Tearing Down the Forest

‘That should be more than enough, unless she’s like the other one. But they don’t seem to be identical in abilities…’ A motion from his hand pulled back the columns of steel. Sparks and groaning from the metal sounded off as they cleared away from the impact crater. Small chunks of earth fell away echoing the relative silence.

Miltiades leaned over his perch to get a look at Chiharu. The clouds of dirt still hung around the crater keeping him from seeing clearly. He didn’t expect any movement from her. ‘She seemed tired from something. I doubt she had much in her…’ However, when the wind blew away the cover the crater was empty. ‘Can’t be!’

He saw blood on the ground, a sign of her presence, but she was nowhere to be seen in the crater. ‘How?!’ His eyes searched the crater for any signs of escape. Nothing turned up. Nowhere in the area held any signs of her. ‘It’s like she disappeared!’ Miltiades suddenly remembered how quickly she moved from their last encounter. She always appeared behind him. He turned around with an unsettling feeling in his stomach.

Chiharu’s blood soaked face stared back at him. A strong fierce look came from her eyes. “Took you long enough…” Her eyes narrowed suddenly in reflection of her next action. Sharply landing her fist deep in his chest, Miltiades fell from his spot and sped down to the ground.

Grinding his teeth together, Miltiades quickly felt the wind blowing around him. His fall whipped his hair around the sides of his face. The surprise of Chiharu left him out of control for seconds with the ground quickly coming up to meet him. ‘I’m falling…how did it happen?’ His mind snapped back. A pole jumped up next to him. Miltiades reached out with his hand slowing in his fall and flipping around to correct his position.

He touched his chest where Chiharu hit him. ‘How long has it been?’ It was one of the few times anyone actually touched him. The nature of his powers made it difficult for anyone to even reach him. Only those of significantly greater power or skill defeated him in the past. ‘I can’t let that repeat!’

Chapter 168 – Tearing Down the Forest

Quietly, Chiharu watched Miltiades recover from her attack. She knew the one punch wasn’t enough to end the fight. ‘They all seem to come with clothes that dampen or negate physical impacts. In my state, my punches aren’t even back to when I was fighting the old man. Speed is the only thing I’ve got going for me right now…’

Unfortunately, her speed proved not to be enough as well. The surprise attack from Miltiades took her off guard. It drained her body of more than just blood, but the energy to keep going. Battle fatigue fell around her even faster than normal as though never truly gone. She knew well enough her body still struggled to recover from her last fight and she only pushed herself further to keep in the fight with Miltiades.

She tightened her hands into fists to try to keep herself strong. Her mind ignored the pain that ripped through her chest and back from the last attack. ‘I managed to escape the full attack by slipping into the shadows, but I still took the first hit head on…’ The fresh blood on her started to dry, staining her features. It gave her a fiercer expression.

Miltiades brought up several more poles around them. These went much higher than normal, as though not intended to be reached. He fixed glares with Chiharu working to harden himself for the rest of the fight to come. ‘She’s already pushed me this far… I might have to actually do that to win…’ His muscles tensed up thinking about the option. ‘lt’s a last resort, I have to win without it…if possible…’

‘I need to finish this quickly…a dragged out fight will only disadvantage me…he’s the patient type, always conserving himself…’ Her hand patted her thigh feeling the kunai resting. The supply of them was already limited and she lost one in her last fight. ‘My ranged attacks can only create the openings I need…’ The thought came out more like an order than a judgment.

Chiharu took in her surroundings to gauge her next move. Memories of the last attack already worked into her plans. She couldn’t afford to make another mistake. “So you ready?”

“You’re being oddly polite considering your situation.”

“I’ve no interest in cheap tricks or easy victories.”

“You remind me of that other guy I fought.”

His reply made her eyebrow twitch. “We’re nothing alike,” she snapped back.

A bit of curiosity raised Miltiades’ brow. “Seems I touched a nerve,” he tested.

“If all you’re going to do is talk nonsense, I’m going to attack.” A kunai slid into Chiharu’s hand as she prepared to leap towards him.

Miltiades narrowed his features, sensing the intent from Chiharu. He didn’t doubt her plan to attack, but he was ready for her as well. Everything was in place for him.

Chiharu leapt off the pole, a signal for both that the fight continued. Expecting an immediate attack, Chiharu dodged out of the way of an incoming pole. Her last round prepared her for the speed and reaction time. Several more slammed in at Chiharu from different sides and angles. She easily slid around them and kept ahead. ‘This speed is too much for a human mind, it’s reacting to my movements without feedback from him…’ The look in Chiharu's eyes changed a bit as she confirmed her theory. ‘I can make use of this…’

‘Her reflexes…’ Watching Chiharu’s movements, Miltiades almost felt dizzy. He hardly imagined anyone able to move as well in such conditions. The closer he looked the more he realized that he was forgetting something even more important. ‘She’s moving like the no friction means nothing! She’s already adapted her center of mass and movement to not lose anything?! How is that possible?’ He needed the aid of his gloves and boots to move around his Field. The Law was meant to disadvantage his opponents. ‘Who are these people?!’

Weaving through a network of poles, Chiharu kept out of reach. She saw her pathways change into a maze. ‘Almost there…’ Metal slammed in groaning as it sparked up against other pieces of metal. The last pieces fell into place for her. ‘He’s too complacent in his defense…’

It took too long for him to realize what happened until the pieces were already in place. Miltiades felt surprise slip on his face once again. ‘She planned all of that…she cut off my defense!’ His teeth ground together when he saw her coming at him free to attack. She already figured out the weakness. Miltaides leapt down the pole he stood on, starting to surf the surface around to keep out of reach of Chiharu.

Chiharu spun around the top of the pole and corrected her course to give chase to him. She jumped around and fell behind as he shot out poles from the surface as obstacles to her. However, even slowed down she still gave chase without missing a beat.

Above Miltiades, he heard an unsettling scraping noise in almost constant tune following after him. It told him of Chiharu’s pursuit. An interrupted note only meant she was held up by his attempts. He had to tilt himself back a little in his slide to coordinate his attacks better. Each attempt kept missing and the noise only continued. ‘What is that sound? It just keeps coming…’

‘His accuracy improved, but they’re still too slow…’ Chiharu jumped down, falling a little to increase her speed to catch back up to him. The lack of any friction on the pole made it easy for her to keep a guiding hand while she followed behind him. ‘He’s always just out of reach, though he’s got skill…’

Miltiades suddenly appeared to have stopped, but it only lasted a moment. He shot back up out of reach of Chiharu. The pole started to grow again. Chiharu saw the ground quickly coming up to her. However, it wasn’t the only thing coming up to her. A counterattack by Miltiades waited on her. Dozens of poles shot up at her with branches coming off as she dodged.

Her eyes watched them all and kept ahead, but she could see the difference. ‘He’s controlling theses. There’s a delay between them and they don’t have the same weakness.’ Chiharu realized before that the automated poles couldn’t branch more than once. It was part of her plan knowing that all of the attacking poles died after their use with no extra branching attacks from it. They all had to come from the core pole. A limit she used to construct the tunnel that blocked his defense from making any further attacks while she closed for him.

As Miltiades climbed back up to a safe distance, he stopped for a moment staring at the surface of the pole. His finger caught on a rough edge of the pole, one that should always be smooth. ‘So that’s the sound I heard! Then that was what she was doing before to keep her balance! Clever…’ She used the kunai to dig into the pole as a stabilizing point to give her grip and control, not too unlike his gloves, but less refined.

Back atop his metal forest, Miltiades stared down at Chiharu. He removed most of the excess to keep up an attack on her even though he knew the futility of it. The skill and intelligence he witnessed from her proved to him that nothing he currently had would beat her. ‘So it’s come down to this…I hate using it. It’s always so draining, but it should get the job done.’

Suddenly, all of the poles came to a stop. Chiharu landed on top of the pile created from all of the attempts made at her. She glanced around trying to feel out any changes in the field. Nothing seemed to be coming. ‘Is he shifting tactics? He has a theme, so it shouldn’t be anything I can’t handle. However…’

The pause in the action brought her attention back to her body. It silently screamed at her for such reckless behavior. All of the adrenaline her body pumped made it easy to ignore everything, but it no longer seemed to be in effect for her. Only seconds passed, but her body already felt heavy and slow. She questioned if it would keep moving for her when she needed it the most. ‘I’ve been unable to finish this quickly and it is dragging out longer and longer…I can’t make any headway against him…’ Chiharu stared up the pole Miltiades stood upon trying to think of what she could do. He was no pushover.

Around her, the tall poles rose up even higher. They reached a height that cut them off from sight. The edge of the Field was reached vertically. Even more poles rose up from the earth stretching to the sky like those before them. They all kept going until the entire Field was dense with steel poles.

Chiharu looked around trying to understand the purpose of the poles. They all were far behind any reach for her or even him. No purpose was served by them exceeding the heights of his Field. He could no longer stand on them.

Miltiades no longer stood atop. He hung from an awkward angle at the center of the forest. No movement came from him either as he just stood on the side of the pole with only one hand keeping him attached.

At her feet, Chiharu realized that the ground of the Field was no longer the same junkyard debris. Loose patches of grass with rich earth filled everywhere. Leaves even blanketed parts of the ground. Chiharu felt some change coming. ‘He’s planning something. There’s no doubt anymore…’ She weighed her options in a pre-emptive strike or waiting.

Her body told her to finish things immediately. It didn’t want another round. On the other hand, her heart didn’t care for the idea of a sneak attack when the opponent was disadvantaged. Her mind realized he planned on her waiting for him from their conversation.

She waited.

A new change appeared. All of the poles darkened and turned course. They grew out wider at the base and tapered slowly the higher they reached. Soon, points extruded from the surface all along the pole until they thickened and shot out branches from themselves.

It all happened quickly in a matter of moments. Chiharu didn’t need much more of a hint to know what was happening. ‘Why is he making trees? How is this going to be more advantageous for him?’ New questions and ideas popped up. Each tried to feed into a strategy, but found too many unknown variables.

She had to wait longer.

The shapes of the poles filled out more into trees. Branches were jagged and created innumerable branches from the core. Color and definition came to them giving even more to their image as trees. The last things to come were leaves, as they remained bare. However, they weren’t the sort of trees that Chiharu expected. They were evergreen trees with thousands of needles covering them.

‘Huh? Evergreens?’ Chiharu allowed herself a little confusion over the type of tree chosen.

Miltiades glanced down at Chiharu, finally finished with the transformation. He had to peel off many of the restrictive layers to reach the state the Field existed in for him now. “I don’t show a lot of people this form as it tends to be unnecessary for my work. But this is the true form of my Field.”

“True form? This looks like a forest.”

“I put specific restrictions on it to make use of how you’re used to seeing it. This is without all of those.”

“I fail to see how this is useful for you.”

“You’ll understand soon enough.” Miltiades leapt up to a thick branch to stand. He crossed his arms leaning against the trunk of the tree. “I’d suggest a defense. What you’re about to see is the reason I used to be part of the Omega Division!”

“Omega Division? Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Chiharu didn’t have a chance for an answer as an unnatural sway broke through the forest. All of the trees chattered an eerie tune. Then a wave of green erupted up the branches. Thousands of needles were thrown into the air. However, they didn’t fall or move upward with the motion. The needles floated and began to gather.

Riding a wind, they spun around into a long snake. Suddenly, they all shot out in a stream aimed directly at Chiharu. She dodged their first attempt. The ground was stung by hundreds of needles embedded half into the ground with such force that they didn’t snap. The remaining stream continued after Chiharu in chase.

‘Too many…’ She drew out her tanto to intercept the next wave. Only one swing made it before the force knocked her sword from her hand. Surprised and unarmed, the swarm rained down on Chiharu pinning her to the ground.

Blood dripped from the countless piercings on her body, as she lay prone and helpless. Miltiades kept his eyes on her the entire time. Sweat dripped down his cheek, but a grin still came across his face. “You may be fast, but you can’t dodge tens of thousands of razor sharp needles. Enough minor wounds will add up until you’re unable to move. This will be your end!”