It was unusual to encounter a lone darkness sect on the frontlines of the Molten Sea war. Not unheard of, of course, but John was still surprised to encounter them. It was even more unusual that they had been spotted before their assault began. Indeed, even with time for reinforcements to be called. Though, it was just John.

Land was a precious commodity in the Molten Sea, so every outpost was a valuable place to rest. Even the natives needed some time away from their ships. If possible, they didn't want to let the Empire of Elements expand their foothold.

John arrived after the battle had already begun- if it had been another hour before word arrived or he had taken his time flying over their victory would have been assured. As it was, John would have to make a major impact on the battle to turn things around. He could do that best by approaching a cluster of Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. They appeared to be the strongest among the bunch.

At a glance, John didn't actually know how the Empire of Elements were winning. The defenders seemed like they should have had the advantage, even with their current forces. Some light cultivators from a minor sect on the continent, as well as fire cultivators from the Molten Sea. Obviously battles weren't a pure match of cultivations, but it was suspicious.

John angled his approach for maximum damage. He almost diverted at the last moment, but he stuck to his target. He came out of the sky like a bolt of lightning- almost literally- slicing one of the cultivators in half. That was what the difference of an entire phase could do, plus a bit of surprise. Though the man likely couldn't have blocked John with all of his power.

The battle suddenly shifted, both sides instantly recognizing the effect John would have on the battle. Taking out one of the top five cultivators in an instant obviously helped.

Foes instantly converged on him, while a single pair of darkness cultivators held off a handful of locals. John couldn't quite make out how, as they used unusual darkness techniques. He didn't have the luxury of time to focus on that with a half dozen people attacking him.

Their attacks appeared clumsy, and John easily avoided them. Or at least he should have, but he felt connections that made no sense. Had he fallen for some grand illusion? Were the hits the illusion, or the position of his foes?

A burst of light element was his best reaction, clearing out the area around him for a moment. His foes were precisely where he had thought… but he was also certain that they had struck his defenses. That was a bit of a problem, especially considering one of them was actually a late Ascending Soul Phase cultivator. The man was pretty good at hiding his cultivation- but John had still noticed, paying him special attention. He was the reason John had almost pulled back.

A momentary reprieve was all John could achieve, and soon he found himself being attacked again. Yet his opponents didn't even try to hit him. Their attacks went wide… and even so, his defensive energy was still torn. A few even managed to pierce through to his body. John felt blood dripping down his arm.

That attack… had hit a wall. Others even hit the ground. Sloppy attacks that made no sense. Yet John was fully certain that it wasn't an illusion. He felt darkness element doing something, but he couldn't quite say what. An outside perspective would have revealed things in an instant, but he was currently in battle.

He still wasn't certain how to avoid the incoming attacks… but at least his own strikes were accurate as he threw his daggers. He couldn't always land a lethal blow, as he was facing multiple opponents. He couldn't afford to simply overpower each of his foes, especially not after the flight here.

The Ascending Soul Phase cultivator who was pretending not to be stayed behind his subordinates, wielding a bow. The majority of John's focus was on that man, watching his arrows. John directly avoided an attack… and felt an arrow piercing into his forearm. He simply couldn't redirect his defensive energy to the right place without knowledge of how he was getting hit. If he didn't have a cultivation advantage and Diamond Defense he might have fallen already.

John spun around, momentarily glancing at the sun. His eyes wouldn't so easily go into shock, and he used some of the rays towards his opponents. There wasn't enough concentrated power there to blind any cultivator of worth for more than a fraction of a second, but it was efficient enough. It also gave John an idea.

He flew into the sky to test his theory. His opponents gave chase… but only halfheartedly. Yet their desire for battle clearly hadn't stopped.

It was his primary target glancing away for an instant that confirmed his theory. There was simply no reason to look away, and not at that angle. Unless they were doing something strange- and they were.

Even as several arrows flew towards him, John angled his sword. He wasn't going to throw it, obviously. It was an expensive sword, and he'd rather not have it snatched. Or broken once it was out of his control, which would be easy enough. He angled it in a particular way to try to confirm his theories.

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He looked down at his foe as he avoided the arrow. He kept his eyes focused forward and down, putting little effort into tracking the arrow with his spiritual energy once it was behind him. That was not because he was being careless, but because he could already see where the arrow was going. It left a shadow, after all.

The moment it was going to intersect with his, he made a sweep with his sword. He felt a clash of energy… and was at least glad to learn that he could block things. Sadly, it didn't appear that the others on the ground that were trying to stab his shadow were vulnerable to him in turn. Most likely their technique only made them interact for a single moment.

A mysterious technique indeed. Tough to deal with if you weren't suspecting it. For John, he was glad that he had been living in this world as long as he could. His instinct was always to first analyze things according to physics, and cultivation simply didn't always work like that.

The Ascending Soul Phase cultivator noticed John figuring things out and quickly made an attack. Instead of shooting towards John, he took the shorter route with his arrow going directly across John's shadow. Finding the right angle and timing to block wasn't natural for John, but he had an alternative option.

The arrow passed, along with numerous lesser attacks. Nothing happened. After all, nobody could strike a shadow that wasn't there.

Completely erasing his shadow would have required John to go invisible, not a technique he was specialized in. He was familiar enough if he was using darkness, but he doubted it would be any good against his current foes. Using light he would have a much harder time. But he didn't actually have to erase his shadow- just redirect it.

It became a blob behind him, far away from those he was fighting. Not an elegant solution, but he didn't need elegant. Especially not in the current circumstances. He just needed something he could maintain.

John pretended to keep his distance for a moment, throwing a few daggers from above. The archer was looking desperately for his shadow, but it was on the other side of some buildings. He might be able to follow the traces of spiritual energy, but John was actually pretty good at hiding his own techniques. He could call this shadow manipulation a mix of light and darkness, though the two never actually interacted.

Most of the daggers were insignificant- at most enough to injure one of the Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators and not kill them. One was charged with light element, but it wasn't meant to blow up the Ascending Soul Phase cultivator. John still tried, but he was actually counting on the secondary effect if the man blocked or dodged it- a momentary flash of spiritual energy to hide his approach.

The man was capable enough to not die, so that was what John got. The archer reacted well to John's approach, blocking the incoming sword swing with his bow. His spiritual energy prevented it from being severed, but it didn't matter. John used his off hand to get a solid grip on the string, forcing the man to abandon his bow and attack with his gauntlets- enchanted, of course.

John was fully willing to meet fist with fist. His own gloves were slightly enchanted… and his body was strong. Furthermore, he struck with a cycle of core elements instead of the light and darkness he had been mainly displaying. It didn't matter if the man understood what was coming, he simply wasn't strong enough. He was the one blown back. Meanwhile the other cultivators tried to surround John- but that was also to his advantage. If they couldn't target his shadow- which was actually redirected up into the sky at the moment- then they had to engage directly. His sword cut them down one by one.

The outpost's defenders were managing to overcome the pair set to hold them back. No doubt the archer had expected to win this engagement rather sooner- but instead he would lose.

John wasn't late Ascending Soul Phase with a cycle of core elements for nothing. He was so close to being a full cycle cultivator. Or perhaps a massive ocean away, but either way the difficult path he'd trod provided power in turn.

The archer had to return to melee- because John had tossed his bow away. He wasn't able to get around it, instead trying to coordinate with his subordinates. But without their special shadow techniques, John found they were little more than standard darkness cultivators- even a little clumsy. By the time any of them had an inkling where his shadow was going- they might have been able to strike it even with his shadow going to the sky- he had cut down most of the Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. Then with some moves he had been training since he first transmigrated, John slipped past the Ascending Soul Phase cultivator's defenses, driving his sword into the man's chest. A tiny bit of light and darkness- both from John- exploded together inside of him.

-----

John was exhausted after the battle, and then he had to fly back. He could actually recover some spiritual energy while flying, but he wasn't quite as fast as he would like. Sometimes, he actually landed and ran across the lava. The heat was a bit more intense directly at that level, so it was a question of how he wanted to expend his energy. His body could only regulate its temperature so much even with advanced body tempering, he still had to actively resist actual lava. A little bit of fire to protect himself on the 'ground', or air to fly. Splitting up his elemental usage was ultimately more efficient, and might make him faster overall.

He didn't need to hurry back… but he still couldn't shake that negative feeling. No, it was only growing worse since he'd won the engagement. John had been prepared to run to save his own life, but it was increasingly clear his premonition wasn't about himself.

It was possible it was nothing, but he wouldn't bet anyone's life on that. So he ignored the fact that he hadn't slept in a couple days and returned as quickly as he could. Back to Astrid.

But when he arrived at the previous base, he didn't find her.

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