The vast majority of last night for asuna consisted of either quietly pacing around in her modest room, or staring at the countless lights that stretched for miles outside in the city the group resided in, lost in thought. Mainly, she couldn't stop thinking about fighting these 'demons' again, but she was also attempting to remember how she got such a massive rush of power during her fight with what was apparently dubbed a 'Nighthawk'. It all felt like it happened so quickly, she struggled to recall anything intricate. She was now aware that she had the ability to fight them, but she still felt it was a big task. She had experienced many fights before, but in none had she ever fought back to any significant degree.

  Her first conclusion was that everything to do with magic must be simply thought-based, but her attempts at creating basic 'skills' of her own, such as a fireball like she'd seen in fictional works, came up with minimal success. At most, she could make one the size of her palm before it dissipated, and barely figured out how to summon and dissipate her staff throughout the night.

  There was clearly more to it that she didn't quite understand. Shizu could open entire portals so casually, as if all it took was a snap of a finger, so why couldn't she do the same? She knew she was on the cusp of understanding the basics, but there was one piece of the puzzle she simply could not find.

  She hadn't made much progress by the time she had finally rested and sunrise had begun, either. She now found herself wandering in the same crimson forest she had appeared in, feeling more at ease thanks to mizuki choosing to go with her. If nothing else, it made her objective a little less daunting.

  "So... This place is a hotspot for demons, huh?" Asuna inquires, wanting to break the silence that fell upon them.

  "Well, many places are, but there usually aren't any that are particularly strong near a large populace, i'm sure they'll be simple enough for you to handle on your own." She replied, her voice carrying a contagiously warm and peaceful tone to it. It made it feel like they were merely going on a peaceful walk rather than searching for supernatural creatures to fight.

  "Wait a second, the nighthawk i thought yesterday was EASY?" Asuna questioned, surprised by such a statement. It certainly didn't make her feel good about her future opponents. As long as she was out here, she'd be bound to come across far more powerful foes.

  "It's a common form for them to take, so yes. Some have stronger wills than others and have their differences, but either way, you're sure to encounter many of them in a lifetime. Once you grow a bit stronger, those sorts of demons should be child's play. They're very far from the biggest challenge you'll face, but what we're doing now is a fair starting point for you." Mizuki reassures her once more, twirling both of her guns on the tips of her fingers occasionally. Asuna took notice to them again, curious about how they worked.

  "Hey, about those guns you have, do they take some kind of-" She was about to ask if any ammunition was necessary for them to be functional, but was cut short as mizuki gestures her to be quiet, putting her arm in front of her.

  A tense silence followed for a long moment, as mizuki glanced around her surroundings. It was like the world itself was holding it's breath. Suddenly, she aims one of her guns into the thick foliage, before firing a bright, thundering projectile from it's barrel, startling asuna as she took a few steps back, clearly surprised by her seemingly random action, and not to mention the noise.

  "WOAH WOAH WOAH! What'd you do that for?!" She asked, raising her voice as she questions her. But before long, a loud screech was heard a long distance away. Mizuki had evidently hit something. Through some means that asuna lacked knowledge of, she had hit what was most likely a demon with pristine precision, despite the conditions.

  "There, it should be coming this way now. Best of luck, asuna. I'll be nearby." Mizuki attempts to give her a comforting smile, before suddenly vanishing, presumably through the use of a skill. Asuna quickly tried to locate her, but she had disappeared into thin air.

  "What?!?!?! Fuck, i thought i'd have a little more warning time than this..." The roars and screeches of the mysterious demon quickly got louder, indicating it was coming closer, and rapidly. She barely had enough time to take a quick, deep breath to prepare herself, before turning around to face it.

  "You've done this before. You'll be just fine." She thinks, attempting to remind herself of her previous accomplishment to calm her nerves. Knowing that mizuki was nearby was comforting, but put pressure on her at the same time, too. She thought she would have to do well to impress her.

  The demon skids along the ground as it spots her, wrecking the ground beneath it and piling up various debris by it's side. It appears much more humanoid than the nighthawk from the previous night, boasting a slim, shadowy form, it's only noticeable facial features being that of it's dim, purple eyesockets. It's upper body was a sea of large, sharp spikes, and each of it's transfigured arms took on a blade-like shape, which looked like they could easily sever her in two.

  Asuna swiftly evades it's initial onslaught of heavy strikes and the ensuing debris, with a noticeably less hesitation and fear than her previous bout, as if on instinct. She managed to get some air by jumping on a severed tree trunk, just about reaching it's head height.

  "I can't get too close, but i can still do the same thing as last time...!"

  Asuna raised her arm, tightly clutching her staff as she prepared to throw it towards the demon's head at high speed, just like with the last demon she had fought. But before she could do so, the demon let out a second, deafening roar, sending a bright red shockwave in all directions from it's body in response. Surprised, asuna barely managed to extend her staff in front of her, partially shielding her from the blow as sparks briefly flew past her face, sending her backwards.

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  "Tch...!" Asuna growled slightly as she landed back on the ground, briefly skidding before coming to a stop. She felt another, smaller rush of power course through her body again as her frustration grew, and it began to overcome any fear she had now, at least momentarily.

  As if emboldened by the successful counter, the demon before her extended it's blade-shaped arm in her direction, like it was challenging her, before creating a myriad of smaller, more normal-sized blades in front of it out of thin air, sending them straight towards asuna. She darted behind one of the trees in her environment for cover, evading a few of the sharp projectiles by mere inches in the process.

  Recalling her previous fight once more, asuna takes another breath, preparing for her next course of action. She wouldn't be able to hide for very long at all, and she needed to take her opponent by surprise while she still could. She needed to act with both haste and another burst of bravery. She couldn't look weak in front of mizuki. Not now.

  "You have some tricks up your sleeve, big guy, BUT SO DO I!" She yells defiantly, her hands gripping both sides of the tree as she slowly manages to lift it from the depths of the earth. A dim, imposing aura slowly surrounds the edges of her body once again.

  "I get it now. If i went over everything from the start properly, it would have been obvious. All i was missing... Was some fighting spirit to back it up!!!"

  Asuna thought, as she let out a deafening warcry, quickly pivoting her body, throwing the tree as she spun around, launching it directly towards the demon at high speed. It barely blocks the massive projectile with both of it's sharp limbs, stumbling backwards as the tree ricochetes on impact, sending it off-balance.

  "Got your ass now...!"

  Upon seeing this, asuna quickly summons her staff into her hand, just as she did the previous night, looking at her ginormous foe with a focused glare as she quickly swings her staff in varying directions, moving like a blur as she sends a large amount of small, concentrated red blasts it's way through the air. She was trying to capitalise on it's temporary vulnerability, with a skill she dubbed '[Blitz Barrage]' in her head.

  The humanoid hellspawn responds with it's own strikes, retaliating with it's own set of quick slashes with it's two arms despite it's size, roaring once again in anger as it cancels out her attacks, almost mimicking asuna's previous noise. As the attacks slowly ceased, however, it failed to notice that she had seemingly moved behind it after her brief onslaught, still a small distance away. That was no attack. It was a distraction.

  "Being a defenceless laughing stock for people to harass as they please, being nothing more than some timid schoolgirl, having no one by my side when i needed it most, i couldn't stand it...! And that's why... I sure as hell won't stand my ground just cause it's terrifying, and neither will i screw up this one chance i have!"

  She briefly monologued to herself under her breath, glaring at the creature with ferocious determination in her eyes. She extends her staff in the direction of the monstorus figure, the aura around her increasing in brightness drastically, as though her will was erupting like a supernova, if it hadn't already.

  "AND THIS... IS HOW I'LL PROVE IT! [PROMINENCE... BUUUUUUUUUUUUURST!!!!!!!]"

  Asuna yells from the depths of her very soul, sending a massive, almost blinding red blast in the demons direction. It immediately attempts to counter as it turns it'd body to face her with a swift horizontal slash with both of it's arms, but only manages to put up a resistance for a brief moment, before quickly becoming vaporized in the attack, leaving no time for it to screech, nor any trace of it's form behind as the beam slowly powers down. The world around asuna suddenly got a lot more quiet after that, the only sound she could hear being that of her own breathing. The only evidence of the demons existence left was the same glowing dust that the nighthawk left behind, which soon vanished as they enter asuna's body, just like before.

  "...How'd i do?" She says, referring to mizuki, who was yet to show herself after disappearing like a ghost at the start of the fight.

  "You did just fine, don't worry. I'm very impressed. That was... Quite the speech you had." Mizuki responds, appearing out of the trees nearby, like she she didn't suddenly vanish previously. She was only able to make out the last part from her position, so she didn't think much of it

  "Thanks, i was just trying to psych myself up is all! I have one hell of a teacher, though. I didn't think you'd disappear on me like that." Asuna commented once she had come to her senses a little more after her previous attack, smiling in her direction. Mizuki reciprocated, simply satisfied with her current state.

  "Haha, that's true. I should have given you a heads up on that, i apologise. That said, i certainly can't say shizu was wrong about you. You can undoubtably hold your own." She replies, acknowledging her surprising performance.

  "Does that mean i'm in?" Asuna remarked, looking at her half-expectedly.

  "Hm... By kanako's standards, you would be." Mizuki nods. "But of course, our work here isn't done yet. You have a lot of room to grow, you may as well use it. The more Soul Energy you gain, the less effort you'll need to use to create potent skills, after all."

  "Huh? Soul energy? You mean that weird dust stuff?" Asuna inquires, wanting to understand what she meant. Given that everyone knew by now that she was, at the very least, new to this, it didn't seem to awkward of a question.

  "You're rather uninformed, but i suppose i can't blame you, considering your experience. You're correct." Mizuki confirms her theory.

  "Right..." Asuna acknowledges her explanation, making a mental note of it. It seemed to her that it was the ideal way to get stronger in this extremely foreign world. Lengthy and difficult, but she figured it would be worth it.

  "Well, let's get moving! Those demons won't take themselves out, and i'm still in the mood for fighting." She added, feeling more eager now. What she said earlier certainly wasn't just words in the spur of the moment. Of course, she still had her doubts, but she was growing used to this faster than she expected. She had barely been here for a day, but having talent and newfound allies was a reassuring thought for her. She was definitely more willing to embrace this sort of life than before, if nothing else.

  "Understood. Let's go." Mizuki smiles warmly as she observes asuna's notable ethusiasm compared to last night. She gestures her to follow her once again, as they continue searching for stray demons to battle.

  ...

  Trivia