The first light of the dawn shone through stained glass windows, turning the warm light into cool blues and reds. The light danced against Yuriko’s hair which absorbed the Radiant energy readily and gave off a soft golden glow.

Droplets of sweat flew from her brow as she vigorously spun and danced, flowing from sword form to sword form. Each phase of the Four Phases of the Sword had thirteen distinct forms, which could be performed in reverse. Each form could chain to the next one in line, or to a similar number across the phases. Right now, Yuriko flowed through the first to thirteenth forms of Flowing Water, and afterwards, she transitioned to Jade Mountain form thirteen then to Jade Mountain one. Performing all of the forms of a single phase at normal speed would take her about ten minutes in total, but at the moment, she had sped up the pace until she could do all fifty-two forms in that amount of time.

She stopped when she got to Jade Mountain form three as she realised that the angle of her blade was off by a couple of degrees.

“Swarm fodder!” she muttered as lowered the weighted training blade. Each form had to be precise down to the merest fraction of an inch.

Well, those were the standards she held herself to, anyway. Swordmaster Kinohara wasn’t that strict and she was happy if Yuriko reached about ninety percent accuracy in the forms. Maybe it was because the Golden Silhouette of her Facet still had not mirrored the forms that Yuriko wasn’t satisfied with her progress. Back then, when Senior Kale first presented Sweeping Gale, the silhouette had easily mirrored and improved upon it, even showing her new ways to apply the skill to the sword dances. So why wasn’t it doing the same for the Four Phases?

She would just have to keep at it until she perfected it. She continued with her practice for about an hour before it was time to get ready for the Academy. Her attendants, Ryoko and Saki, were waiting for her in her rooms and quickly shuffled her to the baths. It had been several weeks since they insisted on this service, and frankly, Yuriko was somewhat ashamed to realise that she enjoyed these sessions now.

Breakfast was pretty quiet, with her cousin Miya bleary-eyed for a change rather than bushy-tailed. Prince Reinhardt Nostra su Isger nodded at her and gave her a charming smile. Yuriko made her good mornings then focused on food. Her earlier exercises got her tummy complaining though her appetite had returned to something closer to how she was before. Well, now she ate enough for two people instead of five. Hmmm.

Today was Sixthday, the 34th Day of Earth, which meant her morning, and maybe her afternoon, too, would be in Reserve Officer Training. Excitement made her heart flutter, since last week, Youth Commander Synka and the instructor, Master Soren told her that since she was already a Third Order Journeyman, she would be included in the Colossus training. Normally, only those in the fifth year would be included.

“What’s got you bouncing on your toes?” Miya groused.

Yuriko rolled her eyes and fired back. “Why so tired? Had a late, and an adventurous night?”

“Jon, Selwyn, and Claude had a fight,” she muttered under her breath, “So yes, I had a late night,” Miya answered firmly before delicately yawning into her palm.

“Oh.” Yuriko shrugged. “If you must know, today we’ll be introduced to Colossi Core piloting.”

“Truly?” Reinhardt perked up. “Such curious and powerful machines, those Colossi of yours.” He looked pensive for a moment before chuckling to himself. “I wish I’d be allowed to see them up close.”

“Notwithstanding your outsider status,” Miya said, “you’re not strong enough to even attempt to pilot one.”

“I know,” Reinhardt shrugged. “I’m just curious.”

“Hrm, Colossi Core piloting is highly overrated anyway,” Miya grumbled. “The core is cramped and there’s hardly any privacy with your co-pilot.” She shuddered delicately. “Now that’s a mind I’d rather not dwell in.”

“Eh, what do you mean?” Yuriko asked.

Miya glanced at her over her plate then grinned. “Oh, well, just hope you get a female veteran instead of a man.”

“That’s hardly helpful,” Yuriko grumbled.

She knew, from what she saw back in Zarek Mountains, that two people piloted the Colossi, and she supposed the space in the thing’s torso isn’t that spacious. But what did Miya mean by “sharing minds”?

“It requires a mind meld?” Reinhardt asked.

“Not as such,” Miya said, “but it isn’t far from it.”

“Oh.” Yuriko murmured. Well, either way, it would be an interesting lesson.

Which was how, an hour and a half later, she found herself seated on a transport along with a dozen fifth-year students. Most were from Agaza, but there were another couple from Sharom, and a single one from Aneurin. There were no Lunette students that had reached Third Order Journeyman, apparently.

Master Soren, Master Ruminos, and another instructor she didn’t know accompanied them. Yuriko sat near a window, while her seatmate chatted with the student across the aisle. Yuriko didn’t know any of them, and aside from a sidelong glance, they were content to let her be. She still felt a heated gaze on her though, but she couldn’t catch who it came from.

She had managed to somewhat control her Mien after a couple weeks of practice. It was a frustrating affair though. Miya taught her that she must control her emotions, but it wasn’t as if Yuriko let them control her actions. She prided herself in remaining relatively calm, focused as she was on training with the sword.

However, slight control was more like having a runescript valve closed by a single percent. It restricted the flow of Animus, but not by much. At the rate she was going, it would take four years to control her Mien, even if that was at all possible. Miya, Mum, and Prima Elisha all told her that turning it off was impossible. She would have to contend with affecting the minds of everyone around her for the rest of her life, which was deeply unsettling. Despite what Mum and Miya said, it wasn’t normal or natural to affect people like that. Even if Damien said that it’s simply a tool that she’d have to learn to master…

Her musings were interrupted when the transport came to a halt. They were supposed to go to someplace called the Proving Ground, but this didn’t look like it at all. Instead, they’d come to an intersection. The perpendicular road was filled with landcrafters, haulers, and transports parked on the curbside. The transport turned left then slotted into a parking space that was only a few paces away. The road across was blocked by small pillars that were set close enough together that a landcrafter, the smallest sized vessel, wouldn’t have fit through. Beyond, pedestrians filled the entirety of the avenue.

As soon as the transport was parked, the students and the instructors got off. Yuriko hastily followed them down, and Master Soren made a point to watch for her. He gestured for her to come closer and he explained, “The Imperial Palace does not allow landcrafters.”

“Ah.”

“The Proving Grounds aren’t too far away,” he said, “just a couple of leagues.”

“Eh? That’s going to take a couple of hours walking,” Yuriko muttered.

“You’d think that, but not here,” Master Soren smirked. “Stay close when we enter the road.”

The lot of them entered, and the Agaza teacher made a beeline for the centre. The pavement wasn’t all of one colour, Yuriko realised. The outer area was white, but a strip in the centre, which took about a third of the road’s width, was coloured a deep green. After a couple of minutes walking, their surroundings started to blur and Yuriko almost jerked to a halt. Master Soren grabbed her by the arm and kept her moving though.

“Don’t stop or we’ll get separated.” He said.

“Yes.”

Mastering her surprise, Yuriko stared at the sides. The people walking on the white part were blurry and so was the rest of the scenery. The only space that was unaffected was right ahead.

“Walking the green alters the space we walk in. Either the distance we’re headed to becomes shorter or our stride becomes longer. It won’t take a minute to walk to the Proving Grounds,” Master Soren said.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later and they stepped out of the green lane. The area they had entered from was no longer in sight. The streets twisted left, right, up, and down, so Yuriko doubted that even if they hadn’t quickmarched, she would have been lost anyway.

The building they ended up entering was smaller than she expected. It was only two storeys tall and made of red brick and slate. Inside revealed that there was only one floor, however, and there was a row of kneeling Colossi on the far wall. They were the smallest kind, Yuriko thought, the Koinos. Made all out of lacquered wood and etched with exposed runescript lines.

The instructors had them line up in a row, with Yuriko placed at the leftmost spot.

“Helene Orgilles, with Centurion Lewin,” Master Soren said.

The sole student from Aneurin, a young woman whose bluish-grey hair was contained in an elaborate braid that reached down between her shoulder blades, stepped forward where the centurion standing next to the nearest Colossus nodded.

Helene snapped a salute then hurried forward, though not before she glanced back at the other students. For some reason, her eyes caught Yuriko’s and they narrowed ever so slightly. She turned back with a sniff while Yuriko was left wondering at the barely concealed animosity behind her eyes.

A few more names were called before Yuriko’s.

“Yuriko Mishala, with Centurion Garderon,” Master Soren said.

The Colossus Core pilot sauntered over with a lazy smirk on his face. He somewhat resembled Finan’s friend, Draknon, though he wasn’t as stocky. In fact, he was shorter than Yuriko by an inch or so, and given how he gave her a head to toe inspection, he didn’t seem to like that fact.

“Cadet Mishala,” he drawled. “Come with me and let’s get you suited up.”

He spun on his heels and the tail of his coat fluttered dramatically behind him. Yuriko nearly snorted a laugh when she saw his hand surreptitiously fluffing the cloth. He led her to a side chamber that had narrow lockers along the wall. The other pilots and students were already inside. Centurion Garderon headed to a locker, opened it, then withdrew a folded cloth. He thrust them into her hands then pointed at a changing area on the opposite side. “Here’s a key for your locker. Clothes and other belongings go there. Do not bring or wear anything else other than your underclothing and the jumpsuit.”

“Yes, sir.”

The women’s changing area already had about half the students in varied states of undress. Yuriko plopped the jumpsuit on a bench then started undressing. Once she was down to her panties and breast band, and after she folded her clothes neatly, she grabbed her jumpsuit, looked for the opening, and slipped inside. It was quite roomy, with only the wrist, ankle, and waist belts cinching the cloth against her skin.

Whoosh!

One of the girls pressed something on the wrist band which made her suit’s runescript lines glow. The jumpsuit suctioned itself to conform to the girl’s form, and in the process, revealed every intimate curve of her body. The rest of them did the same, and Yuriko, after hesitating for a moment, did the same. The jumpsuit covered her from her neck to the tips of her toes. It seemed as if it had the boots built in too, as the soles of the feet gave sufficient traction. The entire thing was a drab off white colour, save for the wrist and ankle bands, which were black.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, Yuriko gathered her clothes, carried them in front of her, then went back to the locker room. Her key was labelled 32, and she easily spotted the corresponding locker. She stowed her clothes inside, clipped the key into her belt, then looked for her Colossus Core partner.

The Centurion was similarly garbed in an off white, figure-hugging suit, though the bands on his wrists had jade slivers in them. He had aesthetically pleasing muscles, though she tried her best not to stare at the oddly large bulge between his legs.

“Ah, you’re ready. Good. Time to get inside Manda.” He took note of her odd look and smiled. “The name of my Koinos.”

“Oh. Uhm, are we going to…?”

“Yes, we’ll go into the Proving Grounds and face a real battle. Against a Chaos lord.” His grin grew feral.

“Eh?” Yuriko jolted in surprise. “There are Chaos lords here?”

“Of course. There are hundreds of captives. Brought in from the outlying planes. After extracting what we could, the remnants are consigned to death. What better use than to hone the skills of students. Now come, we only have an hour.” With that, he spun on his heels and strode out the locker area, while Yuriko hurried after him, all the while wondering if killing captives was really the right thing to do. Even if they were Chaos lords.