Yuriko climbed up a tall oak tree and walked towards a branch that gave her a better view. Enhanced Sight magnified her vision enough that she could see the source of the bronze-coloured light.

The Grunder-infected beasts ran towards the source, sacrificing their little lives like swarmlings against a fortress wall, trying to overcome their foe but ultimately reaped like ripened wheat at harvest time.

The source was a humanoid thing covered in uniform strips of metal, laterally formed like ancient-style armour. It reminded her of how Colossi plates were layered on the frame, except this one was roughly human-sized, and made of metal. The armour wasn’t bulky but looked like it had been moulded over a human’s naked form. There were no bulges for genitals or other secondary sexual characteristics, but the form itself was eminently masculine, with broad shoulders, a tapered torso culminating in narrow hips, then down to finely muscled thighs and legs.

As the thing moved, the metal plating flexed and contracted, which made her believe that it was its skin, not armour. As for its face, it was…blank. There were two dots of red light that she supposed were its eyes, but there weren’t any bumps for the nose or ears and no depression where the mouth would have been. It had a square jawline and a blunt chin.

At the next moment, the area where its mouth should have been, started to glow, and an opening was pried open. Then a beam of bronze light shot out and cut a swath through the Grunders. Its head swivelled left to right, and carved several beasts in twain. The edges of the cut were cauterized shut, though blood seeped out at certain points. Were those white Grunder larvae trying to escape?

A blade expanded out of the creature’s palm, and it used it to carve up any that came close. Blood that spattered over its skin sizzled and steamed, and any larvae that made the attempt blackened from the heat and turned to ashes.

The metal thing stomped towards the Grunders. None of the beasts could do anything to it, not even when one of the massive ones that looked like a cross between that barbarian’s two-horned form and a bear, slammed into it. Instead of the humanoid getting thrown off its feet, the beast folded around it, for a short moment, before a visible shockwave appeared around its grey, leathery skin and it got blasted into its fellows. It bowled over a dozen other beasts, and Yuriko thought it would get right back up.

Instead, the metal man opened its mouth and blasted a scintillating beam at it. The blast didn’t cut through, not immediately at least. It took several seconds of focus before it penetrated the granite shell, which had changed from its usual grey to red hot and molten. The beam cut off before it could pierce the body, but it looked like that had killed the infected beast and taken the larvae within too.

Yuriko watched in morbid fascination for a few minutes, before she felt an itch within her Anima. She wanted to fight it. She felt the need, the burning desire to match her prowess with the metal man, even if it wasn’t necessary.

Her impulses weren’t easy to master, but the thought of her brother and her friends in danger helped. Shaking her head, she strolled back towards the tree trunk and jumped down. Marron joined her a moment earlier, having climbed up on his own. He was more practised with the minutiae of Enhanced Sight or Senses so he probably saw more than she did.

“Do we wait or avoid?” Yuriko asked before he could say anything. He looked pointedly at the sheer cliff faces at the northwest, and the rather thick foliage towards the southeast, not to mention the river gorge that cut through the southern forest. The caravan could easily bypass the river with a whole company of Earthmelders, they could easily build a bridge strong enough to support the carriers. The five, well six of them would be able to cross just as easily, but the lay of the land beyond that would mean extending their trip by a day or two.

Yuriko looked wistfully back at the valley, but she knew better than to start an unnecessary fight. The creature was still slaughtering the Grunders as they backtracked, and by the time they reached the river gorge, the sounds of the fight had already faded away.

The gorge wasn’t too wide, just a couple of dozen paces. It was deep though, a dozen paces drop to the quick flowing current. Yuriko leapt over the gap, dragging a line behind her. She transfixed it onto a tree trunk, then walked back across, her sense of balance more than enough even without using Anima pads on her feet. She brought back a couple more lines and fixed a triangular rope bridge for the rest of them.

Desire practically breezed past it while Marron and Niamh were a bit more clumsy. Gwendith had no such trouble, much to both of their surprise. Yuriko retrieved the ropes and leapt back over the gap.

Afterwards, they trekked across the rolling hills, keeping to the clear paths or chopping through intervening vines. By the end of the day, they were merely a couple of leagues from the foothills. They took shelter by building a lean-to. There were dead branches aplenty, even if the incessant rain seeped through the leaves they used to make the roof.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, they pushed on.

As always, trouble always started when the surrounding forest grew deafeningly silent. Yuriko felt the stirrings of danger, and her head snapped towards the north, right as the bronze beam of light cut into the foliage and dug into the soil.

The beam left a clear trail directly towards the metal man, who jogged towards them from over a couple of hundred paces away. Yuriko hastily conjured her sunblades and shards, while Marron quickly readied his Plasma Caster.

“Take cover!” he yelled.

Niamh squeaked and dove behind a small boulder, taking Desire with her. The Chaos Lord started a hymn, and Yuriko could feel the faint stirrings of power well up inside her. Gwendith growled as her Anima flared into a small aura but that was practically useless right now. Her ice kinesis was also severely hampered by the humidity and heat, though with that, it was far easier to gather moisture to make into icicles.

The metal man deflected Marron’s combined blast without so much as breaking stride. The hand it used glowed white with the heat though. That thing was huge, standing head and shoulders over Marron and was almost twice as wide. Yuriko interposed herself between the metal man and her brother, ignoring Marron's shout for her to get out of the way.

Her pulse pounded and she felt herself grinning. She hurriedly invested one of her shards with the pattern for Adamant Guardian Seal, but even so, she made sure that she and Marron weren’t lined up. Sure enough, the metal thing’s face brightened with gathered energy.

“Dodge!” Yuriko yelled back as she juked to the right. She expected the thing’s face to orient towards her, but instead, it was aimed directly at Desire. Her yell of surprise and anger hung in the air as the thing let loose with its bronze light beam. It carved into the trees, with her Chaos Lord managing to duck under the blast with a rather undignified squawk.

Yuriko kicked off the ground and lunged at the thing, sunblade leading in a fierce thrust. She sent some of her shards to harry her foe, but it ignored the Radiant shards which deflected off its armour with a ‘ptang’!

Her sunblade fared no better. She managed a cut at its arm, which it used to block her blow. The weapon skidded down and left nothing but a white mark on its metal skin.

“Ack!” She yelped as an arm tipped with a spike slammed towards her face. The second dance had her guide the blow towards the ground and aided with Jade Mountain’s 2nd form, she managed it without getting thrown back.

Its large limbs made its swings and punches wide though, and she ducked under another swing. The tip of her sunblade slammed into its abdomen, and this time, with help and the third dance, she managed to keep it on point. The tip caused the metal to brighten with heat, but she couldn’t feel her strike sink in.

She had to leap towards her left to avoid a counterstroke and would have had to use her Adamant Guardian Seal if Marron hadn’t managed another compounded wave. This time, since it was busy swiping at her, the crescent bolt slammed into its torso. That knocked it a step back and lit up a part of its chest.

Another bolt, this one bluish pink, slammed into the creature, and instead of heat, the metal’s bronze hue darkened. It leeched the bright light from the heated portion though, and the two parts equalised soon after.

“Rotting thing!” Yuriko swore. “Don’t freeze it, Gwen!” she yelled back.

“Watch your mouth!” Marron yelped.

Yuriko coloured at the rush of irritation at her brother’s words. This wasn’t the time for that!

The creature swiped at her again, but she had the measure of its speed now. It was bigger and heavier than she, and quite fast. But not as agile as she was. She danced around its blows, circling widdershins while raining down blow after blow. Her sunblade left streaks of white, but no dents or actual wounds. That still irritated that thing though.

Why was it attacking them? They were far from the Grunder valley, and more than a day away. Why did it follow? Though from how it targeted Desire instead of her, it was clear it was after the Chaos Lord. It turned to face her though, even if it turned its back on the others.

Marron’s bolts followed by Gwendith’s unmodified plasma bolts slammed into the thing’s back, but it didn’t seem to mind. It managed to graze her side with its spike palms a couple of times. Her condensed aura protected her, but some of the kinetic force made it through anyway, and from the pain, she’d expect a few bruises if she didn’t use Recovery later.

Even worse, she could see her Anima begin to crack as the force of the blows was strong enough to break boulders. It certainly cratered the trail she stood on when she used Jade Mountain to absorb the blow.

She expected the metal man to be stunned at its blow being stymied like that, but no, he immediately followed with another hammering blow just as fiercely as the first, Caught surprised in turn, she could only continue with Jade Mountain’s 2nd form to protect herself. Before the creature could add a third, Marron’s crescent bolt slammed on its leg, even as Saki came out of the shadows to deliver a ruthless knife into the small of its back. Both blows staggered it, but it recovered in an instant. It was enough for her to slip out of its reach.

This wasn’t working. For some reason, Radiant energy didn’t work. Then again, neither did plasma bolts. She blasted a couple of pebbles but he shook it off just as easily. She’d have to use Fri’Avgi, and if her artefact failed, they’d have to retreat. She still lacked a way to land a decisive blow, something she swore to rectify as soon as she had more time to herself. But then again, perhaps if she managed to grasp an Ennoia, this would have been an entirely different battle.

“Get back, young mistress!” Saki yelled.

“No, you get back!” Yuriko yelled as she tossed the sunblades at the thing. He deflected them easily enough, but she controlled them to continue harrying it. The repeated blows were taking their toll, or so she imagined. It wasn’t able to vent heat quickly enough. Some of the frequently struck metal strips had started to deform with the kinetic force and the heat.

She laughed in glee when a shard caught on an opening forcibly created by the warping, she focused on it and made it twist back. The metal strip bent and revealed what was underneath.

Another strip of bronze. The rotter had multiple layers of armour!

Gritting her teeth, she called Fri’Avgi to hand and channelled the third and the fourth dance, quick-stepping to its side. The artefact slammed into its waist, and the magnified force of her blow knocked it flying. It crashed into the bushes and rolled back for a dozen or so paces.

Marron and Saki shot at it with more plasma bolts to keep it down. But it stood up not long after. Oddly enough, he didn’t resume hostilities. Instead, the red dots comprising his eyes turned yellow, then green. Steam hissed out from vents that suddenly opened at his neck and shoulders. Then, it turned on its heels and strode away, leaving the lot of them exchanging confused looks.