Chapter 182 - Vol. 3 - 55

Kasumi

I swear, walking through this fucking snow again better be worth it. 

Kasumi grumbled this as she trekked through the land near the city of Sapphire, to its left. This was, apparently, the spot where the other girls had gone to acquire their buffs from the gods. After Kasumi had been visited in her dreams by Alkoth, she was heading to the same place, but not for the same reason. 

Ugh, I've got so much snow in my boots... It's so cold. Why the fuck did I agree with this?  She asked herself, though she knew the answer already. She was basically just complaining for the sake of complaining, honestly. 

Eventually, she saw something in the distance. Beyond a few dead, snow-covered trees, she saw what looked like a broken-down church. I'm guessing that's it. Kasumi started to walk up to that place, sighing as she acknowledged that this new, short journey of hers was two-thirds of the way done. 

She had already visited the shrine again, now she was here at the Sapphire site, so she was only missing the Jade site and she was done. 

After that, the rest would be in Ash, Kaori, and the gods' hands.

Her work would be done, however. Still, as she walked into the church, the thought of sitting the rest of this out, leaving the girls to do their own thing after Ash had convinced her to look into rebuilding her life, felt wrong. 

Even if Ash and Kaori had deceived her into heading into the shrine the first time, she still, reluctantly, acknowledged that the two of them had a good reason for that. Still, it annoyed her. Putting that aside for now though, Kasumi walked into the church, dusting the snow off of her clothes, and moving up past the old pews to the altar at the back. 

Once she was there, she sat down nearby and breathed in. 

Right, what was the incantation again?  She asked herself and then, as she remembered it, she started to mutter the words. 

This spell had been given to her by Alkoth, and she'd already used it once at the shrine next to Onyx. 

"Transgressions have been made, boundaries overstepped, duties neglected. The balance of power has been skewed and now, the regulators of the world need to be regulated. Thus, by decree of the Higher Powers, it is time for a reset." 

As she finished speaking, allowing her mana to flow through her veins, the altar in front of her glowed a brilliant white for a few seconds. Kasumi was already shielding her eyes pre-emptively. The first time she did this, she'd nearly been blinded. 

Eventually, it ceased, and Kasumi nodded to herself. 

Okay. One more to go... Maybe I'll take a nap first though, fuck the snow. 

---

Ash

The nighttime had just about settled in, and with the chill in the air came the unease of a battle's eve. Ash was currently in her room, putting on her armor after she'd taken it off and washed it after her training. It was still slightly damp but Ash didn't care, she just didn't want the smell of her sweat to distract her in the middle of a fight. 

Admittedly, she was stalling. When she'd first pitched the plan they'd be acting on now, Ash hadn't cared all too much about what she'd suggested. As a few hours had passed, she'd realized what she'd done and been slightly concerned by it. But, now, with soldiers preparing themselves and setting up defenses all around the Grey Chamber, Ash felt outright  scared. 

It was a level 90 demon, after all. Even if Kaori would be siphoning her stats into her, even if the two of them had those abilities given to them by Magia and Lumina, Ash still felt like this was an almost insurmountable challenge. Standing by the door was Keiko. 

"... Don't make me stay here," Keiko muttered. 

"I told you already," Ash replied, sighing. "I'm not saying you should stay because you can't fight or anything, you know I don't think that." 

"Then why would you say that I shouldn't go out and help!?" Keiko asked, raising her voice. 

Ash stood up and slowly walked over to her. The shorter girl was looking up into her eyes with a fiery determination. One that Ash, unfortunately, had to put out. 

"Because there's no guarantee that I'm going to win," Ash said, putting her hands on Keiko's shoulders. "If I lose, that pretty much means Kaori dies too. Let's be real here, okay? If that happens, I'm counting on you to get everyone we... Everyone who's special to us out of here. Does that make sense?" 

At that, the firmness in Keiko's eyes flickered for a moment, being replaced by fear for a second, but as Ash recognized that, she pulled Keiko in and tried to give her a kiss that gave some semblance of reassurance. 

"... I..." Keiko muttered as their lips parted, "I just don't want to think to myself that I could have done something about this if something happens to you." 

Ash chuckled at that. 

"What are you even talking about?" She asked with a smile. "What would you do? If something happens to me, I don't want you to watch it happen. So, yeah..." 

Now, it was Keiko's turn to pull Ash in for a kiss. This one stretched on for far longer, almost like they were hoping that standing there, together, would make the demon army outside disappear. It didn't though, so Ash pulled away on her own, feeling her heart break when she saw Keiko's crystalline, beautiful  eyes practically begging for her not to go. 

"Okay, time to get shit done," Ash nodded to herself, trying to force herself to focus. "Let's go." 

With that, she stepped out of the room and saw Kaori standing on her own, outside. Ash nodded at her and the girl nodded back. 

"Have they started fighting yet?" Ash asked. 

"Nah," Kaori shook her head. "Eliza wants to discuss something with you though, she told me. I dunno what," Kaori shrugged. 

"Okay," Ash nodded and Kaori walked past her, towards Keiko. Ash looked back and saw the two of them embrace and kiss. Looking away, Ash took a deep breath. 

She laughed.

Fuck, I actually feel nervous. I don't think I was ever actually nervous for the other fights. Why is this happening now?  Ash wondered as Kaori and Keiko finished. 

"Stay safe," Kaori told her. 

"... You too," Keiko replied softly, and the three of them left the area. Keiko walked towards Metsumi, Opah, Satsuhiro, and Luvine, while Kaori and Ash walked towards Eliza, who was standing by the entrance of the Grey Chamber.

Yumi was standing beside Eliza, the masked woman's hands behind her own back as the pair looked out towards the city. Soldiers were marching from their sides, towards the streets. As Ash and Kaori approached, they turned around. 

"Ah, are you prepared?" Yumi asked. 

"Yeah, we're ready. Kaori, how are those stats?" Ash asked. 

"Here," Kaori said, showing her status. "I leveled up once from the demons we fought a night ago." 

Kaori:

Level 52

MP: 140/140

EXP: 0/520

---

STR: 30

DEX: 36

CON: 73

INT: 14

WIS: 14

L: 100

Apparently, all of her stats went up by 8 thanks to the Mark of Love buff, as 8 hours had passed since she activated the mark. Depending on how long this night stretched out, it could rise much higher than that. 

As for Ash's own stats, they were as follows:

Level 46

MP: 230/230

EXP: 0/460

---

STR: 39

DEX: 21

CON: 18

INT: 20

WIS: 23

L: 100

Ash nodded. 

"Okay, so how much do you want to give me?" Ash asked. 

"How much do you think I need to not, you know...?" 

"Uh, well, how does this even work?" Ash asked, chuckling. 

"Right. Uh, let me do some experimenting..." Kaori said, closing her eyes. Then, her body briefly flashed with gold, and it disappeared. Then, she did the same again. "Okay, so, I think I can pour as much as I want to into any of your stats, from any of mine. That means that I can take all of my stats and, like, dump them into your Con, if that makes sense. You understand?" 

"I think so. Okay," Ash thought about it. "So... According to the reports, this thing is supposed to be a Strength-based monster, but one that can move really fast. So, I'm pretty sure I want as much in my Con as I can get, plus a bit into my Dex." 

"Not your Strength?" Kaori asked. 

"There's no shot that I'm going to be stronger than this thing, that's just not happening," Ash shook her head, "but... Maybe with a bit of that training Yumi gave me," she gave the masked woman an appreciative look, "I can avoid its attacks." 

"A reasonable assessment," Yumi stated. "However, not increasing your Strength too much will mean that you, of course, will need to land far more hits than your opponent in order to win. The only problem is that while your half-demon nature allows you to see their levels, I do not believe it allows you to see the demon's proficiency, right?" 

"Yeah," Ash nodded. 

"Then even if you know how powerful it is, there's no way of knowing how  skilled the demon is." 

"I get it," Ash nodded. "I'll try to poke it down then, or whatever. When should I head out?" Ash asked, looking over at Eliza. 

Eliza, however, didn't respond. Ash raised a brow when she noticed that her eyes were roaming over Ash's body, looking up and down at her.  What the fuck? 

"Eliza?" Ash asked. 

The Lord of Onyx blinked. 

"Right," she cleared her throat. Her voice sounded raspy. "The demon has not been sighted yet. You may remain here until it is. There's no need to have you face unnecessary danger." 

"Okay," Ash replied, turning back towards Kaori. "Does the siphoning have a time limit?" 

"Yeah, two minutes," Kaori nodded. "Then I get my stats back, and I have to cast it again."

"... Okay, then may as well do it now to see if this can actually make me strong enough." 

Kaori nodded, and so, her body flashed gold once again as she closed her eyes. Ash waited for a second and then checked her stats. 

Level 46

MP: 230/230

EXP: 0/460

---

STR: 50

DEX: 50

CON: 90

INT: 20

WIS: 23

L: 100

"I pretty much gave you everything I had to get you that far," Kaori said, with a shivering breath.

"Good," Yumi noted as Ash showed her status. "Attributes are capped at 100, that means that you and that demon should have comparable Constitution. However, again, I cannot stress this enough, that demon will hit you far harder than you strike it. So, make sure you land as many hits as possible. It's not about quality, here, it's about quantity, in this fight. You need to wear it down over time." 

"Okay..." 

Ash turned towards the streets. Kaori, Keiko, Metsumi, Satsuhiro, Opah, even Kairo, Kasumi, and Luvine's faces all came to her mind then. She nodded to herself. 

"I'm ready."