The screech of claws on metal rang out through the Forest as Jun stopped another blow with her shield, her arm shaking with the effort. Sweat dripped down her brow, stinging her eyes, but she didn't dare close them.

The ravenous monster before her roared in frustration as it backed up, its eyes narrowing as its serpentlike tongue flitted out for a moment to taste the air. A subtle bunch of its hind legs was all the warning she had before it sprung forward, its claws swinging for her throat.

She wanted to retreat, to run, to do anything but be close to this thing, but instead of retreating she stepped into the blow, its claws scraping the air behind her as her shield slammed into its wrist. Before the monster could pull back Jun twisted her arm around and raked it with the shield's claws, tearing through scale and sinew with little effort.

Hot blood sprayed into the air as the monster ripped its arm away with a rage-filled scream. Drops of crimson liquid narrowly missed her eyes as she pursued her prey.

The beast's movements began to slow as the beast's lifeblood flowed down its leg, the amount making it clear she'd nicked something important. Ducking another haphazard swipe with its other arm, Jun closed and punched out with her left arm, stabbing the claws of her shield into the creature's chest. With all of her strength, Jun ripped her weapon out of the monster as she darted to the side, avoiding another attack and leaving behind a long, ugly wound that had the monster screaming again. Before the monster could spin around, Jun slashed her soul weapon's sharp claws through the muscles and scales on the creature's hind leg and darted back, her chest heaving and her side burning.

Blood flowed freely from the beast's injuries as it struggled to follow her, only to collapse halfway into its turn. It snarled at her angrily, its eyes narrowed with hate and fear as it tried to reach her with its remaining good arm, but its claws only found bloody mud as Jun took a step back. The monster tried to pull itself after her, but it was too weak and Jun stood there, watching as the light in its eyes faded and it fell still.

"Effective, Kitten," Shiori said with an approving nod as she stepped out from the brush ringing the clearing. As she caught her breath, she couldn't help but feel proud of herself. It wasn't easy to fight with just her soul weapon, the strange bladed shield awkward to use, but she managed to adopt the basic shield techniques she'd been learning in class with Cecilia and Inari's help. Still, a sword would have helped. Or magic. Still, she couldn't help but feel proud of her accomplishment. Her mother eyed the corpse of the monster in front of her. "But inefficient." Jun's pride deflated at Shiori's words.

"Inefficient?" But I beat it!"

"Yes, but you wasted much of your energy tiring it out." The reptilian monster's corpse made a sucking noise as it floated into the air, dripping blood and red-tinged mud. The large wound on its arm began to glow as Shiori pointed at it. "This wound here slowed it down, but you were lucky. You hesitated for a moment and gave the kobold time to reposition. You barely hit the main artery in this limb because of your hesitation. Hesitating in battle will get you killed. When you decide to strike, you must do so decisively."

The other two wounds began to glow as the corpse rotated slightly. "These two blows were better once you committed to the fight, though your targets weren't the best choices. Your strike to the kobold's chest aimed for its vital points, but your weapon's claws are short and wide and won't be able to easily penetrate deep into vital organs and are more likely to be stopped by bones. Your blow stopped on the kobold's ribs, preventing you from hitting its organs, but it did sever several key muscles and tendons that hampered its ability to keep fighting. The blow to its hind leg was your best strategy. Important muscles, tendons, and ligaments tend to be shallower and easier to strike at regardless of being. Severing these limits movement and makes it easier to hunt and kill, but it is a slow strategy that relies on tiring and bleeding out your prey. It becomes a contest of stamina. In a fight, the longer it lasts, the more likely you are to make a mistake that kills you. Even if your stamina eclipses that of your opponent, drawing a fight out only gives them more opportunities to strike a killing blow on you. If you must fight, fight to end it quickly and efficiently. Though your claws are short, they are sharp. Sever your prey's tendons that they cannot move, then rip out their throats. Do not allow them the time to strike back, to rest or recover, or allow their allies to save them."

As if to punctuate that point, another kobold floated into the Forest's clearing, snarling as it tried to lash out, though Shiori's magical bindings stopped it. The reptilian monster was massive, larger than the kobold she'd just killed, though nowhere near the size of the first she encountered all those months ago. Like the one she'd just killed, this one was a mottled green and brown that blended in well with the Forest, though the dark grey aura around it ruined its natural camouflage. "Now, again Kitten."

Before Jun could respond, the new kobold dropped to the ground, its magical bindings released as Shiori and the first kobold vanished. Letting out a loud hiss, the new kobold charged.

Shiori smiled to herself as she watched her kitten hunt. Her first kills were sloppy, leaning heavily on her magic as her kitten hesitated to strike a blow that might harm her prey. Those weeks alone in the Forest taught her kitten to hunt for food, but she stumbled once she was faced with a thinking being.

Though she couldn't read minds, her kitten's emotions bled through her aura and body language, making it obvious she felt guilt and shame at the thought of killing another thinking being. Such emotions were something Shiori hadn't ever truly struggled with, foreign things that she learned later in life, long after her claws and fangs claimed the lives of thinking beings. She could feel those emotions now, but her core would always be that of a hunter, and she would feel no remorse for ending her enemies.

But her kitten was not the same as her mother. Where Shiori was a hunter long before higher thought allowed her deeper understanding of others, Jun was a human and, for better and worse, carried the memories of her past life with her. The glimpses she gained from her daughter's soul told her that for all that the abuse she suffered pointlessly, her world was a safe one where most of the grand problems and threats were human creations. It made her kitten soft in ways that would only put her in danger here.

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Merinthia was a world of predators only kept in check by other stronger predators. As if the world sensed her thoughts and sought to have a joke at her expense, Shiori felt the ripples through reality as somewhere on the planet, another being knocked upon the door to ascension.

A being of the deep, crushing depths where light and air were foreign things. The ripples spoke of an ancient being that had been steadily growing its power for millennia in peace, unbothered and only shedding blood for survival. Whether that being remained peaceful, only time would tell, but it was a reminder to all who could feel that the world continued to recover. Countless beings continued to grow, from ancient beings that remembered a time before the planet's fall, to younger ones who thought of those times as myths and legends. One day, her kitten might take that step, but first, she needed to learn how to survive.

Speaking of growth, Shiori watched as her kitten deflected a blow from the kobold and used her smaller size and agility to get behind the latest kobold, her soul weapon ripping through the kobold's tendons and aura. In her soul sight, she watched as her kitten's soul weapon seemed to drink in those fragments, subtly stealing the kobold's strength for itself and its master.

"Curse you, human thief!" The kobold raged in its serpentine language, though her daughter ignored the creature's words. Probably because she didn't yet know the kobold language. Not that it was important for her to know in order to fight them. The kobold spun around and swiped at Jun, though its movements were clearly slowed by the wound she inflicted. A good start, but she could already see the kobold's regeneration slowing its blood loss. This one was stronger than the one before. Jun would need to inflict a decisive blow rather than try to bleed it out.

Shiori watched the two exchange a few more blows, her kitten scoring a couple small hits that drew blood, but she took a wound of her own to her right shoulder. The wound wouldn't hamper her shield use, but the blood and pain slowed her down just a bit. The kobold spotted the weakness and pressed its attack, aiming for Jun's right side as her kitten furiously defended, catching or dodging the flurry of blows.

Her kitten's defense only seemed to enrage the kobold further as it let out a series of insults against her kitten's strength, her bravery, and her parentage.

"Your mother was a runt, the weakest of her litter! You're nothing more than the runt of a runt!"

Shiori couldn't help but smile at the insult inadvertently thrown her way. The kobold wasn't far off from the truth, but even runts could grow strong. Her smile only widened as she saw what was about to happen. Just as her mother bared her fangs in amusement, Jun finally bared her fangs and showed her ferocity.

The kobold launched a heavy overhead blow at Jun with all of its prodigious mass and strength in an attempt to smash through Jun's defenses, but her kitten was faster and stepped out of the way as its claws sunk deep into the red-tinged mud of the clearing. The mud geysered up from the blow, but her kitten blocked the spray with her soul weapon, the filth easily sliding off the conjured weapon. The kobold wasn't so lucky as mud splashed into its eyes, coating its inner eyelids. The kobold blinked furiously as it tried to clear its vision and tried to rip its claws out of the ground, but her kitten stomped on the creature's paw, driving it deeper into the sucking mud as she drove the face of her shield into its snout with an audible crack.

As the kobold recoiled back, it showed its throat for the first time and Jun took the opening, raking her claws across the creature's neck to rip through its throat. A wet gurgling sound came from the creature's ruined throat as Jun stepped back, narrowly avoiding being smashed as the kobold collapsed dead.

Shiori watched as the shield drank in more of the kobold's aura as it faded, stealing away more fragments of the creature's strength, though her kitten didn't yet realize what her soul weapon did. She really was her mother's daughter.

Jun winced as she reached into her Void Bag and pulled out a healing pill, the wound in her shoulder making her movements stiff. Popping the small pill into her mouth, she ignored the faint taste of blood and dirt on her tongue and crunched down, releasing a burst of bitter herbal flavor that overpowered everything else. Her nose stung as if she'd swallowed a spoonful of mustard and her eyes began to water, but the unpleasantness was nothing next to the wave of relief as she felt her wound start to stitch back together with a soothing burn.

"A magnificent final blow kitten," Shiori said, appearing next to her.

Jun didn't waste her energy responding as she dismissed her shield and slumped down with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath as much as possible before the next training exercise. "Eeep!" Only to squeak as she felt a force grab her and lift her up as her mother's arms wrapped around her, crushing her against her chest.

"You've still much to learn and more growing to do, but that is for another day. We are done training. For now, you stink."

"Mmmfph! Mmhphmmhmm!"

"Yes yes, we can go to the bath house. I will have Inari and her students join us."

"Ehhmmph?! Mm mm!"

"You're well past the point of being shy around the others kitten. Besides, we're already here."

Jun gasped for breath as Shiori finally released her, only to feel a hard surface greet her boots instead of the sucking mud of the clearing she'd been fighting in. She knew her mother was able to teleport, but she hadn't noticed it happening. She hadn't felt any mana move at all.

"Ow!" A feminine voice came from behind, followed by a throaty chuckle. "What the, where the—"

"Shiori said training was done for the day and you all needed a bath. I agreed," Inari said, her voice tinged with amusement. "Now come on you three, it's time to clean up. "

Jun turned just in time to see Inari swish past, her tail waving playfully as she strode into Grandma Deedee's bathhouse while Sara helped Cecilia up from the ground. Shiori eyed the three of them for a moment before she followed Inari in, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she left the three alone on the quiet road outside.

Turning back to her two friends, she looked at them carefully. Like her, the two were caked in mud and blood, though she couldn't tell if it was theirs or whatever Inari had the two of them fight. As she looked at Sara, her clothes dripping blood, she couldn't help but blurt out the thought that came to her mind. "So I'm a dirty girl." She felt blood rush to her face as her brain caught up with what her mouth decided to blurt out as Sara and Cecilia exchanged a look.

"I think we all are," Sara quipped with a roguish smile that only served to send Jun's heart pounding.

"I, uh… I'll see you in there!" Jun squeaked, her blush deepening as she rushed inside.

As Jun stepped through the door, she heard Sara and Cecilia start to giggle.

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