Machine gun fire and anti-air flak wasn’t a problem for Yuriko, but this was the first time many of her companions flew, and definitely the first time they came under fire. Edison, for one, had started shrieking in panic, Douglas was staring slack-jawed, and Darren had her eyes squeezed shut, and she was murmuring prayers to the One Above.

The beastkin were snarling and eager to fight, while her marines were focused and thumbing their weapons. All of them were carrying their modified Karcellian rifles, but their Plasma Casters were strapped on their backs. As for her original group…

“Let’s get behind some cover!” Gwendith said loudly. Yuriko nodded, noting that everyone looked ready, even Desire, who just woke up from her hibernation, was bright-eyed and eager.

Ping! Ptang!

Bullets squished against the edge of her Anima, where she created a tough layer. As she noticed before, with her Anima reach so wide now, her previous method of measurement didn't quite work correctly anymore. She could condense a hundred-inch reach into Anima armour back when she first became Actualised, but doing so now didn’t actually cost her a hundred inches of reach. In fact, her Anima barely contracted by an inch or so now before reaching her maximum condensed rate.

Which honestly told her she needed to improve her Anima armour skills. Her protection barely worked against that Remnant, and even against the Femorant Queen, it barely kept her safe. Still, figuring out how to condense her Anima better should be done when they weren’t in battle. Anyway, she layered the outer part of her Anima reach with condensed plates which easily deflected bullets and cannon shells.

They land behind a ridge, about a longstride from the base. The cannons could reach them easily, but since they were out of sight, it should be…

Wheeee! Booom!

And a cannon shell just exploded over her head.

“They’re detecting your Anima,” Braden opined.

“Tsk.” Yuriko clicked her tongue. It wasn’t as if she could retract her Anima now. Still, that only meant one thing. “Then let’s fire back,” she said grimly.

Leaving the squishier members of her group behind cover, she grabbed a few metal ball bearings from her satchel and climbed up on the ridge top. Flashes of light, explosive sounds, and the pinging of metal rain made cacophony so annoying that Yuriko grunted in anger. Animus infused into the metal ball bearings and with Enhanced Sight, she locked onto her target.

It was an artillery cannon that just fired a shell, which struck close by, showering them with dirt and ashes.

Radiant energy infused the berring, then, she took aim and pushed with as much force as her Animakinesis could bear. The projectile had already started glowing red with the heat she packed into it, but when she threw it, it practically turned into a reddish line across the sky.

Crack! Krakoom!

The bearing must have hit the cannon shells. The site turned into a pyrotechnic display as multiple sources of gunpowder exploded. She could see several soldiers falling from the shrapnel, with a few men managing to crawl away.

Yuriko pulled up another ball berring, loaded it with the same amount of Animus and Radiant energy, then let loose at another cannon. Again, a line of red streaked across the skies, which also had the effect of pinpointing where she was, followed by an explosion that caused the hills to tremble. The second one must have given the soldiers shellshock as the artillery fire stopped. The machine guns were located farther from the artillery and they continued to shoot in her direction.

She aimed at a machine gun nest, struck it with a ball berring, but it didn’t explode. Nor did it do much other than kill the gunner, she supposed. But then, another took the soldier's place and was firing back at her. The next time, she made sure to aim at the gun.

Still, there were far too many bunkers and machine gun nests to take on easily, not to mention the ones oriented northwards. She had a feeling that the tunnel they used to escape the portal chamber would no longer be a viable path, so they had to use the main entrance. Heavily fortified as far as she could tell. Anyway, she took out what cannons were exposed now, and shot at the bunkers too.

She was rather annoyed to note that even if she hit the guns, another would replace it after a few minutes. At least the cannons were down for good…

“Tanks?” she muttered as she saw the landcraft wheeling around the walls. She aimed a bearing at one, struck it, and destroyed the turret, causing flames to burst out of the chassis. After that display, the other four machines backed away and took cover.

Wssst! Whoosh!

Plasma bolts struck a bunker’s wall and melted some of the concrete. At her side, a couple of marines shot their Casters. Some bullets careened towards them, but they were protected by her Anima shields.

She spent nearly an hour clearing the nests, until finally, the return fire grew sporadic and then, silent.

The others had already climbed up to her position, so it was easy to encompass them with her Anima. She pulled herself to the skies, bringing everyone with her, and they zoomed towards the fort. A few gunners shot at her, but someone fired back with the Karcellian rifles. She didn’t think they hit, but the soldiers dove for cover.

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Soon, they landed near the original ruin site. The old walls, the broken-down buildings, and the large trees that had occupied the old fortress were gone. In its place was a monolithic structure, mainly built of grey stone. The trees and shrubbery had been cleared for several hundred paces around the fort. A wide road ran down from the fortress towards the side of the hill. As far as she could see, it slithered down the hillside and merged with the road leading to the nearby town.

Wsst! Boom!

An Animus-infused ball bearing struck a retreating tank, punctured its armour all the way through, and probably shattered its engine. Thick black smoke began rising from its viewports, and a few moments later, the hatches sprang open and a couple of Confederate soldiers clambered out.

Another tank fired at her from the shelter of a grove nearly a longstride away. The shell crumpled against her Anima shields, and the machine gunfire simply ricocheted away. She blasted it with another ball bearing, which tore the barrel open and struck their shell reservoir. A moment later, there was a loud thump, and the turret bounced up from the tank body, before slamming back down. Flames and smoke rose from cracks in the armour. No one came out of that tank.

There were fleeing men all over the hillside. She ignored those who didn’t shoot at her while killing the few stubborn ones that did. She landed on the fortress’ rooftop, which was practically a flat open space, which had a small access door. The roof had a circle painted on it, with some words in Confederate tongue. The edge of the roof had a low wall, with some crenelations, as well as a couple of machine gun nests. She destroyed those even before she landed.

Her people spread out and kept a wary eye on any Confederate soldiers. Horace Greenfield, the marine commander, tried the metal reinforced door. He pulled the handle down, but the door only rattled.

“Locked,” he said, chuckling slightly. He stepped back, formed a hand sign with his fingers, and a thread of Animus slithered from his fingertips and into the keyhole. It took a couple of seconds, and then, clunk! “Unlocked,” he said with a grin. He pulled the door open, slipping to the side to give the marine next to him a clear path to shoot.

The other marine glared down the barrel of his Plasma Caster for a few moments, his eyes gleaming with Enhanced Senses, then said, “Clear.”

Yuriko followed behind them, while the rest trailed behind. Her Anima was spread as far as it could go, and she made sure that she had shields ready in the event something attacked them.

Beyond the door was a spiralling staircase that soon led them into narrow corridors. Her perception pierced the walls and floor, allowing her to see that rooms nearby were filled with nervous soldiers. She could have easily killed them, but she decided to cut a hole in the floor and hurry towards the underground. She floated down to the next floor.

The marines jumped down beside her and fired at the soldiers surprised by their entrance. In moments, the corridor was clear and Yuriko cut another hole on the floor. Her Anima perception spread from that point faster than through solid wood or stone, which allowed her to pinpoint more pockets of resistance.

All in all, their attack on the fort was fast and brutal, and they didn’t give the defenders much time to respond. They may have called for reinforcements, but it would take hours for them to get here.

The one thing that struck her as odd was that there were no signs of daemons anywhere.

They made it to the ground floor. Yuriko’s perception aura was enough to cover the entire floor area, so she had little trouble zeroing in on the route to the underground. She could still see the remnants of the roots the giant tree had in the dirt below the fort’s foundation bed. There was only an iron door blocking the way, and one of the others opened it easily. They descended towards the portal chamber. It wasn’t deserted by any means, so she knocked out or killed the soldiers and guards protecting the passage.

There were even a few soldiers attired differently, who brandished amulets and rings that gleamed with Animus. Whatever they were trying to do, she simply smothered them with her kinesis and tossed them over her shoulders.

“Warlocks,” Edison said in a satisfied tone. He pulled the rings and other jewellery from the man and then said, “How tables have turned, eh? Hah hah!”

There were about five warlocks who got in their way. After killing one who shot her with a pistol, the rest simply surrendered. When they arrived at the portal chamber, it was well-lit, and the portal mounts and rods look to have been cleaned and repaired. The chamber was bright with electric lights, though now the light bulbs were flickering.

She felt the portal remnants attempt to siphon her Animus, but this time, it couldn’t penetrate past her Anima layer. With Chaos Sight, she could see ambient Chaos swirling around the portal, turning into little whirlpools being sucked down a drain. The rifts that the daemons used to come to this plane weren’t forming either.

She spotted strips of silvery metal laid all over the chamber, etched with runescript lines. The walls too, she realised, all of them were to force the area into homogeny. Actually…

She frowned as the excess ambient Chaos was drawn towards the material instead of the portal. That’s probably why the place isn’t spawning daemon rifts.

“Well, we’re here where you need to be, Yuriko,” Edison said slowly, then he gave a forced chuckle. “And I should have asked you to leave me outside.”

“I could bring you outside easily enough,” Yuriko began. But before she could finish, the cavern began to tremble as loud explosions came from above. Then came the thump of falling stones and boulders.

“Accursed below,” Edison spat. “They rigged the place to blow!”

Dust fell from the ceiling and cracks opened above. Yuriko’s Anima prevented the portal remnants from being buried, but she could feel the massive weight of the earth pressing down on her. Just that her Anima was strong enough now to brace against it. There was little danger of a cave-in now, but they were stuck. And so was Edison.

“I guess you’re coming with us,” Yuriko said.

Edison sighed, “I guess so.”

She nodded, then drew Fri’Avgi from her Anima, ignoring the gasps of surprise from the Karcellians as the artefact seemed to appear from nowhere.

She tapped the flat of the blade against her forehead and called the animating Spirit. For a long moment, she hesitated. Siderious or…back home? But then, the key to fighting off the Chaos Dukie couldn’t be found in Rumiga, so… “Bring us to Siderious,” she murmured.

Then, with a burst of Radiant light, the artefact split into seven parts. The six floating pieces stabbed into the area around the portal, creating a ring of metal. The Veil protecting the plane of Irvalla was ripped asunder, but since the portal was an anchor to a Chaos Tunnel, and Fri’Avgi opened the rift directly on it, the hole didn’t open up into the Deep Chaos Sea.

The space in between the shards looked exactly like what the active portal in Synkrasia looked like, and without much hesitation, they each grabbed onto the others, linking their fate to Yuriko’s. Heron and Gwendith, the two ends of the line, laid their hands on Yuriko’s shoulder, and then, with her Anima, she pushed all of them through.