Yuriko was exhausted. Advancing to Transformation, bringing hundreds of barbarian prisoners out, destroying the Chaos Fortress and finding out that she had been part of the reason for its existence, and most importantly, not finding her brother or his fiance. If not for her triumphs, she would have been moping and crying by now.

As it were, she wanted to find a place to hole up in and pass out. She couldn’t though. Not yet. Tribunus Kaspas ordered quite a few subordinates, Centurions, from what Yuriko could make of their rank insignia, to oversee the prisoners. She, in turn, debriefed the Tribunus of what she found in the Chaos Fortress.

After she finished, Tribunus Kaspar said, “Thank you, Knight Davar. I’ll update the Legate. In the meantime, you’re more than welcome to stay in the same Colossus hangar as before…er, where’s your Colossus?”

“In my Anima. As I’ve said before.”

“Oh, must have slipped my mind,” Kaspar muttered. “Anyway, the town’s more crowded than ever and I doubt you’d find any room at the inns or houses. I think the hangar’s your best bet.”

“I understand. Thank you,” Yuriko muttered. “I’ll see the Legate tomorrow…or come dawn?”

“I will send a messenger.”

Nodding, Yuriko made her way to the Colossus hangar. She still had the same berth, so she popped Eli’Theria out of her Anima, ignoring the incredulous looks of the pilots, retrieved her bedroll and a ration bar to nibble on. She was too tired to seek out proper dinner, so the plain bars had to do. Afterwards, she did her evening ablutions, then curled up into her bedroll to sleep.

She woke up with a jolt the next morning, well before dawn, a sense of foreboding clawing at her mind. She shivered and got up, listening intently while spreading her Anima perception.

Nothing.

Still, there was that ill feeling in her gut, though maybe it was hunger. Hmmm…

Grrrgle!

Alright, it was hunger. And now she wasn’t keen on breaking her fast on plain ration bars. She ventured out of the hangar, though not before checking up on Eli’Theria. The damage the Chaos swordsman did to the armour had mostly closed. The layers were still a bit thin, but they should be repaired today.

She did her morning ablutions though oddly, some of her routines seemed more force of habit now than anything else. Huh.

When she came out of the pilots’ lounge, she followed her nose to a nearby eatery. There was already a line of legionnaires waiting to enter, and from the aroma, she had a good inkling why. Before she could fall in line, however, she stumbled. Not because she tripped or anything like that, but because the plane trembled.

Misttyre was right up on Zarek Mountains’ foothills, and the mountain wall was high enough that dusk normally came an hour early. But then, the west was suddenly lit on fire. Greenish light painted the mountaintops, and she could see the nearby trees beginning to sway. More than a little bit concerned, Yuriko leapt and flew up as quickly as she could, but it took her several minutes before she was high enough to see over the mountains. Her breath came out in puffs of steam from the cold, so she heated up the air with Radiant energy. The clouds around her started to thin, but at least she stopped puffing out clouds.

She couldn’t help but stare towards the Planar Veil. It was a good distance away, but even so, she could see much of the land lit up with purple Animus flames set in a broad pattern. The Ritual of Calling, of course. Mum had finished and had already activated it. The green energy pillar was piercing the Veil. She could see beyond it, though the images were blurry and vague. She supposed it led straight to the armada, huh?

Grinning, she was just about to go back down to Misttyre when she saw something she couldn’t quite believe. In fact, she rubbed her eyes and squinted. But no, she wasn’t mistaken.

The mountains…they were falling. And the wave of earth and stone was wide enough to bury Misttyre and a good bit of the countryside too. And maybe there was more than enough of the landslide to reach Milford.

Yuriko had no time to lose. She gathered all of her strength and dropped straight down. She let the plane pull her towards the surface, and she pushed against reality and Chaos around her, multiplying her speed tenfold. She wasn’t headed towards the town but angled her descent so she’d land in front of the landslide’s path. She conjured a hundred sunblades at once, dropping her reserves precipitously low. But at the same time, she converted Radiant energy into Animus and fed the creation of even more sunblades. She wasn’t sure what she could do, but with a thousand blades, each equivalent of a hand, maybe she could do something!

Two hundred sunblades, three hundred. Five. A thousand. Two thousand. Three thousand.

It was there that she found her limit of control. She felt that if she made more, the earlier-made blades would be lost. But then, as long as she kept them within her main Anima radius, the blades wouldn’t reduce her reach at all.

She must have looked like a fireball as she dropped towards the mountain. She reached the slope but was too far from the slide to affect it. She flew towards the falling earth, a plan of action forming in her mind. It was simple, and, to be honest, somewhat foolish. She was going to hack the landslide to bits. Yup.

Three thousand sunblades. If she pushed them out of her main reach, her range with them was one and a quarter longstrides. It would be enough. It must. She stood her ground as the landslide came within range, and she spread her sunblades out into a fan. Golden streaks of line slammed into the falling it, not into a thrust, or a slash, but sideways, with the flat of the blade striking. She struck at an angle and the force of her three thousand blows slammed a good bit of the landslide away. Water and snow that came with the disaster instantly turned to steam, which caused parts of the slide to explode. Some pushed the earth sideways, some upwards, and some sped the disaster down. Yuriko pulled back a thousand blades and struck again. She cycled another thousand and slammed into the mountainside, creating a rough trench that may or may not help. She was desperate now, hoping against hope that her efforts would bring fruit.

But then, she forgot that she was not alone. And that she wasn’t the strongest warrior in town.

Yellow crystal walls rose up behind her, built diagonally from the landslide’s path. Each one was roughly ten paces high, and half that thick. Legate Iola Brygos stood at the top of the centre shard, her Animus and Domain lit up the air around her.

“Strike the other side!” Iola yelled at her, pointing towards the left. Yuriko nodded and shifted her angle of attack. The landslide, when she took on it alone, had slowed significantly, but was still quickly approaching. When she struck at the other angle, it diverted more of the disaster away from Misttyre. She wasn’t sure if Milford would be spared, but there was more than enough space between the town and the foothills.

Part of the slide struck Iola’s wall and was diverted even farther away. The woman raised more walls, extending the safe area. In the meantime, Yuriko sighed in relief. She glanced back at the town and saw most of the populace had already begun evacuation efforts, though it looked like it would be unnecessary. Perhaps they could have used the Protective Dome, but she didn’t see that potent defence activating.

A few minutes later, Iola had constructed a wall that was wide enough to divert the entirety of the landslide. Yuriko floated just above the wall, and watched as the flow slammed into it, then turned aside. Unfortunately, mud and water weren't the only things coming down. Large boulders the size of houses also tumbled down the mountainside. Those ones, either she or the Legate would smack aside.

The mountain continued to rumble and quake, but things settled down slightly after a while. A squad of Colossi from the base came up to the wall and stood sentry, blasting away at the larger boulders. By the time Yuriko’s sunblades dissipated, she and the Legate were comfortable enough with the legionnaires’ response to pull back.

“You’ve advanced,” Iola stated flatly. “Unbelievable.”

“It is what it is,” Yuriko smirked.

“Hmmm, yes, I suppose.” She stared up at the mountains, watching the greenish light still shining from beyond. “The Ritual of Calling?”

“Yes. I saw the Veil part.”

“Then the landslide was no accident,” she said grimly.

“What do you mean?”

“The Watcher.” She hissed. “His assimilation might have begun. But a simple landslide or avalanche is not the limit…” She cut off abruptly and swore. “I guess I spoke too soon. Look.”

Yuriko followed the woman’s pointer and gasped when she saw part of the mountainside… get up. A stonetoise? No, it was humanoid. Made of mountain stone, and was nearly as tall as the mountain peaks. It wrenched its limbs from the cliff, causing even more granite to tumble down. And when it finally stood, it was at least a longstride tall. Oh, Ancestors.

The roughly humanoid shape fractured and crumbled, slowly revealing a mirror-finished sheen. As it walked towards them, its footsteps heavy enough to cause tremors on its own, the inner body finally revealed itself. Obsidian black, smooth surfaced, but with wickedly sharp spines. Its head was smooth save for twin caverns with glowing eyes. It raised a hand up high, and flung it down quickly, releasing a storm of shards heading right at the town!

“Oh no, you don’t!” Iola howled as her power gathered around her. A thin crystalline wall sprung up from the mountainside and quickly interposed itself between the flung shards and the town. The obsidian shards’ impact was thunderous, but none made it through.

But that wasn’t the only obsidian titan to appear. South of Misttyre, another one ripped itself out of the mountainside.

Yuriko hastily created thousands of sunblades even as she flew to meet the creature head-on. It was at least five leagues south, but with its longstride height, it was only a few dozen steps away from reaching the town.

‘Eli’Theria!” she screamed in her mind and through the mental link between them.

‘Coming!’ the animating spirit yelled back. ‘Give me a couple of minutes!’

‘We don’t have that long.’ Yuriko grumbled even as she let the sunblades loose. Empowered by the Ennoia of the Radiant Flying Sword, a thousand of them moved to cut the flung shards away.

Booom!

A cacophony of thunderous sounds merged into a single rolling wave of palpable force down the hill. It slammed against Yuriko’s Anima and collapsed part of it inwards, though it sprung back up almost immediately.

But she only noted that absently. The sunblades struck the obsidian titan, but the heat was readily absorbed by the body. The base form of her sunblade wasn’t enough, which left one thing that might work. A glance back showed her that the Legate was already methodically dismantling the thing.

Trinity Cycle latched onto one of the blades, but a single attack wouldn’t be enough, so she spun several cycles at once. Her advanced Anima strength allowed her greater ease in doing so and less than a minute later, she had two dozen ready.

The titan’s movements were large and easily deciphered, but they were deceptively fast. Even so, it was the work of moments to slip the Trinity blades through its defences. They converged into its torso and exploded into a grand Destruction sphere that grew wide enough to bisect the thing. Its upper shoulders and head fell off, leaving its hips and legs intact.

Booooooom!

The impact of its body cratered the hillside, and then, the legs toppled over. And now, there was a new set of hills south of Misttyre.