Dawn Approach

The green wave of needles sped at Chiharu with no doubt of a hit. Her arms raised up in front of her crossed as the only defense possible.

His plan was a terrible one that only he could think up. She accepted his idea, but still hated it. There was no strategy involved or skill. It was a plan that suited him. Unfortunately, Chiharu was out of options and knew she needed to end it. ‘A plan that isn’t a plan might be the only thing that will work. It’s not something he would expect from me. Still…’ Playing it out still bothered her. The only idea was about brute force.

A part of her felt the direct approach was almost too easy. She knew the Atlanteans had normal human bodies unlike them. It was only because of their powers that enabled them to compete. Thoughts of weakness always played in her mind and affected her actions, even subconsciously. ‘I can’t let things drag on…has to end…’

Chiharu focused her eyes forward to the coming storm. She braced her body to endure the force coming down on her. The pin-sized holes that lined her body stung in response to the imminent pain. ‘…can’t believe I’m relying on him for this to work…’ Part of the plan required the strength of Seiji to throw Chiharu hard enough not to be affected by the impacts from Miltiades attack. She saw how her kunai reacted and questioned their success.

Gritting her teeth together, the stream closed with Chiharu. The width of the wave was more than enough to completely engulf Chiharu. She disappeared from sight with only a mass of needles around her. A metallic ring came from the center as the tanto fell from the swarm.

Miltiades stared on with a thin grimace on his face. He didn’t know what plan the two of them had, but from fighting them, he learned of their stubborn streak. Until they captured and neutralized them, he didn’t feel he could be confident anymore. It all disappeared after fighting with them. ‘I have to remain cautious…’

He couldn’t help but have a bit of surprise when he saw Chiharu appear from the other side of his attack unharmed. “They’re crazy!” Chiharu didn’t afford him any more time as she flew towards him. He narrowed his eyes with a glance to his side. “But I’ve still got an answer!”

A wave of needles appeared around in front of Miltiades. The new wave was smaller, but remained just as deadly. It shot down at her even faster than the last. Chiharu's features sharpened with the thoughts of their plan countered. However, she kept her arm crossed in defense.

The needles roared down onto Chiharu unrelenting. They tried to stop her and push her down, but she remained on course. Miltiades’ eyes focused on Chiharu trying to understand her ability. His eyes thinned out when he saw it. ‘A black…circle? It’s swallowing everything…what is that?’ In front of Chiharu’s arms, a loose circle of endless black hovered protecting her from all of the needles. When a needle hit the circle, it disappeared. The void swallowed everything leaving Chiharu safe.

The revelation was enough to throw Miltiades off balance. While he tried to find a new counter, Chiharu cleared the storm and closed the distance. Kunai appeared in her hand. They left her hand quickly to stab his upper arms. The force of them was enough to knock him against the trunk of the tree.

“This is over!” Chiharu closed the rest of the distance with Miltiades. Her fist rose to strike him in the face and put an end to everything. Miltiades couldn’t move. Sweat dropped down his face at the sight of Chiharu less than a meter from him. He closed his eyes.

Chiharu’s punch had the extra force from Seiji’s throw. Thin trails of wind streamed off her fist as it slammed into Miltiades. The trunk of the tree rang out shaking from the force before a crack ripped through the forest. A moment later the upper half of the tree tilted a few degrees before the force tore through the entire trunk. All of the force transferred into the wood shifted it into the open air and left it to fall down to the ground.

Tearing her hand out of the tree a little, Chiharu pulled back to look at Miltiades. “The fight is over now.” She turned away showing him her back and started to walk the length of the branch.

Miltiades felt his bone still shaking from the force that ran through the tree next to him. He couldn’t stop sweating. She missed him on purpose, but didn’t hold back. His body understood what she did. The strength disappeared from his legs sliding him down to sit. A painful cough tore through his chest. ‘…I went past my limit…’ He stared at his hand covered in blood. The pain stretched up into his head feeling as though his skull split.

He went dizzy. His eyes almost completely blurred before he forced it to focus. Unfortunately, everything started to crumble around him. He couldn’t keep his concentration any longer. The trees of his Field faded away. His world vanished, dropping all support for him. Miltiades suddenly felt the wind blowing around his face. ‘I’m falling…how high up was I? Damn it…can’t move…’ He tried to tilt his head to see around him, but his body refused him. Pain encroached and poisoned everything.

It all suddenly stopped.

“Huh?” Miltiades looked up, discovering he stopped falling. He became uncomfortable in learning that Seiji caught him. “What are you doing?” As much as he tried, his body refused him. It forced him to remain held, saved by Seiji.

Chapter 170 – Dawn Approach

“The hell! Stop trying to move!” yelled Seiji. The ground came up quickly for him letting his legs take the impact as he slid to a stop. Once he stopped, Seiji put Miltiades down. “Damn, you’re acting ungrateful! Just because we’re on different sides doesn’t mean we can’t help each other!” Seiji glared down at Miltiades with his bandaged hand tightened into a fist.

Chiharu appeared behind Seiji. She dug her hand into her pack behind her to retrieve something. “He can’t understand you, idiot. Without his Field, you’re just yelling at him in a foreign language.” She knelt down next to Miltiades, staring long at him.

“What?! Then make your thing again so you can understand me!”

A sigh escaped Chiharu’s lips, forced to listen to his ranting. “That’s still not going to work.” She revealed a small canister to Miltiades and pointed to the wounds from her kunai. Waiting a few seconds, Chiharu ripped the two blades free from his arms. Blood poured freely from the wounds.

The lid of the canister cracked open with a twist. Her finger dipped into the soft material pulling out some of the contents. Chiharu quickly spread it on the two wounds to cover them up. She ripped some of the cloth from Miltiades’ pants leg to bandage up the ends.

Finished, Chiharu stood up and put away the item. She turned away to look toward the camp. “We’re done here. Let’s get the others out and leave. We’ve already stayed too long.”

Seiji half turned to look at Chiharu’s back. He fought with his confusion and Chiharu’s terseness. “Where have you been?! What about the diversion? What the hell is going on?”

She kept walking away under the expectation he followed. “I was unavoidably detained. The siblings have been reunited and the other one should be getting them out. Your purpose here is over.”

Everything she told him rattled off so fast it took Seiji a while after she finished absorbing it all. “Over? What happened? Give me a straight answer, little brat!” He tossed out his fist at her back to his frustration with her.

“I don’t have the time here to explain it in small enough words for you to understand. We’ve accomplished our goal. So we’re leaving. That’s all you need to know right now.”

“But what about the guy? You’re just leaving him there?”

“They’ll find him in time. He’s not in any danger of dying.”

“Damn you…” Seiji knew she was right, but he still didn’t feel like he should agree with her. He turned away from Chiharu and ran in a direction. “Wait up! I need to take care of something!”

The lack of clear directions made it more difficult for her to navigate the camp. Everything was in ruins around her. She only had a heading, but had to work around the destruction. ‘There’s so much…in pieces…I was in control of it too…’ Fumiko thought her fight only caused localized damage. She knew she couldn’t completely avoid it, but she thought the control she had would limit the devastation. However, it shocked her to see how much their fight caused.

She tried to keep out of sight from soldiers running about the camp. Fumiko didn’t want a repeat of the scenes she saw. However, while she hid the sounds of a screaming soldier maimed called out for help. The sound made her blood turn cold. ‘I can’t…keep moving! Yumi’s out there somewhere!’ She never expected such things would happen. Their rescue caused everything she saw. Fumiko forced her legs to keep moving. She ignored the surroundings threatening her.

Rubble fell down from the last step Fumiko took. She cursed to herself, but hoped it didn’t attract attention. However, it found someone. A figure stepped out from hiding to investigate putting Fumiko on the defense. She was already in the open with no hiding spot. The only option was to strike first and keep them from alerting others.

Fumiko dashed over to the figure before they were clear in her sight. A small flame gathered in her hand. She raised her hand only a meter away. In the last centimeters, Fumiko came to a sharp stop. “Yumi!” The flame flickered out from her hand. “I can’t believe I found you!”

Yumi blinked quickly and looked up to Fumiko not even realizing how quickly she appeared. She nearly fell back, but her excitement took over to keep her standing. “Fumiko! You’re safe! I’m so glad!” Unfortunately, she spoke the words too late. Her eyes ran over her body after she spoke and found the truth. Yumi clasped her free hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry! What happened? Are you alright? Does it hurt?”

An easy smile came across Fumiko’s face. It felt like things eased up and became a little simpler. She waved her hand to dismiss the worry from Yumi. “I’m fine. It’s a little awkward, but I’m alive and that’s what matters the most right now. However…” Fumiko stopped herself as she focused more on Yumi. The sword that pierced her chest suddenly put Fumiko in Yumi’s shoes. “I should be asking you. Are you…”

“I’m fine as well. This is a little complicated, but it doesn’t hurt. It just seals my powers, so I’m normal again.”

“What?! Can you remove it?”

“It’s stuck. Chiharu already tried, but no amount of strength is going to pull it out.”

“…Yumi…” Fumiko found herself thinking of many things that only felt empty. She wanted to say more, but she saw the brave front Yumi put up and did not have the heart to say anything more.

Yumi turned away to look back at where she came from. It only pulled her away for a moment, but a different thought came to her. “So Chiharu found you?”

“Yeah, she told me to get you. It didn’t make a lot of sense what she told me, but I understand now.” She stepped into the hiding area to give them a little more cover. Her eyes glanced down at the sleeping Yori, needing confirmation for herself. Fumiko looked back at Yumi. “I need to get you two out of here.”

Nodding to Fumiko, Yumi looked back at Yori. Her eyes turned down to focus on the sword. A complicated expression painted across her face as she looked back at Fumiko. “I’m sorry to ask this, but in my state it's still a little awkward. Could you…”

Fumiko shook her head a little. “You don’t have to ask. I was going to insist on it.”

Working together to make use of their two free arms between the two of them, Yumi and Fumiko managed to get Yori to his feet. It was a little awkward with Fumiko’s height, but she supported him with Yumi. With his arms draped over their shoulders, the two started to walk out of the camp. Fumiko bore most of the weight knowing Yumi’s frail condition.

They were what seemed halfway out of the camp when Fumiko brought them to a stop. Her eyes narrowed immediately and streams of magic threaded around her arm. “Yumi, take Yori. I’ll deal with him.”

Yumi looked over at Fumiko concerned. “But you’re not…” Fumiko already let go of Yori, forcing him on her. She saw the look in Fumiko’s face telling her not to argue. Taking more of a hold on Yori, she backed away a little. “…Fumiko…”

A young Atlantean stood in their path clad in dark clothes not of the design of their military uniform. It was already clear enough to them what he was. “I’m under orders to bring you three in. You won’t be leaving.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Flames erupted into Fumiko’s hand all ready for a fight. ‘Good, he doesn’t know about my magic. I can fight!’

“What chance do you have battle fatigued as you all are?” The man looked confident and with good reason. He knew they went through many fights. He had to end their fighting and bring peace back. “I’ll be the one to put an end to your chaos!” The Atlantean started to charge toward Fumiko.

“Move the hell out of the way!” shouted a voice from the sky. It was enough to distract both of them to see out who spoke to them. The Atlantean tried to get into a fighting stance seeing a figure coming at him, but it was too late. A large fist slammed into him knocking him past Fumiko with enough force to blow her hair around.

Fumiko blinked a little confused by what happened and looked behind her at what was left of her opponent. He laid unconscious in a pile of debris bruised and slightly bloodied from the crash. She turned back to see who did it. “Seiji?” she spoke out of reaction.

“Yeah?” he replied, walking out of the shadows looking surprisingly cool.

She lost her breath for a moment seeing everyone was safe. Chiharu appeared behind Seiji carrying something, while looking as stoic as always. Fumiko glanced over at Yumi seeing the smile growing on her face. She couldn’t help but grin a little as well.

They all gathered, resolving immediate questions, but Chiharu insisted on them moving. Seiji took care of carrying Yori on his back, while Chiharu continued with her mysterious package. Each time Fumiko questioned it she gave a response even more terse than the last.

“Hey look!” Yumi interrupted. She pointed her hand up to the sky. The morning sun began to rise over the horizon. Light bled across the land warming up everyone. It was a signal to the end of a very long night. They looked up at it with ease.

“Umm…guys, should we really be ending on such a peaceful image with the camp in ruins around us?” questioned Fumiko.