"This... Really... Never gets fun, does it?" Ash said, cutting wood on a stump.
After Ash got her rest and cleared her head up, she found that she'd leveled up twice. She put her four points in Strength and Dexterity, bringing her stats up to this point:
Level 11
MP: 80/80
---
STR: 12
DEX: 12
CON: 10
INT: 8
WIS: 8
L: 100
"If training were fun we'd be out of a job," Satsuhiro commented with his arms crossed.
"I don't know," Kaori said, sitting by the backdoor of the house. "Might not be fun to do, but it's definitely fun to watch!"
"What do you mean?" Ash asked, stopping as she wiped away some sweat on her forehead. Taking deep breaths, she lifted her shirt and cleaned her face up with it. When she looked back at Kaori, she asked: "how can that be fun for you?"
Kaori, blushing, said:
"I can think of something to keep myself entertained." She said with a little smile and Ash raised a brow. Shaking her head, she went back to work.
It had been a couple of days since they'd visited the ruins. The group was still focusing on increasing their power before the next mission arrived, but Ash had Magia's words on her mind.
So, sites of power. She thought as she split another log. And, every time we restore one, the god who the site belongs to gets their power increased. That could help... Ash thought as she stopped for a moment. But, if it was a god that started all of this, Niven, can they be trusted?
"Something on your mind?" Satsuhiro asked.
"Yeah... I saw Magia." Ash told him. Satsuhiro raised a brow.
"What?" He asked.
"Yeah." Ash nodded. "I saw her. A few times now."
"Hm..." Satsuhiro scratched his chin. "I see."
"Wait, what?" Ash asked. "You just believe me?"
"Well, you did ask to go back in the temple. Now, that makes sense." He shrugged. "How did this start? When did it start?"
"Uh," Ash recoiled, not expecting him to be so accepting of that, "when I fought Kaori. How are you so calm right now?"
"Ash," Satsuhiro said, "Magia's existence is not a surprise. Every Savior is chosen by a god, after all. We all operate under the assumption that they exist... Still, for her to speak to you directly. That is impressive, just not entirely shocking."
Ash shook her head.
"Do you know about any other places like that temple?" Ash asked.
"Hm. Not particularly. Actually, no," he shook his head, "there is one temple like that."
"Which one?" Ash asked.
"To the far northeast," Satsuhiro told her. "It's, well, supposedly, the first Lumina temple. Somewhere above Onyx."
Hearing that goddess's name made Kaori look up at them, something that didn't escape Ash.
"Huh..." Ash looked away. That could be a site of power for Lumina, but I don't have anything to do with her.
"Satsu!" Metsumi suddenly called from inside the house. "Another letter!"
Oh, fuck, please, no. Don't tell me it's another mission. Ash sighed.
"Hm. I'll be right back," Satsuhiro told them and walked back inside.
"Well," Ash started, "if it's another mission, I'll want to hear about it." So she followed him in. Metsumi handed him the letter and Satsuhiro quickly opened it. She watched as his eyes traced the paper.
"I'm being called for a meeting."
"What?" Ash asked.
"Saviors. They're gathering together to discuss something." Satsuhiro sighed. "Well, there's a chance they might wanna talk about you and Kaori. I don't know though."
Ash nodded after a moment.
"When?"
"Tomorrow, at Pearl." Satsuhiro indicated. "Though it might take a few days for the others to arrive. It's a ways away from here, but I should be back in a couple of days."
"Gotcha," Ash replied.
---
Kaori
Kaori was walking through the ruins again. All around her, she could see bodies of dead demons. Some had scorch marks on their torsos, others were covered in slashes and cuts. She felt cold.
"A-Ash?" She called out. "Keiko?"
There was no answer. The ruins stretched endlessly, with a grey fog behind her, blocking sight of any way back home. She felt a chill go up her spine as she continued to search for her friends. Eventually, she heard a noise up ahead.
It sounded like Ash.
Kaori jogged forwards.
"Ash!?" She called out. When she got to the source, she stopped. A gasp escaped her, her throat choking up as she saw something terrifying ahead. Varcon was standing over Ash, a sword planted in the half-demon's chest. "ASH!"
She ran forwards, but before she could reach her, something attacked her from the left and she was propelled in the opposite direction. Rolling a few times on the ground, she struggled to get up. What? What she saw were two Nightmares. They were walking towards her, laughing.
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"N-No, no!" She looked for her weapons, but couldn't find them.
One of those Nightmares stood in front of her. It raised a massive sword and swung it at her neck.
And Kaori woke up.
She gasped, sitting up. Her sheet slid down her bare chest as she reached up and felt her heart pounding against it. Her eyes were wide.
She looked around, sighing when she realized it had been a dream.
Covering herself again, she closed her eyes and clicked her tongue, frustrated. Another bad dream. She hadn't told anyone about these, but ever since what happened at Jade, these dreams had been a frequent occurrence.
She would have stayed like that until she went to sleep, but she heard wind whistling to her front.
"What?" She mumbled, sitting up again. "Oh."
The door leading into the fields was open. The cold midnight air was coming in through it. Kaori stood up, going to close it when she found a figure standing ahead.
Is that...?
Ash was in the middle of the fields, her back turned to Kaori. Her head was tilted up like she was looking at the sky.
What's up with her?
Kaori went back to the couch, put her shirt on, and walked outside.
Even though she made a bit of sound coming out, the hybrid didn't seem to notice. Kaori took a few steps closer until she was a few feet away.
"Ash?" She called out quietly, so as to not alert her.
Ash looked back.
"Hey," Ash said, before turning back towards the twin moons in the sky.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
"I was having trouble sleeping," Ash muttered.
"Oh, same!" Kaori told her. "Uh, was it a bad dream?" Kaori asked.
"You could say that," Ash replied. She sighed then and turned towards Kaori. That must have been when she really noticed Kaori because her eyes dropped down and widened when she saw that Kaori was- oh. She thought, looking down at herself. She'd put her shirt on, but hadn't bothered putting her pants or underwear back on.
"Uh," Kaori chuckled awkwardly.
Ash took a deep breath, before turning away.
"I saw Magia," Ash stated suddenly.
"What?" Kaori asked, confused.
"She visited me, in my dreams." Ash continued. "Seriously."
"Then..." Kaori thought back to her own dream. The one where that figure had comforted her. Was that Lumina?
"I saw her back at the ruins too. Remember when I passed out? Yeah. That was why." Ash stated.
"Oh..."
"She said that there were places in the world called 'sites of power' and that if we went there, we could win the fight against the demons. But," Ash sighed, "if those ruins were anything to go by, then yeah, those places are probably covered with demons."
"T-Then," rolling with the information she'd just heard, she said, "let's just tell the older Saviors about them. They'll handle it."
"Maybe we can get them to kill the demons there, but I need to be there too," Ash noted. "Magia picked me. Why? I don't understand, but she picked me. And, yeah, it means I have to go to them."
"Oh. I see." Kaori, hoping she wasn't being too bold, though she accepted that maybe that was a dumb thing to worry about when she was literally standing in front of Ash with her lower half out in the open, slid interlocked her left hand with Ash's right.
Ash turned to look at her, her eyes almost shaking as she looked away again.
"I... I wanted to just, sit back." Ash admitted. "Just collect a paycheck for fighting every now and then. But, it looks like the world doesn't want to let me do that."
Kaori took a step closer, her arm pressing into Ash's own.
"If it's any consolation," she started, "I'll be with you. If you'll let me, I mean."
When Ash turned to face her once more, they ended up just a few inches apart. Kaori looked into Ash's violet eyes. She felt Ash tighten her hold on her hand.
"You are really sadistic, you know that?" Ash whispered and Kaori giggled.
"I'm not trying to mess with you."
Hearing that, Ash nodded.
"Are you..." Ash took another deep breath, one that seemed strained, "if we do this, I'm going to want to go all the way, you know that, right? Keiko's been doing this thing with me and even Magia... Yeah, I'm kind of tired of being teased so much."
It was Kaori's turn to take a deep breath.
"That... You mean..."
"Yeah." Ash cut her off. "Do you want to?" Ash asked.
It didn't take much time for Kaori to find herself nodding in response.
"I just... It feels fast. I mean, I'm attracted to you but..."
"Then..." Ash looked to the side, her eyes flicking down between Kaori's legs. "How about we just see how far we want to go?"
"I..." Kaori was taking deep breaths at this point.
Then, Ash turned to face Kaori fully. Kaori was surprised when Ash grabbed her by the wrists and pushed her back. Kaori stepped back, so as to not trip and fall, but Ash kept going. She pushed her all the way to the side of the house, pressing Kaori's back against the wall. Kaori's heart was pounding in her ears. Ash narrowed her eyes, scanning Kaori's expression. As she started to lean in, Kaori closed her own eyes.
Their lips met and Kaori felt a strong sense of anxiety, mixed with some anticipation. Both sides of her, the side that absolutely wanted this and the side that thought things were moving way too quickly were at war.
When Ash lifted Kaori's arms above her head and pressed a leg between Kaori's own, she felt the side that wanted this winning. Their kiss increased in intensity. It was hard for Kaori to breathe, partly because of how passionate this was turning and partly because of how nervous she was. Ash kept pressing into the blonde, and as they briefly stopped making out, Kaori opened her eyes again.
When she looked at Ash, she gasped.
In front of her, Ash was changing.
Her horns had grown, twisting up into the air. A mark appeared on her forehead of a golden heart. Her eyes were glowing violet and as Kaori noticed that her hands felt different on her wrists, she looked at them and noticed that they had changed into their demonic form.
But Kaori had seen Ash's Demon Form a few times now. This wasn't it. It was similar but different.
"Ash?" Kaori asked.
The white-haired Savior didn't respond. At least, not with words. She crouched, placing a kiss on Kaori's left thigh. Kaori bit down on her lips as she saw Ash, but still, she wondered what was happening as a violet aura came out of the hybrid. She looked behind the Savior and was shocked to see a tail growing out of her, breaking through her pants. If Ash knew she was changing, she didn't seem to care much.
"Uh, Ash?" Kaori asked again. The half-demon rose up and Kaori noticed another change. She was taller by at least a few inches. She had to look up to meet her eyes.
Then, Ash took both her wrists with one hand, reaching for her chest with the other. Kaori nearly whimpered as Ash squeezed her chest slightly too harshly.
Both her hands were occupied, and yet, something touched Kaori's inner thighs.
"Huh?" She looked down and found Ash's new tail searching.
Ash raised Kaori's chin up, keeping their eyes connected.
With the two of them looking at each other, Kaori's lips split of their own volition as Ash's tail found her pussy. She tried to say something, without even knowing what, but nothing came out as her throat was too tight.
Ash's eyes were narrowed on her, almost daring her to speak.
When her tail found its way inside, Kaori's spine shivered. Ash's violet aura had grown to the point where it was almost blinding. The last change came as her tail started pushing back and forth inside of Kaori, two small violet wings sprouted from her back.
Her tail was slow at first but sped up in its rhythm as Ash pressed her lips against Kaori's a second time. The kiss muffled a moan from Kaori.
How long they were in this position for, she didn't know. Kaori broke the kiss and pressed her lips into Ash's chest, stopping a moan that likely would have woken up everyone in the house.
It became increasingly harder to do that when Ash bit her neck.
Eventually, though, Kaori was breathing heavily, muffling her sounds until...
"Mmm!" Her body trembled. Kaori was not a virgin. She'd been with some number of people, both men, and women, before. She knew what an orgasm was like, but this felt distinctly different. Maybe it was the slight fear in the back of her head or that she had been genuinely turned on in a way she hadn't been in years. Whichever it was, she had no idea.
When she came back down from whatever heights Ash had gotten her to, she looked at the other Savior. Ash's eyes remained on her. She pulled her tail out of her and took a step back.
"A-Are you okay?" Ash asked, suddenly, taking Kaori's cheeks. "S-Sorry, I don't know what I just, I mean, I..."
Kaori hugged her.
"It's fine." She said, with a hoarse voice. "It's fine. I... I just need some time." Kaori told her. "I need to think about this."
"... Alright."
As the action stopped, Ash's form faded.
And so, as the two of them returned to the house, Kaori went back to sleep.
Only, this time, she wasn't dreaming about archpriests or Nightmares, instead, images of a half-demon Savior haunted her mind for the rest of that night.