Commander Frederik Holster’s lips were pressed into a thin line as he surveyed the carnage. Two Adepts were injured, and several Intermediate Binders were nearly crippled. One had his arm cut in half, and the worst part was that the enemy’s Animus lingered in the wounds, preventing the man from recovering with healing techniques. Some of their equipment was damaged, mostly armour and shields, but several spears and polearms, not to mention nearly a hundred arrows, had been spent. All for what? Nothing.

“Who?” he asked Commander Nikolas Campbelle grimly.

“Unknown,” the other man answered. “No intelligence reports about her. If she was a veteran Knight, then it's impossible that she remained unnoticed. Not unless she came from a different Imperial plane. In that case, why would she be here in this backwards place? She’s either a local recently ascended or an old woman who ascended while she was young looking.

“No, I don’t think she’s that strong,” Frederik muttered. He looked at Nikolas’ bodyguard, Adept Svanon who shrugged.

“She’s stronger than I am,” the man’s gravelly voice replied, “but not to the point of complete domination.”

Adept Hartmann, the archer, commented, “She could not be less than a Master…or Knight-Captain in their parlance. There’s no way she could have held all four of us off otherwise.”

Four of them.

Even though Commander Campbelle hadn’t technically engaged in battle, without his communication technique to coordinate all three Adepts’ movements, and with the support of the regular troops, Adept Gian would have died.

The Hammer Adept was currently in the healers’ station, but from the loud cursing and screaming, it looked as though the same energy that hampered recovery lingered in his wounds.

So…three on one and their side still lost. If the Golden Terror took the field, he would need to assign at least five Adepts to hold her back. And that was the entirety of their elite unit advantage against the Imperials. So much for an easy campaign.

Hmmm, was she the Sorcerer…Sorceress, too? It remained to be seen. For now, it looked like they needed to gather more intelligence. And they had to do their best not to let that woman out on a rampage.

It was a good thing that their primary objective was to keep the town occupied.

____________

After a few minutes of flying, Sadeen decided to alight and walk from here onwards. Being in the air meant that she was easily spotted and she didn’t want to be ambushed by the Whisperer a second time. She could feel that the distance between her and her husband was steadily closing, however, the feeling was still somewhat muted.

She landed behind an icy hill that was clear of Wyldlings. The entire coast and tundra were filled with critters, both alive and dead. At least the hills were a bit more isolated. The mountain range was still quite far away, although now that she took a closer look, it may not be a mountain range at all.

Her gaze swept north to south. The mountain range looked far too uniform in height. She frowned. There weren’t even valleys and peaks. The clouds had obscured the top, but a little application of Enhanced Sight allowed her to penetrate it enough to notice. So it was a wall?

She could only continue on her journey.

While she didn’t want to fly too high, that didn’t mean she wanted to walk. Her soft shoes would be ruined. She was just about to summon a Cirrus Skiff when she stopped herself. The Whisperer might notice the fluctuation of the ambient Chaos due to her Sorcery. Muttering under her breath, she unfurled her battlewings and hovered just a couple of paces off the ground. She followed the lay of the land and avoided skylining herself by cresting hilltops or flying over the frozen forests.

She had to keep her speed low, too, otherwise, a plume of snow and dust would give her away. Even so, she often encountered packs of Wyldlings that she either had to avoid or wipe out. Unfortunately, they seem to be connected to the Chaos Lord because the first time she killed a pack of Hunters, she was assaulted by a volley of green fire arrows minutes later.

She sped off and changed directions several times before she escaped. The annoying thing was that she didn’t see either hide or hair of the Whisperer nearby. Then again, she knew her husband could shoot his Plasma Caster from over a league away and was still accurate enough to pluck the wings off a mosquito, so an archer like the Whisperer, especially one with an Ennoia of Light, could probably be accurate over longer distances. The size of their Domains alone could stretch several longstrides away.

The hours passed as she avoided the Wyldlings from then on. The twisted path meant that it took her nearly three times as long to reach the mountain’s… the wall’s foot. Six days spent flying low and spending a few minutes taking cat naps when she could find a secluded place or two. She could have gone there faster if she flew high, but she was wary of being intercepted by the Whisperer.

The Chaos Lord was Sadeen’s match when it came to Anima strength, but the other woman was about six times her age. Experience brought cunning, and after their initial clash, the Chaos Lord would only try to weather her down.

Avoiding that was paramount, and Sadeen had the feeling that reaching the wall would give her respite.

And sure enough, she went through a valley and then out into the plains. A plethora of Wyldlings was gathered near the walls trying to breach them. How could they do so when the thing was several longstrides high? Sadeen wondered. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed flaring lights and explosions.

Crimson flames, flying blades, and Plasma bolts emerged from the wall, where an opening was. She watched as that gap closed and the Wyldlings slammed into the stone, only to be rebuffed by some invisible power. Another gap opened, a hundred or so paces away, and brilliant energy, deadly energy, flew out and slaughtered the Chaos dwellers.

She hunkered down and observed the battle. Was it the automatic defences of the wall? She wasn’t so sure since there was only one grouping of attacks at any point. Also, the plasma bolts were violet and the exact shade of her husband’s Animus. She felt her heart race with anticipation and she felt the tingle of excitement flow all over her body. She licked her lips and grinned.

Now how to enter the fray?

______________

Gwendith pounced on Yuriko as soon as she returned to the top of the wall. There was a light sheen of sweat on her friend’s forehead and her hands trembled a little, but she squealed in joy.

“You’re back! How did it go? I couldn’t see too much from here, but it was quite flashy!” Gwendith gushed.

“Not too bad,” Yuriko laughed. “Hmmm, hopefully, that rotter stops mouthing off, but if he does, I’ll be more than happy to prove that we’re not cowards. Hmph!”

“Heh. Nicely done, little sis,” Marron laughed as he walked over. He shouldered his Plasma Caster and patted the cartridge. “But weren’t you trying to go past the camp?”

“Oh, er…ehehe,” Yuriko chuckled. “I don’t think that bunch would let me anyway. I thought about it but decided to try later. Maybe tonight.”

“I see. Well, tell me before you go.” He glanced up at the Radiant Sun which had already slipped past its zenith and was making its way towards the western Veil. “Your watch ends at noon, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t forget to write up your after-action report.”

“I will, thanks.”

Waving goodbye to her brother, Yuriko left the wall. Gwendith remained behind for her shift but said that she would be at the house by dinner.

She yawned into her fist. She hadn’t quite had enough sleep yet. Odd, wasn’t it?

Back in the Chaos Sea, she’d been able to stay awake for days but her sleep cycle had returned to normal as soon as she entered the plane. Oh, she could survive on less sleep with no repercussions, but overcoming a lifetime habit wasn’t easy. Even replacing sleep with meditation didn’t always feel the same. Still, she’d pick strengthening her Anima over mere slumber.

She felt that she’d grown slightly stronger after the fight. Maybe her Anima had grown by a fraction of an inch. If she was lucky, by tonight, it would be a full inch. Ten paces, or four hundred inches, was the first threshold, according to Damien. She could trigger the advancement to Transformation then. But he also said that there were more thresholds within the Actualisation period, and the more she crossed while at this stage, the easier it was to advance upon reaching the next stages.

She, uh, she actually didn’t know the name of the stage after Transformation, nor did she know what conditions she needed to fulfil. Or maybe Damien mentioned it before and she forgot. She was following Damien’s word entirely here. Hmmm, that wasn’t healthy, now that she thought about it. But then again, where would she even find knowledge on the Ancient’s Way…

Ah! Fri’Avgi!

She remembered now. During her incarnations in the World Trials, she knew that she discovered the Way through her artefact. She should spend more time delving into the Anima Telum in the dreamscape then.

She handily ignored the warriors, militia and reserve fighters alike, as she walked towards her house. During the brief battle, she knew her Mien had reverted to its default state, and curiously, it helped disrupt the enemy’s morale. But she knew the Terror state would have been better, except…well, her anger at the enemy commander’s taunting hadn’t quite reached that same level as before. Oh well.

Once she reached home, she marched straight to her room and settled into a seated meditation pose. She ruminated on the battle. While it had been quite rousing, she had been prevented from defeating a foe by simple dint of the others interrupting her flow.

Every time she went for a killing strike, either an arrow would fly at a vital point, such as her eyes or her heart, or the dagger man would appear behind her for a backstab. That man’s tricks were odd. He simply appeared where he willed, and even though she could sense him immediately as soon as he materialised, it often happened when he was already within her perception range. One moment nothing, and the next, he was just there. There was no trajectory, no high-speed movement. Perhaps he was playing tricks with his personal time field?

It was similar to her fourth dance if that were the case, but she wasn’t quite sure. In any case, he wasn’t able to react when she used her fourth dance against the mauler so maybe using it against him would be useful. She didn’t try because she hadn’t thought of it in the heat of the moment.

And…even though they had provided a challenge, it was only when she didn’t use her artefact or her Adamant Guardian Seal. She should find a balance between training and a real fight though…ah! But she doesn't have many sparring partners now!

Swordmaster Kinohara had returned with Finan and her friends weren’t her match. She could limit herself further, but…oh! She could really do that! But then again, it might be insulting if she fought them with a blindfold or with only one arm…

She spent most of the afternoon in relaxing meditation. The progress of her Radiant Body Refinement hadn’t progressed by much, just a single percent. How long before she could get to a hundred?

Three years or so to get to ninety percent. To a hundred, well, that depends on your enlightenment. Damien helpfully said.

‘What, do I need to do something special?’

Of course. Much like how you discovered how to augment your Animus reserves, you’ll have to figure out how to reach full Refinement on your own. It’s your body after all, and it's vastly different from mine.

Well, three years wasn’t too bad…

But then, that meant she’d be stuck in Actualisation for that long. Er, other Imperials took much longer to progress from Knight to Knight Captain so she really shouldn’t complain.

She went downstairs for dinner, finding Marron, Rami, Gwendith, Desire, and her two attendants, Saki and Ryoko, at the kitchen dining table. Ration bar stew.

Yuriko’s nose crinkled in annoyance.

“Can’t help it, young mistress,” Ryoko said, “Most of the town’s foodstuff had been converted.”

Sighing at the disappointing fare, she ate her fill and readied herself for her mission.

Except…just as she stepped outside, she heard a high-pitched whistle, a dull thud, and then an explosion of flames.