Chapter 415: Book 7-2.2: Touching the Cipher

“Who’s there?” Marron yelled as he spun on his heels, the Plasma Caster snapping up to ready position. His Animus boiled within, the liquid power releasing some of its potency to empower his Facets and his inlaid techniques.

The Plasma Caster, set to draw power from the jade cartridges, glowed with the added personal Animus. Marron’s denser energy created a more potent bolt, which sizzled at the chamber.

“You are. A strange. Human.” the voice said, sounding much like the breeze blowing. In fact, it made Marron doubt he even heard anything at all.

Still, the cold sweat that ran down his back, kept liquid by the temperature controlling runescript weaving of his clothes, told him that there was a threat here and that he wasn’t imagining anything.

He shifted his Enhanced Senses into Chaos Sight, watching for unusual concentrations, or rather, absences in the ambient Chaos. Most forms of invisibility neglect that aspect. Bent light around the body may hide someone but the absence of the everpresent Chaos was quite telling.

He didn’t see any concentrations of Chaos or gaps in the ambient Chaos. Not anywhere near him, anyway. His pulse hundred in his ears as he took a step back.

“I smell a tiny. Tiny. bit. Of Emerys in your. Blood.” The voice was louder and finally gave him an inkling of where it came from.”

It was right in front of him, just a few paces away.

He didn’t hesitate.

Whoosh!

The potent plasma bolt, purple with his Animus, flew from the Caster’s muzzle.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two more followed it. The first bolt was slow, the second, just a tiny bit faster, and the third caught up to the first two, and enfolded itself into the others. The bolts condensed and brightened, morphing into a shell crescent before smashing into the thing.

“Curious. You bare. Your teeth. At me.”

It was as if the superheated plasma, bolstered by his dense Animus, was nothing more than a light show. The crescents simply splashed upon its form, broke over it, and ebbed like a tide. The droplets of plasma sizzled on the ground as it melted snow and dirt alike.

An eye. It was a huge eyeball, twice the size of his head. The rest of it was a mind-shattering amalgamation of dark green skin, tentacles, and even more eyes. The thing floated in midair, a giant ball of writhing mass. He couldn’t even see where it spoke from.

The thing floated closer.

“What are you?” Marron gasped as his body froze in primordial fear.

“A visitor. From. The depths.” The creature said. “Ah, the Chaos. Is thin. Here. I can taste. Bloodshed. And lust. From you. Humanling.”

“Stay back,” Marron growled as he stumbled back. Fear coated his very being, but he fought it down. He would not die without giving as much as he got!

“Curious. Do you wish. Battle?”

“What are you?” he screamed.

“I? I am a. Primordial Spawn.” The thing chuckled. “Your kind drew. Me here. I smelled the scent. Of death. Chaos. And of the traitors. Who forsook the truth. And embraced Order.” The being chuckled. Then, the giant eye stared at him, then seemed to shrug. “You are nothing. If not for Emerys. I would have devoured you. But his seeds. Are foul. I’ve no desire. To be manipulated. And controlled. Farewell.”

Just like that, the very fabric of Rumiga warped and tore. Chaos stormed in the breach, but it was gone in an instant. Along with the creature.

Marron collapsed to his knees, sweat pouring down his face. His head hurt, and something dripped down his nose. It splashed down to the snow, creating crimson flowers. And his head felt as if a vice was slowly squeezing him, the pain slight but slowly increasing.

Did that thing come from the Chaos fortress? Most of its words were gibberish, and…what did it talk about? A name. There was a name somewhere there. Marron knew it, but for the life of him, he couldn’t…couldn’t remember. The only thing his mind latched on was the image of an eye. And tentacles. And even more eyes. Oh Ancestors! He was going crazy!

He didn’t know how long it took to return to his senses, but by the time he came to himself, the Radiant Sun was no longer in the skies, and the Luminous Moon was in its place. It was close to the Full Moon.

Shaking his head, he got his bearings and looked for a place to rest. He needed to steady his nerves, even if he didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

________

The crystal spears emerged from the chamber walls, as they did for the past dozen hours. The armoured man, Autrarch Ivala, deflected the construct, but at the cost of further denting his spirit-bound armour.

Iola danced with King Garamus. She poked at the man with her personal weapon, which was really nothing more than an extra dense crystal spear. If it was of the normal variety, the King’s axe would have cleft it in twain with a single blow. Already, some of Iola’s undergarment crystal bodysuit had multiple rents and dings that she hadn’t had the time to repair.

Fighting two Grandmasters, the equivalent of Imperial Knight-Commanders, wasn’t easy, even if she was a Knight Dominus herself. Both of the men focused on self-empowerment as opposed to her own speciality.

She noticed the telltale signs of Garamus’ dimensional slicer, with the edge of his battle-axe glowing with a specific hue. The man needed to charge up his attacks, and if she didn’t dodge out of the way, she would be gravely injured.

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Well, lesser men and women would have died in her place, but her crystal protections were somewhat resistant to such shenanigans.

Garamus didn’t slice matter, he sliced through Rumiga’s fabric. It was also nearly useless outside of the plane since the Chaos Sea didn’t have a fabric per se. Dimensional abilities were only really useful when confined in a plane.

They were extremely powerful though.

As the man started his downswing, she sidestepped and poked her spear into the attack’s path, subtly altering it and causing it to miss her body by several inches. The man cursed soundly.

Ivala, on the other hand, was thoroughly occupied by her spear maze. She didn’t even have to direct it herself. All she needed to do was command her Domain to eliminate the man. If she had more of her focus on him, then the battle wouldn’t have lasted this long.

“Give it up,” she said. “You’ve failed.”

“Have we?” Garamus asked calmly, a marked difference from his battle temperament. “While you’re here, who’s protecting the rest of your people, huh?”

Iola frowned but shook her head. Even if the rest of the noble quarter perished, as long as the Gemheart was safe, then the Empire will once again occupy Rumiga. As long as the Gemheart was rooted into Rumiga’s fabric, it would not drift too far, or sink too deeply. Frankly, the second event was much more problematic.

“I’ll make sure to take your life as payment,” Iola said brightly. Animus spread out from her core, crystalline just like her Ennoia. Animus at the dominus stage was compressed to such an extent that it looked more like grains of sand, or tiny gemstones, depending on how close one was to the Imperius level. Each dense mote was equivalent to a hundred lumens from an Apprentice, and the potency of it cut through most Animus defences.

She spread her Animus across her Domain and created more and more crystal spears. The initial chamber they fought in had expanded as they slammed or melted through the walls, but all was within her territory. She was a defence specialist and she wasn’t trapped here. They were the ones who couldn't escape. At least, not without leaving a limb or two behind.

_________

“Ava Magnus Siofra, Richard Warren Martel, Isaac Greenfield Sommer. Rest in the Empress’ embrace and know that your service to the nation will never be forgotten…”

Yuriko stood with the other Knights in a line, with the other militia and legionnaires standing in formation behind. Commander Perry and a few others, the nominal leaders of the factions within the camp, were atop a square platform, performing the departed Knight’s last rites. Only Ava Magnus Siofra’s body had been recovered and was currently being consumed in a pyre.

It was strange, Yuriko thought. Only the Knights received this kind of treatment when they died. The Journeymen and Apprentices were simply cremated with little ceremony, their ashes to be transported back to the city afterwards where they would be handed off to their families after another ceremony.

At least, that’s what she thought would happen. Funeral rites weren’t something that had been taught to her. She supposed it should be in the curriculum, but she hadn’t gotten that far yet.

The proceedings had started at dawn the day after they returned, and had been going on for a couple of hours now. They stood at ceremony while the pyre was slowly enclosed by a dome of earth, leaving a chimney open to release the smoke and feed air to the fires. Once it was done, the Commander dismissed everyone.

Yuriko wandered around the outpost, not quite sure what to do. The morning sun felt good on her face, and she resisted the urge to remove her overcoat to let the warmth settle over her shoulders and arms. She looked up to the east, watching the Radiant Sun rise over the Veil.

A couple of years ago, she would have been blinded if she stared directly at the celestial body, the light too bright and powerful for her eyes. Now, however, the Radiant Light was welcomed by her body, and no harm could come to her. At least, that’s what she felt like.

For the first time, she stared directly at the Sun. A ball of fire in the sky, unimaginably distant. Golden and white light. Hints of green as it consumed the Chaos to fuel its fire. It was at once small, and utterly massive. When she squinted, she could see… Metal? The ebb and flow and the flames sometimes revealed a metallic surface. It was too far away to determine the details. Enhanced Sight didn’t reveal anything more and just made the bright light seem brighter. Chaos Sight revealed the ambient Chaos around her, effectively shrouding anything too far away.

A cough behind her interrupted her musing, and when she turned to look, it was to a militiaman standing a couple of paces away.

“Please excuse us, ma’am. The training field will be used in a few minutes.”

“Ah.” Yuriko nodded. “Pardon me, then.” Yuriko said, colouring faintly. She had been standing like a stump again.

She spotted Gwendith, and Desire in the central yard’s outskirts. Both women waved at her. Yuriko returned the greeting, but shrugged, nodding towards the barracks. She wasn’t hungry yet and didn’t feel like doing anything else.

She strolled towards the southern barracks, then leapt up to the roof. It was flat, and she startled a couple who were…uh, canoodling. Blushing, Yuriko jumped to another roof and found a secluded spot. She took a seated meditation pose and removed her overcoat, letting herself soak in the Radiant light. This far north, the Sun’s rays weren’t as hot. This suited her just fine and she began her contemplations.

Surround yourself with the Ennoia you wish to grab. Damien’s advice. So she could either contemplate the Radiant or the Cold. She could also immerse herself in practising the sword, but she wasn’t sure where to progress from there.

Swordmaster Kinohara spoke of her swordsmanship at the Intent Stage, but she had gotten there without completing the Forms. That was why she had drilled into the fundamentals and learned the Four Phases. Honestly, she wasn’t back at the Intent Stage yet, the point at which the sword stances and forms became an extension of her Will rather than a set of stiff movements.

Ah, that was the way, wasn’t it? She needed to be able to use the Phases as she could with the sword dances. Right now, the resonance between herself and the ambient Chaos could only be achieved when she practised. In battle, her performance was sporadic.

She remembered activating Jade Mountain’s tremorsense when she sparred with the Davar kids in Ulmira, but that had been more a coincidence and luck than anything else.

She should focus on one thing for now, and she felt that the path ahead lay with achieving an Ennoia with the Radiant.

She immersed herself in it. She lingered on how it felt on her skin. She noted the increasing warmth as the sun rose towards its zenith. She felt herself release some of the Radiant energy she stored, and it created a corona of golden light around her body. Life-giving light. Chaos burning light.

She was jolted out of her meditations when she heard a commotion near the southern gates. She would have ignored it save for what she heard.

“Knight Davar’s back!”

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