Chapter 12

The combination of the stormy weather with thunderblots striking every few seconds and the wind blowing tremendously created a dangerous atmosphere in every corner of Yonaga City. Suddenly a lightning bolt stoke a street light and a car that was passing stopped just in time before the collision. The tires' drifting noise was then drowned out by the the same street light's destruction.

The driver made a tsk* sound. "We need to proceed with plan B and this shit happens..."

Then one of the passengers in the car said "This road's gonna be packed. We need to take some other route to get there."

He then showed him the secondary route on the car's control panel.

"She's gonna be mad should we not arrive on time" the driver thought to himself.

When he turned the steering wheel a hundred and eighty degrees in order to change direction, a symbol on his chest became visible, which had the words "Liutenant" imprinted on it.

The vehicle then abruptly sped up. So fast did everyone in the scene lose sight of it that it felt like it disappeared into thin air. A second car almost identical to that first one then followed them.

In the other side of town, though, describing the roads as uncrowded would be an understatement. In fact, no living being could be noticed nearby. An announcement was made to evacuate everyone near Sadron's square, in a 2 kilometer radius. The reason the mayor took this measure is to follow the public safety protocol. The area was deemed too dangerous for every single citizen without exception.

Strangely enough, a helicopter was moving towards that area near the square. Not just anywhere random. The destination was specific. The Tokiyama household was about to be under attack...

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The lights of the building were constantly flickering and Yuri's emotionless expression flashed many times in Yonuro's trembling eyes. The split seconds that the lights were out, the only source of light was a firey red shield with shappened edges, a Demonic Item primarily used for defence. The Human holding it did not seem to be in need of defending someone, though. Yuri took small steps forwards and used the shield to threaten.

Yuri - It's your last chance, Yonuro. Hand her over.

Yonuro closed her eyes for a moment. She opened them with her vision blurred from tears.

Yonuro - You joined her, didn't you..? Why?— Why would you betray us like that?

Yuri - I was never on your side to begin with. Our paths alligned once and we helped each other, that is all. Never once did I see you as a sister. You were the enemy. My enemy...

Yonuro - You can't be serious, —right? I— I don't believe you...

Yuri then raised her eyebrows and angrily said

Yuri- I don't give a damn about you believing me or not. I'm just here for your Veil.

Yonuro, who's unable to tell if that was real or a dream, knelt down and looked at her trembling hands. "This is not real" she kept telling herself over and over again.

Yuri approached Yonuro until she got really close. The distance between their heads was about a few centimeters. Yonuro knew it was a dream. Yuri was then going to pat her head, calm her down and then she would wake up... In reality, however, Yuri grabbed Yonuro's chin and lifted it upwards. She looked at her eyes that seemed to have been stripped of life and said

Yuri- Hm, I'll take that as a no then.

And with her free right hand, she formed a tight fist and punched Yonuro in the face with such power, that her entire body followed the attack's direction. Her mental state already destroyed and now her physical body being severely damaged, too, it was like Yonuro's soul was being dismantled piece by piece, slowly but surely.

She now dropped down on the floor about a meter away from the spot she was hit. Even though Yonuro had the most supportive companion ever, who was even at this point encouraging her and trying desperately to bring her back to reality, she wouldn't wake up.

Yuri cleaned the dust of her hands, and said "I'm really disappointed, Yonuro". "You had your life set out for you, everything you needed at your disposal, whereas I had to go through hell to get one hundredth of what you have. And you give it all up. Just like that you throw everything away. You don't even intend to fight back. How pathetic..."

While all of that was going on, Ramael was speaking directly to Yonuro's ear, telling her:

"Yonuro! It's me, ****** . Don't worry, you will ****. I'm here for ***! Remember the ***** you hold, the power I **** ***. Believe in your ********. "

Yonuro's consciousness came back. She didn't understand what she was trying to say. Fortunately, Ramael repeated what she said once more, this time with a spirited tone that brought Yonuro's confidence back.

Ramael - Yonuro! It's me, Ramael! Don't worry, you will live! I'm here for you! Remember the power you hold, the power I gave you. Believe in your strength!

Yonuro - Ramael?! Is that you...? Ah, I see now... My head came around after hearing your determined words. Thank you...

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Yonuro got up and moved away the hair that was covering her eyesight. She bent her head 60 degrees to the right until it made a crack and then said:

Yonuro - Okay, ... Give it your all. We're doing this.

A mettalic sound could be heard when Ramael attached onto Yonuro, who closed her eyes for one second and instantly thought the following:

" Yuri has taken Aniik's side. I don't have any clue about what happened whatsoever. She's hostile, but I must not kill her. My objective is to survive. These will come in handy, thanks Geord."

She then saw Yuri charging towards her, with the Diabolic Shield covering her right arm and shoulder.

Yonuro sidestepped the attack with a smart dash on her left. However, Yuri's burdensome training before the R.C.S.P. (Research Corporation of Supernatural Phenomena) has proved to be extremely effective.

She predicted Yonuro's reaction and even before finishing the charge she readied her left leg and kicked Yonuro mid-dashing. Yonuro was hit on the left side of her face and her head felt too heavy to control. She used the elbow of her right hand to apply pressure against the wall to keep her from falling.

Ramael quickly detached and streched in the air. The holy energy that her body was filled with manifested itself into a rectangle-shaped golden wall that bought time for Yonuro to recover from the attack. Yuri tried to touch the wall but the Light particles started draining out her lifeforce and it felt like her hand was melting. She put it back without second thought.

The wall now disappeared and the sparkly particles of holy essence made it difficult for the opponent to see Yonuro's next move. Yonuro used her powers and quickly punched Yuri without being noticed. Yuri was hit severely but didn't lose her composure. When Yonuro followed her attack with another punch in the enemy's diaphram, the attack didn't even register.

Yuri blocked it with her left hand to the side and immediately attacked with the diabolic shield forcefully downwards, penetrating Yonuro's hand. The shield's edges were sharper than knives and when they touched her pale white skin, blood violently gushed out of it.

Yonuro screamed from the pain she felt. Before losing too much blood and fainting, she gathered the strength to say: "RAMAEL! NOW!" and Ramael, who was previously floating in the air to form the wall, covered her wound by rolling herself around her hand many times as if she were a bandage.

Yonuro's plan didn't end there though. Ramael's body was wrapped around her in such a way that her hand was completely covered and the leftover piece of Angelic Veil was tightly covering her palm. Then, Ramael's entire body, now wrapped around Yonuro's hand, glowed brightly with Holy Energy. Not only did that heal Yonuro extremely quickly, but it also empowered Yonuro's future attacks, as they would be enhanced with Holy Energy.

She attacked Yuri once, twice, thrice... repeatedly.... Yuri had to resort to full defence mode by using the shield to block. However she didn't fully see through Yonuro's strategy. The amount of power that the consequent punches had would eventually crack and even break the shield. That was Yonuro's plan all along. Not to kill her opponent, but to survive by destroying her demonic item.

The shield, even though being the toughest demonic item of them all, was starting to show signs of wear. Yuri had to do something about it. She waited for the perfect moment, the time window when the speed of her attacks would slow down dramatically. And she found it.

Yuri lowered her shield and blocked the attack with her forearm. She swiftly moved her body to the right and with the hand that blocked the attack, she grabbed the wrapped Ramael. She pulled Yonuro towards her, unfolding the Angelic Veil and headbutted her hard. She then pushed Yonuro back and Ramael was now unwrapped from Yonuro's forearm and in Yuri's possesion.

Yuri had practically won the battle. She aquired the Veil and the Angelic bond would eventually break. However, Yonuro never intented to give up. She was in fact filled with determination...

Yonuro applied pressure to her jaw, moving it to the right spot, an action that was followed by a loud crack. She grabbed the small catchers that her outfit had, took them out and tossed them away. They made a metallic light sound for a couple of seconds as they bounced a few times on the floor.

Afterwards, she put her blouse off and wrapped it around the wound tightly. Her pale skin, now filled with blood, scratches and other scars, was exposed and her upper body was only covered by her tight sleeveless inner shirt. After a long time being silent, Yonuro aggressively said

Yonuro - I'LL NEVER LET YOU LAY A HAND ON RAMAEL!

At that moment, Yonuro put out of her skirt and firmly holded a small sharp knife and a lightweight handgun.

She aimed the handgun at Yuri for a second and then pressed the trigger. Yuri widened her eyes when she heard the sound of the bulled fired.

Then, the room got absolutely dark as if a there was a blackout. That's because a split second before shooting, Yonuro aimed for the room's light source, the lights on the ceiling, which broke into small sharp pieces of glass that fell down like a barrage of projectiles.

Yuri had used the shield to block the projectile that she thought was supposedly directed at her front. But she never expected Yonuro targeting the lights instead. As a result, her head was slightly bleeding after the "blackout" as a few pieces of glass fell on top of her head, damaging it in this way.

Afterwards, Yonuro dashed quickly and with the hand that was holding the small knife she slashed through Yuri's knuckles. The pain Yuri felt on the spot was immense and the nerves of her palm that was holding Ramael stopped working. Yonuro grabbed the falling Ramael and landed a couple of meters away from the attack's location.

Hatred, fear, pain and fury were only a few of the things Yuri felt. Blood violently gushed out of her knuckles and her hand was covered in that liquid. Yuri screamed loudly and her Demonic Item instantly shone bright red and was surrounded by flame. The light of the flame made her able to see where Yonuro was.

Yuri instinctively threw the shield right at Yonuro with all of her might and then used her free hand to pressure the wound to minimize the blood loss. That moment, Yonuro had her attention on Ramael, who had passed out. She was trying everything she could to bring Ramael back. She then noticed the hurled shield just in time and ducked quickly. The fire of the shield passed right above her hair.

After it was dodged, however, the thrown shield landed on a a self that stored alcoholic drinks and it broke them all in half. The fire instantly reacted with the alcohol of the drinks and an astounding amount of flame was released that immediately expanded with each item that came in contact with. Yonuro said inaudibly to herself "N—No way...".

Witnessing her own house being on fire and everything in it being consumed by it sent a chill run down her spine.

Yuri went near the fire that had now expanded in every corner of the house's walls and put her hand next to it. She did so in order to burn the wound in an attempt to brutally heal it.

The pain she felt sky rocketed the moment she did that. Yuri's scream wasn't the only sound heard in the battleground, though. The sound of a helicopter flying above the house could also be heard.

Yuri's outcry was then followed by a slowly intensifying demonic laughter. Yuri had practically gone insane.

Yuri - HAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD NOW YONURO! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED?! I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS TO YOU AT FIRST. BUT NOW, I'LL SAVOR EVERY LAST BIT OF YOUR DYING SCREAMS! SHE'S COMING HERE, TOO. THEY'RE ALL COMING HERE. TO KILL YOU!

Yonuro extremely scared by everything that was going on started shaking. She took a few hesitant steps back and then changed direction heading for the rear door of her house that was leading to the garden.

As she was running, the fire that had broken out was destroying everything that was dear to Yonuro. Her room was on fire. Every last one of her plushies had become ash at that point. Her colourful bed had been replaced by one single colour, bright red. The photo that depicted Yonuro with her parents, Eiko and Kanae Tokiyama and her "sister" Yuri was caught on fire, too. The glass was shattered, the wooden cover of the frame was and the picture itself was about to become ash as well.

The Underworld that Yonuro had been to couldn't even be compared to the living hell that she was experiencing right now. She stumbled on a broken piece of the ceiling that had fallen on the floor. She got up, grabbed the unconscious Ramael and swiftly made it to the rear door.

Yuri thought "There's nowhere to go, Yonuro... This is the end..."

Upon opening the door, Yonuro saw a huge helicopter with a peculiar symbol carved on both sides. A couple of seconds later, a man that was inside the aircraft shouted: " TARGET AQCUIRED. OPEN FIRE!"

An array of bullets was soon to follow. Their target being as always, Yonuro...

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