Chapter 100: A Shadow
Asher furrowed his brows as he thought of a way to show Little Red his skill without crippling himself once again.
Although he could pretty much heal all non-fatal wounds by using [Nostalgic Room], he didn't necessarily enjoy the unnatural feeling of rage from the Abnormality's hallucinations every time he used the skill.
'I mean, no hate to her, but...' Ever since that incident with Stella, the idea of some foreign emotion taking control of him bled into him some sort of primordial disgust.
The pure hatred that he felt in those hallucinations of her was comparable to the whiff of malice his past self showed in the [Grave of Cherry Blossoms].
How scary... Just a whiff of emotions from his past self was equivalent to Little Red's blazing wrath.
The aforementioned Abnormality growled at him, urging him to get on with it.
"Right. For this skill, every fourth attack combines both my Insight and Fortitude values in a single explosion. It damages me as well, but that's hardly worth mentioning."
Little Red nodded, her expression turning thoughtful.
The usefulness of this skill depended on just how powerful the fourth attack was, the woman thought.
Asher stepped up a nearby tree, placing his hand on its blackened trunk.
The wooden figure shivered under his touch, as if it knew what was going to happen to it.
The boy grabbed a branch from the floor. Through experience, he found that using a weapon as a carrier for the heat of the fourth match flame caused less damage to his body, as the damages were shared with the weapon as well.
As an extra precaution, he set the flame to its lowest strength.
"I can control the strength of the fourth attack. Right now, it's on the lowest setting." Asher further explained to Little Red, afraid that a misunderstanding would develop if the result was too lackluster. He didn't want another 'throw' incident.
Hearing no words from the presence behind him, he tapped the trunk three times, in rapid succession.
On the fourth swing, the branch began to smolder with smoke. Traces of reddish embers surfaced on the club's surface.
Despite its unassuming appearance, under the cover hid a deceptive, latent power.
When the piece of wood made contact with the tree, a muffled explosion burst from the inside the branch. A head-sized portion of the trunk burst into shards of wood.
The tree branch in his hand, expectably, did not survive the explosion.
Asher glanced back, searching for Little Red's approval.
The woman didn't speak, though it wasn't as if she was shocked speechless. There simply wasn't anything noteworthy to talk about.
"U-Um, that was just the weakest level!"
"Show me the highest one, then."
Asher gulped.
Subconsciously, he closed his fist. The burns that patterned his palm pulsed with a light, almost imperceptible pain.
Little Red didn't fail to notice the obvious action of reluctance.
"What, you'll get hurt more the higher power you set it to?"
Seeing Asher nod timidly, the woman scoffed.
"Seeing as you're here in one piece - You have a skill to heal you."
"Well, yes-"
"Then use it." Her voice rumbled with hidden threat.
Asher let out a single, squeezed cough under the pressure.
Flustered, he raised his fist, forgetting to grab a weapon.
'[Fourth Match Flame]: Maximum!'
Asher slammed into the tree.
He winced, ignoring the small pain in his palm and knuckles as he punched the tree yet again.
The third came quickly after.
The surrounding forest turned silent as an unexplainable pressure emanated from Asher's fist.
Suddenly, Asher's fist burst into pure white heat, into a scorching flame that instantly dried the earth of its moisture.
Little Red's eye widened.
Asher let out a strangled scream as his fist seemed to move forward on its own, seeking its target.
*BOOM*
The boy flew back, sliding on the ground for a few dozen meters before grinding to a halt.
The tree, likewise, launched into the air, neatly uprooted from the ground by the sheer force of the impact. As it rose into the air, the white flames wrapped around it, disintegrating what remained of the tree into dust.
A light curtain of ash floated to the ground as Asher moaned with pain behind Little Red. The vestiges of a blackened arm smoldered a few meters away, ripped off by the explosive trauma.
"Wow..." Little Red breathed a sigh. Traces of various emotions tinged her voice.
The woman blinked to Asher's body. The boy looked at her with an immature smirk, despite the haze of pain.
It was asking for her validation.
Through the agonizing fog, a childish need for validation rose.
"...g-good?"
Little Red's eye curved into a smile, almost devoid of the hate and pessimism that had long seeped her soul.
Her expression even held a note of warmth.
"Rest."
Asher's breath rattled as he closed his eyes, losing consciousness abruptly.
The woman shifted her cloak away, lifting Asher with both her arms.
From the corner of her eye, she could already see his flesh reforming.
...
"Hell, three times already?" Asher mumbled to himself, counting the number of times he had to use the 'Room' in this mission alone.
The soft sheets of a bed wrapped around him as he complained to the empty air.
He opened his eyes. Two perspectives. Lifted his hands. Not covered by gloves.
"The timeline sure is strange..." The irregularities in the hallucinations led him to believe that not everything that happened in these strange dreams that the 'Room' created did in real life.
He tossed his sheets to the side.
"W-Woah!" Asher's vision swam as he looked down. The bed seemed to be raised to an inordinate degree, creating the uncanny perspective that he was in a giant's bedroom.
His feet barely dangled halfway to the floor, the room was that big.
Or he was just tiny.
Testing his hypothesis, he raised his hand to his cheek, pinching it lightly.
The tell-tale softness of baby fat led Asher to a slight gasp.
And he hadn't really noticed before, but his voice was so incredibly light and lispy. Like he had just recently learned how to speak.
This was Little Red as a child, even younger than he was right now.
Powered by this new knowledge, Asher leapt off the bed, stumbling to the ground as his left foot tripped over the other.
"Ouchie..." Tears touched the corner Little Red's eyes as she nursed the wound on her palm, a small patch of reddish, scraped skin. A blemish on her pure, cream-milk colored skin.
Asher forced himself to his feet. A mirror on the other side of the room attracted his attention.
A few small hops on the wooden floorboards brought him to his destination, an ordinary mirror hung on the wall, framed by wood and a few carefully selected colorful rocks.
Little Red's eyes widened as she stared at herself in the mirror. Like a dream, her reddish-brown hair was braided into two three-strand braids, one running down her left collarbone and one down her right, ultimately meeting at the center of her chest.
The tosses and turns of sleep had no effect on Little Red's appearance. In fact, she looked even more refreshed and radiant because of it.
"...Now this is just unrealistic." A tone unfit for a young child broke the atmosphere, but Asher couldn't help it.
His eyes trailed to what his body was wearing, disbelief entering his expression.
A complete dress, puffy and frilled and tailored to a child's physique fit snugly onto his body. Naturally, or unnaturally, it was also in pristine condition, not wrinkled in the slightest. The edges of the dress were colored cutely crimson, with a white, frilly center.
"Oh... kay..." He took a step back.
Little Red tilted her head.
"Unrealistic? What's that mean?"
Asher flinched as his lips moved on their own, proposing a question that definitely didn't come from him.
What was this, joint control?
This time, it seemed Little Red held some partial control of her body.
He tested his theory.
"Hello?"
His uncertain expression was washed away by Little Red's smile. The mirror showed the other soul in 'his' body break into a wide grin.
"Hey! Are you a new voice? Don't hide in the mirror~"
Little Red, completely unfazed, pressed closer to the glass, as if to discern his presence from the glints of the mirror.
Something about what the girl said, or how she said it, bothered Asher.
"...What do you mean, new voice? Is there an old one?"
Little Red giggled, pointing to the middle of the mirror.
"There! It's Little Red! See??"
Quite reassuringly, the mirror did not show any changes.
"Little Red? What do you mean? The 'voice' in your head says it's...?"
"Little Red!"
The girl tapped the mirror.
The glass rippled like a drop of water on a lake.
"-!" Slowly, the glass turned red.
A hellish, alternate room projected itself through the mirror. In the other world, a red shadow wreathed in static watched the girl, silently.
"She's right there! She helps me all the time, see?"
The red shadow reached out to touch the mirror from the other side. With a longing stare, the girl matched the shadow's motion, tapping the mirror with her finger.
*CRACK*
The mirror shattered into panes of glass, and a claw-like hand grabbed Asher's neck, crushing it mercilessly.
LEAVE.
The world melted into blood.
...
Asher gasped, shooting out of his bed.
"-!" He froze.
Standing next to the bed, Little Red observed him in silence.
The color of her cloak matched the shadow in his dream.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Tiphereth
Tiphereth Fortitude: 20
Insight: 35
Temperance: 55
Justice: 55
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone