Nauda had fought in communities before, many times, yet she struggled to work together with the Blacksilver soulcrafters. She might have gotten to know many of them, but they didn't know one another's techniques and goals clearly enough. Or rather, most of them did and she was left out, only able to work effectively with Theo and Fiyu.

Since Theo had retreated to prepare, that left only Fiyu. She was a great ally to have at your back, but in this battle...

Primarily, Nauda focused on reaching out to bind Archcrafters when they attempted to rush into the mouth of the cavern. The base soulcrafters were frequently taken down by Fiyu, while the Archcrafters pushed through. Even a few seconds of struggling against her binding left them as easy targets for the others, so her allies had lost no soulcrafters since they'd set up their defenses.

The caverns were actually beautiful, if only there had been time to appreciate them. Vast columns of rock pierced through, but what surprised her was that they were actually pearlescent in the cantae light. Perhaps the wind had worn off the shine above. Smaller stalagmites formed nearby, even brighter rainbow colors in the shadows.

An enemy Ruler rushed in, snapping through several of the stalagmites, and Nauda jerked her mind back to the battle at hand.

"Bow before the Asplundat Movement, city scum!" The Rulers were easy to differentiate even without cantae, because their armor included a full helm that reduced their faces to a single slit. They also appeared to be capable of forming gray stone around them, as this one had turned his hands into two enormous sledgehammers.

Fiyu struck the entrance of the cave with a storm of light, but it scattered off the Ruler's armor. One of the Blacksilver Rulers hurled a sphere of flame, only for the enemy to smash it to the ground with one rocky fist. They might appear to use brute force, but he filled his armor with so much cantae that he was likely to be able to rush right through their assault.

Nauda extended her staff, not trying to bind his entire body but just his forward leg. The man almost stumbled, but he reacted too quickly to fall, and he immediately turned on her. She barely dodged away from the first swipe of his sledgehammer, and his other arm was already swinging at her.

She had no time to do anything but retreat, staying just ahead of the blocks of stone. Just as Nauda felt her back hit one of the vast stalagmites, she swept one foot across the ground to generate a quick ward, then jammed her staff at her opponent's face.

One prong struck in the slit of his helm, but before she could drive it home, his rocky fists thrust out at her. The force of the blow snapped straight through her wards and would have taken off her head if she hadn't ducked aside. She heard the stone shattering behind her, fragments scattering in every direction. Refusing to give in, Nauda twisted on the ground, driving her staff into the back of his knee.

The Ruler grunted and almost dropped, but her well-placed blow couldn't fully bridge the gap between them. One rock-covered leg struck out at her and she barely defended with one forearm. She felt the cracking impact in her bones and skated painfully across the cavern floor, barely keeping hold of her staff as she tumbled over the surface.

When she pushed herself upright, a Blacksilver Ruler was attacking, this time trying to send darts of flame through the gaps in the enemy's armor. Nauda struggled to get to her feet, watching the two of them slam cantae into one another. She might be able to survive against a Ruler, but she couldn't truly compete. She couldn't afford to dedicate an entire floor to a skill like Theo, so she had no choice but to ascend. At least, so long as she survived the battle...

"Are you alright?" Fiyu appeared nearby as her stealth technique washed over Nauda. Accepting her hand up, Nauda pulled to her feet.

"I think I didn't break anything after all, but they got through..." With the choke point broken, more Asplundat soulcrafters were pushing their way in, getting behind stalagmites and preparing to battle across the cavern. Most of it was still lit by cantae flames, but they occasionally winked out as someone died, leaving the cavern mottled in darkness.

The two of them crept to a new position to prepare to attack the enemy flank... until they saw another Ruler staring in their direction.

"Excuse me." The face plate on the Ruler's helm flipped up without a touch, which was necessary since his hands were covered in gray stone spheres. His face was set in a sad smile that Nauda didn't see any deception in. "I can't properly see you, but I can track your movement. You seem like talented young soulcrafters, so please retreat to safety."

Fiyu frowned and released the stealth technique, clearly displeased with herself. Nauda simply lowered her staff in his direction. "Why pretend? Your empire clearly follows a 'surrender or die' policy."

"Regrettably so today, but not always. I'm afraid you've seen our worst face, but I've always believed we should work together with the Ruling Cities. My name is Homez, I was hoping-"

Whatever he had intended to say, he was interrupted when one of the Blacksilver Rulers rushed at him, surrounded by green flames. Homez's face plate snapped down and he reacted with surprising agility, weaving around the heart of the strikes and letting the rest splash off his armor. Despite the heavy spheres on his arms, they moved smoothly and he brushed aside a direct attack before striking his opponent in the chest with both spheres.

The man hurtled backward, disappearing into the shadows, and Homez started to turn back to them. Nauda struck before he could, thrusting out her staff to bind him. She knew it would only hold for a second, but before he could overpower her, Fiyu might-

Homez raised one arm and her technique slid off the stone sphere. Even when Nauda threw in more cantae in disbelief, he smoothly deflected her binding.

She realized in that moment that they couldn't win, not in a fair fight. This man was no brute relying on cantae intensity, he was a Ruler with three fully-crafted floors. Though he appeared kinder than the brutal Ruler, Nauda feared him far more.

Fiyu released a storm of light... and Homez promptly disappeared. When Nauda caught sight of him again, he was standing beside them, one arm moving for each of them. Fiyu reacted quicker, trying to cut his arm with her cantae blade.

Somehow Homez twisted his arm away from her attack, then tapped her in the head with one stone sphere. Fiyu immediately crumpled to the ground.

Nauda didn't realize that she was the one screaming until she was lashing out at the enemy, striking him with a brutal series of staff strikes and kicks carrying more cantae than she had known she possessed. The sheer ferocity of it seemed to take Homez off guard, but he calmly defended himself. Even through her rage, Nauda realized that he was regaining control of the fight, so it was only a matter of time...

One of the stone spheres hit her arm and she skidded back, the entire limb going numb. She desperately looked to Fiyu, fearing that one of the stone fists would crush her, but Homez shook his head.

"Don't worry, that was a nonlethal technique. Enough people already hate the Asplundat Movement, we don't need to make enemies of new outsiders."

Reasonable as his words seemed, Nauda couldn't see anything except Fiyu's body. Her cantae hadn't disappeared, and she didn't seem bound, so he might be telling the truth, but Nauda was still helpless to reach her.

Then the other Ruler stomped up beside his ally. "Finish them, Homez!" They both used the same techniques, but there was no comparison between the smooth stone around Homez's hands and the brutal sledgehammers of his ally.

"I don't believe the dewfossil is here," Homez said, idly deflecting a cantae bolt that flew in their direction. "This is a diversionary movement."

"What? Fine, then the Authorities will find it. Let's just kill them and be done with it." The other Ruler smashed his sledgehammer hands together, and though Nauda could only see his eyes, she was certain that he grinned.

One of those heavy blocks rose over Fiyu, but Homez put his arm in the way. The Ruler glared at him, teetering on a line between shouting and attacking. Homez raised his face plate and frowned, but as he opened his mouth to object, their argument became irrelevant.

Deeper in the cavern, Theo completed his black hole. As Nauda felt his cantae vanish, she realized that this was no quickly created technique, he'd crafted it perfectly.

The dark sphere hummed to life in the mouth of the cavern, instantly pulling in several unfortunate soulcrafters who had been running in. An Archcrafter tried to dig his hands into the stone, but his technique wasn't strong enough as the darkness grew, tearing him free.

Though Nauda was more accustomed to the strange gravity than anyone else there, she knew she only had a moment. She didn't know if she could rescue Fiyu... but at that moment the other woman's body lifted into the air and began to fall in her direction. Across the cavern, Nauda felt Theo manipulating another of his fields. He might be able to do that while the black sphere consumed on its own, but his control wasn't very precise.

Nauda knelt enough to catch Fiyu's body, which felt strangely heavy for a moment before the strange gravity vanished. The strongest pull was toward the dark sphere, but Nauda was far enough away to scramble back. Most of the Blacksilver soulcrafters were at a safe distance, since Theo had timed it well... but not all.

Spotting a woman she recognized losing her grip, Nauda extended her staff and bound her ally to move her to safety. Even though she was further away than any of the Asplundat soulcrafters, Nauda had to strain her cantae to move her allies. That sphere of darkness was growing, distorting everything around it as it drank in more and more cantae.

"Petty Archcrafter tricks!" Both enemy Rulers were being drawn in, but the brutal Ruler actually stepped closer, contemptuously swinging down one sledgehammer to crush the technique.

At the end of the swing, his arm ended in a stump, the stone immediately absorbed. He cried out in pain and shock, struggling back, but his cantae had fueled the technique further. Though he desperately turned away, trying to pull himself across the floor, his armor began to break apart and soon he was drawn into the sphere with a final cry, even the sound itself twisted beyond recognition.

Not far away, Homez watched for only a moment before he lowered both arms to the ground. The stone of his spheres merged smoothly into the floor, then his body began to pull away, as if drawn by some deeper current. He managed to increase his distance until he could stand. After one frowning stare back at them, he retreated from the cavern.

Finally the black sphere collapsed, leaving fragments of stone to rain down over the chamber. The surviving Asplundat soulcrafters ran in terror, while everyone from Blacksilver breathed a sigh of relief. Nauda ignored all of them and stared down at Fiyu in her arms.

"I am alright, Nauda." Fiyu smiled at her and pulled away, only a little shaky on her feet. "He was not lying. His technique was not intended to do any permanent harm."

Whereas they hadn't hesitated to kill. Nauda shoved aside such thoughts and focused on Fiyu. "So you're fine? Sorry I grabbed you like that."

"It was to save my life. I do not mind." Fiyu carefully rearranged her robes as she did when uncomfortable, but compared to when they had first met, Nauda thought it was significant progress.

Suddenly the weariness overcame her and she dropped back to take a seat on a broken stalagmite. She'd pushed herself hard, trying to keep up with Rulers, and the emotional exhaustion took something out of her much worse than cantae. Against a more brutal opponent, Fiyu could well have been killed, and Nauda would have been completely helpless to protect her. That possibility ached within her, even as the others began to celebrate their victory.

Theo appeared beside them, suitably grim. "I'm sorry you nearly got caught in it. I've been trying to think of a way to give you both immunity, but we don't have the sublime materials for it."

"One of them got away," Nauda said, "and they know this is a diversion. Do you think they'll help the Authorities?"

"I'm not sure how much of an impact we can have."

"Come on!" One of the Blacksilver Rulers appeared beside them, most of her face one giant bruise but tugging them to rise. "All of this is for nothing if Dhan can't finish his work!"

Though reluctant to do anything, Nauda forced herself up. While the most injured were treated, the rest made their way to the mouth of the cavern. The dust storm appeared to have died down... or perhaps it had been entirely consumed. Even the air above felt scorched, and she saw destroyed spires everywhere, annihilated by the battle between Authorities.

Before any of the Blacksilver soulcrafters could throw themselves into the fight, one of the spires exploded. Dhan emerged in the shower of stone, wrapped in a burning cloak of cantae. Even Nauda's senses could tell that he'd managed to fully absorb a new sublime material. More importantly, his soulhome was completely fresh compared to the drained Asplundat Authorities.

"Is the Asplundat Movement going to war?" Dhan didn't shout, but he put enough cantae into his voice for it to echo over the entire battlefield. "Think carefully before you strike."

"You... you scattered cities are nothing." One of the enemy Authorities wiped blood from his lips, but he drifted groundward. Many of their chariots had been destroyed, but the Asplundat soulcrafters began to gather their dead and injured to retreat. "When it comes time for the true battle, we will seize sublime materials that make this seem like nothing."

"Maybe you will. But today, you will retreat without taking any more life."

It seemed that they would. For all the ferocity they'd shown in battle, the Blacksilver soulcrafters showed no bloodthirst in victory. Instead they began to gather together, even the injured. Too many had died for them to celebrate, but the outcome was unquestionable.

"Huzzah." Tythes lounged on top of one of the remaining spires, waving a wine skin hard enough to slosh wine in all directions. "Approbation and veneration all around. You are all very brave and strong. I feel like I should have been given the dewfossil, for coming in and helping."

"Why are you here?" Dhan lowered his voice as he floated down beside Tythes, but Nauda could still make out the words. "We asked for no help from House Crimson."

"Oh, my father was just worried about the Assplund... Aspund... about the Movement taking out the lesser Houses. Sent me to... well, I can't quite remember the instructions part. But count my help as a gift, alright?"

"Your help is appreciated, but you cannot expect us to accept such an explanation."

"I very much can." Tythes tossed his wine skin to Dhan, then slid down the curve of the spire, spiraling until he was swallowed by one of the caverns.

Though that bore thinking about later, Nauda wasn't worried about either of those Authorities. Instead she searched the wreckage for Janne, finally spotting her sitting atop the primary outcropping. Many of her robes had been burned away, revealing only more robes underneath. She looked immensely weary, but Nauda didn't particularly care.

Instead she gestured to Theo, who thankfully generated one of his fields without objecting. It took them up to the outcropping easily enough, then as soon as the world was righted, Nauda stalked across the top to confront Janne.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Nauda barely waited for an answer, since the look in the older woman's eyes was enough. "We risked our lives for House Blacksilver. I think we deserve some real answers."