“Oh…crap…” Yuki uttered, immediately regretting his previous statement.  His Field managed to keep her flames from touching him or Yumi, but with a Field completely engulfed in flames he wouldn’t be able to let Yumi out of his sight.  Not to mention, he saw how much his Field shrank from her release.  ‘She was holding back this much?!  This is absurd!  It’s not even a transformation power up!  This is like cheating god-mode!’

As Eudokia approached, she became a little more visible.  The previous outfit she wore was gone.  A far more practical appearance replaced it.  It was a simple body suit in gray.  It had flames covering up parts where she still had wounds.

She didn’t wait any longer diving in after Yuki.  Everything about her increased from before.  Her new metal claws tore through Yuki’s defense as though they didn’t even exist.  The outer layers disappeared just from her presence.

Blood sprayed up from the wounds Yuki took.  He could no longer just stand in one place.  His Field no longer had the strength to compete with Ayumi.  ‘Even against the old man I felt like I had a chance, but this is completely different…’  She moved faster than he could keep up and his defense did nothing to save him.  Wounds appeared over his body quickly.

The old injuries from his previous fight and new ones from Ayumi compounded themselves.  Yuki couldn’t last for long against her.  He couldn’t even get himself moving before she trapped him.  It didn’t take long for his body to start giving out.  Nothing could hold up against the assault.

Yuki fell to one knee.  His breathing ran shallow.  Sweat covered his body.  Everything seemed exhausted and he had barely even fought with her for more than thirty seconds.  Blood dropped to the stone floor.  “This isn’t looking good for me.”

“Yuki!”  Yumi rushed over to his side to try and help him.  Eudokia reached a completely different level that in her condition she couldn’t help to compete against.  She couldn’t support Yuki when he needed her the most.

He didn’t need to look at her face to know the worry that covered it.  “Don’t worry, Yumi,” he assured with a smile.  Resting a hand on hers, he tried to give her some comfort.  “It’s not over yet.”

It seemed like he had a plan, but Yumi wondered what he could do even to come close to challenging Eudokia.  “Yuki?”  Their power gap was too great.

“I’m glad I saved this.  I didn’t expect to use something I planned as a backup against the old man.”  Yuki smirked a little, gaining his confidence.  He dug through his gi to retrieve something small.

Chapter 275 – The Last Guard

Eudokia stared a little curious and cautious at what Yuki boasted to have that might change the outcome of the fight.  “What are you planning?”

Quickly, not wasting time, Yuki tossed what he held into his mouth and swallowed.  “Just a little insurance plan for my fight with him.”  He grinned back at her.  Suddenly he stood up and the breathing in his body changed.  He no longer seemed to have trouble or shortness of breath.  Even his wounds looked to no longer be as serious.

She ground her teeth together knowing what he had done.  “You’re accelerating your healing!  Damn you, Yuki.  When did you have time to do that during that fight?!”

“It was at the same time I made those high density weapons that pinned him.  I figured there was a risk he might expect it or it would fail.  I was already badly wounded from all of the fighting that the only way I’d be able to continue the fight was if I could recover from my injuries.  But I never needed it.”  He stretched his arms a little, getting the feeling back in his body.  “Part of the problem I had was already being beat up from the last fight while you’re mostly in good condition.  So let’s even things back out!”

“Bastard!”

“I’m not like the heroes in my favorite stories.  I’m not going to fight half dead if I don’t have to.  This is reality not fiction.  Besides, I’m not built like them to be able to overcome overwhelming odds through a gauntlet of fights.  I’m just going to beat you!”

The bit of levity from Yuki ended up calming Eudokia as well.  She started to smirk again with confidence.  “You really think that’s going to make any sort of difference for you?”

Shrugging, Yuki kept the lighter tone in his voice going despite the grave situation.  “I guess I won’t know until I try.”

“Still got that glib attitude I see.”

“It’s one of my likable personality quirks.”

“We’ll see how long that cockiness lasts.”

He stared back up at Eudokia dropping all signs of his smile or lighthearted attitude.  Determination carved back into his face.  “Long enough to beat you.”  He looked ready for the fight.  The doubt disappeared from his body.

Eudokia charged back into the fight.  They delayed long enough.  “I’ll prove to you that a fresh body won’t change the difference in our power!”

What she said was fairly true.  It was something that Yuki knew well enough.  He had his fair share of fights to know what the difference in their power meant.  The physical body only amounted to so much.  Everything else weighed on their creativity and control of their power.  ‘What she’s lacking in creativity, she is making up for sheer power.  Don’t need to be creative if it is effective.  However, for myself…’

The first clash proved that Eudokia still reigned in power.  She cut through his defense the same as she always did.  However, Yuki managed to evade her this time.  His mist dragged him out of the line of fire before he took any damage.

He landed on the side of the chamber wall keeping attached through his mist.  His fight with Demosthenes gave him new ideas on how to use his mist to change the dimensions of his fight.  ‘I can’t risk much more injuries from her.  Even if my body is healed up, it was a one time deal.  I didn’t make enough for a second.’

Yuki ran around the dome keeping ahead of Ayumi’s attacks.  When he needed to do more, he pulled himself around.  ‘I’m getting a lot more used to this sort of fighting.  It’s still pretty weird.  I’m going to have to make some alterations to my Law the next time I use this power.’  Even keeping pace with Ayumi didn’t mean he could actually do anything to her.

Every time he tried any sort of counter attack, it disappeared before even reaching her.  He even focused heavily on his power to give it further strength.  All of his tactics he used for Demosthenes proved to be meaningless.  ‘Man, I didn’t know Ayumi was this skilled or powerful…  She’s been making herself weak this entire time…  Why would she?’

Eudokia jumped quickly around the air trying to get to Yuki.  ‘Dammit, I can’t reach him!  I’m more powerful than him, but I still can’t finish this!’  It frustrated her more with each miss.  The healed body made a significant difference in the fight.  She had to amend her thinking that it would change nothing.

As the fight dragged on for minutes, a grin started developing on Yuki’s face.  He got a better feel of what he needed to do.  Every action became less extreme and more refined.  Even without touching Ayumi, he felt more confident about his odds in the fight.

“Enjoying yourself?  In the middle of a fight for your life and the life of Atlantis?!”  She pushed her body harder to increase her speed.

Her claws managed to sink in farther enough to catch a piece of his gi.  The damage was only superficial and repaired immediately.  ‘She’s getting even faster.  She’s pushing herself to her limits…’  Despite the danger of Ayumi’s attack becoming more accurate again, Yuki couldn’t help himself.  His grin grew wide.

Yuki could see the annoyance on Ayumi’s face.  Part of it was because of not being able to touch him, he knew that.  However, he also knew that it was because he seemed like it was making light of the fight.  “I’m not smiling because of that, Ayumi.  While I don’t believe I can forgive you for everything you’ve done, thanks to Yumi I can at least keep those emotions in control.  Which means all that I have left is a fight, one with the best that Atlantis has to offer.  I can’t help, but get a little excited about fighting someone so skilled.  It’s an older part of me that I haven’t really indulged in a very long time.”

Harnessing his mist, he hardened it into a single blade.  His defense was meaningless against Ayumi anyway.  Only an offense would do anything.  He jumped into the fight with full intention finally.

The fight pushed around the chamber with Yuki actually giving chase to Eudokia.  He managed to block her claws without losing in a straight up power struggle.  The concentration of his mist proved to be enough to make up for lack of Folding.  However, it did leave them in a stalemate and it required significant focus for him to maintain such density.

“This entire journey to Atlantis has been nothing but trouble for all of us and the people here.  We’ve caused them hardship and received the same in return.  If you look at solely the mistakes we’ve made and the pain, it’s pretty depressing.  But even still, if I look at it a little more optimistically we’ve all gained something from it as well.”

“Gained something?  The lives of millions are at stake and you’re trying to make this into a life lesson?!”

“I’m not trying to ignore or dismiss that importance.”

“Your decision to not be King is ignoring them!”

“Perhaps if you just asked rather than trying to force me into this I might have considered it.”

Eudokia growled in annoyance with Yuki.  She punched him without her claws sending him flying across the chamber.  “Ask?!  ASK?!  You can’t be serious!  You’ve never lived here, you don’t know any of these people.  You have no loyalty to them at all!  You have a life and peaceful days.  Do you really think if someone asks you to sacrifice all of that and their health for complete strangers that they would agree!  No one is that naïve!”

Landing softly on the opposite side of the chamber, Yuki tilted his head up to her.  “So you just assume that I would say no?”

“You know nothing of our lifestyle or home!  You didn’t even know you had powers or such things existed before you met me!  Would you have believed anything I told you?!”

“Even if that’s true, you had enough proof on you to convince me that you were telling the truth.”

“This is the only way!”

“Actually, I doubt that greatly.”  During their argument, Yuki came to a different realization that Ayumi never brought up either.  One that weakened her whole argument even further.  He could tell from the sudden change in her face that she knew what he was talking about.

Yumi looked over at Yuki a little confused.  She was a little out of breath, forced to keep up with all of his movements so that she didn’t burn in Eudokia’s flame Field.  It didn’t mean she didn’t sweat from the extreme heat or even the physical exertion required.  “What are you talking about Yuki?”

“Well, think about it.  She already told us this before.  She was trying to stop the Council from putting a puppet King on the Throne.  At least that was the reason she told us.  Which means that I’m not actually required.  As long as there is someone with enough power, they can be King even without an heir.  So there is no actual real danger to Atlantis or the millions of lives, like she’s been so fixated on.”

It was a fact that Yumi had actually forgotten about.  Everything about what Eudokia claimed seemed to have been a lie.  So she just discounted everything.  But it was the only part that actually seemed true.  And the annoyed look on Eudokia’s face proved that.

“So what you’re doing here is personal.  It’s self serving for your own desires.  There is no threat.”

It actually seemed that flames appeared in Eudokia’s eyes.  Her fury increased again only barely controlled by her reason.  “Personal?!  Self serving?!  What the hell do you even know!?  You know nothing about what is happening here!  You know nothing!”

“Maybe if you actually explained it I’d understand.”

“YUKI!”  Eudokia exploded off the chamber wall, shooting straight for Yuki.

Narrowing his eyes, a strange glow surrounded Yuki before he disappeared suddenly.  He met in the middle of the room clutching Ayumi’s head in his hand.  In the next instant, he dropped to the ground slamming her whole body into the stone floor.  Blood coughed up from her mouth.

Yuki stood up staring down at Ayumi with a different look in his eyes.  “Let’s finish this already, Ayumi.”