Page 153 of A Soul to Touch

“Stay here, Mayumi!”Faunus shouted as he turned from her and gave chase on all fours.“I will return!”

He would, at least, try to.

Even if she wanted to follow, both Faunus and the Demon would be too fast for her to keep up. Within minutes, they’d covered a large distance, the Demon’s wings making him near impossible to catch, even for a Duskwalker.Nearbeing the keyword he was hoping would aid him right now.

His paws and hands thudded heavily against the dirt and snow, and his snorting huffs were just as loud. The wind was icy against his bony face with the speed at which he sprinted, but his long fur and adrenaline kept his temperature at a boiling point.

He hoped Mayumi wasn’t foolishly following. Night was minutes from being fully upon them. He couldn’t stay, even if he knew her home was now a dangerous baiting ground.

I can’t let this Demon escape. I can’t let him go.Now that he was no longer near her home, he was able to easily track the Demons scent in the wind and on the leaves he brushed with his expansive wingspan.I can’t let him tell Jabez where I am.

He didn’t want the Demon King to find him. He didn’t want him anywhere near his precious tiny human. It didn’t matter that she was fierce or strong. It didn’t matter that she was brave.

Jabez would kill her just to hurt him. The wretched, vile half-elf would use her against him.

And there was the doubtable guarantee that she would be allowed to live even if Faunus did hand over his life to him. He’d probably kill her just because Faunus had touched her. He might even eat her just because he was evil, hateful, and selfish.

I have to trust her. I have to trust that she can protect herself while I’m gone.

He just hoped he didn’t regret his decision to abandon his promise to stop this Demon from getting away.

Because... even if he pretended he was okay, even if he had accepted his eventual demise, even if he lied and hid how much his heart ached every second of every day with her, Faunusdesperatelywanted to live.

Even more so now that he knew the one creature he’d ever wanted to keep wanted him in return.

With an arc that started low to the ground and then swiftly shot upwards through the air, Mayumi’s blade sliced open the torso of a Demon she’d already chopped the forearm off of.

She spun and used the momentum to glide her blade across its throat. Blood gushed down the front of its body before it dropped to one knee and fell to the side. It was already a corpse by the time its head smacked against the ground.

Her eyes found the brightening sky as her chest heaved with heavy, sawing breaths.

Three Demons.She thanked the heavens that day was finally breaking free after being awake all night.

Faunus had been right when he’d warned her that the area would now be ripe for baiting Demons.

She turned her gaze away from the purple sky to the three dead carcasses around her. One was hanging from its neck and the low tree branch her whip was attached to. Another had an arrow shaft jutting from its eye socket. Then, of course, the one she’d just killed that lay at her feet.

Usually Mayumi only fought one, maybe two, Demons whenever she baited them. Even for her, this was a lot to fight on her own, but thankfully they hadn’t come at the same time.

She’d scarcely eaten, and the last two fights had taken time to win. Most of the time, she just remained on the roof and shot her targets from far away, either killing them straight away or weakening them with arrows before she fought them claw to blade.

But there had been no animal to bait them. This made their movements far more erratic and unpredictable.

I can’t believe Faunus left me alone to deal with this mess by myself.Then again... he must have had a good reason to.

Her head drifted in the direction she’d seen him go.I hope he’s alright.

It was already morning, and he still hadn’t returned. That didn’t indicate anything good.If he doesn’t come back, when I find him in the afterlife, I’ll beat the shit out of him for leaving me.

She would confront any God that existed to permit her to do so, even if she had to cross over planes of afterlives.

A solemn sigh left her shaking lips, her body trembling due to exhaustion. She was terribly fatigued, hungry, and thirsty.

Yet, when the sun finally broke and splashed its light on her home and made it safe, she didn’t go inside to rest. Instead, she went to her shed and grabbed one of her shovels.

I don’t know how long he’s going to be gone.If it were days, then she needed to reduce the scent that was now loitering in the air disgustingly.

She went to the far reaches of her clearing and began digging, keeping to the sun, as she threw snow and eventually dirt to the side.

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