A long greenish liana was on the ground, near Yoichi's hand. In less than a second, the young tamer realized it was an extension of his enemy's body, which had used it to block his ankle.

The man before his eyes was young, perhaps a few years older than him. In his hands, he clenched Kenji's neck. The poor Nekage's back was attached to the wall and its tail clinging to the enemy's wrist, trying to free itself from the grip without success.

​​

Yoichi's inner rage caused an adrenaline rush in his body: he grabbed the end of the long liana and wrapped it around his wrist. Soon after, in a quick gesture, he pulled it backwards, dragging the mysterious man towards him.

Kenji fell to the ground stunned, and the feeling of suffocation blocking Yoichi's movements suddenly disappeared.

Taking advantage of his opponent's backward fall movement, Yoichi snapped up and grabbed his head with one of his huge scaled hands. Without thinking twice, dominated by a wave of strong anger toward that unknown man, he threw him against the wall.

*crash* - other bricks crumbled on impact and the enemy's back entered the wall, causing severe damage to his spine. His head got stuck in Yoichi's grip, who repeated the operation after slamming him like a puppet.

*boom*

The second blow hit the target once again. When the man's hands dropped his grip on Yoichi's wrist, he turned his gaze towards the end of the alley. As he suspected, a young woman lay on the ground unconscious.

Her clothes were ripped at the bottom, and fragments of her underwear were piled up in a muddy, dirty corner.

"Yoichi! Hey, stop, man! You going to kill him like that!" Enatsu yelled, progressively lowering the tone of his voice. The merchant rushed, albeit late, to help his friend.

The torch finally managed to illuminate the entire area, erasing the dense darkness in which it was immersed.

Yoichi realized that for a moment he had lost control and let go of his enemy's head, which slipped along the wall, leaving a trail of blood.

What the hell did I do?! Is he dead?! Yoichi frantically thought, fearing he had gone too far with violence. This son of a bitch was raping a woman, I couldn't stand still without intervening! She was screaming for help and...

"Hey! Hey, wake up!" – Enatsu's words brought Yoichi down-to-earth. The merchant grabbed the woman's neck lying on the ground, slapping her face slightly and trying to let her come to her senses.

Yoichi once again looked at the man on the ground in front of him: he had short red hair, buzz cut, and a shaggy goatee. The pressure of Yoichi's hand had slightly damaged his face.

The only detail that left him puzzled was the green liana that came out of the long sleeve of his leather coat. It must be the skill of his pet demon, he thought. But if he lies here unconscious, where's his demon?

"Yoichi, are you going to help me or not? Quick, help me dress this girl. We need to get her out of here as soon as possible!" Enatsu rushed, noting that the young black-haired woman was slowly recovering her senses.

He took one last look at the rest of the alley. There was nowhere that man's demon could hide. Shaking his head, he approached his friend and Kenji, who was sitting next to the woman.

Obvious red marks caused by the squeeze of the attacker's fingers stained the poor victim's thighs. She wore a long ripped flower dress and large steel bracelets on her arms.

A carved metal hairpin was wedged between her long hair, shiny as obsidian. Judging by her fine clothing and her well-groomed appearance despite the damage she suffered, she seemed to belong to the noble class.

"How did she end down here? And who is that guy?" Enatsu inquired, continuing to watch the enemy sitting in front of the wall out of the corner of his eye. "You wrecked him pretty good, man!" he added.

"If you hadn't arrived, I could have gotten killed here. Kenji tried to save me, but that son of a bitch grabbed its neck and... well, good thing you've arrived. Thank you, Enatsu," Yoichi admitted in a serious tone, petting Kenji's head. Fortunately, the little Nekage had not suffered serious injuries.

"I... I..." the girl suddenly muttered, moving her head slightly. "Leave me... leave me... leave me alone!" she screamed, waving her arms forward and striking Entasu's face with a slap.

The young merchant's head suffered the unexpected recoil damage and his hands grabbed the girl's. "Hey! Calm down! Calm down, miss! Nobody here is going to hurt you. It's all over; we're here to help you," he explained, trying to calm her down and to dodge her arms and legs that kept wriggling.

When she opened her large deep-blue eyes, dark as the evening sky, Enatsu and Yoichi's faces popped up. It didn't take long for her to realize that they were two nice guys with good intentions.

"What... what happened?! Where's that... aaargh!" she screamed suddenly, rising from the ground on her arms and discovering that her attacker was a few feet from her, unconscious, sitting on the ground. "That man! That man tried to rape me!" she repeated, covering her legs with her ripped dress, embarrassed.

"Shh! The danger is over. We weren't far from here when we heard your screams. My friend Yoichi ran to the rescue " Enatsu smiled, pointing at his partner and calming the girl with a silly thumbs-up gesture.

As if the merchant's last words had not reached the young woman's ears, she took a step forward. One kick after another, she hit the unconscious enemy on the testicles, causing him to keel over from his position. "Fuck you! Cocksucker! Take this!" she railed uncontrollably.

Yoichi's hands grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her backwards and restraining her fury. When the young woman felt warm hands in contact with her skin, she let herself go to her instincts.