The Dream Shifter

Chapter 240

The invisibility granted to Cosmas faded away. The sight of Cosmas made Seiji's hands latch down harder. Seiji saw the other clones coming in at him. He did not back down from his hold of Cosmas. Rather, Seiji forced Cosmas' arms to block the incoming swings. Using his available leg, he kicked the clone out of the field before swinging Cosmas' whole body to knock out another. "I'm not letting you go!"

Forcibly overextended, Cosmas joints in his arm complained to him. He knew that he could do nothing to break free through strength alone. 'How is someone this strong? It's not possible!' The use of clones was pointless Cosmas saw with the way Seiji swung him. His body felt bruised and nearly broken from the violent swing.

Awe struck, Nerine needed all the time to figure out what Seiji had just done. Her mind became more sluggish she realized, as she knew what he did was very simple. 'He used the shockwaves from his punches to figure out the location from the slight disruptions caused by colliding with the invisible body. To figure that out in the middle of fighting… Is his mind winning over his heart?'

Seiji dropped Cosmas back to the ground, still holding his arms. The crippling state of Cosmas put him towering over him. He nearly snapped his arms in two in the motion. It had him at his mercy. Seiji felt his hands hesitating in what he wanted to do. He delayed. "…can't…forgive…"

Amongst the difficult stance, Cosmas regained some of his composure and with it, his focus. He coughed against the pain in his arms. "Thought you were going to kill me…"

A flip of Seiji eyes locked onto Cosmas. He saw the weak smirk growing back. It channeled his emotions back into his arms. "…you…" Seiji roared aloud.

Cosmas managed a small laugh. "Can't go through, eh?" He narrowed his eyes as they renewed their deathly gaze. "Don't worry, I'll show you how to do it right." A faint flash reflected in his eyes.

Seiji's eyes slid around his head as he spun around seeing the meaning of his words. Numerous swords flew through the air targeting the crippled Nerine. Seiji did not hesitate in what he had to do. He threw Cosmas' body into the path of the weapons.

The unexpected throw cast Cosmas through his field. A dust cloud of metal and earth covered his body and route, but it came to a stop in front of Nerine only a few meters away. Swords disappeared into the cloud in silence.

After the throw, Seiji disappeared to stand next to Nerine. He looked down at her making sure nothing got through to her. Nothing appeared through the cloud. However, a weak laugh made its way to him. It alerted him to the survival of Cosmas. '…damn…'

A shadow surfaced from the cloud before it faded away. Cosmas regained all of his arrogance and stature. The moments before did not even seem to register to him. His lips stretched and raised in an awful grin. "You didn't think that would actually hurt me did you?" Veils of dust blew away to reveal Cosmas completely unharmed by his weapons, though dirtied from the fall. "Did you think that someone from the Omega Division would actually fall for that?!"

"Omega Division?" questioned Seiji, his face showed little interested in the meaning of the words.

Nerine's face widened with shock. "Out here?! It can't be!"

"We're everywhere…always watching…" Cosmas warned. His face narrowed a bit to focus on Seiji. "However, that's all the time I have for a dead traitor and rebel…"

Seiji's face twisted in confusion, but changed quickly. He heard Nerine groan and cough weakly before collapsing next to him. It pulled him away from Cosmas. One of the swords pierced through her chest. He stretched out for her, but found more than a dozen blades running him through from his arms and legs to his chest. Seiji coughed up blood still futility trying to reach out to Nerine. His arm ignored the sword pushing the blade through. He managed to reach her hand before her eyes closed and his soon to follow.

The fires left as the aftermath of the battle still disrupted their ability to learn the outcome. Near the edge of the radar's detection, another battle seemed to conclude. The lack of accurate information on the individuals fighting left the tent in strained silence. Most of the soldiers knew only pieces of the events that transpired over the last forty-eight hours. The unfortunate part that they all knew was that they had yet to win and end the conflict. Such feelings colored their uncertainties.

All of them prayed that the MP users won and finally ended the attack. Yet they also feared that the MPs all lost and the next move brought them closer to achieving their mysterious goals. Mixed sentiments made such silence difficult to bare.

Simonides felt relieved to see one of the fights end, but something about it bothered him. It was the only fight that occurred out of the camp. He had sent out other MPs as back up, but in the mess of the fires, he lost track of them. Only the radar provided him information. Too many questions remained because of it. The one that concerned him the most was the appearance of third individual, one that he did not send. The unknown person ended up finishing whatever the other person lost.

'Who entered the fight? Did one of the MPs I sent make it?' he already thought, but other thoughts filled him. 'Perhaps it was another from their team?' Simonides despised not knowing enough. Unfortunately, the situation was too dangerous and spread out for him to watch. He also had the obligation to protect his men from the disaster that he invited into their camp.

All of his plans failed to go smoothly. His predictions had too many errors. He knew that they would come to rescue their captured comrade. The way they fought and testimony from those that fought them told him that. It was meant to keep them on the border, but if they split as he feared the plan failed. A trap was not a trap if it failed to capture all of the target. However, capturing a few was a good enough start.

His eyes focused over on the remaining undetermined fight. 'These battles will exhaust them. A battle of attrition is the worst possible tactic for a Commander, but against such powerful enemies, it is the only plan that will actually have success. I will seem them stop this night!'

"Damnit," panted Athene. She wiped away sweat from her forehead. It forced her to watch the puzzle change shape again. Her successes continued to be meaningless. Nothing breeched the first layer. "I thought I figured it out, yet now…" Spite no longer seemed to be accurate in describing the puzzle.

She got used to the changes only recently. It seemed an impossible feat, but she actually managed it. All of the directionless held significance. She found a way out. Yet she failed.

However, failure was something she grew accustomed to in the mind of Yori. What she was not familiar with was the change that just happened. It no longer changed shape alone, but dimensions. Reality warped to actually become an impossibility. "How is this even possible? A human being can't actually be this complex!"

"And that's where you're wrong!" echoed the voice of Yori. The annoying copy returned to taunt her again. He hovered upside in disjointed pieces around her, as if his presence was not unsettling enough.

Athene wobbled back to her feet. Her body reflected the condition of her mental state in the real world. She barely hung to the desperate notion that she would get answers. The words of a trickster should not have meant anything to Athene, but she needed even a small piece of truth buried underneath a junkyard of lies. An empty promise from an untrustworthy person was all she had.

She staggered forward to the entrance, what might have been considered one to a high-order being. It was the only place that did not look completely impassable. Athene brushed aside a piece of Yori that floated in front of her. "If you're here to mock me…I don't have the time…"

"Aw, don't want to spend any time with me?" A few pieces floated back in front of Athene, not quite getting in the way. "But you're right." Athene ignored him and moved on. "You don't have the time. Any time, in fact."

Her foot stopped its slow march. She knew that she ran out of time. The strain her mind went through to keep her going was easier to feel in each passing moment. Safety left a while ago. "You're just trying to delay me."

"That's hardly necessary anymore. You won't survive another round." A few of the sections of Yori moved around as though extending to the gate before them. "That isn't like the others you've dealt with. A normal human wouldn't survive it for a second." He grinned at her with those words.

"I'm not normal! I can take anything in there!" Athene began to stagger forward again.

"That's where you're both right and wrong. You may possess abilities that aren't normal, but that body and mind is completely normal."