It all hit him so fast that he froze in the fight. Athene capitalized on the opportunity, carving out a large gash through Yori’s chest. The surprise, shock and force knocked him off his feet. Blood sprayed in an arc off him and painted the grass when he crashed to the ground. ‘Dammit, I need to tell everyone…’ Yori struggled to pull his head up to see Athene approaching. “Stop! There’s…something…”

Unfortunately, Athene still moved on him, planning to be sure she was the winner of the fight. Yori didn’t have time for her now to bandage her pride anymore. He threw his hand up. “I said stop!” Her body suddenly flew across the room. He coughed hoarsely through the washes of pain infecting his body. “…damn…that hurt…”

Athene returned to her feet unaffected by his toss. She started to walk over to him, but he stopped her again. “Listen…to me… I know…what she’s…planning…Ayumi…” Unfortunately, he didn’t get any response from Athene. “Eu-e…e…Eudokia…I mean…”

The name brought Athene to an immediate stop. Like anyone, the name was familiar, but naturally, she knew her better than others as her Commanding Officer. Athene’s face narrowed quickly wanting answers. “What does Eudokia Ismene have to do with this?”

Some of the confusion Athene took Yori a moment to think about it. “I guess…you were out…of the…loop…” He started coughing again, but blood sprayed out of his mouth. “…damn…I need…” Everything started to get light and the feeling started to fade away. A strange ominous feeling overcame Yori. “…oh…”

Chapter 260 – The Recovered Truth

Another cough suddenly brought him back to reality. Yori snapped his eyes open, no longer feeling as empty. A light came from just the edge of his sight, pulling him down. “…what…doing…”

“Remain still. I’m tending to your wound.”

Yori dropped his head back to the ground, sighing. It was over. However, all his memories and knowledge returned quickly to remind him of his need. He jerked up only to be pushed down by Athene. “This is…important!”

“Let me finish.”

“Dammit! If she gets her way, it’s going to mean that he’ll die, a slow painful prolonged death.”

Athene tried to work around Yori’s stubbornness. He didn’t make it easy to concentrate on the wound. Fortunately, her power did most of the work. “What are you talking about? Who’s going to die and how does this involve Eudokia?” She hoped talking to him would keep him still.

“Eudokia…right, that’s how you know her. Someone I know, she brought him here with the intention of becoming your new King, though he seemed more interested in just stopping the assassins.”

It all came as a surprise until she started to search her own memories. “I think I remember reading that from your mind. But the King never had any heirs, he’s not related.”

“Yes, I know, but that doesn’t really matter now does it? I finally remembered everything I saw when I was in your mind. I know about it all, even the Rite of Succession and the price that must be paid.”

“But he would have to be—“

“Powerful enough to support the Throne of Atlantis.”

It left Athene a little ill at ease having him finish her thoughts. He really did steal things from her. “Are you saying he is?”

“I don’t have a measure for his power and even using your memories I can’t really judge accurately, but I’d say he has power to spare.”

“Then he could save Atlantis.”

“But he doesn’t know about the price.”

“You mean she never told him?”

“She left that detail out. She withheld quite a lot of details from what I saw. You aren’t even in a rush for a King, you have a system that makes sure you have a King even when there are no heirs. She doesn’t need him. But most importantly, she never mentioned the price knowing how everyone would react.”

Athene looked off towards the Capital. “What is Eudokia thinking of forcing Kingship on someone uninformed?”

“She’s desperate, but even I don’t know the reasons. But I need to warn the others so they can stop it from happening.”

In the distance, she saw all of the effects of the many fights playing out. The destructive nature of some made her feel small in their world. “But they’re fighting with the Titans. They’re the best Atlantis has to offer. Getting past them to Eudokia is going to be impossible.”

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“Yes, but we have to do it or else Ayumi wins.” Yori paused thinking about the situation and his feelings on the matter. “I don’t approve of him, but my sister is fond of him. If something happened to him she would be…if I can prevent it then I must. I just need to tell them all, somehow.”

“You’re not in a position to be moving, even recovered from my healing.”

Yori tried to stand regardless of what Athene said, but lost his strength halfway. The pain was gone, but his body was exhausted as though he had run all day. “…dammit…I need to talk to them!” He closed his eyes thinking about them all around the front of the Capital in their own battles. It felt like they were next to him. It felt like he could reach out and touch them. “Please hear me, everyone! You must listen!” He pleaded, hoping against reason that he could tell them.

‘Yori?! How are you in my head?’ he heard from his sister.

‘…Yori…I must be dreaming or something if I’m hearing your voice…’ Fumiko replied.

‘Huh? Is that Yumi’s brother? In my head? She must have hit me harder than I thought if I’m hearing him,’ answered Saki.

‘What are you doing in my head?’ Chiharu demanded, as though her voice alone could kick him out.

‘A voice… That’s Yumi Mizuno’s brother. If I’m hearing him it must mean that he’s making use of his power. While he never was shown to have anything, I assumed like everyone else he had something. So telepathy is his power…it’s likely not the only power given it’s not one that can protect him. He would have been given another ability outside of it. Everything is themed—‘

“Everyone please stop with the questions…” He had to stop all of the voices coming into his head, especially the unexpected one of Haruo. But he had them, somehow. “I barely have any strength, just listen… I know the truth finally. I know what Ayumi’s goal is.”

So many questions still fired at him that he needed their attention. “He’s in danger. If Ayumi succeeds in her plan. Yuki Hayashi will die! The truth is that Atlantis’ secret is not what any of us thought! They are actually dependent on their King for the continued survival of their civilization. The entire country is maintained by the King, through their power. That’s why the position is so important. Without the King everything created by their power to change Antarctica from an ice wasteland into this paradise would be wiped away. Everyone would die.”

He understood their entire history, as Athene knew it, at least. However, he had to keep things focused. “Yet there’s something even more important that Ayumi never told us about the position as King. The strongest of those like Yuki Hayashi and Ayumi are selected to become King. The one selected is then linked with all of the country and is constantly using their power to maintain the reality of Atlantis. It is permanent until they die and a new King is required to be selected. However, the link is so draining on the King that it saps away their life at an accelerated rate. Most Kings become almost a complete invalid barely able to even leave their room. They become husks and left to a few years or decades of miserable servitude to their country.”

Yori could imagine how many of them would react to such a situation. In fact, he counted on it. It might be the push needed to defeat the Titans and save him from Ayumi’s scheme. “Yuki Hayashi will be left to a slow and painful death if Ayumi gets him to sit on the Throne of Atlantis! He will die becoming the King, not today, but he won’t ever be the same again. His future will be stolen unknowingly.”

Cutting the connection immediately, he allowed the pieces to fall where they did. ‘I was a little manipulative in my wording, but I had to get their attention. Given the quality of life he’d likely have afterwards, it’d be like a living death.’

Athene noticed the relief in Yori’s face. His body finally relaxed and calmed down. “You did what you needed?”

“Yes, it’s in…their hands now.”

Suddenly, several flashes of light reached across the field towards them. A rumbling through the earth gave the two of them an unsettling sense of the changing winds. “What did you tell them?”

“The truth, or at least as much as I could. They still don’t know about the rebellion or the Anaximandros. There’s still so much they don’t know.” The wealth of knowledge he gained left him a little staggered. It was hard to sift through everything when it wasn’t his own. It was just sort of there. Always mixed in with the rest of his memories. He had trouble being sure of his own past when he had to be careful not to confuse it with Athene’s.

A narrowed expression came across Athene’s face. “You’re a dangerous man, Yori Mizuno.” She could sense the depth of the knowledge he gained from just his expression towards her. The shades of emotions quickly shifted as he experienced everything. Guilt, pity, empathy, they all mixed together. He understood their pain as well as themselves.

“I didn’t ask for this. But it’ll be useful. Perhaps it can be the link we need to understand each other better.”

“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself,” she corrected with a dose of reality. In the distance, fighting still continued and with renewed vigor thanks to him. Things were far from over. ‘I can’t even imagine how things will play out after this all is resolved. The Council of Atlantis is still…’

Yori pushed himself back to his feet, despite the protests from Athene. He tightened up his hand feeling more of his strength coming back. “I really am different now or maybe I always have been since that day and I just now noticed.” Glancing back to Athene, his mind shifted thoughts. “I’m not the only dangerous man here today.”

Athene caught Yori when he stumbled from his overconfidence. “What are you thinking? You might be fully healed, but your fatigue and stress were not. You need some time to recover.”

There were still things he needed to see the outcome. He couldn’t hold himself back just on the account of his back being too slow. “I need to return. I still have some answers I seek and they no doubt need some answers from me.”

She helped him in his slow walk back to the Capital. “I can use my power to carry you there.”

“No, this pace is fine. If we arrive too soon, we’ll get in the way of their fighting. They’ll no doubt be distracted.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

“Besides, you probably need some time to composure yourself.”

“Huh?” She didn’t understand what he was talking about, despite the annoying knowing grin on his face. There was something he thought about making use of her knowledge. “What are you thinking?”

“We are going to be seeing him.” Yori pointed with his free hand towards the location she stole him from at the start. For him, he could barely see the small gathering figures. The distance made them out to be just bumps in the grass.

Athene scowled at him for his vagueness. “You’re being intentionally indirect.”

It made him laugh a bit seeing her react in such a manner. “Well, you might wound him, having already forgotten him. You know the reason you came hunting us down across half of Atlantis. We’ll be seeing Simonides.”

She immediately knew the reason for the way he acted. It turned her face red before she raised her fist to him. “Don’t use my memories like that again!”

Yori couldn’t help but laugh seeing her face, even if it might have incurred some wrath. “After nearly twenty years, maybe you need a little outside help.”

“Yori Mizuno, I’m going to kill you!”

“Hey, I thought we moved past that part!”