[center][b]Hideki, Yoshimi[/b][/center] --- "Hideki-san, are you okay?", Yoshimi asked Hideki whose left arm was bleeding. The monster had bitten him there and the wound certainly didn't feel pleasant. "I'm fine...", Hideki said. "Let's focus on that thing for now," Hideki told Yoshimi and pointed his sword at the hound. It howled and charged once more, this time even faster than the earlier attack. Hideki quickly made a slashing motion with his katana. Bolts of lightning surrounded the blade and hit the dog. It yelped. "...?! Lightning?", Hideki wondered. "...I understand now...", he said. "Hideki-san, you should rest for a bit," Yoshimi told him, worried about the wound the creature had inflicted on Hideki's left arm. "Okay...", Hideki replied and sat down near a corner. "I'll take care of this," she said. She charged and stabbed the dog. It didn't do much and the hellhound retaliated by biting Yoshimi's spear. "Agh...", Yoshimi grunted. Suddenly a veil of water was summoned around the spear. "W-water?", Yoshimi was surprised. The dog yelped and moved back. It growled at a low tone. The veil moved up to surround the spear head. "Let's see here...", Yoshimi said. She made a slashing motion in front of her. The veil let out a sharp blade of water and hit the beast. It howled in pain. The spikes on its back seemed to glow palely. 'Those spikes... Why'd they go pale?' Yoshimi wondered. Suddenly she saw Hideki stand up. "H-Hideki-san! Sit down!", Yoshimi said. "I understand now...", Hideki said. "Huh?", Yoshimi wondered. Hideki unsheathed his blade once more. Crackles of lightning could be heard. "Haah!", Hideki said and slashed the dog with the lightning-embued sword. It left a wound on the dog. The spikes grew even paler. "I knew it," Hideki said. "What?", Yoshimi asked. "Those spikes on its back. It shows the life force of that thing. The paler it is the weaker the monster is," Hideki explained. "I see...", she said. "And those spikes are close to turning to white. It's about to die," he added. He quickly slashed at the dog, leaving an even bigger wound than before. This time the spikes became entirely white. The creature seemed to stop moving. "Hah... Done," Hideki said. "Amazing...", Yoshimi exclaimed. "But Hideki-san, what about your wound? Let me see it," Yoshimi said and went near Hideki. The flesh on his left arm was burnt. She gasped in horror. "Don't worry. My right hand is my dominant hand," Hideki said, not seeming to mind the claw wound. "All it takes is some bandages. I'll fix it up later, our priority is to find Yuriko and the others," Hideki said. "But... How will Yuriko react to this?", Yoshimi was worried. "...Well, what can you do about this?", Hideki asked. His personality seems to have changed. "Um... I'll think of something!", Yoshimi said and then ran to the kitchen. "..." Hideki fell silent. "I'm here!", Yoshimi said as she carried a small container of water. "What's that for?", Hideki asked. "Just stay still," Yoshimi said and put the spear head in the water. Very slowly the water started to surround the tip. "...?!", Hideki was surprised. "Stay still, let me focus...", Yoshimi told Hideki. She moved the head over Hideki's wound. 'Agh...', Hideki thought. He winced in pain a little at first but eventually calmed down. "How does it feel now?", Yoshimi asked. "Oddly nice...", Hideki said. Yoshimi smiled at the boy's response. "Good. Are you relieved of the pain now?", Yoshimi asked once more. "...It doesn't hurt anymore," Hideki responded. As time passed the wounds were mended by the water Yoshimi got. "Amazing... But that took a bit of time to finish," Hideki commented. "Indeed... It would be useful outside of combat though," Yoshimi said. "Mhm...", Hideki said as he looked at his left arm. 'I can't believe she can use water to heal people...', Hideki thought. --- [center][b]Yuriko, Harashi[/b][/center] --- 'Onii-chan...', Yuriko thought as she escaped with Nikko and the unconscious Harashi. Hideki, her older brother, had decided to get left behind with Yoshimi to fend off the beast that attacked them. 'Please be okay!', she thought more and tried to stop the tears from rolling down her face. She felt emotional as she remembered how Hideki told her to escape as fast as she can with Harashi and Nikko. The battle was still going on and it was rather loud at that time. Nikko then warned her about the wraiths. "Okay, I'll be careful," she replied with a determined albeit scared voice. She noticed that Nikko was breaking some branches and laying them down on the ground. 'I wonder if Hideki onii-chan and Yoshimi onee-san will be able to follow us...', Yuriko wondered. Sometime later Nikko decided to stop walking for a while because he was tired. He was obviously frail, so Yuriko wasn't surprised. She decided to sit down on the grass next to Harashi, whose greatsword turned into a ring for some reason. Nikko told her not to go anywhere and she obeyed. Suddenly there was an odd sound. Wraiths had appeared again. "Kyah!", she was surprised. Nikko then brought 3 trees to life and made them encircle the three. He told her not to be scared. "Y-yes...", she replied. "Ugh... Huh?", Harashi woke up and saw that there were 3 ents surrounding him, Nikko and Yuriko. '...Am I dreaming?', he pinched himself to check. 'Nope...', he sighed. 'Hmm... The artifact turned into a ring... Nifty,' Harashi thought as he looked at his right hand. A ring was on his ring finger. It had the same design as his sword. 'Yep... This is definitely my shrine's artifact,' he thought. He sat up and looked at Yuriko who was behind Nikko. 'Wraiths, huh...?', he thought. Harashi stood up. "You two...", he said. "Huh? Harashi nii-san?", Yuriko said. "...Move back," Harashi said. He removed the ring and it quickly turned into the greatsword he'd received earlier. He jumped and slashed one of the wraiths. It quickly vanished into thin air. The wraiths tried to attack Harashi all at once but he was able to kill them all in one fell swoop. "Sigh, what a pain," Harashi said. He knocked on one of the ents. "Hey, it's okay now," he said as if nothing happened.