The group moving along next to the road was already problematic with a superior number of cultivators, but along with that they just had to have two Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. It didn’t make Aydan feel any better to determine that the Kartal clan was working with the Society of Midnight, because even if the former was ultimately not a threat to the Tenebach clan alone, as an additional force they were a threat.

As the enemy forces cut them off on the road, Aydan recognized the patriarch of the Kartal clan- not by personal interaction, but keeping tabs on potential threats was important. It had seemed like the Kartal clan was smart enough to not hold a grudge for what happened with their young master Bora- which was entirely his fault- but apparently only the bodyguards with him at the moment had been reasonable. Though perhaps part of it was the Society of Midnight’s coffers influencing them. They were a well established sect with a strong history, though if they continued taking losses against the Tenebach clan it would undermine their foundation.

Clearly Ciaritzal, the Tenebach’s guardian beast, was extremely valuable to them. And the fact that they’d sent three of their own Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators for this ambush meant they were deadly serious this time. Especially with at least one more recruited for the effort.

It was a shame Aydan wouldn’t survive, and he really couldn’t be sure that his distraction had saved John either. Or Fortkran, if he were to reference him aloud. He much preferred John to his original nephew though. He was driven, talented, intelligent enough… and lucky enough that the risks he took had continued to pay off.

Aydan wished he’d been able to reach the Consolidated Soul Phase before this, so that he could have put up a better fight… but it still would have been two against one. He absolutely put his faith in the rest of the clan members with him, but they weren’t so elite that they could take on superior numbers of Soul Expansion Phase cultivators and two a Phase ahead of them. The best they could do now was delay long enough that their opponent’s couldn’t join back up with the group looking for their clan head.

The carriages had stopped, the rest of the Tenebach clan members standing behind Aydan in solidarity. They weren’t taking shelter, but instead prepared to lend their energy for the sake of a group formation, if he needed it. Aydan had to admit he was not quite effective as John in such a position, but he was well aware that his own talent exceeded John’s father. They could at least put up a fight, though the Society of Midnight would no doubt be able to counter with their own fighting formations.

“Not with you, is he?” the Society of Midnight’s leader looked over the group. “A shame. We’ll get him regardless, but I was looking forward to the personal rewards.”

A moment later spiritual energy rose to a peak as attacks were exchanged. The Tenebach clan would have normally spread out to attack from all sides, but with their numbers being less than the enemy that was impossible. Instead they moved as one following Aydan’s direction, avoiding a noxious cloud of darkness and a bolt of lightning. The latter was from Evren, who was going to be quite a pain.

The leader of this particular group from the Society of Midnight surged forward, clashing blades with Aydan. Aydan staggered back even with the support of the clan strengthening him, but he felt something in the exchange. Something he could try.

If they weren’t going to win anyway, a few moments of delay wouldn’t make as much difference as taking a risk. Aydan crossed blades with the man a few more times, parrying his attacks and making a few tentative stabs of his own. He continued to feel it.

Well, it was John’s plan anyway. It wasn’t technically impossible for someone else to do it. He shifted his tactics, taking a more aggressive approach. He was losing the exchanges, receiving a number of small wounds that could easily become serious threats if he was a bit off. Even so, he kept pushing, taking risky swings towards the man so that it wouldn’t seem quite so strange when he extended his power towards him.

He was fortunate that his opponent was underestimating him, fighting with a bit of caution despite the gap in power. Aydan managed to thrust forward, receiving a long gash where shoulder and neck met while his own sword slipped past the man… but he was in close.

He reached out, focusing the energy he had gathered into the man. It wasn’t quite a normal attack, but instead he was calling for something. He made use of the blessing of the guardian beast to the fullest potential he could, simply for the sake of indicating to something that he had been given the gift willingly.

Two sources of darkness energy clashed, with Aydan’s weaker energy unable to seriously breach the enemy’s defenses. Only a small tendril, unable to cause damage. Yet it was met by something else, the sense of a hand reaching out. Aydan took it, pulling it outward and into himself.

The slash across his ribs as he leapt backwards was nothing compared to the pain of imperfectly compatible energy flowing inside of him. Aydan grimaced. He was not far from the main line, but to think there would be so much difference… and it was only a tiny shard.

-----

Unaware of exactly what was happening with his uncle, John found himself in a slightly more advantageous position. He had gotten to choose the location of the fight, and the Brandle cultivators nicely countered at least some of the Shadowflame disciple’s efforts. There were still nearly twice as many enemies, including two Consolidated Soul Phase enemies, but John felt they had a decent chance.

Four elements of spiritual energy swirled through him, the majority being water and darkness as he drew upon and augmented the energy of his companions. The initial wave of attacks had already been countered, but now the enemy was pressing in. Yet the fact that they chose to get close to John meant they didn’t really understand what had happened to them in the past. Well, only one person had ultimately survived it. Now he had to face off against someone a few steps ahead of him, mid Consolidated Soul Phase compared to his early… but compared to when he had first stolen a shard of Ciaritzal across the boundaries of Phases, it would be practically trivial.

Not that John didn’t take it seriously. Two quick slashes left a jumble of darkness energy criss-crossing his enemy’s chest. No direct wounds… but his energy didn’t immediately dissipate. Instead, he pulled on the man’s energy. Spiritual Energy Absorption was one of John’s first techniques, and still one of his best. Especially with something so familiar as darkness. It didn’t hurt that he was familiar with the energy flows of the Society of Midnight.

John danced through the hot pools of water at the base of the geysers, the Brandle clan members mixed in among Tenebach to support them fighting. Even a shallow pool of water could throw off movements if one was not careful, slowing someone down at a critical moment.

The geyser erupted again, spraying superheated water and steam into the air. This time John directed it towards the Society of Midnight more than the Shadowflame Disciples, because even if the latter were weaker to the attack, they would also be expecting it.

John sent a trickle of electricity through the water-laden air, telegraphing an attack he didn’t intend to connect. A small shock of lightning appeared behind his opponent, driving them closer. He kept his left hand free in battle for throwing daggers… though he’d come to use it in situations like this more often. His hand barely touched the man’s abdomen, but a spike of energy pierced inward. The shard of Ciaritzal in the man’s dantian eagerly leapt towards him, instantly destabilizing the man’s energy while providing a slight boost to John himself.

Then he pulled back, leading his enemies towards a deeper part of the pool, and near the center of the geyser. They weren’t defeated just yet, and he had to continue to make use of the terrain to keep the advantages they had snagged. And even if John thought he could dominate them, he was well aware he was not invincible. He wanted to at least leave the fight without wounds that would slow him down, win or lose. Survival was more important than victory… this time.

-----

Aydan couldn’t help but cry out in pain. Obviously the Society of Midnight had some sort of technique to keep the shards of Ciaritzal suppressed. He was quite sure the shard was trying to help him, so he could guess how bad it would be if they were working against each other. Obviously the suddenness of the connection was a problem as well.

Darkness churned wildly inside Aydan, and since he couldn’t control it as he would like he released it into his attacks. He was able to go a few exchanges even with his opponent, despite the difference in Phase. If Aydan got the chance he would go for a killing blow, even at risk to himself. He hoped that the shard of Ciaritzal could avoid recapture if he died, but at the very least it would be a great hindrance to his foes.

If there had only been one Consolidated Soul Phase among them, that might have been enough. Instead he was battered by strong winds, tendrils of water energy attempting to wrap around his limbs and limit his movements. Evren was something he didn’t have the ability to overcome, and with only a dozen others on his side they were flagging, their energy reaching its limits even as Aydan himself felt overcharged.

The hot desert winds spurred on by the air energy threatened to make Aydan sweat to death despite the water swirling around him, though he knew he’d be sliced into pieces well before it could get to that point. But the winds brought with them more than just heat and ambient fire energy. There was something familiar. It was still distant, but Aydan immediately engaged in darkness’ most useful ability, deception.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” he grinned. “Two against one… and I’m not even in the same Phase. You have a dozen extra minions as well, but it seems you can barely managed them.”

The grin on Aydan’s face was wreathed in darkness enough that he hoped they wouldn’t notice how it was also a strained face. The shard was not good for him, and neither trying to calm the energy nor forcing it outward were helping. But the latter was more immediately useful, so he launched several large scale attacks. Covering the battlefield in darkness was only half useful at best against other darkness cultivators, and in the desert sun it was even less useful… but it fulfilled its purpose. Aydan managed to hold off for another handful of exchanges, avoiding weapons from all around him and keeping himself out of the grasp of Evren. At least, for a while.

It was inevitable that he would be caught eventually, and the moment he slowed down a dozen attacks came for him… along with a huge wall of blue-green fire. Evren immediately recognized the incoming attack, but as his water energy formed a bubble of protection behind him the green fire simply flowed around it. The blue fire, meanwhile, was mainly focused on the weaker members of the Society of Midnight, immediately incinerating a few of them and catching even the spiritual energy of some of them on fire.

Aydan kept the same face he’d been holding as a dagger stabbed into his gut. Instead of pulling away, he grabbed on with all his might as the flames washed around them. It was… surprisingly nice. Hot, but in the comfortable way of the sun in the Shimmering islands when relaxing on the beach. Lucanus had quite excellent control.

“Good timing,” Aydan grunted. “I’m almost starting to think it’s not a coincidence.”

“Hmm?” Lucanus raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess. But I notice you don’t have J- Fortkran with you, so it doesn’t really count.”

With the dagger twisting in his gut, spiritual energy slicing in all directions as much as it could, Aydan could no longer hold on. The man from the Society of Midnight pulled away from Aydan to try to escape from Lucanus’ fire. The other one, Yustina, was making it seem as if fire was the element that won out over water instead of the other way around. “John is… south…” Adyan said in his last moments of consciousness. The enemy already knew basically that much, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything with it anyway. Not with those two around.