“Not bad indeed.”

Atop a certain building inside Talia city, a woman spoke. She had a calm smile on her face and, although her eyes seemed to be closed, they were very much open. Moreover, despite the city being filled with monsters, the woman was oddly being ignored by them.

Though, it didn't take much to guess why. The woman wasn't even there to begin with. Her appearance was just a simulation, a hologram sent and controlled from a far and unknown place. Which also justified her calm demeanor. No matter what happens to the city, 'she' would remain untouched.

“But...” The woman continued, her gaze glued to the back of a certain black-haired girl. “You should be able to do much more than that, Rin.”

The city was bustling with noise, with battle, and with death. Even a Dragon hovered over it, ready to let out a devastative breath, yet the woman's gaze only remained on Rin. Add just a little and it wouldn't be weird to say she was obsessed with the girl.

“As stalker-ish as always, huh.” Fortunately, someone managed to make the woman look somewhere else. “I don't see what's so interesting about that girl, you know.”

Opposed to the woman, who had around 35 or 40 years old, the new person seemed to be rather young. At the very least, from her height, she appeared to be around her early teens. 13 years old at the maximum.

As for her facial feature, it was unfortunately masked with the huge, pink umbrella she was holding. Only her lips could barely be made out, and even then, it was still impossible to guess her expression.

“In my eyes, that white girl is much more intriguing.”

It was only natural, though. This little girl never had the habit of going out and as such it was only natural she would try to hide her face.

“Well, you are certainly right.” The older woman, however, didn't seem surprised nor bothered by the sudden appearance of the girl. “As of right now, Winter has effectively more value than Rin. I would even go as far as to say the current Rin has no value whatsoever.”

The little girl's ears twitched at the intriguing words, prompting her to also look at Rin. Though, no matter how she imagined it, she failed to see anything that might catch her attention.

‘Then again, it's not like I'm that interested in other people.’ She thought, a small boring feeling growing inside her.

“However, I can assure you, Pixie,” The woman continued, a weirdly warm smile on her face. “The future Rin— no, even just tomorrow's Rin would be much more different and valuable.”

Pixie paused a little, knowing full well of the woman's singularity. Moreover, as she also knew of the woman's true identity, she was aware of how much weight and truth those simple words carried. She couldn't help but mentally note Rin Kagane's name as someone not to be messed with in the future.

Though she didn't seem to be too alarmed either.

“Is that so.” The little girl said, turning around to leave. “It doesn't really matter to me though.”

The older woman simply smiled while still having the decency of waving her hand as a goodbye.

“Oh, right.” Pixie suddenly stopped in her track, having seemingly remembered about something. “I'm going to visit your island for a bit, so don't treat me as an enemy, okay?”

◇

As Rin succeeded in transpiercing the dragon's eye with her sword, she was violently shaken off the head with great momentum. Her whole body now freefalling in the sky, she couldn't help but wince a little.

Still, her face displayed a faint smile of satisfaction when she saw the dragon scream in pain. Not for long, though. The ever-approaching ground was her first worry and the second was the dragon recovering. Fortunately, she was pleasantly surprised the latter didn't happen.

And as for how she dealt with the former, she borrowed Lia's help. Rotating around herself, she crouched her two legs in a jumping stance while still in the air. And, when the blue-haired girl's hand touched her feet, she was propulsed so high in the sky by a single powerful shockwave.

Nevertheless, she didn't sustain any injury thanks to Lia's great control of her singularity. Rather, Rin even seemed to appreciate the wind caressing her skin at high speed to the point where she regretted having her mask still on.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Moreover, when she attained her peak height, she had the chance of doing one thing a normal human could never do. Namely, looking down on the creature known to reign over all race. She quite liked the sight.

Then again, she couldn't afford to waste her time. She gripped her sword, now colored in red by the monster's blood, in her two hands and used the ensuing momentum of her fall to plunge at the monster.

[Arrogant human!] The dragon shouted.

Too late, though. By the time he looked up, Rin was already on her way to pierce through his skin. And sure enough, before an instant could pass, the girl's sword dug into its opponent with immense strength.

The air shook a little, and unlike the first time, Rin succeeded in transpiercing the monster. But, not by much, unfortunately. The girl frowned and took out her sword. Although she could see additional blood on it, she failed to see any apparent damage on the monster.

'...So much for that.’ Rin thought with a bitter smile while standing on the Dragon's back. Of course, it was turbulent so she needed to hang on a scale to keep her balance. At the rate it was going it, it wouldn't be long until she fall again.

Unexpectedly, however, she didn't seem panicked at all. Instead, she just closed her eyes to take a deep breath.

“You need to keep a broad mind, Rin.”

She slowly recalled one of her grandfather's words to reaffirm her determination.

“I taught you martial arts but you mustn't abide by that.”

She opened her eyes, finally ready to move.

“You must adapt to your opponent, find their weakness, and move accordingly. You must not create your own style.”

Then, she let go of the scale she was hanging on and began to run ahead. Tracing from near the head of the dragon to the base of its tail. You might be surprised to know that was a big distance considering it was a living being Rin was walking on. Despite that, though, she traveled that same distance in a matter of seconds.

“Otherwise, when you encounter those inhuman figures in the future, you will be completely helpless.”

Moreover, her left hand, free of her sword, was touching the monster's skin all the while she was running. Why? To find a weakness like her grandfather had taught her. Throughout the year, Rin found it easier and easier to visualize someone's inner constitution by using her sense of touch and hearing. Although, at first, she wasn't sure she could do so on a monster, fortunately, she managed.

‘I don't know where the core is, but,’ Rin thought, preparing to jump from the monster.

[Enough!!]

And as she expected, the dragon increased the speed at which it was flying to try to get Rin off of him. Though, by that point, the girl had already leaped away and managed to land on the roof of a building with just a numb feeling to her two legs.

And that was the tipping point for the dragon. Since the beginning of the fight, he had done nothing except being played around by the human. That was not something he could allow. ‘There's no way I'm going to lose against mere humans!’

With these thoughts, the dragon flapped his wings with great vigor and turned to look at the ground. What instantly caught his attention was Raven instead of Rin. The little girl already formed four new black spears at her side, ready to be launched.

As a result, the dragon grew angrier and directly plunged his massive body at Raven. His four gigantic claws extended, he was ready to rip the small body apart. The speed at which he was going was phenomenal compared to what his frame may have suggested.

However, someone even faster took him by speed.

Like Winter had done to Lia, she caught and took Raven's body out of the dragon's range while still using the singularity of wind. Furthermore, that didn't prevent the small black-haired girl to launch her spears.

And much to the dragon's displeasure, her attack made more damage than Rin's, going as far as gouging out blood out of his thick scale. The monster let out a horrifying cry of pain this time too, but he wasn't foolish enough to let his prey get away again.

He opened his mouth wide open in Winter's direction. It didn't take much of a genius to know what he was trying to do. The legendary dragon's breath.

“...Damn.” The white-haired girl muttered.

Winter's body moved in reflex just like previously and tossed Raven's body as far away as she could. Though, unfortunately, she didn't have a chance to get out of range herself. A bright light entered through her eye just before the impact.

And the next second, a feeling of disintegration permeated her body.

It wasn't just her.

A horizontal pillar of light came out of the dragon's mouth, generating a dreadful noise. Everything in its path was returned to dust without any resistance. The ground, the building, the monster, and, obviously, Winter herself were enveloped in that blinding light.

Raven who managed to escape by a hair's breadth had a look of horror on her face. Her body stopped and remained stuck on the road with the simple thought of someone dying to save her. She couldn't accept that. For once, however, her shadow didn't compell to her feeling and remained unmoving.

An eternity seemed to have passed before the pillar subsided. All that was present at the scene couldn't help but be awed by the carnage. Absolutely nothing was left at the places. A spherical way, having taken the shape of the previous pillar of light, was all that remained.

Raven paled, her eyes growing watery. “No....way.”

It was a fact she didn't know Winter for more than a day but, that didn't mean it was okay. That didn't mean it was okay for someone else to die in her place! A bead of tears slowly formed on the corner of her eyes before flowing down her cheek.

Until—

*Blurgh*

—Someone coughed out an unhealthy amount of blood just behind her.

By reflex, her head turned around, and to her greatest relief, Winter was there. Not unscratched, of course. More like the girl was rapidly approaching death's door, but, at least she was alive.

“...Idiot.” Raven expressed, still with teary eyes.

However, before anyone could answer, the dragon opened its mouth once again.

“You're kidding me, right?” Winter let out among her batted breath.

Light slowly formed inside the monster, pointing he was going to launch another ‘death beam’. The white-haired girl paled at the insanity. She managed to barely escape the first one, there was no way she could dodge another one.

Though, unexpectedly, the dragon didn't target Raven and Winter.

Turning his giant draconic head in a 180-degree turn, a blue-haired girl appeared in his line of sight. A girl, who was gathering an unpleasant amount of energy to his taste. Whatever Lia was trying to do, the dragon had, for once, felt danger from it.

“Tsk!” Which prompted the girl in question to click her tongue.

Lia needed a little more time, but apparently, that wasn't happening. ‘No other choices.’ She thought ready to launch her incomplete attack. Her two hands were pulsating weirdly—no, more like, it was the space around them that was pulsating. So much energy was gathered in her frail little arm that the air itself was bending weirdly.

Then the Dragon let out the devastative pillar of light. Lia didn't have the time to dodge, so she clenched her two hands to take the attack head-on. And as a blinding light finally filled her vision, she moved to punch the mass of energy.

—Or at least she wanted to.

Before she could even move, black long hair fluttered in front of her.

“The base of its tail.” Out of nowhere, Rin pronounced while holding a shield she had borrowed from Ark.

Indeed, her words lacked explanation, but, for some strange reason, Lia understood it instantly. Without wasting her time, she gathered energy in her feet and jumped high in the sky.

A feat she couldn't have accomplished if Rin didn't take the dragon's breath in her stead.

Shaking away her hesitation, Lia plunged downward at the monster, just like Rin had done earlier. Though, this time, the blue-haired girl's attack was splendidly effective. Targetting the base of the dragon's tail, she unleashed all the energy she had gathered in her two hands.

And, for the third time this day, a devastating shockwave filled the city. But, along with it, the gigantic lizard tail of the monster was ripped off.