The initial stages of the battle would be determined by control of the five great crystals that hovered over the walls of Yulthens. Krainuun had detailed their capacities, from paralyzing beams to great destructive blasts, as well as how to control them. Powerful cultivators had been pouring qi into them for days, so they could easily turn the tide of the battle.

Zae Zin Nim raced ahead of the main army, her lightness technique taking her many paces with each step. Their true strike force had been spotted, which meant that the Diamond Crystalliers would be turning back to face them. Unless they could seize the crystals first, they would be crushed between the two forces. Preventing that was her first task.

She flitted up the wall of the city, running directly toward the crystal to the west of the central gates. Its body stood between her and the crystal on the westernmost point, above the harbor, which meant that she was fully vulnerable to the eastern gate crystal at her back. Omilaena was supposed to deal with that one, and she would have to be trusted to do her job.

No one struck Zae Zin Nim from behind, but the forces controlling the great crystal were panicking at her approach. They sent a surge down through the crystal that should have overwhelmed her, at minimum pushing her back to the ground.

Instead she drew her Coldfire Corona around her and sailed through unopposed. In a flash she reached the top of the crystal and attacked. The soldiers she swept off the edge with simple qi techniques, while she reserved a palm strike for the crystallier at the helm. They all fell to the city below, screaming, which left her free to seize control.

Multi-colored crystal devices controlled the great crystal, not so unfamiliar thanks to her regular piloting of the crystal ship. With a simple touch and a bit of qi, she could pivot and fire the great crystal. The potency of its qi actually impressed her: even if only for a time, someone in this position could wield the power of an Earth Soul Cultivator. It was essential that they gained control before their opponents arrived.

One of the lesser functions of the great crystal was a lens that massively enhanced her sight, allowing her to target even distant opponents. She used it first to check the crystal east of the gates and saw that Omilaena stood atop it with dead guards all around her.

With those two seized, there were no crystals with an easy shot to defend the main gates. Their main army continued to advance and Zae Zin Nim used the lens to identify their stronger fighters: Yurwa, Cragrila, and Kraetius. They would be essential for taking the city and dealing with the Ruby Crystalliers who would otherwise render the battle unwinnable.

There were defenders, of course, but they were outmatched. Yurwa and the other acid cultivators unleashed a great sphere of acid that made the gate dissolve and Zae Zin Nim felt a little pride. Omilaena was throwing poisoned needles from her vantage point, weakening strong defenders. With support, Cragrila was able to push in with few losses. Only Kraetius wasn't pulling his weight: the old man was oddly hesitant despite his Physique.

Three crystals remained controlled by the city. Two on the far northern side, hopefully to be taken in the later part of the plan, and the one by the harbor. She turned the lens in that direction, looking for their second secret force. While everyone was distracted at the main gates, workers from the mines were swimming to close the harbor gates and take a third crystal. It had been Maggle's idea, and Nirka was along with him.

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Zae Zin Nim shifted from there to the waters outside, just in case the merchants had any secrets out there. There was a fast-moving crystal ship carrying some sort of weapon, so she released a burst of qi from her weapon. Just as it was supposed to, the blast sank the ship and sent it under the waves. One more threat down.

She stiffened as she felt qi in the distance.

Grabbing the controls so hard she almost cut her hands on the crystals, she began using the lens to sweep across the ocean. It couldn't be... it was too soon. She hoped for another explanation, since she had struggled so hard to avoid this very situation.

But there was a Brightwind ship skimming across the ocean toward her.

Somehow, her father had figured out exactly what had happened far earlier than she expected. This time, he had sent Earth Soul cultivators. If they arrived, they would utterly shatter the battle plans, likely killing both sides until they got to her.

Without even thinking about what she was doing, Zae Zin Nim pivoted the great crystal and fired. She emptied every single glimmer of the stored qi in seconds, unleashing a beam of destruction that tore apart the ship and briefly lit up the entire city.

In the silence afterward, she could hear her own panting breaths. A quiet part of her said that she'd made a tactical error, that the great crystal had been needed to defend the city. All she could do was stare out at the ocean, waiting for the inevitable.

.

..

.

Well, that was a problem. Omilaena had been thinking that everything was going too smoothly, but she hadn't anticipated Zae Zin Nim just going crazy and emptying one of their best assets at the start of the battle.

When the Diamond Crystalliers arrived, which was inevitable and sooner than they'd hoped, they were likely going to take back at least some of the great crystals. The merchants had made that much clear, which was why they weren't so concerned about a surprise attack. Without the western gate crystal, it would be hard to hold them off and keep them bound outside the walls, as had been the original plan.

Time to improvise. Omilaena saw that the northeastern crystal was pivoting toward them, as if it intended to take shots at the main army. They were still vulnerable outside the gates, not yet protected by the city.

So Omilaena turned her own crystal and unleashed its freezing beam on the northeastern defenses. It retaliated and the qi burned between them so hot that the top of the city wall melted in places. The intensity couldn't hurt her, but the feedback loop was rapidly draining both crystals of their charge.

There, now three of them were taken off the battlefield and it would come down to personal strength.

That left two of them: one in the high northwest and one by the harbor. Nobles and merchants within the city seemed to have retreated to the northwestern crystal as a defensive point, which was going to be difficult to take. Of course, if things went the way Krainuun had planned, they would hole up for too long and the rest of the city would be taken.

If things went according to plan, which already seemed improbable even without the secrets Omilaena knew.

Only one battle for a crystal left, the one over the docks. Without the great crystal's lens, Omilaena couldn't pick out their swimming force or see what progress they had made. They would certainly have a much rougher fight ahead of them than they had been promised in the initial plan.

All around the city beneath her, their army was beginning to clash with the Ruby Crystalliers who had been left behind to defend Yulthens. Technically she could have jumped in to help them, but Omilaena conserved her strength. She wasn't going to exhaust herself and risk death, not for the people she saw fighting below.

A low growl rumbled beneath the battlefield. Maybe it was just her imagination, spurred by the new monstrous power she felt at the heart of their army.

Kai was awake and everything was just as she'd hoped.

So many plans, ranging from delicate to brutal, clever and violent and duplicitous. Layered over one another in countless ways that no architect of the battle could possibly anticipate. Omilaena smiled as she waited to see how they would all play out.