Yuriko jolted awake with her heartbeat racing faster than when she was in active combat. Worse, actually, as she had meticulous control over her body when she was in battle. A sense of foreboding settled down on her strongly enough that she almost summoned Fri’Avgi to hand and called for Eli’Theria.

The bedsheets were crumpled with sweat, and she blinked when she saw Desire had snuck in again. The Chaos Lord startled awake when Yuriko sat up and cooed, “Master?”

“A…a dream, I think. No…a strange feeling.” Yuriko shook her head. The weight pressing down on her had disappeared and every other feeling had settled down, but there was still that niggling doubt.

Feeling for her timesense, Yuriko realised that it was still a bit early in the cycle. Day and night had blurred to nothing as even the Planar Suppression Formation did not cause a reflection of the Radiant Sun and Luminous Moon. Instead, timepieces were synchronised amongst the fleet and every crew member, marine, and guest, imprinted that time to their own senses.

Back when she was thirteen, she didn’t even know of this practice, believing in her heart that time marched the same for everyone. It did not, especially out in the Chaos. It even fluctuated between the Imperial planes, tethered as they were to each other. How it must muddle everyone’s ages! She was sure she was already seventeen, but she found out that by Imperial reckoning, she was still sixteen. Her time in Irvalla was commensurably shorter here than she expected. How that would affect her birthdays she didn’t know. Did she just adjust the date? Or should she do as her parents did and simply forget about it, celebrating when it happened and ignoring the number afterwards? After all, she was already a Knight, hence, legally an adult, with all the rights, privileges, and duties of an Imperial citizen. She didn’t have to wait until she was eighteen.

Her lifespan depended on her subjective experience of time, however, so she still had to take note. Or rather, she shouldn’t have to, now that she really thought about it. Damien said that Ancients were functionally immortal once they Actualised, not ageing much in the slightest. Unless she lingered too long at the lower levels, anyway. Did that mean she would have her fifteen-year-old body for the rest of her life? Well, no. Transformation allowed her to reshape her features at need, but she would always think her natural, untransformed looks were the real ones. Thankfully, she’d mostly grown up.

She threw off her blankets and trod to the bathroom for her ablutions. Desire simply helped her get ready, not that she really needed it, but her bound Chaos Lord had grown rather clingy when Yuriko brought Devotee back.

Patting Desire’s head, Yuriko handed over a few motes of distilled Chaos. Desire didn’t really need it while they were out in the Chaos Sea, but it strengthened the bond between them anyway.

After she got dressed, in a flowing sundress rather than her traveller’s gear since she wasn’t on combat duty today, they made their way to the cafeteria. It was early, but the place was already in full swing, with the chefs churning out platters of eggs, bacon, mash, and sausages, along with freshly baked bread. Desire joined her at her table, of course, even if the Chaos Lord only picked at her breakfast.

A few minutes later, she saw Miya come in, looking somewhat bedraggled. Her cousin met her eyes then flinched before she hurried towards the serving area. What was that about?

Chuckling to herself, Yuriko finished her food. Miya didn’t actually stay in the cafeteria but brought a tray with her elsewhere. To her chambers, perhaps? Why didn’t she ask someone to bring it to her? Yuriko remembered how indolent her cousin had been in Realmheart.

As she brought her dirty plates and utensils to the busing area, Douglas Hart entered the cafeteria, though he didn’t look like he was there for a meal. His eyes darted about, landing on Yuriko momentarily, before looking away. His gaze snapped back to her after a moment and he grinned and waved hello. He didn’t stay, however, as he quickly exited.

At this point, Yuriko would have begun her training, but her physique was well on its way to complete refinement and what she needed to work on was her Radiant Anima Refinement. After the last battles, her progress had shot up to seventy-five percent. Just like Radiant Body Refinement, the Anima version didn’t allow her to reach a hundred percent. Quite like the former, achieving one hundred percent was actually fatal, as nothing of her Anima would be left. The process of Anima Refinement was actually one that altered her Anima from its current composition to one striated with her Ennoia energy.

She did find a rather uncomfortable and annoying side effect. It became even harder for her to conceal herself the higher the process went. Where before, she could thin her Anima to hide the light, now it didn’t quite work. She could thin it down to a hundredth of its normal density, a hundredth of a hundredth, and still, the light was more than enough to reveal her. It happened when she went past fifty percent.

That was unacceptable since the only way she could conceal her Anima now was to retract it completely. She trod towards the ship’s garden area to ponder and meditate over it. It wasn’t as if she had no idea on how to accomplish it. She’d struggled through several books in Karcellia regarding natural sciences, and she spoke with Edison Matthews about it, too.

He said that light was made up of waves of different frequencies and those frequencies determined…colour? Strange, wasn’t it? Anyway, accordingly, there were colours that were invisible to the human eye, specifically, the deeper reds and the higher violets. Except when Yuriko tried it, it didn’t seem to work. For one, she had to work out how to change the colour of her Anima, which honestly felt as if she were trying to walk with her feet crossed over each other. Or like she was reaching for a left-hand pocket with her right hand. But then, she was flexible enough to do that easily, so it really wasn’t an apt metaphor now that she thought about it. Anyway! It was awkward and hard to keep up. Almost as if her Anima did not want to be concealed.

Finally, she settled for thinning her Anima even further and managed to make it so that the light was barely noticeable. Her perception suffered but she supposed that was fine. She could still track things and fast-moving things were incredibly noticeable. And thinning it had the added benefit of lowering the effect of her Mien. Hopefully.

All in all, it was a rather relaxing day spent with friends. Heron and Gwendith joined them after lunch. Gwendith jumped on her with a squeal and squeezed her hard, while Heron awkwardly patted her shoulder. Yuriko smirked at him and he actually reddened. Cute.

Then he winked at her, which made her flush slightly…what was wrong with her now?

“How was your day?” she asked both of her friends.

“Same,” Heron grunted. “Venturing out to fight is fulfilling, but the fact that those dwellers could revive the dead makes me feel all of the fighting is just futile. I mean, some of their numbers are shorn off every cycle, but what’s stopping them from bringing in more people? I’m sure our leaders have thought of that, but why aren’t they doing anything yet?”

Gwendith shrugged. “Probably since grinding them down is the most efficient thing we can do. So what if they get reinforcements? War assets like that aren’t easy to build up on.” Gwendith leaned against Yuriko’s shoulder while settling her skirts. Yuriko and Desire had been sitting on a bench next to a lovely pink-blossomed tree. “Besides, if they have more people, why aren’t they here yet?”

“Because they’re probably in the plane,” Yuriko said grimly.

“Hmm, fair enough,” Gwendith conceded. “As for me, I’ve been spending time with your aunt, learning runescript weaving.”

“Oh?” Yuriko raised an eyebrow, “What for?”

Gwendith and Heron exchanged glances and then both of them flared their Animas. Forty inches.

“You’re both at the threshold!” Yuriko gasped. That was rather quick! It hadn’t been a year, right? Then again, both were already at the Apprentice or Journeyman stage before.

“It’s the Chaos Sea, I think,” Gwendith admitted. “Plus everything we did in Irvalla. It was as if the lack of ambient Chaos there primed our Anima to suddenly grow once we got out.”

Yuriko nodded, then said, “You’re trying to find out how to increase your reserves?”

“Yup,” both answered simultaneously.

“Don’t copy my method,” Yuriko said. “It must come naturally from yourself.”

“I have some ideas,” Gwendith said, then conjured up ice crystals that were half an inch tall and half that in width. She then channelled as much Animus as it could hold until it practically glowed with pink light. Then, she stuck on to her waist before conjuring another ice crystal. “Each of them can hold twenty lumens.”

Yuriko noticed that the crystals were sustained by Gwendith’s Anima flare. “Are you able to regenerate your internal reserves?”

“Yes, but I can’t get past a dozen crystals without breaking them,” Gwendith muttered irritably.

“Ah, well, nothing for it but to get used to it. Both of you have touched your Ennoias and that’s one of the harder requirements,” Yuriko consoled the other girl. “What about you, Heron?”

“Erm, well…” He coughed. “I’m packing them into my body instead of my core.”

“Oh? How is it working out?”

“So so,” Heron said ambivalently. “I’ve managed to increase my reserves by a couple of hundred lumens by filling my legs and arms with Animus. I, uh, insert the lumens between the muscles. It’s a bit hard keeping them there, and if I lose control, they rush back to my core, and if they overflow, I just lose the excess.”

“Maybe you need something to passively keep them there rather than just your Will?” Yuriko said.

“I’m not sure what to use,” he admitted.

“Your Ennoia is of the winds, right?” Yuriko asked. “Why don’t you try the same as Gwen did?”

“I can’t crystallise wind,” he retorted.

“But couldn’t you create hardened air shields before?” Yuriko pointed out.

“I…hmmm, you’re right. Maybe I should do something else.”

Yuriko brushed his forearm with her fingers and said, “Don’t rush it.”

“I can’t help it.” He grunted. “I don’t want to be a burden. I want to prove that your Ancient Way isn’t a fluke.” He added in an undertone, “Especially to my dad.”

“Don’t force yourself,” Yuriko insisted. “It will come to you.”

He nodded reluctantly and grunted. “I hope so.”

They spent the rest of the day chatting, but a couple of hours before dinner, Aunt Kiyo came looking for Yuriko.

“Sadeen wants you. She’s set up a meeting with the Vagaris.”

“Alright,” Yuriko agreed, though she headed back to her quarters to change into her other clothes.

This time, they didn’t set up a floating island to talk. Instead, Legate Segawa and Tribunus Manuella went aboard the Silver Tiger. They were led to Mum’s formation chamber, and by the time Yuriko arrived there, everyone was already seated and picking at their afternoon tea.

Devotee looked ill at ease since the Legate was practically glaring at him. His golden hair flames were nearly banked, rising only half an inch from his pate.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Yuriko said as she entered, but her Mum just waved it off.

“We were just discussing the intelligence your pet brought,” Sadeen said slowly. “And I think we’ve come to an agreement.”

Yuriko arched an eyebrow, “So quickly?”

Legate Jiro chuckled. “This isn't a committee. We are at war. We must be decisive.”

“Oh, so what is the decision?” Yuriko asked.

“It’s not that simple,” Maruko Manuella interrupted, “but even this is a decoy, this is the chance to destroy a Chaos Court. It cannot be ignored.”

“But what about…!” Yuriko asked heatedly but broke off when Virgil raised a hand.

“We won’t abandon Rumiga, Yuri,” Da said.

“That’s right. The Chaos dwellers are dwindling. The Imperial Navy and the temporary legion will continue. You, and the Silver Tiger,” Legate Jiro said, “will skirt past their blockade after we strike and protect Rumiga.” He looked at Devotee. “But we’ll need your…bound Chaos Lord to lead a strike force into the Court.”

Yuriko looked at Devotee and asked, “Are you willing?”

“Of course, master,” Devotee grinned.

“That’s settled then,” Jiro said. “We’ll proceed tomorrow. Make your arrangements.”