Tactician's Reveal

It felt like the very air tried to kill him. Breathing was like drinking spoonfuls of acid. The deeper inside of him it worked, it burned and ate away at his lungs. He was certain that he would completely vaporize from the mere presence of the energy.

Feeling his mind weakened with his body, he lost his Field as the presence of the demon completely consumed everything. The loss of his Field made no difference for him, but still the psychological effect it had made the crushing death pressed upon him feel even stronger.

Unable to even speak, the pain that racked his body froze all of his actions. His mind barely managed to function with all of the signals it received from his body. ‘She could kill me from just existing…’ Yuki tried to focus within his mind.

In the past, he had entertained Yumi’s question about what would happen to them if they were to die in the virtual world. He could never give her a simple and straight answer with confidence. The honest truth was that he couldn’t predict it. A simple answer said it was impossible to die in the real world, nothing was real. However, he knew the world they currently lived in wasn’t a simple or basic one. And with Yumi’s power completely controlling all states of it, anything would be possible. Frying their minds would be a simple task if they wished it. They just had not done it yet. They had other things in mind. But would they stop it if they did die in the virtual world. How seriously did they take this world in their plan?

Yuki had no answer for that.

Death was an uncertainty.

Chapter 450 – Tactician’s Reveal

With that uncertainty, everything felt more real than it might have otherwise. It governed his caution. His powers did nothing so far, but he knew nothing about what they might cause if he allowed them to fully manifest. They were all connected to it. Their minds were the only thing present in the world and that was the one thing that all MP users agreed was a forbidden subject for their powers. Yuki couldn’t take that risk.

The sight before him started to make him rethink his policy within the virtual world. Through the pain, he dragged his mind back together. He only needed a few moments to focus. ‘I can’t worry about the details…just need it to work…’

Suddenly, a Field of flowers and tall blades of grass spread out over the rocky terrain completely changing the atmosphere. It was almost like the censors had stepped in to cover up a gory scene with images of pleasant meadows to keep things safe for children.

Anumera looked down, confused by what she was seeing in the dramatically altered environment. Something had changed around Yuki. “What are you?” All her questions from before remained unanswered, but felt like she might have started to get a piece to the puzzle. ‘Is this what his power is? But this still doesn’t answer anything about him…’

The pressure finally off him, Yuki felt relief on his body finally. He could stand up, though his body remained affected by the demonic energy it already absorbed. ‘It was more real than I expected…their energy really is quite lethal to life here…’

‘He’s completely unaffected by my power?!’ The Demon Lord became even more confused by what she witnessed. She saw what was a normal reaction to their powers. A normal human would be unable to put up a resistance to their energy. That alone for her would have been enough to kill him with the way he was acting. Yet now he no longer looked influenced by it.

She looked around from her high vantage point in the sky. The field of grass and flowers came to an end, though far beyond the reach of her. Despite the volcano still erupting into the region the green view didn’t stop. In fact, it seemed to be actively working to cover it up.

Yuki glanced around at the area seeing something familiar that he hadn’t in a while. ‘I was in a hurry. Forgot to turn off my Field Manifestation. Nothing I can do about it now. At this point, even if she puts it together it’s not going to make a difference.’

“Your power…you alter reality!” she reported, with it finally connecting with her. Everything had fallen into place for her and she could see how it lined up. ‘It’s the only thing that makes sense for what he did to me. He can change reality to his desire.’ Anumera leaned down a little out of the clouds moving towards Yuki. Her massive head, the size of an entire town, created gusts of wind from the displacement of air. “But your flaw is that you’re just a normal human and you can’t adapt to changes in reality.”

In the shadow of the gigantic serpent like dragon, Yuki could only stare up and try not to look too impressed or scared. This sort of thing wasn’t his type of fight. It was the thing that belonged in his stories, not in front of him. ‘The mental state of Yumi has some questions to answer about all of this…’ The only thing keeping it together for him at the moment was that he could tell that she wouldn’t attack right now. “You really are the most dangerous person I’ve faced.”

“As are you. Your power is a frightening one, yet you carry it with honor.”

“As much honor as one can be allowed for this sort of power.”

A small bit of laughter came from within the demon, though she never used her mouth in their conversation. It seemed to be carried through the air and reached him as though she stood next to him. “What is your name?”

“Yuki Hayashi.”

“As in snow in your language.”

“Spelled like happiness actually.”

“Your parents seem to have a sense of irony or dark humor.”

“I wasn’t always like this. And I sort of imagined it as their hope for me.”

“You are a curious man, such darkness with light masking it all away.”

Yuki grimly stared at the demon. “You’re getting a little personal now.” It felt a little like he was talking to a psychiatrist, but one that didn’t need him to say any words. So much more like a magical psychiatrist that could read people through magic or something. She seemed too observant. ‘I wonder if it’s because our minds are hooked up to the machine…’

“Right, very well. Demon Lord Anumera, a pleasure to meet such a unique human.”

“You sound a little sad when you say that like you’re already expecting to kill me.”

“Nothing is certain in battle, but with my full power released I question your confidence.” She could see the difference in his demeanor as they started to talk. The fear that she saw in him faded away. All that he kept was the certainty of his victory.

“You say that as though you already forgot what my power is.” His eyes narrowed with resolve looking into the demon’s face. “I’ve balanced my concerns and made the decision that leaving Yumi alone here is not an option for me. So I can’t be worried about what my powers do.” Yuki began to float up into the air ready for the fight to begin.

Anumera watched him closely to see what it was that he planned on doing. Her size made it difficult for any sort of attack he might try to affect her. It wasn’t the same as when he disabled her hand. “You’re not so cold as to instantly kill me with your power. So there is no certainty that you can win.”

“The same for you. Just because you have size and power doesn’t mean I can’t kill you either.”

“Then show me what you can do!” Immediately, a dozen beams of white energy appeared and converged on Yuki. Unlike before there was almost no delay on the charge to firing, at least to normal human perceptions. Yuki had no chance of reacting to something that moved faster than he could even see.

However, the beams all bent around him, unable to hit him directly. The mist that surrounded him protected him without his command. “You aren’t the only one that figured a few things out. It took a while, but I know that your power is the command of light. Which means it’s impossible for me to actually do anything against that sort of speed. And you’re even faster now that you’re in their true form.”

“You’re able to deflect my beams, but there is a limit to how much you can take.”

“Same with you.” Yuki charged forward at the demon with it moving around him with surprising agility. “Let’s find out which one of us has the better endurance!” He had wanted the head, knowing that it would be the only place he could be certain that would have a real impact on the demon. That chance disappeared. She had better reaction times than him. The mist channeled through moving quickly piercing through the body of the demon, but considering the size it was like a bug bite.

Despite the attack from Yuki going through her, it left no visible signs of harm, though she did feel something. ‘It’s the same attack as he made before. It injures internally rather than externally. No amount of defense can protect against something like that.’ Seeing it the second time was enough for her to understand the lethality of Yuki.

Shrouding darkness over Yuki’s position failed to do anything. She couldn’t blind him like before. It should have been instantaneous yet nothing happened. ‘Did he create a reality where I can’t remove light?’ Further attempts saw the same lack of results. Anumera quickly concluded that it was his doing as part of him having figured out her power. ‘He’s already made countermeasures for me.’

She altered her tactics against him.

Beams of highly concentrated light appeared throughout the air around them. No longer taking it easy on Yuki, the count filled the skies that he could no longer keep track of them all. The thickness of his mist increased to protect him from the assault.

While trying to evade what he could of the beams in a futile effort to keep moving, Yuki continued towards the demon’s body. He countered with his mist again while keeping up the defense having plenty to spare. However, his target shimmered and distorted with his mist passing through nothing. ‘Using light to create illusions…I’m going to have to take things up to the next stage. It’s not going to be so simple…’

Their exchanges continued with neither able to get a clean hit on the other. His mist couldn’t find her through the feints that she created. While her light attacks bounced off his mist. But endurance started to play a factor as Yuki said it would.

Yuki paused in his attack, fending off her focused strikes. She tried to find how much she needed to break through his mist. It hadn’t been discovered yet and Yuki wasn’t certain if she would find it. The risk remained present. But he felt his body begin to weaken on him. ‘Damn it, the effects of the poison from her demonic energy is hitting me… I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to last like this…’

Their battle wasn’t showing any shows of hitting a breaking point in their power. She had more than enough power to spare in their battle. He could guess that she wasn’t even hitting her peak yet either. It felt more like probing attacks than a serious one. It only made his situation worse. ‘I’ll die at this rate…’