Chapter 6 - Souvenir

There is no one here.

Have they all left? Where would they have gone?

-" Hey! Is anybody here? The old man? Leona?? "

No one answers. There's really no one, then. They left me alone here? Why?

-" Ugh..."

A little girl was standing in front of a house. Her apparent age must have been 11 or 12.

It was snowing that day. It should be winter. It was very cold, and there was already a lot of snow on the ground.

The house the little girl was standing in front of looked abandoned. There was no one around but her. It was surrounded only by trees full of snow. She had already looked in all directions, but she had seen nothing. The people she was looking for were not there.

A little further on was a small cabin. The little girl had the presence of mind to go check there. Maybe someone was playing a joke on her? Without waiting, she went to check.

She opened the cascading door. It was dark. But thanks to the daylight, she could make out what was there.

-" ... "

The little girl closed the door, gently and walked away from the cabin. A few seconds later, as she walked away from the cabin, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

She sat down on a tree in the snow. All she was wearing was a little green dress. The cold must have been very hard on her.

-" ... "

She had a blank look in her eyes since she visited that old cabin.

Tears kept flowing down her cheeks. A snowstorm suddenly began.

The little girl refused to move. Perhaps her goal was to freeze to death in this storm.

As she looked ahead, she saw someone approaching.

Somewhere in her heart, she had some hope.

But it was not what she had hoped for, although she had expected it. It was a stranger. In spite of the storm that was getting stronger and stronger, he was moving forward without slowing down.

Then at some point, this individual approached the little girl.

When he was close enough to her, she looked up at him from her waist, sitting down.

-" Who...what do you want? "

-" ... "

-" ... "

-" I've been watching you for a while. You saw it, didn't you? "

-" Leave me alone..." Replied the little girl, hiding her face.

This man.

What this child had just said seemed to have amused him. He even smiled.

He snapped his fingers. The shack in the distance immediately caught fire.

The little girl reacted instantly and started to run towards the shack. But the strange man stopped her with one hand. The expression on his face could not be distinguished. However, you could see a smile on his face.

The little girl began to cry loudly. But the mysterious individual was so strong that he had no trouble restraining her with one hand. The little girl struggled as best she could to escape the man's grip.

Knowing that she could not escape his grip, she decided to look away, so as not to see the burning hut.

-" Don't look away. " Said the strange man.

He forced the child's head to turn towards the spectacle of the burning hut. He took care to grasp her eyelids so that her eyes remained open.

-" Your missing loved ones will not return. "

-" Ugh...ough..."

The little girl held back from crying with all her might.

And so she watched as the cabin was reduced to ashes.

It contained the bodies of two of her friends. Someone had surely killed them and put them there. The little girl did not want to find out who it was. There had already been several such deaths recently. She would not have the strength or the will to look for the culprit.

This man was very tall. He must have been at least six feet tall. He had long white hair and red clothes. He was really peculiar. The little girl had black hair. She looked really tiny next to this guy.

She had finally calmed down after a while. It was almost night. Before leaving, the big man confided something to her.

-" Little one. Take it. "

-Mh? What's that?"

-" A kind of red pearl necklace, as you can see. Since life has no meaning for you anymore, I'll give you one. Find me, and fight me. If you beat me, you can keep it. If I beat you, I'll take it back. "

-...But I don't want to...And then, who are you?"

- "I am..."

�

The white-haired man said nothing more and began to leave without looking back. He had left the little girl behind, alone. But she was less alone, having received a gift.

-" Finding you..."

�

-" Maybe I shouldn't interfere but...Can I help you gentlemen? "Alma Tempest asked.

- "But...You're not the sister..." remarked Raiga.

-" Yes, I am not. But maybe I could help you. "

-" Ah. In that case do me a favor and find me Sister Sarah. "

-" Okay, I'll bring her! But first I have to..."

-" ... ? "

-" Eradicate the vermin! [Raider Astra: Northern Impact]! "

Suddenly, a strong, icy wind blew through the entire area. This breeze was so cold that all of Raiga's men shivered for the next two seconds.

A great freezing fog had invaded the area. The cold wind was getting stronger every second. Strangely, Alma Tempest was wearing light clothes. She had only a pink top with short sleeves and black mini shorts. And the cold did not seem to bother her at all. She wore a necklace of red beads around her neck. The diameter of each of these pearls must have been at least two centimeters.

Alma Tempest was holding a sword. It was not a sword like Tokisada's. It was a sword, like the knights'. It was just less wide than those. The edge of this blade was covered by very tight bandages. This object attracted the attention of Raiga. And the latter was not happy at all.

-" What do you have there, young girl? Can I take a look at it? "

-" Come and get it, Grandpa. "Alma replied.

-"Kill her," ordered Raiga.

All of Raiga's men rushed at Alma, intent on beating her to a pulp. She was small compared to them, but she was not afraid at all. She launched herself into the fight with her strange power of ice.

Raïga remained in the background and observed.

-" This little brat...Has the Astra. And a Raider class Astra at that. "

In a flash, she had frozen all her opponents. This was the irrefutable proof that they were no match for her.

Only Raiga was left standing. Alma was in front of him, smiling.

Raiga looked extremely upset, even if he did not want to let it appear. He began to applaud. This applause was intended for Alma.

-"...Bravo, girl. "

-" ... "

-" I'm going to withdraw.

Alma seemed immediately less stressed.

-" However, I'll be back tomorrow. And I will eliminate everyone! There will be nothing left! "Declared Raiga.

This was a problem.

Alma knew that Raiga would fight back. She knew it when she started attacking her men. She could have fought Raiga here. But she was afraid of the damage such a fight near this orphanage could do. She had no idea about this guy's powers, and it was too risky to find out here. After doing her best to fight without doing any damage, it was better to leave it at that.

And Alma knew that the children were inside.

But Raiga wanted to do something before she left.

-" [Raider Astra: March Like A Gun]"

Raiga's hands turned into guns. They looked like long rifles attached to the place of his arms. He must have had about thirty men sealed in ice. With his "arms" he began to shoot them.

They were real bullets.

-" ... ? "

Alma had managed not to get hit, avoiding being in the line of fire of Raiga's weapons. But she was mostly afraid that a stray bullet had hit a child inside the orphanage building. However, he had fired a bullet at each of the ice blocks that held Alma's victims.

-" Don't worry. No one died in there. "

-" Why did you kill your men? "

- "They weren't serving me. I don't need weaklings like them. "

-" ... "

- "On that note..."

Raiga left without saying anything more. Alma watched him go, until he was out of her sight.

She realized that none of the children had screamed. Since they were all necessarily together, none of them must have had an accident. Alma seemed reassured.

It was only a few minutes later that people started coming out of their houses to get a glimpse of what had happened. Alma did not linger there and withdrew in her turn.

[10h20]

--Center

The island of Onyx was divided into several parts, and one of them was the Center. It was the most populated and active place. This area was very much governed by trade, which attracted people. It was probably the best place on the island to do business. Sure, there weren't as many products as in the markets of Arcadia or Septem, but it was enough for the islanders.

Between the people who were discussing prices and those who were imposing theirs were two people. A boy and a girl, both silent. One looked like he hated the crowd, and the other didn't like the sun hitting his eyes.

Between these two, there was a deafening silence.

Then the redheaded girl broke that silence.

-" Hoy. Kira. "

-" Mh?"

-" You are hopeless. "

-" Here we go again. "

-" You're still thinking about death, right? "

-" ... "

-" You're thinking nonsense. I've already told you that when I'm Empress, I'll find a way to remove this curse from you. There's no need to worry! "

-" What makes you think I don't believe you? "

-" I spied your conversation with that girl. "

-" It's naughty to be too curious. "

-" I don't care. "

-" ... "

-" So shut the fuck up and just believe in me. " Seisa said, crossing her arms.

Kira said nothing. He just sighed. It wasn't like Seisa to comfort him. So maybe he should just shut up and enjoy it. At first glance, he and Seisa didn't seem to be friends at all. They usually talked to each other insulting each other, or coldly. But Kira was very fond of Seisa. And so did she. She just had trouble being friendly.

Then Seisa and Kira realized that there was someone in front of them. Kira recognized this person.

- "You are..."

-" Oh, is it you, the boy from yesterday? "