The portal gate opened and two men stumbled through. Gunther Patrick winced at the pain on his left cheek, or rather, the fact that it wasn’t as painful as it should be. Burn wounds hurt worse than a goddess’s spurned anger, but the burning sensation was already fading. It wasn’t his self-regeneration spell either. A wound like that would have hurt far worse as it healed instead of fading away like that. His hand trembled as he reached up to touch the wound. That horrible, horrible feeling of his body seizing up… unable to act by his Will. Forced to move by her Words.

“Goddess’s droopy melons…” he muttered again.

“Those foul words are blasphemy, you know.”

The other man, a Sha’ledras named Louis Robinson, grumbled even as he winced in pain. Gunther winced in sympathy. He clearly heard the other man’s knee crack when that monstrously beautiful woman kicked him.

“There is a time and place for blasphemy.” Gunther laughed then winced, “And this is it.”

“Tsk…that burn on your face…”

“Yeah, it’s bad.”

“Goddess’s saggy melons indeed.”

“...which goddess?”

“I’m not gonna name her. I’ll be hit with divine retribution for sure.”

“Ah, so you’re going to go vague and insult every last one of them.”

“Oh…aha haha…ha…ha…”

Louis looked up at the skies which had turned dark with burgeoning storm clouds. “Oh…looks like we’ll be punished after all,” he said lightly.

“Don’t joke about that.”

Bra-koom!

Flashes of lightning and rolling thunder. But nothing else. After a few minutes, a light drizzle fell, but it only rained enough to get the dirt wet. Then the rain clouds blew off.

The two fell silent as the rain spattered on their clothes. The last days of the Season of Fire typically mixed hot weather with precipitation, and the change was quicker than a lady’s moods.

“...why do you think she spared us?” Louis asked. “Spoilt seed…I really thought that was the end…her voice just took over.”

“Yeah.”

The silent camaraderie was broken soon after when the fabric of reality tore open next to them. The third member of the group, Amaya Stanton, staggered out of the rift. Her face was pale, her cheeks gaunt, and there were bags under her eyes. The thing was, she hadn’t looked like that before she opened the first portal. In her hand was a vial wrapped in so many runescript lines that it was impossible to see inside, but it must contain what they hoped for.

Gunther sighed as he picked himself up. “Is that it? All that for a few drops?”

Amaya nodded and winced as she clutched her head. “Yeah…I didn’t expect the backlash to be so bad.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t continue with the first plan,” Louis said offhandedly.

“You think?” Amaya scoffed, “No, that had been the plan. This was the fifth one in line! She stopped my portal from opening!”

“Then it's a good thing it failed,” Gunther said, “otherwise, we’d probably be dead.”

“How could she be so strong?” Louis murmured as he continued casting his self-recovery spell. His knee popped loudly as it realigned and he cursed.

Gunther’s self-recovery spell was automatic. The spell was the first one he ever inscribed, and it was set up to always be prioritised when he was wounded. As a markman, he didn’t get injured that often, but when he did, the quick recovery allowed him to push just a little bit farther. That extra inch was usually enough to let him live…

Except when they fought that woman. Orders had been to capture, but the Emperor wisely gave them secondary objectives that they could meet if the primary one failed. That vial of blood…

Perhaps it contained secrets that would further Arcana research, or perhaps the old professor could use it to further his goals. Insane as he might be now, Archmagus Turner had been his, and the other two’s master. A debt like that could not be repaid, not by someone who had been uplifted from nothing. He would have been bones long ago had the old master not taken him in…

“If you’re feeling well enough,” Gunther said to Amaya, “then perhaps we should return to our charge.”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me a moment. No, give me half an hour to breathe.” The human woman sniffed as her eyes focused on his wound, “It looks like you’ll need more than a few yourself.”

“This? It’ll need a specialist.” He rubbed the raw skin around the burn, “Hmmm, but if it turns out well, maybe I’ll keep it. Might get more ladies that way.”

“You really shouldn’t pay for love, you know.” Louis said, “You’ll catch something gross.”

“Speak for yourself you twink!”

__________

Yuriko’s return to Greyith Fortress wasn’t with fanfare or much applause. Instead, she quietly entered through one of the access points on the battlements and made her way to her quarters. Ryoko and Fluffington were there and greeted her happily: her handmaiden with a cup of tea, and the wolf pup with licks to her face.

“Ehehehe, enough Fluffy!” Yuriko giggled and she pushed the wolf’s snout, which was as long as her forearm, away. The pupper whined and nuzzled her side before he padded back towards the sofa.

Yuriko giggled again as she took the cup from Ryoko and sat down at the dining table. Her quarters were in the royal quarters, where the other elites were housed. It was a full suite of rooms, dining, living, sitting, bedrooms, and a bathroom. The furniture was made of expertly carved wood and the stone floors were covered in pretty carpets. The walls were bare stone, but covered with tapestries or paintings. Every corner of the room had a small stand with a golden vase. Bouquets of wildflowers occupied those expensive pottery.

Soft, soothing music filled the room, from a device sitting underneath the projected windows. The melody was barely audible, though her perception aura allowed her to pick up every minute vibration in the air. The music only looped after a couple of days, though Yuriko wished it wasn't so. She found the morning melodies the best for meditation and she needed to do something right now.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Ah, she needed to report too, but that could wait until later.

"Make a cup of hot chocolate, please," Yuriko asked.

"We only have supplies for another five cups, young mistress. would you like me to purchase another batch later?" Ryoko's voice was deceptively mild, but Yuriko detected a rebuking undertone. 'It's too expensive!' she could practically hear the handmaiden's thoughts.

"Yes," Yuriko answered without hesitation, prompting the older woman to roll her eyes.

"As you wish."

Nodding, Yuriko went inside her bedroom and assumed a seated meditation pose. She lost blood today and she was sure her enemies took it. The Ancients didn't care about such things and neither did the disciplines she knew of near home. But Arcana Weaving could make use of shed body parts to facilitate spell targeting. The True Connection spell required such arcane mediums. Yuriko was sure there were more nefarious spells that needed such mediums to function properly. She couldn't risk allowing her blood to be her downfall.

Luckily, as soon as she studied the True Connection spell and realised the imprecations, she searched for remedies. In fact, the same professor who taught her the spell also pointed her in the right direction to search the library.

She brought herself to the dreamscape and sought out the faint connection that existed between her body and the shed blood. There would save been a glimmer, a faint resonance that could be detected. Radiant energy suffused her entire body which obviously included her blood. In fact, blood was an excellent carrier of the said energy, and it pulled excess Radiance from her cells to add to her reserves. That meant that the blood she lost would still have a powerful connection…

But she couldn't, for the life of her, find that resonance. There was absolutely nothing to detect!

"Rotter," she cursed. Yuriko could have removed the connection and pulled the Radiant essence from her blood and sucked it back to her via the connection, but since it wasn't there, she could only use the generic purification spell proscribed by the spellbooks from the library. It would scrub all of the connections, but it would ensure that she would be safe from a number of unpleasant effects.

"Getting summoned and portalled against my Will…that would be extremely unpleasant."

She returned her mind to her body and began casting the purification spell. It wasn't a particularly complex casting, though it was longer than the usual cast at ten minutes. But by the end of it, she felt her shoulders lighten from the burden of worries and what-ifs.

All done, she yawned, went out of her bedroom and picked up the cup of hot chocolate from the dining table. A warming runescript spell was thoughtfully inscribed around the cup, and when she drank, it was at the perfect temperature.

After she had her bliss, she leisurely strolled to the mission centre and reported the success of two out of three targets. Then she filled a mission log of what happened during the ambush.

She didn't find any other missions rated for her, so she returned to her chambers to train.

The days flowed like water, and soon it was the turn of the Season. Every few days she contacted Gwendith, Devotee, Heron, and Saki. The Chaos Lord had joined the team just after her blood had been stolen and nothing much happened. The team was looking for the source of the Elemental Tide, and Devotee insisted that they were drawing close. But so far, they hadn't found it yet. If they failed, it might take weeks or Seasons more before the Tide shifted and they could leave with their prize.

For the past week, the foursome couldn't be reached with True Connection, though they informed her that they would be heading deeper into the Shardland. She knew where they were going, but she was still worried. There was also little she could do but train.

Following the blood battle, her Anima reach had grown by nearly ten paces. The speed had been unprecedented and she was happy she'd spared those foes. The next time they battled, her Anima might grow by another ten paces, though even if it turned out to be less, she wouldn't mind. They had been interesting and indomitable foes.

As for her honing of her Intent and Will, there was continuous progress though nothing noteworthy or spectacular. It was average growth, according to Damien's memories, but at least it was steady. She did manage to fuse two sunblades. The increase in potency was just above double so the effort was just about worth it. If she managed to fuse a third, the potency would double again, and with each additional blade fused, so would the strength increase. By her count, should she fuse at least five sunblades, she should be able to easily cut through the barriers of someone above her level.

Hmmm, maybe. 'I guess it depends on who's holding the barrier.' Yuriko mused.

Just the two had taken her all year to do, and she had a feeling it would take more than a year to fuse three. Unless she found the trick to it. The memories held no such hint, and it might be something not included in the ones she held. Perhaps the other shards might have the knowledge she needed. Oh well. She didn't even know where the others went, so she could only search blindly. Well, maybe they were all in Irvalla?

She expected to leave for Nirlith as soon as the Season turned, to continue her term as professor, but to her surprise, she had received official letters requesting she stay in Greyith for the semester. Apparently, they were going to send Sixth Year students to intern here.

On the second day of the new Season, the Academy's caravan arrived, along with a gaggle of students, including her disciples.