The Dream Shifter

Chapter 263

Unaffected by the imposing heights, Chiharu stood up and turned around to face Miltiades. "On the contrary, you actually helped me." Chiharu jumped up kicking off from the poles to get her height to match with the upper canopy.

Chiharu's effortless work annoyed Miltiades. He knew her to be more skilled than Seiji, but she did not look as weak. 'What's with her? She wasn't moving that easily before!' Miltiades removed a few of the poles between them as a precaution. "What are you talking about helping you?"

"You got the i***t out of the area. Something I was planning to do, but you made it easier. All I had to do was line it up while you thought you had me off guard."

His eyes widened a little as her explanation soaked in for him. 'She planned all of that?! Even letting herself be hit?'

"It's much easier to do with someone so straightforward," added Chiharu, as she leapt forward to the next pole. It disappeared from underneath her, but she was already moving keeping pace with him. 'I don't understand it, but it feels like my body's responding better now…' She released a small thin grin while she moved on.

Lowering and striking out with his poles made no progress against Chiharu. She read all of his moves so easily. As she closed in reach of him, he jumped away and removed everything in range of her. With nothing to hold, he forced Chiharu to fall. He used the opening to his advantage. More than a dozen poles came up for her launching a staggered attack on Chiharu. It buried her in steel out of his sight. 'Did I get a hit?'

The answer came soon as a shadowed figure stood up on the angled pole. Chiharu looked unharmed and a little bored. "If this is all you got, I'm leaving. I only stayed around to see if you're worth my time."

Shock disappeared from Miltiades' face quickly as anger bubbled through the cracks. 'Underestimating me… You're going to regret that…' Poles behind him started to fade away.

Chiharu narrowed the features in her face reading a change. She felt the winds shift and warn her of something coming. It made her curious. 'Looks like I got him riled up…this should be interesting…'

Suddenly, the surface altered with Chiharu's boots no longer getting any grip. She slid down unable to get any traction. If it ended there for Chiharu, it would not have felt as dangerous. It surprised her a little, but not as much as what came next.

Breaking free, a pole rammed at Chiharu from a near horizontal angle. The angle seemed impossible with what she observed from him that it caught her off guard. Her reflexes saved her, but it blew only a centimeter over her head nearly taking off her nose. 'That was close!' She narrowed her eyes staring at the pole above her. Turning destroyed any controlled balance she had on the frictionless surface knocking her on her back to keep sliding.

The assault did not end. She caught sight of another pole screaming at her at a horizontal angle in a new direction. Chiharu sprung off the pole and flipped through the air backward to escape the threat, but her eyes found another even closer to her. It whizzed over her cheek as she awkwardly turned her course in the air. She felt her skin get a little warm. 'He's getting faster with his attacks…it's becoming more difficult to dodge…' Her thoughts ceased as two more came in only seconds after at horizontal lines of attack again.

She nearly lost her head in the last two as she wedged between them. Chiharu dropped down to a pole below her that kept moving after its failed attack. She spun around to the bottom letting her legs take hold and speed her away from the attack zone. 'Something's wrong…' Suspicions rose in her mind only to die sharply.

A heavy force crashed into her stomach ripping her free from the pole. The force sent her plummeting to the ground. She slammed into the ground carving out a crater in the earth and coughing up a cloud around her.

Out of the cloud, a solitary pole surfaced connected above. However, it was not alone for long. More than twenty poles charged in from above pounding into the ground with no mercy. The clouds surrounding Chiharu grew thicker. Only the quaking of the pained earth made it out of the scraping metal.

Miltiades leapt around to get a clearer view of the site. He could not see anything, but did not feel like waiting for the cloud to disperse. Another round of attacks went in to make sure he finished his target. "It's all over! You didn't stand any chance against when I get serious!"

Wind blew away the clouds covering up the area around Chiharu. The mass of metal covered up almost everything. However, near the edges of the earth some blood marked the only sign remaining of Chiharu.

A heavy force crashed into her stomach ripping her free from the pole. The force sent her plummeting to the ground. She slammed into the ground carving out a crater in the earth and coughing up a cloud around her.

Out of the cloud, a solitary pole surfaced connected above. However, it was not alone for long. More than twenty poles charged in from above pounding into the ground with no mercy. The clouds surrounding Chiharu grew thicker. Only the quaking of the pained earth made it out of the scraping metal.

Miltiades leapt around to get a clearer view of the site. He could not see anything, but did not feel like waiting for the cloud to disperse. Another round of attacks went in to make sure he finished his target. "It's all over! You didn't stand any chance against when I get serious!"

Wind blew away the clouds covering up the area around Chiharu. The mass of metal covered up almost everything. However, near the edges of the earth some blood marked the only sign remaining of Chiharu.

'That should be more than enough, unless she's like the other one. But they don't seem to be identical in abilities…' A motion from his hand pulled back the columns of steel. Sparks and groaning from the metal sounded off as they cleared away from the impact crater. Small chunks of earth fell away echoing the relative silence.

Miltiades leaned over his perch to get a look at Chiharu. The clouds of dirt still hung around the crater keeping him from seeing clearly. He did not expect any movement from her. 'She seemed tired from something. I doubt she had much in her…' However, when the wind blew away the cover the crater was empty. 'Can't be!'

He saw blood on the ground, as sign of her presence, but she was nowhere to be seen in the crater. 'How?!' His eyes searched the crater for any signs of escape. Nothing turned up. Nowhere in the area held any signs of her. 'It's like she disappeared!' Miltiades suddenly remembered how quickly she moved from their last encounter. She always appeared behind him. He turned around with an unsettlingly feeling in his stomach.

Chiharu's blood soaked face stared back at him. A strong fierce look came from her eyes. "Took you long enough…" Her eyes narrowed suddenly in reflection of her next action. Sharply landing her fist deep in his chest, Miltiades fell from his spot and sped down to the ground.

Grinding his teeth together, Miltiades quickly felt the wind blowing around him. His fall whipped his hair around the sides of his face. The surprise of Chiharu left him out of control for seconds with the ground quickly coming up to meet him. 'I'm falling…how did it happen?' His mind snapped back. A pole jumped up next to him. Miltiades reached out with his hand slowing in his fall and flipping around to correct his position.

He touched his chest where Chiharu hit him. 'How long as has it been?' It was one of the few times anyone actually touched him. The nature of his powers made it difficult for anyone to even reach him. Only those of significantly greater power or skill defeated him in the past. 'I can't let that repeat!'

Quietly, Chiharu watched Miltiades recover from her attack. She knew the one punch was not enough to end the fight. 'They all seem to come with clothes that dampen or negate physical impacts. In my state, my punches aren't even back to when I was fighting the old man. Speed is the only thing I've got going for me right now…'

Unfortunately, her speed proved not to be enough as well. The surprise attack from Miltiades took her off guard and completely open. It drained her body of more than just blood, but the energy to keep going. Battle fatigue fell around her even faster than normal as though never truly gone. She knew well enough her body still struggled to recover from her last fight and she only pushed herself further to keep in the fight with Miltiades.

She tightened her hands into fists to try to keep herself strong. Her mind ignored the pain that ripped through her chest and back from the last attack. 'I managed to escape the full attack slipping into the shadows, but I still took the first hit head on…' The fresh blood on her started to dry, staining her features. It gave her a fiercer expression.

Miltiades brought up several more poles around them. These went much higher than normal, as though not intended to be reached. He fixed glares with Chiharu working to harden himself for the rest of the fight to come. 'She's already pushed me this far… I might have to actually do that to win…' His muscled tensed up thinking about the option. 'lt's a last resort, I have to win without it…if possible…'