It was as she heard. There was no mistaking it again. It should have been impossible. Everything made sense. Worse more, it wasn’t even the first time she experienced it. Whatever god that looked over her had a cruel and uninventive means of toying with her. To use the same trick on her again, yet she did fall over it again. Who was more of a fool?

Fumiko stared down at the girl, a quick shift occurred across her face. “You’re saying that this is just an image, an illusion. You don’t actually look like this, you’re not actually a child.”

Giggling a little more for Fumiko, Glykeria smiled for a few moments. It was hard to see if she enjoyed the scene from some sort of malicious intent or just a playful one. Her emotions blended together too well. “That’s right. The smart ones usually figure it out quickly, seeing the inconsistencies, but the dumb ones just take things at face value. They’re always so shocked when they learn. People rely too much on what they can see for their answers.”

A shadow drew down over Fumiko’s eyes. That was what she needed. “Then how old are you? Older than me?”

“Naturally, I’m one of the most veteran Titans. I’m not ranked third for nothing.”

“Is that so?” she muttered. Streams of sacred magic poured down her arm into her hand. It made her entire arm almost appear to glow red.

Glykeria’s expression quickly changed to bewildered confusion. “Eh?” She didn’t understand the change in Fumiko’s attitude. The entire presence around her flipped.

Red turned to brilliant blue within Fumiko’s palm as a massive flame ignited to consume her hand. “Knowing that, I can fight with my full power!” Fumiko swung with her hand still holding on to the flame. The blue flame immediately engulfed the twisted Glykeria.

Chapter 247 – Childish Beliefs

Dragged out of the initial blast by her doll, Glykeria remained doused in flames. The villain began to pat down her body trying to extinguish the fire to little results. Another doll appeared, but with bright blue hair, though otherwise seemed similar in features to the existing one. Water appeared from the air drowning Glykeria, finally putting out the flames.

Stepping out, she looked soaked and permanently scarred with burns over most of her body that was not clothed. “So you can be serious. But only because some morals are no longer in your way, eh?” A moment later, like stepping a frame forward, Glykeria's body returned to the original unharmed state.

Eager azure flames burned in Fumiko’s hand, still wanting more. “It’s nothing like what you’re thinking. I have my reasons, which I don’t plan to explain to you!” Fumiko charged forward after Glykeria to put a quick end to the fight. Even though she could fight now without any hesitation, there was no reason for it to continue. Target the bad guy and the fight ended, especially since she didn’t seem to have any power for herself.

The blue-haired doll moved in front to take over. Immediately a large volume of water grew out in front of the doll’s raised hand, directing it at the charging Fumiko. She dodged it with plenty of time, but the doll adapted and changed the course of the water. It ended up catching her hand, stealing away the fire.

Fumiko leapt away a couple of steps to safety, staring at her hand. ‘Damn, it's supposed to be magic right? Shouldn’t I be able to overcome it? Or is it not normal water?’ Lost in thought, she didn’t see Paramonimus, the first doll, flanking her. Its sword caught another piece of her before she escaped. ‘She kept him out still…’

Glykeria laughed watching Fumiko fumbling around. “You thought I’d only have one out at a time? When I play with my dolls, I play with more than one. You should know you never play with just one.”

The water-using doll fired off volleys of water at Fumiko, keeping the timing with the other doll. She was able to use her fire to keep the water from doing anything, but it was a purely defensive position. With only two dolls, Glykeria had pushed Fumiko to a pace set by her. The hero could do nothing. ‘I need something better than this. I can’t cast the fire fast enough to deal with both and I can only dodge so well. She’s got me completely disadvantaged…’

In front of her face, a white-haired doll appeared, one she never saw before. She couldn’t react. A flash of light blinded her and left her dazed. “Huh?” It was gone almost immediately, but the situation had somehow turned worse against her. The blue-haired doll used its water like rope to tie her up. ‘What just happened? It just disappeared…and now I’m…’

“I told you. I play with more than one doll.” The white one rested on her shoulder almost like it sat down, but still hovered a little. “This one plays with your perceptions. Just a little game it likes to play. Makes hide-and-seek a lot more interesting. Don’t you think?”

Fumiko ground her teeth, taking in her situation. She didn’t know what they had planned for her, but she was completely at their whim. ‘She’s supposed to be an adult, yet playing around like a child. Even now, I don’t think she is even being serious. It’s all just a game for her.’ An adult pretending to be a child. The notion made Fumiko want to laugh.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

‘Which of us is more foolish? An adult that can’t be serious or a child that is unable to be a child?’ She couldn’t believe that she was actually thinking about having some consideration for the villain. They just wanted to capture her or worse kill her. They weren’t something that she should be giving any sort of thought.

Fumiko saw quick flashes in the back of his mind. She returned to her mind once more. She was the reason for the chains on her body. She was the reason for the shield she bore for the others. She was the source of everything. The one thing that she could never forget, never forgive and never escape.

‘…Kimiko…’

The source of all and the cause of her changes. She was the reason for all of her actions. ‘Sister…’ Fumiko had to face it again. More so even now, that it affected her fight. She had to help Yuki and losing or dying would only cause a burden for the others. ‘An adult that’s a child and a child that wants to be an adult. Some pair we are…’

Channeling divine magic down her arm, Fumiko attempted to free herself from the water. However, water materialized around her hand completely preventing her magic from forming. Escape was cut off. ‘Damn…why can’t my fire work…’

She didn’t feel that her doubt clouded her anymore. Confessions made it clear that she was no child. ‘It’s no longer a reason. Isn’t my magic strong enough?’ The wicked water doll took to giving a little punishment for the attempted breakout. The water rope tightened around her. It seemed impossible for water to have any strength to be harmful, but Fumiko could barely breathe from the crushing pressure of it wrapped around her chest.

‘I know she’s not a child, so I should be able to fight. Is it because of the appearance that I’m still subconsciously holding back? Are you angry Kimiko?’ The shadow over her never went away. All of the years it still hung over everything she did. It was such a long drawn shadow. ‘I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I know…but I need to fight right now…please…’

Various images went through her mind of her sister. Fumiko begged her. ‘I’m not asking for forgiveness. It’s not something I can have. I don’t deserve it. Never, but I need to do this.’ Fumiko tried calling on her magic again. ‘I’ve done everything I can. I’ve never forgotten. I’m different, changed.’

Her magic still refused her. It seemed actually to be weaker than before. The holy azure flame stopped appearing, only the weaker crimson flame answered her. Her body tightened further. It felt like her bones would snap as her arm dug into her ribs. She couldn’t move. ‘What more can I do for you?!’

The hero fell to the traps sealed away. Only the bodily pain reminded her that she still lived. Pain surrounded her and comforted her. It was all she knew. ‘I only did this because of you! I saw her…’ Chiharu surfaced in her mind. Their meeting at the tree where the fairy gathered them.

Many times before it controlled her, the guilt. It was all she had to carry her. The child she found at the school, when she first met Yuki came to mind. ‘I actually thought that I might have finally paid enough. That the end was finally for me.’ Her arm went still.

‘I’m the worst.’

The magic disappeared. Her body groaned under the stress.

‘I killed you, Kimiko.’

Fumiko’s face lost any sense of life.

‘That’ll never be wiped away…nothing I do can remove it. Yet I still try…selfishly to make up for it.’

Kimiko surfaced in her mind again. She never answered her. Anytime she tried to call out to her sister, she never replied. It only made sense. Who would reply to the one that killed you?

‘I can’t die yet huh? Yeah, you won’t let me. My suffering can’t end so simply.’ Fumiko pulled at her arm, sparking life back into her body. ‘I’m selfish. I’m a killer. I’m a murder. I’m just a child. I shout at the unjust world thinking I deserve something better than what I have.’

Emboldened magic channeled down her arm. ‘Shouting is all I can do. I’m selfish after all. I want the impossible. What I can’t have. But I won’t stop, I told myself that day.’ An azure inferno erupted inside the water, causing bubbles and steam to appear.

‘I made a promise. A promise to myself.’ Fumiko squeezed her hand. The flames blasted out completely throwing off the water. Her arm leapt out for the water doll burning it to ash with her flame. ‘I told myself. You were dead. I couldn’t fix it. No wishes would change death.’

Released from the water, Fumiko fell back to the ground. She landed with ease. ‘If I couldn’t change death...’ Fumiko slowly rose to her full stature. Blue flames started to form around her hand, fed by threads of magic spun down her arm. ‘I’d just have to stop death’s dark designs!’

All three vile dolls flew at Fumiko, realizing she was preparing an attack. A magic circle drew out across the ground, as threads wound down her legs. The white one went for the first strike to rob Fumiko of her senses again, but three blue fireballs knocked it out before it could get anything off. As the two remaining dolls charged in blue flames erupted from the ground completely engulfing them. Nothing could escape.

Blue flames surrounded Fumiko making her disappear from their tall column. A moment later, Fumiko walked heroically out of the flames. Flames danced around her palm. “I’m not allowed to die yet, which means I must defeat you.”

The villain jumped around a little, clapping her hands together. “Oh, you’ve made that decision? But is that really something you can make happen?” The dolls destroyed moments before resurfaced, but had even more along with them. It was like a flock of birds, all in formation.

Flames grew and merged on Fumiko’s palm. She sprinted forward straight for the dolls. Fumiko threw her fist out wide, growing her flame, wielding it like a club. The frontline burst in flames, crumbling to ash. She broke through the line and went for Glykeria.

Fumiko’s hand nearly eclipsed Glykeria’s tiny head, as she palmed her like a basketball and threw her into the ground. Blue flames erupted over Glykeria’s entire body as magic funneled in the attack. “I’m already a murderer and one more adult is hardly enough to weigh my conscience down any further! This is reality!”

It looked like it was over. Fumiko kept her magic going to ensure the kill. However, she heard a voice that wasn’t familiar coming from under her flame. “Reality really is cruel.” The voice was almost self-attacking and soaked in self-pity. Foreign and unknown. Beneath her fingers, blue hair appeared amongst the flame.