Fighting against a familiar opponent was a true test of how one had improved over time. Charlotte knew most of John’s tricks, as they had battled against each other numerous times before.
They fought against each other in an arena suffused with flame, from the skies to the molten ground. That meant John’s normal techniques wouldn’t do him any good… but he no longer had to worry about channeling heat into the ground to prevent overheating. Not only had he attuned to a water element totem, his fifth totem was one of fire.
His ethereal flames weren’t able to hide themselves from Charlotte, as John quickly learned. Trying to slowly wear her down with fire wouldn’t be an effective strategy.
The two of them danced back and forth atop molten ground, viscious liquid which clung to their feet, John’s sword clashing with the glaive Charlotte held. With his free hand he peppered her with daggers, but each one was slapped away by a tendril of flame before it could draw close.
John’s water element would be his biggest advantage in this battle, but he couldn’t use it up too early. If he drained himself of his dominant element, he would have to win then and there. Of course, he could still use small amounts, augmenting it with his cycle of elements. Each slash of his sword imbued with water quenched the flames swirling around Charlotte.
He made sure to watch his feet, aware that Charlotte would have no trouble attacking through the ground- especially in this particular arena. Unlike Ursel, John did not have a nearly unbeatable defense. She didn’t have to wear him down, and indeed it would be to her advantage to find a few decisive clashes to try to overcome his defenses.
In general, John tended to build up momentum as battles drew on. His cycle of elements provided great endurance, as each element fed into the next. As expected, Charlotte took advantage of that. The glaive she had chosen for the battle spun down, cutting from above. When John deflected it, Charlotte’s bladed spear curved through the ground, drawing molten earth up with it in the following motion.
John leapt over the attack, the lightness of air carrying him out of easy reach. He could fly, but doing so unnecessarily was a waste of energy. Besides, his ranged attacks clearly weren’t sufficient to take down Charlotte. Though he might be able to adapt to that end, he had better strategies. John only managed to strike Charlotte in the back with a small dagger imbued with water, but it was not enough to pierce her armor even though it broke through the flicking tendrils of flame.
There was some foolish thought in John’s head to defeat Charlotte with her own element. Indeed, he made liberal use of fire- but only because it was the most easily refreshed. There was a close call when Charlotte produced a wall of flames that pressed forward on him from behind while she slashed with her glaive at his neck, but John twisted his body parallel to the ground, scooping up a fistful of the flaming earth to launch at her midsection. Just because she was a fire element cultivator didn’t mean she could ignore such an attack, and she wasn’t able to follow up before John moved to a better position.
Five elements gathered around John’s sword. He could see Charlotte beginning to fatigue, as there was only so much external fire element she could process in a given period. He moved forward, his feet carrying him smoothly over the ground even as it tried to cling to him like glue.
A vortex of flames burned around Charlotte's glaive as she thrust towards him. The reach of her weapon was meant to keep him back, but he merely parried with his sword to keep it from striking directly. He doubted he could step inside her range before she could pull back, but his free hand snatched for her weapon.
The weapon was still imbued with flame, but water element around John’s hand sizzled into steam as he negated the heat. His hand grabbed the shaft of the weapon as she began to pull back, and lightning coursed through the weapon that momentarily had less energy protecting it from such shenanigans.
John managed to tear the weapon from her hands as she focused on protecting herself over keeping her grip, though Charlotte still managed to counter by slinging a tendril of fire around his ankle, causing him to stumble away instead of immediately following up with an attack.
Disarmed of her weapon, however, John had a significant advantage over Charlotte. On the battlefield she could have gotten a replacement from a subordinate or drawn something from her storage bag, but the limitations of the arena were just what they carried on them. That was a problem for John as well, as he had only a limited supply of throwing knives. He had been scooping them up with his energy whenever he was near their landings, but now his off hand was rather occupied. He couldn’t just drop the weapon and assume Charlotte wouldn’t get it, after all.
For a moment John pondered over the clunky setup he had, but he decided that sheathing his sword was the best option. He wasn’t a master with a glaive, but he’d trained with and against various sorts of weapons. While it was quite a different polearm than a spear, the flowing style he could achieve with it fit quite well with the Brandle Clan’s style.
While Charlotte was able to match John for several exchanges without a weapon of her own, she was no longer able to seriously threaten him. Fire element detached from a weapon wasn’t a serious danger to a cultivator who had control over both fire and water. Even if her control of fire was superior, he could continue to attack while they were wrestling for control over one of hers.
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John kept his eyes on the ground, avoiding spurts of flame, reaching lava, and roots of fire. The final blow with which he ended the match was not impressive on its own, just a combination of a few elements to cut through Charlotte’s defenses, but he thought that the overall battle was impressive enough. It was still likely inferior to the battle between Ursel and Abritt, but it was pretty much impossible to replicate something like that.
“A good match,” Charlotte nodded.
Charlotte was able to keep her dignity as the winner of the tournament, and John kept his as the Sect Head of the Six Elements Crossroads. Ultimately the tournament seemed to have achieved many of its purposes.
While Abritt might have lost some status because of her defeat, the focus of people afterwards was not implying she was weak, but that Ursel was strong. For one thing, people knew she wasn’t weak- and they didn’t want to test if she was willing to shut their mouths. John probably wouldn’t have stopped her if she restrained herself and didn’t try to kill anyone, but people were more sensible than that.
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With the tournament officially over, everyone was in an odd state. John decided to throw a proper banquet in celebration of the event. He invited all of those who placed highly in any of the tiers, including of course Abritt and every Ascending Soul Phase cultivator.
“An unexpected invitation,” Abritt replied. “Unfortunately, I have prior engagements and cannot linger further beyond the scheduled length of the tournament.” She spoke precisely, showing little emotion. No anger, which was good, though perhaps she was simply hiding it. “Perhaps on a subsequent iteration of the tournament I will be free for longer.”
Indicating she would participate in the next round was good. John was happy with that.
“Of course,” John said. “And if you wish to visit before the next tournament, simply send someone to inform us.”
Abritt was… subdued wasn’t quite the right word. He could see she still had fire inside her. However, she wasn’t angry at her loss, or at least not in the way she could have been. Perhaps introspective would be more appropriate. Clearly, it was taking time to process what had happened. John knew that if it were him, he would be reviewing every moment. There were a few ways she might have defeated Ursel, but most would have required prior knowledge of the younger woman.
It was also obvious to anyone that Ursel was anything but a normal Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator. She was stronger than those at the peak, and had defeated multiple Ascending Soul Phase cultivators before Abritt. But the greater gap between her and Abritt in particular resulted in an astounding victory nobody but apparently Ursel had predicted.
Then again, Ursel had carried a great confidence from a young age… and she usually had legitimacy to back up that confidence. She was quite skilled and had powerful totems, along with her body tempering bringing her beyond simply what her power looked like. Her armor was a factor as well, but as she was chiefly responsible for its creation it wasn’t really something anyone could complain about. Abritt had found her way past the armor and simply been unable to directly damage Ursel. Even her eyelids were durable beyond reason- though it helped that she had a partial elemental advantage.
Frankly, John thought the banquet atmosphere was much more relaxed without Abritt and her faction. Not all of the Sky Island cultivators left, either. The Second and Third peaks remained, which was the majority of what remained. That included Sitora.
“Well,” the woman said, after she was seated near John. “I must say I did not anticipate that result.”
“What do you think will come of this?” John asked.
“I can’t be quite certain,” she said. “But I expect it will be more or less what you wished. There is some possibility that Abritt attempts to declare war on the continentals but… that would be a bit troublesome for her. Because I would expect your daughter Ursel will be reaching the Ascending Soul Phase in the very near future and thus boosting her already formidable power.”
“I expect the same,” John agreed. There was some possibility Ursel would have difficulty reaching the Ascending Soul Phase… but at this point she would have the backing of a great number of people if she needed anything. John would have to approach her to see if she needed anything, even simple advice because as someone who had greatly screwed up his advancement to the Ascending Soul Phase he could confirm it wasn’t entirely straightforward.
But if Ursel took three or five years to stabilize her current position, John wouldn’t have any fear for her advancement.
As for Ursel herself, she was scarfing down food. John had made sure to inform the kitchen staff that Ursel in particular would be eating more than they thought physically possible. He’d been there to see her feasting on roasted rhino, after all. Even if she hadn’t eaten the entire hill sized beast all at once, she certainly ate close to her weight- and she wasn’t a petite woman. Ursel wasn’t exactly tall, but she was packed with dense muscle. Between that and her armor, it had been enough to ground Abritt almost purely on the basis of mass.
The peaceful departure of the First Peak and the clear indications from Sitora of the Second Peak and Venera, the new master of the Third Peak, made John feel much better about the overall situation of the region. The Sky Islands had been the biggest looming problem- actually looming in the sky, even. The Molten Sea was significantly further away and the direct conflict with them had left a much larger bitterness over the region- but eventually, the influence of the Six Elements Crossroads and others would expand to meet theirs. Whatever happened there, they needed to be prepared.