Moonlight Demon

Keiko

The night was almost done. A few demons were still fighting, but those monsters met their end soon enough when Keiko's golden sword found their necks. She slashed the head off of one that had been attempting to devour a young soldier and then stabbed another behind her with a reverse grip. 

Giving the area a quick look, Keiko sighed as the fighting stopped. The demons had begun to retreat while the humans who had survived now started to be healed by the mages coming in from nearby streets. 

Keiko turned around, but before walking away, she heard some of the soldiers talking. 

"Did you see her?" A man whispered. 

"Nah, I was too busy keeping demons from clawing my guts out," a girl replied. "What about her?" 

"That's the Savior, the one with the katana... The half-demon's friend or something," the soldier whispered and Keiko sighed. Hearing them talk about Ash reminded the girl that both she and Kaori were currently in some other realm, possibly fighting for their lives. 

"Oh, shit, really?" The girl asked. 

"Yeah. She's amazing with that sword too," the man praised her. Keiko felt nothing but a bit of sickness building up in her stomach.

Please, not now.  She thought.  At least let me get back home first.

"I saw her take out two demons with a single swing, and, I swear, flowers came out of her sword."

"Nah, you're joking." 

"I'm serious! That whole group, they're something else..." The man stated as Keiko walked away. 

It's so cold,  she thought, hugging herself as she made her way back to the inn. Here, she walked in through the front doors and saw that the building was just as empty as before. Understandably, most people were either getting ready to leave the city in its entirety or preparing to hole themselves up somewhere else. 

She saw Caroline making some drinks and when she walked in, the green-haired girl turned to her and smiled. 

"Keiko!" She called out. "Had a good fight?" 

"... Sure," Keiko replied in a low voice. Metsumi, Satsuhiro, and Opah were nowhere to be seen. Ayami and Jino however, were at the back of the inn, speaking to each other. Keiko, with nothing else to do, walked over to Caroline. She sat down at the bar and crossed her legs. "Could I get some water?" 

"Sure thing, love," Caroline replied before serving her a cold glass. 

Keiko took a sip and her stomach felt a little bit relieved. It reminded her of the conversation she'd had with Ash's mother a few days ago. The one where she was told just how problematic this process would be for her. 

"One of the most important things is to keep yourself hydrated,"  Ayami had told her.  "Otherwise, you'll be passing out every couple of hours." 

Apparently, the thing inside of her was greedy like that. So, Keiko made sure to down a few glasses every now and then. 

"Caroline," Keiko started, "aren't you going anywhere?" 

"Do you want me to go somewhere?" Caroline asked with a raised brow. 

"N-No, I mean, with the demons..." 

"Ah, I see," Caroline chuckled. "You're asking why I haven't found myself a nice little vault to lock myself up in?" 

"I guess," Keiko replied. 

"Well, others might find a bit of comfort before they get their faces chewed off by those things like that, but I wouldn't. No," Caroline shook her head, crossing her arms and leaning back against the bar. Her eyes swept over the room, mostly clean with just a few small puddles of what Keiko guessed was alcohol here and there. "I think this is it for me. This right here," she spread her arms, gesturing at the building, "I made this place. Along with my friend, sure, but, I poured everything I've got into this. If I could pick where I'd want to die, even if I can't pick how or when, I'd pick here." 

Just from how she spoke, she could tell that Caroline had already made her mind up on this. She nodded and took another sip from her glass. 

"What about you though?" Caroline asked. 

"Hm?" 

"Are you going to keep fighting? I mean, you've got a bun in that oven," Caroline smirked. "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" 

"Yes," Keiko quickly replied. Her body tensed up a little as she spoke. "I'm a fighter. It's what I know, and it's what I'll continue to do." 

I can't just back out of this now,  Keiko thought.  Not when everyone needs me. Not when I've finally found my calling. 

"Understood, so, how about we do a little relaxin' then?" Caroline asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I still have the musicians' instruments back there, I can play a song or two for ya." 

"Really?" 

"Mhm, I'm an entertainer as well as a bartender, in more ways than one, love." 

Keiko thought about it for a second. Given what happened with Kaori, Keiko was still somewhat annoyed at Caroline, though that previous conversation with Kaori had alleviated that a bit. Still, Keiko had nothing to do right now until Kaori and Ash got back. And she knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep until she saw them safe and unharmed. 

So, she nodded. 

"Sure." 

"Come on then," Caroline gestured for her to follow and she took Keiko to a different part of the inn that Keiko hadn't been to before. 

---

Ash

The two Saviors were walking side by side, up a snowy hill. The violet beams surging up into the sky were ahead, still some distance away. 

As the two went over the hill though, Ash stopped and sighed. 

Of course. 

Ahead, she saw a white city, with a tower at its center taller than any other building and a bridge giving entry stretching from its gates to just a couple dozen meters ahead of where Ash and Kaori were currently standing. 

The pyramids are in this weird version of Sapphire. 

That wasn't the only thing she realized though. She noted that now that she and Kaori were closer, she could tell that the three beams were in separate locations, in different parts of the city. Shivering a little thanks to the cold, she looked over at Kaori. 

"We're almost done, come on, let's keep going." 

Kaori just nodded. 

She'd been fairly silent since the two had left that ruined church. Ash didn't know what to make of that. However, before she could think of anything she could say to lighten the mood a little, she stopped as she heard some snarling in the distance. Actually, it was more like a gurgling. 

What the...?  Ash narrowed her eyes and looked towards the bridge, finding the source. 

Oh. 

"A Gluttony demon," Ash noted as she pointed to a sprawling lump of mass that was currently devouring some soldiers' corpses.

Level 35

MP: 100/100

"It's level 35, which puts it almost to my power level but, we should be able to deal with it if it's alone. It's in the way anyway, so we'll have to take it out no matter what. Let's do this." She told Kaori and the blonde looked back at her, nodding again. 

Ash transformed her  Lust  into her gauntlets and ran forwards. The Gluttony demon noticed her and quickly opened its mouth, dropping the pieces of the people it had been eating and it thrust its tongue out at her. Ash dodged to the left and jumped up, falling onto it with a stab. 

Her left gauntlet went through, but there were two problems. 

Firstly, she had dealt almost no damage, and second, her weapon was stuck in its body. 

Wait.  She thought as she tried to yank it out.  Wait, crap. 

The demon looked down at it with big bulging eyes, and its tongue lunged out again, this time wrapping itself around Ash's right leg. 

Ash looked back. 

"Kaori!" 

The blonde, who had simply been staring at this encounter, shook her head and ran forwards. The Gluttony demon pulled on Ash's leg, trying to yank her out of its body and into its mouth, but now Kaori had arrived and wrapped her arms around Ash's body. She held her in a tight grip and pulled against the demon. 

"Thanks, keep pulling!" Ash told her as she started to stomp on the Gluttony demon's body, trying to get her weapon out. 

As they did that though, Ash heard more growling and saw three Wrath demons coming from further ahead on the bridge, running their way. Okay, come on, come on! 

Ash used her right gauntlet and slashed the demon's tongue, earning a pained squeal from it.

Finally, with a satisfying  sliiink  sound, her blade exited the demon's body and Ash fell back, on top of Kaori. She quickly got back up as did the blonde, just before the Gluttony demon's bleeding tongue tried to wrap itself around her leg again. This time however, Kaori stood between them. The demon's tongue wrapped itself around her instead, but Kaori wasn't moved. Instead, she kept herself steady, immovable as the other demons were approaching. 

Seeing this, Ash knew she had to act. She ran forwards, and this time, targeted the Gluttony demon's head. She walked up its body, literally running up its bloated stomach, and arrived at its head, using her right gauntlet to stab straight through it. This time, the demon died instantly, and removing her weapon was easy.

EXP Gained: 300

EXP: 440/440

Level Up!

She ignored the message though, and that allowed her to jump off and fight two of the other demons that had arrived.

She was pounced on by one, tackling her and bringing her body down. It punched and scratched her face before Ash managed to slash its neck and the first demon fell lifeless on top of her.

EXP Gained: 250

EXP: 340/450

Ash shoved it off and was quickly met with the second demon. This one, as Ash rose up she tackled it and shoved it off the bridge, where the demon fell into the icy waters below. 

I guess that works too. 

Ash looked back as she still heard growling. 

But what she saw, she hadn't expected. Kaori was holding back the remaining demon, her right hand on its neck while the demon tried to take swings at her that did nothing to the blonde. 

Then, Kaori pulled back her left hand, which was not transformed into any weapon but instead was simply a clenched fist. 

And, Kaori punched the demon in the face. Only, her fist went straight through its head. 

Ash blinked. 

Damn. 

Kaori's hand retreated and she stared as the demon fell to the ground, dead. Ash walked up to her. 

"Good stuff," Ash said. "We're hopefully almost done. Let's... Kaori?" Ash asked. 

She was still staring at the demon's body. Kaori shook her head. 

"W-What?" She asked. 

"Nothing, just saying we should keep moving." 

"Oh, yeah." Kaori glanced back at the demon she'd just killed. "Right behind you," she muttered.