Yuki leaned forward with a step while he maniputed some of his mist to grab Yori from the frontline. “What do you think you’re doing?! You’re supposed to keep to the rear!”

  “I’m not sitting this out anymore! I’m fighting with everyone else!” he shouted while throwing back his bck sword to slice through the mist. While it did nothing to something with no real form, it sent the message.

  Yroaned lowly as he struggled to keep his focus on every aspect of his barrier that he subdivided into enough pieces to ter all the attacks. ‘This is harder than I expected to maintain this level. The sheer numbers are maddening.’ Staring over at the one trolling his sister, he had trouble imagining them doing the same. ‘Is Yumi’s potential that different from mine? She could do all of this without even breaking a sweat?’

  “Your presen the battlefield won’t ge the results,” they replied.

  “We’ll just have to see if that's true!” He jumped forward with his swords bearing down on the barriers proteg her, while several more materialized in the air to attack the barrier from other points. ‘I’m ing for you! Please hear me, Yumi!’

  Chapter 378 – The Wrong Success

  Saki sighed watg Yori failing to do anything meaningful to their oppo as well. It started to py out in the way that she expected. “I guess, we’ll just have to adapt to what he does,” she muttered looking for an opening in the fight. There stopped being any real sense of flow or rhythm like they had before. Yori succumbed to his emotions and now the battle turo chaos.

  “Suits me just fine!”

  “That’s because you don’t like over plicated things and this is a perfect fight for you where thought stopped being a factor.”

  “A true fight is about exging blows, not outsmarting the other person.”

  She wasn’t going to do anything to ge Seiji’s mind. She wasn’t even sure why she even attempted tue with him. “Whatever, just do what you want.” Watg the eagerness in his eyes grow only further to disappoint Saki. ‘This fight isn’t going anywhere…’

  “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing,” Yuki interjected before they jumped bato the fight. “I’m seeing a minor rea out of the device when Yori jumped in. I think Yumi might be hearing him finally.”

  “But she’s not in trol, in fact I haven’t seen any ge from them.”

  “She’s going to need more of a push. All of you o call out to her as well!” He stared at the device seeing the faint blip that was a signal. It was just far too weak.

  Seiji pounded his fists together eager to keep going. “This is going to be fun!” He jumped bato the fight, exging out for Yori at barely the moment before an attack came in. Ash fell away from his arms in the terblow before Seiji tihrough with his fists. Pounding on the barrier repeatedly started to show some signs of weakness.

  “We’ll do everything that we ! e on Nerine!” They quickly turhe fight into a four otle and still made it look like they were ing out barely holding their own. The barriers kept them from making any serious headway to the Tacti and even without that, they had tless other attacks to avoid and ter. With the ck of any meaningful strategy on their part, the Tacti easily kept them all in line dang to their ow.

  Perhaps it was luaybe fighting together they started to feel some sort of rhythm naturally, but all of the barriers proteg her shattered with their successive strikes ed together. Unprotected, Yori immediately charged in after his sister to grab a hold of her arms. “Yumi! Listen to me! Return to your brother, Yumi!”

  It didn’t st for long before a foot embedded in his stomaocked him back, but refusing to release his grip on her. He stubbornly struggled on unwilling to give up his opportunity now. Yet, the Tacti still looked unimpressed by his efforts.

  Looking down on him while being shorter than him reminded him of their differenbsp; “That might have worked a couple months ago, but not now. You might stir her a little with your voice, but she still fears you more than anyone else. Your voice ’t save her.”

  “Fears me?! My sister isn’t afraid of me! I’m her brother! Stop with your lies!”

  “You know so little about Yumi.”

  “You know nothing about her!”

  “She has secrets she’s old you. I told you before, you ’t save her.”

  “I’m not listening to you! I will save her!”

  Snapping her arms quickly in a small circle, they quickly reversed the hold that Yori had and tossed him over head. Though surprise took Yori in the moment, his drive focused him quickly as he jumped off the air to return. However, he met the Tacti with an energy bde blog his on. With effortless ease, they threw Yori off and summoned up gravity to press Saki, Seiji and Nerio the roof, uo move.

  Yori remaihe only oill able to stand, but only because it was to be that way. Charging ba after them, Yori swung his ons in a flurry trying to break through the defense. Unfortunately for him, each blow was easily blocked until parried and thrown back.

  Crashed against the crumbling wall of the rooftop access, Yori pulled himself out of the rumble. Everything that he learned from Athena still wasn’t enough to best the Tacti. Even still, he charged back for another round. He tried everything that he knew from sparring with her. All of the tricks that he picked up. Anything to succeed.

  Nothing.

  They remained unmoved by any of the attacks. Yori found it troubling how well they fended him off. Both now and in the past. As he regained his stance, he held off attag immediately as he had before. “Even if you have a better uanding of Yumi’s powers, Yumi doesn’t have sword skills or martial training. It’s impossible for her to have any of that.”

  “Yumi doesn’t possess those skills, but I do. It was a y for me to have them.”

  “You’re just a false persona created in Yumi, none of that is necessary.”

  “You know so little.” In a bit of a surprise move, Yori came under direct attack by the Tacti, which went against their normal stationary battle tactibsp; On a true offensive, Yori couldn’t even mao block a single blow from the sword in her hand. Blood sprayed in arcs through the air as each swing cut flesh.

  In mere moments, Yori was rendered nearly pletely helpless. His body bled over the rooftop with his body uo move. But thanks to his power, he wasn’t without options. It was why he couldn’t be said to be truly disabled. Until he was dead, he could keep fighting. Just not with this body, rather with his mind.

  He could manipute his barrier and create thiess with it to stop the attabsp; But it was a futile effort. None of his attacks could make it through the defehey put up. And when on offense, his defense barely kept him from being killed. ‘It’s turning out like st time…’ He hated that notion. Twice he failed to save her sister.

  Nothiried would work.

  No other options remained.

  She was lost.

  “That look of defeat in your eyes. So you uand now.”

  Yuki ched his hands together frustrated just watg. He pced his bet on Yori reag her and he lost. ‘Dammit, so it’s really e down to this… I wao avoid this sario as much as possible. This is the worst possible way this could have turned out. It’s just not enough.’ The device barely read any differently than it did before. His friends helping Yori did nothing other than even out a pletely out cssed fight. And even that didn’t st.

  The st card to py was the st for a very good reason. He never wao py it. Especially with Yori around. However, they were out of options now. Yuki had no choice, but to actually step forward to ehe flict.

  Stepping out from around the device, he slowly and cautiously walked towards the siblings. Since he remained out of the fight, he had no effe him from the gravity geed ohers. But Saki immediately yelled out to Yuki, “Get away from them! You ’t fight them in that state!”

  He tio move slowly towards Yumi’s body. “It’s fine. I’m not pnning on fighting.”

  “Making your move, King,” respohe Tacti as they gnced over at him. There was a different sort of look in their eyes seeing Yuki approach.

  “That’s right. I’m the piece you were wanting. But also the ohat you couldn’t do anything to.”

  Pg gravity on Yori to stop him from making any sort of sneak attacks, they faced Yuki. They gave him their full attention with some hesitation actually appearing. “You’re unnaturally observant.”

  “It only made sense in this situation. Yumi might be asleep, but her subscious will is still w against you and it’s quite powerful.”

  “For being asleep, she has a stubborn nature.” They approached Yuki and they came to a stop only a few timeters apart from one another. “It only prevents me from killing you.”

  “But you won’t strike me either. The moment you do, you’ll lose trol.” Yuki stared at her face watg the differeions going through. For the most part, through the fight, they kept a stone face the eime. It was unfling and unwavering with ions. They were cold and calg. The only moment of emotion came in the full offense on Yori.

  And now.

  “You really are unnerving and dangerous.”

  “I’ve beeing told that a lot. But it’s time for you to be asleep rather than Yumi. Your test is over.”

  “The test still tinues. This isn’t the end, only the beginning.”

  Yuki stretched out his hand to her fad held it just out of reabsp; “No more tests. Just sleep.” He stepped closer to her and pressed his hand to the side of her fabsp; There was a sharp rea from Yori’s sister as all of the power the Tacti wielded suddenly started to fade away. “Yumi,” he whispered softly to her.

  Her eyes closed sharply as life seemed to fall out of her body. She quickly lost the ability to stand and nearly fell face first to the floor if Yuki had not beeo catch her. Yuki held on to her slowly, letting her rest on the roof with the struggle finally over. “…Yumi…”

  Seiji jumped from his spot with the gravity long released to join Yuki at Yumi’s side. He didn’t really uand what happened, but he was happy to see a friend saved. “You did it Yuki! She’s safe!” Firm pats on the back threw Yuki around as Seiji didn’t trol his strength well in the excitement.

  Yori id against the rumble, staring at everyone joining Yuki at his sister’s side. She was safe once more and babsp; But he found himself having trouble accepting it. He was happy to see that she was babsp; Yet, he could only feel sadness overing him quickly watg it. The reality of what happened overwhelmed him quickly.

  He had been useless. And that wasn’t the end of it. Not by a long shot. The worst part stared at him in the eyes looking down at her.

  The truth was before him.