Light filtered from the box John had placed in front of him. He had been concerned that the natural levels of darkness elemental spiritual energy would harm the egg, but it seemed his concerns were unfounded. At the very least, it seemed to be more than sufficient to resist for the moment, though he wasn’t sure if it would eventually run out of energy. He supposed that it should, without any way to replenish itself. After that point it would likely begin to corrode. Perhaps a true light element creature might generate some spiritual energy of their own, but the egg was only half alive at best. Even so, he did his best to shelter it from the surrounding darkness energy so that it could avoid wasting its potential.

He hadn’t had the opportunity to train with it for very long. Just a few months, after which he could barely consider himself familiarized with the light element. But it wasn’t just a source of energy. It could also be used as a weapon. As for how… that he was unsure. Thus, he was consulting with the experts.

“It does seem a potent enough energy source,” Zacharie commented. “However, using the depth of its energy would likely be dangerous, even for one of us. It is no wonder that Cuah’arn suggested you don’t try it yourself. Even if you have three other elements, you still are primarily based in darkness. Even I would be rather hesitant to make use of it.”

“What would happen?” John asked.

“The easiest answer is an explosion,” Zacharie said. “At best, it could be directed somewhat, but regardless whoever triggered it would be at the epicenter.”

Deirdre was one of the other two from the Golden Tomb Guardians, and she had her own opinion on the matter. “It could likely be delayed enough for it to be thrown some distance,” she surmised.

“Rather reckless, is it not?” Monika countered.

“If it’s an emergency…” Deirdre shrugged, “It’s better to try it.”

“I wanted to provide the option,” John said. “I’d rather not limit our options when dealing with the Society of Midnight. They’ll still have the majority of the Shadow Wolf clan with them at minimum. One of you could carry it to help with energy replenishment at least.”

“I’ll do it,” Deirdre said. She looked at the other two, “I know both of you are stronger than me. I’ve only been able to advance just recently with extra time in the tomb. But if we need to use it as a weapon, I won’t be watched as much as the two of you.”

“Don’t feel obligated to try it,” John said. “If it’s still dangerous for you, you don’t have the obligation.”

“I know but… they’re not our enemy for nothing, right? Both the Tenebach clan and Golden Tomb Guardians… we have to win. I won’t be reckless about it,” Deirdre persuaded.

“I agree they will most likely focus on the two of us,” Monika nodded. “But let me remind you that you have a bright future. If you believe there’s a way to trigger it away from yourself, you must swear to do that… and only if necessary.”

“I concur,” Zacharie nodded. “Don’t be reckless with it. You should instead use it to bolster yourself, and of the three of us that’s still best done by yourself.”

“I understand,” Deirdre said. “I swear to use it only if absolutely necessary, and with the greatest caution.”

The whole discussion made John not want to hand it over. It was like asking someone to sacrifice themself for others. In a way, that was the same he was asking of everyone he fought by his side, but usually not so direct. Was he hesitant because Deidre was perceived as more valuable? Because he knew her better, or because she was stronger? But ultimately, they might need it. “I’ll entrust it to you, then,” John held out the box. “It’s not exactly easy to hide, so that will need to be discussed.” The egg was similar in size to a basketball, but more awkwardly shaped. Not easy to hide in a pocket, for example.

Now they had to coordinate with everyone else on making it potentially useful, though how that would work was another question. Should they support her movement into enemy lines, or let her go alone? Ultimately it should be based on her decisions. And if all went well, Deidre would be fighting as just another branch of the Golden Tomb Guardians, dealing with mundane tactical choices.

-----

The counterattack on the Shadow Wolf clan’s camp hadn’t caused serious damage to them, but it did at least disrupt them to the point that their attempts to harass the army as they continued towards the Society of Midnight were limited. It wasn’t possible to completely stop them, but limiting the damage they dealt was good enough.

At a sustainable travel pace they arrived in the area controlled by the Society of Midnight within two days. They began to encounter scouts and outposts, but their presence in the area was already clear so there wasn’t much for their enemies to determine except more precise positions. The outposts cleared out as they approached- nobody wanted to take on an army with only a squad or two.

Their only deviation from the expected route was the last few kilometers approaching the Society’s headquarters. They deviated from the road coming from the east, heading around to the south. This was to avoid any traps that might have been placed along the road, as well as to allow them easier access to sending messages west. Specifically, to the Calamitous Swarm.

Their speed of travel was limited by their beasts of burden, but they were capable in rough terrain off road, and the Order of the Amber Heart helped smooth out the area where they marched. The headquarters of the Society of Midnight was a small city, with a keep at the center. The general arrangement was already known ahead of time, and plans had been made with the Order of the Amber Heart to determine how they would proceed. While they didn’t exactly have time for a long siege, now that they were at their main goal they could afford a few days at least.

The enemy could of course leave their walls to attack, but that would accomplish the goals of the combined army rather well. Fighting outside of the Society’s defenses would be to their advantage, and was thus unlikely. Except for sabotage and the like.

The location they picked was a high rise nearby, rocky terrain that looked down at the walls. It didn’t quite provide the angle to see beyond the walls, but it made it harder to approach them stealthily. Setting up fortifications was somewhat more difficult, but the Order of the Amber Heart could bend the earth and stone beneath them. John would have helped, but he was just one more person. Besides, they had the situation handled- soon enough primitive walls went up, and then they were working on the real plans.

Because they were staying for longer, the Brandle clan began a moat around the outside. While it seemed like it might actually make the area easier to traverse, it was closer to filling a trench with weapons. They were replacing the environment with one favorable to themselves, so anyone who thought it would be simple to swim across to the walls would find themselves sorely disappointed. Leaping wouldn’t help either, as a few cultivators together could raise an entire section to grasp incoming enemies.

The fire cultivators of the Milanovic clan worked with the Mulyani clan to begin bombarding over the wall- gusts of wind pushing concentrated balls of fire. The rise they were on was distant enough from the walls that it hardly contributed to their range. The enemies on the walls and the defensive formations intercepted the vast majority of the attacks, but it kept them occupied.

That left the Tenebach clan with the second most important duty of hiding what the Order of the Amber Heart was really up to. There were a few steps to the deception. Most straightforward was to use darkness energy to hide the details of their encampment, limiting specifically energy senses. Blocking vision would just be a waste of energy outside of combat… and the angles involved were favorable for them.

Meanwhile, the Order dug down into the ground. A digging operation would usually involve a large amount of debris being removed, but the earth cultivators were able to shuffle around some of the dirt and stone while compressing other parts. The compression had the added benefit of strengthening the walls of the tunnels they were constructing. Each tunnel was only wide enough for a handful of cultivators to stand abreast, and even then it was rather tight- but for their purposes, it was sufficient. After it went down they immediately curved towards the walls, though they kept a depth of five meters. Along with the depth of the earth itself and intentional misdirection from Tenebach clan members in the tunnels, it was predicted they shouldn’t be noticed. And if they were, they could adapt depending on how the enemy reacted.

That left the Golden Tomb Guardians. There was actually an exception to being able to see over the walls- they didn’t have the angle for it, but what good was it to have people that could control light if they couldn’t accomplish something simple like that?

John understood that while the activity would normally be trivial, in a darkness dominant region it took more concentrated effort. The three Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators among them gathered around the egg, using it to replenish their energy and empower their efforts to pierce through the veil of darkness that the Society of Midnight hid behind.

Instead of lending his aid to one of the other groups or leading the efforts of the Tenebach clan, John found himself monitoring their balance of energy. He didn’t want half of their group to run out of energy on halfhearted attacks or distractions. Or one third, since they did have a proper source of light element, and the rest of the Golden Tomb Guardians were conserving themselves.

To affect things on a larger scale, John co-opted Matayal. And though he didn’t want to reveal his presence too early, John also called upon the aid of Ciaritzal inside of him. From above they drew in darkness energy, providing a path for the light and heat of the sun to reach them in concentrated form. He filtered out the air element- it was never completely absent anywhere, but cultivators worked better with higher purities of their own elements. Earth and water were related to darkness, and thus those elements were more freely accessible. The trick was getting everything to where it was needed… without alerting anyone.

John could feel shards of Ciaritzal within the walls, vaguely moving about. It was possible they had already sensed Ciaritzal inside of him and were preparing, but there was little he could do. The spiritual beast himself was quite happy to be absorbing some of the dark element around them, though much of it was channeled down to the tunnels as well.

The more he worked, the more John felt as if the natural elements were inexhaustible. That wasn’t quite true, but there was a way there was always more than there seemed. Astrein, for example, was taken to be a place low in spiritual energy. John’s own experience had found that to be quite untrue- it was simply that it was a nearly uniform mixture of all elements, which required more work to access any individual portion. Yet John judged that the overall quantity of spiritual energy in Astrein was higher than most places, at least the ambient energy. It didn’t contain any areas of particular power, but it was all there.

Though night fell, work didn’t stop. Knowing what the Society of Midnight was up to while it was most difficult to watch them was also the most intriguing. The tunnels were being constructed in shifts- for multiple reasons. They could have attempted to work harder for part of the day and taken the rest off, but empty tunnels could be more obvious than actively concealed ones that were expanding. If anyone looked down, at least. Someone might, but by the morning their tunnels would be touching beneath the walls, and would have achieved at least the first stage of their plan. How far they ultimately got provided more options, and nothing strictly prevented them from a frontal assault except the inefficiency of it.