Chapter 279: Am I Dead?

"Gah?!"

"How dare you hurt Yuki?! Die, you bastard! You deserve to die!"

A sword pierced Duodécimo's heart as Yuno held the hilt, her face distorted while witnessing the sorry state of Yuki's clone.

This was a sin, one for which Duodécimo had to pay with his life.

"How?..."

Mouth agape in shock, blood spilled from his mask, falling to the ground.

This made no sense; Yuno had pierced his heart. It was impossible. He was in another dimension with his spatial barrier, keeping an eye on his entire territory.

It was impossible not to detect movements; he might be blind, but he had a keen sense of hearing, and his spatial barrier acted as his eyes.

When he enclosed Yuki in this barrier, he made sure no other living being was inside it, apart from the lions protecting Yuki; there was no other living being within his barrier.

(Wait... Monsters?)

But as if recalling something, Duodécimo was surprised. He wasn't foolish; he knew he had been deceived.

*Shiiiiii

With a hole in his heart, Duodécimo smiled.

"Second, you win... you are justice now."

As his body was swallowed by the spiral-shaped hole, his [DEAD END] echoed in his diary.

"Yuki!"

However, none of that mattered to Yuno. After stabbing him, she quickly ran towards where Yuki (Clone) was.

"It worked... *Cough, cough"

Spitting blood, Yuki (Clone) smiled. In the end, he managed to deceive the Future Diary once again.

He knew that the [DEAD END] would appear in Duodécimo's diary.

However, instead of escaping, this guy faced his destiny head-on. Seeing it from another perspective, his heart was justice, albeit very foolish.

But Yuki had to admit he had a tough time, especially with these severe internal injuries.

How to deceive his Future Diary?

How to evade the detection of his barrier?

And, of course... how to traverse the other dimension?

Deceiving his diary was not a problem; the future is unpredictable. Duodécimo, like Undécimo, made the same mistake of blindly believing in the future.

As for deceiving the spatial detection, that was even easier. Duodécimo scanned the area with space, taking everyone with him, including the Ice Lions, inside one of which Yuno was hiding.

But that wasn't enough to defeat Duodécimo. That peculiar guy kept his guard up at all times, so Yuki decided to reveal himself and attack directly.

Inflating Duodécimo's ego even more, he also made sure that his guard around the Ice Lions was as low as possible.

But despite deceiving spatial detection using the Ice Lions as camouflage, Duodécimo had a keen sense of hearing. For that, Yuki (Clone) used the last of his chakra, using Chidori.

The jutsu with the loudest sound...

Chidori, imitating the sound of a thousand birds, was perfect to confuse Duodécimo's hearing for a few seconds. Being caught in that gravity bubble was also bait.

Thanks to that, Duodécimo didn't notice the Ice Lion approaching. Also, his spatial detection found no threat.

The rest depended on Yuno. When the Ice Lion where she was hiding pierced Duodécimo, she came out of it, taking advantage of the moment when Duodécimo focused again on Yuki, using her own spatial ability to cut through space and open a hole in the other dimension, successfully stabbing Duodécimo's heart...

If Duodécimo was in another dimension, it was only necessary to use [Space] to enter that dimension. Fortunately, Yuno could do it.

This plan had many flaws; if Duodécimo had been a bit more careful, he would have teleported at the first hint of [DEAD END].

Fortunately, he didn't, so this victory belonged to both of them.

"Yuki! Yuki! Don't die, Yuki!"

But despite completing her part of the job, Yuno now had a desperate look on her face. She held Yuki (Clone) in her arms with panic.

Yuki (Clone) was severely injured; being subjected to that gravity bubble was something even his Apocalypse virus-reinforced body couldn't withstand. Several organs crushed, bones broken, severe wounds all over his body – unable to utter a single word. Fighting against Duodécimo in his own barrier was too much for a Clone like him; there was no doubt he was on the verge of death.

Fortunately, he wasn't a shadow clone; otherwise, he would disappear with the first blow.

"Yuki! Yuki! No... Don't die... A life without you... I"

However, Yuno knew nothing about it. To her, Yuki sacrificed himself for victory, so her heart tightened, and tears fell from her beautiful pink eyes.

Unfortunately, she's not a doctor; even if she were, Yuki's injuries were too severe to be saved.

"I should have fought from the beginning; I didn't protect Yuki... Because of me, Yuki... Now"

With her mind in total chaos, Yuno's eyes lost their light, and at the same time, the energy around her began to fluctuate...

"Your man is dead; let me help you join him in the afterlife."

*BOOOOMMMMM

As Yuno's mind descended into chaos, a voice sounded, and several spatial fluctuations appeared around her, activated with a simple snap of fingers, causing a terrifying explosion.

"Uh?"

Blinking slightly, Yuno snapped back to reality. However, looking ahead, infinite darkness was all she saw.

This confused her because she remembered holding the badly wounded body of Yuki, growing colder as time passed. She also heard a voice, then a terrifying explosion.

(Have I died?)

While her thoughts wandered again, a voice pulled her out of her confusion.

"Are you okay, Yuno?"

"Yuki?..."

Turning her head forcefully, Yuno's eyes couldn't help but well up. Before her stood her beloved, safe and sound.

"Yuki!"

Unable to control her emotions, Yuno lunged forward, embracing him tightly.

*Haa~

Watching her reaction, Yuki sighed and shook his head simultaneously.

(It's good that everything turned out fine...)

Fortunately, Yuki was monitoring the barrier. So when Duodécimo died, the barrier dispersed, revealing a part of the city completely destroyed. In the center was Yuno, embracing her clone, where several spatial fluctuations appeared, causing a spatial explosion that destroyed the space where the barrier was.

Fortunately, he didn't come out of the shadows; otherwise, he would be immediately detected by the enemy. Taking full advantage of this, Yuki slid his shadow, trapping Yuno in his shadow dimension, saving her from that terrible explosion.

If not for always being very attentive to the movements of that enemy, he might be using the twelfth bullet right now to go back in time.

(However... Being able to distort space to avoid the path of light)

Frowning, Yuki shuddered. The new enemy's ability made his radar activate instantly.

This enemy was invisible to the human eye, as the space around him prevented penetrating light, making his body invisible. If not for the Sharingan allowing him to detect energy, he might even be in the dark.

Unfortunately, the Sharingan cannot detect spatial waves; otherwise, the enemy's technique might be analyzed immediately, so Yuki could use a countermeasure.

Sadly, that wasn't possible...

Moreover, this invisibility was the least of his concerns, as if he wasn't mistaken, the energy emitted by this new enemy was on a completely different scale from the previous ones...

(Ninth... What a formidable enemy you are...)

With Rasiel in his possession, Yuki could see through his identity instantly. However, even though he saw through it, he could only sigh.

This enemy was a tough one...

"I knew it, Yuki! Even in death, we'll be together! Nothing can separate us! Our love is infinite!"

Caressing Yuki's chest with her face, a smile formed on Yuno's face. Apparently, her misunderstanding had not been resolved yet...

This caused Yuki's headache to intensify, as this girl was increasing the strength in her arms, preventing him from escaping.

---

Author's note: Guh... I think I caught a cold....

TN: Good for ya..?

---