The Dream Shifter

Chapter 225

Stamatia watched Fumiko's movements to judge the moment of her attack. They both wielded fire and it had thus far mostly ended inconclusively. The strike on her armor proved that she had the strength to match her. A point that Stamatia felt concerned about a little. 'However, I haven't begun to use my full power…' Her fires responded to her thoughts and shot out as a raging river held back by a dam at the point of breaking.

Ready for the attack, Fumiko had a counter set up. The headpiece glowed brightly before it ignited into flames quickly producing several medium sized balls of fire. Using the staff as a launch, she swung it to release the fire.

Creating powerful winds on their shockwaves, the flames collided in explosions. Surrounding debris was cast aside freely. A few grunts sounded out from nearby soldiers that had the misfortune of being present. It took a little while for all of the dust kicked up to clear out, but they found themselves in the same situation as before, fire against fire. Both refused to give even a centimeter.

Fumiko slowly took in a careful breath. 'I managed to meet her this time, but I can't do that again… My casting speed is nothing like her ability to summon fire… I'm at a disadvantage like this…' She knew that she could not even match her for quantity either, not without sacrificing power. Her eyes glanced over at her left hand for an answer. It gave her some hope, but still was unknown.

Some frustration surfaced in Stamatia after their last round. She put more into the fire expecting to punch through her defenses, but nothing happened. Their stalemate continued. 'Since she's serious now, am I starting to see what she is truly capable of doing? I'll have to increase my flame…'

The new round started with the atmosphere changing again. More than a dozen streams of fire rose up to surround Stamatia. Each of them held the same size and intensity as her previous ones. She made a clear sign that she no longer planned to go easy on Fumiko. 'I'll show you whose resolve is stronger!' Casting her hand out at Fumiko, the liquid like flames jumped into action.

Incoming quickly from all sides, Fumiko barely had enough time to cast enough for even one fireball. She knew she could not deal with so many. 'This is the power of a Kasou-ryoku? Someone like Yuki…' Fumiko fired off her spell at the most immediate stream to dispel it. The explosion was enough to wipe out two accompanying streams as well. She would have felt fortunate, if not for the rest that still came after her. 'My other hand can…' Her thought turned quickly into action as she formed and threw out a fireball from her flame hand in response. It took another few with it, but left with her more to deal with alone.

Fumiko took up her staff and swung away what she could, but it was not enough. She could not stop them all. They breached her defenses and slammed into her shoulder and arms. The force sent her flying backwards through a tent that had not managed to be destroyed yet. Their impact left some embers on her clothes, burning away sections.

Her sliding kicked up a small cloud, but Fumiko's flame burned through it all. She stood up slowly out of the rumble. Patting out the remaining fires on her, Fumiko checked her condition quickly. Small holes appeared in her tunic and her skin looked a little red, but nothing serious. 'I wonder if my attunement to fire provides me resistance…that would make the most sense…'

Examining her results, Stamatia stifled as much annoyance as she could. She did not think that with everything she sent that Fumiko would come out with so little damage. Their previous exchanges did not leave her to expect it to finish her off, but she hoped for something more serious. 'Her field dampened me that much? But I was able to touch her… Just need more…'

'I need a different plan…' thought Fumiko. She pressed her staff into the ground to force her back into step. At home, she only practiced a few different things. Her awakening did not provide her with a good sense of what she was capable of achieving with the power she gained. Each battle she found herself discovering something new. She hoped that her new arm meant something. She just did not know how to make use of it. In its present form, she got the feeling that she was not fully utilizing it.

Changing tactics, Stamatia raised her hand up above her head. It called up flames from all around the field. Pieces of the flames broke free becoming independent. More broke away as they grew in numbers. They transformed from spheres into simple arrows. "Let's see you stop this!"

Fumiko gasped in surprise at the array of arrows in the air. She knew that she could nothing against so many. 'I can't counter that! I need something else…' Her eyes flipped to her sides quickly trying to figure something out. The urgency of the situation raised her heart rate to a pounding. It crushed her ribs trying to escape.

She was out of time.

Stamatia launched all of the arrows at Fumiko. She did not wait for waves or feints, just pure simple numbers. It was an attack that went for large amounts of small damage rather than one larger one. The quantity made it impossible for them all to be taken out.

Staring at her opponent, Stamatia could see her attempting to prepare something even with them in the air already, but it was pointless. She had seen her speed and her arrows would get through. Even if a spell finished, it would not do enough to her numbers. 'This'll hurt…' She watched eagerly looking forward to see the traitor on her knees.

As expected, Fumiko's casting came too long and the arrows reached their target. She lifted her flame arm up in defense, but it was not enough for her. The arrows pierced through her flame and continued into her body. More arrows rained down on Fumiko quickly blotting her out from sight. Some of the arrows missed their target and exploded with the ground instead. It kicked up a cloud that masked everything out from sight.

The cloud cover delayed Stamatia's answer. She wanted to know how much damage she caused the woman. It made her impatient in learning the outcome. Using her control over everything in the field, she created an explosion to blow away the veil. The forced wind peeled away Fumiko's cover slowly layer by layer. Deeper inside a purple glow surfaced that could not be seen before. It grew brighter with more dust and earth in the air fading.

Stamatia took a step back in surprise once she finally saw Fumiko standing. Inside a purple sphere, Fumiko rose up appearing mostly unscathed by the attack. Ribbons of purple light wrapped the sphere slowly spinning around and rotating keeping up a complete barrier of protection.

Fumiko lowered her staff. The barrier faded away with her release. "That hurt more than I thought," she commented to herself. Her tunic revealed new tears and burns where the arrows hit. They mostly left her skin untouched, but she felt soreness from them. "That gave me enough time…" She looked over at the flame on her left.

"Time for what?" questioned Stamatia, "I don't see anything different."

"Not yet." She lifted her arm up to put it in front of her. "Even practicing I was never able to get it reproduce like I did the first time. I was only able to make a normal looking flame. But I know I can make it again if I just place my faith in my power. That's why this happened!" Her arm stretched out aiming at Stamatia. The wind that blew through pulled at the trails of flames whipping it around.

Fumiko closed her eyes focusing on her arm. Not immediately visible, a different colored glow rose up out of the depths of the flame that made her arm. Threads and ribbons, filled with characters and symbols, lifted from the surface. Their source came from her shoulder disappearing underneath her tunic. They wrapped around digging into and coming out the other side of the flame. Magic threads spread through building into a stronger color. Her flame suddenly grew darker absorbing the hue from the magic.

A bit of wonder and curiosity held back Stamatia from acting when she knew that she should not. She did not understand her hesitating, but she wanted to see what the talk was about. 'What's happening to her arm? Why is it blue?'

Opening her eyes, Fumiko smirked a little. It pleased her to see that her gamble paid off. The blue flame that she found before during her awakening resurfaced. She merged it with her arm. The heat and magic coming off it felt much stronger than before. "This is everything that I hoped for and more… I'd suggest a defense! If you don't want to get hurt too badly!"

"Huh?" Stamatia barely had a moment to react as Fumiko sprinted towards her faster than she thought possible for a human, even one with MP powers. She summoned up flames for her defense, but it did nothing. Fumiko's blue flame blew them away with a single blast. The rest became a blur to her eyes. She could not follow her speed as she already appeared behind her.

Stamatia turned her head in shock. "Imposs—" Pain snapped off her voice. Her flame armor along her shoulder and arm vanished. Blood sprayed up into the air left from a wide claw mark that left five individual slashed from her shoulder down her arm. Her eyelids grew wide as her pupils shrank in surprise.