Ligeia struggled with the wolf to free herself, but it had superior strength. She felt the pressure of it digging into her. ‘I’m not going to be able to get out of this with it… I didn’t want to use it now!’ The wolf cwed at her, knog her around from the forbsp; She deyed too long already. ‘If I don’t do it…’ Gng to the side, the birds kept disrupting her beams’ ability to fire. All other options disappeared. ‘…damn…’

  Watg at his usual safe distance, Haruo felt an odd sensation. He already long examihe situation, but it still felt strange. ‘…because I know they instantly heal non-fatal injuries, I have this freedom…it’s an odd feeling to know I hurt them without to the sting effects…’ It became one of the reasons he allowed himself to fight. He didn’t have to worry about severely hurting someone. ‘It’s the reason one of them stayed back, to heal all damage received…still this is…’

  As the wolf mauled her, Haruo waited for her to forfeit the fight. He didn’t pn to allow things to go on just for the sake of asserting dominanbsp; Haruo only wanted her acceptao end the fight. It became the fastest way to resolve the eter. Afterwards, he could return to his questions.

  ‘…uling…’

  Questions had to wait, a brief light appeared below the wolf and then Ligeia disappeared from his sights. The wolf looked around in fusion. It started to sniff out for her. Haruo looked around the Field searg for her. Seds pressed together being almost infinity. ‘Where’d she go? She didn’t disappear…’ His new line of thought moved his eyes. He stared at the Field measuring it out. ‘How?’ Haruo turned around figuring it out, only to be met with a massive beam to his fad upper body.

  “Had to end it quickly,” ented Ligeia, sweat dripping down her face, “’t let you see any more of my secrets.” Revealed out of the smoke c Haruo, Ligeia stood only two meters away from him with her hand raised, the pyramid floatiimeters away from her open palm.

  ‘Why did I e here?’

  Chapter 186 – Sce of the Nature

  Coughing through the smoke, a noticeable sound of pain came from Haruo’s voibsp; The fact that it only sounded in pain rather than something more severe made Ligeia take a few steps babsp; Her teeth ground together ahat Haruo still had fight left in him. ‘…tough bastard…’

  Allowing the wind to take away the bag that covered his face, Haruo resurfaced. Blood dripped down his face from the top of his forehead around his cheeks and down the bridge of his nose. Barely ging to his chest, the tunio longer existed for his shoulders, marked up with scorches as well. The blood hung around his face creating a darker than intended image as his emotionless features multiplied his aura. “Ued.”

  Gring back at Haruo, Ligeia didn’t like the situation. “It’s more ued hearing your voice again,” she retorted.

  Ued by her remarks, Haruo tinued, “Didn’t think you’d approach so close.”

  “If I do everything you expect I’m not going to win.”

  He could agree oatement. However, other s bothered him. ‘She disappeared from my sight and reappeared behind me. The timing was impossible for anything I’ve seen from her, human or aided.’ Examining Ligeia, he noted she cked any injuries from the wolf. Her clothes looked pletely ued by the attacks. ‘It happened a sed time, she somehow avoided injury when her defenses fell…’

  “Back to silence…” Ligeia pulled in her projectors around her. It gave her time to collect herself for the phase of her strategy. She saw him doing the same with his pets. The wolf circled in around him ag as the first line, while the swarm of birds hovered around him. A few of the birds rested on his shoulder and head, looking as though he was oh nature. “Birds and wolves, odd mix.”

  “Daurian Jackdaw and Ezo Wolf,” Haruo corrected.

  “Eh?”

  “Their sub-species name.”

  “That’s some useless bit of trivia.” Ligeia made some of her projectors disappear. O by her shoulder formed into a pyramid quickly firing off a beam. ‘Knowing their names doesn’t ge anything.’

  The bird targeted by Ligeia fluttered away before it hit. ‘Starting up a new round of attacks. I’m f her to use more of her teiques. So I should see what she did befain. I o watd figure it out.’ Making use of his birds together with the wolf, Haruo resumed his atta Ligeia. The birds did well to disrupt the coordination of her devices while the wolf focused on ering her.

  Sliding around, Ligeia ged her distah Haruo quickly to keep away from the wolf. ‘His damn birds keep getting in the way. I ’t get a shot on him anymore…’ She kept trying to work around the plication. Unfortunately, it forced her to start using her secret again.

  Haruo kept ahead of Ligeia attempts to directly target him. He had a clear view on her as. However, a beam suddenly hit him from an impossible dire. It scored a small mark on his fabsp; ‘Where’d that e from?’ Little time allowed him to think too long on the problem. His eyes started to notice more ges in the beams. They were no longer ing from predictable dires.

  The birds weren’t enough to keep her beams broken up. She found ways around them, even if only a few. Their t diminished quickly as well, no longer keeping up with the ging pabsp; ‘She must be using her new secret.’ The only thing keeping her from going all out on him with her trick was the birds. She kept to using only micro beams. They fired faster and worked ier numbers, a better match for his Jackdaws.

  ‘Fighting tinues… Fighting is pointless…unnecessary…’

  Seeing the mgressive nature of the wolf, Ligeia pulled herself back even further from the animal. She kept up a shield between them, o struggled to break. It often chose to try to fnk her, but she easily moved it around to keep pabsp; ‘I’ve got him back at my pabsp; I o keep applying the pressure.’ She saw she could inflict wounds on him. It meant she just o increase the strength of her attacks.

  All of her attacks focused him on her. She kept him busy and distracted. Gng above him, she watched the careful positioning and development. ‘It’s just about ready. If I didn’t have to do all of this distra it’d be finished already. But he’s very observant, I ’t afford mistakes with him.’ It came time. A massive beam charged from a few meters above Haruo. In only a few seds, it discharged screaming down at him.

  Bright light washed everything. Haruo disappeared from her view. All of the animals paused to look ba the dire. While distracted, she took the opportunity to wipe out a rge portion of the birds causing them to flee. Ligeia directed her attention to the wolf, which recovered from its fusion. Fog all of her beams into a plex web, the wolf fell quickly.

  ‘…it’s not enough of a reason…’

  Even while the beam tinued, Haruo stepped out from around the beam pletely unscathed by the attabsp; The threat of its proximity did nothing to his features.

  Staggered backwards, Ligeia couldn’t believe he evaded her attabsp; Surprise filled her eyes. “How?! How could you see it ing!?” She disected the pieces to shut off the beam

  “I tracked them.” He stretched out a hand for one of the remaining birds to nd on his finger. A bright glowing core filled its chest. It jumped up his arm eventually perg on his bare shoulder.

  The ck of text aggravated Ligeia. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your devices. They have remained a sistent number until retly.”

  “You were ting them?!” It seemed impossible to her that he followed all of them. ‘I keep track of them because I have to, but for him to be following it all so closely. He’s even more dangerous!’ However, it still bothered her that he knew how to dodge the attabsp; “Knowing it’s missing doesn’t tell you where it is.”

  “I am ected.” The bird lifted off his arm and suddenly more birds materialized around it growing into a swarm. It restored their numbers fully in moments.

  ‘…no feeling…’

  Another i answer, but Ligeia uood the implications. ‘He’s ected with his animals. The birds provide him better sight than the wolves, always fag me. Damn…’ Watg the birds return to their restored status made Ligeia uand them a little more. It bothered her how difficult they would be to kill.

  ‘…no passion fhting…’

  The pause in fighting came to an end. Ligeia saw to it. Beam fire resumed in chaotic fashion. The wolf removed from the equation, made life for her easier. She only had to deal with the birds. They only provided a distra, a disruption to her pns. ‘Why hasn’t he brought out more animals? Is he at his limit with the birds?’

  ‘…no pride on the line…’

  Beams broke through the defense of the birds easily. Haruo hardly expected them to have as much of an effe the battle with his wolf gone. However, he wa that way. It freed up his tration to watch everything more carefully.

  ‘…no i iing the limits…’

  The assault tinued with Haruo remaining defensive. Each beam that came in at him didn’t have enough to stop, but he k added up. Eventually, it would be more than his body could take. However, he had to st long enough to figure it out. ‘The way the beams are moving should be impossible…they’re always moving…’ Following everything wasn’t easy for him, but he started to find crity. Pieces began to fall into pce.

  ‘...just empty…’

  His eyes narrowed in on it. It surprised him that he missed it for so long. The clues blended in well enough with the myriad of everything else. He wrote it off too quickly. ‘I uand now. There’s slight differences, but I see it now. They all make the same shape, but orientatioermiheir fun. The one I was missing was the third fun, a matter transportation. Instantly jumping from one of her devices to another. Makes sense now.’

  ‘…so why…’

  Armed with the new knowledge, he instructed the birds to deal with the devices that served to reflect, shield or teleport. It broke down her offense quickly. Directed, he freed up his birds and increased their numbers further. They broke off from the main group diving after Ligeia.

  Pulling up her shield, always ready, the birds smmed into the barrier. The first did nothing but fall away. Same the sed and third, but the pounding echoed louder. It felt a little unnerving watg the near kamikaze attabsp; Suddenly a crack developed in the shield. Ligeia tried tthen it with another yer, but the birds already had their advantage. Speed increased on their attacks quickly pung a hole through the shield.

  Through the gap, the remaining birds swarmed through at Ligeia. Using their cws and beak, the birds covered Ligeia. White glows of light soaked her figure with only a dull hue of her color breaking through uheir assault. ‘…damnit…they’ll break through…I’ve had enough of this!’

  All of the projectors in the area disappeared. They materialized around her, emitting a blue light. It forced its way inward ag as a repulsainst the birds. Moments ter, a force from the ter threw off all of the birds, sent tumbling away through the air for meters. Ligeia surfaced with marks on her face, thin trails of blood dripping down. Faint fshing on her clothes showed damage on a transparent surface, ripped into by the birds. Underh, her clothes looked torn at the same points.

  Spinning around her legs and arms, the projectors ected a blue transparent sheet ing around her ankles and wrists. Ligeia suddenly hovered into the air a meter away from the ground. More pieces floated around her in a different pattern than before.

  Haruo arched his eyebrow a toubsp; He didn’t expect such a drastic alteration of her tactibsp; The new patter him w about their potential. ‘I’ve got to test it…’ Signaling the birds, they flew at Ligeia, but hit an invisible wall before reag her. It lined up with the shape of the devices. However, the barrier’s strength was inparable to the previous. The birds bounced off as though a force pushed them back.

  “It’s time this came to an end,” decred Ligeia, s down her fabsp; Her features hardened, f herself to tinue. She lifted her hand up slowly as though anding something.

  A shadow stretched up behind Haruo and to the side. He looked around, notig ns rising from the ground. The pting from her Field exposed itself. Behind the smooth metal surface, plex maery worked. Electricity jumped around the ends and multi-colored lights danced around the faces.

  Turning her outstretched hand over, a holographic sphere formed. She closed her hand over it, iing her fingers into the surface depressiions of the surfabsp; The holographic turned from blue to red, a signal. “Try to dodge this!”

  Electricity jumped out from the three ns closing off all exits, above or fnking. Thericity refocused back to Haruo. His entire body drank in the volts involuntarily. He had no escape. Pain stretched up his body and through his muscle into his throat. Haruo didn’t know how long he could st.