A scream torn through the encased cell eg off each wall. Heavy panting followed as Fumiko sat up soaked i. Her eyes wide and shaking still raw from the experience.

  Awake now, she stared empty at her legs as her body heaved smming her lungs against her ribs. The scream still seemed to bounce around her. It nearly made her body vibrate or maybe that was her heart knocked against her. Her mouth demanded water as if the sweat dehydrated her.

  Fumiko reached over to the table in her room. ‘Mom probably heard me…damn…’ She blindly threw her arm around looking for the water bottle that she knew rested on her desk. Studying for exams left her focused and her mother insisted she didn’t fet to drink water regurly. If she didn’t io e down, she’d better have some with her.

  She hat water.

  Where was that damn water?!

  “ht…” It washed away in a wipe. She stared at the newly crafted cell walls. Some strange creatio for a monster like her. “Atntis.” A fantasy world all prepared for someone like her.

  Her breathing finally calmed that she wasn’t shaking o. Fumiko tossed the basic cloth b aside to sit up properly with her feet on the floor. She rubbed her hands over her face hoping it’d wipe everything away. Only sweat.

  Looking down at her hands, she could see them shaking untrolbly. She stared deeply at them, feeling it spread through her body. Panid shallow breathing cimed her once more. Fumiko fell rasping at the ground trying to manage her body. Nothing

  She saw it again. Saw them again.

  Blood. Screams. Death. Death.

  Death.

  Murderer.

  Fumiko gasped for air. It felt like a hand squeezed on her lungs. Nothing would stay down. She pressed her hand to her chest panting for it to stop. The shakes spread through her whole body running her even colder.

  Long seds dripped out until she mao calm her mind. The blood, the faces disappeared finally. She pulled herself back up leaning against the cot. Her arms limply hung at her sides. “Dammit…it happened again…” Fumiko dropped her head back against the padding. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling. “What am I going to do?”

  Did this happen because it finally ended? Was it a mental release? She had to fight so her mind wouldn’t let her stop? “No…it was because of her…” She could only be in this situation because of what happened. Because that maniputive bitch.

  Her eyes narrowed as fshes of the past crossed her. They paraded around her mental space without thought to how it made her feel. Everything just existed for the same reason. Only one reason. She khat. She uood that.

  Just one reason.

  “It’s only right that I suffer. Isn’t that right?” She tilted her head to stare off in the er seeing someone in her empty cell. A silent watcher. They always had the same demand. “This is the way it should be. You agree, don't you? The hero’s path only be paved in pathos, isn’t that right?”

  Chapter 284 – M Verdict

  M still sat an hour away, but Yuki could feel things already in motion. He khat the cil didn’t sit still. They expected him to do something. He khat much, which made it even easier to make his pns.

  While he marched back with Demostheo the Pace, a voice popped up in his ear. “They’ve fiheir positioning,” Chiharu said. It still unnerved Yuki a little, but found it to be incredibly clever of her. Due to always being under watch, she stu the shadows most of the day. Whenever she o report something to him, she could open a portal from her world to his inner ear. Her voice would travel straight to him and no one knew a thing, not evehenes.

  Naturally, it was only a one-way unication. Under stant watch, he couldn’t make any overtly suspicious as. But Chiharu was very intelligent and picked up on iions quickly. He didn’t have to tell her much after the initial request. ‘Chiharu seems to be enjoying her role as a spy.’ She really dove into the role after Yuki’s initial push to get her to accept it. It made it even easier since she always got all of the details he needed.

  “As you already figured, they’ve got assassins pnted around the execution grounds. Sihey had the grounds structed for this specifically, they were able to craft it in such a way to give them the perfect spots. But it makes them very easy to find.”

  Pressing his fio his temple, he gave the only signal he could manage. A very subtle tap gave her an answer. He tio rub his forehead as though weighed by the stress. ‘That’s the easy part…the rest…’

  “And the three of them will be of use. It’s like you thought. The best use for them will be in handling the snipers. They have the right team position t the best success. I’ll get in tact with them.

  ‘Excellent…I trust that’ll be hahen. I just have the hardest hurdle to hahen…’

  Chiharu finished with the rest of her report iail on what to expebsp; As always, she was thh. Just before she disappeared, she left him with o thing. “I never expected you to be so shrewd. I might have to stop calling you a weakling after this. Maybe!” She disappeared promptly afterward.

  Yuki wao smile thinking about what Chiharu said. ‘She just needs a little more of an adjustment to the way she talks and she’d be a cssic Tsundere.’ Thinking about Chiharu as a typical arope made him ugh a little inside. She had plenty of the traits to fit the bill.

  Tropes aside, m finally started to arrive. Judgment day finally came for all involved. The day left to test him. Could he make his goal a reality?

  He would know soon.

  The executiht out quite the audienbsp; Positioned in front of the Pace walls, it stretched out towards the Capital. They opened up a signifit amount of the area around the Pace exclusively for the execution. The cil easily made it into the biggest event possible. But it was important for another reason. They po hold the sele process for the King at the same time.

  It was the promise of a new King that brought many out. Their pn to do both was meant to show strength and stability in Atntis. That order and justice still held firmly. After all of the chaos aru caused by Yuki and his friends, it only made seo give them something that would reassure them that they were safe.

  Nothing like what happened over the st week had happened in more thay years. And it was made even worse than the rebelliohe degree of chaos was carried out by less than ten. Especially in the Capital, the general public mood had bee very uled by everything. They feared the ck of a King and saw the destru as signs of their future. Assuring the try’s future was the most important.

  Dimitris walked with Yuki and his friends bringing them to their selected seats. All of the nobility and honored individuals were giving positions behind the execution. Yuki’s seat pced them the furthest away from the execution grounds.

  As Yuki moved towards his seat, Dimitris leaned down to his ear. “Don’t make a se, kid. Just sit and pretend you’re part of the background. Any movement will be treated as a viotion of reement.”

  ‘Threatening me already, this is going to be a fun m.’ Yuki sat down and looked ahead. He smiled his fake smile for everyone. “I uand.”

  “Good.”

  The fa?ade on Yuki’s face dropped momentarily when Dimitris walked away. Dark lines formed around his eyes as a sign to his resolve. ‘I hope you have a good execution day.’ He quickly put his face ba for the crowd.

  Saki sat down along with Yumi o him followed by Yori. Seiji and Chiharu moved in after, though Seiji looked very rigid. It was clear that he wao do something, but it was only Chiharu that kept him at bay. A rampage wasn’t something they needed, fortunately even Seiji seemed to uand that or else Chiharu wouldn’t have been enough.

  At Yuki’s side, standing as if he was a adian Royal Guardsmeheood as selected guard unfling. He looked pletely natural in his position.

  After everyone oage gathered, the mai started. Hardly intended as a massive spectacle, it was hard not to see it as one given the sight. Eudokia, Simonides, Athene and Nerine had normal escorts. They were bound like criminals given only the most simplistic of clothing needed. However, Fumiko and Haruo were taken to the extreme and became the rgest focus.

  Yuki couldn’t help but think it looked like some movie over pying how threatening the vilin was because they had to be given excessive prote and bindings. It seemed almost ical. However, it was all pletely necessary. Both of their strength and power made the need fes t them out all the more important. Fumiko’s magic had to be ralized and Haruo needed something strong enough and fortified to keep his strength in chebsp; Even though her po escape.

  The thing that Yuki noticed and expected was that the regur citizens didn’t uand the purpose. They stared at them fused. ‘I figured as mubsp; The cil has kept all of these details secret. All the publiows is that there was a rebellion and they put it down. This is almost too easy…’ The smile on Yuki’s face grew a little bit.

  All of the pieces moved into the designated pbsp; The stage was set and all of the pyers had their pns in motion already. But Yuki griill. ‘Let’s get things started…’

  The executor came out from behind the tall chairs set for the audienbsp; They were a tall man, but cked the usual expectations of being massive muscle bound or even carrying a on needed for the execution. However, they wore the white uniform of a MP. They just seemed like another one of the mob.

  They positiohemselves before the first target, Eudokia. A ripple came out from their feet as they prepared for their job. Tension ran through the ehering. The cil all looked with anticipation for Yuki to make a move that would seal his fate with the rest. The nobles looked forward to the death of traitors and the citizens waited for a sign of returning peace.

  ‘They’re already making their move. It’s time to make mine…’ Yuki gnced over at Demosthenes. He immediately slid back a step, already in on the pn. Taking in a breath, Yuki gathered up everything he had. ‘Time for the game to start…’

  Yuki looked around suddenly in a panibsp; “What’s that? I see something!” He targeted it to the front to get the nobles looking around. A fsh of light went off on cue far in the distance from one of the towers. It started a wildfire among the nobles indug their panibsp; At that point, it didn’t matter who started it, the whole thing took on a life of its own. No one even remembered it was Yuki.

  Pying things out further, Yuki jumped up as the crowd started to reach a peak. “Look out!” He dove over top of all of the chairs pushing around everyone. Dimitris stood in front of his path. Thanks to the panic, many already started pointing out the projectile that clearly flew towards the cilor. “Get down!” Yuki leapt at the st moment taking Dimitris down to the ground, but not before taking the hit for the old man.

  Blood sprayed everywhere from the wound. Screamied throughout the crowd and the citizens below. Shouts of rebellion and groundless fears flew quickly. Yuki rolled off Dimitris, wing from the pain. “Are you alright, sir?”

  Dimitris' eyes flooded in panid fusion. He couldn’t say anything to him, but his expressiooo well into the se. The reasons behind it were different, but no one khe better. All of the other cilors ran up to him to try to recover.

  Yuki pushed them all aside and stood up. Blood poured down his arm from the jagged rock left in his shoulder. He slowly walked towards the front of the stage. Demosthenes mao appear o him. “Everyone! Please calm down!” he shouted. His voice barely even carried through the jungle of noise. “Shut the hell up!” Suddenly, his voice went through all ers of the site. “Thanks, General Alexander.”

  The name drop got everyone’s attention. Yuki finally had everyone’s attention. The panic started to calm. Bsts of pinkish-red orbs went off from the location of the assassination attempt. “Everything has bee with now. That explosion you heard just now was my team capturing the st of the rebels. You don’t know me, but I’ve been hunting down these rebels for months, though it feels like years at this point.”

  He ughed a bit and could see that he already started to lose some people. “This has all been a rge secret put into act by the cil of Atntis you see behind you. They knew about their leader, but could not make a move openly. So they sent me. I ow tell you all about this finally as we’ve finally captured the st of the rebels today right here.” Yuki saw the fused looks from both sides of the wall. ‘It was their mistake to keep me pletely hidden, not even the nobles know what I look like, they only mentioned me by name irial. Pretending to be someone else is almost too easy…’

  Yuki walked forward with the help of Demosthenes. He moved out in front of his friends. The closer to the citizens he could see how much they feared the uainty. They just wao know they could live peacefully. “I’m here today to assure you and firm that peace has returo Atntis. You do not o fear for your lives anymore!” A quick rise in voices from the citizens pushed into cheering.

  “However, I o clear up some fusion. These criminals you see here have stolen the faces and identities of those you see here. They want to tear us apart from the inside and make us question everyone! I will reveal their true identities before you now! People who even mao fool our honorable and just cil!”

  Givihehe signal, he had him suddenly alter his Field. Those that were Fumiko, Haruo, Simonides and everyone else captured ged. plete strangers appeared before everyone even for Eudokia. Gasps went through the whole audience, even the nobles.

  As Yuki turned around to see everyone’s reas, he gasped in shock as well. He pointed quickly out to one of the cilors. “I don’t believe it! General quick, we missed one of them!” Demosthenes leapt into a as the revealed fake cilor tried to make an escape. Rheia appeared in their path to catch them, ered by the two.

  Yuki turned back to the audience, dispying his surprise. “I’m sorry, I must apologize. I thought we had found them all, but it looks like one slipped into the cil. But it expins why they wao pce bme on Eudokia and Simonides. They sought t down those that proted care the most for this try!”

  The sudden reveals carried out by Yuki had everyone’s attention. No one looked away. He had them pletely. They were hooked on his every word now. He walked out a little further speaking directly to the citizens.

  “I know this is all very shog to you. But now you uand why this day was so important. The cil khe rebels would take this ce to free their rades and try to strike at the heart of this great try! They put themselves in harm’s way to see that you had peaorrow.

  “I make this promise to you now before all of you that we will keep fighting for pead see that this sort of thing never happens again!” Another round of cheers went through the crowd. They were pretty easy to work up. Even the cil knew how easy they were to use. It was actually a little sad how desperate they were for a sign of pead stability. Even with a twenty-year-old rebellion behind them, they still lived in uainty and fear stantly.

  Yuki gnced back at the cil. They all gred at them. He had the stage and they could do nothing to him. He had the crowd and their pns already fell apart. Even the nobility questiohe cil after what they saw. Uain looks fell upon them. ‘Oter resolved…now for the part…’

  He took in a deep breath. It was the hardest part for him. It was his pn. It was his decision. So he knew what he did and accepted it. However, it didn’t make it any easier to carry out.

  Demosthenes walked up behind him, the fake cilor arrested by Rheia. He stood stiffly behind Yuki giving him the sense of fidence, but also no escape. Yuki smiled a little and rexed. “There’s one more thing that I have left. Right now it’s just a promise and promises are just words until they have somethihat supports them.”

  Turning his head to the ground for a moment, he gathered up his resolve. “There’s a reason I’m here in front of you rather than say the General here telling you all of this. You don’t know me and I don’t know all of you very well either. So making promises as a stranger is meaningless. So I’m going to tell you who I am.”

  A ripple tore through the entire Capital in an instant from Yuki’s feet. He wiped away everything in the Capital using his Field along with a signifit expansion of the fields beyond. The dispy had everyone in plete silenbsp; “I’m your new King!”