Fire and Ice

It actually seemed that flames appeared in Eudokia’s eyes. Her fury increased again only barely controlled by her reason. “Personal?! Self serving?! What the hell do you even know!? You know nothing about what is happening here! You know nothing!”

“Maybe if you actually explained it I’d understand.”

“YUKI!” Eudokia exploded off the chamber wall shooting straight for Yuki.

Narrowing his eyes, a strange glow surrounded Yuki before he disappeared suddenly. He met in the middle of the room clutching Ayumi’s head in his hand. In the next instant, he dropped to the ground slamming her whole body into the stone floor. Blood coughed up from her mouth.

Yuki stood up staring down at Ayumi with a different look in his eyes. “Let’s finish this already, Ayumi.”

It took her a moment to recover from the shock. When she glared up at Yuki, something did not sit right. Her eyes narrowed a little trying to read what had changed. ‘How did he do that? That should not be possible in his law set. I know everything about his law set.’ Separating from him, she shot herself out of the area. Landing back on her feet, she wiped away the blood that dripped down her lips.

He seemed even more ready for a fight than she saw from before. Previously, he enjoyed the fight and exercising his abilities against her. That part annoyed her to no end. However, now he seemed to have left that part of him behind. He just wanted to put the fight to end. He wanted a conclusion.

It did not change for her. She wanted an end as well, her end. The new Yuki seemed to make that less of a reality for her. He felt unknown to her again. “What did you do? That sort of movement shouldn’t have been possible for you. You should have passed out from the G-forces alone.”

“Not if you remove G-force from being a thing.”

“That’s not possible for you. Your Law set doesn’t allow for that.”

“My other Law set doesn’t allow for that.”

Eudokia ground her teeth together, understanding immediately from that clue. ‘I can’t believe he figured out that advanced of a technique from only a few fights.’ She tightened up her fists feeling tension in the uncertainty. She was correct before thinking he was completely different. Yuki had become an unknown once more. She didn’t know what he gave himself anymore. “…bastard…”

Yuki slowly walked towards her. “I didn’t have time to make it look any different, which actually worked out for me. But I got the idea from the old man and that insane guy I fought. They both did something like this.” He flexed his hand a little. All of the mist had completely disappeared from him. “Keeping two different Law sets in your head is a little rough. But now you don’t know anything about what I can do.” He disappeared again, moving too fast for Ayumi to see. His fist slammed into her stomach throwing her back against the dome.

Chapter 276 – Fire and Ice

More blood coughed up from her mouth. She could feel the pain in her body. It wasn’t like Yuki’s previous method that relied on dealing internal damage. His fists were purely physical. Everything channeled through the speed and force.

She dropped back down to the floor. It took her even longer to recover than last time. ‘Dammit…I can’t let him touch me like that again…’ The back of her hand pushed away the blood leaving a smear across her cheek.

Eudokia knelt down preparing for her attack. “You think you’ve got me just because you’re fast now and I don’t know what your Field is now?” Dust kicked up reacting to the power in her feet. “I’ve been holding back on my full power for you. But no more!”

“Good, this’ll be over soon then.” Yuki motioned with his hand to have her bring it.

Accepting, she charged at him, completely disappearing as well. Yuki leapt straight in for her. It was only when they clashed that they popped back out. Shockwaves exploded off from the force slammed against each other. Yuki’s fists connected with Eudokia’s claws with both powers being equal.

From the sidelines, Yumi could only watch. They moved in a blur for her. She could barely keep track of both of them, but her body couldn’t keep up with all of the movement. No longer relying on Yuki’s protection, she created a barrier from all of the flames. It was the less straining part of her power. Even still, her body didn’t agree with the usage from all of her fatigue. ‘Come on, Yuki! You can beat her!’

Yuki pushed himself harder to keep up with Ayumi’s movements. He was hardly used to such speeds. A normal human body wasn’t designed for such actions. It required a significant amount of special Addendums and powers to make it all work in a way that didn’t just outright kill him. ‘Damn…this is not easy to keep up. I can’t do this forever, even though Ayumi only seems to be getting better. She really is more experienced.’

As Yuki bounced around the air, a quick appearance of circles appeared at his feet. They gave him something to stop on, but also thrust him back into the fight. It acted similarly in nature to Eudokia’s leaping. Their battle resulted in a very mirrored look as they both moved like the other.

However, Yuki knew that even with the new power he gave him that it wasn’t beating Ayumi. He couldn’t defeat her this way. He needed to do something more. ‘I shouldn’t really be concerned about cheap shots at this point. The win is more important than anything since if I lose I’m going to have to be a bed-ridden King for the rest of my life. I’d never be able to see Momo, Jun or Ken ever again…’

The thought of the alternative gave Yuki the resolve he needed. He was very thankful for the additional powers that he built into the Law set. ‘If I didn’t have this tracking program I’d never be able to actually reliably follow Ayumi…’

Alternating with his less dominant left hand, Yuki pushed on Ayumi with a series of punches. He needed to knock her a little off balance. The distraction was enough, but he needed it to count for more. ‘There!’

Suddenly, a simple sword materialized in his right hand and slashed downward at an angle. Eudokia naturally blocked it, but blood still sprayed up from her body. It came from her back. The hit stunned her enough that Yuki delivered several more blows to her body.

She crashed to the stone floor in a cloud of dust from the ancient room. Blood painted across the intricately detailed stone from her impact. Even now, she didn’t understand what happened. ‘Another of his powers? How many different things did he give himself? I don’t have time to figure it out.’

Slowly, Eudokia pulled herself back up. She glared back at Yuki, who continued to improve at an unsettling rate. ‘He’s managed to make his power close enough that any mistakes I make I can’t negate. Dammit!’ Grinding her teeth at the turned around situation, things started to become even more desperate for her. “Cheap tricks now.”

The look in Yuki’s eyes didn’t change at her accusation. “I’m not a fan of them, but this is a fight over my life. I can’t allow myself to be held back on such accounts!”

“Then I won’t hold back either!” Suddenly the flames disappeared from the Field. Eudokia jumped from the ground, going for a direct attack on him. He succeeded in blocking her, but flames appeared from the air lashing out at him. Restraining and burning him, Yuki couldn’t block the series of slashes Eudokia left for him.

Yuki managed to break free from the hold with a couple of swift strikes, but the damage was already done. Blood dripped from his chest. Even with the repaired gi, it started to turn a dark crimson soaking up the blood.

He slid through the air, circles of light supporting him. Clutching his wounded chest, Yuki bit through the pain. ‘Figured she was still holding something back despite saying that she was going to bring it all. I was holding back as well, so it’s only fair.’ Fairness meant little though in a fight for life. He wasn’t about to let Ayumi’s attacks slide unreturned.

The clashes of metal and flame continued. Both of their intensities increased further with the fight becoming more lethal. Blood trailed through the air from both of them. New wounds carved out in their bodies in response to each failed block. In spite of their bodies getting worse with each passing minute, neither could allow themselves to stop.

After a heavy barrage of attacks lasting for nearly two minutes uninterrupted, they came to a pause. Sweat covered their skin and their chests heaved from shortened breaths. All of the signs from their bodies went ignored.

‘It’s a dimensional blade of sorts,’ she thought, having figured out most of its function. ‘However, he’s able to change where the damage comes out making it nearly impossible for me to predict. Damn such an annoying power…’

‘Yuki…’ Yumi became even more worried about the fate of Yuki. It was hard to tell which was winning in the fight. They looked evenly matched. And since they seemed evenly matched it would only take one major mistake for the fight to be over.

‘I’m going to need to end this soon,’ commented Yuki, feeling the pain coursing through his body. ‘I’m already having to make up for a lot of my body's movements through my power. It’s falling apart quickly.’

Little choice came for Yuki when he already noticed the movement of Ayumi once more. She seemed to have enough of their break. He pushed himself back into the fray with the same intensity and determination. Despite his body, he wouldn’t show her the weakness building.

Flames arced around their bodies as sparks and shockwaves burst from their weapons. Yuki had become a little familiar with dealing with the flames. But Ayumi kept mixing up the direction and angles. She had significant control over her Field despite being so focused on the melee. Requiring the omnipresent awareness of the entire battlefield made it even more challenging on Yuki.

Outside of the latest round of fighting, Yuki clinched his left hand tightly. He landed on the circle, throwing himself back. However, a new glow came about his hand. At the moment of the clash, ice exploded in all directions countering the flames. They fought against each other while the two struggled over their weapons.

“Damn you, Yuki! You even planned for this!”

Groaning in the power struggle, he increased the ice to try to combat the overwhelming flames. “Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for that much planning. I planned on having the ice to negate your own ice powers. But this works just as well.”

Yuki quickly encased some of the flames in ice and grabbed a hold to pull himself around into a different direction. The shift threw off Ayumi allowing him to get a deep wound on her back. However, she lashed out with her flames as he lost focus on the ice in the moment.

Blood trailed off her back as she collapsed to the stone. A dull groan came out of her. The last hit left her body wrecked and in deep pain. She struggled to get herself back on her feet.

Searing pain went through Yuki’s body from the flames. He refocused on the ice to fight off the flames, but the damage was already done. Yuki fell backwards to the opposite side of the chambers. The impact coughed up a massive amount of blood from his mouth. A reminder of how thrashed his body was from everything.

Slowly standing up, Yuki looked across the room through blurred and half-closed eyes. He could see Ayumi back up on her feet. “Damn…”

“…Yuki Hayashi…”

“Looks like I’m going to descend into cliché again, but we’re in no position to keep fighting.”

“Speak for yourself,” snapped Eudokia, holding up her body just as much through her power as Yuki. Her bluff had no weight to it.

“So let’s decide this on one final attack. Everything we’ve got.”

“Tch!” She looked away from him for a moment.

Coughing a little, Yuki smirked. He saw the look in her eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes. If I win this is all over, no more me being King, Ayumi.”

Eudokia grimaced at the thought, but she had to accept it. It was the fight to decide everything. “Fine. When I win you’ll be King.”

Yuki tried to laugh, but his body did not like the idea. More blood dripped out of his mouth. “Still got that confidence, I see. Well let’s do this, Ayumi!”

“Call me, Eudokia!”

“Damn, so picky.”

Building up his strength, he needed everything he had to offer for the final attack. He slid his sword down to his side, too many samurai movies. Ice gathered around the blade creating a haze in the air.

Across the chamber, fire covered Eudokia’s metal claws. She bent down on all fours with her legs primed up against an invisible wall like an Olympian sprinter.

At the center before even they started to fight, their Fields had already begun. Each pushed their Folding to the limits and beyond. Their mental capacity strained to keep everything together. Fire and ice sparked around through the air as though to play out the increased tension.

They had everything pushed as far as possible, completely disregarding their bodies or minds. All that mattered was the importance of the last single attack. Each representing what was unshakable to them. Powered by their resolve, they disappeared.

Blood sprayed up and clashed at the impact. A massive shockwave shook the chamber, shaking all of the dust free and knocking Yumi off her feet.

In the next moment, two bodies sped out from the center smashing into the walls of the chamber. First to their feet was Yumi. As the spectator of the fight, she looked at both sides trying to see who was more injured. She saw the entire exchange. It hadn’t been a single attack, but rather five attacks so fast that their bodies had to be falling apart or broken. Eudokia flames overpowered Yuki’s ice, but his dimensional sword hit deep. There was almost no defense, only offense.

Neither could have been left with much of their body.

She thought one would rise before the other, but both actually seemed to be standing again. However, it didn’t look natural, almost as if they were puppets with strings attached to their limbs. Blood dripped off their deep wounds. ‘Who won? They’re both standing, but almost dead too!’

Panting heavily and spent, Eudokia glared with the same fierce resolve at Yuki, who refused to fall. “Damn you, Yuki! Just…fall…accept your…fate…”

In no better shape, possibly worse, Yuki stared back at her. “I…make my…own…fate…not you…Eudokia…”

It was the first time she heard him use her name. “…damn…you…” Her body suddenly collapsed to the ground, her strings cut.

Yuki smiled with relief on his face. “It’s…finally…over…” His eyes closed as he fell into Yumi’s arms, rushing to his side. His consciousness faded.