Finally the sword and claw met producing a shockwave that swept their close vicinity

Shatter!

Suddenly the sword was shattered into pieces, it wasn't even cable of withstanding half of the attack

'Damn it! If only I had a stronger weapon'

Ellis's attack was obviously on par if not better than the beasts but her sword was not, it was only made of metal and wasn't meant for a real long fight anyway

That's the fault with weapons, once you got stronger they would fall behind, even become useless, and Ellis only realized the truth now

The claw continued on its path after breaking the sword

'I won't go down alone!'

She didn't care to try to dodge, she couldn't anyway, instead, she kept thrusting her the broken sword forward, hoping the remaining pieces on the hilt would be enough to reach the heart of the beast

The beast saw this but didn't dodge as well, they were aiming for mutual destruction

The two were each an inch away from impaling each other, Ellis with her hilt over the beast's heart while its claws almost went through her eye

Slap!

A hot feeling on her tush along with a loud sound made Ellis realize she was sent flying over the beast

"Ah!"

She realized she was still alive a little late and crashed into the streets cement face forward, as she got up a shadow suddenly appeared over her with an outstretched hand

"...."

"...."

The two of them looked at each other silently as she took his hand

YuJu looked at her broken weapon still in hand with reminiscent eyes

"A weapon is merely a tool"

He spoke heavily

"Merely a means to an end, it should never become your goal"

She also looked at her weapon blamingly

"The path of any weapon master is destined to find itself at an impasse sooner rather than later"

She nodded at his words, she also realized her weapon would not take her far

"You should not put your trust in a weapon"

He then looked at her with a slight smile

"For I am here to grant you power no weapon could muster"

His words seemed to carry strength in them, arising feelings trapped in Ellis as a rush of power started to seep out her body

Weng~

A purple light condensed around the surprised redhead, its covered her body whole radiating power, stability, but mostly it gave the feeling of dignity

"This is the power that belongs to you, a power that can grow along with you, my sincere gift"

Ellis looked at him emotionally, unable to form the right words

"Now finish your opponent, and mark the start of your journey"

Only now did she remember the beast was still alive, the new power overwhelmed her so much she didn't put it in her eyes anymore

Turning around she saw it staring at the two of them vigilantly, it knew, more than ever, even more than when it fought him, that it couldn't win

Ellis narrowed her eyes at it, she took a low stance with one leg forward and the other bent, her hilt raised over her head

Then, just as she had done when she struck with all her power she diverted her power into the hilt, except this time it didn't take her much effort to form just as much power as she did before

A purple light came out the hilt and took the shape of a curved sword, much like a katana, which suited her fighting style

The beast and human entred a staredown-

"Just go" Slap!

The feeling of a hand assaulted her buns again as she was thrust into the air toward the vigilant beast

Although she was flustered by the sudden event she adapted to it easily this time as she spun her body mid-air and made a spinning slash at the beasts head

It avoided by dodging and launched its claws at her when she just landed but she surprised it but continued the spin on the ground parrying its claws to the side

With one of its hands cut it could only use the arm to protect itself but Ellis didn't attack it with the sword as it expected, instead, she put strength into her legs and kicked the beast into the air

This made it very vulnerable to an attack. so it clawed downward to dissuade Ellis from attack

Its action proved to be futile yet again, as if the two weren't fighting the battle at the same pace since Ellis ignored its attack and jumped into the air herself then brought down her purple katana manifestation down upon the falling beast

"KRRR"

It responded by crossing its both its arms in front of it in hopes of survival

"Ha!"

A low shout and a swing later the beast was cut in half, its hands flew away while its face held a human expression of unwillingness

Thud!

Ellis landed and moved her sword into the sheath only to cut it by the mismatch shape of the katana

She could only sigh and throw the hilt and sheath away

She saw YuJu slowly make his way to her

"Shall we go?"

"Yes.....Master"

She finally addressed him for the first time, widening the smile on his face

He nodded in satisfaction and headed toward their original destination

The onlookers wanted to go and ask them to stay but everyone had seen him slice the finger off the blond guy, who was now struggling against a few other men trying to run to YuJu and tell him off, or ask Ellis to leave his side, sadly no drama was played this time as the nurse was smart enough to keep him gauged and held in place

"People like him, they treat humans lives like expandable tools"

The nurse whispered to himself as she looked at the fading figure of YuJu

"The girl with him will understand that soon enough...."

She followed her words with a heavy sigh, but this was none of her business, those people are meant to be rulers and normal people like her never had a say in what rulers did or said

In the end, she could only tend to the injured with a heavy heart

...

The two walked together slowly, even though they needed to make it to their destination in time YuJu recognised Ellis needed some rest

He had already sterilized her wound and gave her the last syring of blood they had to heal up

They were both silent, YuJu not wanting to disturb her mental rest and Ellis having nothing to talk about

Awooo

Distant sounds of howling were heard, they were not many so Ellis only looked back for a moment

Awoo Awoo!

More and more howls were heard, they kept increasing more and more until Ellis finally stopped and turned back with a slight frown on her face

The howls came from the hospital's direction and by the number she was hearing she could guess that whatever number that came would overwhelm the people that she just saved

She looked to the side and saw YuJu staring at her with a patient and understanding look

"...if I save them now, they will still die when we leave won't they"

"Most probably"

His answer was direct and honest

"And if we stay, we will not get stronger, at least not fast enough to compete with the likes of that thing that we killed"

"Indeed"

"...."

She knew the answer already but hoped that he would have a way, a solution to this problem, sadly he hopes were dashed by his heartless answers

Of course, she didn't blame him, being able to get this powerful and helping her reach this too was already a miracle hoping for more was too greedy of her

"How, how do I prevent more people from dying, how do I save them for good?"

"That question, I cannot answer, you must forge your own answer"

Her eyes seemed lost when she heard him, she thought about it over repeatedly but didn't see a way to save them other than being impossibly strong

'Impossibly strong?? Yes, if I'm strong enough that nothing could threaten me then no creature would dare attack humanity'

Her answer was simple but true nonetheless

"Master, want to become strong, strong enough to keep humanity alive, strong enough that nothing would dare enter our planet"

He smiled at her stubborn attitude toward life, her words were childish to him and filled with baseless confidence, but that's exactly what he wanted, a servent that needed him to pave the way to the top while they listened to his every command

'Though she seems to need work on the second thing I guess this will do for now'

"Lets not dally then, every second we waste is one step further than the apex"

She nodded vigorously, her eyes didn't waver this time as she turned her back toward the howls and screams

When the two started to walk again Ellis missed the smirk on YuJu's face

'Its good that my experiment worked, if it didn't I would have to go through so much pain to get her in the right mindset'

He was glad things worked out on their own

'I sure hope Anput is alright though'

He looked to the back where the howl could now barely reach him, he thought how he had asked Anput to lure in as many packs together at the same time and bring them to the hospital at a set time

'I'm glad my calculations about the timing are right though'

The fact that they were close when the howls rang or that they weren't there when the beasts came was all a part of his plan, he brought all these beasts so that he could test Ellis's newfound conviction

As for the humans? He already saved them from certain death, this was a way to repay him

The nurse had really thought too well of YuJu, he didn't think of humans as tools, no, they weren't worth being tools to begin with, he was ready to use hundreds of lives just teste his followers

...

A few minutes later the two of them met Anput along the way, easing YuJu's worries while Ellis just figured she was sent away from the battlefield to avoid any misshapes

"Hmm? What are you holding there Anput?"

Anput spit out the object she was holding in her mouth, and it turned out to be a grotesque green pulsing heart

"Oh! Is this the heart of the beast?"

Anput nodded her head in acknowledgement

"Your such a smart girl aren't you? Next time don't take the risk to watch from the sides okay?"

He said while rubbing her head, deep inside though he was cursing

'Did I not tell her not to make it apparent that she lead the beasts to the battlefield! What more evidence do you need than the beating heart of the beast we slew there!'

He sent a glance toward the curious Ellis and heaved a sigh seeing no suspicion in her eyes

'Still, she did a good job getting the heart, how could I forget the fact that we're low levels and things like these are treasures to us at this point'

The green heart wasn't like any other beat heart, it was the heart of an evolving beast, the raw power it contained was tremendous

'This beast is the very same one Ellis had fought in the past, it was practically her nemesis as the two fought multiple times, each time they met it was further evolved than the last, its heart would definitely be useful'

The reason YuJu forgot to loot was because he wasn't used to looting unless necessary, a bad habit he developed in his lurking days

He picked up the beating heart and wrapped it with some cloth temporarily before the group continued on its way