Oddly enough, it was Gwendith who fell asleep first. She curled into a little ball and somehow used Yuriko’s lap as a pillow while nuzzling into her thighs. Rolling her eyes, Yuriko nudged Gwendith over to the bed and lay down next to her.

The other girl must have worried herself to exhaustion. It didn’t help that they weren’t out of danger, not by a long shot.

Yuriko’s Anima flared as far as they could go. It stretched throughout the entirety of the room and easily revealed Saki, who was staring balefully at Gwendith from the foot of the bed. The attendant jumped as her shadows were stripped from her and her face turned red with embarrassment. Yuriko sighed and pointed to the door. Saki curtsied and left.

“Who’s this?” Desire asked when Saki entered the living room.

“My hidden guard,” Yuriko muttered. “Don’t mind her.”

“Alright.”

Saki gave her a reproachful look and another pointed glare at the sleeping Gwendith before she closed the door behind her.

Yuriko only noted the woman’s reactions from the perception of her Anima. She wouldn’t have seen the glare or heard and felt the grinding of Saki’s teeth otherwise since she had her eyes closed.

Her Anima filled the entirety of the bedroom and spilt out the doorway. It reached a hundred and fifty-seven inches now, nearly four paces away. It also seeped into the stone walls, floor, and ceiling. It wasn’t able to penetrate the material fully, taking about ten inches to penetrate a single inch of stone. If she didn’t forcefully push, the flared Anima would simply stay within the confines of the room though. Hmmm. Perhaps if she pushed her Anima and it went past the walls, she could perceive what was behind it?

Perhaps she could use her kinesis to affect things from there too? Ah! The glow of her light would be visible and betray her to whoever was there.

Sighing, she condensed her Anima over her skin, keeping only an inch expansion to hold her outer Animus reserves. She’d tried dimming the light before, but because she held so much Animus in the compressed space, it took too much focus to suppress. At least, for now.

Can’t sleep?

‘Yeah.’ her thoughts were still in turmoil. Although they had accomplished the mission, circumstances meant that the results were moot. So they just lost people getting something done that ultimately didn’t matter.

That isn’t right. What you got was time. Otherwise, the outpost would have fallen already.

There was that. But for how long? A few days? A week? She’d have to return there to fight again, didn’t she? Why was she so melancholic? She’d experienced war before.

Only this time, the dead on your side aren’t beastkin. They aren’t the Other. This time, it’s your own countrymen, your fellow humans that fell. Damien said succinctly, Worry not. You’ll get used to it.

‘I’m not sure I want to,’ Yuriko muttered. But then again, she hadn’t faced a challenge like the Weaver in a long time.

The burning desire to grow stronger, the burning need to fight someone worthy. Her core practically glowed with anticipation. She could feel it. The Radiant Essence churned through the distilled Chaos, burned her excess Animus, and produced glowing motes of Radiant energy. Even better, she could feel the minute expansion and contraction of the Essence itself. That little sphere slowly grew, and once it reached a certain size…

That’s only one step, child. Damien said, Before you can progress further, you’d need to take hold of an Ennoia.

‘Ennoia?’

The word was familiar of course, but she… Ah, of course. Some of her memories returned, of her incarnations. Along with it came the rush of embarrassment whenever the third’s activities came to the forefront.

It was the first incarnation’s memories that she honed in on, though. She needed Ennoias to advance, and her incarnation had…fire, water, wind, and earth? Swordsmanship, too?

The problem was that she knew her incarnations had Ennoias, but she didn’t really know what they were. It was the difference between hearing someone speak about it as opposed to seeing or experiencing it herself.

‘Could you explain?’ She sent her thoughts to Damien.

Ennoias are many things, child. Understanding. Fragments of this world’s underlying laws. And on a more personal note, it is your ability to resonate with the Chaos. A specific component of it, to be sure, and a rather broad aspect.

‘Wait, wait. So Ennoias are an understanding of concepts?’

Yes, from a certain point of view. More importantly, it is also a connection to the fabric of the world, and how strongly you can shape it. It is knowledge also. More importantly, it is bias.

‘Bias?’ Yuriko thought, growing more confused by the second. Knowledge and bias? Does that mean that some Ennoias, once learned or attained, prevent her from gaining more?

That’s exactly right. Damien said, reading her tumultuous thoughts. An Ennoia will change you, It will open many doors, but will also close just as many. It is something that cannot be taught, only learned. It will alter your Anima, and through that will you know that you have it. Only with an Ennoia can you step onto the next stage, the Transformation. Body, mind, and Anima will be reshaped, metamorphosed to create a vessel that is worthy of treading upon everything.

‘Alright. So, how do I get one?’ Yuriko asked.

Er…

‘What?’

It can’t be taught, remember? If I try to teach you the Ennoias I hold, then what you get will be the watered-down version. It will not be enough to trigger your Transformation, and worse, it will preclude you from getting an Ennoia that is exclusively yours.

‘Oh. Then what should I do?’

Take heart, child. You already have the seeds within you. Search your Anima and find it.

Search her Anima? More meditation, she supposed. Yuriko sighed as Damien retreated to the recesses of her mind. Hmmm.

When was the last time she called upon the Golden Silhouette? Seasons, wasn’t it? She envisioned her Anima, and condensed it into the shape of her initial Facet. It was simple enough, the eight-point sunburst. Then she ran her Animus along the condensed Anima, and soon enough, her consciousness faded away and she found herself in the dreamscape.

The Golden Silhouette, who she suspected was Damien’s true form even if it was currently using Yuriko’s image, stood before her. A phantom wind blew through the silhouette’s hair, making the blond strands float to the side. After a moment, a sword materialised in her hand and she started to perform the sword dances in conjunction with the Four Phases.

Radiant energy weaved around her body and the weapon, dancing across her skin and coalescing into fragments and shards. Radiant. Sword. The Four Phases and its elements and concepts.

Radiant.

Ever since she got access to that energy, it had been her greatest strength. Without it, Yuriko suspected that she would have died the very first time she encountered the Seeker of Delights. The Radiant energy was such a bane to the Chaos Lords that it felt ridiculous. Well, all except for that one who controlled trees. There, her Radiant energy had been absorbed and made useless.

But the Radiant suffused every part of her. What did it mean? To be Radiant?

The Radiant Sun burned all of the Chaos around itself and converted it to life-giving light. Would she do the same?

But it was too broad, wasn’t it? The Radiant light encompassed everything. Would she have to gain an understanding of everything before it became her Ennoia? Or had the transformation already occurred?

The Sword?

It hadn’t even been something she truly wanted to learn. Da taught it to her so she could protect herself when the enemy got too close. It was only when the Golden Silhouette taught her the sword dances did it become much more important and useful. For that matter, she was a swordswoman now. It had brought her to safety and allowed her to become victorious in all of her battles.

What about the Four Phases? As she delved into its practice, more and more she realised that it was less about the weapon and more about the elemental energies it evoked from the Chaos.

So, it was Radiant as the base of everything, swordsmanship as the form or method, and the elemental Chaos as a bonus?

At this point, the Golden Silhouette stopped her movements, looked at her straight in the eye, then nodded. The next moment, the Animus Yuriko had invested into the pseudo-Facet ran out, and everything faded to her normal dreams.

When she woke up, it was to Gwendith wrapped around her body like a vine. The other girl nuzzled the side of her bosom and she had a silly smile on her face. Ah, she was also drooling.

Untangling herself from the other girl’s limbs, Yuriko yawned and glanced out the window. It was the middle of the night, and her tummy was growling fiercely. In the living room, she found Desire curled up into a ball on top of the couch, sleeping. Saki was seated in the armchair. On her lap was an embroidery hoop and she wielded the needle with surprising skill. The sliver of metal practically danced as it stabbed into the cloth and dragged the thread behind it.

Her attendant looked up at her when she left the bedroom, eyes darting towards the bed. Before she could stand up, Yuriko waved her down and stared intently when the other woman opened her mouth to protest.

“You don’t need to attend to me,” Yuriko said. She shouldn’t have gotten used to being waited on hand and foot. It was difficult managing the transition, but with her kinesis, everything was much more convenient anyway.

She washed her face and changed out of her pyjamas. Afterwards, she headed straight to the canteen and ate a late dinner. The mood was heavy, even considering this late at night. Yuriko ate quickly, finishing three bowls of ration bar porridge. Once her tummy was settled, she returned the bowls and utensils to the bussing area and ambled outside.

The southern wall was still under attack by the swarmlings, but just as with the past couple of weeks, the smaller Wyldlings were nothing more than target practice. Now that the bombardment had stopped, the Plasma Carronades were used to wipe out the clumped up swarmlings.

She made her way up the southern wall, thinking to aid in the culling. The militia had it well in hand though. Even those who weren’t ranged strikers used Plasma Lancets to kill from a distance. The swarmling’s Protective Field wasn’t strong enough to negate the piddling damage, even if the bolts weren’t enhanced by Animus techniques.

“Little sis!” Niamh, who had apparently been on the south wall too, called out to her as she walked closer.

“Niamh...” Yuriko smiled wanly.

“Tut, tut!”

“...big sis.”

“It's good you’re back!” Niamh gave her a quick hug.

“Thanks.”

“At least you’re back,” the older girl said wistfully. “Maru-maru’s still not here. He should have been back a few days ago.”

“If he’s leading a caravan with supplies, they’d have to be careful against the Wave,” Yuriko pointed out. Now that Niamh had brought it up, there was another source of worry. Though really, she shouldn’t have to. Maru was a Knight now. He should easily blow past the Wyldlings even if there were a squad of Hunters in his way.

Unless… Chaos Lords? Hopefully, there would only be barons. But…a Knight against a Chaos baron wasn’t an easy fight. Maru was a marksman, like every other Davar. As long as he avoided direct confrontation, he should be able to hold his own. There was no cause for worry at all.

The worried look on Niamh’s face told her otherwise, and there was a sudden feeling of foreboding.

“Not again,” She muttered under her breath. Feelings were somewhat useless since they didn’t give her direction. All it did was make her lose sleep.

She stared out to the south. The terrain up here in the extreme north wasn’t as flat as it was closer to Aegermonth, and there were far too many trees. Even their vantage point atop an artificial hill didn’t give her as clear a view. If she was still on the plateau then maybe she could see far enough to see Imperial territory. Or probably not. There were hills and mountains in the way, after all.

“He’ll come back,” Yuriko said reassuredly, as she patted Niamh’s shoulder.

“Yeah. I think so, too.”