AnnouFor the first feters, it would be cross-narration (is this the right term?) between currently Scarlet in Hogwarts and Scarlet before attending Hogwarts, in case you w why Chapter 2 has nothing to do with Hogwarts.
In parts where inal characters from Harry Potter series involved, I'll try my best not to OOC, but no guarantee on it.
What I guarantee you is, this will be a very iing story -smile-
Akahime, the red-haired priestess of the Harvesting Fox, wasn’t well-known. The Harvesting Fox she was boo wasn’t a particurly powerful spirit, possessing only the ability to make the nd more fertile and thus ensuring a great harvest - an ability many spirits could grant their believers.
That was from a caster’s perspective. The caster association valued the bat power of their spirits and how well casters utilised their bonded spirits’ powers to defeat demons, curses, monsters, and other supernatural phenomena. They looked up to battle prowess, and Akahime’s major expertise didn’t lie in this area. She preferred oration and enviroal servation, which meant she usually hahe aftermath of battles, leaning more towards the researd healing side of things.
She could purify water, ftten holes as in the ground, and ence grass and flowers to grow again. She had the ability to clear the atmosphere when dust and smoke became too dense. Anything that could make the nd suitable frowth ao a bountiful harvest - these were the prao her when she bonded with the Harvesting Fox and became its priestess.
The Harvesting Fox adored her as well. It often revealed itself from its invisible spiritual form, ed its long, fluffy tail around her neck, pying with her, and ughing alongside her. It was indeed a friendly and g fox spirit, and she loved its red coat. That’s why she chose the code name Akahime (the red girl); with the red hair she gained from the spirit fox’s power, it suited her quite well.
In her public life, she worked as a freence book transtor, allowio tinue her duties as a caster, secretly proteg the world whenever needed. Both her careers worked well, and she expected to tinue her journey until she grew old aired. She even thought she might take on some appreo pass down her knowledge if any younger geion was willing to learn from her. Never did she expected that she would die suddenly while ing up the aftermath of a battle, as usual.
It was a sunny day. The se was chaotic, as always: holes as scarred the earth, broken branches aed t littered the ground, bloodstains and shattered gss scattered everywhere. All found at a torn-up gas station and venieore, sitting open in the middle of a highway where few people stopped unless it was festival season when everyone was traveling home fatherings.
She wasn’t the only ohere to up the se. Another caster resent, along with a few teenagers who were obviously newbies, sent by their mentors or elders to gain some hands-on experience.
“Hi, senior, we’ve e to assist,” one of the young ones approached and said to her with a smile, “Just tell us how we help, and we’ll get started right away!”
“Sure, let’s see...” Akahime looked around and suggested, “Why don’t we start by removing the sharp pieces? Melt the gss into coarse sand, break down the broke and tiles into pebbles, and check if the trees be saved. If not, turn them into muld bury it. We don’t o fully restore this pce sihe association will arrange for a renovation. Our job is to make sure the area is clear of any dahat could harm the stru workers.”
“Got it,” the boy called out to his friends, “Okay, let’s get to work!”
Akahime leased to see the young oaking initiative, though they were still a bit clumsy in using their powers. She then proceeded with fixing the broken seurifying the air. This was supposed to be a routine -up; none of the casters present were particurly skilled in bat.
However, the Harvesting Fox sensed something amiss. The spirit’s unease affected Akahime, leadio remai and keep a watchful eye on her surroundings, ready for any possible danger.
Just as she began to wonder if the threat might be something subtle, like radioactive residue, a menag aura suddeed from somewhere nearby, followed by a scream from one of the interns.
“Winds, heed my call!” She ted, pulling all the interns to her side, including the one who had screamed. The terrified girl’s arm was injured, blood gradually staining her clothes, the cut so deep that her bones were visible.
“Great spirits of Earth, trap my foe!” The other caster ted, and the ground responded with a rumble. A rge pit suddenly opened, and bars of rock shot up from the earth, trying to trap the mohat had suddenly appeared.
The creature was about the size of a fully-grown hound, with sharp teeth and razor-like arms that menaced Akahime and the others. Its cws aacles were armoured with tough scales that seemed hard to break, and now it began tearing through the obstacles between it and its prey.
“I ’t hold it much longer!” The other caster’s face turned red with strain as he pushed his will and power; the monster’s strength was far too great for him to restrain.
The interns shivered behind Akahime, who was the most experienced caster on the se.
“Switch!” Akahime anded as she cast a protective shield over the interns, “You take them away and tact the association - I’ll hahis.”
“But...”
“No buts!” Grasses and roots burst forth, f ropes, while the winds carried Akahime to his side, “Now!”
The other caster had no choice but to relinquish his trol, bag away to make room for Akahime, whose ropes of greenery and wind bound the monster’s limbs so tightly that it roared and howled in pain.
“Leave!” Akahime didn’t have time to gnce if the interns and the other caster had left. Her seold her they had, leaving her aloh the monster, and she was about to unleash her full power.
“Winds,” Akahime ted, “press down!”
Air pressure applied at the monster increased. Parts of its body bulged as bloodshot veins became visible beh its coarse skin.
“Vitality drain!” Invisible threads of life force began to flow out from the monster, as if being sucked by an unseen, vast force. This t was seldom used as it went against the Harvesting Fox’s principles of fertility and harvest. It could extract the vitality of one being and tra to ahus ruining one nd to fertilise another - a ing and despicable act that both the Harvesting Fox and Akahime despised.
However, this was one of the few assault skills Akahime possessed. She was never good in close bat, nor did she have raructive skills. Even to defeat this monster, sidered small in terms of size, she struggled and strained. She could feel her own vitality affected as she tried to trol power beyond her capability.
The monster, still r and howling, directed its sound waves at her, booming in her eardrums until blood started to drip from her ears. She could even feel her internal ans being battered by the invisible waves. With just one slip, the monster broke free from its restraints a toward her.
The force of the broken bonds sent a shock through her, flinging her backward until she crashed into a broken wall. Blood dripped from the er of her lips, yet she still called upon her power.
“Winds, Water, Grasses, to my and!”
A distorted bde formed by these elements appeared in her hand, which she thrust towards the ining monster, striking it directly at its critical point.
The monster howled in agony, trying to retreat, but resilient ropes of winds and grass appeared, binding it i couldn’t move, forced only forward as its core ierced, while Akahime’s head remained us jaws.
A fierce smile curled on Akahime’s lips, “You shall not escape. Die with me now!”
And that’s how Akahime met her end, dying alongside the monster, both pio the wall. Her body was torn apart by the creature, but the monster bore many scars, evidence of the great battle they had fought before their final breath.
The reinfort team arrived just 20 minutes after the interns fled. Tears rolled down their faces, and Akahime’s name would forever be remembered on their mos as one of the great casters.
*****
“And you actually expect me to believe that story?” Kyle regarded the girl he was about to adopt with a mixture of curiosity and scepticism.
They were alone in the orphanage director’s office. The seven-year-old girl had requested a “private chat” with her soon-to-be guardian, which Kyle had found amusing at first.
He hadn’t taken it too seriously. What could a seven-year-old possibly have to say? He’d assumed she might be curious or anxious about being adopted by a stranger, and he was more than willing to indulge her. After all, she had, in a way, saved his life.
“Well then, care to expin the jade pendant I gave you?” Scarlet Smith, or Akahime as she had been known in her previous life, asked with a casual air. “I don’t imagihere are many girls who could ent a jade pendant for prote.”
Kyle’s brow furrowed as he processed her words, then his eyes widened in surprise, “You knew about the pendant...?”
“Of course I knew,” Scarlet nodded, her toter-of-fact, “I’m the one who ented it, after all. Naturally, I khe protective spell would activate. I set it ter in the event of lethal danger...So, a car crash, was it?”
“No,” Kyle rubbed his , clearly intrigued. “It was a gunshot. And since you’ve been so forthing about your miraculous abilities, I suppose it’s only fair I share a few details of my own.”
This revetion caught Scarlet off guard. A gunshot? He wasn’t talking about a run-of-the-mill car act or a freak act with a falling object!
“Mafia business, rather plicated,” Kyle tinued, studying the girl’s rea. “Before I learn about your fasating previous life, I inteo adopt you, providing you with a fortable life until you came of age, as a way of repaying the debt for saving my life through the pendant I initially thought you gave me without knowing it’s power. But now, pns have ged. Would you like to discuss it, or would you prefer I leave you to your peaceful existence?”
Scarlet sidered this for a moment. “Let’s discuss it. I need a better ptform. I mean, I like the orphahe director and staff are lovely, but I’m rather stuck here.”
Kyle smirked, “Absolutely. It would be my pleasure.”
