Side Story: Yuzu's Day

The sun rose and Yuzu already found herself trapped, Amy’s arms locked around her waist and Jake’s at her shoulders as she alone needed to get up that day, her value as a soul mage meaning that her work was never done, even when the both of them had been given a long-overdue morning off for whatever bit of recuperation it would give from the constant fighting.

Day in and day out she watched as they were sent off to track and hunt what demons they could find, at least when other priorities didn’t take over, something it felt like they all had too many of but now given the chance to sleep in just a bit, freed from thoughts of the world coming down around them for however many hours still until they woke up, she did her best to extract herself to fulfill her own duties without disturbing them, getting dressed before leaning down to kiss them both before finally being on her way.

It was only with the world at its most dangerous that she was no longer being forced to be guarded at all times, the irony of it not lost on her but with so many more pressing things for the people of the world than watching over the shoulders of one of its most powerful individuals, she had managed to trade that extra bit of protection for a little more freedom to be enjoyed as she walked down the streets, taking in the good and the bad in equal measure.

With an invasion point in plain view no matter where she went, it was almost surprising how much life had returned to the city after the second wave but then, Allfaith wasn’t just some other city. It was the central hub for the world’s worship, filled with gods and trials alike which was always going to guarantee that people would return so long as it was safe enough and in the days and weeks since the point had last opened, it was almost certainly as safe as anywhere else on the planet, the demons that had made their way to the world as spread out as they were going to get in their efforts to kill their way across the planet that one single city wasn’t going to stand out any more than any other location.

Her hands tensed at the thought, the world’s countdown ticking ever closer to its end as she did her best to do the good she could while her magic slipped out of her to fill the streets, with the people walking them getting to enjoy their effects, even if they didn’t realize it. Not the strongest of spells she could pull off but one that would last the day, so long as any of them nearby put proper efforts towards their skills they’d find themselves being all the more rewarded, some likely to get levels but all of them pulling in experience nonetheless and she kept it up as she went on, not stopping even when she arrived at her destination at a park near the gate where dozens of people stood waiting.

“Good morning everyone,” She told them brightly, doing her best to maintain a pleasant atmosphere with those she would see so frequently as she got greetings and nods in exchange. “I’ll try to make this fast so if you could all bear with me I’ll let you be on your way soon enough.”

Jake and Amy may have been her priorities usually but there were enough people who were either contenders or close enough to it who could benefit from her help that she couldn’t give those two her undivided attention, making the current meetup a part of her regular routine as she went around, one by one applying what spells she could, taking far more time with each one than the raw mana she’d made herself exude on the way there, creating structures of power that would last throughout the day and even a bit beyond while improving their experience acquisition, making them better at training and raising their skills and leaving the hope that at least one among them might have the talent to cross that final threshold to add a powerful new weapon to the world in the months they had left.

And in the years she’d been on the planet, meeting with what was largely the same group since the beginning, her efforts had borne some fruit. It was impossible to say for certain how much was thanks to her magic and how much thanks to each individual's efforts but plenty had been smoothly raising their tier-one skills as a result, with a few even awakening them to the second tier and two gaining the level they needed to be marked as one of the world’s contenders.

Fantastic results all around, none could deny that but it wasn’t what anyone actually wanted from her. Divinities and people alike were looking for the birth of a new god but while she could supposedly lower the threshold of such things, she didn’t have the power to push anyone seeking it past that final barrier.

But if you count how long it’s taken me to learn about soul spells and how long I’ve needed to get accustomed to my magic, I've only really been at my full potential for maybe two years. She sighed to herself, trying to keep anything that wasn’t positivity from touching her eyes. Elvat’s just lucky he’s had plenty of time to work with the people on his half of the world, I was never going to manage to compare with how little I’ve had to work on all of these.

Not for the first time, she wished the invasion had come at the tail end of the prophesied time, not right at the beginning but that was a feeling she was sure everyone in the world shared. There wasn’t a person alive who couldn’t have done more with a year or a month or even a single day, let alone another decade of practice and training. She knew her teacher’s success rates when it came to helping others reach the third tier and while she still didn’t view herself as being as good, with that much time it was almost certain she could have helped lift at least one person to godhood, possibly even two.

Gods above, a decade really would be a dream, wouldn’t it?

Time enough to grow the world and time enough to really sink her teeth into the new life she’d been given but there was no point dreaming about what would never come, so instead she focused on finishing up her work until that part of the day was done.

“Work hard everyone, I hope to see results when I see you all again,” She told them as professionally as she could, trying to create an air of both belief and expectations that she sometimes saw in Vasta. “And with the main group of the day done, second party, let's get going.”

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Despite the efforts of the soul mages and the gods, there was no way to really decide who would become a contender, nor if the skills they’d reach it for would be of any real value for the war efforts when it was clear that the goal was to be raising anyone holding any potential in combat but at the very least there was a handful who’d held a level of talent both she and the gods were optimistic might help if they could only cross that last barrier, with four of them together with her out in the deeps of the untamed lands as they trained and sparred under her watchful eyes.

It was impossible to give others the best of her spells without being consistently by their side, benefits the two she loved enjoyed constantly and a handful of others like Uliel and Vasta would get as well but it was always important to give a chance for others to claim them from time to time as she watched the group train against each other, each one having their own skill.

A member of the skill master Zandale’s race who held a high strength enhancement who was constantly growing into something more thanks to it and used the tentacles covering its body to transmit the power of that attribute through its attacks, a harpy who’d mastered their unarmed combat to get it to grow to something holding the name of enhanced claw arts, a descendant of the true shifter who seemed to have inherited her father’s talent with the beastform skill she’d been born with, using it to not only produce but also strengthen sharp quills as they grew throughout her body and shooting them out to attack those around her and lastly, a survivor brought back from the demon’s world, last of their kind with a hominid body plan, the most distinct thing to set them apart from other similar races being their symmetry was trilateral instead of bi and leading to their skill of tri-swordsmanship. All of them were fighting against each other in a constant flow of movement, all of them being kept in fighting condition as Yuzu kept healing their wounds, creating the conditions for them to push beyond their limits in a way she and the rest of the world could only hope would lead to one of them awakening, even if they all still lacked success on that front.

It will happen eventually. She told herself, trying to keep positive despite the weight of expectations and her failure to live up to them feeling more and more present with every day the third wave drew closer. And even if it doesn’t, I- 

…Hmm.

The others hadn’t noticed it yet but as her magic filled the woods around them it was clear to her they wouldn’t be alone for long, with a group of demons on their way towards them, leaving her to evaluate that new group as they did.

Thirty-two of them, with not one holding a skill above the fifth level, which told her two important things. None of them had reached the sapient stage of their life cycle and none of them were strong enough to make letting them interfere with those four’s training worthwhile. If they could have been an actual threat then she would have let it happen, if only for the small hope that a bit of variety might have been enough to give an extra little boost of experience but with just how lacking they were it would have only gotten in the way of the valuable time they had to fight each other under the effects of her power so instead she reached out before anyone could even realize they were coming and with a thought, tore away all of the vitality to them, leaving their corpses to collapse to the ground and nourishing the forest around them.

There was a time she would have been against doing things like that, it was disrespectful to end a life without even being there to look it in the eyes, at least as far as she’d grown up believing, but what were those beliefs against a species that would devour the world and everything in it? She’d been adapting to the world since she’d first arrived, that was just the continuation of it and with no other interruptions she continued to look after those in her charge until their time was up, ending another one of her days on the planet without helping to create a new third tier.