The sun rose for the new day and when Asuka woke up, she immediately returned to her inner world to continue her training. Amelia woke up a little bit after Asuka began training.
"The sun only just began to rise and she's already training. Her determination is really inspiring," the young girl thought inwardly with a soft smile.
She then stood up energized and pumped her fists in the air.
"ALRIGHT! IF MY HERO IS BUSY GETTING STRONGER, THEN THERE'S NO REASON FOR ME TO STAY IDLE!"
After she made her proclamation, a loud banging sound could be heard on the other side of the wall.
"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRAT! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"
Amelia covered her mouth.
"....sorry...."
She then walked over to the kitchen where unwashed dishes lay in a sink. She stood at the sink unsure of how to clean them.
"Ugh. This is why I begged mom and dad to let me do some chores."
Immediately after that thought, a pang of pain flashed in her heart. She gripped her chest tightly and pursed her lips. She then took a few deep breathes before she went ahead and attempted to clean the plates and utensils in the sink but in the end, some particles of the food she ate remained stuck and unwilling to be removed. Amelia sighed in frustration but decided to just leave the dishes to dry.
The girl then walked over to the wooden ice box and opened it to see if there was any ingredients she could use to make some food for Asuka and herself. To her disappointment though, the food that was in there wasn't nearly enough to make any meal.
"Guess I'll have to go buy some of the ingredients."
She walked over to the meditating trinity and looked down at her curiously for a few moments. She then crouched down and put her hands on each of her shoulders and shook her gently.
"Hey Asuka," she whispered. But the girl didn't even stir.
Amelia did this a few more times with the results all ending the same.
"I wonder if she'll mind if I take a little bit of her money."
She looked over at Asuka's bag and pursed her lips. She walked to it, reached inside and grabbed a couple gold coins that were inside. She looked at them and calculated just how much she needed for the stuff she was going to cook with. Realizing it was too much, she put some of the coins back. She then put on her sandals. But she paused when her hand gripped the handle of the door.
"I won't be long but I should leave a note just in case she wakes up."
She then quickly found a pen and paper and wrote the note. When she was done and walked out the room making her way to the market.
~
Inside of Asuka's inner world, the trinity was currently exchanging blows with the visage that resides within her. She was in her demonic form and currently was wielding two blades. In one hand her contra coated claymore and in the other were black flames in the shape of another claymore which was on the verge of dissipating.
Despite being on the offensive, she was drenched in sweat and was covered in cuts and bruises while her opponent on the other hand was cool, calm and composed. Or at least it seemed that way to the girl. Her contra levels were extremely low and her flaming sword was about extinguish. But even with these setbacks, she never showed any signs of giving up.
As blades clashed, Asuka simultaneously was trying to take advantage of the blindspots in Annie's defense. Anytime she tried to punish those "mistakes", Annie would suddenly increase her speed to not only block but also would counter, sometimes more than once, forcing Asuka to either block and suffer another wound. Realizing she wouldn't score a hit that way, she switched to trying to outsmarting the visage. But there was one problem.
"How's she so smart? Not only that, but isn't she too skilled of a swordsman? Maybe it has to do with those visions sh-"
Interrupting her thoughts, Annie amped up her speed and began to go on the attack. Asuka tried to keep up but her defense was obliterated and she yelped as a dark blade plunged into her stomach. And just as fast it was pulled out of her with blood spurting out of the trinity. Asuka instinctively put her hand over her wound trying to stop the bleeding but Annie kicked her hand off it.
"Heal it along with your other wounds."
Asuka was looking up at the visage with an expressionless face while panting and sweating heavily. She then closed her eyes and strained her body trying the scrape the left overs of her contra to heal the worst wound first. The stab wound slowly closed up and by the time it finished Asuka had to start circulating anima to keep herself alive. This left her body in a battered state. While her fatigue went away, she was still in pain.
"When you start using strategy against opponents with a lot of experience, you become much more predictable," said the visage sternly. She then walked over and placed her hand on the girl and the pain in Asuka's body began to subside.
"I think that's enough for today. You've done well so far," she said with a small smile which Asuka couldn't see, "You've progressed much faster than I had anticipated. I think you'll be ready for tomorrow."
Asuka remained silent on the ground motionless. Annie glanced at her for a second then said, "I know my methods are harsh and I know it can be taxing especially on a young mind such your own, but I can assure that these type of injuries are very common with demons. Getting used to them now will undoubtedly be beneficial to you when they happen in real a battle."
"....yeah, I know."
The visage remained standing over the girl for a few seconds before kneeling down next to her head and began to stroke her hair. Asuka stiffened at this action.
"Uhh, what are you doing?"
"You've been through a lot these last couple hours because of me. I'm just returning the favor."
Though this action weirded out Asuka at first, she soon relaxed and began to enjoy the gesture.
After staying like that for a good while, Asuka was ready to return back to the real world. When she opened her eyes the room was dark with the only illuminated part being at the window. Outside, dark clouds blocked the sun and it was about to rain. But Asuka paid no mind to these things.
"Where's Amelia?"
She then stood up and walked up to the window in order to see outside. She looked up and saw that sun was high in the sky almost directly overhead.
"Dang. I was in there for a while."
Asuka the calmly backed up a couple steps and slowed her breathing. She then stretched her anima across the entirety of Aboa. Since all humans have anima, if they fall within her anima's range, Asuka will sense them. But...
"That's weird. She's not in Aboa?"