Her oppo barely remained visible to her eyes, but it gave her enough of a target. All of the crushed ons from Photiated around Yumi increasing in speed until blurring int. Yumi directed her hand at the woman, sending each metal ball back at its owner. Each fired off in succession like an automatic rifle. The ade bullets bsted through the wind pung holes from the speed and clearing out pockets of air.

  Photine widened her eyes in shobsp; She instinctively dodged out of the line of fire. In addition, she summoned up more ons hangiically in front as a shield. The defehinking ended up saving her as she failed to evade one of the projectiles. It smmed into her wide bded bastard sword. Relief didn’t e to her though as the sword was instantly severed in two by the ford the metal k tihrough. It bought her the save she needed with the angle deflected to a shallow near miss over the edge of her shoulder.

  Given no pause by Yumi, Photiiced the remaining pieces that she avoided locked onto her and turned around. ‘Damn… Caught me off guard…’ Frustrated and embarrassed that her own ons turned against, she dropped all of them from her mind.

  Her tools taken away from her, Yumi dropped her hand back down. It took her a bit by surprise, but she fot the sort of person that fronted her. ‘Right, she’s like Yuki. Everything in their space they trol. Somehow, I doubt I’m going to get another ce like that…’ Yumi stared across at Photirying to figure out her move. She had powers, but no idea what she could do with any of them. Instinct guided her hand before, but she felt like she stood in trol. It relied on her now. “I won’t give up!”

  Chapter 115 – A Fighting Mind

  Reassessing her situation, Photine quickly examihe tear in her long colred trench coat. She mehe tear and gnced babsp; Photihe ge in the winds of battle. The mood altered so quickly ohat it threateo leave her behind. ‘She’s so different now. She’s ag serious… Was she not seeing me as a threat before?’ She stiffened her pose taking a rigid starying to fortify her mind.

  Neons materialized in the air as the wind became thicker, nearly impossible for ah normal eyesight to see through. As a be of it being her Field, she had plete crity through the dust-filled air. She maniputed the density to hide her bdes and disorient her oppo. Disguised within the veil, a massive sword hovered effortlessly despite the weight. Apanying the great sword, three small daggers, dwarfed by mere size, floated about at the hilt.

  Still walking forward, Yumi remained unaware of the tack mounted against her. Her determined face looked ready to take anything on with fearless resolve. Putting that to the test, the daggers flew at her taking a direct line for her. Each attacked from a different side f her barrier to take them, with obvious ease. However, a trap id in wait for her as she carelessly moved forward ued in the daggers.

  ing from the left of Yumi, a terrible ripping roared out as if something stubbornly resisted. Joining the mix came a deep groan of a rigid surface scraping and grinding. The depth of the groan made it clear that it had great weight behind it. Ominous uro rumbling in the earth vibrating through to Yumi’s feet. She needed no hint of intuition to know that she had to move.

  Unfortunately, her escape came too te. All the forepy ended ahrough the dust, bsting out a wide wake in its path, one of the wind-carved rons broke through the thick haze. ‘It’s too big! I ’t avoid it!’ Reflex spared her for the moment. Her barrier split down a vertical seam and opened up growing denser and more opaque the moment the massive rock smmed into Yumi.

  Weight alone crushed Yumi into the ground. Her hand stretched out straining to give support to her barrier, while she y prone on her side. ‘…so heavy…’ She didn’t know how long her body could withstand the pressure that ran through her. The hand that struggled to give support to her barrier already felt numb. Her shoulder mashed into the hard earth. Each sed the struggling tinued Yumi felt like her bones pulverized and shot out tiny needles out of her arm. The weight was too mubsp; She colpsed pletely rammed into the earth tossing up a small cloud and bits from her impabsp; ‘…’t take much more…’

  The edges of the barrier cut into the ground brag for support. Cracks appeared along the surface growing louder and longer by the moment. However, the above wasn’t the only problem. A from outside turned Yumi’s head and eyes up away from her trouble to the ining on, the rge sword, seeking to strike where her barrier no longer reached. ‘It’s too much!’ Her eyes widened and irises shrank in realization. She hadn’t the strength to ge the barrier with the weight that she supported. ‘If only I…’

  It gave her no ce to finish her thought. Photine’s sword flew straight for her head h only timeters above the ground. Dust from the cracked earth parted and failed to g to the guard building thin streams in its wake. In the shadow of the pressing stone n, everything disappeared in a thunderous bst of dirt ah bing the area that trapped Yumi.

  Slowly billowing out from the impact, Photine’s vision only peed the thick wind she created. Her Field’s enviro covered the area masking the certainty of her kill. ‘If I remove it now I may be releasing her, yet leaving her hidden could be givihe time she needs for a terattabsp; I must remain cautious…’ Photine waved her hand wiping away the cover.

  Through the unimpeded haze, she found Yumi ftteo the earth with her barrier severely bent. Apanying Yumi id the sword partially hidden by Yumi’s body, not clear to the damage. The traitor remained alive. More to her surprise, though Photine worked to keep it from being visible on her face, she saw how Yumi survived.

  A smaller square of the barrier sat at a steep angle off Yumi’s shoulder with the bde of the sword resting against it. ‘She deflected it enough by creating an ah her shield?!’ Photine’s hand shook slightly in boiling frustration. ‘Her defense is strong and flexible…’

  Yumi coughed shallowly against the pain from the metal that her skin hugged. ‘So much…pain…’ Her eyes darted to the swiving it a push with her thoughts, finally freed from the strain. A momehe unwieldy swasped a quick groan of stress before pletely pressing into a four-timeter sphere of dense iron. Before anything more could happen to it, the sword disappeared. Another cough exhaled from Yumi as though to respond to the removal of her on.

  The stone uro its inal position, t iion. “I won’t let you use that teique against me again! So don’t even try!” Photiook a couple steps forward summoning more swords up with a tack prepared.

  A frail hand forced her body away from the ground and towards the dire of the voibsp; ‘It’s so thibsp; I ’t figure out where she’s hiding…’ Yumi turned over sitting down, her chest heaving from all of the new sensations. ‘…how am I supposed to…’

  ‘You ’t rest!’

  ‘Huh?’ Yumi instinctively looked up as though the voi her mind stood in front of her. One moment sted a minute for Yumi. She saw the array of ons streaming at her. Cutting through the clouds, the swave her no time to reabsp; Reflex brought up one barrier close to her, but came too te for her. Yumi gagged on the blood that pooled in her mouth as shock filled her shrinking eyes. Bdes rahrough from all sides. Shown to her, the barrier cked strength. Cracks echoed through the semi-opaque s as Yumi’s eyes unfocused.

  ‘Pay attention!’

  ‘What?!’ Yumi snapped awake, forced to process everything in seds as she came to the realization of what happeo her. ‘Another dream? Like before?! That means—!’ She cut off her own thoughts. Strength returs charged by dire feelings. Time ran out for her.

  The whistling of the bdes sailing through the air tickled her ears and urged her forward. Yumi stumbled in her run, baill uneasy from the wound along her right arm. She forced a barrier up around her, feeling the ons ing. The barrier snapped around her where the bdes peed, but they disappeared before staying. Yumi paused.

  As an ice pick rammed with purpose into a sb of ice, more ons appeared in turn besieging her barrier on all sides. She froze. The strength she had just a moment before drained away. ‘I’m not a fighter!’ Yumi was kneeling down. Barriers cycled subsciously rotating in two yers to keep her safe. ‘…I ’t do this…Why did I think…’ Her right arm was feeling numb and her fingers didn’t budge for her. ‘…I’m not like Yuki and the others…’

  The dreadful crag of her barrier ran a ripple of chills through her body each time they sounded off. Her whole body nearly crystallized from the pressure. She was feeling as though a thousahs had poured through each equally terrifying as the st. Yumi was needing to crawl away.

  ‘Stop whining because things are difficult!’

  ‘I shouldn’t be here!’

  ‘Damn it! Shouldn’t or should ain’t the thing you should be thinking about!’ The voice seemed to carry a weight to it that forced itself upon Yumi applying pressure.

  Yumi shook her head. It was all just a dream. No voice shouted in her head.

  ‘The only way out is forward! Behind is destroyed to hell! There’s nothing!’

  Nothing spoke.

  ‘You ’t ighe situation like me!’

  Loud snapping rolled around Yumi from her barrier shattering. The world returo her eyes painfully abrupt. Her transitio like she took whipsh. ‘Is this it?’ Yumi was staring slowly in awkward wonderment as the shards of her prote rained down around her.

  ‘If you have enough time to stare, you have enough time to absp; Borrow from me for your strength!’

  ‘Who are you?!’

  ‘Ohat walks at your side…’

  ‘…walks beside me?’ It allowed no further thoughts. Warmth bloomed inside Yumi, a familiar feeling that she knew she experienced before. Out of her grew a three-yered barrier that halted the swords that struck for their final blow. Yumi stood up.

  The weight that shackled her legs disappeared. ‘Se…yet so normal…’ Heightened senses from Yumi detected the wave that arrived upon realizing the st’s failure. The soft brown eyes of Yumi fshed with a glow before everything around her felt tremendous gravity crushing it. Further attempts met the same fate even faster.

  Photine’s features narrowed watg all of her attacks fail. ‘Her crumbling defenses are back to full strength. And there’s that resolve in her eyes…again… What’s happening?’ Her teeth ground together as she dug deeper. ‘I won’t lose!’

  A massive array of all imaginable ons appeared, possible or not. More than fifty individual armaments clustered overhead in an arbsp; The swarm hovered around like an army of angry hors. Her face began to sweat feeling the strain on her mental resources.

  Searg out through the dirt soup, Yumi walked around for Photine. Her seapped into the potentials that existed plug at each thread feeling out the vibrations. The unnatural grasp that she suddenly had on her powers almost flew past her. She khis feeling with greater uanding than she possessed.

  It happened before.

  Somehow, she knew as mubsp; ‘My mind was foggy then…trapped away…but now I’m looking with my eyes and not through them…’

  She had to survive.

  She had to get back to Yuki.

  ‘All I have is my resolve… I’m not strong or smart… But for someone like me that is enough! I want to ge myself!’ A small hint of Yuki’s presence rested on her shoulder giving her encing words as he had done before for her.

  Yumi broke out into a spriing her mind guide her feet. The pain in her arm no longer mattered to her. She threw out her hands pg out barriers to block the ining attacks. The desperation of her oppo atable. A storm of ons only firmed that fabsp;

  Ses of the barrier disappeared and rotated around quickly responding to her needs. Overpping yers from the barrier turned razor sharp cutting through embedded ons and cast aside. Yumi tinued her charge uerred from her goal. ‘I’ll ge myself for me!’

  The barrage tihiing the air with metal from all angles. Particles and ks of the barrier flew away and repced just as quickly. Her prote found itself on a quickly doath of attrition. A go the ground gave her a new idea. Yumi smmed her hands against the ground, produg a five yered dome wall around her rger than previous. The cost of the exertion smmed into her suddenly, however she shook her head and focused on the earth. ‘This will work!’

  Awo barriers erupted from Yumi even while her defeook hastening damage, two yers nearly destroyed. Time ran out for hesitation. The ret two domes didn’t e close to the outer wall, but further inside spaced apart from themselves with nearly half a meter of room. Yumi closed her eyes, trating owo domes. Vibrations and shiftied from barriers, but nothing more.

  Yumi sighed in relief and allowed herself a small smile. ‘It worked!’ The two barriers disappeared as she stood up from the ground moving her arms away from her sides straight out. Her feet lifted from the dried earth h timeters.

  The st barrier defending Yumi shattered, letting in the ons. Yumi looked up at the points of the bdes screaming at her. A massive explosion and cloud of smoke bsted from Yumi masking her from sight, even for Photine.

  ‘Why ’t I see the girl?’ Photine sifted through the yers of her dust cloud. She pulled out the pieces from her thoughts letting them disappear. The deeper she went, the same view remained. Darkness covered the spot where Yumi should be. The st yers peeled ahotine uood.

  Broken ks of earth floated around Yumi with the assorted ons from Photine pierced through. Beloerfectly cut hemisphere in the ground stood as the answer. Whentean attempted to remove the earth she realized what happened. ‘The girl dug up the ground as a defense! Si’s real and not created by my Field. I have no power over it. Damn it! I’ll just have to use my ons then…’ Her eyes focused directly on the area around Yumi calling to her bdes, yet they only vibrated in groans unmoved. She moved her hands in front making use of them to increase the strength, but nothing still. ‘I ’t move ks of rock with my ons! She’s holding them…’

  Yumi’s eye narrowed upoarget through the gap of earth. ‘I see her now!’ Specks of dirt and stone fell from the floating masses of earth as life returo them. The opening volley began. Sent hurdling like a fastball, the k sped towards Photine. All of the ons disappeared from around Yumi just before the target impacted. Earth exploded upon the woman sh a curtain of dirt around her body. The aftermath made Yumi’s features sharpen.

  A shining heavy sword hovered timeters in front of Photine’s body. The force of the mass split on the bde leaving the woman only slightly dirty from the enter. However, the terattack didn’t end with a single lob from Yumi. Three more streamed through the air for Photine only to end in a simir manner.

  Uerred, the attack tinued filling the oal dense air with earth. Ammunition for Yumi’s attack quickly disappeared. ‘I just have to keep up my defense and she’ll be out of ks to throw at me soon. Then I’ll end this finally…’

  H over the ground Yumi closed her distanbsp; She relinquished the st of her supply. In the wake of the final shots, Yumi motioned with her hands as if she was trying to cut the very air. Brought forth from her hand, green light gathered quickly already in a. An elongated arch of energy shaped to an edge along its length. Four of the green crests formed r at twice the speed of the ks earth over taking the swarm.

  Photi through the final piece already preparing for her own terattack with the st ks. However, her eyes grew in shock to see the earth explode in front of her without hitting her ons. A green light surrounded her before she knew what was happening. Instinct saved her from the first attabsp; The green arch split on the sharp edge and dug into the ground at her sides exploding. The sed strike proved to be better. Her sword cleaved in two, cast aside. All of the remaining ons surrounded her, but all met the same fate.

  Metal shattered around her, bsted behind her. A few shards dug through her skin before fading. The three arcs smmed into her body knog the wind from her and f up a mixture of blood and saliva. Photine’s eyes grayed out with her sciousness fading. She didn’t feel her body hitting the ground or her Field disappear. No thought entered her mind. Only shock remained on her face.

  Yumi lowered to the ground colpsing to a sweating, heaving panting. “It’s over…”