Wiping out the swarmling nests within the Depths would have taken more days than what the Silver Tiger needed to cross that part of the Tidelands.

Yuriko worked with the time she had, knowing that getting distracted would only prove detrimental to her goals. Still, her Radiant Body Refinement, Radiant Anima Refinement, and her reach had grown considerably. It was certainly a task that she’d never done before, but the ease at which she accomplished it somehow diminished her gains, after the first time.

Either way, her Anima reach grew substantially, more than twenty inches, and she had thirty-one paces of Anima reach now. Her Body Refinement had breached ninety percent already, and her Anima Refinement was at seventy-seven percent. If she got the latter up to ninety percent, she could already advance to Transformation.

Still, she was determined to reach the absolute limit she could, while keeping practicality in mind, which meant somewhere around ninety-seven to ninety-eight percent on either. Damien was right that whatever shortfall she got when advancing could be made up for afterwards, but seizing enough power to succeed in defending Rumiga and defeating the Chaos Duke was far more important. She just felt, in her heart of hearts, that rushing would be a mistake. She had advanced to Actualisation less than two years ago, after all, and many Knights took decades before they could become Knight-Captains, with many never even reaching that milestone.

But she could feel the desire to grow stronger. She might have also felt that her current power now wasn’t enough. Many strong foes had escaped death because she wasn’t good enough, and she wondered what consequences their survival would have. While her Radiant energy was powerful, it was getting harder to control when there was too much of it. Radiant wanted to propagate, to burn, to convert all the energies around it. It wants to become similar to the greatest source of it, the Radiant Sun. That the celestial body could not be felt in the deeper layers of the Chaos Sea…

How much was too much?

Anything more than what she could fit inside a Radiant Lance was the threshold, Yuriko thought. If she used only her internal reserves to conjure the lance, she would drain herself dry. But that only meant that whatever her body produced, they would be obedient to her Will. Just that she hadn’t figured out how to increase her Radiant energy production considering that she could barely take advantage of the largesse.

Something to think about once she reached Transformation. She had an inkling that she would need a truly copious amount of Radiant energy to reach her true potential. But those were concerns for the future.

Over the last couple of days, she ventured out of the Silver Tiger with Eli’Theria in tow. A couple of days before that, she went out alone. She wasn’t sure which was easier. With Eli’Theria, she was well protected and her abilities were boosted. However, piloting the Colossus alone had been cumbersome. Mum couldn’t join her then.

“Overkill,” Sadeen had said. “You’ll learn nothing, and gain nothing. Wiping these creatures out in the Tidelands is actually counterproductive. You know they don’t leave Chaos dust and shards when they perish here. Only in the plane do they produce such useful treasures.”

“But there’s too many of them,” Yuriko muttered.

“Greater wealth.” Mum smirked. “But in this instance, I agree. Too many will overcome the plane’s defences, but you don’t need my help. And,” she sighed, “I need to complete my other duties.”

“Alright, Mum.”

Not that she went out alone. Her friends, supported by a flight disc or using a tiger cub, helped her with the purge. With most of her team being at the Journeyman level, they were more than capable of venturing out into the Tidelands by themselves.

As it were, they only wiped out the nests on their way to the Midmarches and when they crossed over after nearly a week of travel, the number of Wyldlings tapered off. It still took three days to cross that part of the Tidelands, and Yuriko keenly felt the passage of time. At the very least, the last leg of the journey through the Shallows would only take a single day. Perhaps they would have been better served entering another Chaos Channel.

“The only other channels we know are in Federation territory or the wilderness of the north,” Da said when Yuriko brought it up. “Besides, we’re already in the Depths. Turning around to find another path would waste just as much time.” He patted her shoulder. “Take these breaks as they come. I’ve no doubt that we’d have battles aplenty once we cross.” He took a deep breath and sighed, “All of the signs point to another Wyldling Wave, one much worse than the one you experienced before. We must be ready.”

“But we have the Tiger and Eli’Theria,” Yuriko protested. “We’re stronger.”

“Indeed, but as you’ve told us of your adventures, we don’t know what the Federation of City States can bring out.” Virgil frowned. “They are in league with two Chaos Courts and they have their sponsors from the Coalition of Independent Planes. That has always been a melting pot of cultures and technologies.”

Yuriko nodded. “Yes, they used steam-powered cannons to attack Faron’s Crossing.”

“That is the least of what the Coalition could bring forth.” Virgil sighed. “Vagaris has tangled with some of their privateers back when I was in service. Steam Cannons are nothing new, but the fact that they could bring them out here…it does not bode well. Perhaps the nearest planes are making a play for Rumiga.”

Yuriko had spent some time thinking about that, and it had occurred to her, especially after seeing three of the city-states, that there were far more people who lived in the Federation than there were Imperials in Rumiga. Haveena City alone had more population than Rumiga City and the entire Eastern Empire.

And if there were more people who lived there…then who really owned the plane?

An uncomfortable thought, and one she would never have entertained before. She would have believed that the Empire was right. She had been born in Faron’s Crossing, after all.

But according to Izna Weyr, the City-States had been founded long before Rumiga City. So who were the real residents? And as for the northern barbarians…she knew that they predated the Empire, too. In fact, wasn’t the Eternal Empire the aggressor here?

An uncomfortable thought, and one that Damien didn’t protest at. He only said, Strength is required to hold territory. If you don’t have that power, you’ve no business holding sovereignty.

Philosophical thoughts aside, it wasn’t as if she was willing to let the Federation and the barbarians take over her home. They might have come into Rumiga later than the others, but they had lived here for generations already.

The final day of travel proved the longest by far.

Yuriko and Eli’Theria were back aboard the Silver Tiger, and she could see the Veil up ahead. Its hues had turned to a uniform silvery light, to reflect the Chaos ship’s passage. There were no Wyldlings below or ahead of them, with every single specimen wiped out by the tiger cubs or the ship’s short-range carronades.

She wasn’t at the bridge, either, but near the hangar. She watched the projection of their progress and made ready to sortie with Eli’Theria, or alone, as needed.

The Veil came closer as the ship accelerated towards it. And almost an instant later, they were through.

Yuriko had expected the land between the Tidelands and the Watchtower to be filled with Wyldlings. Or maybe warriors from the Federation. She expected the Watchtower’s Protective Dome to be active and weathering through withering cannon fire. She expected militiamen on the walls, manning Plasma Carronades or sweeping besiegers off via melee combat.

Instead, there was nothing.

No Wyldlings, though that might have been because she swept the nests off while they travelled. The Protective Dome was up, but nothing was hitting it. She saw a Chaos Ship moored within the Dome: the Implacable Jade, which meant Finan and his people were still there. She idly wondered if he actually came through with his promise to bring a healer over. It was unlikely though, but maybe she was mistaken.

The Watchtower went on high alert as soon as the Silver Tiger entered. She saw Plasma Carronades swivel to point in their direction, and the Implacable Jade’s armaments powered up. But only for a long moment. While they didn’t stand down, the Tiger’s clear Imperial markings made them lower their guards.

The Tiger hovered for a minute and Yuriko assumed that they were communicating. She swept her gaze through the countryside. The forests and fields were ruined and there was only scorched earth within a league of the Watchtower. Even the hills had been flattened and there was no cover all throughout. In the distance, she thought she saw enemy elements, but she supposed they knew better than to expose themselves to the Implacable Jade and the Watchtower’s arsenal. It didn’t actually look like they were under siege, but the Imperials’ wariness indicated otherwise.

The Silver Tiger moved towards the Watchtower, and the Protective Dome opened just enough so the Chaos ship could enter. As mooring lines were deployed, a messenger popped inside the hangar.

“Young mistress, Lady Sadeen requests your presence.” The messenger, a young woman in her twenties, bowed. “At the docking ramp. To join the delegation.”

“Alright. Thank you,” Yuriko answered, and oddly enough, the woman blushed.

Oh. Her Anima was flared. She reeled it in, keeping a powerful barrier around her body. And since it didn’t look like battle was imminent, she applied her restraints to help her get to the final bits of Radiant Body Refinement.

Yuriko keyed the door panel to bring her to the docking ramp exit. It whooshed open, leading into a short hallway. The messenger woman followed her but made certain to stay a couple of steps behind her. The door on the opposite end opened up into a chamber, though this one had wide doors on the opposite end. It was as wide as the chamber, actually. The runescript formations she could see told her that this area could expand or shrink, depending on what was being loaded. While Mum wasn’t here yet, she could see Da, as well as Aunt Amiri, Uncle Craig, and Uncle Balliol. Inquisitor Gorlyn was here, too. The door closed behind her, but no sooner had she taken a step had it opened up again, this time with Heron, Gwendtih, the twins, and the others behind it.

“Back home again.” Heron grinned as he strode up next to her.

“Yes. It’s been almost a year.” Yuriko sighed.

“A bit less, I think.” He frowned. “Definitely less on this side.”

Yuriko glanced at the chronometer which had synchronised with the Imperial Standard. 30th Day of Earth AF 3001.

“It's not so bad,” Yuriko muttered.

“Yeah, I felt we were closer to the 1st Day of Air,” Heron admitted.

“It’s just a bit more than half a Season.” Gwendith sighed. “It’s not so bad. At least you’re still seventeen.”

She giggled and poked Yuriko’s side, which made her twitch as her finger had bypassed the condensed Anima. It wasn’t something Gwendith did, however, but rather, Yuriko didn’t think of the girl as a threat at all. Same with Heron, really.

“It’s still half a Season, but better to be early,” Yuriko admitted.

She noticed Orrin had stopped hiding his antennae within his hair, though she didn’t comment on it. The feelers were set at a rather jaunty angle, and they quivered with excitement.

Soon enough, Sadeen arrived and joined Da. She flashed a brilliant smile at Yuriko and Yuriko grinned back. The door opened and a ramp extended all the way down to the ground level, where a welcome group had gathered. Yuriko expected to see Da’s vice-commander, Theo Rani Stuart, but the red-haired man wasn’t in the lead. Instead, it was a familiar-looking woman, with silver hair, blue eyes, and a milk chocolate complexion at the forefront. She was clad in leather armour, accentuated with plates of blue metal, and had a greatsword floating behind her.

Da blurted out, “Duchess Kinnock.”

The duchess gave Da a wary eye, then her gaze flitted to Sadeen’s. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Lady Sorceress. Thank the Ancestors you arrived in time. We don’t know how long the Watchtower can hold.”

Even as she said that, the earth around them rumbled, and the hundred-pace tall tower, which had been a bedrock of stability, began to shudder.