Moonlight Demon

Ash

Fortunately, Bin had not lied to her, and the path he'd told her about eventually led Ash back to the top of Amber. Here, with her  Lust on her waist, Ash walked north, to leave the city and put her time to good use. This little interruption in her day was already too wasteful to her. She needed to make every hour count. 

She exited the city about a dozen minutes later, with the eyes of the strangely-armored guards always on her. Ignoring them, she unfolded the map in her hands and looked in it to see where the churches were. 

Okay. So, where do we start?  She asked herself.  So... the alchemist had said that the sand reavers would be the easiest thing to find, and they were out east. There's one church right around there, so... Maybe I should go ahead and make the trip. 

Figuring that this was a good enough plan, she began heading east. 

It took a while before any real differences started showing up in the landscape, but soon, she noticed how the dirt began taking a clearer, brighter color and the vegetation was growing scarcer. The ground she was walking on became far less firm, and ahead, there were barely any buildings save for one small cube-like structure in the distance, and a lot of broken-down walls and ruins poking out of the sand. 

Guessing that's one of the old churches I'm looking for. 

Ash took a step and nearly slipped, cursing the sand she was walking on as she started heading toward it. 

Mm... Fuck. I forgot to bring some water, the half-demon thought as she felt her mouth dry up a little. 

She surprised herself when that thought popped up in her mind. Before she'd become a Savior, she would routinely go entire days without eating or drinking anything. Now, though, she had gotten so used to having full meals every day that these sorts of thoughts came naturally. It was unsettling. 

Am I getting soft?  She wondered, glaring at nothing in particular.  Whatever. Just focus. 

Still, now that she had that realization, she couldn't push it out of her skull. She tried her hardest though, as she got closer to that distant building, and when she arrived, she found a place with so many holes in its walls, that Ash wondered how the building was still standing. Entering the place, it was so old and dusty inside that she coughed twice before spotting the altar at the back. Seeing it, Ash walked up. 

So... Is the process for activating these the same as before? With Magia's? Since Lumina told me to do this, I'm guessing I can activate them... Let's give it a shot. 

Taking a deep breath, Ash knelt in front of the altar, put her map down beside her, and placed her hands on it. Waiting, she felt her chest burn for a second, almost painfully, and the altar then started glowing. Just as soon as it had it stopped and Ash was done, backing up as the glow faded. 

Okay, Lumina. There you go,  Ash thought as she picked her map back up, turned around, and started to walk out of the building. But, as soon as she did, she saw something up ahead. 

What the hell?  Ash narrowed her eyes, as the sand in the air made it harder to see what that was. However, after a while, she realized those were people. 

And, they were running away from something. Something huge, following right behind them. 

Hm. Wait, is that...?

Ash dropped her map on the ground and started running forward. She got her hopes up, wondering if that was a sand reaver that was chasing them. Putting aside all of her strange feelings regarding what Keiko wanted to do, feelings she didn't quite understand, she moved as quickly as she could. 

The sand made it harder, of course, as her footsteps sunk a little just like they had at Sapphire with the snow, but still, Ash moved fast. 

The people running saw her approaching and ran toward her, hoping she represented their salvation. The monster became clearer. As soon as she saw it, she guessed this wasn't what she was looking for, provided that "sand" reavers were supposed to look anything like the regular reavers she'd fought at Sapphire. 

No, this creature resembled a giant snake, swimming through the ground itself with a wide grin on its face as it chased after the group of people. 

... Dammit,  Ash said, stopping just in front of them.  Still, maybe some easy EXP, I guess.

"Spear," Ash said, transforming her  Lust. Her weapon, a gold, and black polearm took form in her hands and Ash got in position, as the civilians ran behind her. 

Level 48

MP: 400/400

Hm... Don't underestimate it though, Ash told herself, as she recalled her fight with Sinneah, which was far harder than it should have been. Granted, she felt like part of that was because she still wasn't used to fighting intelligent beings, but still. She'd learned her lesson. 

Her own status currently looked like this: 

Level 72

MP: 330/330

EXP: 185/720

---

STR: 50

DEX: 30

CON: 34

INT: 22

WIS: 33

L: 100

Even with that 20 level gap, Ash wasn't about to get caught off-guard again. 

... May as well see how my new tricks do against this thing. Let's do this.

And so, Ash put her spear aside with her left hand, leaving her right hand free, as she remembered what she'd seen when she first learned the  Divine Spear ability she'd picked up recently. 

Tomoe's Divine Arts

1. Divine Spear (Light)

Compressing the connection between yourself and your chosen deities, and turning it into a physical object, raise a hand and allow this sign of faith to appear in your palm. This ability's power is directly proportional to your connection to your chosen deities.

Mana Cost: 0

Incantation: None

(None of Tomoe's Divine Arts require mana or incantations, but overusing them will wear you out, regardless of your Constitution.)

She closed her eyes as the snake-like creature approached, taking a deep breath. She raised her right hand up, narrowing her eyes at the snake as it widened its mouth, aiming itself at her.

A beam of blinding white light formed in Ash's hand, and she threw it forward. Her  Divine Spear flew through the air, landing in the snake's mouth and exploding, sending out blood spurting out into the air. 

It screamed a terrible sound as Ash ran toward it. With her spear, she stabbed through its body and the snake began flailing, nearly hitting Ash as it writhed. The half-demon's response was to pull her spear out, take a step back, and raise her right hand again. 

Taking a deep breath, she felt her heart racing as she allowed another spear to form in her hand, and she threw it forward a second time. This time, the spear struck the snake's body, and she saw a chunk of it be destroyed in the resulting explosion. 

Performing this technique was easy for her. Almost natural. She wondered if this was because of her specific connection to Magia, or if any Savior would have this much ease with this ability. 

At the same time though, she could feel that her body had gotten much heavier.  Shit... Using that spell twice is enough to make me feel like this?  She wondered. 

Remembering how Sinneah fought her, her respect for her rose a little. She had used her own techniques from Tomoe's Divine Arts frequently in that fight and every fight with the monsters after that. If she was feeling like this throughout all of it then that woman was simply a workhorse. 

The snake was still alive though, and Ash had to finish it off. 

She ran up with her spear, willing her body to move forward, and stabbed through it with as much strength as she could put into the blow. 

The result was that, despite the snake's thick, wide, body, Ash's spear pierced it and came out the other side. Ripping it out quickly, Ash hopped back a few steps as the snake let out another scream and finally fell to the ground, where Ash then walked up to its head and ended its life.

EXP Gained: 40

EXP: 225/720

Yeah,  Ash told herself, gonna take plenty of more fights like that to level up a bunch. 

"Y-You killed it!" A man stated behind her as Ash reverted her spear. 

"We're saved!" A woman cried out after that and Ash sighed, turning toward them.  Okay, now I go back to the church, grab the map, and...

However, she stopped when she got a good look at them. 

Three individuals. A mother, a father, and a baby in the man's hands. Only, the woman had two horns on her head and the same violet eyes that Ash had. Her hair, a little shorter than Ash's, was also the same exact shade of white. 

Ash froze. 

The kid in the man's hands wouldn't stop crying as he rocked it back and forth. The woman walked up to Ash and hugged her, even as Ash remained still. She couldn't think. Her mind went blank as she saw this scene in front of her. 

"How can we repay you?" The woman asked. Ash just stared at her. Her eyes darted back and forth between her, the man, and the child. "We don't have much, but, maybe you'd like some water?" 

"I..." Ash said, opening her mouth and feeling her heart ache a little. She caught herself tearing up, and Ash looked down at herself, confused. 

What the fuck is wrong with me?

"Y-Yeah. That... That would be fine," she finally answered, with a quiet voice.