The weakest Life Transformation cultivator among the group- by the judgment of Rahayu- was a man who carried a sword that couldn’t be held in any sort of sheath. It wouldn’t matter if one was made, it was simply that said sheath wouldn’t allow the weapon to hang off of a person in any feasible configuration. The weapon was about three and a half meters long, with a blade about twenty centimeters wide. It had to be massively heavy, no matter what material it was made from.

A single shot was formed on Anton’s primary bow, aimed almost directly at the man. Anton made use of Ascension energy and the properties of light, balancing out the power with a shot that would be extremely quick. It flew towards the man at an undodgeable speed… but he had already moved out of its path before it left the string. If Anton had intended to hit him, he might have found that annoying. Instead, his shot went into the throat of one of the Essence Collection cultivators behind the man who doubtless thought they were safe in that position.

One down, a couple dozen to go. Unfortunately, they weren’t strolling towards the group so casually anymore. They began to run at full speed, and Anton was suddenly concerned about their proximity to Rahayu, but the man was quickly moving to intercept the enemy.

The Life Transformation cultivators separated from the Essence Collection members behind them, leaving them alone- but also on alert for Anton’s attacks. If Anton could make every single attack as powerful as his first shot, he could take them all out before they got to him. Instead, he could do it around five times in total, and he couldn’t guarantee he would take someone out if they knew they were being targeted. There would still be quite a few of them and he would be weaker, so he only took one more shot using ascension energy. It was aimed at another archer, though clearly one whose optimal range of firing was somewhere less than five kilometers.

They dodged it, twisting their body to the side. Anton lowered his bow, intending to conserve his energy. Then his arrow came back around, striking them in the back. Or more specifically, striking the string of their bow that was still slung over them. It felt like a waste, since he could probably have used the bow… but only if he survived the battle. The archer only sustained minor injuries beyond a ruined weapon, their general defenses protecting their body sufficiently.

Anton continued to fire arrows, but at a more normal power level. He was trying to catch people off guard, maybe cause a little bit of damage to a joint or split people apart. He definitely didn’t have enough energy to take out so many people on a vaguely equivalent power level all on his own, unless they simply lowered their energy.

The collision of Life Transformation cultivators drew his attention. There Swordmaster Rahayu faced off against the other swordmaster, identified as Vianne. But they had four Life Transformation cultivators, even if the others weren’t at the peak. The shortest of their members kept his distance, engaging with a bolt of lightning from a hundred meters away that left a crater behind Rahayu. The other carried a heavy mace in two hands that he wielded with speed and grace Anton wouldn’t expect from such a weapon. Then again, if a Life Transformation cultivator couldn’t manage even that much they’d hardly amount to anything.

With a single swipe of his sword, Rahayu forced back the man with the heavy mace as well as Vianne, though it was clear he focused most of his attention upon the latter.

The one with the overlarge sword, labeled a ‘kid’ by Rahayu, moved past the man. It was likely he could have forced him to engage, but either Rahayu thought they could take him or had reached his own limits. It wasn’t exactly something Anton was going to ask in the heat of battle, as an admission he couldn’t handle more opponents would likely lead to their strongest member being swarmed.

For some reason the guy looked upset, his gaze directed specifically at Anton. Was it because he cared for the particular person Anton had shot down first, or was it just damaged pride from knowing he was fooled by the attack?

Anton fired about a dozen probing attacks as the man approached, finding that he was quite adept at swirling his sword to slice arrows out of the air. As he was rapidly approaching, Anton considered his options for melee combat. But it didn’t come to that. The man came to a sudden halt when Chikere rushed at him, her over a dozen swords slicing simultaneously. The man counterattacked with his own weapon, the weapon carrying great momentum and speed. With the great power of Life Transformation behind it, it sliced through Chikere in a way nobody at her level of cultivation could dodge. At least, it certainly felt like it.

Chikere herself didn’t even seem fazed as it sliced a ten meter long gouge in the ground behind her, simply slicing into the man as she moved past him. Unfortunately his defensive energy was enough to overcome her skill, so she wasn’t able to break through. With the difference in cultivation he might be able to endure her attacks until she ran out of energy… had she been fighting alone. But Hoyt joined the melee a moment later, and Anton was already adding his own attacks to Chikere’s whirling blades.

A flaming axe swept towards the man, but he blocked with his blade. Even so, the ground cracked beneath their feet and an explosion of fire filled the area. An instant later, the block transitioned into a sweep, aiming to slice through Hoyt’s ribs. Perhaps he might have survived the single attack, but it turned upward and went over his head as Chikere’s primary chopped sliced towards the man’s wrist, making him have to choose between his hand and hitting the attack. Or rather, between not hitting the attack and having a hand, or losing a hand and likely failing to connect as he swung the oversized blade one-handed.

A few more moments of combat passed before the Essence Collection cultivators began to arrive at a range where they could attack. It seemed Rahayu was not at his limit, as he intentionally swept his sword to hold back half of the group, leaving Anton and the others to face only three-to-one odds and a Life Transformation cultivator.

Just then the world began to distort, half intentional illusion projected at the cultivators and half random noise to throw them off. Fortunately, everyone had fought against the Twin Soul Sect before- and won. Quite decisively in fact, whereas none of their opponents had fought against any of them before- with the exception of the two swordmasters seeming to have some history.

Even with the world distorted and changing, Chikere seemed to have no difficulty fighting the other sword wielder. Hoyt was having some trouble, however, and Chikere was spending more of her time parrying attacks meant for him than going on offense. With the addition of the dozen extra cultivators, Hoyt was fully on the defensive. Anton had several people pelting him with strange gray balls of energy he absolutely didn’t want to touch and find out what they did, and another moving in to fight him with a spear. It wasn’t possible to sustain that situation for any length of time, so he had to act quickly.

Over a dozen meters away, on the far side of the Essence Collection cultivators attacking Anton and the others, a half-dozen bows suddenly formed around one of the individuals lopping the wispy gray projectiles. The bows shot point-blank into Anton’s chosen target, forcing her to dodge at the last instant. She managed to avoid three of the shots, but was distracted from Anton’s main arrow, finding its way into her eye. At the same time, Anton narrowly dodged a spear that wanted to find its way into his guts.

Two more down. Anton took out one… and the world suddenly distorted to be more correct as one of those primarily focusing on the illusion suddenly found their vital organs destroyed by a pair of daggers. Velvet had come with them, so Anton knew it had to be coming- but even he had lost track of her. His sensing abilities and her stealth leap frogged in front of each other frequently, and this was one of the times she was ahead.

Several attacks were launched towards the falling body, but nothing happened except one of the grayish orbs striking the member of the Twin Soul Sect, melting the body into a pile of goop. That was unprotected, sure, but Anton still wanted to make sure not to let it affect him. That might not even be the only effect the strange energy had. As for Velvet, the target of the attack… Anton didn’t notice anything. What he could feel of the opponents through the momentarily wonky illusion didn’t indicate they thought they killed her.

Across the battlefield, handily out of way of stray attacks interfering with the other portion of the skirmish, Swordmaster Rahayu weaved his blade in a brilliant tapestry, forcing back Vianne while chipping into the large man’s armor, as well as worrying away at the metal of the handle of his mace. He would have liked to slice through it in a single blow, but it was not only incredibly durable… but he was finding it hard to find an opening. One hand let go of his sword for a moment as he pointed a finger at one of the Essence Collection cultivators, slicing their head off. He had to keep all of his focus on the three Life Transformation cultivators, or he’d end up with more than just the few wounds trickling blood he already had.

His sword swept, knocking back three of the Essence Collection cultivators who managed to perform a block. The same move gained intensity at an area of empty space, which unfortunately the short lightning user recognized as the real attack. He managed to dodge under it with only a gash along his scalp to show for it when he was supposed to be chopped in half.

What a pain. He couldn’t even get a single good hit in. His elbow split apart the head of another Essence Collection cultivator behind him, slicing it clean in two. There it was, an opening. His sword stabbed into the elbow of the mace wielding man, slicing tendons. The man stepped back for a moment, and then with a swirl of energy adjusted his grip and went right back to attacking.

Regeneration? No, it was much more active than that. Actual healing? What a pain. There had to be a limit to it, but that meant Rahayu couldn’t count on building up crippling wounds on people. He had to take them out all at once. Which was really his preferred method of attack anyway. It was just that Swordmaster Vianne’s attacks kept him constantly moving to places he didn’t want to be. That was the problem of fighting someone at the peak of cultivation like himself. The problem, and the joy. If only there weren’t other people interrupting it.

Then it came. The perfect opening. He sliced a long gouge across Vianne’s chest, and all he lost for it was an ear. Blood dripped down the side of his head, but a significant wound like that… was suddenly getting healed by the man with the mace. He was just putting everything back together like nothing had happened. That might be a bit of a problem.

“That should be enough,” Vianne said, though not to him. “Go deal with that other group. That punk should have taken them out long ago but he’s having trouble with the girl.”

The words seemed to have been directed at the lightning user, who began to circle around the battle. Rahayu’s eye twitched. That wouldn’t do at all. Did they really think two Life Transformation cultivators were enough for him, or did they just want to kill Chikere? Either way, they were going to regret that.

Rahayu’s blade flashed. By pure coincidence it sliced through the remaining Essence Collection cultivators around him, but its real target was the man trying to slink off. A bolt of lightning countered, climbing up his blade and into his body- but it didn’t stop his attack. The man was sliced in two at the waist, as if he weren’t already the shortest of the bunch.

One of Rahayu’s arms dropped to his side. A hit to his shoulder had shattered it, but that hardly mattered. He was still going to win. In fact, he wasn’t just going to win. Chikere and her group were also going to win, or at least survive. Meanwhile, Rahayu had his heights beyond that simple level. He was going to ascend. He wasn’t sure how, but as he hurriedly parried a flurry of blows from Vianne that left him with bleeding cuts along his arms and torso he knew he would figure it out. A little bit of combat was always good when you needed a bit of inspiration.