Elder Cultivator

Over the course of the next week, more successes were made along the eastern front. Fleeing cultivators would inevitably join up with others, but some effort was made to drive them more towards the north or west, away from Yedo. If their strategy wasn’t already obvious to the invaders, it would be soon. Either way, they were in for more difficult battles if they continued to press forward.

It was difficult to build up momentum with minor victories, and the questions continued to come up. How much was it worth it to continue fighting? Was revenge or punishment a worthwhile goal? Could they save more lives than they lost?

The latter was ultimately the most important for the sake of besieging Yedo, which was central to the invader’s power. Killing an ascended cultivator who made it to the next stage would be a huge blow to these invaders, but would it be worth it? Part of that depended on how it would affect things in the next cycle, unknown centuries in the future.

Only one thing was certain. The invaders didn’t have the confidence to take on the remaining armies outside of the defensive formations of their cities. There was nothing for them to gain by biding their time, unless they expected more resources to magically appear in their pockets. That might be the results of what would happen if the combined forces of the continent majorly failed in an assault, but the window for the invaders to return home, however that was accomplished, was coming up soon.

A combination of every factor brought forward plans to test Yedo’s defenses, and hopefully the power of the cultivator residing there as well. Precautions were being made to ensure that the formations could not extend beyond the reach of the city, which would at least allow the armies to retreat if things weren’t going well. To that end, more forces were being gathered to have the best chance of success- while not leaving anywhere vulnerable. If some of the invader’s forces got out of their containment and into the main parts of the other countries that were relatively unmolested, they would have much to gain before they retreated. Special care was taken about the sea, with fleets keeping watch on the harbors to the north. Unfortunately Paradise still seemed uninterested in making his way along the north side of the continent, so they couldn’t count on that particular factor.

When the time came, the combined armies had over a hundred Life Transformation cultivators on the ground, and proportionate amounts of lower ranking cultivators compared to what was available. There was some swelling in the numbers at low Essence Collection and Spirit Building, a consequence of the city militias and the majority of people having taken up cultivation to some extent. Even if they didn’t intend to fight, plenty of people found reasons to join up when the time actually came.

Siege engines were prepared as they could be, tunnels were dug as close as deemed reasonably safe to avoid sensing. Cultivators stood together, organized to be close enough to defend each other or have the option to spread out to avoid incoming large scale attacks. If they were lucky they might take Yedo within a few hours, but the actual intention was simply to test the defenses.

The momentum of the assault began, first bombardments at long range followed by cultivators moving closer, keeping a steady pace that would not exhaust them but ready to move with haste once the counterattacks began. They had barely even begun something that could be considered a true offensive when atop the walls appeared a woman. Even those who were deficient in their ability to sense energy would be able to recognize her as the Ascension cultivator who had achieved a breakthrough… and that was before she released her aura.

The woman had an unearthly beauty. She appeared ageless- not young, but without the signs of time having ravaged her features. As her aura spread people could not help but look, even if they knew better. The first to be struck blind were the Spirit Building cultivators, and those closest to her. It took only an instant before people turned to flee, not that they could have taken a step closer to her if they tried. The woman was more akin to a massive otherworldly force than a person, and the instinctive reaction was awe and fear.

Back with the siege engines, Anton did his best to shield those with him from the effects of the aura. He always had his own energy spread out to begin with, ready to form energy bows anywhere within his radius. Most of those around him staggered back and shielded their eyes, but with his protection they didn’t simply flee- and though they were blinded momentarily, they recovered.

The invaders were unwilling to leave the city to chase them, merely harassing them with their longest ranged attackers as they fled. There was some comfort to take from that, even though it was clear that they could not consider further assaults on the city. Even Life Transformation cultivators had been staggered by her presence up close, the power released against them. A few had even received injuries from a mere glance. The worst part was that it was clear to everyone it did not take unreasonable amounts of effort for the woman. Not that it would matter. She only had to be able to maintain such an aura for a short time if fighting reached the city walls, and they would have to bring sufficient forces to bear to be a risk.

Waves of discouragement rolled through the armies, but after retreating to a safe distance the armies reformed, ready to hold their ground.

-----

The leadership of the combined armies gathered together to discuss what had happened. Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace crossed her arms, glaring at no one in particular. “What the hell was that, huh?”

“I do believe that is tied to her particular aspect,” Adelina explained. “It is too…” she gestured vaguely as she thought the words, “Eccentric for that to be expected. A specialist in wide scale combat suppression. No doubt with some formidable close-range combat skills as well, but little in the way of targeted ranged attacks.”

“Didn’t I see you fall to your knees when she looked at you?” Sarka countered, but with considerably less animosity behind her words than previously. “How does that not count?”

“Though I will admit I was struck with significant force,” Adelina shrugged, “Are you telling me you could not do something similar to any Spirit Building cultivator? Maybe some in Essence Collection as well.”

Sarka frowned, “It’s not really clear what the difference between the levels of Ascension are, but I admit the power difference is close to achieving another tier. It doesn’t make it any easier to fight.”

“But,” Catarina interjected, “I think it should be noted that we are not dead. With such a battlefield suppression ability, if they are not willing to leave their fortifications to come to us, it indicates they are still wary of us. Our numbers seem sufficient to cause concern, at least.”

“Unfortunately she was behind the formations,” Anton said. “I wasn’t able to attack her directly, so it’s not quite clear what anti-ascension techniques might have done.”

“I cut apart her aura,” Chikere commented. “Just a sliver. It reformed quickly, but if we could focus on her… I think we could kill her.”

There was a rustling outside the command tent as someone called inside. “Great elders, pardon the interruption but some sort of messenger bird has left the city to the northwest.”

Anton’s eyes flashed, and he ran outside. He was already extending his senses in that direction, and a flying target was easier to pick out as the only thing in the skies. His first shot came with the feedback of some sort of defenses resisting him. The several after that were merely used to soften up those defenses as they were already on the way, but the next had more effort put into it- a mix of anti-ascension techniques and the mysterious extra energy from beyond death. Some portion of that combination allowed the attack to pierce the large creature, dropping it from the sky.

“I do believe I will be keeping watch out here,” Anton said back towards the tent. “We should send for Kseniya as well.”

Back inside the tent, Adelina clapped her hands. “Well. That is likely to have been some form of message. Perhaps not one of desperation, but a desire for cooperation. These invaders have been shown to be… risk averse. It could be that they are unwilling to individually risk themselves in an assault, and would prefer to gather forces sufficient to annihilate us. Though if they truly make the attempt we do have more forces about, I still think given what we know now we should wait. We can still focus on other cities, but there is too much risk to assault Yedo… or leave it unwatched.”

“I truly hate to agree with you,” Sarka said. That was it, but it was technically all that was needed to get her point across.

“From the brief observations we had of the formation in action…” Catarina commented, “It seems infeasible to try to overpower it with some sort of encircling formation. And creating something a hundred kilometers across is… not something that could be completed in a timely manner. Any closer would be risky.”

Sarka grunted, “I want to be sent to a team involved in the active projects. Assaults on other cities and herding them where we want them to go.”

“Good idea,” Adelina nodded. “We will of course need some members of the Glorious Flame Palace here for the diversity of abilities in case there is an attempt to sally forth… but those with talents best used elsewhere should be reassigned. Unfortunately even if we are somehow successful at eradicating every other pocket of invaders, Yedo will be difficult. Some Spirit Building cultivators actually died to that woman’s aura, and others appear to have sustained long term damage to their eyes. Numbers alone won’t be sufficient, and if we only count our stronger cultivators fighting against formations and the suppression of that aura… it’s just not enough.”

Everyone nodded. One area they had an advantage was being able to draw on the entire continent’s population, with everyone that could taking up cultivation. Weaker cultivators were always more vulnerable, but there hadn’t ever been truly omnidirectional abilities that would kill them.

-----

With nothing better to do, Anton took his daily shots at the barriers surrounding Yedo. He never exhausted more than a tenth of his maximum reserves total, except for the mysterious extra energy. He was certain it was a different type, neither ‘upper’ nor ‘lower’ energy but something different. Unfortunately unlike ascension, there seemed to be no knowledge in this world about what it might be. Something tied to reincarnation perhaps, but Anton could only speculate beyond that. There was no indication of some other layer of reality to interact with, and he wouldn’t even know how to ask the invaders about it if they would be willing to talk.

He didn’t know what he expected, but if he could get an arrow to slip through the barrier and through the defenses of the second tier Ascension cultivator… well, that was where the thoughts kind of ended. Because he couldn't really do the first. What he could do was shoot down anything that tried to leave the city. Even tiny blips of energy would be annihilated. Surely the rest of the invaders would still have a chance to learn that there was some sort of communication being attempted, but the details would be in question.

Capturing the information hadn’t been possible. The very first target had annihilated whatever message it carried as the giant bird fell. Yet the atmosphere of Yedo wasn’t one in desperation. Instead, it was likely some sort of intent to bargain, perhaps some offer to organize with others and some way to split the loot. Because that was the attitude the invaders had come in with, and why they were ultimately so disorganized. They hadn’t thought they’d needed to be, outside of some initial rules. If they felt safe in their cities, why would they join forces?

Anton wished he could stay awake continuously, and he did so for the first several days before Kseniya had arrived. Now they alternated much shorter shifts, ready to shoot anything that left the city. Even if it came from the far side it was hardly much further away by their standards. Even beneath the city was being watched- though more as a coincidence as further tunnels were being dug with the intent of possibly collapsing them and the city above. The depth they had to be at meant that was a great deal of work. But at least there were constantly people monitoring the area, just in case.

Arrows faded into the come of protection over the city, causing minimal damage but at least keeping the guards on the walls twitchy. That was something at least. Anton couldn’t help but think about how they either too much or too little time to wait. Not enough time to act, but the sooner the invaders could be gone the sooner they could get to healing the world from the damage it had suffered.