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Keiko

A few hours passed, and Keiko stood in the garden, looking up to see the twin moons hovering over her head as the nighttime chill stuck to her skin like a layer of sweat. 

Keiko took a deep breath and wondered:

Where\'s Ash? 

The half-demon hadn\'t returned yet. The Mist realm was a few hours away, but almost twelve hours had gone by since she\'d left, and the Savior was still out there. 

I hope nothing\'s happened to her,  Keiko thought, sighing as she heard someone walk up to her. She looked back and found Yumi, with a concerned expression on her face. 

"Are you coming in?" Yumi asked. "The others are going to have dinner in just a moment." 

"Uh, give me a second," Keiko replied, expecting the woman to turn and leave, but instead, she walked up beside her and placed her hands over the stone railing. Leaning a little over it, she looked out toward the dark landscape ahead of them as Keiko watched her curiously. 

"It\'s a beautiful night, isn\'t it?" Yumi asked. 

"... Yeah." 

Both remained quiet for a moment. The wind whistled past Keiko\'s ears before Yumi spoke up again. 

"Worried?" She asked. 

"A little," Keiko replied, turning away from her, and keeping her eyes on the stretch of sand and rocks in front of her. "I didn\'t think things would take her this long." 

"Chances are the Mist Realm has proven slightly difficult, but, Ash is quite likely the most powerful person in the world at the moment. At least, I would bet on that. I don\'t believe she even  can run into anything that could give her that much trouble." 

"I-I know, I just..." Keiko sighed. "I worry for her. I wish I could just... be out there, helping. You know, she\'s doing this for my sake," Keiko continued, her volume elevating a little. "I-If something happened because of this... I..." 

Then, Yumi started chuckling, for some reason and Keiko glared a little at her. 

"I\'m serious!" 

"I know," Yumi quickly answered, with a smile on her face, but with sympathetic eyes looking back at her. "But, Keiko, if you were out there with her, what would you do?" 

"I\'d fight," Keiko shrugged. "I have my abilities, I can still..." 

"Any enemy you could defeat, Keiko," Yumi told her, "she could handle easily. So, what would happen if an enemy arrives that she couldn\'t just brush aside? What would happen if you were both there and you encountered an enemy that could even give her trouble?" 

When she heard that, Keiko paused. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. 

"You could serve as a distraction, maybe, but... You want to know what I think?" Yumi told her. "I think all you would do is give Ash the same amount of worry that you feel right now. Is that something you wish to do?" 

"..." Keiko looked away. She searched for an answer, but as she didn\'t find any, she felt herself tearing up.  She\'s right,  she thought.  She\'s right, I\'d be-

"Please, don\'t misunderstand," Yumi said, placing a hand on Keiko\'s cheek so that she looked back up at her. "What I am attempting to say is that maybe after she recovers these ingredients and helps you get rid of this issue, you can train up to a level where you can stand by her side. But, that possible version of you is not the one that exists today." 

It hurt to hear that. Keiko\'s shoulders slumped as Yumi smiled a little wider. 

"However, maybe in the future, we can make that version a reality. And, when it comes time to do that, I will be here to help you train, and work right alongside you. I want to be useful too, you know," she said with a wink. 

Hearing that, Keiko\'s lips quivered and she nearly shed a tear as she launched herself at Yumi and hugged her tightly. Yumi laughed. 

".... Thank you," Keiko sighed into her shoulder. 

"Do not worry," Yumi replied. "Back at the shrine, I read all sorts of sappy romance novels. I\'ve seen all of this before!" 

Hearing that, Keiko laughed, pulling away from her. The two looked into each other\'s eyes with a pair of mirrored grins. 

"Well, hungry yet? We should probably get back in there before they wonder if we\'ve jumped the railing to go look for her." 

"R-Right, that, uh... Hadn\'t crossed my mind at all, obviously." 

And so, with Keiko\'s spirits lifted, she walked back into the Manor. However, as she did so, she looked up at Yumi and found admiration blooming inside of her. 

... If only others in my family were so understanding,  Keiko thought as she walked back inside. 

---

Ash

Earlier

"Whoa, that thing\'s big!" Little-Ash said, next to her. 

"Shut up." 

Ash prepared herself. Firstly, she decided maybe it would be better to switch weapons. Then, as she had no idea what this thing could really do, she came up with a quick, easy plan to try to get a kill before she could be hurt. 

Go for its eyes,  she thought.  That\'s probably its weakness. But, considering how big this thing is, maybe I could go for its legs first. Disable it, leave it open for an attack. Question is, with what? 

Quickly, an answer came to her. 

Okay, Yumi. Let\'s see if your favorite weapon\'s worth anything. 

"Naginata," she whispered, and her  Lust transformed into a golden reflection of the very weapon Yumi used most often as she set her bag aside. She figured it would be good here for two reasons. 

First, its reach. Ash wanted to be able to hit this thing without having to get too close. Second, she wanted to slash those legs off, which was why she hadn\'t switched to a spear instead. 

With her proficiency for this weapon at a 4, Ash was barely comfortable with it, but she believed she could get some decent hits in. 

Okay, now-

One of the creature\'s lizard-like arms snapped forward and punched Ash in the chest.

"Agh!" 

The half-demon was launched back, crashing into a tree as violet blood came out from her mouth.

Holy fuck, my tits just got flattened,  she thought, coughing as she quickly got back up into a fighting stance. Focusing up again, she ignored the words her smaller self was saying and gritted her teeth. 

Right. This thing is higher level than I am. 

She hadn\'t fought anything that was actually stronger than she was in a while. She\'d forgotten what it felt like. 

As the creature began running up toward her, a certain girl\'s voice rang in her skull. 

Remember,  she heard Keiko\'s voice say,  defense wins fights. 

"Right," she hissed, as the creature drew close enough. Then, it lifted one of its hands up again and Ash ran under it, avoiding the straight punch that came. 

She slashed at one of its grasshopper-like legs, managing to make a deep gash before she stepped away from it. 

"Desperation begets action, but kindness must not be forgotten." 

Ash got those words out in a hurry and then pressed her right hand down on her chest, and her body was healed quickly as the monster turned around. 

Above her own head, Ash looked up at her mana. 

Level 73

MP: 280/330

These spells are starting to cost more, she realized.  Good. Means they\'re better.

Then, the creature lifted its head and its mandibles began to click again. 

"Rcrcrcrcrcrc!" 

Dark blue spheres shot out of its mouth then, as Ash watched. Her eyes widened and she quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the projectiles before running up again. She went to do the same as before, but as the creature saw it coming, it backed up while launching out more of those projectiles at her, and Ash had to stop her momentum to avoid them. 

Eventually, both of them halted, and both opponents just looked at each other. 

Ash checked its mana. 

Level 80

MP: 450/500

Wait, seriously?  She narrowed her eyes.  All of that only cost 50 mana? Those were like, at least thirty different little orb things that it shot out. How the hell!?

As she tried to wrap her mind around that, the creature did the same thing again. 

Ash was too far away to get close to it as she had before, so instead... 

"Bow!" 

Swapping weapons, she ran to the left and shot a few arrows mid-sprint. They just barely missed the enemy, as it ducked under them, and Ash swapped weapons again. 

"Naginata, corruption spread, corruption launch! Corruption spread, corruption launch!" 

Using her weakest Dark spell, she hadn\'t intended to do damage with it. She only wanted to annoy the creature just enough to, hopefully, present an opening. Yumi had taught her to fight in terms of sequences, after all. This was her putting that advice into practice. 

That said, however, anger coursed through her body as she threw out two of those Dark orbs at the monster. 

One of them caught its head, and the monster let out a low screech. 

There! 

Ash ran forward. With a spinning slash, she took advantage of this brief window of opportunity, and her naginata connected with one of this creature\'s four grasshopper-like legs, as the two limbs at its front were its lizard-like hands. 

With that dextrous move, she sliced off the creature\'s limb, and green blood sprayed all over her as a reward. 

Yes, now-

And the creature punched her again. This time, in the head. 

One second, Ash had been smirking as a result of her successful attack. The next, she was in the air, and after that, she was face-down on a mound of grass and fallen leaves. 

She noticed she was bleeding from her mouth and touched her teeth with her tongue. 

Oh. It knocked one of my front teeth out.  She realized as she made an effort to stand up. 

"May our vigor never fade, find our spirits emboldened," Ash muttered, and she cast the spell  Lumina\'s Spirit,  injecting her body with a small amount of stamina. 

It was just enough strength to get back on her feet, and she wiped the blood off of her chin as she scowled at the monster. 

Okay... This thing hits harder than I do. I don\'t think I can take many more of those punches. So... 

In that short amount of time, she tried to think of something. However, the creature moved before she did. This time, it leaped into the air, blocking out the sunlight as Ash\'s mouth gaped below it. Shaking her head, she rolled forward, narrowly avoiding having her body be crushed by this thing. 

Instantly, she turned around, closed her eyes, and raised her right hand. 

Without a thought, Ash launched out a spear of divine power that surged through the air and struck the monster from behind. 

A part of its back exploded, and more green blood came out into the air. 

This time, Ash didn\'t celebrate. She was too focused. The monster turned toward her, and before its eyes had even landed on Ash, it started clicking its mandibles, sending out many of those dark orbs in her direction. 

What Ash did next, she did out of instinct. 

With her connection to Magia still firmly in her mind, she reached toward the enemy and held her hand out, as the orbs flew toward her. 

It happened so quickly, that Ash could only guess when the right time was. But as she saw the orbs get close enough, she activated the  Divine Rejection  ability Sinneah had taught her, and one of those orbs touched her hand just as it glowed white. 

And the entire stream of orbs faded out of existence. 

Ash\'s eyes widened. The creature appeared confused, as though wondering why its attack had stopped on its own.

The half-demon ran forward. She held out her naginata, moving as quickly as she could and running straight for one of its legs on the opposite side of its body, from where she\'d cut it before. The creature moved to punch her, but it did so too slowly, and Ash dodged the attack before twirling her naginata much like Yumi always did, and slashing another of the monster\'s legs off. 

It cried out, stepping back a few meters as more green blood fell on Ash\'s body. 

But, again, she was too focused. She didn\'t notice the blood, nor did she notice the violet aura that had begun to cover her body, or how her hands changed into that of a demon\'s. Instead, her eyes remained on her target as the monster began clicking its mandibles again. 

And, as Ash\'s horns grew in size, she raised a demonic hand up to the sky. 

Just as the creature used its spell again, Ash created another spear of light, and this time, the bolt shot out through the air and hit the monster\'s head. 

And the grasshopper-like creature\'s head exploded into bits, just a short distance ahead of Ash. Green blood rained down all around Ash, the monster hit the ground, and an EXP message appeared over Ash\'s head. 

EXP Gained: 1500

EXP: 730/730

Level Up!

And, as Ash read those words out, she fell forward, and her eyes closed on their own. 

---

Huh? 

Suddenly, Ash was in a black room. 

What? Where...? 

As confusion bubbled up inside of her, colors then fell around the half-demon. A brilliant rainbow swirled around her, before promptly coalescing in front of her, and, slowly, the form of a woman with eyes like flame and hair made of golden smoke appeared in front of her. 

"Ah, Ash!" Magia said, stretching her arms out.. She strutted over to her and gave her a firm kiss on the lips. "Did you miss me?"