A bolt of gold lit up the night as though the sun had risen at midnight. It streaked majestically, burning through the branches and leaves that were in its way before it splashed against the Wanderer’s Protective Field. 

 

A tiny part of it managed to get through the cracks and turned a spot on its carapace black. Yuriko exhaled and started to gather Animus into her weapon. The Antid seemed to barely notice her bullet and it kept swinging at the trees around it, cutting them down in a single blow. 

 

‘What is it after?” Yuriko wondered. She couldn’t see anything else over there, though she felt some of the rustling leaves were caused by something other than the wind of the creature’s strikes.

 

Her next shot went wide as the Wanderer stepped into a depression. The bolt burned through the tree behind it and it almost fell on the Antid. It noticed that one. 

 

Its head swivelled as it looked for the source of the plasma which it found easily. An aspect of Yuriko’s Animus left a slowly fading trail of golden light. That hadn’t happened before and she growled with frustration. Then again, it was too much to hope to remain stealthy when her weapon fired bright bolts of light. 

 

The foliage was too thick after the Antid rushed towards her. Whatever had caught its attention before, it was ignoring it now. She held her shot until it presented a better target and when it did, it was already halfway towards them. 

 

Hsst!

 

The bolt struck true this time. The Antid’s protective Field wasn’t as strong as the one she tried to hunt on Atavism day, or her Animus had gotten stronger; this time, the majority of the plasma broke past the field and splashed across its torso. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make the shell around the bolt strong enough to keep the penetrative power whole after impacting the Field. Its scream was surprisingly high pitched and it stumbled as the carapace around the left side of its torso bubbled and melted. 

 

Yuriko recharged her weapon furiously; she felt she could finish this before it could come close enough to threaten them.

 

The Antid glowed with an orange light and its carapace solidified. It looked like candle wax that had melted and reformed, bunching up near its waist. The heavily burned spot near its shoulder glimmered with the Antid’s bluish blood. The orange glow around it intensified, and just as Yuriko shot her fourth plasma bolt, it leapt. 

 

The Antid soared into the sky, blasting through the foliage. Yuriko stared slack-jawed only to realize an instant later that the thing would land almost exactly where she was. 

 

“Chaos!”

 

With an oath, she rolled to her left just in time to avoid being crushed. The stone outcropping cracked and shuddered under the thing’s weight while the Plasma Caster went flying as she dropped over the edge, just barely managing to land on her feet.

 

Ptaaang!

 

While the other three gaped in surprise, Heron had pushed Yuriko out of the way of the creature’s scythe hand, catching the strike with his hardened air shield which broke soon after. He staggered with the remnant force while the Antid jumped down at the camp. 

 

Yuriko drew both blades, running the defensive Animus patterns inside her body. 

 

“Fight!” she screamed at the others who were still gaping. Heron was still dazed, the backlash of his broken Facet technique played havoc with his Anima.

 

Krystal’s pistol was at the ready and she reacted the fastest. She raised her weapon, held out with both hands, pointed at the general direction of the Antid and fired. A tiny bolt of blue crackled against the Field a few inches above the creature’s carapace, doing no more damage than a drop of water would. 

 

Just as it would have slammed its sharp blade at Heron, Orrin’s red Animus flashed and the arm shifted slightly enough to miss. Orrin wound up catapulted away, his back slamming against the tree. Another of Krystal’s pistol bolts slammed at the arm, this time making it through the Field and leaving a small red spot on its green carapace. 

 

Yuriko struck with her side-blades, both shining with a golden light. The first slash scraped against the Field, visibly cracking it, while the next one left a deep score on the creature’s side. Blue blood welled out of the wound and it thrashed and flailed. 

 

Yuriko felt her Animus pull her to the side, nudge her to lift her arms just so and to twist her waist a second later. The scythe blade coming her way was deflected by her side-blade, most of the force redirected while she spun away.

 

Mikel’s hands were crimson, his face twisted in fear or rage, she couldn’t tell. A moment later, a stream of flames fanned from his fingertips, covering most of the towering Antid. The Protective Field shrank and some of the flames touched the carapace. The blood seeping from its wounds ignited, showering them with a spray of sparks and gore. 

 

The creature’s left scythe arm dangled by its side, a product of the hit she scored earlier. If that limb had been active, they would have been dead twice over. It staggered back, trying to get out of the fire, while Krystal peppered it with bolts. Heron had regained his footing and he held his buckler in front with his spear glowing blue, his Empowered Strike ready. 

 

When Mikel’s firestream ended a few seconds later, the slight shimmer in the air around the Antid, its Protective Field, was gone. Heron’s spear stabbed into the creature’s thigh, sinking several inches deep. 

 

Yuriko deflected the scythe-arm’s diagonal slash, directing it away. She sidestepped and avoided an errant bolt, ignoring the shouted “Sorry!”. Heron continued stabbing and drawing fountains of blue blood. Mikel was spent and so was Krystal for that matter, while Orrin remained crumpled in a heap at the base of the tree. Only the rise and fall of his chest meant he was still alive. 

 

Yuriko had been switching between the first and second sword form, but her strikes weren’t getting in deep enough. She switched over to the third form, feeling her Animus pool into her weapon. The next instant, she sprung at the Antid, left blade held protectively in front while the second was held against her waist. 

 

The creature’s strike surprised her and her block nearly wrenched her arm off her shoulder socket. Hissing in pain, she thrust her blade at its side, golden Animus shining off the steel. The Antid had two pairs of arms, however, the second pair had been folded into its body and suddenly thrust to catch her. 

 

An inch from her face, a red glow suddenly surrounded the limb and deflected it enough that it just grazed her shoulder, the forceweave taking the hit. Her sword sank into its side up to the hilt. She stomped on its leg, propelling her away, and wrenching the weapon out. 

 

“Back!” she yelled. Heron hovered protectively in front of her while the Antid staggered around drunkenly, its lifeblood spilling from the massive gash. Yuriko and the others kept out of its way. Krystal pulled Orrin back after he had used his Facet to protect Yuriko and he had knocked himself out from the backlash. Mikel held out his sword but had no intention of even going near the creature. 

 

With a muted groan, the Antid collapsed in a heap. Its breathing slowed as it bled out and, with a rattling gasp, it died. 

 

For the next minute or so, Yuriko just sat down and caught her breath. Her hands trembled and were stained by the blue spatter of the Wyldling’s blood. A dull ache on her right shoulder where it had hit her meant a bruise. She had to remove that with her version of Recovery or it would stiffen her limb later. Right now, the only thing she wanted to do was sleep. 

 

Orrin had come to and he was looking around wild-eyed. Heron’s face remained stoic expression but he looked at Mikel and gave an approving nod, to which her childhood friend grunted at in response. Krystal scrubbed her eyes and sniffed. After a while she shook herself and pulled out a knife.

 

“What are you doing?” Yuriko asked hoarsely. 

 

“The shard. We need it.”

 

“Ah. Yeah. Where is it located?” 

 

Krystal froze. “Er, I don’t know.”

 

Yuriko looked at the Antid’s body. Standing up, the Wyldling was half a head as tall as she was and more than twice as broad. “You think it’s in the head?”

 

“Only one way to find out,” Krystal shrugged as she levered her knife up. She stabbed down on its skull, but since she wasn’t employing any Animus, the blade couldn't even penetrate the carapace. “Ancestors!” she cursed while trying to find a seam she could use.

 

“Here, let me,” Heron said, coating his spearhead with a blue light. He pressed the weapon on the skull and it slowly slid into the carapace. He used the spear tip as a lever and pried off the carapace covering its insectoid face. 

 

“Is it in the brain?” Heron muttered, unaware of Krystal’s pale face. Yuriko took one look and felt a bit green around her ears. Both of the girls stepped away while Heron swirled his spearpoint on the grey slush.

 

“Fascinating,” Orrin said.

 

Mikel walked up to them and started poking at the body with a knife. 

 

“It’s not here, I think,” Heron said. “Maybe the chest?”

 

“Go for it,” Mikel said. 

 

Yuriko and Krystal glanced at each other.

 

“You have some blood on your face.” Krystal said.

 

“Huh,” Yuriko wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, only for the blood to smear from her hand to her face. There was this weird actinic stench to it, sharp enough to sting her nose. 

 

“Clean yourself up,” Krystal laughed, gesturing at Yuriko’s clothes and weapons. 

 

Yuriko flicked off the blood from the swords and used some of the leaves to wipe the smear off. She knew she would have to use some cleaning oil later. The steel had some new nicks to it where her parries hadn’t been deft enough. She sheathed both blades at her hip. 

 

After a minute of searching, she also found her Plasma Caster tangled in the bushes. 

 

“Ancestors,” she sighed. The rifle was still serviceable, but the damage to the runic script would mean it wouldn’t fire at full capacity until it was repaired. She brushed the dirt and dried leaves off of it. 

 

“Are you injured?” Krystal asked after Yuriko winced when she picked up the rifle. 

 

“Just some bruises.” 

 

“Found it!” Mikel yelped.

 

Yuriko and Krystal walked over and found the Antid’s torso spayed open, revealing muscles and organs covered in blue blood. The stench was horrific. This time, Yuriko could barely hold down her urge to vomit.

 

Mikel was holding up a thumb-sized black crystal that glittered in the moonlight. It was narrow and rough shaped, looking more like a piece of stone they would have picked off the ground than something that came from a body. 

 

It seemed to have an inner light that drew the eye, however. 

 

Weighing it in hand, Mikel mused, “I think this is about three HiJin. Ancestors. Three thousand Sovereigns for this!”

 

“Whew!” Orrin whistled. “I wonder how much we’ll earn from this?”

 

“Who knows. Musclehead hasn’t told us yet,” Krystal shrugged. “What do you think, Yuri?”

 

Yuriko didn’t answer though. Her eyes were locked into the crystal shard and on the motes of light it was giving off. She didn’t think the others could see the light though as Mikel didn’t even flinch when a mote of light hit his eye. 

 

Her Animus core seemed to be drawn to the lights and the strands of Animus circulating around her Anima were quivering. Her Facet seemed to be trembling too. 

 

“Yuri?” Krystal waved a hand in front of her face and she blinked in confusion. The motes of light were gone.

“I must be more exhausted than I think,” Yuriko said, rubbing her eyes. Her Animus felt normal, much diminished as it were. “Let’s find a new place to camp,” she declared. “We’ll return to the outpost tomorrow.”