Shift

[Andromeda]

Landing nearby, the smoke had already begun to settle. No movement came from the crash, but Yuki did not expect any. He specifically designed it that way. When the dust finally cleared, Demosthenes laid prone and very still. “Would seem you beat me,” he replied, though lacking any sort of disappointed or anger. “I am curious what you did. I have a good idea, but these weapons…”

Yuki found the whole thing strange. Even during the fight and now after, there was no sign of the dark side to him. Either he was a little too good of an actor or Ayumi was mistaken. He just treated the whole thing so casually after it ended. It was hard not to follow along. “I made the blades real from material in the palace when I turned my power back on. I made them super dense so that after my power released them they’d pin you to the ground. Each one is about a quarter of a metric ton.”

“That’s very clever. I’m pleased with your growth.”

“I didn’t come here to get your approval.”

“I know, but I’m still glad to see that you’ve grown up well. It might have been a harsher destiny, but we wanted you to have a normal life before discovering all of the darkness in this world.”

Yuki paused for a moment already in planned reply when he had to re-evaluate things. ‘Grown up? What’s he talking about? The way he’s talking sounds like he planned all of this and kept watch on me the whole time.’ He pressed his hand to his face trying to get his head on straight. ‘This is starting to sound more like a manga than real life…’ Too many ideas started flowing in his head on what his life actually could mean to this man.

Running across the courtyard, Eudokia finally caught up to the two of them. “Yuki!” She stopped in front of Demosthenes, putting herself between them. “You don’t need to kill him!”

“Eh?” He realized that he was staring very intensely at the man, one who seemed to know more about him than he thought. Ayumi already turned his world upside down two month ago with the reveal of super human powers and his unknown birth. But she never explained anymore about it. When he thought about it, there was a ton of unanswered questions or even unasked in his case. He was too focused on wanting to live the life he knew rather than getting involved in her world that he just ignored her. Now he stood at the center of everything.

Yuki pushed Ayumi aside to get in line with Demosthenes again. “I don’t plan to kill him anymore. I’ve resolved that part of myself, mostly anyway. No, I’m more curious what he has to say about who I am and how someone that is supposedly the heir to this country ends up in Japan. There’s a lot more going on from the way you talk that I want to know, old man.”

Demosthenes nodded. “It was always my plan to tell you. It was one of the promises I made to your father, the late King.”

Narrowing his eyes, Yuki really started to question a lot about the situation he found himself in suddenly. “It’s been bugging me since I got my head on straight. Ayumi has painted a specific picture of everything here, but I’m starting wonder how truthful she’s being about this whole thing.” He tilted his head back towards her. “As I recall, if I’m to believe your past, you’re a skilled manipulator and con-artist. That’s certainly an odd thing to be admitting…”

Eudokia locked eyes with Yuki, staring deeply into them. “That’s enough questions. Let’s go.”

“Yeah, we have something left to do,” he agreed quickly.

Demosthenes tried to get free of the weights on his shoulders only to make them bleed more. “Eudokia! What do you think you’re doing? This isn’t part of the plan!”

She glared down at him coldly. “Your plan maybe, but it is mine. I’m fulfilling what was asked of me.” Eudokia started to escort Yuki away from the area.

“Eudokia! This isn’t what he would want! Not like this!”

Stopping suddenly, her head snapped back towards him furious. “What the HELL would you know what he wanted?! You abandoned him for your so called loyalty to the throne! I’m the only one that can carry out his dying wish! Not YOU, not anyone! Only me!”

Activating his field once more, Demosthenes started to remove the weighted blades in his shoulder. “I’m also carrying out his will. You aren’t the only one that suffered.”

“Bullshit! You’re still the same heartless bastard from the day I met you. You just got better at lying underneath that mask of yours.”

“This isn’t the way to do it! If you continue I will have to stop you.”

Eudokia laughed briefly at his empty threat. “You really think you can present any challenge to me in your condition? Even at your peak, you could never best me. Just lie there and keep your defeat. It’ll be easier to keep pretending for the side you’re on.” She turned away and kept walking Yuki off. ‘Can’t stay around here any longer. He purposely sent all of the guards away, but the spectacle those two had no doubt will bring them running back in no time.’

As she approached the main doors to the palace, they flew open with guards responding. In a flash, she quickly dispatched them all. “Come Yuki. Everything will be over soon.”

“Yes, Ayumi,” he answered obediently.

Chapter 271 – Someone Else’s Mind

Roaring into the palace ground, blowing a massive hole in the wall and throwing chunks of debris to all corners, Yumi came to a sudden halt. She hovered a couple meters in the air finding the courtyard overrun with enemies. All around they went for their weapons, already prepared for a fight. Already pushed to the limits of reason, she had little time for insignificant minions. “Out of my way before I make you!”

He glanced up from his seated position where the palace guards surrounded him. “Damn, this is getting more complicated than needed,” Demosthenes commented, standing up.

“Sir! You shouldn’t be moving!”

“Stand down,” he ordered. “I’m not so wounded as to be unable to handle this.”

“But sir, she’s one of the intruders.”

“Yes, I know and she’s defeated a Titan. So you think anyone but I can do anything about it?” The soldiers all around him backed off a little. They allowed him to start moving. Rippling grass across the courtyard, he floated up level with Yumi. “Judging from your expression, you seem to have learned some bit of the truth.”

Yumi clinched her fists. “Out of the way! I’m only here for Ayumi!”

Narrowing his gaze a little, he could see how much trouble it was going to be talk with the girl. “So you know what she’s up to. While I don’t approve of her methods, I’m unable to stop her. Though, I doubt you’d be able to stop her either. If I couldn’t.”

“I don’t care about what you think!” Yumi slashed her hand through the air generating an arc of green energy aimed at Demosthenes. “I can’t stop me!”

Demosthenes sighed and lifted his hand up to catch her attack. His hand squeezed down on the arc and crushed it. Blood soaked through the bandages on his shoulder. “This is getting tiring.”

“Tch…” Yumi moved her hand back allowing it to gather up energy. “So you’re planning on standing in my way.”

“Actually, no.”

“Huh?” She lowered her hand a little. Confusion ran through her face as she tried to figure out what his plan was. “If you’re not going to stop me, then why are you in my way?”

“Because I want to reduce the amount of further damage you deal to the Palace by going on a blind rampage in search of the two of them. And it’s very likely that you’ll be too late to do anything if you waste time aimlessly searching.”

Squinting her eyes at Demosthenes, she had some trouble believing him. He had an honest look on his face. “We’re already wasting time talking when Ayumi and Yuki are getting closer to the Throne.”

“You’re right, which is why I’m going to tell you how to get there.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You don’t have much choice since your against the clock. But despite what I said about you not being able to beat Eudokia, I want to believe there is a chance. I failed her, I hope there’s someone that can succeed where I’ve failed.”

Yumi moved closer to get into better range of him. She had her doubts, but he was right. She had to trust him the risk at being too late because she was tearing up the place was one she could not take. “I’m not interested in saving her only Yuki.”

Demosthenes smiled. “That should be enough.”


Deep inside the underground of the Palace, massive stone doors opened into a large domed interior. Already lit when opened, the interior was a perfect hemisphere. More than two hundred meters in diameter, the chamber made anyone that stepped inside feel small. However, the grand nature of it added to the weight of its importance.

Inside at the center was the all-important Throne of Atlantis. Numerous lines carved through the stone floor. At the edge, the lines turned up to ran along the dome ceiling. These faint lines covered the entire space almost like a design itself.

While Eudokia closed and locked the doors, Yuki stepped a little further inside. He hung his head back staring at the detail found everywhere. When he approached the wall, he could see even further inlaid details carved throughout the stone. Nearly no point of the entire surface remained flat. “Amazing, how much time went into all of this…I wonder.”

Eudokia hurried about in her preparations. “According to history, it was just a single person. The second King of Atlantis that did all of this.”

“Really…so that means this was all created through the power.” He ran his hand over the surface feeling every corner and edge. Despite the age it had to be, it had somehow seemed to held against time’s hand. “Is all of this necessary?”

“No one really knows. It’s just assumed to be needed.”

“Needed for what?”

“That’s enough questions, Yuki. It’s time.” She escorted Yuki through the chamber towards the center. Everything would finally be over soon. The plan had finally come to fruition.


Flying through the halls, Yumi barged through completely ignoring anyone that she might have run across. Her goal was the only thing on her mind. ‘I’m coming, Yuki. I’ll put a stop to Ayumi’s plans.’ She pushed herself to move faster. She did not know how much longer she had. Too much time was wasted on Demosthenes. ‘Just a little bit further…’


Eudokia guided Yuki to the center of the chamber. While nothing more than a large block, even it had a significant amount of detail carved into it. It appeared to be a separate piece added on top of the floor. But the size made it impossible for either of them to move even with help.

He looked down at the strange looking stone block. Out of everything, it certainly felt a little subdued from the grandiose nature of everything else. “What did you want me to do?”

“You just need to sit.” She pointed out on the block a design that seemed to indicate a specific location for him. “It will respond to the power inside you. If you’re powerful enough it will accept you.”

“Oh. How powerful do you have to be?” Yuki moved over to the block looking ready to sit.

“We don’t really measure things, but my King was the most powerful in recent history. All of the previous ones in the last line were weak and feeble. Even Demosthenes was more powerful than them. He just lacks the volume, like myself.”

He stared down at the block a bit in wonder. “Sounds like there’s not a lot of strict requirements.”

“Anyone can be King if they have enough power to spare. It was designed that way.”

“I see.”

“Now sit. You’re wasting time with this talking.”

“Yes.”

The moment Yuki made contact with the block red light suddenly came from the block through each of the carved out lines. It ran through every surface completely filling the stone. A moment later, groaning came from the stone. Perfectly cut gaps appeared all along the surface of the block. Pieces raised and separated suddenly building on top or around each other.

Each piece fit in perfectly with Yuki’s body as though it was custom made for only him. It slowly built out into be a roughly carved chair of solid stone. No gaps or fancy designs, just a simple shape. A tall back gave it the only touch of grandness that the rest of the form lacked.

Eudokia grinned at her success. “Now just activate your power, Yuki. The moment you do the Throne will link with you.”

“…right, I understand, Ayumi…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

“Now sit. You’re wasting time with this talking.”

“Yes.”

The moment Yuki made contact with the block red light suddenly came from the block through each of the carved out lines. It ran through every surface completely filling the stone. A moment later, groaning came from the stone. Perfectly cut gaps appeared all along the surface of the block. Pieces raised and separated suddenly building on top or around each other.

Each piece fit in perfectly with Yuki’s body as though it was custom made for only him. It slowly built out into be a roughly carved chair of solid stone. No gaps or fancy designs, just a simple shape. A tall back gave it the only touch of grandness that the rest of the form lacked.

Eudokia grinned at her success. “Now just activate your power, Yuki. The moment you do the Throne will link with you.”

“…right, I understand, Ayumi…”

An explosion of stone and smoke suddenly filled the entire chamber. It did not take long for them to know who arrived. “AYUMI!” screamed Yumi, her shadowy figure flying through smoke.

Immediately without delay, Yumi sent an orb of energy blasting towards Eudokia. A ripple ran out from Eudokia’s feet as she halted the attack completely in her ice. She placed herself between Yumi and Yuki, knowing the main reason why she came. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! If you damage any part of this room you’ll be condemning millions to death!”

Yumi continued to speed towards the two of them. “I don’t care about any of that! You should have thought about that before deciding to lie to us and send Yuki to his death!” She charged up another blast, but ice suddenly completely encased her arm halting it. Unfazed, Yumi squeezed her hand shattering the ice.

“Damnit, Yumi! I don’t have time for your childishness!”

Crashing into Ayumi, the two girls rolled over the ground before separating again. Yumi crawled up to her feet glaring at Ayumi viciously. “I don’t give a DAMN about what you have time FOR!” Charging up another blast, she threw it before she built up much. It was enough for Ayumi to need to focus on protecting something else.

Using the distraction, she flew over quickly to Yuki. “Yuki! Don’t sit in that chair!” When she appeared in front of the Throne before Yuki, she could see that he was not completely aware of her. “Yuki?” He only seemed to partially awake. A thick glaze hung over his eyes.

Eudokia recovered from the diversion and charged after Yumi. Extending her sword out at Yumi, she forced her way in front of the Throne as well. “Back off, Yumi. Yuki, activate your power like I told you!”

“Ayumi, what did you do to him?!” Yumi grabbed the tip of her sword crushing it in her hand fighting over position. “Don’t listen to her, Yuki! It’s me, Yumi! Hear me, Yuki!”

Unhindered by the struggle, Eudokia held her position. “I did what must be done for the survival of our country!”

“I don’t care about that! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO YUKI!” She tore the sword out of Ayumi’s hand. In the next instant, Yumi wrapped her hand around Ayumi’s neck starting to squeeze. “Answer ME!” The fires in Yumi’s eyes burned even stronger than before.

Coughing weakly, Eudokia did not bend to the pressure. Ice expanded from her body over Yumi’s hand. It shattered quickly from Yumi’s exertion, but formed up again. The ice held as stubborn as her. “You don’t…have it in you…to kill.”

Bearing her teeth in rage, Yumi pulled Ayumi in closer. “Normally you might be right. But you’ve exceeded any threshold I have for morality. So just try me!”

Chapter 272 – Desperate Emotions

Grinding her teeth, Eudokia judged the look in Yumi’s face. She could see the resolve and determination along with all of the blind rage. There was no convincing with her. Eudokia could see it. “Fine, you want to kill me?” The sword reformed in her hands and halfway through her upper arm. “I won’t hold back!”

Barely even affected by the wound, Yumi severed the blade with her power. Removing it with her telekinesis, she sent it back at Ayumi embedding in her upper shoulder. “AYUMI! I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done to Yuki!”

Eudokia broke free from Yumi’s grasp finally. She yanked out the blade from her sword. Ice formed up over the wound. Harsh lines formed around her eyes. Even she had limits. “My name is Eudokia Ismene! Ayumi is a lie! I don’t need lies anymore!”

“Eudokia!”

“Yumi!”

Yumi danced around the room evading ice attacks and slashes from her sword. All of the injures she sustained during her last fight with Ourias disappeared. She would not let anything hold her back from dealing with Eudokia. Everything would end now.

At the center of the room, Yuki remained still. He seemed locked in position uncertain what to do next. Even with the fighting in around him, his eyes remained glossed over. Any sense of consciousness gone. The identity known as Yuki Hayashi was missing.

Using pieces of her barrier, she kept blocking the swings from the sword. Between attacks, she threw out blasts of green energy. The progress quickly entered into a stalemate. Neither made any significant headway in the fight after the first blood.

‘Damn, the girl’s gotten better with her powers,’ thought Eudokia. She threw around waves of ice to block several incoming attacks. It easily broke on impact even though it negated the attack. The ice had been strengthened even and it still shattered. ‘Her power’s grown that much in this short time?’

The resistance she expected from the girl was greater than she forecasted. Like with everyone in Yuki’s circle, Eudokia monitored and watched all of them. After Yuki’s unexpected alteration of Japan and the discovery of powers, she kept a constant watch on all of their developments. ‘Out of all of them I saw Saki as the greatest threat, which was why I made sure she was separated. Yumi’s made significantly more advancements than I calculated for. She’s not the timid girl I wrote her off being.’ Even when they were in Atlantis, she never actually disappeared from the fights. She watched them all secretly.

All of her planning would fall apart if she lost. ‘Judging by the look in her eye, she might actually want to kill me… Glad I added a law to negate her telekinesis on my body.’ Her law set was far more complex and layered than any of them realized. She had to plan for any of them attacking her.

Spreading out ice over the ground, Eudokia drew out multiple paths for her. She jumped onto the first taking off to out flank Yumi. Unfortunately, the agility of Yumi made it difficult for her actually to out maneuver her. She slid around the whole area moving with Yumi as they fought higher into the air.

Amidst their fighting, Eudokia materialized her chain attached to her sword. It appeared all around Yumi immediately tightening to restrict her movements. She charged in with her sword ready to pierce her. However, multiple sections of barriers popped up. The sword managed to cut through a few, but hit resistance suddenly.

Yumi shattered the chains around her through mere strength. She then materialized several of her pieces of barriers throwing them at Eudokia. The first few missed, but Yumi rapidly increased the speed until she was unable to keep up. One struck her upper sleeve of her kimono. Several more followed up sending her flying back to the dome’s wall.

Pinned to the wall, Eudokia had little range of movement. While she tried to release herself, Yumi threw more at her, but no longer aimed for her clothing. She had to use ice to keep it from a lethal injury and it still only deflected it.

Eudokia altered her clothes quickly to free herself from the shackles. She threw out ice shards to keep Yumi off her, while she recovered. ‘Tch…she’s getting more lethal with her attacks.’ Catching the ice, she rode the wave around taking shots at Yumi from a distance.

Fueled off rage even more so than before, Yumi released more of her shield barriers. Spinning quickly, the pieces of the barrier flew off after Eudokia. Dodging and out running them with her ice, kept Yumi from scoring any clean hits. However, she raised her hand towards the path Eudokia took. She crushed both the front and rear of her ice wave.

Forced to recover quickly with new paths, Eudokia came back around. However, she found that Yumi had already setup her next attack. ‘Damn…she’s much smarter in combat than I expected…’ A focused beam shot out. Ice covered up in a wall to protect her. She made it even thicker discovering how fragile it was against Yumi. It managed to hold.

Yet she saw cracks already starting to form. She repaired it quickly to keep the defense. ‘She’s able to focus her power through the barrier as well… It’s much more versatile…’ The intensity of the beam increased. Her wall would not hold for long without more strengthening, however it was a losing fight.

‘I need a distraction…’ Eudokia materialized several ice shards from different directions. However, because they could not even make it more than a few centimeters they disappeared. Completely crushed by Yumi without even a slight alteration of her stance. ‘…damn…this is getting more annoying… I shouldn’t be taking this long with her! She should already be exhausted from fighting the Titans, why does she still have so much power?!’

Worse for Eudokia, she realized too late that Yumi had something else completely different planned. She just played her with a distraction. The frontal attack was not the real attack. Multiple beams came in from different angles. ‘How did she…?!’ Eudokia did not have time to react.

A weak defense was the only thing she could offer. The beams easily pierced through the ice. In the last moment, she collapsed the ice supporting her. It dropped her, but not soon enough to escape all of the beams. She took several hits to her arm and shoulders. Fortunately, they were not deep since she fell before it became too bad.

Eudokia landed on the stone floor kneeling. Blood dripped off her wounds. ‘Damn…Yumi…I’m going to have actually get serious with her…’ She slowly stood up wiping off the blood as ice sealed up the wounds. “I hope you’re pleased with yourself.”

“You’re still moving,” Yumi replied in disagreement.

“You won’t be very soon.”

“Big talk for someone that’s been barely able to keep up.”

Narrowing her eyes, she fixed her gaze on Yumi. “You’ll see how long that last for.”

All of the ice suddenly disappeared. The sword faded away from her hand. Ice gathered around her hands completely encasing them. Her feet grew ice claws as well as she knelt back down. “I’m ending things now!”

“Just try!” Yumi immediately shot out beams from multiple directions to converge on Eudokia. However, she was already gone from the position. She nearly became a blur lashing out at Yumi with her new claws. They sliced her barrier into pieces with no effort.

The close call pushed Yumi back as she watched Eudokia fly further into the air. She had pieces of her barrier in place to redirect the beams that previously missed her. Eudokia had nowhere else to go. The beams chased after her.

However, just as the beams moved within reach, Eudokia bounced off the air to change her course. Her speed increased coming back around for Yumi. ‘Damnit, she was never like this before,’ cursed Yumi. She threw up barriers to push back Eudokia, but they did not stop her. Her claws sliced straight through coming for Yumi.

“I told you, this is over!” Eudokia shouted, as a flash of light arc over Yumi. Blood sprayed up from her claws sinking into flesh. Stubbornness in Yumi’s eyes made it clear to Eudokia that she would not be done in by just one attack. She bounced around taking Yumi from multiple angles breaking her barriers and cutting deep with her claws until she fell.

Yumi collapsed to her knees. Blood dripped over all of her body. Old wounds complained loudly along with the fresh. Her body shook unable to keep going forward despite her will ordering it to move. “…damn…I can’t…lose…” She stretched out her hand towards Eudokia gathering energy up. “I won’t…”

Standing in midair, Eudokia stared down at Yumi’s continued struggle. “You’re done.” The coldness in Eudokia eyes returned. She dropped down quickly landing next to Yumi. A new spray of blood coated the right side of her face.

“Damn…you!” Yumi clutched her severed arm. She could not stop the bleeding. However, she did not plan to go down without Eudokia. She grabbed Eudokia’s shoulder with her blood soaked hand. “Eudok—“ Yumi coughed up blood suddenly.

Eudokia jerked her hand free from Yumi’s stomach. “I can’t stop me.”

Blood poured out from her stomach. The pain had become so strong that she stopped feeling anything. Yumi collapsed backwards. Her blood fell into the carvings along the floor spreading out almost like a pair of skeletal wings. “…Yuki…”

He was close to her. She could barely see him. Just in reach, she grabbed at him. “…Yuki…wake…” Yumi pulled with her arm trying to reach him.

“He’s never going to hear you. He’s completely under my control.”

“Yuki…” Her fingers could feel his boots. She dragged herself closer. ‘…closer…I just need…to get…’ Yumi reached up to his leg pulling on him. She could feel his warmth. He was in reach. ‘Just…a little…’ Each pained pull brought her a little further.

More upright, she knelt next him leaning against him. “Yuki…please hear me…”

“Just die already!” Eudokia charged in for the finishing blow, but Yumi suddenly managed to lift her hand up and unleashed a powerful blast of energy. Unable to dodge in time, she flew back crashing into the wall.

Yumi coughed up more blood. “Damn…I…” She tilted her head up towards Yuki, still completely lost to the world. Forcing her legs to move, she stood up a little wobbly. “I…don’t know…how much time…I’ve got…but there’s…something I want to say…”

Some of her last bit of strength fell out from under her. She leaned forward forced to support herself with her only hand against the Throne.

Blood soaked, Yumi smiled at him. “Ever since that day… I’ve watched you… I…looked up to you…admired you… At first…” Her hand started to give out. She leaned a little closer to Yuki. “…but something else…grew inside me…in my heart… I could feel it every time…I saw you… It’d beat so hard…I thought I’d die…”

Her legs buckled a little more knocking her down a little more level with him. “…I’m shy…introverted…anti-social…self conscious…but you… Yuki you made me…want to change…not be like that anymore. I wanted to…stand at your…side…”

She could feel all of her strength disappearing. She could not hold out much longer. “Yuki…” Yumi leaned in further only centimeters away from his face. She paused a little in wonder at his face, even blank as it was. “…I can finally say this to you…I love you…Yuki…” Yumi pressed in kissing him deeply under she had no strength left.

Yumi feel backwards slowly. “…so please…awake up…Yuki!” Her body collapsed on the floor unable to move anymore. Blood pooled around her again.

“…Yu…mi…”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

She could feel all of her strength disappearing. She could not hold out much longer. “Yuki…” Yumi leaned in further only centimeters away from his face. She paused a little in wonder at his face, even blank as it was. “…I can finally say this to you…I love you…Yuki…” Yumi pressed in kissing him deeply under she had no strength left.

Yumi fell backwards slowly. “…so please…awake up…Yuki!” Her body collapsed on the floor unable to move anymore. Blood pooled around her again.

“…Yu…mi…”

Eudokia pulled herself up. A ringing still hung in her head. “…damn…” Her eyes locked on to Yumi and then noticed Yuki, his consciousness returning. The fact that he started to move surprised her. “No! It can’t—“ A blast of wind kicked her forward throwing herself back across the chamber. She had to stop him before everything was undone. “Sit down, Yuki!”

He did not seem to be listening to her. Grinding her teeth together, she saw Yumi. The one that screwed everything up. Eudokia raised her claws. “Damn you! I’m going to KILL you!”

In the last few centimeters before her claws sunk into Yumi’s chest, a hand stopped her. The sudden stop threw a painful force through her body. “YOU—“ Eudokia ground her teeth and bare them in anger.

“What’s going on?” The clarity had returned to Yuki’s eyes. He tightened his hold on Ayumi’s hand trying to figure out why he needed to stop her from killing Yumi. “Ayumi? What are you doing?”

Growling through her teeth, she lost all of her control. All of the plan came undone from someone stupidly simple. Something she could not have foreseen. “…that…bitch…”

Still confused, Yuki tried to figure out why he could not remember how he got to where he was. ‘Why can I remember coming here? What have I been doing? I remember beating Demosthenes…’

Coughing, Yumi grinned a little pleased to see Yuki returned at the end. “…Yu…ki…I’m…glad…”

“Yumi?!” Yuki threw Ayumi to the opposite side of the chamber. He did not understand what she was trying to do, but she seemed to want to hurt Yumi. “You’re…” Kneeling down next to Yumi, he could not believe how much blood he saw. “…all this…blood… Yumi…you…”

Yumi stretched her hand up to Yuki’s face. This was all she needed to see. “…it’s…okay…”

“NO!” The field he had disappeared and then a ripple ran out quickly. Faint lights raised up from the ground gathering around Yumi’s body. “You’re still alive! I’m not going to allow you to die! I’m not losing anyone else! EVER!”

Chapter 273 – Returned Mind

Another cough came up from Yumi, but this time did not sound so deathly. She rested her hand on his cheek just staring at him for a moment. If time could just stand still she would be happy. However, neither of them had such luxury.

Nearly sounding like a wild animal, Ayumi roared from the opposite side of the chamber. “YUMI!” She staggered to her feet almost hung over her waist. “You’re DEAD! DEAD!”

Yuki glanced over his shoulder at Ayumi completely confused. ‘She’s completely lost it! What happened?’ He looked back at Yumi, who seemed to be calling him. “Yumi, tell me what did I miss? I feel like everyone knows something I don’t.”

Most of her wounds had already healed with her severed arm being grown. The sensation felt strange. Despite their powers and even her own, it still felt unreal. It felt like she was in some movie she would go to see. It did not feel like it was happening to her.

She pulled herself up to sit next to Yuki. Her mind tried to process everything that she needed to tell him. It almost felt like something that would lose her for hours. She needed a place to start. “Eudokia…Ayumi, she’s been hiding the truth from all of us.”

“Huh?” It came a bit of surprise to Yuki, but deep down he knew something had to be off. The Demosthenes fight gave him enough of a gut feeling that things did not add up correctly. “What did she hide?”

“I don’t know how much of it is actually true, what she’s told us. But she never told us about what it means to be the King of Atlantis, about that thing, the Throne of Atlantis. Or price you have to pay to be King.” Yumi stared over at Eudokia with Yori’s words echoing through her mind. “I believe her intention the entire time was only take you to Atlantis and force you to become the King without telling you anything about the reality.”

“Reality? Yumi, what are you talking about? You’re not being very clear.”

“Sorry, my emotions are still not completely cooled over what SHE was planning.” Just the thought about what she was willing to do to Yuki made her blood boil again. She never planned to give him a choice. “We just got in her way. We complicated her plan. I can see that now, that’s why she told us the lies and kept quiet about certain things.”

Yuki grabbed Yumi by the shoulders. Most of the healed had finally finished, so she was safe. “Yumi, what are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying she planned to leave you here to die!”

His eyes widened and pupils shrank to pin dots. “Die?! Yumi?” Yuki turned his head over to Ayumi wanting to know it was an exaggeration. “Ayumi? You planned to kill me?”

“He’s supposed to be King!” she roared again.

“Being King is a dead sentence! You were condemning him to dead without even telling him! You planned to kill! EUDOKIA!” Yumi tried to get back on her feet wanting another piece of Eudokia. However, Yuki held her back. “Don’t stop me, Yuki! This woman needs to die!”

“Yumi?!” He could not believe what he heard coming from Yumi’s mouth. His hands tightened further on her to keep her charging into fight. “Do you hear what you’re saying?! This isn’t you, Yumi!”

Her eyes went wild once again. Harsh lines drew up around her eyes completely fixated on Eudokia. “You can’t stop me, Yuki! I’m going to KILL her! It is what she deserves! She doesn’t care about any of us! We were all just in her way! I’ll make her suffer!”

Nothing seemed to be getting to Yumi. He could not believe that this was the same girl he saw in the hallways in school. ‘How did she change so much in such a short period of time?’ Yuki knew that he could not just hold her. He slapped her across the face trying to snap her out of her rage. “Yumi! Do you hear yourself?! Kill, she deserves it?!”

A slap could do nothing to temper the rage in her heart. She glared fiercely at Yuki. “I don’t want to hear anything from you! You want to kill Demosthenes for killing Kazuhiro! So you don’t get to stand on your high morality speech when you aren’t any different!”

She was right.

It was difficult for Yuki to counter her. He knew he fell into the same pit that Yumi was in. He knew that feeling. In fact, it was not first time. Twice now, he wanted to kill someone out of revenge. They deserved it for hurting the ones that he loved. It was all justification. He was probably the wrong person to try actually to say anything to Yumi about revenge. But he was the only one that stood in front of her. The only one that could stop her.

Tightening up his fists, he prepared himself for the next round. “Yes, I’m just as guilty. I’m a hypocrite. I tell people they shouldn’t kill, but fall to the same traps.” His hand shook. He could still see Kazuhiro in his mind. His friend was left not avenged, even though in his heart he could feel it screaming for it. “But it’s because I’m human! I’m human, so I make mistakes! I’m going to stumble and be consumed. But I can still stand even with that weight on my back because I haven’t crossed that line yet. We aren’t justified even with everything screaming in our hearts saying we are right!”

“She wants to kill you!” Yumi threw out her hand to point at Eudokia. There was no forgiveness in her eyes. “She doesn’t care about your life!”

“That maybe true, but it’s my life. If it is my life that she wants then it’s me that she should face.”

“Yuki!”

He shook Yumi trying to get her to stop. “Yumi! You’re in no position to fight even if I didn’t stop you! Kazuhiro’s already dead! I’m not going to lose someone else I care about!”

“…Yuki…” It finally broke through to her mind. She stared at Yuki rather than her enemy. Yumi could see the look in his eyes. The pained look endlessly haunted by ghosts. A future robbed from him. She could not let him be alone anymore. She did not want to leave him with more suffering.

Sighing, she worked to calm her emotions. It was nearly impossible to get the shaking out of her body. Her fingers still wanted to choke the life straight from Eudokia’s neck. But she would have to let it go. He was right. Though healed, she still had trouble feeling like she could move her body. “Fine…I understand. But this isn’t over yet, Yuki.” She glanced at Eudokia over his shoulder. The wild look did not seem like one ready to give up.

Yuki turned to look at Ayumi. He saw the same thing Yumi same even though it was a sight completely new to him. “Ayumi…what’s happened to you?”

“Yumi! You ruined everything!”

“Ayumi…”


“Don’t give me that pitiful look!”

“You get upset over a single death! Insignificant, one death is a small price!”

It seemed like she had already completely lost it. Yuki did not know what she was talking about. He glanced back at Yumi. ‘Yumi never really answered me clearly what’s going on. I still haven’t a clue what this was all about. Why I’m at this…Throne of Atlantis. Or why I’m going to die…’

Yuki stepped out from around the stone chair. The light from it disappeared. It stood in silence, just a simple block of stone waiting for the one meant to sit on it.

Using the pieces that he had and some of his own ideas, thanks to his literature, Yuki tried to put together the events. “You tried to get me to sit here. This is the Throne of Atlantis, the place you make your Kings, right?”

“You will still sit there!”

‘She’s a little difficult to talk to right now… I sort of wish I had the old one…’ Yuki still needed to get all of the pieces to fit together. “Why will I die if I sit on that throne?”

“It feeds of your life to keep Atlantis alive!” answer Yumi. She was not about to let Eudokia twist words around in her favor.

He looked back at Yumi. “Keep Atlantis alive?” In the next, he checked with Ayumi. She did not seem to argument the point. “But why? What danger is Atlantis in?”

“Without the King, Atlantis will disappear,” Ayumi answered instead of Yumi. “The King is the strength of Atlantis, the will! The King is Atlantis’ savior. With their life in honorable sacrifice, Atlantis can live!”

“You’re sending someone to die! You’re telling them to sacrifice themselves for the selfishness of everyone else!”

Ayumi threw out her arms to deny Yumi’s opinion. She roared, “You understand nothing! The death of one is a small price! Millions will die otherwise!”

Yuki stared back at the Throne. It made him stagger a little finally understanding the weight. He understood the importance of the position finally, why the people were so afraid without a King. It made so much sense now to him.

Even Ayumi’s stories finally made sense. ‘The King…my father… He wasn’t ill because of some disease. It was not some natural cause or illness that killed him. It was this that killed him!’ Yuki stepped away from the Throne.

It carried so much blood within its stone. All he could see was the blood. The millennia upon millennia of countless sacrifices all for the good of Atlantis. ‘How many willingly became King? Did they regret it? Knowing that they’d die a short and slow death…’ The impact of the truth was more than Yuki expected. He fell back with his legs buckling.

Yumi rushed over to Yuki’s side. He finally understood everything. “You’re not going to become King! She can’t force you to do it!” She glared over at Eudokia.

Eudokia bent down a little prepared for more. She bore her teeth with the rage reaching to the surface once more. Her plan was not ruined. “If you don’t becoming the King willingly, then I’ll just force you!” Her voice roared through the entire chamber. “I’ll KILL that bitch! And then you’ll put you under my control again!”

Her eyes locked on to Yumi immediately, the threat to her plans and reason for everything being ruined. She charged across the entire chamber on all fours with her claws aimed for a quick kill. However, Yuki stepped in front of Yumi. Mist surrounded his hands grabbing her claws before she could do anything. “You’ll have to go through me if you want Yumi!”

To be continued…