Moonlight Demon

Ash

The following morning, the New Age Inn was as tense as it had ever been. Ash and the others were having breakfast downstairs, and instead of the cheery early-day conversations and laughs that would be happening at this time, everyone in the building was silent. All Ash could hear was the occasional "can I get you something?" by one of the workers. Even Caroline, who gave Ash the impression of being just as energetic as Kaori, had an anxious look on her face. 

It wasn't hard to guess what they were all thinking, of course. 

They're probably wondering how long it'll be before the demons show up here,  Ash thought. 

"All in all, a total of 131 soldiers were eliminated last night," Satsuhiro said in a low volume, as he finished reading a letter that had arrived for them just a couple of hours ago. 

"Oh..." Kaori said, saddened by that. Ash wasn't surprised. They'd seen the fighting first-hand, and those soldiers were simply not prepared for what they had to deal with. 

Beside Ash, Keiko was eating some corn-based cereal in silence. Beside her, Kaori hadn't even touched her noodles. Ash's eyes alternated between them every couple of seconds. 

"So," Ash spoke up, "what was that about then? What did Niven want to get out of  these fights?" 

"Most likely his goal is to weaken the city's forces before the real siege happens. Either that or this is how he plans to take the city. One skirmish at a time until all of Onyx has fallen." 

Considering how badly Onyx's forces had been beaten, Ash didn't doubt that either of those strategies could work for Niven. 

"By the way," Satsuhiro continued, "Eliza wants us to head over to the Grey Chamber to help with making a plan since she's expecting Niven to do the same thing tonight." 

... Could he literally just do this throughout the entire week? Until the portal's influence covers the whole city? 

Ash sighed. That sounded like far too much work. 

"It's probably not a good idea to head out and farm for now," Satsuhiro added. "For all we know, Niven might attack again before the night comes." 

"So, what do we do then?" 

"We could train with Yumi," Keiko pitched in. "Taking it easy, of course. Nothing too hard, just enough to stay fresh." 

"You'd be risking tiring yourselves out before the fight but, if you can convince Yumi to go easy on you, then sure. That's an option. Of course, now that I think about it," Satsuhiro scratched his chin, "considering how Niven isn't using his full power yet... You could take this as an opportunity to farm too." 

"... Yeah," Ash nodded. "Those demons were a bit tougher at their base levels than the ones in Sapphire, but yeah. I think we could do that." 

"Alright then. A carriage will be here in a bit to take us over there. Collect yourselves before we head out, they'll probably want to probe your minds a bit." 

The rest of the breakfast was mostly spent in silence as everyone was deep in thought. Even Metsumi seemed like she had a lot on her mind, most likely wondering what she'd do with Opah while this whole situation sorted itself out. As Satsuhiro had said, a vehicle arrived before long, and Ash, Kaori, Keiko, and Satsuhiro all got in it to head over to the Grey Chamber. 

Outside, things were just as Ash had guessed they'd be. People were speaking to each other with panicked eyes, others with stoic acceptance, and some of the peasants looked like they were just waiting for their time to come. 

"Wow..." Kaori said as she looked outside as well. "Where will they all go?" 

"Same as Pearl and Sapphire, the Lord will likely pick a place and keep them all there till the fighting passes. The issue is that this time, the fighting could last an entire week," Satsuhiro replied. 

"So?" Ash asked. 

"That means that, with so many people holed up in one place for that long, there's plenty of time for the citizens of this city to go crazy. Especially if the fight outside doesn't turn out well." 

Indeed, Ash imagined that if she hadn't been "blessed" with these skills and abilities, and she was forced to wait for possible death in some dark room with a bunch of other sweaty, nervous people, she'd probably go crazy too. 

Eventually, the carriage reached the Grey Chamber, where many citizens were standing outside its gates yelling at the guards standing in front of them.  What the hell?  Ash asked herself as she looked around. 

"Get us out!" A civilian yelled. 

"The city is falling, let us out!" 

Cries like that rang out all around them, even as the Saviors got off the wooden vehicle and walked up to the palace. They were allowed in, of course, and led to where Eliza was sitting with a few knights, at a table that had been placed in the middle of the main hall. 

The Saviors sat down and Ash prepared to be bored out of her mind for the next hour or two. 

"So," Eliza opened as they arrived, "the god of death has a different strategy this time around. You were out there, right?" She asked them and the girls nodded, "what do you make of this?" 

Ash thought about that for a second. 

"Whatever plan you had needs to be sped up if you want to have a shot at winning," Ash muttered. "That's pretty much it." 

"How strong were they? Those demons," a knight asked. 

"Around level 30," Ash replied. "Your soldiers had no idea what they were going up against. Well, hopefully now they know."

"Level 30..." The knight took a shuddering breath. "Each one is as strong as a veteran soldier." 

"With forces like that, we stand no chance at the edges of the city where our defenses aren't even properly set up," another one replied. "Milady, I suggest we evacuate the perimeter and instead set up stronger defenses deeper into Onyx." 

"You suggest we hand over a large part of the city?" Eliza asked. "We'd be allowing ourselves to be surrounded. We might gain a slight positional advantage, but the trade-off is too much." 

"The point wouldn't be the position, so much as just buying time, milady. Our smiths are in the process of creating machines and ranged weaponry we can use to defend ourselves, but they aren't ready." 

And so, they continued arguing back and forth while Ash started to tune them out while she tried to think of ideas on her own. 

She yawned and thought about the portals. 

I could close one or two, but... If the demons inside them are too strong, neither Kasumi or Satsuhiro can help me. I'd basically have to do it alone. Plus, there's also the chance that the one level 80 demon might not have been the only one Niven had. And in that case, I might be running straight into another one like that. Still, with three portals up, this fight seems too hard. Getting just one of them closed would be a huge help. But... 

And then, she remembered something. 

"Satsu," she leaned towards the man and said, as the others continued to argue. Keiko noticed and looked towards her as she spoke. "Vyl, she gave us these potions that increase Strength and Dexterity and Constitution, is there a way to make them stronger?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Like, Vyl said they increase your attributes by 10. Could they be made to raise them by like 15 or 20 instead?" 

Satsuhiro raised a brow at her. 

"Ash, if you're thinking we can just hand out potions like those to every soldier in Onyx or something, I don't think Vyl has the time or resources to do that." 

"What? No, that's not it," Ash shook her head. 

"Okay, then what are you thinking?" 

"I can go into one of those portals and close them. But... I need someone to help me. If I go in alone, I'll probably just get taken out before I can destroy those pyramid things. At the very least, I need someone else to buy space for me. You," she looked down to where his leg was missing, "well, yeah, Keiko's too low level and no one knows where Kasumi is... But," Ash trailed off, turning around and looking over at Kaori. 

"Kaori jumped to level 51," Satsuhiro noted with a nod. "I see." 

"Yeah," Ash nodded as well. "She could probably keep them off me while I go to work. Those potions could probably help with that. It wouldn't hurt to have some stronger versions of them." She turned towards the blonde. "Kaori." 

"Uh, yeah?" Kaori asked, blinking. 

"Can you still do that thing where your attributes go up over the course of a day or something?" 

"Y-Yeah. I haven't done it recently because, well, we never really know when we're gonna start fighting. But, if we're going to start fighting at night I should probably just start doing that every day, right?" 

"Sure, but listen," Ash said, "I need you to come with me." 

"Where?" 

"To close one of those portals." 

Ash said that, and the other knights and nobles around her all heard it. They stopped mid-argument and looked at her. 

"What was that?" Eliza asked. "You want to close the portals?" 

"Not all of them," Ash shook her head. "That's too hard. I want to close one. If we can at least take one of them down, then this whole shitshow becomes a bit easier to handle."

"... The half-demon's not wrong," a knight responded. "If one of our flanks were covered, then some of the pressure would certainly be eased up on us." 

"But, what do you need to go do that?" A soldier asked. 

"Whatever it is, we'll supply it. What do you have in mind?" 

And, at that, Ash looked at Kaori. The blonde appeared nervous, but Ash had made her mind up. 

"I've already got what I need. I just hope she agrees," Ash said lowly. Then, all eyes fell on Kaori. She looked back and forth between everyone, her hands shaking under the table. But, eventually, she nodded. 

"Sure... I'll go with you." 

Ash smiled at that. 

"Thanks."