But, how could they fight those creatures, and kill them ? Celia was indeed strong enough to maybe take down the Crab Boy, but... Flesh, not only was the strongest, but also seemed to have something against her.
After all, since the beginning of the "fight", it didn't even manage to hit her once.
But if Flesh did, only one hit would be enough.
As for Asaki... If it wasn't for this painful wound burning his right ribs, maybe that he would've stood a chance. Maybe... But right now, between his consciousness fading away, and the pain only growing stronger, it would never be able to kill this thing.
And about Celia, it was only a matter of time before she would lose in speed, and finally receive her first and last hit.
"Come on... Think..."
The Crab creature approached once again Asaki, but this time, slowly. It knew that rushing was useless, as the young man was now, an easy prey. Asaki could even have sworn seeing the Crab smile, even if it didn't have any real mouth.
One second passed, the Crab took two steps closer.
Another passed, an impact made the entire road tremble.
A third one passed, and the Crab propelled itself toward Asaki.
The young man tanked the whole impact, the two forms now glued to each other, landing violently on the ground. From this distance, even though the shock had maybe broke one or two bones of Asaki, the creature couldn't use its tremendous limbs anymore.
But the young man, however, still could use the knife.
"F*cking... Bastard.... Get out..."
With a trembling right arm, holding firmly the silver knife, Asaki struck a first hit. This time, the sparking blade hardly entered inside of the creature's torso, but still inside ! A yellow blood strain quickly formed from the wound the blade had created, slightly spilling on Asaki's shirt.
The crab then howled of pain, jumping backward as it cowered on the ground, shaking from pain and wrath.
It surprised Asaki so much, that, although he was still laying on the ground and profusely coughing, the young man felt himself falling on the ground once again.
"Did... Did I kill it...?"
The Crab rested on the ground, awkward noises of pain and anger emanating from its bloody body. However, it didn't look at all like the creature was dying, in fact the wound wasn't even that fatal.
It was more like... The creature was acting like a hurt child, almost sobbing on the ground after the slightest wound.
But, instantly after the Crab started to cry, everything became silent.
The scarlet figure of Flesh suddenly stopped moving, as Celia, covered in dust and dirt, froze in fear at the sight of the motionless creature. The Crab continued to cry, even harder than before, although nobody would be crazy enough to call those horrific noises sobs.
A crushing pressure now filled the atmosphere, Asaki, who was slowly getting up, suddenly wanted to lay on the ground again. His legs, finally started to shake again, and for his heart... He still couldn't feel its beats, it was simply... Too afraid to even dare pound.
Loud steps echoed in the middle of the road, as the scarlet giant walked toward the Crab, completely ignoring the two survivors.
One of its gigantic arm then, gently grabbed the creature, as if trying to look where it was wounded, and... how.
And at the same moment, Celia grabbed Asaki's hand, making the two of them running away from the creatures.
°°°
A burning air came and quit at the speed of light, Asaki's lunges, now running with all of his might to the city. Firmly holding his arm stood Celia, also running, and way more faster. She was partially carrying the young man's weight during the race, to avoid creating a gap between the two of them.
"W...Why haven't you escaped ?!!"
Out of breath, it took Asaki a few moments before formulating his answer.
"I... I couldn't ! You've seen that other creature too, right ?!"
As the man coughed furiously, Celia nodded, still running with him at full speed. The survivor's legs burned like lava, and tears of pain and tiredness were completely filling their eyes.
"And... Wh.. What happened ?!"
Soon, they arrived at the beginning of the road, already a few dozens of meters away from the scarlet creature.
"I... I slashed the C... Crab with the knife... And...-"
A chaotic scream suddenly filled the whole city, stopping Asaki in the middle of his sentence instantly. The scream lasted during seconds, and was filled by... Such a wrath, such bloodlust.
Of course, Flesh was the one who screamed that way, gently releasing the Crab on the ground before turning to the two fleeing forms.
From the white mask, was now escaping a white and warm smoke, while the ground the giant's foots was starting to violently crack.
"By Fate's sack..."
The next second, thousands of debris flew in the air, as a scarlet form crushed only a few meters behind the two survivors, still running. Sparking with wrath, could be seen two crimson pearls hiding beneath the mask.
The creature didn't seem to be happy that the Crab got wounded.
"Right there !!"
Celia's voice was now only filled by fear and terror, not only her breath was ragged because of the effort, but also by the nightmare she was actually living. She ran, still holding Asaki, with everything she could, as she prayed anyone willing to hear her to save their souls.
Another thunderous impact echoed, and this time, the whole ground under the survivor's foots elevated to the sky. Partially landing correctly, the young woman tanked for her, and Asaki, the hard concrete ground. The next second, she continued to run with Asaki, hardly following the rhythm.
They were now running right next to the turbulent river, crying and gasping of pain and fear, followed by chaos itself.
"R... Run... faster... Come on..."
Even Celia couldn't talk properly now, on the verge of fainting in the middle of their rush.
... And Asaki was in an even worse state, blood still spilling out of his wound.
"I... can't run an... anymore..."
At this point, the young man's legs were about to tear apart, and letting his dying body get grabbed by the scarlet demon. Now, Celia was almost the only one making the white-haired man move, slowly fainting.
And behind them, now caught up the monster, screaming once again as its gigantic arm reached at full speed Asaki's direction. Long and sharp claws now recovered its hand, ready to be, soon, covered by Asaki's blood.
But, at the last second...
Celia pushed Asaki into the river, the long and sharp claw...
Traversing the brown and long coat covering her shoulders...
Before that the creature propelled at full speed the motionless body who was hung to his claw.
And the now new silence which installed inside of the city, got pierced by one last dreadful scream from the giant : A scream of victory, and revenge, now reaching the stars themselves.