Vol. 2 - Chapter 4

Ash

Oh, fuck. As soon as Ash stepped into the portal, she felt her body heat up to an unbearable degree. What's... What the hell is...?

When she looked over at Kaori, her eyes widened.

"Hm." Kaori looked around. "What is this place?"

Ash couldn't care less about that right now.

She walked up to Kaori and put her arms around the Savior.

"Uh, Ash?" Kaori asked. Ash brought her tongue out and licked the side of Kaori's neck as the blonde shivered. "U-Um, Ash?"

"Holy shit, shit, shit," Ash took deep breaths. Her heart was beating fast as she took a hand and brought it down above Kaori's crotch.

"W-Whoa!" Kaori took a step back and gently pushed Ash away. "I... I don't think this is the time or place for that." However, when she looked at Ash, her concern turned to confusion.

"I don't know what's... I feel so fucking horny," Ash muttered.

"J-Just... Try to calm down, please?" Kaori urged her.

Ash shook her head.

What the hell is happening to me? Looking down at her hands, she found them exuding a violet aura.

At that moment, a message appeared over her head.

[Status Effect Gained: Niven's Blessing]

[While in Niven's site of power, all of a demon's attributes are increased]

Attributes? She asked herself, but, that doesn't have anything to do with my lust. Maybe this place affects that too and it's just not showing.

However, now that she was thinking about her attributes, she noticed something she hadn't when she came in. She felt far, far stronger. So, she checked her stats.

Level 11

MP: 300/300

---

STR: 50

DEX: 50

CON: 40

INT: 30

WIS: 30

L: 100

Holy shit. She couldn't comprehend the numbers she was looking at. With the exception of her Luck, all other stats had increased drastically.

Kaori walked up to her, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"So... Are you okay?" Kaori asked.

"I... I think..." She took a deep breath, gulping down some built-up saliva. "I think I can handle this."

"Um... Alright." Kaori backed away, looking around again. "So, where are we?"

Now, Ash took some time to scan her surroundings as well.

"Wait... this is, like, uncomfortably familiar." The half-demon said, looking around. The city they'd entered was almost like a far darker, violet version of Jade. Since Ash had walked that city's streets her whole life, there were things she instantly recognized. The street that rounded to the Spirit Garden's District, the squared homes where citizens would often spit from their windows down at people like her.

In many ways, it was similar, but with key differences. Instead of cracks in the stones produced by age, here there were bloodstains decorating the area. Instead of banners on the walls, pikes were stabbing through human corpses.

"Gah..." Kaori nearly puked when she saw them.

"That's pleasant." Ash sighed, calming herself down. "Well, let's just look around, I guess. The portal's still up, so we'll run out as soon as we see anything too shady."

"Eh, I'd argue this is already pretty shady," Kaori told her, "but yeah. So, is this a demon city or something?" Kaori asked.

"Probably. Either that or, I don't know, some sort of mirror of Jade. Or both." Ash noted as she looked at the buildings. She wondered what would happen if she knocked on any of the wooden doors here.

The pair kept walking north from where they'd appeared until they came to an area Ash knew particularly well. The public square where business was conducted. This had been the same place where she'd spent her money when she first accepted the deal to become a Savior. Honestly, she thought, if you take away all the blood, guts, and violet, it would be sort of nostalgic.

There was a fountain nearby. Jade had a similar one, portraying Magia pouring water below, but this one depicted a man wearing a hood pouring blood. Ash approached it.

"Uhm," Kaori said, her voice echoing, "I think we've seen enough."

"Yeah, agreed, we should..." However, as Ash looked into the blood in the fountain, she narrowed her brows.

"Huh? What is it?" Kaori asked when she noticed her expression change.

"There's someone in there."

"What do you mean?" As Kaori got closer and the two of them looked in, Ash saw a crimson-haired, dark-skinned older woman looking back at them. Who the hell...?

"Did you hear that?" Kaori suddenly asked. Ash was too focused on the image though. The woman started reaching forward, towards her. Ash began doing the same.

But then, she heard it too.

It was a snarling sound. Something animalistic was in the distance, to the west. It wasn't hidden for long though. One of those wooden doors Ash had thought of knocking on earlier swung open and what emerged was a violet-eyed demon. Ash took a deep breath as she looked for its level.

"The forest where we came from was level 1 to 5 so, this thing should be..."

She stopped talking when she saw the number.

Level 25

MP: 110/110

You've got to be fucking kidding me. She thought.

"So, what is it?" Kaori asked.

"It's..." Then, more demons emerged from the surrounding buildings. The snarling became a collective set of growls and threatening groans aimed at them. "Just run," Ash said.

"What?"

"RUN!"

Ash grabbed Kaori by her wrist and the two booked it in the opposite direction. Behind them was the gate that led out of Jade, only, instead of a gate, there was an ethereal wall of violet. Ash reached it and tried to pass through.

"No good," Ash noted. She looked to her right and found a stairway that led to the top of Jade's walls. The two of them ran towards it, with the demons already catching up. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Ash cursed in her mind as she and Kaori ran up the steps. When they reached the top, she closed the door behind them and locked it.

Instantly, a hand tore through the wood and nearly grabbed Ash's head.

"Keep going!"

"R-Right!" Kaori responded and the two bolted through the walls as the door was promptly ripped apart behind them.

Ahead, there was a violet spire of sorts, emitting energy that surged all the way to the sky. Ash narrowed her eyes at it and shook her head. No, focus! She tried desperately to search for any sort of hiding place. What she found was a canal of blood that led out of the city, contained though by the same ethereal wall that prevented them from exiting the city before.

They rounded a second tower that led up to the walls and Ash wrapped her arms around Kaori's body.

Then, she pulled her, and the two of them fell into the canal of blood. It was shallow enough for them to stand in. Kaori was about to do that, but Ash pulled her back down. In the blood, Kaori's eyes widened at her but Ash shook her head. A few seconds passed and then, Ash nodded. When they stood, they took deep breaths. Ash wiped away the blood from her eyes and looked up. The demons had fallen for the trick, continuing to rush through the walls in search of them.

She heard them stampeding on the walls above. Ash put her hands on Kaori's shoulders and the blonde grabbed her wrists. They looked into each other's eyes, equally panicked and relieved.

"I think they're gone," Ash stated between breaths, her eyes briefly dipping to where drops of blood were sliding down Kaori's neck. She had half a mind to tear her armor off and-

She shook her head.

Kaori laughed.

"That was pretty crazy wasn't it?"

"Don't get too comfortable. We're not safe yet." Ash reminded her. "We need to leave. These things are way too strong."

"Oh my gosh," Kaori replied. They got out of the canal, their respective armors dripping blood onto the stone beneath them. "I... Wait," Kaori realized something, "we need to tell Satsuhiro! This portal was right outside his house!"

"Yeah, but..." Ash took a few deep breaths, "something is keeping these things in here." She stated. "Shouldn't we find out what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why haven't they all just left this place? There has to be some reason they're all still here."

"Well, yes," Kaori replied, "but... Do you want to risk something happening? I think we should just leave," Kaori replied. "If we can't fight these things, we could get cornered and, well, yeah."

Ash took her words in. After considering them, she nodded.

"Okay." She replied. "Let's go."

So, she started to look for the portal again.

Now, Ash thought, where the hell was it...? I think the place we came from was the street that leads up to the Spirit Gardens District. The two of them jogged past the buildings they'd seen already, their doors now open as the demons inside had come out.

After a while, they got back to the street where the portal was. It was still there. The demons who had chased them still hadn't caught up. Ash nodded and pointed at it.

"Come on, let's..."

Then, she heard something.

"Chosen." Her eyes widened. A sharp voice spoke in her mind. "Magia. Hybrid. Abomination."

The voice reverberated in her skull, and yet, she could place where it was coming from. It felt like the source was somewhere in the heart of the city, where a grand beam of violet light was erupting into the sky.

"D-Did you hear that?" Kaori asked.

"Chosen. Lumina. Coward. Irrelevant." The voice added.

Who the hell is talking? Ash asked in her thoughts.

"Chosen. Alkoth. Useless. Failure."

Whatever. Ash thought and took a few steps closer to the portal.

"Defeat. Inevitable." The voice added as Ash grabbed Kaori by the wrist and pulled her along.

And so, they both emerged back at the forest.

Taking a deep breath, Ash felt instant relief wash over her as her lust and the weight of the world they were in were erased.

"That was way too scary, come on," Ash told the blonde, "we'll write a letter and it'll be done. Someone else is gonna have to look deeper into that place."

"It..." Kaori looked back at the portal. "Something talked to me."

"Us," Ash corrected her, "I heard it too, and whatever, it doesn't matter." Ash shrugged. Kaori held a worried expression though. "Mostly, I just want to wash this shit off me."

They walked back to the farm, walking in through the backdoor. Their wet equipment left red prints wherever they stepped. As soon as they were in the house, Metsumi peeked over in their direction and smiled.

"You're back!"

"Yeah... Listen," Ash started, "the thing in the forest ended up being a portal. We..."

"Take a shower first, both of you." Metsumi interrupted. "You're getting the floor dirty."

"Okay." Ash nodded. Metsumi retreated back into the living room.

Ash sighed, reaching for the door instinctively.

Kaori did the same.

The blonde's hand ended up on hers. Ash looked to her left, Kaori looked up at her.

"Uh..." Ash raised a brow.

"Go ahead, go ahead." Kaori chuckled awkwardly, taking a step back.

"... Right."

They took turns then, washing before they came out after a bit.

In the living room, Keiko was sitting cross-legged as Metsumi played some strange card game with her daughter. Ash got to the living room first, drying out her hair as she sat down in front of Metsumi.

"So," Ash started, "yeah, the portal in the forest."

"Right," Metsumi asked, "what did you find out?"

"It leads to, I don't know, another world full of demons." Ash shrugged. "The point is they're all super strong and they're way too close to the farm."

"Hm..." Metsumi put a hand to her chin.

"Thing is, there's nothing really keeping them from getting out." Ash shrugged. "My guess is that something wants them in, at least, for now. If that's the case," she sighed, "it could be any day now where whatever is holding them up changes its mind."

"We're gonna need to find someplace else to stay at for a while, huh?" Metsumi understood.

"Yeah, I think so." Ash nodded.

"Oh well," Metsumi replied. "I suppose we could all just meet up with Satsu at Pearl." She nodded to herself with a smile. "Ah, you'll love it there. It's a beautiful little city."

"Hm. I guess." Ash shrugged. "Uh, listen, could... Could you write a letter for me? I'm not very good at writing." Ash told her.

"Sure."

---

Keiko

As the Zayama heard that her friends(?) had returned, she turned her head toward the spot where she heard Ash speaking to Metsumi. The two were currently going over what Ash would report back to the Council. Hearing what they went through though, she wanted to check in on Kaori. So, she stood up and walked to where she heard the girl humming a song to herself, probably getting dressed in what had unofficially become hers and Ash's room.

The door was open. She slowly opened it, asking:

"Kaori, are you okay? Can I come in?"

"Mhm," Kaori replied.

Keiko walked in, taking light steps and remaining near the door. She could smell vanilla in the air. The bed creaked in ahead of her. She put her hands together and asked:

"So, how did it go?"

"Uh..." Kaori chuckled. "Pretty weird. Wanna hear about it or did Ash tell you already?"

"She went over the general stuff, portal, city, voice, blood to wash off." She shrugged.

"Ohhh, then I have a bit to complain about. Come 'ere." She heard Kaori pat the bed. Keiko walked up a few steps and turned, sitting down and putting her hands on her thighs. "Uh, raise your hands please," Kaori said.

"Hm?" When Keiko did, something slightly heavy was laid on her lap. She put her hands back down and ended up touching a nose.

Kaori giggled and Keiko blushed a little, understanding that Kaori had just put her head in her lap.

"You're okay?" Kaori asked.

"U-Uh, yes," Keiko nodded. "So, what happened?"

Kaori went over the events that had unfolded. Keiko listened patiently as Kaori vented a little. The energetic girl laughed every now and then as she relayed the details.

"So, yeah," Kaori sighed, "Ash just grabbed me and we fell into a pool of blood."

"That sounds... quite gross," Keiko replied.

"It was. Insanely so, actually. Anyway, yeah." Kaori continued, "hated it, all in all. Would definitely not recommend that place for a vacation."

"At least you made it out though," Keiko told her and Kaori lightly sighed.

"Yeah. Plus, it gives me an excuse to do this." She sat up, getting off Keiko's lap. Then, next thing she knew, she was being hugged. But that wasn't all. Kaori pushed her down into an embrace on the bed.

"U-Um..." Keiko felt herself turning red as Kaori giggled in her ear.

"You know, this almost makes it all worth it. Mwah!" She kissed Keiko's cheek. It got a little harder for Keiko to breathe. Then, Kaori kissed her a second time, her lips landing dangerously close to Keiko's own.

She thought the other girl would stop there, but then, a pair of plump, soft lips were pressed against her own. Keiko felt a shiver go up her spine as she did what she thought was kissing Kaori back.

Kaori giggled a little as someone walked into the room.

"Well," Ash said, "I was going to try to say something snarky but I don't really have the energy for that right now."

Kaori laughed as Keiko took a deep breath. Ash cleared her throat and continued.

"Keiko," she said, "someone's here to see you."

"What?" Keiko asked, confused. Who could...?

Kaori released her and Keiko got up. The Zayama paced out of the room slowly, walking to the living room with her hands held together in front of her.

"Ah." A recognizable voice said and Keiko gasped. "Keiko."

"Grandmother?" Keiko asked as a cold hand wrapped around her heart. Why is she here?