Dinner turned out to be burritos. Yuriko glared down at the oft unsatisfactory meal found mostly through the vending machines around every corner of the mega buildings. This one, in contrast to the XXL burritos, was just about half the size. It was wrapped with a shiny foil, aluminium if she remembered the kind of metal, and was piping hot. A point in its favour already. The vending machine variety was warm straight out of the machine, not hot.
She unwrapped it and laid in on her plate, then sliced it in half with a casual gesture, utilizing the Bladeless Sword instead of the actual cutlery. She nudged the burrito halves to open up the cross-section and couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation. Contrary to what was inside the XXL burritos, which looked mostly like greyish sludge smothered in spicy sauce, this burrito had a proper mix of yellowish rice grains, brown chunks of meat, white garlic yoghurt sauce, and bits of sliced greens and onions. She hadn’t known what a proper burrito was until she had it in Astoria. This one still smelled slightly off, but the aroma was infinitely closer to Astoria’s compared to vending machine fare. She sliced a smaller bit off, toggled her helmet’s face plate to open up the mouth section and ate.
“Surprisingly good,” she muttered.
“Passable,” Ryoko commented, and the others nodded along.
She glanced at the other tables where the mercenary bands were glaring at each other. An opportunity to delve the Tower was well sought after, gave a high probability of getting rich, and was dangerous. Tiger Lao, Elsie’s sifu, had been a mercenary—or maybe a soldier, he hadn’t given too many details—had been in a delve, and had returned a broken man. He recovered, of course, but his adventurous spirit had withered.
‘And I thought to invite him along,’ Yuriko chuckled ruefully. She had asked him, along with Matsumi, the little genius girl who managed to awaken her Anima, and Elsie, who’d been of good help during their first few days in Dragon Fall. The Sifu and the young student had declined, understandably, but surprisingly, so had Elsie.
“I feel that I would wander over to the deep end should I follow you,” the dark-haired woman said. “I know I asked you for help to awaken to Mysticism, and the exercises I’ve learned already help. I think I’ll eventually get there.”
“I see, then good luck, I guess,” Yuriko answered, and that was that. A pity.
She ate a couple more burritos before her appetite was satisfied, and that was just in time for the next test to materialise.
The same hologram appeared in the middle of every table and the audio feed connected to Yuriko's built-in visor after she let it through.
“The next trial involves fighting in corridors and hallways. You will split into two groups of one hundred: half of you will defend while the other half will assault. Treat the hallways as sacrosanct and any breach could spell your doom. There will be two rounds where the defender in the first round will assault the next. Points will be awarded for successful objectives reached. Live ammunition will be used and if you are uncomfortable risking your lives, you may withdraw. You may surrender if you feel continuing will be a fruitless struggle to die. All participants must honour surrender. Take one of the doors on either end of the cafeteria, your group will be those who go with you. No auxiliaries will be permitted to sit this trial out, all who wish to progress must join.”
Yuriko hummed as the mercenary band who had the full hundred members went to one side. Half of their number blocked the hallway and glared at everyone else nearby, effectively preventing everyone else from entering their side.
An interesting choice of a trial. Yuriko wondered if the bigger group had an inside man considering they have the innate advantage of being a singular band. The other group, where Stormdriven had to join, was a disparate bunch. The faceplates of their helmets precluded her from reading expressions, and since her armour obscured her figure, she’d not drawn any threads through her Mien, disabling her emotion reading. Well, not that it mattered much, she supposed.
Then again, if the rest of the team was incompetent enough, it would drag Stormdriven down with it. Hmm, perhaps the only way to really secure victory was to completely wipe out the other side. The question was if she wanted to do that. Heron did say not to antagonize those who were likely to become their comrades.
Then again, if the opposite side lost both matches, what are the chances they’d move on to the next test anyway? Probably zero.
“Let’s just wipe the other side out,” Yuriko said.
Gwendith nodded, and Heron agreed. “Seems the simplest solution. Though we’re not sure if this is the last test.”
“The hologram said progress,” Gwendith pointed out.
“A good point,” Heron agreed. “Anyway, so just wipe out the opposing team both times? Leave them alive, I hope?”
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“If you wish,” Yuriko said. “I would do the same if needed.”
“Yeah, having a reputation as needless killers wouldn’t be good for us either.”
It turned out that the first role the large group had was as defenders. They were given ten minutes to familiarise themselves with the space. Yuriko spread her Anima perception and covered the entirety of the arena. It was two larger squares on opposite sides, then about five different corridors that crisscrossed in the middle. The corridors varied between three paces to five paces across, with a single corridor that was one pace across. The latter snaked all over the place but led almost all the way to the large squares.
The objective for defenders was to keep their part of the arena secure. There was a box, about a pace high and wide, that served as the primary objective for the other party. Defenders had to keep it from moving out of the chamber, while the attackers had to bring it back to their side. The battle would run for half an hour. All in all, the longest corridor was about three hundred paces long, while the two chambers weren’t more than a hundred paces directly apart. There was a central corridor that connected the two in a straight line, but it also had numerous barricades and cover for the defenders.
One of the leaders of a mercenary band called out, “Team leaders, let’s get together and plan for the test. Gold Flock’ll run all of us to the ground if we don’t organise.”
Heron, as the nominal leader of the band, headed over. Yuriko called Ryoko, Saki, and Devotee to come closer. “We’re all going to the delve, and this is an opportunity to see how things will probably go. Ryoko, you’re not a combatant…”
“Young mistress, I’m strong enough,” the tawny-haired woman protested. “My Animus is enough to block bullets, and probably cannons. I’m more than strong enough to live through a few stray shots. Please don’t treat me like spun glass.”
Ryoko’s eyes were aflame, and Yuriko nodded. Heron had gotten all of them body armour and helmets so she supposed the danger to the frailer woman was lesser. Besides, Ryoko was right. Only the truly powerful could actually hurt her.
The unfortunate thing was that neither she nor Saki had progressed their Anima strength. Ryoko was still a Journeyman Imperial, while Sake was a Knight. She was sure Saki could progress to Knight-Captain, but the woman said that something was just missing. It couldn’t be her Ennoia, since the Imperial Path didn’t require anything more than that to advance to Knight-Captain.
As for Ryoko…
Perhaps it was the distance from the Empire and the Empress, or perhaps she needed to be in the Chaos Sea. The handmaiden’s Animus was already in the misty state that was one push away from completely liquifying, but she couldn’t push herself to Knight. It was a sour state of affairs, but…ah, she could keep collecting Ambrosia and initiate her into the Ancient’s Way. Perhaps not as a Squire, but a Handmaiden in truth?
She glimpsed possibilities from Damien’s memories, and she delved into it for a moment, just long enough to find out how much Ambrosia she’d need. A single droplet of Ambrosia was an ORen, or a thousandth of a Ren. She needed an QiRen, a tenth. A hundred droplets to weave into a tether that would empower Ryoko and bind her progress to hers. Similar to a Squire, but less combat-focused? Ryoko would be two steps behind Yuriko’s power, but she wouldn’t need to touch an Ennoia by herself. Yuriko could share some of her Enlightenment, though the drawback would be that she wouldn’t ever be able to progress on her own.
With Ryoko at the limit of her current strength, and as one who didn’t have any desire to progress further…
Hmmm, while she was at it, she could probably make Saki her Squire, too. As a Knight, the process would be more difficult, and would probably involve something dangerous. The bond between Knights and the Empress was already there, and severing or repurposing it wasn’t something Yuriko had any inkling how to do it. But, she supposed, Ambrosia would cover for her ignorance, replaced by sheer brute force of Will and Intent.
“...stay here and protect the cube. Block the central hallway and we’ll take care of the rest.” Yuriko heard Heron say to the other team leaders.
“You’re confident. Arrogant,” a team leader said. He wasn’t quite as tall as Heron, or as broad, and from his body language, he was trying to compensate. Not that Heron was the biggest man in the room. That honour belonged to someone who was probably two and a half paces tall, and nearly as broad. Well, it could be the armour, too.
Yuriko observed Heron throw his weight around. His presence had gravitas, a certain confidence that he was the deadliest amongst the flock.
“Do as you wish, but if your folly causes my team to fail, I will end you,” Heron said, not in a threatening tone, but as a matter of fact. Tingles ran down Yuriko’s body, and she’d probably ride him hard later tonight. He must have felt something through their connection because his head suddenly turned towards her. Gwendith noticed, too, and the emotions she felt through their connection was eagerness. Not that Yuriko deprived either of her lovers. Ever since her incarnation was made, her true body had stopped holding back. The forced celibacy of her incarnation was enough to hone her Will.
The test began soon after, and as she wished, Stormdriven wiped out every last member of the assault team. She didn’t kill or cripple, but she disarmed them and beat them down hard enough to dissuade them from fighting back.
The second round, the same thing happened, except it took them less time. Yuriko’s perception of the entire battlefield meant there was no hiding from her, and she rooted out every member of the Gold Flock.
She thought that would have been it. That the winning group would move on to the next trial while the losing one would be asked to leave. Apparently not.
“There is one more trial before the final selection. This one will involve just your base teams. Your auxiliaries will be allowed to remain at their base point, but they must enter the training room nonetheless. No combat will be needed but a series of obstacles will have to be overcome. Follow the indicators please.”
Stormdriven led the walk. The rest of the mercenaries gave them a wide berth, and Yuriko could almost feel the anger and fear from the Gold Flock. The rest of the mercenaries were a mix of respect and fear.
They were led into a large chamber that had a ceiling nearly twenty paces high. It was empty, and the walls were plain grey metal. The doors behind them slammed shut, and the lights dimmed.
Yuriko looked around and stretched her Perception aura. The space was nearly half a longstride across.
A powerful thrum filled the air, and then…
Everyone started to float.