‘That should be more than enough, unless she’s like the other one. But they don’t seem to be identical in abilities…’ A motion from his hand pulled back the ns of steel. Sparks and groaning from the metal sounded off as they cleared away from the impact crater. Small ks of earth fell away eg the retive silence.

  Miltiades leaned over his perch to get a look at Chiharu. The clouds of dirt still hung around the crater keeping him from seeing clearly. He didn’t expey movement from her. ‘She seemed tired from something. I doubt she had mu her…’ However, when the wind blew away the cover the crater was empty. ‘’t be!’

  He saw blood on the ground, a sign of her presence, but she was o be seen in the crater. ‘How?!’ His eyes searched the crater for any signs of escape. Nothing turned up. Nowhere in the area held any signs of her. ‘It’s like she disappeared!’ Miltiades suddenly remembered how quickly she moved from their st enter. She always appeared behind him. He turned around with an uling feeling in his stomach.

  Chiharu’s blood soaked face stared back at him. A strong fierce look came from her eyes. “Took you long enough…” Her eyes narrowed suddenly in refle of her a. Sharply nding her fist deep in his chest, Miltiades fell from his spot and sped down to the ground.

  Grinding his teeth together, Miltiades quickly felt the wind blowing around him. His fall whipped his hair around the sides of his fabsp; The surprise of Chiharu left him out of trol for seds with the ground quickly ing up to meet him. ‘I’m falling…how did it happen?’ His mind snapped babsp; A pole jumped up o him. Miltiades reached out with his hand slowing in his fall and flipping around to correct his position.

  He touched his chest where Chiharu hit him. ‘How long has it been?’ It was one of the few times aually touched him. The nature of his powers made it difficult for ao even reach him. Only those of signifitly greater power or skill defeated him in the past. ‘I ’t let that repeat!’

  Chapter 168 – Tearing Down the Forest

  Quietly, Chiharu watched Miltiades recover from her attabsp; She khe one punch wasn’t enough to end the fight. ‘They all seem to e with clothes that dampen ate physical impacts. In my state, my punches aren’t even back to when I was fighting the old man. Speed is the only thing I’ve got going for me right now…’

  Unfortunately, her speed proved not to be enough as well. The surprise attack from Miltiades took her off guard. It drained her body of more than just blood, but the energy to keep going. Battle fatigue fell around her even faster than normal as though ruly gone. She knew well enough her body still struggled to recover from her st fight and she only pushed herself further to keep in the fight with Miltiades.

  She tightened her hands into fists to try to keep herself strong. Her mind ighe pain that ripped through her chest and back from the st attabsp; ‘I mao escape the full attack by slipping into the shadows, but I still took the first hit head on…’ The fresh blood oarted to dry, staining her features. It gave her a fiercer expression.

  Miltiades brought up several more poles around them. These went much higher than normal, as though not inteo be reached. He fixed gres with Chiharu w to harden himself for the rest of the fight to e. ‘She’s already pushed me this far… I might have to actually do that to win…’ His muscles tensed up thinking about the option. ‘lt’s a st resort, I have to win without it…if possible…’

  ‘I o finish this quickly…a dragged out fight will only disadvantage me…he’s the patient type, always serving himself…’ Her hand patted her thigh feeling the kunai resting. The supply of them was already limited and she lost one i fight. ‘My ratacks only create the openings I need…’ The thought came out more like an order than a judgment.

  Chiharu took in her surroundings to gauge her move. Memories of the st attack already worked into her pns. She couldn’t afford to make another mistake. “So you ready?”

  “You’re being oddly polite sidering your situation.”

  “I’ve no i iricks or easy victories.”

  “You remind me of that uy I fought.”

  His reply made her eyebrow twitbsp; “We’re nothing alike,” she snapped back.

  A bit of curiosity raised Miltiades’ brow. “Seems I touched a nerve,” he tested.

  “If all yoing to do is talk nonsense, I’m going to attack.” A kunai slid into Chiharu’s hand as she prepared to leap towards him.

  Miltiades narrowed his features, sensing the i from Chiharu. He didn’t doubt her pn to attack, but he was ready for her as well. Everything was in pce for him.

  Chiharu leapt off the pole, a signal for both that the fight tinued. Expeg an immediate attack, Chiharu dodged out of the way of an ining pole. Her st round prepared her for the speed aion time. Several more smmed in at Chiharu from different sides and angles. She easily slid around them a ahead. ‘This speed is too much for a human mind, it’s reag to my movements without feedback from him…’ The look in Chiharu's eyes ged a bit as she firmed her theory. ‘I make use of this…’

  ‘Her reflexes…’ Watg Chiharu’s movements, Miltiades almost felt dizzy. He hardly imagined anyone able to move as well in such ditions. The closer he looked the more he realized that he was fetting something even more important. ‘She’s moving like the no frieans nothing! She’s already adapted her ter of mass and movement to not lose anything?! How is that possible?’ He he aid of his gloves and boots to move around his Field. The Law was meant to disadvantage his oppos. ‘Who are these people?!’

  Weaving through a work of poles, Chiharu kept out of reabsp; She saw her pathways ge into a maze. ‘Almost there…’ Metal smmed in groaning as it sparked up against other pieetal. The st pieces fell into pce for her. ‘He’s too pt in his defense…’

  It took too long for him to realize what happened until the pieces were already in pbsp; Miltiades felt surprise slip on his face again. ‘She pnned all of that…she y defense!’ His teeth ground together when he saw her ing at him free to attabsp; She already figured out the weakness. Miltaides leapt down the pole he stood on, starting to surf the surface around to keep out of reach of Chiharu.

  Chiharu spun around the top of the pole and corrected her course to give chase to him. She jumped around and fell behind as he shot out poles from the surface as obstacles to her. However, even slowed dowill gave chase without missing a beat.

  Above Miltiades, he heard an uling scraping noise in almost stant tune following after him. It told him of Chiharu’s pursuit. An interrupted note only meant she was held up by his attempts. He had to tilt himself back a little in his slide to coordinate his attacks better. Each attempt kept missing and the noise only tinued. ‘What is that sound? It just keeps ing…’

  ‘His accuracy improved, but they’re still too slow…’ Chiharu jumped down, falling a little to increase her speed to catch back up to him. The ck of any fri on the pole made it easy for her to keep a guiding hand while she followed behind him. ‘He’s always just out of reach, though he’s got skill…’

  Miltiades suddenly appeared to have stopped, but it only sted a moment. He shot back up out of reach of Chiharu. The pole started to grow again. Chiharu saw the ground quickly ing up to her. However, it wasn’t the only thing ing up to her. A terattack by Miltiades waited on her. Dozens of poles shot up at her with branches ing off as she dodged.

  Her eyes watched them all a ahead, but she could see the differenbsp; ‘He’s trolling theses. There’s a dey between them and they don’t have the same weakness.’ Chiharu realized before that the automated poles couldn’t branch more than onbsp; It art of her pn knowing that all of the attag poles died after their use with ra brang attacks from it. They all had to e from the core pole. A limit she used to struct the tuhat blocked his defense from making any further attacks while she closed for him.

  As Miltiades climbed back up to a safe distance, he stopped for a moment staring at the surface of the pole. His finger caught on a rough edge of the pole, ohat should always be smooth. ‘So that’s the sound I heard! Then that was what she was doing before to keep her banbsp; Clever…’ She used the kunai to dig into the pole as a stabilizing point to give her grip and trol, not too unlike his gloves, but less refined.

  Back atop his metal forest, Miltiades stared down at Chiharu. He removed most of the excess to keep up an atta her even though he khe futility of it. The skill and intelligence he witnessed from her proved to him that nothing he currently had would beat her. ‘So it’s e down to this…I hate using it. It’s always so draining, but it should get the job done.’

  Suddenly, all of the poles came to a stop. Chiharu nded on top of the pile created from all of the attempts made at her. She gnced around trying to feel out any ges in the field. Nothing seemed to be ing. ‘Is he shifting tactibsp; He has a theme, so it shouldn’t be anything I ’t handle. However…’

  The pause iiht her attention back to her body. It silently screamed at her for such reckless behavior. All of the adrenaline her body pumped made it easy to ignore everything, but it no longer seemed to be in effect for her. Only seds passed, but her body already felt heavy and slow. She questioned if it would keep moving for her when she the most. ‘I’ve been uo finish this quickly and it is dragging out longer and longer…I ’t make any headway against him…’ Chiharu stared up the pole Miltiades stood up to think of what she could do. He was no pushover.

  Arouhe tall poles rose up even higher. They reached a height that cut them off from sight. The edge of the Field was reached vertically. Even more poles rose up from the earth stretg to the sky like those before them. They all kept going until the entire Field was deh steel poles.

  Chiharu looked around trying to uand the purpose of the poles. They all were far behind any reach for her or even him. No purpose was served by them exceeding the heights of his Field. He could no loand on them.

  Miltiades no loood atop. He hung from an awkward a the ter of the forest. No movement came from him either as he just stood on the side of the pole with only one hand keeping him attached.

  At her feet, Chiharu realized that the ground of the Field was no lohe same junkyard debris. Loose patches of grass with rich earth filled everywhere. Leaves even bed parts of the ground. Chiharu felt some ge ing. ‘He’s pnning something. There’s no doubt anymore…’ She weighed her options in a pre-emptive strike or waiting.

  Her body told her to finish things immediately. It didn’t want another round. Oher hand, her heart didn’t care for the idea of a sneak attack when the oppo was disadvantaged. Her mind realized he pnned on her waiting for him from their versation.

  She waited.

  A new ge appeared. All of the poles darkened and turned course. They grew out wider at the base and tapered slowly the higher they reached. Soon, poiruded from the surface all along the pole until they thied and shot out branches from themselves.

  It all happened quickly in a matter of moments. Chiharu didn’t need much more of a hint to know what was happening. ‘Why is he making trees? How is this going to be more advantageous for him?’ New questions and ideas popped up. Each tried to feed into a strategy, but found too many unknown variables.

  She had to wait longer.

  The shapes of the poles filled out more into trees. Branches were jagged and created innumerable branches from the core. Color and definition came to them giving even more to their image as trees. The st things to e were leaves, as they remained bare. However, they weren’t the sort of trees that Chiharu expected. They were evergreen trees with thousands of needles c them.

  ‘Huh? Evergreens?’ Chiharu allowed herself a little fusiohe type of tree chosen.

  Miltiades gnced down at Chiharu, finally finished with the transformation. He had to peel off many of the restrictive yers to reach the state the Field existed in for him now. “I don’t show a lot of people this form as it tends to be unnecessary for my work. But this is the true form of my Field.”

  “True form? This looks like a forest.”

  “I put specific restris on it to make use of how you’re used to seeing it. This is without all of those.”

  “I fail to see how this is useful for you.”

  “You’ll uand soon enough.” Miltiades leapt up to a thick branch to stand. He crossed his arms leaning against the trunk of the tree. “I’d suggest a defense. What you’re about to see is the reason I used to be part of the Omega Division!”

  “Omega Division? Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Chiharu didn’t have a ce for an answer as an unnatural sway broke through the forest. All of the trees chattered an eerie tune. Then a wave of greeed up the branches. Thousands of needles were thrown into the air. However, they didn’t fall or move upward with the motion. The needles floated and began to gather.

  Riding a wind, they spun around into a long snake. Suddenly, they all shot out in a stream aimed directly at Chiharu. She dodged their first attempt. The ground was stung by hundreds of needles embedded half into the ground with such force that they didn’t snap. The remaining stream tinued after Chiharu in chase.

  ‘Too many…’ She drew out her tanto to intercept the wave. Only one swing made it before the forocked her sword from her hand. Surprised and uhe swarm rained down on Chiharu pinnio the ground.

  Blood dripped from the tless piergs on her body, as she y prone and helpless. Miltiades kept his eyes ohe eime. Sweat dripped down his cheek, but a grin still came across his fabsp; “You may be fast, but you ’t dodge tens of thousands of razor sharp needles. Enough minor wounds will add up until you’re uo move. This will be your end!”