Tales From The Kronos

Like the few other times, a scenery appeared in front of Neige. He was used to it by now, and fully expected something like that to happen by now. The other Neige, Ada, and the elven girl they were with reached a kind of altar on top of a snowy mountain. A sword fully made of ice was planted on the altar, waiting to be picked on. The small group stared at it for a moment, until Ada broke the silence.

"This is it! Fubuki's sword! If we take it, we'll wake her from her slumber... But still, is it a good idea?"

Before another word could be spoken, Neige ran toward the sword and pulled it in front of them. Ada slowly approached him confused, waiting for him to explain himself.

"I'm sorry, but she won't listen to us. At worst, she'll even kill us! I have no faith in this Goddess of time. But if he takes her powers, if we rule the world instead, we can make the world better!"

"Make the world better?" Ada asked offended "You're not a God Neige, you shouldn't act like one!"

"I'm sorry Ada, I want to create a world where you're happy. Have you seen how this world is? The strong ruin the weak's life for personal gain, while the Gods stand there, doing nothing! I want to create a world where your kindness is rewarded, not a world where you're afraid of even being yourself. Please Ada, will you join me?"

Ada stopped to think for a moment, but before she could, a woman suddenly took the sword from Neige's hand and stabbed him from behind. It looked like she just appeared from thin air, leaving Ada in shock.

"Humans, just because you believe, you think you can do everything." The woman stared at Ada, tilting her head slightly at her sight "A nun? Did you bring this elf for me as a sacrifice?"

Ada ran to her friend as fast as she could, ignoring everything else. She put her hand on his wound, a bright light emanated from her hand to heal Neige. She tried again until his eyes opened, but sadly, it never happened.

"Your magic can cure wounds, but not death. Don't trouble yourself with him, he wasn't worthy. I mean, have you seen how he acted? He didn't deserve to live."

Ada stared at Neige's body with empty eyes. She took him in her arms close to her. She stayed like that for a moment, worrying even her elven friend, who ran at her side.

"Ada, are you alright?" She turned toward the Goddess, imploring her mercy "Don't you feel bad? you've only been committing atrocities!"

Ada stared at the void, still unable to process what just happened. The conversation that happened right next to her wasn't reaching her, just like everything else. She let Neige's body fall to the ground, life seemed to exit her body, and nothing else mattered to her anymore. Darkness replaced the light in her heart, despair took over hope, and her faith disappeared fully. She took Neige back in her arms and stood up in a last effort. When she looked around, she couldn't explain what was happening. A dark fog was everywhere around and the area around was destroyed, like a fight just happened.

"Did I... Do that?"

Ada asked herself this question, but it didn't matter in the end. The body of the Goddess was on the ground, and the snowflakes were stopped in mid-air. She shook her head to stop herself from thinking and stepped away from there with Neige in her arms.

"I'll find a way to save you Neige... It will be alright, don't worry."

Kairo, Ada, and Eve all made their way to the third team, ready to negotiate. The snowstorm was heavy, making it hard to see clearly in front of them. When they approached, a voice full of authority called them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Halt, do you really think you can attack us like that? You don't even seem prepared!"

"Wait, we come in peace." Kairo raised his hand in the air, showing he didn't have any intention to fight. The figure of a man came out of the snowstorm, gauging them and their intention. He kept a rapier in his hand and made sure he had enough distance from them before talking with them.

"What do you want? And aren't you supposed to be four? Where is your fourth member?"

"Our fourth member is guarding our base, and about the reason for our arrival, it's because we would like to form an alliance. Only one of the teams has to lose, and it shouldn't be any of us."

"Form an alliance?" The man who appeared to be the leader of the team thought for a while. He was still wary of them but seemed to consider the idea "And why us? Was it only perchance?"

"To be honest, not really." Said Kairo "We personally know the other group, if we were to fight them we would lose. If they end up in the final, there won't be any chance for us."

"So you're choosing us because you think we're weaker?"

"Yes." Answered Kairo without any hesitation.

"Are you sure you know how to negotiate?" Asked Eve with worry "I feel like you suck with words as much as you suck with your axe."

The leader of the other team stared at them for a while. Once he made his decision, he put his weapon down and reached his hand toward Kairo.

"My name is Raken, I believe our cooperation might be useful."

"I'm Kairo, and they're Ada and Eve."

"I'll try to not forget, let me bring you to the rest of my team, we'll figure things out together."

Raken led the group to the rest of his team. Eve and Ada still were surprised about how well things went, so they decided to not say anything just in case they would ruin Kairo's efforts.

The group made their way to a basic camp. Three people were there, waiting around a fire. Once they saw Raken, they rushed to him and saluted him like they were soldiers in a military camp.

"Leader, who are those people?"

"They're our temporary allies. We'll work together to attack the other team." Raken turned toward Kairo, visibly trusting him more than the other members of his group "Do you have any plan?"

"I think yes. I suppose they would try to be defensive, as being offensive would lead to a disadvantage. But if we attack them, they won't be able to get here so your flag will be safe. As for us, Silv should be able to gain time if they ever attack our base. But I think they're just hoping that we attack each other, so we should be alright."

"So you think we should attack them? Isn't it a risky strategy? We would leave our bases, if they passed we would be in trouble."

"I know it's a great risk, but we don't have a choice. They're way stronger than we are, we can't allow them to get any amount of time to establish a strategy."

Raken thought for a while, his eyes closed. Only the sound of the snow and the wind could be heard. The man finally spoke once he reached a decision.

"Let's go then, we should hurry. We'll follow your steps."

Kairo and the others were relieved that they accepted, and once they were ready, they left for their objective.

Kairo was convinced that with seven of them, they could win. But deep inside, he still wasn't sure. When he thought about his former leader, it felt like he didn't have a chance to win. On top of that, he barely knew anything about their new member, Sepide. Ada noticed his troubled expression and asked a bit worried.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Despite Kairo's words, it was obvious that something was troubling him. He looked slightly at Ada, thinking she could know the answer to the questions he had "Do think that they're strong?"

"Your leader's group?"

"She's... No longer my leader, but yes."

Ada pondered for a moment, apparently unsure what to think.

"They're pretty smart, yeah, but they're pretty weak."

"Weak?" Asked Kairo surprised "How so?"

"Their hearts aren't set. They have doubts inside, which makes them weak."

"I see." Kairo wasn't expecting that answer but still accepted that answer.

"You're weak too. You still aren't sure."

"About what?"

"Do you really want to fight them and meet your creator?"

"That's not what I want, I want to make sure of something first."

"I understand." Ada paused for a moment, looking at the sky "I too, want to make sure of something."

Kairo and Ada became silent once more, with the wind as the only sound that could be heard.

The group made its way to a wooden bridge, traversing a frozen river. Someone else was already standing there, waiting for them. The figure approached them, it was Sepide, holding the rapier toward them. She appeared to be a little panicked, but still kept her calm.

"Why are you so many? I thought we were only four per group."

"There has been a change a plan." Kairo readied his weapon, about to attack. Before he could, Raken stepped in front of him and raised his weapon toward the girl.

"I'll take care of it, go forward."

Without a word, everyone else passed behind Sepide. When she tried to stop them, Raken attacked her to prevent her from doing so.

"Come on little girl, I'll be your opponent!"