Reviewing the casualties from the battle was actually uplifting. Damage to Stregate’s forces was minimal. Fully powering their formations once more would take some time, but the ballistae were a great success. They were a way for lower ranking cultivators to combine their energy without interfering with each other and to cause actual damage to the enemy forces. Edelhull’s forces lost more lives, but they were minimal.

The Order… as the most visible threat and the basis of the distraction ended up with heavier losses. Yet because of Hoyt and Devon holding off the Ascension cultivator, the damage was much less than it could have been. More injuries than deaths on their side. They couldn’t afford to wait while people recovered, but they also couldn’t give up their momentum. It had only been a short time since the invasion began, and they needed to prevent the invaders from establishing footholds within Graotan. If they hadn’t already, at least.

-----

Heavy bags hung beneath Anton’s eyes, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from working with the soldiers. Whether they were members of the Order or from either of the two larger cities, he wanted them to be as effective as possible. He was pleased to see how many people were willing to show up the day after a battle. Even if the soldiers of Stregate had avoided injuries for the most part, enduring a siege was stressful. Other days of training would be mandatory, but Anton suspected most of those who could walk had shown up even for this non-mandatory training.

“It’s good to see you all,” Anton addressed them. “This invasion was anticipated, and all of you trained to fight. The fact that we are still here shows the situation is not hopeless, and one of our best weapons is a certain form of training. Until now, it was impossible to get much practical experience fighting against Ascension energy. But over the course of these recent battles, many of us have gained valuable insights. We will demonstrate what we’ve learned, then individually guide and correct… as many of you as possible. Those who learn most quickly will, as always, go on to teach others.”

They split up into smaller groups, between one dozen and several dozen per teacher, according to what they could manage. There were more with practical experience, but some were injured and others simply not suited for teaching or simply resting.

Anton would rest too, at some point. But first he had teaching to do. He demonstrated the differences in method he’d picked up with his bow, though as a method of arranging energy it worked for any weapon. Maximum disruption with minimum effort was the idea, and it was clear that nobody was ready for it.

“Don’t forget that even the lower level cultivators among the invaders make use of ascension energy.” Anton was going to comment on them being unbalanced because of it, but he wasn’t sure he knew enough to confidently make that declaration. But he certainly suspected it. He also used ascension energy, but it was not part of himself, but something extra. Perhaps it was a perfectly sensible method where they came from, but while they were in this world they were somewhat less effective than it seemed they should be. Especially when their energy was disrupted by surprise.

A few more shots arced into the air, slowly and carefully drawn out to make it easiest to replicate the important parts. Then Anton’s face grew hard, his stance changing. He still carefully performed his next shot, but it wasn’t as slow as the others. It was serious. Anton was currently trying to solidify the information that he could only shoot seventy kilometers, and a scout of some sort had just crossed that line. They weren’t strong enough to survive.

Few people noticed the difference, except perhaps the speed of that shot, and Anton returned to his more demonstrative speed. In between people were practicing attacks of their own, and Anton would guide them as he could- along with everyone else. But they couldn’t train all day. Everyone needed rest, especially the teachers.

-----

Three days later Anton made a show of leaving the city for a distance, at which he pestered the enemy forces. There were currently debates about whether moving to finish off this group or following after the first group to attack the Order was a higher priority. Gathering more allies was important, but if they left Stregate behind with a reduced complement of soldiers it wasn’t clear if they would be able to hold on.

The enemy forces weren’t without injuries of their own, and they seemed to have more difficulty recovering their energy here, but that didn’t make them weak. They still had two Ascension cultivators, though the loss of an arm was a huge blow to the one.

The purpose of Anton’s attacks were simple. Cause as much disruption as possible. Whether that was killing weaker cultivators or bombarding the Ascension cultivators to force them to expend energy didn’t matter. They were either forced to make the choice to retreat further away- rather quickly, which would also use their energy- or commit to another attack. There was technically the option to just stand and let Anton shoot them, but while he wasn’t going to say he could kill an army if they fought back… over the course of a few days if they just stood still? He absolutely could. A few thousand people with methodical shots… if they were all Spirit Building cultivators he could do it in an hour. Early Essence Collection wasn’t much harder, since even if they were expecting him now there was a reasonable chance he could disrupt their defensive energy to the point he pierced through for a lethal blow in one or two shots. Life Transformation cultivators would take ten or twenty even if they were passive, but they could easily move out of range before that time.

But he could get lucky and cause an injury before then, which could take days or weeks to recover from. Even if they had amazing medicines at their disposal, it would at least reduce that supply.

When the enemy army began to move towards Anton, he continued to take shots as he retreated back towards the city. He only needed to move at a third of their speed and he would be inside with plenty of distance to spare. The Ascension cultivators might actually be able to surpass that… but Anton wasn’t alone- and something about one of them having lost an arm made them hesitant.

“They’re still coming,” Anton noted.

“Good,” Catarina said. “They’re making the decision for us. If they really attack us in a defensive position we can deal with them.”

“... And this time we won’t have to let them retreat so easily.”

The first battle had been to get into the city safely. The weaker soldiers from Edelhull needed the fortifications, while the stronger cultivators among them and Stregate could still benefit. The Order’s members, too.

Anton ended up in the center-north of the city, surrounded by civilians who were willing to fight. They didn’t have the training of the soldiers, but they weren’t going to just let these invaders have what they wanted. And truth be told, those who could fight were basically all willing. Those who were too old and those who were too young along with many of the infirm were kept to a different part of the city. They had some soldiers defending them, but if the enemy forces broke into the city and didn’t come for Anton, they were going to regret it deeply. Others with ranged abilities would fall back from the walls to join him when the time was appropriate, but nobody could match Anton. Alva’s focus had resulted in closer range archery techniques, though she could still shoot a handful of kilometers when it came down to it.

As the enemy forces closed in on the walls they began to spread out in wider formations to avoid the ballista shots and other area attacks. That was good for their individual survival, but they might have done better to join forces to block the attacks. Anton wasn’t going to tell them that, though. Instead, he ramped up his attacks another notch. Frantic shooting would tire him out too quickly, but he couldn’t count on the battle being long either.

Because the enemies were actually committing to the attack, they spent less time under fire from the ballistae. They also didn’t only attack the northern wall where the defenses were most concentrated, but some of them began to spread out to the sides. That meant the formation had to handle attacks from multiple directions as well as the soldiers needing to reposition.

A sustained bombardment made the recharged formations tremble. It was always possible for them to break through, but they had to be willing to expend enough energy. That task was made more difficult by the attacks launched on them meant to disrupt their energy in return- or kill them, when the opportunity arose. The enemy forces spreading out also provided a small advantage as more ballistae were able to be put into use.

Hundreds of the invaders died before they were able to break through the formation, which they did by having the two Ascension cultivators attack from opposite sides of the city simultaneously for the final blow. The cultivator who flew previously was now on the southern side of the city, but Anton had been watching and he simply didn’t make use of that ability again. What a shame. He continued to shoot to the north while keeping track of the situation to the south. Especially the area around Catarina, where she had been stabilizing the formation.

-----

Elder Mazhar of the Boundless Skies Sect wanted his arm back. It was ridiculous that this formation expert had been able to cause so much trouble, but he knew she was critical. And she had taken his arm. As the formation fell, he clenched his fist as he leapt onto the walls, landing with a gust of wind that blew away the nearby defenders. A dozen disciples of the Boundless Skies Sect followed after him, landing softly. Many of them could fly, but there was a certain archer that was annoying. He was focused on the north for the moment, but Mazhar wasn’t going to draw his attention if he didn’t have to.

The rest of their troops would have to deal with making their own way into the city. Mazhar and the others bounded across the rooftops, looking down at the streets below where people who were barely cultivators waited. It was strange, how many there were, but their numbers were of no consequence with them being so weak. They wouldn’t even be able to touch the hem of his robes. Some began to try to scurry up to the rooftops, but he was past them before they could make any progress.

Up ahead was the formation user. He could sense her frantically trying to reignite the spark of the formation, but it had no power left to make use of. The few defenders with her wouldn’t be able to protect her.

-----

Fuzz ran back and forth behind the northern walls, not because he was avoiding anything but because he couldn’t settle down. Alva was used to him moving in battle anyway.

The strongest opponent was right there within sniffing distance. Fuzz knew that if he did the right thing to bite the man it would work better. Everyone had been training that for a long time. The whole pack- no, every pack was doing so. This group of invaders would stand no chance.

Along with the scents of people was something small and subtle Fuzz might have ignored if he didn’t know the source. He couldn’t even feel the ants sitting on his head, not even the larger queen. Their weight was negligible and his energy senses didn’t pick them up. Their scent was just that of ants… and it was something Fuzz was never going to underestimate.

“Fuzz! Head towards the big guy!” Before Fuzz could guess which that was, Alva clarified, “The strongest one!”

Oh right. That was why they had the queen. It was dangerous to take Alva with him, but leaving her behind would give away that something fishy was going on. Black energy swirled around the strongest enemy, energy Fuzz was absolutely not going to touch unless he did the special bite… and even then he knew he might regret it.