The Dream Shifter

Chapter 285

A shadow stretched up behind Haruo and to the side. He looked around noticing columns rising from the ground. The plating from her field exposed itself. Behind the smooth metal surface, complex machinery worked. Electricity jumped around ends and multi-colored lights danced around the faces.

Turning her outstretched hand over, a holographic sphere formed. She closed her hand over it inserting her fingers into the surface depressing sections of the surface. The holographic turned from blue to red, a signal. "Try to dodge this!"

Electricity jumped out from the three columns closing off all exits, above or flanking. Then electricity refocused back to Haruo. His entire body drank in the volts involuntarily. He had no escape. Pain stretched up his body and through his muscle into his throat. Haruo did not know how long he could last.

Pain was a familiar sensation for Haruo. From orphanage to the streets, he learned to live with pain as his own companion. In a strange way, it felt like something that comforted him. It let him know he was alive. It never lied and always came harshly. Pain was honest. Honesty was precious.

However, pain suddenly became a terrible friend. It wanted to do more than let him know he still lived. It seemed to want to take it away from him. Haruo never knew it to have such feelings. It hurt.

It hurt.

'…why continue…'

Ligeia watched at a safe distance. She waited for the moment he surrendered or passed out. 'I'll win soon, he can't escape…'  Her eyes panned over the blocks from the panels of her field. They were something she always had in her field, but never used them in any fight. '…this is the first time I've ever got to use everything…it feels strange…'

Thoughts turned back to her normal days. Days of routine, one where nothing happened. '…was this what I was seeking?' she wondered, it still felt mysterious. She did not know what to make of her feelings. 'I thought I just wanted something different to do, but I never expected this…'

Haruo ground his teeth still managing to hold back from the pain. It burned in his throat begging for his mouth to open. His voice wanted to escape, but he refused. He kept holding on with stubborn resolve.

'…why do I still want to keep going…'

It did not make any sense to him. The fight did not matter to Haruo. Everything in Atlantis dealt with Yuki. He was simply an extra character, yet for some reason he did not want to just give up in the fight. '…I still don't care, but still it just seems…pointless now…to give up…' Haruo opened up his clinched fist to flatten his palm over the smooth metal. Glancing up at Ligeia, Haruo rose from his knelt position.

Haruo narrowed his eyes to turn his focus on the electricity surrounding him. '…I need something…to not give up…' Taking a step forward, he fought with the electricity's desire to keep him down. Searing heat erupted through his arms. It tried to burn his entire body. It felt as though his body would not hold out. However, he kept pushing forward clashing with the barrier created in arcing electricity between the pillars.

Shocked by Haruo's force of will, Ligeia floated back a little. 'What's he doing?! He can't break through it! He's just making it worse!' Sweat poured down her face. Her chest pounded, her body giving her signals. 'I won't stop now! Not when I'm this close!' She lifted her hand up, feeling it shaking in protest. Three more plates broke free from the field exposing similar columns to further surround Haruo. "Give up! You can't win! You're only prolonging your suffering!"

"No." Haruo pressed up his hand to the arcing electricity causing it all to jump to him. A sudden surge of electricity drove through his muscles making him spasm and jump. Flickers of pain came out in his face, however it suddenly came to a stop. His hand pushed through, allowing him to step out. 'Took longer than I thought…' The remaining active arcs of electricity jumped around his body for a short time while trying to find a way down to a ground.

Leaning back, Ligeia found her mouth unable to close from her surprise. "Impossible! What did you do?!"

"Escaped."

Grinding her teeth, frustration popped up for her. His short answers gave her nothing. However, it did not bother her for long. Ligeia hardened her stance and pulled forward. "Fine then, escape this—"

Cut off abruptly, a bright white light blinded the entire area. It expanded out into beyond their fight threatening the other battles. The light forced back Ligeia as though it had a physical presence. Even with her eyes closed, she felt the light pierce through her eyelids to blind her. Amidst the confusion, a series of explosions echoed near Ligeia leaving her uneasy.

Finally, the light cleared away. The first thing she saw once her eyes opened was Haruo. However, his body seemed to have a glow to it, but she quickly realized her mistake. Her eyes pulled up further to discover a creature far more massive than even his wolves. A lion standing a full three meters tall slowly returned to his side.

Behind them and to the sides, pillars of black smoke rose from the ground. Darting her eyes around, Ligeia recognized them as her columns she brought up. All destroyed in mere moments. Letting anger take over for her, wrinkles drew around her eyes. She slammed her hand to the screen on her forearm, triggering a red light.

All of the pulsing between the plates in the field came to a stop suddenly. The ground rumbled. Plates pushed up asynchronously revealing an entire field of columns. Ligeia panted heavily with sweat covering her body. A sharp pain sprung through her head, but she snapped back to ignore it.

Haruo glanced around at the impressive, but obviously dangerous display. He looked up at Ligeia finished judging it. "Stop. Your body can't—"

"Don't tell me what to do!" roared Ligeia, unleashing all of her emotions. "I won't let you stop me! I'm doing this! I'm going to prove right here that I have worth!"

Feeling her words, Haruo withheld any more words. He gave quick signal to the lion, ordering it into action. In blinding speed, it leapt around the metal field destroying all of the columns leaving the entire scene in smoke. When it completed its cycle, it approached at the right side of Haruo. He placed a hand on the soft coat of the lion, shining with a large bright core. Suddenly, electricity jumped from his arm into the lion causing the lion to slightly change to a pale blue while charged with electricity.

Struggling to keep herself together, Ligeia summoned up the projectors around her. However, the lion opened its mouth suddenly releasing a beam charged with electricity straight for Ligeia. The impact on her shield knocked her back as she lost her concentration for a moment. Forcing an explosion, Ligeia fell out of the cloud of smoke down to her field.

Pain struck her back from the impact. It was only a short fall, but she only had her personal shield to dampen the force. 'Damn…the headaches are getting worse and I lost focus at the worst possible time.' She lifted her head up, hearing the lion approaching her. Struggling with her arm, Ligeia ordered up her projectors to surround her arm. They quickly constructed a lengthy bracelet like structure around her wrist and over her hand. Faint energy built up in the dark recess of the structure preparing for the lion. 'I'm not losing!'

Sweat streamed down her face as veins popped along her face. Ligeia gritted her teeth through the pain struggling to hold herself together. She never knew such pain, but she did not care about the limits of her body. The lion continued its approach, nearly on top of her. "I won't let it end…like this…" Ligeia glanced in worry over at her arm realizing it did not act when she ordered it. It still just charged. Her eyes widened seeing the lion standing over her.

It was over.

Haruo's lion suddenly vanished before it delivered the final blow. Ligeia blinked in surprise and lifted her upper body up to look at Haruo. To her surprise, Haruo laid collapsed on the ground. An odd chuckle came to Ligeia. She did not believe it. Ligeia forced to herself to stand, staggering over to him. Her head still pounded. Her arm raised towards him. "I win…" Suddenly, a pulse from her body stopped her movement. Ligeia's eyes grew wide as her field disappeared. All of her projectors particularized. Any life in her body left as her legs fell out from underneath her. She collapsed in the grass a few meters away from Haruo.

Ligeia awoke to a warm sensation surrounding her. She struggled to get her eyes in sight, discovering Iole. "Did you include a translation law?"

"…yes…"

"…good…" Turning herself over on her back, Ligeia started to pant heavily. Everything in her body screamed. She knew what exhaustion felt like, however it went far beyond such a word. Nothing remained for her to give. It felt like her power no longer existed. She was alone. "…I lost…"

"…same…" echoed Haruo. He remained face down, but his head turned to the side to speak.

Ligeia tried to look over at Haruo, but nothing in her body wanted to move. "You're still conscious. How did you escape?" She wanted to an answer even in her situation.

"Japanese hare."

"Huh? Can't you ever give me an answer without me asking a second time?" Her outburst caused her body to move and respond in pain, even with Iole providing healing. She bit down forcing herself to calm her emotions. "Damn you…"

"The hare was outside the field during the attack. It slowly ate through the mechanisms weakening it to allow my escape."

"Tch," Ligeia clicked her tongue, "Always got a plan."

"What is your answer?"

Feeling a little more of body responding to her, Ligeia moved to see Haruo. Her face twisted around into confusion. "Eh? Answer to what?"

Haruo stared at her for a while not providing an answer. It seemed as though he wanted her to remember. After a minute of nothing, he decided to reply. "The beginning. Before the fight."

"Huh?" Unfortunately, Haruo remained too cryptic for Ligeia. It only made her frustrated again. She hated dealing with him. 'Beginning? Before the fight? What's he talking about?' Searching her memories, she went back to the beginning. Everything was hazy from her exhaustion, taking her longer to recall, but it came to her. Her eyes opened fully. "You can't be serious! You're asking me that?!"

"Yes."

"Urgh…" Ligeia turned her head away from him. 'I can't believe he still cares about that!' Even with her face pointed at Iole, she still felt his eyes boring a hole in the back of her head. He wanted her answer. The pressure made her features narrow and flatten. "I only said that to get you to fight! I didn't have an answer!"

"I know."

Suddenly feeling better, Ligeia jumped up and walked over to Haruo. She stood over him fuming. "You knew! And you still fought!" He continued to annoy her even after they were supposed to be finished. Ligeia crossed her arms and turned away from him before she hit him.

Unfazed, Haruo stared up at Ligeia. He still wanted an answer from her. "I want your answer."

"What?!" At this point, Ligeia's surprise had nowhere left to increase. Permanently wide-eyed it seemed, Ligeia tilted her head back around to Haruo. His eyes stared at her with a refusal to give up, despite his position. It annoyed her to no end. 'I don't know why I'm doing this.' Ligeia folded up her legs to sit with her legs crossed, next to Haruo. "Tell me again. I'll give you my answer."

Another bout of silence filled between them. Haruo read into Ligeia's expression. Lying on the ground unable to move seemed a poor conversation position, but Haruo did not have a choice. He accepted her offer again. "I have no reason to fight any of you. I only came here because of him. But I don't know why I agreed. It doesn't make any sense."

Hearing him tell her again reminded her how annoying he was at the start. She only wanted a fight, the who did not matter to her. However, what she found in the fight did not make a lot of sense to her. "Seems we both found something we don't know the answer to. If you can believe it, I'm normally unmotivated and bored. My life was a pattern that I just followed. I was fine with it, I thought, but fighting with you made me feel something I didn't expect."

"What was it?" Haruo found himself curious with her story as much as the answer he waited to hear.

Ligeia rubbed a finger against her cheek, becoming a little sheepish. "I'm not sure. I can't really put it into words right now. I just know it is different from how I felt before. I thought this fight was a chance to do something different, just break my routine, even if only for a moment. I didn't really think about what I'd find."

Thinking about herself and talking to him about it gave her another odd sensation. "I've never told anyone this. I don't know why I'm telling you anyway." She crossed her arms trying to recover from her series of selfishness. It allowed her to refocus and push away from her own problems. "I'm guessing he's important to you somehow."

"Maybe, he reminds me of someone I know."