{Xhez}

The water sprite couldn't breathe. Dylan's right hand was choking her so tightly that Xhez could barely squeeze out any air from her mouth. However, even as she felt her head turn lighter, what stood out to her was the boy himself.

He looked somewhat scared.

It was that realization that made Xhez realize the misunderstanding that had taken place. She only needed enough air to clear it up.

"I'm..." She managed to get one word out, putting her hands on Dylan's wrist. "Not... -uman... Either..."

And, as Dylan heard that, his eyes widened and he let go of her. Xhez took a deep breath as she was released, falling back on her chair. The crimson-eyed boy watched her skeptically as she raised a hand.

"... What are you, then?" Dylan asked, and there was a challenge in his voice. Xhez could tell that if her answer didn't satisfy him, he was probably going to get right back to choking her.

"I-" she coughed, "I'm a water sprite."

At that, he narrowed his eyes.

"Doubtful," Dylan replied.

"What?"

"I've fought water sprites before," he stated. "Give me a better excuse."

"I am not lying," Xhez said, before she reached back and, ignoring the strange feeling it gave her, she took a strand of her hair, painted black thanks to her Illusion spell, and held it out. "Touch this. This is my hair."

"..." Dylan looked down at it, and, finally, as he was looking at it closely, Xhez saw some confusion appear on his face. He looked back up at her briefly before reaching out and taking that strand of hair in one of his hands.

Quickly, he pulled his hand away, and when he did, he found that it had turned moist.

"... What?" He muttered. "But..."

"I am not lying to you," Xhez leaned in a little closer, trying to let her words reach the boy's heart. "I met Rin during her time outside of this city. She took me back with her because we became friends. I noticed that you..." Xhez looked behind her, just to make sure no one else was listening, "you are not human, and I wanted to ask because I would like to meet other non-humans."

"..." At that, Dylan inhaled sharply, and Xhez waited for an answer. "Come. Let's not speak here."

With that being said, the boy got up and began to walk out of the cafeteria, as Xhez followed him out. The two of them then went to the meditation room, and once they were inside, Dylan stared out the open wall at the back. Xhez felt a little nervous, but she was hopeful at the same time.

Dylan turned toward her, and his red eyes suddenly turned purple. His skin, which was a pale grey, became a darker shade, and from his back, a pair of dark purple wings sprouted, all while Xhez watched in shock. The room got much, much colder then, and the dark spirit that had originally been muffled came out in full force.

"... Well?" He asked, with a monotone voice. "You wished to know what I was. Have you changed your mind?"

"... No," Xhez shook her head, walking forward. "I-I just don't know what I am seeing."

"... Ah, my apologies," Dylan replied, taking a shuddering breath. "I'm an incubus."

"I, uhm, still do not understand."

"Hmph," Dylan huffed, walking toward her. "It means that I am a creature who requires sex with others in order to live. But, that, in doing so, I sap away at the vitality of those I lay with, whether I wish for it or not. Do you understand now?" He asked, looking down menacingly at her.

Xhez blinked.

"... No, I apologize, I did not understand a word of that."

Dylan blinked as well.

A moment later, he began to laugh. Then, all of those changes he'd just undergone began slowly reverting. His wings went back into his body, his eyes turned red again, and his skin became a brighter shade of grey before he turned away and walked toward the edge of the room.

Dylan sat down and shook his head, sighing as Xhez approached.

"I suppose that is why you still haven't run away."

"... I do not believe I need to," Xhez told him, sitting by his side. "You seem reasonable, after all."

"..." Dylan looked back at her. "Is that so? Well... I'd like to think that I am."

At that, Xhez smiled.

"So... Could you tell me a little about yourself? I would love to learn!"

Dylan looked back at her and smirked a little.

"Is this how you and Rin became friends?"

"Pretty much."

"... I understand," he nodded. "Sure. What would you like to know?"

---

{Rin}

As Rin approached her enemies, she tried to see how much she could determine about them from a distance.

Looking at them more closely, she could see that each one of these "cheren" had four legs, as opposed to the regular spider's eight, two on each side, and all were thin and smooth. At their mouths, they had two big, white mandibles. Maria had mentioned that their eyes were sensitive, and as Rin looked ahead, it wasn't too hard to see why they would be a target. The cheren had two, giant, bulging eyes pressed up against each other, that Rin could see all the way from here.

The next step was taking count of just how many enemies were around. All in all, there were just four of them. Two big ones, almost bigger than Rin herself, and two far smaller ones.

Once all of that information was internalized, she couldn't keep stalling. The rookie adventurer took a deep breath and swallowed her nervousness down. Behind her, just a short distance away, was Maria.

[Don't worry,] she told herself. [Whatever happens, Maria will be there to help. Just...] She paused. [Just try your best. You've got this.]

With butterflies in her gut and a shaky pace, she moved toward the spider-like creatures up ahead, and they saw her.

Her first instinct was to turn on her [Spirit Flame], but then she remembered what Maria had said. She had wanted Rin to see if she could defeat them without it, and although the rookie was worried the answer to that was a "no," she still honored Maria's request.

So, Rin put her hands down as one of those cheren let out a sharp shriek and began moving towards her. The other monsters noticed her, but that first one got a huge head start. Then, she got into her fighting stance and took a deep breath.

Just a short distance away, the cheren who had approached first shot out a glob of some strange, white, half-liquid substance toward her, and Rin ducked. The projectile hit a rock behind her, and Rin noticed how a web was created that covered a large portion of it.

[The web!] She noted, avoiding the projectile. [That's all I have to watch out for.]

Quickly, the cheren got into melee distance and began swiping at her with its thin legs in strange diagonal patterns, which Rin avoided by moving away from it as she tried to figure out how it liked to attack. She could see each of the attacks coming, thankfully, which she hoped spoke to her growth in speed.

The cheren attacked her multiple times, showing no signs of letting up. Rin didn't bother dodging, instead, walking backward to avoid each hit. However, this led to her tripping over something and falling on her back.

"Agh!" She let out a yell and the creature loomed over her, with its mandibles clicking.

It shot out another glob aimed straight at her face, but Rin dodged to the side and jumped up to her feet. However, she didn't step forward to attack. She was too nervous.

"Rin!" Maria yelled out then, and the adventurer looked over at her, with her hands shaking in front of her. "Fight back!"

As Rin heard that, while the other cheren had almost reached her, the first cheren charged toward her and the adventurer instinctively kicked it. Just that attack was enough to make the creature stumble, and Rin took a deep breath.

[What the hell am I doing!?] She thought, and it was like clarity had just surged through her. [Right, right, remember what you've learned! At the end of the day, it's about killing them before they kill you.]

With a sudden sense of courage that spread throughout her, she ran forward and Rin gritted her teeth as she tried to block one of its strikes with her left arm, fully closing the gap between them. Then, she reared back a fist and smashed it straight through the cheren's eyes, and the creature screeched before falling lifeless to the ground.

"Holy shit," Rin couldn't help but say as her hand was covered in green blood before the other cheren finally arrived where she was. A few globs of webbing shot out at her, and Rin dodged them all by dashing to the right before she ran forward at them.

She stomped on one of the smaller ones, crushing it, and then stepped back, dodging another projectile. The other small cheren leaped up then, jumping straight at Rin, but the adventurer reacted in time, landing a crescent kick with her left leg that sent it flying away.

She did not, however, react in time to dodge a glob that struck her left arm, and Rin instantly felt that arm go numb as a web covered it.

"Crap," she muttered before the last of the big ones began charging toward her.

[Don't panic,] Rin thought. [Whatever you do, just stay calm!]

The cheren began swiping at her and Rin leaned out of the way of a few different hits. With one of her arms being rendered useless, it felt awkward to do this but she managed to make it work.

Eventually, she noticed an opening when the cheren stopped and opened its mouth to shoot out another web, and Rin landed a firm kick on its eyes.

[Yes!]

The cheren was stunned. At that moment, Rin recalled one of the bread-and-butter techniques Maria had taught her, and she took a deep breath.

[Like Maria said, don't hesitate. Finish it off now!]

With her right arm, she clenched her fist, pulled it back and lowered it as Maria had taught her, and waited.

The cheren recovered and began drawing closer. Rin watched it, prepared to react as it jumped up when it was near enough, and she chose that moment to strike.

With her right hand covered in blue Essence, Rin dashed toward it. Throwing her first forward, she punched it in the body, and her strike went straight through the creature, emerging from the other side of its body.

The piercing blow sent green blood spurting out, covering all of Rin's body, and the adventurer froze, as she couldn't believe she had just done that as the body of the cheren remained on her outstretched arm.

However, it was no dream, it was no illusion. Instead, the cheren slid off of her arm, which was fully covered in green liquid, and fell to the grass as Rin stared at her fist.

"I-I did it..." She hesitated to say, but those words managed to come out. "I did it!"

Looking to her left, she saw Maria crushing the smaller cheren that Rin had kicked away earlier, and the Rank S adventurer approached her.

"Nearly, you forgot one of them."

"S-Sorry..."

"No, don't be," Maria shook her head. "I saw enough. You did well. There's still a lot, and, let me repeat that, a *lot*, you need to work on. Just one example, you froze up at the start there, which I don't like at all, but... You did well enough to pass, I'd say. If this were a real mission, it would have been an undeniable success.

When Rin heard that, she almost felt like crying.

Sure, her fight hadn't been too clean, and as Maria had said, she showed too much hesitancy at the beginning of it, but this was her first real win as an adventurer. The monsters were far easier to kill than they'd looked, which Rin attributed to her training, and all of this felt like, finally, she'd gotten just a little bit of evidence that she could do this.

She could actually work this job. For at least a little while, anyway. How long she'd be an adventurer for, she didn't know, but she had what it took to not get killed immediately, and what was enough for now.

"So... About my left arm," Rin said.

"Eh, the numbness will wear off eventually. Now, come, my dear apprentice," Maria said, with a smirk. "You smell awful."

When she heard that, Rin gave her a wide, happy grin, with specks of green in her teeth from the cheren blood that had gotten in her mouth.

"The smell of victory, teach'."

---

{Xhez}

By the time Xhez and Dylan left the room, she was fairly confident she'd found someone else she could trust in this academy. Dylan spoke of many things she didn't understand. Orphanages, bounties, adoptive parents. But, one thing that had become clear was that he was on a similar path to hers, just trying to find a way to fit in with civilization, and questioning why others like him couldn't do so in the past.

With that knowledge in her heart, Xhez walked down to Rin's room with a smile, happy about what she'd picked up.

[Oh, I can't wait to tell Rin, she'll be so happy to know this!] She told herself as she opened the door.

But, someone else was inside. A woman with a very distinct appearance.

"Hm?" The other woman asked as she looked at the sprite. "Rin?"

She was absolutely gorgeous. She had sunlight-colored hair and a pair of bright green eyes that were looking inquisitively at Xhez. Her body appeared much stronger than Rin's, and even though she was laying down at one of the beds in the room, she seemed taller than Rin.

[Wow,] Xhez thought, blinking a bit before she stepped forward.

"Oh, uhm, no," she shook her head. "I-I am Xhez. Rin's sister."

"Ahh, damn. Well, hey," the girl flashed a smile at her. "My name's Elisa."