Moonlight Demon

Okay, these things are kind of uncomfortable... But I think I understand. 

Ash was currently adjusting her gauntlets. She'd transformed her Lust into them and was now adjusting the golden straps onto her wrists. Kaori and Keiko were watching from the back, and Yumi was waiting patiently with her naginata by her side. 

"Those are some interesting weapons," Yumi noted. 

"If by interesting you mean a bit on the nose, then yeah," Ash stated, feeling like she may as well just write "demon" on her forehead between her horns. 

The gauntlets were heavy, but as Ash kept her hands loose by her waist, Yumi took a few steps closer. 

"Hm... See," she pointed out, "with something like this, you will need to be even more precise to block. See this part of the blade?" Yumi held one of Ash's hands up, so she could illustrate her point. "My naginata could slide right down this and either cut your arm off or cut into your chest." 

"Sounds wonderful." 

"Would you like to begin?" 

"Sure." 

---

Satsuhiro

Considering what Vyl had said about that high-level demon, the group couldn't afford to be reckless. Satsuhiro wanted to know all about any recent demon sightings, simply so he could tell them where not to go. 

Still, considering the chaotic nature of the recent demon attacks, there was no telling where their duties would take them next.  Hopefully,  Satsuhiro thought as Eliza sat in front of him with crossed legs, going over some papers in her hands that someone else had brought earlier,  they won't have to go too far. I have a bad feeling about all this stuff going on,  Satsuhiro thought.  They're definitely in danger, but... Well, all we can do is stay in Onyx for now. 

"These are the events that have been reported recently," Eliza stated, her clear eyes piercing into the Savior. "Just a couple of hours ago, a pack of demons was seen in the hills to the south. Before that, a lone demon was seen walking through the bamboo to the north, and before that, a violet aura was identified permeating through the northwest." 

Hm...  Satsuhiro nodded to her.  That second one is probably the Lust demon. The first is a random pack, the third... No idea what that could be. 

"How does this sound?" Eliza asked. "Is it overly concerning?" 

"... I wouldn't say so," Satsuhiro crossed his arms and responded. "The escalation of demon activity near the city..." Satsuhiro muttered. "Well, it probably confirms your suspicions." 

Eliza looked away then, to where Ash was sparring with Yumi. Satsuhiro did the same. The half-demon was sweating, trying her hardest to keep up with the masked woman. 

"I wonder," Eliza suddenly said lowly. "An event like a demon invasion... How does that change people?" 

"What do you mean?" Satsuhiro looked back at her. 

"... Everyone in this room, with the only exception being myself, has had rather intense meetings with those creatures. I wonder if such a thing could change a person. Change a community, their worldviews, their prejudices. Would they appreciate what they have a little more after surviving or would they simply go back to how they were, comfortable in the knowledge that they lived?" 

Eliza shook her head. 

"As idiotic as it is to think about right now, the world will go on after the coming invasion. People will be left to pick up the pieces, or they will evacuate to the other cities and tell the tales of the day Onyx burned down. If the former occurs though," Eliza smiled wrily. "I wonder if the citizens of this city will still, ehm, dislike me, as much as they currently do. It's nothing I should be concerned with at the moment, but I can't help but wonder about it." 

The clanging of Ash and Yumi's weapons sounded off in the background. Eliza remained silent for a while before she looked over at Satsuhiro. 

"Have they changed at all?" She asked. 

"Hm?" 

"Your students. I assume you've been with them since before these invasions started. Have you seen any such change in them?" Eliza asked. 

"..." Satsuhiro looked away. "It's not my business to say." 

"And yet that response says enough," Eliza chuckled.

The training continued for a couple of hours. Eliza and Satsuhiro's conversation died down after that, and Eliza had temporarily left. She came back, however, just as Keiko and Yumi were finishing up their own session. Yumi was taking long, deep breaths at this point, and Eliza walked over to her. 

"Is it safe to say you're done for the day?" 

"Heh," Yumi nodded. "Yes." 

"Good. Then," Eliza looked at the three girls, all of which had been given a workout by the masked Zayama. "I believe it might be time to take a look at that demon you captured. I will only be needing her though," Eliza pointed at Ash. "The rest are free to leave." 

"Does that mean I'm *not* free to leave?" Ash quickly asked with a raised brow. 

"You are, but," Eliza put her hands behind her back, "I did offer that armor upgrade. Do you not want it?" 

"Hm. Just checking if this is still a trade and not some fucked up extortion or something," Ash replied. 

"I see. Very well, come." 

"Uh, good luck," Kaori said to Ash. 

"Yeah." 

With that, Ash and Eliza left. Satsuhiro walked over to Keiko and Kaori, tapping his crutch against the stone floor. 

"We can wait outside again," he let them know. 

"Right," Keiko nodded and so, they left the room. 

---

Ash

"What exactly do you want me to do with that thing?" Ash asked as she and Eliza walked through the halls of the Grey Chamber, to the room where Eliza had kept the demon. 

"Fight it," Eliza stated. "I wish to record its abilities, techniques, strategies. See how they think in combat. My hope is that doing so will allow us to prepare just a bit more thoroughly for the future. Our soldiers will never be on even footing with them, but knowing what to expect should help at least a little." 

Ash nodded slowly. It didn't sound too unreasonable. Her only issue with this plan was that she felt like knowledge regarding the demons and how to fight them wasn't really something that could be built through study. No, she felt like you had to feel it. See the ravenous beasts in front of you, feel the weight of their power trying to take you down. Only then could someone really get a sense of what they were going up against. 

"We're here," Eliza said, opening up an old brown door. Inside was the Lust demon that Ash had caught earlier, alone, chained to the wall at the back. It looked up when Ash walked in and smirked. 

I am going to smack that shit off of your face so hard... The half-demon thought. 

"Do you need anything?" Eliza asked. "Or, are you ready to begin at this very moment?" 

"I can start now," Ash replied.

"Very well," Eliza nodded, taking a couple of steps back. "Go ahead then." 

Then, a few guards who had been walking behind them went up to the demon and cautiously let her loose. They retreated immediately, though the Lust demon made no efforts to move. Instead, for a while, it simply sat there, on the ground, looking up at Ash. 

The half-demon walked up. She wasn't going to use a weapon here, as the point wasn't to kill the demon and she was more than confident she didn't need one anyway. This thing was several levels lower than her, after all, not that Eliza needed to know that. 

As Ash approached, the demon finally stood up. Ash readied herself, expecting the demon to attack, but instead, it strutted over to her, that smirk fixed on its portrait. Ash narrowed her eyes at it as it approached, her fists clenched by her side. Her heart was racing for some reason. 

The demon put its hands on her chest, looking up at her seductively. Oh. Ash thought as she realized what was happening. It wants to fuck.

And then Eliza spoke up. 

"... Is something wrong?" 

The instant Eliza said that it was like the demons Ash knew and had been fighting for a few months now finally showed up, because the Lust demon turned towards Eliza, snarled, and tried to run past Ash. 

Keyword being "tried". Ash picked the demon up before it could reach the Lord and slammed it to the ground. Ash found herself snarling at the demon as she kept a hand on its neck, keeping it held down. 

The demon tried to squirm but Ash's hold was too tight. 

And then, casually, it went right back to that earlier strange look, smirking at Ash from below as the half-demon kept it down. 

The demon licked its lips and Ash sighed, standing up. 

"Put it back in its restraints," Ash told the guards standing by the door. 

"Hm? What's the matter?" Eliza asked. 

"You'll have to get your soldiers to fight it or something," Ash said as some soldiers grabbed the creature and placed it back where it had been. 

"You can't fight this thing?" Eliza asked, skeptically. 

"I... It's more like the thing doesn't want to fight me, for whatever reason," Ash responded. "Yeah, sorry." 

Ash was about to head out, seeing that she was seemingly done here when Eliza stopped her. 

"...?" Ash raised a brow at her. 

"... There are more ways to test this thing than fighting. If it's showing strange behavior around you, that's worth looking at too," Eliza said. "How about after tomorrow's lesson with the shrine maiden, we give something else a try?" 

"What do you have in mind?" Ash asked. 

"... I'll let you know later. For now, you're right. One of my soldiers will have to be the ones to test this." 

And both soldiers looked at each other, scared out of their minds as Ash left the area.