Troubled Ground

Seiji charged out ahead of them with no regard for the scene.

Already out of sight, Simonides and Nerine looked a little curious at each other. For them, the only thing in the distance was some greenish shapes that might have been trees, but the angles were wrong. Everything looked normal. “How can you tell?” she asked.

“Our strength and speed weren’t the only things increased,” noted Chiharu before she disappeared from their sight.

The sudden change made Nerine jump a little. She wasn’t used to it still. They moved in impossible ways and did things that should only happen with a Field. Everything about them seemed a fantasy, a dream she wondered if she would ever wake. Each time she thought she might wake to reality, their reality reminded her nothing was a dream. It was all real, denial did nothing to change what her eyes saw every minute. Denial only delayed her acceptance and made it more difficult to adapt to the changes.

Yumi smiled a little at their two Atlanteans. “We should probably hurry. If things are as bad as you fear, the Omega Division may already be on the move.” She stared over at Simonides with words in her eyes.

Turning his eyes forward, he nodded in agreement. Simonides already had several speculations in his mind for the cause of the disturbance in front of them. “You’re thinking the same thing. None of my men are out this far, at least under my orders. The most likely answer is the Omega Division already has its orders. If so, we’re already running out of time.” He began to run even knowing the effort was futile with such powers around him.

“But we’re not out of time. There is still plenty remaining to save Atlantis.”

Chapter 223 – Troubled Ground

Several more percussive waves tore up the small forest containing Saki. Seiji arrived just as she reappeared from her last attack. It had felt like so long since he saw her that his emotions took over his sense of battle. “Hey Saki!” he shouted with his arms open looking to hug her. However, her response was to punch him, which sent him flying through the earth.

Massive chunks of earth exploded as Seiji’s body dug a kilometer long trench through the earth. Rocks erupted from the end of the trench as Seiji freed himself. “What the hell’s the matter with you, Saki?!” His bandaged fist rammed into the earth next to him exploding in a bright flash of light as well as sending the energy outward to carve out another trench equally long off to his side. Clouds burst up from the trench, a sign of Seiji’s charge back into the forest.

Saki’s fist still hung out a little red from the strike. Her eyes were narrowed and focused, hardened to a single task. Sweat covered her face and clothes. However, she didn’t have any time to pause as Seiji finished closing on her. His glowing fist stretched out for her. It was too slow for her reaction. An open palm stopped him.

Behind her, the earth rumbled and complained before exploding outward in a giant arc. Large chunks of earth and rock flew up only to be disintegrated a moment later. Meters beneath her feet the earth was painfully torn away from the sheer force.

Countering Seiji’s response, Saki threw out her free fist and Seiji matched. Their fists slammed against each other erupting a shockwave of destructive force. It ate into the earth between them expanding out quickly digging a deep gorge making the trenches seem like lines in the sand.

The rest remaining with Yumi were knocked to their feet, unable to stand. When the shockwave came for them, Nerine leapt up to protect them. Dozens of gauntlets materialized in the air to pummel the flying debris into dust. Even with the protection, the ground jumped up and down for them. Anything more than lying down was pointless.

Once most of it passed, they started to get back on their feet. It left Simonides more shaken than the others. Even without being on the frontline, it still felt like he was in the middle of their fight. He thought MP battles were unsettling, but their fights were nothing in comparison. The distance he had on the destruction gave the best view of the scope of the effects from their clash. “It looks like two gods descended.”

“Shouldn’t say that to Seiji’s face, might go to his head,” joked Yumi. She started walking forward, resuming their course. “It’s just Seiji and Saki exchanging blows. He probably said something he shouldn’t have.”

“The entire landscape is changed in mere moments!”

“Good thing, they’ve sorted things out.” The lack of any more fireworks made it clear to Yumi things calmed down for the two.

“Seiji?!” Saki questioned, still not believing what she was seeing. She leaned forward, still with her arms out battling Seiji.

“Yes, it’s me!” he snapped. “The hell’s the matter with you?”

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be rescuing Yumi’s brother.”

“We finished that already!” He shook his head trying to remain on topic. “Don’t change the subject! What sort of greeting was that? I don’t see you in days and the first thing you do is punch me!? The hell?!”

Saki finally backed off accepting reality. “Sorry, Seiji, I thought you were the enemy.” She rubbed the back of her head carrying a bit of embarrassment for slugging him so hard.

“The enemy?! I know we have our differences, Saki, but the enemy?”

Defensively, Saki leaned in no longer just taking Seiji’s complaints. “You’re the one that jumped into the middle of my fight! What did you expect to happen?”

“You should have said something if you were fighting!”

“You didn’t give me a chance!”

Ignoring the debate, a new round of arrows appeared on all sides of them. They didn’t wait for even a fraction of a second to fly at them. The two teens put their argument on hold to deal with the immediate threat. Most of them were dealt with quickly, but Saki missed a few forcing Seiji to cover for her.

After destroying the arrows, he turned back to Saki. She was a little bent over. Her body looked more exhausted than before when she yelled at him. “What’s wrong? Did those arrows do something to you?”

Between panting for air, Saki shook her head. “No, some idiot made me use my full strength.”

“That shouldn’t matter! You shouldn’t be having any trouble with this!”

“I’ve been trying to conserve what energy I had left to deal with them, but you made me waste it on you!”

“What? How long have you been fighting?”

She paused, not having a good answer for him. Glancing around at the forest, rebuilt already from their destructive greeting, her enemy remained as secretive now as at the start. “I don’t know anymore, I’ve lost track after it felt like an hour passed.”

“You’ve been fighting for hours? Why haven’t you ended it already?!”

Her fist tightened up. If she had the strength to punch him again, she would have already. “I would if I could! I can’t find them! They’ve been invisible the entire time firing those damnable arrows at me!”

Seiji scratched the top of his head. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him. “What are you talking about? They’re right there.” His wrapped arm pointed out to an empty space in the center of the forest.

“No, they aren’t! I already tried that three chapters ago! Otherwise this would have been over then!”

“That’s the center, of course they are there.”

So many things were wrong with what he said that Saki didn’t know where to start with him. Rather than trying anymore, she just motioned to him to try. She watched him as he took her offer. His attempts ended with the same results as her. Nothing but air was there. “See? Nothing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. They should be right here.”

“What doesn’t make sense is you knowing all that and figuring it out that fast.”

“Huh?” Seiji jumped up into the air several meters for what seemed like no reason. He landed in the same spot as he started. The odd look from Saki made him answer. “Just checking if they were floating in the air. Their Fields are spheres not circles. So you have to consider all three dimensions when fighting them.”

Her face went flat in disbelief hearing everything coming out of Seiji’s mouth as though matter of fact and simple. She wasn’t sure if she was looking at Seiji anymore. “You sure you’re not someone else?”

Seiji walked back to Saki. Her reaction puzzled him. “What are you talking about? It’s me.” “Then how do you know all that?”

“It’s simple. I’ve already fought them several times. Didn’t take long to figure it all out.”

Saki couldn’t say anything more to him. He was a wall she couldn’t break. ‘Stupid natural fighting talent.’ Any more debating was a waste of energy, she decided. She pushed around him to confront her invisible foe. They were still out there with new arrows. Her body felt like lead, but she couldn’t let it get to her. She prepared herself for the incoming attack.

It never came.

Ringing of metal preceded their appearance. Chiharu’s black ninja garb made her an easy figure to determine. Her arm lowered to her side with the blade of her short sword resting against the back of her arm. Tilting her head over her shoulder, she glanced back at the two of them. “I can handle this. You rest. Musclehead, there’s another one looking at you.”

“Chi-“

“Rest, I heard everything. Their plan succeeded. They wanted to exhaust you, since they couldn’t finish you off directly. I’ll deal with them now.”

Seiji knocked his fists together. “You found me someone?” he said, sounding almost like a kid with a new toy. He looked around, but the forest made it a little difficult to find them. It took Chiharu pointing in the direction. There was nothing to see, but he trusted her. He went charging off through the forest.

“Mindless,” she remarked, watching him disappear with eagerness.

It took a little bit for her to catch up to everything. “Is there really someone over there?”

“Yes, I didn’t have the time to deal with them. So getting him out of here will help me.”

‘They’re working together? I thought all they did was fight. What happened in the time they were gone?’

Yumi and the others arrived at the border of the battle long after Chiharu and Seiji began their fights. The chaos in the distance kept them from going further. They had nothing to offer to improve the situation. They could only watch to see how things turned out.

Simonides tried to work on an analysis of the situation. He couldn’t let things drag out. The more time they lost in fights the further away ‘Ayumi’ became from them. Unfortunately, it was an unprepared field of battle. He had no clear vantage points. It didn’t stop him from trying. He withdrew his binoculars to try to get closer to the fighting. ‘The forest’s in the way, likely a deliberate Field manipulation. It’s not random enough to be otherwise.’

Lifting her free arm up to Simonides’ shoulder, she motioned for him to stop. “There’s not much point in strategy.”

“If you told them—“

“Any sort of detailed plan isn’t going to be followed by Seiji. It’s just who he is.”

He went silent after hearing Yumi. It made him question how things turned out the way that they did. It all just looked like chaos to him. No order. ‘How did my plans lose to them? Is it just their bond?’ Such notions seemed like fairy tales and wishful naivety. The world didn’t work in such a way. Yet maybe it actually did for them.

Suddenly, something slammed into the grass only ten meters away from them. Chunks of dirt tossed up, but it was mostly without any sort of flare, unlike previous displays. They all leaned a little curious what it was.

Out of the smoke filled crater, rose a weak looking Seiji. Blood covered his face and dripped down his arms. The papers around his arm soaked up some of the blood. For a battle only going on for no more than ten minutes, he seemed in surprisingly poor condition. No one knew why, but he looked ready to collapse.