The Caged Inferno

Seiji barely had a chance to react before it all finished. “Fumiko!” he shouted, turning to the flaming mass where Fumiko used to be. He began to move his legs, thinking that he could reach her. However, something collided with him while in motion. The force was enough to set him off balance and slide on his back into a pile of debris. His impact kicked up a small cloud, hardly providing any cover for him.

The hit did little to hurt him, but the dust in the air made him cough. “The hell?” Seiji rubbed his head in confusion as he pulled himself up. He searched around, distracted from Fumiko. “What hit me?” His eyes scanned the area trying to locate what knocked him over, but saw nothing in the immediate area. Yet again, something came barreling at him near his blind side, but he caught a flash of light off the moon. It alerted him and told him to dodge.

A moment later, the ground where he used to sit exploded into a chunky cloud of earth. Seiji slid away from the blast with his hands scraping along the dirt along with his feet to keep his balance. “Again? What the hell’s going on?” His head tilted up from his all-fours position to make out his attacker. He knew two coincidences didn’t happen in such a place.

Standing up from the thin cloud, a dark gray figure rose to their full height. He couldn’t see them clearly through the veil, but they were tall. Seiji felt certain they were at least his height, if not more so. “So it’s you. I’m not fighting a woman.”

Some force suddenly blasted the cloud surrounding the figure away roughly. The woman sped towards Seiji trailing the particles of dirt off her body. Seiji tried to stand up, but found her to move faster than he thought possible. In between the seconds of the next strike, the woman calmly spoke to him, “Yes, you will.” Following her words, a loud percussive blast from her attack rang through the camp.

Seiji only had enough time to block with his arms crossed in front. However, he felt some surprise when he realized that he understood the woman and that the voice sounded almost child-like from her. “You know Japanese?!”

“No.” She didn’t let his surprise slow her down, even for her reply. Her eyes narrowed, noticing the resistance that she received from trying to press her advantage. Not finding progress, she wound up unleashing a heavy barrage on him. Each strike pounded out expanding waves from the points of impact.

Even after the assault of more than a dozen strikes, Seiji remained unmoved. His arms trailed thin streams of smoke in the wake of the attack. He started to lower his arms down hoping it would prove that it was futile. “Finished?”

“Hardly…” The woman took half a step back and lifted her arms up. Seiji hadn’t focused on her attacks too much, but he finally understood something about her. Covering up all of her forearm, seamless metal formed a shape much like cestus. Cloth extended from underneath the metal wrapping up to the elbow. Despite the simple weapon, the metal had a complex and intricate design woven throughout the surface. However, the weapons didn’t remain for long.

A light flashed from her weapons blurring them out. Through the white glare, a dark shape expanded and grew from her arms. It continued to increase in size until it seemed impossible to hold. Wiping away with a sharp cut, the light faded and revealed the new weapons. Her weapons increased in size and thickness, at least tenfold, dwarfing her frame. The new appearance had that of a lion’s face with the mouth set in front of her fists.

She pulled her arms back with not even her balance broken by the sheer mass. Her fluid motions didn’t even make the new weapons appear unwieldy, despite their size. “I’m just getting started!”

Seiji blinked and then felt the smashing blow of the weapon against his chest as it broke through his arms’ defense. His eyes caught a bit of surprise as it echoed deeply through his body before launching through the air.

The woman watched him disappear from her immediate sight, but didn’t feel finished. She brought the other blunt weapon to bear on the ground. Cracking the earth from the crater-creating force, she flew up into the air in response.

Once more the weapons changed, but to a smaller size and design. They only covered up her fists like a glove. She threw out her fist turning around to punch the air. Blasting out a large ring of displaced air, it sped her towards her target. Her body arced through the sky coming to a fast-uncontrolled descent to the ground.

When she saw herself nearing the ground, she threw her arms in opposite directions vertically creating rings again in the air. It brought her to a sudden halt in speed, acting like a brake. Two meters away from the touching down, she pulled her arms back in and dropped down.

She changed her weapons again to yet another new weapon. The woman took a fighting stance waiting for Seiji to stand up.

Chapter 143 – The Caged Inferno

The Atlantean bathed in dark foreboding fire threw out her hand and arced it to cut through the air. Her flames set upon Fumiko immediately exhausted themselves. She took a few steps towards the scarred earth to investigate her opponent. A crack of red-hot wood snapped the silence. It made her flinch with caution.

Out of the ash-covered mound broke a darkened figure. The clatter of metal rang out with the rising of a defiant staff. Fumiko swept away the ash that stuck to her. She let out a relieved sigh. ‘I guess I should be grateful that they use fire…’

“Still alive…” the woman commented, upon seeing Fumiko’s condition.

Fumiko turned towards the voice startled a little by them addressing her. Her earring gift from Yuki worked as she expected in translating the Atlantean Greek for her. ‘She probably expected it to take me out in one shot…’

“You won’t succeed.” She raised her hand towards Fumiko once again. “You’re already classified as traitors. Judgment or death are your only options.”

Tightening her hold on the staff, Fumiko felt the seriousness of the woman’s words. She knew that they faced such an ominous fate, but it still made her hesitate. Her hesitation was enough wasted time for a response from the Atlantean woman. Hungry fire erupted around Fumiko, completely enclosing her.

Fumiko gritted her teeth, feeling the scorching heat coming from the consuming flames. ‘It’s hotter than before…’ She closed her eyes trying to calm her pounding heart enough to concentrate. The last time she fought scared her, but there was something else. She couldn’t grasp in words. All she knew was that she hated it. It leeched onto her skin and crawled into her pores. Fumiko wrapped her arms over her chest trying to eject the fear.

The fight she had with the monster to save Mieko felt just as life threatening, but Fumiko knew it was different. Even when the two Atlantean soldiers cornered her and she thought she might die didn’t have the same feeling as the monster. It felt similar. There was something more frightening about humans.

‘I’ve got to get a hold of myself! I have to find Chiharu!’ Fumiko tightened her grip on her staff bravely. The heat began to reach bothersome levels for her. It burned off the sweat from her skin before it had much of a chance to drip. ‘…Chiharu…’

Orange-red threads wove down Fumiko’s arm into her staff. It made the metal glow, building into an aura. ‘Concentrate…focus…’ Fumiko lifted the staff from rest and swung with a firm hand through the fire. A visible cut appeared in the wall of fire that stretched around until it closed the loop. The loop grew in size blasting away the binding fire. Out of the flames, Fumiko stepped out with gallant bravado, the metal ringing with her step.

Exhaling slowly, Fumiko struggled to maintain her composure. ‘…have to keep control…’ She blinked back images that threatened her stability.

The misguided woman narrowed her eyes questioning what occurred. ‘Twice she’s survived my fire…what sort of Field is she using?’ She took a step forward to strengthen the area of the Field Fumiko stood. Motioning with her hands, new flames burst up from the ground and bent to angle towards her.

Fumiko tried to run out of the haunting path, but it changed course again. ‘…seeking me!’ She couldn’t avoid it. Ignoring futility, Fumiko continued to try to evade the stream of fire. Her attempts only delayed the inevitable. It came closer. While still dodging the flames Fumiko raised her staff returning the glow back to it.

Catching the flames on the headpiece of the staff, the stream came to a stop. It furrowed out barely held back. Vibrations from the resistance shook down the staff into Fumiko’s hand. She didn’t think she could hold back the force for much longer. Strength wasn’t what she excelled in and she knew it. Fumiko’s eyes looked around at all of the unconscious soldiers. ‘…there’s so many people around here…’ She needed a solution.

Struggling with the weight pounding on her, Fumiko gripped her staff with both hands. She stepped into the force and pushed again. ‘…can’t lose it…’ The shaking began to make her hands numb. Fumiko fought with the flames summoning up the strength to swing her staff. It deflected the fire away into the earth. Dirt and debris blasted outward kicking up a cloud that blew through their battlefield.

Taking pause, the two stared at each other waiting for a move by the other. Around them, the shouting of confused soldiers running about surrounded them. Distant shockwaves from Seiji’s fight blended into the background.

Fumiko clutched her staff to feel her reality. Images from the past night began to haunt her inner eye again. The inferno that blazed without end left permanent reminders on her body. She still could feel the searing heat from it. She still could hear the bloody screams from it. It penetrated her being completely. ‘…I can’t…not again…’

The woman cornered her. She knew she came in needing to fight back. In small doses, she found it acceptable. But she already saw what the woman could do with her power. She was barely able to hold her back. ‘If I don’t do something…but I…’ Fumiko looked down at her hand considering her flame. Flashbacks of the village blew through her. Snippets of the out of control fire that nearly burned down the village collided with her.

She shook her head hoping to remove the past. It already held her back from helping out her friends when they were attacked the last time. It paralyzed her. Nothing happened. She desperately wanted to help them, but she could not risk it. Fumiko didn‘t want to let it happen again. ‘…what am I supposed…to do…’

Her hand held open staring back at her face, tilted down gazing. The rational part of the mind told her what she needed to do. It already knew and kept yelling at her. Yet, it didn’t matter how much she understood her situation. She couldn’t stop the shaking. In fact, she already tried before. ‘I can’t use my fire…not like before… This is the limit that I can do…’ She thought that her fire magic might counter the woman’s fire, but it failed her on all attempts. She could only channel it.

Doubt sapped her magic.

Her hesitation repeated the cycle anew. The enemy could see weakness in Fumiko and took advantage. Columns of flames and walls of fire sprouted up. Fumiko could only run away and block with her staff. She couldn’t even feel that she maintained a stalemate. Her body only grew worse with each dodge and deflection. The numbness spread deeper into her arms.

Fumiko didn’t know how much longer that she could last. All of the running around tired her out. Her breathing quickly became haggard. When she was trying not to be hit by the fire, she was bent over recovering. ‘She doesn’t stop…coming…’

A blast of fire knocked Fumiko off the ground, still trying to recover. The flames quickly went out as she collapsed to the ground. Fumiko hit the ground dazed. She didn’t see the domineering woman’s approach until she was already almost on top of her.

The villainess woman aimed her hand down at Fumiko. “At this range, it won’t matter. My flame will be at its strongest.” In response to the woman, a new flame burst up, but held back from attacking. It hovered an imposing meter away from Fumiko. “Accept your fate. Resist and I’ll kill you now for disrupting the peace of Atlantis!”

She didn’t doubt the woman’s dark words. Fumiko stared at the inferno that looked eager to taste her flesh. Surrender turned into a consideration for her. She didn’t know what options she had. ‘…what would happen to me? They think I’m just another one like Yuki…’ Her mind divided on her.

Consideration filled part of her and fear the other. She wanted an answer. She couldn’t let herself use her flame. The risk was too much. It could hurt everyone, even her friends. However, Chiharu and the others struggled to rescue Yori. ‘I promised myself that I’d get serious. I failed them before… I needed to be part of the team for them.’ The thought of trying to convince herself made her want to laugh at herself. It proved how far her resolve carried her.

She watched Yumi sway between doubt and certainty, but come out ahead. When it mattered, she knew Yumi would act. ‘But none of them came as close as I did… I thought with this magic I could protect her. …yet now it scares me so much!’ The screaming echoed in her mind. It had stayed in her ear always ringing without end since the previous night. Sometimes it was softer and other times crushingly loud. Regardless, it remained with her, always a reminder. She didn’t want to hear another one. ‘I wish I was deaf…so I didn’t have to hear it anymore…’

Suddenly, a flash of a familiar image went through Fumiko's mind. Her eyes widened in shock. ‘Kimiko!’ Her body flinched thinking about her little sister. ‘…I failed…’ Chiharu appeared to her at the end of her thought. Fumiko jerked forward realizing her mistake. She heroically slammed her hand into the fire that threatened her, startling the woman. ‘I failed you Kimiko, but if I did nothing again I’d fail her too. I’d be repeating my mistake! The one mistake that I wish I could undo, but never can! I won’t make that same mistake again!’