Nana had been pleased with herself since officially joining the dark guild Eternal Nightmare. Although she had been with the core members for a few years now, she had been a child then- picked up off the street after being abandoned by both of her parents. It had been a difficult childhood for the green haired daemon girl. For a time, she had been in an orphanage, but because she was a daemon, the other children were terrified of her. Adults just didn't understand her and thus, she was never adopted.

Unsatisfied with the conditions, Nana had run away at a young age and grew up in the back streets of Oak. She had done many things to survive. Lie, steal, murder. It was easy to get away with such things while being a child- humans were mostly compassionate but also willing to turn a blind eye to many unspeakable evils. Such as a troubled homeless child in the streets.

In any case, things had worked out for Nana in the long run. Her experience on the streets had taught her to be shrewd and callous. Yes she missed her parents sometimes. She still thought of the fuzzy memories she had with them. Her mother's warmth and her father's sense of reliability. Her memories always ended with the death of her mother however, followed by the enraged father who abandoned all sensibility in the pursuit of vengeance... even abandoning his own flesh and blood.

Deep down, Nana knew why he had abandoned her, but it was still difficult to accept. That was precisely why she was about the outskirts of Oak today. Some old memories had been stirred and nothing would settle them until she had reached the bottom to the cause.

The cause for her current discomfort came from rumors. Outlooks and associates of the dark guild that kept a lookout in Oak; especially for those whom were strangers and came asking about members o their local guild.

It this such event that bothered Nana. Two men had been reported as snooping around- searching for a daemon girl who had lived in the town about sixteen years ago. Few seemed to know or were willing to share those details with the two strangers. Of course Nana knew they were looking for her. There were few daemons indeed, especially those of the same gender and age. There could be no mistake. The only part that left Nana confused, was the 'why'. Who could possibly have reason to look for her specifically?

Sure Nana had done many unsavory things all throughout her young life, but she doubted she had done enough to catch the eyes of bounty hunters. She was always discreet in her crimes. Whatever the case, Nana could not rest until she had gotten to the bottom of this prickly situation. Only then could her fuzzy childhood memories return to a dark stale limbo that only surfaced occasionally in her dreams.

Her eyes scanned the immediate area. She was just on the outskirts of Oak. Upon her request, some of the locals had fed the two strange men false information. The two strangers were not from around these parts and knew very little of this area or its dangers- specifically the dark guild Eternal Nightmare. Nana had them given false information that would lead the two strangers into Eternal Nightmares territory. Screams and other sounds were seldom investigated once someone ventured onto the dark guild's turf. Nana's violet eyes stalked the two men as they moved further and further into her trap.

Nana would follow these two men for quite some time. She would take in every detail: their interaction and unique traits, how they interacted with each other and whom seemed to be the stronger one. The daemon girl knew these woods like the back of her hand, as she had often used them to evade pursuers and even a few rune knights. 

For every step the two strangers made int he woods, Nana had already been there and repositioned herself for a better advantage. She listened to their conversations and gleamed as much information out of the two men as possible. Originally, she had secretly hoped in her heart that one of these two men were her father. These two men were indeed related to her father's situation, but through their damning words, were spies sent from a shogun in her father's homeland. These two's mission was to ascertain if Nana was still alive. If she was, she was to be captured alive and brought forward to execution back in their heritage land.

Nana smiled with glee, a demonic glee in which there was pure pleasure. It was not every day that she could obtain information about one of her parents... let alone perform violent acts against unsuspecting victims... Even more so that she had learned that the two men were at a huge disadvantage. She couldn't be killed, for these two spies risked death themselves if their task was failed. She laughed silently to herself at the turn of fortune: soon, these two men would be inside her trap and then she could ask as many questions as she wanted.

It took longer than Nana initially expected for the two men to reach the desired destination. A small open field, surrounded by forest on three sides. The forth side was a large gaping hole in the ground that went down into the bowels of the earth at a steep angle. It was a cave, one that Nana used often to evade her own pursuers. Today though, she was the hunter. The first man, who's name was Sozen, was the leader. A larger and more quiet man. Despite his size, he walked with a nimble and almost quiet gait. The second man was taller but more skinny. Unlike his companion, he seemed to never shut up and had actually been the one to provide Nana with most of the information she had obtained while tailing them.

Finally though, the two of them reached the outside of the field and spotted the cave off in the distance. Nana had gathered as much information as she could from their chatter. The two men's stance and voice tones changed. They had been led false information that a daemon girl was an outcast in the city of Oak. Despised and shunned, her only choice was to live in the nearby cave for shelter and scrounge for food in a local dump near the edge of Oak's parameter.

The story was believable enough and the two men assumed that between the two of them, they could kidnap a young woman whom was likely emaciated from the lack of food or exercise and a healthy body. Little did they know, that the girl they were looking for, was so much stronger and faster than them.

Becoming more cautious and focused on the entrance of the cave, the two men's perceptions were tuned forward and aside each other as they could only hear one another's movements and whispers. Nana followed close behind them, using the angle of the sun to avoid a shadow and waited for the right opportunity to enact her plan. It would not be until both men were standing at the edge to the hole in the ground and peering into the darkness, that nana would reveal herself to them.

With a single strong push of her arms, the bigger man, Sozen lost his balance and began a long and violent tumble down into the cave system. With his disappearance into the darkness, Nana's steel daggers whipped out from their scabbards and slashed the man's armpits before he could bring his arms up to defend himself. Nana could tell that her aim had been true with the feeling and resistance of her cuts.

The tall skinny man who's name would later be learned, reached down for his sole weapon- a katana at his waist, yet his arms did not obey his command. Instead, his arms hung limp at his sides, warm life liquid pouring down his sleeves. A look of horror etched across his face as he looked down and realized his predicament. The look of fear only deepened into a despair when he recognized the girl, her foot outstretched and kicking him also into the hole. He too would tumble down into the darkness, into a violent roll as his body collided with the steel incline of the cave's entrance.

"Juzo! Juzo are you already?!" exclaimed a raspy Sozen as his taller friend tumbled down and landed on top of him in the darkness. Almost no light entered the cave and their eyes could barely adjust to simple shapes only inches in front of their faces. Not Nana however- she was a daemon with awakened traits and could see in the dark rather well. She had quickly and nimbly descended into the cave system and landed softly on a rock not so far away from her two targets.

Sozen was badly injured from his fall. Most assuredly he had a broken leg and Juzo's fall on top of him had likely broken a couple of ribs. He was more concerned about his weaker companion however, as he could feel the warm liquid of Juzo's blood. Juzo mumbled and wheezed as he caught his breath. His panicked gaze barely visible to Sozen as he spoke in a terrified burst of barely comprehensible words. "Daemon girl... trap... got us..." he would ramble on until Sozen shook him back to his senses.

A single sound silenced both of them, a bubbly kind of sound that flowed like water and echoed through the cave. A giggle. Nana laughed out loud as she crouched down on a rock nearby, overlooking her two enfeebled guests. "You stumbled nicely into my trap. Now I can ask you all sorts of questions. I do hope you aren't too hurt though. it would be a shame to have you die too quickly." she would say with exuberance, admitting to both that she had no intention of letting them leave alive.

The burly man Sozen pushed his companion off of him, sensing the immediate danger and couldn't afford to be hindered, even by his companion. Although the two men had been loyal retainers and friends since children, their mission to the shogun meant more. It was life or death after all. Death was almost certain either way, but he wished to go down fighting with the chance of capturing her target, rather than being executed and dishonored in his homeland.

"Come peacefully daemon spawn. Let us reunite you with your father and be executed." he would say with as much strength as he could muster, in an attempt to intimidate Nana. She replied to his attempt at bravado with a loud cackle that echoed dangerously close thanks to the close walls of the cave. Sozen whirred about in the darkness, trying to ascertain the true location of the girl, but he had little hope from all of the reverberations.

His first mistake came from a sound he was very familiar with. The sound of steel piercing flesh and the surprised gasp of the wounded. Sozen turned about to his friend Juzo and reached out for him in the darkness. He embraced his friend and felt him over, only to find the amount of blood had greatly increased and soaked the tall man's clothing. Juzo's words were gone and only a struggling wheeze replaced his already unsteady breathes.

Nana had hit a fatal spot, although it would take quite some time to take full effect. She had stabbed the man Juzo through his right lung, collapsing it. Soon, the man's chest would begin to expand as positive air pressure from his lungs would escape from his chest and eventually either suffocate him, or crush his own heart. For now though, he was alive and could talk- if enough persuasion was used. "You will be the ones to comply with my wishes. I can offer you a quick death, or a slow and painful one." she would say after a moment of silence, allowing Sozen to fully grasp Juzo's wounds and the situation they were in.

Another burst of pain in the darkness claimed Sozen, almost a mercy- if one could truly say that in this sadistic situation. Nana's dagger had slashed across Sozen's broken ribs, flaying his skin and allowing his warm blood to spill softly onto the cold damn rocky floor of the cave. "Your words earlier suggested that my father is still alive. Answer me truthfully and I'll allow one of you a swift and painless death." she would ay in a more serious tone. The implications at her father's fate had tempered most of Nana's reckless abandonment and bloodlust. Now she only wished to torment these two men until she had gotten every last drop of information and blood from them. Yet sometimes a merciful promise was more rewarding than hours of torture.

Several moments of silence followed, only surpassed by grunts of pain and heavy breathing as the two men struggled to overcome their enfeeblements. The seconds seemed like hours to Nana. She was eager to learn whether her father was truly alive or not. These two men's continued stubbornness and loyalty only fed the violent flames in the daemon girl's heart. 

Four quick and precise strokes of her daggers claimed the men, two for each in some of the most painful but non-lethal places. Both men called out in agony involuntarily and the first to break was naturally the weaker. Juzo had suffered the most damage and he could feel the pressure inside his chest, pushing his organs closer towards his heart. It was difficult to breathe and every ragged breathe only gave him more pain as his chest tightened even more. He coughed up blood several times as he struggled to find the words. "Your father... Alive.. Prisoner.. Shogun." 

Juzo knew he was to die in this rotten hole that surely led to hell. His hands were not clean, he knew his shogun was an unjust man: enduring pain for no reason was pointless when Juzo knew the end would come eventually. he wanted an escape from the pain the daemon girl had inflicted upon him. It was in his voice- the sincerity, followed by Sozen's surprise that Juzo would betray his lord's confidence.

A swift and precise blow from Nana's dagger silenced Juzo, granting him the instant relief of wakeless slumber. She pulled her dagger from the base of Juzo's neck and wiped the blade on the warm corpse. "A promise was given and kept. Only one remains to answer the rest of my questions." she would say out loud, letting Sozen know that she had no intention of allowing him a swift death, unlike his traitorous friend in the end. For a moment, Sozen envied his friend's now peaceful face. In the darkness, Nana grinned wickedly as the man clung to his deceased friend and cried through the pain as he mourned his friend's death.