A long m slowly gave way to a painful afternoon as Yumi walked back to the vilge. Most of it was just automatic as she marched. Little of the forest or the piered to her as she passed them. Only the goal of the vilge in the distance remained clear in her sight. And even that had started to shrink smaller for her in her vision.

  By the time she made it back to the vilge most of her vision was pletely gone. She couldn’t see the vilgers running up to her. None of their voices reached her. Everything was in silenbsp; Nothing but the void of emptiness awaited her.

  It was unfortably familiar.

  Chapter 396 – The Empty Forest

  Gasping for air, Yumi threw herself up from her spot. She didn’t immediately reize where she was. ‘This is…’ Looking to her side, she saw Yuki lying down. “…Yuki…” Rubbing her face with her right hand, she wiped away the sweat that stuck to her forehead. Then paused, to see that her arm was restored.

  She looked down at him realizing that happened. ‘He’s healing me despite his own injuries…’ Everything in her body felt better. The pain and heaviness disappeared. It felt normal, the way it should be. Yet, in her mind, she could still feel the pain and remember what happened against the demon. ‘I ’t keep relying on Yuki to patch me up. If we’re going to be stu this nd of demons for days until Phoibe rescues us, I’m going to have to improve myself. I’m the only one of us that fight right now. I ’t always be leaning on Yuki.’

  Standing up, Yumi stepped out of the elder’s hut to leave Yuki to keep resting. ‘I hope he’ll be fully recovered soon. Though I don’t know what we’re going to do afterward. Just wait, I guess…and survive.’ Outside in the vilge, she caught the sun in her eyes. It felt like more time passed than she believed. But the vilge was saved, there appeared to be no further demon attacks while she was asleep.

  “Master Yumi!” called the elder, notig her walking down to the ter of the vilge. The old man hurried along to reach others as several other vilgers joined him. “Are you healed?”

  A bit of weakness in her leg made her buckle briefly, but she caught herself from it. ‘I feel a little off bance…I must still be a little low on blood from the fight…’ She kept herself together in front of the elder. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  Yumi looked out at the vilge trying to see what life looked like after she defeated the leader of the demons. Everything tinued as normal, which shouldn’t really be much of a surprise to her, but it still gave her pause. ‘They were panig and fleeing before, now they’re ag like nothing happened…’

  The elder stared at Yumi for a while as she ran through her thoughts. When she snapped back, she noticed him. “What’s wrong?” There was a strange look on his face when he looked at her.

  “Your arm is fully healed, Master Yumi. When you returo the vilge yesterday you were covered in blood and nearly dead. Yet you stand now pletely ued.”

  ‘Ued might be overstating it right now, but Yuki’s ability is certainly going to surprise people.’ She grabbed ontht arm a little self-scious with the staring. “My friend’s special in his own way.”

  “He heal fatal injuries?”

  “He ’t resurrect the dead, but he does have powerful healing powers.”

  “So the two of you are Hunters?”

  “Not quite, he’s a little different.” She looked around at the vilgers. It was something that she had avoided calling out before, but saying she had medie wasn’t really going to be a valid answer anymore. They wouldn’t have believed her. An arm didn’t e back just with medie. “After he recovers, he would be willing to help. It does exhaust him and he needs his rest right now.”

  “Yes, of course. We didn’t mean…”

  She lifted up her hand to stop him. “It’s fine. I uand, being this far away it’s hard on everyone.”

  There was some relief in the faces of the people. She could only imagine how challenging it was living in this vilge or even this world. A pce where demons could attack at any moment and being isoted out in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t know how they mao do it.

  She turhe attention to a more pressing matter. “Has the forest calmed down?”

  “Yes, there’s been no sign of activity that anyone has seen. Thank you, Master Yumi for driving off all the demons!” The elder bowed deeply before her as did everyone else in turn. They hung their heads low before her. “We’re sorry for doubting you. Our fears overcame any reason we possessed. Five our insults toward you.”

  Yumi tried to get them to rise back up, but they were stubborn in seeking fiveness from her. “It’s fine. I’m just happy that the vilge ared any harm because of a mistake I made.” She kept trying to get them to rise until she releo them.

  Off in the distance, she saw the forest rising up. The massive holes that marked up the previously pristiure reminded her of what happened. It was going to be a while before it recovered from her fight. “I’m sorry for destroying so much of the forest.”

  The old man shook his head, apparently not bothered by it. Though Yumi imagihat he probably held himself ba her at. “It was unavoidable and you did end the terror of the Reaper. So we ’t be anything more than grateful to you.”

  It was difficult for her to accept that as a fabsp; ‘If I had been more direct at the start I might have been able to prevent the damage. I o be able to trol my powers better and learn more about them. I’ve been going off instinct this whole time and I mao get this far, but it’s not going to keep w. I was almost killed because of that…’

  Ohey were finished with apologies, the vilgers started to disperse. Yumi took it as her opportunity as well. She had things she o do.

  She walked out of the vilge auro the forest where it had all happened. There were a couple of things she wao see for herself. She walked through the craters and fallen trees. All around her was destru left behind. The lingering demon’s power tingled on her skin. She had killed something even strohan the oni’s. A quick check back to the vilge reminded her it was quite far away. Though the forest robably dead, for a while at least.

  Around her, she eyed the shattered forest ah. Though there was less debris than she remembered their being. Scattered around were hunks of trees ah making the terrain even mh.

  Yumi stopped before a tree that was ly cut at a curve. As she ran her hand over the perfectly smooth surface, she started to remember the rest of the events. The rest of the picture came back to her as she recalled what happeo the o behind after she killed Tokaromaru. ‘All of these holes in the forest were from me. I let my power run out of trol without for limiting it. It ure destructive power.’

  It made her sit down for a moment to take it all in. ‘I normally keep things under trol. The st time I lost trol…’ Yumi thought back to the atta the Capital of Atntis and her charging in after Ayumi after learning what she pnned. ‘I promised myself I’d keep myself in chebsp; It was fortunate here that it was only demons and in the middle of the forest. But that’s no excuse. I o get better…’

  The other reasoraveled out into the forest, training. Yumi summoned up her barrier and created a triple thick field with it as practibsp; ‘Ever since I unlocked these powers, I never really bothered to give them much focus. I practiced lightly so that I could summon them, but that was it. Which hurt me while following Yuki to Atntis. My other personalities took trol of me because of my failures. And now I’m relying on Yuki for my failures. I ’t do that if I pn to follow him.’

  She maniputed the thiess of the barrier and added another field. ‘This is my only real defehat I possess, but it gets shattered so easily. I don’t have enough trol over it to make it successful. I o learn this inside and out. Unless I uand this I won’t prevent further harm from ing to me…’

  For hours of sweating and shortness of breath, Yumi practiced her barrier. The summoning of it became just as important to her as the strength. She tested out differehods and power fueling it. None of it was under real bat. So she didn’t know how it would do then, but if she uood it better she could use it correctly. She also wa to be stronger for less effort. The demons she fought were powerful and in ways that her basiowledge wouldn’t be enough.

  Lying on her bad staring up through the hole in the forest, she could see the clouds moving quickly through the sky. Not much had ged. It was hard to expect a lot to ge. But she knew more about her powers limitations. And that was victory enough for now. ‘I’m going to be fag more and more powerful demons from here on out. Tokaromaru wasn’t the most powerful demon, that much I feel certain about. And if he showed up when I killed his soldiers, there’s no doubt more will e after me for killing Tokaromaru. I just o be ready for the ime…’

  Drained of power from summoning her barriers so much, Yumi sidered going back to the vilge to rest. “I ’t do much as I am now. And I ’t stay drained of power for the attack…”

  Yumi lifted herself up feeling lightheaded still. She pressed her hand to the ground for support. “I’m still not fully recovered…”

  However, before she could start walking back, she heard a noise in the forest behind her. She immediately turned sharply in the dire and armed herself quickly with a bde of white. “Who’s there?” Yumi worried what sort of fight she could put up with her powers being drained from use. ‘If it’s only an oni, I manage…’

  Yet, to her surprise, it was just a child that came nervously out of the side of the tree. It was a young boy no older than Yuki’s brothers. ‘What’s a child doing out in the forest? They get lost?’ They had a scared look in the eyes looking at her. She realized that it was because of her on that she bore at them.

  Dropping the energy, it faded into particles, as she lowered her guard. “Are you lost, little boy?”

  “I was…out pig fruit…” He hovered around the tree still hesitating around Yumi.

  She sat down at her spot to try not to look that intimidating. However, they still had reservations about her. “You don’t have to worry. I won’t harm you.” Yumi tried to get the boy to e to her, but he refused. “You stay there until you feel safe. Why don’t you sit at least? We talk.”

  He wasirely sure what to make of Yumi, but he hopped up on a broken trunk as a chair. She thought it might have made him feel like he was safer behind higher up than her. “What were you doing?” he asked.

  Yumi looked around at the forest. ‘Does he think I did this? He wouldn’t be wrong…but I ’t really tell him that. He already looks scared enough.’ But she needed an answer for him. For now it was going to be easier to start with little bits of the truth. “I was training.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to be stronger.”

  “Are you weak?”

  She had to think about it. The demon called her weak and ordinary, which she easily admitted to him being right. Though given what she could do, it seemed a little weird to say she was weak. It was a difficult question to answer. “I guess that depends on your point of view.”

  “Point of…view?”

  “That’s right. There’s always those around you that are stronger or weaker pared to you. So it’s not simply one side.” She stopped herself being pensive over what she was telling him. It just sort of had e out. She didn’t give it much thought until she said it. ‘I guess that really is true…but I still o be stronger or else the demon could kill me. I o keep training myself…’

  “…pared?”

  Watg the boy tilt his head, he didn’t really seem to uand everything that she told him. Though she couldn’t really bme him. She was talking in very broad and vague terms now. It might have been big for him to follow with straightforward logibsp; “Let’s just say for simplicity's sake, I am weak.”

  “And you want to be strong?”

  “That’s the goal. But it’s still far away. I o keep training.” Yumi looked back up at the sky, notig the sun was further down thahought. ‘Not quite night, but it’s going to be a long walk back with the boy.’

  She stood up aended out a hand for the boy to take. “Let’s go babsp; If we don’t start now, it’s going to be night before long and your parents will be worried.” The boy still hesitated, but at least jumped off the tree to approach her a little. He kept a wide distance of five meters between, but if he felt safe that way. “Just follow me.”

  It ended up being nearly night before she did return to the vilge with the boy in tow. “We’re finally babsp; Whie is your house?” She asked, pointing out to the vilge.

  There was no reply from the boy, who still must haven’t trusted her despite following her back the whole way. Though, while the boy said nothing, one of the vilgers stopped in front of them. It was a young man, ohat she remembered helping in hauling away the oni horns she brought babsp; He paused and then quickly approached Yumi. “Master Yumi, what are you doing leading a demon back to the vilge?!”

  “Demon? Where?” she turned around immediately summoning her white bde ready for an attabsp; She couldn’t believe that she missed it the whole time. ‘I didn’t hear anything! Where is it?’

  The young man tapped on her and pointed down. “The child’s a demon, Master Yumi! Send it away immediately!”

  “The boy? But he’s just a child…right?” She stared down at the b to figure out what was happening. She wondered if the vilger was so paranoid that they were seeing demons everywhere. The boy pulled back looking scared. And the shouting from the vilger at the boy only got more people ing out. “You’re mistaken, it’s just…”

  “Demon! We’re protected by Master Yumi the Demon Hunter, your boldness will no longer be tolerated!” The vilgers started to get violent as they approached the boy with fidehat Yumi would protect them. Her head tio spin trying to figure it all out.

  “What’s going on here?!”