It all hit him so fast that he froze in the fight. Athene capitalized on the opportunity, carving out a rge gash through Yori’s chest. The surprise, shod forocked him off his feet. Blood sprayed in an arc off him and paihe grass when he crashed to the ground. ‘Dammit, I o tell everyone…’ Yori struggled to pull his head up to see Athene approag. “Stop! There’s…something…”

  Unfortunately, Atheill moved on him, pnning to be sure she was the winner of the fight. Yori didn’t have time for her now to bandage her pride anymore. He threw his hand up. “I said stop!” Her body suddenly flew across the room. He coughed hoarsely through the washes of pain iing his body. “…damn…that hurt…”

  Atheuro her feet ued by his toss. She started to walk over to him, but he stopped her again. “Listen…to me… I know…what she’s…pnning…Ayumi…” Unfortunately, he didn’t get any response from Athene. “Eu-e…e…Eudokia…I mean…”

  The name brought Atheo an immediate stop. Like ahe name was familiar, but naturally, she knew her better than others as her anding Officer. Athene’s faarrowed quickly wanting answers. “What does Eudokia Ismene have to do with this?”

  Some of the fusion Atheook Yori a moment to think about it. “I guess…you were out…of the…loop…” He started coughing again, but blood sprayed out of his mouth. “…damn…I need…” Everything started to get light and the feeling started to fade away. A strange ominous feeling overcame Yori. “…oh…”

  Chapter 260 – The Recovered Truth

  Another cough suddenly brought him back to reality. Yori snapped his eyes open, no longer feeling as empty. A light came from just the edge of his sight, pulling him down. “…what…doing…”

  “Remain still. I’m tending to your wound.”

  Yori dropped his head back to the ground, sighing. It was over. However, all his memories and knowledge returned quickly to remind him of his need. He jerked up only to be pushed down by Athene. “This is…important!”

  “Let me finish.”

  “Dammit! If she gets her way, it’s going to mean that he’ll die, a slow painful prolonged death.”

  Atheried to work around Yori’s stubbornness. He didn’t make it easy to trate on the wound. Fortunately, her power did most of the work. “What are you talking about? Who’s going to die and how does this involve Eudokia?” She hoped talking to him would keep him still.

  “Eudokia…right, that’s how you know her. Someone I know, she brought him here with the iion of being your new King, though he seemed more ied in just stopping the assassins.”

  It all came as a surprise until she started to search her own memories. “I think I remember reading that from your mind. But the King never had any heirs, he’s not reted.”

  “Yes, I know, but that doesn’t really matter now does it? I finally remembered everything I saw when I was in your mind. I know about it all, evee of Succession and the price that must be paid.”

  “But he would have to be—“

  “Powerful enough to support the Throne of Atntis.”

  It left Athene a little ill at ease having him finish her thoughts. He really did steal things from her. “Are you saying he is?” “I don’t have a measure for his power and even using your memories I ’t really judge accurately, but I’d say he has power to spare.”

  “Then he could save Atntis.”

  “But he doesn’t know about the price.”

  “You mean she old him?”

  “She left that detail out. She withheld quite a lot of details from what I saw. You aren’t even in a rush for a King, you have a system that makes sure you have a King evehere are no heirs. She doesn’t need him. But most importantly, she never mentiohe priowing how everyone would react.”

  Athene looked off towards the Capital. “What is Eudokia thinking of f Kingship on someone uninformed?”

  “She’s desperate, but even I don’t know the reasons. But I o warhers so they stop it from happening.”

  In the distance, she saw all of the effects of the many fights pying out. The destructive nature of some made her feel small in their world. “But they’re fighting with the Titans. They’re the best Atntis has to offer. Getting past them to Eudokia is going to be impossible.”

  “Yes, but we have to do it or else Ayumi wins.” Yori paused thinking about the situation and his feelings oter. “I don’t approve of him, but my sister is fond of him. If something happeo him she would be…if I prevent it then I must. I just o tell them all, somehow.”

  “You’re not in a position to be moving, even recovered from my healing.”

  Yori tried to stand regardless of what Athene said, but lost his strength halfway. The pain was gone, but his body was exhausted as though he had run all day. “…dammit…I o talk to them!” He closed his eyes thinking about them all around the front of the Capital in their own battles. It felt like they were o him. It felt like he could reach out and touch them. “Please hear me, everyone! You must listen!” He pleaded, hoping against reason that he could tell them.

  ‘Yori?! How are you in my head?’ he heard from his sister.

  ‘…Yori…I must be dreaming or something if I’m hearing your voice…’ Fumiko replied.

  ‘Huh? Is that Yumi’s brother? In my head? She must have hit me harder than I thought if I’m hearing him,’ answered Saki.

  ‘What are you doing in my head?’ Chiharu demanded, as though her voice alone could kick him out.

  ‘A voibsp; That’s Yumi Mizuno’s brother. If I’m hearing him it must mean that he’s making use of his power. While he never was shown to have anything, I assumed like everyone else he had something. So telepathy is his power…it’s likely not the only piven it’s not ohat protect him. He would have been given another ability outside of it. Everything is themed—‘

  “Everyone please stop with the questions…” He had to stop all of the voices ing into his head, especially the ued one of Haruo. But he had them, somehow. “I barely have any strength, just listen… I know the truth finally. I know what Ayumi’s goal is.”

  So many questions still fired at him that he heir attention. “He’s in danger. If Ayumi succeeds in her pn. Yuki Hayashi will die! The truth is that Atntis’ secret is not what any of us thought! They are actually depe on their King for the tinued survival of their civilization. The entire try is maintained by the King, through their power. That’s why the position is so important. Without the King everything created by their power to ge Antarctica from an ice wastend into this paradise would be wiped away. Everyone would die.”

  He uood their entire history, as Athene k, at least. However, he had to keep things focused. “Yet there’s something even more important that Ayumi old us about the position as King. The stro of those like Yuki Hayashi and Ayumi are selected to bee King. The oed is then linked with all of the try and is stantly using their power to maintain the reality of Atntis. It is perma until they die and a new King is required to be selected. However, the link is so draining on the King that it saps away their life at an accelerated rate. Most Kings bee almost a plete invalid barely able to even leave their room. They bee husks ao a few years or decades of miserable servitude to their try.”

  Yori could imagine how many of them would react to such a situation. In fact, he ted on it. It might be the push o defeat the Titans and save him from Ayumi’s scheme. “Yuki Hayashi will be left to a sloainful death if Ayumi gets him to sit ohrone of Atntis! He will die being the King, not today, but he won’t ever be the same again. His future will be stolen unknowingly.”

  Cutting the emediately, he allowed the pieces to fall where they did. ‘I was a little maniputive in my w, but I had to get their attention. Given the quality of life he’d likely have afterwards, it’d be like a livih.’

  Atheiced the relief in Yori’s fabsp; His body finally rexed and calmed down. “You did what you needed?”

  “Yes, it’s in…their hands now.”

  Suddenly, several fshes of light reached across the field towards them. A rumbling through the earth gave the two of them an uling sense of the ging winds. “What did you tell them?”

  “The truth, or at least as much as I could. They still don’t know about the rebellion or the Anaximandros. There’s still so much they don’t know.” The wealth of knowledge he gained left him a little staggered. It was hard to sift through everything when it wasn’t his own. It was just sort of there. Always mixed in with the rest of his memories. He had trouble being sure of his own past when he had to be careful not to fuse it with Athene’s.

  A narrowed expression came across Athene’s fabsp; “You’re a dangerous man, Yori Mizuno.” She could sehe depth of the knowledge he gained from just his expression towards her. The shades of emotions quickly shifted as he experienced everything. Guilt, pity, empathy, they all mixed together. He uood their pain as well as themselves.

  “I didn’t ask for this. But it’ll be useful. Perhaps it be the link we o uand each other better.”

  “Yetting a little ahead of yourself,” she corrected with a dose of reality. In the distance, fighting still tinued and with renewed vigor thanks to him. Things were far from over. ‘I ’t even imagine how things will py out after this all is resolved. The cil of Atntis is still…’

  Yori pushed himself back to his feet, despite the protests from Athene. He tightened up his hand feeling more of his strength ing babsp; “I really am different now or maybe I always have been sihat day and I just now noticed.” Gng back to Athene, his mind shifted thoughts. “I’m not the only dangerous maoday.”

  Athene caught Yori wheumbled from his overfidenbsp; “What are you thinking? You might be fully healed, but your fatigue and stress were not. You need some time to recover.”

  There were still things he o see the oute. He couldn’t hold himself back just on the at of his back being too slow. “I o return. I still have some answers I seek and they no doubt need some answers from me.”

  She helped him in his slow walk back to the Capital. “I use my power to carry you there.”

  “No, this pace is fine. If we arrive too soon, we’ll get in the way of their fighting. They’ll no doubt be distracted.”

  “I guess that’s fair.”

  “Besides, you probably need some time to posure yourself.”

  “Huh?” She didn’t uand what he was talking about, despite the annoying knowing grin on his fabsp; There was somethihought about making use of her knowledge. “What are you thinking?”

  “We are going to be seeing him.” Yori pointed with his free hand towards the locatioole him from at the start. For him, he could barely see the small gathering figures. The distance made them out to be just bumps in the grass.

  Athene scowled at him for his vagueness. “You’re being iionally i.”

  It made him ugh a bit seeing her rea such a manner. “Well, you might wound him, having already fotten him. You know the reason you came hunting us down across half of Atntis. We’ll be seeing Simonides.”

  She immediately khe reason for the way he acted. It turned her face red before she raised her fist to him. “Don’t use my memories like that again!”

  Yori couldn’t help but ugh seeing her face, even if it might have incurred some wrath. “After nearly twenty years, maybe you need a little outside help.”

  “Yori Mizuno, I’m going to kill you!”

  “Hey, I thought we moved past that part!”