“Legate Brygos,” Yuriko said through Eli’Theria’s voice. She tried to keep the volume low and somewhat succeeded. No one farther than a hundred paces from the Colossus would have heard. “I come from the Watchtower,” she continued, while the red-haired woman rubbed her ear with a finger.

“I thought so. A message?”

“Yes, but it can wait after this.”

“True.”

Iola Brygos’ words were punctuated by a barrage of cannon shells that slammed down on Eli’Theria. Yuriko’s Animakinesis pushed the shells sideways so that the bombardment didn’t hit directly, but it was actually the Legate’s Domain that did the brunt of the work.

“Rotting cannoneers!” the Legate swore as some of the shells struck the crystal constructs. They weren’t broken by the hit, but several were weakened.

“Do you want us to take care of them?” Yuriko asked. “There are two of them, one a landcraft with turrets, while another is a salvaged Colossus.” But it wasn’t as if the barbarian amalgams would just ignore her…

Well, there were now since the Legate’s crystal army engaged the amalgams the moment the woman had alighted on Eli’Theria’s shoulder. The giants looked like they were fighting children considering the crystal warriors only reached above the amalgams’ knees. Still, their weapons, javelins, spears, shields, and swords, were more than enough to penetrate tough skin or bone plates.

Legate Brygos jumped off Eli’Theria’s shoulder and as soon as her feet touched the hillside, crystal warriors grew out of the ground. These ones were larger than the others and they stepped out of the mud to charge the barbarian amalgams. Each crystal giant was about three paces tall, bulky, and armed to the teeth with knives, spikes, and shields. Three warriors team up against an amalgam, knocking each monster on their behinds and stabbing their hearts. That was the intention anyway.

Yuriko had been mistaken. The amalgams weren’t incapable of ranged Animus techniques. Sparks of blue lightning began to bounce from each point of their antlers, then began to link the amalgams. It built up such a charge that the air around them hummed and buzzed deafeningly. Then, a powerful lightning bolt launched towards Eli’Theria, but was intercepted by a jumping crystal warrior.

The lightning bolt slammed into the crystal warrior, and while its edge softened and melted, the bolt remained in its body. When the warrior landed, the charge dissipated into the ground…but then, the crystal shattered.

Yuriko noticed Iola Brygos cursing softly while she raised more warriors. The amalgams charged up their antlers, those in the rear anyway, while those at the front engaged the crystal army in melee. A second later, another bombardment from the south crashed into the crystal warriors, though only one unfortunate warrior was damaged badly.

Yuriko and Eli’Theria flew towards the Ivalans. Some of the amalgams split off to chase her but were intercepted by the crystal warriors.

Wheee! Boom! Wheeee! Boom!

Cannon shells fell towards her direction, and iron pellets from the troop’s min-Steam Cannons bounced away from her Anima. The shells would fall behind her as she moved faster than they expected, yet…

The shells turned. From falling directly to her previous position, they changed trajectories and hurtled towards her direction. She pushed off to the side, only for the projectiles to change course. A moment later, they slammed against her condensed Anima and sent shockwaves all the way into Eli’Theria’s chassis.

They stumbled and crashed into the hillside. Only Yuriko’s Anima helped stabilise them, but even more shells struck.

“Urk!” Yuriko gasped as the Colossus core struggled to negate the kinetic impact.

With the smoke, the fires, and the floating dirt, visibility was practically nil. Her Anima perception fuzzed out as particles within the shells burned her senses. She could only push Eli’Theria away from the strike zone, but the problem was that the cannoneers’ attacks continued to track her, even when she slipped into a ravine, and failing that, went behind a hill.

“Indirect fire…” Yuriko muttered, glaring skywards. The cannon shells bypassed cover, of course, but instinct made her move beyond cover. She could feel cracks throughout her Anima, as well as quite a few dings in Eli’Theria’s armour. The animating spirit was quiet but was focused entirely on the battle. Since Yuriko was alone within the core, she had no one to alternate control with, and she couldn't focus on using her augmented Anima properly. Still, with the orichalcum body, Eli’Theria was capable of resisting more of the cannon fire than Yuriko could with only her condensed Anima and body.

Then again, she would be far more agile… But then again, the Animus laden with the cannon shells were far more potent than she expected. It would have to be to threaten a Knight Dominus…

No, it wasn’t just Animus-laden… Intent and Will had been imparted into the cannon shells. It was like the Femorant Queen’s flying ants. She was fighting Knight Commanders rather than plain Knights or Knight Captains…

She shook her head, blaming her own overconfidence. Of course, the Federation would bring their best to fight the Empire’s strongest. The question was if she and Eli’Theria were strong enough to make a difference in this battle, because if she wasn’t… then she was better off escaping along with her family…

Careful.

Damien’s whispers jolted her out of her spiralling thoughts.

Whee! Boom! Wheee! Boom!

Eli’Theria was moving at the last moment, catching the shells across their shoulder and back armour rather than the wrists where the armaments were located. The shifting movements were mostly done by the animating spirit rather than Yuriko’s Will, but Eli’Theria could only do this much at most. Actually fighting was impossible for the Colossus without a pilot.

Yuriko gritted her teeth and considered her options. The way the shells hit, the Colossus could actually weather most of it. If she charged ahead and disregarded the attacks, she could probably close in easily. That tank and salvaged Colossus didn’t look like they would fare well in melee.

Or she could spin Trinities and use them against the shells, hopefully depleting the enemies’ Intent…

Except there were two of them and only one of her. She’d run dry of Will and Intent faster than they would.

That left only the reckless and straightforward plan.

‘Let’s go kill them all!’ Eli’Theria’s bloodthirst was infectious, and Yuriko was a hair away from indulging it. However, was it really the right course?

They moved away from the Ivalans, trying to be as sneaky as possible. They were behind cover after all, and even if they could shoot over the hill, they should not have been able to see her. Legate Brygos’ battlefield was similarly obscured, so she didn’t know how well the woman was faring. Considering that she was outnumbered, but still managed to hold her own…perhaps Yuriko should worry about her own circumstances first.

Even after she crossed over to another hill, she was still the focus of the bombardment. They must have a way to track her…

Then, that left only one choice. Gritting her teeth, she shaped her Anima into a spinning drill and bore into the soft earth. In less than a second, they were buried under the hill, and she shifted her heading towards the southwest. The hills extended a bit farther towards the south there than the opposite, giving her a bit more cover.

The bombardment continued for a few more rounds before it stopped. The tunnel behind her collapsed since she wasn’t doing anything to prop it up. Being buried underground while piloting Eli’Theria was vastly different from what happened to her before. There was no claustrophobic feeling, nor was she concerned about suffocating. Her augmented Anima easily churned through the earth and stone, and the Colossus’ strength pushed them along at a fair clip.

About a minute later, she burst out of the hillside and within a few hundred paces of the Ivalan contingent. The Steam Cannon tank’s turret immediately swivelled towards Eli’Theria and blasted a cannon shell at them. Yuriko’s Anima perception detected the shell as soon as it entered her range, but instead of sidestepping, she slapped it aside. It exploded against the gauntlet and sent feedback pain into her mind, but she gritted her teeth and forged ahead.

She reinforced the Colossus’ speed by pushing off the ground but altered it when Eli’Theria’s foot sank into the earth instead. She spread her Anima reinforcement wider to stabilise footing, and afterwards, they crossed the intervening distance in seconds. Even so, the tank managed to launch more than a dozen shells, each one swerving to strike her even as she tried to evade. Deflecting or blocking were her only defensive choices and both interrupted her pace. Still, she closed to a hundred paces from the tank.

That was when the thing started to move backwards. The warriors escorting the Steam Cannon tank interposed themselves and shot at her with their mini Steam Cannons. The smaller bullets were easily countered by her condensed Anima, however, at least three of the escort warriors were Adept Spirit Binders, equivalent to Knights. Their Animus techniques were a bit more difficult to defend against even for her condensed Anima.

Still, they weren’t going to slow her down. Somehow, she was still gaining on the Steam tank, but her eyes tracked the other bombardier. The salvaged Colossus wasn’t in the same group as the tank, but it started attacking her again. A shell from it slammed into the ground just where she was about to step into, and the resulting depression almost tripped Eli’Theria up. While she easily recovered, it caused her to falter long enough for the tank’s direct line shooting to hit her leg. That one caused her to stagger back, and a follow-up attack from the salvaged Colossus slammed into Eli’Theria’s head, knocking both of them reeling.

‘This is humiliating,’ Eli’Theria grumbled. ‘Do something!’

‘And what would you have me do?’ Yuriko shot back. ‘I’m already rushing them!’

‘Use your sunblades, you airhead!’ the Colossus screeched back.

‘Oh, right,’ Yuriko muttered sheepishly. She had allowed the sunshards and blades to dissolve when they took cover. She started materialising them immediately.

‘Use your Radiant Lance, too!’

‘Alright!’

Once she had several sunblades, she sent them against the mini cannoneers. The blades were of no use trying to block the shells since the things would just swerve around the parry. The first sunblades carved up the frontline warriors in seconds, but the rest didn’t stay still. They deployed a linked Protective Field that her sunblades struggled to cut through. The Field was anchored into the Steam Tank too and effectively allowed the Grandmaster Spirit Binder to share his defences with the entire company. It did slow the tank’s rate of fire, however.

Radiant energy swirled around her as her Implement emerged from within her Anima. Unlike her normal casting, the Implement was protected by the Colossus’ frontal armour and was hidden from sight. Aside from the ambient Chaos swirling into a vortex around her, and the golden light coming off the orichalcum armour, there was no indication of the spell being cast at all. Not until it was almost done anyway.

Eli’Theria stretched her right arm, palm facing the Steam Tank. Then a moment later, the Radiant Lance erupted from the palm and careened towards the target. It slammed into the linked Protective Field and exploded with a thunderous boom!

Radiant light melted through the Protective Fields, and torched the mini-cannoneers, turning them to ashes in less than a second. The Radiant explosion slammed into the Steam tank’s armour and turned it white with heat.

Steam rose from the tank, and its threaded wheels smouldered. But the damage was far from enough to disable it. Whoever was piloting the thing had been quick enough to reinforce its defences before the lance’s explosion penetrated the Protective Field.

However, Eli’Theria had closed to melee range. Twin orichalcum blades extended from her wrist guards and each was covered in the jagged Animus of the third dance. Raised high above her head, the blades fell with deadly momentum straight at the Steam tank’s turret.