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Ash

It was unbelievable how oppressive the aura of that creature was, but as the group had walked up to the shrine and found Yumi pinned down by a Lust demon, that was Ash\'s first impression. Even as she threw some dark magic in its direction, she worried that the creature would simply charge at her and wipe her entire group out in seconds. 

Perhaps that\'s exactly what it would have done if Yumi hadn\'t gotten up and stabbed it with her naginata. Upon receiving that injury, Ash saw something change in the demon\'s expression and it simply flew away. Yumi immediately collapsed and that was when Ash ran over to heal her. 

"Yeah, she\'ll be fine," Ash muttered. "Come on, let\'s get her inside." 

She and Kaori half-carried the girl into the building, where they helped her lay down by the altar. 

"What... What was that?" Yumi asked. 

"A level 80 Lust demon," Ash explained. "You\'re lucky you\'re still alive." 

Yumi looked over at her with confusion. She took a deep breath and let her head fall back against the wooden floor. 

"Why would such a creature come here?" Yumi asked. "Why now? Could..." Yumi looked away. "Could it be because the shrine was reactivated?" 

"Maybe, but..." Ash said as she traded looks with the others. "It might have been looking for me." 

"You? Why?" Yumi asked. 

"Because Niven considers me a threat or something, I don\'t know," Ash shrugged. 

"Um, perhaps more importantly," Keiko cut in, "Yumi, I don\'t believe that it\'s safe here anymore." 

"What?" Yumi gave her a devastated look. 

Ash looked back at the entrance, almost expecting that demon to be there.  How the fuck does someone even beat something that strong?  Ash asked herself. 

"Well," Keiko quickly added. "If the demon wasn\'t looking for Ash, then the demon could have been looking to disable this shrine, right? If that\'s the case, it might simply come back. And, you, I apologize, but you are not strong enough to fight this." 

At that, Ash saw Yumi\'s eyes look away, searching for a solution. 

"Alone, maybe, but with your help, I-I mean, the creature retreated, perhaps together we could..." 

Keiko glanced over at Ash and Kaori, and the half-demon understood, nodding. 

Aside from getting her out of danger, this might be the best chance we\'ve got to get Yumi out of this place. Ash thought.  If we could get her to train us back at Onyx, it would be pretty convenient. 

"There\'s no way," Ash quickly shot Yumi\'s suggestion down. "Kaori just got a new weapon she hasn\'t gotten any practice on, Keiko is nowhere near your level and you lost easily, and all I have is a bit of strength," Ash responded. 

"But... If I leave this shrine, who will watch over it?" 

"We\'ve already got that covered," Ash said. "We talked to the Lord of Onyx. She told us that if we captured a demon, she\'d send a whole squad to guard this place while you stay in Onyx. It\'ll be fine." 

"But... Have you captured a demon already?" Yumi asked. 

"No, but there should be some nearby, we can probably just find one in the area." 

Keiko placed a hand on Yumi\'s shoulder. She spoke with a compassionate, soft tone. The sort of thing Ash was simply not capable of. 

"The shrine will be okay, even if it\'s deactivated, we can simply reactivate it ourselves. But, right now, we need to get you out of harm\'s way. Don\'t worry," Keiko told her. "Once this blows over, you can simply come back, right?" 

Yumi laid down again, looking up at the ceiling. She seemed defeated. A far cry from the confident, dangerous aura she gave off when the group had first come here. She nodded and sighed. 

"I suppose you are correct," she muttered. "I... What a waste. My first real test and I am bested so easily." 

"Losing to that kind of opponent," Keiko told her. "I don\'t think that\'s something to be ashamed about." 

"I think it\'s a miracle you\'re even alive, honestly," Ash added. 

"... Maybe," Yumi said, getting herself up. As she stood, she dusted herself off and looked down. "You still have not procured this demon though, right?" 

"No," Keiko shook her head. 

"Perhaps we should go ahead and do that then, before going to... the city." 

---

Keiko

That was how Yumi ended up traveling with them for the past hour, as the group scoured the bamboo forest in search of demons. The Zayama only brought a few things with her, her fox mask which she was currently wearing, one particularly small book, and a pair of weapons. Her naginata and her sword. 

The book interested Keiko the most. She wondered if it held any special techniques. So, as Yumi kept a bit of distance from the three girls ahead, Keiko met her pace and walked by her side. 

"What is that?" She asked. 

"Hm? This?" Yumi tapped the notebook and Keiko nodded. "Ah... It\'s an old diary." 

"Really?" 

"Yes," Yumi muttered. "I\'ve had this for a great many years. I believe it was one of the things I brought with me when I was taken to the shrine so long ago." 

"Isn\'t it full then? I mean," Keiko responded, "if you\'ve been writing in it consistently for that long." 

"Actually, it\'s about halfway," Yumi replied, chuckling a little. Keiko was glad she could get that reaction out of her after what she\'d just been through. "I wrote in it for a time, when I first arrived, but... well, I began living through a routine so quickly that at a point, there was not much to put in. So, I left this thing alone. I had told myself though," Yumi added, "that if I ever left the shrine, I would dust it off and take it with me. I..." 

She looked away, and Keiko could tell by her voice that she was slightly embarrassed. 

"I\'d like to think my perspective on this outside world will be of some interest to someone. That could just be plain narcissism speaking though." 

"Hold up," Ash suddenly said, raising a hand. "I think I hear something." 

Keiko had been distracted due to the conversation, but as she stopped to focus, her enhanced senses allowed her to pick up what Ash was talking about. There were a couple of odd sounds in the distance. Ripping, snarling and sobbing. 

As the group passed by a few more of those tall bamboo trees, they saw the source. There was a pair of demons, one Wrath and one Lust, tearing into the corpse of what looked like a soldier of some sort. To the left, the sobbing noises came from a wounded man who was attempting to crawl away. 

"Oh my..." Yumi muttered beside Keiko. The demons stopped and turned towards them. "This... Such carnage..." 

"I\'ve got this," Ash said, stepping forwards. "We only need one, right?" 

"Yes," Keiko replied as Ash transformed her cube into a sword. 

She ran up, faster than Keiko had expected, to the Wrath demon and stabbed straight through its head, catching it by surprise. The Lust demon next to it hissed at her and looked like it was about to fly away in a panic, but Ash caught it by its right leg and pulled it to the ground. 

"So, uh," Ash said as she put its hands behind its back. The Lust demon tried to struggle but Ash seemed to have it handled. "No ropes huh?" Ash asked. 

"No, can you keep it restrained for now?" Keiko asked. 

"Yeah, yeah. It\'s just annoying," Ash stated. Then, she looked back. "Oh, right, that guy." 

Ash glanced over at the wounded man. 

"Uh, can one of you hold this thing?" Ash asked. 

After that, Ash healed up the soldier and he gave the group his thanks, all the while looking at the corpse of his friend. He told them he\'d find his way back on his own, and the group, while Ash kept the demon held tightly, began to walk towards Onyx. 

The Lust demon struggled for a surprising amount of time, but after a long while, it finally stopped. Instead, it would snarl and almost mumble some strange words every now and then, its eyes fixed on Ash. 

Keiko also noticed that Ash\'s own eyes would return that stare on occasion. The Lust demon smirked at one point and Ash looked away, taking a deep breath, which made Keiko raise a brow, but the walk was mostly without incident. 

As they returned to the city, a few guards raised their crossbows and aimed those devices at the group as the Lust demon growled at them. 

"Hey!" Ash called out. "Let us in, we\'re taking this thing to the Grey Chamber!" 

One guard walked up to another. 

"She\'s right," he said. "Let them through. It\'s Lady Eliza\'s orders." 

"Hm... Alright, open up! Wait here for a second," the guard said. "We should get a carriage. Dragging a literal demon through the streets won\'t do anything good for the city\'s morale." 

"Fine," Ash shrugged and so, the group waited. 

Soon, there would be a live demon in the city\'s Grey Chamber.  What exactly does Eliza want to see?  Keiko wondered.  Well, it\'s largely irrelevant.. As long as we can get the training we need out of this, it\'s okay.