Proteg herself with a shield, the wolves scraped by redirected. Keen sight allowed him to notice that they made a cut in her shield. ‘It’s taking a focused effort now to cut into her shield…the strength of it has definitely increased…’ Pressing oack, he sent one of the wolves to break through the shield and knock her off bance.

  Uedly, she spread out a shield like before for her feet. Haruo already started to uand how it worked. Any part of the body that touched the special surface could be dragged along in the dire, likely determined by her iions. It allowed for unnatural and impossible movements. She hem to keep pace with his wolves.

  Sliding around on the shield, she kept her distance from Haruo’s wolves. While they gave chase, she tered with her beams again. Letting the wolves go free, they used their own intuition to dodge and keep pace with the attacks.

  However, she hid a beam behind her allowio terattack with the wolves having ion time. He lost the first wolf immediately i. The one in the rear he mao redireough to avoid a direct hit. Even still, the wolf lost the back half of it, dropping it to the ground uo move.

  Haruo’s eyes narrowed, preparing for what he already expected. Ligeia turned her focus on him immediately, calling upon her devices to struct two fnking pyramids oher side of her. Since he knew what the a would be, it made it easy to dodge. He watched the power of the beams used on his animals a avoiding it a better option rather than defending.

  Dodging something he easily saw ing was simple for him. Yet, somethi off about the situation. The look in Ligeia’s eyes told him she wasn’t finished. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a ce to act as a light engulfed him from behind.

  The force behind the light felt familiar to Haruo. He k immediately as the beam on she used on him before as well as on his wolves. Haruo saw it enough to know it well. Knowing it still didn’t ge the fact that it felt signifitly stronger. All of his time taking punches made him used to dealing with pain and damage, but it was something pletely different. It was all enpassing. The pressure poured over every part of him.

  Everythi white.

  Chapter 185 – Sce of the Hypothesis

  Smoke exploded along with light from the impabsp; A shockwave snapped outward from the epiter whipping the wind around the Field. Ligeia lifted her hand to her face to allow herself to watch, barely. Her little trick worked. A small grin built across her face as the seds ted on.

  The loime went Haruo’s fate turned into a question. Clouds from the bst still filled the area hiding him. Ligeia waited to know what happened. She tained her mountihusiasm, not wanting to bee over fident.

  While she waited, something popped up on her dispy. Alerted, she looked down to see what was wrong. ‘Something that’s not him?’ A blip on her dispy found something, but she didn’t know what it was. Haruo’s body was already marked on the dispy and she ks position. All the time she wasted on her fusion should have bee on dodging. A fact she uood too te.

  Leaping from out of her blind spot, one of Haruo’s wolves closed on her given more than enough time. Ligeia tried t up her shield for prote, but it was clearly too te. The wolf lu her, knog her off her feet and sliding with her for a few meters before leaping off her. It spun around and came to a stop a meter away. Slowly moving ba on its prey, the wolf howled almost like a cry.

  Ligeia turned her head back to find the wolf. Pain from the attack lightly washed over her, as the least of her s. She watched the wolf sloroach her. Moving the pieces into pce with her mind, she prepared for a ter. However, it suddenly came to a halt, turning its head away from her. It looked ba the dire of the cloud of smoke c Haruo. The wolf bounded off to pace around the smoke slowly.

  Finally lifting, Haruo stood up out of the thick veil. From appearances, he looked unharmed, something that left Ligeia struggling with her shobsp; Behind him however, much of his tunic was burned away down to his skin. Redness of sores and blisters covered his babsp; ‘Hurt more than I thought…’ Despite the pain, Haruo’s expression never ged.

  He caught sight of the wolf ing alongside him. ‘It took him loo recover. I haven’t really fully tested this power, so I ’t really have too many expectations.’ Haruo gnced over at Ligeia to see her dition. He didn’t have any trol over the wolf, it didn’t have the full capacity for intelligenless linked with him. The surprise attaocked her off band fused her, but as he saw it did nothing to her. ‘Must have done something in time to prevent an injury.’

  They both held secrets. He turned his gaze behind him w about what happeo him earlier. All he remembered was the light and feeling, but not how it happened. ‘I dodged her, but she did something. Did she get one of those devices behind me? I never noticed anything…’

  Ligeia pushed herself back to her feet. Her body felt a little shaky from the impact, but she worked through to focus on Haruo. ‘He doesn’t even look affected! Did he notice it?’ giare to the wolf, move fusion rose. ‘I killed all of them. Did he create a seventh I didn’t see?’ Events of the fight repyed in her mind trying to uand. Nothing came to her. It ed her finding that he held tricks.

  Questions surrounded both. Only one answer came to them.

  ‘I’m going to have to keep fighting to uand it,’ Haruo decided.

  ‘I o keep fighting for it to make sense,’ determined Ligeia.

  Moving into position, the solitary wolf started its neroabsp; A look at its eye showed the desire for revenge.

  Shifting the groups around, Ligeia brought her beams back to bear on Haruo and his wolf. She expected him to summon more animals, but didn’t let it stop her from attag. Lining up her beams, she tried to strike down the wolf. She hoped to uand what she didn’t.

  Gaining new knowledge to aid his tactics, he maniputed the wolf’s movement with greater fihan st time. It dodged all of the micro beam attacks with ease. Focus on a single animal gave him the improved trols to keep up with Ligeia’s attacks. She could do nothing to touch the wolf.

  While the fighting tinued, it gave Haruo moments for pause. The whole se felt strao him. ‘I accepted her request for a fight, even though it is against my nature. Why?’ He went along with everything so far in Atntis not saying anything. It fused him.

  ‘I don’t owe him anything.’ Memories from the fight with Katsu wormed baside him. He knew what Yuki did then, but watg his as, he uood something about him. ‘Even if I did owe him, he would never say it. He’d just say things were equal. He doesn’t care about it. He doesn’t make any sense.’ Haruo came to the heart of the matter. He uood something, but he still didn’t uand Yuki. Yuki was a mystery to him.

  Focus had to return. The fight tihe progress into deeper troubles. Haruo hat the beams became faster. While he adapted to her movements, she did the same to him. They learned off each other. His eyes drew into the fight trying to keep track of everything the wolf didn’t see. ‘My advantage is I have a wider field of vision than if I was close up like the wolf. However, she’s been keeping up despite the disadvantage.’ His eyes g the devi her arm. ‘Must be that…she keeps looking at it.’

  Ligeia slid around on her shield keeping the fight moving. ‘The wolf is more troublesome than before…it’s keeping up with my attacks better…still improving…’ Moving part of her thoughts to a sedary group, it shifted to her desire. ‘I’m going to o ge the pace of the fight. He’ll just exhaust me at this rate.’ She could feel the drip of sweat down her fabsp; Her body already was starting to feel the length of the battle and her mind pioo. ‘I’ve never used so muy power, so quickly…even with endurance I’m not making it aer… This is the first real fight I’ve had…’

  Amidst the attacks from Ligeia, Haruo caught sight of her giactibsp; He saw the pyramid shape move into position such that when his wolf dodged it would e after him. The wolf already moved out of the way of the beam. Haruo knew he could avoid it, seeing it ing. It flew past him, evading with ease.

  However, light shone from behind him ing back at him. Haruo, already moving, turo see the beam ing at him. ‘Figured she’d try it again.’ The light surrounded him with the same iy as before with the energy washing over him. Yet, he remained visible, uhe st time.

  Widening her eyes a little, she tried to figure out what Haruo did. It made her lean forward a little with curiosity. ‘What’s he doing?! He saw it ing?’ The closer she looked the more she found. His hand held back the beam and broke it into pieces. Energy poured out around his hand evaporating into the air. ‘I ’t believe it! Just his hand?!’

  She quickly repyed the events through her mind. The pieces started to e together. ‘I thought I had him right where I wanted him. I saw that I actually did damage to him the st time. I just needed another hit, but…’ Haruo had turned into the attack as though expeg it. No surprise filled his eyes. She remembered how he moved. ‘He set me up! He iionally arra so that I would do it again! He wao see what I did! Damn him, he’s smarter than I thought…’

  Brushing off the remaining strength of the energy, Haruo threw out his hand direg the beam away from him. He slid his foot back around to face her. ‘It was too fast for her to have used her pyramid to attack me. Additionally, the a came at me was the same…’ Before the light of the beam pletely blocked his sight, he remembered seeing one of Ligeia’s devices arranged like her shields. ‘So that’s what it was…refleg the beam back.’

  Emotionless as Haruo was, Ligeia felt an unease from him as though he figured her out. She didn’t like that he spoiled her secret and only after two uses. ‘Most of the others in training took much loo figure it out and usually too te. If the secret’s out, then I don’t o hold baymore!’ Suddenly, the sets of projectors fell apart and rearrahemselves.

  Haruo narrowed his eyes a bit judging the a. ‘I’m guessing she’ll start refleg more now since I’ve figured out her secret.’ Accurate to the predi, a beam shot out from a pyramid hitting a reflector boung the beam. However, it didn’t bounce just onbsp; Another refle happened ging the course of the beam again. Theiced the beam moving. ‘She’s altering the angle of the beam by moving the refleg surfabsp; Calg all of the possibilities is not going to be simple.’

  It started with only one beam, but another beam fired off quickly. Soon an array of beams pyed out over the Field. The wolf kept up, but Haruo’s slower movements left him taking hits. Ligeia kept it up until the explosion's impacts covered him. However, she didn’t feel like stopping anymore. She tinued her assault on him, while holding the wolf at bay.

  After a few moments, something about the attacks on Haruo felt wrong to Ligeia. She ceased the assault. Smoke masked Haruo for the time, but it didn’t st long. Pockets of light broke through the thick clouds before shaping out a familiar figure in shadow. Suddenly, the clouds burst apart with dozens of shadows jumping out. Underh, Haruo showed himself, only minorly wounded by Ligeia attacks, not looking the part of one under a long assault. ‘What?! I had to have done more to him than that!’

  Examining his body, Haruo saw only a few pces in his tunic burned away by the attacks. ‘Worked out better than I thought, though I have some reservations about it. No choice.’

  ‘What were those shadows?’ Ligeia looked around trying to figure it out. ‘It had to be the reason my attacks did so little to him!’

  ‘I o move while she’s off bance…’ Haruo took a step forward. The wolf appeared behind him, ing its rge body around in a semicircle.

  Above in the sky, chirps echoed from a chatter to a chorus. Ligeia looked around trying to figure out where the sounds came from. Suddenly, a shadow flew past her fabsp; It turned her around to follow it, but another shadow flew past. She summoned up her shield for a defense, hearing dull pounding against it. ‘What’s going on? What is he doing?’ Trying to focus, Ligeia mao calm herself down enough to look at the shield.

  Birds. They were birds, pale white birds. ‘More spirit animals…’ The birds had the same transparent appearance of the wolf. She tried to use her beams to knock them away, but their numbers only increased. They swarmed over her shield, throwing her into a state of fusion. Ligeia couldn’t get them off her.

  However, the birds flew off suddenly. The reason for it came too te to Ligeia. A rge shadow cast over her and knocked her to the ground. The wolf pinned her to the metal floor with its mouth closing on her. Ligeia gnced around at her projectors. She tried to fire, but all of her beams were blocked by the birds. ‘I’m trapped! I ’t get it off me! Damn it! He’s got me right where he wants me!’