Everything seemed to slow down as the crossbow bolts flew. The second dance came to the forefront and Yuriko could feel her instincts pull at her body. And her Anima. Lift the blade here, twist sideways. Take a step to the side. Condense the Anima here. Now strike!

The next moment, the sunblade sheared through near a dozen bolts while the rest smashed into the carriage. The bolts that weren’t intercepted by her blade bounced off her hardened Anima.

“Ach!” Rhox yelped.

The snake-kin woman hadn’t followed her through the window but waited for a couple of moments before exiting on the opposite side. Seeing her safe, Yuriko focused on their assailants.

“Too far.”

A hundred paces. It would take her several seconds to get that far and at the same time she’d have to ward off at least three more volleys, and as she came closer, the difficulty of a successful defense would rise.

She only paused for a moment, but at the next, she propelled herself towards the attacking felinekin. Their crossbow bolts glimmered with invested Animus, and those were more than enough to trouble her. Sure, a single bolt wouldn’t penetrate her condensed Anima, but it would take its toll. How many bolts before it began to crack? How many bolts before it shattered? She wasn’t eager to find out. But she also knew that running would only lead to an exhausting chase, and she didn’t know the terrain like they did.

The second and the fourth dance allowed her to dodge and parry the next fusilade, but then, the frontmost rant of crossbowmen retreated even as the second rank fired. The near unending barrage forced Yuriko to seek cover. She jumped into a ditch, a canal by the side of the road intended to divert water from undercutting the road.

Thunk, thunk, thunk!

The crossbowmen were over a rise and there were no trees to take cover on. They weren’t coming closer. Yuriko never felt the absence of her Plasma Caster more than she did now. The Lancet had an effective range of twenty paces, fifty, if she was lucky.

“Rotting luck.”

“Elder! Over here!” Rhox yelled.

A glance back revealed the other woman’s head peeking over a ridge. A few bolts headed her way, but she ducked back under cover.

With a curse on her lips, Yuriko jumped out of the ditch and ran for the ridge, condensing her Anima at her back. A few more bounced off her golden flames but they only served to propel her further. She made it over the ridge just before another massive barrage struck the berm.

“Come on!” Rhox yelled.

The snakekin was already at the bottom of the ridge. Yuriko slid down the berm and followed Rhox as she made for a hillside. Yuriko got a glimpse of Drost and Rharn before she went over the ridge. They were dead. Several bolts had penetrated their heads, not to mention the dozen that were embedded across their torsos.

Fire burned without and within. Yuriko bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn’t really know them that well, but they died because she had been with them. The cats were aiming for her life. Why?

She soon caught up to Rhox.

“What now?” she asked.

“Cover!” Rhox panted, “We can lose them in the hills.”

She gestured towards the north. The road had avoided the worst of the mountain range’s foothills, but towards it, there was a multitude of ravines and valleys.

The two of them scaled up the hillside and as soon as they reached the crest, Yuriko looked back. The cloaked cats had just reached the opposite hill. A few managed to shoot bolts but the two of them were already over the crest before the bolts arrived.

“Keep going!” Rhox called out.

The hillsides were covered in brush and grass. At the bottom of the hill, was a shallow valley that was several hundred paces wide. There were trees though, so they would be able to take cover. A minute later, they reached the tree line.

Yuriko and Rhox stopped once they were about five paces inside the woods. Their assailants weren’t over the crest yet. Rhox was breathing hard, and she didn’t carry anything with her. The other woman glanced at Yuriko’s backpack enviously.

They waited for a few minutes. Yuriko stabbed the sunblade hilt deep into the dirt, otherwise, the glow would give them away. There was no way she would dissipate it. It took a fifth of her reserves to make the rotting thing, and she hadn’t even used it yet!

A few minutes later, the first of the crossbowmen climbed over the crest, heads turning to and fro, and with their weapons raised shoulder high. Yuriko exchanged glances with Rhox. The snake-kin woman had armed her crossbow and was in the process of aiming.

“Are we running or killing?” Yuriko asked simply.

Rhox growled, “I don’t have enough bolts to murder the lot of them. What’s the plan, Elder?”

“I still intend to reach Viterra, and nothing will stop me,” she grunted. “Why are they even after me?”

“Who knows. Their spies may have gotten word of another Elder in Lucenti and since you’re moving independently, they decided to kill you.”

“I’m not going to war for you,” Yuriko snapped.

“You might not want to, but they certainly think you’re part of Lucenti’s forces.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Rhox stared at her straight in the eye, “I don’t know.”

Yuriko met her gaze for a few moments, but the other’s gaze was firm. She clicked her tongue and turned to watch the felinekin slowly make their way down the slope. From here, she could see that there were nearly a couple hundred of them spread out in a line.

“If we flee, they will track us. They will harass us until we reach safety,” Rhox murmured. “We’re still within Lucenti territory.”

“We attack when they close,” Yuriko said grimly.

The sunblade pulsed within the earth, sensing her resolve. Even though the weapon wasn’t in hand, she still felt a deep connection with it. She was seized by a sudden impulse, opened her hand, and called to the weapon. It rose from the ground and settled firmly within her grip.

The intense glow gave their position away. The felinekin yelled and pointed, then started to shoot. Yuriko and Rhox dove behind the tree trunks.

Rhox glared at Yuriko who returned a sheepish grin. But the ability to call the sunblade to hand was no small thing, and ideas flooded into her mind. Wild thoughts, but those had no place in the current battlefield.

The shooters did not come any closer.

“Rotting cowards. Let’s go.” The two of them pressed deeper into the woods. “How many bolts did they bring with them anyway? Won’t they run out soon?”

Rhox picked up a crossbow bolt from the ground and tossed it over. It was made completely out of metal, even the fins at the end to make sure it flew straight. She tested its strength, and it was both resilient and somewhat flexible.

“They’re reusing the spent bolts.”

“Do you mean if we stay put and they shoot all of it to us, they’ll eventually run out? But we keep running, they’ll recover the spent ammunition.”

“Probably.”

“Fallen Sun,” Yuriko muttered the strongest curse she knew.

“Indeed.”

Nearly half an hour later, and probably three longstrides away, they came out of the other side of the woods. A ravine stretched in front, nearly seven paces wide. An easy jump for Yuriko.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Huh? Eeeeh!” Rhox yelped as Yuriko hopped over the gap.

“Come on!”

“I can’t jump that far!”

“Oh, ehehe.”

Yuriko hopped back, picked up the other woman, settled her over her shoulders and took a running leap.

“Kyaaaa!”

“We’re already over,” Yuriko said.

“Haah, haah!” The snakekin woman collapsed on her hands and knees. “Wh…so sudden. I wasn’t ready…”

“Well, we’re already over,” Yuriko said as she stretched her hand out and called the sunblade over from where she dropped it.

“Right. Let’s head that way!”

They walked for several hours, not even taking a break for lunch. They seem to have lost the raiders. The sunblade had long dissipated, and she felt a tinge of regret that it hadn’t tasted blood. The lost Radiant energy slowly recovered from exposure to the sun, but the Animus felt slow to come back. Still, her reserves were greater than before, though she had no way of accurately tracking it.

Didn’t I give you an exercise to enhance your perception of Animus? Damien asked mildly.

‘Ehehehe.’

Don’t ehehe me!

‘Shush now, need to focus!’

On what? You should have massacred those cats.

‘I didn’t want to risk it. Their bolts were invested with Animus.’

You could have weathered it. You didn’t even try. You’re still reluctant to kill when necessary. They attacked you. They deserve death.

‘I…yeah. You’re right.’

Yuriko sighed. She couldn’t deceive herself, and certainly not Damien who practically lived in her mind. She didn’t enjoy killing humans, and well, the beast-kin were just as sentient as humans.

Do you think the Chaos dwellers could not feel? Or think? Yet you slaughter them as easily as you do a cow.

Yuriko didn’t respond. She didn’t want to. She couldn’t change her feelings that easily.

“The road!” Rhox yelped as she pointed.

“Huh? Oh.” Shaken out of her introspection, it took Yuriko a moment to spot it. It was just there, actually. “Is that the road we were following?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Rhox said.

The road was narrow and only had space for a single wagon instead of two.

“Where is it headed?”

“Um, probably the village of…uh, Silvershear, I think. I’m not sure. I thought I saw a sign back before we got ambushed.” Rhox muttered. “But let’s head over. I think we can borrow a messenger bird or something.”

“Wait!” Yuriko blurted out. “A village on the outskirts of Lucenti’s control, and there was a raider group of several hundred… Do you think they…?”

“But…there are patrols.”

“It didn’t stop them,” Yuriko said grimly.

“Oh.” Rhox gulped, “Let’s hurry!”

“Which way?”

Rhox stared at the road for a moment, then looked down in both directions. One led south, while the other led northeast. “There.” Rhox pointed to the right. Northeast.

“Let’s run.”

It didn’t take them that long. Maybe thirty minutes. The road meandered somewhat, avoiding the steeper hills. But it wasn’t long before Yuriko saw something she couldn’t quite believe.

“Are those…steps? On the hillsides?”

“Oh, terraces? Yes. Rice terraces. Only way to cultivate crops in water paddies on hilly ground.” Rhox grinned.

The terraces weren’t too wide, no more than fifty paces at most. Some were even less than five paces wide. Green rice plants covered the terraces, though she could easily see the water. The afternoon sun reflected against it and cast the rest of the valley in yellow light.

But…there were no people. Yuriko and Rhox exchanged worried glances and ran.

She could see some structures in the distance, sheltered from the winds by tall trees. This far north, the weather was colder than at Lucenti and a harsh wind blew along the valley, making Yuriko’s scarf and hair flutter. The scarf nearly blocked her vision but her hair kept out of the way.

“No, no!’ Rhox moaned.

When the wind shifted and blew from the village, it smelled of smoke. And blood.

The dead were carelessly stacked in piles by the side of the village square. There were a few that had been left beside their doors. Men, women. The elders of the village. And children. Bodies riddled with punctures. Bodies with large gashes across the fronts. Along the entrance of the village were a dozen adults that had been hacked to pieces. They still had staves and other farming implements in hand.

A few bodies had been savaged by beasts. Even as they watched, a snake-wolf pack ran out the other end of the village dragging several bodies with them. Rhox wordlessly shot at them with her crossbow, managing to scatter them after a couple of bolts.

There was no question who did this. They didn’t even have the grace to carry away the body of their own dead. A tiger and lion man corpse was next to the road, their heads bashed in.

Are you still reluctant?

“No.”