The life in its eyes faded out into a cold white that resembled marbles, Inari’s heart began to race as she panicked under the weight of the dead tiger.

Kira rushed in to take it off her; the body was stuck in place due to a large spear poking out of the side of its head. He tried lifting it out but it was deeply wedged through and lodged into the ground, after a bit more effort he managed to lift it out.

Inari took a glance at the spear and her face filled with a look of reassurance, and smiled. Kira however was not so calmed by the sudden weapon dropping out from the sky, he darted his eyes back and forth across their surroundings trying to find its wielder but nothing came up.

He looked down at the spear only to be confused. “This thing has no traces of mana, is it human-held?” When Kira sees anything with a trace of mana then usually it would appear inside of the person or around the object. It was as if he could see inside of them but with the spear, there was nothing like that, it was just an ordinary spear.

The craftsmanship was indeed impressive though, even if Kira wasn’t accustomed to weapon craftsmanship and knew nothing about spotting whether it was well made or not; he could at least tell by the detailed symbols on it. Either it was made by someone talented or it was a very excessive showpiece for some rich lord.

In a brief moment Kira felt the slight presence of a shadow creeping up on him, he snapped back only to see a figure erect up towards him. It was a woman bearing a knife, from the looks of her form it seemed that she was quite skilled and aimed directly at his neck.

Like a snake striking at a mouse she darted towards him with no sound and had already closed quite a large gap between them. When she got closer he noticed her smooth tanned skin and golden eyes, up close she was quite a beauty. She looked like the type of woman that any man would pay high price to spend the night with.

Inari hadn’t realized anything by the time the woman had already gotten in close, he didn’t have much left that he could do so Kira stepped in the line of Inari with his guard dropped completely. He had no energy left in him to raise his arms, it was a miracle that he could stand at all.

The blade froze right in front of his neck, only a breath away from piercing into his Adam's apple and spilling out his blood in a clean spray. Her eyes were sharp and carried a cold expression that suggested that she had killed before.

These weren't the eyes of someone who hated him but rather of someone fighting for a more specific reason. A look like that would have normally shaken anyone to their core, in this case it hadn’t fazed him at all.

“Why didn’t you try and dodge, you’re more than capable of keeping up with my movements?” The woman asked coldly.

“I’d be grasping at straws to try and fight as I am now. That doesn’t mean I’ll let you lay a hand on her though so if you’re looking for a girl to snatch then find someone else.”

With a single look, she was able to seize him up and see the extensive damages covering his body, not only the torn clothing hugging around his shoulder but also the bruises and cuts around his waist and backside.

“Don’t worry Tori; he is someone here to help us.” Inari peeked out from behind Kira and spoke with a fond tone.

“Little miss- you’re hurt!” Tori rushed past Kira and pulled her closer, as she touched Inari’s wrist she flinched in pain.

“My apologies little miss, I wasn’t thinking.” Tori stepped back and straightened out her posture in a formal manner.

“I’ll be okay, nothing I can’t fix up.”

Then in a warm light both of Inari’s wrists lit up with a white glare and the bruises began to fade away like dirt being scrubbed off a wok. The scratches and minor marks on her face faded off as well as if they had never been there in the first place.

Kira stared at the light with an almost mesmerizing expression and then recalled the same light from the earlier fight. “That crazy burst of power I had earlier, how did you do that?” He pressed curiously.

“That is none of your concern peasant, Little Miss you shouldn’t associate yourself with someone like this.” Tori leaned in closer to her ear and began to whisper. “Do you see the state of his clothing, he might even have fleas.”

“Enough Tori, Kira saved my life from that demon. If he hadn’t helped me then I would have died way before I even knew it, I owe him big time.” Inari walked up to him and placed her hand over his shoulder gently.

“It’s mana, just like you used- except mine is a little different. Normally I can just fix up scrapes and cuts but now and then I have moments where I can do…more. That’s what that thing earlier was, if I had to try and do it again I wouldn’t know where to begin. I’m just glad it was enough to beat her, for a while there I wasn’t sure if we would make it.”

As she spoke a white light covered over Kira’s wounds, and the stinging sensation over his arms melted away with a soothing release. Little by little the pains and cuts on his back and body closed up and disappeared.

‘That’s amazing, up till now I thought that mana was only good for attacking. I guess there’s people out there with some pretty strange abilities then… just how many people like us are there?’ He thought deeply.

Kira admired the white glare that encompassed his body when a thought suddenly crossed his mind. “I found you! You need to come back with me right now.” He practically dragged her along with him, gripping tight onto her sleeves as he headed towards the trees.

Tori snapped back into her murderous state and held the knife to his throat with an icy glare; Kira froze in place with widened eyes as he saw the murderous stare before him.

“You won’t do such perverted acts with the Little Miss as long as I am around,” Tori stated coldly.

“Per-perverted what’s?!” Inari blushed.

Kira got visibly annoyed, he had always been the recipient of anger and misguided frustrations but this was on a whole other level. Being around this many women and with such strong personalities, it was by all means alien to him.

“I don’t have time for this; you said you owe me right? Then use that power you have to heal my friend!”

Inari had no indication of what sickness or help this friend needed but she didn’t care. She nodded in agreement without a second thought. “Show me.”