8 Failed Attempt(1)

Two demons stand before me. Their body covered in scales, eyes like sharp slits of yellow, and blood all over their face. There is no one at the moment that I could call for help and the only person besides me has lost her mind. The next few moments will decide our fate.

They launched towards us, diminishing the gap that stood at forty feet. I grab her hands and picked her up in an instant to turn around and run at full throttle. I cannot outrun the demons while holding her and she is unable to protect herself.

I will hide her, and deal with them alone.

While carrying her, I jumped on the fence and through the window of what looked like an empty building. Once inside, I covered her mouth using my hand to suppress our presence here.

She still hasn't calmed down, and if the demons find us the situation repeats itself. Without intending to hurt her, I knock her out with a swift strike to the head. I pull out her phone and left it there for me to contact her later.

It's about time I head out.

They are here, circling me. A hunter won't care for the prey out of their reach as long as they have someone right in front of their eyes. This situation is anything but normal. But I had dealt with worse in the screening.

The demons rush towards me, their teeth showing. From their ability, I can deduce these two most likely belong to the third tier. I make sharp movements to avoid them at the last second and run away from the place where she was hidden.

It is risky to enter close-quarter combat without any knowledge of their abilities. Furthermore, when it comes to kai, I cannot use it as of now and I do not have a flux gun either.

I jump on a fence and then to the roof of a small building keeping an eye on them. The smaller one is faster while the other has a long range of combat using Kai blasts which it emits from its mouth. I dodge one, which hits the roof's surface right where I stood and a clear hole appeared.

I can enter a hand-to-hand scenario with any of them alone, but the authorities will be arriving here soon. I don't want anyone to think a teenager handled two demons of the third tier by himself. Killing them and running away is the last resort.

Exchanging the blows with the smaller one, I try to weaken it a bit but it is hard to land a clean one due to the gap in size. The other one fires a blast every once in a few seconds which I have to dodge at all costs. My stamina is draining quickly and this strategy won't keep me out of harm in a few minutes.

My phone buzzed. She's up. I broke through the glass window down in the building away from demons as I answered her call.

"What's happening !?" She shouted.

"Run out of this place, and quietly. Now!" I instructed her.

"Where are you!?" She yelled again.

"I am fine. I can outrun them, you cannot. So move away now," I said and cut the phone.

I hide somewhere outside the building. This place is some distance away from her.

She should be fin—oh no.

I heard a faint sound. She took the wrong approach and the demon saw her.

I move out quickly and get between the two of them before it could reach her. They are here again, the situation has repeated. Just this time I don't have much stamina in me.

I have to kill them and run away before the police arrive.

The two demons rush in, and I make use of my analysis of their abilities to distract the close-range attacker at once and rush straight to the second one, but it starts to run away. As expected it is not good at attacks from a close range.

As I caught up with him I manage to land a couple of blows which weaken it, I was about to land the third one to

settle it for good but,

"Watch out! Eric!"

What?

Behind me the first demon had caught up, I dodged its teeth, but I couldn't dodge the blow that followed. I did resist it to the best of my ability but it wasn't enough, my left arm went numb from that single blow and I was blasted away.

This...isn't good. I can hear her scream drowning out and my vision got blurry.

I had a concussion? The demon is still coming toward me. I try to get up but my body won't let me. I can't die like this...I have to get up.

My stamina had run out, I didn't have strength. This time the demon's presence caused me to shiver as I realized it was about to feast on me alive.

Just then it got blasted away. The other demon changed its line of sight and rushed out of my vision probably to where the attack came from. This was the last thing I witnessed before my vision blacked out.

* * *

I gently slapped the kid's cheeks to wake him up. His eyes opened.

"Do you feel okay? Are you hurt?" I asked him.

Without answering my question, he looked at the scene around him, inspecting it. He stood up slowly.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"Your friend? She's fine. She's over there," I pointed out the girl's location for him.

These kids have certainly been through a lot. Witnessing firsthand the brutality of demons must have been traumatizing to their innocent minds. That girl looked terrified to the core. However, this kid doesn't seem phased at all.

This might not be the best time to ask any questions.

"Are you from the government?" He asked. Seems to be a polite one.

"Yes. I was dispatched here to deal with this situation," I replied.

He looked at the decomposing body of the demon, and back again at me.

"Are you a Kai user?" He asked.

I nodded in reply.

"I think you should attend to your friend over there. We will take care of anything that's here," I said as he turned away.

He walked up to the girl, and a minute passed by as he calmed her down and headed for their destination.

"Sir, I found a few pieces of the shell here," Kyle said.

"How old?" I asked him.

"The demons came out of their shell about half an hour ago," he replied.

The shell of a demon is perhaps the best piece of evidence you could get. While in their shell, a demon's Kai cannot be detected. So the smugglers move the demons while they are in their shells. Looking at the shell's condition, it is possible to tell how long it has been since the demon came out of it.

—

We were currently headed back from this disaster and honestly, I just wanted to forget the entirety of it. Back there how she reacted to facing a demon, I can tell it was too much for her. Leaving her alone at a time like this wouldn't be the best thing to do.

When we arrived at her house, I made sure she would safely enter and then go. I could see the lighting inside. There was someone in there, and she should be fine.

But before I could leave – "I don't know much about fighting, but what you did back there didn't seem normal at all."

"I don't think it is out of the ordinary to learn self-defense and many people do that," I replied.

Today my ability was revealed to a person I would rather hide it from.

"But even so... it's fine," she composed herself, "thank you for saving me back there."

"Anyone would have done the same in that situation," I said.

"I don't think all people are that capable. I think it would be best not to discuss it further but I'll hear anything you have to say," she said.

Of course, she won't be convinced by my bluff.

"I don't mind but right now isn't the best time. Both of us need some rest, right?"

She nodded.

By promising to give her more information, I can appear less suspicious in front of her even though I would have to lie to her. I can tell she's curious and by promising to satisfy her curiosity she'll believe me if my story has no holes in it. I can prepare well.

But for now, I'll just go home and sleep.

* * *