The Dream Shifter

Chapter 178

Kalliope gripped her sword tightly and charged forward into the field of heat that surrounded the spell. She thought she ran to the surface of the sun the burning heat that sucked out every last drop of water from her body. Blisters and burns appeared on her hands from her sword heating up and exposed arms. Each step felt like misery dragged out over a year slowly penetrating so as to ensure every moment of every second felt equal and building in suffering. 'How can she have such power and be so weak?! It doesn't make sense!' She staggered in her charge feeling her muscles crying out through her aching skin.

Her next step caught a flame tendril shot out at her wildly. The flame gave her no time to dodge, especially as she struggled forward. It ripped up through her uniform burning skin deeply. Even fighting the pain a stifled scream broke into gasping yelp. As the tendril retracted back Kalliope broke her fall with her failing leg. 'I can't stop!' Her pain from her injury drew all of what she felt over her body in making it feel almost like she had escaped the heat. Yet on cue to dash her hopes a new wave of heat blasted through her burning with increased vigor. 'It's getting worse! I can't get closer!'

She stared at her sword burning into her palm and melting flesh. Desperation remained her only weapon. Kalliope raised the sword up and flung it from her hand at Fumiko tearing burnt skin with it. In spite of her hand bleeding out none of it seemed to hurt. Hope kept her legs from collapsing in the heat having to know if she reached her target. The sword sped closer drawing in a straight line for Fumiko's chest. It looked as though it would reach. She knew it would. An errant whip blew out in front of Fumiko knocking the sword away. Cast aside, the sword spun rapidly through the air far beyond Kalliope reach. 'I failed…' Her leg gave up dropping her to the ground. 'She'll kill everyone…nothing can stop her…' Kalliope passed out.

Kalliope stared at her sword burning into her palm and melting flesh. Desperation remained her only weapon. She raised the sword up and flung it from her hand at Fumiko tearing burnt skin with it. In spite of her hand bleeding out none of it seemed to hurt. Hope kept her legs from collapsing in the heat having to know if she reached her target. The sword sped closer drawing in a straight line for Fumiko's chest. It looked as though it would reach. She knew it would. An errant whip blew out in front of Fumiko knocking the sword away. Cast aside, the sword spun rapidly through the air far beyond Kalliope reach. 'I failed…' Her leg gave up dropping her to the ground. 'She'll kill everyone…nothing can stop her…' Kalliope passed out.

The flames continued to grow larger consuming still from Fumiko's essence. Lashing out, more tendrils birthed from the core as a mass of angry whips. Kalliope's uniform began to smoke and seer her skin completely. Homes cracked and snapped from the heat burning ever closer.

Out of the darken shadows cast from the brilliant sun carried in the staff, a large figured leapt forth dropping near Kalliope's fallen body. In a quick glance, the figure leaned down and picked her up disappearing for a moment before reappearing. A hand rose to their forehead acting as though it shielded them from the light. "The hell's going on?" barked Seiji. After his brief fight the light signaled him to his curiosity. 'Damn fights getting dealt with off screen!'

He pounded his fists together and stepped forward trying to get a clear view of the center. However, the massive fireball consumed all shapes around it in a blinding light. Only a faint blurred form seemed to be visible to him. All of the heat and fire blasted at him, but he barely felt it. "It's a little warm here…" He looked around at the village seeing it on the cusp of burning. "Who the hell's stupid idea is this? If they keep going they'll burn down the village!"

Seiji took a few steps closer noting the tendrils wailing about like angry watchdogs. "Is this another one of those Atlantean powers like Yuki?" He cracked his neck making himself excited. "Maybe this one will actually be a challenge for me!" A grin slipped from his lips charging forward not paying attention to the increasing temperature around him.

Almost feeling insulted by Seiji's lack of concern, the flames split doubling their numbers to increase their vicious attacks. Glowing slightly into the inferno, Seiji charged on destroying any tendril that dared to touch him. His fist raised back to charge his strength nearing the target. More flames lined up in front of him in desperation. Nothing stopped him. Seiji rammed through all shattering fire to dust. Contact rang out as his hand met something solid. Out of the furnace flew Fumiko crashing through the home at the end of the street. In an instant the fire disappeared as though put out with the staff collapsing to a rattle on the ground.

Seiji came to a stop on the other side of the event. Smoke rose off of his clothes and skin, but remained unharmed for the most part. Even he took some burns. Once the threat disappeared he looked around for his opponent (he didn't pay attention to where he was aiming). Disturbed mortar and crumbling wood alerted him to the fairly sizeable hole made in a home. He sprinted off to learn of the person's condition. He hoped for the fight to still be on, however when he looked inside an uneasy feeling overcame him. "Huh?! What's she doing there?"

While Seiji pointed himself back at the spot and the house trying to put the pieces together, Fumiko stirred from her debris bed. Another loud ringing filled her ears and a heavy overwhelming numb disjointed feeling in her head. She slowly pulled herself up, but did not realize that she had no feeling through body. "Seiji?" questioned Fumiko with a raspy voice. "Why are you here?"

The sound of Fumiko talking snapped Seiji's confusion and focused him back on the house. "I was just about to ask you the same thing! What's going on?" Taking another moment, he took in Fumiko's appearance. Her body ran with blood, burns, warped skin and ruined clothes. He reflected his confusion in his face. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Huh?" Fumiko stumbled forward finding it difficult to move her feet. Simple rubble made her trip. She caught herself against the wall near the hole she had flown through. Treated as though always a window, she searched around Seiji for answers. "I was…" A flash of the soldiers came to her as memories started back up. "…the soldiers… a woman?"

Already forgotten by Seiji, he responded with a puzzled expression. "A woman? One of the villagers? Were you protecting someone?"

Haze filled Fumiko memories the closer she tried to reach the present. "Protecting someone? I was protecting…who?" She shook her head not certain. "No…it was…"

Seiji scratched his head becoming frustrated with Fumiko's bout of amnesia. "Where's the hell is that guy with the fire I saw? I know I connected with him! He's got to be around here somewhere!"

"Guy with fire?" While confused by Seiji's statement it triggered new images in Fumiko's mind. More of the battle pieced together for her. She recalled the woman soldier that tried to kill her. The broom staff appeared in her hands. Fire consumed everything around her memories suddenly. '…fire…fire…' The first instance of pain ripped through her right arm suddenly as though reacting to the memories. She bit through it grinding her teeth together until it passed. Clarity came to her after the pain that revealed the conclusion. "I was the one. I think."

A tilt from Seiji's head accompanied his voice. "Huh? The one what?"

"The one in the fire. The guy with the fire you're looking for was me." The more she said it the more certain she became about her words. "I was the one creating the fire!"

"What?!" exclaimed Seiji with a long gasp from his mouth. It took him a while to recover as his mind processed what he had done. Despite his mind actually working, the severed connection to his lips continued. "You mean the person I hit was you!?" His finger and hand stretched out through the large hole he made calling to it as well as Fumiko.

The jester almost seemed to be accusing Fumiko. However, it took only moments for her to realize that Seiji had hit her and respond. "What!? Why did you hit me?! I know we teased you but that's uncalled for!"

"Hey-hey-hey! You were the one going all high school bonfire festival on the village! I was just trying to protect the village from burning down!"

"From burning down?" The words knocked Fumiko back a step as though slammed by a sledgehammer in her chest. 'I was burning the village? But I just wanted to protect them!' Fear shook into her arms and through her legs. In moments she lost her footing dropping to her knees. 'What was I doing?! What happened to me?!'

Insensitive Seiji realized finally what he did and jumped through the hole. "Hey! It's ok! You didn't do anything!" He received no recognition from his comfort. Seiji tried to shake her a little to snap her out, but her eyes spoke nothing to him.

Weights fell on Fumiko's heart crushing her being. She struggled to breathe feeling her chest tighten up. 'What have I done?' Each shallow breath came harder than the last. Compounding her pain, the numbness over her body had started to lift. All of the burns and cuts that she took roared anew over her body. Assaulted from all sides, a curdling scream escaped her lips before passing out in Seiji's arms.

Being so close to the scream had shaken him and the tone unnerved his usually stoic heart. "What's the matter?! Speak to me! Damn it!"

Surprise overtook Eusebios witnessing Yuki's act. In the darkness of the night he failed to totally grasp the situation. As he backed away to regain his composure he understood what he had ignored before. 'I'm not fighting an intruder. I'm fighting an Atlantean like myself…a rebel perhaps.' The thoughts spun in his mind as he came up with explanations that made more sense to why Yuki knew his master. Yet one fact stared him straight in the face. He could not underestimate his opponent.

Eusebios looked down at his hand materializing his spear back whole once more. 'He shattered my spear at this close of range with merely his hand. What sort of powers did he create for himself?' Yuki's field blended in with the surroundings as grass that he only knew it existed because of its encroachment on him. A grass field revealed little to his powers. Each person was different in using their powers, but they divided into two types when it came to fields.

Fields by nature reflected the inner mind of the user. However, a field still could change to suit the user's style. It created two types. One type relied on field manipulation as part of their array techniques. The other type focused more on created powers leaving field manipulation alone. The field manipulation types generally used unusual fields or elemental fields that worked to their strengths. As a grass field he knew that the chances of Yuki being a field manipulator type to be low. '…still I can't completely exclude the possibility. The chances are just lower. The frontal attack makes me think he's more of the brute force type. And he uses no weapon… How does Master know him?'

Yuki gave the man all the time he allowed to recover. He closed his hands preparing for another round seeing the man armed. Ignoring words, Yuki resumed his assault on the man. He swung at Eusebios lightly grabbing his attention before taking a true strike for him. The second punch failed to connect when the soldier dodged. Returning a strike with the spear, Yuki brushed it aside. He fought against the range of the weapon to his arm's reach.

When Yuki finally broke through the defense of the spear a new defense burst up. An array of spears thrust up in front of Eusebios meant to take the punch Yuki sent for him. His fist breached the wall with little effort. Wood splintered into a shower blasted outward at Eusebios. Yuki pushed on through reaching for Eusebios. The spears disappeared and another set surface in line as Eusebios tried to leave his range. It proved even less useful with Yuki's fist crushing them before him with even more dramatic effect. Adding to the damage the spear tips that began to fall from being cut suddenly stopped. A slight glow of particles wrapped around the remaining wood of the shaft directing four spear heads at Eusebios. They launched from their position quickly, but disappeared before given the chance to strike.