Truthful Transmigration

Chapter 540 540

Though there was only a single element that Caelnon and Enniaun were missing between the two of them, their combination ended up quite… John wouldn't call it unbalanced. Allied cycles and core cycles were their own sort of balance. They were sufficient. Even single or dual elements were viable.

John simply needed all six elements because he wanted to do everything. A realization that came a bit late… but perhaps it was unnecessary to begin with. All that was truly important was that he chose the path that was best for himself.

Just like these two members of the… former Triptych. It was unlikely they could have crossed the threshold into the Exalted Soul Phase if they chose anything incompatible with themselves.

He was still going to take advantage of their gaps, though. With Caelnon having only a single air and fire totem, they were weak in half of the elements. John planned to exploit all of that, but light was the most important one.

There was no opportunity to verbalize his plan to Aldara. Even if he could guarantee that neither of the remaining duo could read lips and that he could perfectly conceal the sound, the fact that a plan was made could influence things too much. John also didn't feel it was necessary. Because as much as he had been rejecting it, he and Aldara were still uncomfortably compatible. Perhaps not naturally so, but it didn't make a practical difference if Aldara chose compatibility. Especially not at the moment.

The exchange of blows continued. John's weapon never stopped moving. Aldara's spear was always focused on deadly attacks, her shield defending the two of them against their foes. Caelnon was relentless with his chain weapons, and if either of them found themselves caught for even an instant there was no doubt that Enniaun would take advantage of the opening.

John's light resonated with the local area. No doubt the remaining duo would prefer to retreat to another location, but that was impractical. Dealing with disadvantageous terrain was something every cultivator of any merit had to deal with throughout their career. That included the fact that most of the battle was taking place in flight… even though Enniaun couldn't fly on his own.

They were drifting closer to the surface of the water below, but at the moment they still found themselves in a region of compressed air, lensing the local light element. Sometimes, light was reflected like a mirror and other times it refracted in myriad different ways. John imbued his own light element into the area ceaselessly.

Their foes began to show signs of weariness. No, they had been exhausted even before John and Aldara arrived. The extreme effort the attacking pair had gone through to take down Folasade quickly had actually brought John and Aldara closer to that level. But two on two, Enniaun and Caelnon were getting worn down.

Though Aldara's weapon style was based on Matayal's- and thus the water element- her overall fighting style relied more on the light allied cycle. Her first totem was light, and she had been part of the Bright Trinity after all. Much of her effort was spent making it more difficult for Caelnon to fly, at the same time focusing on burning away the earth element of the other two cultivators. Of course, they would counter with fire- but Aldara had her own water element to negate the elemental dominance.

Small gains weren't going to win them the battle on their own, though they were still critical. Instead, they needed something impactful. John could catch one of Caelnon's chains again… if the man weren't so cautious about how he moved them. If they could blind Enniaun, maybe force a clash of light and darkness… that would be another opportunity.

John was setting them up to win in multiple ways. He paid close attention to the faces of their opponents, not merely to read their eyes and their most likely angles of attack but their state overall. That fatigue was growing. It was just about time to point it out. "You won't last long," John taunted. "The woman who was with you is already dead. I wonder which of you will fall next? Because you both will."

John twisted his body as a spear brushed just past him. Perhaps he should have worked on his reflex body tempering slightly more. It hadn't seemed practical at the time, but Exalted Soul Phase battles were pushing him to his limit. He wondered how Aldara did it. Perhaps she simply allotted more spiritual energy to her own brain.

"Folasade will be remembered," Enniaun said curtly. "But you won't."

John shrugged. "You may remember her for as long as you wish. The rest of your life, even. I'd say… ten minutes tops."

Enniaun disengaged, anchoring himself to a segment of hardened air. Fortified it with his own earth element, even. Too bad, John would have happily dissolved it and forced Caelnon to catch him.

Enniaun began to throw more javelins. It was unlikely he had an endless supply, but given how many he'd used already it wouldn't be strange for him to have another dozen or another hundred.

Their trajectories were intentionally concealed with darkness. Water guided their path, sometimes moving them in smooth arcs then at the last moment causing them to surge forward- or sweeping them off to the side of their trajectory. Earth carried power and weight. Durability. Destroying the javelins wasn't that easy.

This time, they were a guide for Caelnon's attacks. John felt the slight connection between the two, picked out the patterns. Then again, anticipating that a big attack was coming didn't take special insight.

Chains filled the area, with all of the gaps having javelins in between. This wasn't a trick the pair could repeat often- perhaps seeing it even once would make it easily counterable- but they didn't need to. They forced John and Aldara closer. Caelnon was wary of John trying to grab onto his chains. Enniaun forced apart Aldara's water element as she tried to create a bubble of safety around them.

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John grabbed a spear. Not Enniaun's- it was too far. Not a javelin, because they weren't quite close enough yet. Aldara's.

This wasn't a plan. He simply tugged lightly, and she let him take it. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind too much that he tossed it. Caelnon was John's target. Fire and air mixed together to overpower just one small section, pushing past his chains if not destroying them.

And Aldara did precisely what John had hoped. She surged forward with him, not letting themselves be caught in the precise center. And then she caught a chain.

Even if they didn't have the same training, there was no reason she couldn't replicate anything John had done. His unique techniques would probably take some time to grasp, but she was just as much an Earth element cultivator as he was, even if Earth was her fourth totem instead of her second.

She infused the chain with water and earth, freezing the structure solid. She only had to block a few javelins around her, and even if the others converged they wouldn't be as nicely lined up.

Caelnon made a decision instantaneously, withdrawing his energy from the majority of the lengths of chain. He only held onto one, and he severed it from the rest as he used it to wrap around Aldara's spear. Caelnon himself had already dodged out of the way, but the spear was no longer in John's control. At a distance, Caelnon had the advantage and overwhelmed John's spiritual energy and the enchantments on the spear.

It was reasonable for him to be concerned about his own defense, but he might have forgotten Enniaun had already suffered injuries. In disadvantageous terrain, he wasn't able to run quite as fast as he ought to- from his own allies chains. Aldara caught him up in the chains, disguising her movements with even more light element. Enniaun focused the remaining javelins on her, but she blocked them three or five at a time.

John wasted no time running him through with his sword, moving at speeds that were rarely practical. Enniaun's spear brushed against his side, cutting into his ribs, but he wasn't able to parry the attack. John's sword flicked outward, up through Enniaun's head. The man dissolved- his elements were not so explosive as Folasade's, merely sending ripples that pushed John back.

John and Aldara shone brilliantly. Caelnon turned to flee, though he was already half doing that before Enniaun's death.

He did wrestle Aldara for control of his chains as she tried to catch him with them, but two against one the battle was over quickly. Despair filled his eyes, but he had no hope of even taking out one of them by detonating his own energy. They were too strong.

Or at least, that was how John made them appear.

Light element could reveal what existed… or make it appear as if something that were not present was. In this case, John had been amplifying the feel of their attacks. They weren't any stronger, but as long as their foes felt like they were being suppressed they would make inefficient moves. They would choose their own safety over teamwork.

The last of Caelnon's fire burned away with a whimper.

John turned to Aldara, smiling. "Sorry about your spear."

Then he fell out of the sky. She was only slightly more graceful, having retained a modicum more spiritual energy than John.

Barely conscious, John spread out his arms. Hitting the water was going to suck, but he could slightly slow his fall. He kind of wished he had bigger sleeves, just for the moment. Shortly before impact, he rotated his body for his legs to take the brunt of the impact.

A fall wouldn't kill an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator, but an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator without spiritual energy was just a human. Maybe one with a slightly enhanced body.

John didn't fail to notice the water softening before his impact. Then he was focused on retaining consciousness and swimming back to the surface. His legs hurt, but they might not be broken.

It was fortunate that he could orient himself towards the light- not just the sun, but the spiritual energy above. Even if he had no scraps of energy inside himself, he could still sense it. And of course, there was Aldara.

She felt more like a Spiritual Collection Phase cultivator with how little energy she had left. But he did feel it. She surfaced not far from him.

"Thanks," John said. "You saved me."

Aldara just nodded. "Of course. Don't think I failed to notice you could have killed them if you merely sacrificed me."

John just explained his thought process. "It doesn't matter how much Matayal you have inside you. Any amount is worth it."

Floating there in the water was nice. He could imagine that they were going to drown, and then he wouldn't have to think about everything that came after.

Ships approached them. The local seas weren't exactly abundant with friends. However… one far outpaced all the others. It wasn't long before the two were washed up onto the deck, among allies.

Sitora sighed. "It's too bad my career is over. Watching that has been… inspiring."

John was barely conscious for the following chase. He just took special note of Sitora's contributions. She'd already put in more than her fair share of work on the way over. John was glad they'd built some sort of connection.

He was also pleased that Aldara seemed to have subordinates that valued her as the Empress and weren't scheming to replace her. That was clear, otherwise they wouldn't have woken up.

But they did. Alive, and not in the hands of their enemies.

Exhausted, but in a good way. John was still going to need a long time to recover… and that was simply from the exertion. Sadly, the war might not end so immediately even with the Sovereign Primary's leaders dead.