“Reed, wait! Look up, the sky…is burning?!” Alisa exclaimed as she pointed at the fiery sky dyed with crimson clouds.

“It is red! Maybe something really dangerous is out there! Ah, there’s a pillar of blaze right there!” Reed immediately pointed a the towering flames of destruction far from where they are standing. “Let’s go, Alisa! Maybe we can become heroes if we stop this one!” Reed added.

“Don’t be foolish—hey! Listen to me!” Alisa tried to reprimand Reed but her words reached no ears as Reed once again runs towards the danger. “Geez! Your mom is going to be angry!” Alisa, having no choice, followed Reed.

As the two continue running, three Exturbo carrying large weapons flew past them. The Exturbo are third generation model with a sharper look and thinner frame than the second generation.

“Look, Alisa, there’s three of them! Sending three means this is nothing like a small beast! This might be something really dangerous!” Reed exclaimed without stopping.

“Moron! If you know that then let’s go back!” Alisa weakly cried as she tried to keep up with Reed’s pace. “Damn it, I am from the Vaster race and I am losing to a human in a sprint…” she curses as Reed is making a remarkable distance between them.

Reed and Alisa, without stopping, keep running straight to the root of the emergency. However, before they can even realize it, the temperature is slowly rising. At the moment, a flare suddenly lits up ahead.

“…Alisa!” Reed immediately turned around and grab Alisa’s body. He dove with her to the ground and even covered her with his body.

BOOM!

A loud explosion occurs that a wave of fire eats everything away. The empty lots and houses are consumed and immediately crumbles to ashes. Two of the three Exturbo earlier was blown back by an incredible force.

For Reed and Alisa, that was not their concern anymore.

“Wind Wall!” Reed immediately deployed an invisible barrier of wind to deflect the incoming wave of an explosion. However, in the very instant that the wind wall meets the impact, it shattered without resistance.

“Alisa!” Reed shouted in desperate tone as he lost all hope.

“Reed, I love you!” Alisa shouted as she closes her eyes to meet her end as she took the opportunity to hug Reed in her arms.

However, at that moment, before the wave of fire could char them to a coal, a figure appears before them.

“Terra.” The girl with black hair said.

A pillar of a large rock emerges suddenly from the ground in front of her. A slate wall that blocks the explosion unyieldingly. The slate was so large it can probably cover a two-storey house.

“Oh my, I got too excited that I became careless. This is a shameful act. You two there, are you okay?” The girl with lovely long black hair asked.

Reed and Alisa were in a daze as they stare at the exquisitely lovely girl in front of them. Though she wears a weird garment, she is undeniably out of this world. Her age doesn’t seem to appear older than thirteen but the charm that she exhibits are alluring.

“Say, thee younglings are fine I ask.” She once again said.

“Ah, yes! Thank you for saving us! But…what’s happening?” Reed was able to shook himself from the daze and inquire further about the situation.

“Hmm, I was truly amused by those moving metals in humanoid form so I got a little heated with them. So to say, they weren’t that special…” The girl spoke in a dejected manner.

“Eh?! Impossible! You are saying that you fought with the Exturbos?! And what was that explosion earlier? A gas leak? No, that’s too strong for a gas leak…” Alisa exclaimed as she digests the situation.

Suddenly, five more Exturbo appears from the sky.

“More of it? Hmm, are they perhaps angry with me?” The girl said with a troubled expression.

“What did you do?!” Reed suddenly asked.

“Eh? I just tried to use a little magic. Didn’t know they were this fragile.” She replied with an innocent face.

At that moment, the five Exturbo mercilessly fired off dozens of Fire missiles to their direction. The girl immediately flees from the place, however, being able to react a few seconds slower, Reed and Alisa were late to escape.

“Again?!” Reed shouted as he grabs Alisa again and covers her.

At that very moment, from the explosion comes shrapnel of rock and metals comes flying alongside another explosion. While the Fire Missle was not directly shot at them, the impact was almost as lethal as the missile itself.

This time around, no one saved them.

“Hey! Stop, you fired at this children!” The girl from earlier yelled. “This is not what I wanted to happen. I might have been too aggressive…” she then muttered to herself with remorse.

However, for the pilots of Exturbos, their only concern is the girl who showed an unbelievable magical energy earlier. To that end, they wanted to eliminate her as soon as possible that they lost sight of their own surroundings.

That’s right, they instinctively felt fear from the girl and just mindlessly firing their armaments at her.

“Reed!” Alisa shouted while cradling Reed in her arms.

The girl with black hair immediately snaps her head towards the two people. Her eyes widen in surprise as she saw the boy with a sharp metallic plate piercing his chest. The girl who is holding him slowly tears up as she called out to the boy’s name.

“Reed! Reed! Reed!” Alisa called out to him repeatedly. She cried in both desperation and regret from not forcefully stopping the boy earlier. Foolish as he may be, she could have stopped him with the right words. The boy who always dream of becoming a hero.

Seeing this, the girl with black hair frowns in a displeased manner.

Exturbos came back from the air started casting more Fire missiles to throw at her. However, her mood seemingly drops, the girl leaps up.

“She flew?!” One of the Exturbo pilots exclaimed.

The girl grabs one of the Exturbo by the ankles. Her grip strength is so strong that she grabs the metal like it is a scrap of paper.

“Go away.” She said as she swung that Exturbo towards the other two who are coming her way.

CLANK

The three Exturbo clashes midair and fell as they lost their balance. In a succession, the girl also grabs one of the two more remaining Exturbo and threw it at the last Exturbo. Like the first three, the two Exturbos lost their ability to fix themselves midair.

“See…? Fragile I say.” She muttered under her breath as she looks at the horizon. The whole place, with the exception of the towering mountain where she came from, is teeming with houses and building. Aware of such thing, she made sure that the chunk of metals will land at a place where people will be unlikely there.

“Ah…the boy…” She remembered.

She jolted downward in midflight and shot towards where the girl is cradling the boy with sore eyes from excessive crying. The fox girl’s ears perk up as she sensed that presence of the black haired girl.

“You…what are you?! Because of you…” Alisa was about to say something but stopped. She knew she was at fault too so she got disheartened to say anything.

“Oh? You got a good head on your shoulders, kid. I’ll be brief about the condition of your lover.” The girl nonchalantly said as she stares at the boy. “He is already dead.” She bluntly blurted.

“Well yeah! He is…and…I wasn’t able to do anything about it…” Alisa’s voice weakly trailed off and her fox ears and tails fall downward in utter sadness. Her unending tears drop to the lifeless boy on her arms.

“You have a bit of a sharp tongue despite your lover dying in your arms. That’s good, hand him over to me.” The girl reckoned.

“Wha--?! What are you going to do?! And…we are not…in that kind of relationship…” Alisa said.

“Oh? Shame…and Vasters is one of the most aggressive race as they do not pick their partners, especially when they are in heat.” The girl said with an as a matter of fact tone.

“Please…what are you going to do with Reed?!” Alisa could only utter as she reluctantly let go of Reed.

“I feel a little responsible for his death. If he died a dog’s death without me being connected, then I might not need to concern myself with him, however, I made some problems. I have to take matters in hand. For that very reason, I will give this boy an extension for his life.” The girl said as she closes her eyes.

“What are you plann--! EH?!” Alisa was about to ask something when the girl suddenly made a sudden move.

After removing the sharp metallic object, in front of Alisa, the girl with black hair soothingly puts her lips and latches it to Reed’s lips. Saliva started leaking out and smacking sound becomes audible. The girl is…very good at kissing.

Alisa could do nothing but watch in utter envy and amazement as the girl explored every bit of Reed’s lips and possibly, his tongue included.

Alisa then notices that the girl’s tongue twines with Reed’s and a shimmer of light was passed down to his mouth. As the light was swallowed by Reed, the girl stops her assault on the lifeless body of the boy’s lips.

“Guehh! Arck!” Reed suddenly jolted from his place and coughs several times.

“Reed!” Alisa jumps on his chest in delight, seeing that the boy once again breathes. “Thank goodness! Thank goodness you’re alive!” she said as her ears and tails perks up.

“What?! So you are saying that I almost died?” Reed inquires so.

“Not quite, boy. You really did die. You just got back to life through Yah and Weh. You should be thankful for receiving another life.” The girl with black hair said.

“I did? Well…did you do that for me?” Reed further inquires with quizzical countenance.

“I did. From my very own lips, I transferred it to yours.” She pointed her’s and Reed’s lips.

“You…kissed me?!” Reed suddenly flared in embarrassment.

“Well, there’s no other way to perform it. Anyway, be glad that you are back on your own two feet, boy.” The girl said with a smile on her face.

“I see…thank you…um…your name?” tilting his head, Reed asked.

“Me? My name…”

At that moment, Reed’s world was turned upside down. At the moment, Reed and everyone else around him will have their lives and destiny tread a path of thorn.

“I am the Hero of Aldieas, Sigrun.”