“Yumi!?” shouted Saki and Yuki. They tried together to pull Yumi away from the mysterious woman. Yuki could tell just from the aura that she cast how dangerous the woman was without needing to ask the others.
“What are you thinking, Yumi?” asked Saki trying to keep her voice down. She still had no idea of the temperament of the woman. “This woman killed a demon of unimaginable power alone and wiped out that army of demons.”
Yumi stared at Saki for a moment in confusion. She already knew that her friend was scared of the woman, but she was surprised that Saki couldn’t see it. It was pretty natural. “That’s the point. She’s powerful and I want to know how she got that way.”
“But she could just as easily kill you. We don’t know if she’s an ally.”
“She’s killing demons, there much else to question?”
“Yes! Killing demons doesn’t mean she’s on our side.”
“You’re being a little narrow minded.”
“You’re being reckless and naïve, Yumi!”
Turning away from the arguing, the woman sheathed her sword and began to depart the battlefield. Like before, she left as quickly as she arrived with nothing keeping her tied down. She managed to make it a short distance away before Yumi broke free from Saki to catch up to her. The blood soaked woman stared down at Yumi.
There was a silent order for Yumi to move, but she refused. “I want you to teach me!”
Despite the order, Yumi remained in her path. Rather than give an answer, she pushed on through bumping Yumi out of the way. Yet Yumi refused to accept that as an answer. She moved to get in the woman’s way again. It was hard to tell if this was irritating the woman or not, her face remained like stone.
Actions repeated between the two as it became a little hard to watch. More force continued to be applied with each failure to understand intent. Yumi fell to the ground coughing up the dirt from the latest of her refusals. Crashing into the earth covered her in dirt and caked into her clothes. She pushed up off the ground getting back to her feet even with her legs rattling. “I’m not stopping until you speak!”
She stood in the woman’s way again as she had so many times before. Masa stared at her with a slight flicker of emotion surfacing in her eyes before fading swiftly. Both’s determination clashed in their refusal to accept the other. However, the clash sent Yumi to the ground still. Yet that wasn’t enough. Her friends only watched, knowing that they could no longer interfere. It was a path that she determined, even if it was difficult to watch.
Blood dripped out of her mouth from the impact of the last hit. The power with each definitely increased. She no longer held back on her strength, even though it was clear that it remained hardly a percentage of her true power. Yumi couldn’t be swayed by the injury and climbed back into position. “I will make you say something!” It almost seemed like she forgot the entire purpose. It became about something different.
Wills battled each other in a pointless struggle that had only meaning to them. Bruised and beaten, Yumi continued to get up again and again, finding strength. Something deep inside her fueled her body to move. She just kept standing. A little bit of emotion slipped through Masa from the last hit.
Panting and struggling to breath, Yumi stood staring at the woman with blood down her face. “Got anything to say?”
Silence.
Unable to refrain further, Yuki ran out behind Masa shouting over her shoulder at Yumi. “Stop, Yumi, you're going to die at this rate!”
“No! I will see her acknowledge me!”
“Yumi…”
Glancing briefly over her shoulder at Yuki, Masa stared at him for a moment before looking at Yumi. Displaying a brief moment of her real power, Masa disappeared from everyone’s sight. A wet and ugly sound ripped through the air with none of them able to react before it was long over. Blood sprayed through the air as Yumi’s mouth forcibly coughed up blood.
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Leaving Yumi behind, Masa began walking away from the stubborn woman. Yuki ran over to Yumi shouting out to her. Her entire body was completely broken. Blood poured out from her mouth and the hole in her stomach. She looked lifeless in his eyes. Glaring down the field at the back of Masa walking away like it didn’t affect her, he felt his control slipping. Rings quickly started to expel from him as the earth rumbled ominously.
Saki quickly appeared at his side, interrupting him. “She’s still alive, Yuki! I can hear her heart. She needs your attention now!”
“Yumi?!”
“She’s still fighting, Yuki.”
The Field shattered and quickly a new ripple washed out from him. “Dammit…I never knew she could be so stubborn…” His healing effect already started to have an effect on Yumi as she coughed up blood clearing her throat. “Yumi!”
Chapter 423 – Can’t Say No
Fully recovered, Yumi stood back up testing out every part of her body. Things were sluggish for her since she lost even more blood from the encounter with Masa. Once she felt everything was functional, she stared off in the direction that the swordswoman disappeared. Her hands tightened up with frustration. ‘She’s out there…’
“You’re doing some stupid as hell thing like going after her again are you, Yumi?” asked Seiji. It was a strange thing for Yumi to hear him not feeling confident. Even against the seemingly worst and most powerful enemies that they faced down, he still had the confidence and certainty to win. All of his losses never seemed to get him down, only made him more resolute in winning the next time. Yet now, she could tell that he really didn’t want to see Masa again.
She turned away and looked back at the town. Half destroyed from the demon's opening attack and the entire field outside wrecked for years likely. The demon essence would be lethal to everything. Yumi looked back at Yuki as she realized the words of that old man. “We need to get back to the town. It’s not healthy for Yuki to stand around here.”
“Healthy?”
“I’m guessing the demon’s body is poisonous or something?”
“That’s right. It takes days for it to become inert, but with this much something worse might happen.”
“It’s probably for the best then that we keep Yuki and Nerine away from this.”
A ring came out from his feet responding quickly to the potential threat. “I’ll keep a Field up then until it’s all clear.
“Good idea. We need to find Nerine.”
“I told her to follow up when I left to find you all. But she should have arrived a long time ago.” Yuki hurried his pace becoming worried when he thought about the fact that they still hadn’t seen her. The amount of time passed should have had them run across her. “Nerine!” he called out with the communication device.
A pause filled the air as they kept running towards the town. Each passing second made the uncertainty mount. It seemed unlikely that she would have died with the way things turned out, but the silence made no sense.
Nothing still.
They made it out of the land of death and into the town. Though with all of their walking, they hadn’t found Nerine yet. Yuki looked around hoping that he might spot her somewhere. There was no one still. Dropping his Field, he changed to search. It didn’t take long for him to locate a signal. “I think I found her! She’s out in the middle of the dead demons.”
Seiji leapt out in front of Yuki scanning the horizon. “You think she passed out or some shit?” He kept on the hopeful side of things. But he quickly demanded directions from Yuki. “Where?”
“To your left a little and about half a kilometer.”
He disappeared quickly from Yuki’s sight. Trusting him with the rescue, everyone turned back to town. A wreck from what they saw, though half of it remained salvageable for the people that used to live in it. Taking up point, Saki marched out ahead of the others. “We should let them know it’s safe again, for now…”
Yumi nodded quietly while vaguely keeping her eyes focused on the road. While she followed them, her mind remained distracted. Everything that happened ran through her thoughts. Parts replayed for her as she saw the battles with the demons. Her mind sorted out what happened trying to find what happened. Despite facing someone powerful, they didn’t feel anywhere as powerful as her pet demon. Yet she still lost to the demon.
Before she knew it, they had guided her to the forest where they hid the townspeople. As Yuki and Saki explained things to them, she faintly paid attention. She picked through the conversation. It was clear that the townspeople didn’t want to go back to their homes, not after the demons completely wrecked their lives. None of them felt safe anymore. It was certainly an understandable sort of feeling. Though Yumi wondered where they would go if they didn’t return home. They had nothing left if they didn’t.
She stared down at the town through the trees and rolling hills. The perch they had from the forest gave a clear view of the destruction wrought upon the town. It wasn’t going to be easy to rebuild. The worst part was the vast amounts of demon blood and bodies that tainted the land. Nothing would grow for them in their lifetimes most likely. And that wasn’t even a certainty with the demons stirred up.
This didn’t feel like it was going to be the end. That woman out there would likely continue to draw the demon's attention. ‘Where was someone so powerful? If she was around she could have freed all of these people with that power. Why is she here only now? What’s going on?’
While Yumi pondered the endless questions, Seiji returned from his rescue with Nerine in his arms. She was unconscious, likely from poisoning by the demons. Yumi stared disconnected from it all just watching Yuki struggle to figure it out. None of it felt real to her anymore. Her thoughts went elsewhere for her.
But he managed to save her life before the demon poison claimed her. Things were calm once more. Yumi stood up and stepped out of the forest staring out at the horizon. The beckoning light of the sun spoke to her. She knew what it was telling her. It was what she already felt before.
Yuki came up behind her touching her shoulder to get her attention. “You alright? You’ve been really distant ever since…”
“Yeah…fine…”
“Yumi?”
He seemed to be sensing it in her. Yumi saw it in his eyes. She looked away from him even though it was pointless. There was no running from it. They were just going to have to understand. She already made her choice. “Once everything is settled here, we’re going after that woman. I must find Masa again.”