It was a clear day without a cloud in sight. The sun hanging in the sky beats down relentlessly on the earth, illuminating the forest on top of it.
Small animals were running across a lush plain in the depth of the forest, a place not far from a waterfall, and the scent of the flora was riding a gentle breeze; however, mixed in this scent was the scent of blood, unbothered a lone girl continued to do what she was doing, her beautiful white dancing following the wind's tune, it should have been a picturesque scene if weren't for what this girl was doing.
''Are you ready now to tell me what your goal is?" In an emotionless tone, Alice asked what remained of what was once a human.
The man who had turned into human daruma (limbless) fearfully stared at the monster before him; how many times has he wished to die but weren't authorized to do such a simple thing? As an assassin, one should always have a way to kill oneself in the case you unexpectedly get caught during a mission; however, this white-haired demon knew all the places an assassin could hide the said method, she disabled them all and slowly started to torture them, there were five of them, she had already killed four in the cruelest way ever possible, to deal huge psychological damage to the last one, assassins might have undergone the most terrible of training to ironize their wills, but they always exist a limit. Alice seemed to know this, whoever is her teacher, this person had instructed well, the assassin was about to crack, he only wishes for one, to be granted death and he knew what he must do to get what he desired, however, a proud assassin, he was still hesitating, he must not give in so easily, so his pride as an assassin was whispering to him.
''I will ask one last time, what is your goal after kidnapping my mistress?"
Alice's question was met with silence, she didn't say anything but tried to smile, imagine someone who had never smile trying to do, it was pretty terrible, the assassin was scared. Alice didn't give him the time to utter a word before the tip of her finger surged out and directly into his bones through the cut-off part then,
''Iyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The assassin who had held up until now shrieked; the pain of having lightning course through one body, primarily through one's bones, was unimaginable.. Alice's face showed no emotions as she increased the lightning input she was sending into the assassin's body; she didn't forget to protect the heart and not to make the assassin die from a heart attack after receiving too much electric shock.
Two minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, before 10 minutes could pass, the assassin finally gave up; he was ready to talk; by now, he didn't look human anymore with some of his skin were burnt.
''I-I'll talk, we we have been ordered to kidnap the young woman and bring her to someone that would ship her to the Elfira. F-from what I know it's because she possessed a pure bloodline, as for what purpose the Elves wished to have her I don't know, I- I swear, p-please grant me swift death, I-"
The man didn't get the opportunity to finish his words as his head flew, blood gushed out of his headless body, dying the already soaked ground further red. In the flying head's eyes, one could see relief, relief to have been finally granted death after so long.
''Have long are you going to play the spectator for?" Alice said without turning around; from her palms, a flame appeared and landed on the bodies on the ground, soon they disappeared, leaving on cinder behind.
There was the sound of someone chuckling before a shadow manifested behind Alice.
''If you appear behind again, I might accidentally kill you,'' Alice warned, and Artemia smiled and took a step back.
''Relax, I won't do it again. You should smile more; you will be more beautiful this way.''
''I don't like it; I just have to carry my mission. That's all matters.'' Alice refused Artemia's suggestion; she had expected such a response, so Artemia was not disappointed, nor she would ever stop reminding the girl to try to live like a normal person, but not now as they have more pressing matters to handle.
Turning to look at what was once human beings, Artemia said, her expression was scary.
''So, some fools want to kidnap Gracier because she is the owner of the purest bloodline? How foolish can those long-eared be? Did staying too much holed in the green scenery turn them into retard?"
Alice offered no comment as none of what Artemia was saying had anything to do with her; she just needed to carry her mission, that's all.
Seeing the lack of interest on Alice's face, Artemia sighed and decided to change plans, if previously she came here to train Gracier, now that she knew some foolish Elves were after her, she needed to see someone to tell this person to keep her people in check, if not something bad might happen.
''Alice, tell Gracier that I'm sorry, we will report our match to a later date. There's somewhere I need to go, see you back in the mansion.'' After saying these words, Artemia vanished, and after making sure that no other assassins were lurking around, Alice also left.
In the depth of the forest, Gracier was happily fighting a group of orcs; leading them was one giant ogre of seven meters.
A single flame arrow left for the sky before transforming into seven arrows that struck the orcs.
''Buhii?!?"
Four orcs were set ablaze; they started rolling on the ground, then something astonishing happened; their leader, the ogre, swung his club four times and shut down the hailing orcs.
''You are pretty ruthless, aren't you?" Gracier asked with a smile and let go of her Gift that vanished, there was something she wished to test, and this monster would be done perfectly for the job.
''Graaaa!''
The ogre shouted before raising its club and dashed toward Gracier, no he tried but soon found it impossible to advance as some flame chains were wrapped around its feet. Lifting its head, the orc saw the human girl smiling and raised her hand, then he became furious he tried to throw its club at the foolish human girl that thought that only restraining his feet would be enough; however, he couldn't because Gracier's following words had sealed his fate.
''Fire Goddess's Judgment: Meteor's Fall"
From the sky, a small rock appeared from outer space; it was moving at breakneck speed, even from afar, you could see the blazing rock like a miniature sun. Artemia, who was leaving, sighed and thought the girl couldn't wait; she left after glancing at the falling meteor. Soon the small meteor struck the helpless ogre.
Kabooooom!
A giant explosion occurred, the area of twenty meters around the ogre was flattened, trees erased, Gracier had protected using flame shield if not she would have been swept in the aftermath of the meteor skill.
A huge crater of twelve meters appeared on the ground; it was scorched; in the depth of this crater, the ground had turned into a small pool of lava.
''This skill is scary; I wonder what kind of damage the highest level of Meteor will do? Fufufu! I can't wait to test it.'' Gracier whispered, her eyes were shining; if it weren't for Artemia's strict instructions, she would have put all her SP on the meteor skill and immediately tested it. Just as Gracier was about to continue deeper into the forest, Alice appeared and told her they must return; although disappointed, Gracier still obeyed.