Yumiko decided to act and joined the battle with the desire to make up to Tim and his friends for saving her homeland, which came at an unfortunate time for Luca in nearly killing Kou. Her decision to stand by Kou, however, looked exceedingly problematic as she discovered that her adversary was familiar with the use of the Forbidden Technique.
Yumiko sprinted in front of her, spun around instantly with her feet still planted on the ground, and swung both of her swords fiercely in his direction while shouting in a fight.
Luca was skilled in movement and additionally aware that the Forbidden Technique held the advantage. He bowed forward and vanished from Yumiko's line of sight, leaving only an afterimage that was cut off by her swords. She was thrown forward when he emerged from the haze behind her and slammed his sole into her mid-back.
She swung her left sword in a circular motion behind her back as she spun on the spot, but all she saw was her blade pierce through the thick black smoke.
Returning from behind, Luca drew back his right arm before punching Yumiko in the upper back. He landed, seeing Yumiko behaving instinctively, and retaliated by slashing. She yelled in anger as he stooped, transformed into smoke, and quickly vanished from her view.
"Damn it! Stop running around me and just face me head-on already!" She quickly sensed trembling energy on her left side as she spun around and surveyed the scene, and she slashed immediately. It was only an afterimage when she said, "There you are!"
Yumiko began to see unusual energies around her in a pattern, but each time she attempted to cut them, her swords would phase through without making contact. She sliced through directions. She repeatedly slashed in front of her, behind her, and even on the sides, but she always missed, and she rapidly grew tired every time she slashed nothing but an afterimage, smoke, or clear air. "Goddamn it! This is exhausting."
"Growing tired already?" he questioned. Yumiko heard only complaints and gasping as she slashed diagonally on one of the last slashes, missing as before as Luca instantly stood unaffected behind her in smoke. "Drat..."
"You keep on trying to cut me, but smoke will never be cut by a blade. You're attacking an impassible obstacle." She glared at him in frustration as she turned around and held her exhausted chest.
"How about you stop running around like a coward?!" Her eyes made an abrupt turn. Her eyes were as brilliant blue as the sky, and she quickly vanished from view into wind currents, exceeding Luca's expectations.
She nearly rushed in front of him before slashing down at the ground from above, forcing Luca to retreat so he could gain some space and use his smoke to his advantage.
However, when Yumiko's blades hit the ground, she fired two crescent-shaped double slashes—one bright blue and the other dark purple—that blitzed through the ground and surprised Luca.
"What the—" He shouted while putting his arms across his chest. He noticed an afterimage far behind Yumiko that slowly dissipated into a mist as both slashes swiftly blitzed by both sides of his body, slashed through the building, and unleashed an explosion that curled up in the air and roared repeatedly in a chain reaction.
As he stared at Yumiko, Luca's dazed body shook to the left and the right. "Difficult to ignore. You too applied the Forbidden Technique of Migration!" He called, remaining motionless and quiet. "Being quite observant, I can plainly see what you meant. A skill like this, though, shouldn't be something you can just pick up overnight! Could you have implemented a technique similar to Migration that deviates from its lore?"
Yumiko shook her head and instantly spit on the floor. "Think of it as you'd like!"
Luca immediately reacted by cutting back as she called and sprinted forward while using her left sword.
Luca moved forward and vanished from Yumiko's eyes as the swords clashed before reappearing and slashing at her back as she looped around her and formed into smoke.
She spun around and began to cut, keeping up with him as the impact of the blades on the walls caused them to bounce and echo, eventually cracking them.
Luca roughly expressed his mocking skepticism before phasing through and behind her. Yumiko ignored the afterimage and turned to face the smoke through which Luca materialized and slid over the ground. She rotated fast and then jabbed obliquely at him while squatting below the arm and sprinting in front of him.
Luca vanished into a cloud of black smoke before resurfacing high in the air and immediately turning to face Yumiko upright. She moved closer to him to increase the force of her swing and swiped up at him, releasing a blue crescent that Luca sidestepped by turning into smoke. As Luca appeared above Yumiko and turned upside down, the slash shot through the air and burst into flames.
In the process of covering his body with smoke and getting ready to drill through Yumiko's body, he dived through the air with great speed.
Yumiko hurriedly turned around while sliding and bending forward, while Luca sank his blade into the ground to use its handle and make a hand-stand on it. Yumiko skidded ahead and swiftly flickered from the stance. She prepared to stab with her sword in a quick run, but Luca's eyes caught her in the act.
One of her swords was instantly disarmed as he turned around on the handle, kicked in a circle with both legs, and rammed his instep into the flat side of the blades.
She was forced to spin around on the ground by the intensity of his pounding kick. Luca instantly changed positions, dropped his feet, pulled his sword out, and then swung forward, sending a forceful pressure that resembled a beam at Yumiko.
In order for the beam to miss her by the tip of her hair, she backstepped, leaped to the side, and threw the blade high into the air while rolling her body laterally.
She came to rest on the ground in a spread-legged position with the sword she had thrown back into her left arm as the beam crashed into the wall behind her.
"You've demonstrated to me that you're more mobile than you previously said. Not to mention the fact that in the second half of our fight you effectively dodged most of my attacks. If I may add, stunning, especially with that wound."
Yumiko grabbed her wound as she noticed that she was starting to feel more worn out and suffering than at first. "Unfortunately, it appears that you are gradually losing that recovery for your body. It'll lessen the anguish of your death if you acknowledge defeat."
"I will never admit defeat ever again!" she attempted to move forward in the hopes of continuing, but her body promptly gave out, causing her to wince, giving Luca the opportunity to attack. He yelled, "This ends now!" and sped ahead at breakneck speed, stretching the sword behind him as he drew nearer to Yumiko to make the cut.
"Golden Arrow." Yumiko heard a recognizable voice and noticed an advancing, swift object behind her at the same time. The arrow flew by her ear and readied itself in an instant to curve right towards Luca, whose eyes trembled. In order to divert the arrow to the sides, Luca grabbed hold of his speed and stopped on the ground.
As he did, he turned to look behind Yumiko and saw that someone was standing there holding a locked-on bow.
Yumiko noticed the kid gently approaching from behind her and turned to face him as well.
She was surprised to recognize a friend right away, but she did so with a smile on her face. She cried out, excited to meet one of her closest friends, "It's you, Bow!
"Yumiko, hurry up. You're falling short to a chap like him? When we were kids, I recall you never fought to fail." Yumiko puffed her cheeks despite her disappointment while seeing Bow with a smile on his face.
Luca took a firm stance as he cast a worried glance in that direction. "Don't you dare tell me you're meant to be a Phoenix Pirates member?" Yumiko jumped up in protest as Bow moved closer to her.
"He is a friend from my youth. I am not a crew member, and neither is he." Yumiko spoke while Bow crossed his arms and leaned his bow against his back.
"You don't need to be so depressed about it. I am mindful that I made a mistake after that, and I can see why you are upset." Bow sighed in response to Yumiko. "Bow, I'd prefer to know why you came here."
Bow glanced down at Yumiko and gave her a bored look. "Other than to see how you are, I have no other purpose. Why aren't you happier? I only came to help and not watch you get killed."
Yumiko crossed her arms and sat up straight while turning her head away. "I never wanted your help. Not like I need it." Bow stared at her bewildered, sweat trickling down his cheeks as his arms dangled below his knees.
"Even if you're right, I still want to be of assistance." Yumiko smiled and gave the side a sidelong glance. "I suppose being here isn't too depressing for you. I'm glad you showed up."
Luca sat down and folded his arms. He questioned, "Are you two finished with your romantic chat?" Together, Yumiko and Bow cast forward glances while shouting. "Just talking,"
Despite that, Luca felt irritated.
To be continued...