Though the invaders were through the Order’s defensive barrier- or were about to be- there were still numerous options available to them. That included the formations which might do many things Anton didn’t know about… and some smaller but no less impactful options.

As cultivators on both sides began dying on the frontlines, the Ascension cultivators were the focus of the battle. Without them the enemy forces were still very powerful, but not enough to take out the strongest members of the Order with a slight distraction. As it was, everyone had to be wary of them, and they attempted to take advantage of it.

Grand Elder Matousek was one of the oldest members of the Order, and had reached late Life Transformation so she was also one of the strongest. A whirling tornado of darkness and blood was cutting through the ranks and she had moved to stop it, bright fire holding him back. Their energies clashed, one without a direct physical form and the other barely protecting her vulnerable body. When it took too long to overwhelm her, the Ascension cultivator tried to push past her, seemingly uninterested in continuing the conflict. Matousek wouldn’t let that happen, reaching out her hands to grab onto the insubstantial figure.

Though her actual hands added little to the equation, the projection of them that reached out had greater success, trapping a portion of the cultivator’s energies. There were limitations to how such cultivators could function. She wasn’t sure how far apart the vortex could stretch, but leaving behind a good third of it would be terrible regardless. For the man with two voices, anyway. If she could just destroy the third of his energy that she was holding onto, it would be a win regardless of what else happened.

He clearly wasn’t going to let that happen, pulling back together into a smaller cloud of blood and darkness. Then his form condensed. A moment later spears of blackness pierced through Grand Elder Matousek. They seemed to be leeching something from her, but she still refused to let go of what she had captured, the fire burning around her.

It was entirely possible that neither of them noticed what was happening beyond the two of them. Matousek wasn’t going to last long, but taking her out wasn’t devoid of effort. Such self-sacrificial tactics would be heavily discouraged in any other situation, but when facing overwhelming odds, dying to take out a greater foe was perhaps the best possible option.

Those who came to her aid were too late. Soon enough, black veins began to bulge within Matousek’s face, while every other part of her began to wither. She didn’t have the intensity to end her life in an explosion like Vandale, but there was a final flare that covered the man. The detached portion of his power returned to him in tatters, and his clothing was destroyed even further… forcing the critters marching up it to leap onto him.

Even as the first bites of the ants started to pierce into his flesh he released a great burst of energy. A nearby compound of buildings was flattened in the explosions, and cultivators on both sides died. And the ants… continued to bite. The man screamed in rage, two voices echoing outward before he suddenly turned into the whirlwind of blood and darkness once more. That freed him from the ants, but they all got one final bite into his energy, pulling it away.

Around the battlefield the tiny energy resistant beings revealed themselves, primarily targeting the Ascension cultivators. There were enough of them to also attack some of the Life Transformation cultivators as well. But despite their strong resistance to energy, they weren’t invincible.

They were larger than normal ants- some the size of a knuckle or more. That also made it easier to crush them, or attack them with a conventional weapon. It wasn’t efficient but ultimately their body structures were easily defeated by human cultivators. They began to perish rapidly, but were a startling change to the battlefield to cause any injuries to the Ascension cultivators- and to nibble away at their energy reserves.

The invaders still possessed overwhelming force and continued to push their way inward. Soon enough they were at the core of the sect- not the peak where the elders lived, but the lower part of the mountain with the various functional buildings. Including the rewards hall and the armory.

Elder Evan stood guard outside the armory, making all he could of his Essence Collection cultivation. Other members of the Order stood guard as well, but they were barely able to withstand the assault. The moment that spelled their doom was when the enemies finished making their way in, freeing the two Ascension cultivators who had been tearing open the barrier repeatedly. The earth trembled as a giant of a man flexed his power, charging forward towards where hundreds of pieces of equipment lay.

The guards could not stand, flinging themselves to the side. The shockwave of the man’s movements still killed and injured many weaker disciples, but there was no point in dying without being able to at least slow him down.

Then he was in the armory, where hundreds of weapons could clearly be felt. As for why the Order kept so many instead of handing them out to their disciples… it was simply the most efficient method. None of the best pieces of equipment remained. Just enough that their aura could be amplified. As the large man barreled inside, he charged towards the lone figure inside, barely considering the shield held up to stop him. And then he ceased moving.

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Not of his own volition, but because his momentum was canceled out. Partly by the figure in front of him, but more by the formation in the area. The sudden forced the entire rebound of the man’s movement into himself, though a number of scattered enchanted weapons shattered as they gave of themselves to power the formation.

Timothy and the few others inside the armory for the ambush converged on the Ascension cultivator. While he was still staggered from the backlash Timothy stabbed his sword towards the man’s throat. He barely managed to touch his skin, but cutting through the man’s defensive energy was good enough for him. Without the formation suppressing the man he might have not even done that, but doing anything to someone so much stronger was nearly a miracle. The combined attacks of several Essence Collection cultivators forced the man to divert some attention to them.

He regained his bearings in an instant, but as he stomped his foot on the ground he found that his energy didn’t propagate as he expected. The surrounding cultivators barring Timothy were forced a step back, but none of them were rent asunder or sent flying. “Fine then!” The man yelled, raising a gauntleted fist, “I’ll do this one at a time.”

As his fist came towards Timothy, he realized how lucky he was. If it had been one of the other Ascension cultivators he might have been poorly suited to fight them. He was also lucky that his wife was currently the formation master of the Order and took special care in the area, knowing it would be where he would be fighting.

The gauntlet directly impacted Timothy’s shield, and he rebounded as much of the force as he could. Nice, straightforward, and easy to predict. It still left a dent in Timothy’s shield, and he would run out of energy before his opponent if it were just the two of them… but not being instantly annihilated was good. Even his anti-ascension shield technique could only negate some of the overwhelming energy.

Elsewhere, Hoyt felt an ominous energy approaching. A hundred meters away, a black and red tornado solidified into a person. “You… are a descendant of Vandale, correct?”

Hoyt just glared at him. His differences with his grandfather had been resolved, but the entire core of them was not wanting to be thought about only in relation to him. Still, he couldn’t deny it. “That’s right. I’ll show you!” Hoyt hefted his axe, flames swirling around him. He couldn’t claim to be stronger than Grand Elder Matousek, but the man was not without injuries. Blood and ascension energy were slowly leaking out of the man. Hoyt realized that stalling might be a better option, and shifted his stance. “But who are you? I don’t recognize you.”

“Who am I?” The voices screeched. “I”m the great leader of-” the man’s face distorted as he spoke two sentences simultaneously. “The Flying Blood Cult/Black Soul Valley”. He grimaced. “Your grandfather interrupted my ceremony, where I was supposed to ascend without issues!”

“I see,” Hoyt nodded. “So which one is the real you, then?”

“I’m-” the man’s face twisted. “Not going to fall for that.” Then he leapt to the attack. Instead of turning fully into a vortex of life and blood draining energies, he simply extended curving spikes of it from himself. Moving the last hundred meters only took an instant.

Hoyt was ready, at least, meeting him with his axe and a wall of flame.

Across the battlefield, Anton was finding himself on the run. He didn’t even have time to turn and face his opponent, though he still devoted a small portion of his energy to firing arrows behind himself with his ‘extra’ bows. A great wave of water was constantly moving after him, having designated him some sort of important target. Inside of it was one of the most unassuming of the Ascension cultivators, the woman who wielded a small spear. Anton absolutely couldn’t let her get close, as a single blow would certainly take him out. He maneuvered his way through the battlefield past allies who had a spare bit of effort to help slow her down.

There were also other arrows focusing in on her. Antons made up only a portion. Marcio Armani and some of his fellow archery students were focusing on her as well. It was uncertain if it was the most efficient tactic, but working together to take down ascension cultivators was the plan to begin with, and he wasn’t going to complain about the assistance. There were also occasional arrows from Kseniya, slowing down the woman every time she was about to catch up to Anton.

Unfortunately there were only so many places he could go. He was still fighting, even though it didn’t look like it. He was considering if he had any special arrows that might help, but ultimately decided that they would have difficulty piercing the great mass of watery energy around her. So he chipped away at it, disrupting the energy more than destroying it.

When he found the chance, Anton spun on his heels, gathering ascension energy into his bow. A single arrow could briefly provide some real threat to an actual Ascension cultivator, he hoped. It actually managed to get close to her, and though she stabbed straight through it with her short spear, a shot from Kseniya managed to sneak through and hit her in the thigh, actually piercing a centimeter or so into the muscle. Not an optimal target, but it was something.

In the distance, Alva wanted to have Fuzz run after her grandfather. However, she knew that wasn’t the best spot for her. After some initial assistance he had moved too far, and she would do better to help deal with the last Ascension cultivator. She had managed to reach Life Transformation herself, though she was a few years behind the others. Fuzz was hard to measure, but he was far from an ordinary beast. Even so, they couldn’t defeat an Ascension cultivator with just them. But they were contributing towards the fifth member.

Specifically, finding them. They were some sort of illusionist. Not surprising, given what the Twin Soul Sect was known to do. The illusions covered every sense, even smell, but it was imperfect. The formations also helped, making the enemies unable to completely override the Order’s senses on a wider scale. Even so, the last woman had caused a few people to attack each other.

Alva’s job was to shoot anywhere that Fuzz pointed. She didn’t always know what distance, but she had a vague idea of where the enemy was. Fuzz ran around at a speed even Ascension cultivators couldn’t casually match. Fuzz hadn’t pointed to her in a few moments and Alva wondered where to fire, when Fuzz stopped and snapped his jaws. She snap-fired her bow right in front of them, but that barely did anything except disturb the illusion. She swallowed as she was suddenly less confident in Fuzz’ movement keeping her safe.