The pain took Yuriko's senses for all of five seconds, but that was long—too long in the midst of battle. Her Anima had reflexively tightened around her incarnation body, while her true body jerked to a halt. Both bodies shared her consciousness, and there was no true distinction between them; however, most of the time, she kept her attention separate from each. It wouldn't do to react to stimuli from one body with both, right?

Unfortunately, the suddenness of the assault and the intensity of the sensation took over both of her bodies. Thankfully, she wasn't really doing much of anything in Shangria, just her evening meditations. Time wasn't quite as synchronised across the vast distances, and sometimes, even the passage of time varied. It so happened that the raid was in the evening, and she and her companions had already finished the day's hunt.

She jerked at the sensation and fell over from her seated meditation pose. Gwendith, who had been in the same pose across from her, didn't notice immediately, and it was only when she heard the thud did she open her eyes in surprise.

"Yuri!" Gwendith exclaimed as she reached over to steady her. "What happened?"

Yuriko growled and shook her head absently. "Astoria. I was surprised."

All the while, her focus had been to penetrate the darkness of her senses in the other world, and she sent over a strand of consciousness to figure out what had happened. Unlike her Anima, Animus, or Essence, strands of consciousness could be assigned freely between her bodies, though it was still limited to the same ten-to-one ratio as before. She'd grown more strands of consciousness ever since the split, and there was just enough space to add exactly one strand.

The moment she moved over, that strand was similarly consumed by pain, though she had a fraction of a second to react. A frantically envisioned defence allowed her Anima to thicken in the correct way to separate her body from the source, though the effect propagated even through it. Ablative layers eventually slowed the effect source enough that she regained her senses after those excruciating five seconds, and she was able to get a better look at what the rotter threw at her and Crasher.

She wasn't the only one affected. The hulking woman was writhing on the floor with her face locked in a silent scream. An orb of light hovered above the other woman and emitted pulses of…lightning? The frequency was subtle enough that it bypassed her normal protections, and considering she used lightning to temper her Anima during her training, the pulses rode through that gap. She hurriedly closed it off with a thought and made her barrier impermeable to everything. She could survive without breathing for a long while anyway.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Jessa's heel as she ran out to the corridor. Yuriko sighed as she briefly changed parts of her body into Radiance to negate the pain pulses and to restore her wounds. The damage wasn't visible outside, but manifested within her body, across her nerves. The lightning pulses both paralysed and smothered her with hurt. And if she was affected, it went doubly so for Crasher. She reached out with her hardened Anima to the light orb and encapsulated it. The pulses, once she accounted for how it bypassed her defences, had the potential to further her training. It was a pity that it was already fading.

"Ahhhh!" Crasher screamed, and Yuriko sighed. She had barely had a couple of minutes to enjoy the fight, even if it was more of a brawl than anything else. Once the light had been smothered, so did the woman's screams. They devolved into whimpers, and she curled into herself before falling unconscious. Oh well, that saved her the trouble of binding the guardswoman.

She pursed her lips in thought. Should she follow Jessa and retrieve her? To what point, though? Clearly, she was here under duress, either as a useful captive or someone who'd been lured into an unequal position. Well, a good reason not to press.

For now, she had the rest of the captives to rescue. She bound Crasher with her Mien, then marched towards the prison cells. Her Anima perception was less fuzzy now that the conflict was over. It was an observation she belatedly realised. Stress and conflict made Altered draw upon their powers more, and in the process, they pulled more dimensional energies out of the crevices of the fabric of reality. Since those particles interfered with her Anima perception, and her Animakinesis, too, for that matter, which made her have to exert more pressure, commit more of her Anima than normal. For kinesis, it didn't matter much. A minor increase in density was more than enough to overcome the static, but with perception, that increase was enough to make her Anima visible, which sort of ruined the purpose.

She moved out of the workshop and headed to the cells, though not before she fished out Crasher's smartphone. She carried a burner phone, something that should only be used once and then discarded to avoid being traced, and each one was about thirty Tories. Not that expensive, but she still felt it was a waste to discard after every use. So she really made the call to the authorities, and when she did, she used someone else's phone if it was possible.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She truly doubted it would help conceal her from someone who was intent on looking, as evidenced by Lily's Grandpa, but the pageantry helped with her mindset. Besides, it was amusing too.

Ring. Ring.

"...what's your emergency?"

"I'm in a RuiNation safehouse, there are thirty-plus gangsters subdued, and there are ten kidnapping victims in the basement. I'm freeing them now, but they will need medical support. The address is…"

"Thank you. I'm diverting several agents, ambulances, and patrol cars to your location. May I know who's on the line?"

"Regalia."

Yuriko hung up before the operator could say anything else. She arrived in front of the cells and tore the doors off their hinges, eliciting screams of surprise from the miserable captives. She took one look and huffed, wondering if she'd been too soft with the gangers. Probably, but allowing them to live wasn't mercy, not if they were caught and made to pay for their atrocities. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen worse. In Dragon Fall City. In the varied planes of her travels, and even when she rescued Gwendith from the barbarians of the north.

At the very least, everyone here was still alive and didn't look like they were in danger of expiring anytime soon. Now, she only had to soothe their minds.

"I am here. You are safe."

____________

Ericka Stevens stared towards the ground from nearly two longstrides up in the air. She was certain Arthur had already lit up the campfire, but she wasn't certain how many other campers took to the campgrounds. The field she looked at had at least twenty fires in roughly the shape of a short-ish square. She could see people seated around the light. She was too far up to make out any details, so she began to descend. She hesitated after a moment when she glanced down at her body.

She was giving off light. From up here, she probably looked like a star, but if she went down, that illusion would be broken. But she had to get to the ground somehow anyway, and fa…forget about being spotted. She was glowing too much for her base form to be seen, and that was where her anonymity lay.

Er, she shouldn't land right in the middle of the bonfires in that case.

She peered at the ground, but the darkened skies made it nearly impossible to make out any details. That was the problem with her power. She was the source of light, more often than not, which meant she could only see as far as her light could reach when she was in the dark. It wasn't as if she had any kind of special night vision, and if she did, her own power disabled it. She could revert to her base form, but that meant she wouldn't be able to fly either.

"They'll probably notice me if I go slow," she mused. So she'd go fast.

She spun until her head pointed towards the ground and she dove, letting not just gravity speed her on her way, but adding her own power to the mix.

"Wheee!"

She couldn't help but squeal, despite fighting down terror. She wasn't afraid of heights, no, she wasn't! It was the falling and the inevitable conclusion that was worthy of fear. Oh, she could fly now! She shouldn't be afraid at all!

Her descent abruptly stopped once she had a better view of where she was going, or rather, she couldn't find what she thought was there. For one thing, the campsite was near a stream commonly used to get water, as well as for recreational fishing. Instead, she was near a valley that had several Greenwood trees. The towering plants' canopy had concealed several other fires that formed a more even square grid, and she was close enough to mark out details of the campers, which, upon a better look, didn't look like the casual group she first assumed. Nearly all of them wore what amounted to a military uniform of sorts. They were all armed too, with pistols and rifles. And was that a grenade launcher?

She only realised she was in trouble when the soldiers scrambled like a kicked over an ant hill. She saw several reaching for their weapons and she decided then and there to make herself scarce.

She dove behind the hill, and none too soon.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Bullets flew from the encampment and missed her by inches. She was too visible in the dark! Should she fight back? But they're soldiers!

Of the Republic? Maybe, maybe not. Her heart raced in anxiety. Was she in trouble with the law because she stumbled into something she shouldn't have? But they were in the middle of a national park! But, but, they attacked without provocation! Alright, she sorta provoked them by approaching, but why were they so sensitive? Didn't army guys have thick skin?

She flew away as rapidly as she could and avoided skylining herself by rising above the hilltop. It wasn't enough.

Twap!

A bullet struck her left calf, and the only reason she didn't scream in pain was that her glowing light provided a modicum of defence against bullets. As in, she could take a shot or two once in a while. The high-calibre bullet caused her light to flicker, and she dropped lower to the ground as her flight faltered. She dove for cover and wound up behind a Greenwood tree.

She hovered in a daze for a couple of moments. 'Fark! I should get out of here!'

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Bullets slammed into the trunk. They slammed into the loamy earth. They blasted into stones and boulders. She could only hear the bullets hitting, but curiously, she couldn't hear the guns firing. Wait. She should go back up! High enough that the bullets wouldn't reach her, or if they did, they would be far slower, hence weaker, than they would be.

She propelled herself up. The Greenwood tree trunk was relatively straight, and there weren't any branches until about two-thirds of the way to the crown. It was also wide enough that hopefully, her glow would be obscured.

She reached the canopy a few seconds later, flew through the relatively barren branches, and found her freedom in the skies.

"Whew!" She huffed, then glanced back towards the encampment, only for her heart to leap up to her throat. A couple of hundred paces away, someone in armour that had four gossamer wings at the back was aiming a large gun at her. One with a barrel glowing ominously.

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