Self-reflection was not something Yuriko was used to doing. Even when she had weeks of idleness back in Karcellia, she had always been active, always a creature of habit. She’d gone through her training, her meditation and all that, without really considering if the path she trod was the right one, or if there was a better one she could simply take rather than pushing on.

Virgil’s words and his demonstration of skill had her wondering why she had strayed so far from her original intentions. When she first began to train, she had been forced to focus on precision and accuracy. Somewhere along the way, she had reverted to relying on overwhelming strength. It was understandable, after all, the Ancient Way as well as her rapidly strengthening physique left her much stronger than her peers. It was fine if she fought those weaker, but what about the stronger?

But then again, there was no reason to apply both, wasn’t there? Precision and accuracy when fighting against those who were worthy, while using brute power against the weak swarm fodder. Why waste the effort otherwise? Then the important matter was to know when to shift tactics. Perhaps she had better practice both principles regularly lest she fall into the same rut again.

Nodding firmly, she followed her Da’s footsteps and was determined to learn from him again. She hadn’t even begun to reach his level, not by a long shot. His level of his expertise, anyway. With a wry grin, she also acknowledged that she was physically stronger than her parents now. It was a heady thought.

The chambers of the cavern were empty. There were rivulets coming out of a fetid pond, with its water coming from the stalactites above the pool. Her perception revealed that the pond was deeper than it looked, going down several paces, despite only being less than a pace wide. And at the bottom…

There was a layer of greenish liquid that was completely segregated from the rest of the water as though there was a film between. But her perception revealed nothing there other than the water and the green liquid. Something that was imminently familiar considering that she was carrying a canteen of it all the time. Ambrosia.

“Da.” She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, questioning eyebrow raised. “The pool.”

“What about it?”

“There’s Ambrosia at the bottom.”

Virgil froze and turned to look at her, then the pool. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm, how do we get it?”

“You want some?” Yuriko asked with a smirk.

Da rolled his eyes. “Of course I do.”

“Hmmm, keep an eye out for the ants, please.”

When Virgil nodded, Yuriko approached the pool. The bottom was roughly five paces beneath, well within reach of her Anima. She first tried to scoop the Ambrosia out directly, but as with any liquid, her kinesis couldn’t hold it, much like trying to hold water with her hands.

Instead, she fished out her condenser canteen, disabled the runescript formation, and dropped it into the pond. She controlled it until it dipped into the Ambrosia at the bottom, which was much harder than she expected. The layer of green liquid was thinner than the canteen, so she had to lay it flat and make sure that the opening was dipped underneath the layer. The Ambrosia dribbled inside, and she filled the canteen up by swishing at the liquid until it moved.

Filling the canteen was impossible since the layer decreased well below level. If she tried to swish in more, she would probably get water instead. The canteen was quarter filled, holding maybe two hundred fifty ORen, or a fourth of a Ren. The remaining Ambrosia was spread out at the bottom. Emptying the pool of water might have worked, but exposing Ambrosia to the ambient Chaos would have changed it. The water insulated it from the Chaos in the air.

She withdrew her canteen and presented it to Virgil, who used his Field technique to isolate the Ambrosia as he took a look. “Split in half?”

“Sure.”

He returned the container without doing anything though. “When we get back. I don’t have any vials.”

“Alright.”

Well, now that she had more Ambrosia, she could safely induct more people into the Ancient’s Way. Orrin had expressed interest, but only if his twin brother did the same. Braden wasn’t quite sure yet, and neither was Asami. Either way, she could also use the Ambrosia to bolster her Radiant Body Refinement, which had crawled all the way up to 80%. Hmm, maybe she should wait until she gets to ninety. Pushing to perfection was difficult, but Ambrosia could make the jump trivial.

Happy that they found something of worth in the trial, Yuriko and Virgil continued past the multi-chambered cavern and into the one-exit tunnel. They encountered more Femorants on the way, and they weren’t warrior caste bugs either. Variants. The bulky, brawny ones. The slender and quick ones that looked like they had been mixed with lizards and birds…

They spent a bit more effort to defeat these ones, but for Yuriko, it was only the difference between stepping on a cockroach twice to make sure it was dead instead of just once.

“You can exert force through your Anima field, can’t you?” Da asked her earlier, and when she said yes, “Why don’t you use it to attack directly too?”

“Look,” Yuriko said as she exerted her kinesis against an ant. An outline of her hand appeared just as it struck a Femorant. It only appeared less than an inch away from the creature’s carapace, but it was more than enough to elicit a reaction. “It’s still my Anima, and when it intersects with someone’s Field or Anima, it makes an impression. When I use it to manipulate objects…” She lifted a ball bearing, then flung it against another ant, which caved in its head and killed it. “This is just a bit subtler.”

“Ah. Well, even so, you can still use it to project force. Can you only push or pull from yourself?”

“Nope! As long as something’s within my Anima reach I can freely use my kinesis.”

“Then use it to strike from behind, or through blindspots,” Virgil said.

“I…er, I do.”

“Really?”

“Sometimes?”

“Heh.”

Yuriko couldn’t help but blush. “Ah, anyway, let’s finish it.”

The tunnel continued on, and the near unending march of Femorants dashed themselves against the bedrock of her power. They died. Virgil didn’t even bother to strike, keeping his reserves ready for the final fight, and when they arrived at the last chamber, it felt somewhat anti-climactic.

Yuriko thought that the manifested flying ants were throwaway weapons, but upon catching sight of the queen, the nearly limp and emaciated creature, showed her that her initial thought was wrong. The Femorant Queen, who had towered over her last time she saw it, was slumped against the wall. It was gasping for breath, and its aura was weak. When it saw them, it lifted its twig-like limbs and tried to conjure more flying ants. Sparkles of light almost immediately fizzled out from the ant’s fingertips, and no manifested spirits came.

Yuriko exchanged glances with her Da, and he coughed and said, “Your Trinity must have prevented its Will from returning.”

But Virgil had been the one to kill the last set, so where were they?

The Queen screeched, and more variants emerged from the side tunnels. Their eyes glimmered with malice, but there was an underlying desperation, too.

With a casual sweep of her arm, sunshards flew towards the variants while a Trinity sunshard formed in front of her. The Queen cowered before them, but there was no escape. This reflection of reality would be shattered. Now.

The Trinity shard slammed into the Queen’s face. The cycle began, and the massive insectoid burst into dust, then ignited.

A conflagration that was only stopped by Yuriko’s Adamant Guardian Seal. Otherwise, it would have engulfed both of them.

A few moments later, it was done.

When the flames died down, a portal ripped itself open right where the Queen had been. Yuriko and Virgil confidently walked through it, though she kept Fri’Avgi on hand. The transfer felt odd, and she gritted her teeth and raised her artefact up when she finally emerged into a barren chamber. Alone.

Or rather, almost alone. She couldn’t see Virgil anywhere, and the chamber was loosely spherical with only the floor being flat. She could see seven doors equidistant from each other, and the metal rings embedded all over were etched with complex runescript patterns. And of course, the hidden presence that was only a few paces from her.

Yuriko savagely flared her Anima, Willing it to strip the darkness away. A moment later, a creature she didn’t expect to see stood languidly in front of her. Grey skin, red eyes. She Who Whispers in the Light.

“I am not here to fight,” The Whisperer said with a smirk.

“Then why am I here?” Yuriko asked guardedly. The woman was a Chaos Marchioness, a step above the Femorant Queen and firmly beyond Yuriko’s capabilities.

“I wish to speak. To bargain.”

Chaos Sight showed her that the woman in front of her…was merely a projection. She let out the breath she was holding and the Whisperer chuckled.

“You see? I am no threat to you.”

“Then what do you want?”

The woman paced around Yuriko, idly tracing a finger on her chin. “Do you wonder why you wound up where you did?”

“Is it your doing?” Yuriko hissed.

“No. It is Shylynn’s. My…” Here the Whisperer frowned. “My contractor. I did not expect the animating spirit to be so…petty and shortsighted. But it was my only choice.”

“What?”

“I was bound, you see…” Whisperer said, “By the One Who Watches and Waits. More than three hundred years ago, when all I ever wanted was to be free of Mother’s schemes.” The Whisperer ranted, “Raised like a cow, fed, watered, and never given an ORen of freedom. Expected to birth a generation of sacrificial vessels.”

Yuriko swallowed. “Who…who was your…?”

“The Verdant Empress.” Whisperer grimaced. “I can no longer speak my old name, for it had been twisted and burned from my tongue and my mind. But…” here she grinned, “I understand that my story was still being told, albeit with…creative license.”

“Your story?” Yuriko’s mind blanked, but then, an improbable connection was made in her mind, “The Fall of Annise Delovine…?”

The Whisperer winced. “I hear nothing…” she mumbled, “Nothing. I wished to return to my former life, but I was bound. By a contract I couldn’t break, one I didn’t really understand…” She shook her head. “But I broke it by signing away my freedom to a new slavemaster. One whose touch was lighter, but no less confining.”

“And so? Those are your troubles.” Yuriko glared.

“I would hope that you would seek restitution to those who wronged you?” Whisperer raised an eyebrow. “After all, Shylynn doesn’t want you to control the Siderious. She wants to control this place.”

“And what is this place, truly?” Yuriko asked pointedly.

The other woman grinned. “A far greater treasure trove than you’d expect. Especially for your…unique lineage. But I digress. I merely came here to tell you who was responsible for your detour. And your enemy is mine as well. After all, no matter what I do, you’d have to stop the Duke.”

That was certainly true.

“But your Eli’Theria won’t be able to match him. He is stronger than you think. A Chaos Duke at the cusp. It would take both Knight’s Imperius of the Empire to match him, and only if he stands within the confines of the plane. If you fight him outside, in his home, then you stand no choice. I know what he seeks…” She trailed off, then shook her head. “And only when he is at the cusp of victory is he the most vulnerable. His life-saving measures are too great. Even now, I know he holds thousands of incarnations spread across the planes, but if he were to advance… why…” she smirked, “he would have to bring all of him back together.”

Yuriko’s mouth felt dry. But then, the key to victory was right there, freely handed to her. And so, she was suspicious. What was that woman scheming?

“I wish for nothing more than freedom,” The Whisperer said softly. “I can break my contract here, but the one I have with the Duke will return in force. I can only be free…when he is nothing more than dust. Thus…I freely give to you, Young Ancient, the way. You are the only one with the wherewithal and the strength to do so. My,” she snorted, “Imperial Mother will do nothing. Your plane is but one of a hundred, and barely worth the effort to keep civilised. Dozens more need her focus, and losing troops to the Duke is worse than losing the plane.”

“Fine,” Yuriko said. The Whisperer was right anyway. She would have to kill the Duke no matter what. At least now she knew how to do it. “Thank you.”

The Whisperer smiled brightly, “You’re very much welcome, Young Ancient.” With that, the projection faded away and one of the doors opened. Right where the projection was standing was a plaque roughly fifteen inches across. It had a large symbol embossed in the middle bearing only the runescript word: Command.

Yuriko picked up the Command Seal and left the chamber. She followed the tunnel and soon enough, met a rather anxious Virgil.

“Oh good! I thought we had another accident.”

“I’m fine.” Yuriko shook her head.

“Well, let’s get going.” He smiled. “Sadeen sent me a message. She has the Chaos Converter.”

Yuriko couldn’t help but feel her heart begin to race. She laughed and grabbed her Da, carrying him with her kinesis as she raced down the tunnel. His strained laughter only made her guffaw.

They were finally done with this place. And it was time to get back to Rumiga. And with her parents too!