'I don't know how many people have died and the souls of their parents are probably one of the souls that I've harvested.' Souta said inwardly as he stood up and patted the head of the little girl.
The little girl flinched when Souta's hand touched her head. She thought that he was going to kill her just like how people killed her parents.
"I will get you out of this place."
Souta said in a light tone as he didn't want to scare her. He turned his head to the window and narrowed his eyes.
He's busy killing people left and right that he forgot that he was far away from the walls. His location was close to the central region of this nation. It will take some time before he could escort these children.
Hmm...?
Souta quickly turned around as his eyes turned cold. He felt an energy fluctuation coming at him.
Swoosh!
A two-meter fireball was flying in this direction. It was going to hit this very house precisely.
He raised his hand and gallons of blood surged upward covering the entire house like a barrier.
Boom!!
The fireball exploded and it shook the house causing the little girl to fall to the floor. It was just the aftershock of the explosion. It caused no harm to the children in the house. The blood barrier prevented the fireball from destroying the house.
An incident like this was normal in the current situation. Every minute, various spells would land on some of the buildings causing destruction in the area.
Well, most of the people that were fighting around the three nations were the government and the rebels. Their numbers were higher than the experts of the Red Matter Association and warriors of Athen's Champion.
It's just that they were too weak compared to the two organizations.
That's why most of the spells that would come out of nowhere were just low-tier spells. If it really came from the experts of the two organizations, the whole area would be affected by the aftermath of the battle.
Since he could easily block the fireball, it must be an attack from a B-rank or A-rank expert. A simple fireball would be a lot stronger if S-rank or SS-rank used it.
Souta looked at the little girl and said, "I will guarantee your safety. You don't have to worry about anything. Just follow me and I'll escort you and your siblings out of this place."
"I..." The little girl was about to say something when Souta patted her head once again.
"Don't worry, I will not hurt you. I have a friend who's a little bit older than you and looking at you, it reminds me of her." Souta smiled gently.
He remembered Cluster and wondered what she was doing right now. Once he returns to Giza Continent, he will visit her in the True God's Holy Kingdom. The last time he saw her was at the Blue Lawless City before he got transported to the sub-world.
"You don't have to say anything. Just follow me, okay?"
"B-But someone said that we should wait here... It's dangerous outside and said that we should hide here." The little girl while shaking.
"Wait here...?" Souta rubbed his chin. "Maybe, it's one of my fellow warriors. It's fine I think it's better if I escort you out of this place. Us warriors wouldn't want to see children die in this place."
"O-Okay..." The little girl nodded meekly at him.
"What's your name?"
"A-Airi..."
"Okay, Airi. My name is Souta. Bring your two siblings outside and follow me. Once you are outside, don't look around. Just close your eyes and I will do everything."
The scenery outside was horrendous. Souta didn't want them to see those dead bodies scattered in the streets. It was too much for innocent children like them to witness it.
He didn't even know why he was doing this. He just felt that this would lessen the heavy feeling accumulating in his heart. He felt that helping some people would be able to help him control his urges.
"I-I understand." The little girl named Airi nodded as she wiped the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Then, let's go." Souta turned around and exited the house.
Airi turned to her siblings. She hugged both of them and said, "Don't cry, we will follow that brother. I'm with you so don't worry."
"What about Mama and Papa?" The other little girl asked while sobbing.
Airi lowered her head. She gritted her teeth as she felt her chest tighten up. After a while, she looked at her siblings and said with a smile, "Mama and Papa are fine. Now, close your eyes and tightly grab onto my shoulders."
The three children left the house and slowly approach Souta who was standing in the middle of the streets while looking at the enormous fortress above the three nations.
Souta turned his head. Looking at the three children, a smile formed on his face. He grabbed his robe and it turned into a small marble.
In the next second, the marble turned back into a red robe and it landed on the three children.
"Use this to protect yourself. It's a piece of red grade equipment called [Flame Unity Robe]. It will protect you from harm."
Souta said to the little girl called Airi as he patted her head.
Airi nodded her head meekly as she fixed the robe and covered both of her siblings with it.
'With this, they would be able to withstand a little bit of my aura.' Souta said inwardly.
The energy of a fourth stage monster was too dangerous for low-level creatures. The three children didn't even reach C-rank so they would die on the spot if he somehow release a certain amount of best feram.
He wondered when will the reinforcement arrive. While the barrier was preventing the entry of the Fourth Set warriors into the Aekr Republic, they already called for reinforcement above. A few hours had already passed since then so the backup would probably arrive soon.
'I'm not really good at protecting people...' Souta sighed. 'I'm only good at killing them.'
The fact that he had to hold most of his powers so that he could interact with children was something he already expected before. His best feram was like a radiation that would kill people that didn't have resistance to it.
At the very least, escorting these three children would give him a time to rest. After all, he had been fighting nonstop before. His mind was also exhausted. These events and the harvesting of souls drained him.
"T-The person before also gave me something to protect my siblings," Aira said as she looked up at him.
"Hmm...?" Souta raised his eyebrows.
He didn't even look at her. He was observing this area with his [Crimson Perception] and [Galaxy Eyes]. He wanted to find a route to avoid the battle around him. He didn't want to fight with these children around as he know that there was a huge chance that it would affect the children with him.
On a battlefield like this, he knew that he couldn't avoid battle. He could sense that people were fighting once again on the path that he took before. Even though he killed a bunch of enemies there, the battle was still ongoing. So he just wanted to avoid people that could make him use his powers.
People at A-rank and above. The rest could be dealt easily using his physical prowess alone. No skills, no energy, no trait skill, just brute force was enough.
"It took us longer because we pick it up on the table..." Airi continued as she took out a piece of paper with unknown symbols on it.
"Huh?"
Souta turned his head and when he saw the piece of paper, he hurriedly stretched his hand and threw the piece of paper above.
"Cover your eyes."
Blood surged above and enveloped the paper. In the next moment, a sound of an explosion echoed with the river of blood.
Boom!
Souta's eyes turned cold as his expression distorted. Rage was brewing inside his heart and it was slowly going out of control.
"T-That..." Airi was shocked and her expression turned pale.
Souta took a deep breath when saw the children shivering in fear. They were scared and horrified by what happened just now. It seems that the person that helped them before wasn't a member of Athen's Champion.
That piece of paper was a talisman called Energy Reacting Talisman. Once it was exposed to a certain amount of energy, the paper will explode and kill the people around it.
He let down his guard because of the person that helped them. He didn't expect that there was another motive to it. Luckily, his reaction was fast or else...
"I'm here. Nothing will happen to you. I've guaranteed your safety so I will not let any of you die under my watch."
Souta said as blood slowly flooded the entire area.
