Heron’s collapsible spear opened with a snap. His Anima condensed into a thin film and spread over the spear and his resonating buckler. The small shield unfolded like a fan and created a circle over his wrist, a little more than ten inches across. His first Facet, the only one remaining in his Anima, and according to Yuriko, would be scrubbed away once he took the final step to the Knight level…Actualisation level, only needed that one anchor to function properly. The wind swirled around him and coalesced into a hexagonal shield, barely visible if not for the azure light coating it.

That was the one unique thing he had, compared to Yuriko and Gwendith. His condensed Anima could detach and coat the hardened air shield, but only as long as he had the Facet activated and the thing was tethered to the buckler. As far as he could tell, neither of the two women could simply detach.

Yuriko’s reach was incredibly broad, and her skill and finesse in manipulating it made it seem as if she had been at it for decades rather than a year or so. Gwendith’s technique was similarly fluid. He was clumsy and brutish. The last impression he ever wanted to give his beloved.

He was ready to fight, but none of them had moved yet. Yuriko hadn’t even summoned her artefact greatsword or her golden mini-swords. His gaze shifted to the silhouettes. Only a moment had passed, he realised, since they were spotted. The shadows moved with purpose, slowly and steadily crossing the fields. Were they the reason for the alarm? Probably.

Were they human or Wyldling? Hunters? Nameless? But they walked too slowly, too deliberately to be nameless who were filled with frenetic energy. Hunters wouldn’t have been visible in the first place. And who would be fighting the Federation? It couldn’t be the Empire as none would be foolish enough to spread out like that. And why would the Federation’s other city-states suddenly attack their allies?

An odd moonbeam fell down from the skies. The clouds were thin and grey, heralding rain to come, but a break allowed the light, and coincidentally, it fell upon one of the shadows.

Heron gasped, and he felt his body tighten up in fear.

It was the eyes. Orbs of complete darkness that absorbed every little bit of light that came its way. It left the creature’s face in shadow, but some parts remained lit. The jaw, a bit of cheek, strands of hair. The skin was pallid and filled with cracks, much like parched earth after Seasons of drought. The body was armoured with metal and chain, and it carried a chopping sword and a deformed shield.

One of its gauntlets was broken, revealing the back of its hand. It was naught but skin, bone, and sinew. It…couldn’t have been something living.

A moment after the moonbeam touched the being, it oriented itself towards them. Towards him. Heron abruptly realised that he was the only one amongst them giving out light. Even Yuriko had kept hers dampened. The creature pointed at him with its weapon, and Heron half expected it to charge.

But no, it didn’t. None of them did. Instead, it began an implacable march, along with every single one of them within sight.

“Fallen Sun,” he muttered.

The line of creatures stretched out across the fields, but they weren’t on the road yet. They could make it past the net if they hurried. No, if they ran as fast as they could. Evidently, Yuriko thought of the same thing since she yelled at them to run. Her voice echoed across the land and he just knew that the patrollers they left behind heard her. It didn’t matter much, he supposed.

Heron pushed off against the cobblestones. He wasn’t as agile as Yuriko or even the twins. But he was strong, and with the power granted by his Body Forging methods, he flung himself forward dozens of paces in a single bound.

He saw Yuriko head towards the creatures, not the nearest one, but those that would intercept the others. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blurred streak rushing towards the nearest one, followed by a larger streak. The others, the ones who weren’t Knight level, continued down the road. The weight of his backpack, carrying a multitude of food, pulled at the straps as he accelerated. The thing was made of forceweave and further lined with runescript lines for durability. It would survive.

And, just like that, they were within striking distance. Golden light flared around Yuriko as her mini-swords spun into existence. They shot towards one of the creatures, who promptly interposed its shield between her and itself. The swords swerved around the barrier and plunged into the creature’s face. Electric sparks jumped from the contact points, but the light was sucked back into its dark vortex eyes.

Heron launched himself at the next creature in line, merely five paces away from Yuriko’s target. He fell into the spear guard, with his right hand near the butt, while his left in the middle and the point angled up. When he came within striking distance, he thrust directly at the head.

The creature’s shield lifted up, just enough to deflect the point above its head, but that had been Heron’s feint. His hardened air shield slammed under the creature’s shield and pushed it higher than it intended to. At the same time, he raised his right arm up, while keeping his left steady, which acted as a fulcrum. The point’s target shifted, and instead of the face, he struck the abdomen. The creature was protected by metal armour, and normally, even with Empowered Strike, that should have been enough to protect against being pierced.

With the spearhead coated with his condensed Anima, the point sheared through the armour as if it were paper, and sunk deep into the abdominal cavity. At this point, he would have wrenched the spear sideways to disembowel his foe, but the strange feedback caused him to freeze.

After piercing through the armour, his spear had hit nothing. Or rather, he hadn’t hit flesh. Something else was there, something just as tough as the metal, but with just enough give that it didn’t cause the spearhead to spark.

His moment of indecision cost him.

The creature’s shield rammed down on the spear, and if not for his Anima, the force would have bent the metal. Instead of pulling back, the creature stepped forward and brought itself within striking distance of its chopping sword. Heron pulled back, bringing his weapon with him as the blade swooshed right in front of his nose.

Changing tactics, Heron reared back and slammed the spearhaft against its head. The creature blocked with its shield, and the impact’s vibrations were barely neutralized by his Anima coating. His hardened air shield delivered a slam from the opposite side, and that one connected and sent the creature staggering.

Heron spun his spear and used it more as a quarterstaff than for its intended purpose. Having brought the creature off balance, his blows connected easily.

Bang, twang, bong!

Metal against metal. It sounded as if he was hitting a bell, driving home the idea that the armour was hollow. But what manner of creature was this? Certainly not a Chaos dweller!

Despite the frequent hits, the creature weathered the blows with ease. Even as he showered more blows against it, he was painfully aware how little time he had to attack, and after one last blow, he jumped back as far as he could, just in time to avoid getting decapitated by the creature’s comrade.

Hissing in anger, he stepped back, eyes darting around. To his left, Yuriko had made short work of her target. It lay smouldering in pieces and she had engaged nearly a dozen more while he was busy with one.

Wrestling with feelings of inadequacy, Heron pulled his focus back to his assailants, except his distraction cost him. He barely dodged away from a chop, and even so the blade’s edge… bounced off his condensed Anima. He barely even felt it.

Huh.

This was the power Yuriko held even back then in Rumiga City? No, she wasn’t that careless, he knew. But could he be? The creature paused when its strike barely even registered, but only for a split second, then it struck again and again.

Heron wasn’t foolish enough to let them hit him, but his condensed aura’s protection meant that he didn’t have to pay too much attention to defence. So that’s just what he did. He used his hardened air shield to fend the second creature off, while he walloped the life out of the first one. Every strike, back by his full strength, dented its armour, and eventually, he heard a sharp crack.

The creature fell on one knee, and Heron slammed the haft over its helmet, denting it inwards. A second smash and another crack afterwards and the thing fell on its back. The darkness of its eyes faded away and he finally got a good look at the thing.

Only to be greeted by a bare skull. There were bits and pieces of muscle and skin, but only the area around the jaw was intact. Full of cracks as he first saw, but still recognisable as a human jaw.

But he didn’t have much time to be distracted. The second thing was soon accompanied by a third and a fourth. The ones farther back were headed towards the road and the rest of their party.

Cursing under his breath, Heron fended the things off, and after a glance at Yuriko, who had mowed down dozens, maybe a hundred of the creatures, he pulled back towards the road. She could handle herself easily. If even his condensed aura could weather the enemies’ blows, then hers practically made her invincible.

But these things would definitely be trouble for everyone else.

He ran towards the group, but not directly. The creatures, when he came close enough to them, veered towards him instead of where they were currently headed. Afterwards, they followed right behind him mindlessly. Strange things, he snorted. They didn’t run either, but moved at a steady march.

He pushed down his uneasiness and gathered as many of them as he could without getting trapped, then veered around towards Yuriko, who was still having her fun.

“Yuri!” he hissed, stopping himself from just shouting her name. That still caught her attention and she turned to look at him before her eyes bounced towards the train behind him. Her lips quirked a smile and she gestured for him to pass next to her.

When he did, she sent practically every single mini-sword she controlled and attacked. He turned to look and whistled in appreciation as each sword stabbed straight into each thing’s forehead. Her swords were either too fast for them to react to, or curved around their defences.

When the swords struck, there was a small flash of golden light, then the things fell down in a heap.

A few moments later, the entire group he gathered were dead…or destroyed would be the better word since they clearly looked like moving corpses. What in the Abyss are these things?

“We’re clear, let’s head back,” Heron said.

Yuriko nodded and chirped, “Alright!”

All told, he put down one, while Yuriko put down a hundredfold. Not mainly because of her martial prowess, but because she could control blades made out of Radiant energy. That seemed quite deadly to these creatures.

They ran back towards the road. The net had been broken, but he could see more of them a hundred paces behind the initial line. They continued marching, and it seemed that the walking corpses were encircling Uaran? Would there be another contingent on the opposite side of the city, he wondered. Well, it was hardly their concern and as long as no more followed them on the road, then it didn’t matter.

The two beastkin caught up to them before they rejoined the team. Kassy and Roland had wide grins on their faces, and flecks of rust on their knuckles.

“A stirring fight, even if the foes were boring. There were enough of them that I let off a lot of steam,” Kassy hummed.

“I hope we don’t see them again,” Yuriko said, shaking her head. “They’re not much of a challenge.”

Heron grunted. They weren’t for her, but their combat skill wasn’t too bad. Either way, he’d rather not tangle with those things either since there wasn’t any point to it. The road ahead was clear, and they already got what they came for.

Heron grinned to himself. He was adjusting well to his new power and circumstances too. Life was good.