???

Ray was really surprised and asked himself in his mind, "What just happened? Where did this sword come from?"

Yuki ran to Ray and asked, "Are you okay, master?" She sounded anxious.

Ray got up as he said, "I'm fine. It didn't hit me."

Just as he said that, someone landed a kick right where Ray was standing before. 

Yuki dodged the kick, thanks to the cat-like reflexes he got from Yuki.

It was a Russian man in his early 30s. Lean body, tall, maybe 6'6" or 6'7", red hair, black eyes and a fierce look in his eyes. The man grabbed the sword and swung it in order to cut Ray. 

Ray again jumped backwards and moved away from the man. The man lunged towards Ray and, as he got close, attempted a swing, aiming for Ray's neck.

But Ray was ready this time. He had taken out a knife by the time the man reached him. He parried the sword using his knife. He got shocked as he saw that, even though he was able to parry the attack, the sword had cut through Ray's knife like how a sharp knife cuts pudding. The impact was pretty hard. too. Ray could say that if he didn't have the superior strength, he'd not be able to block or parry the attack.

Seeing this, Ray threw away the broken knife and ran. 

He said through telepathy, "We're running, Yuki. I can't defeat this man right now. He's too strong."

Yuki replied, "I can't, Master. Someone's attacking me too."

A few moments ago

Just as Yuki and Ray had separated, Yuki switched to her blood pact form and tried to go help Ray. But she was suddenly stopped by another man. It was a slim young Russian man in his late 20s; he had black, dense hair that came up to his shoulders and a small cut mark on his forehead. He was holding a whip. 

Yuki tried to go past him, but the man slapped his whip towards Yuki's path. The whip landed just before Yuki as she abruptly stopped. If she hadn't, the whip would've hit her. 

Yuki jumped a few feet back and got in a fighting stance, as she had understood that she wouldn't be able to go to help Ray as long as that man blocked his path.

The man slapped the ground with the whip and said, "You're going nowhere, you monster."

Hearing those words made Yuki lose her ground for a bit as she thought, "Does he not realise that I'm a spirit?"

Just then Ray telepathically called Yuki and said that they'd have to retreat.

Before Yuki could answer, the man attacked her. He threw the whip at Yuki, but Yuki swiftly dodged it and jumped to the side. She replied, "I can't, Master. Someone's attacking me too."

The man turned around and threw the whip at Yuki again. This time Yuki jumped back and got just outside of the whip's range. But just as she thought she was in the clear, the end of the whip turned into a snakehead and spit venom on her.

Yuki got terrified and tried to dodge the venom, but some of it hit her back right leg. 

Yuki roared in pain.

Ray heard Yuki's painful roar and tried to run towards her, but she had to abruptly stop as three energy arrows hit the soil just before him.

He looked at the direction from which the arrows came. He saw a 20- to 21-year-old Japanese woman standing there. She had pink short hair and blue eyes. She was wielding a bow.

The girl fired another three energy arrows from her bow. Ray quickly dodged them and tried to run in another direction. But the moment he turned in that direction, he saw that Russian man with the sword coming towards him from that direction.

Ray heard another painful roar from Yuki. He disregarded the two attacking him and looked at the direction of the sound. His eyes widened as he saw Yuki lying on the ground. She wasn't moving. Ray yelled, "YUKI!" and ran towards her. The girl fired another three energy arrows towards Ray, but Ray ignored them.

Two arrows hit Ray. One hit him in the right shoulder, which cut off his prosthetic arm strap. Another hit him in the right thigh. He falls down. But he quickly gets up and goes to Yuki while stumbling.

He sat down next to Yuki and held her face. He said, "Yuki. Yuki, are you alright? Yuki."

The guy with the whip tried to attack Ray in that situation. But Ray was overcome with rage. He swiftly dodged the whip and threw a punch in the man's stomach with all his strength.

The punch made the man cough up blood and sent him flying. He hit a car's side body and fell down. The impact was so hard that there was a silhouette of that man in the car's body.

Both the pink-haired girl and the sword-wielding man had gotten closer. The pink-haired girl readied her bow to fire another shot. Ray noticed that, and in the blink of an eye, he came really close to the girl. The girl tried to hit him with the bow, but Ray dodged it and kicked her in the side of her stomach.

The kick sent the girl flying far, and the girl hit a wall. As he kicked with his injured right leg, he fell to his knees just as he kicked her.

But he tried to quickly get up before the sword-wielding man attacked.

Seeing this, the swordwielding man said, "No, no. Don't get up. Calm down. Looks like we had a misunderstanding."

Ray looked up at the man's face. The man didn't have the bloodlust from before anymore.

The man extended his hands and said, "I'm really sorry. We didn't mean to fight you. We thought you for someone else."

Ray gave a curious look. Seeing this, the man said, "We were actually chasing after a humanoid prime that calls himself puppeteer."