In the small country town, which was very lively until late afternoon but is now surprisingly quiet, the various itinerant traders, who have come to set up their stands for the small annual festival, are finishing the final preparations for tomorrow"s parade.The local residents, who at night enjoy strolling among the large flower pots lining their recently refurbished streets, are sitting in groups in the central square of the village, where they meet in the taverns with a dark expression on their faces.
Few women venture outside the safety offered by the walls of their homes. Water will be drawn tomorrow. Their preoccupation at the moment is above all to keep their children away from the men in the beautiful costumes who have fun quarrelling with the little people they despise.
It is in this climate of mistrust and manifest fear that a very tall young girl with fiery hair, seemingly immersed in her thoughts and accompanied by four men in armour that merges with the darkness of the night, stands out from this silent crowd.
What did the tall white-haired woman mean by : "If I were indeed the devil, then I, like you, little girl, we would have no reason to be in this world."
Ignorant of her people"s true origins, Nina turns this meaningless phrase over and over in her mind, but she is unable to find an answer.
"Royal Protector, we wouldn"t mind sharing a little booze."
These Humans have a strange relationship with drunkenness. As far back as she can remember, Nina doesn"t believe she ever saw her sweet daddy drink one of those liquids that make a man stupid.
"I would gladly moisten my lips with some good fruit juice as well. Let"s go into that tavern, but if you can"t get up tomorrow, count on me to wake you up with strokes of boots."
The already open door goes through, Nina extends her arm sideways to block the way to the three hurried men.
General Sancroft may well lecture her, but not one of her soldiers in her Dark Brigade has ever behaved the way this pretentious officer"s men are now acting.
Faithful dogs of their so brilliant General during the day, these men devoid of all loyalty become the petty clerks of the hypocritical Duke Aurel once night falls.
With their new master in mind, Nina watches six of these men in grey armor pulling the hair of two young girls in tears.
The unfortunate young girls begging these vermin are not fifteen years old, yet, as difficult to watch as a woman"s tears are, the bullies have already led them up the stairs.
"Royal Protector, shall we intervene?"
These women are certainly Human, but that doesn"t stop Nina from laying her hand on the pommel of her new sword.
Quickly she turns around, ignoring the sad sight of two other n.o.bles come to spend a pleasant evening in this most rustic of places, applaud the valour of the Duke who has just entered a bedroom.
"No! you, go to the camp and let General Sancroft know what kind of game his obedient soldiers are playing. More than help these young girls who are unknown to me, I want to see this haughty man humiliated, bowing his head before me. There"s no shortage of taverns, so let"s go somewhere else!"
…
The soldiers of the Dark Brigade are the only soldiers who follow it blindly. This may be a good start, but considering their small numbers, Nina doesn"t intend to stop there.
Her King is known for not being a simple young man. Sometimes cruel, often despotic, she still manages to do whatever she wants with him when she slips into her sheets.
If being a beautiful woman brings its share of disadvantages, Nina thanks her parents who, by creating her in this way, have also allowed her to take advantage of her advantageous physique.
...
It"s already late at night. Only nocturnal creatures can be heard on the edge of the small forest where Nina has decided to drive these three drunken soldiers to sober them up.
"Have you seen these things, Royal Protector?"
Of course, how could she not see those red spheres seeming to be closing in on their position.
Things unknown to her are levitating at a height of almost ten feet. The aura emanating from them is dark enough for Nina to stop her steps and take up a guard position.
"Prepare to draw your swords, though I fear they are totally useless against these immaterial things, it is better to remain cautious than inactive."
Soldiers of the Dark Brigade are incapable of feeling that aura of death, yet all three of them feel the sam. Those things that don"t appear in bestiaries must at least be monsters belonging to C-Rank.
"Royal Protector, shouldn"t we rather think of running away if we are powerless to fight them? What I mean is, it would be utterly pointless to throw ourselves into the arms of death, which will come for us soon enough anyway."
Fighting them from the ground would certainly be dangerous, but did she understand correctly the concept pa.s.sed down by the white-haired woman?
The only way to find out is to test this new ability. However, these three soldiers must not be allowed to witness this at all.
Nina lets go of the pommel of her long black sword and, as if she were addressing the sky itself, she screams towards the confines of the universe.
"(Rays of the Black Moon - Corruption of spirits - sleep)"
The three soldiers collapse one after the other without delay, allowing Nina to test one of the only concepts transmitted by the tall, white-haired woman, that she thinks she"s more or less managed to a.s.similate.
"(Phoenix, core of the scarlet moon - Spread your wings)"
Her gaze is directed towards his body where many thin lines of fire start to snake.
Why, nothing happens? Nina closes her big yellow eyes to immerse herself in deep concentration. Without ever leaving the position of these threatening auras, she visualizes her own body while reviewing the method of activation, Spread your wings.
The snakes of fire surrounding her body slowly come together behind her back. Swaying and turning around each other, they seem to want to merge but don"t seem to be able to.
Ever more concentrated, Nina clenches her teeth. Under her closed eyelids, without her knowing it, her eyes have already turned a deeper red than ever.
A strange feeling of fullness seizes her mind, but paradoxically, the desire to ma.s.sacre everything that stands in her way insinuates itself into her heart whose beats is accelerate.
While only the violence that rises within her and offers her the feeling of having finally found her true self occupies her mind and she no longer thinks at all about testing her new capacity, in her back, the multiple fire snakes rush inside her.
When they all reach her heart, a powerful explosion devastates the area.
Nina opens her frightening eyes now tinted with an intense Alizarin color that pierces the darkness.
Without paying attention to the three charred corpses still smoking in the centre of the small crater, she utters an almost b.e.s.t.i.a.l scream.
Driven by an irrepressible thirst for blood, Nina jumps to a height of more than thirty feet and with her eyes directed towards the red spheres that levitate where less than a minute ago there were many trees proudly beared their thousands of green leaves, she spreads two long wings of fire from which several small drops of lava escape.