Chapter 309 – Vol. 5 –

Ash

Almost as soon as the half-demon had arrived back at the encampment, the attacking demon forces retreated. Ash didn’t get much of a chance to help anyone, beyond a couple of demons she managed to kill before she reached Sinneah. Because of that, as she looked around, she saw so many human bodies scattered around that she wondered how many soldiers they even had left. 

“Lumina’s caress, for those in need, let them feel the touch of pure kindness,” Ash muttered, placing her hands on Sinneah as she looked around and searched for everyone else. 

Shit. Yeah, there’s no way around it, I got tricked. Fuck, she thought, as she saw some of the soldiers helping each other up and healing one another.

All around them were bodies and bloody patches of grass, indicators of how she hadn’t arrived soon enough. 

In one of the tents, she could just barely see Keiko standing around a few soldiers, with Yumi next to her. 

“Are you okay?” Ash asked the draconic woman. 

“Yes,” Sinneah replied, though she kept her eyes low. 

“Alright, I’ll be back in a bit, then,” Ash told her, before walking over to that tent.

As she arrived there, she found Yumi and Keiko with similar downcast looks to the one Sinneah had. Satsuhiro was speaking to the general with crossed arms and an annoyed expression. It wasn’t hard to tell that the fight hadn’t exactly gone their way. It was especially depressing though to see Keiko look up at her and give her a short smile, as she seemed to push through the pain she’d been dealt. 

“What happened?” Ash asked. 

Satsuhiro heard her and turned to respond. 

“I think it should be pretty obvious,” he said. “Niven noticed you had gone into the portal and took the opportunity to attack the camp.” 

“Yeah, I can put two and two together on that, what I mean is how did we lose this badly?” Ash asked as she got closer. “Most of those demons were around level 20. The only one who was any higher was the Nightmare, but even that one was only level 60. How did it beat us like this?” 

That had been the most surprising thing, for Ash. To see Sinneah with one hand cut off, beaten by a creature she should have had the advantage against. That, she couldn’t make sense of. 

“That Nightmare kept some of our strongest, Keiko, Yumi, and Sinneah, distracted while the other demons fought the soldiers,” Satsuhiro said. “As for how it won against them, I really don’t know either,” Satsuhiro shrugged. “My attention was on helping the soldiers, and even then, most of them got wiped.” 

“It didn’t overpower me,” Yumi quickly interrupted. Everyone’s eyes went to her, as the woman relayed what happened. “It was not faster than me either. I…” 

She sighed, sounding so defeated that Ash was taken aback by her tone. 

“I do not know. We were fighting, and, at one point, my Spirit Eye showed me something that ended up being incorrect. That was how it cut me.” 

“The same thing happened to me,” Keiko added. “Though, in my case, it was definitely a lot faster than I was.” 

“So, this Nightmare can bypass the Spirit Eye?” Satsuhiro asked, raising a brow. 

“I would say so, yeah,” Keiko nodded. “Though, I have no idea how it did it.” 

“It had the same eyes as you,” Sinneah told them, as she arrived at the tent, walking in from behind Ash. “At a point, during our fight, it took its blindfold off and showed them. I noticed that before I lost.” 

At that, the group remained in silence for a few seconds. 

“A Zayama Nightmare?” Keiko asked in a quiet voice. It was a fairly chilling thing to come across. Even to Ash, a Nightmare that could use the Spirit Eye wasn’t something she took lightly. 

However, as they made note of that, the general stepped in. 

“We can go over the specifics later, but, for now, we need to face a few important facts,” he stated. “The retaking of the city is going to have to be postponed, at the very least. We lost over half of our regular army.” 

“… So, what now?” Ash asked. 

“We wait for reinforcements to come in,” Satsuhiro pitched. “We let the Royal Council know about this new Nightmare as well. If this Nightmare was once some Zayama Savior, maybe they could give us some insight into its weaknesses.” 

At the mention of the Royal Council, the general took a sharp breath and looked her way. Something that Ash noticed but didn’t make a big deal of. 

“How long will that take?” Ash asked the general who’d just glanced at her. 

“A week or two,” he told her. “Once more soldiers get here, with the portal closed, we can begin the siege properly. Doing so now, however, would be too risky. Especially if there’s a Nightmare on the loose who can even give our strongest some trouble.” 

“If I find that thing, I’m pretty sure I could take it out,” Ash shrugged. “That’s probably why Niven made them back off once I got here.” 

“In that case, all Niven would have to do is keep that Nightmare as far away from you as possible, and it could still destroy our whole army,” Satsuhiro informed her. “With how fast it is too, it doesn’t sound like it would be too hard for it either.” 

As they spoke about the creature, Yumi had a glare on her face that only got stronger with every word. 

“So, it’s settled, then,” the general said. “We send out some letters, ask for more soldiers, and maintain this position until we get them. You’ll probably have to remain with us too,” he told Ash, “as it was your absence that made him attack.” 

“… Are you saying this is my fault?” Ash asked in a low voice. “You guys were the ones who wanted the portal down, to begin with.” 

“I meant no accusation by it,” he replied quickly. “I apologize, Savior. I was just pointing out a fact.” 

“… Sure,” Ash replied, letting out a deep sigh. 

“Well, I should go back to the soldiers and see how they are. Let me know if you want to discuss anything,” he told the group, before bowing and walking out of the large tent. 

As soon as he was out, Yumi clenched her hands into fists and said: 

“I swear, if I get another chance at it, I could beat that demon. I just… I was surprised.” 

“It’s okay,” Keiko replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We didn’t know it could do that before. Now, we know.” 

“…” Yumi nodded. “I… I’m going to walk.”

With those words, she gently shrugged off Keiko’s hand and left. Sinneah followed after her, almost as soon as she departed, while Ash turned to look at Satsuhiro. 

“Where’s everyone else? Opah, Luvine, Metsumi, Kasumi.” 

“I suppose they’re all at the same tent as before. I checked in on them earlier,” Satsuhiro said. “As soon as the fighting stopped. We should probably make sure they’re alright.” 

“Yeah.” 

Keiko stood up and followed, as the three of them went to a different tent. Here, they found Metsumi with both Opah and Luvine at her sides, hugging them close as some of the healers tended to a few wounded soldiers. 

Initially, Ash worried that it might not be okay to show the girls the gruesome injuries some of these men and women had sustained, but then she remembered how bad things looked outside and figured this was probably the better alternative. 

Of course, she walked over to where Luvine was before anything else and crouched down in front of her. Kasumi was also here, standing to Ash’s right, though the half-demon hadn’t noticed her. 

“Doing good?” Ash asked the younger half-demon. Luvine nodded. 

She didn’t look too scared, actually. She didn’t look frightened or as horrified as one would expect a girl of her age to look when surrounded by the effects of a deadly battle against monstrous creatures. 

Even as her eyes drifted to the soldiers being tended to, she didn’t seem scared, instead, she just looked tired. 

“Okay,” Ash sighed. “So, how did things go on your end?” She asked Kasumi. 

“As well as they could,” the woman shrugged. “Though, one thing this did let me know is that I need some upgrades to my Illusion magic. The spells I’ve been using up until now are fine, but they’re lacking a bit of power.” 

“Did you use the Primordial Spell?” Ash asked. 

“That spell is a single-target ability,” Kasumi replied, shaking her head. “There was no point in a situation like this.” 

“Gotcha.” 

As that was said, everyone fell quiet. Around them, the hums of healing magic and the groans of wounded combatants filled the air, along with the stench of blood, both human and demonic. 

… I can’t be so careless,  Ash thought, as she looked around at everyone.  But, I could have never seen this kind of shit coming. It’s way too… I dunno, mental, for me. Even with all of my levels, if Niven keeps using strategies like these, I’ll lose all the same. We need to deal with that. But, how? And, who?

Her mind was blank for a few seconds then until she found an answer.

And, on that note, she spoke to Satsuhiro. 

“Satsu,” she said. 

“Hm?” He looked up at her, after having said a word to Opah. 

“… Look,” she started, with a self-pitying look. “I’m dumb as shit. Niven took full advantage of that here, and if someone doesn’t try to think about this kind of stuff before we make moves, we’ll keep getting beaten. I’m just saying this cause, well, you’re the smartest guy I know,” Ash shrugged. “There’s a whole other side to this stuff that I am never gonna be good at. I need you to come through for us on that front. Can you?” 

Satsuhiro, ordinarily a man who didn’t show much emotion, looked stunned to hear that. Keiko gave Ash a strange look that she noticed out of the corner of her eyes, but Ash kept those eyes on the other Savior. For just a second, he smiled a little, but that curl of his lips went away as soon as it had come. 

“I understand,” he nodded.. “I’ll try my best.”