Casting off her fan techniques, Lucille took a page from Anna’s book and traveled around as Lucas, the traveling cultivator-swordsman. She was reforming her sword strikes but the influence of two lifetimes of fan use were still visible in her style.
“You are a very elegant fighter, Lucas, where did you train?”
They sparred. But the man had learned a new level beyond Opening / elemental sword that was not Divine sword.
“My sister taught me. She was a rare female sword cultivator.”
“A she-sworder. Brilliant.”
“I suppose you could call it that.”
The wandering life wasn’t for Lucas though, and she joined mark’s community of sword cultivators.
Every week they would have bouts for Shadow sword, shimmering, and elemental and “crystallized cultivators.”
Lucas was tough to categorize so she fought up into crystal and down with the Opening group.
She was sure Anna would be in the former group soon enough.
-
The effects of electrical resistance were interesting. Tim could cause blackouts, but also neutralize other powers with the crsystslized lightning.
Spars were more like search and scout expeditions, as he worked through Anna’s ice.
She could fly again, utilizing temperature gradients and Tim expected he could do the same with electrical manipulation.
-
Daimon watched as the training center was being built, mom and dad would be the Chief instructors but the Emperor was paying for the center’s construction.
He didn’t understand why some nations like his birth nation, had access to divine power, and some did not, but he was determined to help out as he could, and he knew mom and Tim were both committed to developing the new cultivation theory of Crystalline cultivation.
Veer was busy with his father, so it was a quiet afternoon.
-
Lucille blocked the undead’s poison attack with her fan, cutting it in two with her sword.
The undead were largely immune to her elemental power, so she was forced to hold off the increasing force of undead attacks.
The commission army was mostly junior cultivators who had already withdrew, leaving Lucille and a few seniors to support the local seniors.
**
Undead one day, hostile sects, clans and empires next. Lucille fought many types of foes as the 2nd strongest of their warband.
When her group broke up in a coastal city she decided to take things very carefully. Many men were attracted to her by the nature of her cultivation but that meant nothing about who they were, what their inner heart was.
She returned to being a woman and searched out the way of Grace into the greatest beyond of the Crystalline stage.
The dao of shattered hearts identified the inner heart-life of nearly every cultivator she met in the city.
She returned to the societies of Yachists, but she was very reserved wielding words as she did sword and fan. She gave wisdom freely and pursued sailing and the social art seriously.
Maybe it was her past history or maybe some action by the guilders, but when a large force attacked the regatta Lucille lead the few cultivators in the regatta.
It was a desperate battle ending on the old warship that protected the yachists.
She suspected the last two foes she fought were just barely into the Crystal realm. Holding her ground she fought the spear cultivator with her sword while swaying the katana cultivator with her words. In the end it was words that were decisive as the Katana user attack her former ally, and the two quickly defeated the spearman.
The katana user was free to go. With most of the yachts sunk, Lucille moved back on land, returning to the coastal city she had been at before.
***
That fall Anna was shocked to discover a massive Guild army forming in the wider region, it was 2 empires away, in the Khanate.
AP: there’s a major guilder operation in the area, from home. They are east about 500 miles, north 80 miles from my position.
LO: I’ll keep that in mind.
Anna expanded her training center. The Emperor sent his best mortal soldiers in hope of entering shadows cultivation.
And neighboring her increasingly large training center was another center lead by a master archer. Marcus Saraiden was the emperors hope for increasing his army’s ranged firepower.
Anna struggled to find Lieutenants to train the soldiers, and Tim stayed very busy training the more experienced cultivators.
Drawing on Lucille’s experiences, she was a detective finding leadership potential in sometimes unlikely sources.
The big surprise was a neighboring smaller kingdom, that signed an alliance with the emperor in hopes of joining in the training and eventual fighting.
The guilders had already killed off two kingdoms in the east and they were not stopping.
***
“There are many places that need your skills more than us.” The leader of the yachists said she was overqualified as a protector.
I’ll show you overqualified. Anna had been overlooked many times during her early days. She drew on Anna’s experiences and wore a disguise joining the army in the same empire her sister was residing in.
It was quite curious then when she was highlighted as a potential recruit and sent to Anna’s training center.
She was in a training group with one of the new leaders Anna had found. She could tell when Anna was drawing on her experience as well.
“Close your eyes and try to see inside yourself. Your new nature starts when you see little afterimages on the outside, but on the inside a new well-spring of mighty waters emerges.”
When Lucille examined her spirit, it was a garden of Alluring and exotic beautiful flowers.
“What if I see something other than waters.”
“I’m not sure, I’ll have to ask our top trainer.”
The disguise worked as later that day Tim had invited her into his office.
“It’s unusual for an awakening cultivator to see a strongly specific element, yet someone not yet awakened has done so. I’m going to use an unusual technique to uncover this mystery. “
What was this technique, Lucille wondered. She was nervous she would be exposed.
“It’s ok, anything I find will be our secret.”
With a gentle touch of her forward, Tim concentrated.
“I haven’t seen anyone with a flower elemental root since I left my homeland. Yours is very distinct. I would guide you away from the sword except several thorns are sword shape. There’s a distinct sword influence here. I recommend you spend the next few weeks trying to unleash your power.”
To avoid giving Tim too many clues, she spend two weeks focusing on refining the trinity of sword, fan and word. She had kept the first battle fan she ever used, and restoring it from her storage ring she practiced with the sword she had been given and that old fan.
With each strike barbed afterimages followed the blade and floral motes suffused the air around her.
AP: I won’t spoil the surprise for Tim.
AP: PS. I like the new look.
Tim was surprised at how powerful she was, and he called her out. “You were an exile. Or the daughter of one.”
“Daughter, I was trained in the fan before and after we fled.”
“The Commandant’s sister was an unparalleled master of fan cultivation, with a similar elemental affinity. Maybe the commandment could give a few pointers.”
When she met Anna in disguise she had to use her words to prevent Tim from identify her by their similarities.
“My mother went to the Rosewood Primer. The sect didn’t survive the war of sects so we fled looking for a new life. We didn’t recognize the guild when they came. The idea that our homeland had become irreconcilable and different. Mother was killed as the guild purged anyone like the rebels. Besides the Prince and his mother, Aunt Lucille was now being hunted down also. Anyone relAted to or supporting the prince was hunted and now they killed anyone who looked similar, which included my mom.”
Anna was drawing on her own power to demonstrate to her how to fight with fans. But Anna’s nature lacked the extreme grace to pull off Lucille’s fighting style,
It became a game as Lucille borrowed Anna’s power in turn. And they sparred. She couldn’t capture Anna’s essence and Anna couldn’t capture hers but it was therapeutic.
“You are Lucille!”Tim said.
“I’m so sorry. I really let our guild become more important than what was happening to my family.”
“I’m still dealing with frustration, that everything I had was ripped away. But I do forgive you. I let the Empire become more important for me too.”
*
“Aunt Lucille is here. All I remember about her is mom was really upset about her. Auntie was on the side against my father. I don’t get why. Tim was too but he changed sides and helped.”
Veer shrugged.
They battled with training swords and tried imitating what they had seen, but it all ended when shadows came out of Daimon’s sword. That would be the end of Daimon’s practice with Veer and the beginning of serious training with Tim and his mom.
**
They added Daimon to the beginning cultivator swordsman training. He didn’t have the lifetime of experience that many of the swordsmen did but he did grow up watching her and Tim practice.
Daimon’s shadows were empowered by that mysterious source of Divine cultivation, and while he was in the middle of the pack at the moment he was getting stronger quickly.
Anna developed training cohorts and had practice battles between them. Each cohort had soldiers and cultivators at every level. For the very largest, she and Tim and Lucille would take turns as the mountain top of these cohorts.
“Can I fight in the battle coming up?” He asked one day.
“Let’s arrange things so you aren’t just in the main bulk of the army. There’s a new captain in the militia that’s stood out in my mind.”
**
Training focused on advancing veteran soldiers into the world of cultivation was paused, and the forces went in three directions. Those from the main army returned to Veer’s dad’s army. Those from out of town who chol to leave left, and those who volunteered became effectively a militia lead by Anna.
They had 820 mortal soldiers, most felt they had a hope of reaching that prize of cultivation in battle. There were 300 Shadow cultivators, 15 Iron level cultivators and 2 Shimmering Sword cultivators. The guilders would have much more forces, but the advance of thf local Emperor’s forces was considerable.
There were also other nearby forces that had trained with her and the guilders might divide their forces and not send everyone to take over the Empire. Even the archery training center had another 400 in their own militia.
Captain Davis took in Daimon and other trainees who had never truly been in battle, he would ensure they participated but he and his four lieutenants would pull back when the pressure was too much.
Anna looked as Daimon came out of his bedroom dressed as just another soldier. Anna was fine with the outfit, everything except the flask of booze a soldier had given him.
“You don’t need this. It can relax mortal soldiers but it will just blunt your abilities.”
“Mom are you nervous?”
“I’m worried one of us won’t make it. Tim and I, my sister and you and Veer. The guilders won’t hesitate to kill any Prince they find. Will you try hard to pretend you’re just a soldier. If the battle goes bad, Captain Davis will retreat to join us for the last stand, then you can let your power flow through. I don’t know what a Divine Crystalline cultivator will be like, but I’m willing to find out if it goes badly.”
*
Two guilds had arrived on the outskirts of the empire. The Guild of Hammer and Axe, and the guild of Flight and Arrows.
Anna met the Emperor as did Master Archer Hans.
“We have to focus whatever archers we have on Flight and Arrows. Hans, join our ranged strike team. Anna be ready to join our battle line. We would appreciate your sister and friend to join battle when the Senior guilders join battle.”
“Of course, it’s our home now too. This same group forced us to flee before. We won’t let you down.”
*
The guilders came into the Empire with a plan to quickly destroy this empire, like all the others.
The flight guild brought their rapid flight-team straight to the Emperor’s palace.
The team of 17 was met by 16, Commander Jerrin thought this would be easy. He rushed to fight what seemed to be the strongest man on their team.
When the she-sworder Jerrin’s assistant was fight lost immediately, he tried to run, but his opponent weighed him down with heavy Earth power. The last thing he saw was his whole strike team being crushed in a few moments.
*
Emperor Veer watched as his marshal adjusted the war map. He decided to engage the scattered Flight and Arrow forces who were troubling his people’s farms and villages. Each squad of archers were escorted by a squad of his army and a mid-tier cultivator.
Anna and her team waited to intervene where the guilds added more forces.
His son was worried because his friend was in one of the army squads being sent out.
With forces scattered all over the place, the Axe and Hammer charged straight for his palace.
Crystalline stage cultivators however could travel pretty fast, and he’d kept the majority of his army back.
*
Anna, Tim and Lucille had to return to defend against the Axe and Hammer’s advance.
They dedicated one of the best militia members to join Daimon’s team fighting in an orchard.
It only took an hour to get back to the palace by air, but the imperial army was fighting in retreat.
She was grief-sick for Aida and her first sword, but she crushed multiple attackers at a time with her sword ice, and deflected flying axes and hammers with walls of sword chroma.
Shattered shards of frozen electricity blasted other armies, and Lucille fought and talked equally, killing and persuading in the same moment. A dozen men had already turned on their guilder fellows.
“Face us, betrayers.”
Three elemental axe users, lead by a Divinely favored hammerer challenged them from the sky.
“I have the False divine,” Anna shouted.
**
Nathan fought ferociously alongside Daimon. Their unit was facing more and more resistance, after clearing away the first group trying the pillage the orchards south west of the capital. Half of their sworders had been injured or dead, and two thirds of the archers.
“Our overwatch was pulled away to resist an attack in the capital. The hammer and axe have showed up.
The fighting was mom would call intensive and desperate, and Daimon finally gave in and began releasing his father’s power. First he empowered Nathan but then the last line of battle he empowered seven of them.
Nathan break through into Elemental sword and began to slash a way of retreat for them. The seven covered him as he rushed to follow Nathan.
With the Earth element, Nathan intuitively grasped how to slow down the attackers who had turned and pursued them.
*
The Divine earth hammer broke through her defenses again and she had to get up, fly up and resist.
For all Crysrslline Cultivation promised another way, at her stage it didn’t compete with Divine favor.
But at last, she got up one more time, with the intention of attack not resistance.
The water sword concentrated as she pushed all her effort and power into crushing the mountainous hammer and the wielding behind her.
She was dazed but she had blasted through his hammer, and inside the range of his distance technique she offered up a trace of blows.
She struck three times but she was horrifically wounded and she spun awkwardly, smashed into the palace wall.
The next moment, Tim was there, electricity writhing to meet the Divine blow. Hammer and the axe of Tim’s opponent struck and Lucille appeared, saving them for a moment with a misdirection of her fan.
A momentary pause and then the Hammer and two axes struck. Anna interposed her sword with the hammer, as last gesture to her friends.
The hammer was deflected. Not wasting time she countered as her friends fought off the Axes up close.
Attacking, she realized the man had lost his divine power, they had a partial divine source still.
She disrupted his attacks and overwhelmed him and their previous leader was slain. She saved Tim and Lucille as they had saved her.
The battle was a rout after that as the guild fled when their leaders died.
She had to rest, but she didn’t dare leave Daimon without help, so she and the others rushed to his help,
Nathan and Daimon and his team were surrounded on three sides but Nathan was using Earth elemental attacks, his sword struck with an intense weight. There were 6 other fighters who lead the defense.
Anna had a thought and landed joining the fight. She didn’t unleash all of her power but instead relied on her centuries of experience and working together they pushed back the enemy.
Another regiment of the army thought they were an east target, and Anna stepped up her fighting operating in the shimmering realm. Lucille and Tim fought a leader of the scattered Flight guild, while she drew in one of their lieutenant’s and suddenly reacted with her full power, crushing the man.
Leading Daimon’s unit back to the capital Anna and crew defeated 3 waves of flying foes before the enemy gave up.
Daimon would have to stay back at the palace if any other wave attacked. The enemy had surely noticed his abilities.
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