Ank

We got back to the Beginner’s City. And, what a reception.

“You idiot!”, the fox-girl screamed, hugging the blue-haired kid tightly. Tears dampened her face, her fur was all bristly and grimy, and I could see dirt and grass on her hands and boots, as if she went to the wild in search of the little kid. Fuck, she probably did it, didn’t she? “Do you have any idea how worried you made me?!”

“I’m sorry…”, Oa said, honestly, hugging the fox-girl back.

“We too, we’re sorry, Tapa: even with all our [Attributes] we didn’t notice the kid hiding inside our supply basket until we were already too far from the city”, I apologized.

“It’s… It’s okay”, the fox-girl finally got up from her knees, freeing the blue-haired kid from her hug, and wiped her tears away. Yet, her eyes were distant, when she continued: “It was my fault that he sneaked away in the first place. I should be the one keeping everyone hea-”, she interrupted herself when she seemed to notice what she was saying, and corrected herself: “I should be the one keeping an eye on him.”

She hadn’t forgiven herself at all, had she?

“…Well, what do you think about we all dinner together again, then?”, Hunah suggested.

“Yes, this sounds great!”, Oa said for the tired-looking fox-girl.

“No, you two already did too mu-”

“You need some rest, Tapa!”, the blue-haired kid insisted, and my twin sister added to his voice:

“He’s right: just go back home and rest a little, I’m sure your family would give you a break and allow me to help in the kitchen, in your place.”

“Well, then… I’m counting on you”, Tapa finally agreed, and made her way back to her home through the wide corridors of the palace-turned-city.

“Oh, my…”, Taffy sounded somewhat uncomfortable behind us. “I don’t know how to ask this, but, could you two go buy the food without me? I promise I’ll be back to help Tapa’s mom in the kitchen, the lovely lady, but I’d like to visit a certain place right now…”

“Oh, sure”, I nodded. “Just, where do you want to go?”

“…A flower store”, the older woman answered me, and let my sister and I alone in the Beginner’s City.

We had some time before dinner, but, still, the two of us, twins, were not really in the mood to go out on another date. We moved with certainty to the closest market.

“Have you heard?”, someone whispered in between the aisles of cereals, fruits and vegetables. I sighed, already expecting to hear yet another rumor about Hunah and I, about the strong adventurers in the city. “There’s some kind of weird group of people in the city, and they seem to be looking for someone”, in the end, I wasn’t sure if I really should be relieved that the whispers were not about us, twins…

So, I shook my head and focused on finding some good tomatoes.

I was soon distracted from my mission, however, and this time by a somewhat familiar, yet unpleasant voice:

“Excuse me… You’re the [Level: 300] twins, right?”, a muscular bald man appeared beside my sister and I. The guy who challenged us to a duel back when we first arrived in that city.

“Yeah?”, I replied, not bothering with correcting the mentioned [Level], pulling the hood of my poor-quality cape back and revealing my face. Mentally, I made a note of buying gloves to hide our purple-colored hands from the public too…

The bald man sighed, before continuing almost relieved:

“Look, I’m sorry for what my [Party] and I did back then, okay?”

“Sure, sure”, I waved my hand dismissing the guy, but he continued:

“So, here: an apology’s gift”, he handed me a small green crystal. “It’s a protective charm, and I know it’s not much… but I’d really appreciate it if you accepted it.”

“Okay, thanks, bye”, not really wanting to spend more of my time with the guy, I waved him away once more, and this time away he went. Before my sister could even ask to see what the gift was, I handed it to her: “here, you’re the one who likes to carry trash around anyways.”

Hunah took the rock from me, and while she went on about how her items were not actually trash and blah, blah, blah, I selected a few good tomatoes, paid for them, and started to make my way to the meat shop, focusing on what kind of meat would fit the dinner the best.

Then, I had quite some money, but if I bought something too expensive, it would be a little intimidating for Tapa’s family, but I wanted to pay for some good food for my friend…

And, once again, I was distracted from my mission, this time by someone who seemed to want to look discreet, but had no idea how to do so, all in black, with a cape, a hat, and a scarf.

Heck, why had all the drama decided to show up on that specific day?

“Are you two the [Level: 300] twins?”, for a moment I played with the idea of simply saying no and avoiding whatever the bother could be, but the definitely-not-suspicious figure laughed, and continued before I could do so: “If you don’t want unnecessary blood being spilled, then, follow me.”

…Well, whatever the annoyance could be, then there was no way I could just ignore it, right?

In the end, the person who approached us guided my twin sister and I to the outside, to the green field just behind the city, ignoring the light rain that fell continuously since the season started.

There were six more people in equally suspicious outfits waiting for us there, their disguises drenched in water. They were the guy who challenged Hunah and I to a duel, and his party.

Still, I wasn’t really concerned, the guy in the middle, the strongest in the group, was just [Level: 44], and at that point, some adventurers were gathering in the windows of the palace to see what was going on.

“So? What did you want with us?”, Hunah asked as we stood before the seven definitely-not-suspicious people.

“Set an example”, the man in the middle of the group spoke.

And there was no way I wouldn’t recognize his voice.

The old man, the one who skinned me alive, who tortured my Hunah, who inflicted so much pain onto my parents and everyone from the village, and killed them.

The [High Priest], that son of a bitch had the guts to show himself before me.

“You”, I said, stepping forward, tightening my fits, and losing control over my aura, the killing intent emanating from me so intense it was like wind, and it killed the grass in a circle around me.

Once I stepped forward and towards the old man and his group, however, he spoke, almost playfully:

“Well, well, well, not so fast, boy: [Activate Trap]”

“CRACK!”, something broke. Behind me, that is.

Looking over my shoulders, I saw a green mist coming from Hunah’s pocket, the same one which she stored the stone I gave her before.

“B- Bro”, she muttered. And, spitting blood, she fell onto her knees.

“SIS!”, I dashed for my twin sister, and took her onto my arms before she could fall on the ground.

[Waring! Condition: 1/3 met! Analyzing potential to unlock secret spell...]

As the rain started to pour more intense, whitening the surroundings so much water was falling, I looked at her [HP] screen in our [Party] tab, but it was decreasing so fast – she had already lost half of it?!

“H- Hold on, sis!”, I mumbled, reaching for the healing potion inside my cloak, and slowly poured the content into her mouth, as she continuously spat and coughed.

When I took notice of the five underlings of the [High Priest], they had already encircled us, and all of them held a shinning emerald sacrificial dagger over their heads.

Bearing my teeth, I covered Hunah’s body with my own, as I still held the potion against my twin sister’s mouth.

“LET THEM GO!”, then, I heard a cracking voice, followed by a set of quick and light footsteps. Oa, the blue-haired kid showed up, jump-kicking one of the attackers.

“NO!”, I heard yet the fox-girl screaming not much further away.

“You fool!”, I shouted, and reached for the kid, trying to push him away.

But, then, one of the sacrificial knives dived straight over the immobile Hunah, and I had to cover her with my arm.

“Oh, did you want to protect this kid? Does he hold any value for you?”, The [High Priest] asked, tilting his head.

“No, you don’t dare-”, I started, but was interrupted by the old man:

“That’s perfect”, he commented, and turned to the underling who was kicked, and then held Oa by both of his ankles. “Kill him.”

“Yes, [High Priest]”, the underling said. And pulled his hands apart, and consequently split the kid in two; all of Oa’s viscera falling onto the ground, and the blue-haired boy, Jao’s legacy, stopping resisting, dying immediately.

“NOOOO!”, The fox girl reached us only then, shouting over the thunders in the distance, her tears and snoot making themselves visible even through the increasingly fiercer rain. She tried to press the two halves of the body together and heal them, but, as expected, got no reaction at all. “WHY? WHY DO I ALWAYS FAIL?! WHY CAN’T I SAVE NO ON-”

“SWUSH!”, a decided slash from one of the [High Priest]’s underlings, and Tapa, too, fell down. And her head rolled away from her neck, still frozen in self-hate and anguish.

[Waring! Condition: 2/3 met! Analyzing potential to unlock secret spell...]

“Bro… ther”, Hunah whispered. And stopped breathing, her muscles suddenly relaxing, yet her eyes open, staring into nothingness.

Her [HP] vanished from my [Party] screen; I couldn’t possibly see how much she had left.

“Wha- Wai- Sister”, I shook my twin sister’s body, caressed her face, I kissed her. But just like Tapa’s healing Oa’s cadaver, Hunah didn’t start to breathe again.

“Hm, good”, the [High Priest] mumbled, and his underlings retreated back to his side. “I hope you understand, now, at least a fraction if the seriousness of the crime you committed… [Godslayer]”, The old man threw away his disguise and approached me. “[Children of The Cosmos: Loyalty]”

[Species: Human, Level: 44(+500)]

“[Emerald Super Armor]”, the old man used yet another spell, and as green flames involved his body, and the fragile [High Priest] quickly disappeared, submerged inside a fifteen meters tall muscular emerald-sculpted body, only his skinny face with sunken eyes too small still visible, at the head of the gigantic and powerful armor. “Take solace that you will, at least, die with your family, [Godslayer]”, he concluded, and pushed the gigantic palm of his emerald body down on my twin sister and I.

Die?

Dead?

Was my twin sister… dead?

[Warning! Condition: 3/3 met! Secret Spell unlocked, and automatically learned: “Outstanding Summon Embodiment”!]

[Warning! Due to being the first person in history to ever unlock the following spell, its status were upgraded to Unique Spell, bonuses granted! “Outstanding Summon Embodiment” became “Perfect Summon Embodiment”!]