Chapter 59 - Vol. 2 - 24

Ash

Satsuhiro and Ash walked on a paved dirt road, moving north of Jade as the sun hugged them tightly every step of the way. There were multiple roads that stretched out from Jade to the cities surrounding the capital.

By now, Ash had gotten used to the beads of sweat that rolled down her face, but it still sucked. Satsuhiro alternated between looking ahead and looking down at the map he was holding. 

Unlike the woodlands to the west, most of the land around them was open, tall grass hugged the road they walked on with just a few sparse trees in the distance. This fact meant two things. Firstly, they would have very little to no protection from the sun during this trip, and second, Ash could see the portal they were walking towards. 

It wasn't particularly big, and she couldn't see it in detail, but she did see something that looked like a giant violet diamond, far, far ahead of where they were. As she stared at it, something came up in her mind. 

"Hey," she called out to her senior, "why are you looking at the map? The portal's right there." She pointed at it.

Satsuhiro glanced back and then his eyes returned to the paper in his hands. 

"Because I'm trying to figure out why a portal was placed there," Satsuhiro answered. "It's farther away from the city than the Pearl one, and it looks smaller from what I can tell... I'm thinking there might be some strategic advantage to this thing that I'm just not seeing." 

"Hm." Ash nodded. "Fuck, it's so hot out. This armor has no, what the hell do you call it? Ventilation?" 

"You get used to it," Satsuhiro shrugged. "Anyway, keep your eyes peeled. We might not be at the portal, but..." 

As he spoke, a sound came from the east that made them both pause. They could hear a wagon's wheels creaking. Ash turned to find the source and saw ragged-looking citizens being led by soldiers to the east. 

"What the hell?" She asked. 

"The survivors," Satsuhiro said. "Jade is a big place, but not big enough to keep every single person that made it out of Pearl. So, some of them are being taken to Onyx." 

Ash watched them, noticing their lowered heads and the overall sadness with which they carried themselves. She almost felt for them, until she remembered that what they were going through right now was but a glimpse of what she'd been through in her life. 

If she were in the same position today, none of them would spare her a second glance. 

"So," she disregarded them, "what were we gonna do with the portals again? What ideas do we have?" 

"A few," Satsuhiro said, leaving it at that for now. 

When they got closer, the sky began to darken above them. A violet aura began to encapsulate their bodies. Ash narrowed her eyes at the portal in front of them. When they reached it, Ash saw a few demons outside, mindlessly walking around it. 

Level 15

MP: 20/20

Level 14

MP: 20/20

Level 15

MP: 25/25

"Huh," Ash said. "These things are level 15." 

"How strong does that make them?" Satsuhiro asked. "With the buff added in." 

"They're not being affected by the buff," Ash noted.

"What?" Satsuhiro put a hand to his chin. "So, the portal hadn't started spreading its influence yet?"

"I think so. The portal that spawned outside of your house," Ash added, "I didn't get affected by the buff until I walked in when Kaori and I went to check it out."

"Hm... If they were affected by it, what would their stats be?" Satsuhiro asked.

"Uh, I'd guess all their physical stats would be around level 40 since they don't have the same training as me. Their magic stats would be around 20." 

"Hm. Okay. Alright. Here's what we'll do," Satsuhiro looked at her. "You go in, distract them, I shoot spells from over here." 

Ash raised a brow. 

"That's it? Is this what high-level Savior strategy looks like?" 

"Sometimes the simplest plans work the best. You're a fighter, I'm a mage. What the fuck else would we do?" Satsuhiro shrugged. 

"... Fair enough." 

Ash transformed Lust into its sword form. Satsuhiro crossed his arms as the demons noticed them. Ash took a deep breath and nodded to herself. Then, she started walking towards them.  Alright, how would this fight go if they were affected by the buff? She wondered. The battle at Pearl and the escape from Satsuhiro's farm had been so frantic that she still hadn't gotten a good read on fighting demons near these portals. 

As one ran towards her, she narrowed her eyes. Like Keiko said, focus and stay defensive. 

A demon raised a clawed hand and went for an attack at her head. Ash ducked under it and stabbed through the demon's gut. It screeched so loudly in her ears that Ash cringed, kicking the creature off of the sword.

As it writhed on the ground, its friends started to run after her. That's when spheres of flame poured onto them from above Ash's head. It collided with their bodies and they squealed, swinging wildly as though that would help put the fires out. Ash took the opportunity and quickly sliced one of their necks, transitioning into a slash across the chest to the one next to it. 

Both demons promptly fell to the ground. 

EXP Gained: 45

EXP: 45/170

EXP Gained: 20

EXP: 65/170

EXP Gained: 20

EXP: 85/170

Ash's eyes remained on their lifeless bodies as Satsuhiro walked past her. Then, she transformed  Lust back into a cube and followed. The portal was far smaller than the one outside of Pearl. So much so that Ash could almost reach the top of it if she jumped particularly high enough. 

"Alright, so, to go over it again," Satsuhiro turned to her. "There are three ways to do one of these types of concentration spells. Maintain the spell with an object, maintain it with a person, or the spell has a set duration." Ash nodded. "In the case of the first two, we just have to destroy the source. If it's the third one, the portal will go away on its own." 

"I don't see how we're supposed to find the source though if it exists," Ash replied. "This thing takes you to a different version of the world. Where the hell do we start to look?" 

"I went over it with some other mages and they said that depending on the strength of the spell used, the source becomes more and more visible. So," he turned towards her. "I need to ask you when you went into the portal near my house, did you see anything magical?" 

"Uh..." Ash closed her eyes, going over the memory in her mind. She remembered what it was like when she and Kaori walked the streets of the corrupted version of Jade. "I... I think so." 

"What do you mean?"

"We saw these beams of magic going up into the sky," Ash nodded. "Yeah, they were placed around the corners of the city." 

"Hm. Whatever was keeping that portal up was probably at the base of those beams." Satsuhiro told her. "We'll have to keep an eye out for anything like that." With that, he turned towards the portal. "Ready?" 

"... Yeah, sure." Ash nodded. 

With that affirmation, they walked in. 

---

Kasumi

What the hell am I doing here? 

Kaori had taken her to, quite possibly, her least favorite place in this city so far. It was a building that was basically hidden amongst many other establishments in the deeper parts of Jade. Kasumi had gotten a bad feeling about this hellhole as soon as she'd gotten close enough to hear muffled energetic music coming from within. 

And, it lived up to her expectations. 

Around her, men and women danced as a band played drums and trumpets in the background. Kasumi sat at a table, feeling as small as she had in years with a cup filled with ale in her hands. In front of her, Kaori was dancing with a few others, laughing up a storm. 

Someone save me. 

Immediately after she had that thought, Kaori's eyes connected with hers. The girl, with her illusion-given cinnamon hair and freckles, grinned at her and sauntered over to where she sat. 

"Come on, join in!" 

"Uh, not happening." 

"It'll be fun!" 

Kasumi rolled her eyes.

"No." 

"You're missing out!" 

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

"I disagree." 

Kasumi sighed. She reached for her cup and was about to put it to her lips, but before she could, Kaori took it away and took a sip from it herself.

"H-Hey!" Kasumi clicked her tongue. "You...!"

"Come oooon~" Kaori got far too close for comfort, her bright smile just a bit of distance away from Kasumi's face. Her dilated pupils looked back at Kasumi with mirth in them.  Oh, goodness, is she drunk already? "I promise, it'll be fun!" 

Kasumi lowered her head. 

"Fine, fine. If it gets you to stop bothering me," and so, after taking a very sizable gulp of the ale in her cup, she stood up and Kasumi quickly was taken by the waist and dragged to the center of the room. A space naturally opened up for them and Kaori started to dance in front of her, her right hand interconnected with Kasumi's own. 

To be fair to her, Kasumi realized, she did seem good at it. Not that she was doing things that were particularly skillful, but her twirls, her hip swings, and the other movements she performed had so much honest eagerness in them that even if she did something that wasn't particularly good, it looked fun. 

Kasumi sighed. 

Kaori raised her arm and spun, drawing closer. Kasumi raised a brow as Kaori's body started to brush against hers in a slightly sensual way.  Is this how people dance nowadays? 

And that thought got her to wonder when the last time she did this was. 

That spark of curiosity brought a nostalgic moment to the forefront of her mind.

Several years ago, Kasumi was at a tavern in the nighttime. Her husband was staying with Nozomi, so she didn't have to worry about her daughter for the moment. Some music was playing and she was fairly drunk at the moment, so she started to move with a few strangers around her. 

Her cheeks were starting to hurt from how much she'd been smiling. A man started whispering nice things in her ears and she shook her head, thinking the attempt was cute. She indulged his request to dance with her though, and all in all, though he certainly didn't get any, she felt they enjoyed themselves. 

Maybe that memory was why Kasumi started to tap her foot against the ground. Her shoulders were bouncing to the beat, even as she maintained a scowl. Kaori noticed and she got closer. 

"Now you're getting it!" 

"Ugh..." Kasumi looked away from the beam of lightheartedness aimed straight at her heart. 

Then, Kaori lifted one of her arms, asking her to spin. Kasumi decided to humor her, and she spun around. 

However, she'd forgotten one very important thing. 

Kaori's smile faded and an embarrassed look replaced it. Kasumi saw a few of the other people dancing look at her and raise their brows. 

"Huh?" She asked. 

Her chest felt colder. 

Then, she looked down and realized what had happened. 

See, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Kasumi had bigger boobs than most women. Normally, at least, back when she cared about what people thought, this was a source of pride. Right now though, it meant that unfortunately, a certain equation happened with an unexpected consequence. 

It went like this:

Her boobs moving rapidly + a very loose shirt = her tits popped out off her shirt. 

Her jaw hit the floor as she saw her bare chest out. 

Her face reddened as Kaori walked up and with one hand quickly pulled her shirt up. 

"Oops!" Kaori said. 

"... Just fucking end me," Kasumi stated, sitting back down.