Yuriko couldn’t help but think her sparring opponent was overdressed. Was this not a friendly contest?

Professor Farran’ir looked like he was dressed for the battlefield. She hadn’t even opted to wear her official robes, which were enchanted with defensive measures. It projected a weak kinetic field that blocked anything moving towards the robe. The runescript patterns were similar to a Chaos Ship’s Protective Sphere, but instead of consuming Animus, the robe used whatever Elemental energy was prevalent in the surroundings. Which meant it would probably project a field with the wearer’s Elemental affinity.

She only wore it to class, but otherwise, the protection it offered was minimal, barely even worth the effort. Professor Farran’ir wore his robes open at the front, which made them look more like a long coat than anything else. He wore a mail shirt underneath, and from the runescript patterns visible on it, it was more than what appeared on the surface. She wasn’t sure if it added additional protection or aided his spellcasting in any way. The rest of his clothing looked thick and voluminous except for the open-toed sandals on his feet. Like any other Sha’ledras, Farran’ir’s physique was wonderfully sculpted, though she could only see it through the shape of his upper body clothing.

His steps were light, as though he weighed barely a Jin, and the sand underneath was not disturbed. He carried a staff in his left hand, which had what looked like an elemental stone on top. She wasn’t sure which element it contained, or if it was mixed since her Anima perception was not extended to cover the arena. He also had an arming sword on his belt.

The man looked to be in his prime, and was quite handsome, though perhaps it was a Sha’ledras trait since she hadn’t seen any of them that didn’t appeal to her sense of aesthetics. He had a serious cast to his face, though, at the moment, his expression held a bit of disappointment. Why, though? Hmmm.

“Begin!” the referee, Vice Dean Olivia Biera, yelled and Yuriko expanded her perception all the way, but as soon as her Anima touched her opponent, it was violently pushed back. At the same time, the expression on his face turned serious and excited.

The man didn’t move, and neither did Yuriko. She stared at him curiously, and after half a minute, the crowd’s murmurs grew louder. Her perception focused on her surroundings, and she activated her Chaos Sight, though there was really none to be seen. She did not have a technique that would allow her to see unrelated Elemental energies, but Chaos allowed her to see those adjacent to Radiant. That included heat, light, and a few others she hadn’t quite identified yet.

Farran’ir’s ears, which were covered in ear studs, twitched, and Yuriko caught a glimpse of something. Something struck the edge of her condensed aura, and she grunted at the amount of force it contained. If it had struck her skin, she would have staggered back. And if it had hit anyone else, they’d probably have a hole in their limb.

What was that? Farran’ir’s ears twitched several more times, and invisible blows struck her Anima. It was close to strong enough to crack her aura but fell just a bit short. Was he holding back or was this his full power? Who would begin a spar with full strength though?

So he was probing, and when his initial strike failed to provide any feedback, he’d increased his strength. Well, time to throw things back.

Yuriko raised a hand and pointed at him. At the same time, her Anima created a runescript circle on her palm, hidden from sight. The Radiant Bolt shot out from her fingertip, however, and flew faster than she could blink. A splash of golden light smacked into Farran’ir’s space, stopped from hitting him by an invisible barrier a couple of inches from his clothes. The impact caused a ripple to wrap around his barrier and gave her a glimpse of its limits.

Farran’ir smirked, then his ears and his toes started wiggling blindingly fast. Yuriko gasped as she felt dozens, then hundreds of invisible force bolts slammed into her aura, the volume barely enough to cause cracks.

Growling loudly, she spread her Anima and thickened it enough to fill her space with Radiant energy. Only then was she able to catch a glimpse of what he was shooting at her. Orbs of compressed air, propelled by his Arcana Weaving. They weren’t shooting straight from him either, but curved at odd angles, there were even a few that circled around her to strike at her back. She was only able to detect them from how they displaced her Radiant energy.

She couldn’t help but grin. Unlike battles back home, a Magus doesn't really run out of Elemental energy. Instead, it was mental fatigue that inevitably bottlenecked the length of time they could fight. From what she heard, Professor Farran’ir was no slouch in that attribute.

It also meant that if she simply let him batter down her defences, the question of who would win would depend on whether he could keep casting long enough to crack her Anima.

A hundred orbs entered her Radiant aura, coming from all sides. She flicked her fingers and sent Radiant Bolts to intercept, while she formed three-inch wide barriers of thickened aura.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yuriko sent Radiant beams out of her eyes and swept a grouping of orbs, causing them to implode as her beams disrupted their structure. She carefully aimed upwards as she didn’t want to hurt any of the spectators.

Farran’ir sent another wave of orbs, his ears and toes a blur. Five hundred tiny, compressed orbs flew at her, a veritable wave of death. She swept them clear with Radiant beams, intercepted with casted Radiant Bolts, and blocked the rest with her Anima.

As the dust settled, the two of them were staring at each other, clear respect in both of their faces. She had not been harmed, her aura more than enough to take the damage. She wasn’t able to compress all of her Anima into condensed armour, but she had gone a long way from before. Now, thanks to how Damien showed her how to meld sunblades, her condensed aura took up ten paces of reach, a fourfold improvement. As she studied his memories and practised, she would eventually improve. Perhaps in the next few years, she could compress hundreds of paces of reach into a one-inch armour.

“Well done,” Farran’ir said. “Then, let’s proceed to the next test.”

Yuriko glared at him. A test? Arrogant. But no, she must not unleash her full prowess. What kind of spar would that be? Besides, she wasn’t certain if she could hold back enough not to kill him if she stopped holding back.

____________

“You are trespassing in Braxxon Ruin,” Alaric Mateo continued sternly, his expression grave and serious. Gwendith kept her face expressionless while the scout continued to bluster. “You…adventurers of Bresia shouldn’t be here,” he repeated, “and by the rules of your own guild, you are under arrest.”

Gwendith and Heron looked at each other, before bursting into laughter. The man’s flustered look only prompted more hilarity.

“Alright,” Heron said, “What do you really want?”

“I…”

“You wouldn’t be foolish enough to believe we would surrender to you, right?” Heron said, all hilarity gone, replaced by an ominous monotone.

“Uh…”

“I mean, what’s stopping us from simply killing you?”

At that, the man broke out in a cold sweat. Gwendith couldn’t tell what his actual level was, but he was within easy reach of two Ancients. Magi didn’t have close-quarters defences, at least none that Gwendith knew of.

“Uh, you want to start an international incident?”

Heron smirked, though Gwendith knew he wasn’t being serious. At least, they wouldn’t strike first…oh wait. They already attacked. She felt her own lips curl in anticipation.

“We are here accidentally,” Heron explained, “and we are simply looking for a way to return. Now leave, unless you really want to die.”

Alaric swallowed convulsively, turned on his heels and fled. He glanced back after a dozen paces, then cast his invisibility spell. Gwendith smirked and activated her Animus technique. She could see the Chaos being expelled by his relic, which created a small cloud that lasted for a little while. Certainly enough to pinpoint his location. She purposely didn’t look for Saki, who was already following behind the scout.

“Think they’ll lead us to an exit?” Heron asked mildly.

“Maybe. Far more likely that they’ll try to hunt us down.”

“You think I overdid it?”

“No, of course not,” Gwendith shook her head. “We don’t know anything about them. Yes, they are Bresia’s neighbours, but from what he said, this Fount…Braxxon, is probably in between their nations rather than close to Nirlith. We’re better off finding the keys than going to find their exit.”

Heron sighed and gazed towards the ruined city. They had yet to reach it. Gwendith had the feeling that what they were looking for was there, but her intuition wasn’t the sharpest, really. But there was a spell she learned that plucked at the Threads of Fate, even if they called it by a different name. Lesser Divination.

Heron kept watch while she began casting the spell. It was one with five circles, seventy-five nodes in all. She wasn’t that good at it compared to Yuriko who seemed to take to Arcana Weaving like fish to water. As it were, it took her one to two seconds for each spell component.

“Lesser Divination: Does the city hold the key?” Gwendith asked before she flipped a copper coin. The disc spun in the air, unusually slow, as though something took hold of it and was spinning in around their fingers. Then, at the apex of its flight, it froze in position for an instant, then fell straight down into her hand without shifting. The coin showed an image of a city, which meant yes, as opposed to a number on the opposite side, which meant no.

“That settles it,” she muttered while Heron rolled his eyes.

“You put your trust in those spells that you didn’t even know of a Season ago?”

“Well, we were going to look there anyway,” Gwendith muttered.

“Hmph.”

The two of them continued on their way. The path had been a road, as evidenced by the stones underneath a thick layer of dirt. An hour later, Saki came back.

“What news?” Gwendith asked.

“Well, you infuriated their commander,” Saki said dryly while staring pointedly at Heron.

“I will not let them have power over us,” he said firmly.

“That scout, Alaric, painted us in the worst light. Saki snorted, “He even said that we were carrying treasures.”

“Hmmm, well, he isn't wrong,” Heron said as he patted his backpack. “An Elemental Ore is a treasure.”

“Are they following?” Gwendith asked.

“They’re all headed towards the city. I caught sight of those slavers, too. They’ll likely cross each others’ path before they cross ours.” Saki said.

“Shall we avoid following the road?” Gwendith said.

“Let’s,” Heron agreed. “No sense waiting for an attack.”

They crossed the barren fields. Once they crossed a couple of ridges and a ravine, they turned back towards the city. How far away was it anyway? She couldn’t really tell even when she enhanced her vision. The Chaos Fount, like a Fysalli, bent the rules of reality to suit itself. She supposed they’ll get there eventually. Maybe there would be Ambrosia there too!

___________

The Sending Spell connected and Enrique swallowed as his honoured grandmother answered the hail.

“What is it?” Gramma Monica’s voice was smooth and gave almost no hint of her three centuries of life. She was always curt and to the point, unless it was with her favourite descendants, anyway.

“Grammie,” Enrique paused.

“Spit it out.”

Well, he wasn’t a favourite, not since his career stalled out anyway.

“Grammie, Cillian hasn’t reported for duty.”

“Cillie?” Grammie’s voice turned cold. “Wasn’t he in Duskfoot?”

“He sent notice. Escort mission, foreigners, to Nirlith. He has not reported back, and is overdue by two weeks.”

“Why aren’t those gits looking for him?”

Enrique shrugged. He didn’t know, but if he were to hazard a guess, it had a lot to do with the fact that a Cyclist was in charge of Duskfoot. “Lost to bureaucracy?”

“Stupid. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks, Grammie.”