CoESC Book 18-13.1: Ports of Call (Patreon)

When her core imploded, Radiant energy similarly exploded and filled the entirety of her reach. One hundred, two, three…all the way to seven hundred paces from her, and afterwards, another hundred paces. Radiant energy consumed everything within sight, and if she had not warned her companions before she escaped the Wanderer, they too would have been consumed. 

Dirt, grass, monsters and shards, all around her and even beneath her, were taken by Radiance, forcibly converted, and allowed to propagate. That single moment of completion gave her the most exhilarating experience, pleasurable beyond belief, as if it was the first time she stretched her limbs after living a lifetime of being forced to curl. 

A ball of Radiant flame so hot that the Wanderer, a couple of longstrides away, had to be defended by her crew. Otherwise, the mobile HQ they’d spent so much time and funds on would have turned to kindling, then ashes. 

Her entire reach had turned into a ball of Radiant flame, yet despite all of that, she could feel that not everything had been consumed. That was actually the bigger thing. She could feel everything without being overwhelmed, and without needing to dedicate most of her strands of consciousness to parsing all of the information she received. 

The process lasted for several moments, just long enough for Yuriko to realise she wasn’t being overwhelmed. Radiant motes swirled around the tougher elements still existing within her Anima reach, attempting to consume and convert them. Shangria’s biomes were more than what was seen on the surface, and were definitely deeper and higher than what she could reach. Even so, she felt the planet resist her intrusion. It was subtle, in the way it took just a bit longer for the dirt to combust, in the way the winds pushed against her limits, but it was slowly growing stronger. It didn’t appreciate her ascension causing such widespread damage, she assumed. 

But what could be seen from outside was but one facet of the whole. Yuriko felt it within. The Radiance that occupied her Anima was but a reflection of the core within. The core that compressed to about a quarter of its original size, but looked less than a polished sphere, or a budding flame. 

No, it looked like a reflection of the Radiant Sun above. She had to enhance her eyesight to the highest point she could to even catch a glimpse of the roiling ocean and Radiant flames that danced along the surface of the Sun, but it was there, and it was mimicked by her Radiant Reperta core. 

Conflicting knowledge bubbled up from her memories. Knowledge from the Empire, and from Damien. A Reperta was necessary to advance to Manifestation Stage, but for Imperial Knights, a Colligia was enough to advance to Knight Commander. The Reperta was needed for Knight Dominus and Imperius, though, not that the distinction really mattered to her circumstances at the moment. It was just an interesting thought considering how powerful a Knight Dominus was. If she remembered correctly, there were three hundred of them in the Empire, though it was from a population of nearly half a trillion people. 

Either way, her core was centred beneath her heart, though as before, it didn’t truly exist within the same layer as her physical self and her Anima. But the manifestation that covered her Anima was very much in the material plane, and if she did nothing, Shangria’s backlash would be devastating. 

It took a few more moments for her to feel out how to return the manifestation back into her body, and she was left floating above a deep crater. With a sigh of relief, she flew towards the Wanderer and landed in front of her friends. 

“Couldn’t hold it in, huh?” Heron said in a monotone, accompanied by a snort of amusement from the rest. 

Yuriko rolled her eyes and sniffed derisively. 

“Congratulations, my love,” Gwendith said warmly as she hugged Yuriko tight. 

“Thanks. Let’s continue.” 

The biome quickly took on a hostile atmosphere, and she didn’t want to linger. 

_____________

Yuriko checked her phone when she received an e-mail from her agent. She scanned it and rolled her eyes. It was essentially a request to meet with her agent in Pixel Fairy and had the subject line for a role offering. She shot back an e-mail request for details, then put down her phone. 

She, Scarlett, and Desire were back in their home after more than seven weeks. The Irvallans had been driven away from Neo Prism City and its vicinities, though not through her efforts. Well, partly her efforts since she practically took out the invaders’ leader. 

Not that the decapitating strike actually stopped the war; it actually intensified it. Though the confusion and disarray afterwards were enough for the Astorian army and specialists to push them back and allow them to build up fortifications. 

As Regalia, she’d signed up for missions, though it was that same thing that actually led to her being ambushed. The fact that she triumphed over the attempt was immaterial to it being made in the first place. She’d logged a complaint, and the resulting investigation had soft-booted her out of the system, which meant she had to find trouble on her own without support. Either way, the results of said investigation hadn’t been released to the public, nor had they told her anything. She’d half a mind to complain to Lily’s grandpa and have him deal with the politics, but she didn’t want to rely on her ‘family’ too much. 

Her true self had partitioned her mind so that they only interacted once or twice a day. It also coincided with the synchronisation with her Irisvaile-self. But late, only the true self synchronised with her current-self. She understood, of course, they were, for all intents and purposes, the same. But the dissolution of the mindmeld was still a bit jarring, and she’d had to adapt to it. Desire noticed her disquiet and had been working to soothe her every now and then. 

The rest of the day was occupied with cleaning up their apartment, and the evening and most of the night with meditation, followed by Desire’s insistent lovemaking. 

The next day, Yuriko headed to Neo Prism City accompanied by her bound Chaos Lord. Scarlett wanted to follow but had to return to the college to pick up catch-up materials. Pixel Fairy’s office was the same, but since it was in Winderfield, that wasn’t much of a surprise,  since the northern districts saw any sort of danger after all. 

“So, what’s the actual offer?” Yuriko asked when Darrel Schuter, her agent, sat across from her. Desire was actually phased out of the normal layer of reality, so Yuriko looked alone. 

“Good morning, Miss Lawson,” he answered with an eager grin. “Well, first off, here’s your schedule for the promotional tours for ‘The Last Warrior’. Apologies, this was only determined late last night, and I didn’t want to disturb your rest…” He pushed a stapled sheaf of papers across the table, while sending an e-mail through his phone. 

Yuriko glanced at the schedule and noted that she’d be occupied for the rest of the day, as well as the rest of the week. And the weeks to follow, all the way until the movie would be premiered. Then, she’d be in the premiere with the other cast members. That didn’t leave much room for vigilante work, or even schoolwork, to be honest. She didn’t really mind, and she was half certain she’d have to shift to distance learning. 

“And the offer?” 

“Ah, yes. A producer from Astoria Republic Entertainment wants you cast for a sitcom,” Darrel said with a bright smile, and she couldn’t blame him. ARE is one of the biggest companies in the industry, and they’d put out award-winning, and just as important, if not more so, well-earned shows over the years. 

“What’s it about? Wait, cast, not audition?” 

“Cast.” Darrel nodded. “They think you’re perfect for the part.” 

Yuriko nodded slowly, even if she knew that what they meant as perfect probably wasn’t what she thought it was. Still, any role would boost her Quintessence production, so she’d likely take it anyway. 

“As for the show, the working title is Sparks on the Rise.” 

“Is it…an engineering-focused show, or something?” 

“Ah, no. It’s about a struggling rock band whose members are all in their twenties. They’re juggling making a living with their hobby, and their circumstances and actions will be the focus of the show.”

“I see. Am I one of the band members?” That would be interesting, and she could learn to play a musical instrument easily. 

“Uhm, no. You’re the girl who moved across the hall and is the love interest of the greater part of the…er, all-male group,” Darrel said, somewhat sheepishly. 

Yuriko rolled her eyes. It was as she expected, but there was no reason to decline. She said as much, and Darrel’s face lit back up in excitement. They went through some of the details and found out that the pilot and second episodes would be shot in a couple of weeks at the earliest, and that was the gap in the schedule she saw earlier. 

She didn’t mind it much, but she expected she wouldn’t have time for herself except for sleep, and even so, it would be tight. The unreasonable schedule was compensated by increased earnings, but just as importantly, increased exposure. She could always meditate instead of sleeping, and her incarnation body was strong enough to survive, even thrive, with reduced sleep. 

All in all, not too bad. 

__________

The past twenty days on the Sea Sage weren't so bad, Yuriko thought, if not for the fact that Lucian and Chloe grew violently seasick for the first week. While she wasn’t compelled to attend to her brother, it didn’t feel right that she ignored him either. They spent the daylight hours either trying to rest or laid out over the railing, dribbling vomit into the water.

The swaying over the waves wasn’t even that bad, though Yuriko had limited experience on ocean-going ships. Well, watery ocean ships, not the Chaos Sea or open ocean anyway. She just had to make sure both Lucian and his fellow apprentice didn’t go overboard, and that they had enough liquids to tide them over. Thankfully, there were remedies for motion sickness, and one of them must have worked since both apprentices had finally been able to hold their food down after that horrible first week. 

Afterwards, Yuriko read the spell primer, which only contained a single spell, though there were three variations. She didn’t have an Arcana Heart, so most of the point was lost on her, but she did enjoy dissecting the spell, which was honestly an Arcana Weaving variant of the Empire’s basic empowerment technique. She was far more interested in how the process was changed to allow different energy sources than Animus, though she was far from able to do the same for different Animus techniques. She was mostly interested in turning Recovery into a spell since she thought it would allow her to cast it on someone else without having to take control of their bodies. She was sure there were other spells that could heal, though they must be well-kept secrets since she didn’t see any in Bresia.

She blinked out of her introspection when the yacht adjusted to a particularly strong wave. Huh, why was it so dark in the middle of the day? And weren’t they close to their first stop? The Sea Sage didn’t have enough supplies to last the entire journey to the Sagebright Archipelago, but it wasn’t as if the Inner Ocean was bereft of livable islands. 

Brosmore Isle was their first stop, and it was a bustling hub of trade and industry. Or it would have if it wasn’t for the thick column of dark smoke that blotted out the fake sun.