The Dream Shifter

Chapter 196

The force of the impact nearly knocked Antipas off his feet and covered his shoulder in a small cloud. However, the smoke disappeared almost immediately blown away by a strong force. A similar explosion blew up on Yuki's arm sending him back forced to his knee. "Huh?" Yuki caught his arm with his other hand feeling blood trickling down over his fingers. 'Broke through my defense? How?' He looked back at Antipas in search. The shoulder he hit no longer held the rectangular metal plate and the trench coat cloth burned away, but underneath was another layer of clothing. A little green of the material broke through before all of it regenerated including the metal. 'He took my attack? But the attack he just made on me…'

Walls surfaced again in front Yuki. Antipas regained his stance and worked on entrapping Yuki once more. 'It was a big risk, but looks like I finally stopped him! Just need to capture him for the Captain now…' The last of the pieces slid into place for him, but the familiar light appeared again. Knowing the next step, Antipas stepped away as his walls fell away for Yuki. "Still have some strength? I'll wear that down too!"

Even more walls than usual appeared around Yuki. His still good arm tightened back and lowered touch into the grass of his field. The blades of grass shined for a moment before all of the stone shattered. Yuki stepped back up and walked forward. "Enough of these weak attempts…" Wall continued to come up, but Yuki kept walking. The closer he approached they began to vanish. Yuki continued to move towards Antipas until one stubborn wall remained. He rammed his fist into the wall shattering it to pieces.

"Impossible!" shouted Antipas staggering backwards. His eyes widened in shock to see Yuki unhindered by any of his moves.

"Don't you get it? You're too weak for me! I can neutralize your field by just moving towards you!"

The answer for Antipas that came only made his eyes widened more and pupil's shrink in size. 'How can he be that strong? I'm not weak!' Antipas tried to keep from shaking before Yuki. "That's impossible! You can't be that much stronger!" Confusion and panic pumped into Antipas. He blindly charged for Yuki. "Justice will triumph!"

Yuki narrowed his eyes and raised his hand up shooting out another blast him from his palm. The force from it knocked Antipas off his feet, already unstable. Immediately after falling, the location where Yuki hit blasted back into the sky disappearing at the edge of his field. '…thought so…'

Antipas pulled himself back up to his feet. His chest heaved with the panting from his shortened breath. While the damage to his cloths disappeared, he still felt the physical force it struck with on his body. He took two hits and his body already shook. One of his eyes winced in pain slightly blurring his view of Yuki. "You might be stronger…but…you can't break my last…defense…"

His good hand remained held out towards Antipas. Yuki's determination remained unchanged. "Your defense means nothing to me!" A quick shimmer around his hand highlighted the signs of a new attack. However, the air sparkled rather than a larger gathering like before. Shards of light sped towards Antipas striking his trench coat. All of the metal glowed brightly before disappearing and returning a hail of light back at Yuki. Ripples echoed over Yuki's transparent armor before another response of larger pellet sized blasts rained down on Antipas.

The blasts ripped through the coat and ate down into his deeper layers. Antipas flew backwards lifted from the ground by the numerous impacts. His body skidded across the stone of his field slowing him down. The morning sky lightly covered in clouds presented to Antipas' eyes as the last thing he saw. '…too strong…' Stone faded away giving way to grass.

Yuki approached Antipas kneeling down at him. A faint gaze of sadness filled his eyes seeing the soldier. He released his field and placed his good hand on the young man's chest. A green glow came from Yuki's arm surrounding Antipas. Once Yuki finished he stood up and scanned the battlefield. He saw Yumi and Seiji's battles had already ended, but his surrounded friends back at camp. "I'm coming everyone!"

The hot volatile air that had blown through warming up the brisk morning cooled out and disappeared to the deeper hills. A chilly breeze replaced its predecessor. Each moment brought a release of tension from the atmosphere. Some still struggled to remain lit, but the momentum already changed direction. The view that he had made that regretfully expected outcome very clear.

Simonides watched all three fights with great interest. While his men had lost, they had carried out the tasks given to them. Additionally, it confirmed something for him that he already suspected. 'These intruders are naïve…they spared their opponents…' He had more of his men behind him in preparation if his men's lives were in danger, but his gut told him he had nothing to fear. His intuition validated itself before him.

A new concern also came from the battles that he prepared for the intruders. 'Miltiades managed to draw out another MP user, but there's something about that black figure's powers that I can't explain.' Simonides did not have the vast knowledge of how they used and controlled their powers, but he felt certain that what he saw should not have been possible.

Antipas fight was the only battle he followed clearly. 'Both fought as I would expect from MPs. I saw the boy's field and the interference zone. But the others…I saw no fields and not even a region of conflict. Even if they withheld their field's appearance, it still creates a field of influence. Yet they had abilities impossible for normal humans. Even the headstrong boy could not have survived all of the hits he took without some protection.' Too many mysteries still surrounded the intruders for Simonides to feel comfortable with his enemy.

He stood up from the hill no longer needing to watch as closely. The battle was almost at an end and the next objective began. A motion from his hand signaled to his men to prepare for the return. Those that fought would need healing. Simonides rubbed his hand against his chin not liking the feeling that his gut gave him. 'I need to know more about them before I can take them down. Abeiron, it's time for you to move.' He turned back towards to the fields casting his gaze to the large gathering of his men surrounding the rest of the intruders. 'This is a critical time, don't fail!'

Surrounded by nearly a dozen soldiers, the four students all carried varying expressions. Haruo remained disinterested with a flat emotionless face as though it did not involve him. A very clear stance from him made it certain that he had no plans to fight as he remained still the entire time through the staring. Fumiko did not even seem to acknowledge a threat to her life. Her eyes held a gray color devoid of life, too absorbed by something else. Yori acted as if he could handle himself, but the shaking in his legs gave away his feint at stoic stature. Only Saki looked ready for every single one of the soldiers and left the proof to back up her boldness.

Saki gritted her teeth in annoyance for more reasons than she wished to count. Her eyes panned around the soldiers, still left a little uneasy by her opening volley. "I can't believe Chiharu left like that! We're supposed be a team! We stay together!" Another look around at her friends counted each of them.

She worried the most about Fumiko, who had been very quiet ever since leaving the village. Saki knew that Fumiko could handle herself, since she survived against the soldiers in the village. However, the state that she seemed to be in Saki did not know if Fumiko even understood her current situation. 'What's the matter with her?' The more that Saki looked around at the soldiers the more that she understood. 'This is still very new to her…I guess I shouldn't be surprised…'

Caught in the middle of something that tied him down, Yori found his eyes constantly staring away from the soldiers. Each shifted movement from the foreigners made him flinch and reset back. Yet as the seconds calmed between moments, he would continue to gaze away in the distance. '…sister…' He wanted to leave everything behind and race over to her. She may have saved him before, but she was still his sister. He made a promise. 'I'm supposed to protect you, Yumi…and yet all I can do…' A cool wind tickled his neck and lightly gripped everyone's cloths turning his eyes back.

Yori squeezed his hands seeing his trapped situation. Sweat built up on the insides of his palms and down his back. Even in the chilled air, his body could not draw away the heat. 'I'm trapped…there's so many of them! More than last time!' His mind flashed through the events quickly. The painful reminder only made his body sweat faster. 'I was only trying to fight one soldier then…and I…'

He tightened his neck and shoulders with tension. The stiffness soaked into his bones spreading until only numbness remained. 'My legs…won't move!' Yori fought with his body. Any attempt he made ended with the same failed results. The paralysis grew stronger refusing to relinquish any control. 'Damn it! Why can't I do anything?'

Saki had finally had enough of the waiting. She would have finished everything much sooner, if it had been her choice. She hated to have things dragged out more than anything. All of the fighting that they found themselves slowed them down, when she could end it all shortly. Her eyes quickly took in all of the soldiers that surrounded them to make sure of her path. In an instant, Saki disappeared from everyone's sight and then reappeared back in same spot with only her hair blowing around sharply.

Surprise rose up on Simonides' forehead witnessing the display. He looked through his binoculars closely and then above them with his own eyes. It took him a moment to believe what he saw, or did not in his case. '…nearly a dozen men…taken out in mere seconds…' Simonides had to zoom in his view a little to check once more. Only Abeiron remained standing, likely not a target.

Pausing to think, Simonides straightened himself out and lifted from his voyeurism of the battlefield. 'It had to be that girl, another one confirmed… To be able to take out so many, so fast…' His eyes lowered slightly pulling in the edge of the field with his unconscious men. Even from the distance of his hill, he knew that they were all still alive. '…and left alive, just like before…a very naïve enemy…'

Simonides glanced back over his shoulder at the remains of his advance team. They already had preparations for field healing nearly complete. Their hands soon would be full. However, before he fully turned back the horizon caught his eye and something in his mind. He recalled the South Gate incident that started it all. The state of all of his men in the search party held the same familiarity of what he saw. 'So she was the one. She was able to handle that many of my men then without any of them being able to respond…'

The thoughts of strategies with the Japanese girl in his plans all fell apart. Each tactic that he thought of seemed to be pointless, at least for a normal soldier. Such a thought turned his mind creating new tactics. 'She will definitely be the most difficult one. An invisible enemy...'

Turning away from the field, the Captain signaled to the remaining White left in his team. The sole purpose for him was to be the healer for the team. Unfortunately, plans required flexibility. "The recon team is nearly wiped out. I'm going to need you to provide support for their retreat. Leave immediately and ensure the safe return of all of the men."

"Understood, sir!" he barked. The young man, in his late twenties, activated his field and disappeared into the air. A silent run and disguised field left him able to sneak into the battlefield.