Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 6-18.1: To the Frozen Camp

The shadow had her work cut out for her. Not only did her young mistress pick a fight with a powerful Chaos Lord, one that was stronger than the shadow, but she also practically ignored that offering battle while having ten weakened women to protect meant that they were likely to lose someone. The barbarians weren’t all weak and she determined that they were each at the Adult Geist level, Journeyman compared to the Imperial System.

The freed captives were, too, but more than a year of...

[Jade] Chapter delay

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- L&R

CoESC Book 6-17.3: Reckoning

The fiery explosion back at the bridge distracted Yuriko enough that one of the Weaver’s…er, tentacles, managed to smack her side. Her condensed Anima protected her from harm but did nearly nothing to ameliorate the force of the blow, causing her to skip over the water like a thrown rock before she managed to control her momentum by thrusting an Anima spike into an ice floe, using it to alter her trajectory.

She landed on the water’s surface, and her Anima, spread out like a disc ...

CoESC Book 6-17.2: Reckoning

It turned out that Yuriko didn’t need to ferry the other women across the remaining gap between the ice bridge and the opposite shore. Pavo, the third and shortest man of the scouts said that he could create platforms of light that should be able to hold anyone’s weight. Gwendith wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but it would allow Yuriko to rest and ready herself for the coming confrontation.

Worms of anger wriggled in Gwendith’s guts. How dare the barbarians chase after them? ...

CoESC Book 6-17.1: Reckoning

Gwendith goggled at Yuriko’s display of strength. It was mind-boggling how a relatively slender girl could drag a heavy ice floe that should have weighed thousands of Jin across the river, standing on a slippery and muddy riverbank too.

However, it was the casual display of how prehensile Yuriko’s Protective Field was that was actually much more interesting. Kalla, the blue-haired and grey-eyed scout who followed along behind Yuriko, looked with interest at the golden wings sproutin...

CoESC Book 6-16.3: Rearguard

“I…well, we can probably freeze over the water and walk across,” Kalla said, nodding to Gwendith who stood next to Yuriko.

“Eh?” Gwendith jerked her head, “I haven’t tried to freeze that much water…”

“You’ve got ice kinesis, don’t you?” Kalla continued, “I’ve seen you manipulate snow and ice. And besides, I misspoke, I don’t mean to freeze the river, that would take far too much Animus. I meant we could construct a bridge out of ice and snow and cro...

CoESC Book 6-16.2: Rearguard

It didn’t take long for Yuriko to catch up to the others, though she did spend more time keeping watch at their rear, in case the barbarians snuck up on them. They would have to leave their camp soon anyway. It was less than a day’s walk from the tunnels to their cave, and there was also the possibility that there were tunnels connected to their cave.

As soon as she appeared behind them, Gwendith and Desire ran up to her and caught her in a fierce hug.

“Master! Master!” 2022-05-02 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

CoESC Book 6-16.1: Rearguard

Yuriko’s sunblade glanced off the lead barbarian’s exposed Geist. The Radiant edge chipped at the Animus but didn’t burn it away. That threw her off for a moment, enough that her condensed Anima took a blow from the man’s axe.

The weapon was made of stone, of all things, and not even sharpened. In fact, it was more a blunt instrument than a sharp one; a fancy club. Still, his Animus coated the weapon’s head.

Yuriko’s condensed Anima wasn’t as simple as pressing it do...

CoESC Book 6-15.3: Ouera Bo

“Go! I’ll hold them back. Divert them!” Yuriko yelled at Gwendith and Desire.

“No, Yuri! We should stay together!” Gwendith protested, panic written all over her pretty face.

“Master…” Desire murmured. The petite Chaos Lord moved to grab Yuriko’s sleeve but a glance quelled the girl.

“We won’t be able to outrun them,” Yuriko said, carefully not looking at the freed women. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see their lips twisting in distaste and ...

CoESC Book 6-15.2: Ouera Bo

Thaer Surtsson gulped down the swill from a wooden mug. The stills barely made palatable ale now, from the lack of proper grain to make it. Instead, they’d been fermenting tree bark, blue-veined grass, and Chaos-formed flakes that didn’t taste like much but did fill the belly.

The council room he and the other young chieftains waited in was served by two dozen comely women. All of them were proper daughters of the tribes rather than the converted captives.

Those were only good...

CoESC Book 6-15.1: Ouera Bo

It took a few days before they managed to defeat a group of scouting barbarians without ruining their faces. The problem wasn’t that they were difficult to defeat but that they ran away too quickly.

So much for their vaunted courage, Yuriko complained. But then again, most of the barbarians were killed with a single blow. Two if she missed with the pebble. Up close, in melee, they weren’t much better. She could easily disable them, but then, the other members of the scouting group w...

CoESC Book 6-14.3: Attrition

Hearing Gwendith list down their objectives, Yuriko couldn’t help but think that she was out of her depth. She’s been to many battles now and she had never been in command effectively. The most she did was tell her second to act as she saw fit while she took independent action.

However, that wasn’t entirely wrong, if she thought about it.

Powerful combatants, Knight level warriors and above, had such a great impact on the battlefield that they were as effective as a century ...

CoESC Book 6-14.2: Attrition

Gwendith blinked in surprise at the bloodlust rising from Yuriko.

“There are nearly forty thousand of them,” she said, “including women and children.”

“Oh,” Yuriko muttered, and the terror-inducing aura pulled back.

Gwendith’s heart fluttered as she stared at Yuriko’s perfect face. The past year hadn’t worn away the softness in the girl, Gwendith decided, but it had exposed some shockingly sharp edges instead. She wasn’t sure if she liked it, but after he...

CoESC Book 6-14.1: Attrition

Gwendith had fallen asleep in Yuriko’s arms. Yuriko couldn’t help but stare at the once posh and dignified girl. Gone were the elaborate corkscrew curls and immaculately beautiful blonde hair. Gone were the bright skin and soft curves.

Straggly and dirty hair hung just down to her shoulders. She had bruises and scrapes all over her bare skin. Her clothes were dirty hides that were thin and filled with patches. Her cheeks were sallow and there were bags under her eyes. She was thin a...

CoESC Book 6-13.3: Landfall

Author's Note: Some reference of potentially triggering events from the previous chapter within the first few paragraphs.

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The Fleetfoot barbarian collapsed on top of Gwendith and started to twitch. His hands curled convulsively and his fingernails, unexpectedly sharp, scratched her hard enough to draw blood.

Hissing in pain, and horrified that the man was still barely alive, she rammed the dagger harder into his eye and pushed. The man’s weight was what finally did h...

CoESC Book 6-13.2: Landfall

Author's Note: The second half of this chapter features triggering content. As there is no option to hide the content, we are adding this trigger warning so that those who need to may avoid reading the segment.

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“Oh, who’s this?”

A small man, even shorter than Desire, with grey hair and pale eyes that bordered between light grey and white, asked them when they arrived down to where the Chaos skiffer lay.

Yuriko looked at the vessel. It was roughly fifteen pa...

CoESC Book 6-13.1: Landfall

“Ashley?”

The Songstress of Heartfelt Desire froze. The name tickled at her mind but not as much as the woman who looked at her now. Yes, she slaughtered all of her honour guard and looked almost ready to kill her too, but that face was…familiar.

No, it was more than familiar.

It was etched into her Anima, the face of the one who created her and gave her new life. Her erstwhile master, the Seeker of Delights. But she was dead. That much Desire knew. Even the Telurian D...

CoESC Book 6-12.3: Control

“The Chaos Lords are gone,” Sheamus muttered even as he shot a swarmling trying to climb Kalla’s hastily created frozen barrier. Pavo, their fifth member, shot a beam of coherent light through the barrier, which separated the light into varied colours while still retaining some of the deadly Animus he poured into it. It caused the swarmlings and Wanderers to burn as long as they stood still.

The hilltop was bare, but there were hundreds, if not thousands more of the Wyldlings on t...

CoESC Book 6-12.2: Control

Yuriko appeared on top of a hill, and she took in the Chaos below her with a single glance. That was the only time she had before the Chaos Lords struck.

Fri’Avgi appeared in her hands and with the second dance in ascendance, as well as the beginnings of Jade Mountain Style, she deflected the thrust of a spear. It was an overly large weapon, proportionately much like her artefact compared to a regular spear. The spearhead was as thick as her wrist, the blade as wide as both of her pal...

CoESC Book 6-12.1: Control

Six Pearlescent Irons grunted in such dismay that the Songstress of Heartfelt Desire couldn’t help but look. The strange-looking woman, whose arms abruptly cut off just below the wrist, was the controller of the Chaos Interceptor Orb.

“What is it?” Desire asked.

Irons gestured with her arm, her control spheres, six metal orbs of differing metal and colour, bobbed and weaved with her boiling emotion.

“The intruder is strong enough to influence the Fysalli production.�...

CoESC Book 6-11.3: Desire

Sheamus Dorn cursed as he ducked out of the way of an errant crystal shard. The projectile smashed against the wall behind him, creating a small crater as the crystal shattered. His Protective Field was strong enough that he wasn’t harmed, thankfully.

What in Chaos was he doing here? He just woke up one morning in a holding cell, told that not only had he been charged with a public misdemeanour, but he had also apparently sexually assaulted someone.

Who? He was sure as the Abyss...

CoESC Book 6-11.2: Desire

The Veil of a Waypoint pulsed in front of Yuriko while she stared at it with some trepidation. Should she go through it or should she try to avoid it? Using Intent and Need to find a way through the Chaos Sea was erratic at best. She knew that she’d have to keep going straight no matter what was in front of her. The Chaos would shift around her instead and lead her to where she wanted to go.

That didn’t mean there wouldn’t be any danger though. Her lessons on Chaos Sea navigation ...

CoESC Book 6-11.1: Desire

Yuriko glared at the drunk staggering away from her. Irritation, exhaustion, and the general stress of having found herself saddled with a fiance had made her temper more volatile. The unwelcome touch to her hair had simply been the breaking point.

She sniffed in derision, somehow knowing that the man wouldn’t bother her anymore. She looked for the server, finding the redhead staring at her with a strange look in her eye. The rest of the clientele had returned their attention to their...

CoESC Book 6-10.3: Adventurers, Mercenaries, and Troublemakers

The walls were mounted with Plasma Carronades every twenty paces or so. As soon as Yuriko entered the Waypoint, the hidden details cunningly omitted from the translucent Veil popped out.

The docks were set outside the walls, and under the oversight of a dozen carronades. Nearly a dozen small Chaos ships were moored there, floating off the ground by a couple of paces at least. Most of the ships were Imperial in feature, though there were a couple that looked more exotic. A floating raw l...

CoESC Book 6-10.2: Adventurers, Mercenaries, and Troublemakers

Swimming was much more tiring than Yuriko expected.

Cousin Miya and Ryoko had taught her a bit. After what she experienced in Kogasi, she knew that, as she travelled the Chaos Sea, it was only a matter of time before she found herself in the deep end of a body of water again.

“As long as you fill your lungs with air, you’ll float,” Ryoko said. “As long as you don’t panic and waste your energy, you’ll get through it.”

Well, Yuriko didn’t know if she could keep...

CoESC Book 6-10.1: Adventurers, Mercenaries, and Troublemakers

The alarm stone blared in her mind as soon as a foot crossed the threshold line. It was set nearly ten paces away from her lean-to shelter, which was really just a bunch of branches set against a broad tree. Yuriko’s view was limited by the small opening but it was enough for her to see nearly a dozen spear-armed, grey-skinned humanoids.

They were…grotesque. Savage, she supposed, with how their wide mouths were open, dripping drool down their chin. Their teeth were sharp and needle-...

CoESC Book 6-9.3: Crossing Chaos

This would be the third time she stepped into the Chaos Sea. The first and second times were accidents and both led to her banishment to a strange place. Now, it was a willing step, and she knew where she wanted to go.

The edge of the Veil was over the planar boundary, meaning there was still earth to stand on. Once she stepped out of it, there would be nothing but what she created. Her flared Anima drew in Chaos and from it, she formed flagstones: squares of solid rock large enough to ...

CoESC Book 6-9.2: Crossing Chaos

“Please, young mistress! Please reconsider!” Ryoko begged on her knees while she had her arms wrapped around Yuriko’s leg.

For her part, Yuriko was in the middle of packing her gear when her attendant barged into the room and tried to tackle her to the ground. Unfortunately for Ryoko, Yuriko had been ready for the move and had managed to brace herself. Now, she used her Anima to finish her task while the other woman tried to dissuade her.

“I can’t wait that long,” Yuri...

CoESC Book 6-9.1: Crossing Chaos

“Are you even listening?” Yuriko asked crossly as she manipulated a pebble, picking it up from the ground just in front of her toes and flinging it at Lorcan’s forehead. The thirteen-year-old Davar boy had been staring fixedly at her, at her bosom, while she spoke. He didn’t even react until the pebble struck his forehead.

“Ahh!”

He clutched at the sore spot, fell to his knees while tears seeped out of the corner of his eyes. He glared reproachfully at her. Some sympat...

CoESC Book 6-8.3: Passage to Ulmira

“...who’s the pretty lady?”

“..dunno, but I love her shiny hair!”

“... oh, come on! You don’t even look at mine.”

“...Yours is straw yellow, hers is gold.”

“Shut it, you twerps. She’s sleeping.”

“Why’s she here?”

“Who cares?”

“Her skin looks so soft…”

Yuriko scrunched her eyes and grumbled at the noise. Why was it so noisy in her bedroom?

Eh? Her eyes snapped out and amidst the high pitched squeali...