From Yuriko’s vantage point, the Vizugmon patrol simply rushed into battle without any ado. Even though she and the Lucentians held the high ground, they took one look then started to advance. The patrol had the advantage of numbers, but Yuriko didn’t even feel a twinge of danger from them, not even when their bodies started to glow with Animus.

The strange thing was, the Animus did not stay as simple light. They morphed to form varied beasts. The majority were of great cats, tigers with long dagger-like fangs, lions with thick bristly manes, and smaller, yet no less fierce-looking, wild cats. As for the humans, Yuriko could see their Animus forming different shapes, some were beasts like the Vizugmonians, while others were of varied trees and thorny shrubs.

“Shoot!” Akko yelled.

The Lucentians had divided themselves into two ranks. Rhox joined the second rank while Yuriko stood at the side. Ten crossbows released their bolts only to be parried when the cats’ manifested aura swatted them off the air.

“Again!”

The front rank knelt to reload while the second rank shot. The results were much the same.

“Tsk.” Akko clicked her tongue, but they continued to shoot bolts until their opponents came within fifty paces of the patrol.

The Vizugmonians didn’t bother to shoot any crossbows, perhaps thinking that it was better to close in. Yuriko felt a few of them look at her, but for the most part, they seemed eager to fight the Lucentians. A few of the bolts managed to strike past their defenses, knocking three off their feet.

“Draw weapons!” Akko commanded.

She flipped the crossbow over her back, trusting in the strap to keep it from falling. The weapon had been discharged, of course. Akko and the rest drew arming swords and slipped on small bucklers into their off hand. Yuriko was somewhat surprised that neither side used collapsible spears, but then again, Lucenti didn’t use much Animatech so maybe those weapons weren’t available.

“Charge!” Akko yelled, opting to use the slope to increase their momentum.

As for Yuriko, she spotted a flanking unit and sped to counter them.

Contrary to what she expected, the two lines charging at each other didn’t come to a resounding smash. Instead, both lines screeched to a halt and started to bat away with their weapons. The Lucentians’ Animus flared out and it, too, formed assorted animal shapes, mostly snakes and giant lizards, though some, like Rhox, sported arachnids and mantids.

Her foes were too close by now to pay much attention to the others. The flanking unit, some twenty people, looked at her with some surprise and not a little disdain. She was alone, after all. But they eyed her sunblade with respect. The first clash ended up with her target losing an arm followed quickly by a head. She cut and spun, using the third and fourth dance together. The blade seemed to widen and extend, reaching out more than five paces away. Her movements shifted from weilding a side-blade to a greatsword. The weapon’s hilt extended so that she could grasp it with both hands.

Sweeping Gale Style. The wide swings, quick revolutions, and steady footwork showed its advantages now. The cats screamed and yelled and she saw their forms bulge when their Animus collapsed into their flesh. Their already bestial features become more monstrous as their bodies transform. Most gained several inches of height and more than a dozen Jin weight. Their fingers sported claws that suddenly became several inches long, and razor sharp.

None of it worked, though. She cut them down before they could come too close. A couple threw knives at her but without an Animus investment, they just bounced harmlessly off her Anima.

The screams of the dying deafened her to everything else and she focused inward. She was cutting down wood. She was cutting down Wyldlings. They were monsters and it was her duty to destroy them.

Something must have shown in her face, because by the time she killed half, the remaining ten broke and ran. Instinct would have her pursue them but a quick glance at the main party revealed them in the process of being overwhelmed.

With a thunderous stomp, one that actually produced a sound akin to thunder and created a cloud of dust, she careened into the middle of the Vizugmoninan’s formation.

Another flanking force had been sent to the other side and this one, lacking a Yuriko to block them, had managed to encircle the meagre Lucentian patrol. Akko, or someone else in command, had ordered a withdrawal but cats were having none of it.

Shwing! Twack!

Arming swords, single handed weapons that were about thirty inches long, and weighed at about a single Jin. Both sides used either that, or a two handed longsword. Both were armoured with hardened leather, while a few had chainmail shirts. It was incredibly difficult to penetrate that kind of protective armor with a blade. Not unless Animus was used to sharpen and reinforce the weapon anyway. But of course, part of a warriors’ basic techniques was how to reinforce their own armour with their Animus.

In the meantime, the small shields were used to protect against attacks aimed at the vulnerable gaps in the armour, the face, joints, armpits, and part of the inner thighs. That meant that in the few minutes she had been preoccupied with the flanking force, the Lucentian’s had been pushed back, but were not decimated.

As for Yuriko’s sunblade, it sheared through leather and metal chainmail as though it were paper. Her assault instantly shocked the Vizugmonians and their mercenary allies. Her flared Anima nearly had the same effect as it did against the devilbeasts she fought. They faltered and fell back, even as the Lucentians counterattacked.

Another dozen cut down and they broke and fled. At this point, Akko commanded the others to draw their crossbows and shoot them in the back. This time, the cats weren’t able to parry the bolts and the projectiles went through their leather and chain like a hot knife through butter.

They got off two volleys before Yuriko said, “That’s enough. They’re retreating.”

For a moment, Yuriko thought the lizardkin would ignore her, but Akko relented.

“We have to go. Great job breaking them, Elder.”

Yuriko sighed as she looked over the dead and wounded. The Lucentians lost five people, while the cats lost at least five times that number. The encounter lasted less than ten minutes. For that matter, most of the fallen were still breathing, though how long they remained alive was determined by the Threads of Fate. Aid should come from Lardel Keep, though Yuriko wondered who held the stronghold now.

The five Lucentian casualties were well and truly dead though, as all of them had had their heads bashed in, or had a sword through the eyes, or even a gruesome grinning slit on their throats.

“Return to the earth from whence you came…” Akko and the others murmured to their dead.

Yuriko walked towards the wounded Vizugmonians. She’d left a lot of them in the second clash. One of them, a tigerkin with a missing arm, dragged himself away when he saw her come close. His other hand grabbed at the stub of his missing limb in an effort to staunch the flow of blood. Since it was Yuriko’s sunblade that cut the limb off, most of the exposed muscle and bone had been cauterized. There was only a small trickle oozing out.

“Please…spare…me...” the tigerman gasped when she came near.

Yuriko pulled back her Anima close to her skin and stabbed the sunblade into the ground. The man’s eyes darted to the weapon, then at her. He still had a belt knife but made no moves to use it against her.

“I won’t hurt you, but tell me why you attacked.”

“”You snakes…uh,” he blinked when he looked up at her face, as if it was only now that he really had a good look at her features. “I mean, they attacked us first! We’re only defending what’s ours.”

“This isn’t Vizugmon land,” Yuriko pointed out.

“They started the war first!”

“What happened at Lardel Keep!” Akko interjected, having come close enough to hear. Rhox followed behind the lizard-kin.

The tigerman gave both of them a derisive look. “We conquered it!”

“Impossible!” Akko gasped. “You couldn’t possibly have taken over the fort that quickly! We came from there not four days ago!”

“Believe what you will.”

“Why you--!”

“Hold,” Yuriko interrupted, barring Akko from doing something stupid. “Why don’t you look at the other survivors and see what you can find?”

Akko took a deep breath before she nodded. “Fine, but we can’t stay here long in any case. Ten minutes at most.”

“Very well.” Yuriko looked back at the tigerman. “I cannot offer you aid,” she continued, “but I will not end your life if you answer my questions.”

The tigerman, who had been glaring at Akko’s back, looked at her eyes and shuddered. “Yes.”

“Good, now tell me, why did you attack the village of Silvershear?”

“Huh?”

“Silvershear, about two days north of here. Your people killed women and children. How could you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” the man gasped. “We came straight from Vizugmon, from Angarth Stronghold. I know nothing of attacking villages and killing innocents!”

“It was a group of felinekin,” Yuriko stated grimly. “They attacked me while I was on my way to Viterra.”

“I…I don’t know what you mean! We don’t attack villages, at least not those without any warriors,” the tigerman protested.

“I see.” Yuriko muttered.

She wasn’t sure at all. The man seemed sincere but with his tiger head, she couldn’t tell if he said the truth. As for Rhox, the snakekin woman simply shook her head but didn’t comment.

“We should go, Elder,” Akko hurried back. “The others say there are thousands of them in Lardel.”

“Alright.”

There were seventeen of them left, from twenty two. They hurried down the road that would lead them back to Tanrill, but a few longstrides away, Akko led them down a different path. One that turned towards the east.

“If Lardel had been taken, we have to return to Lucenti,” she said grimly.

“How certain are you that they spoke the truth?” Yuriko asked.

“They would not have been on this side of the border unless they somehow bypassed the Keep. A hundred of them…that many would have been spotted for sure.”

“What now then?”

“Now, we escape. And wait for word.” Akko looked straight at Yuriko, her mouth set in a grim line.

_________

Rhain’s Animus spread out as he cast his sorcerous working. Words spilled out of his lips which shaped the ambient Chaos around him into varied runescript lines. Those lines created small circles around him as he infused them with as much of his Animus as he could spare.

To an uninitiated, what he did would not have been visible to the naked eye. They would have seen a flash of light, maybe Animus forms similar to a materialised Geist. They would see those lights shoot into the ground, or into the wood, and then nothing. The working was incomplete and if he released the spell now, all he would have would be uncontrollable, animated trees that would do everything in their power to remove any obstacle to their primal needs.

Nutrients, sunlight, water. Absence of pests and competitor plants. Those were what the plants wanted.

The people of this plane used their Arts to bend and twist the Great Trees to their will but the trees themselves only bent when pressed. The Adaviren certainly didn’t want to create platforms out of their branches, or form houses to let parasites live on their trunks. Awakening the Great Trees made for an effective siege weapon, even if he didn’t bother to control them.

But, if he needed to repair the fort so that his forces could use it as a foothold in their conquest? Well, he needed to be careful otherwise his act would only destroy what was left. He already regretted unleashing the corner tree as it absolutely wrecked everything!

Ah, well. Oh, he didn’t need to worry about another Sorcerer doing the same trick. He was the only one on the plane. As far as he knew anyway. Still, what were the chances for another to have the exact same spell masteries as he did?

He sensed some of the Vizugmonians gathering behind him. He was still minutes from completing his Working though, so he ignored the shuffling feet and shifting weight as they impatiently waited for him.

Once everything was properly set, he released the spell. The energies gathered into the various Adaviren Trees and slowly, their roots started to move, their branches wove themselves into new platforms and bridges. Some vines pulled at the fallen stone and rebuilt the walls, covering the holes with a network of thick branches and vines.

Feeling a mental strain, Rhain sighed and turned to face the catkin.

“What?” he asked curtly.

“A patrol was attacked due north.”

“Well, send another patrol, and send enough to bury them!” Rhain snapped.

“Yes, Great One.”

Rhain shook his head in annoyance. This wasn’t something that needed his input. They knew that so why insist? Something else?

“Wait,” he called out before the Talon leader could leave. “Who attacked?”

“A small patrol of snakes...and a human woman. An Elder.”

“The Imperial!” Rhain yelled, then he narrowed his eyes. “Harry them. Don’t let them rest, but don’t engage in a pitched battle. Send messengers back every hour to keep me posted.”

“You’ll attack, Great One?”

“No,” Rhain smirked, “I’ll wait for reinforcements.”