Elf Against Oni

Dawn was once again walking in the streets of Geiza.

This time however, it was under the guise of a cowl.

His actions the other day have made quite the stir inside the town.

From what he gathered the guildmaster did not press charges against him and for now he was not wanted.

But if someone recognised him it would only bring trouble.

Some would think that you'd get used to this feeling.

To be feared and avoided.

It was maddening.

To watch as adults and children alike, run away in fear at the mere sight of you.

This was his sad reality, a curse inflicted upon him by the sins of another and the nobles who were looking for a scapegoat.

With a bitter look, Dawn lowered his head and hastened his steps.

After a few minutes of walking, Dawn reached his destinstion.

A small shop in the street, with a sign that had a bottle containing a strange liquid carved on to it.

He grabbed the doorknob and entered.

A small bell at the top announced his entrance and an old man came out to greet him.

"Welcome, dear customer! What can I do for you today?" The old man asked.

"I came here for single-use scrolls, the small kind."

"Ah, I see! Give me a moment, I will show you what we have on stock right now."

With that the old man turned around and went behind his counter.

While the old man was busy, Dawn looked around the shop.

It was rather small, but clean.

It was filled with shellves that had strange potions on them.

The potions came in all colors with some even faintly shining.

This was of not surprise to anyone since this was an alchemy shop.

"Here they are, sir!" Said the old man.

Dawn stepped closer to the counter and scanned through the avalaible stock.

It was 12 in total.

Not much but it was surprising that they had atleast this much.

Scrolls were popular but thr small kind that Dawn prefered were scarse since they did not have much vareity.

Due to their small nature, they were incapable of containing powerful spells.

The most they could hold was a 3rd tier spell which was the equivilante to a hand sized fire ball.

Nevertheless Dawn prefered this type because of its untracable nature.

The stronger the spell the more mana it leaves behind and that mana can be traced to the user or the scroll.

"I will have 30 of the blaze and wave spells."

"I will bring them to you right away. In the mean time you can sit down in to that chair." Said the old man while nodding towards a chair behind Dawn.

The old man then put the samples down to the counter and went to a door located behind the counter.

Dawn guessed that it most likely led to the storage of this shop.

With nothing better to do Dawn sat down to the chair the old man has prepeared.

As he waited the bell above the entrance door rang, signaling the entry of a new customer.

Several infact.

3 men entered the small shop wearing white robes.

On their chest they bore a symbol of the sun and its 6 tendrils of light.

The moment Dawn saw them a wave of disgust washed over him and the thought to leave the shop entered his mind.

Once the priests saw him they bowed their heads as a greetings.

Hiding the repulsion on his face Dawn stood up and returned the greeting.

It was then that the door behind the counter opened and the old man returned.

Once he saw the new customers in his shop however his face turned sour.

He ignored the priests and stepped closer to Dawn.

"Here they are. It will be 5 silvers."

Dawn was surprised at hearing this.

Even if they were not used as much as the other types of scrolls they shouldn't be this cheap.

Dawn glanced at the three priests.

They were all smiling, as if they were wearing masks.

But Dawn saw right through the small cracks.

One of the priests mouth twitched while the other's eyebrow curled down a little.

Clear signs of someone trying to hide their frustration.

It was then that Dawn understood what was happening.

This old man was in debt and the priests have come to collect.

The old man selling these scrolls to Dawn for half their usual price meant that he was insulting them right to their faces.

Dawn sighed and gave the old man the five silver.

With a stern face he turned to leave.

He walked past the priests and left through the door.

The moment the door behind Dawn closed the sounds of a squable filled the small shop.

"You are one hell of an old man! Insulting us so boldly! What arrogance!"

"I have nothing to say to you all!"

Dawn halted and turned back.

He could already hear the sounds of those priests beating on the old man and smashing his shop.

Instinctively Dawn took a step towards the shop, but stopped before taking another step.

With a blank face he turned around and went on his way.

It was not that Dawn was afraid of those priests or the solar church.

If he could do anything to hurt even a single one of those bastards then he would do so in a heartbeat.

But that would risk their journey.

With the looming threath of the vampires he could not afford to make an enemy out of the masters of holy magic.

There will certainly come a time when he will need their help and to make an enemy out of them now would be foolish.

Thus with having swalloved his desire to help Dawn made his way back to the dark alley where the passage to the oni settlement was located.

At the same time at Ryuran's residance Erisha awoke in her room.

She sat up in her bed while holding her head.

She felt severe soreness all over her body.

Pushing through the pain Erisha stood up from her bed.

After balancing herself she limped her way to the other bed in the room.

She bent forward and stroke Cain's forehead.

Her face turned sour seeing her little brother like this.

She then turned around and headed towards the door.

On the way she pikced up her sword and opened the door.

Once she stepped out she closed it behind her.

Thats when she felt a gaze on her back.

Immidietly she turned around, only to be met with a muscle hardened belly.

Erisha's eyes widened as she jumped back and drew her sword.

"Oh? You have quite the fire inside you elf!" Ryuran said in her usual thunderous voice.

However even after recognising who she was Erisha did not lower her weapon.

Even if they were living in her small mansion she still did not trust her.

Her wild deminiour and unpredictable nature did not help aswell.

"What do you want?" Erisha asked.

"Oh me? Nothing much. I just want to ask you to follow me."

"Where?"

"Does it matter?"

With that Ryuran walked past Erisha with a wild grin.

Instinctively Erisha knew that it was best that she followed her.

And with that the two amazons were walking beside one another with Ryuran leading the way.

It did not take Erisha long to realise where they were going.

It was the place she has been regularly visiting ever since they came here.

The training room.

"What are we doing here?" Erisha asked

Ryuran then turned towards her with that same smile on her face.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Then in the blink of an eye Ryuran appeared before Erisha with a fist ready to bas her skull in.

Naturally Erisha was sturtuled by this, but because of her naturally fast reflexes and her suspiscion of the blue one she managed to dodge the blow by disappearing in to the ground.

She then reappeared in the far side of the room.

Sweat appeared on her forehead and anger boiled inside of her.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, oni!?"

But Ryuran did not answear.

Instead she leapt towards Erisha.

With no other option, Erisha vanished in to the shadows once again.

Once she emarged however she was met with a large hand infront of her face.

Before she could react the hand grabbed her by the head and smashed her in to the ground.

Ryuran then grabbed Erisha by her leg and threw her at the wall.

Shockingly instead of crashing in to it, she vanished in to it as if she has sunk in to water.

"Oh? You could do that?" Ryuran said in a surprised tone.

It was then that Erisha appeared from the ceiling with her sword ready to be sinked in to the matriarch.

"HAAAA!" She cried out before launching a slash of darkness at Ryuran.

Seeing the incoming attack, Ryuran smiled wildly before bracing herself.

The slash landed causing a small explosion.

Rubble fell from cieling as Erisha landed on her feet.

Her eyes were sharp and her breathing was steady.

There was no way this would be enough to take a monster such as Ryuran down.

Her guess was correct.

Ryuran walked out of the smoke while inspecting her arms.

"Not even a single drop of blood?" Erisha thought to herself.

"That was quite the heavy blow, elf! But I can't say I'm impressed."

Anger boiled inside Erisha.

In all of her long life there were not many who disrespected her so bluntly.

"This accursed world!" She shouted in her mind.

"Why must we suffer!? What did we do to deserve this fate!?"

From the moment she discovered the trechery of those villigers they only experienced the worst of this world.

She has been pushing these feelings to the back of her mind, but this was it!

"This arrogant, low-born creature dares to lay her filthy hands on me!?"

In that moment Erisha sheated her sword and closed her eyes.

It was a risky move to lose sight of your enemy in battle, but Erisha was willing to take that risk.

She held out her hands and slowly breathed out.

She could feel it.

The connection to the shadows.

There was something in the darkness, something sinister and powerful.

Erisha could feel its gaze everytime she used her powers.

How it smiled at her desperation.

It only fueld her rage.

"What are you trying to do elf? I will not go away if you close your eyes and wish for it!."

Suddenly something wrapped around Ryuran's right arm.

It was a strange dark matter she did not recognise.

As it tightened around her arm several other tenticles shot out from all around her, trying to restrain her even more.

But only a fool would let them.

With little effort Ryuran tore away from the dark tenticle that was binding her and began dodging the rest as they shot out to catch her.

As she dodged Ryuran noticed a change in the tendrils.

With each passing seacond they were becoming more accurate and their toughness kept increasing.

Not seeing a better option Ryuran decided to head towards Erisha, but she would not let her get close.

Everytime she did she would simply vanish.

Her strategy was to tire the oni out since she knew a head on confrontation was suicide.

But contrary to Erisha's thoughts Ryuran was no fool.

She realised her tactic the moment she tried to restrain her.

She would play along with her game to see if this was truely the extent of her plans.

But once she reappeared in the other side of the room for the seacond time now Ryuran has had enough.

With an incredible burst of speed Ryuran appeared at the exact place Erisha was appearing from.

"Dissapointing!" Ryuran said as she grabbed Erisha by the face once again.

"Did you really think this pathetic excuse of a plan would work on me?"

Unexpectedly Erisha smiled which earned a surprised look from Ryuran.

Then before Ryuran's very eyes Erisha's body transformed in to some kind of liquid and dropped to the floor.

And at the same time Ryuran felt an intense pain from her stomach.

Once she looked down she saw a sword sticking out of her abdomen.

When Ryuran looked back she saw the real Erisha thigtly gripping the handle of the sword that was inside her.