Moonlight Demon

The next morning, most of the high-ranking officials were gathered along with the Saviors to discuss exactly what they'd be doing about the demon forces. Thankfully, they'd paused their siege, but whatever they did tonight could be the end of Onyx entirely. 

Ash, who was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, sat across from Eliza, with Kaori and Keiko by her sides, as the three of them heard a commander go over a report of the previous night. 

"Approximately sixty percent of the city was lost to the demons," the commander stated with a grim tone. "The demons pushed all the way to the factories, where the defenses managed to push them back. The Anomaly was halted by a barrage of crossbow bolts, but it was still largely unhurt. We... We expect that tonight, too much of the city could be lost to recover from. Even if we somehow won the battle, the damages would be irreparable." 

"The Anomaly," by the way, was what they were calling the level 90 demon. That was, of course, the biggest problem they'd have to deal with. No one in this city, maybe no one in the entire world, was powerful enough to kill that thing single-handedly. Even with Ash and Kaori's powers, the two of them worried that the demon's Con stat would be so high they wouldn't be able to kill it in time. 

That was why everyone was here now. Something needed to be done about that demon and ideas were currently being thrown out. 

"Did someone see which portal the demon went through when it left the city?" A knight asked. "If we know, we could organize some sort of trap for when the demons leave the portal." 

"That information wasn't recorded," another knight replied. 

"... Maybe it's time to consider escaping as our main plan?" Another one asked and the room fell silent for a time. Eliza didn't respond for a while. 

"The only issue is this demon, right?" Eliza asked. "So long as we make an adequate plan to deal with it, the city will be fine. Keep thinking of an answer." 

With that response, the meeting continued. Kaori and Ash barely spoke as the commanders passed around ideas. However, as they continued to discuss what to do, Ash remembered something that Kaori had told her a while back. 

She looked over at the blonde and leaned in a little to whisper. 

"Hey, what were the powers you got before?" 

"What do you mean?" Kaori asked. 

"The ones before the Pearl fight." 

"Oh," Kaori nodded. "Uh... The Mark of Love power, the Sacrifice power, and the Siphoning power." 

"That one," Ash pointed out, "the last one. So, you can give me stats?" 

"Yeah," Kaori nodded. 

"And you can do this one at the same time as the Mark power?" 

"I guess," Kaori replied. 

"... Maybe that's it then," Ash said. Admittedly, this was a pretty big moment considering the implications of this plan she was coming up with, but Ash was so tired she didn't even care. 

Eliza caught the two of them whispering and spoke up. 

"Saviors? Something to add?" 

"... I might be able to fight it," Ash stated, much to everyone's confusion. 

"... How?" A knight quickly adds. 

"So, and listen, I'm sleepy as shit so this could make literally no sense, but what I'm thinking is that Kaori activates her Mark on me right now, gets a bunch of stats from it, and then tonight she siphons them into me and I take that demon on. How does that sound?" Ash asked. 

"... Is that something she can do?" A knight asked. 

"Uh, yeah," Kaori nodded. "I think I should be able to. Though, I haven't used that siphoning power much so I don't really know the rules behind it. But it sounds like it makes sense." 

The people at the table paused. Keiko spoke up next. 

"That might not be as good an idea as you think it is," she told Ash aloud. "I saw this creature fight. It's powerful, but it seems to be just as skilled as it is strong. Even if you can match it in terms of raw strength, there's a chance you could fail on a technical level as well." 

Hearing Keiko say that woke Ash up a little.

"Hm..." Ash looked away for a second. "In that case, I could spend the rest of the day training. The fight wouldn't be happening until way later, right? I could squeeze in enough proficiency to at least not trip over myself in the middle of it." 

"I suppose," Keiko nodded. 

"... This seems like the best idea we've gotten so far," Eliza expressed with a sigh. "As much as I don't want to put our most valuable individual soldier at risk like this, if you carry this plan out the way you describe it, it seems to be viable." 

"Don't get me wrong," Ash told her, "I'd rather you people just swallow your pride and leave the city, but if you don't, I could try that. I'll warn you though," Ash narrowed her eyes at them. "I'm not going to die for any of you. If I see that I can't win the fight, I'm running the fuck away," she shrugged. "So, if I were you, I'd make an escape plan anyway, just in case." 

"Hmph. Noted," Eliza replied, and then she stood up. "Well then, it seems that's the best course of action we've got. Everyone, continue preparing your defenses, Savior, get to training, and let's hope for the best tonight. Good luck." 

Finally, the meeting was over. Beside her, Ash saw Kaori activate her Mark and as the soldiers walked away, the three of them were the only ones left at the table. 

"... That's a dangerous idea, Ash," Keiko said. "I understand that these last powers you got made you far more powerful, but are you sure you can pull this off?" 

"No," Ash quickly answered. "But we have to try." 

"Why?" Keiko asked. 

"Because even if we escape this city, that demon is still going to be there, waiting for us somewhere else. If we don't handle this today, that thing could hurt one of you later and, I can't let that happen. I care about you two way too much." 

Normally, such an admission would have been difficult for Ash to say, but right now, she didn't care. It was how she felt and now that she'd accepted it, it had gotten easier to tell them. 

"... I see," Keiko nodded. "In that case, let's go see Yumi. We need to get you ready for that fight." 

"Before that, actually," Ash said, "I have to go see someone for a second. You guys make your way over there though, I'll be there in a sec." 

"Okay, we'll be waiting for you then," Keiko said and the three of them parted ways. 

Kaori and Keiko went deeper into the palace while Ash walked out to the main hall, where the civilians were currently having lunch in the form of some strange canned foods. Ash looked around and eventually found the kid she was looking for, hiding behind a pillar. 

Luvine had her knees curled up to her chest and her head resting on them. Ash walked up to her and tapped her armored hand against the pillar. The half-demon's head snapped up and she looked at Ash with wide eyes. 

"A-Ash!" Luvine said. "H-Hi..." 

Ash knelt down in front of her, noticing that she didn't have any of that food on her like the other citizens did. 

"Have you eaten yet?" Ash asked. 

"..." At that, Luvine looked away sadly. Before she could answer, her stomach grumbled. 

"Well, have you?" 

"No," Luvine shook her head. 

"Why?" 

"I..." Luvine briefly met Ash's eyes, but she looked away again. That annoyed Ash. She reached over and tilted the kid's head up. 

"No one's gonna respect you unless you make them," Ash told her. "You can start with just looking people in their eyes when they talk to you. Now, why aren't you eating?" 

"... The guards wouldn't give me anything," Luvine answered, tearing up a little. "I-It's okay... I don't need to eat." 

But before she even finished saying that, Ash walked away and marched over to the nearest soldier. 

"Uh, S-Savior!" The soldier saluted her and Ash scowled. 

"Who's in charge of handing out the food?" Ash asked. 

"Huh? Uh, them," the soldier pointed at a trio of people who were standing by a pillar on the opposite side of the room. A table with a few cans of food still left on it was right behind them. Ash narrowed her eyes and began walking over to them. They were laughing about something but that ceased as soon as they saw Ash approaching. 

Ash stood straight and crossed her arms as they all saluted her. 

"So, those last cans. Who are they for?" Ash asked. 

They gave each other nervous looks before one of them, a young girl, answered. 

"Uh... All of the civilians have been fed, so we figured we could... Hold onto them in case anyone wasn't accounted for." 

"Really? Funny you should say that. There's a half-demon over there," she pointed at the pillar behind her. "She didn't get any. Can you go bring some to her?" 

At that, the girl's eyes widened and he chuckled nervously. 

"N-No, I'm pretty sure we gave her her food already." 

"Really? So, her stomach growling was just a demon thing? She wasn't hungry at all?" Ash asked. 

"M-Maybe I'm misremembering..." 

"That might just be the case," Ash smirked at her. "Now, come on. Bring one of those cans." 

"Right," she nodded and followed Ash back to where Luvine was sitting. The half-demon looked up with surprise as Ash returned with the soldier.

"Now, give her the food, and how about you tell her how terribly sorry you are?" 

"... I'm sorry," she said as she handed the can over to Luvine with trembling hands. Luvine looked beyond shocked to see this happen. 

"Good job. Go," Ash said, literally shooing her away, and the girl immediately scurried off. 

"W-Why... You helped me..." Luvine noted. 

"Yeah." 

"Why?" She asked. 

"Cause I felt like it," Ash shrugged. "Now, eat, before you starve to death."