Raven immediately leaped to a safe position.
After the barrage of fire, the concrete pavement was shrouded in thick smoke. When the smoke cleared, Raven realized that both the Crocodile Orphnoch and the small dog had disappeared.
"Did he run?"
Raven mused that he shouldn't have been pushed to flee; currently, his power as Faiz was, at most, a match for the Orphnoch's First Form. However, he figured the Crocodile Orphnoch likely retreated out of concern for the nearby dog, fearing it might be caught in the Auto Vajin's attack.
"Oh well, that's enough for now."
Seeing his opponent had slipped away, Raven deactivated his transformation.
This whole exchange, however, was observed by Takumi and the others, who had rushed over. After several days of rest, Takumi's body had mostly recovered, and he had resumed work. Today, he and Keitaro were out delivering clothes when they saw the Auto Vajin fly overhead. The two immediately turned their bike around and chased after it.
They arrived just in time to witness Raven's fight with the Crocodile Orphnoch.
"Takumi, is that the guy who stole your Driver?" Keitaro swallowed hard, remembering how brutally Mari had described Raven.
"I don't know. I've never seen his real face," Takumi shook his head, his eyes fixed on Raven in the distance.
"Well, your injury healed pretty fast, didn't it?" Raven naturally noticed Takumi and Keitaro watching him. Deactivating his transformation in front of them was intentional.
"You... you bastard! Give Takumi his Driver back!" Keitaro hid behind Takumi, poking his head out to shout at the approaching Raven. Despite his tough words, the trembling of his body gave him away.
"The Driver? I'll let you know when I get bored of it." Raven teased.
To him, the Faiz Driver offered no combat boost, but the most important thing was that it was cool to use and fun. That was all.
Meanwhile, Takumi, having a close look at Raven's face, felt a strange sense of familiarity. Where have I seen this guy before?
Before he could ask, Raven mounted his Junglaider motorcycle, revved the engine, and roared away. The Auto Vajin slowly flew over from afar, transformed back into its motorcycle mode, and parked itself nearby.
Seeing this, Takumi immediately hopped on the Auto Vajin and sped off in the direction Raven had gone.
"Takumi! What are you doing?!" Keitaro yelled frantically. Takumi couldn't beat the guy with the Driver; chasing him without it was practically suicide!
On a major street in the suburbs, Raven noticed Takumi following him and deliberately took a long, winding route, deciding on an impromptu race. He wanted to see if the Junglaider was faster than the Auto Vajin.
However, the Auto Vajin gradually fell behind the Junglaider, and Takumi lost sight of Raven at a fork in the road. Takumi stopped, forced to abandon the pursuit.
After successfully shaking off Takumi, Raven headed back toward his Café.
At the same time, Yuka had gone out to the nearby market to buy beef and eggs. She knew Raven always got extremely hungry after hunting, and the store's reserves of meat and eggs had been depleted that morning.
After paying, Yuka carried two large bags of groceries and started walking home.
A few street thugs standing nearby noticed the beautiful Yuka and immediately had malicious thoughts. They began to follow her.
Yuka sensed the men behind her and quickly sped up. However, a few of them took a shortcut and appeared in front of her, boxing her in.
"Hey little sister, carrying all that must be hard. How about we big brothers help you out?" the youth with grey-white dyed hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth said with a leering smile.
"You should all leave now..." Yuka warned them seriously.
"Leave? Why would we leave? There aren't any cameras here, and no one else is around." A man wearing an earring said mockingly.
"Why... why do you all have to push me like this..."
A cold glint flashed in Yuka's eyes. If Raven hadn't told her that transforming into an Orphnoch unnecessarily would accelerate the loss of her lifespan, she would have lashed out and killed them right then and there.
"Hahaha, what are you talking about, pushing you? We just want to help you out, sis." The men laughed lewdly.
Swoosh!
A flash of gray-white appeared in Yuka's eyes, and she instantly transformed into the Crane Orphnoch.
"Agh... A monster!"
The sight terrified the men, whose faces turned white with shock.
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