Bayfront Coast (13)

It was Ashton!

At least, a weakened version of him.

"Get… away… from… him!" Ashton said in between breaths as he glared at Juin. He had to hold onto the door to keep himself up.

There were a few deep, short cuts on young Ashton's thighs, and blood was still dripping from his fingers.

The moment Juin was walking into danger, Ashton felt it deep in his soul, but no matter what, he could not open his eyes. In the end, it took him a lot of effort to stab himself with his nails to wake up.

Angered, Ashton raised his left hand and mumbled something under his breath, upon which, a white glow appeared around his hand.

BOOM!

Jim Mack was sent flying across the room.

However, Ashton did not have the time to deal with him immediately. He stumbled next to Juin, who was barely conscious, and tried to stop the blood flowing out of him. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you!"

A soft, white glow appeared on both his hands as he placed it on Juin's wound, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, Juin's wound slowly knitted together. But he suddenly felt a presence within Juin's body, one that should have never been there.

"A takeover…" Ashton mumbled. When his eyes turned completely white, he soon noticed the anomaly. "Sh*t!"

The other demon soul was attacking the conscious part of Juin's soul, and if things were to leave as it was, it wouldn't be long before it could take over its body.

And so, Ashton quickly chanted a spell to get rid of the demon. Putting his left index and middle fingers together, on the tips of which a red glow appeared, Ashton "shot" the red glow at Juin's wound.

"Urgh!" Juin sat up suddenly as his wound that was barely healed just now burst open, and a pained expression appeared on his face as his eyes rolled back and he limped against Ashton, who caught him in time.

SHRIEK!!!

A high-pitched shriek could be hurt as a black shadow moved out of Juin's body at a lightning-fast pace and shot past Ashton.

Ashton should have dealt with the shadow, but when he saw the blood that was flowing profusely out of Juin's wound, he knew where his priority was.

As he raised his left hand slowly, Ashton could feel blood pooling in his mouth, and within seconds, bright-red blood was already falling down from both corners of Ashton's lips.

"Stupid body…" Ashton spat out the blood before focusing his hand on Juin's body to heal him. Bright red splotches soon appeared on his pajamas, but he ignored them.

As he was dealing with Juin's injury, Ashton suddenly heard a loud, piercing scream.

"ARGH!!!"

Almost immediately, Ashton whipped his head toward the origin of the scream.

He saw Jim Mack holding his head; veins bulging, eyes wide open, almost falling out of their sockets, and drool was rolling out from both corners of his lips.

"What the���" Ashton mumbled as he looked at the sight, his hand never left Juin's chest.

"You!" Jim Mack suddenly glared at Ashton with his eyes rolled all the into the back so that only the whites were showing. "You b*stard!"

A green arrow appeared in midair in front of "Jim Mack" and shot toward Ashton at lightning speed.

"Sh*t!" Ashton pulled Juin with him as he ducked the attack, which hit the wall and disappeared.

"I can't get hit!" Ashton thought when he realized that the attack wasn't physical. If he were hit, no one could tell what would happen to his soul… or Juin's!

He then quickly put Juin on his back as he dodged the next incoming attacks as well. The house rattled whenever the green arrows hit it, but other than blowing the dust around, no marks were left on the walls or floor.

Knowing that evading wasn't a real answer, Ashton then shot a few white beams of light at the possessed "Jim Mack", but given that he was weakened, his attacks were too slow, and the guy was able to dodge it easily.

Panting, Ashton suddenly lost sight of "Jim Mack". He quickly glanced around, but he could not see the man.

"Invisibility!" Ashton quickly activated his "eyes", but before he could do anything, he felt a small gust of wind coming from the back.

"Juin!" Ashton turned around. "ARGH!!!"

THUD!

At the moment, a loud clap of thunder could be heard from outside as the dark clouds moved to hide the moon.

A mouthful of blood spluttered from Ashton's mouth as he dropped Juin on the floor. Slowly, with blood dripping from his mouth, he looked down and saw a sharp hand with talons that was embedded in his chest.

"Jim Mack" reappeared in front of him with an evil grin. "Gotcha!"

He was going to kill this kid who spoiled his plan, and so, his each of his attacks was full of killing intent.

Without any warning, he lifted Ashton up using his hand, which was embedded in Ashton's chest and actually went through it, and growled, "You caused me to lose the vessel! Do you think you can protect him? I'll get him once I get rid of you!"

"De… mon!" Ashton spat. Weakly, he raised his left hand, but he could not conjure up any spells, not in this state, and his hand just fell limply on the side.

"Ash… ton…"

Ashton glanced down at Juin, and he was horrified to see Juin who had woken up and was looking up at him with a shocked expression, as if he did not even realize that he was wounded himself.

Juin then looked at "Jim Mack" in disbelief, and both fear and anger appeared on his face.

"ARGH!" Juin yelled suddenly as all kinds of emotions ran through his heart. His pupils flashed between black and red, as his body slowly rose in midair.

Shooosh…

A suffocating demonic aura was emanated from Juin's body without any reservation, and it soon filled the room, causing "Jim Mack" to shiver and drop Ashton onto the floor.

"What the…" "Jim Mack" looked at Juin. That was a demon king's aura. It wasn't from his world, but a demon king's aura could never be faked. "Why didn't I sense it when I was in him?!"

"Urgh…" Ashton groaned when he hit the ground. The front of his shirt was completely covered in blood as he watched Juin in horror. A black shadow-like hand was slowly moving out of Juin's wound, causing the work that he had done earlier to unravel again. "N-no, no, no! I-It's not the time for you to wake up! J-Juin! Control him! Control him! I know you can do it!"

However, Juin was completely out as he hung limply in midair.

"Jim Mack" knew that this was something that he could not handle, so he quickly grabbed Ashton to be used as a shield as he jumped out of the room.