Shift

[Andromeda]

Chiharu’s voice disappeared from his mind, even though she shouted at him. He no longer cared about it. The only thing on his mind was Saki. In his gut, he knew something did not sit right. It did not make sense, but he had to see.

Each of the quakes brought him closer until he was on top of it almost. He could see her in the distance along with someone else. “Saki!” Seiji did not have a chance to say anything else. He watched as she fell over covered in blood, her body littered with wounds.

His fists tightened up. He ground his teeth, his anger came up to the surface. Seiji charged into the battle without a second thought. “You bastard, what did you do to Saki?” Something stopped his fist. A metallic sound rang out. His eyes focused upward. The atmosphere felt very familiar to him. Seiji’s eyes widened when he saw their face. “You bastard! It’s you!”

Cosmas grinned with delight beaming from his eyes. One of his prey appeared before him. “The muscle bound idiot. This is my lucky night! Tonight, you will have the pleasure of dying!” His lips grew wider as it became a wicked smirk.

The sight of the face of the man was enough to set Seiji’s blood on fire. Everything in his body tensed up with images of their last encounter flashing through his mind. He could not stop thinking about what he did to Nerine. “She’s missing her arms because of what you did?!” Seiji threw his fists into a barrage against the swords acting in defense of Cosmas.

“Concerned over your new friend?” A devious look sifted through Cosmas’ eyes at the mention of Nerine. “She’ll be dead soon after yourself. So you won’t need to worry for long!”

Such words only made Seiji more enraged. He threw his fists at Cosmas wildly without any focus. Another hand stretched out and grabbed his bandaged right arm, stopping him in mid-swing. Seiji tried to break free, but they were strong. Turning his head to the right, it seemed to him to see her. “Saki?!”

Breathing slowly and her face covered in blood, her eyes still have the same fierceness to be unable to back down on anything. Her blood soaked hand dripped over his bandages staining them red. “What do you think you’re doing here, Seiji?” Despite her steady words and determination, she still appeared ready to collapse.

“You’re all sliced up! Why are you standing?”

“I asked you a question first,” she turned back on, refusing let Seiji dictate the flow. “You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice wavered a little from the even tone.

“This one’s mine!” he shouted, ripping his arm free. Seiji shoved Saki away from him. It was not her fight. His eyes locked back on Cosmas. The ends of his fingers felt on fire just staring at him. He ground his teeth trying to withstand it.

Saki blinked a little surprised to see Seiji acting in such a manner. She appeared in front of him, between the two men. “Damn it, Seiji! I don’t need this right now! You’re supposed to be helping Chiharu with the others! Get going n—“

He heard enough of her voice. Seiji grabbed her by her tunic and slammed Saki into the ground shattering the earth with the voice. “NO!” His voice erupted from his mouth with enough volume and intensity to shake the trees in the distance. Seiji struggled with his words, his jaw shaking. “He’s mine! Don’t interfere!”

The impact made Saki cough, but most of her stun came from shock in seeing Seiji’s face. She had never seen him look so wild before. ‘Even when he was a random kid in junior high looking like a gang leader, he never looked like that. It’s like he’s an animal…’ Saki did not know what was going on. She knew she did not have time to deal with him. “You leave me no choice, Seiji!” Her body suddenly disappeared from Seiji’s hold.

Reappearing, she came in from Seiji’s right flank with a bloody kick ready to lay him out. Seiji turned into her attack and stretched out his arm before she reached him. His hand wrapped around her neck. “I told you!” Seiji dragged her in close to his face. “Don’t interfere! I owe him for what he did to her!”

It took her a moment, but Saki figured out what Seiji was going on about. “This is about revenge?! Seiji!”

“NO!” he screamed. Everything went silent. His face twisted into a more and more wild depiction. “This isn’t about revenge!” Seiji’s hand shook violently. His hold tightened around Saki’s neck. “I’m going to kill him!”

Her eyes went wide at his response. ‘This isn’t the Seiji I know! What’s happened to him?!’ Saki grappled with his arm trying to break free. She put everything she had into it, yet nothing seemed to work. Seiji’s already inhuman strength seemed to have increased. “Do you hear what you’re saying, Seiji?! Kill?”

“YES!”

“Fine then!” Saki wrapped her whole body around his arm. Using everything she to twist, she threw Seiji down to the ground using his arm against. Once on the ground, she quickly switched to a submission hold fighting against his strength. “Seiji! You will not murder anyone, no matter the justification! This isn’t who you are! Seiji!” She had to bring him back to his senses. The animalistic look in his eyes only seemed to be growing worse.

Slammed into the ground, Seiji’s wrinkled face broke for a second. The intensity remained, but there was a moment of lucidity cracking through. He turned his head over to Saki. “…please…Saki…I need to…do this…for myself…”

A faint sense of his self seemed to break through. Saki found her hold on him loosening. However, the moment of weakness she showed him he took advantage of her. Seiji threw her off him with ease casing her aside. “Seiji!” called Saki from the ground.

Breathing heavily, he glanced over at her. Flashes of different parts of him went through his face. “…Saki…” His arms shook at his side.

‘He’s struggling… What’s going on Seiji?’ Saki slowly stood up. Pieces fell a little bit into place for her. Most of it still did not make a lot of sense to her. She did not know the whole story, but still felt she understood enough. “Alright, Seiji. He’s all yours.”

“Thanks!”

Cosmas started laughing, previously only watching the scene with great interest. “So you’ve suddenly decided to support killing, girl?” he teased with mocking tone. “I do love the taste of hypocrisy.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Smirking widely, he nodded slowly in a manner that only made him seem creepier. “Oh I do, little girl. I saw it in your eyes. Yours are different from his.” Cosmas enjoyed every moment deeply, especially the changing look on Seiji. “You didn’t know did you?” He laughed loudly. “Oh this is great! I love it!”

Seiji looked over at Saki in confusion. “What’s he talking about, Saki? You wouldn’t…Saki.”

Guilt surfaced in her face, as she wanted to look away from him. She knew what she did. It was something she had to do. “Seiji this isn’t the time for such things.” Saki began to walk away from the field. “If you really want to know. Ask me after this is all over.”

“Saki! Wait!” Seiji stretched out his arm towards her even though he was nowhere in range.

She continued to walk away, undeterred. “Sometimes there are just things you must do even when it is wrong.”

“Saki?” He still was not sure of what happened. Something huge was missing. Suddenly, Saki was not the same person he knew. She was missing.

Cosmas clapped loudly. He slowly walked towards Seiji. “This is so much more than I could have hoped for by just simply killing the two of you.”

“Shut the hell up, you bastard! What do you know?!”

“More than a child like you. She’s an adult.”

He threw up a fist in Cosmas’ direction. “Killing doesn’t make you an adult!”

“I wasn’t talking about that. Nothing is simple in this world. She understands better than you what must be done. I like her.” The look in his eyes as he glanced in her direction almost seemed filled with lust. He drowned in the intoxicating atmosphere.

Seiji’s teeth ground together and bared a little. “Stay away from her! This is between us!”

Swords materialized up around Cosmos ready to strike. “You’re right. I do have a traitor and a child to kill.”

“I’d rather be a child than an adult!” The air thickened almost instantly with the killing intent increasing. He slammed down his feet setting himself into a fighting stance.

Two swords appeared in Cosmas’ hands last, as a final sign of his readiness. “You’ll die a child with that sort of thinking. You’ll always be immature!”

“Fine by me!” Seiji charged forward. The life or death clash began.

Chapter 233 – Death’s Bet

The two forewent any sort of warm-up round. The battle was a continuation of their previous encounter. Cosmas immediately started out with clones and tossed around his swords in all directions. A frantic dance played out with Seiji dodging and breaking down the clones. His fists had greater power behind them than before. Each punch that destroyed a clone blasted out a wide cone of wind kicking up dirt across the entire field.

A few nicks came from swords during the opening of the fight. He could tell the swords’ sharpness was the same as he remembered. During the few punches he threw, Seiji kept watching how everything reacted. ‘Damnit! I’m seeing more disruptions. It’s not like last time. I’m not going to be able to find him the same way. Hiding bastard!’ Seiji jumped into the air and slammed his fist into the earth breaking it up into cracked crater. Tossed debris wiped out several of the clones.

“You’re using your same tricks. So naïve, child!” One of Cosmas’ clones looked down at Seiji in the crater. An array of swords appeared around Seiji. “Did you really think I wouldn’t analyze the fight?”

Seiji bared his teeth in annoyance. “You bastard! Always hiding behind tricks and copies!” He threw up his fist at the clone. “You’re a coward!”

“If you’re dead, it doesn’t really matter the means to which I achieve it.” He laughed again, but it did not hold up the attack. Several clones came sliding down the torn earth as the floating swords came in for Seiji.

A faint glow came off Seiji’s bandage arm as he went to take the blow. The sword deflected off him spinning away into the earth, leaving him unharmed. He grabbed the second with his teeth using it to parry several swords before Cosmas saw what he did. When it vanished, Seiji grabbed up another sword swiping away the rest just in time.

The clones reached him. He still had the sword. Enough force swung through the metal that he shattered both weapons immediately. Shards of metal flew past him scrapping his face in thin lines before he finished off the clone. Continuing to move, he lifted a large chunk of rock in one hand to smash the other clones in a single motion.

Once finished, Seiji leapt back into the air. Swords followed him up. He blocked some with his arm and the rest he deflected away with temporary weapons before they disappeared. ‘There you are!’ Seiji’s body fell back down to the earth with no control over his landing.

Landing on the edge of the crater, Seiji found himself surrounded again. Clones were everywhere. He fought through the few immediately in front of him. The last he grabbed and charged with using as a shield against the other coming for him.

At the end of his charge, he met the one he wanted. He grabbed onto the invisible Cosmas, the real one. “Found you! You bastard! This time you’re not getting away from me!” His hand shook a little as the temptation to snap his neck was unbearable.

Cosmas smirked, as he appeared to Seiji, not seemingly affected by being caught. “So you’ve learned a little.”

Seiji ground his teeth not liking the way he looked. ‘I have him! Why does he look like he’s the one in control?’ The arrogant look in his eyes just made his emotion boil more. “I’ve gotten more practice dealing with your kind. This isn’t going to play out the way you think.” His body started to shake more and more.

“You’re right this isn’t going to be same.” The smirk widened further across Cosmas lips. He lifted up his hand to rest on Seiji’s bandaged arm. “Oh you’re shaking badly.” His lips thinned a little with excitement. “It’s finally starting to affect you.”

Suddenly, Seiji’s left arm went numb. He lost hold of Cosmas as the shaking in his right overwhelmed him. Everything in his body seemed to be cold in one moment and burning the next. He staggered around swiping at whatever was near him. “What did you do to me, you bastard?!”

Cosmas walked casually up to Seiji. He grabbed a hold of his right arm at the wrist. It was the only support Seiji had when his legs buckled. “I poisoned you, naturally.”

Seiji gasped for air. “You—“

“Oh don’t worry. It’s not deadly. No, it just paralyzes you and gives you a few other fun side effects that I decided to toss in for my entertainment.” Cosmas lifted up a sword in his free hand placing it against Seiji’s wrapped hand. “Can you feel that? The cold steel.” He grinned maniacally. “You can’t can you. It’s numbed your ability to sense temperature.”

Sweat dripped down Seiji’s face. He could not move his body. Nothing responded. “B-bast-ard!”

“Yes, keep that attitude! It’ll be so much better when I do this!” The sword in his hand cleanly cut through Seiji’s pinkie. Cosmas held up the severed finger for Seiji to see the blood dripping out.

It took him a moment, but a massive wave of pain attacked all of his senses at once. As much as he wanted to hold it in, nothing could keep his lips sealed. Seiji released a blood curdling scream. He felt as though every part of his skin was being peeled off millimeter by millimeter and they plucked his muscles like an instrument. It made his head want to explode before wanting to pass out.

“Oh no, you can’t faint on me. The poison won’t allow you.” The devilish grinned seemed to curl up. “No, I’ll make you feel new heights of pain enhanced by this poison until I’m finished with you.” Cosmas leaned in only centimeters away from Seiji’s face. “I too learned some things about you. You aren’t like us. Meaning I have greater control over your own body than you do. You’ll suffer greatly before you die!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Sweat dripped down Seiji’s face. He could not move his body. Nothing responded. “B-bast-ard!”

“Yes, keep that attitude! It’ll be so much better when I do this!” The sword in his hand cleanly cut through Seiji’s pinkie. Cosmas held up the severed finger for Seiji to see the blood dripping out.

It took him a moment, but a massive wave of pain attacked all of his senses at once. As much as he wanted to hold it in, nothing could keep his lips sealed. Seiji released a blood-curdling scream. He felt as though every part of his skin was being peeled off millimeter by millimeter and they plucked his muscles like an instrument. It made his head want to explode before wanting to pass out.

“Oh no, you can’t faint on me. The poison won’t allow you.” The devilish grinned seemed to curl up. “No, I’ll make you feel new heights of pain enhanced by this poison until I’m finished with you.” Cosmas leaned in only centimeters away from Seiji’s face. “I too learned some things about you. You aren’t like us. Meaning I have greater control over your own body than you do. You’ll suffer greatly before you die!”

Seiji pulled at his body to respond to him. He fought with his arm to move. Anything needed to move. It did not matter what it was. A sign was all that he needed. Something to show that he was still in control. He could not stand knowing that his body was dead to him. He could do nothing to change things. That he was just the helpless doll to this insane man.

‘Come on! Damn body, do what I’m telling you!’ He struggled to find anything. Everything was so numb. He did not feel like he was in his own body anymore. It just feel like he was watching through someone’s eyes, but still felt the pain. ‘Are you going to just let him carve you up? Move damn it!’

A faint glow between the layers of papers around his arm. It pulsed softly.

Grinning like a maniac, Cosmas removed another finger to show Seiji. The renewed screaming only made his expression all the more twisted. He drank up the pain with devilish delight.

The resistance from his body made Seiji sweat more. Watching Cosmas degrade further and further from something that resembled human actually made him feel something he did not expect. It was foreign feeling for him. ‘He’s actually going to slowly cut me up until I die!’ Seiji’s eyes widened further until his pupils became only dots. The feeling washed over him. It made him familiar with it. It wanted him to be comfort. It was heavy. It was sickening. Seiji hated it, but could not help it.

Fear. Absolute. Pure. Consuming.

Chapter 234 – Death’s Assurance

There were times Seiji might have felt it in the past, but it only a little bit. It was not enough to keep him from wanting to fight back. But this was so powerful it felt like it was over his entire body. Everything froze. His mind started to come to terms with the reality. ‘I can’t…’

His arm pulsed a little stronger.

Cosmas took interest. “What’s this? I don’t remember you having this before.” He stripped away a couple of the talismans wrapped around his hand. It took a little effort, but he reached skin. A thin scar started between where the pinkie and ring finger would have been and ran underneath the bandaging. His eyes lit up a little. “I remember now. This was the wound I gave you.” Cosmas peeled back a few more to find the second scar. He checked further up on his arm needing to remove a significant amount to reach the skin. “So you managed to bind it back together and heal yourself. I recall you did something like that at the end now. You were getting less interesting at that point, so I don’t remember the small details very well.”

Seiji wanted his arm back. He wanted his body back. He wanted free of this insane man’s control. It had to end. “Give…me…back…” Even his mouth had trouble obeying him. He fought to just get the words out.

Closing in a little, Cosmas playful drew a line down Seiji’s cheek with his finger. “Oh? You want something?” He grinned at him. “Do tell me.”

The glow shined off his skin through the exposed parts as it pulsed.

A little surprised by the brightness, Cosmas pulled back a bit. His confusion at Seiji’s arm twisted his forehead. “Something new you’re trying? You’re still under my paralysis. You can’t escape me!” He started laughing at Seiji futile attempts. “Struggle all you want. You’re mine!”

Another pulse came out, but it moved down his arm rather than all at once. The tips of his fingers started to glow a little.

“Give me…”

“Come on. Tell me what you want.”

“Give…”

Several waves pulsed through Seiji’s arm.

“What is it you want?” Cosmas leaned forward up close to Seiji’s face. He grabbed on to the back of his head. The sight of his futility pleased him. Toying with him was almost too easy.

Suddenly, the talismans on his arm rippled. The outer layer loosened up and flapped around. The light pulsing through his arm became a constant stream. “Give me back my ARM!” Seiji shouted, finally able to speak again. All of the talismans threw off his arm spinning around at different speeds. The light that contained within before shined brightly. It blinded the entire field.

Once the light faded enough to see, Seiji was no longer in sight. It was his white glowing arm that signaled his position, as it was hard to miss. He rested outside of Cosmas’ field. The talismans stopped moving. Hundreds of papers floated at different distances away from his arm.

Cosmas lowered his eyes a little from the brightness. A new turn of events he did not expect appeared before him. “What do you have hidden in the arm?”

The pain through his body had subsided significantly. His hand still hurt, but nothing like it was before. ‘I can move again.’ Seiji flipped his eyes up towards Cosmas, noticing his position. ‘It must be because I’m outside of his effects.’ Lifting up his scarred arm, Seiji stared at the light coming off it. ‘What’s happening to me? I thought I already knew what power Yuki gave me. This isn’t the same sort of thing.’

Seiji grabbed one of the talismans out of the air. It immediately straightened out in his fingers. “Huh? This looks like…” He never gave it much thought on his arm. When it happened during the fight, he was merely grateful for an arm to fight with again. After it was over, he just accepted it as fact. He never looked at it closely. But it was familiar. Sickeningly familiar.

The more he thought about it the more he realized about it. ‘These showed up that time when the shrine was under attack by the undead.’ The light from his arm calmed down. Most of the paper talismans returned to his arm, but a few attached themselves to his body. He could not remove them no matter how much he tried. ‘They’re always appearing to help me. Is this your way of getting back at me?!’

He would have preferred to ignore such help, but it was a part of him. It could not be removed. Acceptance was his only option, reluctant or otherwise. Seiji looked down at his maimed hand, bandaged back up. The two fingers he missed were sealed up.

Seiji looked back at Cosmas with his awkward fist raised. His body felt a little different now. He was not sure what the talismans did to him, but he at least had the poison purged. “Alright. Time to return the favor in kind.” Seiji began to walk back towards the sword field.

Grinning, Cosmas watched with anticipation of Seiji’s return. “You were safe outside my field. My poison couldn’t affect you. But you walk back in here. It’ll make you succumb again.” Swords lifted up into the air around where Seiji would enter. “You truly are an idiot!”

“I’m fine with that,” replied Seiji, marching into the field. The moment he stepped in a flicker came off the talismans attached to his body. “Things won’t play out the same way a second time.”

“Did you forget I have complete control within my field?”

Punching his foot down into the field, chunks of earth jumped up knocking away many of the swords lined up for him. His left hand grabbed a free sword and swiped away the rest in a single motion. “Did you forget this is the second time I’ve fought you?”

“So you found a way to protect yourself from my poison. I can just strengthen it.”

“You really think that’ll work?” Seiji kept walking forward. He had his confidence back. Everything was under his control. His body felt great. “All you can do is work within your pre-defined limits you’ve placed upon yourself. Strengthening won’t do anything to affect me. You’ll have to change it to actually have a chance against me now.” He smirked a little at the thought. “And you can’t risk that. The moment your field is off you’re mine. You have to work with what you’re given.”

Cosmas grinned along with Seiji. It pleased him. It was enjoyable, but also boring before. The feeling he had now was more satisfying. “This is the way it should be. This is far more interesting. It’d be so boring just cutting you up when you can’t move.” Suddenly two swords appeared in his hands and grew immediately to unwieldy sizes of five meters. “But don’t think I’m out of moves. No, we’re just getting starting now. So I expect you to keep making things interesting for me until I remove that head of yours!”

The length of the swords actually impressed Seiji a bit. They seemed like they stretched out to stab at him, even though he remained at a safe distance. He rubbed his left hand over his right hand subconsciously. There was no pain.

He could feel the intensity of the atmosphere. The deadliness pointed straight at him. His emotions calmed for the moment. ‘I have to end this before I lose myself once more. This man brings out the worst in me. Inside I know he deserves worse than what my heart wants to give, but I can’t let it take me over. Not again! I need to fight my way, not on his terms!’

Seiji charged in for Cosmas. He watched the massive blades slowly moving up. ‘They’re too big for him. Though he seems unaffected by their size, I can’t imagine he actually can swing them very easily.’ The slow movement made them very easy to dodge. It almost seemed like Cosmas allowed himself to get caught up in sense of a fight to allow such a weakness. However, it was too early to judge.

The earth roared and leapt the moment the blades crashed into the ground. Massive waves of debris shot off the impact zone. It did not matter if Seiji dodged the blades, their effect would still reach him. They carved up the earth with ease.

After only two attacks, Seiji fell off his course. He stumbled around on his feet trying to make up the loss. However, in this delay, Cosmas had a follow-up already planned. Seiji caught it in time. The left sword was already back in the air and turned flat with the blade pointed at him. It moved significantly faster than before. The slow movement was just a deception.

Seiji leapt up in the air just in time to land on the blade as it crashed into the other sword. Sparks flew up from the scrapping metal. The blades rang loudly over the battlefield. ‘Damn…’ He looked down at the close call. ‘That was close, he’s still playing around.’ Seiji jumped back to get off the sword.

The next attack was already beginning. Seiji had to dodge the varied speeds of the swords. Neither seemed to move in the same. It made it difficult for him to dodge. He already experienced the sharpness of the smaller blades. He did not want to take one directly on at such a size.

Dodging was all he could do for the moment. Cosmas was on a heavy offensive. “Don’t get boring on me again! I’ll cut you up if you do!” He smirked at him.

Grunting a little as he made an awkward backward dodge, Seiji hated being defensive. But the new tactics were not something he was used to against Cosmas. “You’re already wanting to kill me. I don’t think that’s much of a motivating factor right now.” He had another close dodge. Each move seemed to be getting harder to avoid than the last.

Some laughter came from Cosmas. “Getting a bit of a mouth on you for retorts, huh?”

“Damn, I’m starting to sound like Yuki.” He leapt up on the swords as another dodge came. The size made it very easy to run up the length as his only catch for a counter. “I need to keep to my own character.” Blades jumped up from the surface of the sword halting his progress. The surprise attack left him with a small knick, but it felt like his entire limb had been severed. He bit through the pain, jumping away, his route closed.

“I wondered how long it’d take you to accept the invitation.”

Seiji ripped off a talisman from his arm and put it on the thin wound. It worked well closing up the wound. ‘Damn, they aren’t normal swords…’ He looked back at Cosmas approaching. A reminder of the situation had to go through Seiji’s head. It was easy to fall into the assumption of what he saw was what reality was, but they subverted reality.

“You shouldn’t relax just because you think you’re safe!” The swords suddenly grew in length to reach out to Seiji. Safe distance no longer meant the same thing. The swords moved at an even faster speed than before leaving Seiji with little openings.

Seiji gasped for a moment as he felt the blade slice through his entire body at the waist. It seemed like everything was not real for a moment. He could not feel anything. Then he looked down. He managed to escape, but not without taking a shallow wound in his waist as the extending blades caught a taste of him in mid-swing. Sweat poured down his face from the experience. ‘What just happened?’

Cosmas lifted the left sword up to rest on his shoulder. “Surprised? I told you before didn’t I? I’m not out of moves. Things are only getting started.” The sword shrank down to a normal size. “That was merely a taste of things to come. That blade creates illusions, increasing the severity of any wound you receive.”

The right sword, still massive, shined a strange light blue. A cold wind blew from it until the air froze. Ice expanded over the blade and stretched out catching Seiji unaware. He could not move in time for the ice to grab his legs. “How will you get out of this?” Cosmas tossed the smaller sword into the air letting it grow back to gigantic proportions. It spun down at him threatening to cut him down the middle.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Cosmas lifted the left sword up to rest on his shoulder. “Surprised? I told you before didn’t I? I’m not out of moves. Things are only getting started.” The sword shrank down to a normal size. “That was merely a taste of things to come. That blade creates illusions, increasing the severity of any wound you receive.”

The right sword, still massive, shined a strange light blue. A cold wind blew from it until the air froze. Ice expanded over the blade and stretched out catching Seiji unaware. He could not move in time for the ice to grab his legs. “How will you get out of this?” Cosmas tossed the smaller sword into the air letting it grow back to gigantic proportions. It spun down at him threatening to cut him down the middle.

Seiji looked down immediately at the ice holding him. He pulled at his legs with his hands trying to rip himself free. However, it was all too late. Nothing could be done. The ice held solid. He ground his teeth to grit through the pain he expected to come. Seiji looked up.

The spinning sword turned into a blur. It spun too fast for him. He knew it was going to slice him. The sharpness of the blade was not something he doubted. It was unavoidable. ‘Damnit! Don’t let it end like this! Not like this!’ Seiji lifted his arms up in a futile attempt to protect to him. They crossed over in front of his head just as the first strike came down on the sword.

Sparks flew up the moment of the strike. A shockwave blasted out throwing wind out in all directions. The movement was so fast the blade already crashed into the earth as part of the spin. The ground exploded leaping up. A heavy cloud filled everything. Only the quickly spinning sword could be seen through the clouds trailing smoke. Thin streaks of blood sailed through the air off the sword, clearly finding a target.

In the last few spins of the swords, loud cracking ripped through the field. The ice lost its hold. The sword threw Seiji out of the cloud with tiny shards of ice and droplets of blood trailing off him. He crashed into the ground still appearing to be in one piece.

Cosmas drew his massive sword across the clouds of smoke like a fan, pushing all of out the way. He went over to retrieve this cast sword. “Seems you’ve managed to survive. Very good, it was the least interesting thing I have to kill you with.”

Seiji dragged himself to his feet. His entire body still felt like it was shaking from the repeated strikes of the sword. It rattled his bones. He was not sure how he survived it. He should have died. “Do you ever get tired of talking?”

“Do you get tired of stumbling through your battles?”

A response was inside Seiji, but did not want to give Cosmas any more fuel. The man was annoying without more to talk to about. Seiji was fine with having a little luck. No battle was all about just skill. Random chance played just as important of an element. He believed that more than anything. The best could get unlucky and lose.

He felt grateful for the amount of luck on his side. ‘I’m damn well sure I would have died several times over without the luck I have.’ Seiji looked at his arms. He had trouble with the widespread ringing in his body what was actually injured. His bandage arm came away completely unscathed. However, his left arm had a severe gash left from the sword. A quick patch up from borrowing another few talismans fixed him up.

A quick fix was all he could afford. It kept him fighting.

Cosmas was already ready to begin.

Chapter 235 – Death’s Entertainment

Cleared once more, the battle could begin with renewed vigor. Cosmas’ swords returned to their normal size. It was hard to judge if it would be more powerful or not. Anything could come from the swords. Seiji started to adjust to such facts with the abilities he showed off.

Cosmas stabbed his left sword into the ground. A flash of red light erupted from it. The light pulsed into the earth. Cracks bolted out over the ruined field. Each of the cracks glowed brightly. The streams all focused on Seiji. Before reaching him, the light blew up through massive pillars of flames into the air. Chain explosions followed along the cracks quickly reaching out to him.

The heat coming off the flames reached him long before the fire. Seiji tried to dodge what he could, but the walls of flames made it almost any sort of escape impossible. He danced around between the cracks. His skin blistered quickly from the exposure. Any action only took him in deeper until the whole ground around him erupted into a massive spire of fire. Everything swallowed up. Large chunks of earth went soaring from the force.

Watching the spectacle, Cosmas grinned. Seiji disappeared from sight. He pulled the sword free releasing the flames. As though snuffed out in an instant, the fire disappeared. Clung for protection on the debris caught up in the blast, Seiji survived again. Throwing his right sword into the air, a dark shine washed over it.

Suddenly, the rocks in the area slammed into the ground. The impact blasted craters and pulverized them to dust. Seiji struggled to stand. It felt like the Earth sat on his back. ‘So heavy…I can barely move!’ Grinding his teeth together, Seiji slammed his foot into the earth cracking it from the weight. ‘I won’t be stopped! I won’t let you keep going!’ Using the weight on him to his advantage, Seiji raised his fist into the air and slammed down into the earth with the full aided force.

Cracks shot out from the impact towards Cosmas as Seiji sank further down in his crater. The force ripped up the outer layer of the earth tossing it in all directions. Cosmas spawned his swords for a defense. Thin lines formed along the rocks thrown at him. It allowed them to pass by him unharmed.

The gravity disappeared for Seiji. His body felt so light that his movement was fastest than he expected. The ground blasted out behind him from his sprint. It was the best opening he had the entire fight. However, a wide sword managed to block him in time. But the force of his fist knocked back Cosmos, delivering thin cuts to his face. Seiji struggled with the sword. He roared loudly building his strength.

Cosmas felt a little bit of surprise to have been so close to Seiji. He looked up from the ground to see his sword began to develop cracks in it. It was not going to last for another half minute to such strength. Staring at the sword for a moment, sparks came off it. Arcs of lightning jumped around channeling into Seiji’s arm.

Shock from the lightning threw him back several meters. It tossed Seiji to the ground, his body still discharging the electricity. “Damn, so close,” he muttered.

Laughing with excitement, Cosmas rose to his feet. He wiped away the blood that dripped down his face from his small cuts. “Excellent! Keep this up! Your struggling makes this the best!” Even being almost on the losing side, Cosmas continued to be unaffected by the ebb and flow of the battle. He clapped his hands wanting even more.

Digging himself out of the cracked ruins of the field, Seiji found his way to his feet. “Annoying bastard…” Some of the lightning loosely arced between his fingers, but it mostly disappeared. ‘He’s got too many different things those swords do now. I don’t know expect from him next. And I was so close to putting an end to it as well.’

“Show me what else you can do!” Six swords appeared hovering around Cosmas. Each had a distinctive glow about them.

Narrowing his face for the next round, Seiji did not like the feeling he got from the way the swords looked. Regardless he feeling on the matter, he did not have a choice. He had to deal with it. “I can take whatever you’ve got!”

Grinning like a devil again, Cosmas motioned with his hand as a trigger. “Keep me entertained!” The first sword lit up brightly before shoot out a stream of fire. Seiji dodged the attempt, but a beam of lightning fired at him next with greater speed. Immediately after, rocks materialized and flung towards him growing to the size of boulders.

The rapid assault was something that Seiji expected, but he did not foresee the hail of elements thrown at him. The lightning clipped him in the shoulder spinning back to ram his foot into the earth for support. He caught boulder with both hands, but a second a third slammed into it grinding Seiji back. “Damn! I won’t lose to stupid magic!” Seiji’s feet dragged through the earth keeping him supported. When it seemed like he stopped move he tried to throw the boulder back, but it suddenly was sliced up.

A barrage of wind arcs burst through the shattering stone. They were too close for him to do anything. No defense left him open. Blood sprayed up from the open wounds, staggering him back. Seiji stood his ground refusing to fall. “Not enough!” Water tore up through the earth to surround him completely. He threw out his arm attempting to slice through it, but more poured in. Then it all turned to ice.

Frozen, Seiji fought with his body to move. The biting cold dug its claws into him. ‘I’m not giving up! Move, damnit!’ His arm glowed softly through the ice. The talismans across his body started to shine, pulsing with his arm. Warmth returned into his arms. Seiji felt them moving.

Cracks formed along the ice. Their count increased quickly until the entire thing no longer had any transparency. Small pieces chipped away along the cracks. Soon larger pieces fell. Seiji’s right arm broke free first. It smashed through other parts of the ice. Enough of the structure lost its strength for Seiji to push his way out.

“Fire and ice won’t be enough to hold me back!” Seiji threw one of the larger chunks of debris at Cosmas. One of the defensive swords cut it away.

New attacks came at him. He saw the boulders in greater numbers flying at him. His fists matched each one crushing them with a single punch making his way towards Cosmas. Lightning shot at him, but his right fist deflected it. Water and ice followed up with more boulders. Seiji kicked his leg through the earth redirecting the torrents. He threw back one of the boulders to block the flames.

Seiji kept marching. Wind blades caught a piece of him, unable to dodge of them. He tightened up his fist. Talismans peeled off his arm and sealed up the wounds. More attacks flew at him, but he grew comfortable with the pace. Even coming at him all at once, he dealt with them.

He stood before Cosmas. One of the floating blades fired a lightning strike, but his right hand caught it. Crushing it under his palm, weak sparks arced around his fingers. “Now who’s boring?” Seiji threw his fist down at Cosmas, but it went straight through it.

“I’m impressed!” answered Cosmas from the void.

Annoyed, Seiji tilted his head over his shoulders in search for the real Cosmas. ‘Messing around with his stupid copies, but that one wasn’t the same. It wasn’t real.’ Several more copies of Cosmas appeared around the field. He doubted any of them to be real one. Unfortunately, they could still make attacks.

Another blast of fire came at him. It was effortlessly blocked, but swords suddenly flew out of the flames. Seiji had to drop down just to avoid being hit. However, he could not rest as attacks came in from above. He jumped into the air. While in the air, something pulled on him. Any control he had became an illusion. It flipped and spun him around. “What the hell?” In one of the rotation he made, he saw a strange portal that got closer to him. It was pulling him.

Seiji grasped at anything, but nothing could stop him from the pull. It dragged him closer and closer. His bandaged arm was the first to be sucked in. It disappeared up to his shoulder. There seemed to be something physical for him to hold on to around the portal. He clung to the perimeter trying to get his arm free. However, the portal started to shrink around the arm. Seiji dug his hand into the portal trying to keep it open, but nothing could hold it back. It closed around his arm tightening further.

He groaned feeling the pressure on his arm. It felt like dump truck parked on his arm and kept backing up and going forward over it. He was stuck.

The portal suddenly exploded, failing to crush his arm. Gone, he was left floating for a moment.

Gravity kicked in with a vengeance, thanks to Cosmas’ efforts. Seiji fell back to the earth like a meteorite. His body exploded rocks up into the air. “Damn…” Out of the clouds, Seiji walked a little worse in appearance. He did not get a moment of pause as swords jumped up from the ground at him. Several managed to pierce him before he got free.

Landing from the last attack, talisman patched him up quickly. Seiji opened his right hand to find a shard of one of the swords. ‘This hand. There’s something strange about it, more than just those talismans.’ He recalled everything from the fight. Repeatedly, he thought to the different times he used the arm. ‘Despite getting cut up, this arm looks perfectly fine still. It can stop his attacks, but why? What’s special about this? Can I use it against him?’ A soft pulsing came from his arm. ‘It wants something.’

Seiji did not have much of a chance to think things out any further. Attacks came at him. He tested out his right arm to block everything tossed at him. It seemed to work. However, he could not have it handle everything. Flanking strikes and surprises came from all corners. Seiji barely felt in control. But he survived and the talisman covered arm remained unharmed.

A little curious, Seiji lifted his arm up. He wanted to know what strange power was at work inside it.

Retrieving a sword from the void, Cosmas pointed it at him. It was a dark blade with a red glow and yellow lines intricately detailed across the blade. The motion of it moving through the air left it appear as though cut, segmented into two slightly misaligned images. A heavy foreboding came from its appearance. “So you can block my attacks. Want to try your arm against this?”

Bothered by the man’s boost in confidence, Seiji dug in for another round of attacks. “You’re going to use it regardless.”

“That’s right!” Cosmas swung the sword through the air. Nothing seemed to happen, but suddenly much of the world looked to have split.

Seiji’s right arm jumped from an invisible force crashing against it. He tried to hold his position, but it was too strong. His body flew backwards, the pressure still on him. Shaking in his arm grew worse as he braced himself with his other hand. However, the moment he did it sliced off all of his fingers from his left hand. The pain caused him to yelp. He lost any sort of position he had thrown off with the force sliding past him. It sliced up him left arm in several places passing through in a straight line removing everything from his upper arm.

“Damnit all to hell!” Thrown to the ground, blood poured out of his wound. Behind him, the world’s split grew wider until it faded away at the edge of his field. Seiji ground his teeth through the pain as talisman moved to cover up the stump before blood lose left him unconscious.

Cosmas appeared before Seiji holding the sword at his face. “The dimensional sword can’t break that right arm of yours, but it doesn’t protect the rest of your body.” He grinned at him. “You’ve been very fun to play with, but things end now.” The sword moved into pierce his skull.

Something flew in knocking Cosmas back, sending him flying controllably for meters. Another presence arrived on the battlefield. “It’s not over while I still draw breath! I won’t allow you to kill him!” declared Nerine, in her return to battle.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Seiji’s right arm jumped from an invisible force crashing against it. He tried to hold his position, but it was too strong. His body flew backwards, the pressure still on him. Shaking in his arm grew worse as he braced himself with his other hand. However, the moment he did it sliced off all of his fingers from his left hand. The pain caused him to yelp. He lost any sort of position he had thrown off with the force sliding past him. It sliced up him left arm in several places passing through in a straight line removing everything from his upper arm.

“Damnit all to hell!” Thrown to the ground, blood poured out of his wound. Behind him, the world’s split grew wider until it faded away at the edge of his field. Seiji ground his teeth through the pain as talisman moved to cover up the stump before blood lose left him unconscious.

Cosmas appeared before Seiji holding the sword at his face. “The dimensional sword can’t break that right arm of yours, but it doesn’t protect the rest of your body.” He grinned at him. “You’ve been very fun to play with, but things end now.” The sword moved into pierce his skull.

Something flew in knocking Cosmas back, sending him flying controllably for meters. Another presence arrived on the battlefield. “It’s not over while I still draw breath! I won’t allow you to kill him!” declared Nerine, in her return to battle.

Seiji had more surprise on his face than Cosmas. He did not expect Nerine to show up. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He tried to stand up, but did not think about his missing arm and fell back down.

Moving quickly, she caught with her gauntlets Seiji before he collapsed completely. “I should be asking you that in your condition.” She planned to stabilize only him, but he insisted on standing. So she was forced to help him to his feet.

Once he had his footing back, Seiji stood on his own. He pushed in front of Nerine. “You shouldn’t be here. This is my fight.”

“I’m not letting you fight him alone,” corrected Nerine. She stepped out before Seiji facing him. If she had arms, they would likely have been crossed. “You’re falling apart and he just cut off your arm!”

Seiji threw out his right arm in a slashing motion. “I don’t care, damnit! He wants to kill you! He’s already taken both of your arms! I can’t allow him to finish the rest!” The sight of Nerine brought back all of his memories of their fight before. Everything he struggled to keep down rose so fast to the surface he could not control it. His emotions ran hot. The desire to kill became overwhelming. ‘I’ve got to keep myself in control!’

“Unlike last time, I actually have the ability to protect myself. I don’t need you to protect me.” More than a dozen of her gauntlet weapons appeared around her floating. She then immediately moved her gauntlet out in the direction of Cosmas, just in time to block one of his dimension slashing attacks. Nerine looked back at Seiji. “I’m better suited to dealing with another MP.”

It relieved him to see Nerine appearing strong enough to deal with Cosmas, but he still had his concerns. “You don’t have your arms! How are you going to fight when you’re style is dependent on it?”

Nerine turned away to start walking towards Cosmas. She sent most of her gauntlets flying towards him keeping him business. “That’s one of the benefits of our powers. I don’t need physical arms to use my power.” Her remaining gauntlet moved in to float at her side where her forearms would have been. The gauntlet raised with the fingers in the armor closing in a fist. “I’ve made adjustments to my powers to adapt to my current situation. It won’t be a problem.”

As she left Seiji, she paused for a moment to tilt her head back at him. “I’d be more concerned about yourself and resolving your problems.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I fought you before remember. I know how you fight. This isn’t like you. Something’s weakening your punches. Resolve yourself before you worry about me.” She charged off after Cosmas.

Seiji lowered his head. ‘Weaker? I guess she’s noticed.’ He tightened up his fist at the frustration built. All of the rage boiling inside him was difficult to contain. It took so much of his concentration to keep himself in check. ‘But I can’t allow myself to fight like I want, not against him. If I did…if I did, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.’ He could not allow that side of him out again. No matter the cost.

Chapter 236 – Death’s Excitement

The pleasure on Cosmas’ face exceeded what he held during Seiji’s fight. He seemed caught up in the ecstasy that he was merely holding a defense against Nerine. “So you’ve come to me! Come seeking your death! Well I’ll be more than happy to grant it to you, Second Lieutenant Nerine!”

The sound of his voice was enough to annoy her. He took too much enjoyment in killing. It was a disgusting feeling. She narrowed her expression and focused fighting him.

Once he got rid of his initial excitement, the mood of the battle turned back to the dark killing intent. He tried the dimensional sword again, but Nerine used one of her gauntlets to crush the sword. Since it became a battle between two MPs, he started to change up his tactics. Multiple swords appeared around him. She let her weapons deal with them while charged for Cosmas.

He saved a few for defense as she tried some straightforward punches to test his reactions. Once she failed to get through, she slid down throwing her leg down into a sweep. He leapt back to dodge her, but her gauntlets swapped out letting her push herself after him. Throwing her punches into the air, she bounced around to get around him striking him from behind. A clean hit landed on him knocking him forward.

Nerine did not let him have a chance to stand up as she punched off into the air. She redirected herself above him and threw herself down ramming her fist into his back. There was a brief reaction from him, but she grabbed him and threw him up into the air. Jumping, she followed him up dancing around the air to land repeated blows to him before casting him back down in a cloud of smoke. ‘I haven’t beaten him yet, but I had to have hurt him with that.’

Waiting to see what he did next, Nerine held back. She did not want to go in blind into the cloud. Out of the smoke, a sword flew out at her, but she caught it. However, more swords appeared around her, more than her gauntlets. She ground her teeth at the sight. The gauntlets and swords exchanged quick blows around her defensive zone, but several broke through. She punched herself out of the area, however they followed. It gave her enough time to deal with them head-on.

Cosmas emerged from the smoke clapping. “You’re doing great! I’ll admit I had dismissed you as someone to hold my interest, but I’m pleased to see that you won’t disappoint me.” A wicked dark grin came across his face as though he had a new idea.

The dimensional sword appeared in his hand along with a matching one for his off hand. He swung the swords through the air throwing out several of the reality cutting waves. Nerine already dealt with the attack, she knew how to manage it. Focusing her power, she negated the effects of the slashes letting her gauntlets absorb the remaining physical damage.

Blood sprayed out from her back. Shock painted across her face. She fell down to one knee trying to understand what happened. The wound in her back pulsed in pain. ‘I didn’t miss one did I?’ While Nerine tried to understand her situation, Cosmas already had another attack incoming. Events played out in the same fashion, she succeeded against all of them, but another wound show up. This time her lower back. ‘I know I didn’t miss it. He’s doing some trick to attack while I’m focused on his primary attack.’

Unfortunately, she set her focus to look back attacks and missed the movement in his field. Several more wounds came from it before she escaped. ‘He’s switching things up knowing that I already know something’s off. Damn, he’s a tough one.’ Nerine could only keep her awareness open to any sides, but it still slowed her down. It forced her into a defensive position.

After the last attack, she decided to try to return to the offense. The gauntlets at her side changed again to a slimmer version. She caught sight of incoming swords and punched the air to push herself forward. However, the swords crashed upon something before hitting her. Nerine closed the gap quickly bouncing around Cosmas quickly from all sides. His swords blocked her hits, but was not her purpose.

When she finished, she landed on top of something invisible above Cosmas. The gauntlets on her swapped out for a larger pair. They glowed brightly as she raised them up into the air. Her fist slammed down on the surface she knelt upon. Once invisible, it shined faintly charged with energy. It completely surrounded him. A moment later, the interior exploded in light completely engulfing Cosmas.

Nerine leapt off just as the whole container blew up from the contained pressure. Smoke rose off the area in the wake of the explosion. She ordered in her floating gauntlets to attack while he was still inside. However, she heard clashing of metal from inside. Another switch in weapons, she directed her fist at the smoke blowing it all away.

The devilish man still stood, though blood dripped down his face and along his arms. She injured him, even though he still looked even more maniac than before. He laughed loudly as though not in control. “Splendid!” He drew his hand over his face unable to stop laughing. “Oh this is perfect! A real challenge!” Suddenly swords erupted from the ground all around him.

Uneasy from the feeling in the air, Nerine stepped back. She did not know what he planned for her. ‘What’s the matter with him?’

He stretched out his hand towards her. “Oh don’t leave now!” All of the swords appeared around her with a count greater than a hundred. In a flash, they all attacked. Her gauntlets rained down in chunks of metal utterly destroyed. Blood sprayed up from the numerous wounds Nerine received.

Collapsing to her knees, Nerine fell in shock. ‘His power increased! He must have used a fold.’ Blood dripped over most of her body. Pain stung her from all sides. She could only bit through it all. ‘I can’t believe he was holding back so much…’

“Nerine!” shouted Seiji from the side. The sight snapped him out of his self-pity. He could not intervene in the fight Nerine began. He was too afraid of what he would do. But that man hurt her again. His blood boiled intensely. It was impossible for him hold it back.

Seiji started walking towards Nerine. A heavy shadow fell over his eyes. ‘I’m so sorry, Yuki. I have to walk in the darkness.’ Each step he made cracked the earth ever so slightly. ‘I tried to hold it back, but I can’t anymore. I won’t be able to walk by your side anymore, not as I am.’ Light began to glow stronger from his arm. ‘It’s wrong to kill regardless of the reason, but I must. I’m sorry, Yuki. We must walk different paths now.’

Pulsing warmed up from his arm pushing into his fingers. Each tip glowed brightly. The talismans rippled into waves around his arm. Wind ripped around him tugging at his tunic.

Darkness around Seiji’s eyes grew deeper. Within the center, sadness and loneliness filled up his eyes. Surrounding his eyes, his face grew harsher with severe angles. He ground his teeth, bearing them ever so slightly. ‘I don’t care anymore! If I hold back, she’ll die! I won’t allow that to happen!’

The talismans exploded off his arm revealing the bright light behind. Each paper straightened out hovering in front of him. Seiji tightened his fist up exploding the light out creating a crater underneath him from the release. All of the talismans moved behind him creating a wide wall, each glowing white. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” roared Seiji. Wrinkles intensely dug into his face around his eyes.

In an instant, Seiji disappeared. Earth exploded behind him at his last location. Ahead of him, swords exploded into a mass of metal rain. It happened so fast that it was another few seconds before a stream of blood blasted out from Cosmas’ left shoulder as his entire arm was ripped from his body.

Seiji appeared far behind Cosmas holding his arm in his hand, dripping blood. He tilted back towards Cosmas. “KILL!” Black completely covered all of Seiji’s face. Only the whites of his eyes popped free.

Cosmas dropped to one knee as the pain finally reached his brain. “DAMN!” he yelped. His right hand clutched his left shoulder. Immediately, he used his power to tend to the injury. Metal closed up the wound, keeping it from bleeding out further. He looked back at Seiji. “Bastard…” Cosmas eyes went wide with insanity.

Nerine pulled herself back up. Her eyes shook a little witnessing the darkness coming from Seiji. ‘What’s happening to him? This isn’t like him!’

The killing intent suddenly became very clear in Cosmas’ eyes. It was as though the whole time it was all just play for him. The notion of killing had merely being something he talked. It was still very clear he was serious about it. However, the look in his eyes threw away all signs of making things exciting or interesting for him. He only wanted to kill Seiji. Seiji’s look matched him, equally steeped in darkness.

The dimensional swords appeared again, but all of the swords were dimension swords. Dozens of slashes tore through reality at Seiji. Seiji dodged the first few while talismans set up in front turning to ash immediately on impact with the attacks, negating any damage.

When the attack finished, the talismans already moved out in front of his arm. They built into a cylinder in front of Seiji. The light glowing from him grew more intense as the papers shined. Suddenly energy built up in the cylinder. “DIE!” A large beam shot out of the front speeding towards Cosmas. Earth tore up from the path of the beam, destroying everything in its path.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The killing intent suddenly became very clear in Cosmas’ eyes. It was as though the whole time it was all just play for him. The notion of killing had merely being something he talked. It was still very clear he was serious about it. However, the look in his eyes threw away all signs of making things exciting or interesting for him. He only wanted to kill Seiji. Seiji’s look matched him, equally steeped in darkness.

The dimensional swords appeared again, but all of the swords were dimension swords. Dozens of slashes tore through reality at Seiji. Seiji dodged the first few while talismans set up in front turning to ash immediately on impact with the attacks, negating any damage.

When the attack finished, the talismans already moved out in front of his arm. They built into a cylinder in front of Seiji. The light glowing from him grew more intense as the papers shined. Suddenly energy built up in the cylinder. “DIE!” A large beam shot out of the front speeding towards Cosmas. Earth tore up from the path of the beam, destroying everything in its path.

Light bleached out Cosmas until he completely disappeared from sight. Even before it reached him, the massive light engulfed him. However, just as it washed over Cosmas, the direction of the beam changed. It was only a few degrees, but it had been enough. After the energy faded away, Cosmas emerged from the smoke and falling debris. His swords crumbled unable to hold their form from the damage. The left side of his body looked burned and his cloths completely destroyed. His power restored the clothing damage quickly.

Still seething and now confused, Seiji looked down to see one of Nerine’s gauntlets pressed up against his arm. The talismans floated back behind him after the end of the power. He batted the gauntlet away, the force creating a crater. “…the HELL? WHY?” It was clear Seiji had lost any control.

Nerine ignored her injures marching over to Seiji. She summoned up her gauntlets behind her. “I should be asking you, THAT!” she shouted over the field. The end of her sentence was loudly punctuated by her first gauntlet disappearing and suddenly ramming into Seiji’s face. Its impact deafened the area around them barely budging Seiji a centimeter. “What’s wrong with you?” Another gauntlet flew at him pushing him back a little more.

The barrage continued with the gauntlets moving too fast for Seiji to see. Each landed on his face knocking him back more and more with each strike. “Wake up!” One punch finally knocked him off his feet. The angle of the gauntlets changed to throw him into the ground. They continued to rail on him. “This isn’t you!”

She stopped at his side, the battery ending. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Flames of rage still burned brightly on Seiji. All the beaten did was bruise his face. “…nerine…protect…”

Ordering another punch, she knocked him a little further into the earth. “I didn’t ask for you to protect me! I can look out for myself! So return back to your stupid, naïve, fight-loving self!” She sent another gauntlet at him.

However, it stopped before reaching him. Seiji’s fingers surfaced around the armored fist, holding it back. He pushed aside the weapon, allowing his awoken face to be revealed. “…-rry…I’m sorry…” Guilt and sadness washed over his face as he stared at Nerine.

“As long as you’re yourself.” She smiled back at him, relieved to see the darkness lifted. “That’s all that matters.” Using her gauntlets, she offered him a hand.

Accepting her, Seiji walked out of the pit she put him in. He saw his arm still glowing brightly making it impossible to actually see it. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of the talismans floating. It was all strange to him. ‘I don’t remember any of this happening. I let it all consume me. Damn! I’m so weak!’ He looked back at Nerine. “Thank you. I allowed my fear to consume me. You brought me back.” A small smile worked up in his lips staring at her.

Concern still settled into a part of Nerine. ‘He’s afraid of something? I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but the middle of a fight is hardly the time for this.’ She turned to face Cosmas, who was still recovering from the damage taking from Seiji’s last attack. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but you just need to focus away from it. Your strength is in the way you love to fight, but not to hurt or kill just simply for the challenge and enjoyment of testing yourself. That’s what I saw in you from our fight. Focus on that, on who you are and leave the fear behind you.”

He stared down at his glowing arm. It was foreign to him. The whole thing was a mystery. He understood none of it. He wanted none of it. “You’re right.” He was certain of one thing. All of the strange powers showing up around him, he wanted one thing. “I want to beat him, so that he knows never to come back. I want to show him that he’ll never be able to kill us. I want the power to prove to him that he can’t win!”

Chapter 237 – Death’s Winnings

Laughter erupted from the opposite side of the field. It was Cosmas, as to be expected. He seemed to have recovered and entertained by their little motivational speech. The absolute void of dark killing intent lifted away from him. He was back to his talkative self. “You lost your only chance. Such naïve sentiments, it’s laughable!” Cosmas began walking towards them, putting the tension back up.

The dimensional swords all appeared around him. “You really think you can beat me like that? Even if you managed to win, it’s not going to change my mind. Beat me to a sliver of my life? Pressure me, torture me, rip off all of my limbs, cast me to the bottom of the sea. I will return. I will find you. I will kill you. There is nothing you can do to change that reality.” Dozens of his clones started to appear around his field. “Remember what my power is. If I must I can kill you any number of ways without you even putting up a fight. I only fight you head on because taking you apart piece by is more enjoyable. But leave me with no other options, I’ll kill you in your sleep. I’ll give you that certainty.”

Seiji felt assured in what the man said. It actually sent an eerie chill down his back. He believed what Cosmas said. ‘Such a man…no!’ Squeezing his fist tightly, Seiji focused on what mattered. “Then I’ll just find another way to do it! You won’t stop me!”

“Focus on who you are,” encouraged Nerine.

“Yeah!” Seiji threw up his fist into the air. Suddenly, the glowing came to a stop. The light faded away. His arm returned to normal. Underneath his skin, a faint pulse came out from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers. The pulsing continued until a little of the light seem to be left behind. His two scars that ran up the entire length of his arm glowed brighter. It seemed to be absorbing the light. Soon the scars increased with intensity until they became solid white lines.

His body felt different. Seiji stared at his arm. It was not the same as before. It was still foreign to him, yet more familiar and comfortable. “Huh?” Talismans appeared in his hand. He found that all of the ones floating behind disappeared. It felt very familiar.

Nerine jumped out in front of Seiji when one of the slashes came after him. Cosmas stopped waiting on them to do something. The attack washed over them dampened enough to do nothing. Chunks of metal from her gauntlets dropped to the ground. “You ready to fight?”

Tightening up his fist, it was still him. “Yeah!” Seiji tried to pound his fists together to psych himself up, but found that he missed. “Right, I’ve only got one arm.” He stepped out to stand next to Nerine, ready for Cosmas. “I only need one arm to beat you!” Some of the excitement returned into his expression.

Pleased, Nerine felt reassured with him. ‘Still looks a little forced, but he’s closer to himself.’ She threw out her gauntlets to start dealing with the numerous clones. ‘He seems to have more than just his strength now. I don’t know what his new power can do…’ Then she saw Seiji charge in blindly like he always did without regard to plans or surroundings. It made her sweat a little watching him. ‘I guess I’ll find out later.’

Seiji grabbed the first Cosmas he found planning to throw him into the neighboring one coming after him. But the body stopped moving. He stared at him for a moment before he vanished. One of the talismans floated down evaporating a moment later. ‘Just a clone. I’m going to only be finding clones with the way he fights.’ It did not mean a lot to him. He did not have a way of getting Cosmas to surface. He just started clearing the clones out.

An attack from behind flipped Seiji around. He confronted another one of the dimensional slashes. Seiji threw up his arm to block it, but talismans appeared in the air tracing his movement. They formed a line that guarded Seiji from the attack and allowed him to charge in for a counter. ‘Just another clone,’ he commented, dropping the vanishing body. ‘I need a way to deal with these clones. He’s altered his power so I can’t find him using the previous method.’ Seiji charged off after the next one, likely to be another clone. He had few options.

The battle leaned towards Cosmas with his clones. Neither side had achieved anything meaningful, but Seiji and Nerine had the disadvantage. Nerine was wounded and Seiji would eventually get exhausted from all of the running around. They could not last.

Inevitability did not matter to Seiji. He continued to charge around the field in search of the real Cosmas. It proved empty. The clones naturally came back. His talismans could block the attacks, but he could land nothing on him. Seiji came to rest next to Nerine. “Damn him, can you do anything about these clones?”

“His field’s bigger than mine and stronger. I’m barely able to keep up with him. He keeps moving out so much every time I think I’ve found the center I’ve missed.”

“I thought it was strange I couldn’t find the center.”

“He’s aware of the weaknesses and has countermeasures.” Nerine did not like the direction things headed. He was a skilled MP. His talents as an Omega agent could not be doubted with what she saw.

“We need away to get rid of all of his clones so we can focus on the real one!” Seiji’s frustration came out in him punching the ground. He did not put much force behind it, just annoyance. However, the ground lit up suddenly. Small orbs of light ignited around the field in response. “Huh? What’s happening?”

“Did you do something?”

“I don’t think so.” Large circle drew at across the ground along with Japanese kanji carved within. The kanji for the cardinal directions marked out in the key locations. It all glowed brightly filling the whole area with light. Then suddenly, the clones all started to fade away.

Seiji stepped out among the strange drawing on the ground. He saw one of his talismans firmly affixed within the drawing. “Did I cause this?”

“Found a way to deal with that, huh?” Cosmas resurfaced, forced to fight them face to face once more.

Looking away from the talisman, the whole thing still confused him. “…sure…” Little of it mattered anymore, he could fight directly. Seiji charged in after Cosmas. The same swords as before. Long slashes through the air came for him. Seiji already knew his talismans would negate them. He cast them out to deal with the threat while he focused on Cosmas. However, the slashes ripped through the talisman effortlessly coming straight for him. “Damn!”

Seiji had to recklessly dodge, throwing himself towards the ground. It still was not enough as the attacks dug into his back. The pain would not stop Seiji. Nothing would stop him. He was too close. Seiji pushed through grabbing Cosmas’ leg to slam him into the ground with him. The sword in his hand came down glowing to unleash a point-blank attack. Seiji threw up his hand directing the talismans to cover the sword up sealing it before it could attack.

Annoyed, but not detoured, the sword disappeared briefly to rid itself of the seal. The sword was still in motion for Seiji, but Nerine’s gauntlet flew it deflecting the attack away just in time. The earth only a centimeter away from Seiji carried a new deep wound.

Nerine entered the melee throwing around her gauntlets to push back Cosmas. She threw herself around the air to keep dodging the attacks coming at her, narrowly maintaining her position. Once Seiji recovered, he jumped in with her throwing his fist in as well. An uneven two-way struggle exploded across the night.

“Damn bastard!” Seiji barked, landing on the ground. Cosmas slid back several meters to a safer distance.

She came to rest next to Seiji. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“I know! We need to finish this!” Seiji glanced over at Nerine. “How much are you holding back?”

The question returned to Seiji with a bit of an indignant expression. It changed quickly for her. “I’ve still got one thing left. But my body isn’t exactly in the best shape right now.”

“Good!” He grinned a little with the thought of something reckless coming to mind. “Throw everything into it! No time to worry about your health! Damn caution!” Seiji threw up his fist, the two strips of white pulsed in waves down his arm. “Throw everything you’ve got into this! We’re finishing this now!”

All of Nerine’s gauntlets disappeared suddenly. “I haven’t used this form without my arms before.”

“You’ve been doing fine! Just believe in yourself!”

“This coming from you…”

“I’m just returning the favor! Come on, Nerine! Let’s end this!” Talismans streamed up around Seiji in response to his need.

Armor appeared on Nerine’s legs and covered where her arms would have been. The armor clamped down across her chest, locked into place. “Right! Now or never! Let’s go!” A blast came off the backs of the armor acting as thrust propelling her forward. She closed the distance with Cosmas. Immediately, she spun herself down starting things with a kick. Cosmas blocked it with ease, but flames erupted over the whole area. He retreated out of the smoke only to find Seiji tagging in.

Knocked back, Cosmas flew over to Nerine. She caught him with her fists throwing out blades of wind. She bounced around the air making use of her entire body to navigate landing numerous blows to Cosmas. He crashed into the ground, but not without swords following in after Nerine unleashing close range slashes. Explosions covered her up with smoke.

Seiji jumped in throwing down his fist erupting Cosmas in light. He went tumbling away. The swords cut in keeping Seiji back. It forced him to back off. Nerine fell from the smoke to land next to him unharmed.

Recovering and confused, Cosmas stared at the two of them. He found the talismans burning away from Nerine’s armor. Grinding his teeth, he knew what it meant. “You think you can win working together?!” A ripple came out from Cosmas’ feet.

“He’s folding again!” reported Nerine. “This isn’t good! He’s going to be too much for me to handle!”

Confidently, Seiji moved a little closer to Nerine. “Then we do it together. He can’t beat us!” They nodded in agreement and charged forward. An array of swords came flew at them. Seiji took the front blowing away most of them to open up a path. Nerine covered his back as the rest came throwing out dimension cutters. She threw up her arms to the attack, but it sliced through them with no effort. Her field could no longer dampen his power. Kicking out of the way, smoke coughed up from the ground as the attacks dug through.

Seiji threw out an easily telegraphed attack with a beam that Cosmas dodged. However, Nerine appeared above him spinning down. Talismans appeared at her foot channeling the flames and giving them a slight white coloring. The blast drilled a hole through the earth burning away Cosmas’ clothes barely evading.

Talismans stretched out to crush all of Cosmas’ swords, preventing any attack. He was completely open. Nerine landed in front of Cosmas her arm already pulled back. Seiji charged up coming up on her left side matching his fist with hers. The two fists slammed into Cosmas’ chest sending him flying back with his field disappearing.

Several minutes passed with Nerine tending to Seiji and Cosmas’ injuries. She was reluctant to do so for Cosmas, but Seiji insisted. Once everything finished, they woke up Cosmas.

He sat staring at the two of them getting a read on everything. “So you think things are over.”

“No,” answered Seiji. He knelt down to meet the man at eye. “You made yourself pretty clear earlier.”

“Damn right. If you don’t kill me, I will keep hunting you down. Just remember, I won’t be polite about it anymore.”

Seiji stared at Cosmas deeply for almost a minute. He believed what the man said. As long as he ran free, he would keep haunting their shadows. It did not matter how long it would take he planned to finish. “That’s fine with me. It just means I’ll always be watching my back for you.”

Smirking, Cosmas narrowed his eyes. “The next time you won’t even know it was me until it’s too late.”

Their conversation was over. Seiji stood up and started walking away. “I look forward to it.” He motioned with his hand back at Cosmas, telling him he had his freedom.

“Are you sure about this?” Nerine asked. “I put a seal on him, so he won’t be able to use his powers until someone finds him, but this is a big risk.”

“Yes.”

“Did you overcome your fear?”

“For now.” He looked back at Cosmas, walking away. “That man brought out a terrible side in me. Now freed, I can’t put the lid back on. All I can do is live with that part of me and not let it control me. I’ll always struggle with it.” Seiji felt a little better about the whole thing. “If I feel I’m losing myself, I’ll just remember what you told me.” He smiled over at Nerine. The long night was finally over for him. At least for the moment.

Nerine tilted her head in the direction of Cosmas. The man was already too far away for her to see. Her eyes narrowed to harsh lines. ‘Killing for the sake of killing is wrong. But there are times when it is necessary, necessary to protect those important to you. There are the right reasons to do something evil.’

Far in the distance away from Seiji and the others, a body laid alone in the grass of Atlantis. Blood poured out into the grass from their neck. A violent action had removed their head from their body. Evil rested alone by the act of another evil. Alone their secret would hold, for now.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Calm returned. The tension disappeared. Everyone was prepared, but it was unnecessary. The distant rumbling ceased. A little uncertainty still existed; the silence meant it was over. But it did not last for long.

Chiharu appeared back with the group, who all waited on news of Seiji and Nerine’s battle. “They won. They’ll be heading back soon,” she reported. She could see relief passing through everyone. Chatter already started up. None of it interested her. She turned to look in the direction of Seiji’s battlefield. ‘Were you able to overcome your fear?’

A few minute wait was all they had before Seiji and Nerine appeared through the night haze. Despite his fully healed appearance, the fatigue was clear in his eyes. The fight exhausted him in a way none of the other fights had. “I’m back!” he shouted, nonchalantly brushing the whole experience off as if it was nothing.

Yumi ran out along with Saki to check on them. “Are you badly hurt?” Yumi asked, trying to look over his body with only the moonlight.

“Made it back in one piece, I see,” commented Saki, covering up her relief. She worked hard to maintain her annoyed expression to keep up the façade.

Laughing a little out of awkwardness, Seiji remembered all of the things that happened to him during the fight. “Well there might be a piece of me back there still, but Nerine fixed me up good!” He patted her on the back lightly.

Unfortunately, Nerine’s injures were still not recovered like Seiji’s. She staggered forward from his hit, only to collapse to the ground immediately. Blood splattered out from her countless wounds.

Seiji was the first to act. “Nerine!” He grabbed her up to check on her. She breathed heavily having trouble keeping focused. “Why didn’t you tell me damnit?!” The closer view of her made him see how many wounds she took from the fight. Her uniforms torn to shreds barely seemed to be holding together. Blood soaked through the major of the white appearing as if she wore a red uniform.

The longer he stared at her the more he cursed his blindness. ‘I forgot that she wasn’t like the rest of us. She has a normal body. Damn, why was I so blind!’ He turned up to looking for Yuki. He knew that he would be able to fix her up, but naturally, Yuki was not with them. Anyone, someone in their group had to be able to do something for her.

He stood up carrying Nerine with him. Without Yuki, his eyes searched through the group. “Fumiko, you!” He immediately charged in front of her. “You’ve got magical powers or something, right!”

Fumiko stared at Seiji for a moment, as she already knew what he wanted from her. “I have offensive magic. I don’t have healing magic.”

“What the hell use are you?! You’re supposed to be one of those mage-thingies from those RPGs right!”

Her face immediately went flat in disbelief and some annoyance. “I’m not some video game character!” she shouted back. The thought of being defined so one-dimensionally into a stereotype bothered her more than anything else he said.

“Why the hell not? She needs healing!”

She needed some distance. Seiji kept pushing in closer with more of a demanding look in each step. “Seiji!” Fumiko slapped him hard to try to snap him out of his hysterics, however it still felt more painful for her. ‘Damn his tough body.’ It seemed to work a little as it stopped Seiji from pressing closer. “None of us here have that ability, but I don’t think she looks to be in a life-threatening condition. All of the adrenaline finally wore off and caught up to her. We’ll patch her up, she’ll just have to recover until we find someone that can help her.”

“But—“

Nerine lifted her head up. She tried to speak, but it only came out in Atlantean. Enough shouting by her forced them all to look at her. Unfortunately, speaking in Atlantean left them all confused.

Seiji looked over at Yumi. “What’s she saying?”

Surprise caught Yumi’s face. “I don’t know, I don’t speak her language.”

“Sure you do! You were before!”

“Huh? When?”

“Don’t both, Seiji,” interrupted Fumiko. “She’s not going to be of help.”

“Eh?”

“English?” asked Simonides in English. He saw how the language barrier blocked any hopes of communication. Unfortunately, he did not know Japanese. It was not one of the languages for the South Gate recommendations.

Yori stepped forward, finally feeling like he had something useful to do. “I can speak a little English,” he replied in English as well.

A quick conversation played out between the two men. Even in English, neither being perfect, finding the necessary words made them struggle. Yori had words he did not understand from Simonides. Simonides seemed to be also finding it difficult to pick English words to explain him. Only a rough primitive dialogue seemed possible. A lot of gesturing went on between them explaining the more complex ideas that their vocabulary lacked.

“I think I understand the gist of it,” began Yori, returning to the group. “He said that Nerine should be able to use her power to make some medical supplies to help with the injuries, but her strength is weak. She’s only got enough in her for one more attempt to use her powers.”

The news excited Seiji. He immediately jumped over to Yori ignoring everyone else. “Really?! That’s what she said?”

“Best that I can tell from talking with him.”

“Well let’s get started!” Seiji looked around at everyone and then Nerine. He did not know what he needed to do. He just stood there holding Nerine waiting for something to happen.

Yumi stepped in, poking his shoulder. “You should probably set her down first.”

Chapter 238 – Arrival

Quiet. Unnaturally so. Something had to be wrong. It just had to be wrong. It only made sense. It could not possibly be. The same thoughts ran through on repeat like a tape stuck with the rewind button held down.

It was how it was. Yuki just had to accept the fact that it was actually going to be easier. The struggle they had with escape the Omega soldiers made it seem like they walked into a trap. However, Ayumi seemed very confident. He trusted her, but it just did not seem like it should be like this. Honestly, if it was following proper story development, there should be a massive showdown with all of the opposing forces all spread out in front of the city’s walls. The heroes should be struggling and crawling to reach the city and only after a long, hard won battle make it to their destination. It was just too easy.

Such a terrible story.

Yuki could see the Capital staring at them. For hours now, he watched it grow larger and larger. Previously, he only saw a massive spire and then a couple of other larger structures. One of them looked grand, even from a distance it seemed to shine with a special sort of beauty that should not be able to exist in the world yet it still did. The impossibly beauty of it made him only want to stare longer at it. Yuki realized the more he saw of the Atlantean Capital how much their power had to have shaped it.

In the last couple of hours, he saw a massive pale white, maybe off-white, maybe gray, maybe dirty white (Yuki was still uncertain what sort of white it was, it was not dark or pure, but it was not average either). The white he realized in the last few minutes belonged to a wall. Then he realized all the white he saw before that seemed to go on forever as that wall. The size of the city quickly became something too large for his head to really get wrapped out it.

He always imagined it being some fantasy city out of the books he read. A great city stretching up to the sky built out of a mountain. Maybe a massive lake sat at the center of the city with beautiful marble structures played out around it. It could be a multi-tier city built up on a wide hill. The castle sat the top overlooking everything and even from outside could be seen. It would be fantastic and beyond imagining, but still small. He did not know why he thought it, but he just assumed the Capital to be small. It had maybe a few thousands or tens of thousands, nothing more. Maybe his hobby ruined his expectations.

None of the expectations could equal what he saw. It was the Capital, but it was no town or village. The village of Skoupa would have fit on top of the wall it seemed. No, even to call it a city seemed not to do it an accurate justice. It was a metropolis, a massive ancient city kilometers and kilometers in length. Millions of Atlanteans had to live inside.

The true read of the size came to him when he discovered from Ayumi that they were still an hour walk away. “Unbelievable…” he said, staring still.

“Hey, focus!” snapped Ayumi, grabbing his wrist to get his attention.

“Oh, right! I’m sorry.” He had to maintain his concentration. Using his powers certainly was a lot easier for him now that they felt more like an extension of him rather than something added on to him like some mysterious technology that activated an ancient power from a long dead civilization that needed a full series to truly understand its potential. The reason he needed to focus was because he kept them hidden.

Using his power, he made a bubble around them that allowed them to keep talking, but their voices would never leave beyond. The more important part was that it made them invisible to the outside. Anyone too close would have discovered them, but at a distance nothing would have been off. None of the scouts would be able to find them.

It bothered him that they just walked up to the front door and walked in. It did not feel right, even though he knew why. “So we just going through the front?”

“No, that’s the reason I have you keeping us hidden.” Ayumi suddenly changed their course away from the straight-line path to the Capital’s wall. She motioned over to him to follow.

Now curious, Yuki followed Ayumi wondering what she had planned for them. “I just thought it was another test you were giving me to keep myself flexible with my powers.”

“What?” She looked back at him for a moment. Shaking her head, she kept moving forward. “No, you’re powers are already more than enough.”

“Ok.” But it did not answer his curiosity. He hurried a little to catch up to her. “So why are we not moving towards the Capital anymore?”

“Because we aren’t going through the Main Gate. They have security measures in place to identify anyone going through, even hidden like we are.” Ayumi came to a stop. She turned around as though in search of something. It took her a few moments to scanning the area before she moved on.

Immediately, Yuki’s mind started stirring up ideas. The first to jump to him came out of his mouth. “A secret passage!”

“Corre—“

“All castles and royal families have secret passages. I bet they run through the whole city. Some ancient labyrinth underneath the city from a long forgotten civilization. If you stray from the correct path you’ll become lost and never able to find your way out as there are secret powers at work to keep unwanted guests from passing through. I bet there are even monsters down there, giant minotaur’s and dragons, maybe even—“

“Will you shut up!” she yelled, breaking her normally characteristically stoic controlled voice.

“Sorry.” Yuki looked away, not wanting to see her staring at him. The daggers from her eyes were painful enough. It felt like she wanted to punch him for speaking.

Silence returned for Ayumi, something she greatly enjoyed. She finished her search after another moment, finally able to think straight. It was all she needed to find what she needed. A few minutes of following a strange path through a forest put them at the destination. “We’re here.”

“Huh?” It was nothing. He jumped around all over the place in search of the secret passage. He made use of all of his knowledge (from his manga and anime) for the switch that would open up the entrance to the stairs. It had to be obvious and hidden. He knew he could find it. It would be something that should stand out to him. Yet there was nothing. It was just a forest, completely random with no markers or any signs that anyone traveled through it.

Yuki realized it had to be not even a switch. It had to be just a chain or handle to pull up. He scrambled over the grass with a fine precision. His hands ran through the grass and dirty. Time had to have buried it. It was just under the surface. It had to be. It only made sense.

Ayumi allowed him his time. He seemed heavily engrossed in it. Even when she did try to say something, he just waved her off. So she waited until he seemed less focused. “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He stared over at Ayumi with excitement glowing brightly in his eyes. However, his enthusiasm did not seem to transfer to her. Yuki did not really see her looking completely blank faced at him. “It’s a secret passage, so there must be a switch or lever or handle, something that opens it up! I’ve always want to find something like this! So don’t tell me the secret! I want to figure it out on my own!”

Crossing her arms, she could not believe what she heard from him. He looked like a kid hyped up on sugar and just finished watching his favorite super sentai show feeling need to go act out the whole thing in the front yard (oddly specific, especially for Ayumi). The longer she watched him the more painful it became. Her hand rolled over her face in exasperation. A sigh soon followed, naturally. “Yuki—“

“No, hints!”

“You’re wasting time. It’s—“

His hand went up again to stop her. “I’ll figure this out!”

“I need to use my power—“

“Of course!” Yuki jumped up at his epiphany. “I was approaching this from the completely wrong angle! You would use your powers to open it! You wouldn’t want just anyone using it. It all makes sense!” He kept nodding to him in agreement. Any idea popped in his head on how to solve the puzzle.

Ayumi immediately recognized the look in his eyes. She leapt off to him quickly slapping him. “Stop now! If you turn off your power you’ll expose us!”

“Ow, Ayumi that hurt.” He stepped back a step catching the deadly serious glare she leveled at him. “You know if you hit me too hard it’d do that same thing.” The comment he slid earned him another even more menacing glare.

Finally, she seemed to have his attention. “Yes, you’re right that it can only be opened through our power. Which is why I’m going to do it. I know where it. So when I give you the signal drop your field. Do you understand?”

He nodded to her. “Yes.” Ayumi’s look cut through all of the excitement and antics of Yuki. He quickly understood he had to be serious again. Following her led, he waited for the signal. Once she was ready, she activated her field and his dropped soon after. It might have been brief, but they should not have been visible for long.

The difference in their fields was that Ayumi’s cut into the earth. A perfect sphere carved out the ground below them. An anti-gravity law kept them from falling endlessly through the earth. She lowered them down slowly until dirt and earth changed to stone. The stone soon appeared as smoothly polished and carved, a manmade structure.

Ayumi dropped her field once they cleared the ceiling. They fell the rest of the distance of half a meter to the floor. “We’re inside the Capital now.”

It was just a tunnel to Yuki. He looked behind him at the ‘entrance’ to see it all just caved in with stone and earth. It looked like it had been like that for years or even centuries. “That’s not an entrance at all, it’s just a cave-in! There’s nothing special about this!”

Her eyes lowered in annoyance again. “Is that all that matters to you?”

Pouting, Yuki walked on ahead. He refused to answer someone that did not understand the enjoyment of such things. ‘Fumiko would understand. I wish she was here. She’d get excited.’ The length of the tunnel seemed really straightforward. It turned frequently, but there were no forks or traps. Just a simple path.

Yuki was really bored.

Until he left the tunnel at least. He stopped at the exit staring wide-eyed. “I didn’t expect this…” Yuki kept staring trying to take it all in. A couple of people in ragged cloths passed by him, then a few more. They were in a street, an underground street. Houses were everywhere packed in tightly like they were the only thing holding up the ceiling that pressed on upon them. Ahead, the street fell as the whole area sank like a basin. The further he looked the more of the subterranean city he saw. A lot of structures blocked his full view, but he walked slowly out into the city to get more and more of a picture.

He reached a balcony on the side of the street that was built on top of another building underneath it. It all stretched out endlessly it seemed. Then he understood the street he walked on was the roof of someone’s home. Support pillars ran through the entire space. He kept finding more and more people too. All of them dressed poorly.

Ayumi stepped up next to Yuki’s right side. “Welcome to the Capital.”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

He stopped at the exit staring wide-eyed. “I didn’t expect this…” Yuki kept staring trying to take it all in. A couple of people in ragged cloths passed by him, then a few more. They were in a street, an underground street. Houses were everywhere packed in tightly as if they were the only thing holding up the ceiling that pressed on upon them. Ahead, the street fell as the whole area sank like a basin. The further he looked the more of the subterranean city he saw. A lot of structures blocked his full view, but he walked slowly out into the city to get more and more of a picture.

He reached a balcony on the side of the street that was built on top of another building underneath it. It all stretched out endlessly it seemed. Then he understood the street he walked on was the roof of someone’s home. Support pillars ran through the entire space. He kept finding more and more people too. All of them dressed poorly.

Ayumi stepped up next to Yuki’s right side. “Welcome to the Capital.”

In a way, it felt almost anti-climatic for Yuki and yet also immensely dramatic to see the view stretched out before him. He was under the city, something that he never even considered a possibility. ‘An underground city with the poor, it feels like a cliché development, but this is supposed to be a fantasy setting. Atlantis is more of a high fantasy setting, but this makes it feel more low fantasy. With all of the conflict between the two different classes it’s a much darker setting. I feel like I’m in some dystopian setting rather than a fantasy one. Such a mixed-up genre…but this is reality.’

The Capital continued to meet his expectations and then promptly invert them to something completely different. The scale of the underground matched much of that with the visible city above. Buildings or supports obstructed much of his view of the city, but it gave him a clear sense of the size. The neighborhood he stood in was merely a small part of the massive structure. Everywhere he looked things looked old and run down, but patched up. It felt like things wanted to fall about, but something would not allow it to happen. Everything was against its will.

Yuki had so many questions about it. He tilted his head over to Ayumi, who actually seemed a little lost. It seemed that the view held her entranced as well. However, the look in her eyes was quite a bit different from the one in Yuki’s eyes. “Ayumi?” he opened, stretching his hand out to touch her hand.

Snapping a little back to reality, she shook off her thoughts. “Sorry, I was just a little lost in thought.” She looked over at Yuki. He was very close, staring in concern.

‘It’s unlike her to so freely admit that, but she’s back in her hometown. She must have old memories coming back, though down here seems a little odd since her life was above ground.’ Despite learning so much about her in the last few days, Yuki still did not feel like he knew her. It still felt a wall was between them. “What sort of thoughts?”

“It’s nothing.” She pushed off from the ledge and started down the street. “Let’s get going. Now that we’re in the Capital, we just need to sneak into the palace.”

Yuki smiled a little happy to see the normal Ayumi back. She stared at him for a moment giving him a ‘What are you smiling at?’ sort of look. It only made him grin wider. “Nothing.”

“Right…”

Chapter 239 – Morning without the Sun

Following the road only took them so far. Ayumi dragged them off the main street into extremely narrow passages between ruined homes, still used to live in. He guessed being underground shelter from the elements took on a different meaning.

Just as he passed through the housing-Yuki sandwich something grabbed his pant leg. He looked down to see a young man in rags sitting. “Spare a brass?” It caught him a little off-guard that he did not have a response. He had seen others like him begging for money. They seemed to be everywhere.

“Well…I-I-um…” He fumbled around his cloths as though looking for loose change, though he knew that he did not have any on him. They could all beg however much they wanted, but it made no difference.”

Ayumi came back grabbing him by his arm. “We don’t have time to waste.” She dragged him away from the man. Her hand held on to him until they were out of sight.

“Th-thanks.” Yuki caught up to her and discovered a scarf around her neck and part of her face. He looked a little confused by it. “What’s with the scarf?”

“Low profile.”

“Doesn’t that make you stand out more?” He sighed a little remembering the reason. The identity of the Captain of the Royal Guard was a highly visible position according to Ayumi. Though he wondered if anyone down in the underground actually would recognize her. “What’s with the Haruo level briefness?”

However, he did not have time for an answer as two kids ran past him. They lightly brushed up against playing with each other. Both were gone up the narrow street. Yuki started to walk away with Ayumi when a rock hit him in the back of the head. “The hell hit me?” He turned around having to dodge another one.

It was the two kids. They were sticking their tongues out at him and yelling. “What the hell is this?”

“Why don’t you have money on you?!”

“Huh?” Yuki patted himself realizing that they just pick pocketed him. “You’re the one’s stealing! And you have the nerve to complain about not having anything to steal!”

“All rich people have fat purses!”

“Rich? Do I look rich? I’m just a teenager!”

“You ain’t dressed like us! So you have to have something on you!”

His expression went flat unable to believe that he was in a yelling match with thieves over not having something to steal. He wondered how he got into such a situation. “It’ll tell you not to judge people by their appearance! I’m just as poor as you!”

“Not likely! We actually have money!”

Now they were getting arrogant with him. He could not believe it. “That you stole!”

“Still counts!”

Ayumi tugged on Yuki to get him moving. “Enough use of your field to yell at street thieves. They deploy agents down here too. We don’t need them picking up your field.”

“Right.”

An hour passed in wandering around the city. Yuki started to think they would not get out of the underground slums. The entire place felt like a labyrinth. Guidance from Ayumi made him thankful for having her along. He never would have made it anywhere without her. In fact, he was worried about losing sight of her, keeping close the entire time.

Still, he wondered about the history. The city’s appearance was old beyond any sort of measure he could come up with. Guessing seemed like a bad idea. “Hey Ayumi, what happened here?”

“What do you mean?” She kept moving forward not allowing for a break. The distance they had to their goal was so small in comparison. She could not let it go.

“You don’t just build something like this. The Capital looked like it had plenty of room to expand. So why is there such a massive underground? I could understand some ruins or old passages from long forgotten days, but this exceeds any sort of scale like that. People live here.”

“This used to be the Capital.”

She did not really explain anything with such an answer. All it did was fuel more ideas for him. He had too many stories in his head to develop ideas from. He needed something more straight from her. “The Capital? What are you saying?”

“We call this the Old Capital.”

“The Old Capital? You make it sound like this used to be where everyone lived and then you moved. Did something happen?”

“You’re close. In reality, this is the third Capital.”

“Third?” Suddenly, his mind started to piece everything together. All of his guessing finally got narrowed down. He understood better what was going on now. “Which means there was a First and Second and what I saw on the surface was the Fourth? There some accident?”

“You’re correct. There have been four Capitals, each new one built on top of the old one. If you go even further down you’ll find the ruins of the ancient Capital. Some people still live there, but it’s mostly a den of criminals where only the military enter.”

“Taking the word ‘underground’ a little too literally, aren’t we?” For his joke, she tossed back a piercing gaze. Yuki quickly clammed up on his humor returning to a serious tone. “What caused you to have to do that? This place looks too civilized to have been a natural disaster or war. Did a Kasou-ryoku user do it?”

Ayumi did not answer immediately. It seemed she needed time to think about an answer. “It’s nothing like what you’re thinking. It was disaster, fire and bad construction that destroyed the old cities. We built top of the ruins each time. It impossible to see anymore, but the Capital is actually built on slightly higher ground because it is built on top of the old.

“It was through our power though that we helped with the rebuilding. Over time, each new Capital continues to push down the older parts until you have what you see now. Layers of ruins stacked on top of itself. Most was destroyed when it happened leaving only parts of buildings behind. But these ruins are more than a millennia old. In that time, people have settled here and built a new city.”

“Sounds rather incredible.” Images filled Yuki’s mind of their history. The more details he received the more elaborate the picture became. However, he came to a sticking point for him. “How come people live down here? It’s not as though you’re hurting for space above and with the power you possess it would be simple to make new homes for everyone.”

Ayumi came to a stop suddenly. Her gaze changed away from their goal and back to the slums. “Life is rarely equal or fair. The truth is that using your power requires orders or government permission, especially for something like construction. You can’t just do whatever you want.”

“But all of these people.”

“Can you imagine what sort of chaos we’d have if everyone with power was free to use it however they wanted? That’s why they are all in military service and under the government’s control.”

“So these people just go homeless?”

“They’ve found a life. They have their pride still.”

“Pride?!”

“They have a home they built with their own hands, not relying on anyone.”

Yuki had trouble agreeing with her. All of the stories he heard from her past painted a terrible picture of Atlantis. Everyone struggled or lived in fear. Those with power had no future or freedom. Those without power lived in fear. How could they live in such a state? Yet they did find a life, as she said. They even seemed fairly content with their situation. ‘It doesn’t seem right. Even like this. Is this really freedom and pride?’

Her eyes narrowed watching Yuki’s reaction. Grabbing his hand, she snapped Yuki out of his thoughts. “Come on, we still have a ways to go. You can’t try to impress your Japanese values on these people. Think of it like different worlds, this is life and you can’t sit in judgment of the way things run.”

“Ok.”

“Good, we’re getting close to being under the palace.” Ayumi pointed out a heavily fortified wall that ran through the entire underground from ground to ceiling. It was a massive structure with no windows. It almost seemed as if the palace was truly above it, then what they saw was the foundation stretching down for countless meters. “It’s still a bit away, so I’ll entertain everyone with another flashback.”

“Hey! You’re breaking the fourth wall!” complained Yuki. He jumped out in front of her. “And you’re stealing my gimmick! This is out of character for you. I’m the one that should be saying such things.”

“Fine. I’ll do it normally.” She motioned over to him like handing off something invisible.

He threw his fist into the air for excitement. “The chapter next will finally see the final piece of Ayumi’s mysterious past! Look forward to it!”

Ayumi’s face went a little flat watching his enthusiasm over it. “Feel better?”

“Yeah.” He wiped off the sweat from his forehead actually appearing relieved.

“I think you over did it. I was only leaning on it a little, I think you destroyed it.”

“Never like that wall to begin with. On a more serious note…” Yuki flicked his index fingers back over to Ayumi passing the scene back to her (he is enjoying this too much).

Clearing her throat, Ayumi pulled things back into the correct tone. “This also used to be my home as well,” she declared as if it was nothing.

Yuki grimaced hearing her reply. “Sounds too forced. You need a better transition.”

“I’ll try to work on that,” she replied in a non-committal tone. Her gaze turned briefly down to the lower city from the bridge they walked. Below her, countless homes painted the ground. The whole place brought back memories for her. She tried to avoid them as much as she could, but nostalgia won out in the end. Thoughts of the time alone in the slums came back to her. Her life before he found her. When she was barely even a child, no longer a baby. The harsh reality she spoke of she knew too well.

To be continued…