Chapter 39

Crash*

A large four-legged Akuma came rushing out of the tight alley, destroying what reaches its arm-like legs.

The Akuma roared violently as it stopped to look at both Yukina and Yuji with dreadful eyes, they both stared at the Akuma, as it was about to launch an attack.

"Here it comes!" Yuji thought as he prepares his body for any sort of movement depending on the AAkuma'smove.

Yuji takes a deep focus on what the Akuma was going to do. And as it was about to take a step.

STAB* STAB*

Two roughly pointed spears suddenly stabbed the Akumas large head bringing the creature down to the ground.

"eh..." Yuji said in an awkward tone.

"Let's go!" Yukina said as she continued to run.

"Ah! wait!" Yuji said, quickly following after Yukina.

"That ruckus obviously caused so much noise to attract some Akumas around the area," Yukina said, "we need to quickly get going, it's still early in the morning after all,".

"Yeah..." Yuji said, "where the hell did those spears come from? I thought you said to leave them?".

"Yeah, I did," Yukina replied, "it's because I can make them float above us like this," she pointed her finger above them.

"Oh! it's following us," Yuji said as he looked up, seeing a few spears floating above them.

"I just needed a good open space, so I can aim them carefully," Yukina said.

"Good thing you made those spears yesterday," Yuji said, "and you can make more right? as long as we have a metal pipe,".

"Yeah, but we need to dispose of these two later on," Yukina said.

"Huh? why?" Yuji asked.

"Since I just crushed and thinned out the end of the metal to make it pointy and sharp, it probably won't last long," Yukina said, "and it's not nice to keep using a weapon on the verge of breaking, it could lead you to trouble,"

"I see..." Yuji said, "then what about those cases of money..." he stared at Yukina, "isn't it just a drag for us, we got some money on our backpacks too,".

Yukina avoided Yuji's gaze, "let's go faster! out the city we go!"

"Huh? don't change the subject..." Yuji said, "wait, out of the city!?".

"Yep! we shouldn't stay here any longer," Yukina said, "plus, we injected ourselves already, we only have four left, let's not waste this,"

"I see your point, but where are we going?" Yuji asked.

"Since we're already here... why not the northern gate?" Yukina said, " it leads straight to the path to city A so we don't have to take a detour around the city, and also...".

"Also?" Yuji said.

"it's where everyone was supposed to exit the wall," Yukina said, "but I doubt they'll still be there now, they probably took off already,".

"Still, that means we're just right behind them, right?" Yuji said.

"Your right, but they got vehicles so don't expect us to catch up to them," Yukina said.

"your right," Yuji nodded.

And so, they continued to run, not a moment of their amplifier's time to waste, they ran past multiple obstacles and fought through many Akumas on the way.

After some time, they took a stop for rest by a small damaged convenience store.

"Phew, we made it so far already," Yuji said as he panted, "but I think, our amplifiers time is about to run out now," he pulled out a small circular mirror in his pocket and looked at the reflection of his eyes, noticing that its glow was getting weaker, despite putting the effort of strengthening it.

"Let's see..." Yukina pulled out what seems to be a watch, from her mechanical bag below her leather backpack.

the object began to glow red as she presses the object on her wrist, "your right, we barely even have any left," Yukina said.

"What's that?" Yuji asked.

"Amp gauge," Yukina said, "it tells how much time your amplifier got, whenever you press it against any part of your body, it's not really that convenient,".

"Yeah, when we could feel being drained like this, I don't think it's that convenient too..." Yuji said.

Yukina crouched down on the floor and then pressed her back on the wall, "I guess it's just for measures," Yukina then began taking deep breaths.

They rested for a few minutes, then later on Yukina began to move.

"Moving already?" Yuji said, sitting on the floor.

"Just a bit..." Yukina said as she walks over to the register, with one of the cases in her hand.

"Don't tell me..." Yuji said.

Ring*

The cash register opened, then Yukina opened the case. With half of the case filled, she began inserting money from the register into the case.

"seriously..." Yuji said.

"After this, we're getting out of this city, right?" Yuji said, " I could already see the wall from here,".

"Yep," Yukina replied, "that's where our journey will really begin," she closed the cash register along with the case she was holding, " alright, I already took the large bills, we can go now,".

Yuji took a deep breath as he stood up from the floor.

"Good thing that arch demon didn't go north," Yukina said.

"Speaking of archdemons," Yuji approached Yukina, "I remember you said something about them being seven, right?".

"Hm?" Yukina turned around facing Yuji, "do you mean..."

"I only know of six, I never heard of a seventh one," Yuji said, "I may not know all their names, but I know the number of archdemons around our continent, it's common knowledge for people now after all...".

"..." Yukina stopped for a moment looking at the ground, as if she was lost in thought, "I can't blame the people of this city for being outdated, it only occurred a couple of months ago after all,".

"So... a new archdemon emerged just a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah... it was an unforeseen incident," Yukina said.

"Unforeseen incident?" Yuji said.

"The new archdemon has a very human look, a tall female with long hair," Yukina said, " she was also a former S class soldier,".

Yuji stayed silent for a moment, as he notices Yukina's mood on the topic.

"If it's something you don't want to talk about, I'll just be satisfied with the info of a new archdemon for now..." Yuji said.

"How considerate of you," Yukina said with a smile, "Then let's get going, shall we?"

Yuji nodded as they both went out of the store.

"We can take our time walking now, the wall is not that far, and our goal is to camp by the wall for the night," Yukina said.

"I see," Yuji replied, " and the weather seems nice too, guess we can take it easy,".

"Remember our place, we still need to be somewhat cautious," Yukina said, "I don't want to get the attention of another high class," Yukina said.

"same here..." Yuji said.

And so, they walked cautiously on the side of the road leading to the wall.

Some time had passed, and as they continue to walk, Yuji notices something odd about their surroundings, "now that I noticed..."

Yukina turned, "what is it?"

"It's, kind of odd..." Yuji said.

"What is?" Yukina asked.

"well... compared to the place we've been earlier, here close to the wall, doesn't seem quite as... destroyed?"

"hm?" Yukina tilted her head, then took a look at her surroundings.

"Well, it's definitely deserted," Yukina said, "but you have a point, it's quite different from the place we've been before, but there's a completely logical explanation for this,".

"That is?" Yuji asked.

"This place hasn't been attacked by the archdemon," Yukina said.

"Oh, you have a point," Yuji said.

"Still something doesn't fit quite right," Yukina said, "ugh, but I can't tell what it is," she said in an annoyed tone, obviously struggling as she thinks.

Feeling comfortable, Yuji smiled and took a look at his surroundings.

"Huh?" suddenly, he saw a faint movement from a distance, "was that..."

"What is it?" Yukina asked, "it seems like you noticed something else,".

"Ah, I'm not sure," Yuji said, "I think I saw some movement from afar, about 10 buildings away from us, probably,"

"Hhmm," Yukina said, "oh an Akuma,".

"Huh?"

"In front of us, look," Yukina said, pointing out to the Akuma in front of them, " it seems like it's freshly turned to," she pulled out her hand, as one of the Spears flying in the sky came to her.

"I totally forgot we had those..." Yuji said, "did you keep them flying while we were in that store?" he asked.

"No, I put these down on the top of that store while we were taking our rest, then I just make them continue to fly as we took off," Yukina said.

"I see,"

"I'll get this quick," Yukina dashed forward to the Akuma in front of them.

Yukina went to the back of the Akuma unnoticed, then she quickly sliced the top of the Akumas nape, as they continued to dash forward, without getting blood on her.

And with a smug look, she turned around and looked at Yuji, "tada! bloodless kill,".

"Bloodless on you, can't say the same for this guy," Yuji said as he approached the body.

"Well, of course, that's unavoidable," Yukina said as she walked over to Yuji.

"what you did, was it the same thing you did to Elizabeth?" Yuji said, "however unlike this, I really didn't notice any blood before,".

"she was just really freshly turned right?" Yukina said, "by that time she still had a really frail human body, and by hitting the upper part of the nape with a really strong force, can stop the brains connection to the body, therefore killing them,".

"I see..." Yuji said.

"what are you looking at the body for..." suddenly, Yukina showed a face of great fear as she saw the Akumas body.

"Yukina? what's wrong?" Yuji said, noticing her reaction.

"Oh! uhh, it's nothing," Yukina replied with a shaky voice, she looked away for a moment.

"no way... I must be thinking too much since I thought about it earlier..." Yukina whispered.

"Hey, are you really ok?" Yuji asked.

"Yeah..." Yukina then took deep breaths, "I probably just need some rest," she said, "come on, let's go,"

Yuji nodded, still being concerned.

"Hopefully, I really am just overthinking..." she thought.

And so, they moved forward, leaving the Akuma with an unusual hole right under its chest.