Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

It took a couple of hours to reach Naradon City’s outskirts, and the good news was that her infused sunblade had persisted throughout the entire time. Her Intent and Will reserves were enough for her to advance, but unfortunately, those were just two of the requirements. Her Anima needed to reach a thousand paces, a longstride, preferably, though a hundred paces was enough to advance.

Her Colligia of Radiance should also reach Reperta and, according to Damien’s knowledge, Radiance must saturate her core. What wasn’t clear was which core it meant, though she guessed it would be her Animus core. The core of her Anima was simply the centre of the entire thing and nothing really distinguished it from everywhere else and it happened to be seated at her centre of torso, just above her navel. Her Animus core was contained around that area, along with her Sorcerous Implement, the Radiant Spear.

Then again, the representation of her Ennoia of the Radiant Flying Sword and her Ennoia of the Bladeless Sword were also located there, though not in the same body. She knew she could build an Ennoia core for her true body for both, but she had an inkling that it would make things too crowded…

So, while her Colligia of Radiance was centred around her Animus core, she wondered if it should be her Anima core instead. It made sense, right? She had to saturate the core with her Colligia, and to create a…satellite around her core which consisted of her Truth. She had two Truths, but since they weren’t on the same level, they didn’t crowd each other. On the other hand, she could just not build a core for them. She would still be able to use the Truth, just not very well. Her incarnation body didn’t have her Colligia of Radiance, or the Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords, and yet she could still use them. Her true body didn’t have a core for the Ennoia of the Bladeless Sword yet she could still use the Invisible Edge. Just not that well. Without the core, her capabilities with the Truth was at around…ten percent?

With regards to the Colligia of Radiance, she was also sure that her Radiant Physique shored up the deficiency for her incarnation body so she noticed no difference other than the amount of Radiance she could access at once. Granted, her physique allowed her to replenish that reserve quickly, so it was hardly an issue.

Well, her incarnation body only had the Ennoia of the Bladeless Sword inside her core. Her plan had been to merge it with Radiant Flying Swords to make a broader Truth. She couldn’t merge them yet, and she knew that if she progressed beyond Ennoia, merging them would be incredibly hard. A pity she didn’t have a third body to extend the experiment with, huh?

Either way, her ascension could only occur with her true body. She could probably disassemble her incarnation body’s Ennoia core with little consequence, other than a weakening of combat potential, anyway. Not that she’d know for sure, and Damien’s memories didn’t include what would happen or what consequences she’d have to bear. So…why was she so certain? Odd.

Then again, gut feelings did have a history of being correct, one way or another, though she was sure she misinterpreted them just as often.

So that meant she wasn’t about to slack off training her Intent and Will, and she wasn’t going to experiment with undoing her Ennoia cores. There was also little she could do to speed up the process of expanding her Anima reach, and she was only safe in improving her Radiant Truth. At the very least, Radiance was easy to improve. All she had to do was continue to live, ponder on the matter at hand, and sunbathe as often as she could.

The commuter bus arrived at a public transportation hub a few minutes after they crossed Naradon’s outskirts. Yuriko, Scarlett, Brilliance, and Speedrun alighted, followed by the other rescued. She did pay the bus driver for their fare, and even though the trip had been uncomfortable considering that they had to resort to standing on the aisle, it was a timely aid anyway.

Scarlett had arranged for someone on the bus to call 505 emergency hotline, so that when they arrived at the hub, there were police, ambulances, and Protectorate troops waiting. The latter were clad in obscuring gear, dark blue or black protective vests, helmets with opaque faceplates, and the letters AP on their sigils and patches—Astorian Protectorate.

Yuriko and Scarlett hung back while Brilliance and Speedrun went up to talk to the Protectorate capes. There was an entire squad of them, looking as green as grass. They were well within her perception range, and half of them looked ill at ease, another couple of the dozen were stoic, while the other four looked professional. They were attired in the manner of capes: tight-fitting clothing—leather, some stretchy fabric, or a metal armour that looked like it was powered but not by any energy source she could easily detect.

After ten minutes, one of the ones who retained a professional demeanor, clad in form fitting metal armour in shades of dark blue accented in a lighter shade, approached her.

“Good afternoon,” he said in a stiff tone as he shifted his grip on a metal staff. “I am named Lancer. I have been informed by affiliates Brilliance and Speedrun, from the Neo Prism City division, that you, vigilante labeled Regalia, and your allies had been instrumental in the rescue of nineteen abducted Altered Humans, none of which were registered as capes but with the Astorian Protectorate, but residing in several different counties and states.”

He paused while Yuriko noted his rather clipped monotone. The Protectorate Altered Human’s armour was actually thicker than it looked, which masked his actual body shape. Her perception slipped under the metal and she blinked at the multitude of gadgets, servos, and varied circuits that mapped out the entirety of the armour. It was also bigger inside than what was apparent. His armour covered all of his body except for his lower face, which sported a neatly trimmed goatee, and somewhat chapped lips.

“Some claims were made by the affiliates and your statement of the event would be greatly appreciated.”

“I don’t’ mind,” Yuriko answered easily. “We, Harakin and I, received a tip about the Unfettered and made our investigations. However, once we slipped into Interstitial Space, we found ourselves surrounded by daemos…”

Lancer didn’t interrupt her story at any point except for a few clarifying questions in between. She ended her statement with the worry over the invasion and the portal hub the Irvallans created in the process. She didn’t identify the soldiers nationality having no real evidence for it other than experience and Desire’s word.

“Multiple portal rifts but when you excited the one in the desert, you didn’t see any rifts nearby?” Lancer hummed. “The incident and your concerns will be reported up the chain, thank you very much.” He tapped something on his forearm. “Recording ended. If I might ask why neither you nor your associate have attempted to affiliate with the Protectorate in your region? It would facilitate your activities better.”

Yuriko smiled. “I only do this as a hobby, and I’m training Harakin. I also have a civilian career.”

Lancer frowned, then nodded. “Thank you for that information. Perhaps you should reconsider your career choice? While it is not illegal to conceal your Altered Human status, you would do more good as being part of law enforcement.”

“I’m not really interested in that,” Yuriko demurred.

“A pity,” Lancer said after a noticeably long moment. “Thank you again. If you and your fellows have no easy way to return to Neo Prism City, the Naradon Protectorate is willing to arrange transportation. Please visit the office next to NC Hotel and Casino if you do.” With a final nod, Lancer spun on his heels and left.

Harakin walked up next to her, with a fresh jacket over her badly torn shirt. “Pushy fellows aren't they?” she said in a whisper.

Yuriko created a sound nullification field around the two of them, “it wasn't so bad.”

“I'm eager to return home. Gods know how much school work I've missed.”

Oh yeah.

Yuriko grumbled as she checked her email account. Unsurprisingly, it had been inundated with messages from Pixel Fairy, though thankfully, it wasn't panicky. She didn't have a shooting schedule over the weekend and the coming week, or rather, this week. The emails were about other possible work, and her nonresponse had prompted more insistent communication.

She answered the most recent one and gave the excuse of a sudden trip that ended up in an area with no connectivity. She didn't expect a response immediately, and was surprised to receive one less than a minute later. It wasn't anything more than platitudes and a request to inform the agency the next time she planned to be out of contact for a while.

She sent another email to her college and didn't bother to wait or even expect a reply. Instead, she sent a message to Alexis to tell him that she needed transportation for four people.

Afterwards, she glided towards Brilliance and Speedrun, who were being looked over by paramedics. Lancer was nearby, holding a suppression collar. The tilt of his head and the stiff posture revealed anxiety.

‘What did you do with the suppression collars?’ Yuriko sent to Desire.

‘Left most of it behind,’ came the immediate response.

‘Someone brought it with them here.’

‘Does it matter? I broke the mechanism.’

‘I guess not. But the gadgeter Cape, Lancer, looked fascinated.’

‘From the collar and not looking at you?’ Desire teased.

‘He’s too old to catch my attention.’ Yuriko sent idly

‘Master, we do not age. If you mind it too much, you'll run out of prospective partners a century from now. Unless,’ she drew out, ‘you’re fine with your current partners?’

‘I’ve yet to find another one worth my interest.’

Yuriko broke off the connection while Desire chuckled.

Lancer continued to stare at the broken suppression collar, before he shook himself and trod towards the Protectorate vehicles.

Yuriko poked Brilliance’s side with a finger, and the younger girl jumped. The cousins had not been in costume when they had been captured, and they hadn’t shared how it happened beyond a terse summary. For all that, she could see Bril’s anger in how she held herself, but that emotion was sheathed by fear. From what Dee said, the Bril had tried her best to escape, but had inadvertently led the enemy pursuit to her cousin, and both had been downed and captured that way.

“Wha—! Regalia!”

“Come on,” Yuriko said.

“Where are we going? I think the heroes have more questions…”

“Well, you two need to be looked after first,” Yuriko insisted while she pushed Bril and Speedy towards the paramedics. “A friend arranged a suite for us in the Grand Regency Hotel for the rest of the week. Then we'll catch a flight back to NPC.”

It was nearly eight thousand longstrides distant from where they were to Neo Prism. And while she could fly that long, she didn't want to have to carry at least two others with her.

The rescued prisoners were all loaded into ambulances and brought to a hospital. Scarlett wasn't captured just she was hurt badly, so she went along with the others. Yuriko declined to be checked in, and instead headed to the Grand Regency to check into her room. The only trouble was that Alexis had booked the room under the Lawson name and she didn't bring her civilian gear.

Easy enough to shop for new clothes, though most of the stuff she got was for the warm weather.

All the while she felt a mild undercurrent of premonition. She was sure that trouble would come, and the next morning, the news broke out. Thousands of daemons were sighted all over the country, and the fighting had started.