“I don’t think they’re are more prisoners left,” Monica said and Yuriko was inclined to agree. She hadn’t stopped checking, but the last ten cells didn’t contain anyone alive. The corpses were half dissolved, much like how Wyldlings would look like if their corpses were left in the open.

There was little doubt what creatures were inside the Fount. Wyldlings, of course, even if the locals called them by a different name. Well, the Creeplings were different enough from swarmlings that they might as well be truly different. The only thing they shared in common was that they seemed to be at the bottom of the pile. The Hunter-Stalkers were the same, but she wondered if they were what some of the prisoners turned into.

Only the cream of the crop, those with enough luck or power, would become Chaos Magi, apparently. Monica spoke vehemently of them whenever Yuriko asked. She had been wary at first, wondering that if the locals knew how she and the others didn’t have Elemental Hearts and had Animus Cores, they would be called Chaos Magi. They weren’t even that wrong, as she and the others fed on ambient Chaos to fuel their strength.

“Unless they don’t use their spells, Chaos Magi radiate the corruption of Chaos,” Monica explained. “They’re painfully obvious when they want to be and remain that way for a while. But afterwards…” She frowned. “Nothing distinguishes them from other Magi.” She looked at Yuriko with curiosity. “How can you keep the Chaos away from them anyway? I see the filth burning off even before they can come near.”

Yuriko shrugged and offered the only explanation she could, “My Elemental Affinity.”

“You mean it isn’t Light?”

“Kind of?” Yuriko chuckled. “It’s Radiance. It burns off Chaos to fuel more of itself.”

“Ah, a Primordial Affinity. No wonder.” Monica chuckled. She looked envious for a moment, then shook her head. “We should leave and bring these people to safety.”

“Alright.”

They took seven steps back towards the entrance before Yuriko felt the oppressive weight of malicious regard. She felt her skin crawl even as her Anima created bursts of Radiant light at the edges in response to the increasing density of ambient Chaos.

“Gods above!” Monica yelped as the path trembled. Dust fell from cracks on the ceiling, followed by falling pebbles, then stones.

“Hurry!” Yuriko yelled as she pushed off from the ground, her Animakinesis bringing the rescued prisoners in tow.

Monica cursed again as she flew behind Yuriko. Cillian rested on the shorter woman’s shoulder, his limbs flapping bonelessly in the air. The path ahead darkened and the ceiling, the walls, and the floor started to meld together, as though they were inside a living creature about to close its mouth.

Sunblades emerged from under her shawl, expanded to full size, and slammed into the corners where the wall met ceiling or floor. The area around the contact point heated to such a degree that they turned white. The Chaos Fount trembled as whatever controlled it suffered the feedback of Radiant destruction. Behind Monica’s sight, Yuriko spun more sunblades into existence, but she also added the runescript spell nodes of the Echolocation spell on the blade. Her perception around the sunblade once it left her Anima reach was limited to a percent of her full reach, and in this case, one and a half paces or so. Echolocation, simplified, gave her a sphere of ten paces. She couldn’t perceive much more than vague shapes, but it was better than nothing.

The sunblade raced down the hallway, but soon reached the end of its tether. Half a longstride wasn’t that far, considering they walked two longstrides from the top. The sunblade reached it in a few seconds, then was pulled back. But for a moment, in the blink of an eye, Yuriko had the impulse to cut away that tether and allow the blade to fly as far as it could. Manifestation was the next step, and she recognised its characteristics from her battles and Damien’s memories. And just as she had that impulse, she knew she couldn’t give in to it. It might work, but she would lose part of her Anima. Permanently.

She couldn’t do that safely. Not yet. Her Will wasn’t strong enough, and her Intent has not developed to the point where it could sustain independent thought. Not yet. Not anytime soon. But eventually.

She had to be content with what she could do now. And all she needed to do was flee the Chaos Fount with the rescued people. The sunblade was there to watch out for enemies chasing after them, and one was hardly enough.

Five sunblades materialised and were etched with the Echolocation spell. She added a basic Bolt spell to the blade, too, which would allow it to shoot Radiant energy missiles at anything within range. Spell combinations and linkages were something she learned after reading about the practice in the library.

Moments later, a wave of Creeplings rushed out from the depths. They didn't just flood the passage, but came out from the canyon. The sunblades began shooting Radiant bolts, each one cleaving through a couple of them before bursting on the third. Yuriko grabbed Monica's arm and gestured to the half wall that opened into the ravine.

"Let's fly up that way!" she said.

Monica nodded and shifted her flight path. The passage ahead had almost blocked the way out, and they had little choice but to risk the forbidding depths.

Yuriko gathered Radiant energy orbs and flung them ahead. Thick ambient Chaos sparked as it met her defenses, and the orbs flared, grew bigger and brighter as it consumed Chaos.

Neither of them were foolish enough to brave the centre, but staying near the edge made them vulnerable to the Creeplings' Chaos bolts. Well, Monica was vulnerable. The bolts fizzled against Yuriko's aura and melted like snow on a hot Fire Season day.

By avoiding the hallways, they avoided the Creeplings and the Stalkers. But heading straight up wasn’t heading to the exit. Yuriko’s expanded Anima was able to reach the surface, but instead of finding the plateau, her Anima slammed up against the Chaos Fount’s Veil. The border was a mixture of Chaos and Elemental energy, and felt stretched tight enough that a single iota of weight could break it. She managed to stop her Anima from breaking the Veil, just barely in time. Cracks spread from the border, and the ambient Chaos within the Fount started to seep out.

But that wasn’t the only problem. As they flew over the abyss, Monica looked down and screamed in surprise. A wordless wail of burgeoning despair. Yuriko flared her Anima to fullness, and she felt a vast wave of Chaos rushing from the bottom. It pushed her Anima, flattening it at places, before the Radiant energy infused in it countered the Chaos. Sparkles of golden light covered their bottom, but the wave rolled on.

It washed over their flight path, and all the Elemental energy was washed away like sandcastles against a fierce. Monica’s flight spell sputtered and died out, her initial movement pushed her on for a few more paces, but she was inevitably drawn downwards.

Yuriko grabbed Monica and Cillian with her Animakinesis, and continued flying. The look of surprise on the Coinoch Matriarch’s face nearly made her chuckle, but there was no time to waste. The wave receded only to build up more power. Her sunblades had consumed the Chaos as they encountered it, but were soon overwhelmed and guttered out. She winced as her connection to the blades were corroded. The Malignant Chaos attempted to infiltrate the connection thread, but the Radiant energy infused to her Anima burnt it away.

“Watch out! It’s coming from ahead!” Monica yelled even as her fingers blurred. A gout of flame shot ahead, the Elemental energy drawn from her Heart rather than the atmosphere. The flames ignited the Chaos, altered it and flickered off. A sizable chunk of the frontal wave was consumed, leaving only a thin screen that continued to crash towards them. Monica winced and closed her eyes, but Yuriko’s Anima protected them easily.

Yuriko felt the fabric of the Chaos Fount begin to squeeze down on her Anima as the Malignant Will focused its attention on her. The gaze felt oily and disgusting, far worse than the lust-filled glares she often received in her youth. There was lust there, indeed, but it was not for her body, which somehow made it feel even worse. It sparked a reaction not just from her, but also her Mien. Tranquility snapped into Terror, and the air around her rippled as she released some of her constraints.

It jolted Monica a bit, but her Anima strength was technically above Yuriko’s, so she wasn’t as affected. Magi weren’t as powerful as Imperial Knights, but they were stronger than Spirit Binders, but slightly weaker in raw potency against a Geist User.

The Chaos Wave boiled as it reacted to her Mien, but only for a moment. Then, as if it were a starving hound and she was a juicy piece of meat, the wave rushed towards them, even as her Radiant energy burned most of the Chaos, the density was enough to push her hard. She…they wouldn’t make it to the exit at the rate they were going.

Sunblades formed around her and were sent towards the front. They cut a swathe through the Chaos Wave, formed a tunnel they could use to escape. But at the rear, the Wave was catching up. After it receded against her defenses, it retreated, gathered more of itself, and came roaring back.

Piqued and annoyed, Yuriko growled and held out her hand. The Radiant Lance Implement tucked into her Anima came out and gathered both ambient Chaos and Radiant energy. With the Fount’s iarvesh levels breaching 2, there was more than enough to fuel her Sorcery. Unfortunately, the only source of Radiant energy was her, and it would take too much time to gather it. So she used something that she became capable of after reaching Transformation.

Elemental Body. There were little reserves of Radiant energy scattered throughout every particle of her body, little cores, actually, that mimicked her central Animus Core and Essence. It wasn’t quite to the point where it was identical, but it was close. She ignited each and everyone of those cores, not because she could, but because she couldn’t limit them yet. Her body exuded bright, golden light, and her flesh changed into Radiant energy. But only for half a second.

It was more than enough to enact her plans. Her Intent directed a fraction of her Radiant energy, a little bit of every particle, into the Implement, then her body changed back to flesh. Normally, having a bit of every part of her taken away would have grave consequences, but the Radiant energy had been quickly replaced by another reserve, her hair. Her long tresses shortened by a couple of inches, and the Implement was now a fully fledged Radiant Lance, complete with the Trinity attachment that enhanced its devouring and replication abilities.

“You want to play with me?” she yelled derisively. “Play with this.”

She reared back and flung the Radiant Lance deep into the Chaos Wave. The lance travelled a hundred or so paces into the Wave before the Trinity cycle latched onto the tip triggers. The Chaos wave, a cloud of multihued lights, ignited into an expanding sphere of golden Radiance. A shockwave and a dull roar pushed Yuriko’s Anima, and propelled her and the rest of her strays directly towards the exit portal. The Fount shook as though a titan picked it up and bounced it around, and the portal was suddenly in front of them.

They tumbled out into the cave, then out of the mountainside. A pillar of golden flame emerged and chased them out, but of course, uncontrolled Radiant energy was of no threat to her. In fact, her body absorbed it all easily, and her hair grew back to its proper length.

A few moments later, they were hovering half a longstride away from the gate. The night had progressed to the small hours of the morning, and Yuriko paused to take stock of the situation.

“Er…” Monica said, after clearing her throat, “you’re half naked?”

Yuriko blinked. Her dress had disintegrated when she turned into her Elemental body. At least her forceweave panties were still intact. They looked better than ever, actually. Sighing, she wove a sundress out of Animus and said, “Let’s go back to Nirlith.”