In all the shock, Hiroshi couldn’t even react to the entirety of the situation. It was more than he expected to happen. Something that none of them ever planned for. No one considered it a possibility. Yet he had to accept it now. Saki and the others stood before them.

‘Dammit all! I have to kill more of my friends…’ While it wasn’t the first time that he had to do it. It was never something that he wished to do. He might have put up the front before Yuki, but he hated it. As much as he wished he could have burned away all of his feelings. It would have made it easier. But it was never any easier. The hesitation just disappeared, but the regret and pain remained. ‘Does this never end? Will I ever be free of this?’

While Hiroshi fought over his thoughts, Miyako already started to jump around what remained of their base. She tried helping whoever she could. Her gang followed her around working with others. It was complete chaos.

Tatsuya came up behind Hiroshi. A hand on his shoulder pulled him back to reality. “Hey man, we need you focused.”

“Right…” Mashing his hands together in frustration, Hiroshi focused on the whole situation that faced them. He started finally taking it all in. He could see how bad things looked. “Prioritize the protection of the non-combatants! Everyone else hold the line with me!”

Chapter 298 – Crumbling Lines

“Yumi!” shouted Yori, as he threw off debris. Even before it happened, he felt that he sensed his sister’s presence nearby. It ended up putting him into the line of fire more than others. The blast that wiped away the earth burned through his school uniform. The entire left side of his jacket and shirt were gone. Light scorch marks lined his upper arm. Nothing that would slow him down, but he could feel the sting.

Yori tilted his head up towards her. It made his heart jump to know that she was alive and safe. He didn’t know what they would have done to her. But she was before him again. However, it didn’t feel right. “Yumi?” He could see her staring down at him, but not with the sort of eyes he was used to seeing from her. There was a cold emptiness that filled them up. Cold enough that it sent chills down his spine. ‘What’s happened to her? She looks like my sister, but she doesn’t too…’

Yumi stared down at him, only breaking her silence briefly. “Yori Mizuno. Saki and Fumiko…” She motioned with her hand. It seemed to be the signal for the attack to start. All of the students and others from the neighborhood mixed in and jumped down the deep hole. Only she remained on top, just watching the events.

The initial blast worked well as a surprise and opening for a blitz-style attack. No one was prepared for the next wave. The Takako Faction bled through the opening with little resistance. Between the blast and blitz many were already dead or injured. Hiroshi’s side fell to critically low numbers with only seconds on the battle.

Down last but arriving first was Saki, who immediately charged after Yori, completely catching him off guard. His focus remained on his sister rather than the view of the starting battle. Her first punch sent him flying backwards through walls and rubble to disappear among the smoke. She slowly walked in the direction that she punched him, knowing that it wasn’t over yet.

Slower to hit the bottom, Fumiko dropped down with the clang of her staff. However, unlike her usual pattern, her flame arm appeared where she lost her arm rather than altering the existing one. It held tightly onto the staff.

Eerie rattling from the metal rings on her staff echoed throughout the ruined interior. Magic circles materialized in multiple locations in the air. Thin threads of magic swayed in connection as flames burst out attacking multiple targets. Fumiko quickly swept away many of the injured with her flames silencing the screams almost immediately.

A white lion leapt out in defense of some children trying to escape. It took the hit blocking most of the flames so that only the heat reached them. Haruo slowly stepped out from the shadows as he brought several more of his lions with him.

Down at his feet were three kids, no more than seven, completely frightened. The lion saved them, but now they were paralyzed with fear. “Run,” he ordered. However, they did nothing to heed his command. It only made it more difficult when more fireballs came for them. Building a wall with his lions and himself, they took the attacks.

While Haruo still stood, his clothes didn’t fare as well as his body. They weren’t made as sturdy. Only a school uniform, a large hole burned through the chest and right sleeve. Light redness appeared on his skin, but not so much as a burn.

He kept taking attacks from Fumiko unmoved and largely unfazed by it. Steam and smoke rose up from his body, but he continued to hold his position protecting the children.

“What the hell are ya doing?!” snapped Miyako at Haruo. She had been directing things around behind the loose line that Hiroshi tried to hold. Her body wasn’t up for a fight as much as she wished to join them. When he didn’t give her any answer, she ran over starting to understand that he was trying to stop the flames.

She eventually made it behind Haruo seeing the children hiding. The fact that Haruo just kept repeatedly taking the attacks without budging a centimeter made her pause for a second. But she felt the heat and near miss of one of the spells. “You three can’t stay here!” Miyako knelt down and picked up the three kids despite her injuries. As she rushed off with them, she looked back at Haruo. She stared briefly in silence before focusing on getting the kids out of danger.

The freed up position gave Haruo the opportunity to dodge. He ordered his animals forward knowing what he had to do. Fumiko’s attacks didn’t stop just because the children were safe. Plenty more still were in danger. There was no choice.

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Black light burst out of the debris cloud wiping away the veil. Yori appeared once more, but with blood dripping down his forehead. ‘Damn, one punch from her and my whole body is ringing…’ He could still move, but he questioned how much he could take from Saki. The only time he fought anyone for real was Athene, though his time in Atlantis afterwards gave him practice. However, as Athene reminded him during their sparring matches, he wasn’t a soldier.

He had to keep his mind focused on Saki with how fast she moved. A moment away, distracted by pain would ruin him, as he learned quickly. She already moved in a blur for him. He saw the follow up punches, but seeing wasn’t enough. His body couldn’t react to what he saw. It sent him flying once more.

‘Damn…’ Tears started to appear on what remained of his uniform. The strength of Saki’s hits seemed to have decreased for some unknown reason. Yori could tell the difference. He wasn’t sure why it was the case, but he could only stand back up and try to face her. ‘Saki’s been fighting the whole time in Atlantis against one opponent after another. Even before then, she was a track member and even protected Hayashi. All I’ve done is sit behind a desk…’

It was a completely one-sided fight. Yori didn’t even stand a chance against Saki. That fact became very clear to him only a minute into their fight. ‘I can’t even think about making an attack or even defense. She’s too fast for me. I don’t know what I should do to fight her…’ A terrible match up, almost as though it was designed that way. Yori only had his body’s toughness to protect him, which wasn’t holding out.

All that happened was that he was made bloodier and bloodier with each thrown punch. He staggered back from the last round feeling his legs complaining, even though it should be his body or face. Saki didn’t seem to have any reservations in their fight. There was no hesitation. ‘…is she going to kill me?!’

He didn’t have any strength left in his body. The next swing was already coming in after him. ‘I can’t dodge…I never had any hope against her… I just wanted to protect…’ Yori closed his eyes, hanging his head down in acceptance.

The sound of Saki’s fist crashing echoed through the area, but nothing happened. “What’s wrong, Mr. President?” Tatsuya asked in a mocking tone. A grin slid across his face as he caught Saki’s fist.

Surprise filled Yori’s face watching Tatsuya come to save him. “…why…” He wasn’t even sure why he said it. But it seemed the most accurate to his feelings.

Spinning around with a kick, Tatsuya threw Saki off from her course. He then walked a little forward, appearing to take on Saki himself. “So surprised I’d help you?” Tatsuya tilted his head over his shoulder to look at Yori. “We might seem like hard asses for the way we talk, but we’re not evil or heartless. We protect anyone, regardless of whether they are part of us or not, as long as you’re not the enemy.”

It left Yori a little surprised. They had been so dead set on knowing their allegiance that it seemed to be the only thing that they acknowledged. The binary of a war, there were only two sides to any conflict. The allies and enemies and they wanted them to pick which. He didn’t really expect such a reaction from all of their hesitation.

Tatsuya grinned a little playfully at Yori. “You’re not an enemy, are ya?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then we don’t have a problem!” Charging back at Tatsuya, Saki tried to go after Yori once more, but was interrupted again. Tatsuya grabbed Saki’s wrist to keep her from reaching her target. “Your opponent is me, Saki.”

She suddenly turned her head to look at Tatsuya, rather than Yori. It seemed that she recognized him, unlike before. Her target switched accepting the new entry. Saki brought her focus completely to him.

A swing from her aimed straight for Tatsuya completely missed him. Her eyes betrayed her confusion that she missed him. She tried again and failed to connect once more. Everywhere she placed her arm it seemed to miss. He was there one moment and then suddenly not as though he could teleport. Saki swung wide as he only seemed to be rotating around her, another miss.

Yori stared in bewilderment as well. He didn’t understand what was happening. Unlike when he played punching bag to Saki, Tatsuya dodged everything that Saki threw at him. ‘How is he doing it?! Is this the difference in combat experience? He barely even seems to be moving. Just always on the move without stopping. I don’t understand…’

Hiroshi viewed much of it from a distance. He helped to hold the line, but his powers were ill suited to the current situation. It restricted his ability to have a meaningful impact on the fighting. However, his physical attributes gave him enough to keep up with holding back the attackers.

The whole battle continued to turn worse and worse for them. He could see it from his point of view. So many were dead from the start and the strikes after had been deadly accurate. He wondered how they managed for so long to keep things from completely falling apart. Only the thought of everyone dying seemed to be holding them together.

He didn’t like the feeling he got from the battle. ‘They’re far more organized than before. I don’t understand it. We haven’t had this large of an attack since the counter offensive began. They always stuck to smaller hit and run style attacks after we started to win. Why change now? What’s made the difference…’

Rescuing one of the students, Hiroshi threw back the insane teacher from the enemy faction. He threw off one of the larger pieces of debris where they fell to pin them underneath the earth. “How bad is it?” he asked the student he saved.

Blood soaked through their ragged clothes and dripped down their arm. “I can still move, sir!”

“Enough with the sir, I’m younger than you! Just get out of here!” Hiroshi pushed them behind him as he picked up a broken pipe to finish off the teacher. They were someone that he didn’t really know well. It made it easier, though he did see them in the halls and roughly knew that they taught math. ‘Sorry…this is the only way…’ He ran them through the heart quickly. It was the best way he found. A quick short death. He wasn’t so brutal as to do it in any other way. He always watched them on their last breaths.

Never forget.

After it was finished, he looked up the gigantic hole. The sunlight made it difficult to see, but he saw a lone figure at the top. “…Yumi…” He didn’t understand why she didn’t take any action. She just seemed to be watching the whole thing as though she was god.

A moment longer and their eyes met. She saw him. He didn’t get any more time to stare. Someone else came in after him, suddenly acknowledging him. They seemed to have been largely ignoring him, but now he had more attention than he wanted. “Suddenly I’m so popular. This is why I preferred being in the background at school.” Ripping out the pipe, he wielded it as though it were a staff keeping off the close range attackers, while trying to dodge the long range.

Hiroshi succeeded in staying ahead of them for a few seconds, but suddenly his leg tripped on something. He looked down to see the earth had actually grabbed a hold of him. In the moment, they all jumped after him with his attention gone.

“Commander!” shouted Miyako, leaping over Hiroshi to lay down a spinning whirlwind kick to four separate attackers. It sent them all flying away with surprising force. She landed out in front of him planning to defend the position, despite all of her bandages.

Fighting with the earth, Hiroshi eventually got himself free, but not before Miyako quickly became overwhelmed. She fought them off as best as she could, but it wasn’t going to last. “Miyako!”

Throwing one of them off her, she tilted her head back towards Hiroshi. “We’ve finished, sir!” She elbowed another out of her way, before a lightning bolt blew through her shoulder. It knocked her back as the earth came up to pin her down.

“Dammit…” yelled Hiroshi. ‘This is a losing battle. There’s no more point to it.’ Spinning the pipe around, severely wounding two of the students trying to finish off Miyako, Hiroshi made it to her side. “We’re retreating now! Code black!”