The region north of the Great Demon Road was a hilly and wooded region with many small streams, small lakes and springs. The groundwater flew out from several natural springs at the foothills forming several small streams. Somewhere in this region, seldom visited by demon or human, was a small waterfall plunging down into a crystal clear lake surrounded by cliffs and trees. Only very few knew of this isolated location. A naked white haired girls stood under the waterfall washing incrusted blood and other debris out of her hair. Her eyes were closed while she concentrated on her surroundings. She had already sent out several mana waves to confirm her suspicion.
'There are two. Probably spies or hunters. They seem to get ready to attack me. Good.'
Luna's cloths laid nearby drying in the sun. She really didn't want to pursue them naked through the woods, so she was happy that they decided to attack her. Her sword was in the water at her feet. This wasn't the first time she was attacked while bathing. She had lived a long time on the demon continent always on the run so she was already used to it. They wanted to attack her from behind but something so simple wouldn't work on the human hero Luna. She was one of the strongest and most experienced beings in whole Kalar.
The two arch demons, coated in mana, attacked her. Their plan was to capture the weak looking human and get information out of her for their general, Arkor. But they severely underestimated Luna. She griped her sword lying at her foots and teleported directly in front of one of the demons her sword pointing at his heart. The demon hadn't expected that the human would suddenly appear in front of him with a sword. He wasn't able to stop his momentum and was skewered on Luna's sword. She pulled out her sword from his chest and immediately attacked the second demon. He wanted to retreat but couldn't under the relentless strikes of the human girl. They've exchanged blows several times and Luna had the upper hand but couldn't land a fatal hit. The arch demon was already bleeding from several wounds and Luna would have liked to us 'Blood magic - [Burst]' to kill him but unfortunately her sword was mired with the blood of the first arch demon so her secret technique couldn't be invoked.
"Blood magic - [Necrosis]"
This magic destroyed the tissue around the open wounds of the demon causing sever pain in the process and slowing his ability to parry Luna's sword slightly down. This gave Luna enough time to inflict a small wound on the wrist of the right hand holding his sword.
"Blood magic - [Necrosis]"
Now his right hand was decomposing. The next blow of Luna's sword sent the demon's sword flying. The now unarmed demon was quickly hacked to pieces in a fluent ultra fast motion of Luna's sword.
'I need another bath...'
She looked at the former pure crystal clear lake. The blood of two demons slowly mixed with the water and two bodies, one in one piece and the other in several, swam in the water. It looked like the least appetising soup of all time.
'somewhere else.'
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After her first encounter Luna met another group with two arch demons. By now it was clear that they were searching for something and this something was probably the human army that has destroyed Irk.
'They moved faster than I expected. It hasn't been four days since the annihilation of Irk. I have a bad feeling about this.'
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The original plan was to met her army at the ruins of Nar but she decided to hurry and find them as soon as possible instead. They could be in danger if arch demons are roam the region. Luna had expected that they would just follow the Great Demon Road and not search trough the whole region.
She was now running through the hilly grassland into the forest south of the ruins of Nar. Originally she had planned to go across a secret mountain pass in the north since this was the fastest way to her destination. Then she saw to her surprise Carla following an arch demon. Suddenly the arch demon stopped and tried to catch Carla off guard with his sword in her trajectory.
'Oh, no!'
Luna immediately used her mana to teleport in front of Carla and activate defence magic.
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Carla saw Luna's face in front of her eyes but this wasn't an illusion or dream as she first thought but the real Luna. Her left arm was embracing Carla around her hip and she held her right arm protectively above Carla's head directly in the trajectory of the sword. Her arm was emitting pale blue light, probably from a defence spell Luna has casted at a moments notice. But it wasn't enough. The sword has dug deep in her right forearm. It seems as if it has stopped at the bone.
"I've reached you in time."
"Luna?"
Luna was trembling and tears formed in her eyes.
"Carla!! What are you doing?! You promised me to not do anything dangerous and let the soldiers fight!"
Luna was angry. She had nearly lost Carla. If she would have been only a few seconds slower Carla would have died. She felt terror and fear well up within her.
The arch demon was taken back and didn't know how to react. Should he use the moment of distraction to kill both of them? But the mission was more important. He turned around and wanted to flee. Luna yelped a bit from pain when he pulled his sword out of her arm but she has been through worse. With a pained expression she took out a dagger from her belt and threw it to the neck of the demon that tried to escape. The dagger irrupted into the demon's nape killing him instantly.
"Luna! Your arm! We need to patch it up immediately!"
"Don't worry it's just a little flesh wound."
"No, it's not!"
Luna looked with a tired smile at Carla and suddenly hugged her with all of her strength she had left.
"I'm so happy you are ok! I thought for a moment I would loss you." 'too' she added in her thoughts.
Tears flew down her cheeks. She ignored the pain from her badly injured arm, she ignored Carla's anxiety about her wound and the dead demon as well as the whole situation. All her bottled up feelings like the fear of losing Carla, self-hate for putting her in danger and her insecurities surged up within her.
'I'm the reason Carla almost died. It's all my fault. I allowed her to come with me on this mission. Why did I make such a stupid decision? I guess, subliminally I didn't want to be alone. Why am I so weak? I don't want to be weak anymore. I can't be weak. I must protect Carla, even if it hurts.'
She used her left hand to rub away her tears.
'I cried again. You make me so weak, Carla.' she thought with a wry smile.