Saying that Youmu felt awful was an understatement. She felt like her head was splitting apart while her legs to crumbling like paper. If it wasn't for her sheer will, she probably wouldn't have even made it out of those caves. Whatever the hell those bastards had done to her, she was suffering from it, and nothing in the Konpaku code had anything against taking revenge, well justified revenge.

Thanks to her far superior speed, she managed to get out of that hell hole before anyone noticed. She was miles away before anyone knew she had escaped. Luckily, Myon held onto her swords while she was imprisoned, so she wouldn't be weaponless when it came down to it.

And then there was the clothing problem. To be fair, she didn't need clothes, as she was already used to the freezing temperatures of her home, but it would throw dirt onto the Konpaku name if she walked into any establishment of civilization naked. Thus, why she stuck to nature, and why she was washing in the river right now, because she didn't exactly have the chance to wash herself for the past couple of years.

Youmu felt something bump into her in the water from upstream. She turned around to find a woman who was holding on to a cut off arm. It seemed to have happened recently since blood was still floating out into the water. Without worrying about her state of dress, Youmu pulled the woman out of the water and onto the land to the side.

To her surprise, the woman was wide awake, and made moves to try and attack her the moment they were out of the water. Youmu easily turned it around by grabbing the arm and twisting her into an armlock. It was rather easy, given that the woman only had one arm, as it seemed that the other arm, which she realized was holding a sword, was her missing arm.

For her state of dress and short, but bleached hair, she could tell that she was a Claymore. Though if she was a Claymore, why did she just attack her out of nowhere. "Who are you?"

"...you're not a Claymore right?" The woman asked.

"No, I am not. Though I do not see how that is related to our current situation." The woman looked a bit familiar to her, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on where.

"You need to get of here before she realizes-"

"Realizes what?" another Claymore walked out of the woods. "Oh, it seems there's an nudist here too. Wonder how it feels to be rescued by one." Alarms went off in Youmu's head as she observed the newcomer. Instead of short hair, she had her hair tied into a braid. But most importantly was the smile on her face. It was a smile of a sadist. She saw it on Yuuka Kazami more than enough times to recognizing on first sight. Judging from the blood on her sword, she was likely the one who cut the arm off.

"Might I ask why you attacked your own comrade?" Youmu asked. "I thought you were on the same side."

The other Claymore borderline chackled. "You think I consider weaklings like her to be my equal? That's just funny of you. I might even feel bad for having to kill you."

"Ophelia, leave her out of this."

"I thought your kind wasn't allowed to kill humans." Youmu said while drawing Roukanken from Myon just in case violence breaks out. "I heard they execute those who do."

"That's only for the people who are stupid enough to let themselves get caught." The one called Ophelia said. "After all, it's not breaking the rules if they don't know."

"Then I'm afraid I must say that I have no intentions of dying." Youmu may not be at her best, but she could still defend herself when it came down to it.

"Hah! You think you can block me with that weak-looking sword? If you don't struggle, I might just give you a painless death."

Youmu let out a deep breath of air, calming herself and taking her mind off the numbness. "...You talk too much."

That definitely seemed to have pissed the Claymore off. "That's it. I'm going to give a you death so painful that you even Hell would seem tortuous by comparison." The Claymore leaped forward, swinging that large sword that would make any human cower in fear so fast that one would not be able to react to it.

That is, if Youmu was a normal human. She had no issue blocking the attack, leaving her opponent oddly stunned. "Hell isn't tortuous. All the residents were quite welcoming the last time I visited."

"Look at you, blabbering nonsense out of your mouth." The sound of metal upon metal rang through the forest as Youmu blocked every one of Ophelia's blows. While Youmu had no problem reacting in time to block all her blows, she had no clue what would happen if she dragged this out. The Claymore behind her had taken the opportunity to reattach her arm, though it seem she was far from being combat ready.

"Oi, who the fuck are you?" The Claymore was clearly pissed that none of her attacks were connecting despite the fact that her opponent was a human. "No human should be able to take my attacks like that."

Youmu didn't bother answering her, instead launching her own offensive. Her strikes were much faster, so though they didn't carry the same weight, it still gave her opponent a hard time. Her fury of blows left the opposing Claymore on the defensive.

"You damn human!" Ophelia swung large. Youmu blocked with it with no problem, but her shoulder was cut in the process. "To think I have to use this against a human."

Her sword seemed to blur out of motion, its shape becoming up uneven as the blade fluttered about. "Let's see you block this!" She swung the wild blade at Youmu again.

Youmu simply parried it to the side, not even disturbed by the earlier wound she received. "All you're doing is shaking your arm fast enough to cause vibrations in the blade so that it will pass on a shockwave to cut your opponents even if your sword is blocked." Youmu calmly knocked aside another reckless swing. "However, it easily nullified if parried instead of blocked."

The last swing Youmu parried sent the sword high, leaving the claymore defenceless. But sudden pain flare up in her chest, causing her to collapse before she could get the final strike in.

The worried face of her opponent quickly turned to one of glee, as she prepared to swing down to end Youmu's life. However, to her surprise, her sword simply bounced off. Shocked, she followed the eyes of Youmu, as she was staring behind her instead of at her. She turned back, finding the cloaked figure standing behind her passively.

"After so many years, I see two faces that never expected to see again." The voice was clearly feminine, but had a strict, no nonsense tone to it.

Youmu took a good look at the newcomer. "I thought you died."

"You should've died." She said back. "Though I see you haven't exactly lived."

"Oi, who the fuck are you?" Ophelia was clearly not happy about someone else interrupting her fun.

"How rude. It seems Claymores these days have no manners."

"Damn you!" Ophelia swung her sword at her in a fit of rage, only for her onslaught to be deflected at every hit. Even adding the ripple effect did nothing.

"That's an interesting sword technique." The hooded figure said. "But it's nothing compared to the Quicksword." Right after she said that, with imperceivable movements, she made dozen of cuts on Ophelia. The sadistic Claymore collapsed, either due to damage or shock.

Not even bothering to finish her off, the hooded figure instead walked over to help Youmu up. "I see you're not in top shape. Otherwise, dispatching her should be no problem for you."

"Yes, I'll admit, I'm in quite some pain." Youmu said. "Though I should be fine after some rest."

"Come to my place. It's not to far from here. And bring the girl with you."

…

"So you're saying this woman is the girl from all those years ago."

"Yes, she is." Ilena answered.

Youmu had bit of a hard time believing it. She knew humans aged much faster than she did, but the cute, happy girl from years earlier was just too much different from the cold woman before her.

"Yes, I am the girl from back then." Claire admitted. "Though I'm surprised. Both of you look exactly as you did back then."

"Claymores may mature, but they don't age." Ilena explained. "Though I'm not sure why she looks exactly the same, for I am sure that you weren't a Claymore, nor now. And if there was an awakened being as strong as her in human form, we would certainly know of her."

It had been a few days since the incident with Ophelia. Claire had passed out due to overexertion of energy used to regenerate. The pain had subsided, allowing Youmu to walk normally, but she still felt oddly weak. Thankfully, Ilena's secret home was situation in the middle of an isolated valley, so it would be difficult for anyone to find them, and the abundance of food certainly helped. Thankfully, Ilena also had some spare clothes, albeit a bit worn, but still enough to save the half-phantom some embarassment.

"I'm afraid my answer is as before. I'm a simple traveler. I just happen to be half human." Youmu was pretty sure she explained this years ago, but they didn't really accept it as an answer.

"I don't get who you're trying to trick. If you're half-human, then what's the other half?" Ilena asked in a nearly mocking tone.

"Ghost."

"You expect anyone to believe that?"

"Everyone back home did."

"Then it appears that everyone at your home is mentally damaged." Ilena commented. "Though it seems I have no choice but to accept it since there is no other explanation for why you look exactly the same."

"If it doesn't bother you, do you mind explaining the whole deal with Claymores and youma?" Youmu asked, knowing that she was quite ignorant of the beings in this land. "I'm afraid I never got the chance to properly learn about this land."

"Yet you have no qualms with making an enemy of the Organization without knowing what exactly they are." Ilena commented. "At least you have more respect that Teresa. It always make people easier to work with." She went into everything important, from how the Organization operates, charging large fees for exterminating youmu, how Claymores are made, how each Abyssal One controls a certain territory, even including the guarded secret of the awakened beings.

"I see. So this land worked that way." Youmu knew that she would probably be fine if she ignored the political climate. To be honest, the whole reason why she was captured by the Organization was because of Priscilla. "What happened to the girl that awakened?"

"Her?" Ilena's voice carried a hint of fear. "I don't know. I haven't seen her since, and I don't think I want to."

"I do." Claire stated, anger burning in her eyes. "I lived my life planning on kill that bitch."

Youmu decided to bring up another topic. "Where's Teresa?"

"What the hell you mean 'Where's Teresa?'" Claire screamed angrily at her. "She's dead!"

"I doubt it." Was Youmu's answer. "She lost a good portion of her neck when I stopped the blade, but given the toughness of your kind, you should've survived. Seeing how she didn't come back to finish off Ilena, it's safe to assume she didn't finish off Teresa either."

Ilena chuckled. "It appears you're sharp, even if you don't seem very smart. Follow me." Ilena lead them down the hidden door in her shabby hut, down into a dark cave that wasn't even lit by torches. Fortunately, Claymores have enhanced vision, so the darkness wasn't too much of a problem.

At the end of the tunnel was a small open room with a bed in the center. On that bed was the sleeping form of the number 1 years ago, Teresa.

Claire immediately ran forward, collapsing onto her knee to get closer and feel that the warrior was in fact alive and in front of her. Once she found out that she had a heartbeat, she clutched the older warrior's hand begging her to wake up. But no matter how much she begged, Teresa would not open up her eyes.

"Even though she's alive, she slipped into a coma." Ilena began explaining. "And since she wasn't awake, I decided to stitch her hands and neck back together. But even after all that, she just sleeps. Fortunately, Teresa usually suppressed her youki anyways, so after going into that coma, she didn't leak any youki, which made it easier to hide."

"Is there any known time in which she'll wake up?" Claire asked.

"No." Ilena answered coldly. She was never one to ever to try to break the ice before dropping the bomb. "She could wake up in the next moment, or the next decade. She may never even wake up at all." Claire was evidently not pleased with that answer, so Ilena decided speak as if looking at the glass half-full. "But she's alive, so that means there's always a chance for her to wake up. It's better than the fate Noel and Sophia received. Those two don't have that chance."

"Yeah, I remember. Youmu only managed to interfere after both of them received mortal injuries." Claire sat there for a long while, reflecting on the way she had been living her life. She realized, now that she knew Teresa was actually alive, she didn't exactly know what to do. After all, this whole time was she was set on getting revenge of Priscilla. "What should I do from now on? All my life, I set my goal as killing that monster, but now-"

"Ah! I figured it out!" Youmu exclaimed. "I know why I've been feeling so weak this entire time. Given the way you say Claymore are made, it makes sense. I'll be back in a few hours." With an idea set in mind, she quickly zoomed out of the cave.

"I get this odd feeling I'm not going to like the idea that she came up with."

"Don't worry kid, it's not just you."

…

It turns out that their bad feelings were correct, because they found Youmu…

Carrying a dead body back with her. A human one.

Both of them immediately raised their swords against her. "I get a feeling that you weren't the most truthful when you said you weren't awakened being." Ilena stated. "Because as far as I am aware, people don't bring back other humans as food."

"Really?" Youmu was slightly confused. "But I cooked human all the time. Though I do suppose I never cooked it for humans."

"Don't tell me you're planning on eating that?" Claire asked.

"Yes." Youmu answered with a nearly straight face. "After all, youkai need to eat human to truly feel full."

"But you're-"

"It appears that because the people at the Organization tried inserting the flesh of those you call youma into me, due to my different constitution, my human half became a youkai."

"What's a youkai?"

"Well, a youkai is…" Youmu then went into the concept youkai, the different kinds of youkai, their relationship with nature and fear, as well as the history of youkai and the occasion war with humans. However, because of the ridiculous amount of material Claire had to beg Youmu to stop before the brains were overloaded with useless information.

"But even if we accept that your going to be eating humans, which I doubt, surely Claymore will start hunting you down." Ilena argued. "You'll have the entire population against you."

"Judging from my appetite, one human per year is more than enough for me. Maybe even too much." Youmu said. "Hardly enough to warrant attention. I've tried the meat I've cooked. I don't particularly like the taste of it. You don't have to worry about addiction."

"Whatever." Claire resigned. "Judging from the clothing, the guy was a bandit anyways. People would be glad with his death." She clearly didn't care about the lives of bandits, probably due to her experience with them.

Ilena sighed. Even though she knew she could probably take her on right now weakened, there was still the off chance that even if Youmu couldn't win, she could still run away with that ridiculous speed of hers. "Fine. Just make sure the smell doesn't attract the wrong people."

As expected, Youmu didn't like human meat, even if she cooked it to her usual perfection. She thought that maybe now that she was a youkai, she would like it better, but it seemed that her ghost side might still be human. It didn't matter. It more or less restored her strength. And thankfully her statement on her small appetite proved true. She figure she didn't need to eat human in a long time. It was a justified worry after all. The youkai world was ripe with irony, and it wouldn't be impossible for her to become a glutton.

After consuming the human, Youmu rejoined the Ilena and Claire, finding them having a spar. Ilena was clearly stronger, her strikes much faster and carrying more weight. Multiple times Claire fell to the ground or found herself at sword point. However, she didn't give, standing up again and again even if she was beat down. Youmu noticed that if anything, Claire defense was quite strong. She could accurately predict Ilena's attacks, even though she had trouble bringing her sword around quick enough to parry or block. However, she her sword skill were unpolished, as if she had only put a few years into training with the sword. Additionally the moment she decides to go on the offensive, she loses her defensive potential and control and just loses outright.

"I see you're back." Ilena said. "How was the meal?"

"I can't say I enjoyed it." Youmu answered faithfully. "Might I know the reason why you two are sparring?"

"Preparing for the inevitable." Ilena answered. "While this place has been safe for a while, there's no guarantee that it won't be discovered later. Additionally, if there comes the day we find ourselves against the Organization, it's best to be prepared. Besides, it seems like she still hasn't forgiven Priscilla quite yet, though it seems more like a secondary objective now. It doesn't hurt to be too strong. So, I'm trying to teach her the Quicksword."

"Are you sure it will work?" Youmu asked. "From what I can tell, your sword technique involves focusing the majority of your energy into an arm, allowing it to perform past its limit. However, it requires a large amount of control, which is not something that can simply be obtained through training."

"Yes, you are right." Ilena agreed with her. "While she does show the aptitude for it, I doubt that she will ever reach my level. However, given that she is following Teresa footsteps in youki reading, she may not need to reach my level in order to be on even ground. She could use the offensive ability, even if it's not the best it could be."

"I understand." Youmu walked forth and drew Hakurouken. "Then why not let me have a go? Surely it will help to have a different opponent, and I'm feeling quite rusty as well."

"Alright."

"Umm...Youmu, are you sure it's a good idea to use such a small sword?"

"Do not worry. It is merely a safety concern." Youmu reassured. "Besides, while one's weapon may limit their options, it does not mean they are bound by it. Now get ready."

Right at the start of their spar, Youmu leaped forth at blinding speed. Claire seemed to be overcome with shock, barely reacting in time to block Youmu's first strike. She didn't stop there, switching her grip and attacking from the other direction. She continued to swing with carefully calculated strikes, alternating between aiming for the head, legs, arms, and just about every other vital body part. Claire seemed to be panicking, her usual cold facade replaced with worry as she scrambled to defend herself. Because Youmu had closed the gap so quickly, Claire's longer sword became a disadvantage.

Because Claire was so focused of fending off her blade, she didn't react in time when Youmu planted a kick in her stomach. It wasn't a particularly strong like, so all it did was push the short-haired Claymore back a bit, not enough to knock her off her feet. She tried to quickly recover and block Youmu's next strike. However, she didn't realize it was a feint as the white-haired swordswoman twisted the other way and stabbed the sword into her side.

To both Claire's and Ilena's surprise, instead of a grievous injury, there was no wound after Youmu pulled the short sword out. All Claire felt was a little discomfort.

"Your reflexes and strength are decent." Youmu began providing critique immediately. "However, you focus too much on defense. Unless you can create an opening, it will only make your position worse. If you should make some attacks to get your own pace in, as your opponent will need to react to your attacks if they don't want to get hit, allowing you to get some control back."

While Claire listened in on what Youmu said, she wondered why she couldn't read her attacks. Even if she minimized her youki use, she should have been able to read the flow. But she was caught off guard when she couldn't feel any of it as Youmu launched her offensive.

"It's because she naturally doesn't use youki." Ilena answered her internal question. "Her attacks are completely devoid of youki, so you wouldn't be able to feel it. In a way, she is probably the biggest threat to your style of fighting."

"Does that mean-"

"But she's probably the only one who can fight like that, so it doesn't mean that technique is unreliable. Instead, you should also focus on being able to predict attacks without youki reading, as that will only help you in the long run."

"Alright." Claire nodded, resolving to commit Ilena's advice to heart. "Excuse me, Youmu, but can we have another spar?"

"Sure."