LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 51: Fated
The little kitten let out a silent yawn as she curled up into a comfy ball of silver fur. She was currently lying comfortably upon the same bed as Jonathan, who himself was currently sat on the bed cross-legged. He was cultivating himself so that he could stable his soul, which was unstable after his breakthrough into the Spirit Rank.
After entering Skyview City, they had spent little time perusing the streets before heading to a rather nice inn called the Golden Cloud Inn. Uncle Kil and the rest were currently downstairs, having a drink and a casual chat.
While Jonathan was not against joining them, due to his unstable state he decided it was best to settle himself sooner rather than later. So here he was now, cultivating as the little kitten slept by his side.
Unable to have a conversation, the little kitten had decided to join Jonathan and cultivate as well. However, while she felt that she had made some progress, as she had even started to condense her soul at one point, a sign that she was going through the process of making a breakthrough, it had failed in the end. She tried several times after that but to no avail. With a sigh, she decided to take a break for now and worry about this another day.
★★★
At the same time, several streets from the Golden Cloud Inn, in a deserted area of the city in the west region was a series of dilapidated buildings. The lights of magical lamps were nowhere to be seen in this street, yet, in one of these buildings which should be abandoned, a flicker of light could be seen through one of the vacant windows.
Inside, a couple of figures were sat around an open fire which dimly lit up the dull grey room. The insides of this building was much like the streets outside, barren of substance and cracks formed each wall.
There were a total of four figures in total, all men. They all had a savage air to them, with scars and dirt littering their beaten bodies. Most striking was a man sat upon a barrel. He was rather large, easily 6ft and had bulging muscles that strained his tight shirt. On his face was a nasty scar that crossed the bridge of his nose and extended into his two cheeks. His eyes were like knives pointed at anyone who dared to gaze into his jagged eyes. By his side, two of the other men acted as bodyguards by his side.
"Is what you say true?" The man with a scar on his nose asked in a demanding manner, his eyes narrowed into slits. Across from him, the fourth man in this small gathering gulped as a chill ran through his body as he was being stared down with those vicious eyes.
'Truly deserving of his name, the Beast-Eyed Killer!' The man gulped once more before shaking off his anxiety and answering shakily. "Y-yes, they have even offered a Gold Rarity Vibrant item of your choice if you are able to get it done! As well as 500,000 gold!"
"Hmm." The man called the Beast-Eyed Killer pondered for a moment, his head tilted downwards before he fixed his vicious gaze back on the man in front of him. "And all I have to do is kidnap the little brat?"
"Y-yes!" The man stuttered. "They want her alive!"
"Teh. That makes things much more difficult. Why can't we just kill the little b-"
"Sir!" The voice of another figure interrupted as he entered the scene through a nearby door. He looked no less savage than any of the other's in the room and he ran up to the Beast-Eyed Killer's side and bowed down in a subservient manner.
"What is it?" The Beast-Eyed Killer asked with a frown.
"Our scouts outside the city have spotted the target. They should be arriving early tomorrow!" The bowing man reported.
"Oh, so soon?..." The Beast-Eyed Killer went into thought once more before ordering. "Keep a watch on them, we'll take the job."
Across from him, the shaking man broke out in a smile as he bowed. "My master will be very pleased!"
'The little brat of the Wilderwolf family, huh?...' The Beast-Eyed Killer's eyes shun in a malicious glint. 'The biggest problem will be separating her from her father... Its hard, but not impossible!...'
★★★
It was the next morning and Jonathan was still cultivating. Not in the mood to join him just yet, the little kitten chose to have a tour of Skyview City.
'I should be fine on my own. If any danger comes my way that I can't handle, I have my collar that lets me communicate with Jonathan, at least a little.' The little kitten reassuringly nodded as she made her decision and pried open the door to Jonathan's room and left.
On her way out, the little kitten noticed that the bar was empty and figured that Uncle Kil and the rest must be sleeping still. Ignoring the odd looks of the people in the bar as they watched this small silver kitten walk downstairs and out the door, the little kitten herself headed off in no direction in particular and took in the City of Skyview proper for the first time.
In the early morning, she saw several human children playing outside, running about and shooting off weak, harmless looking magic. She noticed a lot of shops selling farm goods and she also noticed a few city guards patrolling the streets in groups of two. They conversed cheerfully with the regular city folk and didn't look half as intimidating as the guards at the gate.
'Heh, looks like this city isn't as cold as I thought it was going to be last night.' The little kitten smiled.
The little kitten continued to walk the dirt streets, passing by several people as they greeted each other a good morning and exchanged casual words, passing by a multitude of shops, some for Magician's and Magical Beast's, but most seemed to be for ordinary folk as she was currently situated at the outer section of the city, while most of the Magician centred things were nearer the centre of the city.
'I should head up the hill and see if there is anything that peaks my interest. Maybe I can get Jonathan to buy me one of them... Though, with Jonathan's money grubbing ways, maybe that's an impossible task... Its worth a look though!' The little kitten nodded enthusiastically.
She picked up her pace and sprinted forward as there was quite a distance still until she could be considered in the centre of the city proper. Getting sick of having to turn left and right to manoeuvre around the buildings, the little kitten had a eureka moment before leaping high into the sky, scaring the passerby's who happened to spot her.
She wasn't in the air long before landing on the flat roof of a food shop. Not sticking around long, she ran forward and leapt onto the next building and onward, reaching the centre of Skyview City in a matter of minutes with this new method of travel.
Just as she was about to leap onto the final building before jumping down onto the city streets below, the little kitten suddenly heard a weird noise from the alleyway below that caused her to stop abruptly.
'Crying?' The little kitten asked herself quizzically.
Indeed, the little kitten could hear the muffled crying of a small girl. Looking down into the alleyway below, the little kitten quickly spotted a small girl with long blond hair leaning down as she attempted to rub her tears away, only to redden them and spread her flowing tears across her rosy cheeks.
The little kitten looked in awe at this girl who looked like a little doll that seemed to be no older than 5 years old. Her eyes were a captivating violet colour and she wore a frilly pink dress that spoke of her well-off status.
Leaping down, the little kitten walked to her side before licking a tear running down the girls hand in an attempt to quell her crying. The little girl shook upon feeling a small tongue lick her hand before noticing the small silver kitten and the girl's crying seemed to stop abruptly before her eyes opened wide in shock and awe.
"Whoa, so beautiful!" The girl exclaimed in awe, her two hands smacking the ground as if to emphasise her point.
'Oh, ah... Well thank you.' The little kitten blushed as she answered in her mind despite herself. Even her narcissism couldn't match up to such enthusiastic praise, even she felt it was an overreaction.
"Can Andria pet you, little fang?" The girl asked. But before the little kitten could respond, the girls tear filled hand were stroking her soft, glistening fur.
'Why even ask if your going to do it anyway.' The little kitten rolled her eyes. '...And who are you calling little fang?!'
"Little fang, ah, i-if only you were a person... Maybe you could find Andria's D-Daddy." The girl was suddenly on the brink of tears once again. "Ah... B-but A-Andria's way too scared to ask a s-stranger... Mummy said t-that would be bad, and Andria listens to Mummy most."
Flustered, the little kitten didn't know what to do with the crying girl in front of her and could only lick the hand stroking her, as if to lick her wounds. The girl smiled a little helplessly and tried to hold off her tears once more.
"Thank you, Andria loves little fang lots!" The girl giggled.
★★★
"Haha, I can't believe we got so lucky!" a shadowed figure whispered, his lips forming into a malicious grin.
"Yeah, to think our target, Alexandria Wilderwolf would get lost, separating herself from her father on her own accord. It really makes our job easier, ah!" A second figure was also grinning, licking his lips and looking down at the scene of the little girl with the little kitten with glistening eyes.
"Should we call for backup?" The first figure asked as he turned to face the other figure.
"What? For a girl who isn't long off breast milk and a bloody kitten?!" The second figure glared mockingly at the first figure, who could only smile wryly in response.
'Yeah, what's there to fear?' The first figure shook his head self deprecatingly and his eyes narrowed viciously at the two ripe targets in front of them. 'Might as well have some fun with the cat... Kill it right in front of her, hahaha!'
"Let's go!" The second figure ordered and the two leapt forward, both wielding exceptionally sharp daggers that looked as if they had been soaked in the blood of many victims.
★★★
The little kitten's eyed suddenly flew wide open and a savage glint appeared in them to the shock of the little girl.
"What's wrong little fang?!" The girl tilted her head cutely, her neat blond hair flowing.
'What bloody bastard attacks a harmless girl and cat?!' The little kitten cursed viciously as she turned to find two shadowed blurs darting in their direction from above.
"How?!" One of the two blurred figures gasped involuntarily when he noticed that their sneak attack had been spotted by that small, unassuming kitten.
'This will be a good test!' The little kitten thought as her tail suddenly straightened and the crimson bangle's iris suddenly lit up with a glaring red light. The red light grew in intensity for several seconds before two bloody red light rays were shot out from that iris, heading in split directions.
This was the powerful fire spell, Scorching Ray that the Crimson Iris bangle could shoot off five times, with a week's time needed to recover each use. This time, the little kitten didn't hesitate to use two of the spells simultaneously to strike the two attackers savagely.
'Scum like this need none of my pity!' The little kitten hissed.
Unsuspecting of this sudden retaliation, the two were hopeless to dodge mid air and were both struck by the Scorching Ray.
The first figure instantly died, the Scorching Ray piercing his heart. His eyes turned dull and he tumbled on the ground dumbly before going limp.
The second figure actually managed to twist his body so that the Scorching Ray only struck his chest and shoulder area, getting off comparatively easier than his companion. Yet, there was still a blazing hole in his chest, just avoiding his heart enough to keep him living a little longer.
The living attacker growled in pain and his eyes darkened maliciously. Without hesitation, before he followed his companion in tumbling on the ground in pain and to his eventual death, he threw his dagger with his only working arm. In his final moments, a malicious grin could be seen on his paling face.
The little kitten could only look on dumbly as that dagger passed her in an instant.
'Crap, its been quickened with Wind Elemental magic!' The little kitten exclaimed in despair as she turned to face behind her, where the little girl was.
Everything seemed to slow down, but no matter how fast she acted, there was no way she would be fast enough to stop this dagger in its path at this point.
Yet shockingly, she found she did not need to do anything when the small girl suddenly shot her two little arms forward. She had long been casting some sort of chant when she saw that dagger heading in her direction.
When her chant came to an end, the blond haired girl thrust her hands upwards. Aligned with her movement, a powerful gust of wind swept that dagger heading towards her and flew it off course, curving upwards and to the left where it collided with the building, piercing straight into it, cracks forming in the stone wall of the building in its wake.
"Ah, hahaha! Andria and Little Fang kicked the bad guys' bums, yay!" The girl cheered enthusiastically as she clapped her little hands. Suddenly, the girls cheering came to an abrupt stop and her eyes suddenly reddened as she began sniffing uncontrollably. "...B-but Andria was also so scared!"
The little kitten could only stare dumbly at the shocking series of events. From the young girl using magic so expertly to her shockingly quick change in moods, everything was taxing her little brain.
'I wonder what those two thugs would be more shocked by... A little kitten that knows magic or a little rich girl that knows magic...' The little kitten could only shake her head and sigh in awe. 'Oh well, all's well that ends well... That was seriously close... I can't believe I let such a glaring mistake happen, I should have protected her better... Wait, why should I spend so much effort in protecting her?... Well, I mean. I shouldn't just leave her to die... But why do I feel such a strong attraction to this girl... Hah... I feel like I'll be dragged into something troublesome if I stick around this girl...'
The little kitten shook her head of all stray thoughts and turned to look at the girl who had now begun full out crying. With a final sigh, the little kitten walked up to her to coax her tears away...
It was like this, that two fated partners had met. A pair of unassuming young girls, with no idea that they would one day shake the universe with their names...