Adlet POV

"Let's find Atro Spiker. There's no use moping around anymore." I whispered to Raina, who stared aimlessly at the empty plot of space in front of him.

It has been a week since the Kyouma exterminated the village, Hasuna, and it has also been a week since we had lost all the people close to us. Raina who had woke up a few hours after we made our escape tackled me with many questions in which I had no idea how to answer.

I tried to answer him to the best of my abilities, but as expected, I couldn't withhold my tears from spilling out.

"They...are really gone?" Raina looked up and me with hopeful eyes, as if begging me to tell him that I was just joking with him.

"I won't joke about this kind of thing!"

Involuntarily, I gave Raina a harsh slap that made him lose his footing and fall on the hard rocks.

"Ah! I'm sor-" eyes widening at the action of my hands, I immediately retracted my arms and bend down to help Raina up.

"Don't apologize! It's not your fault. I deserve to be beaten up." Raina said, accepting my outstretched hand. He pulled himself up and straight afterwards, a solemn silence fell onto us.

"...Atro Spiker. Who is he?" Raina was the one who broke the silence between us, asking who the famous Atro Spiker was.

"Atro Spiker. He's an old warrior who had lived for over 700 years, who specializes in fighting Kyouma." I answered him simply, averting my eyes when Raina looked up to me with accusing eyes.

"You want to fight the Kyouma?"

"No, I want revenge." I glanced sideways, unwilling to meet his eyes when Raina gripped my shoulders hardly.

I felt myself getting shook violently, his grip getting tighter and tighter.

"Are you being serious here? You want to fight him? You are just a girl!" Raina screamed hysterically at me, shaking me even with even more power. Hearing him question my answer so much made me really angry.

"I was really scared you know? I didn't know whether or not you were even alive when I went back. What if you had died had left me all alone? I DON'T WANT TO FEEL THAT HELPLESS EVER AGAIN!" I pushed the offending hands off me as I summoned various sharp icicles around me.

"WHAT'S THE USE OF ME HAVING A SAINT'S POWERS, IF I CAN'T EVEN USE IT TO PROTECT MY LOVED ONES?" I gripped the front of my best friend's tunic and buried my face in it.

Sobbing, I cried against his chest and admitted how much sorrow I felt when I saw Shetra being shot in front of me, how much panic welled up in me when I didn't know whether or not Raina was still alive.

"I don't want to lose anyone ever again..." I figured that by the silence of the atmosphere, Raina was seriously considering my words. But I really felt as it we should take revenge into our own hands. I was lucky that Raina was still with me. I would had lost all my sanity if I had lost him too.

It was only because of Raina, I am still able to think rationally. Although I want to think rationally...the idea of revenge is just so tempting...

If I had more power, maybe I could have saved Shetra, and no own would have been hurt. One week of mindless wandering had really made me numb my feelings.

I need power. I need power to protect Raina, who doesn't have any Saint's power backing after him. And to do that, I have to find someone to shelter us, to teach us how to hunt the Kyoumas.

I had originally thought of going to the Saint of Mountains, Mora Chester, for help. But their place could only train Saints, which meant that Raina wouldn't have anyone to help him get stronger.

If I wanted to protect Raina, he have to get stronger too. In the end, the only option left was the infamous Atro Spiker.

Although I've only heard of his infamous ways of 'torturing' his students, I'm sure we could live through it. After all, living with the idea of being weak is as if I were living everyday in hell.

Peering up at the silent male under me, I gave him one hard look before releasing him from my embrace.

"Even if you don't want to, I'll go. Unless you want to go separate ways, I will-" Before I could complete my sentence, Raina covered my mouth abruptly, stern eyes glaring at me.

My whole body flinched when I saw how serious Raina was, his whole aura vibrating through his core. The colour of red(Anger) surrounding his whole self as he spoke intimidatingly.

"Don't ever talk about us separating. I'll go with you. That's what you want right?" I was stunned.

Raina could actually be this serious.

I nodded my head hesitantly, hands reaching up to his, asking for his permission to release his hold on my mouth. With that, I gathered up the make-shift tent we had made ourselves, and collected the small amount of berries and fruits we had painstakingly savaged from the abandoned village.

"Sorry." Raina apologized suddenly, cutting me off in my preparations to take off, and hugged me from behind.

"Raina?" I placed a hand of his arm, surprised at the sudden gesture of affection.

"I'm sorry for moping around. We have to get stronger, don't we? The both of us, together," he said, breath tickling my neck.

"Together." I agreed, gripping his muscled arms tightly.

.'.'.'.

"Isn't that enough?" I asked the old warrior in front of me, dressed in a cape and a weird hat, who kept kicking Raina in his stomach, showing no mercy even though he already spewed up his portion of food from yesterday.

The journey to Atro Spiker was a long and tedious one, especially when all we could get our hands on were small berries and small insects that were lying around the area. Raina would sometimes climb up trees to pick unripe fruits, while I would summon my icicles to shoot down on birds flying about. But eventually, both of us had ran out of stamina to do that and had to make do with our supply of 'food'.

After another few weeks of travelling with nothing in our name, we had finally finished climbing the tall cliff which led us to Atro Spiker. And there, when Raina talked about how he wanted to become the world's strongest, the old man started his relentless kicks to Raina's stomach.

Unable to control myself, I willed myself to summon a sharp icicle by condensing the little amount of water particles around and pointed it against the old man's nape.

The old warrior, Atro Spiker, looked up to me with cynical eyes, silently asking what I was doing.

"Stop kicking him, and teach him how to become stronger." I glared the old man menacingly. Although I might look like a starved dog trying to act tough, I'm sure my threat got across him.

"Hmph. A little girl trying to act tough is just like a dog that's all bark. What is a Saint doing at this humble old man's home?" Atro Spiker gave me an appraising look, making me uncomfortable with his stare.

"Accept us as your disciple." I glared at him even harder, pronouncing every word with as much articulation as I could muster with my dry throat.

"What if I said I would only accept one of you?" The irritating old man smirked at my narrowed eyes, laughing out loud when I willed for the icicle to go closer down against his neck.

"Then we'll just have to force you to accept both of us." I snarled as the old man walked up to the vomiting Raina, lifting the smiling boy effortlessly with a single lift of his arm.

"Look, I'm still smiling."

Raina, with his stupid grin, asked the old man, " so does that mean I'm the strongest person on Earth?"

Without restraint, the old man laughed out loud, clutching his stomach with his other hand, bending down and smirked at the two of his.

"I've got troublesome disciples this year."

Immediately, the icicle I summoned dispersed itself back to the environment as Raina and I looked at each other with a joyful expression.

.'.'.'.

End of Chapter.

Atro Spiker is so OOC I don't even. But there wasn't a definite description of his personality(Or lack thereof), so I had wrote him based on how I think he would act towards the two.

If I say any more it would become spoilers(lol)

Hope you have enjoyed~