The real opening of the war came quite suddenly. John had expected vast fleets filling the oceans, or at least a sizable number of ships bursting with top cultivation cultivators. Instead, the Sovereign Primacy went one step further than expected. They sent only a single ship… and none but three of the cultivators were relevant.

  He sensed them coming from afar- too far. Their auras were unmistakable and vast, intertwining into a single greater tapestry. It was as beautiful as it was fearsome.

  John knew there was no way he would be able to fend them off, but he gave approaching them a decent shot. He couldn’t fight them alone, but if the other defenders were around there would be a chance. Ultimately, though, he only moved fast enough to not arrive exhausted. It would be a pathetic end to meet such powerful foes at anything less than his best. Everyone he’d ever known would be disappointed in his foolishness.

  Logic didn’t make it any more pleasant to know he was unable to do anything, though. In some ways he wished he’d fled in the opposite direction. He wasn’t a coward, but what would he gain from feeling devastation from afar?

  The three cultivators represented all six elements. John had been patrolling the northern seas some distance away from Urdcliffe, but they rushed directly towards the port city. He could feel when they arrived, the waves of spiritual energy that blasted forth. John couldn’t feel the direct consequences, but he could imagine the devastation.

  It was only a small consolation that he could learn something about his foes. The Triptych had one cultivator that cultivated the allied cycle of darkness. A second cultivated the core elements. The third cultivated the allied cycle of light.

  John hated that he felt small insights awakening from feeling their devastation. He wanted to reject them, but of course the elements were not responsible for how they were used. The cultivators were in the wrong, and their techniques were simply their method of destruction.

  It was only unpleasant because they were foes. Though he would have liked to condemn them for demonic cultivation that sucked the life out of their foes or some such, their first assault was pure power. John didn’t have to see it to know that Urdcliffe would be leveled. He didn’t want to see it, even though he was nearly close enough to do so. He would just have to fly a bit higher, a bit further.

  He steeled himself to do so. If he couldn’t save the people, at least he could observe them. He refused to abandon his people even in death.

  John now understood the name the trio had given themselves. The Triptych truly were a combined work of art. A horrifyingly destructive one, but sometimes the emotions evoked by art were negative. It was a scene that would stick with John for the rest of his life. It would be a scar on the continent that lasted forever, even if the scene itself was cleaned up.

  Together, the three Exalted Soul Phase cultivators were terrifyingly powerful. It would have been perfectly reasonable for John to respond with timidity and fear. Perhaps if he begged and pleaded, they might spare someone.

  John released his breath. He was uncertain how long he had been holding it. The air was stale, but he could have subconsciously refreshed it dozens of times. As he looked down upon a leveled city, the traces of Ascending Soul Phase cultivators he knew long since wiped out, John clenched his fist.

  He wasn’t afraid. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was afraid, but that wasn’t going to stop him from what he intended to do. John resolved to make them experience what he just had. Perhaps they wouldn’t care if their cities were wiped out, but killing one of their number? It would break them.

  The other two would soon follow, at least if John had the support he needed. It might take all of the strongest cultivators from two continents, but they would do it. Or perhaps Aldara would decide the Empire of Elements didn’t need to get involved. In that case, John would fight alongside his people and take out as many as they could at the cost of their lives.

  In the inconceivable case where all his allies abandoned him- including family and friends- John was still going to kill one of them. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t strong enough to do so. He simply would.

  His resolve was set. The invaders couldn’t reasonably claim their acts were one of vengeance- every conflict had been started by them and taken place within the continent’s territory. Perhaps they would claim such things, but their own political and social maneuvering hardly mattered to John. Clearly they weren’t interested in diplomatic solutions, and if they were willing to go this far from the beginning… there was only one correct response.

  -----

  John was going to annihilate the Triptych. He certainly couldn’t do it alone, but even if he died in the process he thought they could do it. If it would save everyone else… John was willing.

  But before the continental alliance could assemble a reasonable counter, the trio left. It wasn’t an immediate hit and run. They remained for several weeks. If John had been willing to challenge them alone, or with just a few Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, he could have done so.

  He might be resolved to destroy them, but he wasn’t suicidal. With the three together he would be lucky to survive long enough to make a single attack.

  They were too slow with relocating their cultivators, not having known where the attack would take place. And by the time they would have been ready, their foes were gone. John thought he would have been able to fend them off, but only if they traveled at a reasonable speed. Since they didn’t bring much of anyone else, their ship cut through the waters like nothing John had seen before.

  It was a shame they weren’t stupid. Confident, certainly. But not so confident they thought they could take on the entire continent at once. It was a shame, because it would have been easier to win if they were that foolish.

  -----

  If he didn’t know there had been a city where Urdcliffe was, John wasn’t certain he would have recognized the prior state of things.

  It would have been one thing if the buildings were simply dashed to pieces. If they had only melted into slag, the shapes would have been recognizable. However, the attack on the port had involved three Exalted Soul Phase cultivators and all six elements.

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  Buildings- and people- had been melted and charred. Then they were pulverized to dust, swirled around in tornadoes, washed away by the currents. The remains of the city were closer to impure glass in some places, and in others like volcanic residue. No structure stood above anything, not even the enchanted walls. All had crumbled.

  John sat in the center of the devastation, taking everything in. He had no idea how long he had been there when a hand settled on his shoulder. He looked up to see his long time friend, his first Transmigration buddy. Lucanus, though to John he would always be Steve.

  “It’ll be alright, dude. We’ll get them.”

  Words of comfort, simple as they were. His presence was the greater part of the effect. John looked up at him with a half smile. “I know.” Strangely enough, he wasn’t terribly concerned about that part. Feeling the devastation around him, the remains of power echoed. If nobody did anything about it, the scar of the place would likely become a new elemental node. A cultivation holy site, a danger zone of some sort… probably both.

  And yet, John wasn’t thinking about defeating those who had caused it. To him, it was inevitable. Was he gaining insights? Not anymore. What he could learn from the situation had already been achieved before his mind wandered off.

  John slowly got to his feet. “I might be a terrible person.”

  “You know I’ll have to disagree, right? I don’t make friends with terrible people.”

  “Maybe I’ve become that way and you didn’t notice.” Before Steve could protest further, “Do you know how many people died here?”

  Steve shook his head. “You expect me to know population numbers? I can only detect a few Ascending Soul Phase. Everything else is a blur. I guess ‘everyone’ is the best I can do.”

  John nodded. “Yeah, that’s about right. Everyone died. People I swore to protect. I feel awful, but… mostly because I don’t feel as awful as I should. It’s like…” John made sure that nobody else would be overhearing them. He could confess his inner thoughts to friends, but such weakness shouldn’t be displayed to anyone else. “It’s not as bad as Matayal or Astrid. Not even as bad as Luctus, Ayden, Netanel, or Kusuma. Over a million people died here, and all I’m thinking is… at least it wasn’t anyone I loved.”

  “Damn. What about Charlotte?”

  “... huh?”

  Steve shrugged. “I’m just wondering. The rest were basically family.”

  “She was still a good friend,” John explained. He thought for a few moments. Perhaps it should have taken longer, but some things came quickly. “If it was a choice between her and Urdcliffe, I’d take her. That’s pretty messed up, huh?”

  “Nah,” Steve shook his head. “I don’t really know all that much about it, but humans aren’t functional at comprehending large scale tragedy. Besides, it’s not that you don’t care, right? You just care more about people that are part of you.” Steve clasped his shoulder again. “You’re still going to tear apart the people who did this. Nobody here is going to be disappointed you avenged them a little less vigorously than you could have.”

  “I’ll need help,” John said simply.

  “Hey, just because we can’t fly didn’t mean we don’t travel fast. We’ll keep up, I swear.”

  John grinned. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t about how fast his friends could arrive. They needed to predict where strikes were going to happen. It wouldn’t be acceptable for this to happen again. They needed to at least provide a credible threat anywhere the Triptych thought to go. And they could, because the trio weren’t invincible.

  Terrifying? Yes. Powerful? Undoubtedly. They had leveled an entire city and wiped out its defenders with hardly a thought. But…

  They were also elementally unbalanced. Maybe it was just John’s own internal bias, but come on. The core elements cultivator hadn’t even touched light and darkness. In fact, the guy had extra earth and water totems, not even going for some sort of cross stability. If Aldara was present, the two of them could mess some people up.

  John was a bit surprised at how confident he was there. Would they really be good enough to win a two versus three? He had to consider that. Because even if he still wanted to kill Aldara, he didn’t want her to die.

  -----

  John was looking into one of the previously untapped resources that the continent had. If the Sovereign Primacy was willing to go so far, they had to consider every option available. John had already asked everyone available for support… but there were some that might be able to go further.

  He hoped that the Triptych wouldn’t strike again immediately, but he couldn’t be certain. That was why he had requested that someone come meet him. Even an individual he had great respect for.

  She surprisingly agreed. Though, much had changed since their first meeting, so perhaps it wasn’t odd. Except that Cuah’arn would meet him inside darkness element territory. He had offered to go to the Boiling Springs, but she seemed unfazed.

  The giant bird of light approached from the sky. John could… actually pick out her features now. His light element body tempering method wasn’t quite complete, but John could actually see Cuah’arn’s feathers. And yet when he looked away, he could still see other things instead of everything appearing dark. John might yet be able to look directly at the sun without consequences. Did he need to? Of course not. But it might be fun.

  “Thank you for your visit,” John bowed.

  Cuah’arn waved a wing. “Think nothing of it. You don’t owe me such respect. In fact, I owe you more than I can repay.”

  “Then if I may be so bold…” John decided he might as well just cut to the chase. “I have a request.” At the same time, he was inspecting the spirit beast’s cultivation. It wasn’t like human cultivation, as a spirit beast like Cuah’arn was more made out of their element than simply hosting it within a dantian and meridians. Yet there were certain important features that could be picked out. Ascending Soul Phase cultivation equivalent. Powerful, as Cuah’arn had long since recovered from the wounds that had made her rest in her tomb. But not quite what they might need. “What are your chances of advancing?”

  “Is that all?” Cuah’arn asked. “In what time frame? Because the range is quite significantly different.” Rather than waiting for John to respond, she continued. “Zero percent, if you mean in the next few years. Or one hundred percent… if you mean at some point in my future should I not perish.”

  “Ah.” She possessed the greatest confidence about such things that John had seen. Even his most talented allies weren’t confident about reaching the Exalted Soul Phase given as much time as they needed. Maybe some were more confident than not, but it was certainly nothing close to guaranteed. “How unfortunate. I was hoping you could peck out some eyes.”

  “I’ll fight by your side of course,” Cuah’arn said. “But I think I would be little better than Deirdre. Perhaps worse than Nik.” The bird ruffled her feathers. “Spirit beasts do not live on a human timeline. And though I have access to plentiful spiritual energy, it will still take me time to develop to the necessary point. I was once a dominant force. Now, I am merely strong.” She leaned down, seeing that John didn’t have to shy away from looking at her. “Ciaritzal might support you better, and he would be less vulnerable.”

  “Ah… I doubt he would do well with my light element,” John commented. “Even if he’s tolerant of it and our affinity is high.”

  “That may be true,” Cuah’arn admitted. “But he’s still compatible with Ereli, is he not?”

  John nodded. The idea was appealing. John didn’t want to risk the guardian beast of his birth clan… but he had to at least consider the option seriously. There would be little point in him living a little bit longer if the continent was still conquered… or annihilated. Though most likely it would be the former. Cultivators always wanted more resources.