Chapter 44: Nearby

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He quickly positioned Asia in front of him, pressing her head against his chest. Since he was still bare-chested from loaning Asia his shirt, this caused the nun to blush at the intimate contact.

With one arm still hooked under her knees and his other wrapped around her shoulders and head, Naruto did his best to shield her tiny body with his torso.

Not a moment too soon either. Naruto felt like his back was being pelted with rocks as light spears rained around him, the spears cracking the concrete where they hit.

His rook enhancements once again came in handy, the spears that hit him just bouncing off. They left small punctures on his back, but nothing that could be called a real injury.

Asia had been shielded entirely by Naruto, and Yuuto had dashed to the side to evade the cluster attack.

Yuuto jumped back to Naruto's side after the hail of spears ended. He then questioned urgently, "We can't lose them like this, Naruto. What do we do?"

Naruto cursed as he accepted Yuuto's words. Both of them were on foot, while the fallen angels were flying after them.

Naruto was carrying Asia, who while light still slowed him down. Yuuto couldn't go his full speed either due to needing to stay with Naruto.

Anymore thoughts were ended when Yuuto called out desperately, "Look out."

The warning came too late for Naruto, who cried out as he felt pain in his arm and leg. Instead of the hail of spears from before, this time only four spears launched at them.

Two at Yuuto and two for Naruto. Yuuto managed to dodge his with a jump, but Naruto had less warning and had to protect Asia.

So one of the spears sank into the back of his right thigh, and the other one cut into his left arm as it passed him by.

Now these hurt. Naruto could still function, but these aren't little bug bites he can ignore. These will affect him.

Damn, he'd gotten overconfident. His rook defense had been enough to block almost everything tonight.

He should have suspected fallen angels could enhance their light attacks to a point they would hurt him.

Stumbling, Naruto had to move into a forward roll to not land right on Asia. Asia still cried out at the disorientating sensation, but the roll allowed Naruto to resume his run quickly.

He then reached down and ripped out the light spear that was still stuck in his leg. Light weapons will gradually saturate a devil's blood if they remain in their bodies, acting like a poison.

Throwing the spear away, Naruto yelled to the concerned Yuuto, "Split up. You can't go full speed when with me, and I can't be as stealthy with you. They have four sets of eyes on us right now, we need to split that up. Use the back alleys to block their sight of you from the sky, and don't go straight. Keep moving randomly till you lose them."

Yuuto looked hesitant, but eventually nodded. When they came to a split in the road, the two separated. Naruto then moved into the first side alley he came to.

He knew this part of town, so he was confident that he wouldn't hit any dead ends. The buildings would also hide him at certain angles from the fallen angels.

As Naruto set out to lose his pursuers, he cursed at the leg wound. While certainly better than catching that spear in the back of the head, spine, or heart, the leg still sucked.

Naruto's mobility was effectively crippled. He could still run and jump, but not at the level he was used to.

So he did his best to be the cunning rascal that had outrun ANBU as a kid. Taking a random route, Naruto took as many turns as possible. Avoiding open areas.

If only he had mastered the Transparent Escape Technique this would be easy, but he hadn't managed it yet despite training a bit in it. So he just had to deal.

After ten minutes of this runaround, Naruto finally pressed himself into a dark corner of a narrow alley as he checked to see if any fallen angels were still on his trail. Not seeing any, Naruto's mind raced.

"Asia-chan, you said your sacred gear can heal all who are injured, right? Can you heal devils as well?" Naruto asked in a whisper to the girl still held in his arms.

"Um," Asia said blankly as she processed his words. She finally nodded and claimed, "Yes. I can."

"Okay, good. I need you to heal my leg. My speed and mobility is too hampered with my leg injured. If it is healed, I'm confident I can lose any fallen angels still looking for us," Naruto informed her quietly, his eyes still darting around.

"Understood, Naruto-san. It will only take a minute," Asia declared firmly, looking relieved that she could help him somehow.

"No, not here," Naruto muttered to her before clarifying, "The fallen angels are still surely looking for us. If they find us here, we'll be trapped like rats. The park is nearby. If they find us that will be the better area to fight."

With that spoken, Naruto once again started moving through the alleys. Seeing the park in front of him, he dashed at top speed through the open area between the alley and the park.

Not stopping once he entered the trees, Naruto kept going till he was a minute's run into the dense trees. He then allowed himself to come to a stop.

Letting Asia down, the nun quickly kneeled down to examine the wound in his leg. She gasped at the sight as Naruto grimaced.

Devils were really weak to light, and running for ten minutes afterwards didn't help the wound at all.

The large gash in his thigh was deep. Much of it seemed burned from the light, but the run had ripped the burns open to allow blood to pour out.

It was not pretty. Naruto was rather surprised he had managed to move as well as he had with his leg in such a condition.

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