The streets seemed to be buzzing as Elan walked back to her home. Waiting to cross the street, she'd counted at least four response team from the city police blaring across in great speed. Civilians murmured among each other, curious about the ruckus. Elan filed it at the back of her mind as she crossed; this might be connected to the arson chain Isabel mentioned earlier.
Elan's apartment wasn't located to the heart of the city, but it's close enough for her to see the shopping district. It's always lively around the place, especially at night, and she would often allowed herself some time to look at the various wares being sold.
This night, Elan decided to just head back directly so she could rest. Without any further instructions from Isabel, she can't exactly go about to wherever in case she would be called, so it's better to just stay put and wait.
Upon opening her door, it took her some seconds to notice the broken window and shards of glass on the floor before she felt a cool sensation on her throat.
"Don't move," a voice growled by her ear. From the dim moonlight that managed to enter the room, Elan could see the gleam of a sharp blade poised below her chin, the edge not exactly cutting through her skin but close enough that a small step would result in death.
Elan stiffened. Then she quickly controlled her breathing; she's a priest, she'd trained for years to fight demons. These kind of threats could barely shook her composure.
The aggressor didn't do anything else for a moment, which made her curious. Elan tried to strain her senses and noticed that the person behind her was breathing a little heavily, their chest rising and falling in fast, shallow pained puffs. Injured? She could use this.
Elan drove her elbow backwards to the general area of their ribs. The person gave a pained grunt and loosened their grip of their knife for Elan to slap it away. She quickly turned to send a kick but the other managed to block the move with their arm. They quickly pulled themselves back and started an onslaught of attacks of their own, pushing Elan back into defensive.
She really should have taken her physical classes more seriously. This person has quite the strength in their attacks that it's making her own arms numb from blocking.
When she managed to take a step back, she pulled up the blade hidden in her belt to attack, but she stopped midway when she noticed the blade glowing dimly.
A demon!
The blade was among the set given to them after their ordination along with the standard guns. The blades reacts at close contacts with demons, and has the same property embedded in their bullets.
Her missed step was enough for the other to push Elan down the floor. If she had enough awareness she would have been embarrassed and outraged with the position she was in: being pinned down the floor with someone she doesn't know. As such, she's more preoccupied with the arm currently trying to cut her airways on her throat.
She gripped the surprisingly small wrist holding her in place, but her strength was rapidly depleting along with the air on her lungs. In a desperate move, she shot her knee to the other's stomach, making them yelp loudly. The person clutched their side and actually rolled away, groaning and whimpering.
Elan smelled blood even as she moved back, her knife on her grip. The other's breathing became even more labored as they continued to curl on the floor.
Elan had always believed that she has at least a good memory, which helped her being placed among the top students of their class. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the voice seemed vaguely familiar, like she had talked with this demon before.
She ran and flipped the switch of the main lights. She can't locate where her gun was with the room being too dark. As light flooded in the area, the person gave another pained groan and buried their face on their arms, their eyes hurting from the sudden change of her surroundings. Elan noticed the black tresses curtaining their face before they slowly raised her head, the unique electric blue eyes, red-rimmed and teary, making her gasp.
"It's you?!"
It was that girl she met at that alleyway! The one that knock those harassers off that poor woman. She also saw this girl talking with the high demon Leviathan when that building bursted into flames last night.
Elan's own eyes were wide in shock as the other were slitted in a glare, but the stark red that's slowly dripping on her carpet quickly stole her gaze away from her face.
So they were injured. And a bad one at that, from what she could tell from the amount of blood.
Elan raised her knife higher when the other girl started to get up, her hand covering her injured side. Elan couldn't help but wince when she remembered how she hit that area hard earlier. In her defence, she was being suffocated, but the steady amount of blood dripping make her a little guilty.
At the back of her mind, a casual thought passed by, I didn't know that demons also had red bloods.
The two of them were locked in a stalemate, both not moving and not taking their eyes on each other, wary at the other's actions.
Even at the dim light of the small chandelier in her room, Elan could still see how pale the other was. Their forehead was covered in cold sweat, and their breathing's visibly labored. Elan should be able to take her and bring her back for interrogation.
Just as she thought this, the other girl quickly pulled something from her tattered and bloody clothes: a small circular object with a pin needle on top. A smokescreen!
The action, however, pulled on their injury and made them wince involuntarily. Elan used the chance to throw her knife and knock the smokescreen from the other's hand. Like hell she'll let her get away!
The other girl took a staggered step back. Elan rushed towards her. The two got into another fight, but this time Elan was gaining the upper hand easily. The other girl growled as every move she made were countered, but she still remained resolute in fighting back.
The girl pulled another knife seemingly out of nowhere and made a swipe at Elan's face. Elan managed to step back in time, with only a few strands of her hair being cut off rather than her nose.
With her weapon, the other became even more aggressive in her attacks. Elan moved around the furniture, using her familiarity with the room to her advantage. In a reckless move, the other girl jumped across the sofa and tried to tackle Elan again. This time, Elan was more prepared and kept her ground, stopping the knife a few centimeters away from her eyes.
At the violent move, one of the study lamps fell off the table, its cord still connected to the socket. The other girl noticed the object and her eyes widened. Suddenly she dropped her grip from her knife and pulled Elan away from the lamp, which was falling directly on top of the smokescreen.
Elan realized in great horror that it wasn't a smokescreen at all when the lamp collided with it and caused an explosion.