Guardian's Struggle

Smoke clouded the area around Yuki masking him out completely, leaving his fate unknown. Vangelis kept an eye on smoke, while continuing to put together schemes in his mind. He knew he would need a countless array of plans to deal with Yuki.

Once the wind started to pull away from the mask, Yuki’s darkened figure surfaced. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you expect to actually hurt me,” commented Yuki. The last trails of the smoke faded away into the air. Yuki stood completely unmoved and unfazed by the blast. He didn’t even wear his usual gi. The tunic he used for a disguise remained on him.

Vangelis’ eyes narrowed while his lips curled. Excitement made his arms shake. Thoughts of fighting Yuki ran through his mind. ‘He completely negated it with only the power of his Field. Impressive kid…’

Chapter 178 – Guardian’s Struggle

Walking out to a safe distance away from Yuki meant a long wait. However, Saki was unwilling to accept the wait. She continued to punch and claw at the water orb in a desperate attempt to free herself. Unfortunately, nothing succeeded for her. The water sealed up too fast for her to make any escape and too small for her to fit. Anything larger than her hand or foot couldn’t even breach the water. It was perfectly designed to cage her.

Just when it might have seemed like Saki would stop, Kallias came to a halt. The sphere containing Saki moved around in front of him. Small drops fell from the bottom creating ripples in the thin water covering the ground. Water stretched in all directions from him for meters.

Kallias approached Saki carefully, keeping out of her reach. The young man stared at her for a short time in silence. Changes in his face made it look like he was thinking or considering something. “I’m Kallias, as you likely overheard.” The movements in his body remained limited. It presented everything in a rather formal manner.

A punch from Saki only made him raise his eyebrow a little. It came as something he expected from his previous interaction with her, but he hoped for something more from her. “You should stop struggling like that. You’ll only waste your energy before we even get started.” His hand rubbed at his short, but not quite shaved, dark brown hair. It seemed an act of annoyance.

Reshaping the water holding Saki, it forced her head through and constricted around her body. It left her with little room to maneuver. However, Saki’s expression on her face never changed. She only marginally contained her anger with the situation. “The only energy I’ll waste is knocking you out!”

“Afraid that’s a little difficult to do stuck in there.”

“You wanted to fight me. But you have me tied up. Let me go and I’ll show you a fight!”

Kallias lowered his hand from his head and crossed his arms. “Yes, you’re correct. However, I introduced myself and you have yet to do the same. We can’t start without knowing who we are fighting.”

Clicking her tongue a little at the response, Saki tried to worm out of the water. However, the water seemed to have increased in strength. She couldn’t even move her arm a centimeter to muster a punch. “I’ve no intention of telling you my name. Unlike Yuki, I don’t treat fights as something of mutual agreement or respect. Just let me go!”

A frown appeared on his face. The bright green in his eyes lit up to pierce Saki and confront her streak of stubbornness. “We seem at an impasse then. I won’t release you until you tell me your name, which will be very boring.” His eyes glowed a little as he continued to speak. “I do hope this isn’t boring. If this continues any longer, I’ll just drown you. It’ll at least be more interesting than a stalemate.”

Saki caught and shoved her gasp down into her stomach, as painful as it was to do. She didn’t want to give him the pleasure of her reaction. ‘You can’t be serious! He’ll kill me over my refusal?!’ The deep unflinching look in Kallias’ eyes already told her how serious he was when he spoke. It unnerved her in a penetrating and sickening way. She never felt such a presence from someone. ‘He truly doesn’t care about me. Only something to relieve his boredom! What sort of person is he!?’

The sight of Kallias made Saki realize something. She always dealt with bullies or delinquent punks after Yuki. It was always someone after Yuki with only the childish desire to control or revenge. They were empty, devoid of any meaningful purpose. Many of them were just looking for a fight, mostly just wanted to beat something into the ground. Yet she saw a different reality with Kallias.

Kallias held many of the same qualities of the punks she beat endlessly into the ground. The same ones that just wanted to stand over Yuki and see him in the dirt. Yet, his eyes had an unknown quality in them. ‘I’m just a toy to him. Something that he can break if it doesn’t please him. He doesn’t want to just crush me. He wants me to entertain him. He wants me to challenge him and if I don’t comply… This isn’t like the worthless students in school. He’s something completely different!’

Everything went through Saki’s mind with pain. Claws ripped through leaving her raw. She never knew such a person could exist. She never even considered it. Saki liked to consider herself more connected with the reality of the world than the rest of her friends, but Kallias completely turned everything on its head for her. She only had a word for him. ‘Insane. He’s insane!’

Saki didn’t know what to do in her situation. She believed he would actually do what he said. The reality of her situation slammed on her so heavily that it paralyzed her body. None of the water around her even entered her notice.

Tired of the silence, a strip of water rose from the Field. It appeared shaped like a ribbon, if it hadn’t been liquid. Forming a loop, it rose over Saki’s head. It came with an ominous presence, backed by the stare from Kallias. Several centimeters remained between it and Saki, but it stopped level with her mouth and nose. The intent turned immediately clear.

“Your name, before I must forcibly make this more interesting.” His hand rose toward Saki as though controlling the water’s radius. There was no need for the motion, but it added to the effect as though he personally wanted to strangle her.

Stubbornness ground her teeth. Fear froze her throat. ‘I can’t satisfy him. He only wants something to enjoy.’ Her eyes saw the water threatening her. He no longer wanted her alive. Something had to change. ‘If I don’t though, he’ll kill me and there’s nothing I can do to stop him!’

The seconds ticked off for Saki. Her mind spun the decision around as pointless as it might have been. It was only with the water less than a centimeter away from her that she spoke up. “…Furukawa…Saki Furukawa…” The water around her head suddenly lost all form and fell on her tunic, already thoroughly soaked. Saki already felt defeated before it began.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kallias turned away from Saki and walked out a measured distance. When he reached the point he wanted he stopped and faced her once more. Several meters stood between. “Now that we know each other, we can begin.” He made a dismissive gesture signaling the water imprisoning Saki to fall away.

Saki blinked a little surprised at how it all turned out. She hated giving into Kallias, but it freed her. ‘Time to end this!’ Saki immediately disappeared, blowing out water with each step until she appeared suddenly. Her body was face down in the water sliding away from Kallias, already past him.

Familiar with the situation, Saki slammed her hands down to both bring her to a stop and push herself up. It didn’t happen before she carved herself through the grass and coated herself in dirt and grass chunks. “Dammit…”

Kallias looked a little disappointed with Saki. “You’ve already done that before. Did you really think I’d be naïve enough to think you wouldn’t do it again? You’ve already made your outlook on fighting pretty clear. However, I want more from this than just something wrapped up in a few seconds.” He motioned with his hands, calling her back into his Field. “I’ve been without anything to do since I’ve been dumped out here. I want something I can enjoy.”

Narrowing her eyes, Saki stared at Kallias and the water that covered all of the ground around him. It taunted her. ‘I could finish this quickly if it wasn’t for that water!’ Her eyes flipped over to check on Yuki in the distance. Her mind quickly focused on him. ‘I have to get back to him! I can’t let him…’

“I wouldn’t be getting distracted. Your fight is with me, not him.”

His words hit a surprising cord in Saki. The thought made her eyes widened suddenly in realization. ‘I don’t have to stay here! I’m not in his Field…’ Tilting her head back at Kallias, she gave him a small bit of a grin. “I never agreed to fight you. I just have to put an end to this pointless battle.” Saki disappeared after she finished with Yuki as her target.

It was barely even a second before Saki fell on her back. She pulled her head up to look around at what happened to her. ‘What just happened?! I hit something…’ Back on her feet in moments, Saki approached the area where she flew back from. A ripple appeared in the air. It caused the entire view to become distorted. “What is this?!”

“I’m not a novice MP like you might be used to dealing with,” called Kallias.

Saki turned her head to look back at him. However, when she looked he hadn’t moved a step. ‘How can he be doing anything when his Field ends all the way over there?!’

“Even at this distance, I can see that you’re confused.” He took a step forward and the rippling moved along with him. The distortion in the air shifted in concert. “Figured it out?”

She immediately understood, but didn’t know how it was possible. The questions spun her around to look at his Field needing to know if she was crazy. Nothing changed about it. The puddle ran only a few meters out, while grass filled the rest of the area out to the distortion. Saki rammed her fist into the invisible surface. It bounced her hand back, leaving the knuckles red.

Large ripples erupted from where she punched creating even greater distortions. The view outside was utterly unreadable. Saki turned around realizing too well that she was trapped inside. “Damn…” She started cautiously walking towards Kallias. “Your water doesn’t go all the way out there. How is that even possible?”

Smirking a little, he had his final confirmation. ‘It’s disturbing, but it’s the only answer.’ He kept his focus on Saki, noting that she slowly continued to approach him. She no longer tried her previous tactic. “I never said my Field was as large as the water. You shouldn’t be making assumptions, especially about something you don’t understand.”

“I understand enough to know what you’re doing is strange.”

“You clearly don’t understand enough, or you would already know what I’m doing. But I guess not being a MP explains a lot.” Kallias continued to keep an eye on Saki as she entered the water once more. He sent out traps for her, but her feet avoided them. ‘Not falling for it again? Good, it’d be even more boring if you did. The fact that you’re different already makes this very interesting. I’m glad I came…’

It only took a little effort for Saki to keep watch on the water. She already knew his previous trick enough to keep an eye out for her. Knowing it was coming made it very easy for her to evade (that and not blindly charging forward). “Being one of you or not, I’ve been around the power enough to see it work. You’re clearly doing something different.”

Switching things up, the water changed shape and direction. It lashed out for her, but Saki dodged it still. “Then they haven’t shown you everything we can do with our power yet. It’s a pretty simple technique. I’m reluctant to call it an advanced technique, so let’s call it an intermediate technique. Anyone with training can do it.” Suddenly the water raced out from his feet like a backed up sewer drain. It bubbled up and poured out into a small wave.

The wave washed over Saki’s feet up to her ankles and continued to the edge of the visible Field. It then continued on rather than stopping. Saki’s eyes widened a little to find that his Field didn’t end. His Field kept going out to the wall before it cut off. ‘It’s more than three times bigger than before!’ Her eyes focused back on Kallias.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about us. You shouldn’t be underestimating us, just because you’re different. Would you show your full strength from the very start? The same is with our Fields. We don’t always show the full size of our Field. Against someone like you, you can’t even tell where it begins and ends since you don’t have a Field to see the distortions.”

Saki ground her teeth together. She hated admitting how little she truly understood about them. ‘He’s been playing me since the beginning!’ Still several meters away from Kallias, she came to a stop. Her arms shook and her face hardened. Things had to change for her. She raised her fist and slammed it into the shallow water.

Water blasted up into the air as though a comet struck the earth from the heavens. The tide wave from her punch sent water up high enough to remove her completely from Kallias’ sight. When the water rushed back down, Saki was missing. Kallias’ eyes widened a touch as he looked around for signs of her. It saw nothing and suddenly looked up to see Saki coming down from the air with a fist aimed at him only a few centimeters away.