Andromeda

Yuki’s feet crunched the snow beneath him as he charged forward trying to reach Ayumi in time to save her from a lethal blow. “Ayumi!” He had his arm stretched out reaching for Ayumi as he saw as the moments click by with the sword coming down and fearing that he would not be able to make it in time. ‘I’ve got to reach her in time! She’s protected me all this time and now when she needs help I can’t do anything!’ He felt his heart pounding in his chest aching from his fear and strain. ‘I’m too far away! I won’t make it! If only I could…’ A sudden blinding light pulsed out from Yuki over the entire field engulfing Ayumi and the woman assassin.

Chapter 37 – It’s just like Magic

When the light faded away a column of fire was burning where Ayumi and the assassin had been. “Ayumi!” Yuki screamed unable to see her fearing that the assassin had burned Ayumi with her attack. He ran to the flames, but was forced back feeling the heat coming off of them only a few steps away. Yuki screamed out for Ayumi repeatedly hoping to get a response from her only falling into even more despair with no answer from her. As the moments drained away he saw something leave the inferno taking a safe distance away from the column with trails of fire coming off of them as they landed to safety.

Yuki ran around the column of fire towards the figure unable to see clear through the heat that was coming off of the pyre. However, as he was getting close to the blurred figure the fire suddenly went out with an explosion that forced all of the air out cutting off the source long enough to end it. Yuki turned back to see ice shards flying everywhere as a solid hexagon column of ice around Ayumi appeared from the dust. The ice melted away quickly with Ayumi coming out unharmed from the fire. She swiped her sword through the air pushing away the remaining embers.

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted as he realized that she was safe and then towards his back where the assassin had to be. He felt the cold presence of a shadow over him knowing almost instinctively that it was assassin coming up behind him sword drawn ready to run him through the back. His entire body froze in paralysis feeling the touch of death that he wished that he had not been so familiar with. A dark shadow drew across his face as his eyes widened with the feeling pour through him completely. He had only tried to save Ayumi and now he was going to be dead a second later after not accomplishing anything. ‘Is this it?’

Out of the side of his eye a flash of metal blazed by his head and shoulder in a blur with his panic stricken body unable to follow the movements. A momentary clash of metal echoed through his ear and then another blurring trail as whatever had passed by him returned. The feeling was finally returning back to his legs and body as he slowly turned feeling time being returned to him when the blade of death had not pierced him.

The assassin had been turned back taking up a safe distance from him leaving Yuki confused. He tried to replay the events through his mind, but none of it was making any sense to him. It was all just hazy to him with his body unwilling to act. ‘What just happened? Ayumi?’ He turned back looking at Ayumi for answers, but only receiving a glare that he knew all too well.

“Get back now!” she snapped at him before Yuki could say two words to her.

Yuki jerked back in his legs puzzled by her reaction to him. It was not a response that he was unfamiliar with, but considering her danger a moment ago he would have thought that she would be a little shaken. ‘She’s so cold even now. How?’ As he stood still longer he felt Ayumi’s eyes become even more piercing and impatient like she would cut him down if he did not act. Yuki dragged his legs forward to get himself moving approaching Ayumi. “Ayumi…”

“Behind me!”

“But Ayumi!” Yuki was still walking towards her rather than following her orders. He was not certain why he was not running away, but he just kept moving unable to turn his legs.

“I said behind me! Listen to me!”

“…Ayumi…”

“Is that all you can say? Shouting my name like that’s going to help me?”

Yuki stopped in mid step feeling the full force of Ayumi’s scolding, yet more than he was accustom to though still seemingly unprovoked this time. “…Ayumi… You…the fire from the assassin!”

“The fire wasn’t from the assassin, but you!”

Yuki was genuinely confused by Ayumi words. “Me?” He knew that he could not have done it since he still had the healing field that he made for Fumiko up. However, if she said it was him he had no reason to doubt her since she was expert, but it did not make any sense. He did not remember changing fields or even thinking about what field to change to. The last two times he used his field that had an outward change he had a sword and armor, but he had neither of those things this time. “What are you talking about? It couldn’t have been.”

Ayumi stepped forward grabbing Yuki by the arm and throwing him back behind her causing him to land of his butt in shock. She stepped forward holding her sword in her right hand with her chakram in her left putting her between him and the assassin. “Look around! This isn’t my field!”

“Huh? Yuki rubbed his back side still not sure what she was talking about, but he looked around as she told him. All he could see was trees of a dense forest in an open clearing that they were standing. It did not look that strange to him and it was not his field. ‘My field is grass… And Ayumi’s is snow… The assassin’s was…something weird looking… Besides it’s just a forest I don’t see any field.’

A wind blew through the clearing in the forest as Ayumi and the assassin stared off at each other. The moments passed between them. Yuki held his gaze to them still left on his rear not certain what the next move was going to be. He knew that the assassin had cornered Ayumi only a moment ago, but he was not clear if it was a lucky move or if the assassin was better than Ayumi.

“Get back! You’re field is neutralizing mine!”

“What?! I already told you it’s not me!”

“Dammit Yuki! I don’t have time for you to be dense!” Ayumi kept her eyes focused completely on the assassin knowing that she would take advantage of any opening or moment of weakness that would be shown. She had only managed to stall things by protecting Yuki from the attack. Both of them had no idea what Yuki had summoned for his field aside from the fire and he remained completely clueless to what he had done as usual. The assassin was playing it cautious knowing from her information how powerful Yuki could truly be when motivated. ‘I don’t know how long this standoff will hold. She’s only analyzing the situation before making another attack. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold her off for much longer, especially with him weakening me.’ She had to do something to get him away from her and make him understand the situation. “…look…the forest is your field this time. The fire came from you, not the assassin. Get away from me so that I can fight this assassin without you interfering with my field.”

Yuki finally got up to his feet again backing away a few steps still not completely sold on everything. He had to trust what she was saying, but it did not make any sense to him. ‘…forest…forest?’ The forest that surrounded him suddenly came to him realizing that there were far too many trees around him to be the school anymore. When he looked for the school it was completely missing and they were out of sight of anyone with only Fumiko behind him at the edge of the clearing. ‘This forest…it is me isn’t it?! This is what Ayumi was yelling about!’ He began to back away from Ayumi seeing what he was doing, slowly understanding. “But the fire…from me?” he said softly still trying to figure out what he had done by staring at his hands.

Fumiko rushed up by him grabbing his shoulder to stop him. “You need to help her, Yuki.”

“Fumiko?! Wha…” Yuki was taken aback by the appearance of the tall upperclassmen next to him. He had expected her to stay back out of the way terrified by what she was seeing. This should be all a complete mystery beyond her understanding and unable to comprehend, but it did not seem to be affecting her. “I can’t… I’m only getting in her way…”

“But you want to her help! You should stand at her side!”

Yuki turned his head down knowing how much that what she was saying was true. He had gone rushing in to try to save Ayumi, but only looked like a fool in the end having to be rescued by her. Even now he did not even understand what he had done. “You don’t understand. It’s not that simple. All I’d be doing next to her is weakening her strength.”

“I know I don’t understand what’s going on, but that fire was you right?”

“I guess so…”

“Then you can do that again from here right?”

“Maybe, but if I did it I don’t know how. I don’t even know what I gave myself this time.”

“It all looks like magic to me…”

“…magic…” Yuki had been trying to think back to what he was thinking when he probably had created the field, but nothing was coming to him. If Ayumi was correct and it was him, then it meant that he had long ranged attacks like Fumiko was suggesting. However, it was not a sword or anything physically. So he did not know how to control it or what he should even try to use. It was all set in stone already what he could and could not do, but he did not know what it was. This was so beyond what he was used to doing. ‘…magic…’ The word echoed through him making him think about what was happening.

The forest around him looked like any ordinary forest with a clearing, but he had to think knowing that it was from him. ‘If this is me, then it means something. It came from me, so I should recognize it as something…’ It was not coming to him, but he could not get his mind off of the word. ‘…magic…’

He was brought to stop as he heard the clashing of weapons in front of him. Ayumi and the assassin had resumed their fighting making Yuki feel the rush of urgency to figure out what he could do to help her. ‘…Ayumi… I’ve got to figure this out. Magic…why do I keep coming back to that?’ He stared at the forest around him feeling the sweat beading down his face. His hands were shaking from nerves knowing that time was running out for them. ‘…forest…magic…’

“That’s it!” Yuki turned his head up finally putting things together and realizing why this was so familiar to him. It should be familiar; it was a stereotypical cliché that he saw all the time. The forest was just like out of a fantasy story. “Which means that the fire must have been real magic.” He looked forward towards the fighting knowing that he still do not know what he could, but figuring that if it was him then he should already know it all.

Ayumi threw out a wave of ice from her field keeping the assassin back from the attack that she had tried to make. It was all buying time for her until she could take the opportunity that she needed. ‘I can’t let her get close to me. Her field is…’ She prepared to throw her chakram as the woman came to a landing, but there was suddenly a large lightning bolt that struck down nearby the woman searing the ground. The strike was enough to take the woman off balance, but Ayumi as well. In the moments that she wasted before throwing her chakram, the woman was already rolling out of the way.

“I missed…” Yuki said twitching as he saw that the strike had been nowhere near to the woman. He was going to have to do a lot better if he stood a chance of hitting her.

The woman’s hand dug through the multi-colored pool as the liquid substance was drawn up her hand covering it completely up to the wrist. She came to a stop and ran her soaked hand straight down her clothes. The red skirt and shirt that she was wearing vanished to dust as yellow poured out from her hand draining away from her hand into her gray body suit. The yellow liquid covered her body turning into new clothes that hung long like a dress at her legs, but with several slits up to the waist. The top became like wide ribbons along her shoulders attached to a low cut folded shirt.

Yuki stared in surprise at the change in the woman no longer certain what it was that the woman was doing with the costume change. He had thought that the pool of liquid was meaningless, but it did something to her. “What’s going on?”

“Keep out of this! She’s not like the other’s we’ve face!” Ayumi was glad to know that he was figuring out how to use his powers and something like that would be useful if he had accuracy. However, there was a problem that Yuki did not realize. ‘He might have unnatural field strength, but without the concentration he’s not going to be able to use ranged attacks on this foe.’ She caught the puzzled look from Yuki forcing herself to remember that he was not thinking at her level of awareness. “Look at your field and her’s, Yuki!”

“What?” Yuki did not know what Ayumi was getting at. He knew what both of the fields were already. It did not make any different if he looked at them again, but Ayumi was insistent. ‘What’s she getting at? It’s just our fields out there… Nothing strange.’ When he looked he could see much of the assassin’s field while Ayumi’s field looked surprisingly small and his covered around both of them. It took him another moment to put things together finally and realize what she was getting at. He had to think back to the fights he had with the other assassins. ‘Whenever I’ve fought with anyone their fields would almost completely disappear except for around them, but this assassin… I can still see much of her field even with my field on and Ayumi’s is almost gone. The field is a supposed to be a sign of a Kasou-ryoko users strength. The fact that the assassin’s still hold against mine must mean they are really strong.’ It made him second guess himself as he was no longer certain how much of an effort that he would have on her. He shook his head getting the doubt out of his mind and focusing in on what he had to do. If Ayumi was having trouble with this assassin it only meant that he had to do everything to assist her.

“Lightning!” he shouted pointing his hand at the assassin where she rested. The bolt came down from the sky striking at the ground near to the woman again missing, but forcing her back. Another bolt came down this time much closer to her. The assassin jumped to her feet and quickly evaded the next series of increasingly more accurate strikes, but each time the woman was able to dodge. It was getting on Yuki nerves that he was getting better, but still missing her. Each movement from the woman seemed more fluid than before. He could not explain it, but she seemed to be more graceful with her steps than she had been when she was fighting Ayumi.

Yuki lowered his hand back to his side seeing that he was not getting anywhere with this plan. The woman came to a rest sliding across her pool of liquid not even disturbing its surface. She held her sword close at her side in a defensive stance monitoring both of them. However, Yuki was not done with his attack as he knew that he had to do something about the woman’s defenses. ‘If I can get her off her feet then I should be able to get a strike she can’t avoid.’ He raised up both of his hands focusing on the woman once more. “Wind!” A gust from behind him ran through the clearing gaining force sending Ayumi off her feet as well as the assassin.

‘Damn! Yuki…’ Ayumi threw out her chakram to the ground below her catching it in ice that grew up from her disappearing field. The ice clamped on to the chakram holding it in a solid frozen mass keeping her from being flung away as she held on to her sword with the chain that attached to the two keeping anchored.

The assassin was knocked off her feet sent into the air by the gale force winds, but her hand was soaked in a green liquid this time that she raised up in an arc around her creating a solid material she pushed back on to get herself just into reach of the ground. She dug her sword into the pool catching it as a bolt of lightning came down. The bolt struck on her this time as everyone watched momentarily blinded back the lightning bolt. When the light faded with the bolt Yuki stepped back as his eyes widened in shock seeing the woman unaffected. The material above her was disintegrated to dust falling away having taken the full force of the strike. “No way! How could she react that fast!”

The gale had passed and Ayumi was on the ground once more, but did not miss the beat as Yuki was taken to pause. She charged in towards the assassin that was recovering from the attack. While the assassin was still off guard Ayumi swung her sword down while pulling up ice to trap her in fighting against the assassin’s field strength. However, the woman spun around on her sword hilt bringing her feet to stand on the tip of the hilt of the sword still embedded into the ground. She raised up her hand catching the blade of Ayumi’s bare handed.

“What?!” said Yuki as his eyes widened in shock followed by Ayumi and Fumiko. ‘This shouldn’t be possible!’

The woman stared at Ayumi looking almost sad with her calm sympathetic expression. “I’ve humored you long enough. If you’re going to fight me with your hands tied then I’m going to end this now!” The blade from Ayumi’s sword snapped breaking off as the woman let it go free to pierce through Ayumi’s shoulder unable to react in time. Blood sprayed through the air as the assassin flipped backwards. The sword embedded into the ground was caught on the woman’s foot as she flipped back and ripped free to be caught as the assassin landed. She swung her sword across from the still unrecovered Ayumi drawing up another arc of blood as the blade ripped through her chest dropping Ayumi to the ground.

“Ayumi!” Yuki shouted in shock at seeing Ayumi collapsed on the ground in defeat. ‘This can’t be happening! No!’ He tightened his hands against his side being powerless to stop Ayumi from getting hurt.

Fumiko came up behind Yuki touching him on his shoulder looking down at him. “If you have magic as you say you should have a healing spell in there right?”

“What?!” He looked up at Fumiko trying to keep the tears that were forming away. It took him a moment, but he realized that she had to be right. ‘There was still time!’ He raised up his hand towards Ayumi as the assassin was moving in for the final blow to finish her off. “Lightning!” The bolt came down upon the assassin taken by surprise from the attack and engulf by the light without defense. The bolt persisted until there was a sword’s blade that swung through breaking Yuki’s concentration as he was shocked that the woman was still moving. Out of the fading light the woman still came moving towards Ayumi with only singed marks on her clothes and a little blood tickling down the right arm that held her sword. “Ayumi! No!” Yuki returned his focused back seeing that Ayumi was in danger. “Healing!”

Green light poured up from the ground surrounding Ayumi wrapping her in thin sheets of magic energy that shined and flowed like silk in the wind. The wounds that she had taken were starting to close up as the assassin turned her eyes towards Yuki. “Healing her now. You’re becoming troublesome. Seems I will have to kill you first before taking her head.” The woman dragged her sword into the liquid coating the entire blade in the red substance as she soaked her hand once more. Her hand was covered in green liquid that was painted on her body suit as the yellow clothes shattered into the winds. The green spread throughout her entire body covering the entire suit in a thick leather hide that washed away some of her definitions.

Yuki stepped back seeing that he was suddenly the focus. The woman charged forward sword held out closing the distant between them quickly. “Fire!” he shouted as a wall of flames issued forth from the ground immediately in front of the woman. However, the woman burst through the flames with only the ends of her clothes catching some of the embers completely unaffected by the magic. “Earth Wall!” He brought up his hands summoning the rocks to pull up from the earth to form a solid wall between them with room between them. Yuki waited to see what happened to react to her next move, but the earth in front of him glowed red suddenly in a clean line across the entire length of the wall as the woman burst through with the rock falling away. ‘No more defenses… Nothing’s stopping her!’

The assassin pulled up her sword swinging it to cut him in two through the waist. Yuki could only watch the moments tick by seeing the sword coming for him this time with death riding behind it. His vision seemed to blur for a moment as he saw a strange shadow pass in front of him before a massive amount of blood sprayed everywhere. He suddenly knew who it was protecting him again. “Ayumi!”

To be continued…