The fifth droplet went down untouched by any force. Yuriko kept track of it while carefully keeping her mind blank. Let the Threads of Fate determine what the fifth would improve.

And as she watched, something took hold of it, squeezed it down to a tiny grain of sand, and a moment later, it vanished. Yuriko was left blinking in confusion, but somehow, some of her worries, and her aches and pains, faded away.

She waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing else happened. Shrugging to herself, she looked at the rest of the canister, then compared it to her improvement. At the rate she was going, it would take more than a day to complete. Also, she hadn’t been as discreet as she hoped. Her Anima expansion was more than eye-catching considering it covered half of the Colossus hangar. Her screams of pain were in no way muffled, as she noticed half a dozen core pilots milling about just out of Eli’Theria’s berth.

“I’m alright,” Yuriko called out without moving from her position.

“Are you sure?” came the concerned response. “We heard screaming.”

“Of course they did…” Yuriko muttered, then repeated. “Yes, I’m fine. Er, I’m training, and there may be more screams. I beg your forgiveness.”

“Oh, alright. If you’re sure…” a different voice answered, but blessedly, they all left, though she noticed a couple stationed themselves across the berth. Yuriko shook her head and continued her task.

The next cycle of five drops took slightly less time than before, and she managed to stop herself from screaming. She did let out a pained moan, but nothing more than that. Her Anima reach expanded by another ten inches, her refinements went up by a little bit, and her Colligia stained her Animus core by a little bit more. She wasn’t sure how to progress beyond Colligia though, or what kind of manifestation it would have. The last droplet similarly disappeared within her body without any reaction. Strange. Maybe she shouldn’t do the last one since she wasn’t sure if she had enough Ambrosia to reach the peak.

Balance. The last one is to balance everything you’ve missed.

‘And what would that be?’ Yuriko muttered.

Who knows? But maybe it’s that part of you that you barely acknowledge. There was no mistaking the rather smug tone.

‘You mean the Mishala Mien?’

Hmm, perhaps. Maybe improving it will give you more control. I’ve always felt that it was in a half-complete state.

‘That would be wonderful. If it works. I’m afraid adding Ambrosia to the mix would only make it wilder.’

You can’t run from who you are.

Yuriko just sniffed in annoyance. Perhaps it was her Mien that improved, but then again, it also eased the pain of the other parts.

It had taken her an hour to complete three cycles and she was far from done. She continued the cycle for the next three hours. Her traveller’s gear was now soaked in sweat, and not a little bit of blood when it seeped from her pores. Some foul substance also came with her sweat, but her Anima, flushed with Radiant energy, burned it to smoke.

Three hours and she completed roughly twelve cycles, with each succeeding one taking less time and becoming easier to bear, even if the improvement was slowly lessening. Her Anima reach was now close to thirty-seven paces. There was a deep-seated ache within her, however, and she needed to take a long reprieve. Her earlier estimate of taking a day or two to finish was probably optimistic.

With a sigh, she kept her canister into her hip satchel, stood up and stretched. Then she caught sight of her hand and she couldn’t help but stare. Her skin was as pale as before, but now she thought she could see sparkles of golden light twinkling underneath. Radiant energy suffused her body and she felt she could call on it no matter what happened. Her reserves of Radiant had grown by three or more times than before.

She patted Eli’Theria’s back, who sent her a reassuring grunt. While Yuriko’s body was free of the stench, her clothes were not. And while she was relatively secluded behind the Colossus, she still wasn’t going to strip down and change her clothes here. She’d also like a hot bath, but that might not be possible. She supposed she could head to an inn and borrow a bathroom there for a price.

She pulled out her backpack from Eli’Theria’s cargo space though she didn’t sling it over her back. Instead, she carried it by the straps and trotted out of the hangar. While she was conscious of the stink, it didn’t seem anyone else was. Actually…

She compressed her Anima over her body and restricted the passage of air. She left enough of a hole to breathe through, of course, and to let out her breath afterwards, but that should still be enough to prevent the odour from spreading.

The core pilots eyed her worriedly, but she smiled and waved. A couple blinked at her smile, and then their expressions turned from worried to infatuated in the blink of an eye. Uh-oh.

She hurried outside before they could accost her, but ran into a similar problem with the passersby. Yuriko tried to tighten her control over her Mien, to prevent it from affecting anyone else, but it didn’t seem to work.

Those around her approached, faces blank of anything but adoration. She couldn’t help but take a step back, only to bump into the same Colossus core pilots who followed her out of the hangar.

“Please…let us serve you…” the woman whispered, her hand darting to touch her, but freezing an inch before actual contact, though not because of Yuriko’s Anima armour, but because she hesitated to touch her without leave. And how did she know what the woman was thinking? Yuriko could feel it through the suddenly thickened chains in the dreamscape.

“N-no need,” Yuriko stuttered, but then, their faces changed from hopeful adoration to desperate need. They had her surrounded now and were closing in. “L-leave me alone, please.”

Just like that, those she affected with her Mien bowed low to her and said in unison, “Yes, my mistress.” They dispersed quickly, but Yuriko noticed that they didn’t go that far, only giving her enough space so she wasn’t crowded, and ready to obey her commands should she give even the slightest indication.

What should she do? Oh no, oh no…

Shaking her head, she decided to get herself clean first, then figure out what would happen afterwards, and it seemed that it wouldn’t be safe for her to enter the town either. She gathered her Animakinesis and propelled herself to the skies. She spotted a stream a few longstrides away so she headed there. Her Anima perception stretched out as far as it would go to ensure her privacy.

She found a secluded enough nook by the bend of the stream that gave her that modicum of safety, and she dropped down on the banks. The stream wasn’t too deep, less than a pace. And it was about three paces wide. Fast flowing and cold. Nearly icy cold. It would do. She stripped down to her skin and jumped in.

Sploosh!

“Huh. Not that cold,” Yuriko muttered. She used her Anima kinesis to sluice off the dirt, sweat, and whatever else clung to her body and hair, and by the time she emerged back on the surface…the water around her was bubbling. “Eh?”

Radiant heat came off her body and nearly boiled the stream. Only the fact that it had a fast current prevented it from happening. As it were, a few dartlings were floating down the surface, clearly dead.

When she alighted, the water on her skin boiled away and she was completely dry a couple of seconds later. It was handy…

Hisss!

The grass she stepped on burst into flame.

Oops.

Her clothes didn’t burn, thankfully, but maybe it was because she subconsciously didn’t want it to happen. She took a seated meditation pose on top of a boulder and sank within her consciousness to find out what in the Abyss happened and how she could go about controlling it. And she’d better do that before she continued drinking Ambrosia lest she end up a walking cataclysm.

She must have spent hours in meditation. She didn’t notice the time and was only awoken when a scouting party intruded inside her nook. It wasn’t an Imperial scouting group…

With a start, she realised that she’d gone farther south than she intended, and it was a group of ten Ivalans carrying mini-steam cannons that found her. For a long moment, she and the Ivalans simply stared at each other, but then…

Their looks of hostility faded away and were replaced by adoration. Silly smiles adorned their faces, men and women both. They approached her boulder then fell to their knees.

“We live to serve you, mistress!” they all cried out, tears streaming from their eyes, and looking as though they faced salvation.

And yet she wanted to kill them.

She couldn’t. Not like this. Not when they weren’t actively trying to kill her. Prisoners. That’s what they’ll be. She could feel her Mien latching onto their Animas, enclosing each of them in unbreakable bonds.

Sighing, she said, “Head to the Imperial village, surrender, and tell them everything you know that could help end this war.”

“By your command!” they said in unison then marched off, their eyes were glazed with fanaticism, and their cheeks were stretched with wide grins. It was frightening.

She dove back into her meditations, and it was only when she remembered that there were other ways she could express her Mien did she realise what she could do. Inspiration and courage. That would be the aura her Mien would present. It wasn’t its natural expression, but she didn’t know why her Mien wanted everyone to love and obey her anyway.

Now, what about her body heat?

Hmmm. It turned out far simpler than she thought. The Radiant energy within all of her particles was the reason why. From the looks of it, the process made her practically immune to heat, and probably cold actually. The excess Radiant within her had nowhere else to go, so they created and shed heat. It was a simple matter of directing that excess somewhere else, like her hair, or her Anima…but then, those parts of her would shed more heat in the process.

Not so simple, argh!

Perhaps if she just lowered the Radiant energy production? She could dim it down like she did with her Anima to create her subtler perception aura, right? Though it was like trying to keep herself from sweating or raising her heart rate. Easy to do when she’s just sitting around or doing light work, but impossible to contain when she exerts herself. Oh well, that was the most she could do now.

As for adjusting to her Anima reach and Animakinesis, it was easier to get used to after she’d already done so when her Anima expanded from nine paces thirty-nine inches to thirty paces. She just had to conduct a few exercises to retain her finesse.

She needed to continue the process. She didn’t want to extend this thing for weeks, much as that would be better for her adjustment.

‘I thought you said I could drink down the Ambrosia to advance in an emergency.’ Yuriko said accusingly.

You could, though much of the potential would be wasted. I never said you would advance optimally in battle. I actually meant for you to retreat. Well, this is better anyway.

‘Hmph!’

Yuriko sniffed angrily but decided to continue the process. Ancestors, it would take her a couple of days, probably.

Her conscience pulled at her, telling her to look for her brother. But if he wasn’t within the Imperial camps, then he was probably behind enemy lines. And if she hoped to succeed, then she’d better make herself as strong as possible.

She drank down more Ambrosia and allowed the pain of progress to empower her.