Tales From The Kronos

"This dream? Again?"

Neige opened his eyes to see the same church as last time. This time, Ada and the other Neige he saw were sitting on a bench. The nun seemed to focus on Neige's words, while the boy had a serious tone while speaking.

"The Goddess of time, Fubuki... She went crazy, she thinks that the elves are plotting to steal her powers. She declared war on them."

"That's horrible... But in the end, all we can do is believe in her."

Neige seemed shocked by his words, almost offended by them.

"I thought you only wanted the good of people, how can you just accept it all?"

"As a nun, all I can do is trust her judgment. I'm sure others will stop believing in her, but I always will."

"Yeah, so you're just a dumbass that obeys without thinking..."

"At least I'm not pessimistic, unlike a certain short boy..." Said Ada with a slight smirk on her face.

"I'm not short, it's you that's tall. At least I don't hit my head every time I enter a house."

"How do you know that it happens to me? Anyway, I'm not the one that everyone is confusing with a girl."

Neige suddenly blushed and flinched before answering the girl.

"Wait, so you do know who I am! You said you didn't."

"Neige is quite a peculiar name. Everyone heard about the boy who wishes to be a girl."

"I don't want to be a girl! I just like being pretty!"

Neige was about to argue, but the nun burst out laughing. After seeing her like that, the boy followed her laugh, and the two of them ended up enjoying themselves without a worry in the world.

"You really are a funny one!" Ada said while still chuckling a bit. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and continued "Why does everyone say you're dangerous? You look like you couldn't hurt a fly."

"Hey, I'm not weak!"

Ada tried to hold a laugh at those words, amused by the situation. Neige had a carefree smile and continued talking.

"They just don't like that I don't follow blindly the Gods. I understand we live in a world created by them, but it doesn't mean they're innocent and kind."

"Don't worry about them, everyone in this town will find a reason to dislike what's different. They don't like that I'm giving my life to the Gods too because I'm too invested. Don't take it personally."

"You really are kind, Ada."

Neige took a small fruit and started eating it. Ada noticed that it was the exact one she kept in her pocket to eat later, and when she checked in it, she realized that it was empty.

"Sorry, I was hungry." Replied Neige with a smile. The boy gave her half of it in an attempt to apologize.

"You're excellent at it, I didn't see anything coming!"

"That's the first time I ever was complimented on my stealing skills, but thanks." Neige paused for a moment, wondering to himself "Why are you always alone in this church, I would have thought you'd have more friends."

"It's quite hard to establish bonds as a woman of faith. Everyone always expects perfection from me, and I can't disappoint." Ada's face started to become sadder. Noticing it, Neige tapped slightly on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"Don't worry Ada, I know you're not perfect. But even if you're not, you're a great person."

Ada smiled upon hearing those words and gave him the brightest smile she could.

"Thanks, Neige."

Just like the first time, the room vanished like nothing ever happened. The Neige who was dreaming looked at the void in front of him and muttered to himself.

"The anomaly and her Neige, they remind me of Polyetta and I... I guess no matter the world we're in, we're not so different... Maybe if life took a different way, I could have been like her."

Opal, the organizer of the tournament, noted all the groups in her notebook under the patient eyes of the contestant. Once she was done, she gave everyone their weapons and maps. It took some time, and while it was happening, the anomaly herself came toward Sepide and her group. She looked at them attentively, before talking with an amused voice.

"So you're Neige's friends. It's quite different from the group we had at the time of our adventures, so I hope you took good care of him."

"You kidnapped him!" Yelled Silva "Don't act like you care for him."

"Don't get me wrong, I only want his happiness. I couldn't convince him to come, so it was the only way."

The anomaly looked at the group. Aside from their new member, everyone looked at her with animosity in the eyes, which intimidated her a bit.

"So anyway, I just wanted to say that I'll participate too. So let's do our best to fight fair!"

"You participate?" Asked Sepide "Isn't it cheating? You host the tournament."

"That's a good point, no pantie girl, but I don't host the tournament, it's Opal that does. We could say that I'm merely helping with it... And that I asked for it to be held too... Anyway, I just figure that using my powers won't really be fair, so we'll fight, fair and square!"

Silva and Sepide seemed a bit uncomfortable at the idea, but the leader looked at the anomaly straight in the eyes and extended her open hand toward the anomaly.

"Good luck..."

The leader's voice was cold, her eyes full of murderous intention, but the anomaly accepted the handshake with a smile like it was nothing.

"Thanks-"

The anomaly suddenly felt a burning sensation while touching the leader's hand, like her body was rejecting the contact. She tried to get her hand away, but the leader clenched her fist tightly and pulled the anomaly toward her. Their faces were only separated by a few centimeters, and the leader talked with a strict and severe voice.

"If anything happened to Neige, I swear that I'll make you suffer for the rest of your existence. It matters not where you are, it doesn't even matter what I'll sacrifice, I'll make sure that the only thing you can feel is suffering."

The leader let go of the anomaly's hand, still looking at her with rage in her eyes. The anomaly herself took a step back and replied with a colder voice.

"I'm sure you would, I guess we're all the same in the end."

The anomaly left the group under the leader's threatening gaze, and the moment her back was turned, the leader shook her hand in pain.

"It hurts goddammit. I forgot how it felt to touch your other self! That's why I stay on the ship all day!"

After cursing a bit more the leader finally stopped complaining. Amused, Silva turned toward Sepide with a perverse grin, and gently tapped her shoulder with her elbow.

"No pantie girl, huh? Someone likes freedom."

"What's a pantie?"

Silva thought Sepide was joking, but the tone of her voice was so serious that she had some doubt.

"Are you serious?"

Before Sepide could answer, the organizer of the tournament came toward them, carrying a bunch of stuff in her arms.

"So, here are your weapons and your maps."

Opal handed a sort of Katana to the leader, who seemed satisfied with it. She even swung around a bit, visibly having fun.

"You're going to hurt someone..."

The girl was exasperated and gave Sepide a knife. Sepide looked a bit confused about the choice of the weapon but still went with it.

The organizer took a deep breath, and mentally prepared herself, like she was about to do something incredibly hard.

"So... Silva, here's a gun. It only has one bullet, don't waste it, alright?"

"I understand."

Silva's answer seemed to confuse the girl. She stared at Silva for a moment, before talking again.

"Well, you're way easier to convince than your sister. If you knew the weird stuff she said."

"Silv?.. She's not my sister."

"Right, your 'other self'. I still think saying sister is cuter."

Opal turned toward Uriel, the robot of the group, and handed her a teddy bear.

"It's more symbolic than anything, you're a robot, you don't need a weapon."

"Thank you, I will take care of it with all my heart." Answered Uriel with a smile on her face.

"Well there's no punishment for losing it, but sure. Anyway, here are the maps."

The girl handed three maps to the leader. Each one showed the same area, but the difference lay in a red circle that was in a different place for each one, as well as a different colored border.

"As you can see, each map has a different color. Blue, yellow, and red. Basically, Blue is the easiest treasure to get, and red is the hardest. If you want to only get easy treasures, you can steal someone else's map."

The organizer left. The group circled around the map, observing their goal. The leader analyzed the maps and shared her thoughts with the others.

"So we're in the middle, near the forest. One of the treasures is in the forest so it's easy to get, the other one seems to be in an ocean, and another one is in... A volcano?"

"A volcano?" Asked Silva "There's no way I'm going in a volcano, I'm not that suicidal."

The leader thought for a moment and put the maps in her pocket.

"We'll see when we get there, for now, we should get the easiest one. It shouldn't pose too much trouble."

The group waited patiently for the trial to begin, hoping to succeed and get closer to saving their friend.