The exterminator! - Chapter 16

Aya's eyes widened in surprise as she noticed a knight in flowing red robes and vibrant green hair. He stood firmly in the middle of the pathway that led to the main street, blocking their way from getting out of there. 

Aya's hand instinctively reached for her daggers, her grip tightening as her eyes narrowed in apprehension. She was wearing her cloak over her head, so she was sure that no one would be able to spot her white hair. But despite that, this knight seemed to have been looking for Aya for quite some time.

Aya was well aware that her striking hair color made her an easy target for discrimination in this world, but the mention of the fake bag with Funky Trees hinted that something else was going on. 

"Hiroki, please leave this to me." She sternly said, not wanting to reveal Hiroki's bright red eyes or his resemblance to a demon.

Hiroki, with his red eyes and clean white hair, would certainly appear to be one if someone saw him for what he was. Aya was aware of this and wanted to help Hiroki in any way she could.

"He's strong." 

Hiroki leaned closer to the darker side of the street as he waited for how Aya was going to deal with this. 

"Make it quick."

"Got it!" Aya narrowed her eyes as she took a battle stance. 

Then, so the bag wasn't going to get in her way, she threw it behind her back to indicate to the knight that she wasn't planning on giving up. Hiroki as well turned around to see how this would turn out while keeping his fake visual cloak from revealing his eyes and hair.

"Oh…? I wasn't told that there would be someone else. Are you perhaps an accomplice?" The green haired knight wondered, unbothered, that Aya was about to charge at him.

Refusing to give the knight any more time to consider his options, Aya charged forward at breakneck speed, kicking up clouds of dust and debris behind her. 

Her movements were effortless and fluid, leaving nothing but an afterimage in their wake. She closed the distance between them in an instant, her body tensing as she prepared to strike.

The knight, on the other hand, simply leaned backwards to avoid having his throat slashed by the girl's daggers.

"Woah there. Quiet the moves you have." 

He smirked after snapping back from his own thoughts. The fact that his throat would be gushing with his own blood if he were even a fraction of a second late didn't even register with him.

Aya didn't seem pleased with how the knight wasn't bothered by the attack she tried landing. 

It was as if he could read her moves even with his eyes closed. A perfect dodge that only required small movements. 

In a swift and decisive move, the knight's hand shot out and seized the girl by her cloak, yanking her backwards with unexpected force. As a result of the abrupt change, her body was propelled in the opposite direction from where she had intended. 

Even with her remarkable speed, she had been no match for the knight's quick reflexes and raw strength. 

Aya, even so, managed to keep her body balanced by simply sliding her shoes on the ground as if it were ice. 

She was again on her feet, her posture bent forward as she was about to charge towards the knight once again. Even though she assumed the knight was highly skilled, she couldn't take her gaze away from him.

The knight let out a disappointed sigh before turning to his side, where Aya was supposed to have fallen. Despite the knight's devious use of her own momentum, Aya appeared unscathed and in perfect condition.

"You're still standing? That's some impressive balance." 

The green-haired knight praised as if watching a cat standing up after being kicked in the stomach. 

".....Heup!"

Summoning all of her courage, the girl took a deep breath and launched herself forward with a fierce determination. The green-haired knight stood his ground, his expression one of mild annoyance. 

"I already told you—" he began, but was abruptly cut off as Aya's body disappeared from sight. 

In a flash of movement, she reappeared behind him, her speed leaving the knight momentarily stunned. 

It was as if she had teleported across the street, her movements so swift and precise that they defied logic. Within that same millisecond, Aya's eyes were wide open, as she had finally found herself in the knight's blind spot. And without wasting this opportunity, she swung both of her daggers in one direction to land a fatal hit on his back.

*Cling!*

The knight didn't move an inch from his position after Aya's fatal blow, but the sound of metal clashing was heard, preventing Aya's dagger from reaching him. 

The knight had managed to sheathe his sword and move it to its exact position where Aya attempted to attack without even looking. 

Aya's hands were trembling as she was struggling to move the knight's sword with her daggers. She was using all of her might while holding her breath so that at least she would be able to scratch the knight. 

But despite all that, the sword that was being held in an awkward position on the knight's back did not budge an inch. The accuracy and muscle stiffness that this required, were insane to the point where even Aya couldn't understand it.

"—It's useless." the knight finished, his voice hinting annoyance.

Aya's eyes were wide open, not from surprise, but because she did not want to miss even a split second from the knight's movements. She understood that the knight had a great sense of his surroundings, so she took some distance away from him.

The knight turned slowly to face his opponent, locking eyes with Aya once more. As he observed her more closely, he couldn't help but notice the condition she was in. 

Her breaths were ragged and shallow, and she was visibly struggling to keep up with the fast-paced movements. 

Cold sweat dripped down her forehead as she gripped her daggers tightly, clearly fighting with all her might to stay focused. 

Despite the danger she was in, the knight found himself feeling amused by the sight of this small and fragile-looking girl putting up such a fierce fight against him. 

However, he couldn't let his guard down, knowing that even the weakest opponent could be dangerous in the right circumstances.

Aya then clenched her own teeth, showing them to the knight as if she were a wild cat, before taking another deep breath. 

The knight braced himself for impact as Aya was about to charge towards him once again. He readied his sword, positioning it in front of him while keeping his left hand open as a support. 

"I've had my fun with you." The knight taunted, his eyes betraying his boredom. "I'll finish this quickly."

But before he could finish, Aya charged at him with all her might, her eyes burning with a fierce intensity. 

She held her breath as she closed in on her target, her movements so fluid and precise that it was almost hypnotic. Her murderous gaze remained fixed on her target until he was within her attack range in a fraction of a second.

The sudden burst of speed caught the knight off guard, giving him barely enough time to react. He raised his sword in a horizontal position, hoping to block whatever attack was coming his way. 

It was a testament to his skill as a warrior that he was able to react at all, but he knew that he was in for a tough fight.

However, Aya still didn't stop. She immediately reached the knight and swung one of her daggers upwards towards his chin while her other dagger clashed with the sword. 

But despite that, she still received a graze from their close-range collision, even though she tried to block the sword from going towards her shoulder.

'This brat!' 

The knight shouted in his mind as he saw himself cornered for a moment. But he wasn't going to let himself get taken down by his own target, which is why he no longer held himself back. 

He tilted his head upwards to avoid the first dagger, then slid his sword to the side to push away the other dagger that was keeping his sword in the horizontal position.

On the other hand, Aya, after seeing the knight who was caught by surprise for a moment, used this chance to push herself to the maximum by using the same dagger that was clashing with the sword to stab him in the abdomen. 

But, by doing so, she also got a slight cut on her cheek by the sword that was finally free.

Despite the danger, Aya attempted this risky move that nearly cost her life. Though she managed to reach the knight, it was only a glancing blow that left him with a bloody wound across his abdomen. 

His once-pristine white shirt was now stained with red, and he winced in pain as he staggered backward. Despite the severity of his injury, the knight managed to avoid a fatal blow and remained standing, his eyes fixed on Aya with a mix of anger and disbelief.

"This brat…. This fucking brat managed to hit me?!" 

In disbelief and annoyance, the green-haired knight asked himself. He was confident in his own sense of surroundings, and his pride wouldn't allow him to get even scratched by a girl like her.

"..." 

Aya, who was still at the place where she had landed her first hit, was now panting heavily as more cold sweat was running down her face, almost blurring her eyes from the amount of stress and energy she was actually using.

"To get injured like this? No, no…. I won't accept this! I can't accept this! This is despicable! A crime! A fucking sin to even touch me!" The knight's voice was strained and filled with anger, his eyes ablaze with fury as he looked down at his blood-stained shirt.

"..." 

"I can't allow this anymore…. I was told to bring you alive, but your sins are far too heavy to even breathe in my presence." The knight's eyes narrowed to slits, unconcerned that his abdomen was deteriorating. "Die—" 

And as the knight took his battle stance by holding his sword a bit above his mouth, he then prepared to finish her off with his next move. 

The knight immediately disappeared from his position, then reappeared again right behind Aya at a speed that almost matched hers.

"—you demon brat!" As he looked at Aya from behind, his eyes were filled with hatred. 

However, his body froze in one place right as he was about to cut down Aya. His breathing had become heavy, not understanding what was going on. 

"W-what… i-is… g-going…. on?" 

The green-haired knight asked himself in disbelief how his body had frozen in one place. He knew his body wasn't that injured to cause him to freeze like that, which is why he glared at Aya, who is also not responding.

'Is this her doing?' He questioned himself. 

He knew that this girl was already tired from the fight. There was no way that this was her doing. But after a quick thought, his eyes widened in realization at what was going on.

"The accomplice?!" The knight shouted as he tried his hardest to shift his eyes to where the other individual with a dark cloak was. 

The moment he saw him, the knight knew that this person was just another average commoner since he did not hold any significant presence. He would have known right away if he was threatening someone.

However, what the knight did not consider was the fact that this other individual wasn't in fact human at all. A presence so low that even he couldn't grasp the true nature of this unknown being in this world.

"So you can still barely move despite being immobilized?" As Hiroki emerged from the shadows of the street, he spoke with a sardonic tone that conveyed both amusement and surprise "That's actually impressive."

The knight, who had been fuming with anger at his defeat, now turned his wrath on Hiroki, his eyes narrowing in a scowl of disdain. 

He demanded to know who Hiroki was and what he wanted, but Hiroki remained silent, choosing instead to focus his attention on Aya, who still hadn't moved since the end of the fight. 

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Aya maintained her composure and showed no signs of giving in. However, after a few moments of tense silence, she suddenly collapsed to the ground, her body finally succumbing to the injuries she had sustained.

"Y-you! Y-you! What the hell are you?!" The knight stuttered, not fully understanding what was going on.

"I wonder how the fight would have been if she was in perfect condition…" Hiroki thought out loud, giving the frozen knight a perplexed look of confusion and anger.

"W-what are you—-" The knight made an attempt to ask, a little anxious to learn the response.

The way this accomplice was so calm not only disturbed him but also gave him anxiety at how he didn't seem slightly worried about the unconscious girl and how she could've lost her life in an instant. 

But what made him more menacing were the glowing red eyes that were slightly revealed through the shadows of his own cloak. 

Just what is he?

"Not that it matters right now anyway." 

Hiroki cut his words once again before going close to Aya and possessing her in order to use her body. 

The knight watched as this whole phenomenon happened in front of him. He saw this strange guy who didn't have much of a presence in him, then vanished and entered the body of the white haired girl as if he were nothing more than a shadow that could move wherever there was light.

"....W-wha?!" 

The knight, now with his eyes wide open in confusion, continued watching in a frozen state, unaware of what was going on. But this situation wasn't over as the unconscious girl suddenly got up.

'W-what is going on?' He asked himself, not understanding what was going on anymore. 

How is the girl moving now? Wasn't she unconscious before from going overboard with her own mentality and strength? And what's more, how come his body wasn't moving at all? What kind of power is this that would restrain a great knight like him?

After the white-haired girl got up on her feet, she brushed off the dust from her clothes before looking back at the knight. This time, though, there was something different about her. Something that made the knight completely bewildered.

"Y-your eyes…." He uttered, not knowing how to clearly form his wording.

The same white-haired girl he had previously referred to as a demon now had red glowing eyes in front of him. Eyes of a predator that barely contained any emotion or mercy for its prey. 

Even if he called her a demon, he was sure that she wasn't one. That was simply a dumb excuse to arrest her and take all of her resources.

Were the rumors true that she indeed is one? Is that also the reason why that weird other guy disappeared and went inside the girl as a mist? Was that her ability to consume entirely another human being?

'N-no….' 

He refused in his mind. He didn't want to acknowledge that he was dealing with a demon right now. 

"I refuse to believe it!"

"Believe what?" 

The white-haired girl inquired, her eyes barely showing any signs of interest or weakness. 

"Well not that it matters. I suppose that you won't talk about who sent you here, will you?"

The girl in front of him, who was now slowly approaching him, had a different aura. 

It wasn't the kind of presence that he had been dealing with until now. No, this was something way beyond what he has been actually experiencing until now. Something that he never knew was actually possible for him to feel.—

"W-what are you going to d-do to me?" He stammered, his voice barely above a whisper as his eyes widened with terror. 

—The feeling of pure fear!

Hiroki, who was now possessing Aya, continued walking towards the knight with no emotion whatsoever. There were no intentions or no hints of what he was about to do.

But right as he, now she, in Aya's body was only a few centimeters away from the knight, he slammed the palm of Aya's hand right on the knight's chin, sending him unconscious instantly.