A couple of hours after dawn found Yuriko and her team in the town hall along with several of her students. Douglas Hart had an expression that was between excitement and trepidation, and it looked like he didn’t know which one to wear. Darren Worrington was there, too, wearing a trenchcoat and a pistol concealed under it. Both apprentice mages had a full deck of spell cards in their holders, as well as a couple of casting rings. The amount of ambient Chaos held within the material, reactive malachite, would approximate twenty lumens of Animus, she supposed. Reactive malachite didn’t just store ambient Chaos, however, unlike jade cartridges.

Jade cartridges, unless they were made with imperial jade variant, eventually denatured the Animus stored within. Denaturing was actually useful in the sense that other people can use that Animus immediately, unlike someone’s personal Animus. Especially when using Animatech, denatured Animus is perfectly suitable. If it was personally aspected Animus, then only the owner can use the Animatech at the time, and there was also an increase in efficiency and power. There were different advantages and disadvantages in either case.

For example, since her warriors still had difficulty regenerating Animus, she was the one to fill their jade cartridges. It took roughly a day for it to denature, after which, they could use the cartridges for their Plasma Casters, or even to absorb it to refill their reserves. It wasn’t a one-to-one exchange though, and the rate varied with the person’s Animus manipulation skill. There were enough jade cartridges for everyone to carry at least one, with the majority still held by the marines, since those were Imperial property and had been issued to them.

Reactive malachite, as far as she could tell, can use up ten to twenty percent of their ambient Chaos stores, and within a couple of hours, would have regenerated it back. A valuable tool here in Irvalla, but mostly useless outside of it. Unless there was a way to process it to allow denser ambient Chaos? She didn’t know, but there was potential. She had been gifted several caster rings, each of which had a piece of reactive malachite that could hold enough ambient Chaos to convert to twenty lumens of Animus, or about two to four lumens usable every couple of hours or so. It would allow her people to recover their reserves, but only on a much-limited scale.

The two to four lumens were photonic Animus, meaning, it needed to be condensed to gaseous Animus by the Journeymen marines. Yuriko’s Animus was naturally in the photonic state but because of her runescript weavings, the rings weren’t of much use either. In the end, the people who could use the rings to good effect were Orrin and the three Spirit Binders. Orrin, because he could use it to power his runescript lines, and Izna, Arman, and Sheamus since their bound spirits didn’t mind the state.

A few moments later, the Second Archon, Randolph Wendell, arrived at the town hall. His face was harried and he had bags under his eyes. He saw her and hurried over.

“You’re here. Thank the One Above. The Confederacy managed to secure three beachheads and they’re several kilocubits apart. The northern one isn’t even in the same region,” he said in a rush.

“How are the troops against the daemons?” Yuriko asked.

“It takes way too many bullets to kill one of the crimson gorillas,” Wendell scowled. “Artillery shells could do the job, but many in the vicinity were damaged by the invisible lizards.” He shook his head. “The Admiralty Board and the Navy are busy with repelling the crossing. The army requests what aid the KMS can give to help defeat the daemons. We’ve got a few prototype rifles, but they’re not enough. There’s barely a hundred of those.” He appeared hesitant, then gritted his teeth, “I know you and your group are powerful. Can you defeat the beachhead to the east?”

Yuriko nodded. “Of course.”

“We aren’t asking you to do this for free,” he said seriously. “I know your people seem to treasure jade. We’re willing to pay in jade. Uhm, a stoneweight of them.”

Yuriko frowned. “How much is a stoneweight?”

“Er…”

“About six point three five Jin,” Gwendith answered quickly while smothering a giggle. Yuriko rolled her eyes.

Six Jin of jade? That was quite the treasure. An Imperial jade coin wasn’t made from regular jade, however, but a GiJin of Imperial Jade, while the rest of it was a mix of silver and gold. She wasn’t quite sure what that much a Jin of jade is worth though. Well, she was sure they could make use of whatever jade they could get.

“Agreed,” Yuriko said.

“How much support do you need?” Wendell asked, “We can spare a battalion of infantry, and a company of tanks, but…”

“How long will it take them to get to the beachhead?” Yuriko interrupted.

“Four hours, at most.”

“Then we should head there soon,” Yuriko answered. “Your troops will be welcome, but I suspect the only action they’ll face is a mop-up one.”

“You’re very confident,” Wendell said doubtfully.

“Of course. I’ve had the measure of the blood apes already. They won’t be a problem.”

___________

They took a locomotive ride from Fordja to Lindorn then from there, it was another locomotive ride northeast until they reached the small city of Hampton. The beachhead was just a few longstrides east of the city limits, on an actual beach. According to intelligence reports, there were nearly ten thousand Richmond infantry and artillery units, but no tanks. There were twice as many daemons, and while Yuriko had expected them to begin rampaging into the city, they instead moved a bit inland, on top of a hill, and dug in.

“It’s a foolish move of theirs,” Douglas said contemplatively. “A hilltop camp? The Karcellian Air Force would bombard them to smithereens.”

Yuriko raised a questioning eyebrow. “Why haven’t they then?”

“Ah, the KAF is fending off Confederate bombers. But as soon as they get pushed back, there’s no doubt that they will attack the beachheads.”

“And in the meantime, it’ll give the daemons time to dig in,” Yuriko commented.

“That’s true. But I wonder what they’re up to.” Douglas pouted.

Yuriko smiled. “Are you ready for a fight?”

“Aye, I am!”

Darren Worrington, who sat on the opposite side of the aisle, muttered, “Your enthusiasm will get you killed, Hart.”

“I prefer to think it’s keeping me sane,” the young man said ruefully. “I never thought I’d be called to defend the fatherland on his own shores.”

“Well, we’ll keep an eye on you,” Yuriko laughed.

The two of them, Douglas and Darren, were the only ones who volunteered to join her mission. The rest of her students, having only stabilised their Animus core, had opted to stay near the capital and aid the efforts there. The southeastern beachhead was really close to the capital city, and the daemons there barely had time to build up their fortifications before they came under fire. Then again, her intelligence was already several hours late, so she didn’t know what it was like on the southern front.

“Who’s going for the northern beachhead?” Yuriko asked.

“The navy, I think,” Douglas answered. “They’re too far up, almost to the northern highlands, to easily reach. But they’re the most troublesome. If they establish a hold there…”

“If they do, they’ll all starve, ” Darren scoffed. “The Karcellian Navy will cut them off from their supply. They won’t last long there.”

Yuriko frowned. “I think you underestimate the daemons. Certainly, the Confederate soldiers will get cut off, but what about the Blood Apes? They represent a threat, and they don’t need much supply.”

“You mean…?” Darren gasped.

“Yes. They might.” Yuriko said grimly.

The rest of the trip passed in an uneasy silence. They arrived just before noon, and even before they alighted from the train, Yuriko could hear the sound of cannons roaring. Plumes of smoke rose from the east, along with fire sirens. The Confederate beachhead was returning fire, and every now and then, their cannon shells struck the city. Yuriko thought that Hampton was not the primary target, otherwise, more of the city would be rubble.

The Karcellian army had built up their artillery south of the city, and when she soared up in the sky to check the battlefield conditions, she found that the two sides were situated on opposite hilltops roughly a longstride and a half from each other. The valley in between had already been churned into a cratered mess.

Ah, the Karcellians had stationed their cannons behind the ridge, preventing the Confederates from firing at them directly. Still, she noted the wreckage of a couple of long cannons still burning by the side.

As for the daemons, she noticed a troop of a thousand crimson apes arrayed in a line. They charged down the hillside as she watched and were threatening to overrun the Karcellian position.

She dropped back down, handed her luggage over to Gwendith, and yelled, “I need to go!”

“Wait!” Gwendith yelled back, but she was too late. Yuriko had already flung herself to the skies, spread her Anima into wings, and used her kinesis to push herself against the very winds.

She was over the valley in less than a minute, but that was more than enough time for the apes to cross the no-man’s land. They were already climbing up the opposite hillside, and even though they were funnelled into a narrow corridor, bordered by steeper slopes, and cliffs, they pushed through rifle and machine gun fire with ease. Only a dozen apes fell by the time the column reached the Karcellian lines, and moments later, they smashed into the infantry.

“Burning Moon!” Yuriko cursed as she spun sunshards into existence. She landed near the head of the column, crushed a crimson ape in the process, and unleashed her shards. For a long moment, the apes didn’t seem to notice her, but as their brethren fell, and the space around her was cleared, she became the focus of all of their eyes.

Even as sunshards tore them apart, she materialised a couple of sunblades, then rushed into battle. She cleft dozens of apes in twain, while dozens more were perforated and burned by the shards. A few seconds later, she was already heading down the hillside, slaughtering the ape column in the process. None of them were even able to bypass her condensed aura, and her Animakinesis crushed apes into mush even as she picked up discarded bullet shells and pebbles to fling into the mass. She abandoned the effort when it became apparent that without Animus investment, it took too much effort to kill a daemon ape.

She crushed them directly or sliced them to bits.

A cheer roared from the Karcellian lines as the infantry resumed their lines and fired into the crowd. Conscientious riflemen aimed away from her but enough failed to account for her movements that her aura was struck dozens of times. She couldn’t really blame them as she was moving quite fast.

Five minutes and she broke the crimson ape advance. They didn’t retreat, but rather, had to be slaughtered to the last. But there should have been nineteen thousand of them. Where were the rest? As she ran up the hillside, more battalions of apes rushed her. This time, without the narrow corridor, they were able to surround her completely.

Memories flashed into her mind, of the time back in Rumiga when she had been dogpiled and almost defeated by suicidal Kadracki rangers. Their weight had been enough to immobilise her, and only her quick thinking and luck had saved her then.

But Yuriko had grown in strength far beyond that time. Her Anima strength had more than tripled compared to back in Rumiga. The amount of force she could exert was magnitudes greater. And when the crimson furred apes tried that tactic, they found themselves flying into the sky when she combined all of her bodily strength and Animakinesis to fling them away.

Then, she slaughtered them.

Half an hour later, she broke into their fortifications, killed all the apes there, as well as the odd six-legged lizard she could find. The human troops had fled in fear, but not before she subdued or killed nearly a thousand of them. Some dropped their weapons and fled, while others surrendered directly. She couldn't catch the runners, but that was what the army was for.

Instead, she stopped dead when she reached the camp’s centre. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it in the air, but the daemon apes and lizards had carved a large circle on the flattened ground, and it was etched with runescript sigils. And, a rift was already beginning to form above it.