At this moment, the blonde girl was still eating her ice cream, completely unaware that the people approaching her had already raised their evil hands toward her.
"Bastards! Stop right there!"
Just as Aiden was about to observe whether the Storm Child, who carried the Bloodline of the Storm, had awakened her storm powers, Helena couldn't bear it anymore. With a sharp cry, she moved to act.
With one quick step, she crossed over a dozen meters, arrived beside the blonde girl, and in what was practically the blink of an eye, knocked all those thugs to the ground.
Then, she turned, crouched down, and pulled the still somewhat dazed blonde girl into her arms, gently stroking her soft hair. "Don't be afraid. Big sister has already beaten up these bad guys for you."
The blonde girl blinked, looked at Helena who was holding her and then at Aiden, who came jogging over, and finally noticed the several people lying on the ground around her.
Being clever, she immediately guessed what had happened.
———
[Meanwhile, Over at Goenitz's Side]
As the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings, Goenitz of the Wind, the wind was his closest companion. As long as the air flowed, no movement could escape his perception.
When he first sensed that some hooligans were about to lay hands on his daughter, he had already frowned, preparing to return, but as Helena made her move, his frown slowly relaxed.
"Humans… are not entirely evil after all," he murmured to himself.
———
"What's your name? Why are you out alone? That's too dangerous. Where are your parents?"
Over on Aiden's side, Helena looked at the blonde girl. The more she looked, the more she liked her, lovingly stroking the girl's soft golden hair.
"Daddy said I can't tell strangers my name." The blonde girl didn't seem to resist Helena's enthusiasm much and obediently let her hold her. Then she added, "Daddy just met a friend earlier and went to chat with him."
"Your dad is really irresponsible. The safety around here is terrible. How could he bear to leave you alone like this?" Helena scolded. As an illegitimate child whose mother was a mistress, her understanding of fathers was a bit different from most people's.
But facing such a cute girl, she didn't want to talk about those things, so she smiled and said, "My name is Helena, and this big brother is Aiden. Now that you know our names, we're not strangers anymore. So, can you tell big brother and big sister your name now?"
Hearing that, Aiden rolled his eyes. 'Helena, you realize what you just said sounds exactly like something a child trafficker would say, right?'
But surprisingly, the innocent blonde girl fell for it completely and said sweetly, "My name is Goenico."
Then, smiling sweetly, the blonde girl called out to them, "Brother Aiden, Sister Helena."
"What a good child." Helena immediately praised her, smiling so widely that her eyes curved into crescent moons.
Then she lifted the girl up, glanced at Aiden, and said, "Aiden, let's help Goenico find her dad!"
Aiden really wanted to say that with the power of the Storm, he could come back anytime, but of course, he couldn't say that. He could only nod. "Okay."
Seeing him nod, Helena looked back at the blonde girl. "Goenico, do you know which direction your dad went?"
The blonde girl pointed in the direction Shermie had left. "I can sense that Daddy is over there."
Helena didn't notice the word "sense" that the blonde girl used. She simply said, "That way, huh? Alright, let's go."
———
As for Shermie, she had, of course, heard Goenitz's muttered words. To be honest, if it had been before, she definitely would have argued back, maybe even thought that this so-called leader of the Four Heavenly Kings had gone insane.
But now, she simply chuckled and said, "Didn't expect your prejudice against humans to change too. How surprising, Goenitz. Looks like having a daughter isn't such a bad thing after all. It's just a pity she's not your biological child."
"She possesses my bloodline power, that's as good as being my own," Goenitz said calmly. Yet there was a flicker of warmth in his eyes, along with a faint trace of regret in his heart.
"Gaidel… maybe you were right."
Thinking that, Goenitz fell silent. He remembered the first member of the Eight Hakkeshu he had found, but that man was already dead.
However, he was soon awakened from his thoughts by a clear, crisp voice.
"Daddy!"
Goenitz and Shermie both looked toward the direction of the voice.
"They came too…" Shermie said with some surprise when she saw Aiden and Helena.
Goenitz, on the other hand, smiled warmly when he saw the blonde girl being led by Helena… Originally, Goenico had been carried by Helena, but as a thirteen or fourteen-year-old, she was already half-grown, so it felt awkward to keep holding her. Later, Helena simply held her hand instead.
As they approached, the blonde girl called out again.
"Daddy…"
"Goenico, my child, I'm here." Goenitz crouched down halfway and opened his arms toward the blonde girl.
The blonde girl immediately let go of Helena's hand and threw herself straight into Goenitz's embrace.
Watching the reunited father and daughter hugging, Helena couldn't help but scold, "So you're Goenico's father? How could you leave her alone on a dark street like that? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"
"Apologies, I didn't take that into account." Goenitz replied apologetically. Even though with his abilities he could have rushed to his daughter's side the moment she was in danger, he still sincerely accepted Helena's reproach.
Then, holding Goenico, he stood up and nodded slightly to Aiden and Helena. "Thank you for taking care of her. May my god's radiance shine upon you."
"No need. We don't believe in gods," Helena said, shaking her head. She turned to Aiden. "Right?"
"Mm." Aiden nodded, but his gaze stayed fixed on Goenitz, within his eyes, a faint glint of killing intent appeared.
Goenitz of the Wind, leader of the Four Heavenly Kings, his power was unfathomable. Unless Orochi himself descended to the mortal realm, almost no one could rival him.
Usually, he was also a gentle and humble man, very polite to others, he could even kill people gracefully.
He was also one of the most popular bosses in the entire King of Fighters series.
However, despite all those good traits, Aiden's impression of him was far from favorable. After all, this wasn't a game, personal charm couldn't change his view.
After all… his very existence posed a threat to the Three Sacred Treasure clans. In the game's story, he even killed Chizuru's sister, Maki, in order to break Orochi's seal.
Given his current relationship with Maki, Goenitz could only be considered his enemy, even if this was their first meeting.
He even considered taking this opportunity to go all out and kill Goenitz right here.
But… seeing Goenitz and Goenico hugging made him hesitate.
Although there was only a faint trace of killing intent in Aiden's eyes, that was enough for a master like Goenitz to sense it, especially since he was fully awakened. Looking at Aiden, he politely asked, "Sir, I believe this is our first meeting, yes?"
Aiden said nothing, just gave a slight nod.
"But it seems like you know me?" Goenitz continued. He didn't know why Aiden's gaze carried killing intent toward him, but he didn't ask directly, only phrased it tactfully.
"I don't."
Aiden shook his head, hiding the killing intent in his eyes.
Goenitz sensed that too, smiled faintly, then gently set down his daughter and extended his right hand toward Aiden. "Then we can get to know each other now. My name is Goenitz."
Aiden hesitated for a moment, then still reached out and shook his hand. "Aiden."
"So Mr. Aiden is from the Z Nation," Goenitz said with mild surprise, before turning his gaze to Helena.
"Helena." The mature young woman didn't wait for him to speak before giving a graceful lady's bow. Goenitz's elegant manners made her instinctively respond in kind.
"You're a beautiful lady," Goenitz said, placing a hand on his chest and bowing slightly.
"Thank you for the compliment." Helena smiled politely.
Shermie, watching all this, scoffed and muttered under her breath, "What a nauseating conversation."
The three, Aiden, Goenitz, and Helena, had all heard her. But while Aiden and Goenitz said nothing, Helena retorted, "It's called social etiquette. A shameless woman like you wouldn't understand."
"Shameless?" Shermie sized up Helena, her gaze landing on the woman's long dress that was slit almost to her thighs. She sneered, "You're wearing even less than I am, and you dare call me shameless?"
"At least I wouldn't go around kissing random men like you," Helena shot back, though she tugged at her skirt self-consciously, she had, indeed, put effort into choosing her outfit today.
"You just don't have the guts. I bet if that Aiden guy nodded, you'd probably kiss him till his lips swelled up."
"Nonsense…" Helena's face turned red as she glared at Shermie, feeling like her true thoughts had just been exposed.
Shermie covered her mouth and chuckled twice, disdainfully adding, "Nonsense? You're just a hypocritical woman."
Watching the two women suddenly start bickering, Aiden felt a headache coming on. 'You two only just met, how can the tension between you already be stronger than between me and Goenitz? All I wanted to do was kill him…'
Goenitz, however, looked at Shermie with surprise. He could feel that her humanity seemed much stronger than in previous reincarnations.
That made him think once again of Gaidel, one of the Eight Hakkeshu, his comrade who had regained his memories earlier than the rest, and who, after marrying and having children, had completely become an ordinary man.
"The fate of the Hakkeshu shouldn't be like this. We should try living as normal people."
"Goenitz, please… let us go!"
"If you ever have a child, you'll understand…"
Gaidel's words poured out in his memory like a fountain. Goenitz looked down at Goenico. He had adopted her not long after Gaidel's death…
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