“You’ve got black,” Finan said, revealing the legionnaire piece concealed in his fist. He stopped shuffling the pieces right in front of Yuriko. Instead, once he realised that she could easily follow his shuffling, did it behind his back. Yuriko had called out the colour before tapping the correct hand a dozen times in a row, much to his consternation.

Yuriko arranged her pieces on the board. Part of the initial strategy was in the placement of the pieces. The Empress was restricted to the central three squares on the row nearest to her, while the paired pieces, the Avos, the Celebrants, the Knights, and the Colossi, could be placed anywhere within the first two rows. The legionnaire pieces could be placed anywhere within the second and third rows.

Initially, she had merely copied Finan’s arrangement, with the legionnaires spread out on the third row while the officers positioned to protect his Empress. Now, she thought of doing things a bit differently.

She positioned five legionnaires in front of her Empress while placing two others on the left and right sides, keeping the second and eighth columns clear. She positioned her Colossi with a clear path straight out, kept her Knights protected, and her Celebrants ready to move. She positioned one Avos beside the Empress while the second one was next to a Colossus. It was an aggressive positioning as she was tired of playing a defensive war.

“Interesting,” Finan murmured. His lineup was the same as always and Yuriko could already predict his opening move. Well, this time, she would be the one to open.

The start of the game didn’t require much thought, and Yuriko let her mind wander.

Over the past weeks, she and Finan had established a habit to play Shatran after lunch. The boy, sometimes alone, but most often accompanied by his friends, would set up the board on a park table near Sharom’s side of the Central Reserve. They played for a couple of rounds at least, though more often than not, Yuriko insisted on playing for nearly two hours, stopping only when it was time for her tutorial sessions.

It wasn’t only because she enjoyed playing, though that was also true, that she spent that much time playing Shatran. For some reason, whenever she was with Finan and his friends, the horde of persistent admirers left her alone. Of course, they’d rush back as soon as she was alone, but even when she was with Miya and her friends, there was a steady stream of suitors. Sometimes, she asked Reinhardt to ward them off, but he only gave her a lost stare.

“How would I even go about doing that?” he asked bitterly. Well, he was quite obviously an outsider.

Either way, she was somewhat tired of dealing with the annoyances. Not all of them were male either. She was somewhat surprised when a pretty girl chatted her up while she was dining alone in the mess hall. The girl had propositioned her quickly and left dejectedly when Yuriko reflexively rejected it. She was quite cute, actually, with soft brown hair curled around her oval face. Still, she didn’t really want to become entangled with anyone at the moment, so she rejected any who approached her. But the more she rejected, the more persistent some of them were. Even the ones she’d already rejected before. Was she too polite in her rejections? They never pressed her after she said no, but they’d be back by the next day.

Finan moved a legionnaire piece then tapped on the table to catch her attention. He had a slight smirk on his face. Yuriko rolled her eyes and moved her piece. She advanced her Colossus to secure the right flank of the no-man’s land.

Controlling that zone was one of the basics in properly playing Shatran. She and Finan had played dozens of times already and she barely won a game out of ten. Throughout the entire time, he always placed his legionnaires, and his Colossi in the centre and commanded the rest of the battle from there.

While they played, neither of them spoke much, which was how she preferred things, oddly enough. Over the past couple of weeks since her birthday, she’d practised the Mishala Clan’s meditation technique and she’d reactivated the Fertility Control technique after her period. She didn’t notice much difference though, in how her Mien affected others.

She couldn’t really detect it, other than the pulsing of her Anima. But it was so minute and regular, much like how breathing, or heartbeats worked. She could only catch the difference when she was alone. Either way, perhaps it was because her Anima was already at the threshold of Knighthood, or Actualisation as Damien called it, that she was even able to notice it.

The strange thing was that the usual way for the Animus Cap to reach Sollus was to partake of Zoi Elixirs of the appropriate strength. She had been provided all she needed by the clan but she couldn’t use them.

They’re unnecessary and will only make it harder for you to advance later. Damien said.

‘How and why? What about the others? My family and friends? They take Zoi, don’t they?’

Ancients don’t need it.

Ancients, as Damien explained, were those who trained their Anima in the old ways. Like those who’ve come before. It was much more difficult than how the Imperials do it, but Damien said that if done well, it would mean she would be stronger than others of her respective level. She only had to remember how she was able to match Elder level warriors in Bella to know the truth.

External aids in the form of medicines, elixirs, and pills don’t really do much for us. Everything is Chaos. But those things are Chaos given form. What we need is pure, unadulterated Chaos, which is easy to consume, easy to combust, and easy to form. Secondary sources mean you’ll have to convert it back into distilled Chaos before you can make use of it.

‘Why do my people use it then?’

An aspect of the Heritage and the Facet. I need to look at the patterns to really ascertain it, but I’m sure my hypothesis is correct. You only need to practice the Animus increasing exercises and you’ll naturally increase your cap.

Her schedule was quite full these days. Morning physical training. Breakfast. Class or tutoring, depending on the Academy’s schedule. Then she’d play Shatran with Finan. Afterwards, it’s either class or tutoring again. Return to the city estate to practice controlling her Mien with Miya, then studying her weak subjects with Ryoko and Saki.

Her attendants were the closest thing to friends she has here. She barely saw Mum unless it was Restday and she was in Aerule Garden. After seeing several sides of her cousin Miya, she couldn’t quite count on the older woman as a friend. There was always a cold undertone to their interactions.

As for her cousins on the Davar side…well, she hadn’t seen them since she arrived in Realmheart four weeks ago. She received some messenger cranes. They were staying in the Honeydew Company’s compound in the merchant’s quadrant.

They had received the bounty from the Mishala Clan for her rescue, but the loss of the Ebon Horizon had put them in the hole anyway. Bonds and insurance were in arbitration, with the gist of the conflict being that the Horizon had not been in their published shipping route when they were wrecked. Wasn’t the bounty enough to rebuild the Horizon? But perhaps not when it was split amongst the surviving crew and the death pensions.

Yuriko wasn’t really sure how to feel about that, and in a bout of guilt, she’d written to Mum to do something about it. There was no reply yet but that had just been yesterday.

They were halfway into the game and Yuriko’s foot was tapping in anticipation. They were still relatively even, and she was starting to see her path to victory.

“The annual war games are in a few weeks,” Finan said idly. “Are you ready for it?”

“War games? Ah, those,” Yuriko muttered halfheartedly while she calculated her succeeding moves. There had been war games back in Rumiga and she remembered Marron and Kato talking about it when they were home. Reserve Officer Training class had mentioned it briefly but since they hadn’t elaborated she figured she’d go with the flow.

“Well, Aneurin, Sharom, and Lunette Academy have a tentative alliance against Agaza. Hard to blame them since they haven’t won in years. I hear rumours that you’re Sharom’s hope for a chance at victory.” He smirked. “Ironic isn’t it, relying on a single warrior in a game involving hundreds and that which should centre around strategy and tactics?”

Yuriko looked up at his eyes, which were a darker blue than hers. They twinkled with amusement, but there was a darkness beneath it, too.

“I’m not even sure if I should be participating. As I understand it, third order Journeymen are already considered graduates. Special circumstances aside, I think it’d be unfair if I join.”

“Oh, quite arrogant of you,” but his laugh took away any sting from his words. “It's not as if you’ll be directly fighting each other. I heard that they’ve brought out captive Chaos dwellers to serve as the opponents. A little bloodletting to whet our blades.”

He let off a bloodthirsty air, but to Yuriko, who’d shed blood and taken hundreds of lives, Finan’s demeanour was like that of a…well, a child.

“Have you killed before?” she asked quietly.

Finan blinked and frowned at her heavy air. “I…yes. I have. For class. Against Chaos dwellers, and criminals.”

“In battle?”

Finan shook his head. “Realmheart is quite safe, you know. Only fools would start trouble here. Most of those killed in Avos’belli are from off plane.”

“The coliseum?”

“Yes. Reserve training and Martial Sciences have some classes there.”

“I see.”

She focused back on the game. Part of the reason why she liked playing this game against Finan was that she enjoyed matching wits and stratagems against him. Back in Rumiga, her instructors have always said she needed to think before she fought and her own experiences in Bella made her quite aware of her lacking critical and tactical awareness. She wouldn’t always be the strongest on the battlefield, and if she wanted to protect her people, she couldn’t do it alone. She couldn’t fight a war by herself.

Not yet.

________

The steam cannons from the city-state of Ekelus roared as they disgorged their potent load. Earth and stone erupted as the shell impacted the ground several hundred paces away. It was not as effective as the Verdanian Plasma Carronades, but they had the advantage in being simpler to build and required no expensive and rare reagents, and jade to operate. The cannonballs were solid iron too, and as big as a human head. Bigger, sometimes.

Willem Sarosha, councillor and ambassador of the city-state of Garamus, observed from an observation post on one of the Ivalan fortresses that overlooked the Aegeas Plains, the neutral zone between the Verdanian’s territory and Ivala City. It stretched from the border mountains to the Zarek and would have been filled with wildflowers and grass had it not been used as a convenient battleground. Now, trenches crisscrossed the plains. Earth and stone were one of the best ways to defend against the powerful plasma weaponry of the enemy. If they had just marched across in an invasion, then unit leaders, and worse, force marshalls had a tendency of being picked off from too far away.

The Federation of City-States of Rumiga had numbers on their side though. They had nearly five times more warriors than the Imperials. Quality mattered, of course, and the enemies were generally stronger. But numbers were a factor all on their own. They would mow down the invaders and push them off their plane. It was only a matter of time.

They would have had more people too, but the necessary sacrifices had whittled down their numbers. Experienced warriors were now in short demand, but thankfully, the new weapons created by Ekelus were easier to use and didn’t require as much training.

Now, the steam cannons disgorged their deadly rain upon hapless trenches, which may or may not have Imperial warriors. Better safe than sorry. Years of planning and excruciating timing was needed. But the time was now.

Those fools were occupied on the opposite border, and they would never have expected a simultaneous assault from Ivala, rebels, and Chaos dwellers. Hopefully, it will be enough.

In the three thousand-year history of the Empire, Willem knew that they had never suffered a defeat in war. Setbacks and battles lost, yes, but they never lost a single plane once they had their claws on it. Ancestors willing, they would suffer one now.