The expansion of Iola’s Domain caught the two Federation rulers by surprise. How could they not? The last time they experienced it was underneath Rumiga City wherein most of the space Iola could expand it to would simply be solid earth and stone.

Crystals grew out of the hillside, creating a circle more than four hundred paces wide. Her Domain had already doubled in size after a couple of decades since her advancement, though she focused more on control than anything else.

Being able to fight without worrying about breaking geomantic lines felt as if Iola had put down a boulder the size of the city off her back. Even as she landed, a crystal spear jutted out of the ground underneath Autarch Ivala, knocking his armoured form up in the air. King Garamus charged at her, yelling loudly in their bastardised Verdanian and a mixture of the interplanar lingua franca, Wojan.

Yellow crystals flew towards the King, who swayed out of the way even as he chopped with his axe. The weapon swiped against empty air, but the spirit bound within took the man’s Animus and formed a crescent wave that deflected the crystals. In turn, the shards gathered behind the man as he sought to attack Iola.

Keeping the grin off her face, the shards clumped together and formed a rough humanoid shape. Iola’s Intent suffused the construct and she felt a link form within her Anima. The crystal golem was a couple of paces tall, and nearly as wide, shaped like a muscular man and wielding a primitive club almost as tall as itself. As soon as it finished forming, it lunged at Garamus, who sidestepped and continued to launch crescent after crescent at her.

Another crystal golem formed in front of her, this one bearing a tower shield. It intercepted the ranged attacks, while another set of golems manifested behind her. One carried another shield, guarding her back, but the other three were crafts to carry a dozen javelins each. They let loose with their projectiles, which were suddenly coated with Iola’s yellow-coloured Animus.

One of the javeliners attacked Garamus while the other, Ivala. Neither could hope to actually hurt the Grandmasters, but they were good enough to distract. The crystal golems drew in ambient Chaos and converted them to usable Animus, so they weren’t tapping Iola’s reserves. As long as they remained within the Domain, they were effectively inexhaustible strikers. Even as they used up their ammunition, more javelins formed on their backs, drawn from the earth and stone beneath their feet.

In the meantime, Iola cackled as she partitioned her Intent, creating more and more golems. Soon, she had a veritable horde of warriors attacking without needing her attention. At the same time, she created a crystalline spear, the head of which was being packed with an enormous amount of converted Animus. Her crystal wings protected her from attack as they covered her body, while spheres floated above, acting as her eyes.

The earth moved her in a random pattern, making it harder for Garamus to hit. Ivala was crunching through Iola’s vanguard. His bound armour was annoyingly troublesome. All of his Intent and Will were bound to it, making it exceedingly hard to bypass or break. Even now, the damage from her crystal shards was already closing.

Well, her spear would be the one to break its protections!

Covered in crystals as she was, she was suddenly no different from the golem army that she conjured. Her Animus was concealed by the attributes of her Domain, and she snuck close to Autarch Ivala and bided her time while the bruiser golems pummeled the man.

On the opposite side, King Garamus was surrounded by dozens of golems, each one using pikes, clubs, or greatswords to keep him occupied. A few moments later, crystal falcons swooped down on him, talons striking at his eyes. He swiped furiously at them, the crescent blasts taking many of the falcons down, but for every three he destroyed, at least four more were created.

Autarch Ivala charged through the bruiser golems, knocking them away. He didn’t stop to finish them off, knowing that what he destroyed would be easily replaced. Iola waited patiently, and when he came within reach…

Swish! Thunk! Boom!

“Aaaarrggghhh!” Ivala screamed as the spear penetrated his side, and the spearhead exploded once it was past his metal shell. He leapt back even as Iola pressed the advantage. Bruiser golems tackled his legs and tried to knock him off his feet. Blood spurted from the gaping wound, but the metal bled Animus as it quickly closed over. The greyish steel seemed thinner after it healed.

Iola pulled back, not willing to open herself to counterattack. The hillside, though most wouldn’t notice, was steadily shrinking as her Domain ate up and compressed the material to fabricate her crystals. Creating them directly from ambient Chaos was possible, but much less efficient. A hundredfold difference, actually.

By now, there were two hundred crystal golems. Each one was nearly as tough as King Garamus, and it showed. Each of his axe blows barely destroyed one. The fact of the matter was that even if the king struck a golem’s head, it could still fight. There were no weaknesses, though her manifested Intent was spent faster if the vessel wasn’t structurally sound.

She hung back and charged another spear. If she could stab Ivala again, it might kill him. Iola snickered. Those fools. Just because they almost got the better of her underground didn’t mean they could actually match up to her. Heh.

The noose grew tighter and tighter. Only ten minutes had passed since the start of the battle, and they were close to death. The way her golems moved concealed her perfectly. Even if there was a watcher from above, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish her form.

The spearhead was congealing underneath her crystal shell, and she only needed the shaft just before she was ready to strike. A minute later, another spearhead was ready and she stalked Autarch Ivala. Looked like his successor was about to be promoted.

________

The journey to Fri’Avgi’s tomb went much faster than before. Yuriko flew, of course, just underneath the canopy. Krystal’s team were mounted on a warboar each and were holding on for their lives as the land raptor-sized porcines raced through the forest. More often than not, the warboars ignored the shrubbery and just charged through. Not even saplings were spared as the only obstacles they went around were the bigger trees, ravines, and cliffs.

Actually, as long as the slope wasn’t too steep, they charged up cliffs too, jumping from one ledge to the next, even though each foothold was less than a couple of inches wide, at that.

All the while, Yuriko held in snickers at her friends’ expressions, especially Krystal, who was practically hugging the boar’s back. Not that she would have let her fall. Nope, this was payback for all the times Krys sicced Heron and the others on her! Ehehehe.

Four of the team members were strangers to her, but the way they looked at her told her that they knew who she was, if only peripherally. And of course, senior Kale and Rorke, though the dark-skinned young man’s countenance had changed greatly. Looking back, it was clear to her now that Kale had been aiming to court her. Insights from her incarnation. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be so oblivious next time. Her Mien…wanted attention and worship. It grew stronger with each devotee, and when it did, so did she.

Introspection and meditation, as well as beginning Radiant Anima Refinement, allowed her to see how the Mien strengthened her. Simply put, it made her Anima stronger. It augmented her Radiant energy, as well as how it affected her body and Anima. It shaped her physique so that she didn’t look like a hulking ape despite being stronger than one. It allowed her to maintain balance. After all, a body not in symmetry was hardly beautiful…

She’d caught up a bit with Krystal and Mikel earlier, but she could hardly believe that so much had happened in the three Seasons she’d been gone. Eastern Rumiga had fallen, and Kale Kinnock’s family had retreated from their place of power. Well, more sent here than anything else.

She floated next to Kale as they traversed the woods. Her Anima perception covered the entire group, and she surreptitiously moved branches away from smacking someone’s face or from knocking someone off their perch.

“Tell me about what happened,” she asked him in a soft voice. Kale started and stared at her with wide eyes.

“About what?” he managed.

“Rumiga City.”

“I had been sent here by my mother before anything happened,” he explained.

“Did she…did the duchess tell you about it?”

“Yes.” Kale took a deep breath. “Just the gist, and the root causes. It was the Chaos Duke who tainted the Gemheart. Legate Brygos had no choice but to destroy it after failing to cleanse it.” His tone was flat but Yuriko detected an undertone of bitterness. No wonder. Rumiga City was his home. “Who would have thought that the city would fall because of its defenders instead of its enemies…”

Yuriko shook her head. “It did fall to its enemies,” she pointed out. “It was the Chaos Duke’s doing.”

“Oh, I know. Still, it was by the Legate’s hand that the city was destroyed regardless of the causes.”

“I…” Yuriko fell silent at the look in his eyes. He wasn’t staring at her and had kept his gaze turned away but she still saw it.

He was convinced and there wasn’t anything she could say that would change his mind. Not unless she used her Mien…not that there was reason to. There was a slight connection between the two of them, a narrow thread within the dreamscape. She couldn’t feel much from it, but she was sure that there were no powerful emotions involved.

“Thanks for telling me,” she finally said. She nodded to Rorke Dinia, who bowed his head. She spent the rest of the trip chatting with Krystal and Mikel, as well as Zeyn and Danika.

Soon enough they arrived at the cliff where the tomb was located. Yuriko remembered how she found Fri’Avgi by sleepwalking…

The tomb’s entrance was hidden within the rock, with only runescript lines occasionally visible. She anticipated having to ask Fri’Avgi to open the tomb…and she actually expected that the nexus wasn’t within, but in the vicinity. But the chamber gates were open.

“Something’s here…” Shillogu rumbled, he flicked his tentacles to order his kin to keep their distance.

Krystal and Mikel dismounted and approached the tunnel.

“Yuri, wait.” Krys grabbed her shoulder.

“Yes?” Yuriko prodded.

“I…I’ve discovered an ability to foresee the possible futures. Let me use it.”

“Oh? Not a Facet technique?”

“No. It’s something else… I…there’s this strange power within, something like Animus, but different.”

“An Ennoia?”

“I guess, but I don’t know the name. It lets me see the consequences of events. Let me peer into what happens next…”

“Oh. Go ahead.”

Krystal closed her eyes for a long moment, then she staggered and nearly fell, if not for Mikel grabbing her shoulders. Her face was pale, and blood seeped out of the corner of her eyes.

“Krys!” Yuriko gasped as her hands touched her friend’s face. Anima perception didn’t reveal anything on the surface and she hesitated to peer beneath the surface.

“I’m fine,” Krystal gasped. “But… I couldn’t see inside. When I tried, something snapped back.”

“Danger, then,” Yuriko said gravely. “Wait out here.”

“I…yes, we will.” Krystal said firmly even while Kale, their team leader, opened his mouth to protest. “We can’t help,” she said to him firmly. Reluctantly, he agreed.

“Avos,” Yuriko said, and the great boar nodded.

“I will follow.”

The two of them entered the tunnel. The runescript lines etched within the gate blocked the view inside, even against Yuriko’s perception. Once she stepped past, it was only a short tunnel into another vision blocked doorway. And once they entered that, it was to a largish chamber than once held Fri’Avgi. There was really nothing left inside the place when she brought Fri’Avgi out, but it wasn’t empty now.

There was a man inside, and when he looked at them, it was clear that he was a Chaos Lord. Once with a crescent moon and an empty circle tattooed on his cheeks.