The attacks came as if they were expecting her to enter the Chaos Fortress, which, Yuriko had to admit, was more than likely. Her desire to be stealthy had gone the same route as her desire for her Mien to stop making people infatuated with her or in other words, useless.

Eli’Theria’s armour was more than enough to protect against the first blows, which were made of congealed Chaos that would infect whatever material it touched and morph it randomly into something else. It was a common method of attack used by Chaos dwellers when not within a plane, as the Sea would actually magnify the efficacy as opposed to planar suppression that would change it to nothing more threatening than a snowball thrown by a limp noodle.

Yuriko’s Animakinesis intercepted the half dozen Chaos bolts, and because it was now automatically suffused with Radiant energy, her mere touch was enough to consume the bolts which then combusted to more Radiant energy. She recycled the resulting excess into a beam and blasted it towards the nearest defender, who was actually quite far from her entrance point.

The beam petered out after crossing a third of the distance as the Chaos surroundings were aspected quite like the Sea, which meant converting whatever it touched to Radiant consumed more power than it generated. Yuriko was far from skilled enough to make a self-sustaining Radiant construct, and she suspected she wouldn’t be until her Colligia progressed. To what point, she wasn’t sure, and Damien was frustratingly silent.

The attacks came from a floating platform, manned by a dozen Chaos dwellers. She wasn’t close enough to tell what kind, and their defensive techniques obscured their features. Eli’Theria floated on a space that didn’t look to have limits. They were surrounded by Chaos mists. The flows were turgid and slow, so she assumed that the area wasn’t large or connected to the outer Sea. Or more likely, the connection to the Sea was small.

However, when she felt the Chaos flows’ impact against her Anima, she felt a terrible momentum that pushed her aura back almost to the armour. She pushed against it, but couldn’t do more than create a little space around them. At the same time, another volley of Chaos bolts careened towards them, and she had to refocus her Animakinesis to repel them. She and Eli’Theria were inadvertently moved away from the borders and towards the left.

“Ancestors,” Yuriko muttered as she pushed against the flows. The moment she let up, they pressed against the metal. And when she tried to move towards the platform, she realised that the flows made it all that much harder.

Changing tactics, she pushed with the flows and followed it around. Her enemies were a bit too far away, but she tried sending a sunshard towards them anyway. Her control limit was typically three times as far as her reach, and with Eli’Theria’s amplification, she could almost reach half a longstride. However, she couldn’t even get to half of the distance from the platform.

The flows moved her sideways and away from the platform.

Whoosh!

Within range of another one. Diverting focus meant that her movement got slower, but then again, the current didn't bring her anywhere near where she needed to go. She pushed at an angle and that seemed to work.

More attacks, and more defensive manoeuvres in response. Yuriko glared at the Chaos dwellers, but she could do little other than endure. If she weren’t in Eli’Theria, would she have the same trouble moving through the flows? Hmmm…

Putting Eli’Theria within her Anima wouldn’t take more than a moment, but she would still be slightly vulnerable during that time. She would also have to put away the Orb of Authority. She conjured as many sunblades and gauntlets as she could easily control and set them on a defensive pattern. A blade cut into a Chaos bolt, removing its capability for cohesion. The fragments denatured into the background Chaos while the Radiant energy with her constructs neutralized the corrosive and mutative effects. Once the flows moved her away from the nearest platform, she timed how long it would take them to come within range of another… or rather, when she would return to being in the crossfire of two or more platforms. She pushed them away from the current, and once they were only vulnerable against a single direction, she initiated the keeping.

Eli’Theria didn’t resist being put inside her Anima and a moment later, Yuriko was exposed to the Chaos flows. She was seventy-two inches tall compared to the Colossus’ two hundred. She was definitely several-fold lighter. Also, her Anima didn’t have to struggle against the heavy Chaos flows as much. She propelled herself towards that defence platform while setting her sunblades on defence. She kept the blade pairs within her perceptive aura, making sure to act as if she was the one holding the swords. She cleaved one Chaos bolt apart and pivoted to do the same that was coming at her body from a different angle. And then, there were bolts that were aimed at the constructs. Those she cut apart or blocked. Radiant energy was consumed in the defence, but the constructs’ reserves were much deeper than before.

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As soon as came within a hundred paces of the platform, she sent the blade pairs to attack. A dozen sword and gauntlet pairs struck at the Chaos dwellers, most of whom were nameless. She spotted a Chaos baron, but that one quickly retreated. It grabbed some strange cylindrical device, pointed it towards another platform, and activated it. The cylinder erupted in flames from one end and pulled the baron along.

They moved so quickly that even Yuriko’s thrown metal orb couldn’t catch up. But then again, the thick Chaos probably impeded the throw. Oh, the metal disintegrated half a dozen paces after it went past the platform.

“Tsk.”

Yuriko alighted on the platform, which was simply a block of stone roughly ten paces wide. There were crenelations and battlements at the top, giving the nameless some cover, but once she was on top, none of that mattered. The sunblade pairs carved up the nameless, and the dozen turned to ashes. She only utilized a couple of blade pairs once she was there, reserving the rest to defend herself. She didn’t have to put her full attention when defending after all, as utilizing the second dance was quite easy. In fact, she could set a dozen blade pairs to use the second dance with barely a smidge of attention, though their defences were slightly rigid and unchanging. Thus, she set them to protect her from a distance, and anything that slipped through she could put her attention on.

On the platform, she surveyed the rest of the Fysalli. She spotted the Veil about two and a half longstrides away, however, there were roughly a couple of dozen defence platforms in between. She watched the escaping Chaos baron arrive at the nearest one a longstride away. Now there were at least two barons there.

She glanced at the disintegrating nameless bodies then snorted. She leapt from the platform and felt the Chaos flows push against her Anima, though they merely slipped around the bubble she created. As she approached the nearest platform, she abruptly realised that it was not staying put. Neither were the others. The nearby platform was moving towards the others and the rest were converging.

A minute later, she was only half a longstride away. But then, the rest of the two dozen platforms had arrayed themselves in a semi-circle in front of her. And the next moment, a rain of Chaos bolts hurtled towards her.

“Burning Moon!” she grumbled as she used her defensive blade pairs to cut down the bolts. But the amount of Chaos bolts quickly grew overwhelming for her to take head-on. She bobbed and weaved as she flew, avoiding about a third of the incoming bolts. The rest she deflected. However, while she made evasive manoeuvres, the platforms flew back, keeping well out of range.

Yuriko shook her head and grumbled under her breath. The Chaos dwellers were getting smarter. Or maybe the ones she’s fought before weren’t too smart. The rotting platforms were moving almost as fast as she could fly! She pushed harder against the Chaos flows, removing her restrictions and using the extra kinesis to fly faster and faster. She used part of her Anima to create an aerodynamic shell, much like the aircraft she saw in the Irvallan skies. The Chaos flowed around her, as she moved closer and closer. At the same time, she conjured hundreds of sunshards for the sole purpose of making them explode when they came close to the target.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Ka-booooom!

Unstable Radiant energy disrupted the thick Chaos, consuming and converting to Radiant, until the entire thing imploded, then exploded!

The shockwaves knocked the platforms around while the ripples of force parted in front of her Anima. She closed in on the first platform, attacked with the blade pairs and slaughtered…the nameless. Just the nameless. The Chaos barons ran away! Again!

Every time she closed in on a platform, the Chaos Lords escaped, until even unto the last platform, they ran away. That time, they went towards the Veil and crossed into the next layer. As soon as she arrived next to it, Yuriko’s instincts stopped her from just rushing in. With a grunt, she called Eli’Theria, and only when she was protected did she push her way through.

Thud!

The heavy orichalcum Colossus landed feet down into a forest. The trees stretched all the way to the skies, each trunk was wider than a hundred men could wrap their hands around. The forest floor was thick with fallen leaves and branches that were thicker than her thigh.

And she couldn’t see where the Chaos Lords were.

At least there was more than enough space to walk between the Adaviren trees. The Chaos flows barely hampered Eli’Theria here, but it still weighed down on them somewhat. She devoted about ten paces worth of her Anima reach to resist the effect.

Yuriko and Eli’Theria marched forward, continuing where they initially faced. The Adaviren trees grew in even rows…

Her focus was honed to its sharpest point. There was a pressure in the air, beyond the Chaos, beyond the Fysalli scrunching down on her. And a few minutes into the march, Yuriko and Eli’Theria froze.

Framed by twin Adaviren trees, amid a background of falling blossoms, stood a tall and slender figure. Clad in a flowing robe made of white silk, decorated with the very same leaves of the Adaviren, and wearing a conical hat of brown straw, the Chaos Lord stood with hands over the swords at his waist. There was one on either side and four strapped to his back. Each one looked to be the size of a longsword, except the weapon was curved. The Chaos Lord looked up at Eli’Theria’s head, and Yuriko jolted when she beheld his face.

Featureless save for eyes. Eyes without pupils or irises. A field of black with startling white points that reminded her of the skies in Irvalla. He had no mouth, but his voice reverberated. It was as if the winds spoke for him, and the leaves tore apart at the sound.

“Ancient warrior. Dare you face me blade to blade?”

Wetting her lips, Yuriko spoke, “Why would I not?”

“Good. Then face me as you will, with courage and your own body, or hidden behind that shell.”

The Chaos Lord drew the blades at his hips. They were curved, indeed, optimized to slash. Single-edged. The weapon steel was mesmerizing, decorated with a wavy pattern that separated the sharp edge from the sturdy back. He held each weapon at his side for a long moment, then crimson flames rushed down from the hilt and covered each blade.

A shiver ran down Yuriko’s spine. But she didn’t know if it was fear…or excitement.