The weight of her actions crashed upon her shoulders watching the flames. Around her the deadly howls of the villagers dying burned into her ears. They didn’t even know why they were being attacked. It was merely a coincidence for them.

Shocked and paralyzed under an all too familiar weight, Saki watched Yumi’s back to see how she would move. ‘This is going to be the turning point for her. Will it break her or harden her?’ She knew it wasn’t the first time that Yumi carried terrible weights on her back. But she managed to avoid much of it from never having witnessed the actual results of her actions. Now it was before her, she couldn’t turn away anymore or hide. She had no personalities to protect her. She had to do it alone.

At her side, Yuki appeared putting a hand on her shoulder to reach out to her strained mental state. “Yumi.”

Initially, his call to her didn’t go noticed. There was a thick wall between her and the world. But the connection he established with her through his hand, something foreign yet comforting. It pulled on her mind, dragging her slowly back to reality. Yumi slowly turned to her head to look at him. “Yuki…” Her face twisted with emotions as she tried to parse everything.

“What do you want to do Yumi?”

She seized up seeing once again what Yuki was doing. Her teeth ground together as he looked to her for an answer. “I don’t know…” With all of the destruction around her fading away into the background, she could barely even see Yuki anymore within her mind. ‘I screwed up and he’s still putting everything on me?! This is all my fault that people are dying. The demons are after me because of all of the killings.’

Suddenly a slap in the back came from nowhere. It threw everything in Yumi’s head out and splattered over the ground. The sting of the hand still throbbed as she tilted back to see who did it. “Seiji?” She said with some surprise, though coming from him it seemed pretty normal. Though more confusing for her was that he didn’t seem to have any of the same sort of confusion that she had. He just seemed to know. A clear view was in front of him. It didn’t make any sense to her.

“I think Yuki’s being a little too damn indirect with this.” Shoving Yuki a little with a smirk slightly peeking out of his lips. “I think you’re being a little hands off.”

“Huh?”

Saki begrudgingly walked out next to Seiji with her hands crossed, but agreed with him still. “What they’re trying to say is, try not to think too hard about what’s going wrong right now and just focus on what you can do for what’s happening now.”

“Yeah, what Saki said, just with not so many damn words.”

“You didn’t even get any words out.”

“And aren’t you being a little damn direct?”

“It’s what you were trying to do.”

Yumi started laughing watching the two bicker like she remembered and had forgotten. It had been a while since she had really seen her friends together. Things felt like they did before everything went wrong in Atlantis. A time when it was easier to still be carefree about it all, even with people hunting them. Nothing seemed to be good anymore. Seeing something not change despite everything changing was refreshing.

Saki and Seiji broke with their debate over the semantics of their approaches and looked back at Yumi. Welcoming smiles encourage her to keep moving forward greeting her. They nodded to her to take that step.

“We’re behind you, Yumi,” Yuki added.

“Especially you,” teased Seiji.

“Hey, I can fight too! I’m not useless!”

“You sure as hell are now that you gave up your main character status to Yumi.”

“What are you doing stealing my fourth wall breaking dialogue?!”

“Better watch out Yuki, he’s been getting more than a little comfortable with the setup.”

Yumi took a few steps out towards the chaos. It all felt so distant and far from her now. The weight wasn’t so crushing anymore. She might be able to stand up straight. “Thank you, everyone.”

Chapter 419 – Power Spike

Seiji broke rank with the comedy bit to step forward alongside Yumi. “So what’s the plan you got in mind, Yumi?”

She stared at all of the people running around terrified and the lights of explosions highlighting the demons that came marching. “First priority is protecting the village. If they came looking for me, then I’ll give them what they want.”

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Saki and Yuki came hurriedly up to her side worried about what she might be planning. “Yumi, you aren’t—“

“I’m not going out there alone,” she interrupted quickly before they started to worry about her recklessness. “I have to be out there to get their attention, they’re looking for me. But I’m going to want your help as well. Saki and Seiji with me dealing with the demons and then Yuki and Nerine. I want you to protect the villagers and get them to safety.”

“I’m fully healed now, Yumi. I can help out on the front too.”

“Getting sidelined already!” laughed Seiji, enjoying the teasing.

“I know you can, but we don’t know how the fighting will go with the demons or even if we can get their full attention. People are still going to be in danger and I know you’ll be able to keep them all safe.”

Seeing that she thought about it, Yuki didn’t try to press it any further. It was as she said, the first priority for her was keeping the village safe. He could understand that. “Alright, I’ll make sure they get out alive.”

“Hey, what about Mr. Demon back here, who’s been silent as hell this whole time?”

“Mr. Demon has a name,” he reminded, actually looking a little bothered by Seiji’s more casual attitude towards him. Yuki wasn’t the only strange one in the group. They all lacked the same sort of fear or hatred towards him that he came to expect from humans. None of them seemed like they belonged, even the one that had the hatred burning within her.

Yumi dismissed him immediately however. “He’s not going to fight his own people. He only had one goal and that’s a rematch with me. This doesn’t have an interest for him.”

Getting an annoyed glare from Seiji that he wouldn’t be helping only produced a shrug back. “She’s not wrong. I’m only interested in fighting strong opponents.”

“Then go find that scary ass swordswoman!” Seiji tossed out halfheartedly before turning back to the group. They ignored the curiosity that seemed to be peaked by that remark in Manekamaru. Seiji saw that Yumi and Saki were already eying up the horizon to figure out their plan of attack. “You come up with something?”

“No,” Yumi replied.

“The problem is getting the full attention of the demons who are already focused on wholesale slaughter.”

“Yeah, we need something that can’t be missed by them.”

Crossing his arms, he nodded understanding the dilemma. Though it didn’t seem to be that big of an issue to him. He looked up quickly without a second thought. “I’ve got an idea.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…”

“Hey, you haven’t even heard the damn plan.”

“It’s your idea.”

“Saki! It’ll work!”

“Only in your mind.”

Stepping in between them, Yumi was willing to take anything, especially if they could act quickly. The fighting was getting closer and they needed to do something quickly. “Let’s hear him out, Saki. What’s your idea, Seiji?”

Yuki looked over at Nerine, who stared at him like she awaited his order. He motioned her over to him, knowing that she would obediently agree. “Stop acting so stiff around me. This may be a fake world, but no need stirring up unnecessary weirdness.”

“But Your—“ She stopped herself before she went too far with her natural tendency. The look in his eyes told her enough as well. It proved a difficult habit to break, even if he had only started being her King recently. Order and discipline were important to her. She couldn’t stop it so easily as he wanted her. “It’s not easy…”

He saw that she wanted to say more, but stopped herself. She couldn’t actually get it out. “Still stumbling on my name, Nerine. You’re going to have to get over it, it’s going to be even weirder if you never say my name. People will notice.”

“I know…”

“Let’s focus on the immediate problem.” Giving her relief from the pressure seemed like the best way to handle her for now. It wasn’t going to be a simple thing to overwrite years of training. Yuki quickly surveyed the town, he hadn’t looked too much at it when they arrived earlier. “Getting up a barrier is going to be the most important for any strays. Focus on size, not power. Anything we make should be able to hold, just don’t make it invulnerable as tempting as it might be. We can’t make ourselves stand out too much.”

“I understand. But I’m not as practiced on pushing my Field.”

“Just release any Folds you have and do what you can. I’ll make up for the difference.”

“But you may overrun my Field.”

“I know. I’m going to be sticking more to the front. Once they break the assault, I’ll be funneling people towards you. So protect the rear guard.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Are you stupid?!” snapped Saki, finished listening to Seiji’s plan. It even grabbed Yuki and Nerine’s attention from their planning. She shook her head heavily though also not surprised. “We aren’t doing that! Yumi, I’ll go and break the line.”

“No, I like Seiji’s idea.”

“What?! Are you feeling alright, Yumi? You did hear what he suggested, right?”

She nodded to him and faced Seiji ready to accept his plan. “Yes, I think it will work for what we want. It’s bold and dynamic. And best of all, it’ll be something that’ll be hard to ignore.”

“Yes, but it’s insane! Only someone like him, who wasn’t even thinking, would think up such a plan!”

There was pride beaming from Seiji’s eyes as he looked at Saki with his plan getting Yumi’s approval. He had one up on her. Though Yumi didn’t let either dwell on it for too long. “Sometimes being a little insane isn’t bad. I’m going with his plan. You two follow up after the initial shock.” She could see that she only got Saki’s agreement begrudgingly. Insane or not, they had no other plans and they needed to act. Even Yumi could agree with her on it, but she wasn’t wanting to delay anymore. Too many suffered for her hesitating. “Yuki and Nerine, we’re going now. Protect the town!”

“We will Yumi! You can fight without worry!”

“Thanks!” Yumi patted Seiji on the arm letting her know that she was ready. A thick barrier rolled out around her tightly keeping mere centimeters from her in a perfect sphere. Each piece of the shards snapped in interlocking fashion. “Let’s go, Seiji! Saki!”

Seiji bent down lifting up Yumi by her barrier. He quickly balanced her in his right hand and looked over at Saki. “C’mon, you’re part of this too.”

A reluctant sigh came from Saki as she really didn’t want anything to do with this plan of his. “I know, Yumi agreed to it so I’ll play my part.” With his left hand extended out for her, she leapt up resting her feet closely on his hand. “I can’t believe I’m doing it…don’t tell anyone about this…”

“That’ll be my second secret!”

“What? Second SECRET?!” she yelled as Seiji didn’t even give a countdown before throwing her into the air. “Damn you, Seiji! I’ll pay you back for this!”

Saki had little time to formulate revenge against him as Yumi quickly came rising through the air after her. The plan had already started and she had to play her part. “I hate you so much right now…” Yumi encased in her barrier rose up to her height coming to a slowing hover while Saki’s own height started to peak. “I’ve never even played volleyball, so don’t blame me for my aim!”

“It’ll be fine, Saki,” Yumi said with confidence.

She believed in her. Seeing Yumi staring at her knowing that everything would be fine snapped Saki to attention. There wouldn’t be any error. She would make this stupid plan work. “Give them hell, Yumi!” With the wind up complete, Saki slammed her hand into the barrier spiking Yumi straight down at the amassing demon horde.