The woman’s certainty wavered a bit in the face of Fumiko. She didn’t understand what happened between the seconds. ‘Before she was only avoiding me, not being aggressive…yet now…those eyes…she…’ Before it seemed that she had almost a self-loathing internal attack focused purely on only Fumiko. The woman could tell that she wasn’t in the fight.

Something happened to change it all. The hesitation and regret disappeared from her eyes. They became strong and fierce backed by something deep and unshakable. She could see that the fight was about to alter. It would no longer be the same battle. ‘What happened?’

Fumiko’s hand warmed from touching a stranger’s flame. Her resistance blasted bits of fire around her creating flaming rain that fell to her side. The pressure slammed into her as it tried to force through her, but it no longer felt as strong. Her arm felt lighter than before and the shaking disappeared. Even her breathing came under control. ‘I won’t allow it to happen again!’

Building her determination into strength, Fumiko pressed her hand valiantly into the fires. She channeled threads of her own magic into her hand creating a flaming aura that encompassed her hand down to her wrist. Magic streamed down her shoulder keeping it powered. Symbols and geometric shapes, the building blocks for magic circles began to form in the errant threads around her entire arm. It slowly glowed white and crawled over her skin.

It took her by surprise to see the appearance of something new. ‘What’s going on?’ She didn’t plan for it to take on such a form. Her arm still felt like it channeled magic, but it didn’t have the same feeling. However, she went with it. Fumiko knew that she needed to use everything she had to deal with her opponent.

Using her new strength to stand, Fumiko ran her hand through the stream of fire lighting her arm up. She pushed too quickly and it spread out with a life of its own to coat her arm. Fumiko refused to hesitate, sensing that everything would be fine.

When it seemed that the woman’s fire would engulf Fumiko an explosion of light and fire erupted from her arm. All of the flames disappeared, snuffed out by the greater inferno underneath. Raging in the wind, Fumiko’s entire left arm was consumed, but not simply as though surrounded. It flickered with a transparency and volume that said it ran completely through.

Fumiko lifted her hand up to examine the transformation. ‘What is this? This has never happened before… Is this an evolution of my power?’ The meaning of it didn’t completely sink into her, but she knew she had to press her advantage.

She clinched her staff tightly in her right hand and charged forward. A bulwark of flames broke through the earth to stop her. Responding to her need, her flame hand came forward quickly spinning a flame and launching it at the obstacle. Fumiko sprinted through the fires as they collided and exploded. She trailed crackling embers off her clothes. Her staff closed with the villainess woman swinging wide at a shocked figure.

Chapter 144 – Fueling the Fire

As cliché as it sounds, it ended in a flash. No reacting, it was all just instinct. The surprise caught the Atlantean off guard. Even though it ended quickly, instinct also saved her. After the staff finished, it snapped her out of her paralysis. Flames summoned from the ground washed up to force Fumiko back and allowed the woman a chance to recover.

The Atlantean looked down at her flame armor feeling something different about it. A long gash stretched the entire length of her abdomen. Her exposed skin showed in the gap, but no wound. Even if not wounded, it still shocked her. ‘She cut through my flames? Is her Field actually stronger?’ She touched her hand to the exposed part of her armor and ran her fingers across taking it all in. The slash sealed up behind her hand until closed and restored.

She pulled her head back up to look at the tall woman that opposed her. “Do you really think your cause is good? You people don’t even consider what your actions do to everyone else. Do you?”

Fumiko paused a little surprised that she started talking to her. She didn’t think that it would do much good with their language barrier. ‘It’s not like I don’t know. I’ve probably thought about it more than the rest.’ None of the doubts would help her accomplish her goal. She knew what she had to do.

“No answer? Silence won’t absolve you!”

A sigh escaped Fumiko’s lips. It was pointless, but if it satisfied her. “There’s no point talking about it with the language barrier.”

“Yes, I know about that. Rumors were that your group didn’t speak Atlantean Greek. Which is why I’ve included a language Addendum.”

“That’s right, I speak Japanese. So of course there’s going to be a barrier between us.” Fumiko spoke casually with the woman, not noticing their conversation.

“Japanese, what’s an Atlantean doing speaking Japanese?”

“Because I’m Japanese, not Atlantean, of course.” She motioned with her hand dismissing the answer as something blatant. Another few seconds passed before Fumiko snapped back to the woman. “Wait, you can understand me?!”

“Yes, I’ve removed the language barrier.”

It took a little bit longer for all of it to settle in for Fumiko. Their whole conversation sank into her. She immediately went on the defensive feeling oddly vulnerable. “So what did you want? Going so far as to allow us to understand each other.”

The stubborn woman tightened up her hands. Her flames on her body responded, burning brighter and larger. “What I want…What I want is to stop your rebellion! Stop before you make anyone else suffer!”

‘Oddly emotional for a soldier…’ She had little knowledge of Atlantis other than what Ayumi allowed them to know. Much like Yori, she had many questions about the world that Ayumi came from. She knew well enough to know that they had different cultures and values. Their intrusion to those not involved could be seen in many different lights. Fumiko wondered if the woman’s conclusion was simply her own or one others came to as well. “I don’t know a lot about Atlantis, but I guess what Yuki’s doing might be seen as such. But right now I’m only here to rescue a friend.”

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She narrowed her expression a little, taking in Fumiko’s words. It took only a moment to think about it. “You’re talking about the prisoner. If that’s the reason you’re here then that’s even more of a reason why I must stop you! I won’t allow you to do anything to interfere with the Captain!”

“I’d be more surprised if you did just let me by. I pretty much already assumed us to be at an impasse.” Fumiko altered her stance, getting the feeling that their fight would resume soon.

Fire sprouted up around the woman awaiting a command. “Agreed. Second Lieutenant Stamatia will be the one to stop you!” She motioned her hand around in front to pull the fire in by her arm.

“That’s pretty formal, introducing yourself. Very well, Fumiko Terauchi is the one that defeated you!” Fumiko brought her arm of fire up to bare while preparing her staff. ‘Knowing my enemy’s name…she seems pretty determined for some reason. I have mine as well… I can’t lose!’ In preparation, she began calling her magic. Threads drew down her shoulder intertwining along her arm as they gathered in her staff.

Stamatia watched Fumiko’s movements to judge the moment of her attack. They both wielded fire and it had thus far mostly ended inconclusively. The strike on her armor proved that she had the strength to match her. A point that Stamatia felt concerned about a little. ‘However, I haven’t begun to use my full power…’ Her fires responded to her thoughts and shot out as a raging river held back by a dam at the point of breaking.

Ready for the attack, Fumiko had a counter set up. The headpiece glowed brightly before it ignited into flames quickly producing several medium sized balls of fire. Using the staff as a launch, she swung it to release the fire.

Creating powerful winds on their shockwaves, the flames collided in explosions. Surrounding debris was cast aside freely. A few grunts sounded out from nearby soldiers that had the misfortune of being present. It took a little while for all of the dust kicked up to clear out, but they found themselves in the same situation as before, fire against fire. Both refused to give even a centimeter.

Fumiko slowly took in a careful breath. ‘I managed to meet her this time, but I can’t do that again… My casting speed is nothing like her ability to summon fire… I’m at a disadvantage like this…’ She knew that she couldn’t even match her for quantity either, not without sacrificing power. Her eyes glanced over at her left hand for an answer. It gave her some hope, but still was unknown.

Some frustration surfaced in Stamatia after their last round. She put more into the fire expecting to punch through her defenses, but nothing happened. Their stalemate continued. ‘Since she’s serious now, am I starting to see what she is truly capable of doing? I’ll have to increase my flame…’

The new round started with the atmosphere changing again. More than a dozen streams of fire rose up to surround Stamatia. Each of them held the same size and intensity as her previous ones. She made a clear sign that she no longer planned to go easy on Fumiko. ‘I’ll show you whose resolve is stronger!’ Casting her hand out at Fumiko, the liquid-like flames jumped into action.

Incoming quickly from all sides, Fumiko barely had enough time to cast enough for even one fireball. She knew she couldn’t deal with so many. ‘This is the power of a Kasou-ryoku? Someone like Yuki…’ Fumiko fired off her spell at the most immediate stream to dispel it. The explosion was enough to wipe out two accompanying streams as well. She would have felt fortunate, if not for the rest that still came after her. ‘My other hand can…’ Her thought turned quickly into action as she formed and threw out a fireball from her flame hand in response. It took another few with it, but left with her more to deal with alone.

Fumiko took up her staff and swung away what she could, but it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t stop them all. They breached her defenses and slammed into her shoulder and arms. The force sent her flying backwards through a tent that hadn’t managed to be destroyed yet. Their impact left some embers on her clothes, burning away sections.

Her sliding kicked up a small cloud, but Fumiko’s flame burned through it all. She stood up slowly out of the rumble. Patting out the remaining fires on her, Fumiko checked her condition quickly. Small holes appeared in her tunic and her skin looked a little red, but nothing serious. ‘I wonder if my attunement to fire provides me resistance…that would make the most sense…’

Examining her results, Stamatia stifled as much annoyance as she could. She didn’t think that with everything she sent that Fumiko would come out with so little damage. Their previous exchanges didn’t leave her to expect it to finish her off, but she hoped for something more serious. ‘Her Field dampened me that much? But I was able to touch her… Just need more…’

‘I need a different plan…’ Fumiko pressed her staff into the ground to force her back into step. At home, she only practiced a few different things. Her awakening didn’t provide her with a good sense of what she was capable of achieving with the power she gained. Each battle she found herself discovering something new. She hoped that her new arm meant something. She just didn’t know how to make use of it. In its present form, she got the feeling that she was not fully utilizing it.

Changing tactics, Stamatia raised her hand up above her head. It called up hellfire from all around the field. Pieces broke free, becoming independent. More broke away as they grew in numbers. They transformed from spheres into simple arrows. “Let’s see you stop this!”

Fumiko gasped in surprise at the array of arrows in the air. ‘I can’t counter that! I need something else…’ Her eyes flipped to her sides quickly trying to figure something out. The urgency of the situation raised her heart rate to a pounding. It crushed her ribs trying to escape.

She was out of time.

Stamatia launched all of the arrows at Fumiko. She didn’t wait for waves or feints, just pure simple numbers.

Staring at her opponent, Stamatia could see her attempting to prepare something even with them in the air already, but it was pointless. She had seen her speed and her arrows would get through. Even if a spell finished, it wouldn’t do enough to her numbers. ‘This’ll hurt…’ She watched eagerly, looking forward to seeing the traitor on her knees.

As expected, Fumiko’s casting came too long and the arrows reached their target. She lifted her flame arm up in defense, but it wasn’t enough for her. The arrows pierced through her flame and continued into her body. More arrows rained down on Fumiko quickly blotting her out of sight. Some of the arrows missed their target and exploded with the ground instead. It kicked up a cloud that masked everything from view.

The cloud cover delayed Stamatia’s answer. She wanted to know how much damage she caused the woman. It made her impatient in learning the outcome. Using her control over everything in the Field, she created an explosion to blow away the veil. The forced wind peeled away Fumiko’s cover slowly, layer by layer. Deeper inside a purple glow surfaced that couldn’t be seen before. It grew brighter with more dust and earth in the air fading.

Stamatia took a step back in surprise once she finally saw Fumiko standing. Inside a purple sphere, Fumiko rose up appearing mostly unscathed by the attack. Ribbons of purple light wrapped the sphere slowly spinning around and rotating keeping up a complete barrier of protection.

Fumiko lowered her staff. The barrier faded away with her release. “That hurt more than I thought,” she commented to herself. Her tunic revealed new tears and burns where the arrows hit. They mostly left her skin untouched, but she felt soreness from them. “That gave me enough time…” She looked over at the flame on her left.

“Time for what?” questioned Stamatia, “I don’t see anything different.”

“Not yet.” She lifted her arm up to put it in front of her. “Even practicing I was never able to get it to reproduce like I did the first time. I was only able to make a normal looking flame. But I know I can make it again if I just place my faith in my power. That’s why this happened!” Her arm stretched out aiming at Stamatia. The wind that blew through pulled at the trails of flames whipping it around.

Fumiko closed her eyes, focusing on her arm. Not immediately visible, a different colored glow rose up out of the depths of the flame that made her arm. Threads and ribbons, filled with characters and symbols, lifted from the surface. Their source came from her shoulder disappearing underneath her tunic. They wrapped around digging into and coming out the other side of the flame. Magic threads spread through building into a stronger color. Her flame suddenly grew darker, absorbing the hue from the magic.

A bit of wonder and curiosity held back Stamatia from acting when she knew that she should not. She didn’t understand her hesitating, but she wanted to see what the talk was about. ‘What’s happening to her arm? Why is it blue?’

Opening her eyes, Fumiko smirked a little. It pleased her to see that her gamble paid off. The blue flame that she found before during her awakening resurfaced. She merged it with her arm. The heat and magic coming off it felt much stronger than before. “This is everything that I hoped for and more… I’d suggest a defense! If you don’t want to get hurt too badly!”

“Huh?!” Stamatia barely had a moment to react as Fumiko sprinted towards her faster than she thought possible for a human, even one with MP powers. She summoned up flames for her defense, but it did nothing. Fumiko’s blue inferno blew them away with a single blast. The rest became a blur to her eyes. She couldn’t follow her speed as she already appeared behind her.

Stamatia turned her head in shock. “Imposs—“ Pain snapped off her voice. Her fire armor along her shoulder and arm vanished. Blood sprayed up into the air left from a wide claw mark that left five individual slashes from her shoulder down her arm. Her eyelids grew wide as her pupils shrank in surprise.