Page 176 of A Soul to Touch

There were more arrows around Faunus’ and Mayumi’s paths, the enemy seeking to take them down first – he was hoping Yoshida had noticed this invisible bowman’s intention and wasn’t scuttling off to be a coward.

His sight finally took in the glorious sight of her. There she was on the outskirts fighting off two Demonslayers.

By herself, she not only managed to block one opponent with her sword but shove her dagger at the torso of the other, who dodged by jumping back. Then she was swift as she crouched down on one knee while straightening the other so she could lean to the side and be even lower. She evaded a sword slashing through the air just a hair’s distance from her head.

Low to the ground, Mayumi threw herself forward with her arms crossed over the top of her head. She crashed into the legs of one man to make him completely lose his footing. His feet went over his head when he crashed against the ground on his own face, and his sword was lost due to his spindling arms cartwheeling through the air.

Just when Faunus thought she would slide across the ground on her front and give the other enemy her vulnerable back, she rotated in the air before she made contact. The flexible, nimble woman, who he had seen bend and twist in ways he’d never known possible, rolled onto her side and dug her dagger into the snowy ground.

She used her weapon to turn around as she found her feet.

Even from a distance, even with his vision so dim, he knew that woman was giving the enemy still on their feet a cruel, menacing glare. A glare of determination and utter stubbornness.

Just look at her.She was wild, a power to be reckoned with.

If he hadn’t been here to give her the information that brought these people here, had he not been here to make her want to attract Demons that caused the winged one to come, had Faunus never crossed paths with her, he knew without a shred of doubt, she would have survived.

To see her do what she was obviously born to, battle the world and all the enemies it had to offer, struck awe into him.

This magnificent woman appeared to be the most dangerous thing in the world with her meagre weapons and fragile humanness.

Despite this, he still couldn’t stand to see her doing this alone.

One small detail could see her lost to this existence forever, and the one with the medallion was still standing. That glinting round golden medal was shining in the sunlight.

Faunus’ didn’t know why, but he couldn’t help finding the black crystal within the centre of the golden ore was like a symbol of the humans. Surrounded by something bright while harbouring darkness within.

This very fight showed that they were easily swayed to do wrong. Mayumi and Faunus had done nothing wrong, and yet here they were, fighting for their lives – just like the Demons they sought to destroy.

Faunus kept his position as the Demonslayer behind him tried to pull. He stayed strong and stepped forward, only to backtrack by two steps when the whip slipped through his grasp and rendered a yelp from him. His hands were covered in melted snow and blood, slippery and hindering him.

Just when Faunus thought Mayumi would take down the medallion-wearing foe, he sprung back with more vigour than before and put her on the back foot.

He was silent, just as she was; both only occasionally letting out minor grunts from impact.

The other man was still getting to his feet after she’d tripped him, but Mayumi’s own sword was lost to the ground at her feet. The Demonslayer had struck downwards with both hands on the hilt of his weapon while she’d been crouching, the obvious overpowering force too much for just one of her arms to take by itself.

She did have the cross-guard of her dagger supporting the long edge of her blade, but it’d only been enough to stop her own weapon from cutting back into her under the bounce of force.

Mayumi abandoned her sword and instead drew her whip once she was finished rolling to the side to miss the second downward swing.

It was only then that he saw her clothing had been cut, and her own blood was soaking through the sleeve of it. She was hurt.

I must help her.She no longer had a shield, but Faunus was more than prepared to be one.

He turned to the Demonslayer behind him.

They ran to the side to keep the tension, realising long ago that he hadn’t managed to fight them off for a reason. On his slow, wobbling legs, he was forced to chase them. When he was almost within claw striking distance, they released the hold they had on their whip.

Since he was such a large target coming towards them, they didn’t need to aim. They just pulled two daggers from either side of their weapons belt and blindly threw them with a swiftness that not even his arms could knock away.

One lodged into his shoulder, doing little to stop him from coming. The other lodged straight into the centre of his throat, clogging it and his airways.

Faunus choked and reached up to pull it out, giving the Demonslayer the opportunity to grab the handle of their whip once more. He yanked the dagger free and dropped it. Then Faunus grasped that dreaded line again in his fist before any more damage could be done to his skull.

Faunus was facing the Demonslayer that now had their back to the battling field.

His blood turned to ice in his veins when he saw Mayumi fighting the medallion wearer, while the foe she’d tripped was on their feet and had found their sword.

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