Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Book 17-23.2: Reunion

Just forming a blade out of her probes and her remaining Anima wasn’t going to be enough, Yuriko decided. She could see the edges of her space, a sphere that was roughly thirty-nine paces across. It was shrinking at a rate of about an inch every ten or so seconds, and while it would probably take hours to dissipate, the collapse would accelerate the closer it got to the centre. She knew she could resist, not quite indefinitely, but it would be a futile endeavour. She had one shot to salvage the situation, and she couldn’t rush it. Radiance obscured everything, and considering her probes were filled with the same energy, they wouldn’t be easily sorted from the background. But she couldn’t take the chance. 

Necessity and desperation were the mothers of invention. Yuriko wasn’t skilled at hiding, or more accurately, she was absolutely abysmal at it. Her Mien, her looks, and her Anima practically screamed ‘notice me!’ at the world at large, and even in a sea of Anima, she might still stand out. Willpower, Anima, and strands of consciousness were what built her a new incarnation body when she entered Astoria, and all three were here. It was enough to distinguish her from the rest, and perhaps it was only the shrouded Damien’s belief that he won that allowed him to be lax. Perhaps she’d already been made, and for all she knew, he was just biding his time. 

No, she couldn’t think of that. She couldn’t just give up. She would take it into account, but she wouldn’t let it dominate her plan. 

She already merged the probes and combined everything into a whole: Anima, Willpower, and Consciousness. 

The chunk Damien stole was the same density as the rest of her incarnation body’s Anima; it was there that she siphoned as much as she could to pack into the area around her. After a moment’s thought, she abandoned the idea of cramming everything within her manifestation since that would surely draw the old pervert’s attention. 

She couldn’t help but reinforce her surroundings, though. The chances of detection grew a bit higher, but it should help make her a bit more secure…and, if she was detected because of it, any advantage would be lost immediately. She sighed and released the Anima, then had another idea and used that instead. Her manifestation would be painfully obvious once the sphere shrank down enough, but she only needed to avoid being noticed long enough to strike at the divine shard. What was the best range for that? 

She guessed that about a five pace diameter sphere wouldn’t be enough to hide her presence, and to be absolutely sure to hit, she needed to get within…two paces? She wasn’t sure how wide the shrouded Damien’s vessel had, so she didn’t know how long it would take for the man to take her remnant Anima within his to absorb. He could always just discard his loot, but that would also allow her to return to her incarnation body and reconstitute herself. 

Or she could split off into another incarnation body. Huh, that would probably be the better option, but she wasn’t sure what she needed, considering it was the Eternal Tower spirit that helped her the first time. Incarnations weren’t the hallmark of her Ascension level, though the fact that she could have manifestations was a step across the threshold. 

No, think about that later! For now, she settled in place, while thinking of ways to make her current existence more subdued. There was no ignoring the fact that her Willpower would clash with Damien’s, so she had to delay the inevitable as long as she could. She folded her Anima around her manifestation, and that would hopefully contain whatever markers he could use to detect her. 

After another moment’s thought, she angled her blade shaped body to a stance in Undaunted Bulwark, then fought to invert it. She was sure she failed the first couple of times, but she couldn’t really tell. She undid and remade her sheathe, until she felt it would be as good as it would get without being tested, then settled down to wait. 

Damien slowly wore down the outer edges of her Anima, and all the while, the only thing Yuriko could do was bide her time. 

So, she waited. And waited. If she had a physical body, her heart would be racing, though she didn’t know if it would be from excitement or fear. The former was more likely. At the moment, her strands of consciousness didn’t have room for anything other than focus. 

All the while, her sneaky sheath improved. She used both of her Ennoias as well as what she could use from her new Style to keep anything inside from showing. It was rather uncomfortable, the hiding, but when she reframed her thoughts into preparing an ambush, the disquiet left. How odd. 

The crucial five pace distance approached, and after a breathless moment—not that she could breathe without a physical body—passed without issue. The assimilation proceeded at an accelerated pace, and she could see his body now. He hadn’t spread his Anima as far as it could go, merely enough to encompass his plunder. 

Soon, he was within optimal range, but that also meant she had a split second to fire off her attack. Ever since he came within five paces, she focused her senses on finding his divine shard. The only possibilities she knew were his head or his heart. It depended on where the centre of his Anima was. Or just as likely, where the vessel had his. 

If she used her previous circumstances, his core would be just below his heart, at the solar plexus, probably. If it wasn’t there, she probably had another split second to react and retarget, but only if she caught him by surprise. 

That split second was now.

She squirted out of the plundered Anima and struck directly into the man’s core. The shrouded had mostly faded, but she could still see Damien’s outline, which flared with surprise and anger. 

Her blade self-sliced through armour and undergarment, then through skin, flesh, and bone. She missed, but only by an inch. 

That was enough for the shrouded Damien to react, and even as she turned to slice into the core, waves of repulsion battered her manifestation. Willpower battered her, as well as Anima and Chaos. The turning of her blade slowed, and it felt as if she was cutting through rock using an ordinary steel blade. 

Bladeless Sword infused into her sword body, and a slight twitch on the tuning allowed her to cut through half of the resistance with sudden ease. Half an inch away. Then a third of an inch. Her blade slowed as if it were dragging through mud, and she twitched the tuning again. It didn’t help this time as Radiance bombarded her form. She flared her own Radiance out and pushed through. This manifestation didn’t have access to her Colligia of Radiance, but some things were intrinsic to her being. 

A tenth of an inch, and the repulsive force suddenly felt panicked. A moment later, the edge of her blade body touched the smooth crystalline surface of the divine shard. 

Another moment later, and she carved into Damien’s shard. 

A feeling of triumph, then a feeling of surprise and dread. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that. 

The world around her flickered and was washed out, and suddenly, she found herself within a chamber, and her sword body had disappeared. She emerged in a facsimile of her true body, though the edges were ragged and leaking Radiance. She forced a sunblade to materialise in her hand and glanced warily around. 

Rather than a chamber, she actually emerged in a hallway. A palatial one with luxurious ornamentation. The walls were covered in tapestries, and there were golden or silvery trinkets adorning side tables and nooks. But the other side of the hallway looked quite ragged, with tattered hangings that revealed corroded stone behind. She turned to look behind her and saw it was a mirror of what was in front of her, but it felt more fragile. She thought that if she went that way, she would find herself back outside. And that probably wasn’t what she wanted to happen. 

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a fell wind blew across the hall. It was strong enough to lift her hair and flutter her clothes, but not quite potent enough to unbalance her. She grunted and pushed against the carpeted floor. Like the walls, half of the floor was luxurious and beautiful, while the other half was ragged and torn. She also felt that she must straddle the line, lest she be thrown out. 

The wind grew stronger after every second. Yuriko advanced and, in short order, the wind was strong enough that she had to lean forward to brace herself against it. The tapestries fluttered and snapped, and the ornaments tumbled off their nooks. Soon enough, those things became deadly missiles that she had to ward off with her sunblade. The ragged edges of her body were stressed and the rips slowly grew wider. 

She didn’t have much time. Either she would be blown away, or her form disintegrated…no, wait. She paused for a long moment and endured the heavy winds. She focused on the rips and ragged edges, then forced them all to close. Her form wasn’t physical and was probably made out of Anima and Willpower. Intent and Will governed her manifestation, and she refused to be snuffed out by the winds. The gaps closed, and everything smoothed out. The wind had doubled in strength since she stopped, but if she hadn’t, she would have been torn to bits otherwise. 

She pushed ahead. With her form stable, the wind could no longer catch the ragged edges. She shielded her eyes with her arm as the dust and trinkets made seeing a bit difficult. She couldn’t really run, however, since if both of her feet left the ground, she’d lose all leverage. She had no desire to use her Anima to hook into the surroundings, mainly because she was in Damien’s territory. She wasn’t sure if he knew where she was, but if she used her Anima in that way, she would definitely be found. 

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably closer to ten minutes, the hallway ended, and she found herself in a large chamber. A bright light pulsed at the other end, though she really had no way to tell if there was something behind it. She made out the silhouette of a throne, so perhaps this was where she’d find her foe. 

With the larger chamber, the winds swirled, which meant there was less force pushing her away. Now, she had to brace against the wind that came from different directions, and she was caught off guard a couple of times. She managed to stay on her feet the first time, but the second time saw her topple on her side. At least she hadn’t been blown airborne, but somehow, the clatter of her fall caught Damien’s attention, and the winds ceased for a long moment. 

She scrambled to her feet and rushed to the throne. Shrouded Damien was there, or perhaps just Damien, since the vessel was outside. That made a difference, she thought, but…

His expression was still frozen in a snarl, and his movements were stiff. She closed in, and he didn’t so much as twitch. The winds picked up, but that was it. Frowning, Yuriko hesitated for an instant, but found her resolve quickly enough. She ran up the stairs that led to the throne’s platform and infused Bladeless Sword into her sunblade. 

She thrust at Damien’s heart, and the old pervert…

Didn’t move. 

The sunblade’s tip sank into his bare chest, and was soon followed by the rest of her blade. She ended up with her other hand resting on his pecs as she skidded to a halt, eyes wide. 

Her eyes met his. They were blank. 

Then the snarl slowly turned into a grin.