Strangely enough, John was nearly as hot as his first trip to the Green Sands. There had been some upgrades to his carriage that would help, but that was only if he was in that one. Instead he was in another carriage and to avoid ruining the whole reason he had to minimize his use of spiritual energy, ultimately resulting in him having to stick to pure darkness. That was actually fine for a certain type of training, but disappearing heat with darkness was ironically harder than funneling it elsewhere with earth. But part of that was the general heat lacking intention, and part was practice.
This was one of those concessions for the sake of safety, and John hoped it would be worth it. He understood he was the strongest around, but he also was very much not unbeatable. If he’d been a little less lucky or skilled in the past he might already be dead. That was how many cultivators reached their heights, but he’d rather reduce the number of times he had to be lucky.
After they were a good way into the Green Sands, John was encouraged that they’d made the right choice. It seemed that the Society of Midnight didn’t quite understand how he functioned, but also that they were extremely interested in seeing him killed. He could sense no fewer than three pieces of Ciaritzal up ahead, which almost certainly meant an equal number of Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators.
It was time to test something he was trying out. He made several small pulses of darkness, quite low in power and only something that could be felt by those nearby- or someone with a direct line of sight to him. They hadn’t had time to set up a good code yet, but he was at least able to warn of danger.
They were still far enough that he could have just jumped out of his carriage or yelled at someone, but testing in practical circumstances where people weren’t just waiting for the signal was also useful.
After a few moments, there was a response from the front… but the limitations really didn’t allow for John to do more than indicate the magnitude of danger was great and that they should stop.
He had some nice fantasies about taking back three shards of Ciaritzal all at once, but if they had that many Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators he didn’t want to think about what else they might have. They had to have known he was coming as well, but that could have been through any number of avenues. Anyone in any city along the way could have noticed them and passed along the information, since they weren’t exactly subtle.
It still meant the Society of Midnight had been ready, with people close enough to place along his most likely route, but it wasn’t too surprising they might be involved in the whole situation with the Shadowflame Disciples somehow.
Aydan stepped out of the carriage in front as they stopped and made his way towards John. “What is it?”
John explained the situation quickly. “They shouldn’t have noticed us yet though. Unless they have something special I don’t know about. Either way, we should make our way around. Going off road isn’t exactly comfortable here but…” John shrugged.
“Right. It’s not worth trying to fight them here with just us. At some point they might realize we passed them up and come to cause trouble with the Milanovic clan though…”
“If they do, we’ll be ready. Besides, if they openly cause trouble in the Green Sands… we’ll have even more leverage against the Darklands. That place isn’t so tight-knit that they’ll be willing to shelter them indefinitely. In fact, they’d feel a lot more comfortable with a small army going on the offensive knowing there was a specific target.” John shrugged, “Or they don’t follow us and we have to deal with them later. I can’t imagine they can afford to lose those three though so I expect them to be cautious. That should be close to half of their remaining cultivators with shards of Ciaritzal… and they likely don’t have many Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators beyond that.”
“... Perhaps the Tenebach clan should have fled further generations ago,” Aydan shook his head, “Though there weren’t necessarily better places to settle down.”
In the end, Aydan returned to the front carriage with the Brandle clan cultivators, their presences concealed by the carriage. They weren’t the secret so much as John not being there in case of an ambush, but it was still worth trying to have them as a surprise.
A normal carriage could not go off road into the sand, but the Tenebach clan didn’t have just average horses. The wheels weren’t made for loose sand, but the dedicated efforts of several cultivators could effectively increase their surface area. It would be tiring, but they weren’t intending to stay off road forever. Just long enough to go around the Society of Midnight group, though they were taking a very circuitous route to avoid notice.
It should have worked, because they were far enough that the waiting group shouldn’t have been able to sense them. But when they suddenly began moving John began to worry. They weren’t moving terribly fast. Not yet, at least. Even so the pace had to be increased to maintain distance.
How they were being tracked John didn’t know. It likely wasn’t precise with how the movements of those chasing them didn’t quite match up. With enough time the desert winds would conceal their actual tracks, but if they got within a close enough distance and found them then it would be impossible to lose them. At least with a large group.
Those questions were answered a short time later as a literal flare of power shot into the sky. A bundle of fire and darkness lifted into the air and lingered. At the same time, cultivators revealed themselves at the front of the line of carriages, some previously buried in the sand and some riding desert horses. Black flames washed over the front carriage, incinerating the horses and nearly killing the driver, his spiritual energy defenses weakening the attack. The leading carriage itself withstood the attack with minimal damage, but more cultivators were charging towards it- while the second carriage hadn’t done nearly so well for itself.
It was at that point that John had to make a choice. The reason he was in the trailing carriage was to have the option to turn and run if something like this happened. He was ultimately the most important factor of the future of the clan, not just for his strength but because of the way people perceived the losses of different factions. Even if the Tenebach clan could go on without him, the perception of their power would weaken significantly.
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Fortunately, John only had to think for a short moment, and there was only one sensible option. That was to fight. If he turned to run, he would only be heading back into a stronger force behind them. Any other options were conveniently ignorable since he really didn’t want to abandon his people.
By the time John was leaping out of his carriage, Aydan and the water cultivators were out the front engaging what appeared to be the leader, a woman in the Consolidated Soul Phase.
“Keep the carriage safe!” John instructed the driver as he ran past with the others from their particular carriage. “We’ll need it later.”
His first attack was a simple throwing dagger into the neck of the closest Soul Expansion Phase cultivator. A little bit of darkness hid it and water element helped slip it through the man’s defenses- mainly fire oriented. Yet these cultivators had traces of darkness as well. A tricky balance to maintain, given their generally incompatible natures. But nothing was impossible. Once someone created a technique that would work for a given combination, those teachings could be passed on. Any deviations or new techniques using opposing elements were much more likely to result in wasted time and ineffectual techniques than something usable, but the Shadowflame Disciples really had something.
John saw the way their flames clung to the leading carriage. It was quite similar to clinging affliction, and he wondered if any of those present had some technique manuals on them. Most sects and clans required their techniques to be kept somewhere safe, but there were always careless disciples or people important enough to be above the rules. Like that leader.
The enemies were quite surprised to find that the leading carriage was now empty and John was in the rear, with the maximum number of people between himself and them. The Tenebach clan had been caught off guard, likely due to the unfamiliar way the Shadowflame disciples might conceal themselves among the natural fire energy of the Green Sands, but as the battle of deception went John thought the Tenebach clan was ahead. Aydan was no slouch in combat, and the Brandle clan cultivators had a nice elemental advantage against fire, which seemed to be the majority element for the Soul Expansion Phase cultivators who had an odd number of totems to work with.
Inside of himself, John circulated the flow of elements as quickly as he could. Each element supported the other, and he wanted to draw on his spiritual energy as quickly as he could. To have any chance of survival they had to win quickly and get moving again.
“In formation!” John called to those immediately around him. They quickly took their places, channeling energy to him. They moved along with him as he began to cut down the weaker cultivators in his path. When several cultivators simultaneously shot cones of black flame from their hands, John combined the water element with a wave of sand controlled by the earth element, wrapping up and over their attacks and directing some of it back towards them. Air granted him speed and the ability to direct tiny particles of sand into people’s faces. The latter was merely annoying, but remarkably effective when the sand didn’t move with enough speed to be registered as an attack of some sort.
The Tenebach cultivators were at an elemental disadvantage- not because fire was especially effective against darkness, but because of the natural fire element in the area. The disadvantage was slight but problematic. On the other hand, the portion of the attacks that made use of darkness elemental spiritual energy was more easily countered by those who focused solely on that element.
Aydan had the talent to unravel the clinging attribute of the fire around him, and had turned his efforts to fighting off the Soul Expansion Phase cultivators. He was at the very peak of the same Phase, and if all went well he would break through soon. His actions were backed up by other members of the Tenebach clan, while the biggest threat was being contained by several Brandle clan cultivators. The black flames were not entirely negated by their water elemental spiritual energy, but she found it difficult to cause any serious damage to them.
John fought his way across the battlefield, slipping past Aydan’s group without a second thought. They could certainly use his backup, but the most effective way to finish the fight was to take out the leader. The same was true in reverse, with people gunning for him… but he had four totems at the fourth tier. Most of those present had one that matched him, and even the woman in the Consolidated Soul Phase had two of hers at the third tier. They were probably always that way, but John’s were chosen for how well he was able to make them advance. It was technically possible with any totem, but it was much more difficult if they were the wrong type. It would be better for most to continue advancing in rank rather than spending the effort on their totems.
John wasn’t polite about how he inserted himself into the battle with the woman, attempting to chop off her head immediately. Of course she avoided him. He might have been making use of the darkness element to limit peoples perceptions of his actions, but in the middle of a battle in a fire dominant region, actually concealing his location was pretty much impossible. But as she dodged away, he reached into the earth.
When she landed, she sunk up to her neck in the sand like it wasn’t there at all. That was a combination of John’s control of earth. He’d even named the technique Quicksand… and it had undergone a few refinements recently. Having the water element to help loosen it up helped, and John had some memories of something about injecting air into sand making it act more like a liquid. He wasn’t sure he got that part right, but she was in deep.
He clamped down on her with his control over the sand, and she fought back with fire. It would have worked, with fire overcoming his control over earth, except for the Brandle clan cultivators. They didn’t know entirely what John wanted, but seeing an opening they splashed huge amounts of water over the woman, covering her head and seeping it down into the ground below. Real water, not just spiritual energy emulating the effects. The carriages had barrels of water for the purposes of using as travel supplies, and a few extra had been stocked for the purposes of battle.
The woman wasn’t going to suffocate quickly, but she found it rather difficult to avoid spears being stabbed at her without the ability to move anything below her neck. John added a kick of his own energy to make certain, chopping down on her skull from above. He wasn’t sure what ultimately killed her, but her body was pretty well filled with holes.
The realization dawned on the remaining members of the Shadowflame Disciples that perhaps they had been too hasty in springing their attack. Perhaps they should have waited for the Society of Midnight to be closer. They could still potentially delay long enough… but it seemed most of them weren’t so loyal to the cause that they were willing to stay and fight with how the battle was going.
Those who did stay were quickly dispatched, and John sprang plans into motion. There were a few spare horses around to work with. “Someone hitch a few of these to my carriage. It doesn’t have to be well. Aydan, take the other carriages and head back northeast towards Vrona as quickly as you can. Half of us will be with you, and the others with me- heading deeper into the desert.”
“Are you sure that-”
John cut off Aydan. “Yes I am prioritizing my own life. You’ll be a decoy. I can cover our tracks. As for my carriage… we’ll send the horses running in another direction. Now let’s move!”