"Death & Time Limit" (056)

Codey was sound asleep in his bedroom when he awoke and looked about.

"W-What happened?" Someone stepped out from behind the door, and he observed a bandage on his face. "Oh, you've regained consciousness..."

It seemed to be Ayuka, who was clutching a glass of water.

"Ayuka? Please explain what the hell occurred. Why did I wake up in the bedroom after we had a fight?"

Our heroine said as she cautiously placed the glass on the desk. "When I kicked you, I accidentally hit your eye, which is why you were knocked out. And the fact that your eye was already hurting from being wounded made things worse..."

"Damn it, I'm out!" Codey snatched the top of his head and shook his head, irritated. "You didn't legally lose... you just didn't win,"

"... yeah, I'll chalk it up to another defeat... besides, Tim, I wouldn't have gotten this eye if I hadn't lost control during the fight."

"Let's keep it real for a moment... I believe neither of you had fought Tim, and I believe the man in question was Yujiro... When all, you saw how quickly he became concerned about us after you beat the heck out of Yujiro."

"That didn't feel like Yujiro in the least... Didn't you notice how much better he is? Tim, I believe, was the one who attempted to murder us..." Ayuka folded her arms beneath her chest and looked to the side, annoyed, the moment our Demon stated it.

"Well, damn it... don't bring it up again... it was in the past, and I'm not in the mood to deal with it right now." She turned around, closed her eyes, and tried to relax while sweating.

"When we battled, Ayuka... you muttered something along these lines..." He reminded her of something.

~ "You must combat supremacy to get stronger... moreover, it's not like I'll be around for much longer." ~

"I..."

Codey fixed his gaze on her.

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"So... Tim was correct... you are withholding something from us... but what is it? Please tell me, Ayuka..." Despite Codey's hopes that she would say it outright, she just gave him a hint.

"It's something that's going to kill me..." She withdrew with those comments, leaving Codey terrified and shocked.

"... s-something that w-will... k-kill her... is she joking?" But it was a terrible situation at the time, so there was nothing to rejoice about.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing... Is she truly capable of dying, even if she doesn't fight? I-I don't understand! No, I need to know what it is so we can assist her... Hold on, Ayuka!"

He chased after Ayuka after crashing through the door and saw her hair wriggle from around the corner.

"Ayuka! Please, ground to a standstill... tell me! We need to know, and I'm confident we can assist you!" He reached for her shoulder after running around the corner and made her freeze in place.

"... Please, Ayuka... talk to me, we need to figure out what's wrong..."

"...you don't need to know... just know that I'm on a time budget... at the very least, till I die... I want to protect him, to encourage you in learning Reality... so please, when that happens, be sure to protect him with your life... he did the same for me, so I owe it to him..."

"So, Codey... before I perish... I'm going to show it... when the time comes..."

Her shoulders were let go with a shock, and our Heroine exited the corridor. "What is she talking about? She.... she's insane. Damn it!"

Just as Nobuhiko approached, Codey began to ponder. "What the hell are you doing... attempting to fart or something?"

Codey was unimpressed by the humiliating appearance. "No..."

"Whatever the case may be, you were beaten up by a girl... that's simply sad."

"Shut up, grill igniter..."

Ayuka rushed for the hanger and her newly purchased white jacket as soon as she stepped in front of the dresser.

"Hey! Hold on, Ayuka, where are you going?" Codey wondered as he walked down the stairwell from behind.

"I'm just going for a walk... you may accompany me if you like, but I'd prefer to be alone..."

"Just tell me, Ayuka... why did you tell me, but not Tim? What's the sense of hiding it if you're actually on a time crunch...? You should've immediately revealed it as soon as it began."

"I have my justifications..." Ayuka took her ponytail out and knotted her hair in a different way.

She wore her hair in a considerably shorter ponytail this time. And her right hair edge was dangling next to her cheek.

"No... it's alright if you'd rather be alone... then I won't bother coming along... but just say you'll return alive..."

"Sure, I'm on a deadline... but I don't usually die in the next hour... So don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself or try to commit myself... I still have to assist you and save Tim from the calamity."

"You mentioned a time limit. Can you tell me at least how long it will take?"

"Sorry... if I tell you, you'll only try to stop it... so no... see you later, Code," She took a step out of the doorway, startling Codey.

But that only boosted our Demon's self-assurance. "... time limit... time limit... that means... she's on a time constraint, so I'm going to set one for myself! And no matter what, I'll use it to learn Reality!"

When Codey surprised Ayuka by dashing through the door, he grabbed his jacket.

Instead of following her, she noticed Codey sprinting away from the door in the opposite direction.

Due to his pace, his jacket was flapping in the wind.

She proceeded on her way without saying anything.

He continued to rush through the crowds, as if he were on a deadline, in an attempt to reach Alexis.

"All I have to do now is get to her! There's no way I'm letting Ayuka perish... Even if I don't know what she's keeping from me, whether it's an object or memories, I'll do everything I can to prevent it... I'm setting a time limit of two days for myself, no matter what!"

"You just have to wait, Ayuka... I'm going to stop you from dying, whether you're hiding or not, and then... I'll rescue Tim and then murder the Spiritual Hoaxers."

"That's a promise!" Codey's voice echoed, and it felt as if Tim was saying the same thing as him.

But, while all of this was going on at the Spiritual Society, less important things were going on at the Spiritual Hoaxers' hideout.

Yujiro had been praised, and while he smiled, all he could think about was killing them.

"... This is a lot of fun... If only I had more free will when it came to killing..."

"We can't allow you to kill any more of our men... they're our key units for retrieving all six elements, Sagayama..." Sitting on the side of Yujiro, Ayana explained.

"Six... constituents? How many of you do you have?" Yujiro leaned against the table, his eyes closed.

"Right now, we have four... Ice, Water, Earth, and Wind... those were stolen from the Spiritual Society's people by certain Wielders of Spiritual Blades..."

"Four... Ah, Cryo, Hydro, Geo, and Anemo, and you don't have any fire, so you're relying on me, hmm? That's intriguing... but I'm not going to just hand over my Element... After all, persons with my abilities are uncommon..."

"Is it your own? It's essentially blue fire, and it's becoming more common." Shijo stated as he looked at him.

"They don't... they don't... Holocaust is something I made by myself... This is why I can augment and induce such exquisite oblivion with these flames, which are coupled with great pressure and force. It's entertaining... but it doesn't have to be mine... after all, Miyazaki Timoshi was the one who came up with it."

"Huh?! You've got to be kidding! So Miyazaki was the one that came up with such a unique Talent?!" Ayana inquired, clapping her hands on the wooden table.

"He used certain Phantasm mixes, which was my ability, and merged them with his Blue Flames to create Holocaust, and now that he'd done it... it's simple..."

"I can't remove or change my ability... and I can't use my Phantasm... too bad, I loved those wonderful dark blue colors..."

"Please, Yujiro, tell us more about your abilities. We'll be able to use it to defeat those Spiritual Duelists." Kunio asserted himself, his demeanor unflappable.

"You're just a bunch of Lieutenants, and I'm the one in charge of you three, so stop asking these ridiculous questions... they're so boooooooring!" Yujiro proceeded to play with a fireball after gasping and rolling his eyes.

"But-"

"Silence! Only I will be aware of this skill, and there will be nothing you can do to persuade me otherwise... after all, murdering is my profession... I wouldn't want to go into battle knowing my opponent's ability... but then again, I could be overconfident and spill the words myself."

He laughed.

"This guy is insane... can we trust him?" Looking at the other two Hoaxers, Ayana was perplexed. "There's nothing we can do... the commands are simple, and he's the leader of the three of us, so we just have to accept anything he says."

"So... I tracked you down!" When someone banged the door open, everyone turned to look behind them.

Yujiro, leaning against the chair and spinning the fireball on the tip of his finger, peered back.

"Oh, look at you... Is that you, Reizo? You were the one who went up against Genpaku, right?"

Reizo, on the other hand, wasted no time in pointing his weapon and pulling the trigger.

Yujiro was shot in the face by a bullet.

However.

Yujiro surprised Reizo by catching the bullet in his hand after imitating a fearful look.

Yujiro sighed as he opened his palm and looked at the smoke. "What a useless bullet..."

"Damn it!" All three lieutenants stepped forward and prepared their weapons at the same time. "Where's your boss? There is nothing you can do to stop us from killing him."

"Stop? You...? What exactly are you saying? We'll give you death if you're searching for it!" Ayana yelled, pointing her glove forward.

With their shields, a complete army of Police Reinforcements appeared behind Reizo.

"We're a group of exactly 40 people! We'll fire if you don't surrender now!"

Reizo then heard screams behind his back, and when he turned around, all 40 cops had been dead. "Wait, when did they-"

Yujiro flipped off the policeman's back and landed immediately in front of Reizo, startling him. "Was that the extent of your reinforcements? Hmmm... intriguing... but they didn't even try..."

Yujiro scratched behind his ear. "Y-Yujiro! Please take a step back! We don't want to see you die!"

"You're the devil! Quite the orator!" The pistol was pointed directly at Yujiro's brow. "Oh, you're going to fire a gun? Go ahead and do it; I'll appreciate it more than you think."

"Stop talking garbage!"

The pistol's trigger was pushed instantly, and as the bullet flew forward, it collided with Yujiro's forehead, knocking the bullet back.

Reizo's eyes were wide with terror the moment it happened.

"Bullets... they're just a pile of metal that needs to be melted..." Yujiro peered at the bullet while crouching and grabbing it, and Reizo began to back away. "W-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Is it true that you're formed of flesh?!"

Yujiro made a "O" with his mouth and glanced at him, his finger bouncing the bullet up and down.

"What's the matter? I don't bite, buddy? I mean, if you really want me to, I suppose I could... but what would be the point?"

The three lieutenants were astonished after both Reizo and Yujiro exchanged glances.

"T-The bullet didn't even pierce through his b-brains or forehead?! He's not normal; there's no way this guy could be normal!" Ayana exclaimed, both amazed and afraid.

"And now, the foe in front of me, standing still, sees only sadness... so nice, and I thought I was really attractive." Yujiro finally threw the bullet up. "Oh, well," he stated, "...it happens to the best of us."

Yujiro took a step back, his right arm extending behind his back.

Our adversary kicked forward and lit the bullet with fire as soon as the bullet reached his toes.

It flew at a breakneck speed and crashed into Reizo's stomach. His body flew backward into the air, between the lieutenants, and slammed into the wall, erupting in another tremendous explosion of blue flames.

The wind blew by, causing the hair to sway and the garments to ripple in time to the beat of the wind.

The lieutenants were taken aback by Yujiro's flaming leg.

Reizo's body, on the other hand, had already been knocked out.

Unlike Miyazaki Timoshi, Yujiro Sagayama dared to use his power to its full capacity, rather than concealing or containing it. With his handsome lieutenants by his side, all he wanted was despair and ruin.

But it wasn't just him; our Demon, Codey, had arrived to greet Alexis as well, and the two exchanged glances.

To be continued...