Movement through the city streets was limited by frequent pockets of resistance. Crushing them one at a time with overwhelming force would be the safest method to deal with them, but something happening up ahead indicated unnecessary delay would have dire consequences. A great conflux of darkness, and whether that spiritual energy was meant to be used for one powerful attack or something more lasting, waiting for the process to complete and stabilize would ruin them.

They pushed past enemy forces as quickly as they could, leaving behind segments of their army to finish the job- and keep them from being attacked from behind. The Calamitous Swarm moved alongside them, not under their command but allied in purpose. They intended to secure the city for themselves, and that meant fighting for it. On the other side were skirmishing attacks from the Shadow Wolves, ambushes from the Society of Midnight, and small groups of mercenaries and whoever else the Society of Midnight could get on short notice.

Parts of their army continued to break off. Eventually it came to Yustina, Monika, and Aydan breaking off into their own group, fending off a large amount of enemy forces. Renato joined up with the others as they moved through the city, but there was no concrete word on what had happened with Deirdre. Assumptions could be made, however.

Upon arriving at the central keep, they wasted no time breaking down the gates. John called upon the power of Ciaritzal from within him, and a combination of six elements tore apart the gates, despite the disharmony of the attacks. It was still six Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators working together, after all.

Darkness continued to pour into the area. If he had the option to stay in such an environment, cultivating, John thought he could advance rather quickly. Even if he didn’t have access to other elements, he would have managed. But of course this sort of thing couldn’t be sustained for long- and it was being absorbed at an astounding rate. Ahead, he felt two shards of Ciaritzal- one from a yet-unseen elder, and the other from Faramund, head of the Society of Midnight. The latter was straining somehow. John felt secondhand sickness and pain via his connection to Ciaritzal. “We need to hurry,” he said- though there really wasn’t more they could do.

The courtyard was filled with enemy cultivators. Sometimes, conserving energy was the better option. This time, those who didn’t die from the gates exploding over them were quickly overwhelmed by a wave of mostly Soul Expansion Phase cultivators supported by six Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. As John rushed through the courtyard, slicing the head off of one of the enemies, Ciaritzal snapped out, chomping through the torso of another. Flesh and bone disappeared as darkness swirled about without a host.

More groups tried to stop them, but cultivators continued to peel off to face them, leaving only John, Matayal, Renato, Kusuma, Lucanus, and Zacharie. One of every element… not completely intentional, but not an accident either. Keeping a diverse team to cover their weaknesses was what they wanted.

Two early Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators stood guard outside the room where the energy was congregating. One attempted to block Zacharie’s slashing halberd, but the moment there would have been an impact the blade of light flickered out, then reformed instantly beyond the guard. The light element blade cut deep into the man’s body, light and darkness reacting violently and explosively. The other John distracted, feinting as if to attack himself- but Matayal was there to spear the man through the heart. The two might have lasted a moment longer if they were more cautious, but that was the limit.

Contrary to expected, the large doors swung open easily. The room was almost filled with too much darkness for John to see- like a normal person walking into a room with spotlights blaring. It was much akin to Ciaritzal’s cave in that fashion- even if he could see through the power of darkness, there was a certain point where he was overwhelmed. Placed strategically around the room were pedestals atop which stood bowls carrying various mostly used up quantities of spirit darkness. Those seemed to serve only to power the larger formation drawing in the surrounding darkness from over the whole city, and perhaps beyond.

At the moment the doors came open, John felt something disappear, as if a part of him was consumed. A part of Ciaritzal, in truth. That consumption pushed Faramund beyond the boundary of the Consolidated Soul Phase- into the Ascending Soul Phase. A shockwave staggered everyone, including the dozen mixed phase cultivators within.

“Quick!” John called out, “Before he stabilizes!” If Faramund had simply made use of his own energy for the breakthrough he would have likely been exhausted. As it was, the abundant power in the area was invigorating the man- but controlling a new level of power was not something that could be done with full proficiency in an instant.

Along with Faramund, there was the other elder, a woman in the mid Consolidated Soul Phase. Damian was there with his halberd, but his wolf had previously been slain. There were several early Consolidated Soul Phase members, seemingly just advanced in the recent months at best. The rest were in the late Soul Expansion Phase, enough to at least slow down the attackers.

This would be an excellent place to have a powerful light element object, though in truth John would only be able to take cover and hope that it didn’t grievously harm him as well. He was still concerned for Deirdre, but as a light element cultivator she might have survived that amount of energy. He could hope.

The Society of Midnight mainly used thin blades. Daggers, rapiers, and the like. They had been ready for the intrusion, and several of their weapons already had the dark sheen of poison on them.

John joined together with Matayal to target one of the weaker cultivators. It was perhaps a bit rude, but the most tactically sound decision. Their two energies entwined, and the man lasted only a few seconds- and that because they had to reach him. Others sought out their own opponents, and John felt the power of all of his companions. They were strong. Organized. Working together as a team. But it wasn’t quite what it could have been. Not quite what they needed. Several more Soul Expansion Phase cultivators fell quickly, but the stronger cultivators then engaged them in battle- including Faramund. Even taking control of his power, they didn’t have anyone who could take him in single combat- nor the numbers to work together against him at the moment.

As Faramund moved along with his other elder towards John and Matayal, John braced himself. And then Ciaritzal leapt out of him, dragging his claws across the Faramund’s face. The wounds were so shallow it took a moment for them to bleed, but it was a reminder that Ciaritzal was not bound by the same levels of strength that they were. John recalled him facing off against a moderately sized army on his own during one of the Society of Midnight’s attempts to retrieve him. Ciaritzal had ultimately been losing- but one against over a hundred that was only to be expected.

As the two great darknesses clashed, John couldn’t say for sure which was stronger. He hoped it was Ciaritzal, but the spirit beast was still missing parts of himself. One might remain gone forever. Another… had been with Katla, lost in the explosion of light element. Faramund had done something to fully absorb his… but there was one more.

John stepped forward, moving in tandem with Matayal as they faced off against two long, thin blades. They appeared so light as if they might shatter under any force, but the power of the cultivator wielding them fortified them- and the materials might have been unexpectedly durable. John made use of his slightly sturdier sword to directly clash with the blades, forcing more attention to him while Matayal searched for openings to attack with her spear.

John wondered if the woman in front of him knew. Had Faramund’s deconstruction of the piece of Ciaritzal inside of him been planned all along, or was it a response to John’s tactics? Weapons clashed, and the woman eventually realized that John’s attacks were nothing to be concerned about. Or at least, she chose to believe that, and she was mostly right.

His sword flicked forward, attempting to pierce through her defensive energy. He didn’t even pierce her skin… but he hardly needed to. He reached deep inside, grabbing at the subdued piece of Ciaritzal. The woman had done enough that it wasn’t even fighting against her… until it sensed John. Even when the shard did begin to fight, the woman’s power clamped down on John and the shard. John could withdraw, but he chose to believe that Matayal would be protecting his body. He was unsure if the woman could properly fight an inner and outer battle at once, but they would soon find out.

Outside, Matayal weaved a distracting display of waves and spear strikes, keeping the woman on her toes. The others kept their own opponents at bay- overcoming them one at a time, though some were suffering wounds in the process.

Ciaritzal was fighting evenly with Faramund, even as the latter came to be more in control of his power. That remained true until Faramund gathered energy onto one of his blades, an obvious attack that would be simple to dodge. Then he sent it spinning towards John’s stationary body.

Smoky darkness streaked through the room, reforming into a vaguely animal shape in front of John. The blade sunk up to its hilt in Ciaritzal’s shoulder. Ciariztal unleashed a growl-roar, pain and rage and bone-chilling terror. His teeth snapped down on the hilt of the blade, twisting and snapping the blade off within him, tossing the handle to the side.

John was vaguely aware of all of this in the back of his mind, and he grabbed onto the shard within the last elder, ripping and tearing. He did his utmost to avoid harming the shard, while attempting the exact opposite to the person he was extracting it from. A sudden pain and loss of power was enough for Matayal to drive her spear into the woman’s heart.

Damian went for a killing blow on Renato at the same time, his halberd curving down towards Renato’s shoulder. The latter could not dodge in time, and the blade connected. At that point it became clear that he simply chose not to dodge. John had trained some of Diamond Defense. It would protect against blades, even those augmented by a cultivator’s energy to some extent… but it was nothing like this. Damian wasn’t striking Renato, but rather through Renato he was striking the whole of the keep beneath him. Stone was stone- and darkness element suffusing the area didn’t make it any less comfortable for an allied element. The ground trembled slightly as the strike impacted. Then it trembled once more as Renato batted the man through the far wall.

Several charred corpses surrounded Lucanus, while the opponents of Zacharie and Kusuma were slain with a bit more finesse. Quick cuts, though the light element wounds tore open further from the opposing elements.

At that point, with only one opponent, the battle might have been considered won. But Faramund did not seem concerned. His form turned ghostly and indistinguishable, much like Ciaritzal himself. His power did not diminish, but instead continued to rise.

Mostly as a distraction, John tossed a dagger towards the man. It was quickly deflected, not just being knocked to the side but sent directly back at him, forcing him to duck under his own weapon.

As others began to move in, Faramund’s limbs twisted, deflecting attacks from behind as if he had no front or back- which perhaps was the case at the moment. This was the power of a cultivator with centuries of experience, as well as the power of a stage that was merely a legend in the region. Would seven of them even be enough? It would have to be, or the consequences would be dire not just personally, but for their sects and clans.