Moonlight Demon

Keiko

"Keiko, now!" Haruna said as she held down the creature under her. Keiko walked up and stabbed through its head, making sure to use her Spirit Eye to see if it would attack her before she was able to. Her sword slipped through the ghostly body of the enemy and soon, its armor collapsed, falling back to the ground. 

Haruna, breathing heavily, stood up and sheathed her blades, putting a hand on Keiko's shoulders. 

"Good job," she said. 

I should be saying that to you,  Keiko thought.  I haven't done anything. 

It had taken some time before Haruna felt comfortable looking for a way to give Keiko the kill. Once they'd started doing that, Keiko saw a sharp increase in her strength, as even the reduced amount of EXP she shared from the kills was enough to boost her to level 9. Of the 12 attribute points she gained, she placed 6 of them into her Strength and 6 into her Dexterity. 

Level 9

MP: 100/100

Attributes:

STR: 15

DEX: 22

CON: 10

INT: 10

WIS: 10

L: 5

The increase in power was welcome, something she felt when she wrapped her hands around her blade, but she couldn't deny a part of her felt dirty. Still, she reassured herself that the world, and, on a more selfish level, her own ego, needed this. 

Haruna gestured for Keiko to come with her. They walked outside and sat down on a bench nearby. 

"Soon, you'll be fighting that thing on your own. At this pace," Haruna said, "assuming you win, we should be ready to hit the second floor by tomorrow afternoon." Haruna then chuckled. "I haven't put in this much work in a while. When all you do is teach rookies, no offense, but it gets a little boring. I must admit, this is a little exciting." 

Keiko was a bit too distracted to respond to that. 

As she sat next to her teacher, her thoughts started to drift. That slightly guilty part of her was building up power in her mind until she began to picture what her grandmother would say if she were here. 

"Ah, so, you've completely given up on using your own skill to improve?" She imagined.  "Of course. I'd expect nothing less." 

"Keiko?" 

"Huh?" The younger woman shook her head. "I'm... sorry, I was a bit spaced out." 

"Something on your mind, seiyo?" Not that Keiko noticed, but instantly, Haruna took a kinder tone. 

"N-No, it's just..." 

"Heh, come on, Keiko. We aren't at the Compound anymore. You can talk to me. What's up?" Haruna informed her and Keiko took that in. Then, she nodded. 

"... It's just that I was thinking about, uhm, my grandmother." 

Haruna's smile left her face. 

"Anything specific?" Haruna asked. 

"Not really." 

"Ah," Haruna nodded. "Don't... don't judge her too harshly, seiyo. She might not show it well enough, but you are part of her family. She does care about you." 

Keiko scoffed. 

"Yeah, right," she mumbled and looked up at the descending sun. It would be the nighttime soon. 

"... The harshest weight to walk with will never compare to the weight of expectations," Haruna suddenly said. "It's a saying I heard some time ago. With your family, well, I feel I understand that sentence just a little more now." 

Hearing that, she thought of her parents. By the looks of it, Haruna was on the same page. 

"Iriko and Keina," Haruna muttered. "What a couple that was." 

Of course, Haruna knew them. She had talked to Keiko about them many times in the past, conversations that ceased as Keiko focused more and more on her work over the years. 

"You see this scar?" Haruna asked and Keiko glanced at her. The older woman was tapping a dark line running down the side of her right wrist. "I got this in the Battle of the Sunlight River." 

Keiko had learned about that event in lessons, growing up. It was a fight against a pack of demons that took place over the Sunlight River, the longest river in the world, which stretched from the south of Onyx to the northeast of Amber. The river was named as much due to the fact that in the daytime, it almost looked like the water was a fiery orange. 

"Your parents fought along with me." 

"Wait, really?" Keiko asked. Haruna nodded. 

"Yes," Haruna nodded. "How many years ago was that? 8? Anyway, I had been just starting out around that time. Some of us were called to assist Onyx's forces as they tried to assault a demon nest. They'd been taking up too much space in one of the nearby forests. Goodness, by Magia, how nervous I was," she laughed. "I was still fresh. Your parents helped me through it though. I met them that day on the battlefield and I had never seen such grace. They looked like gods on that day." 

The praise didn't bring any happiness to Keiko though. 

"... I don't think that's an aura I'll ever match up to," Keiko chuckled. 

"When they passed away," Haruna continued as though she didn't hear Keiko, "it was a fairly heavy blow to everyone in the clan. And, of course, many people's eyes went to you, as their daughter. Your grandmother is simply one of them, someone who lost people precious to her and is looking to you to help make things right." 

"She's out of luck, then," Keiko replied. "Last I heard, I'm not my parents. I'm just Keiko." 

---

Kasumi 

The man towered over her.  What the hell is going on?  What kind of dream is this?  With the trident at his side, the man simply watched her for a moment. Enough time passed that Kasumi realized something.  Wait...  She thought.  He seems familiar. 

Before she could remember where she'd seen this kind of figure before, a screen appeared between them made of white mist. Kasumi took a step back and the screen began to produce an image. A map of the world, focusing specifically on where Kasumi currently was. 

Then, an arrow appeared pointing northwest, at a small grey dot. 

This was confusing enough. An otherworldly man was telling her to go somewhere. But, then, the picture changed. Instead of the map, it turned into a picture of Kaori. Kasumi's brows shot up. 

What? 

Before the questions in her head could pile up, the dream faded. 

Kasumi's eyes opened, finding a black sky above her. The fire was still going beside her. She saw Kaori awake, sitting on a small boulder. It seemed it was her turn to keep watch.  What was that?  She thought, shaking her head. The action made Kaori notice her. 

"Oh, good morning," Kaori said as Kasumi put a hand to her forehead, quickly feeling the beginnings of a headache. She didn't respond to the blonde, instead, she just crawled over to her bag and pulled out some water. "Bad dream?" 

"Mhm," Kasumi replied curtly. 

"Hm. Sorry," Kaori said. 

"It's fine." 

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Kasumi saw Kaori scratch the back of her head awkwardly before she said:

"It should be just about an hour or two before sunrise. If you want to go to sleep again, you should be able to get a few extra minutes in." 

Kasumi considered that but then shook her head. She laid down again, putting her hands behind her head and looking up at the sky. Kaori didn't speak again, and Kasumi wasn't able to go back to sleep. 

Instead, the pair remained in silence until the next day started. 

---

"Whoa!" Mizaki yelled. "GOOD JOB!" 

Kasumi watched Kaori fight a stone golem with her arms crossed. Akiven and Mizaki were standing just a bit in front of her, cheering the blonde on.

A golem was a creature that was, pretty much, a collection of rocks held together by two things, blue smoke between each rock and a spherical core of the same color at its center. It was the first monster they'd found that was at a close level to her own. 

Whereas Kaori was level 14, the monster was level 15. So, they'd decided it would be a good idea to have her fight it alone. 

She was doing a fairly nice job, at least, as far as defense was concerned. For some reason though, Kaori barely tried to attack it.  What is she doing?  Kasumi wondered.  Just pick a spot between the rocks and stab it. 

The way golems and similar ethereal creatures worked was that the blue smoke connecting its joints was the creature itself, and so cutting through that smoke was akin to cutting through flesh and bone. 

However, Kaori refused to put in any sort of offense, opting instead to continue dodging hits that would likely break several bones in her body if they connected. To an extent, it was understandable because they didn't really have a good healer. Mizaki and Kasumi both knew some elementary healing magic, but if any serious injuries were sustained, Kaori would be fucked. 

Still though, were there opportunities to attack? At least, in Kasumi's mind, yes. 

She saw Kaori roll to the right, evading a slam from a stone hand, and just watch the creature, not even looking like she was searching for a way in. 

Hm. Maybe I should do something.  Kasumi thought and she sighed. 

"Fear becomes a weapon, courage becomes a distant dream, petrify!" She yelled and above Kaori, the image of a dreadful monster appeared. The golem took a step back, the fear-inducing spell clearly affecting it. "Do it, go!" Kasumi instructed and Kaori looked at her, nodded, and finally went in. 

It took just one stab from her swordstaff, such a strange weapon, at the golem's core for the monster to be defeated. 

"I-I did it!" Kaori realized, looking back at the Saviors. 

"WOO!" Mizaki cheered while Akiven simply applauded her. 

Kasumi just watched, waiting for them to start moving so she could follow. Kaori had other ideas though, walking up to the crimson-haired Savior. 

"Thanks for that," she grinned. "That illusion stuff is, uh, pretty cool." 

"Thanks," Kasumi blankly replied. 

Kaori didn't seem to mind her short response and soon, the Saviors were moving again. However, Kaori wasn't about to let the conversation end there. 

"So..." Kaori started. "What was that dream like?" 

"Hm?" Kasumi hadn't expected her to bring that up again. "Nothing, it's fine." 

"Are you sure?" Kaori asked. Kasumi narrowed her eyes at her. 

"Why do you want to know so badly?" 

"Um, I-I just," Kaori stammered, "I mean, you know, sometimes people say dreams mean things, right?" 

I sure hope not.  Kasumi thought.  Because I saw you in there, so, here's hoping there's no meaning to that. 

"Besides," Kaori continued, "I have weird dreams too, you know?" 

"Wow. A fellow human being has weird dreams. Shocking," Kasumi said with a fake awed voice. "Truly astonishing." 

"Okay, I mean, like, weirder than most." 

"How do you know? Do you often ask people what they dream about?" 

"What? No, I'm not some weirdo." 

"Then, again, how do you know?" 

"Because, I mean, I see like, these people in them. Sometimes, I see a woman and..." 

"Oh, so you have those sorts of dreams then?" Kasumi asked with an impressed tone. "I'll be honest, I knew teenage boys had those kinds of dreams but I hadn't heard of too many grown women who had them. That's quite interesting." 

"No!" Kaori waved her right hand back and forth. "N-Not like that," Kaori blushed as she responded. 

Kasumi held back a laugh. 

Well... this is surprisingly fun.  She noted.  Maybe I should tease her more often. 

"I-I just mean..." 

"Look, calm down," Kasumi figured she'd let the conversation drop though, if anything so that she could focus on seeing any nearby creatures before they saw her. "It wasn't anything mindblowing. I saw a man dressed like a knight. He, eh, showed me something and then the dream was over. That's it." 

At that, Kaori stopped walking. 

"He... showed you a place?" 

Hearing that, it was Kasumi's turn to stop. 

"Like, on a map, I mean..." Kaori continued and Kasumi tilted her head. 

"... Yes," she hesitantly said. 

"Oh. Well, that's..." Kaori nodded. "We should probably talk about that."

"Why?" 

"Because last night, before my turn to keep watch, I had a dream like that too."