Working in an office sucked.

She cracked her back in probably more places than should have been possible with one long stretch and decided at that moment she needed to secure different employment ASAP. At over 400 years old, Yumi Asagi generally considered herself rather spry -- years (read: decades) of martial arts and various encounters of the fist-fighting kind had her on her limber and on toes more often than not. And yet, two years hunched over a desk had her feeling her age. Which is to say, basically ancient.

She rolled her neck and it gave her another crack. This couldn't go on. Perhaps it was time she took Kaname up on his offer to start helping him at the clinic. At least then I may actually see him, she thought to herself, trying to recall the last time her wayward boyfriend had asked her out on a date and coming up empty. She knew she was partially to blame -- she certainly wasn't one for making plans just as he wasn't the type to have free time. The perks of dating a doctor that was good at his job and actually cared about his patients.

Her phone buzzed, grabbing her attention -- an alarm reminding her that she needed to send some file as soon as she got into the office flashed on the screen. She checked the clock: 8PM. Definitely not the 8AM alarm she had meant to set, as she very much did not send the aforementioned file that morning. She clicked her tongue at herself, already imagining her supervisor's screaming red face in the morning.

Whelp. One of the nice things about being a demon, she supposed, is that you never aged and eventually there was a need to dramatically fake your own death and move far away so people don't question your unchanging youth -- Sure, she had only moved to this bustling area of Tokyo five years ago, but it would be the reasonable move, right? Right?

Except she had been dating Kaname, a fox demon, for two years now. And she liked her apartment. And her friends. So she'd either have to deal with her screaming boss or quit her job tonight so she wouldn't have to go in tomorrow.

I should just visit Kaname at the clinic before I make any decisions. She wisely told herself and shortly made her way out the door after the thought. At least Kaname would be able to talk her out of doing something silly -- and she'd bring him dinner, knowing if he were still working at this hour he would likely just crash as soon as he got home without eating.

It was after she had picked up the two takeout containers of mixed noodles and dumplings that she felt a ringing in her body -- the telltale creeping sense that she was being followed. As her wooden sandals clacked against the sidewalk, she debated momentarily on ignoring whoever it was, hoping they'd get bored. Maybe it was just some budding psychic who had never sensed a demon -- it had happened before. Or she could portal away, drop herself somewhere near the clinic and pretend it never happened, even if the distance would have her completely wiped afterwards.

The mysterious energy pulsed with vitriol, awakening its mana signature as dark and demonic in nature. Of course, they waited until both her hands were full before making themselves known. Yumi glanced down at the two bags of food and then back up at the sky as if to curse whatever god happened to be looking down on her in that moment. So no ignoring them then, it would have to be a fight.

At the very least, she had the advantage of them likely not realizing she knew they were following her. Her teacher had taught her long ago that responding to such taunts would remove any chance of surprising your enemy in turn, and as such it was rare that she tried to scare threats off with her mana. That particular lesson flashed quickly and distastefully in her mind, leaving the same burning annoyance thinking of her teacher always left her.

She turned into a back alley, one that lead into another, and another -- as is strangely typical for Tokyo. As the area in front of her became a dead end, she heard a vicious chuckle from behind her, whomever it was thinking that they had her trapped. Which, she'd give them, was technically true. But she intended to make it a 'you're trapped in here with me,' sort of scenario.

As she turned to face whatever creep had taken to stalking her that night, the stench of corrupted mana hit her nose. It was a similar smell to that of rotted meat or molded vegetables. Both, even. It was an unexpected feeling as demons with corrupted mana typically didn't live very long without, you know, uncorrupting it, and most demons lacked the desire to take the steps necessary to do so. The demon themselves had to be about seven foot tall, having ditched whatever human world glamour they had been employing to reveal something very in-human -- pallid mustard yellow skin, flesh spiking in odd directions and limbs that just didn't look right coupled with a large knife.

"Why do they always have big ass knives," she muttered under her breath, finding her stance and preparing for a fight.

"Yooouuuu..." the demon gurgled, a throaty laugh as it took in her appearance. It was pleased to corner her in such a state, she was sure.

"Alright," she called to it, "my food's going to get cold so if you could maybe not do the whole long-drawn-out-syllable thing I'd really like to just get this over with."

"Wooomannn..." It breathed, "Yooouu wiiiiilllll paaaay..."

"Okay so that's just, like, your default, then?" She groaned.

The next words however, gave her a moments pause as it sauntered forward. "Devorrraaa... Sainttt..."

Well.

Fuck.

She shifted her bodyweight differently, away from thoughts of defense and prepared more for the attack. "You got ten seconds to explain yourself before I kick your face in buddy, so you're gonna have to talk a lot faster than that."

Instead, the demon charged, it's sprint far quicker than it's mouth. As it lunged she jumped backwards, her hands tight on the plastic bags, and spin kicked hard. To her dismay, one of the containers had flipped open in the bag and saucy noodles sprayed on her shirt in return for landing the kick to the demon's stomach and knocking the knife out of its grip before it could use it against her. It slid backwards, not as hurt as she had hoped it'd be.

"You asshole," she complained, blaming the demon as she decided it was its fault and definitely not hers, "this is one of my top ten shirts!"

She charged at it, jumping as it swung its big long claws at her. Being in the air meant less power, but a good swing of her leg up and then down into its face made up for some of that -- it let out a cry and grabbed at its face as it stumbled backwards. She didn't give it time to recover, landing another kick into its stomach and another at its knees. When it fell to the ground she had half a mind to start stomping at it, but caution warned her that it was probably strong enough that three kicks wouldn't do it in. Instead, she backed off, taking another defensive stance.

The bag with the dumplings ripped then -- each one plopping out of the container and plap plap plaping onto the gross alley way floor.

She took a deep breath.

"Whelp. Unfortunately for you I have a free hand now, and I'm pissed. You better start talking. Or sign language if your hands move faster than your mouth."

"You've meddled with us for the last time," another voice intoned, stepping into the alley behind the larger demon. Red, bumpy skin and horns but no other remarkable features on this demon, but he still managed to catch her off guard. Dammit, Yumi, she cursed herself for being out of practice and not realizing there were two of them.

"Look at this, at least you can string a sentence together faster than your friend here," She gripped the other bag, refusing to part with what was left of the noodles. "Maybe you can fill me in on why you've decided to ruin my dinner before I kill you."

The red skinned demon stepped further towards them the other demon stood up again. From behind him, he revealed --

"Another big ass knife?!" Her eyes narrowed with annoyance, "You can't be original? You gotta come in with matching knifeys? What are you, best friends forever?"

The red skinned demon raised the knife in her direction, "Talk all you want, but you'll be begging for your life soon --"

"-- you used the word meddled," she mocked, "like you're some kind of villain from a children's TV show. You can't just point a knife at me like some big shot and expect --"

He lunged, the other demon lunging with him from the other direction. She clicked her tongue, annoyed that they were smart enough to do baby's-first-pincer but not smart enough to leave a full time worker alone after a shitty day in the office.

She tossed the bag of noodles hard into the face of the red skinned demon, using the momentum of her twisting body to simultaneously kick the other demon away again -- he was big, so he didn't go far, but far enough for her to sweep her leg under the other one and have him fall face first into the now open container of noodles he had just been pummeled with.

"I sure hope you have your wallets on you," she said as she backed up again, her heel hitting the edge the alley, "because you'll be paying for that." She clenched her fists as they rushed her again, focusing more on the red skinned demon as the knife would do far more damage to her than the other's fists could.

Once he swung wide she took her shot -- her mana ripping through the air at an intense speed and ripping through the very space in front of them. A portal, small enough to hopefully not deplete her mana but large enough for her to quickly grab the handle of the item she'd prepared for such emergencies was closed just as quickly as it was opened, a katana slicing through the air and the demons arm in seconds.

He screamed, which was reasonable as the appendage fell to the ground. The yellow demon took a startled step backward, sputtering out, "Hhhooowww --"

"No, nope," Yumi pointed the katana at him, "you're definitely not allowed to talk." She kept the blade pointed at him while she addressed the other demon. "You, however, better start talking."

"Devorian Saintess..." It spat, grabbing at the bleeding stump in shock. She could see what seemed like simmering embers begin to close the wound. That was the annoying thing with demons -- you never knew what grab bag of powers came along with them. "You've ruined our plans for the last --"

"You can still say 'meddled,' you already used it once the damage is done."

It glared at her, probably deciding the missing arm was more important than sassing back, "For months you and your little friends have prevented us from making our mark on this silly human city. There are more of us, those you've wronged, and they will come --"

"Wait, I'm sorry. What the hell did I do?" The look on Yumi's face contorted in confusion. She'd never seen this guy or his friend in her life, and certainly hadn't spent any time thwarting any dastardly plans any time recently.

"Do not act clueless. The Devorian Saintess is the one responsible for our failings. We tracked you through the saintly essence of your mana. Do not pretend you are not the --"

"No, no I am, but I have no idea who the hell you are." She scoffed, "I mean, unless, like --"

The yellow demon charged again at some unseen cue the red demon had given it -- the red demon's wound cauterized enough to rush her again. She lifted her leg and planted her foot into the yellow demon's chest, stopping him momentarily while she thought. The red demon hadn't picked the knife back up, but managed to get her arm with his claws before she had slammed the handle of the katana into his forehead.

"Unless you had the wrong Devorian Saint," she finished her sentence with great annoyance.