Chapter 22 - Chapter 21

Elizabeth ran as fast as she could, being cautious on her movements, as she tries to keep her focus, despite being extremely terrified.

After A few minutes, Elizabeth reached the building where she helped Yuji and separated from the others.

"This... is it,".

With shivering hands, she slowly made her way inside the  building.

"Ugh!" she said in a disgusted tone, as she walked by the same place a certain body was dismembered.

"This place is..." she said, as the gory scenes she saw with Yuji while they were in a locker, flashed back from her memory.

She shook her head and slapped herself on the cheeks, somehow regaining her composure.

Still shaking, she made her way to the second floor where she found Yuji.

"This is where I found him..." Elizabeth said as she looked around, "It's... got to be here somewhere.".

She carefully searched the area, being cautious of the window and her surroundings, trying to not make any noise.

Checking every table and corner of the floor, she crouched by the large windows of the building to avoid being seen from the outside.

After a few moments of searching, she found the case containing the syringes in a corner of the second floor building.

"THIS IS IT!" She thought, being overjoyed.

She hugged the case tightly in her chest, "With this...".

She opened the case and saw four unused syringes placed inside the case.

"The slots are for six syringes...but it doesn't matter...".

She once again hugged the case, with a shivering smile on her face, "with this we will..."

Bang*

An unknown sound came from the bottom floor of the building.

"Huh!?" Elizabeth said being shocked.

"That sounded like something fell..." she thought.

She hugged the case tightly, and focused on the situation.

"I... need to go back..." with burning determination in her eyes, she walked over to the stairs slowly, observing her surroundings.

As she was walking, she could hear a demonic laugh from a distance.

Elizabeth's knees shivered with fear, making her stop.

"I... can't get delayed now..." she thought as the picture of Yuji's state flashed in her head.

"I... have to do something!" she thought.

The demonic laugh from the Akuma slowly came closer.

Elizabeth hid behind the stairs as she heard the demonic laugh.

"It's got to be in one of these halls..." she thought.

As she was thinking on what to do, she saw a stone which seemed to come from the cracked walls on the second floor.

"this isn't too big... but it's enough!" she thought as she gripped the rock tightly.

She peeked from the stairs and saw a window at the end of the hallway.

She took a deep breath and then.

SHATTER*

A sound of shattering glass filled the halls, as the glass window in end of the hallway got shattered by the rock Elizabeth threw.

Elizabeth once again hid by the stairs as she was being extremely wary of her surroundings.

SHATTER*

As the sound of a second shattering glass emerged from the silence, Elizabeth ran as fast as she could without looking back, expecting that it was the Akuma that went to follow the sound.

She made it out of the building, with teary eyes, she ran as fast as she could to see Yuji.

Meanwhile.

"Ugh..."

Yuji let's out a sound of pain, as he was steadily laying down on the floor.

"Dang... I'm... in this situation again..." he thought.

"If only... I had been more careful...".

As he said those words Yuji's past memories came flashing back.

A bloody floor.

Signs of struggle and blood splatter on the wall.

Yuji... was crying.

" No... what is this..."

As he closed his eyes more memories came flashing back.

A girl was standing in front of him.

looking at her back, Yuji began to slightly remember.

"Long... black silky hair..."

He hears the girl mumble from his memory.

"That voice... who... are..."

"YUJI!" suddenly a soft high pitched voice woke up Yuji.

"Elizabeth!" Yuji said in surprise, seeing Elizabeth with her glowing eyes and hands, as her hands were placed above his chest.

"Good! seems like your already starting to recover, " Elizabeth said as she smiled at Yuji.

"Listen Yuji..." Elizabeth said in a serious voice and a straight face, "right now... I think I have a better view on what your ability is..."

"Huh?" Yuji replied

"I think it's better to call your ability adaptation..." Elizabeth said.

"What do you mean?" Yuji asked.

Elizabeth looked at Yuji's body as she was healing him, " your cells... they're now eradicating what's been implanted to you..."

Suddenly, Elizabeth paused as she notices an unusual occurrence,

"they're... fusing with it..." She said.

"HUH!?" Yuji said in shock, " then am I...".

" Your still human! no doubt!" Elizabeth said, "otherwise we won't be talking to each other like this..."

Yuji regained his composure, " I see... sorry for over reacting, ". " then... am I basically half akuma now... ".

"I wouldn't say that..." Elizabeth replied, "it's... more like you gained the abilities of an akuma... Making you... A new being?".

Yuji once again had a surprised face.

"I noticed since earlier..." said Elizabeth, "while I'm healing your body... It seemed to be changing while you're cells are mixing with the virus..." "probably to adapt from the intense pressure the virus is giving your body, "

"A normal Akuma is already four times the strength of an average human right?" Yuji said, "then your saying... I gained that as an ability?".

Elizabeth faced Yuji with a smile and nodded.

They both smiled at each other.

"There... I'm basically done..." Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, as she puts down her hands on her lap.

Suddenly Yuji had an Intense face, as he noticed a familiar entity standing behind Elizabeth.

Yuji raised his arms, still lying on the floor, as he tried to shout.

"WATCH OUT!"

STAB*

Blood splats on Yuji's face as he was intensely shaking.

Yuji sees Elizabeth stabbed through the stomach with the sharp arm of the Akuma behind her, as the Akuma laughed demonically.

"I... Knew it..." Elizabeth said, " it was following me after all...".

"Yuji..." she said with a fading voice as tears from her eyes emerged,

"Run..."

Yuji was suddenly reminded of those familiar words, as most of his memories came back to him.

"Not... again..." Yuji said.

The Akuma then threw Elizabeth to a wall by the end of the building.

"ELIZABETH!" Yuji shouted.

The Akuma then slowly walked over to Elizabeths direction, as it was laughing demonically.

"No... it's going to..." Yuji remembers the gruesome scene they saw from inside the locker.

Yuji shivered with mixed emotions,

as Yuji quickly stood up from the ground.

"I... could move now..." With a serious face he looked directly at the Akuma.

The Akuma looked behind and saw Yuji staring at it menacingly, as Elizabeth was laying on the ground, with her eyes open and a bleeding stomach.

"Run..." Elizabeth whispered unable to shout.

"So my strength is doubled now right..." Yuji thought, "then... Why not make use of it!".

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Cover illustrated by: @s0ft.b0i.art -IG

@s_b_art- twitter

Author- @Ryk- Twitter

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