The moment Yuriko stabbed the elusive magus in the head, she saw his expression and it chilled her to her bones. It wasn’t fear, worry, or even anger. She had expected a dying man, one beset by the pain of being burned head to toe. 

Or perhaps he wasn’t feeling much pain at all. She recalled that most of a body’s feeling of pain originated from the skin, and though she had experiences that said otherwise, such as when she forged her body with lightning, or when she tempered her physique, the pain was spread within her body too… 

Either way, the Magus’ expression was odd. It was the look of someone who won. The smug glint in his eyes as he stared at her, the twitching of his lips—what was left of them—and the cocky tilt of his head. His last gasp seemed to twist on itself and Yuriko felt a flare of intuition, a spike of alarm.

Something streamed out of the Magus’ head. It was mostly transparent, except for when the light, her light, hit it just at the right angle, then it glimmered with different hues much like oil did when spilt on the street. It was moving away from the body, and she instinctively knew she had to stop it. 

A flare of Radiant energy enveloped her blade and the devouring light caught the translucent Anima fragment that was escaping. The tail still clinging to his burnt flesh ignited, and the entire thing flashed into Radiant light. The sense of foreboding disappeared with it and Yuriko couldn’t help but smile brightly. 

“Professor!” 

She turned and nodded to Monica Coinoch, someone she had not expected to see reinforce her, but was nonetheless more than welcome.

“Madam Coinoch,” Yuriko answered.

The rest of the enemy battalion was retreating and she estimated they lost more than a thousand men and women in this engagement. While they still outnumbered the Bresians, they didn’t have another True Magus level combatant from what Yuriko could see, hence, they were completely outmatched. Especially considering that the siege spell casters on both sides were roughly equal in number. 

In the same vein, since the Bresians were outnumbered three to one, it was much safer to let the enemy withdraw. That wasn’t to say that they would attack and force a rout, that was actually what they were doing at the moment, except for a contingent that was headed towards her anyway. 

While she initially thought that the pursuing and harrying force was going a bit too far, knowledge about warfare that she absorbed from Damien twinkled in her mind’s eye. They were still outnumbered and the Ishodirians still had their siege weapons. If they weren’t pushed, they were just as likely to retreat a couple of longstrides, gather themselves up, then counterattack. 

Yuriko glared down at the corpse. The Radiant energy completed the burn, and what was left were only acrid ashes. Human bodies normally didn’t burn that fast, but the Radiant energy contained within her blade was quite hot. 

“You’ve no need to be formal,” Monica Coinoch said as she came within easy conversational distance. Her Steeld wasn’t the typical horse model but looked more like a large cat. It was about half again as large as a horse Steeld, but then again, about five hundred of the Bresian soldiers rode the big cat Steelds. 

“So what now?” Yuriko asked. 

“I’ll keep an eye on the Ishodirians.” Monica said slowly, and she looked towards the retreating soldiers, “We haven’t seen the last of them, and those fools on the Council…” She shook her head. “Get your protegees and we’ll all travel towards Greyith. Least we could do, and…” She looked at the burnt-out husk, “We’ll need to talk about…that.”

Yuriko nodded. “My caravan moved to the forest to hide, I’ll go retrieve them.” She felt for the connections to her familiar and disciples, seeking their emotional state. Aside from some annoyance, they didn’t seem in danger. “We’ll continue down the road. You’ll catch up?”

“If not, then we’ll see each other in Greyith.” Monica pursed her lips. “Cillian is there. If I don’t arrive by the time you have to leave, please visit him.”

“I will.” 

Yuriko didn’t look at the corpse with her eyes as she left, but she kept her Anima perception on him until it was no longer within range. She flew as quickly as she could towards the Vitrovin Forest Conflux, and followed her threads. 

She found them less than a longstride from the edge. There were no trails into the forest, simply tree trunks and undergrowth, so it was honestly incredible they made it that far without burning down a path. Or rather, it was strange how there was absolutely no trail heading towards where they went. Yuriko pursed her lips in thought. It was as if the forest either covered up their trail or moved out of the way to let them in. 

But if it were the latter, then they would be farther inside the forest than they were. And when Yuriko found them, she couldn’t help but snort a laugh. 

Vines and flowers were draped across everything. The vines were slowly constricting the wheels and the Steeld legs, while the guards, as well as her disciples, were hacking away at the others trying to entangle people. 

Fluffington…was halfway trussed up by the vines. He was on top of one of the carriages, evidently put there by the guards or one of her students. The vines only entangled him, then pressed flowers against his nose. From the way his leg was kicking, it must be an intensely pleasant scent. Juliette and Sofia had kerchiefs wrapped around their noses and mouths. 

The vines started moving towards Yuriko, and the flowers puffed out barely visible pollen that she only perceived easily through her Anima. Even through that, she could feel some of its effects as a slowly increasing sense of bliss washed over her. Shaking her head, Yuriko intensified the Radiant energy infused into her Anima and burned off the pollen around her and the caravan. The vines jerked back as though burned, though they were not visibly hurt.

“Oh, thank the gods,” Sofia gasped when she turned to Yuriko. 

“We can go back now,” Yuriko answered the unspoken question. 

Juliette nodded at that then yelled at the drivers to turn the Steeld carriages around. That hadn’t been too hard since the legs just pushed off against the ground, shuffled around until the carriage faced the other way, then settled back down. Then the caravan simply moved back to where they passed through. The undergrowth visibly moved away from the path, much to Yuriko’s astonishment and delight. She sat down beside the lead carriage’s driver, who turned out to be Sofia. The actual driver was perched at the back. 

The crimson-haired girl gathered Fire Elemental energy in front of her and formed it into a sigil, then held it in front of the windshield. The sigil caused the actual movement. 

“Why weren’t you using that to move deeper?” Yuriko asked curiously, to which the girl rolled her eyes. 

“It only works if we’re moving out of the Conflux. Didn’t you…no, I guess you didn’t read the travel packets,” Sofia grumbled while Yuriko laughed awkwardly. 

The caravan snaked through the gaps in the trees, and it took a bit more than an hour to get to the edge. In the meantime, Fluffington shook off whatever it was that got him sleeping, and he padded up next to the driver’s cabin and gazed at her with adoring eyes. Chuckling to herself, Yuriko reached out and stroked him between the ears, which he appreciated so much that he nearly walked into a tree while enjoying her ministrations. 

Sofia and Juliette, who had been looking through the carriage windows, chuckled at the sight. Yuriko noticed a bit of their tension had eased and she quietly asked, “Was it your first time fighting against other men and women?”

Sofia sighed and shook her head, but Juliette nodded. “In a real life and death fight.” The brunette clarified, “I’ve fought others in the sparring ring.”

“I understand.” Yuriko nodded, “But… It seems like war. How many times has it been?” She added with an undertone. 

Sofia heard her though and asked curiously, “How many…conflicts have you been in?”

Yuriko hummed and held up her fingers, “Bella, Karcellia, and Rumiga.” She tilted her head, “I think that’s it.”

“Over the last few years?” 

“Yup.”

“Was it…hard. To kill?”

Yuriko nodded. “At first. But it was their lives or mine, and my allies.” She leaned back as she pondered a few things. It had not been easy back then, deciding to take a life. It was easy… easier now. But it was also easier to defeat without killing, too, except for foes who were as strong or stronger than she was. 

Her choices in the battle earlier…and even the battles weeks ago…it had been too easy for her to decide that she didn’t care if her foes lived or died. 

Damien’s memories were rife with slaughter. Her very first dream of him had been when he was confronted by his enemies, whom he easily killed. He had not even thought of sparing their lives. 

Was she headed in the same direction? She didn’t want to become a mirror of Damien. She struggled against it, in fact. So why did she decide that slaying those weaker, even those in war against her…that it was acceptable to slay them? Was it not a point against her pride, her skills, and her power, that she could not decide not to kill them? If they were cowed by her, would they not seek to leave her presence and abandon the fight?

More importantly…her Mien thrived on those who regarded her. Strong emotions directed at her, whether they be love, lust, admiration, fear, or respect—they all strengthened her Mien and strengthened here in turn. Anima, Animus, Ennoia, Physique…and Mien. Those were the foundations she built when she reached for Transformation. To reach Manifestation, another part of her, Intent and Will, needed to be strengthened, refined, and tempered. But that didn’t mean that she should ignore the first five. 

So, by sparing the weak, she allowed them to hold strong emotions directed at her, and her Mien would gain strength. So not killing her foes actually made her stronger, instead of being wish-washy. 

Damien’s thoughts and patterns relied on that. He was a Conqueror, and that dealt with death too. But he did not possess a Mishala Mien. 

She smiled to herself. Yes, there were more reasons not to kill recklessly, or impudently. And the realisation cleared the mists from her mind. 

She need not kill her foes…all she needed to do was defeat them so that they would never forget her, never think to fight against her, and never even attempt to try for her loved ones. 

And there were so many things worse than death.

She was giggling to herself by the time the caravan left the conflux. The Bresian brigade stood victorious over the battlefield, but they made no move to do anything other than secure their dead. A few were scavenging weapons and gold, she supposed, but they looked more than ready to leave immediately. 

A contingent galloped towards the caravan as soon as they emerged on the road. Sofia and the girls inside the carriage heaved a sigh of relief when they saw the uniforms and insignias of the Bresian military. 

A woman Yuriko didn’t know, but recognised as one of the sub-commanders under Monica Coinoch approached them, and said, “Professor. My company will ride with your caravan to Greytih. We will make our own adjustments and the rest of the 7th Brigade will follow.”

“Thank you,” Yuriko answered and the woman saluted with her right arm held perpendicular to the ground, palm facing towards her face, and her fingertips an inch from the corner of her right eye. 

Yuriko returned the salute, merely mimicking the woman though flashes of other salute styles went through her head. The company of about fifty riders went in two columns on either side of the caravan, and hopefully, the rest of the trip to Greyith would be uneventful.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep