The Dream Shifter

Chapter 274

Invisible stillness permeated the field in the slow seconds passing. Eventually, a faint light appeared in front of Saki slowly materializing Ayumi's appearance. A deep glare carved into her face from the fact of being caught.

"Did you really think we'd let you disappear on us again? There's even less of us this time and not even Yuki's blind enough to let you do that. You brought us here, you get to fight alongside us."

Silently glaring at Saki, Ayumi expression barely changed. "I have my reasons."

"Then you can explain it to us." Saki disappeared back into the air along with Ayumi. Once more, the flowers ripped asunder the feet of Saki. The two surfaced back at the group a little behind them.

Ayumi came stumbling out with a red face partially soaked in sweat. She would have fallen over had Saki not held her. A bitter glare darted over to Saki. "I thought you weren't going to do that."

"Considering it payment," answered Saki, with a small smirk on her lips. She let Ayumi go pushing her a little forward towards Yuki. "Found her, thanks Yuki!"

Releasing his field, Yuki painted a smile on his face. He walked the short steps to come up to her. "I'm glad that you didn't leave this time."

"But I did…" Ayumi remarked, through a flat expression.

Yuki leaned in the rest of the way to come down to only centimeters. His features changed sharply with dark shadows sprayed over his face. "What's the reason you have for abandoning your friends this time?"

The darkness the came from Yuki surprised Ayumi a little. She did not expect such a serious tone. However, she also did not expect to be noticed until far enough away. Her miscalculation in the situation made her unlucky. 'I knew I would have to face this eventually, but this is sooner than I wished. It's still just him, so I shouldn't have to explain much…'

"You said you had a reason," pushed Saki, tired of her silence. Her hand shoved Ayumi a little off balance.

Glancing back at Saki, Ayumi narrowed her eyes annoyed with the cornered situation. 'I don't really have a choice. They've already seen me…this only makes the rest of the time more difficult…'

Vangelis shifted his gaze a little trying to see what they were up to behind Yuki. The whole situation felt a little off to him. He did not like the impression he got. 'So that's a display of the mysterious girl's power…if I wasn't thinking I'd say it was speed, but that would be impossible, especially since I saw no field distortion…' Chatter from his team pulled back one of his eyes to listen at what he had to shut down.

"Who's that?"

"Isn't that?"

"Isn't that First Lieutenant Eudokia?"

"She's the Captain of the Guard now."

"She's here?!"

Staring out his narrow eyes, Vangelis searched around Yuki to the fourth member of their group. He pulled out pieces of what he could make out. Confirming their speculation made his eyes widened ever so slightly. 'Why is she here? She wasn't anywhere in the reports and acting in concert with them? This situation just suddenly took a different direction.' Dark thoughts slowly boiled up in his mind. The thoughts made his lips grow into a wicked smile. A thick shadow fell over his eyes.

Saki's hearing was enough to catch the whisper from the other side. It perked up her ears and turned herself back down to Ayumi. "They know you?"

"Huh? You heard something, Saki?"

"Yeah, they seem to know her, at least by her other name." Saki stepped around Ayumi to meet Yuki and stare directly at her. She wanted some answers as well with the new information she gained. "This something to do with your reason?"

A short sigh came from Ayumi. They partially exposed her. She had nothing left to hide behind. "Yes, they know me. Everyone that's attacked you since we've arrived in Atlantis does."

"Why's that?"

"Because I used to be stationed at the South Gate before I became Captain of the Guard." Ayumi crossed her arms to solidify her stance a little. Despite forced into the position, she never looked like she had been caught or guilty. She kept a hard expression, only appearing as though it was tiring to explain. "I tried to keep my presence reduced since I knew I would be very easily spotted by them. I didn't want to show my hand to them too early."

Yuki tilted his head back towards Vangelis and then back to Ayumi. His index finger rubbed his cheek in thought. He hardly held an expression other than pensive, considering the magnitude of the information. His eyes fixed on Ayumi suddenly. "You didn't want to let those trying to take the throne to know that you had brought me here. You knew the military would end up letting them know quickly if you were spotted."

"Yes, and now you've ruined that."

Saki tapped Ayumi on her shoulder to get her attention from Yuki. "Or you could have just told us rather than hiding it. It only complicated matters and we would have understood if you explained it to us."

"I prefer to do things my way." Her crossed arms tightened up a little with her stubbornness.

Annoyed, Saki started to lean in, but was interrupted by Haruo of all people. He stood next to all of them unnoticed with a hand pointing back at the group the stopped their progress. The sight of them made Saki quickly turn serious and narrowed her features. They were all closer to them and spread out with their intentions made clear. "Looks like we don't have anymore time to debate this. You're fighting with us this time. They already know you're here. You've got no choice now."

"Unfortunately…"

Vangelis rubbed his hands together with the excitement pouring from his face. He looked far too eager for a fight. The rest seemed uneasy, but hungry as well. "It's about time we got this started. We've wasted enough time already." Vangelis walked the rest of the distance to tower over Yuki. His head tilted down to stare at him with the ravenous, toothy grin. "Yuki Hayashi…"

Vangelis rubbed his hands together with the excitement pouring from his face. He looked far too eager for a fight. The rest seemed uneasy, but hungry as well. "It's about time we got this started. We've wasted enough time already." Vangelis walked the rest of the distance to tower over Yuki. His head tilted down to stare at him with the ravenous, toothy grin. "Yuki Hayashi…"

Reacting a little to the new mood, Yuki flexed his hands and stretched them out. "There we go! I'm feeling the intensity now!" He took a step out from the group to reaffirm his standoff with Vangelis. His eyes scanned the group behind Vangelis to get a better look at those in their path.

The remaining four soldiers were divided into two men and two women, with similar appearing ages in their twenties. Yuki knew better than to make any more of a judgment. They all had tense and anxious expressions as if they wanted to fight, but had something that left fear inside. However, they all looked strong enough, at least physically. Yuki, also, knew better than to judge on physical appearance, knowing that they were all wearing the white uniform of people using the Kasou-ryoku.

However, the numbers bothered Yuki a little. He focused back on Vangelis. "It seems you out number us by one. How this going to work?"

"We were expecting a larger group, but since you've split up there's nothing we can do about changes." Vangelis roughly rotated his arm to point with his thumb at Iole. "She's not going to be fighting anyway, so we're even."

"That does even things up. I'm guessing we split up into pairs and fight apart from each other. If my impression of you is right, you've already got in mind who you want to pair off with."

A small laugh came up from Vangelis pleased by Yuki's insight. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

Saki appeared in front of Yuki, interrupting the conversation. A stern and annoyed expression filled her face. "What do you think you're doing, Yuki! Don't agree to this! I can finish this easily myself and we can keep going!"

Narrowing his eyes a little at Saki's shouting, Vangelis interjected into her protest. "That's rather arrogant little miss."

Yuki caught her before she turned her glare upon Vangelis. "They might be the enemy, but they are wanting to fight with us. You should respect the honor of two people wishing to test their strength."

A slap echoed across the field as Saki's hand returned back to her side. "Does he look like he wants an honorable fight?! This isn't a dojo or one of your street brawls! These aren't teenagers looking to punch out their frustrations! These are soldiers under orders! And we aren't here to indulge your desires for a fight!"

"I understand your wish to test yourself, Yuki," added Ayumi. "However, I agree with Saki as well. We should end this quickly and keep moving on."

Snickering more through his smirk, Vangelis enjoyed watching them fight. However, he could not hold himself back from inserting himself back into the conversation. "That naivety of yours is going to be fun to crush," he mocked. He gestured out with his arm to point in a taunting manner at Saki. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, little miss. You see reality better than your friend does over there. However, don't think you can defeat us alone. That arrogance will be your undoing." He took several steps back almost giving her an opening as a taunt.

Saki pulled away from Yuki and stepped forward to face Vangelis. Anger started to build up in her body. "It's not arrogance if it is true." Finishing her words, Saki suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight. A moment later, an ear piercing noise ripped through the area nearly bringing everyone to their knees (minus Haruo).

It did not take long for Yuki to know what happened. He strained his eyes to focus through the pain in his head. Saki stood less than a meter away from Vangelis pounding with her fists at an invisible surface. She disappeared repeatedly trying to find ways around it, but then suddenly came to a halt. Her body collapsed to the ground gasping in pain for air. "Saki!" shouted Yuki, as he broke free from the ground. A ripple expanded from his feet as he ran towards her.

Arriving at Saki, she already looked in better shape than a moment before. She still panted heavily as though out of breath, but no longer looked to be in severe pain. Yuki knelt down to lift her up to his side to get a clearer idea of what happened. He glanced at her and then over at Vangelis, who remained unmoved during the entire outburst. 'He must have done something with his field…' Seconds continued to pass improving Saki's condition until she pushed him off her. "You alright?"

"I'm fine…" She glared over at the Atlantean, his bloodthirsty smirk only enraged her more. At Yuki's insistence, she withdrew back to their side while she finished recovering. 'What was that? It felt like there was no oxygen in the air, as though I was being suffocated…' Saki widened her eyes in surprise as her mind realized what happened. It turned her expression into anger turned upon herself for her impulsive act.

Vangelis remained casual about the entire affair, as though asphyxiating Saki was no more different than walking. It brought a cold chill to the air that even with all of his violence-loving grinning never carried. "So it was just arrogance," he remarked, still taunting Saki.

Saki felt a tight hold clasp around her wrist. It did not hurt, but she turned up to see Yuki. "…Yuki…" The fun loving brawler in Yuki completely disappeared. A dark, serious shape cut through his face to remove any sign of softness. 'He's different now, but I can't tell if it is for good or bad…'

The last two minutes replayed through Vangelis' mind, absorbing what he learned from his provocation. It turned out better than he expected, but left him with new theories. 'She still had her speed or whatever it is, but succumbed to my field effects. Which means her power wasn't active. Only two options remain, she using real devices to simulate her power or she different from us and can use her power without needing a field active. This must be the strange feeling he spoke about.'

Simonides turned back, halting in step. A grave expression grew into the edges of his face to impart the seriousness of his words. 'I said before don't be cocky, but don't underestimate them.'

Remaining casually playful about the mood, Vangelis hardly gave a reaction to him. 'Worrying about me now, Captain?'

The Captain turned away to resume his walk away from him. He finished his words as he parted company. 'There's something different about them. Don't assume them to be like any other MP you've seen.'

'…hrmph…' Vangelis watched the Captain disappear from sight. He already stopped to keep their conversation going several times. He waited until he was completely gone before turning away. 'They're all the same. Nothing will surprise me other than the level of their childish naivety. I'll crush everything about them!'

After witnessing the acts by Saki, he felt he had to admit a little to the Captain. It was bothersome, but Vangelis could see what had him so concerned about their intruders. 'If they fight without fields this will actually be even easier though. However, mine, Yuki Hayashi, he is normal.' Glancing back at Yuki, he picked up in the seething desires coming from him. 'He looks ready to fight…' Ignoring the fact, Vangelis continued to speak casually to Yuki. "Now that it's settled. Let's get things started."