The opening moves were hot and heavy. Krystal hung back beside Mikel, using her Plasma Caster to chip away at the nameless. She and the others were just behind Shillogu’s charge, who opened up such a large path through the woods it was a wonder any trees were left once he was done. The forest around him grew quickly, she knew, achieving a state of old woods in less than a year.

The herd of boars spread out across the lake, and the vanguard slammed into the barbarian work teams, impaling many on tusks, and even more with quills. Krystal absently noted the other species of boar that came along, adjusting her position to take advantage of the openings they gave.

The quillboars were the size of land raptors, though they were a bit more squat. Their long quills were quite aerodynamic, allowing each to fly several paces and still hit where they aimed. Not that it looked like they aimed, as every attack flung dozens of quills at the same time.

Another variant had thicker tusks that were suddenly coated with Animus when striking. That allowed the attack to bypass a nameless’ Protective Field as though it weren’t there, and gutted the creature before being flung upwards only to get trampled when they landed back on the ground, by another variant whose hooves glowed with the same power. Or were they the same species?

Were they all the same species but developed different powers? The insight made Krystal’s head reel as each type of boar looked different and distinct from each other. Watching Avos Shillogu barrel his way through a passel of nameless while using the same techniques cemented that thought.

Kale Kinnock and Rorke Dinia moved to engage at the right flank, against a small group of barbarians that were head and shoulders taller than they. Their presence here was chilling as Krystal never thought she’d see those beasts on this side of the Zarek Mountains.

Kale exchanged sword blows with one while Rorke kept the others from flanking the overeager swordsman. The stodgy youth’s steady movements belied just how good his shield technique was. None of the barbarians’ axes, clubs, or blades ever hit his slab of metal head on. Instead, they were always deflected aside and, more often than not, directed towards another barbarian’s attack, disrupting two attacks with a single defence. Extreme offence and extreme defence. What a pair those two made.

In the meantime, Zeyn and Danika ploughed their way through another group. Zeyn’s glaive seemed to cut through barbarian flesh more easily than superheated plasma. It was only the grey skinned barbarians who were resistant to Plasma Caster bolts, and the other barbarian tribes had their own strengths and weaknesses.

The ones the two muscle heads were fighting had antlers growing out of their temples which were then shooting bolts of lightning at the pair. Zeyn simply cut the lightning bolts in twain, forcing the energies to ground themselves on either side of him, before he used the blade to cut off their heads.

Danika simply endured. Lighting flowed down from her arms towards her body, and then down her legs and feet before they grounded, leaving only the steamy mist from her sweat. Her short hair rose from the static, and a few arcs jumped from between her fingers. Then, smirking widely, she lunged toward the antlered barbarian, who had gaped in surprise, and drove her fist clear through his sternum, and out his back. Danika rotated back, her fist grabbing bone, and she wrenched it out. The blood splattered her uniform, but it refused to stick to her cheeks, flowing down and dripping off her chin.

Krystal shuddered the gristly sight, but focused her attention on shooting the nameless. But before she could shoot, a pained scream caught her attention as a familiar Chaos Lord slammed two right fists into Avos Shillogu’s side. The boar Avos’ tentacles whirled to strike back, and whipped against the four-armed baron’s back, but he simply grinned and slammed his other fists into Shillogu’s hide.

Krystal’s activated Facet seemed to make time slow and then seemed to stop. Her eyes were drawn to parts of the baron’s body, knowing those were the most vulnerable to damage. Weak point sensing wasn’t all that potent, but coupled with her unnamed Ennoia, she could also intuit what hitting those places would do.

For instance, if she shot at the upper left shoulder joint, the baron would reel back a step and allow a tentacle to slam harder than it would have. If she shot at the knee, she knew that the Chaos Lord would stumble sideways, but though her blow would have dealt damage, Shillogu’s counter would only graze his side instead of striking him head on. If she struck the opposite knee, a harder prospect since it was partially covered by the boar Avos’ bulk, the baron would stumble the other way to get hit by the Avos’ tusks.

If she told Mikel to throw flames at the baron, it would force both combatants apart, making both safe from counterattack, but Avos Shillogu would lose out on the exchange. If she aimed for the eye, there was a better than even chance that the baron would dodge and disengage.

The hardest hit and the most beneficial side effect was going for the far knee, but Krystal wasn’t confident in her marksmanship. Gritting her teeth, she aimed for the shoulder joint instead, and as soon as she moved her Plasma Caster, time flowed onwards. Her superheated plasma bolt flitted through the baron’s Protective Field, which had taken a battering from the tentacles anyway, and slammed into his shoulder. He staggered and one of Shillogu’s tentacles flayed his back open. A follow up side slam knocked the baron back.

Shillogu bounced on his hooves while he spun around. His tentacles were a whirlwind of strikes, most of which the baron blocked or dodged. The few that hit barely registered once the baron hunkered down on his defences.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mikel’s fiery embers burning the barbarians trying to aid the baron. Nearly three quarters of his attack burned out without achieving anything but the remaining quarter turned the men into burning torches.

She continued to help the Avos while the Shillogu tried to pulp the Chaos baron. She sought to keep the rotter off balance by shooting at where he intended to move at, allowing the Avos to give more wounds than normal.

The battle along the lake progressed at a rapid pace. The quillboars weren’t powerful enough to kill in a single strike, and the barbarians were more than tough enough to weather the consistent volleys. However, the boars were slowly running out of ammunition.

What was her Ennoia trying to say by making them fight here? She wasn’t even sure why this particular lake was important, unless this was Shillogu’s place of power. Hmmm.

That was it, right? She remembered the Avos’ words back then, why the Seeker of Delights wanted to kill the land god. It was to gain dominion over the land and open a path for Chaos to enter. The presence of the nameless and the Chaos baron made it quite clear what their target was.

Some of the boars had been slain, while only a few barbarians were dead. The herd outnumbered the barbarians, but Shillogu’s fight against the Chaos baron wasn’t going very well. The nameless were a match for her team, and it took everything the others had to keep them at bay.

Something tugged at her consciousness while she was sighting down her Plasma Caster and she turned her head to the left. She blinked.

“What the…”

It was Yuriko! Her best friend was standing on a tree branch watching the battle while nodding to her approvingly. Was…was she dreaming? Hallucinating? Why would her battle mad friend stay away from a fight like this? She must be dreaming.

Krystal pinched her thigh and twisted hard enough that the pain brought tears to her eyes. When she blinked and looked back, Yuriko was still there. All at once, her confusion turned to irritation and righteous anger.

“Why are you just looking? Help us!” she yelled, which startled Mikel who looked at where she was looking at.

Yuriko blinked at her, shrugged, then nodded.

The burst of golden light that came from her was blinding, and a moment later, Krystal gaped as hundreds of sparkling gold knives materialised around her. A moment later, they shot off. The barbarians didn’t even have time to blink before they were decapitated, and the nameless only had time to raise their weapons in an attempt to parry. Instead, the knives slipped past their guard and plunged into their breasts, exiting behind them before striking another foe.

The Chaos baron roared in fear and anger, but he managed to deflect a couple of attacks before his arms and legs were dismembered. The flying knives then stabbed into his torso, but instead of pulping his insides, he got carried towards Yuriko instead. When he came close, her friend’s eyes took on a feral light. The golden greatsword artefact materialised in Yuriko’s hand and stabbed into the Chaos Lord’s flesh. Green motes burst from his torso, and even his severed limbs. The motes rushed towards the artefact and was gobbled up into the red gem set in its crossguard.

A desperate battle ended in an instant.

And if that wasn’t enough, Yuriko floated towards them, not even deigning to walk!

With her hands on her hips, Krystal growled, “What are you playing at?”

With raised eyebrows, Yuriko said, “Letting you have your challenge?”

“What challenge? That was a battle! Many of Shillogu’s kin died to the barbarians because…!”

Yuriko shook her head, “I was only watching for a moment.” Though from how she guiltily shifted her gaze, she probably did intend to just keep watching.

“Hmph!” Krystal snorted, but then relented and grabbed her friend into a fierce hug. “When did you return?”

“Just now, actually. Today.” Yuriko grinned widely, and nodded to Mikel. “We brought them back.”

“Huh, who?”

“Our parents.”

“Eh?” Krystal and Mikel both gasped, though her mind went off tangent and wondered how going south into Federation territory allowed Yuriko and the others to find her father and Mikel’s mother.

“Long story that I’m sure you’d rather hear with Uncle Craig and Aunt Amiri.”

“Sure would!” Mikel whooped, “but…Krys, why did you bring us here again?”

Their gazes shifted to Avos Shillogu who approached cautiously. “Well met again, young Ancient. Last we saw each other was underneath the mountains in fallen Zarek’s domain.”

“I remember.” Yuriko said softly, “I was there when the Chaos Duke killed him.”

Krystal could only gape at the revelations Yuriko gave. Her friend untangled herself from Krystal’s hug. She patted Mikel’s shoulder, nodded to Zeyn and Danika, then started briefly at Kale and Rorke. She nodded to the rest of the team, Martin, Isabell, Maurice, and Selucia, who offered deep bows.

A tinge of amusement crossed Krystal’s head as she watched Kale’s astonishment. He sputtered a hello to Yuriko, who returned the greeting. It actually looked like Yuriko didn’t recognise the two young men.

“What’s going on, Avos Shillogu?” Yuriko said. “Why are these filthy rotters despoiling your Woods?”

“They are attempting to ruin the flow of ambient Chaos and force my nature to change,” the Avos said in a gravelly voice, “and at such a delicate time, too. Guardian Zarek is dead, and a new one must be appointed amongst the remaining Avos.”

“Guardian…to protect the planar core?”

“Of course,” Shillogu said, but then his countenance wilted. “But I’m afraid it is almost too late. I can feel it. The corruption is setting in. The Core chamber has been breached. But I…I must do what I must to protect this land. Even if there’s barely any hope.”

Krystal couldn’t understand. Were the stakes this high? The Federation had made use of Chaos dwellers but was it the other way around instead?”

“There’s still hope,” Yuriko insisted. “My Mum will bring the Imperial Navy past the blockade and together, we will confront and destroy the duke!”

Shillogu looked up at Yuriko with hope in his eyes. “Truly? Then…I will do what I can to help.”

Yuriko’s smile lit up the forest. Literally since she was shining like the Radiant Sun. “Indeed, I can use your help.” She turned to look at Krystal and the others. “There are two points in the woods that are disrupting the ambient Chaos flows towards the Watchtower. Do you know where they are?”

“Yes,” the Avos said cautiously, “but they are well guarded. One is here, and the other, near where you found your sword…”

Krystal could only watch as Yuriko and the Avos conversed. From the great boar’s posture, it was clear that he was completely submissive to her friend. Her intuition and her Ennoia hummed happily. Whatever else occurred, here was where they needed to be.