Shift

[Andromeda]

“Come! Things are not over yet!” beckoned Rheia, appearing to retreat. She vanished and reappeared numerous times not following a direct line, but a direction. The direction took her to the gigantic walls of the Capital. She stood on the side, as she seemed fond of doing, staring down at Saki, who stood on the remaining ground around the base of the city walls.

Motioning with her arm to the wall, she opened the invitation to Saki. “I’ll provide you with steps.” Suddenly, seams appeared all over the wall, which held perfectly with no damage from the weather or age. It was not cracks, but as if someone made cuts through the wall. Massive blocks easily weighing thousands of kilos slipped out from their centuries of sleeping.

Shadows fell over Saki as she stared up at the sight. Dodging it all would be simple, but it still made her eyes widen a little. Perfect five-meter cubes began to rain down on her position. The size alone made her pause and then the fact that this woman destroyed the city’s wall just to do it. ‘Simonides’ fear…’ Saki had a quick explanation given to her on why Atlanteans joined their group. She had her doubts even if she felt he believed sincerely what he said. It all made sense to her now. ‘He was right…I need to try to end this quickly before it gets out of control…’

Saki narrowed her eyes and hardened her emotions. She needed to be focused. The fight ahead of her was nothing like the past. She knew from just looking at her face. Others seemed bloodthirsty or fight hungry, they all wanted something, but the woman was different. She was not battle starved like the rest. She had a desire, but she could not see it clearly. All of her attention was focused on Saki, she saw her completely. It was as if she had an expectation. She wanted her to meet something. Saki did not like the strangeness she felt from her eyes.

Disappearing, Saki appeared on the nearest falling block and leapt off it. The force sent the block hurdling down to the ground blasting out another crater until a strange heavy ring echoed from the bottom. Saki kept jumping, shooting the blocks off into different directions away from the Capital. Explosions of earth appeared all around in the distant horizon.

Landing on the broken wall, Saki stared over at Rheia. “I’m here. Steps were unnecessary.”

“Maybe so, but will you still be here in ten seconds?”

“No, because I won’t need but five seconds to knock you off this wall,” snapped back Saki with a heavy dose of bravado. Internally, she already questioned herself. The entire fight up to the where she arrived proved how different Rheia was from the others she dealt with. ‘I want to end this quickly, but it’s not going to be possible. I can’t break through her defenses.’ Her opponent sat at the top of all other MPs and with good reason.

Even with a quick end out of the question for Saki, the thought of an easy fight seemed equally unlikely. A certain amount of unease about the situation arose for her. All her most recent fights dropped her into a false sense of security. The Omega MPs were powerful, she did not doubt it. Her fight with the invisible Twins proved to her how much different they were. Yet, as long as she was fast enough and caught them unprepared, they were just normal humans she could stop. Those tricks did not work on Rheia, she somehow could react to Saki’s speed as though she had the same reflexes.

Something that should be impossible for a MP. Their bodies were normal, even in their empowered state their powers did not work on their bodies. It was what Yuki and Ayumi explained to her. It was the reason she was the one that did all of the work in the last leg of the journey. The things about Rheia were impossible. She did not understand how she managed it. The power she had to be using to recreate an identical match.

Her hand shook a little. It was slight, barely something that Saki noticed. She stopped it before it spread. Such a reaction confused her. Saki was quite certain it was not fear that caused it, which was why it confused her. She did not know why it happened. Rheia was skilled, no doubt about it, but Saki was not afraid of her. It was not like her fight with Kallias, who fought for the sake of being entertained. There was no desperation.

It made no sense.

The shaking calmed. Control restored.

Saki let out a carefully measured breath. ‘I have to remain completely focused in this fight. I need to find the holes in her defense. It’s going to be the only chance I have!’

Across the wall, stood Rheia with a waiting look painted across her face. Her arms remained crossed as she stood on the wall horizontal with the ground below, completely ignoring that gravity was a real thing that actually influenced everything. It made for a strange standoff for Saki, to be glaring over at someone that seemed to act as if they were another brick of the wall. A reminder of how powerful their reality defying power could be if desired.

Scanning her eyes over the wall, she looked for ways to reach Rheia. The broken up wall would not give her the range she needed. Only the upper layers of a massive wall fell away, much of it remained usable for Rheia. Evenly spaced extrusions on the wall that looked to be supports were the only part that broke the perfectly even surface of the wall. Nothing to hold or to grip.

A normal fight was impossible.

Though in fairness, when was the last time she had a normal fight. Ever since Ayumi showed up in their lives nothing remained normal. Every day was a fight against Yuki’s uncontrollable powers and assassins with weird powers. An actual normal day and what it meant made her want to a smile a little, not that she had the time for it.

She could not delay any longer. Yuki stood behind her in the gigantic city laid out below her. He waited for her, well probably not, he probably was off doing his own thing with little regard for patience. ‘I’ll be coming soon Yuki!’

Chapter 254 – Standing Room Only

Saki propelled herself forward with a short burst of speed before her leap off the wall. Gravity weighed on her, her short hair swayed loosely with the change. The only thing keeping her on the wall was the speed, even still she knew she slipped a little. Wall fighting was hardly something she practiced in her martial arts classes.

It put her in arm’s reach of Rheia, which was all she needed. Yet, it did not matter. Flank or not, standing on a wall, it all did not seem to change a thing for her. It was as if she stood on the ground. Her open palm blocked Saki. Even with the increased speed and strength she applied, knowing that restrained she could not stop her.

Cracks ran along the wall from the force of Saki’s collision with Rheia. Atlantis’ old wall held firm. It had more durability than the earth, which Saki carved up as if she was scooping ice cream out from the bottom of a nearly empty tub.

‘Damn, I’m already losing my footing like this.’ She disappeared again only a half second later as gravity kicked in on her body. It desperately wanted to pull her back to where she should have been, since it could do nothing to Rheia.

Bouncing off the supports, Saki pulled herself back around to hit from the other side. She managed to increase her speed even further. Each step pounded into the wall. Dirt and dust built up from centuries of silent vigil tore out from the rough surface behind her footstep. ‘There’s got to be a limit to what she can react to! I just have to move faster than she can handle! She’s only human.’

Speed increased resulted in the same effect. It was hardly a surprise. Saki could not even feign surprise anymore with what Rheia did. Anything she saw should have been impossible, but the truth spoke for itself. She only could accept the reality, Rheia’s reality.

Accept, but not understand. It was still beyond her.

The end of her run left her more than ten meters below Rheia on the wall. She quickly turned it into a loop to force herself back around. Slingshot back at the woman, Saki came out landing on the top of the wall, a part that remained untouched by Rheia’s attempt to make an easy way up.

Looking down through her feet at Rheia, Saki recalculated her strategy. Speed proved not to be the solution. ‘Doesn’t matter how fast I go and on this wall, I’m actually limited. I can’t reach my top speed, which is probably her plan. How can she expect anyone to fight on the side of a wall?’ Frustration had not really surfaced for Saki. She knew that she should be annoyed that the fight did not end. The seconds it should have been over turned to minutes. The rate she went it would just turn to another Twins battle. She needed a different angle.

‘If just going straight at her is not going to work…I could try that. It worked well against him.’ It was the only plan. Wasted energy in pointless effort served no purpose.

The shaking in her arm needed to be calmed once more. Acting up a second time annoyed Saki. ‘What’s with my hand? It feels strange. I’m not scared, so why is it shaking?’ Once relaxed, her focused pointed down. ‘No matter. I don’t need to be concerned about it. My attention should be on just her and ending this fight.’

Pushing off from the edge of the wall, Saki let her body be taken by gravity. The wind brushing against her face reminded her of the limit she had. It was not enough for it. Just a start. A moment later, feet met with the stone of the wall. Shards of stone exploded suddenly from just the press of her feet. Saki sharply disappeared.

She appeared directly in front of Rheia, arm extended out. Then Saki passed through the wild-haired woman’s body. Barely a reaction came from her face as she turned around to meet Saki coming up from behind. This time the fist connected with her palm, like all previous times. Cracks ripped up through the wall protesting the pressure.

A bigger reaction came from Saki. ‘What?! She even blocked me after my illusion feint?’

‘It’s called an Afterimage!’ poked Yuki’s commentary.

The trick she discovered in her fight with Kallias did nothing to Rheia. An effortless motion turned her around to allow her to block the real attack. Once more the impossible happened, but Saki thought it actually would work. Surprise returned to her face.

‘What sort power does she have?! There could not have been more than a tenth of a second between the feint and true strike.’ In the time that Saki stood confused, reality came back to her. She realized she needed to move again. Staying in one place too long would be bad.

Recovered and back at the ruined part of the wall, where it all began, Saki stared the length to the woman. She kept waiting for Saki. Status quo needed to change for Saki. Without any sign of an improvement of her situation all she did was keep running along a wall for the exercise.

Thinking on her Kallias fight again, she knew she still had something left. ‘The only way to deal with someone with a perfect defense is going to be force them to use their power. I need to drain her dry.’

“All or nothing now…” Despite the sound logic behind her plan, uncertainty about the success of it still lingered. The biggest question was how long could someone like her last. Kallias was not even on the same level of skill or power. He burned out quickly, but Rheia was different. She showed no signs of even being warmed up.

Bending her knees in preparation, the course committed her. ‘Can’t worry about the what-ifs right now. Just need to go for it. Though on this surface, it’s going to be even harder to keep up.’ Explosive power shot through her legs tossing Saki into the fray.

Disappearing a split second later, Saki reappeared in eight forms surrounding Rheia. Each form slammed into her with all of her strength. All real, but on fraction of a second delay to account for the travel distance.

As to be expected, Rheia maintained the same stance as before. Each punch blocked with the same palm. She rotated in place to meet her every time. Due to the speed at which Saki moved, even Rheia became a blur to keep up with the rapid succession of attacks.

‘I expected this much,’ thought Saki, focusing on keeping her footing together.

Seconds of the high-speed barrage continued before one of Saki’s multi-forms shimmered out of phase. It dropped to seven and then to six. ‘Damn the wall and gravity. I’m losing my speed!’ It settled out to only four forms assaulting Rheia, yet still no sign of a change in the Commander of the Titans.

Nearly a minute passed with no change from either. Saki managed to hold her pace despite the slip-ups, but an accident would eventually happen. Inevitability showed up about a minute and twenty seconds into the attack. All of the running weakened the wall’s surface enough that Saki lost her footing when the outer layer crumbled. She slid down the wall tumbling end over end for more than twenty meters before correcting her position.

Finally stopped, she stared back up at Rheia. The woman waited for her. She wanted something from her. The same expectant look from before. It had a familiar look to her. ‘She’s got the same look on her face as that boy I always fought at the dojo.’ It was not one that looked down upon or stood in superiority, even though they always came out on top while she laid flat on her back.

They wanted to see more. They were curious. They wanted to see how skilled she was. ‘What does she want from me? She’s supposed to be trying to capture or kill me, but she looks like she just wants a fair fight, a test of skill to see who is the best. It doesn’t make any sense.’

Something else more important than Rheia’s motives did not make any sense and it finally started to hit Saki. ‘Why am I not falling?!’ She had stopped herself from rolling down the wall, but did nothing to start actually moving again, yet gravity did nothing to her.

Turning her head, the ground remained out of reach. She could feel her hair hanging with the pull of the Earth, even her cloths, but not her body. Saki stood up testing out the feeling to be sure. ‘How is this happening?’ Caught up in the sights a little, she saw the wide-open plains of Atlantis. Mountains poked through sporadically in the distance. Close to her, she could see all of her friends fighting in their battles.

“You’ve finally realized,” spoke the light brown haired woman after minutes of silence.

Her voice drew Saki back up the wall. She still did not understand it fully. “This is your doing?”

“It’s part of the test.” Everything seemed to have drawn to this moment. She leaned forward a little altering her stance from defense. “Now that you’re at the starting point, let’s start. If you can last a minute without falling then you’ve passed.” Rheia disappeared and reappeared in front of Saki slamming her elbow deep in her stomach. The force slid Saki back and weakened her leg’s strength to stand. “It’s begun!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Something else more important than Rheia’s motives did not make any sense and it finally started to hit Saki. ‘Why am I not falling?!’ She had stopped herself from rolling down the wall, but did nothing to start actually moving again, yet gravity did nothing to her.

Turning her head, the ground remained out of reach. She could feel her hair hanging with the pull of the Earth, even her cloths, but not her body. Saki stood up testing out the feeling to be sure. ‘How is this happening?’ Caught up in the sights a little, she saw the wide-open plains of Atlantis. Mountains poked through sporadically in the distance. Close to her, she could see all of her friends fighting in their battles.

“You’ve finally realized,” spoke the light brown haired woman after minutes of silence.

Her voice drew Saki back up the wall. She still did not understand it fully. “This is your doing?”

“It’s part of the test.” Everything seemed to have drawn to this moment. She leaned forward a little altering her stance from defense. “Now that you’re at the starting point, let’s start. If you can last a minute without falling then you’ve passed.” Rheia disappeared and reappeared in front of Saki slamming her elbow deep in her stomach. The force slid Saki back and weakened her leg’s strength to stand. “It’s begun!”

Saki rubbed her stomach still feeling the pain from the elbow thrust. It was the first time the woman actually made a direct attack. Everything before and the way she worded her conversation made it clear to Saki. Now was when she began to fight, but only to see if she could last against her long enough. It was not even the real fight yet, even though the first blow was impressive enough. ‘She’s got enough force behind her power to actually push me back. It’s still just her power doing it, but to fight toe-to-toe with me…’

The entire time Saki expected to see some trick or special power from her. Anything that would make it clear she used something more like magic or out of those annoying books Yuki obsessively collected. Yet it never surfaced from Rheia. The woman seemed set to fight only using her body. Almost as if anything more was unnecessary or perhaps it was flashier than she wanted. Either case, it was a simpler fight than Saki expected to get from the one at the top.

“It’s not over yet,” Rheia commented, noting the staggered Saki. She straightened up from her attack.

Brushing off the rest of the pain and locking her legs to stand, Saki stiffened her back in preparation. “You’re right about that!” She charged forward going straight for Rheia.

Chapter 255 – Standing for One Minute

As she already expected, a frontal attack did just about as much as it had before. Nothing changed in that aspect. Rheia remained too fast to break through her defenses. However, the new pattern introduced by Rheia’s elbow before confirmed the new status quo. Rheia countered immediately with quick left jab across Saki’s face.

The blow knocked her back, even though her feet remained firmly planted. Leaning back from the force, the sting in her cheek reminded her she needed to be aware of her own defense. When Rheia followed up with another sharp two punches, Saki jumped back just as the first strike came in. It seemed to come in slow motion with her heightened senses. Rheia’s fist barely grazed her cheek significantly reducing impact. A bit of redness still appeared as if getting carpet burn.

Saki rubbed her jaw and face a little trying to adjust to the sting from the one punch that fully connected with her. ‘Need to remember to defend myself. She’s actually on the offense now.’ However, resting was not allowed. The Atlantean’s offensive did not stop with just a few punches. They seemed more like tests than anything compared to the next one.

Dodging still worked, but the speed of the most recent attack was not like the previous. ‘She got faster?! Was she holding back this whole time?’ A back flip took her out of reach of the next attack. Barely even landing, Rheia was already on top of her again. Forced to keep dodging, Saki made no progress against her attacker.

Rather than just evading each thrown punch, Saki converted her maneuvers into counterattacks. Sliding down and trying to sweep with her legs. Taking a blocked punch to deliver a returned fist. Little bit it helped, all he managed to do was keep her in the fight in an active role.

‘Those hands, if I can just tie them down I might be able to get a clean hit in.’ The fact that everything she threw against the woman ended up blocked by her hands started to bother Saki some. She did not have a certainty that getting a real hit on the woman would do anything, but even the sign was enough.

Strategy or not, it was enough of a plan for her to try something. When the next attack came as expected, Saki blocked her fist. She clamped down firmly on Rheia’s wrist to keep her from moving. The accompanying arm tied up shortly after with Saki snapping out to lock down both. “Now I have you!”

Rheia grinned with delight seeing her target taking advantage of the situation.

Saki flipped around while still holding onto her wrists. While in motion she kicked Rheia, but as she landed, it did not seem to do anything. ‘I sort of knew that wouldn’t do anything. Whatever she’s using on her hands to absorb my strength was likely on the rest of her body just in case. But screw it!’ Not satisfied with just the hit, especially when it did not seem to do anything. Saki tightened up her hold on Rheia and closed in swinging her head.

The pained echo of two skulls smashed together rang though the city of Atlantis. It stunned Saki for a moment not expecting it to hurt as much as it did. “Damn! It’s like your head’s made of steel!”

Even Rheia seemed a little fazed by the attack not striking during the opening. Pain did not seem as strong for Rheia compared to Saki, but it did affect her a little. “You’re head’s pretty tough as well.” Laughter broke out through her lips threatening to move through her whole body. “You’re very amusing and unusual.”

Still rubbing her head from the ringing pain that threatened to turning her brain into a pudding, Saki paused by the surprising reaction. Unlike all of the others that came before her, Saki thought she saw happiness in her face. It was not delight in killing or anything so base and violent. She did not understand it.

Recovering from her interruption, Rheia composed herself once more. “Please, let’s continue.” Eagerness appeared in her face now. She looked forward to what Saki would try next. A smile drew over her lips.

‘She certainly seems to be having fun.’ The next round of attacks came in, wasting no additional time. The timer on the one-minute clock was still moving, only half cleared. The test seemed only interested in if Saki could pass based on whatever rules Rheia determined. The best guess that Saki had was falling to the ground, due to the unusual setup. It was the only thing that made sense. So far she succeeded in not falling. However, it was getting worse.

Each attack came in faster than the last. Saki tried to strike back when she could, but she was not used to dealing with someone at the same speed as her. Even only having her powers for a couple of weeks, all of the fighting made her grow use to a certain speed. Her opponents always moved too slowly as if they stood still. This was so foreign to her, adjusting took a lot more work than she expected.

While flipping end over end to evading the most recent strike her hand slipped on the wall for a moment as if she had no traction. It was so brief she almost did not notice it. She only saw it because only her hand held her in contact with the wall. ‘Damn, I almost slipped up there.’ Leaving the moment behind, she charged back into the fray with Rheia.

Seconds ever so slowly ticked by for the two speedsters. Everything occurred almost invisibly to any possible observation. Only the fractions of fractions of seconds they appeared during clashes could be seen and even that would have been a blur to anyone normal.

Progress proved empty. The only thing that seemed to succeed was Saki’s standing in the test Rheia set forth, but it was not something that Saki really cared about. Pass or failure was not an interest to her, though she did not want to fall either.

Saki slid down the wall a few meters from the last punch that actually connected. ‘Damnit! She keeps getting hits on me, but I can’t even slow her down for more than a moment.’ It did not take long for her to charge back in full steam.

“Why do you keep charging in blindly during the sparring matches?”

“Master?” a young Saki questioned looking very confused.

A quick exchange of blocks flew off between Rheia and Saki trying to break through the other’s defense. The speed of the attacks kept increasing. Percussive blasts began to echo from each clash rumbling the wall. Dust leapt free from the ancient holds as the intensity of the fight increased.

The middle-aged man towered over her looking a bit bewildered by the girl. She had tons of energy and more resolve than any of the other students, despite the exclusion the others embargoed on her. “This class’ focus is on self-defense, not tournament competition. While I teach you both sides, I never see you using any defensive moves.”

“Is that a problem, Master?”

Rheia slipped through moving just a bit faster. Two open palms, with the bottoms of the forearm together, landed deep in Saki’s stomach. The force threw her off her feet and fall towards the ground.

He sighed a bit, disappointed she had not understood one of the fundamentals. “Saki, the reason you’re always losing to him is not because he’s older or more skilled than you. It’s because you only ever attack and never give yourself a chance to read your opponent. A good defense can defeat an opponent just as well as a swift attack.”

Her body spun out of control speeding to the ground below. If she hit it the test would be over, that was how she felt Rheia saw it. She did not even know what might happen as a result. Saki just did not want it to happen. Yet stopping her body did not seem possible. Their fight had stepped up the strength and speed of their attacks. Anything that got through was more than she could deal with.

“If all you do is attack, all you will do is fall on your back each time, Saki.”

‘Like I need to be reminded of that at this moment!’ The base of the wall was nearly in reach. If she hit the earth, she could not imagine how much it would hurt or if she would survive it. She always imagined her body has been tough and resilient, but the force made her question it. This was not like the other fights. She needed to stop herself. ‘Can’t…right myself…’

Images of the boy she always challenged, but never beat appeared in her mind. Rheia’s behavior reminded her of him so much. They seemed very alike in the way they looked at her. Even beaten she never gave up against him in all of the times she sparred with him. She looked forward to the future when she did put him on his back.

‘I won’t…fall…not here…’

Three meters remained, less than a second counted down until impact. Saki was out of time. ‘I won’t give up here!’ Matching the wall with her eyes, she timed out the motion. Her hand slammed out to the wall gripping it.

Cracks ran up from where her hand met the stone. A groan and yelp of pain struck Saki as her whole body wiped around and slammed into the wall suddenly pulled to a stop. “Damn that hurt…” She looked up at her hand that saved her just centimeters from the ground. Her fingers embedded into the stone from the sheer force.

Staring down at how close she came to the earth left her with a strange feeling in her stomach. It felt like she was falling and lying down at the same time. Her body did not know how to feel even if her mind understood.

It did not matter for long though. Saki saw Rheia coming in after her not letting the break rest. Planting her feet on the wall, she threw herself up and over Rheia to return to a safer position. It put her on top, even though it meant nothing with the way their fight played out thus far. ‘Defense, huh? I guess I do take a little too much after those idiots.’

Rheia turned around and followed with a swift strike for Saki’s face, which she evaded. The increase in speed on her attacks started to become something she could see more clearly. ‘Watch her movements. Move with the flow of the fight, not against it.’ Saki deflected the next couple of strikes, pushing them away from her. ‘I’m too focused on ending the fight that I couldn’t see anything else. I have to be smarter when I’m against a stronger opponent than myself.’

As her mind calmed, the defense Saki put up became more difficult to penetrate for Rheia. Counterattacks actually slipped through the woman’s defenses. Then Saki’s foot slipped again. ‘I felt that again, what is that?’ It distracted her at the wrong moment allowing her fist to connect, however before all of the motion finished Saki pulled with the strike converting the rest of the energy into a throw.

Rheia flew up the wall sliding on her back meters away from Saki. She started to stand up, but Saki was already gone. However, Rheia could not react to it. Something seemed wrong. “Huh?” Both of Saki’s arms wrapped around her waist, locked in together. She felt her feet lifting off the ground.

Everything turned around and the world seemed to have flipped. The wall rushed to her face. Stone pulverized and pelted her face.

An explosive force ripped through the wall. It looked as though a bomb went off, tearing through everything. Debris rained down and even shot out through the interior. The explosion ripped through both sides of the wall to the surprise of the citizenry below.

Even more of a surprise was something shot through covered in smoke from the hole punched through the fifty-meter thick wall. Another thing blew through the smoke trailing behind it.

Uncontrolled the first crashed into a tall five story stone building blasting up even more smoke and debris from the collision. The second finally broke free from the smoke revealing Saki. She came to land on a nearby rooftop a story short to the damaged one.

Breaking free from the rubble and ripping the rooftop apart, Rheia surfaced from the destruction with only a little more dirt on her uniform. She wiped away the crushed stone powder from her cheek as she stared across to Saki. “You pass! Let the real fight begin now!” Rheia grinned with delight preparing her next attack.

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Breaking free from the rubble and ripping the rooftop apart, Rheia surfaced from the destruction with only a little more dirt on her uniform. She wiped away the crushed stone powder from her cheek as she stared across to Saki. “You pass! Let the real fight begin now!” Rheia grinned with delight preparing her next attack.

The sight of Rheia made Saki groan a little. Her excitement reminded her of Seiji, who just enjoying fight for the sake of fighting as though it was a test of something. Rheia’s expression was more refined and complex with something else coloring that Saki could not understand, but she felt that it was even more important than the one rested on top.

‘Great…the real fight, even though it’s been challenging just keeping up with her this entire time. Now things are getting serious.’ Blowing a hole in the wall and damaging the city did nothing even to faze the woman. She hoped it would surprise her or slow her down, anything to turn the fight in Saki’s favor. Yet it seemed to have created the opposite effect. It seemed actually to make her even more enthusiastic, as if she wanted to see more of what Saki could think up.

At the end, all that happened was that Rheia became rejuvenated for the fight. Any hope for an end disappeared. It was not as though Saki had a notion it could be ended. The last few minutes proved that to her. It just felt like some progress might have been made. She started to get used to the movements. Yet she did not know what to expect next from Rheia.

Staring had to end. Rheia already looked ready for the next stage. Saki was as ready as she could be. A blast of plaster, stone and wood came from behind Rheia as she leapt forward. Secondary effects puffed out from cracks along the building’s fourth and fifth floors. A split second later, Rheia slammed into Saki, fists clashing.

Time started to move normally as the weight of Rheia started to bare down. Behind them, the building Rheia crashed into before started to crumb from the fifth floor collapsing into the fourth and the weight destroying the hope of support. However, a few seconds later cracks and smoke came up around Saki’s feet. The roof could not support her with the force applied. That it managed to hold out for four seconds was a miracle.

As Saki fell into the room below, Rheia leapt back, but Saki grabbed her ankle at the last moment. Spinning her around and down, her body blew through all of the floors of the building completely destroying the whole thing in seconds.

Adding to the throw, Saki kicked several larger pieces of debris as she fell towards where she sent Rheia. Their speed blasted smoke from the crumbling building away clearing a path to the woman. Explosions of dirt, debris and dust filled the whole building almost immediately form the impact.

Stopped at the second floor, Saki dangled to look down at what happened. All around her, the building creaked painfully. It wanted to be released from the pain it felt, but held together. However, it did not last for long. From below, a crack echoed up signaling the demise of the building’s life. Already carved up inside, it lost support from one side as it started to lean, taking Saki with it. ‘Must be her doing…’ She released the broken stump of wood that held her from falling. The rest of the building began to rain down around her.

It gave her enough of a slowed landing to the ruined ground floor, but she could not see where Rheia hid in all of the smoke. Her head turned around in search through the impossibly thick cloud. She could not even hear anything from the deafening sounds of the building falling around her. Chunks of debris blew out some of the veil, but still did not reveal anything.

Then suddenly like a freight train in the dead of night, it appeared. Out of the curtains of dust and dirt came a fist. Saki only saw it in the split second before it hit. In the next moment, she felt the air stinging her face. It was almost two seconds later that she actually felt the pain of the punch, by which point she had already slammed through ten buildings.

Eventually, she came to a stop, but did not know how far it had been. Broken parts of the building she laid in fell around her. The tunic she wore was in shreds again. She had the benefit of Yuki repairing it between the fights, but she was already taking more damage than any of the other fights from just a single punch.

She pushed the debris off her, to allow her to stand. Her body felt like a bell rung by an overly excited child thinking it was a good idea just to keep mercilessly ringing it without thought. “Damn, guess that’s what they mean by getting your bell rung, ugh…”

Noise in the distance alerted her eyes to the wake of destruction she left behind. Through all of the holes punched through the walls of buildings she saw Rheia coming for her. It was not over. “This fight has only just begun!” Saki slipped into a defensive stance preparing for the next round.

Chapter 256 – Standing on Top

The next clash of the two fighters blew out the first floor of the building Saki stopped in, bringing the rest of it down around them. They continued to exchange glancing and deflecting blows while it came down.

Watching her movements carefully, Saki grabbed Rheia intending to throw her, but was countered with a reverse. Rheia landed on her feet at a heavy angle coming off debris. She pulled on Saki with the motion started to turn the reverse into her own throw, but Saki reversed the counter. Dropping her to the debris Saki tried for a pin. ‘I never imagined that my classes would come in use this much.’ Only another split second was needed to finish the hold, but it broke.

Rheia overpowered in a surprising display of strength. She lifted her up with just one arm from a poor position. Then she kicked Saki up into the air to blow her out of the rubble. Shards of building flew off in all directions.

It hurt, yet surprised her more. ‘She’s stronger than me?! What sort of inhuman strength did she give herself? How am I supposed to stop that?’ Questions had to end. In the next moment, the head of the Titans appeared in from of a still soaring Saki. She actually matched the speed perfectly like she was floating with Saki. ‘Can she fly too?!’

Distracted, Saki took a spinning kick that sent her flying back to the walls of the city. She tumbled end over end through the air seeing the wall coming up fast on her. Controlling her body was impossible. Unlike Yumi, she could not float and had no special powers like Yuki and the MPs to make up for it. All she could do was react. Just as she was about to hit the wall, she fixed her legs to try to absorb as much as they could.

The effect still left a deep crater in the wall. Once the force stopped its control over her body, she slid down the rough curved stone until she could stand. ‘She can fly…’ she noted, finding Rheia standing out in the air from the last attack. ‘She just does whatever she wants. It’s like she can what she needs no matter the situation, but it only seems that way. I know from Yuki, if you plan out your powers well enough, it can be very flexible. She’s not the head of the Titans for no reason, she’s likely found the perfect setup to do all of this.’

Saki jumped out of the crater to get to the top of the wall. “She’s quite troublesome. I’m not sure how to beat her. Even playing defensively with throws and pins isn’t getting me anywhere. All of my past tricks do nothing. I’m going to have to find some new tricks if I stand a chance.”

It seemed the waiting was enough for Rheia. She jumped off the air charging for Saki. Watching her was the only thing she could think to do. It was the only way she kept up in the flurry of attacks. ‘Huh?’ For less than a second, she thought she saw a hiccup in Rheia’s movement. It was so slight and brief she could only write it off as her eye strain. Details like that could not cloud her mind in the middle of the fight.

Blocking and deflecting, their dance on the top of the wall played out like someone messing around with the fast forward and play buttons on the remote to a video. Despite the clear advantage of Rheia, Saki managed to keep pace with her. ‘I think I might actually be getting used to this speed. I’m so used to only moving and acting briefly that I haven’t actually had to think and fight at this speed. It feels like I’m in a completely different world every time we exchange blows.’

A flip from a counter sent Rheia slamming into the wall. Chunks of stone shot out from her back pounding the surface. Before the cracks even had time to finish, she recovered and spun around her leg to trip Saki. In the next motion, she made an impossible leap from lying down to a flying spin kick to Saki’s stomach.

Another minor crater formed in the wall. All of their fighting started to turn the wall into the surface of the moon. Craters and cracks ran throughout the top.

Saki rolled away from a follow up punch. ‘Again…’ The brief skipping or hitch popped up again. It did not change the fact that Rheia kept attacking, but something was strange about her movements. ‘It’s not fluid like it should be. Why?’

Jumping back to her feet, she could not ask another question. ‘I don’t have time for this…’ She had to keep up with the pace Rheia set. It might have been easier for her to follow of the movements and see them coming, but she still needed her concentration. A moment of distraction would leave her flat on her back.

However, amongst the fight, it was not something that she could throw away. During the fight, she kept seeing it more. She could not ignore it. Her whole attention focused on every slight movement Rheia made. In such a situation, how could she not see when things changed? They were moving at a pace that almost felt like a normal speed, despite the reality. She became so adjusted to it. The infrequent slip ups stood out.

It was as though they were in a flawless dance. Every action flowed seamlessly between the next. And then for some unknown reason, a trip broke everything. Then it became the only thing to focus on. It was everything and the dance was missing.

‘What’s going on?’ As she focused more and more on the mistakes, Saki started to find patterns. It always occurred between attacks, when she was doing the least amount of action. However, as she saw it before it did not have a location it relied on. She saw it happen in the air and on the ground. In the air, it was more noticeable as the skip was larger. ‘What could be causing that? Why would she do it? It’s not something that she needs. If anything, it slows her down, despite still keeping pace with me.’

Because her mind focused too much on what it meant, the fight turned around on Saki. She could not keep up with the speed while sorting through her thoughts. More craters and destroyed buildings came as a result.

Buried in rubble, deep in the city, Saki had a moment to herself. In the distance, she could see Rheia flying towards her. ‘It’s there again. Like so many times. When she jumped off the building, looked like she dropped for a fraction of a second. Like gravity remembered it was supposed to do something… Gravity…’ It came back to her, the fight she on the wall. She recalled her slipping a couple of times. ‘It didn’t feel right even though I just waved it off as not being used to the situation. If I think about it, it was like gravity pulled on me for a short period.’

She did not have any more time to think. Rheia slammed into the building smashing it to pieces as Saki jumped out. Tossing some of the debris at the last location, she tried to slow her down. ‘If I think about it like that, then that would mean…!’ A surprising thought came to Saki.

Breaking through the smoke of the ruined building, Rheia gave chase. She caught Saki in mid-air still trying to reach the next rooftop. Reaching it was not a problem, she just did so in the painful way. Back on a surface, even if it was two floors down from the roof, Saki countered Rheia’s next attack throwing her through the wall into the adjoining room. ‘If it’s what I think, then my only shot is then.’

Saki charged through the wall like a bulldozer, sending chunks of wall debris everywhere. She immediately met a kick to the face. Dropped to her back, her foot smashed through the floor to drop both of them down another floor. While they fell, she grabbed a hold of the broken floor to use it as grip as she kicked Rheia out of the building.

Once kicked from the room, Saki leapt up to the top of the building. She stared watching the numerous buildings the Atlantean rammed through before stopping. ‘Too far, I won’t make it.’ Closing the distance a little, Saki landed a few buildings away. She had to stay watchful and react fast. She would not get much time. The window was surprisingly small, but she did not understand their powers deeply enough to know how it compared.

‘If I’m right, the way her power works isn’t the way I assumed. This actually does make more sense, but it’s crazy to think she could be doing it all like that.’

Rheia emerged from the ruins of the building falling in around her. The rubble did about as much as it did to Saki, caked powder on her skin and cloths. However, that was the least important thing. The difference in their distance and height required Rheia to fly. She leapt out of the second story floor.

‘There!’ Saki jumped to action disappearing. She pushed her body as fast and hard as possible. The time frame was so small, even her reaction being too slow would cause her failure. ‘I have to hit that ‘lag’ time in her movements. It’s when she’s turning off her power and setting new rules up. It’s insane to imagine, but she’s always turning it off and on constantly altering her powers to the exact needs at the moment. But it is her one moment of weakness, the only time she’s completely normal.’ Inside her mind, she tried to count out the time she had figured out. The whole perception of time became completely skewed to Saki while she existed at such a speed. When she counted it out she had five second to clear what was easily fifty meters. She could not answer how long it was in the real world. Such time was completely incomprehensible to her, it was too slow, an eternity of a crawl.

‘Two seconds…’ Almost there, she was halfway there. She would make it. ‘Three!’ It would be the blow that would end their struggle. The dragged out stalemate would finally end. She could find Yuki after it ended. ‘Four!’ An arm reach was all she needed. Her fist was ready. The strength dialed back enough not to kill her, but to leave her unconscious. A kill would be unnecessary.

The hit landed.

Saki smiled with success.

Nothing.

“Huh?” Her punch did nothing. No impact at all. Then suddenly a spinning back kick slammed into her face even faster than before. Saki shot out blasting through buildings like a cannon. ‘What happened?! Did get the timing wrong? Is it not what I thought?’ In confusion, she did not even try to control her body. The wall came up and exploded. Another hole punched through the wall. Just outside of the wall a massive explosion of earth leapt into the air from Saki’s crash. Layers of old earth displaced in an instant followed by more stone.

Everything hurt. Her mind was numb. ‘What’s going on? I’m in the city, but I thought…’ Old buildings crumbled around her just from the mere sight of her, as though anything she stared at decayed.

Rheia appeared at the top of the hole staring down at her. “You’re the first one to figure it out. Though I guess, you’re the first one I’ve fought with for this long. So someone else might have been able to figure it out. You had the right idea, but I figured out a while ago that you were clued in on the little secret. I was waiting for you to put it together and to act on it. So I left in a little fake, just for you.”

“Damn…” muttered Saki. All of the strength left her body. The one chance she had was even fake. ‘She’s too strong and clever. How am I supposed to beat someone like that?’

“Please hear me everyone! You must listen!”

‘Huh? Is that Yumi’s brother? In my head? She must have hit me harder than I thought if I’m hearing him.’

“Everyone please stop with the questions…I barely have any strength, just listen… I know the truth finally. I know what Ayumi’s goal is.” Part of what he said blurred out of her mind from the pain. Blood slowly fell over her face. But she immediately snapped to attention when she heard Yuki mentioned. “Yuki Hayashi will die! This truth is that Atlantis’ secret is not what any of us thought! They…”

Stone and earth cracked suddenly under Saki. Her hands tensed up breaking free from their hold. The look in her eyes changed, developing harsh shadows. “YUKI!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

Athene walked out between Ourias and Yori. She leveled her gaze upon Yori. The air around her seemed to ignite into blue flames with a look that could kill. “You’re mine!” She lifted her arm pointing an array of similar needles floating around her wrist.

“Who are you?” asked Ourias, trying to figure out who the new person into the fight was.

“None of your business, stay out of my way!”

Yori wanted nothing to do with Athene. His eyes remained focused on Ourias. “Don’t interrupt me!” Squeezing his hand, Yori crushed all of the needles pointed at him. Then he threw his hand away casting an invisible force that tossed Athene aside. “You’re not the one I want!”

The swat barely did anything to dint Athene’s drive. She charged back into the battle before Yori could make another attempt on Ourias. “I’m not giving you a choice in the matter!” she yelled. The ground around her tore up creating a wall behind her keeping Ourias out of the scene.

Remaining patience Yori had for Athene burned up instantly. “Fine, I’ll make you then!” He charged after her to remove her personally.

However, she seemed to have something different in mind. The earth lifted up with her like a massive scoop carved out the ground. Everything went flying through the air along with Yori. Well outside of the range of the others, chunks fell back to the field dropping the two emotional warriors. “You’re fight is with me! You owe me more than even your life could hope to repay!”

Everything happened so fast that by the time, he started his build up Athene already dropped them. The black energy half molded in his hand vanished to particles. Immediately, his eyes shifted around the horizon, already forgetting Athene stood in front of him. Her presence nearly disappeared. A singular thought rant through Yori’s mind on repeat, like a skipping record. All his mind’s eye could see was his sister. Her name haunted everything, making him deaf to all.

Seconds ticked by like hours in his panic. He could not see the real one. Even though her image popped up like a collage within him. All the fakes did not count for a single thousandth of a point for the real one. The real Yumi still faced the danger of that Atlantean she foolishly tried to face down without any powers. ‘Where are you, Yumi?! I don’t see you!’

He traced out the city’s wall to locate the fight. Spread out flickers of shapes or shadows, maybe lights, nothing he wanted appeared. ‘…Yumi…’ Finally, the broken sections of the wall came to focus, but he had to strain his eyes.

Shoved up against Yori’s neck, the full ten seconds Athene went ignored hit her limit. “You’d best focus on me.” The needles poked his skin, but did not draw up blood.

Yumi remained missing in his eyes. A nuisance popped up, but he just waved his hand. “Back off.”

Not even touching her, a force gripped her across almost her entire body sending her flying. However, it only took her a few moments to come to a sudden stop in midair. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily!”

“I’ve no interest in you.” A raised palm lifted her up further away from the ground. The annoyance needed to remain still while he searched. ‘Yumi, you’re out there. I know you are. I’ll find you!’

Chapter 257 – Misdirected Emotions

Athene tried to regain control over her body. “Damn you! I won’t--!” Her arms suddenly started to stretched beyond their limits. It felt like invisible hands tried to pop them right out of her joints. The feeling swarmed over her whole body. Everything from the center tried to move away. “B-b-bas-tard…” Her powers were not designed to protect her against such an attack. She did not even know he would have powers. She only thought he could invade her mind.

The pain began to become unbearable. It threatened her concentration. She coughed struggling with holding back all of the screaming her body proclaimed. Each millimeter further on her bones brought them closer to snapping part. She was just a doll in his hands. “Damn…”

Frantic, Yori strained his eyes as much as he could to find his sister. As long as the battle for Yuki Hayashi continued, she remained in danger. Without her powers, she stood no chance against them. ‘There! That must be her.’ Isolating everything else, they were only things in the area. Even if he could not see her clearly, it had to be her.

Released from the hold, Athene dropped back to the ground. Pain and soreness held her from making any action against Yori as he ran off. “You’re…not going…anywhere,” she muttered, trying to get off the grass.

“Yumi, I’m coming!” Yori continued his blind charge after his sister. Interventions could not stop him. He would get back to her no matter what. However, he suddenly hit a wall. It knocked him on his butt, but did not keep him down for long. Immediately a moment later, he was back on his feet pounding on the brick. “This won’t stop me!”

Wasting no time further on the wall, he charged up black energy into his hands. He sent the sphere of darkness at the simple red brick wall. Exploding on impact, smoke covered the area around him. Not waiting on the clearing, he charged back in only to be hit by the wall. “The hell?!” His hands slammed against the wall trying to find the weakness.

Nothing happened.

Searching around, he went off to look for the end of the wall. He needed to get around it and return. Time wasted in each second this delayed him. “Where the hell is the end of this?! Damn it! Let me out!”

“There is no exit,” replied Athene, finally on her feet.

Turning towards Athene, Yori took in the whole surroundings for the first time. It might have been a wall, but it would also be more accurately called a dome. The outside completely disappeared. Somehow a light still remained to keep the interior lit. “Out of my way!”

“No! You’re staying here! I will not be satisfied until you’re dead!” Her fists tightened up. Images in her mind made it difficult to keep her body from shaking. “It’s your fault for everything!”

Yori turned his hand back to Athene. He heard enough from her. “Be gone!” When her body flew back it sent the wall moving with her knocking him forwards. It dropped him on his face with a headache. “Damn it! I don’t have time for this!”

Standing slowly to his feet, his eyes went away from Athene towards where he assumed Yumi to stand. ‘This wall needs to come down. I just need to take out the one keeping it up.’ His all white eyes focused back on the woman. She stood in his way, finally fully realized in his sight. “So I just have to take you out.”

Being grabbed by an invisible force became something of a familiar feeling to Athene at this point. However, each time brought something different. Each time was painful. This time, it pulled her towards Yori. ‘Not this time!’ Long needles materialized between her fingers. Only her torso was under its control, once in range she would be able to attack. This was personal. She gripped the needles tightly.

Seemingly a similar thought in mind, Yori’s hand clutched onto a black blade prepared for her. Once she was in range it would be all over. ‘This ends now! I’m coming soon, Yumi!’

‘I’ll avenge you, Simonides!’

Their weapons sped towards each other. Only seconds remained.

‘…Yori…’

Frozen. Time ceased.

Yori looked around the world suddenly feeling apart from it. It did not feel right. ‘What’s happened to me? Why can’t I move?’ An image of his sister ran through his view. He turned to try to keep her in sight, but she already disappeared. ‘Yumi?’ Something sat in the back of his mind, like a beacon going off repeatedly. It signaled something. It felt familiar. He knew it well. ‘Yumi! Where are you? You’re close by!’

‘…Yori…’

He flipped around knowing that she had to be near him. It felt like she stood next to him. She was there. He just could not see her, but his mind knew with certainty. ‘Yumi, why can’t I find you?’

‘…I’m fine…’

‘Yumi?’ He tried running after her, feeling as if she started to drift away from him. Yet he could not reach her. Something held him down. ‘Yumi!’ She smiled at him fading away.

“Yumi!” Time returned. His eyes returned to normal, restore of their light brown shading. “Where am I?” Ahead of him, he found Athene held just centimeters away with the tips of her needles just under his chin going for his neck. His right arm also seemed position for a lethal blow just barely poking her chest, above her heart.

‘…Yori…’

His head flipped to the side upon hearing his sister’s voice. ‘I can feel her…her presence. Strange, but I know she’ll be fine.’ He pulled back his weapon hand, uncertain about the situation. ‘Last thing I remember is frustrated at my inability to help and now this…’

“I’m going to kill you, Yori Mizuno!” spat Athene, releasing her needles to fly the leftover distance. Unfortunately, they hit a transparent square barrier, halting their strike.

Yori jumped back startled. Then his eyes widened in surprise. “You! You’re that woman that went into my head! What are you doing here?!” He did not get a chance for another question as she lunged at him. Acting defensively, he put up his arms to protect his body from her needles, but a barrier went up.

Bearing her teeth at Yori, Athene’s more primal aspects bleed through in her face. “Damn you!”

“Woah! What did I do to you?! Why do you want to kill me?”

“You’re the reason! It’s your fault! He’s dead because of you!”

“Who’s dead? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Athene slammed her needles against the barrier with greater frustration at being kept from her target. Nothing happened with the barrier. She would not take it being over. Leaping up into the air, she landed on a circular pattern of light, but that was the least to be concerned over. Back in view, hidden behind where she used to stand was a massive cannon comparable to those found on an Iowa-class battleship.

Barely enough time to yelp in surprise and wide-eyed, Yori dropped to the dirt just as he heard the earth shattering blast from the cannon. Proximity to the ground upon firing was enough to tear away chunks of the earth. Even from his position, he could feel the heat and blasting force against him.

All around him, black shards rained down from his barrier. The grave atmosphere Athene placed on the whole area finally hit Yori. ‘She wants to kill me! I don’t even know what I did to piss her off so much!’ Looking for a place to go but realizing she already cut off all retreats, Yori tried to back up a little to give himself some room. “I’ve been unconscious for the last few days! Since you went playing around in my head! I didn’t kill anyone!” He was not sure pointing blame back on her about something was a good idea in his situation. However, she did already want to kill him, so he judged things could not get much worse.

“Shut up! I know it was you!”

“Huh?” The tone in her voice made him lean back. Her eyes alone were terrifying enough to see. ‘She’s crazy!’ Yori looked around for anything. He had been completely useless since entering Atlantis. There was nothing to blame on him. “If anyone’s got blame, it’s you for kidnapping me and your interrogation! I can’t even remember what happened thanks to you!”

“Silence!” The cannon seemed ready for another round as the barrel rotated a little to line up with Yori once more.

Staring down the sights of a giant cannon made Yori turn blue a little. ‘I was lucky the last time. I can’t do anything about that a second time!’ He glanced back to Athene. The troubled woman directed all her fury upon him. Yet he had no answers. “Who’s dead?” he asked, looking to try to buy himself some time. “Who did I kill?” Any sort of extra time he had to come up with a plan would help, but he did not know what sort of plan could stop a shell from a cannon.

“You know who it was!”

He sighed to himself. ‘This is not getting me anywhere. She’s so off her rocker that she’s going in circular vague responses.’ Any second it seemed the cannon would fire. “Damnit! Just tell me their name!”

“Simonides! The man trying to protect Atlantis from you intruders that ruined our peace!”

The name took him a make for a moment. He immediately recognized the name. Then the rest of the pieces fell into place for him. Recalling the man’s plan, it almost seemed obvious there would no doubt be those under his command looking for vengeance. “Since it’s already out of the bag, he’s not dead. He faked his death to help us settle all of the turmoil we’ve been causing here. If you look back at our group, you’ll find him there.”

Yori’s response twisted Athene’s face to become even harsher than it had been before. She looked to become something other than human. “Lies! Lies!” A deep groan came from the cannon preceding its firing. Fire blew out from the mouth of its barrel locked on Yori.

To be continued…