The barbarians and Chaos Lords had stopped chasing after them by the time the caravan had reached the third campsite. It had taken nearly a couple of weeks to get there, rather than one, by Yuriko’s reckoning. It was already the 16th Day of Air, and she’d missed the resumption of her classes. Not that she expected anything else, really, but she was suddenly struck with melancholy when she realised that her formal education was effectively over by now.

Well, technically she was already qualified to graduate from the Academy by reaching the Knight level–the real one and not just the estimated power level from before. Oh, no, she hadn’t actually passed the knowledge tests.

Well, she knew that she was ignorant, and she should take steps to remedy it. Perhaps she should read more, even if it was a pain to do so.

The past couple of weeks, she spent most of it patrolling, clearing the field, and clearing snow. She also trained Gwendith in Body Forging and last week, she was able to complete the second one. However, from what Damien later said, the third Forging wouldn’t be possible without nearly a year of conditioning and training. It was the consequence of not being able to do it during Gwendith’s Novice and Apprentice levels. The body had already been reforged and strengthened by the increased Anima strength. Undoing and reforging that foundation would take far more effort.

‘What are the consequences if she doesn't go through with the third Body Forging?’ Yuriko asked.

It makes the Actualisation process harder and the benefits lower, came the blunt reply.

A year. Gwendith would have to stay at the same power level for that long. But then again, she wasn’t nearly ready enough to advance to Knight in the Imperial System, so it wasn’t really a loss, now that she thought about it.

Hold on. It just means she can’t Actualise yet. We can begin the Chaos baptism. Damien continued. Let her body recover first then we can attempt it. Don’t use up all of Fri’Avgi’s distilled Chaos storage.

She said as much to Gwendith and her friend nodded and said, “I’m surprised and delighted it would only take a year. My Animus cap isn’t even at Sollus and without access to 3rd tier Zoi elixirs, it would take years or even decades to reach that point.” She embraced Yuriko and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“Oh, it’s, uhm, you’re welcome.”

Hence during the first week, other than her duties, Gwendith spent most of her time resting and meditating. In the meantime, Niamh had taken it upon herself to further some parts of Yuriko’s education. Every evening, after dinner, the two of them conversed about Runescrivening. Niamh was an Apprentice level Runescribe back when they had first met, at the moment, she’d barely reached Journeyman Runescrbe.

Her brother’s girlfriend, or fiance maybe, knew more patterns than Yuriko did, and had been working as a Scrivener for the past three or so years. She shared her tips and tricks to make her own engraving faster and more efficient.

It was little things such as how to carve connecting lines, how to make some shortcuts, and how certain runescript could be condensed and shortened if the carving wasn’t meant to be permanent. Since Yuriko didn’t have a dictionary on her, Niamh shared hers. The funny thing was that even though Yuriko hadn’t encountered certain symbols before, they felt familiar. She could sometimes guess correctly what they meant.

In the mornings, she went through her physical conditioning training, and by the second week, Gwendith joined her. Mid mornings until evenings she went on patrol or went with the advance scouts. Either way, her brother and Sheamus, and sometimes one of the other irregular scouts accompanied them.

She kept expecting that Chaos Lord, Firehead to attack everytime she left the camp. She had been prepared for it, eager even, to face her again and battle. For that matter, she wondered where the Weaver of the Warp and Weft of the World had gotten himself to. She was more than ready for a rematch.

Firehead was stronger than one of the Weaver’s incarnations, but fighting three people all at once was more difficult. His incarnations didn’t attack her all at once though, which had seemed odd. When she meditated or activated her Facet, the Golden Silhouette, and Damien, recreated her battles and pointed out what she did wrong, what she did right, and just as importantly, when her foes had made a mistake.

You have a wonderful feel for battle. Damien said, going after the strongest threat to keep them away from your allies is a good strategy, but you might want to consider wiping out the weaker enemies too. You aren’t that strong enough that you can afford to ignore them. Well, even I did that when I was much younger and weaker.

‘What, start from the bottom and work my way up?’

No, not unless they’re so much weaker than you that they aren’t a threat. But then, you risk running out of strength if you waste it like that. There’s really no hard and fast rules when fighting one against many, or with army against army. Common knowledge is to match strengths when necessary. Yes, you can sneak around and kill the weaker ones first, but you also risk the enemy doing the same. Besides, that’s dishonourable.

Damien rambled on regarding honour on the battlefield, but she barely paid attention. She had her own reasons, and she knew that if she hadn’t focused on the strongest foe when she was the strongest on her side only meant that the enemy would be free to rampage against her allies.

Looking back at the battle on the plateau, if she had not been the one to occupy the Weaver, then he would have easily massacred the other Knights, and then, the behemoths and the Weaver would have focused on her, afterwards.

Also, she liked fighting a strong opponent. It was exhilarating…

Ah, they were about to move to the fourth camp. It will happen later. Ever since the snow started falling, the caravan’s pace had turned glacial. They would only move at the end of every week, even if the distance between campsites was the same five leagues. The fourth campsite would bring them close to the Zarek Mountain foothills though, and the primaeval forest that covered it.

She had been there the past week, at the edge anyway, and it wasn’t the same coniferous forest that they had to go through earlier. The trees were a mixture of what could be found in the Shillogu Woods on the other side, the giant Adaviren trees she saw in Bella, and some mix of pine.

And it was warm there. Not like here where if she spilled water from her water canteen, it would freeze solid before it hit the ground. No, it was nice and warm there, much like Kogasi’s weather. Ah, but the primeval forest was much thicker, and if she thought travelling this past two weeks was slow and plodding, it would be the same there. The Builders would have to cut down or move the vegetation before the transports could move, much less the carriers.

Still, the sight of the mountain pass that was only another ten to twenty leagues from the forest’s edge was heartening, even if it would be another four weeks before they got there.

With her morning meditations done, Yuriko got up from her seated meditation and went out of her shared tent to look for breakfast.

_______

The smoke and the flames were quite reminiscent of the battlefield on the Aegeas Plains. Ever since the Federation came up with the steam cannons and its incendiary shells, the trenches had been the only way to safely travel. The thick smoke and the ever-present burning grass provided both safety and danger.

Heron Synka Muryh rolled his shoulders uncomfortably, popping the sockets and stretching ligaments. He hunkered behind his resonating tower shield, and let the enemy’s projectiles, crossbow bolts, slam into it. With a well-timed push, he could sometimes send it careening back to where it came from without bothering to use his Facet.

He’d never expected Rumiga City to be a battlefield, but then again, the aggression from the south, the north, and the Chaos, all happening simultaneously, had not been something the city’s leadership had anticipated.

“Oi, Mikel! Hurry up and burn them!” He yelled to his teammate and…well, friend, by now.

The redheaded boy had been such a wuss back during their Atavism that when he compared him now to back then, he wouldn’t have recognised him. Mikel had grown several inches taller and wasn’t as scrawny as before. His eyes were no longer timid or unsure but now brimming with confidence. But maybe that had something more to do with his girlfriend than anything else. Krystal Farrow Zorin could really stiffen a man’s spine.

“Yeah, yeah, hold on you big lug,” Mikel muttered though he kept his eyes on his hands the complex runescript construct he had there.

“Sure, take your time. It’s not as if we’re getting attacked here,” he grunted.

Mikel, and Krystal, who had been behind the fire-maker, giggled in annoying unison. Heron grunted and peeked over his shield. The tunnels under Rumiga City should have been secure by now, after several Seasons of incursions and raids, but somehow, the Federation and the Chaos Lords had managed to reopen and clear the deadfalls and earth-melded barriers. This current battle had been going on for weeks now, and the Ivalans just wouldn’t retreat. Even though they were steadily being pushed back and rebuffed.

Legion command wasn’t allowing their warriors to push too far back though. In fact, they were remarkably passive the entire time. Heron and his team, which included the two lovebirds and a couple of fresh faced and younger Agaza students, were part of reinforcements to a redoubt under attack. They arrived a few minutes ago and had been fighting a rearward action ever since.

This particular redoubt, designated R-491, had been taken and retaken nearly a dozen times already, and if it hadn’t been at a moderately important chokepoint, Heron would have thought it should have been abandoned for its bad luck. His team wasn’t the only one sent, of course: there was a full Century, too. Rockbinder Century, to be exact, of the Legion Agminis. Ah, he thought he saw Zeyn as part of the student attaches, too.

The rotter had been looking extra smug ever since he hooked up with Maryn Shaun. When would he have his time in the sun? Hopefully when he sees his beloved Yuriko again.

“Oi! You’re spacing out.” Krystal poked his back and he grunted, barely feeling her stiff fingers on his side. His third Facet allowed him to encase himself in solidified air, and it was strong enough to negate a casual Empowered Strike even if he did nothing. He could also vaguely feel through it, hence Krystal’s poking wasn’t ineffective in drawing his attention.

“Sorry.”

“I’m worried, too,” she said, somehow knowing that he had been thinking of their missing friend.

“She hasn’t written back,” Heron grunted.

“Must be the war. What else could it be?” Krystal shook her head, her eyes were glowing green. “Watch out, heavy bombardment incoming.”

“Thanks.” He hunkered down and activated his Facet. A dozen interlinked hexagons of hardened air materialised in front and around him, sheltering not just his team but also the two others next to them.

Boom! Boom! Thunk!

He barely felt the blows. His Facet normally transferred kinetic force that struck his shields back at him, but he had long grown used to it. That and he was bigger and heavier than he was before and knew how to brace and redirect force.

“Are you done yet?” He hissed.

“Yeah, open a line,” Mikel said as he stood. Hovering above his hand was a fiery sphere that was ten inches wide, made out of concentric rings filled with runescript lines. At the centre of the sphere was a blue-white flame, a marked difference from the orange lines.

Heron split one hexagon and opened a hole big enough for Mikel’s technique to go through. The smaller man squeezed his palms together and the sphere squeezed and popped, and then contracted around the blue flame. The fire condensed, and then shot out of the opening, leaving a bluish afterimage.

The tunnels were perfect to contain the blast, and with Mikel’s control, all of the force channeled into the enemy. A moment later, the surviving Ivalans had retreated, leaving dozens of dead and burning bodies.

“Well, that’s that,” Heron muttered.

“Yeah.” Mikel shook his head. “I just wish they’d let us go home. The Academies are closed anyway, what else are we supposed to do?”

“Hey, we’re earning good coin here!” Krystal protested.

“We are,” Heron agreed.

Basically, they were conscripts, but since they were Agazans, they were also paid as junior officers instead of rank and file legionnaires. Only the Agaza students had remained in Rumiga City, the other students had already been sent home Seasons ago.

“Hey, I don’t think we’ll stay here for long. There’s been push back from parents,” Krystal mock whispered. “I mean, after the first few weeks we’ve pretty much learned all there is to fighting in tunnels, and even that brief tour of Aegeas is better than this place.”

“Where do you even get your gossip?” Heron groused.

“I listen and I don’t spend all my time training like you do.” She shrugged.

“Well,” Mikel wheezed, “I’d welcome the change.”

So would Heron, for that matter. He had been missing his Mum and elder sis. And maybe he’d get another letter from Yuriko if he returned to Faron’s Crossing.

“Yes, I’d like that,” he said.

A few moments later, the command from the Rockbinder Centurion had them move back into the redoubt. And there, Heron knew, they’d spend hours trying to fortify and clean up.