Chapter 54

Thursday morning, outskirts of City B.

"OVER THERE!" Alicia shouted, sending a sense of direction into Yuji's head.

"Got it!" Yuji quickly ran to the spot Alicia pointed out as noises of multiple Akumas emerges from his back.

"Ok, now focus!" Alicia said, "imagine a spear forming on your hand,"

Yuji pulls back his left arm, treating it as if it was some sort of weapon, as red luminous lights gather around it.

Akumas emerged from the corner of a building in multiple numbers, savagely making their way towards Yuji.

Suddenly, a massive spear-like projection covered Yuji's whole left arm.

"That's it!" Alicia said enthusiastically, "now chop them off!"

Yuji lets out a shout as he swings his left arm towards the Akumas.

CRASH*

The massive spear-like projection crashes onto the Akumas, chopping some limbs and breaking the bodies of all the Akumas that hit it, pushing all of them onto the wall on the side.

"Woooh!" Alicia cheered, "now that was some power! It was blunt but I didn't expect it to pack so much of a punch,".

"Wait, I can make it sharper?" Yuji asked as he was catching his breath.

"Yes of course!" Alicia replied, "but remember that feeling you had just now, in some situations you may need to use a blunt sword instead of a sharp one,".

"I guess you're right," Yuji said.

"Here comes more!" Alicia pointed, as more Akumas emerges from a distance, "now let's try some hidden moves!"

"Oh! The one you told me about? To hide your power and make it look like it's brute strength," Yuji said.

"Yes, exactly!" Alicia replied, "there aren't that many to be too much of a threat, you can practice on them!" She said pointing out his sense of direction to the Akumas.

"You know, it feels really weird knowing where your pointing at without seeing you at all," Yuji said.

"Quit blabbing and prepare!"

"Ok, here goes nothing..." Yuji said as he puts his focus onto his hands, "put a thin line on the end of my fist, and when it's about to get in contact thicken it to increase the impact... Am I right?" Yuji said.

"Yes, but you can also use it for defense," Alicia said, "Create a sudden thin line and place it on the receiving end of your body, it will serve as a shield to reduce an impact without anyone noticing, that's how I usually hide my ability,".

"Alright, I guess I'll be practicing that then," Yuji said.

"Quick! Here they come!" Alicia said, as Yuji quickly engages in combat.

Meanwhile.

Loud sounds of crashing and other noises continue to occur from the other side of the buildings as Yukina calmly walks on the road of the deserted area on a separate alley, humming herself a cheerful tone as she observed the surroundings.

"Yuji sure is being loud over there," Yukina said, "that leaves my place of search really empty and easy to investigate though,"

Yukina looks inside the broken-down buildings, "it's really messed up here... oh yeah, there's a possibility of a high class around here," she suddenly recalled.

"Yuji did suggest to split up since he wanted to try Alicia's ability, but he'll signal me when he sees a high class, won't he?".

Being worried, Yukina shook her head deciding not to think about it too much, "logically, he definitely will," she said as she went back to focus on her search of the area, "it would actually be better if I was the one who found the high class though,".

Going back at Yuji.

CRASH* SMACK*

Yuji continued fighting the Akumas using only his legs and fist.

"That's it!" Alicia said, "keep going, make it look less obvious,".

"Ok!" Yuji said as he ran straight to the Akuma in front of him, "and the exact moment..." He focused on his target.

SMACK*

Seeming like a regular punch, Yuji sent the Akuma flying a long way across the road.

"YOU GOT IT!" Alicia said in joy, "you learn really fast! By this time, you can crush the competition at City A!".

"Huh?" Yuji said in confusion, "competition?"

Suddenly, a familiar sound of a flying device emerged from a distance.

"Hey!" Yukina said, waving her hand.

Yuji looked beside him and saw Yukina standing on top of the building nearby, "Yukina! How was your part?" He shouted, waving back.

"Pretty easy, considering you took most of the Akumas," Yukina replied, "how was it? Any high class?".

"Nope, I would have given you a signal if I saw one," Yuji said.

"Of course..." Yukina said, "then this turned out to be just a clear and investigate mission, let's wrap things up and head back,".

Yuji nodded, he then looked around to see if there were more Akumas, "so far we didn't notice any high class, but now that I noticed, there really were a lot of Akumas here… also, Chi mentioned this was an unusual occurrence…" he thought

"Since I'm done in my part, let me see you in action once you see an Akuma," Yukina said, "have you figured out Alicia's ability yet?".

"Yep, in fact, I learned how to use it without being obvious," Yuji said.

"So, you learned enough to modify it!?" Yukina said in surprise, "you just keep surprising me..." She mumbled.

"Rrgghh" A sound of a growling emerged from a building near them, as an average-sized Akuma came out.

"Oh! Let me show you!" Yuji said approaching the Akuma.

"Let's see what he does," Yukina said.

The Akuma took notice of Yuji and ran towards him.

Yuji spun around, landing a turning sidekick at the Akuma.

SMACK* CRASH*

The Akuma flew across the road hitting the building wall from a distance.

Gulp*

Yukina was stunned silent looking at what Yuji had done.

"He looked like he just used brute strength, but I'm well aware that he's not that strong!" She thought, "he said he'd use Alicia's ability, is that what he modified? also, was Alicia's ability that capable!?".

"W...Ww... What!?" Alicia said being surprised, " you can already apply it to complicated moves!? You're way too fast!" She said being excited.

"I wasn't being sure if that would work, but I felt like I could pull it off so I did," Yuji whispered.

Yuji looked around and saw another average-looking Akuma from a distance.

"Oh, look, I'm going to attack that one from here," Yuji said.

"From that distance!?" Yukina said, "oh wait, Alicia's ability that I told him about," she thought.

"Show me then," Yukina said, sounding excited.

The Akuma slowly walked over to Yuji, as both of them focuses on it.

"Hm? That Akuma... Looks familiar," she thought, "must be my imagination..."

Yuji's arm suddenly began glowing, and soon after, a massive sword-like projection covered his arm.

"Woah... That's Alicia's ability alright..." She said being amazed, "still why do I feel like I've seen that Akuma before... The closer it gets the more I feel..."

Suddenly Yukina had a sudden realization, "wait... AN AKUMA, FAMILIAR!?" she said, "that could mean!"

She looked at Yuji focusing on the Akuma.

"This should be enough…" Yuji said, "take this!" He shouted as he swung the sword-like projection sideways at the Akuma, hitting the wall from a distance.

CRASH*

both of them were stunned, as a shocking image revealed in front of their eyes.

"It... Dodged..." Yuji said, seeing the regular-looking Akuma crouching down on the ground, completely avoiding Yuji's attack.

Suddenly, a large group of veins enlarged on the Akumas legs and quickly sprinted towards Yuji.

"IT'S FAST!" Yuji said in shock, "I have to release this quickly!" He said as the large sword projection on his arm faded.

Suddenly the Akuma was already close to Yuji.

"Already!?" He shouted as he tried to prepare his arm for any kind of attack he may receive.

The Akuma suddenly stops and swings its right arm, deflecting a metal spear aiming at its head at an incredible speed.

The Akuma suddenly backed down a few steps as Yukina flew quickly in front of Yuji, following the spear she threw.

Yuji ran beside Yukina.

"This should be self-explanatory, that's the high class we're looking for," Yukina said.

"Then I assume we need to eliminate it now," Yuji said.

"We can at least try..." Yukina said.

"what's with the sudden loss of confidence…" Yuji began to feel nervous as he notices Yukina's odd tone.

"Your luck just gets us trouble one way or another..."

Suddenly the Akuma turned its back and ran away.

"It's running away!" Yuji said in shock.

"Let's try and get it for now!" Yukina said as she quickly chased the Akuma being followed by Yuji.

"Can I get an explanation?" Yuji said chasing the Akuma running from turn to turn.

"The Akuma we're chasing, it's an upper A-class," Yukina said, "and a possible arch demon candidate!".