[14 hours after Kazu's execution]
[Somewhere deep in the frozen Arctic…]
"This isn't even my choice… I didn't choose this life."
Rin wanders the endless field of pure white snow, his white, tattered tactical suit camouflaging him in the blizzard.
Electricity still coats his entire body, and every step he takes melts the snow around him.
"This is such a sick, wicked curse I imbue… My thoughts aren't even my own anymore." He calmly mutters to himself.
He taps his glasses, every tap creating sparks of electricity on the frame.
As he begins to walk, he comes across something quite rare in the empty Arctic… A large summon crawling within the snow.
Its speed is something similar to a speeding train, and its length is the same as the legendary Titanoboa. This Summon is none other than [The Freight-Wyrm – "Nidhogg."]
Rin just stares at it, his expression still emotionless. For once, he isn't excited about a strong opponent.
"You're in my way. I'm going to have to move you by force." Rin said in a dangerously low voice.
Nidhogg whips towards him and tries to swallow Rin; however, Rin holds out his hand, and he sends out a lightning strike.
zzzzZAAAAAPPPP….
BOOOOM!!!!
Half of the Summon gets completely obliterated, while the other is whipping around ferociously.
It tries to regenerate itself; however, Rin doesn't even hesitate and zips over to the other half of the large serpent.
"You should know better than to run up on a far superior opponent…"
zzzzZAAAAAPPPP….
KABOOOMMM!!!
Rin has successfully taken out the Summon, and the area around it began clearing up.
Rin's eyes widen slightly at the sight in front of him.
"There's… There's a village over there…" Rin said softly.
He zips over to the area, and he takes a good look at the place from on top of a hill.
"There were people living out here in the harsh winters of the Arctic. Little did they know they were being watched by a Summon." Rin thought in his mind.
He zipped down to the village, and he looked around. The villagers are in an even worse condition than he initially thought.
Their homes are destroyed and covered in ice and snow. Their supply of food is scarce, and even their clothing looks extremely worn out.
He lowers the output of electricity within his body, and he walks around.
"I wonder how long these people have been here… It looks like there are children here and even elderly." Rin thought to himself.
Suddenly, he feels something softly slam into his leg and fall into the snow with a soft whimper.
As he looks down, he lets out a small huff.
It was a small, frail young girl who appeared to be running from something… Or most likely someone.
She has bandages all around her and even one wrapped around her head.
Before the girl can say anything, two men find her, and they run towards her.
Rin tried to walk away, but the girl clutched his leg with all of the little strength she had.
"P-Please… Don't l-let them t-take m-me…" She softly whimpered out.
The men finally made their way to her, and they tried to pry her off of Rin, but Rin finally spoke up.
"Let go of the girl. This is the first and final warning I will give you." He said in an authoritative voice.
The men quickly let go of her, but they didn't back off entirely.
"Just who the hell do you think you are!? She is our only source of food we can get around here!" One of the men speaks up with anger.
With those words, the girl lets out a cry, and she holds onto Rin even tighter.
Rin himself gets even more serious, his voice disturbingly calm.
"If you put one hand on this girl, the entire arm gets torched. What do you mean by only source of food? Are you cannibals…?" Rin holds out his hand that sparks with electricity.
The men finally back off entirely and hold their hands up in surrender. "No, no! We mean that we use her to get food around here… We bait the animals of the Arctic with her, and we kill the animal."
Rin's expression doesn't change; he just looks down at the men.
After a long moment of silence, he lets the girl go, and he sighs.
"Go hunt your animals or whatever." He said while crossing his arms.
The girl's eyes widen, and as soon as she feels one of the men grab her, she squeezes her eyes shut.
Just then…
BLASH!!!
The man's arm gets completely decimated, causing him to scream in agony.
The other man grabs his harpoon and shoots at Rin; however, Rin catches it, and he slashes the other man's hand off.
The snow below them turns from pure white to scarlet red.
"I hope you bastards know you had a bigger problem on your hands, but I took care of it. There was a large Summon circling around the village, and you're worried about a small innocent child." Rin said coldly.
The men barely hear Rin's words; they're still screaming and desperately trying to stop the blood from exiting their wounds.
The young girl still looks shaken up, but she's doing better than before.
"Pitiful… Now you have to deal with your injuries as a punishment."
As Rin goes deeper into the village, the girl follows closely behind him.
The villagers stare at him as he walks through the village. Some look at him with new acknowledgement while others look with fear and authority.
"This is pretty upsetting… These people shouldn't have to lure children to search for their food." Rin muttered to himself.
The young girl still trembles against his leg, and he notices how cold she is.
Without a second thought, he takes off his tattered cape and places it over the young girl like a blanket.
"Here, this should keep you warm for now."
Suddenly, he feels something deep down in his soul. Rin was never the type to actually help others, and he only cared about himself.
Just then, an elderly man walks up to Rin, his bones cracking and his movements as slow as a turtle.
"Young man… Just what divine power do you possess?" He said with curiosity.
Rin raises an eyebrow and scoffs.
"Divine power? I guess it's something similar to that. I have unpurified holy energy, allowing me to convert it into electricity." He said with little interest.
The elderly man hums, and he softly places a hand on Rin's sleeve.
"Your clothes… Let me get them patched for you, young one." The elderly man insisted.
Rin's eyes widen slightly, and he hesitates.
No one ever really cared about him or what he needed, and suddenly, his glasses' lens cracked a little.
As the villagers tend to his armor, Rin is sitting with the young girl he saved earlier.
"How come you're still alive after everything that happened to you?" Rin asked while tilting his head.
The young girl shyly plays with the fabric of Rin's cape, still pretty shaken up about earlier.
"The men do not miss… That's why they are scary." The young girl muttered.
Rin crossed his arms and leaned on a stone wall. "It's still bad to lure a young child for food gathering. If I didn't notice this village in time, this problem would've kept occurring.
Rin sighs and holds his hand out to the gray horizon.
"What's your name, little one?" Rin said while still looking out into the distance.
"M-My name… My name is Irka." She declared.
Rin hummed, still not moving in his place.
"I'm Rin. It's nice to meet you, young Irka." He said softly.
While the two of them continue to sit in the warmth, the villagers come back with Rin's fixed suit.
"We had to adjust it a bit in some places, like the shoulders, but everything is exactly how you left it." One of the elderly women spoke up.
Rin takes the suit and examines it closely. The patches and the stitching look too perfect to just pass on as ordinary work.
"Thank you… I appreciate the work you've put in for me. I know I'm just a stranger, but I will make it up to you all, I promise." Rin announced.
Suddenly, he zipped away. All of the villagers, including Irka, were left speechless after the sudden disappearance.
A few moments passed, and there was still no sign of Rin, until…
zzzzZAAAAAPPPPPP!!!
Rin reappeared in thin air, with a large sack full of cooked fish.
"I know it's not much, but it should be enough to feed the–"
The villagers immediately crowd Rin, and they gratefully thank him endlessly.
Rin's eyes widen a lot this time, something that is incredibly rare for him.
"Oh, praise the heavens above! You're our savior! Thank you… Thank you so much for feeding our village!" One of the villagers thanked him indebtedly over and over.
"Whoa whoa whoa! What's the big idea!? I just went hunting, that's all. There's no need to do all of this…" Rin tries to stop them from thanking him, and eventually it dies down.
That following night, the entire village feasted on cooked fish and some vegetables that Rin zipped to get.
Rin also zipped to get fire starters, shelter supplies, and protective gear for the village.
As for the men who tried taking Irka earlier, Rin decided to sear up their wounds and throw them in a cell on the other side of the Arctic.
Rin says his final goodbyes and prepares to leave the village when, all of a sudden, he hears someone calling his name.
"Mr. Rin! You forgot your cape!" Irka called out.
Rin stops in his tracks, and without looking, he speaks up.
"Keep it. Think of it as a memory of me. Who knows, I might be back for it when you grow older." Rin said with a soft smile.
And just like that, Rin zips away, leaving the village to think he had a heart for them.
But in reality, he's just coating the dark patch in his soul after executing the person he truly found interesting.