Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 14-17.1: Blood of the Forefathers

Yuriko’s confident smirk disappeared almost as quickly, because as soon as the gunmen said those words, something else happened. Her Mien’s grasp over their minds remained—at least, she thought it did. But their bodies suddenly uncoupled from their brains’ control. Almost as one, the seven men’s guns, which had been lowered when she spoke to them, snapped up. Triggers pulled.

Rat-ta-tat-ra-ta-tat!

She had the impulse to dodge. But Fluffers was behind her. He could proba...

CoESC Book 14-16.3: Corruption

To say it took the rest of the day for the gangsters to reach their hideout wasn’t quite true, Yuriko decided. They headed towards the mountain, but really, pick any direction to go and technically, one would be headed towards the mountain wall surrounding Dragon Fall City’s perimeter. It looked like a perfect sphere according to the map, but even three-dimensional recreations didn’t do justice to how majestic they looked, and how steep and jagged the slopes were.

Anyway, it was ...

CoESC Book 14-16.2: Corruption

Warm water flowed down Emmanuel Silva’s hairy back, his body hair the same shade of navy blue as his head’s. Unlike his other Durandir kin, however, he didn’t like sporting a beard. He wasn’t one of the common masses after all. The shower drone scrubbed every inch of him, making sure last night’s exertions didn’t leave a mark of evidence. For all that he enjoyed the Doll, and the fact that he rarely cared what the old clans thought, public sentiment could turn against him and make...

CoESC Book 14-16.1: Corruption

Yuriko ducked underneath a ganger’s swing. The truncheon whooshed above her head, but the rotter also had the same speed boost as the one from before, and far better control of his momentum. The truncheon paused just above her head and he slammed it down.

Unfortunately for him, and a good thing for her, his sense of martial arts was lacking. Stopping the weapon instead of redirecting momentum pretty much killed any chance of the thing hitting her. She snorted in derision and slammed ...

CoESC Book 14-15.3: Empty Steads

With the bullets flying through the air, it wasn’t as if Yuriko could simply sit down and eat. Besides, Fluffers would also need his nutritious, if bland tasting, burrito, too. Some stray bullets smashed up her third one, but it also damaged the machine, and now it was spitting out food like a machine gun. Yuriko caught several that flew her way, even as she nimbly sidestepped more strays. The opposing gang wasn’t really shooting at her, but the crossfire and the general lack of aiming we...

CoESC Book 14-15.2: Empty Steads

There were, in fact, neo-petrol stations in the badlands. More to the point, it wasn’t the desolate landscape that Yuriko had expected. When everyone called the city’s outskirts the badlands, she expected desert conditions. Maybe not the sandy dunes that she’d come to associate with the word, but at least, it should be relatively deserted of humanoid lifeforms, right?

Nope. While the ground was made of reddish soil filled with cracks caused by drought, it was actually that way not...

CoESC Book 14-15.1: Empty Steads

A couple of days had passed since Yuriko’s bar hopping. After Kansaki, she’d gone to a couple more bounty hunter bars, each one practically a mirror to the other. They were separated by hundreds of longstrides and she had to spend a pretty penny for neo-petrol. Not that she learned anything new, just a few more details to already extant knowledge.

She was lying in bed. The dawn had just come. Not that it was readily apparent considering there were no windows in their apartment. Wel...

CoESC Book 14-14.3: Boots on the Ground

Wearing a blue sweater and grey tights, along with a pair of sneakers, Yuriko certainly didn’t paint a picture of a mercenary. She had a backpack on and was finally using her Autovisor after Elsie helped her secure the connections and adjust it to her tastes. It automatically connected to REI-space hubs now and shielded her devices from ads and malware. As far as she knew, anyway. What helped keep things contained was that she was preventing her visor from connecting to her watch, which was...

CoESC Book 14-14.2: Boots on the Ground

The wind flowed through Yuriko’s hair as she drove her Bladedancer across the highways. She’d just left her tower but didn’t really have a destination in mind. She was currently on the same level road as the hundredth floor of a mega building, but she was looking to get to the higher roads. The ramps heading upwards needed authentication, though the ones going down didn’t. Her current registry was still at the Green Zone, but it didn’t cost that much to use the upper ways. Those pat...

CoESC Book 14-14.1: Boots on the Ground

It had been about a week since Yuriko met and sparred with Tiger Lao for the first time. The days somewhat blurred together after the first two, turning into an amalgamation of concrete, bright, neon lights, mindless television shows, and the gritty feel of Junktown as she made her walkabout. An entire week where nothing truly of note happened, at least in the greater scheme of things. She learned and adjusted a lot though, not just with her Anima purity but also with how she saw and reacted ...

CoESC Book 14-13.3: Looking for Answers

Yuriko didn’t hesitate as she flew. Her Animakinesis dug into the asphalt and propelled her across the street. Her tendrils dug into the walls, simultaneously hooking, pushing, and pulling so that she rounded the corner faster than she could have if she was just running. Her foot touched the road and she pushed off, leaving widening cracks beneath. The void she sensed was just ahead, and as she ‘looked’, she cursed softly to herself. What she had assumed was a singular form was actually...

CoESC Book 14-13.2: Looking for Answers

Elsie’s eyes could barely follow what happened next. Oh, she could replay the video recording, one that she remembered to activate just a bit too late to catch the start of the spar, but even so, she was doubtful that she caught everything that happened. From what she pieced out later, Sifu Lao’s punch managed to bypass Yuriko’s block, but as soon as his fist slipped past the girl’s wrist, she retracted her extended hand faster than Sifu Lao could extend it.

Half folded, she tw...

CoESC Book 14-13.1: Looking for Answers

Tiger Lao shook his head, “Lady Davar, I cannot answer your question. Not because I don’t want to, but because I do not know the answer. I know not where the passages to enter the lower floors are, nor do I know what needs to be done to pass through. I know only a few things, and I’m afraid it would not sate your curiosity.”

Yuriko tilted her head and said, “Bits and pieces would be fine. Better than nothing. What can you tell me?”

“I will tell you what I know, but w...

CoESC Book 14-12.3: Mystic Arts and Where to Find Them

This time, Elsie kept her motorcycle running at a low speed, barely faster than someone could run. With good reason too, Yuriko supposed, since the path they took went through narrow alleys littered with trash, excrement, and bodies. She figured most were alive since she could see their torsos moving as they breathed, but her perception was still hampered by the presence of so much ‘chronian gear. It was annoying, she knew, but she could bypass that protection simply by pressing harder. But...

CoESC Book 14-12.2: Mystic Arts and Where to Find Them

She did not, of course, take Fluffington with her. Not because she didn’t want to, but the lazy mutt took over the newly delivered bed and mattress and refused to leave. While she could have forced him, the emotions he sent through their link, warmth, comfort, and love, pretty much melted whatever resistance Yuriko had. Grumbling to herself, she took her revenge by ruffling his fur the opposite way it normally sat, and made long spiky fur stick out along his spine and sides.

He merel...

CoESC Book 14-12.1: Mystic Arts and Where to Find Them

By the time Yuriko and Elsie finished their errands, it was well into the afternoon. Elsie led her to a building in the Shopping District where they could deposit the bag of bones. It was near the central restricted area and was clearly labelled: Acquisitions.

From there, Elsie asked Yuriko to input her bank account number through a REI-space link with her watch and then dumped the entire baggie into a funnel. Yuriko received a notification for a deposit as well as a tracking receipt. ...

CoESC Book 14-11.3: Incursion

Yuriko pursed her lips at Elsie’s words. Her Mien was connected to the half-metal woman, of course, and the other’s emotions flowed into her mind as soon as they were created. The connection had formed suddenly and Yuriko nearly cut it off if not for the first spurts of fear, awe, and excitement that dribbled through. She constricted the flow so that she wouldn’t get overwhelmed, but the connecting thread turned out to be a great way to find out the other’s intentions.

As far a...

CoESC Book 14-11.2: Incursion

Wild thoughts rampaged across Elsie’s brain, bouncing off the sides of her skull and slowly, but surely, overheating her mind. She had followed Blondie all the way down to the tenth floor, perilously close to Junktown and Scourge incursions.

True to her expectations, one such incursion had happened, just as predicted by her weather report app.

Following Blondie had not been much of a problem. The stairwell Blondie took to get down to the industrial level was just one of severa...

CoESC Book 14-11.1: Incursion

“The blade destroyed the flesh but the bone resisted it,” Yuriko muttered. “Is still resisting it…” she amended when she saw its skull slowly turning red hot.

The creature howled its pain, but it didn’t stop what it was doing, eating the man’s ‘chronian gear while he struggled to escape. He was clearly terrified, but his other hand, the one that wasn’t ‘chronian, grasped at his hip and drew a handgun. Not a Defender, Yuriko thought, but a smaller version. He pointed...

CoESC Book 14-10.3: Red Zone

‘She’s going into the Yellow Zone?’ Elsie thought with a bit of dismay. She’d been following the gorgeous blonde for half the morning already—part of Wild Fang’s directive to figure out what the foreigners wanted. The blonde had been wandering around the First Hundred Shopping District alone, which had been more than a surprise. Elsie figured that she’d always have someone following her around, to keep her out of trouble.

Elsie saw the way more than a few gangers were star...

CoESC Book 14-10.2: Red Zone

The store was clearly different from Blacklight Threads, Yuriko decided. It was more like those she’d experienced back in Bresia and Herrera City, though it still had its idiosyncrasies anyway. For one thing, the antechamber wasn’t all that big. It was just shy of four square paces, and the receptionist was behind a clear panel that Yuriko was sure wasn’t glass.

“Good morning! Welcome to Simon and Garoll, guns and ammo!” The girl behind the counter had shocking pink hair styl...

CoESC Book 14-10.1: Red Zone

The morning found Yuriko back in the lift lobby closest to their apartments. The evening and the night had been spent sharing what knowledge they’d gleaned from the REI-space through the Autotabs. The first piece being what REI-space was. Or rather, what everyone was saying about it. Simply put, it was a place where knowledge and information were kept, and also a place where people could share, contribute, and discuss that information. It was also where all connections through the devices w...

CoESC Book 14-9.3: Intratower Politics

The screen opened in front of Elsie’s eyes as her call to the Big Boss, Wild Fang, connected. The screen showed the boss’ face, though it was still and was really just a picture rather than a video.

“Evening.”

“Silverlock. I caught the alert. What’s going on?”

“False alarm, I guess. Thought it was Scourge Cultists, or Body Purists, but it turns out they were just new to the city. Took the cheapest accoms they could find and wound up in our turf.” Elsie s...

CoESC Book 14-9.2: Intratower Politics

The thug’s fierce jabs proved no detriment to Heron’s defence. His mastery of the Ennoia of Winds allowed him to track each and every minute deviance to the punches’ trajectories, making it trivial to interpose his palm. It had only been the first strike that had startled him. The power behind the blow was far more than he had first thought. If he had not quickly enhanced his body with his Anima, he might have actually flown back from the blow. The man outweighed him at least two to one...

CoESC Book 14-9.1: Intratower Politics

When Heron stepped up, the thugs’ grins widened. Yuriko huffed in annoyance, though she noted that at least half of them changed their focus towards Heron rather than keeping it on the rest of the group. There was this woman at the back who kept her automata eyes firmly placed at her and Gwendith, then darted towards Fluffington for a second, before it bounced right back.

She felt the woman’s gaze bear down on Yuriko, tracing down her robes, which were still loose, and to the woman...

CoESC Book 14-8.3: Green Zone Troubles

It took an hour for the metro to reach the L5 station. It was only twenty-five longstrides as a straight line, and Yuriko certainly knew that the monorail train she and the others took had a speed that was much higher than what she was used to. It moved at nearly a hundred longstrides an hour, as far as she could tell, well below her flying speed, yes, but with the strange barrier across the canvas of reality, she couldn’t exactly fly anyway. Not that there was nothing else flying around. S...

CoESC Book 14-8.2: Green Zone Troubles

The lift floor indicator read 456 just before the doors opened. Yuriko and the others piled inside, and they practically filled the entire space. But that was fine. The entire wall was filled with lift doors, and the only thing that distinguished it from every other kind of door was that it was made out of bronze, and there was a viewscreen at the top, and a call button next to it.

But once they were inside, Yuriko didn’t know what to do. They were basically inside a small room that ...

CoESC Book 14-8.1: Green Zone Troubles

“Well, this is interesting,” Yuriko muttered, “and annoying.”

Across her vision, with the visor on her face, she had been looking around the immigration lobby. But after a couple of steps towards the exit, a rectangular box popped up before her eyes. Someone started talking, and there was a bit of music, too. All the sounds came from the edge of the visor, near the strap, and it was projected almost directly into her ears. It was way too loud. She snatched the visor off her hea...

CoESC Book 14-7.3: Dragon Fall

The first few fields to fill were simple enough, simply her name, age, sex, country of origin, and others of a similar vein. There was also a fill for associated organisations, and one of the examples given had been the Adventurers’ Guild, so Yuriko took out her hexagonal badge and held it up for the Autotab to scan. It instructed her to hold the badge over the viewscreen, as a reflection of her appeared on it. She held up the device as it asked her to hold the badge up next to her face, th...

CoESC Book 14-7.2: Dragon Fall

“...so what did you come to Dragon Fall City for?” Mathias eventually asked after a few minutes of small talk that included anecdotes from his home country. Not much of what he spoke of about this city felt real to Yuriko, except for the fact that small details in her surroundings had been nagging at the back of her mind. She’d begun some subtle experiments with her Anima, just to be certain of what she felt. That wrongness that stopped her from hooking on to the canvas of reality, whic...