Chapter 25 - 22

Ash

Satsuhiro and Ash made their way to a spot where they could watch the fight without being noticed by the crowd. They sat near Talo themselves, who was watching from a vantage point almost a dozen feet above one of the entrances to the arena. There was one passage where Kaori had come from, and another at the other side, closed by what looked like a steel gate. The stage for Kaori's trial was a circular space of dirt enclosed by an iron wall that surrounded the area, from behind which the citizens of Jade were watching with bated breath.

Ash understood what they wanted to see, and she hoped they wouldn't get it.

Kaori was brought out and the jeers started instantly. The half-demon was shocked to see so much hostility aimed at one person. Kaori stood at the center, dressed in her Savior's Armor, with her Savior's Weapon tied to her waist.

Ash had her arms crossed, tapping a finger against her wrist repeatedly. She couldn't help but feel nervous for Kaori. Ash herself had fought a low-level goblin in her first fight and nearly died. Kaori's only fight, as far as she knew, had been the one against her, she hadn't gone up against any sort of beast.

Ash had lost to Kaori, but she could tell it was an entirely different experience fighting something that is capable of reasoning and calculating strategies, as opposed to a creature that just wanted to bash your head in as fast as possible. Still, she hoped that Kaori's training, if it could be called that, would allow her to power through this.

As the crowd continued to roar, some members of the audience even throwing random fruits at Kaori, who simply stood there uncaring, someone dressed in a white and gold ji raised his arms.

"Kaori's trial shall begin now!" He announced and the crowd's volume increased ever louder. "If she survives, then Magia smiles upon her. If she dies, then it will be because Magia wills it. Now, may the hand of her justice be pulled out!"

With those words, a pair of strong-looking palace guards nodded and opened the passageway opposite the one Kaori came out of. One of them held a torch while the other carried a large black greatsword. The one with the torch yelled into the dark passage and threw the torch forwards. The other waited behind him. Ash gulped.

She hadn't seen anything else that was demonic like her. There was a bubbling curiosity in her wondering what a full demon looked like. What could be so terrifying that just being associated with one made it so that Ash had been vilified her whole life?

Kaori, who was keeping her head low, looked absolutely terrified. Ash didn't like that at all.

Then, some thudding footsteps came from the opposite passage. The two guards quickly vacated the area, leaving just Kaori, surrounded by the crowd and waiting for the Nightmare to arrive. Ash's heart started beating faster in her chest.

As the thuds grew louder, Ash saw Kaori lift her head but her visage was still the same. Then, when it seemed like the creature would emerge any second now, Ash tore her eyes away from Kaori and instead looked to the opposite end of the arena.

The incoming sounds even turned the crowd silent.

As their jeers died down, the tension in Ash's heart rose as the only things she could hear were the approaching demon and her own heartbeat. Next to her, Satsuhiro took a subtle deep breath, his eyes fixed on the dark path in front of Kaori.

The dreadful suspense reached its peak when the creature groaned something guttural and its body finally came into view. Ash nearly gasped. Holy shit...

It looked like an exceptionally bloated naked man standing at almost twelve feet tall. Its skin was a dilapidated dark grey, with violet lines running up its body to leading to a large, oval-shaped head. It had large empty white eyes and a gaping mouth holding dozens of tiny sharp teeth and a long, almost tube-like tongue. Its arms showed bestial hands like Ash's own whenever she went into her Demon Form, and its legs were just as inflated as its torso.

Ash nearly puked. Above all else, it just looked gross.

At first, Ash saw the following:

?

?

But, after a couple of seconds, those question marks changed.

Level 14

MP: 20/20

This thing's got 5 levels on Kaori. Ash thought.

"It's level 14," she muttered.

"Hm?" Satsuhiro raised a brow at her. "How do you know?"

"I can see it." She replied absent-mindedly.

"Are you serious?" Satsuhiro asked.

"Yes."

"Well... That's fairly significant."

Ignoring him, she continued her analysis. Remembering what it was like to fight her first goblin, what it was like to fight Kaori herself, she understood this wasn't good for the blonde Savior.

When Kaori looked at it, Ash noticed how her expression changed from fear to pure petrification.

The blonde took a step back. Ash wondered if she'd outright try to run away. The demon's eyes, despite the fact that they held no pupils, focused on Kaori as it lowered its head.

Ash felt like the room was getting colder, or maybe she was getting more and more nervous as she saw the massive beast stomp its way over to Kaori.

It stood over the other Savior and raised a massive hand.

Ash stood up. It swung the hand down on Kaori, who didn't even react. The hit sent her flying to the right, smashing into the wall as the audience cheered. She let out a cry. It took Kaori a moment to get up and when she did, she clutched her ribs looking ahead at the creature. Her eyes still filled with the same fear they'd had from the moment she'd entered the arena.

Come on, do something! Ash thought. She had felt Kaori's speed and strength firsthand, she knew for a fact that Kaori could at least dodge. Instead, the creature raised a foot and, with deceptive agility, kicked Kaori into the wall, creating a spider web of cracks. Again, the crowd went crazy for it. Why isn't she moving! She's hasn't even transformed her fucking cube!

Kaori spat out a small amount of blood, curling up as she continued clutching her sides. Ash's frustration grew to the point where she marched in front of the seats, past the Council representative and Satsuhiro. She leaned over the wall and shouted:

"FIGHT!" She screamed. Some of the audience members turned to look at her, yelling out insults but she couldn't care less. Her eyes were fixed on the Savior, who turned up to look at her. As Kaori noticed her, Ash saw tears slide down her cheeks. What's wrong with her?

Before she could figure that out though, the demon turned to look at her as well.

It reacted to her yell.

Ash froze. What?

The demon muttered something.

Then, disinterested in Kaori, it started walking towards Ash.

"Huh?" Kaori mumbled as she saw the demon heading towards her.

What's happening? Ash wondered.

The Nightmare walked over to where the hybrid was and raised a fist, crashing it into the wall. With growls that increased in intensity and volume, Ash felt like it was shouting at her. Kaori watched from a distance, distraught.

"Hey, stop!" Kaori said and Ash looked over at her, her eyes widening.

Now you care!? Ash asked in her mind, focusing on the Savior. The Nightmare pounded the spot just beneath where she stood, bringing Ash's eyes back to it. The impact made her lose balance. She nearly fell into the arena. Instead though, before the Nightmare could strike the wall again, Ash saw an arrow pierce its shoulder.

The demon cried out as it turned back towards Kaori. The other Savior had transformed her weapon into a bow and shot at it.

Ash looked over at her. Finally!

But Kaori didn't look like she had found any actual determination. Her hands were shaking and her eyes still appeared as worried as could be. Ash balled her hands up into fists at her sides.

An idea came to her.

Alright. She looked down, measuring the space between where she stood and the dirt as the Nightmare slowly walked towards Kaori. So, you won't fight for yourself, for whatever reason... Okay.

Ash looked to Kaori, gulped, and nodded to herself.

You'll have to fight for me then.

And so, she jumped the wall and fell into the arena.

---

Kaori

She was holding her bow up, aimed at the Nightmare. What did I just do? She wondered, wincing as her ribs cried out in pain.

It had been instinctive. When she saw the Nightmare pounding under Ash, she quickly had transformed her weapon and taken action. Then, she realized something. Simply put, she didn't like the idea of Ash getting hurt here. She didn't mind if she died, as empty as she felt it would almost be relieving. But, with Ash in some amount of danger, her hands had acted of their own will.

This is why when she saw Ash jump into the arena, her eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Ash!" She yelled as the crowd, confused and outraged, started roaring profanities. Ash stood up and quickly transformed her weapon into a bow, just as Kaori herself had done.

The hybrid didn't say anything. Instead, she gave a sly smirk and shot an arrow at the Nightmare.

"Hey! Over here!" Ash yelled and the demon turned.

What is she doing!? Kaori gritted her teeth. She actually felt angry at what she was watching. She raised her bow with some effort due to her internal injuries. Another golden arrow manifested and she shot it into the demon's left leg.

The demon turned back towards her, but Kaori was looking at Ash.

"I, h-hide!" She yelled.

"Can't do that." She just barely heard Ash respond, as the half-demon shot another arrow. This one, however, missed. The demon started walking up to Kaori again. Good. Kaori thought. Ash tried to shoot another arrow and this one missed as well.

"She's breaking the rules!" A member of the audience yelled and the crowd got more and more furious with every second that passed.

"Fuck this," Ash said as she transformed her weapon into a sword.

Wait, don't!

The hybrid ran up behind the demon and stabbed her sword into the back of its left leg.

Her sword didn't pierce all the way through. Instead, the demon turned towards her and Kaori clenched her fists around her own bow. You idiot, you don't need to get hurt too! Kaori thought as she transformed Love into its swordstaff form and, still clutching her ribs with her free hand, she tried to walk up to the demon.

Ash took a step or two back. Kaori lifted her swordstaff and plunged it near where Ash had stabbed it. Her weapon sunk deeper than Ash's had.

The demon growled painfully.

Kaori thought she would have enough time to react to another attack. But, the demon didn't even turn. As it stood, it spun in place and smacked Kaori with the back of its hand. The attack hit her right shoulder as she had just barely gotten her head out of the way and she hit the wall once more, sliding down to the floor. She firmly believed if that hand had struck her head, she may have died then and there.

As she regained her senses after the hit, she tried to stand.

This time though, she couldn't get back up.

Every time she so much as shifted, her bones cried out.

"Aaah..." She moaned in pain.

"Kaori!" Ash yelled as the Savior dropped her swordstaff.

She couldn't do anything else at this point.

Just run. Kaori thought. Please.

---

Ash

Shit, shit, shit! Ash thought as she watched Kaori crumple up behind the demon. When the Nightmare had struck her, she heard a loud crack that sent shivers up Ash's spine. The demon had Kaori in its sights and seemed like it was intent on finishing her off.

Thinking quickly, she recreated Lust's bow form and aimed a golden arrow.

Come on, hit, hit, please!

She shot the arrow at its back and the projectile found its mark.

"Yes!" She celebrated aloud as the demon groaned, turning back around.

However, her success had left her with a new realization.

With Kaori unable to move this had become her fight now.

Suddenly, with the demon's empty eyes aimed at her, she was the one who had to take this thing down. Once more, before she gave all of her focus to the monster, she looked over at Kaori.

The Savior was crying as she watched Ash with panicked eyes. The half-demon sighed.

Aiming her sword at the Nightmare, she narrowed her eyes.

So, we're basically fucked, right? She thought. For sure, I can't beat this thing. My sword barely went through it and just a couple of hits from that thing took Kaori out. So... what do I do?

Then, she shook her head.

Focus. She thought, closing her eyes. The demon started walking up to her. She heard its footsteps thudding against the dirt, but she didn't open her eyes yet. She figured she wouldn't feel the full effects of meditation in such a short time, but all she needed was for it to help her think if only just a little.

She took a deep breath, trying to tune out the sound of the crowd, Kaori's shouts, and the approaching steps.

Okay. She thought. That's better. So, what do I know about this thing? It has a mana pool of 20, so it's definitely no mage but that might be enough for a spell or two. It's slow, which might let me dance around it, but if a hit from this thing was enough to hurt Kaori, one hit might actually kill me. And, then there's what Satsuhiro said. This thing won't reason, it won't plan. It'll just do. So, don't bother trying to read this thing.

She opened her eyes as the demon loomed over her.

And, if I have too much trouble on my own, I still have one trick up my sleeve. Demon Form.

The Nightmare raised an arm and Ash bit down on the insides of her cheeks as she charged forwards. She rolled under it, out of the way of an attack that may have decapitated her if she'd been hit. Then, with her sword, she basically poked its back. A bit of violet blood, much like Ash's own, oozed out of its sickly-looking skin as it turned slowly. Ash took a step back, putting more distance between them.

The demon slowly started jogging. It moved up to where Ash was and the hybrid took a deep breath. It jumped up into the air and bodyslammed the spot where she had just stood before she sidestepped it. Raising her sword up, she brought it down on its right arm. Surprisingly, her sword sunk in quite a bit.

Yes! She celebrated internally. This is doable. This is definitely doable.

It was hard. She just barely managed to dodge its attacks both times, but she felt that if she remained patient, she could continue. She waited for it to stand, not wanting to take the risk of going for another hit. She wanted to be as safe as she could be.

Like Satsuhiro said She thought, remembering the conversation the man had with Kaori. These things don't strategize or anything. They're random. Keep reacting.

As it stood up, Ash prepared herself for the same sequence. Wait for an attack, avoid it, and retaliate. But, the creature didn't attack her.

At least, not directly.

It raised a hand and Ash watched as a violet aura encapsulated it. Uh, what? She asked. Is that...?

Her question was answered as the creature extended a hand towards Ash and a black orb flew out of its palm, hitting her in the chest.

"FUCK!" She fell down.

The feeling was so unique that she instantly knew what it was. A Dark spell. It was like her very life force had been hit. She took deep breaths as the monster sluggishly moved over to her. Okay, you got me with that. Fine.

It said something with a deep voice and Ash glared at it.

"Fuck you too." She muttered as she stood up. With her sword ready, she waited for its next move.

She had expected some sort of a swing. It had been using its arms as clubs for so long that the last thing she expected was for it to try to grab her. And yet, that was what it did.

She didn't react in time. With a massive hand, it grabbed her by the neck.

"Erk!" She couldn't breathe. It wasn't squeezing, but it pulled her up and close to its eyes.

Then, Ash would have gasped if she could. The demon's eyes, which previously had held no pupils, grew a small violet circle in them as it pulled Ash closer.

Then, a surge of violet power came from its arms, spreading into Ash's body.

What the hell is it doing!? She wondered, trying to stab its arms with her sword, but as her body begged for air, she found herself dropping the blade. Ash tried to scratch at the Nightmare's arms but the creature didn't react. She could faintly hear the crowd cheering.

This is bad. I can't breathe, I can't breathe! Pounding on the demon's arms did nothing to stop it, and as the violet lightning reached Ash, her eyes widened.

Her vision gained a haze of violet. She had expected this to be some sort of life-ending spell, an ability that would try to kill her off and eliminate one of the Nightmare's two opponents. Instead, the unthinkable.

Ash felt better.

As the lightning poured into her, she felt herself getting stronger. She saw her horns grow in front of her eyes, her fingers turned into claws and she felt her fangs appear.

The demon muttered something that sounded strangely confused.

Soon, after a solid ten seconds of absorbing whatever the demon was doing, she reached for its arms and slashed them with her claws. This finally got it to drop her.

She took a deep breath, coughing as the wind came back to her lungs.

The demon made another confused noise as soon, Ash's coughs turned to laughs.

What, hahaha, holy shit. She noted in her mind as she looked down at her hands. She was in her Demon Form. I feel... I feel amazing! She grinned. What's going on? Then, she looked back at the demon and scowled. Whatever. Doesn't matter.

It said something sounding baffled and Ash relished in that.

She ran up. The demon raised an arm as if it was about to swing it at her, but Ash was moving too fast for that. She leaped up into the air and sunk her claws into its chest. With her feet digging into its hips to keep her steady, she tore her claws out and plunged them back in.

The demon gave a high-pitched screech and Ash's body warmed up when she heard it. Ripping this thing apart was almost giving her the same sort of satisfaction she'd felt that night when she'd been out behind Satsuhiro's farm, relieving the lust she'd felt for Keiko. Something beyond what she'd felt when she tore her first goblin up.

She was cackling at this point, even as the demon finally got a hold of her and threw her back, smashing her into the wall and sending jolts of pain throughout her body, she couldn't stop giggling.

Why does this feel so good!?

However, then, she saw Kaori and her surprised expression and she remembered where she was.

She shook her head. Whatever strange feeling had gained a hold over her faded momentarily. Right. Focus. Deal with this thing and you can get Kaori out of here, to a nice secluded location where you can... She shook her head again.

With a growl, she got ready to attack again.

The creature, however, had regained its mana.

Level 14

MP: 20/20

Because of her thoughts, Ash hadn't seen it as it lifted a bloodied arm and went to cast another Dark spell.

So, she was hit once more.

"Agh!" Ash clutched her chest, feeling that life-harming pain sizzle within. "I hate that shit so much." Her voice didn't even sound like her own anymore, it was deeper, almost echoing. "Here, how about a little gift from me?"

She ran up with a quickness that surprised even herself and slashed the demon's ankles with her claws.

With a long groan, it fell back. The ground shook as it hit the dirt floor.

Ash grinned. Defenseless. Time to finish the j-

Her thoughts were cut off when the demon slammed a fist into her chest, launching her back.

As she crashed into a wall, wincing, she wondered if the hit may have killed her in her regular state. Instead, she slowly got up and the demon tried to do the same.

No. No, I'm ending this right now!

She ran up as fast as she could and jumped on top of it. Then, she held her claws up.

Bringing them down, she slashed its eyes. Violet blood covered her hands.

It tried to swipe at her again, but Ash saw it coming this time and briefly hopped off its body before jumping back on top. Without listening to the other part of her that was telling her to toy with the monster, she plunged her claws into its neck and ripped it apart. Inch by inch, she slashed at it until her claws were hitting the dirt, covered in the Nightmare's violet blood.

Its growls and groans faded.

Slowly, she realized she'd done it.

The creature was dead.

Her Demon Form faded almost instantly and Ash was left with her human hands in the demon's neck, trembling.

EXP GAINED: 150

EXP: 35/35

Level Up!

EXP: 45/45

Level Up!

EXP: 55/55

Level Up!

EXP: 15/65

She leveled up three times. The crowd was silent. She looked around. Disbelief graced their faces.

She couldn't care less.

The more sanity she regained, the more she understood the situation, and that the crowd would soon be begging for their heads. She had, after all, interrupted the trial.

She tried to find Kaori and ran up to her.

Kaori actually flinched as Ash approached.

"Come on!" She said as her sanity slipped back into her. "The thing's dead, let's go!"

"U-Uh... Right." Kaori's eyes held a strange look, but she didn't refuse. However, as she tried to stand, she found that she couldn't. "Agh!"

"Okay, no worries." Ash wrapped one of Kaori's arms around her back and helped her up.

She was about to call for Satsuhiro, but the Savior quickly jumped the wall as well and joined them.

The crowd, which had been internalizing the events, quickly started shouting all sorts of things, ranging from "demon" to "kill her". Ash didn't even spare them a look.

"You can heal her, right?"

"Yes, it'll just take a second." Satsuhiro pointed out. "She's honestly just lucky she didn't get Cursed. If she had, she'd really be in trouble."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked as Satsuhiro started performing a Light spell. Kaori thanked him meekly.

"When someone's Cursed, healing magic doesn't work on them. Only the most powerful of Light mages can lift curses, and the only one in Jade at that level, you know, died a little while ago." He explained. "We need to go, it doesn't seem like they're accepting this outcome."

"Right behind you," Ash told him as Kaori began to stand.

The group ran through the passage that had led Kaori here, but no guards pursued them. Instead, it was just the sounds of an angry crowd that trailed them as they nearly escaped the area.

However, just as they reached the door that would allow them to retreat, they ran into Talo.

Ash had her guard up. She didn't know what this meant, whether they'd be arrested now or whether Talo was here for something else.

"Well, you won." They said.

"Yeah..." Ash calmed her nerves. "So... What now?" She asked cautiously.

"The citizens of Jade are not happy. Plus, of course, you clearly broke the rules when you chose to help."

Ash narrowed her eyes at them.

"However," Talo quickly added, "considering what the deacons said about what Varcon did, so long as you stay out of sight for some time, his crimes will be brought out naturally."

Ash's eyes widened. She hadn't expected to hear that.

"So, are you arresting us?" Ash asked.

"No. You will be free to go." Talo stated. The guards behind them didn't react in any way. "We had a carriage prepared to escort Kaori out of the city secretly if she won, seeing as events have taken an unforeseen turn though, you will all be using it. However, it will take some time before you are all able to come back to Jade freely. The citizens of the city will likely still see her as a murderer, and you, since you helped her in this trial, as an accomplice." Talo shrugged. "Once his crimes are slowly made public knowledge, you should be free to return."

"Well, that does settle one thing, but..." Satsuhiro said, "what about their training?"

"Ah. It was the church's task to oversee it. We understand." Talo nodded. "We will come up with something soon. For now, you really should go."

"Huh... Thanks." Ash muttered.

"Oh, it's no problem." Talo grinned. "Just simple give and take."

---

They were taken all the way to the Valley of Lanterns, with Satsuhiro watching for any angry civilians coming from behind them. Curtains prevented those who were outside from seeing who was in the vehicle.

As they neared the gate leading out of the city and to Satsuhiro's farm, he stopped.

"Well, we're pretty much out," Satsuhiro noted. "Take a moment to rest. We'll talk about things moving forward once we get to the farm."

"Alright." Ash nodded. She turned to look at Kaori. Trying very hard to focus on the situation at hand, she pushed her lust to the back of her mind and said: "are you okay?"

"... No," Kaori stated as she looked down. "But, why?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Why did you help me?" Kaori asked softly. The curiosity in her eyes made Ash look away.

"It wasn't right." Ash simply stated. "Varcon deserved what he got. I didn't like that they were gonna feed you to a Nightmare because of that."

Kaori slowly nodded and looked down at herself.

"Are you sure? I... I feel like a murderer."

"You would have been one if he'd had his way." Ash stated. Then,, she sighed and leaned towards her. Ash, struggling against her demon side, placed a hand on her shoulder, staining the girl's armor with the violet blood belonging to the Nightmare she'd killed. "Listen," Ash told her, "I don't know what's going through your mind, but hey, now that we know we can trust each other, maybe we can figure out where to go from here. Together, I mean."

That statement made Kaori look up at her.

"You trust me?" She asked.

Ash hesitantly nodded. Yeah, I guess I do.

"Yeah." She tried to put on a smile. "You're not half-bad."

Kaori blinked. Tears sprang up at the corners of her eyes. Ash understood this wasn't going to erase Kaori's despair.

But, it was a good start.

And with that, the party left Jade.