Fire against water was a favorable matchup for the latter, which was half the reason that John had brought the cultivators from the Brandle clan to begin with. It was also simply better to have more allies for a battle, though their presence wasn’t quite enough to make up for the numbers fielded by the Society of Midnight. They were going to be hurting after this battle… though John had to turn it into a victory for that to matter.

Picking up a shard of Ciaritzal helped. It was almost too easy against an opponent in the mid Consolidated Soul Phase, but it had also been two versus one. John’s affinity with Ciaritzal had only grown with time, and the traces of the guardian beast’s presence had left their mark inside him. The shards could sense something of that, and were happy to wrest themselves free with his assistance- leaving a hole behind in the cultivation of those they left.

That meant the man facing off against John could only display the power of early Consolidated Soul Phase, and the more he used his power the more he weakened himself in the immediate future. It was still two against one, with the Soul Expansion Phase cultivators having similar ratios to deal with.

The elemental advantage of water over fire against the Shadowflame Disciples, even if it was only a portion of their cultivation, pushed the edge in the favor of John and his allies. The geysers were important in that as well, providing a source of water for the Brandle cultivators to use instead of relying purely on spiritual energy. John also found himself pushing the limits of what his cycle of elements could do while he controlled the battle formations and synchronized the energies of his allies.

The deciding point came not from him but from the water cultivators, striking together to take out the strongest of the Shadowflame Disciples with synchronized spear strikes. This was timed with another eruption of the geyser, allowing them to follow up with a blast of steam towards the weaker cultivators.

With only one Consolidated Soul Phase opponent, John was able to focus his efforts more easily. The man didn’t take much note of small cuts on his arms and legs until he found himself having trouble rotating his wrists, bending his knees… or moving much at all. John did his best to make use of all of his elements, with some being decoys to confuse the enemy while he did something more effective. Flashy bits of lightning distracted from a little bit of earth element on the edge of a blade, and even if he couldn’t achieve complete petrification with such little power any hindrance to one side in an otherwise similarly matched battle could spell the difference between victory and defeat.

By the time the man chose to turn and run it was too late. John forced his way through the enemy lines after him, boosting his speed with wind at his back. Sharp steel slid past his neck as the man counterattacked him during his charge, but John couldn’t afford to let him get away. In the short term he might rejoin with others and become a threat again, and in the long term weakening the Society of Midnight was important. And making sure they didn’t have more examples of him stealing the shards of Ciaritzal directly from their members. So far, only the first time had any survivors and he planned to keep it that way.

The blade passed his neck as he ducked down, his own sword stabbing into the man’s thigh. Then John pulled back as the man slashed wildly towards him. His opponent was now hindered enough that he could wait for him to bleed out. Given the opportunity he knew the man could flee into the desert and patch himself up, but being unable to advance or retreat smoothly meant the battle was almost won. Not that there had been no costs. Many of those present with John had died, and the battle might claim a few more of them before the end.

One last desperate blast of darkness energy came from the man. John wanted to avoid it, but if he simply stepped out of the way his allies behind him would be subject to it. It was an inefficient attack, but there was enough power in it that it hardly mattered. Yet John wasn’t so willing to sacrifice himself either. The clan wouldn’t like that, and he was selfish enough to not want to die. His combined energies cycled through him as he swept the attack to the side, half deflecting and half dodging. That was as far as he could afford to help.

A few quick steps forward and he cut deep into the upper arm of the man’s sword arm, causing him to drop his weapon and primary method of defense. A pure burst of energy from him would at most match John’s defenses, and he was still recovering from his previous attack. A moment later, his head touched the sand.

John returned to the battle with the rest of his clan in an instant, though there was very little left to do. Some of the enemies had fled at the death of the first Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, mostly the other Shadowflame Disciples. It was too late to catch them all. The attack that John had half deflected also hit some members of the Society of Midnight, and most of them were quickly finished off, or left where they were writhing on the ground.

Darkness wasn’t the most straightforward method of attack, and John recognized similarities to Clinging Affliction. The attack was still tearing away at his clan mates, and he gathered them together, fortifying their energy with his as he directed the efforts to dislodge the intrusive energy. With the progenitor of the energy dead, there was little finesse left to the power, and it was soon dislodged. He couldn’t be sure all of those affected would survive, but he’d done what he could.

He took stock of his own wounds. Not deadly, but the margin between life and death was closer than he would have liked. Still, he’d been able to avoid that because he relied on his clan to support him. If he’d brought a few less with him, been a bit more conservative… things would not have gone so well.

The pools around the geyser ran red, filled with blood and bodies. “Toss them into the sands,” John ordered. There was little merit to it, but he’d rather preserve what little natural beauty this particular area had. The sand itself was rather nice to look at when it wasn’t glaring in his face, but it also wasn’t particularly special compared to the geyser.

As they were patching up wounds and looting the bodies, John kept his senses focused on the other shards of Ciaritzal. He felt a slightly stronger resonance with the one inside him. One was vaguely to the west, having chased after his carriage most likely. The other was towards the road, but something was odd about it. Maybe that was just the distance distorting his perception.

“Please…” a ragged voice broke the general silence, one of those John had taken for a body reaching out towards him. One of the members of the Society of Midnight, caught on the cloud of consuming darkness. John prepared to finish the man off- he could at least grant the man a quick death. “Please… save me…”

An audacious request from someone who moments before had been trying to kill him. John nearly continued his motion to kill the man. It was quite logical. Letting him live was simply an unnecessary danger. Yet John felt some pity inside himself. In the cultivation world it might be considered a weakness, but he considered it a sign of humanity. At the very least, he had to consider it.

John crouched down next to the man. He wasn’t a threat with his flagging spiritual energy. There was also little time to think about it, if he was truly going to consider his plea. John gathered a gauntlet of darkness on his left hand. “Don’t resist.”

Whether the man decided to trust John or simply didn’t have the strength, John felt little resistance from him as he dug his energy into the man, driving deep into his meridians to root out the intrusive energy. It seemed there was little that being from the same sect had done to help the man against the attack, and John tore out all of the energy with their signature. He was able to avoid the man’s dantian, but he wasn’t especially gentle everywhere else. He didn’t have the time or patience, but soon the man was… as well as he would be. At least nothing was getting worse, and the invading energy was gone. They provided him basic medical treatment with what they had available before moving out. John wanted to aim towards Vrona, but he would circle around to come in from the east side. He didn’t want to run into the next group of their enemies, but he also didn’t want to spend days wandering through the desert hoping to encounter another large city and avoid being tracked.

-----

The other shard of Ciaritzal was now in Vrona. John was certain of that as they approached. It still felt odd, however. Unstable, like the cultivator was unable to properly contain it. Perhaps they had gotten injured, or used up too much of their spiritual energy at once and it was fighting back. John considered if the sway of the Milanovic clan was high enough to be able to kill the man inside the city. He wasn’t sure of that, and wanted to assess the situation more carefully as they entered.

Everyone was exhausted, and John went to seek out the previous places they had stayed at. It was easier to get a place at an inn on short notice than to try to stay with one of the local sects, and he didn’t have any Milanovics with him.

All of the survivors, plus their captive, staggered into an inn that was fortunately much cooler, out of the overbearing sun and the oppressive fire elemental spiritual energy that permeated the area. John quickly threw a sack of coins to the innkeeper to get cool water and food for everyone immediately. He downed some water himself, but upon growing closer to the shard of Ciaritzal he had noticed more details that he couldn’t help but investigate. He wouldn’t get close enough for a battle to happen, and the city guard would interfere if it did.

Before he had time to reconsider, he was close enough to gain several very important data points. First, he could sense Steve and Yustina, and then his uncle Aydan’s cultivation revealed itself. Unsteady and weak… and clearly not doing well with a shard of Ciaritzal inside him.

John rushed towards them, ignoring the annoyed looks of others in the street. He could get a way with a little bit of impropriety for his strength, and he wasn’t causing any damage. Steve came out to meet him as he approached. “Hello there. Might want to get in here.”

“What happened?”

“The usual. A battle, but I assume you knew that from talking to the rest of your clan here. Aydan… is not doing well.”

“Bring me to him,” John said.

Instead of an inn, he was brought to Aydan bound up in a clinic. The turmoil of spiritual energy was clearly a problem, but physical wounds were equally responsible for his condition. A quick sweep with his senses informed John of the deep wounds.

“It would be best not to disturb him,” the doctor on duty said. “Unless… you can deal with that,” he gestured vaguely, but the chaotic spiritual energy was clear.

“I should be able to,” John said. If he failed, Aydan would die… but that was likely going to be the case regardless. Somehow his uncle had a shard of Ciaritzal inside of him, and it wasn’t even close to stable. Aydan had fairly high affinity for the guardian beast, but not sufficient to carry a piece of him without preparation. Physical wounds combined with lingering spiritual energy intruding in his body were exacerbating the situation, and John found himself not knowing where to start. What could he do that wouldn’t make things worse? But he had to do something, and soon… so he carefully stretched out a strand of spiritual energy, hoping that he had enough left to deal with this after the day’s exertions.