The voice sent a thrill down Yuriko’s spine. It was nearly irresistible, each layer tugging at her reason, her Anima, and her body. The urge to follow and the urge to fight intertwined within her mind, drowning her senses.
“Ahhh…”
She gasped as her Mien unleashed with her Anima, touching everyone around her. She felt a shiver of anticipation, not just from her, but from everyone around. The voice…it was powerful, but she knew it was weaker than the Chaos Duke. Stronger than the Field Marshal, however, and quite different from the Knights Domini she knew. It was as if there were many of them interlaced into a single being, a single voice.
With some effort, she restrained her Anima and her Mien. The latter continued to caress and touch everyone within her range, and it was stretching out to influence the challenger, too. She pulled it back, not wishing to taint the challenge so quickly. She had no desire to become akin to her third incarnation back in the World Trials even if something within her longed to taste such pleasures.
“Don’t,” Field Marshal Garcia grunted, “fall for his tricks. Grand Magus the Ishodir Guardian may be, but not even one such as he can easily overpower the might of an army.”
“Come to me~ Come to me~” the words continued to beckon.
Yuriko shuddered as she felt static lightning clung to her Anima. Ah! Her perception range had been expanded beyond her norm, and the enemy was using it to penetrate her defences!
She pulled back her perception and condensed her Anima. The voice lost its alluring quality and her mind cleared.
“Come to me~”
“Shut up!” Yuriko roared as her Terror Mien activated. That part of her had been strengthened over the past weeks by the fear of every soldier she defeated and spared. It was almost as strong as her Charm Mien by now, but she felt a bit of resistance when the voice called out again.
“Ah~ there you are~ Come out, come out~”
The sing-song voice grated on her ears and evoked a different emotion now. Anger and irritation. The feeling of being challenged to a duel and that to refuse was an act of dishonour.
“I know you now!” Field Marshal Garcia roared. “You will not prevail!”
He raised his hands and cast his spells. Dozens of spell activation tools hung around his clothes and the runescript components of his weaving, followed by somatic and vocal nodes, formed mandalas of light around his body. He didn’t rise to the air, however, instead, earth and metal crawled up his feet, legs, and upper body.
Yuriko flew towards Ryoko and Fluffington. They sheltered inside the dwelling, and while the wolf pup looked nervous, her handmaiden sat calmly and was sipping tea. She must have felt the weight of Yuriko’s regard through the Anima because Ryoko nodded and smiled, then pointed at the circle of runescript etchings around her.
Calmed by the handmaiden’s prepared defences, Yuriko nodded. She flew towards the gap at the peak of the dome caused by the huge lightning bolt. The voice came from there too, and when she flew under it, she could see a figure hovering several hundred paces above.
“There you are~ Come, come~”
Yuriko shivered in annoyance. She heard the Marshal yell something at her, but she ignored it. She left the dome, sunblades gathered around her. She continued to conjure them, a couple of blades every second, and soon enough she had twice her normal complement. She could feel her Intent being strained, but she knew that if she brought out less than her best, she wouldn’t prevail.
Chaos, even if she did, she doubted she could win. She felt it press down on her, a foreign and hostile Domain. Her Will was stressed as the Domain sought to contain her Anima. She had to condense it close to her body, less than ten paces wide, and no perception aura beyond it, to resist. That also meant her sunblades were restricted to the same range, otherwise, she would lose control.
The figure above her, still chiming with its singsong voice, stared down at her. From this distance, the only sense she could use to examine him was her sight. He was large, taller than Heron, probably, and far more muscular, though she could only guess at the latter from the way his clothes hung on his frame. He was barefooted, too, and it was the only indicator that he was not human. The golden, slit-eyed pupils might have made her think he was a cat-kin or reptile-kin of some sort, but his clawed feet were more reminiscent of birds of prey. He didn’t have wings but was flying through some other method since she couldn’t see the flight spell Elemental residue.
“You are here. Good~ Come with me. Come with me to the Empire and serve the Master~”
The voice continued to send shivers down her back. Pleasant shivers, instead of one born by fear. She couldn’t feel any kind of mental compulsion, but she knew she was being influenced anyway. It was rather obvious since her perception caught the nearly invisible sparks of static making their way through her defences. It was chilling how they treated her Anima as if it didn’t exist.
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It was only when pressured, only when facing adversity that the intangible aspects of her Anima, her Intent and Will, were revealed. Intent was used to affect the surroundings, to alter the fabric of reality to her whims, though only if it grew strong enough. Intent was a necessary component of Sorcery, Shaping, and higher levels of Arcana Weaving, but could also be used on its own. Intent was needed to control her sunblades outside of her Anima reach, as well as when the numbers increased beyond her limits. It was also the key to reaching the next Stage.
Will. It was the power to remain the same no matter the external pressure. Internal, too, if it came down to it. She didn’t know if it could be used in tangent with Intent… or was that how Domains were formed? An Insight gleaned while in a battle for her life and freedom was bittersweet.
The thought was like a key that unlocked a door hidden within her memories, and she knew that she was partly right. Still, now was not the time to divide her focus, although most of her consciousness now was fighting the instinct to follow that man.
She could see the static electricity penetrating her body and feel it influence her thoughts through sensations. She felt pleasure at the thought of obedience, and a hint of agony when she thought to fight back.
It overwhelmed her senses, and her body was about to give in.
But her Anima was just as strong as her physique and not controlled by nerves. Her Mien, while vulnerable to other holders of the Mishala Mien who were stronger or further up in the hierarchy, protected the autonomy of choice. She would not be taken against her Will, though if it happened, those who trespassed would pay dearly in kind.
Her body briefly turned into Radiant light and all of the static electricity clinging to her was devoured. Yuriko’s mind cleared and was left with nothing but anger. Her Mien, which had shifted away from Terror when she flew out, returned to that state.
“It’s no use fighting~ Surrender.”
“No.”
Whether the beast heard her words or not, the way he reacted would have been the same, Yuriko thought.
From a static position, with storm clouds above and lightning dancing in the air, the large man dropped towards her. Static electricity, sparks that surrounded his body, somehow pulled all of the lighting in the clouds.
Krakoom!
A thick bolt of lighting, bluish-white, danced from the clouds and merged with his figure, and he was propelled directly towards her position. The sound of thunder followed his path, but it didn’t reach her ears until long past the point when they made contact.
The moment his clawed hand breached her perception aura, Yuriko moved her body to dodge. Sunblades converged in front of her, interposed against his dive. His fingers splayed apart and the sharp tips of his claws met the edges of her blades.
Lightning erupted from him. Radiant energy burst from the ruptured Animus construct. The air around them was consumed in Radiant fires while lighting ignited the leftover Elemental energies. The abrupt mixing resulted in an explosive conflagration that created a shockwave. Yuriko’s condensed aura absorbed and negated the kinetic blast, which turned out to be a mistake.
The giant warrior burst through the explosive cloud, body sheathed in his powerful Will, and struck at the edges of her condensed Anima. That impact knocked her back, and his claws sheared through a couple of paces of Anima, which slammed her with the incredible pain of being torn apart. Somehow…the attack bypassed her protections…or maybe it hit both body and Anima at the same time.
Still, he was several paces from her body, and he was unable to bypass her defences with his physique so easily. His face was finally exposed when he came close, and it wasn’t quite what she expected. The right half of his face was humanoid, but the left was a twisted mockery of an Ahas, snake-kin, tribesman. Lime green scales covered his left cheek, and his lips became nonexistent. He had a gruesome grin, revealing that the left half of his mouth had sharp teeth and an elongated canine. Still, the entirety wasn’t grotesque at all. Instead, it looked more like an exotic art piece that was shudderingly handsome.
Static electricity wormed through her defences, but she snuffed them with focused Radiant beams. Three sunblades overlaid on her right hand as she merged them into one. She pulled back to gain room, then struck, guided by her Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords. Hundreds of sunblades flew around her to support her attack, and the beastman ‘s surroundings came to life with tiny lighting orbs.
They intercepted her sunblades, and the collision resulted in tiny explosions that nonetheless created a maelstrom that made flying difficult. Her path was diverted by an errant gust but it also caused the beastman’s lighting arrow to miss her by inches.
“Tsk!”
She reeled back, then flung the merged blades at him. It careened towards his face, but a quarterstaff made out of frozen lightning appeared in his hands. He swung to parry, but her Ennoia allowed her to divert the merged blades out of the way. Her weapon spun in cycles and closed in on his side. He twisted away and threw the lightning staff at her.
Her remaining sunblades interposed, not blocking it directly but deflecting it away. Each moment of contact destroyed a blade, but at the same time, diminished the lighting contained within.
The staff missed her by several paces, but it exploded into a lighting burst when it went past her. The shock went through her condensed Anima and stunned her body for a long moment.
The man’s face wore triumph, only for it to falter as the merged sunblade made contact with his leg. The fur coat he wore parted as its fabric melted and burned. The edge slammed on his flesh and penetrated an inch deep. Radiant energy was injected into the wound, and Yuriko commanded it to devour and rampage within his system.
Before more than a smidgen could enter his bloodstream, lighting coalesced around him, then shot towards the wound. A moment later, his entire being changed into an Elemental Form, then returned to its norm.
“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue at the missed opportunity. If she’d struck him back then, she might have hurt him more.
“Too bad~” the beastman said while wagging his finger. “Now stop resisting and follow me~”
His voice sent shivers of cold down her spine, and before she realised it, neither of them was flying above the dome. Instead, they were a couple of longstrides east and were moving slowly towards the Sodden Plains.