It was different from the others she normally saw and killed. This demon had more in on with Tokaromaru. They had a more human like appearahough there were definitely aspects that were inhuman. A bit heavy on the eye lihat drew out their more feliures and pointed nose. She wondered which sort of cat-like demon he might be. Not that it was going to matter for long.

  Yumi swung again t ao the demon, finally closing out the long battle. A white fsh was all she saw, because the demon somehow escaped her attabsp; She flipped her head around trag the demon’s movements now that she could hear him. ‘I never heard him before because he was disguising his movements under mine… This one’s smart…and dangerous…’

  Dangerous was the key word as Yumi found a fist in her faly moments after she started to hear him dang about. Lifted up, Yumi shot backwards over the ground, but not before leaving a ter buried in the demon’s chest with her foot.

  Flying backwards, Yumi focused her vision on her dire, finding a tree ing up to her quickly. She grabbed out her haing her spin around the tree a few times to get her trol baly to see the demon appear in front of her kig her iomabsp; Rocks poked into her back as she id in the earth from the hit. ‘Damn, he’s fast…’

  The snipi her feeling a little dulled by her senses. It was repetitive and she had gotten the rhythm of it to a degree. However, the pace of the fight pletely ged, especially to ohat she was a little more used to dealing with against demons. She could thank the two hits for restarting her focus and attention.

  As the demon tried to ect his bo together, she flipped back out of the way with her power. His fist dug into the earth letting her spin around and grab his ao throw him into the ground. Even on his back, he tered with a ko her arm fully ing the forbsp; She exged repeated blows with her trying to crack his defense.

  Nothing could breach his wall.

  Flipping forward out of the small crater they battled in, the feline-like demon struck back with a grab hittiween strikes by Yumi when her offense had the most openings. Grasping her wrist, he flung her into the tree, breaking it half.

  Yumi pushed ba the air with her telekinesis, getting enough trol back from the throw to grab his arm with her free hand. She pulled back holding onto the air to fling him into the earth, but he stopped nding on his feet. They ogether grappling and repositioning their starying to get the needed leverage for a throw. What Yumi cked in fihe demon clearly had over her, she made up for with her superior physical abilities.

  They hit a stalemate uo finish anything that they wao achieve. Each repositioning was fought tightly with their free arms. Heavy blows cshed together blog their movements. Yumi pyed ter to his as, watg closely.

  Uo break the deadlock, the demon kicked off Yumi’s leg and separated them. He nded from a flip on his feet gracefully as she stepped bae foot.

  The demon grinned with excitement. “You’re definitely not like the rest of the Huhat foolishly stepped into our territory.”

  ‘Not like the rest…’ Yumi grimaced as she had to settle into the idea that this wasn’t going to be a quickly won fight like the rest. “It was you that invited me here.”

  “Indeed your quickly acquired reputation has made quite the impression on our ranks.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be pleased by that or not.”

  “My Lord is very pleased. We do enjoy a challenge when killing humans.”

  “And what about dying to a human?”

  “Never happens.”

  “Shouldn’t say never, it has a habit of proving itself falsely used.”

  “A superstitious one, oh?”

  “Just a fact that I’ll be proving soon.”

  Baring sharp teeth, the demon deepeheir grin. They looked excited, almost happy about Yumi’s boasting. “A woman with guts. This will be fun!”

  Chapter 403 – A Demon’s Smile

  The fight resumed with the same iy as the demon jumped in with a flying kibsp; Digging through the earth a little with his attack, Yumi was able to sidestep the attad ter. Her ter stopped short with a block by his hand. He flipped Yumi on her back as his foot rose up out of the earth to strike her spine. Rapidly summoning part of her barrier, she saved her bad slid off with her hand braced against it.

  Tossing a white bst of energy at her feet into the earth, she increased her speed in her spin f her leg through his defenses and kig off his feet. He shot into the air still barely feeling the damage from the strike, while Yumi bsted towards him with her telekinesis. She quickly caught up to him in the air hoping to have the advantage against him.

  That advantage she should have never revealed itself to her as he could ter her attacks just as well as on the ground. Blocks and deflects sparked off in rapid succession as she tried to get in as many bloossible before he recovered. Yet, it became quickly clear to her that he had already recovered long before she even made the first strike.

  Worse still, they were still flying through the air long after the momentum that she gave him ran out. He flew under his own power. Yumi bsted him with her telekinesis away from her to get a moment to breathe.

  She hovered in the air a few meters away from him as he nded safely. ‘He’s easily matg me with everything that I’m throwing at him. I thought him being a sniper meant that he couldn’t handle himself in a melee fight. But he’s just as good, why did he even start sniping me from a distance if he was this skilled? It seems pointless…’

  “It’s rare to find a Hunter with flight. But don’t stop surprising me now! I want to see more of what you do!” He charged in after Yumi resuming the battle in the sky. His attacks came in faster than before as though he had been holding ba her. She struggled to keep up with each blow. Previously, Yumi mao keep him on more on the defeh her leading the attabsp; Now with the tables turned, she started to see how different in ability he was from her.

  Knocked back, her body flew down towards the earth. ‘Damn, he’s gettier the lohe fight drags out… He’s even tougher than Tokaromaru!’ The ground came up rapidly on her babsp; Her head tilted back from the hit seeing it ing. She still had enough trol to stop it from happening. Though she had to fly back up to direct her speed away, uo stop. ‘I ’t make a swift kill, he’s too fast for that…’

  While she cursed the battle she was forced to fight, the demon flew over to her. The distance closed in an instant as he disappeared from her sight. She turned around expeg a rear attaly to get fnked. A partial defle protected her and knocked her back as he appeared below grabbing her leg and throwing her down to the earth.

  A crater carved out her nding spot followed by him charging down at her. It was fortunately not enough to slow her down, leaving her only momentarily stunned. Yumi rolled out of the way of the flying punch as the demon dug through the hard stoh the earth. She grabbed the demon’s leg and threw him across the crater. Her follow up failed to ect as he already recovered from the throw.

  Floating upside down in the air, the demon stared back at Yumi still grinning with excitement. Annoyed, she threunch at his face which he blocked. He returned a punch that she dodged and tered. Their stalemate began to approach again with him fighting her upside down with the same level of skill as before.

  The stalemate didn’t st for long though as the demon had the advantage over Yumi. He pushed her ba the exge step by step with her losing ground. She couldn’t keep up her defenses as she lost her offense. Blog with her arms wasn’t fast enough.

  A powerful punch smashed through her crumbling defehrowing her across the crater into the earth. Clouds of debris coughed up around her impact.

  It wasn’t w. Everything she tried could only barely keep up with him. Yet he showed no signs of weakening. ‘Just how strong is this demon? I thought that Tokaromaru was one of the most powerful, but I’m really starting to question what that even means anymore.’ She pulled herself out of the impression her body created. ‘He’s not even using his fire attacks anymore, it’s purely a melee. Something that I have clearly less experie than him. After this is all over, I need Yuki to train me.’

  Yumi stepped out of the smoke and disappeared into the air with trails of smoke following her for as long as it could before she fully lost her wake. She smashed into the crater o the demon bsting out smoke in all dires.

  Listening to his movements, she immediately moved to ter the demon. She struck hard against him. He could only partially disperse the force of her punbsp; Waves of force rang out from her blows as she jumped around in the gray veil that hung over them. ‘Gd I’ve gotteo listening for the demons in the dark. I’m so used to them getting the jump oh them knowing where I am, that my hearing’s gotteer… Still this won’t st…’

  The s already began to fade away. Wind pyed only a small role in it. Yumi’s fierce attacks swept it away faster than the wind. And she was getting back to the same spot where she began. Uo nd a fully decisive blow to end things. He mao stand up to her blows and began to even out the fight with the penalty for him gone.

  He pinched her forearm between his elbow and knee, halting her assault. Uo pull out, she twisted her body around, throwing up her leg, which blocked with his forearm. It wasn’t enough though to stop her telekinesis shooting the demon bato the crater.

  Catg her breath, she found her body feeling the fatigue, something that she hadn’t noticed before. ‘I didn’t realize how tired I am… I o find a way to end this now!’

  The demon ughed, amused by the situation. Yumi brought him tinued eai in the fight. “So you’re someone used to fighting in the dark. Is that a talent honed while hunting?”

  “You’re enjoying this.”

  “It’s a good fight, why shouldn’t I enjoy it! A worthy foe is the ultimate reward for a warrior.”

  “I’ve no i in providing you with any reward. I’m just trying to kill you and move on!”

  “A fight to the death brings out the best. Nothing is more fun than seeing everything put on the line and pushed to the edge. Knowing how far those limits be pushed.”

  Yumi didn’t uand such things. She couldn’t find that sort of joy in fighting. Not like Seiji, who ehe fair fight on equal grounds to see who was the best. All of her fights had death on the line. There was nothing fun to find in a battle to live. It was meanio her. She just hoped that she could win before she pletely ran out of energy. This wasn’t eve demon she had to face.

  “Judging by the smile on your face, you know what I’m talking about.”

  She recoiled babsp; “What are you talking about? I’m not!”

  “You’ve been grinnio ear for the st few minutes.”

  “I haven’t!” yelled Yumi, trying to deny it. Yet she sadly felt it in her fabsp; There was something about what the demon said was right. She was smiling, but she didn’t know why. ‘I ’t be… Why? How? When…’

  Screaming to the sky, a white glow surrounded Yumi as she regained her posure. She couldn’t let it go on any longer. That much was certain now. Particles in the air began to gather around her hands. “I’m ending this now!” As her anger increased, the strength of her attack rapidly grew with the light pletely whiting out her form. A beam of energy shot out from her position casting a thick white light over the demon as he wasn’t left with much time to react.