Chapter 40

"Come on, we're nearly there," Yukina said in a panicked tone, seeming to be rushing.

"Hey wait!" Yuji said as he matched Yukina's pace, "I thought you said earlier that we could take it easier right now,".

"I know I said that... I know..." Yukina said, seeming worried, "let's just... keep going at this pace ok?"

Not having any choice, Yuji nodded his head, agreeing with Yukina as they speed up.

Suddenly Yuji heard a faint but definitely odd sound as if someone or something has landed its feet from afar.

With curiosity, Yuji turned his head as he looked carefully behind them while following Yukina.

"Is that..." Yuji said as he tries to focus on what was on top of the building some distance from them, "A... soldier? it looks like a girl..."

Suddenly, Yuji remembers what Yukina had said earlier, about what the new archdemon looked like, and how it used to be a soldier.

Yuji's expression suddenly went down, as he feels fear crawling up his spine.

Yuji suddenly stopped walking, "hey Yukina...".

"Ugh, what?" Yukina said, turning around, "we need to keep going, quickly,".

"Does that new archdemon..." Yuji swallowed, as his nerves began to build up anxiety, "have long white hair?"

Yukina's face became pale, as Yuji asked his question, "why... would you ask that?" in a shaky voice, she replied.

"That reaction... we must be in big trouble..." Yuji said.

"I asked WHY!? Yukina said in a tensed voice.

With shaking hands, Yuji pointed at the building distant from them, where a certain entity is standing on top.

"Hey Yukina..." with a shaky voice, Yuji asked, "what's the name of that thing?"

"Archdemon..." Yukina walked over to Yuji's side and pulled out her one remaining explosive spear, "Code name 007... ALICE!".

Yukina quickly pulled out a syringe and injected herself along with Yuji, giving them both a single shot.

Yukina wrapped her left arm around Yuji, and pierced the ground with her spear, "Hold on tight!" she shouted.

Instinctively, Yuji held Yukina's shoulders with both arms wrapping around her.

Yukina's mechanical bag quickly transformed into a jetpack as she let go of the explosive spear stuck on the ground.

BOOM*

The explosion covered almost the whole road with dust, as Yukina and Yuji were flying away at a high speed.

"Where are we going!?" Yuji asked.

"Anywhere but here!" Yukina replied, "we just have to quickly get away, if it loses interest with us then..."

As Yukina was about to finish her sentence, she looked below them and noticed an odd shadow, as if someone or something is right behind her.

Her eyes shrunken as she was unable to do anything, "CRA..."

SMACK*

They suddenly got hit by an unknown physical force throwing them across the road.

Crash*

Crashing into a large glass window, they both rolled to the ground.

The archdemon then dropped down outside the building, with its tall and feminine looks, a reddish spear-like flesh stretched out from its back, and with its dark eyes with reddish pupils, it looked through the broken glass, but as it looked through, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Agh, what was that, that hit us?" Yuji said as they were running as fast as they could through the halls, " and damn, that was fast!"

"What hit us was her hardened flesh, it stretches out from her back looking like a spear," Yukina said, "and her speed... from that distance to here, that must be an explosive move,"

"Ahh! there's so much I don't know," Yuji said, "but for now what's the plan? you said that was some sort of move right? the way she got to us so fast, then that means she can't always move that fast,"

"Good thing you're quick to catch up," Yukina said, "this place seems like a hotel, there should be a door that leads to the back, and don't underestimate that thing, it's still really fast despite only using that move for once in a certain amount of time,".

"She's... in a panic," Yuji thought, "her mood is somewhat similar to when she was facing the archdemon, but this time, it seems... much worse..."

"There! a sign that said kitchen, there's usually an exit that leads to the outside in kitchens like these, right?" Yukina said.

"Yeah," Yuji replied.

"she's also been dropping hints to give me an idea of our situation, I guess that means we really don't have time huh?" he thought, "it's still really fast despite using that move once in a certain amount of time... I guess that means, what she said earlier, it's an explosive move... can make it come at us at an unbelievable speed, and it can use it once after a certain amount of time, I'm guessing she doesn't know how much exactly, but she's definitely rushing right now... then that means..."

"There the kitchen!" Yukina said, going into the kitchen and quickly spotting a door that leads outside "quick, grab on to me!" she pulled up both of her arms, opening her waist, as she was running towards the door.

"We probably... no.... we really don't have time!" Yuji thought as he wraps one of his arms around her waist.

Stepping outside the door, Yukina's mechanical bag once again reverted back to being a jetpack, and the first thing she noticed, stepping outside was.

"No... way..." The first thing Yukina spotted that left her almost breathless, was the vision of the archdemon, standing on top of a building besides the hotel, a little distant from it.

"From that angle, it could see the entrance and the exit of the hotel... don't tell me..." Yuji thought as he couldn't believe what he had realized.

"It was... waiting for us?" Yukina said.

The archdemon did a little to no stance, bending its back by only a little and moved its right leg forward, yet Yuji felt that they were in a near-death situation, despite their distance.

SMACK*

Suddenly, in a split second, the Akuma was right in front of them.

Yukina was surprised by the speed of the Akuma, but what really caught her attention was Yuji. Who stepped in front of her blocking the Akuma's spear-like flesh, which was about to hit their side.

Yuji pulled her close to his chest, as he used his right arm to block the spear-like flesh coming from the back of the archdemon.

CRASH*

Despite blocking the attack, the force still pushed both of them across the road hitting the wall of a building.

Both of them were brought to their knees, but quickly stood up, "he was able to react..." Yukina said being shocked, yet maintaining focus as she looked at his arm.

"Your arm!" Yukina said, pointing to his damaged arm, which was very swollen and was turning purple.

"Don't worry," Yuji said as he raised his arm, " It seems like she broke my bone... but," his arm began to let out smoke as his eyes glowed bright red.

"It's... HEALING!" Yukina said.

"Yeah... thanks to Elizabeth, we might survive this..." Yuji said.

Yukina let out a smile, "yeah... earlier I was just desperate, but now that I think about it... we... might have a chance!" tears came out of her eyes, but with just one brush of her arm she stopped any more from coming out.

Yuji grinned, as he focused back on the archdemon.

The dust and smoke in the air, from them being pushed back cleared, and Yuji was at a loss for words about what they saw.

"What... am I looking at?" Yuji said.

"Why..." Yukina said, with a confused expression on her face, "am I seeing things? or is it..."

"smiling..."

The archdemon smiled at both of them, it was not a large and creepy smile or a crazy murderous one, it seemed like a regular smile, of a person being happy to see something they liked.

"but arch demons don't have emotio..." Yuji said but got interrupted by the archdemon which quickly ran towards them.

"Not on my watch!" Yukina pulled out a small circular metal from her jet pack, then quickly extended it into a long metal staff.

"Seriously, how much stuff do you have inside there?" Yuji said.

"We got less than one and a half minutes!" Yukina said.

"I'm assuming that's the time before it could unleash another one of those explosive moves," Yuji thought.

Yuji pulled out a blue knife from his pocket and quickly ran to the side, as Yukina was posing a threat on its front.

"Good thing I found another one of these while looting," he thought.

Yukina crossed weapons with the archdemons two stretched out hardened flesh and began to deflect one another.

Yukina was barely keeping up with the arch demon's speed, with both of its hardened flesh along with its arms casually attacking her at high speed.

"I need to keep my focus... I'm barely keeping up with all of its attacks," she thought as she was forced to focus on defending, not finding a single opening.

"I almost can't keep up, " Yukina said, "but..."

Yuji then dashed to the Akumas side, aiming at its side chest.

"Right now, its arm is forward, and both of its hardened flesh are leaving it open," Yuji thought, as he was about to stab the archdemon "this instant is what I needed!" Yuji shouted.

STAB*

"..."

Yukina smiled, thinking they got the Arch Demon, but her expression quickly changed, after seeing what had happened.

Her eyes shrunken with anxiety, as she sees an unwanted sight in front of her.

A more reddish like flesh, coming out of the archdemon's back, was pierced through Yuji's stomach.

Yuji...was stabbed.