Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

To Yuriko's Enhanced and Chaos Sight, the Layer Guardian was covered in varied exotic energies. Ennoia energies, mostly, and applications of Truth. She was unsure what kind of Truth the guardian held, but she was somewhat eager to find out. She could see Fire, or more likely, Heat. Perhaps it was even Thermal, or Temperature, or some variant thereof, and if it was, then it was similar to Gwendith's Ennoia, for all her lover used the opposite side of the scale than the one currently expressed.

Fire Elemental energy was present, of that she was sure. Along with Metal and Earth. From this far away, she couldn't see the intricacies of how they moved or wove into patterns, but she could see the esoteric energies the guardian wove into being when its tail skimmed lava off the pool. The energies infused into the gobs as they flew, and by the time they landed, the energies had seeped inside, out of her sight, and then turned into monster minions. Lovely.

"Are we going to just sit here?" Carina demanded.

"You can join if you want," Yuriko shrugged. "Saki, Devotee, you too."

Saki was cloaked with shadows, but Yuriko felt the woman nod. Devotee, on the other hand, just shrugged and said, "I'll hold the fort, master. You looked interested in that big lump, go on, I'll keep the squishies safe."

"Hey!" Carina and Ilvara protested while Fluffers woofed. The Elemental Wolf returned to his normal size and was pacing nervously.

"Go on, you can fight too if you want." Yuriko nudged her familiar, and Fluffers barked in agreement. He loped downhill while Yuriko walked up to the edge. Part of her focus was consumed by the ongoing fight, the rest of it examining the monster ahead. The creature was far enough away that it was out of her perception range, even if she stretched. The fight was about a longstride away, well within range, but she estimated the portal and the monster was almost a league away. And the only reason she could detect them was that the base of the caldera wasn't covered in Elemental fog.

She hooked her Anima onto the canvas of reality and floated closer. Slowly, as she didn't want to spook the guardian into reacting too quickly. She moved laterally and noticed the bull's eye moved to track her.

On the plains, Gwendith fought the calves with equanimity. She kept her distance and used her Animakinesis to fight. Ice scales that stored Animus covered her body, but that was hidden under her power armour. Everyone except Yuriko wore armour, and she just didn't bother since it was redundant and she didn't need or want to hide her identity. It was part of the impulses that resonated with Radiance so much, and it was only in the past few weeks that she realised how pervasive it was. Radiance resonated and reinforced certain qualities, and sometimes made it worse. Even more annoying was that most times, it wouldn't even occur to her to check if she was being influenced by excessive Radiance or if it was just her nature. But she also knew that rejecting or completely suppressing those traits would greatly hamper her progress.

And that, she didn't want to happen.

Gwendith wielded her Anima like a scalpel. Her Truth was infused into the tips, and every time they connected to a calf, she stole control of its heat. It didn't take more than a combined total of five seconds of contact before the calf she fought had turned into an icicle, which shattered from a casual slam of her kinesis.

She fought three of the things at the same time, though none of them actually came within a dozen paces of her. She danced around like a leaf in the wind, twirling on tiptoes. It was an amusing sight considering the bulkiness of her armour. The gear Heron brought for them was completely unisex, meaning everyone looked like a bulky muscleman. Well, except for Carina and Ilvara, who absolutely refused to wear powered armour. Well, she wasn't completely defenceless, as her gear did have mobile forcefield generators.

"The armour can be climate-controlled," Gwendith informed Yuriko earlier. "Coupled with my Ennoia, it's more comfortable than you'd expect." Which must be true considering everything else. She didn't really feel all that constricted when Heron got her the armour, just that it felt more unpleasant the longer she used it to conceal her identity.

It was a wonder her incarnation self didn't feel the same way, but then again, that one didn't have a Radiant Core.

After Gwendith wiped out her trio, she moved to help the other Ancients. Those others didn't react, but then, their expressions were concealed behind their helms. Yuriko could feel a bit of emotion through the movement of their Anima, but all in all, they had excellent control of themselves. They didn't begrudge the help either, but considering the minions didn't drop shards, there was no profit in hogging the fight.

Heron was up and personal as he was wont to do.

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His spear was coated in both his Anima and a mini-tornado through his mastery of the Winds. When he swiped at a flaming calf, the heat was pulled by the winds and his weapon was suddenly surrounded by a halo of dull red light. He focused on sharpness more than anything else, at least at first. The bronze calves' metal shell was too resistant to being cut or pierced, at least after the first time he cleft them in twain. The second volley of minions was then much harder to kill. Even the solid shells the machine guns flung out bounced off the armour instead of ripping them to shreds.

It was at that point that Heron switched tactics. The sharpness of his wind edge shifted to the hexagonal shields he had used back when he was thirteen. He anchored the shields to the spear and used it to bludgeon. The bronze shells crumpled with every blow, which also told Yuriko that the bronze calves were probably a bit hollow instead of solid metal.

She also spied streams of esoteric energy going back to the guardian. It was absorbed through the nostrils and disappeared into the body. She had a good guess of what it symbolised, but since she couldn't see into the creature, she couldn't be certain.

The other Ancients fought in a different manner from her Squires. They fought like a fire team or a squad of soldiers, not as individuals. But the funny thing was, they grouped in teams of five, and they fought twice the amount of calves at the beginning, though only a couple of each team fought to hold attention while the rest either supported or blasted the enemy. Considering that Wyllan and the others were Sha'ledras, she wondered if they all were. Their armour concealed their features and she only recognised them via their Anima signature.

They kept their distance from Gwendith and Heron, but that was fine. Yuriko didn't see any need to talk with them after everything that happened. Perhaps there would be some kind of negotiation if they managed to defeat the Layer Guardian, but she wasn't sure if they even intended to fight. The convoy had driven over the slope and reached the same road spiral that she and the others were on by now. The Ancient Circles were also slowly retreating, and it didn't take more than a couple of minutes before her lovers were already at the forefront.

Saki appeared out of the shadows briefly to attack a calf. Her Ennoia wasn't very offensive, but what she did was conjure a cloud of smoky darkness that covered the metal minion's face. Then they seeped into the thing's interior, and the calf went wild, spinning and kicking whatever was near it, while Saki dodged out of the way and vanished. The rampaging calf managed to knock down another of its fellows before a couple of them double-teamed it and turned it into scrap.

The fallen calf still sent information via energy to the guardian, though, and once the current group got decimated, another flick of the tail sent another fifteen calves on the road. The next time Saki tried to smother and enrage a calf, it didn't quite work the same way. The thing still got confused, though, and kicked one of its fellows. Saki applied more Shadow smoke and it went wild again.

While Heron's attacks grew less effective, Gwendith's Ennoia attacks remained effective. After another cycle of defense, she managed to defeat more calves than Heron and Saki combined. As for the Circles, they'd already retreated and it was her Squires and Handmaiden who held the line.

Yuriko frowned. They were being pushed back. Their enemy was growing stronger with every defeat, and the main monster wasn't even fighting yet. She supposed it was time to act.

Miniature sunblades emerged from under her coat, numbering in the hundreds. She flew towards her lovers and gave only a passing glance at the retreating convoy. None of them met her gaze for more than a second, and she could feel their embarrassment at the retreat. No matter, there was no shame in knowing one was outmatched, and Yuriko thought their decision was correct, anyway. They were probably tasked with protecting the convoy, or rather, they might not have anticipated encountering a unique monster that was powerful beyond comparison. She hovered above her team and said flippantly, "You seem busy, I'll go ahead."

"Go retrieve the shard," Gwendith said playfully. "If you do, we might not need another expedition before making the attempt at the Gate."

"Alright, I'll do it." Yuriko grinned. For all that the Layer Guardian was huge and scary-looking, she wasn't pressured by it at all. And best of all, none of the monsters in Shangria ever retreated.

She zoomed towards the beast. It snorted flames and smoke from its nostrils, thick plumes that covered several cubic paces in the air. The smoke boiled as it spread out, and before she could reach the creature, it had turned into a wall, one that blocked her perception. Well, it would if she couldn't simply see around the thing, but her Anima was pushed away from the smoke. She darted above, only to be met by a plume of flame. Yellow plasma splashed against her Anima and parted easily, and once she could see, it was to the auroch's horn a couple of paces from smacking her out of the air. She flitted over it, and the wind shear tore at her Anima, not strong enough to cause fissures, but if she was any weaker, then it might have bypassed her protections.

A sunblade returned to its normal proportion, and she sent it flying towards the bronze bull.

Ptang!

Unsurprisingly, the sunblade bounced off the shell; neither the blade nor the heat affected the creature. Well, the latter, perhaps, considering there was a bright red spot where the blade hit. She snapped her fingers and sent an Invisible Edge at the same spot, and a gash an inch long and a tenth of an inch wide and deep appeared. For all of three seconds, then the wound closed. She did see esoteric energies within the wound, however.

MOOOO!

The counterattack came in the form of firebolts, dozens of them, angled and arranged so that she wouldn't be able to dodge without at least some of the bolts hitting her. If she stayed put, all of them would hit. So, she didn't move. The bolts struck and shattered against her Anima without the slightest damage dealt, and she could see the surprise in the bull's eyes.

She waved imperiously, and all of her sunblades struck in a way, each aimed at the very same spot in the middle of the auroch's forehead.

Booom!