Fumiko colpsed to her knees as the pain screamed through her body with sutensity that her voice couldn’t even make a sound. It just turned her body pale and her mouth slightly agape. Nothing more processed through her brain for seds. Pain locked up everything inside Fumiko.

  Stamatia pulled herself up. Her b with bruises and her shoulder wound screamed at her once more. Blood renewed a drip down her body under her armor with her tration thrown. The bst did more to her thahought possible. It took her a while to focus pletely again. She thahat her head stayed together long enough for her follow up. Even g, she khat she wouldn’t e out ly ahead. Something in her gut told her that she needed a backup pn. It took everything she had to hold together long enough after it to make her terattack, but it still missed.

  The wound she gave still was important. Their battle was over. She won with the st attabsp; The fight disappeared from the woman. All that remained was to capture her. ‘So exhausting…’ Stamatia stumbled a step, but recovered quickly. She hadn’t run herself so close to the edge in a very long time. ‘…my resolve is stronger… Nothing will stop me and I’ll take any pain on to see it succeed…for them…’

  She felt her strength returning to her. Her posture improved aep turned solid again. Fmes came to her call loosely spinning around her, further signs of her recovery. Stamatia stopped a few meters away from Fumiko. Still not responsive, she looked down at her k oppo. Fmes rose around Fumiko ag like bars for a prison, surrounding her. “It’s over for you. Face your fate with a little pride and surrender.”

  Chapter 146 – The Stronger Fme

  Direg men around the camp mao establish a small sembnce of order. However, the chaos in the distance worked against him. Simoood in the ter of it all w hard to keep his stone fa front of all of his men. While he foresaw it in his pns that they would attack, the timing fell outside of what he predicted. Another mysterious occurreroubled him.

  He knew if they used their powers to immediately track them, they would have found them within a couple of hours. Since he expected an attack that soon, he had his men ready for it, however it never came. By the time night felt, he expected that they traveled on foot and wouldn’t arrive until at least the m. The reason he sent out Vangelis was meant to dey them, as he kheir arrival to be auality. He just needed Vangelis to slow them down until he got the answers he o mount a proper offensive, but their presence must have meant that Vangelis never found them in time.

  The reaso slide, as he had more immediate s. He o ehe safety of his men while under siege from the enemy. ‘It’s fortuhat Stamatia, Galen and Nerine have ehem. It’ll buy time for us troup and prepare a terattack.’ Once more, he found himself pg his men in an undesirable position. None of them had the proper briefing for handling their oppos. So they all went in blind. He trusted them, but a desperate enemy was far more dangerous than just orying to survive. Anything could happen.

  ‘It bothers me why the fire user didn’t a the st battle. The power even from this range is clear…’ Something about the situation didn’t sit well with him. His gut him. He had almost no information on the woman and could only ect her to the rge fmes reported in the Skoupa skirmish. ‘What is this feeling? What is it that I don’t know yet?’

  It took Stamatia’s words to snap Fumiko out of her paralysis. She blinked and twitched, as the pain reminded her that she still lived. Her eyes looked down at her arm, not remembering her dition. Everything frhly the middle of her upper arm down was cut off. Loose drips of blood fell from the stump, as the fme sword didn’t fully cauterize her wound in the speed it ran through. She still felt as though she could move her fingers, even though her mind knew clearly that it was impossible. It all presented an odd disected feeling of uandi not fully grasping the situation.

  “I see you’ve so now. So what will your answer be? Surrender or death, traitor?” She intensified her fmes around Fumiko to emphasize her point and britention to the matter at hand.

  Fumiko gritted her teeth between the pain and situation. She didn’t know what she could do with only one arm, but she didn’t feel like giving up. ‘I have to find Chiharu. I ’t be stopped here… I won’t make any mrets!’ Brag her fme hand to the ground, Fumiko pulled herself up a little. Her body still felt unwieldy. She guessed the blood loss started to affect her. Fumiko eled all of her determination into her fabsp; “It’s hard to be a traitor of a try that was never yours.”

  “So you’d go so far as to deny your homend! Atntis is far better today than it was twenty even ten years ago in the ws against MP. How you still be denying the progress we’ve made?!”

  “I don’t care about rogress you’ve made. It’s all meanio me. As I told you before, I'm Japanese, so it’s irrelevant.”

  “Still spouting that nonsense? You have the Meso Prosecho! That’s proof enough that you have Atntean blood!”

  “Afraid you’re wrong there too. It’s not too surprising, si retty ret, but things aren’t the same outside of your world anymore.”

  “Lies! It’s not possible!”

  A choking ugh came from Fumiko. She finally had the strength to stand on her legs. The talking bought her all of the time that she needed. All she o do repare her mind for what she was about to do. It still scared her a bit. “Yeah, I ’t really expect you to believe it. We didn’t at first. But I guess si was because of someone like you who did it, then I guess you could say your powers are the reason I have mine.”

  “You aren’t making any sense. What sort of lies are y to use to your way free?”

  “It’s a shame. It’s all the truth, but that’s all the time I have to talk.” She lifted her up her fme arm to stare at it. Fumiko flipped her eyes back at Stamatia to meet gazes. “However, I don’t need words to free myself,” she smirked. Her hand tightened, growing a new fme, smaller, but tightly trolled. It burned red rather than blue. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but Kimiko watch over me, please…’ Fumiko prepared all she could.

  She screamed her thrh drawing away the pain and seg herself. Her hand moved over to the stump and hovered for a sed. The pause of anticipation built up ay inside her, but she pushed through. Her red fme lifted into her wound burning the edges ag to cauterize everything exposed. Fumiko coughed and screamed louder into the new world of pain. The seds passed and she pulled away feeling enough time passed.

  Fumiko panted heavily and stared back at Stamatia through the cage. She worked up a grin on her lips. “I should thank you. Your fire mao keep my blood loss to a minimum otherwise I’d probably be passed out now.” Fmes burst from around her arm building into a new spell. “So I’ll do so, by defeating you!” Fumiko smmed the fme at the ground in front of her and then sshed out with the blue fme arm. Small whiffs of fire fell around her as she made her escape.

  Stamatia staggered back, held in shock at what she witnessed. ‘How she still have fight in her? What’s with that resolve in her eyes? Why does she think she win?’ Bsts of fire around her rudely pulled her out of her stuate. Wheuro reality, she found Fumiko standing over her, the height measuring out an imposing stature. It immediately turned her eyes thin, narrowing to brace herself.

  Another fire burned in her hand. “I granted you a free ce to recover. sider the debt repaid. I’ll show you no further kindness!” The pain from her arm began to fade to the back of her mind. She felt the focus of her magic c their body once more. Unity restored itself a even stronger. Ribbons of magic freely spun around her chest eling into her arm. It made the glow from it brighter.

  ‘That arm of hers…’ Stamatia pulled away, ung fmes up from the ground at Fumiko. She released more of her Field than she had previously while fighting. However, each stream was bsted away by Fumiko with a siabsp; She needed more.

  Fumiko felt everything flowing smoothly through her body. She didn’t even think that she spent time to cast her fire. The sensatio strange, but almost natural. ‘Even after the st spell I still feel like I cast again. I normally feel like I have to build up my magic, but it already feels like it is ready to go…’ Her magiever felt so close to her fingers before. She didn’t uand it, but was gd for it. ‘I’ll find you, wherever you are!’

  New fmes ignited from her hand ready to go. Stamatia took a few steps back trying to pn an attabsp; ‘Something’s different…’ Fumiko didn’t grant her much time to think. The new fireball forced her hand to summon a wall to halt the attabsp; Their impact bsted out the wind. A stalemate again for the two, Stamatia didn’t think it possible. ‘After my attack…how… My resolve is stronger!’

  Desperation on Stamatia’s half forced the release of even more of her Field. She eled rivers of fme around her. It pulled from behind her funneling in towards Fumiko as a massive n. Three more came up in quick succession. They all were rger than anything Stamatia used before. Their presence cracked the ground a wood afire.

  Not turning back, Fumiko built up her fme and released a brightly glowing blue fme at the first stream. They met quickly ao mutual destru, but the other three remained ued. She felt the magi her arm still ready and she fired off another spell of equal strength. Even after the sed spell, her arm still roared for more. Fumiko gras request, tossing two more fmes out. A fiery bst grew from the impacts with a shockwave that the wind rode.

  She looked down at her arm. It lost a little of its shine, but still looked strong. ‘Is this the strength of this arm? I use spells without the cast time?’ Fumiko gred over at her frustrated, but not finished foe. ‘This will help me end the fight! I keep up with her with this!’ The hand ched a glowing fist in preparation for the round.

  Nothing happened again for Stamatia. ‘Damn it! She’s able to keep up with this speed and strength! I just need more…’ She couldn’t stay in a stalemate any longer. ‘Time for something new…’ Walls of fire came up in front of her to stop the attack that Fumiko unched. It gave her the time t up reams behind her and mold them. Dozens of spinning discs hovered around her waiting for the cloud to settle out. However, when it finally did she found nothing. “What?!” Stamatia darted her eyes around trying to figure out where Fumiko disappeared.

  “You didn’t think I’d just stand in the same spot did you?” remarked Fumiko, out of sight of Stamatia. “I’m winning this fight!”

  Stamatia spun around behind her figuring out the dire of the voice, but it was too te. A new series of fireballs came at her, already close inside her. She instinctively raised walls of fmes, but they had to be very close to her. The impaocked her off her feet a her into the tents. It snuffed out all of the ons she prepared.

  The colpse released her fmes again, f Fumiko away. She jumped out of the razed earth still partially enveloped within the fmes. As she reached the peak of her jump, she dispelled the fmes to recover a safe nding. ‘Almost had her there… Just o get a little closer ime…’

  Slowly rec, Stamatia focused her Field under her trol. However, she still needed more time. She flipped her Field into automated defense mode. It released partial trol of it to her subscious allowihe time she o stand and prepare.

  Finding the Field back to normal, Fumiko took the ove again. She o strike while Stamatia was still rec. It was going to be her only ce to end the fight. However, once she stepped into the range, fire attacked her immediately. Her arm threw it off, but she came utack again. She threw it off with a fireball and sprihrough. More streams trailed her f her to send them away. Just as she recovered, new ones appeared striking at her. ‘What’s with this? The reas are too fast…’

  Standing up fully, Stamatia began to take in the se once more. It startled her a little watg Fumiko turn into a blur with her movements. She remained in her Field a kept up with her defenses. It even looked like she was starting to make progress. ‘How is that possible? Even with adjustments to the physics of nature to reduce fri, drag and boost performa shouldn’t be possible to move that fast! That isn’t even normal for us!’ Stamatia suddenly felt a heavy weight e down around her shoulders. The words that Fumiko spoke to her came back to haunt her. ‘Is it true? Could she really be…different from us?’

  Stamatia's eyes grew wider as it all began to settle into her mind. She no longer knew what she should believe. Who was her oppo? New questions appeared that she didn’t expebsp; Her mind twisted into a thorny byrinth. ‘What do I do?’

  Fshes of all those from the academy that looked up to Paian appeared in her mind. ‘I just have to fight… It doesn’t matter if it is lies or not! I have to stop her!’

  Fmes rose up dividiedly to bee ons for her. She marched forward to meet her enemy. Fumiko stood between her and her answer. “I’ll grasp my own truth!” All of the spinning fme ons u Fumiko, still in the middle of keeping up with the streams.

  Out of the er of her eye, Fumiko picked up the argets. She flipped around on her leg to turn her into the attabsp; Her arm raked through the air leaving behind fmes. It took the initial feons and exploded outward. The bst shot out like a shotgun shell spreading small pellets of fire taking out most of the spinning ons. A fireball discharged to elimihe remaining. Fumiko slid out in front of the defereams dropping her arm down sending out a bst behio naturalize the rest. The explosion ated her with a dramatic background that darkened her figure leaving only her staring eyes.

  Realizing the pointlessness of the defeamatia flipped it off. She khe source of her troubles. “That arm of yours. Let’s see how you do without it!” A long sword of fire appeared behind Fumiko spinning up to take out her arm.

  Fumiko rotated around and grabbed the sword with her hand. She crushed it under her palm. Her head tilted over to Stamatia unimpressed. “That won’t wain.”

  “Oh?”

  Suddenly another sword flew from behind Fumiko already in motion long before either of their words. Fumiko didn’t have a ce to evade. It sliced through her arm and disappeared, its job plete. A surprised look appeared on Fumiko's face.

  Stamatia smirked, pleased to see her pn succeeded. “Without that arm you’re finished. This fight is over!” At the end of her decration, Fumiko disappeared from her sight. Stamatia froze for a sed before attempting to look around, but it was already too te.

  Fumiko appeared behind her. She rested her fme hand on the shoulder of her fire armor and wiped out half of it in the process. “Yes, the fight is over.”