The sound of a sword cutting through air filled the room along with the grunts of a woman.
Her sword strikes were precise and fast while her footwork was in it self a work of art.
She moved as if she was skating on ice as she practiced her sword form.
"HRAAA-!" She screamed as her blade became filled with dark energy, causing it to become black.
She then slashed at the air and a large slash made of pure darkness travelled through the air.
The slash was fairly large and as it made contact with the wall, causing a small explosion.
Smoke and dust arose in to the air and a large mark was left on the stone wall.
Erisha breathed heavily.
She could no longer support herself and she dropped to the ground.
Immidietly the memories of her battle with Curt resurficed.
"Damn it all!" She screamed.
She then stood back up and continued her training.
With every swing she felt her body could break down at any moment.
Sweat flew from her body and every swing and footstep was heavy.
It was like she was underwater and despretly tried to swim up to the surface.
But she did not stop.
She must never be weak again.
She must be better.
While she was immersed in her training she failed to notice that someone has also entered the training hall.
It was Dawn.
He has been quietly observing her from the side.
He noticed how she began to more freely use her darkness.
During the first week they met Dawn encouriged Erisha to use her dark powers.
As long as she did not suffer side effects then it would only make their journey easier.
That was when Dawn noticed drops of blood flying through the air near Erisha.
His face quickly turned grim.
Using his powerful legs he dashed towards Erisha.
He was just in time to catch her as she lost her consciousness.
He carefully laid her down and scanned her body.
Thankfully it seemed like she only overtrained herself.
The blood he noticed came from her nose, most likely a small vein popped inside it which would explain the bleeding.
Dawn sighed.
He was planning on taking Erisha with him today, to show her how to handle interactions with humans, but it seems that will have to wait.
He carefully picked her body up and turned to leave the training hall.
He carried her to her room and laid her down to rest.
The bleeding stopped by the time he got to this room, thus she only needed rest now.
Before leaving Dawn glanced at the young elf on the other bed in the room.
It appeared as if he was sleeping peacfully, but Daen knew that was not the case.
With a grim look he turned around and left.
Outside Erisha's room Dawn found himself thinking about what he should do today.
He planned on visiting an alchemy shop to refill his supply of one-use magic scrolls
That was when he remembered Ryuran's words.
He looked at his hand and while it was a very faint feeling he felt as if he was weaker then usual.
Perhaps he should visit the hotspring Ryuran told him about.
There were other ways beside sleep to restore mental fortitude.
It was decided he will visit the hotspring before going to the surface.
And while he was at it he will look for an axe.
Dawn left Ryuran's residance and headed towards the blacksmith district.
On his way he observed the preperations for some kind of a festival.
Oni women and children were making decorations inside their homes while the men were putting on said decorations to their homes.
There were others who contributed differantly aswell.
Butchers were prepearing fine meat that would later be used to make dishes.
Bakers were mixing ingridients to make dough which would later be used to make bread and sponge cake.
Even with all their work every single one glanced at Dawn as he passed by.
It was quite a strange feeling, having all these people look at you with nothing but awe.
But for Dawn this only reminded him of what the berserkers used to be.
How they would hold great feasts before going to battle for the sake of humanity and the praise they were given by the people.
Dawn became annoyed at his thoughts and decided to pick up his pace.
Soon he reached the blacksmith district.
The air was hot as if being near an active volcano.
But for the onis who had natural heat resistance it was like a warm summer breeze.
Dawn looked around as he walked.
Sparks were flying everywhere while the sounds of hammering and cooling filled the air.
He observed the many weapons that were being created.
From daggers to greatswords to warhammers and spears, all things considered a weapon could be found.
But that was not all.
A few were working on housewere such as forks and spoons.
That is when he noticed a problem.
While Ryuran said the public hotspring was inside this district she did not specify its exact location.
Dawn began to look around for some kind of sign that told him where it was, but there were none.
Annoyed, Dawn almost turned around to leave, but before he could the sound of a man and a woman arguing reached his ears.
The arguing was loud enough to be heard even with all of the noise from the forges.
The onis however did not even bat an eye which surprised Dawn.
It was not that they could not hear it since some even slightly reacted to it.
Then suddenly something flew out of one of the smithes at high speeds in to another.
Dust flew in to the air, blocking his veiw.
As the dust settled an oni girl appeared.
She was rather small and had blood trailing down her forehead.
From the other building a man appeared with a large belly.
He was bald with two prominent tusks sticking out of his mouth.
As he stepped out of his shop wood broke under his feet.
"You worthless cunt! Did I not tell you to stay away from my forge!?"
The girl could only groan in pain while she tried to stand up.
"I took you in! I raised you! So you could marry a warrior and bring honor to my family, but no! You want to be a blacksmith!"
The girl growled as a response.
"What is wrong with that!? Why can't you give me a chance!?"
That is when Dawn realised that the girl was the same he saw last night.
It seems she did not wake up and spent the night in her father's forge
"You half breed wretch!"
The bolbus man began to approach the young girl who in response dashed forward.
She raised her fist and tried to land a blow on to the man's face.
The man however simply stepped aside and caught the girl's leg in the air.
With a loud shout he smashed the girl in to the hard ground.
The air left the girls lungs.
The man then grabbed the girls throat and lifted her in the air.
But unexpectedly the girl threw rocks in to the mans eyes making him release her.
The girl dropped to the ground as the man groaned in pain.
Not wasting this chance the girl landed several blows to the mans large belly
Sadly the strikes were absorbed by his fat, thus resulting in no damage.
This gave enough time for the man to recover and open one of his eye.
He then sent the girl flying with a swing of his muscular right arm.
Thr girl once again laid on the ground, but quickly got up.
The man then opened his damaged eyes and dashed at the girl.
In the nick of time, before the man could make contact with her, she managed to dodge to the side.
Instantly she looked around for anything she could use as a weapon.
Her eyes landed on a hammer from one of the smithes.
As the man turned around she already grabbed the hammer.
"HAH! And what are you going to do with that poor little thing?"
She growled as a response.
She then charged at him once again.
Unexpectedly the man's right leg began glowing with a bright red light.
He then stomped on the ground with enough force that the ground beneath cracked, creating a small crater and releasing a powerful burst of wind.
The shockwave caused nearby the smithies to shake while making a mess inside of them.
The girl who was the closest to the man was blown back by the powerful wind, causing her to fly in the air.
In mere seaconds the girl made contact with the hard ground made of stone.
She ragdolled a few meters back before finnaly stopping.
Brueses appeared on her previously spotless red skin.
She tried to get up, but before she could a foot came crashing down on her chest.
It was the bulbous oni.
"Is this what you wanted?!"
The girl could only stare at him defiantly as she tried to remove his foot that pinned her down, but she was not strong enough.
Her continuous defiance furthur angered the oni.
He then raised his leg and brought it down to the girl's chest.
Suddenly the bulbous oni noticed a man's shadow looming over them.
And when he looked up to see who it was he was met with the enraged face of Dawn.
Suddenly the oni bent forward with an extreanly pained expression.
The oni staggered back while holding his large belly, revealing Dawn's fist that was burried in to it.
"Who the hell-!?" Said the oni with a pained voice as he looked up with an enraged expression.
It was then that the oni recognised who punched him in the guts.
Shock and fear came over him as he began to step back.
"I am sorry if I disturbed you sir! It was not my-"
But before he could finish Dawn's fist caved his face in.
The oni immidietly lost consciousness as his body went limp and flew back.
His body flipped in the air before finally crashing in to the ground in a similar way the girl did.
The onlookers could only stare with awe at his streanght.
Many wanted to cheer, but before he could Dawn's voice rang out like thunder in the storm.
"You fool!"
To their surprise Dawn dashed towards the girl and crouched down beside her.
It was only then that they too looked back at her.
And the sight shocked them down to their very core.
The girl had a feet shaped dent in her chest, with blood continuasly flowing out of her mouth.
Her eyes rolled back and her breathing stopped.
Dawn checked her pulse to see if she was alive at all.
Thankfully he could feel a faint pulse.
Dawn did not waste time and immidietly put his hand on the girls chest to send life force in to her body.
But it did not work.
As if by some strange power her body refused to take in foreign life force.
Dawn's face became grim as he realised that this meant the girl before him will die in mere moments if not treated immidietly.
In a desprate attempt to try and save her Dawn turned towards the crowd that was watching.
"Where is the nearest healer!?" He shouted.
When none answeared Dawn used his speed to appear and grab a random man by his collar and shout in to his face.
"THIS GIRL WILL DIE OF YOU DON'T ANSWEAR!"
In that moment an old woman stepped out from the crowd.
"I may be of some assistance. Athough I have retiered, I was the shaman of this district."
Hearing this Dawn let go of the man and rushed back to the girls side.
The old lady knelt beside the girl and pulled up her sleeves.
She then placed both of her hands above the girls wound, while chanting a spell under her breath.
Sortly after, green fire began emitting from her hands.
It was a strange sight, seeing fire not hurt her hands, rather erase the wrinkles on them.
She touched the girls wound and allowed the spell to do its work.
Although it was slow the feet shaped hole slowly began to disappear.
Dawn closed his eyes and tried to get a feel of the amount of life force she had.
And while it was slim at the same time it was growing by the seacond.
But another problem arose, the girl was still not brething.
Dawn noticed this and ordered the old shaman to stop.
"Why?" Asked the old woman.
"Her lungs should be at least partially healed now, yet she does not breath. It most likely has something to do with her throat and air passages."
"Bone shards! We need to remove them!" Said the old shaman.
Dawn acted without an answear.
He stood up, but before he could act a knife was flying towards him.
With little trouble he caught it by its handle just before it was plunged in to his face.
Surprisingly the knife was thrown by the bulbous oni.
"Please, save her! I- I did not want this to happen!" He said with a bleak face.
However Dawn did not give him a response, instead he turned around and knelt back down.
He then ripped the girls shirt apart revealing her bare breasts.
He then looked in the eyes of the old shaman.
She gave him a nod in response as she prepeared her healing flames once again.
In the next moment Dawn began cutting the girls chest open.