fusion and questions spun about in Saki’s mind about how they were detected. Though as she could see the demon didn’t seem to be attag them either. ‘It knows where we are, but ’t see us. So they’ve got some other way to find us…’

  For all of the pnning that Saki or Nerine calcuted, they really should have put a couple moments into what Saki had said by a slip of words. Because it was exactly what Seiji o hear. He burst out of the bubble of invisibility that kept them hidden. Even knowing that they were there, the demon still looked surprised as Seiji bsted out with his fist wound up.

  Taking Seiji’s fist straight to the face, the demon flew backwards across the field. Expeg the fight not to be over yet, he charged in after the demon disappearing into the cloak of night. Saki groaned in annoyanbsp; “Should have seen that…” Then she remembered something important. “Dammit, Seiji! You ’t fight demons!”

  Nerine finished walking through the barrier, closing them off to the human side. “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s something I haven’t told him about demons and knowing him, he’s going to ruin our ces of a simple infiltration.”

  “That might already be over…” she ented, noting that the noise Seiji made from starting a fight would likely not go unnoticed by the other demons.

  Saki picked up Nerine and sprinted away with her not taking to her full speed. “We outrun a few demons. It’s not like the whole pce is packed with them. We just o end this quickly so that we slip into the shadows. And I need Seiji not to make a stupid mistake.”

  Chapter 413 – Demon’s Blood

  Following the pung, Saki quickly found the two deeper into the territory of the demons. “At least he’s not pletely stupid. This far out, we may avoid dete still.” Pg Nerio the side, she charged in, disappearing from sight. “I’ve got to reach him before he does something we ’t undo!”

  Narrowed focus, the demon that Seiji fought wasn’t looking very good. In its human form, it didn’t seem to be able to stand up to the brutal force that Seiji could wield. This made things even worse, Saki knew. She caught sight of Seiji nding another blow as blood sprayed up from the opened wound. “Dammit!”

  Seiji dove in to finish off the demon, but Saki grabbed him and pulled him back just in time. It allowed her to breathe for onbsp; “I made it.”

  “What the hell, Saki?!”

  She sharply whacked him in the head to get him to be quiet for a moment. “Shut up and listen for a sed! You ’t let the blood of a demo on you! They’ll be able to track us and it ’t be removed!”

  “Wait, what?! Why the hell did you wait until now to tell me?” He revealed his fist painted lightly in the blood of the demon he had been pummeling into the ground.

  “Because I pnned on handling the demon fighting, since I ’t trust you to fight carefully!”

  He threw up his fist at her frustrated with her ck of faith in him. “I’m getting tired as hell of you thinking I’m stupid!”

  Before Saki could e in with a retort, Neriepped between them, finally reag them after Saki left her behind. Using her gaus, she grabbed the two to get some distaween them. “You fight with each other after we deal with the bigger problem.”

  Seiji leaned backwards in surprise at seeing an actual demon standing before him and not just one in human skin. “Where the hell did that e from?!”

  “While you two were arguing, it gave the demon time to transform. Apparently, their human form is not their normal appearance.”

  “No…” muttered Saki, as she groueeth to see that the problem became signifitly more challenging to keep quiet. ‘This was exactly what I wao avoid…’ Their options narrowed to only one now. Admittedly, she k had always only ever been one. Just in different ditions. Now in the current situation, she had only ohing to say. “Seiji, full power!”

  He grinned with the encement from Saki. His leg slid back a little, anch into the ground as the earth cracked and pressed down. Light pulsed down his scar signaling the increasing power building within Seiji. In moments, he built up enough to bst off the ground at the demon, but with the increased size of the demon inte snake and spider-like hybrid also came power of its own. Unlike before when Seiji effortlessly pummeled the creature, an array appeared in front of its hand this time halting Seiji’s fist.

  While he held up the demon’s right arm, the left came around hitting him in the fnk shooting him back with equal speed. “Dammit, it’s far more powerful than I expected!” Saki disappeared, going over where Seiji flew, nding on him, then kig off from him to charge at the demon.

  “Dammit, Saki!” Seiji yelled as he flew back towards Nerine. Crashing ih, Seiji wasted no time hopping back to his feet, not looking slowed down by the attabsp; He brushed off his damaged tunid charged bato the fight.

  However, her of them had any success in breaking through the barrier that it put up. It had enough mobility and power to keep up with both of them despite their speed. Additional arrays appeared in the air geing demoniergy rapidly to engulf Seiji for terattabsp; The beams of energy pushed him bato the ground as he tried to protect his body with his arms. Eventually, the energy dissipated leaving a mostly unharmed Seiji behind with burning ashes falling down around him.

  Free to attace more, Seiji went in blindly without any pn. Little ged from the resumed attabsp; her of them could make it very far with their attacks. Nothing could get through the defense and time drained away fast.

  Saki paused iack to watch the situation with Seiji and the demon. “We o finish this, but nothing is harming it… But it also seems uo hurt Seiji either. It has vast power, yet Seiji is going head on.” While she watched him fight, she noticed what was happening. Since she had never been in a real fight with him, she never noticed it before. In the middle of the fight, she couldn’t pay attention to the tiails. None of that mattered before to her. “Dammit, Seiji! I ’t believe you!”

  Jumping out in front of Seiji as a tack came in, she snatched away something from him as the attack came through. She nded safely away from them and stared at it. “A talisman, figures. We knew as much, I’ve just never seen him use it in a fight before.” Saki jumped forward to the demon iheory. The barrier came up around the demon and she used the talisman on the barrier trying to push through the defense.

  Her hand almost made it through before being repelled by it. The talisman burned up from the intense demoniergy present. “It had some effect, but it’s g power…” She looked up at Seiji’s tinuing failing attempts. “It’s gotta be him,” she cluded quickly.

  All she needed was the right moment to strike. She had to watch as the two cshed in futility. The demon seemed to be as annoyed about being uo kill him as Seiji was about doing anything to harm it. They had equally perfect defenses with her uanding the other. The moment the demon figured it out, which Saki assumed was smart enough to do so, Seiji would lose. It hadn’t figured it out already because Seiji's distinctive use of his power made it harder to notice.

  But she had her moment finally. She disappeared as she saw the attack building up from the demon. Which was enough of a sign for Seiji’s power to subsciously ma. With the ditions finally met, she pulled Seiji out of the line of the fire. “We’re finishing this now, Seiji!”

  “Hey? What the hell?!”

  “Just follow my lead!” She grabbed a bunch of the talismans gathered around Seiji to protect him and threw themselves at the demon. In the moments before hitting the barrier, she shoved the talismans into Seiji’s hand. “Put all of your power iack!” She guided him into the spot.

  Seiji still didn’t uand what was going on. It was a straightforward enough and that he could follow. Screaming deep from his lungs, his scars glowed bright eling it into his hand making the talisman respond. The demoniergy began to vibrate and weaken uhe influence of Seiji’s power. Backed with strength, Seiji finally shattered the barrier proteg the demon and Saki leapt through the hole quickly nding a kick to the head of the demon.

  Dowhough not killed yet, Saki nded on the earth o the fallen demon. “Nerine!” she called with the final stage of the pn. Grabbing the weird thorax like body of the demon, Saki tossed it into the air with the barrier fully down as a beam split the sky. A burning hole remained in the demo from Nerine’s attack.

  Saki sighed with relief to have the threat finally over. “We o get out of here immediately!” It was a miracle they had no one else e after them or possibly arroganbsp; Either way, she would take either.

  “What the hell was that?!” shouted Seiji looking at his hand.

  “Move now! Expin ter!” Saki jumped off getting her a burst of speed to pick up Nerine before turning back around once more.

  Seiji watched the two disappear into the forest nearby leaving him aloh potential more demons ing. “Dammit! I want some answers!” He charged after them following the sounds of Saki running through the forest trying to get as much distance as possible.

  After ten minutes of running they finally came to a stop deep in a thick forest. Saki stopped on a rge branch meters above the ground. She waited for Seiji to catch up. “I’m going to need your help, Nerine. Yoing to be the only ohat salvage this.”

  “I’m going to need some answers about what’s going on.”

  “I’m wanting some as well,” snapped Seiji nding on the branear to the two women. “What the hell was that back there?”

  “ we really not? There’s more important matters right now!”

  “This is pretty damn important to me!” Seiji threw out his open hand to Saki. “What did you do? Answer me!”

  He was still stu an unimportant matter, but Saki couldn’t stir him otherwise. He was going to keep pressing it until she answered. “Fine, if it’ll get you to the more important issue faster. I didn’t do anything. I just correctly used your power.”

  “My power?”

  “You really aren’t going to be this blind to what’s been going on to you this whole time?”

  “That shit ain’t mine!”

  “Yes, it is, Seiji. It’s a part of you.”

  “The hell it is! I refuse to accept it!”

  Saki crossed her arms feeling like she was suddenly getting to a different matter entirely. It wasn’t something that she expected to hear from him. In fact, even more surprising was the look on his fabsp; He knew what she did. And because he khat was what made him angry. She didn’t expect that from him. “What? You’re bothered that everything you have isn’t all muscle and that you actually have something else helping you?”

  “It’s wrong! And you didn’t have the right!”

  She stepped back as he leapt over to stand in front of her. ‘He’s really bothered by this… Now I’m really fused. What’s his problem? He’s taking this too seriously to just be one of his usual muscle headed issues.’ It wasn’t the sort of face that she ever thought that she would see on Seiji. He was genuinely bothered and angry with her. “We killed the demon. And would have done so faster if you actually used that Shinto ability of yours rather than fog solely on strength!”

  Seiji punched Saki in the face for her remark, which stunned both Nerine and Saki. Saki never saw it ing, something so out of character for him. “Seiji…”

  “You look at me like I’m a joke and an idiot, but there are lines you don’t cross. That isn’t Shinto! That damn power isn’t!”