pack, but that wasn’t the main intent. The water itself had been held beyond the freezing point as the enemy approached, and John now allowed it to solidify, even boosting the effect as the light cultivators pushed back. Fire augmented state changes of water- not just towards the ‘hotter’ side.
Just freezing people in place wasn’t much good without attacking them- they would quickly break out, unless they were particularly low in cultivation. That was where the rest of the ambush came into place. Various attacks were launched while some portion of the enemies were restricted or out of formation, boulders tossed from opposite crags and anything that could be prepared beforehand.
Other cultivators were only effective in melee, and were moving in from either side of the cultivators below. They would restrict the movements of the defenders even more while attackers from above bombarded them.
John focused his following attacks on one of the cultivators who had completely avoided the effects of the freezing lake he dropped. Another Ascending Soul Phase cultivator from the Sovereign Primacy- they had more than a few, which was why they hadn’t simply been overpowered by the continent. Hazan Demirci was an older woman that cultivated the light element, and she was a particularly persistent thorn in the side of the locals. After all, light and darkness negated each other- generally leaning in the favor of the stronger or more skilled cultivator.
She was usually both. Even as John tossed darkness infused daggers or made focused beams of darkness, none of the attacks reached her. She was in the late Ascending Soul Phase, and made great use of her abilities. Light radiated off of her in all directions, but not equally. There were points of concentration that swept about, seeking to blind foes and bolster allies. Any of them could also be turned into an attack at any point.
Astrid stood strong next to John, redirecting light element that came towards them. For the moment, at least, Hazan was not able to focus her efforts without compromising the integrity of her entire company. Thus it was that she mainly warded off probing attacks- but they would have still been a serious difficulty for John. Without having to focus on defense, he could focus more on intentionally guiding the explosive clashes of light and darkness.
His harassment of Hazan was mainly to keep her partially occupied. At such a distance, John doubted he had a significant chance of causing real harm, so he merely kept up the pressure while diverting some of his own energy to attacking the weaker links of her company- just as she was trying to do the opposite. However, it was much more difficult to stop a clash of light and darkness happening inside their ranks. Few people actually sought it out, as most light and darkness cultivators preferred to try to suppress the clashing power. Up close, John would have been mostly the same.
A singular spear of light suddenly came towards John, but he was prepared with air element to block it. His mixed elements were a boon in that sense, but it was also what limited him from launching an attack with sufficient power to threaten Hazan. He simply didn’t have that much darkness element to spare- though he did have more than a fifth as much power as a similarly situated cultivator. Even if the proportionate balance of his elements was such, he held more total spiritual energy, at least once he considered augmentation from the cycle of elements.
Hazan was organizing her company into a fighting retreat, breaking past the partial encirclement of cultivators. It would have been nice to kill or capture her here, but realistically that wasn’t going to happen. If killing Ascending Soul Phase cultivators and those with them was so easy, John would be far more hesitant about reaching the front lines.
Of course, he was as aware as anyone how possible it was for those with enough will. Those who were desperate enough. Or simply those with particular plans. It wasn’t known that Hazan herself would be coming along this path until she appeared- it could have been any number of other companies, most without Ascending Soul Phase cultivators at all.
Killing her would have been a great victory, but it might be too costly. As it was, the ambush was a success- they stopped an intrusion at least momentarily, and they had caused more casualties to the enemies than they suffered.
John took Astrid’s hand, with no other meaning than to keep them physically adjacent, then the two of them slid down the edge of the crag at a steep angle. Earth element kept them from going too fast as they approached the retreating group. They were simply getting too far for John to pressure them, which would weaken their forces during the battle’s closing moments. It would be a shame to let enemies flee too easily or allies perish unnecessarily.
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As John got closer, Hazan jabbed out with several more spears of light. John parried with air and fire, but he saved a surprise for her largest attack. It took her a slight moment to build up more light element, which John used to build water element. As he was doing so, Astrid bolstered him with fire.
Rather than a larger attack, it was more concentrated. A thin beam of light like a laser cut a trail along the ground as it angled up towards him in an instant. A dome of water, perfectly smooth, caught and scattered the light. Hazan didn’t let up easily, shifting her angle of attack. John focused on shifting the curvature and angle of his defenses in a nearly random pattern- any result where Hazan didn’t attack precisely how she wished was a victory. He did get caught a few times by still-concentrated beams of light, but they weren’t the full force of Hazan’s attack. John still didn’t use darkness element to try to defend, relying on Diamond Defense and active earth element defenses.
He had a slight advantage defensively but was weaker offensively. If Hazan had been less experienced with the clashing between light and darkness, John could have still managed to take an advantage but as it was John suspected that only specialists like Nik and Melanthina would be able to gain any advantage in that regard.
John watched the retreating enemies before shifting his focus to those that remained- enemies and allies. Sometimes capturing foes was worthwhile, either for interrogation purposes or ransoming. The Sovereign Primacy were not entirely unreasonable. Exchanges of prisoners still happened, though some caution had to be taken about when and where those were arranged.
At least they didn’t tend to kill messengers, especially if they were lower cultivation or even non-cultivators. Just because they weren’t open to peace talks didn’t mean there was no communication at all happening. John suspected that part of it was for information gathering purposes- they could learn what the continent valued. But it was most practical for the prisoner exchanges. They did have favored disciples and clan members, after all. There was no long history of hatred between them and the continent, so each side was more concerned about the damages they suffered than what they caused.
Though it had to be noted that nobody would have died at all if the Sovereign Primacy hadn’t launched an attack. So obviously their concerns for the lives of their own members were being balanced against other desires.
Hopefully once they found they couldn’t get what they wanted easily, they would withdraw. But it had already been long enough that stubbornness might push them forward even where it was impractical to continue.
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John found that his coordination with Astrid was excellent. That was in large part through her own effort- they weren’t instantly compatible in all ways, but she worked to be fluid in her actions. In turn, John had no reason to clash with his allies and adjusted his own methods when they fought together.
Working towards compatibility reminded him of Matayal. They hadn’t instantly fit together either, but instead it was a choice. There was a reason Matayal had been wishing to break off the engagement with the old Fortkran Tenebach- he would have been incompatible not because of lack of talent, but because of the will to change and mold.
In one respect, then, John could be compatible with pretty much everyone- angling towards six elements, he could support or receive support from anyone else. But it was more than simply having an attitude of cooperation. Some personalities would just clash even if both parties wanted to cooperate. In such a case, working as allies would be more efficient on opposite ends of the battlefield.
With Astrid, John found that they had at least some natural fit. She focused on supporting him, but was not so timid as to never request support for her own techniques. It was possible to form a pair where one only gave and the other received, but John didn’t think it was the most efficient way. Perhaps if it was merely restricted to the battlefield.
John now had Anna’s efforts to contrast with. The earth cultivator was similarly talented, and John found them becoming friends. In his opinion, that was an important part of any marriage that would last. He certainly didn’t want a merely business relationship- though he could have lived with it.
Teamwork with Anna was efficient enough, but either because she wasn’t really trying or because of some small quirks, it wasn’t as smooth as with Astrid. She was simply more focused on independent action, which worked for her quite well. But that meant she neither needed John, nor did he need her.
Technically, John didn’t need Astrid either. But he felt comfortable around her. He liked her, and like Matayal felt he could grow to love her. Preferably before they were married in this case, since it would be better to be certain.
He was confident that their dual cultivation would go smoothly based on their outward compatibility. She was not reckless with her use of energy, which would very much concern John.
Being around Astrid was nice, and John wanted to do it more. That was a good sign. And yet, there was something lingering.
John was a firm believer in ‘till death do you part’, even if that wasn’t exactly the setup in this world. He had a hard time believing Matayal wouldn’t want him to move on. She would be happy, no doubt. The main problem, then, was that most of the things he liked about Astrid were features he liked in Matayal. Her initiative was wonderful, but she was still willing to hold back and coordinate.
She would probably be a good replacement for Matayal. And perhaps that was the problem. Despite the difference in elements, some things were too similar, to the point that John always found himself comparing them. And even if she reached the standards he had in mind… John wasn’t certain it was fair to do it to begin with.
He knew what he had to do, but he didn’t want to. But inevitably, he came to the realization that they would have to talk about it. And that was so much more difficult than arbitrarily ending things.
