Chapter 34 - It's not that easy

The duo's journey went smoothly and in less than thirty minutes, they reached Rias' location.

"It looks like it's here," Leo muttered when they reached a hotel. The facade of the building was completely normal but what stood out the most from the building was the large forest behind it.

Without delay, the two went to the hotel reception and once they obtained Rias's room number they went to look for her.

"Room 312. It's here," Leo muttered as he checked the room number.

After he was sure it was the right room he approached, but before he could knock on the door, he could hear screams coming from the room.

"Rias-sama, you can't put yourself in danger just by a hunch." Leo heard Akeno's voice yell from the other side of the door.

"I'm just going to watch. But if you don't want to come with me, I won't force you" Rias shouted.

'Why are they fighting?' Leo thought. But before she could hear more, Sona knocked on the door.

After Sona knocked on the door, the discussion on the other side of the door stopped.

"Leo-san, Sona. They came pretty fast" Rias greeted once she opened the door.

"The ride was pretty quick," Sona replied with an awkward smile as she noticed the tension within the room.

Leo followed Sona into the room and looked at Akeno who was standing in the center of the room.

"Akeno" Leo gave a brief greeting with a smile. From her expression, you could tell she was not in a good mood.

"Leo-san" Akeno replied with a smile and looked at Rias who was talking to Sona.

"Rias-sama, I hope you don't try to run away," Akeno said with a smile that it wasn't a smile.

"Rias, I think Akeno is right," Sona said after hearing Rias's explanation.

"Sona ..." Rias said with grievance while she proceeded to argue with Sona.

"What happened?" Leo asked Akeno.

"A few minutes ago, we felt a magical pulse near here and Rias-sama wants to go find out what caused it" Akeno explained quickly.

"I just want to take a look" Rias complained.

Rias continued to argue with Sona and Akeno until he was finally able to convince them on the condition that he would not attempt anything dangerous.

"Will you come with us Leo-san? Akeno can carry you" Rias asked and she indicated to Akeno to help Leo.

"Of course I'll go and you don't have to disturb Akeno," Leo said before with a smile spread his wings made of dark matter.

Noticing Leo's wings, Rias and Akeno looked at him in amazement. They both looked at Sona for answers

"Don't ask, I don't understand how he did it either and I don't think he's going to respond" Sona said while shaking her head.

Reluctantly nodding, the group left for the place where Rias felt the pulse of magic. With the speed at which they were traveling, it took them only a few minutes to reach the area but they stopped when they noticed a small figure running through the forest.

"Rias-sama..." Akeno called softly when she noticed the small figure covered in blood running through the forest.

Leo looked in the direction Akeno pointed and he noted the small figures in the distance that was bȧrėly discernible. If it wasn't for she pointed them out, he hadn't noticed the group of people.

'Could it be some ability?' Leo thought as he looked at the Akeno eyes that emitted a brief glow. Although his senses were sharp, he still had trouble seeing the group that was quite far away.

"Rias-sama. Although I share your feelings, it is not safe to go help him and the group is chasing him" Akeno said.

Leo also noticed that the group was approaching the boy's address. They didn't move too fast but it still seemed like they could reach him. Further, the boy couldn't keep running any longer.

"Akeno is right, it is too dangerous to go help him without knowing the situation and also, there is a possibility that it is a trap," Sona said after considering possible options.

Leo looked at the group in the distance and thought about what to do for several seconds.

'Surely the group that is chasing Yuuto are exorcists' Leo doubted what he should do. Looking carefully, I try to count the number of people who were part of the group.

'They are approximately 6 people. If they're normal humans, they shouldn't have any problems' Leo thought. Also, there was something he wanted to try.

"I'll try to get some time. In the meantime, take the boy to a safe place" Leo said before flying to the exorcists.

A man dressed in an exorcist robe stared at the ground for a few seconds before he indicated the direction of the group.

"Here," The leader said after seeing the action of the scout.

"Do we need to follow it? a day has passed since he escaped and even if he manages to escape, the poison will kill him" Said another man who was close to the leader.

"That's right, but recently scouts have reported that devils have been active in the area. If by chance some devil finds the boy, the archbishop's plan can be discovered" Said the leader.

Before the man could reply, another man quickly approached the leader.

"Sr. They want us back to base, a test subject woke up his Sacred Gear and caused a huge fuss, it's only a matter of time before the devils discover the base." The man briefed the leader quickly.

The leader looked at the man and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Those bastards can't do their job well," said the leader. Looking at the scout, he quickly ordered. "Forget the boy, it's time to go back"

"It will be difficult to find his trail again if we leave." The man said without looking at the leader.

"So ..."

* PAM

Before the scout could finish speaking, a black claw pierced his ċhėst.

*BANG!

Leo looked at the man and before he could say anything, he suddenly heard an explosion followed by a burning sensation in his left arm.

He quickly rushed his arm out of the man's ċhėst but before he could do it, the man held his arm and with his free hand pulled out a dagger and stabbed his right shoulder.

This all happened too quickly and Leo was unable to react properly. But after feeling the pain in his left shoulder, he forced his arm and managed to break free of the man's grip with ease. Once she managed to break free of the man's grasp, she backed away quickly.

"Argh" Leo screamed under his breath when he felt the pain in his shoulder and arm. Since he had the dark matter gathered in his arm, he was not able to use it to heal himself and without it, he was not able to suppress the pain.

Gathering the demonic energy in his hand, a small spark appeared in his hand.

* Bang

Hearing the shot, the group leader quickly ran towards Leo and cut diagonally towards his neck.

Leo looked at what appeared to be a lightsaber heading towards him and deftly leaped back and transformed his left arm into a sword before slashing at the man.

Noticing his action, the man stopped abruptly avoiding the cut.

* Bang

Again an explosion resounded in the forest and immediately, Leo felt a stab of pain when he tried to put his right leg on the ground, causing him to lose his balance.

The man seized the opportunity and moved quickly towards Leo and without stopping, stabbed Leo in the abdomen.

"Gah" Leo ġrȯȧnėd in pain.

Quickly turning on the ground trying to distance himself from the man and he immediately tried to get up but collided with a nearby tree.

The man saw all of this and continued his ȧssault.

'I can't continue like this,' Leo thought to himself as he continued to dodge the man's cuts.

Taking a distance from the man, Leo kicked the man but the man managed to dodge it.

* BANG

His kick impacted a nearby tree and breaking it in half. Taking advantage of the momentum of his kick, he turned his body and kicked at the man again.

'I can't dodge it in time' The man thought and quickly tried to lessen the impact of the kick by jumping backward and shrinking his body into a ball.

* PAM

The man flew out a few meters and after a few seconds he got up quickly.

"It's pretty strong, avoid a direct hit ... Also, that black substance can bind to your limbs and form a weapon and it also helps him heal," the leader yelled. As an exorcist, he had fought many devils and although he was not able to defeat a devil by himself, he was confident that with his team they could defeat him.

'To have a child sent… it seems they underestimate us' The leader thought with a smile. The more they underestimated them, the more opportunities they had to kill more devils.

The man's thoughts were interrupted by the trembling in his arms.

'If it had been a direct hit I would have broken my arms. Damn, all devils are monsters but a boy is still a boy.' The man sighed with relief. Since they were dealing with a child, they could take advantage of his inexperience

"Ha ... ha ..." Leo gasped trying to get air to his lungs. It was only a few moments but the brief exchange of blows was quite intense. So much so that he was not able to think of what to do and simply tried to defend himself and attack as he could.

"This won't be as easy as I thought," Leo muttered to himself as he looked at the exorcists running towards him.