Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

"Where and when?" Yuriko asked.

"On the 14th," Zach answered quickly. "A town west of Neo Prism, almost in the next state, actually. Nordham, along route 16. I've got the address here." He forwarded the message to Yuriko's phone. "He asked to meet by six in the evening."

"Suspicious."

"Yes, it is. Are you free?"

Yuriko hummed and checked her smartphone. "I've got a fashion show next week, but it's only scheduled until Goldsday. The 14th is Earthsday, right?"

"Yup."

"I will join you. I don't think this will turn out well, however."

"I don't think so either, but I can't just leave him alone." Zach sighed. "Yes, we barely know each other, but we all shared a bond, right?"

"If you say so." Yuriko smirked. "But as I've said, I don't mind accompanying you. It might be amusing."

Zach shook his head and chuckled. "I guess you would feel like that, huh."

"It is what it is. A pity the movie isn't done, otherwise your…Alteration, would be more useful."

"Yeah."

With that, the two of them parted ways. Yuriko headed to the parking garage, a concrete building that didn't have heat, but it sheltered the vehicles from the snow anyway. Her breath came out in clouds of steam that lingered for a few moments before dissipating. She chuckled to herself as she puffed her breath to emulate a pillar of smoke, then formed steam rings and arrows. She took a deep breath and exhaled hard and fast, with her lips pursed. The steam came out like an arrow and smacked into a wall a hundred paces away.

Her Nitsuda Civilian wasn't parked too far away from the lift. She got inside, removed her scarf and jacket, then turned the car on. The drive back home might take a while considering the road conditions, but she'd never experience a Season of Water in such a convenient city. As her car got out of the parking garage, she noted that all of the snow on the road had been pushed into the pavement on either side of the road. There were vehicles travelling in the cold, and it was dark even though it was still early in the evening.

The drive was peaceful. The production company used a studio in Neo Prism City for Yuriko's ease, though she didn't have anything to do with the decision. Perhaps her agency had done it. Either way, the studio was close enough to Pixel Fairy's headquarters that she could have walked there in less than five minutes. It was still a long drive from Winderfield to Oakmont Estates, still took an hour's drive, though this time, instead of the slow traffic due to congestion, it was because of the slippery road conditions. A gentle snowfall began ten minutes after she began her drive.

In Shangria, Yuriko, Carina, Fluffington, and Sir Blue encountered their own version of a snowy wonderland once they crossed into the third biome.

"This is unusual," Carina said. "Normally, this place would be cold, but there wouldn't be this much precipitation."

Yuriko looked up to the sky. While there was cloud cover, it wasn't thick enough to obscure the reflection of the Radiant Sun, but even so, it was the first time since they came down here when the biomes actually aligned with the proper climate. Well, it wasn't as if every plane, planet, or region had the same kind of weather. Some places just didn't grow cold enough for snow, or grew scorchingly hot during the Season of Fire. At the very least, when it was the Season of Water or Air, it was noticeably cooler than any other time of the year. Not so in Shangria.

Well, perhaps that element of randomness aligned with the proper climate once in a while. Wait…Carina said it wasn't this cold, usually?

"What do you mean? No snow in this biome, normally?"

"Yeah. This is just another flat plain, with even less grass. I picked this route so we can hunt more easily, and this can also lead to the Arena. You wanted to participate in the Martial Tournament, right? It's actually about a hundred and thirty biomes away, however, so it might be better to just cross over to node city 347 through the rings or through a Voidship than through the biomes."

"The tournament is held on the first layer?"

"The main tournament, yes. The qualifiers will be held in the node cities and the biomes surrounding the arena."

"How so?"

The denizens of the biome weren't prepared for the snow, since they stood out in a bad way. The white plain was dotted with blobs of reddish brown, and when she focused and used her Enhanced Sight, she was able to identify the critters. Well, they were canines, foxes, she thought, that were almost as big as Fluffers. As soon as her wolf saw the nearest one, he charged out, casting out plumes of displaced snow in the process.

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He slammed into the foxes, jaws clamped down on the critters' paws when they tried to dodge. He wrenched his head, and with an awful crack, snapped the limb. A follow-up crunch, and he broke its neck. The fox fell limp.

Sir Blue swelled up to twice his previous size, then, CRACK! A bolt of blue electricity crossed the air and hit a fox that was a dozen paces away. It stiffened and jittered, arcs of blue lightning playing across its fur.

Whoosh!

A bolt of purple plasma slammed into its face and melted into the skull. The headless body fell in the snow, blood slowly staining it crimson. But only for a few moments. Then, the bodies disintegrated into dust, including the spilled blood.

"Well, the Arena could be considered one of the central gathering places on the first layer. It's also well defended by denizens, at least until the factions clear it. It remains that way until the next reset as long as people hold the structure, but the surrounding biomes respawn their monsters. Nobody clears those and they're strong for the first layer. Nodes like the arena aren't on the path to enter the next layer, and oddly enough, they've got powerful monster guardians there. Strong enough to give Steel-ranked trouble." Carina said as she lowered her plasma rifle. She took aim at the next nearest fox blob and shot it. The critter avoided the first bolt but jumped right into the second one. It hit the monster's torso, close to the shoulder, and disabled it enough for her third shot to take its head off. So far, none of the foxes dropped anything.

"And so they leave it as some kind of test?" Yuriko confirmed. "But isn't it…I don't know, are first-layer monsters, even those that are stronger than normal, indicative of lower-layer strength?"

"It isn't, but expeditions run in the hundreds. Dragging food and water along for that long a trip requires that many bodies," Carina said. "And an expedition is usually set in stages. The bulk runs up until the fifth layer since that's as far as expanded storage works. Then, a smaller group breaks off for the lower layers, relieving the greater group of supplies. The rest make the trek back."

"There's no foraging or hunting in the layers?" Yuriko asked.

"There are, actually," Carina said, "but those are in special biomes that aren't on the path to the gates. It would take one to three days to get there and back on the path."

"Hmm, thanks for telling me that."

"Hey, if I'm going to join your team, I have to be on the level," Carina said.

Yuriko arched an eyebrow. "You sure you want to join a completely green team?"

Carina smirked. "The view's nice, and you didn't just ditch me after hearing what Karn said. But, I think we're all going to have a provisional arrangement, at least until we all find out if we can actually work together."

"Hmm, well, that's normal," Yuriko agreed. "I'll introduce you to the others and see if we can work together."

"That would be nice."

They continued south. Yuriko sent Arclight Crescents tipped with Invisible Edge at the foxes. Combining it with the weapon's enchantment lowered the amount of Intent she had to use up to create the Edges by half, something useful to her true body as it ate up nearly one percent each time. It was good practice, though, and marrying the two allowed her better control. She could alter the Arclight's trajectory with a thought, even if she didn't connect an Anima tendril to it. She still couldn't get the Edge to turn more than ninety degrees, but it was a work in progress. Perhaps if she infused more Intent into it? Though it probably wouldn't work, considering it the Edge wasn't designed for maneuverability. Her initial thoughts when she came with it were for a fast strike that couldn't be detected. Should she focus on that instead of exerting control?

It was a question of going deeper or broader, wasn't it? Her Flying Swords were the epitome of control, come to think of it. If she weren't to merge the two Ennoias, should she focus on different, yet complementary things, or should she push towards something that was similar to each other? If there were points that were the same, then it should be easier to merge them, right? But then again, if she did that, then there would be points that she didn't cover. She could hardly go for an all-encompassing Truth if she internationally made holes in the canvas. Perhaps a mixture of both? Increase the penetrative power of the Radiant Flying Swords and increase the controllability of the Invisible… no, the Bladeless Sword?

Ah. that was a thing, too. The Invisible Edge was not the Ennoia, but an application of the Bladeless Sword. The root of that Ennoia was the ability to cut anything. Seeking control with the Invisible Edge was only a tiny aspect of the whole. But then again, working on things bit by bit was one way to eventually create a giant working. No need to bite off more than she could chew when she had the time to properly work things out. It wasn't as if she was on a deadline… right?

They reached the next door frame and crossed over to the fourth biome. Supposedly, this one wouldn't be a flat plain, but a set of lightly wooded hills. When they emerged on the other side, it was hilly, alright, but the snow covered everything but the tips of the barren trees. Her perception sliver found solid ground nearly two paces below them, but the odd thing was that the door frame exited on top of the soft fallen snow rather than on the ground. It didn't act like any kind of fixed structure, but she supposed that was only to the good.

"Ahh!" Carina yelped as she fell right through the powder and wound up buried.

Fluffington, owing to the fact that he was quadrupedal and that he had copied Yuriko's trick of spreading his weight using his Anima, didn't sink in. Sir Blue was a flyer, so only the greenette fell through.

Chuckling to herself, Yuriko used her kinesis to pull Carina off the snow and plopped her on the surface. "You alright?"

"No," Carina spat snow out of her mouth and glared at the fluff, then she cast a spell. Yuriko watched curiously as she spun her fingers into complex patterns and formed dozens of nodes in a fraction of what a normal Magi back in Bresia would have been capable of. Certainly, she was better than her two disciples, Sofia and Juliette. The spell ended without the woman saying a word. Small mandalas formed underneath her soles and she stepped onto the powdery snow, and this time, she didn't fall through.

"What spell's that?" Yuriko asked curiously.

"Float. Modified."

"You modified it as you were casting?"

"Yup," Carina said with a satisfied smirk.

"Interesting."

"Thank you."

"Well, one more biome to check before we return," Yuriko said. "You think it'll be snowy on the other side too?"

"I don't know," Carina said while worrying on her lip, "It shouldn't be. I… maybe bad luck struck again?"

"Then that means this is an opportunity, isn't it?" Yuriko smirked.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Well, let's keep going."