The ocean waves bobbed Yuriko up and down white she languidly took in the rays of the sun. From where she floated, she couldn’t see any hint of land, and from another point of view, she was in between the sea and sky, illuminated by golden rays that came both from above and from within. Meditation while floating in the ocean was rather pleasant, and clad as she was with nothing but the wind and water, she could spend hours in a trance. 

Most of the time, she stared directly at the projection of the Radiant Sun, and if she spent the night floating, the Luminous Moon, too. The sun was too bright for mortals to look at directly, and most had enough sense not to even try. She’d stared at the sun before and thought she saw shadows moving along its surface. She wasn’t sure what she saw, but she knew that within the celestial body, an Empty Throne was hidden. She only had a vague concept of what that was, just that it was something Damien desired more than anything else in his long life. 

Why he wanted it wasn’t clear, just that only by claiming it could he truly become powerful. Or rather, he would become a Power. She…wasn’t sure what the distinction was, but she had the vague impression that it was something desirable. Surely, someone who could sit on the Radiant Throne would become strong enough to impose their Will onto anything. She could become strong enough to do whatever she wanted, to go wherever suited her fancy, and live in peace. 

But fights might be boring if the gap was too wide, though…? Then again, having the luxury of pulling her punches so she didn’t paste her opponent at the first hit was good, too. 

The Radiant Sun overhead…the shadows crossing its surface were faint, but as she continued to stare, they became more and more obvious. The way they moved… Was it something akin to runescript lines? A Grand Rune…?

Yuriko blinked and whatever sense she was trying to make out of shadow patterns and afterimages across her eyes, vanished. As did whatever insight or enlightenment she might have made, only the memory that there was something there sustained her, and the thought that her Anima wasn’t strong enough to bear the consequences of that insight. 

She sighed and closed her eyes once again. The wind blew across the surface of the sea. It threw up waves that threatened to swamp her, but she didn’t react. The cold wind against her bare skin was soothing, even if it made her nips stiffen. 

The only thing she carried on her person was her hip satchel. She had improved on its spatial expansion runescript lines and its protective enchantment. It was sealed as long as she kept it closed, and inside it was enough space to hold the entirety of her wardrobe, her supplies, and anything else she fancied bringing. It had roughly nine cubic paces of volume now. Retrieving things inside it required using her Anima, or alternatively, one could dive headfirst into it and root around. Her safe pouch was also inside it while she was at sea, though normally, the pouch necklace hung on her neck. 

She felt something nudge her hand, and she couldn’t help but smile. The furry sea creature, though the cutie breathed air, had legs, and could walk on land, was a rather sociable little tyke. The first time she encountered Slick was while she was swimming just off the coast. His curiosity drove him to approach her, and he offered a smooth, shiny rock when they met. She inspected it curiously but saw nothing special about it, but apparently, it was a tool the critter used to break open the shells of his prey. To offer it to her when she had nothing on felt as if it was out of pity and the desire to help. Endearing. 

Ah, and Fluffington hated him on sight, ehehe. 

The elemental wolf pup remained with Gwendith back in the only settled place on the entire planet. It doubled as a spaceport as well as fortification and was also named Sigma Station, which could also refer to the planet. Fluffers was napping inside Gwendith’s bedroom, while her lover was going through paperwork. 

The Rascal was in drydock and the crew, because of the long shore leave, took the time to fix and upgrade every nook and cranny of the frigate. Thoughts of Gwendith eventually turned to thoughts of lovemaking. She had been away for a while now, and perhaps it was time to return and enjoy the pampering her lovers lavished on her. It didn’t help that her incarnation body was practically celibate, and since both bodies suffered from her Mien’s side effects, it took considerable Will not to just jump every attractive body she came across. 

‘And to think I was basically asexual in my early teens…’ Yuriko muttered to herself. Still, she supposed this was better than that state before. It was just part of growing up. 

She rubbed Slick’s head and turned over to begin her long swim to the coast. She could have just flown over the ocean, but swimming presented a relatively new way to train her entire body, especially when she restricted herself heavily. 

She hummed as she swam. Her sea buddy kept pace, flitting about ahead, then beside, and sometimes either behind or under her. She read the current, the waves, and the wind, and used them to guide her strokes. She flipped over on her back to swim while staring at the clouds after an hour, then blinked when she saw something she hadn’t expected. 

Vapour trails crossed the sky, and she saw small Voidcraft crossing the horizon. Enhanced Sight allowed her to see the hull, and more importantly, the symbols that displayed the ship’s name and affiliation. None of them were from Millennium State, and from the way they were angled, they were heading directly to the spaceport, and she doubted they had anything benign in their intentions. No, it was clear that they were hostile. She even saw one of the ships break away from their formation and head towards her position. 

Yuriko rose from the ocean, floating a couple of paces above the ways. Her Anima sluiced off the salt and water off her body, then dipped into her hip satchel for her clothes. A few seconds after the Voidship turned towards her direction, she was dressed and ready for a fight. And a couple of seconds later, she broke the sound barrier. Another few seconds and she was already halfway to their position, and by then, the pilots reacted to her approach. 

The one that was originally headed towards her took evasive action, while the rest of the Voidships unexpectedly retreated. They peeled away from each other, looking like flower petals scattering in the wind, twisted and turned until they faced away from her direction, then blasted away. Vapour cones appeared around the conical ships, and they rocketed away at speeds that would require Yuriko’s focus to catch up to. Unfortunately, they all headed in different directions and they weren’t quite within range of her Animakinesis. 

Seeing that she could reasonably deal with only one fighter, she closed in on the evasive ship. A couple of seconds later, it was within range, and she grabbed it. At the edge of her conventional reach, which was now three hundred sixty-one paces, reduced from four hundred and ten due to holding Damien’s selected memories, she focused her reach around the fighter ship, then squeezed down to hold it. 

Her kinesis was resisted by the ship’s projected energy shield, but she simply applied more pressure, and at the same time, held on to it as it tried to escape. She was dragged along for a hundred paces before she broke through the shield and grasped the ship directly. Her perception slipped through the hull. She quickly found the power source, though was stymied in how to disable it. So instead, she seeped her Anima towards the cockpit, then immobilised the pilot. It was easy enough to determine which button, lever, or pedal the young Sha’ledras pilot used to control the ship, so she pried his hands and feet off them. The ship’s thrusters powered down at that point. 

The entire fight and capture lasted all of half a minute, but by that time, the other five ships had already moved leagues from her position. Her divided consciousness strands considered every choice she could reasonably make to either capture or destroy the ships. Only two were headed directly towards the spaceport, and a cursory examination of the ship’s weapons told her that they would be quite lethal to the crew of the Rascal, though they wouldn’t present much of a challenge against her companions. 

She could head over to the spaceport directly and help defend against the attack, or she could ascend beyond the Veil and get a look at what was happening. Absent any communications…

Ah, here it was. She fished out her Autotab and browsed through the incoming messages, ignored the calls coming from Ilvarra, and at the same time, ejected the pilot from his ship. Ultimately, she decided to head to the port, if only to drop off her spoils of victory. She encased both fighter and pilot with her Anima and shot towards the spaceport. Sonic booms and vapour cones trailed from her position, and she noted with some humour that the ships headed to where she was going noticed her approach and peeled off their trajectory. She wasn’t that far from the base, and it would only take her a few minutes to get there. Hmmm, but from the messages she received, and the call she finally answered, a few minutes might be too long.

___________

The keening alarm jolted Heron out of training fatigue. Ilvarra Erdmann, the girl who was their mercenary group’s sponsor, as well as someone who was quite smitten with him, jolted out of her own reverie. They were in the port facility’s training hall, and while Ilvarra wasn’t doing anything other than recording his movements for later review, both of them had done this enough times that it had become routine. A bit boring, but necessary. 

Heron took a moment to decipher the alarm, but Ilvarra spoke before he could come to his own conclusions, “Invasion, airborne bombers, fighters, and troop transport. We should head to the CIC.” 

Heron nodded as he retrieved his gear and armour. He used his Anima and Ennoia to wick away the sweat off his body, but his kinesis wasn’t fine enough to allow him to get dressed without using his limbs. He didn’t mind undressing in front of the older girl, and this time, Ilvarra was too distracted to stare. 

They’d come to an agreement of sorts, and Ilvarra had been exposed long enough to Yuriko that she also developed quite a bit of an infatuation. Nothing much happened as both Squire and Mistress were keen on growing stronger. But nothing barred the way for Ilvarra. He’d grown fond enough of her that he wouldn’t mind having her along even after their contract ended. He wasn’t sure if she’d leave Milstate for Stormdriven, and until that choice was made, nothing could really happen. 

They arrived at the Combat Information Center situated near the centre of the facility. The port commander and his staff were close to panicking. 

“Who’s attacking? What happened?” Ilvarra demanded. 

“Hartdel Defiant. They’ve got a fleet. The outpost is already under attack, and we’re next. The port is on lockdown. All defenders report to battle stations.” 

Ilvarra gave Heron a worried look and he understood completely. The space port didn’t have much in terms of defences. Sure, there were turrets, surface-to-air missiles, and an energy shield, but against a fleet from beyond the Veil? 

“What’s the plan?” Heron asked as he made his way towards Stormdriven’s quarters. 

“Plan?” Ilvarra laughed, “Hole up and wait for reinforcements. An entire fleet with battleships means we don’t have a chance. Here’s hoping they don’t bother with the facility and just go for the warehouses.” 

Heron frowned. Holding on and waiting for salvation wasn’t really something he did. Not since Yuriko returned to him. Well, waiting for her was what he usually did, and it looked like it would be the same. Well, he could fight directly. He was more than powerful enough to do so.

Before he could decide, the facility shook as heavy ordinance slammed into the port’s energy shields. While Ilvarra was quietly panicking, Heron realised that he was quite calm. 

In fact, he was excited to cut his teeth into new foes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep