The Dream Shifter

Chapter 46.1

Ayumi walked over to the dying assassin looking down at his bleeding corpse with her sword up ready to finish him off. The man did not seem to have any fear or surprise, but more peaceful in spite of having lost. 

"They already know. There will be…no hiding any longer."

"You told them where to find him before we arrived. I won't let them kill him."

A painful laugh came from the man until Ayumi ended his life with the sword through his heart. The assassin quickly stopped soon afterward as the blood continued to pour into the snow. Ayumi dropped her field and collapsed to one knee panting heavily to get her breath.

"He pushed me to my limits…"

"Ayumi?!"

Yuki shouted in surprise as he was lifting up Saki to check on her. He looked back at Saki and again at Ayumi not certain what he should do with the two girls.

"Saki? Are you…"

He did not know what happened to Saki after the vines had grabbed her. He hoped that his fears were just being exaggerated and she would open her eyes, but she remained motionless.

"Saki… please…"

Saki still features held firm against Yuki's pleads, but it was all shattered by brief coughing. Yuki lifted Saki up so that she was sitting to give her a more comfortable position.

"Yuki…"

She coughed again feeling out her body that was quickly returning back to her. The pain that she was feeling across her muscles drained away with all of the wounds that she took from the spiked and bladed plants' last desperate attack.

"Yuki…"

"Saki! You're alive!"

"Yes… somehow…"

Saki said looking at herself still not having believed that she went up against one of the assassins and survived. It was not as though she thought she was going to die in the fight either. The fight had to be done and she knew that, but with everything that happened, she was not useless. She had been able to keep her promise to Yuki.

'My promise remains Yuki. I'm glad.'

"You're an i***t…"

Ayumi said walking over to the two of them appearing perfectly healthy, but it was clear from her eyes and words that she was completely fatigued.

Saki grinned sheepishly at Ayumi knowing that it was the truth.

"Sorry. Are you feeling alright? You look fine, but you sound terrible."

Ayumi dropped to the ground roughly as though she had been barely holding herself up the entire time.

"My body may be perfect due to Yuki's field, but no amount of healing can restore mental energies that I spent during the use of Meso Prosecho."

She hung her head down still drawing up long breaths like she had run for miles at her hardest.

"Meso Prosecho? Yuki's field?"

Saki said looking confused by the entry of new terms that she had not heard.

Yuki looked over at Ayumi concerned because he had never seen her look so fatigued before from using her power. He turned back chiming in for an answer.

"She's talking about the Kasou-ryoku."

The answer that Yuki gave still eluded Saki making him step back further while Ayumi twitched in annoyance.

"It's the name of the power that we have."

"And your field?"

"Dunno, my field isn't up. So I don't know what Ayumi's talking about."

"i***t…"

Ayumi said painfully having her previous statement directed at both of them and not just Saki. She was not completely surprised by the lack of attention that Yuki had.

"You have a field on right now, Yuki. You just didn't realize it."

"Huh? When?" he said looking around at the ground searching for signs of a field, but still not seeing anything apart from the cement floor.

"During the fight, you activated it. There were no visible signs of it, but the effects could be seen. You created a healing field that provided high-speed restoration. That was how we were able to keep fighting after all of those injures."

Ayumi paused for a moment to breathe again not feeling any better and knowing it would not change for some time.

"Even now it is still on, that's why neither of us has any wounds."

"That's was Yuki?"

Saki said finally piecing everything together slowly. The whole idea of their powers still made her mind hurt to think about the paradox that is created, but accepting it for what she saw was simple enough.

"Then all of that…"

She looked down at her arms and body remembering the wounds that she had taken.

"What are you talking about, Ayumi?"

"You really are dumb…"

"How do I turn it off if I don't know it's on?"

Yuki said looking around himself like he was searching for a light switch that would just change his field. He started to panic a little not certain what he was supposed to do if he could not turn it off.

"Well, Ayumi? What do you suggest?"

Saki said as she stood up feeling better, though still tired. It was a strange feeling for her that her muscles understood that they had been burned to exhaustion and yet thanks to Yuki they were in perfect condition. The whole experience did leave her a little hungry though.

Ayumi could not stand up on her own still and watching Yuki freaking out was only making her feel even more tired.

"Just give him a good hit to the head. That'll work."

"You sure?" said Saki staring down at Ayumi a little surprised by the simplest solution.

She was half expecting it to be a long drawn out effort on Yuki's part that only he could do alone. The scene of Yuki internally boiling in panic and confusion expressed outward made Saki sweat. She could not question a simple answer and tightened up her fist. Yuki was still unaware of his surroundings after Ayumi's words giving Saki plenty of time.

"Sorry, Yuki…"

Saki swung her arm out catching Yuki off guard and laying him out on the floor.

"Did that work, Ayumi?"

"Probably…"

"What do you mean? Don't you know? Can't you sense if it is on still?"

Ayumi became a little frustrated by the assumptions that the people around her made.

"As I told Yuki before, you need to stop thinking about this like the fiction you read. I can't sense anything, none of it can be detected except through what is visibly shown. Yuki had no visible signs, so being off will look and feel the same as being on. But he is unconscious so unless his mind really wants to keep the field up it is gone now."

"How are you?"

Saki knelt down to offer a hand for support for Ayumi seeing the shape that she was in. She was taken aback by how much their power exerted on their body. If she had not taken any injures she would no doubt still be in the same condition.

'She must have used everything she had in the last attack after everything she was throwing at him before. If that wasn't the strongest assassin then…'

"I think I already said," Ayumi said sharply, "That hasn't changed."

"Don't have to be a jerk about it… I'm just being polite."

Saki pulled up Ayumi to her feet even without her acceptance. She started to walk with Ayumi over to Yuki but became distracted by the assassin nearby that lay dead. Saki had thought back to when they were fighting. All of her kicks had connected and felt like they hurt the man, yet he was using his power at the time.

"Ayumi… During the fight with this man. I noticed that I was hurting with just physical attacks. Do your powers make your body stronger or better?"

"No, that is one of the limitations of our power. We can't alter, change or improve our bodies. So we are just as mortal as you. That's why it's important to have a solid defense. Because if they're sloppy even someone like you can kill one of us just as easily a normal human being."

Saki twitched her eye at the last few words that came from Ayumi.

"Sounds like you're insulting me…"

"Perhaps…"

Their eyes turned away from the assassin to Yuki sleeping peacefully on the ground.

"So even he is vulnerable…"

Saki narrowed her eyes as she stared at him starting to become concerned about the fragile nature of his life.

'I thought because he had this power he was stronger somehow now… But he is just the same. I'll have to keep our promise even more so now.'

Saki looked over at the cells seeing that there were still some people staying in them even though they were wide open. She had not had the time to look at the cells when she arrived, but she had assumed that she would find everyone still trapped. The state that things were left confused her, but not for long as she looked for Hitomi.