First off, holding Eli’Theria in her Anima wasn’t at all like Fri’Avgi. Yuriko gritted her teeth at the sudden strain, and she realised that about half of her Anima reach was…occupied with holding the Colossus within her. About fifty paces worth of reach, though that didn’t mean she couldn’t extend her perception aura as far as it could go. Rather, it felt as if fifty paces of reach was compressed down into her body and could do nothing other than hold Eli’Theria within.

That didn’t matter too much to her since she still can’t compress more than a hundred inches into a condensed aura. Her solution back then had been to restrict her body, which shifted to boosting it in battle. She was much better off than before she began imbibing the Ambrosia, but then again…she wouldn’t be able to acclimate properly with Eli’Theria in tow. Of course she could simply shift things around…working with a lower threshold then work her way up?

Hmmm.

She was on the road to Rumiga City’s ruins, and she should have turned north soonish, but she was suddenly beset with curiosity. Rumiga City would have been visible from the Zarek Mountains, but it was not. Actually, the area near the Veil in that direction was obscured by a multi-hued fog, and looked almost as if the Veil had moved inwards.

The road to Rumiga City was barren. She walked along it for many leagues, and thanks to her strengthened body, it took less than a quarter hour to cross it. She walked over the final ridge and beheld the ruins… and realised it wasn’t as abandoned as she thought.

The multi-hued mists weren’t thick at the lower ring level. It was thin enough to obscure the finer details, but Yuriko could see hundreds of scavengers picking across the rubble. Some were digging, others just combing the ruins. She wasn’t sure if they were Imperials, Ivalans, or some other visitor from another plane. What she did notice was that each and every group eyed each other like stray cats outside of their territories. The thickening mists came from the mid-ring, right where the Chaos Channel was. Or had been, rather. It was now just another pile of rubble.

There were camps to the north, south, and west of the ruined city. She couldn’t see the upper ring so she didn’t know what was there. Looters would find that better picking, she supposed, since that was where the elite, the rich, and the government buildings were. But she also knew that the upper ring probably had the most time to evacuate.

She pulled up the hood of her traveller’s coat over her head. Her hair wove itself into a complex braid that shortened its length to mid back, and she curled it into a thick bun that sat at the back of her head. The Radiant glow would have given her away, but she bent her now formidable control to change the frequency of the light so that it was invisible to the normal eye. Anyone with Chaos Sight would see that the inside of her hood would be glowing bright, but that would also obscure her features. She also closed and buttoned her overcoat to conceal her piloting suit. It was rather revealing. Anyway, the hem of the coat brushed beneath her knees so she pretended that it was a dress.

She kind of stood there on the ridge for quite a bit of time, taking in the sight of the former city. She recalled the details she got from Faron’s Crossing and what Tribunus Kaspar revealed.

The Chaos Duke had tainted the Gemheart and to prevent it from being used against the Empire, Legate Brygos had to destroy it. In the process, the city, which had its infrastructure linked to it, also collapsed.

Unfortunately, the Ivalans and the Northern Barbarians launched an attack at the same time, managed to punch through the defenses in the Aegeas Plains to the south, and storm the territories. At the same time, the barbarians rolled over the already weakened defenses in the north. The Legion Agminis had to fight while in retreat, and many of the populace were routed. That had been nearly a Season ago, wasn’t it? Or, no, less. Not even a Lunar Cycle had passed.

Kato had only been missing for a couple of weeks. She knew he was alive because of the Mien and her connections with her family. It was honestly one of the things why she wasn’t so averse to that part of her now. It gave her the reassurance that those connected to her—those she loved—were alive.

Which was why she was so annoyed at the fact that she couldn’t trace Kato through the connection. Even with her Mien strengthened by her consumption of Ambrosia, the link still wouldn’t give her more than the knowledge of his continued existence.

Now that was a frightening thought. It didn’t say that he was alive, just that he ‘existed’...

Cold sweat ran down her back and her hand trembled. He had to be alive. She couldn’t think otherwise…

The Duke’s haunting words came back to her. I have something of yours.

What else could he mean other than Kato? Was he still in Rumiga? Or was he already in the Telurian Court? Had she forgone being able to save him by actually leaving the Legion Vagaris fleet? She could only hope that Devotee and Legate Segawa would be able to find him and rescue him in that case. She hoped Caera could be rescued, too, but honestly, she cared for his well being more than hers. It was cold of her, she knew, and she would pray to the Ancestors that both were safe…

She also wondered if the Legate would really care about Kato if they did find him. If he had already been turned into a Chaos Lord…

Yuriko was a rare creature able to bond Chaos Lords. She knew the practice wasn’t all that common and it also required the other party to submit completely. Kato’s pride would not allow him to do that.

And she was working herself into a frantic mess. She shook herself and centered her attention back to the present. After a long moment staring down at the rubble, she decided that she didn’t want to explore the ruins after all. And as she turned to move northward, a sudden movement caught her eye and she couldn’t help but look.

A young woman popped out of a hole in the rubble carrying something metallic. Her exultant face and cry of pleasure was clearly evident, but it was when she looked in Yuriko’s direction that really caught her attention. The young woman’s eyes were completely black.

Frowning, Yuriko watched for a few minutes, before determining that the girl was Chaos touched. Even though her sclera were black, it didn’t look like her vision was at all that impaired. And with that little bit of curiosity sated, Yuriko finally turned away and began her trek towards the Chaos Fortress.

That one was nearly a hundred leagues away, wasn’t it? No, less, since it was actually between Ouera Bo and Fort Aegermonth. Well, it shouldn’t take her a few hours if she ran. Less than that if she flew, but that would be too obvious.

Also, she needed to find a place where she could drop Eli’Theria out of her Anima. She was actually carrying the weight of the Colossus as well as her own, and if she didn’t spread out her weight through the Anima platforms beneath her feet, she was more than likely to break the ground beneath her.

It was actually good weight training, now that she thought about it. As good as using her Anima to restrict herself since she was actually carrying something rather than using her own strength against herself. Not that the latter was all that bad. There was minimal risk of injury when doing so.

Anywho, she started off at a jog. The last time she went this way, it had been in the midst of the Season of Air, which meant that it had been cold. Now, it was a bit more than halfway through the Season of Earth, and while there were bouts of cold, the weather had turned warming. The Season of Fire was coming up next and, hmmm, it certainly didn’t feel like it had only been three weeks since her seventeenth birthday, right? She celebrated in the Silver Tiger but that had been while they were in the Tidelands. Time was funny in that sense, because when they emerged next to the Watchtower, it had actually been close to her birthday rather than several days after. That, coupled with the severe time dilation being in Irvalla was, her timesense was quite a bit off. But she was sure it was around the 45th Day of Earth today? No, no, that was the day before yesterday, so the 47th now. Yup, more than halfway through the Season.

The trees were nicely green instead of red-orangish last time. And the leaves weren’t falling into piles either. Instead, the air was filled with the scent of blossoming flowers, and fresh grown grass,

It was close to twilight when she stopped to rest. There were more than enough groves and cul-de-sacs to hide in, but what were the chances that she’d find a barbarian patrol’s campsite? Well, she found them with her perception aura, which spanned nearly a hundred paces to a side now. She found it easier to parse through what her aura detected now, even if she got headaches before. Perhaps her body refinement also had something to do with that ease.

Anyway, she walked in on the patrollers’ camp. They looked up at her in surprise, and got ready to fight in less than half a minute. Meanwhile, she simply waited for them to approach before she crushed each and every one of them by pressing them into the ground with her Animakinesis. Their blood and viscera were driven into the earth instead of squirting out all over the place. Less messy that way.

Afterwards she simply used the cover to bring Eli’Theria out, then meditated until she got sleepy. Most of the day she was actually thinking about what she lacked. And it came to her then what it probably was.

She was too purely Radiant.

Radiant energy devoured ambient Chaos and, well, everything else around it to fuel itself. Then it burned out. Perhaps the Radiant Sun was different, or its reach was far greater than its furnace. She thought that if she focused solely on Radiant energy, she would quickly burn out. After all, power without control was useless. It had become quite apparent to her during her fight with Chaos Duke as well as the Grandmaster Spirit Binders.

Ancestors, even the Chaos Viscount she fought outside Rumiga managed to escape her because she wasn’t able to channel her power appropriately.

But how could she do so?

Sun for power, the Moon for control? Did she have to try and touch the Ennoia of Luminous?

Impossible. She looked up at the Luminous Moon rising in the skies, washing out the colours of the Chaos flows. It was nearly full tonight. The light it shed…

It wasn’t something her body could use. Radiant light from the sun was something her body craved even before she touched on that Ennoia. She guessed she was just predisposed for it. So how would she even go about trying to touch Luminescence? What made it different from Radiant? She didn't know and she had no idea how to find out. She didn’t want to delay her advance for decades just for that. Besides, she just didn’t feel like it.

Instead, her eyes drifted towards the scattered weapons left by the barbarian dead. Axes, spears, clubs…swords.

She tapped Eli’Theria’s knee and had her pop out her other luggage. She hadn’t worn her Arclight Blade in a long while. She drew the weapon and started the sword dances. Then after a while, she practiced the forms of the Four Phases of the Sword.

But it still felt hollow to her.