“Yuki!” Nana pulled Yuki into her arms. Seeing the pained expression on Yuki’s face made Nana feel pain as well. She slumped to the ground and held Yuki against her. She had no idea what had just happened, but she knew that that man named Kuro just did something to her Yuki. 

“I-I’m fine….” Yuki softly mumbled, sweat dripping from her brow. She had not felt pain in so long that she had forgotten what it felt like.

“How can you call this fine!?” Nana scolded. She gently caressed Yuki’s head. “I will protect you. I will protect you from that evil bastard!”

Nana was mad. She was standing right there, but she couldn’t even do anything. And now she had let Yuki get hurt right in front of her eyes! Nana bit her lip as she wiped away Yuki’s sweat. Her eyes were filled with warmth and concern. She did not wish for anything to happen to her light.

Yuki could feel the pain easing under Nana’s care. She leaned against Nana and took her in her soothing scent. A scent that always told her everything would be okay. She will live to see another day. “When we get back, we will go see Master. Master must be able to do something….”

“Mm…. Can you stand, or do you want me to carry you?” Nana asked as she combed Yuki’s hair.

“Can you carry me? I still need to rest a bit.” Yuki felt weak. Her heart hurt with every pump. She had no idea what that man did, but he did something that was not good.

“Mmm…” Nana scooped Yuki up into one arm and kicked her sword with her leg, and attached it to her back before cradling Yuki into a princess carry. Yuki held her sword in her hands and looked up at Nana with a small smile. She wondered just how many lives she owed this girl now.

Sometime later, Nana walked out of the bushes with Yuki cradled in her arms. Both of them looked a wreck from all the running they did. Fatty quickly ran forward when he saw them. “What the hell happened to you two!?”

    Nana gently put Yuki down and helped her steady her feet. Yuki smiled gently before looking at Fatty and explaining things. “We ran into a pervert who seems to like sticking things in people’s hearts.”

“What?” Fatty did not understand a single thing Yuki just said.

“She is saying that a demonic cultivator did something to her. He was powerful, much more powerful than all of us combined.” Nana elaborated through gritted teeth. She wished she could tear that bastard apart! Just touching a single hair on Yuki was a grave sin as it is, never mind sticking some kind of tracker in her heart that caused her pain.

“Are you okay!?” Maiko cried out as she ran over to Yuki. 

“I will make due. I have dealt with worse.” A minor pain in the heart was nothing compared to having her organs poked at. Nana’s expression turned sour upon hearing these words from Yuki. She knew Yuki had dealt with worse, but it pained her to even hear about it.

“So what should we do? Are we going to continue?” Fatty asked. He was not sure if they should head back or not, so he would let Yuki make the call. It was her that was attacked, after all.

“Yes.” Yuki nodded as she took a deep breath and stretched. The pain had dulled and was not enough to hinder her movements. For now, she could at least deal with the current situation. “We need to finish this mission and then head back.”

“Alright. But if you start feeling like you can’t go on, we will head back.” Fatty wanted to make sure that they knew that this option was always up in the air.

“Thanks.” Yuki smiled, causing Fatty to blush and rub his nose. Maiko, for some reason, decided to kick Fatty in the shin, causing him to cry out in pain. 

“Why did you do that!?” Fatty looked at Maiko with an aggrieved expression as he squatted on the ground rubbing his shin.

Maiko snorted before saying: “We should hurry up and go. The faster we get this done and get back, the faster Yuki can get checked out.”

- - -

In another area far to the east. Ami and Ai were sitting in an inn room relaxing. “Senior Sister can really push us past our limits….” Ai complained. Her entire body hurt.

“You needed to be pushed. You are too timid. If Senior Sister Rin did not toss you into those demonic beasts, you would not have killed anything. And now look at you. You are like kind of warrior goddess who runs headlong into danger without much thought….”Ami teased.

“I was afraid she would toss me into them again! I almost died when she did that!” Ai cried out as she laid face first on the bed. “I just want to sleep. I am so tired. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. Ami, massage me~!”

“Who am I, your maid!?” Ami yelled out as she picked up the pillow off the bed and hit Ai with it. There was a muffled groan and silence, causing Ami to let out a laugh. She leaned over and started rubbing Ai’s calves. She had to admit Ai did excellent today. 

“That feels good. Ami is the best.” Ai mumbled. “I wonder how Yuki and Nana are doing. Do you think they became immortals yet?”

“I doubt it, but I am sure they are doing just fine. We are the ones who need to catch up. We can’t let them out do us.” Ami replied.

“Mmm… We need to work harder to match up to them so we don’t get left behind….”