Chapter 194

"Um."

"Perhaps I don't need to run away with you... I think I might not be able to hold on much longer."

"It's never a bad thing to give it a try."

"If you put me down, your chances of escaping will increase significantly. Anyway, I might die soon... Even if you take my body back, it won't do you any good, right?"

"..."

"If you use me as bait, you might be able to escape successfully."

"Tsk..."

Fujisaki Ryoka finally couldn't hold back any longer and roared loudly:

"Why do you always spout so much nonsense? That's what I hate about you!"

"I know... so at that time I thought you would abandon me... You should know that I can't go with you like this."

"You talk too much nonsense."

Fujisaki Ryoka scolded again, but this time the person behind her didn't reply. Instead, he buried his face in the back of her neck, his breathing faint.

Hatsukawa Fuka had a gaping hole pierced through her chest by Efnir, and she was losing her life every second. Fujisaki Ryoka didn't have time to treat her and could only bandage her up briefly, but obviously this level of emergency treatment wouldn't do much good. Hatsukawa Fuka was already on the verge of death.

But...

How could Fujisaki Ryoka possibly abandon her?

Even though she hadn't had a proper conversation with Hatsukawa Fuka a long time and had always spoken ill of her, they could no longer be called friends.

But their past memories are entirely true.

The tunnel came to an end. Fujisaki Ryoka pushed hard against the wall, pulled out a metal plate from inside, and then carefully pushed open the square cover above her head.

The rain curtain returned to their view.

There were one or two Dregs wandering around at the end of the nearby street, and gunshots could be heard in the distance, but there were no agents pursuing them.

"Call..."

Fujisaki Ryoka breathed a sigh of relief. Carrying Hatsukawa Fuka on her back, she slowly floated off the ground, preparing to escape along the street towards the outskirts of the Garrison District.

However, at that moment, a figure appeared in their field of vision.

With her moon-like silver hair and snow-white long dress, the girl hovered in mid-air above Fujisaki Ryoka's head, coldly looking down at the two who had just emerged from the tunnel.

"We've found you..."

Purple lightning flashed in the corners of Efnir's cold eyes.

"Easy."

77. Bizarre

Fujisaki Ryoka looked up at Efnir, who had appeared above her, with surprise and uncertainty. It seemed that Efnir had been waiting there for some time.

Or perhaps they just happened to be here waiting for them?

This is impossible...

What a coincidence!

Fujisaki Ryoka's mind went blank for a moment. She stared wide-eyed, swallowed hard, and subconsciously took a step back.

But behind it is the entrance to an underground tunnel. Clearly, if we try to escape into this tunnel from Efnir, we'll only be facing certain death.

That's Efnir.

The ability to immediately lose resistance upon contact has nothing to do with strength; it is not an ability that humans can understand—even within the Apostle Organization, there has never been a record of this type of ability.

At this moment, Efnir returned to her original "Apostle Form" state.

This is the full version of the Beacon.

Her body was covered in wounds and bloodstains. In the eyes of Fujisaki Ryoka and Hatsukawa Fuka, Efnir was clearly covered in serious injuries and should have been vulnerable and on the verge of collapse. In fact, she should have been dead long ago.

However, Efnir did indeed appear before them, and they couldn't detect any vulnerability or distress in her eyes.

Efnir simply stared intently at the two of them.

"Strong" and "weak" cannot be judged by sight, but for the battle-hardened Fujisaki Ryoka and Hatsukawa Fuka, this indescribable sense of crisis felt almost tangible.

This is what "powerful" feels like.

Fujisaki Ryoka had long known that this operation in the Maesakagawa Garrison District would not easily achieve results, but she did not expect it to fail so miserably.

Despite their combined efforts, they couldn't even wipe out the army of Xijing City, let alone the possibility that Suzuda City might interfere in the future.

And the source of all this is undoubtedly the girl in front of us.

From the moment the Angel began their work, this girl became a boulder blocking their path. No matter what they did, they could not get around the immense pressure she brought, which caused the Apostle's plans and missions to fail several times.

"Damn it... where did this girl come from!? How did she know I was here!?"

This was what Fujisaki Ryoka couldn't understand the most—she had gone to great lengths to lure the agent away and then hid in the underground passage. Even if the agent belatedly realized her plan, there was no way she could have found her so quickly.

Moreover, the tunnels didn't have just one exit; how could the enemy possibly have found it?

"She... is very abnormal..."

At this moment, Hatsukawa Fuka had been lying on Fujisaki Ryoka's back, also spoke. Her voice was bloodshot and still extremely hoarse, but Fujisaki Ryoka could hear the worry and caution in her words.

Even fear.

In their eyes, the scene before them was indeed too bizarre.

It seemed that none of their actions had ever escaped Efnir's eyes, and this feeling of being constantly watched by some unknown being was the most frightening thing.

However, for Efnir, finding them only required paying attention to fluctuations in the dust.

The existence of "dust" depends on the flow and transformation of energy.

Furthermore, its existence is not simply obscured by objects. In Efnir's eyes, "dust" is like a visible, objective reaction when the forces of Corruption Energy and Order Force change and transform.

Just as Corruption Energy and the Order Force can penetrate objects and exist, "dust" is not bound by the spatial range of matter. This is why Efnir was able to predict the direction of the Yukina her escape.

Simply put, even if the eyes cannot see it directly, the changes in the "dust" will reveal the target's existence to Efnir. Unless Fujisaki Ryoka does not use the Apostle Power, Efnir can easily track her down no matter how she tries to evade her.

To others, Fujisaki Ryoka and Hatsukawa Fuka disappeared the moment they entered the tunnel, but to Efnir, there was always a path of "dust" drifting and floating on the ground.

Nishizaki Yuki once warned Efnir not to rely too much on this ability whose effects were still unclear, since Apostle Form could have irreversible negative effects on the body.

But this time, Efnir had no room for hesitation.

We must capture Fujisaki Ryoka —this is a golden opportunity to infiltrate the Apostle Organization's intelligence.

Efnir hovered in mid-air, while Fujisaki Ryoka and Hatsukawa Fuka stood on the ground. There was no verbal communication between them; they simply stared at each other. The next second, a massive surge of energy, like a tsunami, rose between them. Fujisaki Ryoka had no intention of confronting Efnir head-on; she recklessly projected orbs of light into the surroundings and into the air.

Efnir narrowed her eyes slightly, her right eye seeing through all of Fujisaki Ryoka's movements. She moved with ease, easily overcoming Fujisaki Ryoka's blockade, and quickly approached the two of them.

She planned to disarm the two men and capture them alive.

That's the true meaning of being a prisoner.

"Damn it! This guy is definitely not normal!!!"

Fujisaki Ryoka had long been aware of Efnir's strangeness, but as a commander and a part of the encirclement, the feeling of "seeing" then and "seeing" now was completely different.

The overwhelming pressure whipped up a hurricane, Fujisaki Ryoka flew back, deciding to stop using her Apostle Power to stop Efnir.

It's completely useless anyway.

She changed her fighting strategy: if she couldn't win, she would run.

Use every means to run.

As long as we leave the area under their Garrison District, Efnir shouldn't pursue us too far. We can deal with what happens next later. In short, we absolutely cannot die here at a time like this!

Dust and sand billowed up from the ground, and large amounts of debris were blown away by Fujisaki Ryoka's attack, while Efnir remained unharmed.

"Fuuka! Hold on to me!!"

She gritted her teeth, abandoning the idea of using her Apostle Power to directly intercept Efnir. Instead, she plunged into the tunnel behind her, rushing forward and destroying the tunnel entrance with a swift attack. Fighting inside the tunnel would undoubtedly result in defeat, but she had no other choice now. She was within arm's reach of Efnir, and if she didn't escape into the tunnel, she would only face Efnir's powerful frontal attack.

As soon as she entered the tunnel, she rushed forward at top speed.

Efnir didn't rush to chase after them. Instead, she did the opposite, gathering flames in her hand and hurling them out.

The target was a section ahead of the "dust" fluctuation. Just as Fujisaki Ryoka destroyed the tunnel to block Efnir's pursuit, Efnir also destroyed the tunnel to hinder Fujisaki Ryoka's escape.

With a loud bang, flying rocks scattered everywhere, and Efnir's attack forcefully shattered the ground.

Immediately afterwards, another spear was thrown.

The tunnel collapsed with a loud crash.

However, the two did not appear flustered. Instead, a wall of white light blocked the depths of the broken tunnel—when Efnir launched her attack, Fujisaki Ryoka reinforced the tunnel with the Apostle Power.

At the same time, she became certain of one piece of information: Efnir was fully aware of her location.

In other words, going underground is just deceiving yourself.

She gritted her teeth, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

This was the first time she had encountered such a bizarre enemy.

[Okay, I've updated 10,000 words today, more tomorrow~]

78. Chase and intercept

Inside the narrow tunnel, the humid air rushing in from the outside vibrated violently, bricks and dust fell from above, and collapsed wall bricks Shard on the ground. The already dark tunnel became even darker and more obscure due to the swirling dust.

The faint glow of the Apostle Power flickered within the tunnel, becoming the only source of light there.

With the increasingly weak Hatsukawa Fuka on her back, Fujisaki Ryoka flew close to the ground in the tunnel at her fastest speed.

Both the Agent and the Apostle possess the ability to enhance "night vision," which is also integrated into the system of Fujisaki Ryoka and the others. Although strictly speaking, it is somewhat weakened compared to the Agent, they can still clearly distinguish objects in front of their field of vision.

"Feng Hua, are you alright?"

Fujisaki Ryoka's voice was tinged with shallow breaths.

The relentless pursuit and escape were draining her strength.

Although the Apostle Power does not rely too much on the movement of the body's muscles to exert its power, the tension itself is a very tiring thing. What's more, Fujisaki Ryoka was constantly threatened by attacks coming from the ground, and she had to use her own body's strength many times to forcibly change her direction of advance to avoid being hit directly by the silver spear.

"I'm fine..."

Hatsukawa Fuka responded softly, but her voice became low again. She lay on Fujisaki Ryoka's back, looking at the girl's sweat-covered profile.

"Both the agents and the Apostle possess far greater regenerative abilities than we do; in a protracted war, we are almost certain to lose..."

"Hmph, what's the use of saying all this now? That guy on the ground is still fighting!"

"She's a bit special... you've probably noticed, haven't you? She's different from all the other agents... we underestimated her..."

"Tsk..."

Fujisaki Ryoka clicked her tongue in frustration.

She wasn't unfamiliar with agents, but Efnir was clearly different, or rather, in Fujisaki Ryoka's memory, Efnir was unique.

"In short, we must find a way to leave here as soon as possible... If we continue, we'll be trapped here. After that, we must tell the organization what happened here; we absolutely cannot let her disrupt our plans."

"I think... the organization may have known all along... You understand their methods."

This time, Fujisaki Ryoka didn't speak, but remained silent.

"Liang Xiang... do you think it was a coincidence that we were sent here?"

Fujisaki Ryoka frowned slightly; she didn't want to continue the topic and answered stiffly:

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"But..."