Chapter 63 - Vol. 2 - 28

Keiko

Keiko noticed two things. Firstly, the nearby staircase was blocked off by some sort of barrier, made of wind. Second, the enemy surprised her.

The ghostly figure ahead carried its sword like a seasoned veteran. Its refined stance made Keiko reevaluate whether this thing was actually the mindless monster it appeared to be from a glance. Haruna stepped forward with an expression like pure steel, her own blades at her side as the creature seemed to track her movement. It didn't pay any attention to Keiko, perhaps because of how far back she was standing. 

Haruna stood around six feet away from it and then, she stopped. 

So much time had passed since she'd left the Compound, that Keiko had genuinely forgotten what high-level fighting was like. Due to her time training Ash and Kaori, she hadn't been able to practice the higher proficiency strategies she'd learned lately. 

So, when the creature charged towards Haruna, and the Zayama woman virtually disappeared from sight, Keiko gasped. Their blades clashed. The creature attempted an overhead slash that Haruna parried, spinning to slice at the creature's midsection. It dodged. The creature stepped back and sheathed its blade only to bring it back out with blinding speed. 

Haruna backflipped back before the creature could make contact, and both combatants ended up right back where they started, six feet away from each other. 

Amazing! Keiko thought. I knew I still wasn't close to her level, but this is something else entirely than what I had expected. 

"This kind of creature," Haruna said, "I've heard about it, though I haven't fought anything like it before." 

"What does it do?" 

The creature stood ahead, waiting for Haruna to make another move as she spoke. 

"If I'm not mistaken, it's an undead monster that can use the techniques of the person it once was but is incapable of learning anything new. What that means is that it likely lacks the ability to adapt to different challenges." Haruna got back into a fighting stance. "Stay back, Keiko. I can handle this." 

"Alright..." 

And then, the combat resumed. It was hard to keep track of their motions, as each attack was performed with a burst of speed that would be lethal against untrained enemies. 

"Jino!" Haruna yelled and attacked the air with X-shaped slashes. Only, from those attacks that didn't even get close to the opponent, blades of wind were launched towards the creature. 

"Tonno!" The creature responded with an echoing, otherworldly, masculine voice, and with a wave of its blade, a shield of wind formed in front of it that caught the slashes. 

"What was that!?" Keiko asked. 

"The master-level techniques," Haruna quickly explained as she took a step back. "This is what's next in store for you, Keiko. What you haven't learned. Zayama techniques which combine magic with weapon skills. I myself haven't managed to master too many of them. I wonder how many it has." 

The third exchange began with a leap into the air, as Haruna jumped towards it, spinning vertically. Her swords ended up locking with the enemy's katana, but she pushed it back with nothing but the force behind her strike. 

They took turns blocking and attacking before a small opening left Haruna vulnerable. The creature raised a metallic boot and kicked her in the chin, launching her back several meters. 

"T-Teacher!" Keiko called out as Haruna rolled to a stop. It was visibly hard for her to get up as she had clearly been shaken by the attack. When she looked back at the creature, it was no longer looking at Haruna. It was looking at her. 

Keiko got chills running up her spine. With trembling hands, she placed her blade before her.

In a straight-up battle, I have no chance. Keiko thought. So, I only have one tool to use. 

"Iridos!" She yelled and her Spirit Eye activated. 

Instantly, what she saw two seconds into the future was the creature lunging towards her with a horizontal attack. She positioned her blade in such a way as to block the attack, and just a millisecond after she got it there, she was struck by the creature. 

Despite the fact that she did deflect the hit, she still slid back, the creature's strength far surpassing her own. 

Again, she saw two seconds into the future. This time, the creature's next attack would come from above. She placed her blade horizontally and her blade was smashed, bringing her down to one knee. Two seconds further, she saw that the creature would then try to kick her down and stab her. 

Keiko dodged the kick by a hair and fell back. 

Before the monster could capitalize on that, Haruna arrived and interrupted it. 

Keiko breathed heavily, her eyes wide as she watched the fight that ensued. 

Even with her Spirit Eye, her deflections were just a split second fast enough to prevent the opponent's blade from cutting through her, and even though she blocked, the strength behind its blows was so potent that her wrists were sore after blocking just a couple of slashes. 

... There's no way around it, she thought. Without my Spirit Eye, I would have died at the first exchange. 

It was perhaps one of the most humbling things she'd been through recently, which was saying something given her experiences. Haruna and the monster clashed blades a few more times before Haruna finally decided to take a step back and say: 

"Iridos!" 

She's only just now activating her Spirit Eye?  Keiko realized. 

With it, the fight began to swing in her favor. Though the creature was skilled, Haruna's ability to see its movements before they happened clearly made a difference, to the point where, finally, she was able to bring the fight to a close. 

The monster raised its blade and Haruna, anticipating that, slashed at where its neck would be. The sword reacted as though it had slashed through flesh and bone, as did the creature's body. Its arms went limp, it fell to its knees and finally died, with its blue smoke dissipating.

Haruna sheathed her blades at her back, taking a deep breath. 

"That was..." Keiko muttered. "Wow." 

"I didn't think I'd have to use my Spirit Eye this early on," Haruna's shoulders slumped. "It says something about how powerful the other enemies will be, surely." 

"I... I'll try to be of more use in the fights to come," Keiko stated. Haruna seemed to disregard that. She didn't know how to take it. 

Without a reason to remain here, they began to walk towards the nearby stairs. However, just before they left, words appeared over the fallen monster's armor. 

"Huh?" Keiko noticed it first, turning around. Haruna did the same. 

Training Mode activated!

Training Mode: Anyone who defeats this creature may reanimate it to face it again. 

EXP Rates (Weapon proficiencies and level EXP gained) will be increased by 50% on subsequent fights. 

Note: Only those with the Spirit Eye ability may benefit from this mode.

"What?" Keiko blinked. "Wait..." Haruna walked back towards the creature. "So, we can use this monster to prepare before the next floor?" 

"Seems like it," Haruna crouched beside it.

"What do we do?" 

"Well, obviously," Haruna said, "we should take this opportunity. It'll take some time, but with this... We should be able to get you strong enough to face the other tests, so long as you land some killing blows." Haruna said and Keiko nodded. "I'm good to go, how are you feeling?" 

"I'm ready. The faster we get to it, the better." 

"Agreed." 

Haruna looked up at the message and Keiko watched as she closed her eyes. The message went away, and soon, the creature's armor was beginning to float up into the air, rearranging into what it had been before. 

---

Kasumi

By now, the only Savior who hadn't found something to fight single-handedly was Kaori. Mostly, how this had gone so far was that Akiven and Mizaki had taken on most of the creatures they'd encountered, while Kasumi had only fought one or two. 

She had to be picky, of course, since her path to victory was murkier than that of the others. All she could do was use trickery and hope an enemy presented a weak point that she could capitalize on. 

They had expected, of course, that Kaori would be unable to face most monsters directly, but still, it even made Kasumi's cold heart slightly sad to see the blonde sulking behind the group because of this. 

Her mood swings were something to behold though. Kasumi had watched her go from extremely energetic whenever she'd talk to one of the Saviors, to a pouting puppy when she realized she can't fight the creatures they encounter, back to an ecstatic ball of happiness whenever Mizaki addressed her, and back to sullen melancholy when she looked down at her missing left hand.

It was honestly fairly entertaining to Kasumi. To the point where she ended up realizing that most of her time was spent looking at Kaori instead of searching for an opponent or watching the other Saviors fight. 

Eventually, though, it was time to call it a day as the sun began to dip beyond the horizon. 

A few giant birds, some drillbeaks, others that Kasumi didn't know since she wasn't from this part of the world, soared above them as Akiven turned to look at them. 

"Alright, let's set up a camp. We'll go to sleep, wake up and start fighting again first thing tomorrow morning." 

"Oh, uh, sure," Kaori said, as she started looking around for firewood, maybe, before Akiven held up a hand. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you should probably stay put and let us go looking for resources, blondie," Akiven said. "Don't want you running into anything too strong, you know?" 

"I mean," Kasumi raised a brow as she saw annoyance pop up on Kaori's face for the first time, "it's not like I can't run." 

"Well, yeah, but if you run into something faster than you that doesn't mean anything, right?" 

"I... Ugh," Kaori lowered her head turning around and walking towards a tree. Then, she pressed her back against it and slid down to the dirt, pulling her knees up to her chest. Mizaki and Akiven looked at each other. Then, the white-haired boy held up a hand. 

"I got this," he whispered confidently, walking towards her. Then, he knelt in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulders. "Hey, calm down," Akiven said with a strangely reassuring voice. "Listen, you may not be that strong, or that talented, or that skilled, but you've got a pretty good rack and I appreciate that." 

Kaori slapped him so hard, Kasumi saw spit fly out of his mouth. 

He stood back up and put his hands on his hips. 

"Hm, that didn't work. I'm gonna go get some firewood." 

He walked away casually. 

Mizaki sighed as Kaori pressed her face against her knees. She made like she was going to go over to her, but then she walked towards Kasumi instead. 

"Hey, so," Mizaki whispered. Kasumi raised a brow. "You're a mother, right? I mean, like, you were, or... Never mind," Kasumi almost recoiled when she heard that. "I'm just saying, you're good at this type of stuff, right? Maybe you could cheer her up?" 

And so, Mizaki walked away. 

With her mouth gaping, Kasumi stood there, frozen. She didn't know whether to feel insulted, confused, or sad. 

She heard Kaori sigh next to her and suddenly, Kasumi felt like doing the same thing. She sat down, crossed her legs, and waited for the others to come back with firewood. 

And, hopefully, to find some tact out there in the wilds too. 

"Wait," Kaori suddenly said, "you're a mom?" 

Kasumi looked to her side.

"You heard that?" She asked. 

"I mean, Mizaki is... Not very good at whispering, it looks like." Kaori responded. "So... Are you?" 

Kasumi shook her head. As she remembered the blonde's friend, the demon, she felt herself getting heated. 

"Not anymore." 

"Oh... Dang," Kaori said. "I'm sorry to hear that." 

"It's fine," Kasumi stated. Silence settled between them, but Kasumi found herself curious about something. She looked over at the blonde and asked, "that demon..." 

"Hm?" Kaori looked over at her. 

"The demon, what was her name again? Ash?" 

"Oh, yeah! Ash, what about her?" It confused Kasumi how Kaori's mood instantly brightened the moment she brought the demon up. 

"... She's really a Savior, huh?" Kasumi said. 

"Uh, well, yeah." It was Kaori's turn to be confused. "What about it?" 

"Isn't it weird that a demon was chosen to fight other demons by a god?" Kasumi asked. "I think it's strange, anyway. How does that make sense?" 

"I, I mean, she's not really a demon though." 

"Huh?" 

"Okay, not like that, I mean, she's nice. She's reasonable," Kaori explained, "she's more human than she is a demon." 

"You trust her quite a bit, it seems." 

"Of course," Kaori instantly responded. "She's... I, ehm, we're friends." She blushed, for some reason. 

Kasumi rested her head against a nearby tree. 

"Is that so?"

The conversation died shortly after that.

Later that night, the Saviors had fallen asleep. All save for Kasumi, who elected to be the first to keep watch. She'd then wake up Mizaki, who would later wake Akiven, and the white-haired Savior would stay up until it was Kaori's turn. 

The fire they made continued to crackle in front of her. All Kasumi could do was lean back and wait her time out. The demon's face appeared in front of her mind's eye. She pictured her, how she looked. The defiance in her eyes, the hidden warmth whenever she looked at Kaori. 

The blood on her armor that she got from fighting on Pearl's behalf.

Kasumi was honestly baffled by her. She couldn't make sense of the woman. How the same creature who belonged to the type of being responsible for the death of her daughter could do such a thing. 

Shaking her head, it was eventually Mizaki's turn, so she woke the girl up. They swapped places, and soon, Kasumi was putting her hands behind her head as she prepared to go to sleep. 

That night, she had a dream like none she'd had before. 

The Savior was on top of a mountain, a storm brewing above.  What?  She thought. Where...? 

She looked down at her body and found that she could see right through it.  What is this? 

Then, the storm above her began to intensify. So much so, that lightning was falling all around her. Suddenly, one of those lightning bolts took form, and when it hit the ground in front of her, a person manifested slowly. 

What's going on?  She wondered as slowly, the person began to be pieced together. Armored legs, an armored torso, a trident with lightning swirling around it, and the face of a hardened knight. 

The man stood in front of Kasumi, and the Savior would have gasped if she had air to breathe.