The pursuing ship sped along over the waves, nearly rising out of the sea. Powerful winds pushed it along while the mass of the vessel was counterbalanced by earth element. Though she was not the only one involved, during this time period Sitora was one of the main drivers of the vessel. Molten Sea cultivators smoothed their flow through the water- if they could lower the viscosity of lava, they could certainly do so with seawater. Sailors from the western islands had joined them as well, unwilling to bow to the threats of the Sovereign Primacy.

  Others from the two continents were included, but most of them were focused on protecting their homelands. Even if the death of the Triptych came this very day, the news wouldn’t spread instantly. The war would drag on for weeks even with optimal circumstances, far too long to leave anywhere vulnerable.

  When Sitora finished her shift, she had to be replaced by several others just to keep a similar pace. Everyone worked in shifts, and everyone was exhausting themselves with the sole purpose of delivering John and Aldara to their foes as fresh as possible.

  Sitora tried not to show it, but John could see and feel the deep fatigue she carried. “Thank you,” he said. “You needn’t push yourself so hard… but we appreciate it.”

  Most likely she wanted to stagger into her hammock. John didn’t intend to keep her long. Sitora gave a half smile. Perhaps that was all the effort she had left. “I am the most expendable of those who remain.”

  John grimaced. He hadn’t said anything, and it had merely been careless glances in a moment of deep stress. But she had clearly seen something. “That’s not-”

  “I’m never reaching the Exalted Soul Phase. And I would regret not using the rest of my life for something useful. Besides…” she looked sternly at John. “You aren’t exactly planning to hold back yourself.”

  John shook his head. “We can’t exactly expect to win if we’re focused on surviving ourselves.”

  Sitora nodded slightly. “It seems the club will be somewhat smaller now. But there are many other members to recruit throughout the world should it survive.”

  John wasn’t sure if she meant the club or the world. It wasn’t terribly likely that the entire world would be exterminated in the war, but it wasn’t entirely impossible. Not that it mattered, because his world might. That was what mattered first.

  -----

  Except for brief moments, all of John and Aldara’s time was focused on recovery. That could be moments of stillness where nothing happened, or active absorption and conversion of spiritual energy. In just a few days they wouldn’t recover their very significant stores of energy to full, but they could do their best.

  They were following the trail of spiritual energy left behind by the Triptych. Even with the great power the trio possessed, not just anyone would be able to pick it out. Their energy blended together with the natural world, taking advantage of various elemental techniques to hide themselves. They didn’t want to be followed. That was why it was necessary to chase them.

  It was the best chance to bring them down. It was too bad they had a significant lead, due to them abandoning their fleets in continental territory. John and Aldara alone couldn’t have given chase immediately, not without risking too much.

  Now, they were finally in sensory range. A hundred kilometers out, perhaps. But it seemed the Triptych had reached some reinforcements. They weren’t retreating along the same path they had come, but instead were some hundreds of kilometers east of the Empire of Elements among the islands they had conquered there.

  Aldara commented on the approach of various ships. “They’re trying to slow us down.”

  John nodded. “It will be a pain to get this ship past them.”

  Even if it was packed full of Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, it wasn’t invincible. Of course, John and Aldara could join the fight and wipe out everyone ahead, but they would exhaust themselves.

  “It’s about time,” Aldara said. “Don’t you think?”

  John nodded. “We’ll close the rest of the distance ourselves.”

  The two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators explained the situation to the crew that was with them. There were more or less two options for them.

  “You can turn around and return to safety,” Aldara said. “It is unlikely that they could catch you before you reached our territorial waters.”

  “Or…” John said, “You can fight, but without us. Since we must be moving on. You have already been successful, getting us to this place with the energy we now have. You don’t need to fight. But if you wish to witness our battle… you’ll have to get there yourselves.”

  It was, of course, totally insane to opt into a battle that they didn’t need to be in. But cultivators were exactly the sort of people that would do so. They had their own pride, and forcing them to return would be an insult to their efforts.

  Making certain that they were in agreement was critical, but the sentiment of the whole crew was as one.

  “We will chase after you!” they said. “We will fight the Sovereign Primacy and witness the downfall of the Triptych.”

  Sitora looked like she could barely stand, but the smile on her face was genuine. She likely didn’t expect to live long anyway, but some of the younger folk could have another century in them, possibly two. But that was even more reason they wanted to witness the end of the battle. It would be valuable for their future. They simply had to fight for it.

  John might have wished for a different world where a war like this wasn’t something that could or would happen, but in the world they were in he admired the resolve people held. And maybe, once this was over, they could see about transforming the world into something better. Assuming he lived. That was still in question. What John was not going to compromise on was the Triptych dying. He might die with them, but they wouldn’t live.

  “Fight well,” Aldara finished addressing the crew. “We will not have the luxury of taking our time.” Aldara held out a hand. John took it, and a moment later they were in flight.

  In some circumstances, they might not be able to outpace the Triptych. However, the trio had not been able to properly rest in days. Meanwhile, John and Aldara had somewhat recovered. They could afford to expend more energy catching up, while their foes had been forced to maintain a constant output to barely keep ahead of their pursuit.

  Though they were strong, could they really stand on their own? John didn’t think that was the case. But of course, the truth would be proven one way or another within the day.

  The incoming fleets of course had a number of air element cultivators that tried to block John and Aldara as they flew above. Unfortunately for them, they were simply too few and too slow. They were easily circumvented with the speed of Exalted Soul Phase cultivators, and no effort was necessary to defend against them since they couldn’t even reach.

  They did try to build up a storm front of sorts. A little hurricane to draw in the incoming duo. However, rather than slowing them down they simply took advantage of the rotating winds to speed around their foes. It wasn’t necessarily faster than a straight line under their power, but it wasn’t a loss in time.

  There were only a few major islands of note along the way. They didn’t have a better chance of fending off John and Aldara. Any scramble of cultivators they sent simply couldn’t make a difference.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Only a fortified position where others joined with the Triptych would make a difference. Unfortunately for the trio, they didn’t have their pick of locations. They merely chose the best location within range and prepared a last stand there with the limited time they had.

  The exact details were unclear to the approaching pair, but they knew that the Triptych set themselves up in a floating field of air and light. An island, perhaps, though John didn’t sense anything solid about the entire area. Instead, it was merely an elemental region floating above the sea.

  “Air distorts light,” John commented. “Do you think they mean to hide? Launch a surprise attack to take us down?”

  “I am certain they will pull anything they can. I must ask once more how committed you are to securing their deaths.”

  “It must be done.” That was all that John could say.

  Aldara nodded. “Agreed. They will spare no expense to destroy us and everything we have built if they survive. We must.” She paused for a moment. “We must not be afraid to use light and darkness. We will shatter their illusions and dissolve their winds into nothing.”

  John nodded. “Enniaun will still be the priority. Even injured, he could cause significant damage.”

  “Though we will kill anyone who gets in our way.”

  “Naturally,” John said. “If they leave themselves open, we will annihilate them.”

  “Should we flank them?” Aldara asked.

  John thought it was a good idea. But not good enough. “No. We must remain together. Maximize our synergy.”

  He couldn’t look over at her. The world they had arrived at was truly regretful. They could have been perfect together, and they still nearly were. But the smallest flaws could create the greatest cracks. Even so, John wasn’t going to let his feelings be the cause of their loss. He remembered the flow they formed together at the end of the previous battle. That was their best chance. Anything else could be worked out after they won.

  The two of them approached, swift as lightning. They didn’t hesitate to raise their spiritual energy to the maximum, utilizing the full cycle. There wouldn't be anything reserved for another battle. Though… John did reserve a little bit of energy for hiding precisely how much they had recovered. He knew Aldara had as well.

  Deception was most effective when you were being open. They were here to fight to the death… and maybe they had a little bit more energy than they felt like. It wouldn’t change the reactions of their foes, but they might gain an advantage at a critical moment.

  The enemy were of course concealed in the area, hidden among prisms made out of the air itself. Light bent into brilliant beams filling the area. Perfect for blinding the senses to conceal those within.

  The first signs of their foes were a dozen javelins in a whirlwind. Chains with various attachments on the ends spun through the air. As planned, the John and Aldara moved as one- fighting their way towards Enniaun. Completely avoiding the javelins and long chains, with more and more added every moment, was impossible. They had to engage with some directly, deflecting or blocking them. If they were too far from the core of their foe’s control, they could destroy them.

  John and Aldara took advantage of the same light bending properties that the Triptych did, weaving themselves through the area both by following preordained pathways of airflow and creating their own. Their target would be clear enough to all as they doggedly approached Enniaun, even as the man himself took care to avoid them. He was a cultivator that practiced the darkness element cycle… so he couldn’t quite fly. However, the region was such that the density of air was almost sufficient to stand upon- a bit of spiritual energy was sufficient for him to remain aloft, at least for a while.

  They drew closer. John’s blade thrummed with the power of six elements. In slightly different proportions that fit the individual techniques she was familiar with, Aldara was also ready to kill.

  John committed to a wide swing. Aldara thrust forward. That was the moment when Folasade appeared. Her glaive flashed brightly, trying to overwhelm the senses of the two. Fire and lightning crackled together, meant to pierce through any defenses.

  Her heart was pierced through before her head was severed. Even if Folasade could mostly blend in with the surrounding elements, it was imperfect. It was extraordinarily difficult to fool two full cycle cultivators, so they had been expecting her. And their attacks… were not launched at the angles that they appeared.

  Instant death. Yet it wasn’t a flawless move on the part of Aldara and John. Folasade’s death detonated the spiritual energy she had in her attack as well as the rest of her stores all at once. Undirected energy was far less lethal than a focused strike, but they were shaken. And their other foes didn’t suddenly stop existing during that moment.

  A chain wrapped around John’s right wrist, sharp spikes digging into his spiritual energy and holding onto his textile armor. In that moment, he was unable to properly swing his sword or dodge. The chain was not loose but closer to a solid structure as it was filled with earth element. Enniaun charged forward with one of his spears, attempting to annihilate John. But he wasn’t focused on that at all… because he knew his partner would take care of it.

  Aldara blocked the blow with her shield, gusts of flaming wind blasting out towards Enniaun. He wasn’t able to immediately strike again due to the rebound, though anything in an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator’s battle could happen in the smallest fractions of a second.

  Caelnon was already trying to lock down Aldara’s movements with additional chains. He didn’t expect John to add more earth element into the chain wrapping around his wrist. But sometimes, he had to take inspiration where he could. In this case, John was thinking of what Ursel would do.

  What would that be? Of course, it was smashing her foes head on with overwhelming strength. John released his sword, a quick tug of spiritual energy sending it into its sheath. His free left hand clasped down on another segment of the chain while he slid the one around his wrist into his grip. He did have to break his thumb and tear up the top layer of skin to accomplish that, but such damage could either be healed after the battle… or he’d never have to worry about recovering.

  He attempted to use Caelnon as a bludgeoning weapon to hit Enniaun. John didn’t expect it to work, and indeed Caelnon released his spiritual energy control, letting John tear apart the chain instead of pulling him.

  John immediately grabbed the next chains, ones that were heading for Aldara’s ankles. She could avoid them, of course, but he wanted to give her a chance to focus on fighting Enniaun. Spears battled for superiority, the two handed grip Enniaun used providing him more flexibility of motion while Aldara had superior defense because of her shield. They danced among the distortive planes of air element, their visual positions never clear to the other while at the same time the powerful light element made it more difficult to sense other spiritual energy.

  John was prepared to either swing Enniaun or tear apart the chains once more. They were decently enchanted, but nothing could withstand an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator. Enniaun did have the skill to make his spiritual energy retain its power even over a long length of chain, instead of massively weakening, but he still had to decide whether to contend with John at all.

  Then, without warning, Aldara released a great flash of light. John was almost blinded… which meant that the other two absolutely were. And in truth, John had a little warning. Obviously Aldara hadn’t verbally warned him, but their spiritual energy was in tune. There wasn’t much else she would do with a burst of light element like that.

  John dulled the feedback Caelnon would feel with his chains, rushing towards the man- though not directly. He ended up right behind one of the shimmering planes of air and light. Caelnon found his position, immediately sending much shorter chains around behind John. They didn’t have to touch him, but instead created a shell around the two- a shell that immediately began to shrink and pulled them together on either side of the plane of light.

  John charged his hands with darkness, pushing it through the barrier. It created a far larger explosion than he could have caused in the same amount of time. It wasn’t enough to defeat Caelnon, but it put him off guard… and startled Enniaun at the same time. The mutually destructive elements of light and darkness could be brought into balance- indeed, the Triptych had done so with Folasade and himself- but to then choose to let it annihilate up close was something the man couldn’t understand.

  Because he wasn’t fighting for anything but his own life. Aldara understood, though. She joined John’s assault with one of her own, sending beams of darkness towards numerous locations… then relinquishing her control.

  The detonations never stopped, even as John and Aldara wore down their own spiritual energy. Taking out Folasade was insufficient for them to relax. Even the injured Enniaun was a serious threat.

  But the battlefield they had chosen wasn’t to the advantage of the Triptych. Or perhaps now they were simply an unbalanced duo. Air and light were the dominant elements. Caelnon had a bit of air, but only one totem out of six. Neither had light.

  Simply using the prominent elements wouldn’t be enough to defeat them, not with their caution enhanced after Folasade’s death. But taking advantage of them where they could and pressing any advantage they gained- even at cost to their health- was rapidly putting John and Aldara into a superior position. From three to two… and if they could pare down the numbers to a single foe? It would be impossible not to kill them. As long as they didn’t worry too much about their own survival.