Muttering something, a wall of thick vines sprouted out of the earth ag as prote. The viarted to around the bck swords in Yori’s hands. He ripped through the vines before they reached his hands. Pieces of the vines fell at his feet, twitg only to suddenly grow up after him. “Tbsp; Don’t think this’ll be enough to protect you!”

  From the sidelines, Yumi stared in shock at seeing her brother pletely ed by his rage. ‘He’s normally so calm and in trol…what’s gotten into him?’ She pletely ighe fact that he suddenly had powers.

  Ourias took a step back keeping their distance even. However, Yori didn’t pn to let him escape his reabsp; The sword stretched around the vines aiming directly for him. Inside his clouded mind, he couldn’t hear Ourias speaking. A semi-opaque block shifted in to absorb the impact, preventing the attack from eg.

  Grinding his teeth in annoyahe ma stopping his attacks. He needed something different. Yori threw out his arm in an arbsp; The vines in his way suddenly fell to the ground crushed by an unknown forbsp; Cleared away, Yori brought his hands together g them. A bck light pierced through the gaps in his fingers. He slowly pulled his hands away revealing a tiny bck sphere.

  Exposed, the atmosphere around the sphere dragged in towards the form. Wind reversed with a su foring from the sphere. The sphere quickly grew in size being palm-sized. “All the defense you mutter won’t be enough to save you!” spat Yori. Small ks of the earth ripped up o Yori's feet. Debris lifted into the air starting to swirl around the growing mass in his hands. Streams of bck light broke from the sphere signaling a sudden expansion.

  Now a diameter greater than his waist, the effect the sphere had on the enviro became more pronounced. The forces increased with the pull making it difficult for those normal humans to hold their position without keeping up an effort.

  Wrinkles raked across Yori’s fabsp; Strain stressed every er of his expression. The pure white of his eyes made him appear more like a wild beast than a human. All reason lost only instind emotion. A being filled, ed by rage.

  All of the gathered energy in his hands unleashed on Ourias without any warning. Old walls jumped up in its path, but the bck sphere blew through them with little effort. The ks of shattered t dragged behind it. Steel beams fell doidly followed by a strange liquid coating the whole surfabsp; Nothing stopped it.

  Yori’s face darkened further. “I told you nothing will stop me!”

  Suddenly from far outside of the battle, several thial long needle-like objects flew in pierg the bck orb. A rea occurred inside exploding beams of bck light before the whole thing colpsed upon itself. Moments ter, shockwaves ripped through the area knog everyone off their feet.

  A heavy cloud from the explosion covered the whole area. Yori stared angry and fused. Through the cloud, a figure appeared walking towards him. “I finally found you,” a familiar voice said through the smoke. “I searched, tracked you across all of Atntis. I made a vow that I wouldn’t stop until I found you.” Out of the white veil stepped Athene in a metal infused blue dress glowing with a mysterious power. “This is the end for you, Yori Mizuno!”

  Chapter 243 – Internal Freedom

  Athene walked out between Ourias and Yori. She leveled her gaze upon Yori. The air around her seemed to igo blue fmes with a look that could kill. “You’re mine!” She lifted her arm, pointing an array of simir needles floating around her wrist.

  “Who are you?” asked Ourias.

  “None of your business, stay out of my way!”

  Yori wanted nothing to do with Athene. His eyes remained focused on Ourias. “Don’t interrupt me!” Squeezing his hand, Yori crushed all of the needles poi him. Thehrew his hand away casting an invisible force that tossed Athene aside. “You’re not the one I want!”

  The swat barely did anything to dint Athene’s drive. She charged bato the battle before Yori could make atempt on Ourias. “I’m not giving you a choi the matter!” she yelled. The ground arouore up creating a wall behind her keeping Ourias out of the se.

  Remaining patience Yori had for Athene burned up instantly. “Fine, I’ll make you then!” He charged after her to remove her personally.

  However, she seemed to have something different in mind. The earth lifted up with her like a massive scoop carved out the ground. Everythi flying through the air along with Yori. Well outside of the range of the others, ks fell back to the field dropping the two emotional warriors. “Yht is with me! You owe me more than even your life could hope to repay!”

  Yumi tried to do something about everything that happened, but naturally, without her powers she was on the sidelihe eime. She could only shout out for her brother as he disappeared from her sight. Everything turned into a mess quicker than she could follow. ‘He’s got powers too now? I assumed he did since everyone did, but he never used them before. How long has he been able to use them?’ More important matters came up for her to ge her focus. Ourias marched oo resume their one-sided fight. Yumi tried to prepare herself.

  “Do you still pn to resist?”

  She looked a little surprised at him. The question wasn’t meant to be intimidating. He was genuine. “Eh!?” It caught her off guard that he still seemed ued in fighting.

  “Surrender yourself now and nothing further o happen.”

  The offer still id out for her. However, nothing ged for Yumi. “I still have things I must do and they are behind you.”

  “I ot allow you into the Capital.”

  “So we’re back to the same pce we were before.”

  “It would appear to be the case.”

  “Then I will fight to the st drop of blood in my body!”

  Ourias sighed. Something came from him that she didn’t uand. Everything that remained from his exge with Yori disappeared. A ste. “It shouldn’t be children here like this, but perhaps it’s a sign of the times.”

  Prepared as well as she could, Yumi dropped into a weak stanbsp; She had no official martial training like the others. All she could do was copy what she saw others do and in the media. She didn’t even know if she did it correctly (she wasn’t). “It’s not the times, but the need.”

  “Need? You have o be here stirring up trouble.”

  Yumi wiped away the blood from her forehead that started to dry a little. She remembered hh it was before for her. Nothing she did reached him. It was like a baby trying to fight an adult. It couldn’t detour her. “That might be the effect, but the cause is different. However, it doesn’t matter what I say. Nothing will ge your mind.”

  “You’re right. My duty is to protect the city and I won’t allow you to set foot inside. All y in your wake is destru.”

  “Sadly that is the case, but I hope o act of destru is all that is o reach the truth!” She k was all talk for her. There was no ce for her to be able to do something against Ourias. ce or choice didn’t py into it. She had to do it. ‘Some way, things will work out. It’s not really logical or strategic, but I only do what I as I am.’

  Suddenly the gravity disappeared from around Yumi or rather it seemed to have reversed. Something pulled her along, but not like a hand. She could only describe it as gravity, the way it weighed on her body. It cut off sharply to leave her suspended for a brief moment before falling back down to the earth.

  A few meter fall normally ainful in any normal situation, but the sword part of Yumi jerked her sternum around like it wao tear apart her chest. It remained solidly embedded like aension of her body.

  Fresh wounds from her st round with Ourias reopeo spread the dirt in her blood. Yumi coughed trying to get back to her feet. However, sharp vines jumped out of the dirt drawing up new wounds. The first was enough for her to attempt to roll away even as they followed her.

  Yumi breathed heavily once more, feeling the full mortality of her body. She started to wonder if everything before was merely a dream. This felt normal, how things should be, yet she wished for the way things were. ‘I want my power babsp; I ’t always be standing behind shouting out orders. I o stand myself!’

  Rocks rained down from above bruising and bludgeoning Yumi. She fell backwards in an effort to escape the attabsp; Her leg took the worst blow. Yumi yelped aloud, grabbing for her injury. ‘Is it broken? I ’t let him beat us here.’ She pushed herself back up. ‘He wouldn’t give up!’ A faint image of Yuki’s ba front of her appeared as a reminder. Yumi forced herself back to her feet. Pain shot up through her leg whe her weight on it. “I won’t give up!”

  Blood dripped over her face more. The look only reinforced her resolve. She refused to stop.

  Narrowing his expression, Ourias stared at Yumi. The gigantic wall of the Capital stood behind him. Its shadow weighed at him. ‘I do what I must for them. Even the dirtiest of deeds. So that I may iure stao them once more…’ A dark shadow fell over Ourias’ face blotting out his eyes. ‘It must be done. They’re just criminals.’

  Vines grew up behind Ourias twisting together quickly. They stretched out, speeding into a pierg edge straight for Yumi’s heart, the deathblow. The end. The bloodiest of deeds.

  Blood dripped in thin trickles from the vines bunched up in Yumi. Her free haed on the spun vines in a failed attempt to stop them from running through her heart.

  “You’re right,” she said with her head hung forward c up her fa a darkened shadow. “You must stand in the front if you want others to follow. No one follows someone c in the rear.” An odd ugh came from her.

  Ourias turned up his head in fusion. He noticed something didn’t seem right with the girl.

  Suddenly, Yumi’s bck hair ran with streaks of red. ing from the roots of her hair it ged pletely. Her hand tightened around the bundle of viighter and tighter and crushed them. Torn in two, she ripped out the remains of the vines. Behiunic, the wound turned out to be shallow. Yumi pulled her head back revealing green eyes had pletely taken over in pce of her soft brown. “I would have been done a lot sooner if you hadn’t bothered me so many times.”

  ‘What’s going on? She stopped the attack with only her hand?’ He ran through the report on Yumi recalling that she once had powers like the others. ‘That’s right, one of Captain Simonides’ men sealed away her power. I picked her hoping that she would see reason and not fight. They’re just kids.’ Yet Ourias sehe sudden ge in the air from Yumi. Things were no lohe same as before.

  Yumi flexed her hand, staring at the state of her body. “She’s started to rub off on you, that woman’s recklessness.” She seemed to be catg up with everything that happened as though waking up from a sleep to find ahquake had trashed her room. “You’re better off remembering my lessons.” Her free hand stretched out and took hold of the hilt of the sword.

  “This is in the way.” The hand pierced by the sword squeezed down sharply, pletely crushing the bde into pieces. She freed up her hand finally and used it to pull out the remains of the broken bde from her chest. The hilt rested in one hand at her side with the destroyed bde at her other side. “Much better!”

  Suddenly, a white multi-yered barrier came up around her with hexagonal patterns inid. She floated up off the ground as white particles started to emit from her body. “This is your one freebie for keeping our body in one piece.”