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Yuri took a deep breath as he stood on the rooftop, overlooking the city. His heart was racing with excitement from the adrenaline rush of his recent encounter.
"I can't believe I just did that. But I can't let it get to my head. The last thing I need is to attract unwanted attention," he muttered to himself. "That's going to get me killed!"
"I need to be careful. I don't know what kind of people are out there. But at the same time, I can't just stand by and watch innocent people suffer," he said, and after a few seconds, he bursts out in laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Like I fucking care about those people except for the ones I know," he exclaimed as he began to run on the rooftops.
As Yuri made his way across, he could hear a commotion coming from the street below. Looking down, he saw that a car crash had just occurred, and the drivers were now arguing loudly about who was at fault.
"How unlucky," he said as he continued on his sprint.
After a bit, he stopped at a place where there's a flat surface, allowing him to lay down and stargaze.
It was entirely different from the skies back on Earth. All that he could see back there were a few twinkling white dots and a few constellations. But here, he could see everything. He then began to think of all the possible planets out there with similar aspects to this world. He imagined aliens having magic, now that would be a sight to see.
"Ah, the cold air breeze, the cold rock-hard ground, and the night sky," he exclaimed as he closes his eyes and breathes in deeply.
"Hah~ this feels nice."
"Indeed, it does," a voice of a little girl cuts in.
...
There was a brief silence, until Yuri stood up and looked to his right.
"WHO THE FUCK?-!"
A girl with bright orange hair suddenly appeared before Yuri, catching him off guard. She was wearing a vibrant yellow jacket that contrasted with her hair and a green skirt that swirled around her as she was balancing on one foot on a concrete wall.
She looked like a mischievous kid, with her small nose and cheeks. Her outfit and appearance seemed to radiate happiness and joy, bringing a warm feeling to the chilly night air, but to him, she just looked like a child who lost her mom in a shopping mall.
"Didn't notice me, did you?" She said, dropping down from the wall.
"The hell did you come from?" Yuri asked as he sat on the cold floor.
"The name's Jen, yours?" She asked.
"Should I tell you my name?" Yuri hesitantly replied.
"Just tell me," Jen said.
"The name's Yuri," he answered.
"That's a girl's name," Jen commented.
"No, it isn't."
"Yes, it is."
"No."
"Yes."
"NO."
"YES."
"NO!"
"Nevermind, let's get to the topic," Jen stopped the chain. "Why are you up here by the way?"
"Stargazing?" Yuri replied.
"Alright, answer this: Why don't you have any mana?" Jen asked as she kept twirling around.
"What do you mean?" Yuri asked in confusion.
"Every being has mana in their living bodies, have you been living under a rock your whole life?" Jen insultingly said to him.
"I'm not going to answer that question," Yuri replied.
"Come on," she insisted. "I'm interested!"
"No," he rejected.
'What's with this kid?! She's like my younger sister!'
'I need to go now since I want some alone time and... she looks fucking dangerous...'
"I'm gonna go now, try not to get lost on your way home, little girl," Yuri exclaimed at Jen, who now stood silent.
Yuri now felt a sense of danger and immediately dipped out. He jumped off and landed on some conveniently placed mattresses on the sidewalk. He got off the mattresses and sprinted away from the area.
Back at the rooftops, Jen now had a face raging with bloodlust.
"D-Did he just call me..."
"LITTLE GIRL?!!!!"
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Back at Yuri, he was now running on a street where there were mysteriously few cars and people on the sidewalks.
'I angered her right? I hope not...'
He was now running away to escape the girl. When they met, he immediately thought that she was strong based on her outfit and personality. It looked like she was one of the anti-heroes in an anime.
"I hope I lost her," he muttered under his breath. "I'm pretty sure she's gonna come for my ass."
There was a brief pause of silence, until Yuri thought of something suspicious.
....
"Wait, why does this area look like an arena for fighting--"
Suddenly, a huge mallet appeared right above his head, casting a shadow upon him.
...
"I knew it."
SLAM! The force of the mallet caused a shockwave that blew away nearby windows and made an incredibly large crater in its wake.
The sound could be heard throughout the city as residents woke up confused as to what caused the explosion.
Clouds of dust emerged from the impact site, covering the area. Jen landed a couple of meters away from the site and prepared her mallet.
To her surprise, Yuri stood up from the heavy attack she made unscathed.
"Wow, you're still intact?!" She exclaimed at him. "Eh, that doesn't matter because that's what you get for calling me a little girl back there!"
There was a moment of silence until Yuri exclaimed,
"I'm going to teach you a lesson about fucking discipline."
Somehow, Jen's instincts screamed at her to go on the defensive.
Suddenly, Yuri launched a whipfist sweep attack at Jen, catching her off guard. She barely dodged it, using her acrobatic skills to flip over and avoiding getting hit.
"Whoa, that was too close for comfort," she remarked, rushing at Yuri to perform a hammerstrike on his position. Jen launched herself high in the air and dived down to hit Yuri with the mallet.
Yuri sidestepped the attack, narrowly avoiding the hammer strike. Jen swerved the mallet towards Yuri's position again, but he activated his 'shield' ability, causing her to be thrown back a couple of feet.
Jen's eyes widened in shock as she saw his arms turn into shields from the previously thought metal hook.
"You-- Your arms changed shape?!" She exclaimed at him.
"Yeah right, kid," Yuri said, turning his hands into hammerfists.
He now aimed at Jen and performed an underground spike attack, punching the ground and causing spikes to emerge from underneath her. She narrowly avoids this by rolling to the right.
'What is this?!' Jen thought. 'What kind of enemy am I fighting against?!'
...
The battle continued for several minutes, and Jen was starting to tire out as the fight progressed. It was becoming a battle of attrition, and it was evident that Yuri was gaining the upper hand.
'I need to make a final strike against him somehow!' Jen thought.
She now enabled her ability, "Eagle's Eye," which grants her the ability to find an enemy's weak point in the shortest amount of time available. Then, she found it.
Yuri threw his whipfist directly at Jen, who easily dodged it. Then, she rushed towards him while he was retracting the weapon back into his hand. Yuri threw the weapon at her again, but she dodged it once more. She charged up the hammer for a final heavy attack against him.
"SHINING SUN!" Jen cried out, smashing the hammer at Yuri.
A huge explosion erupted from the impact, causing the building next to them to collapse fully. The shockwave further disrupted the already confused citizens of Ven.
Hovering aircrafts now flocked to the area where the explosion occurred, but the dust and smog covered the area, providing limited visibility on the ground.
Jen dropped her hammer on the ground, exhausted by the attack.
"Hah, I'm pretty sure you're not gonna survive that," she confidently said.
But to her shock, Yuri stood up from the massive crater looking unscathed. He dusted off the dust that collected over his shirt and walked towards Jen.
"That was a strong attack, not gonna lie," Yuri remarked. "But it's weak against me."
'I lied,' Yuri thought. 'I feel like shit right now.'
Jen fell on her knees with her consciousness fading.
"I-Impossible."
"What are you..."
She fell onto the ground unconscious.
----------------
There was a brief silence before Yuri exclaimed, "Ah, fuck."
"What am I going to do?!" he continued, heading over to Jen's body and checking her pulse. "She's still alive. I think she's just out of energy. I need to get her to a hospital quickly--"
"JEN!" a female voice suddenly called out.
Yuri looked around in confusion until he saw a woman sprinting towards him with a katana in her hands.
She instantly disappeared from his sights and emerged from behind his back. She attempted to slice his head, only for the blade to not pierce his body and throw him a couple of feet away. He immediately recovered after and stood firmly in front of her.
"Wait, how?!" she exclaimed, shocked to see someone survive unscathed from her attack.
"Is she your friend?" Yuri said. "No wonder you tried to slice my head."
"What have you done to her?!" she exclaimed at him, readying her katana.
"Hey, she started this fight!" he pointed his finger towards Jen. "The bitch attacked me for no reason at all!"
...
There was a brief silence until the woman spoke out.
"Well, that's reasonable I guess," she slid her katana back into her scabbard and went to attend to her friend.
...
There was another pause of silence.
"Wait, you're not going to attack me?!" he exclaimed at her.
"Nope, it was justified," she replied. "Sorry about my friend. I'm going to have to teach her a lesson."
"Hey, may I come with you to the hospital?" he asked the woman. "I just want to talk to Jen when she wakes up."
"Wait, how do you know her name?" she asked Yuri.
"She told me her name when we were on the rooftops having a conversation," Yuri answered. "Is it a problem?"
"N-Nothing," she replied.
Suddenly, sirens were heard in the distance as the responders were now close to their destination. However, a car crash blocked their way, and it took a long time to move the cars out of the path.
"They're late," Yuri said, retracting his whipfist back under his skin.
The woman looked in shock when he retracted his weapon instantly, causing it to disappear.
"What kind of weapon was that?" she questioned.
"I'll explain later," Yuri said, delaying. "First, what's your name?"
There was a brief pause of silence until she spoke out.
"Moon," she answered. "My name is Moon."