Rane had woken Dante up with a few nudges, not saying a word. Rane was visibly upset for a reason unknown to Dante. She seemed on edge and overly cautious.
Once Dante had woken, they had eaten breakfast, which consisted of the bread and water the Pastor had given them. He was a mystery to them.
The bread was not particularly tasty; it was, in fact, very dry and hard to swallow. Dante didn't seem to mind it as much as Rane did.
After they had eaten their breakfast, they continued their journey to find the monolith. They had stopped heading north and instead began walking east. However, Rane struggled to keep walking; it was extremely hot in the wasteland for some reason.
Is that a person?
Dante could see something in the distance. It was around in the same direction as they were heading anyway, so Dante began to walk towards it.
Why would anyone else be here?
It was obvious that nobody could survive here for more than a few days without serious preparation. As Dante got closer, he could make out more people. They appeared to be men, and they looked to be surrounding something. One of the men had appeared to have noticed Dante and began to move towards him. As he began to move, Dante could see that his body was reflecting lots of light. In due time, Dante had noticed it was plate armour, like the ones he had learnt about in books.
The man approaching them had begun to yell something, but he was too far for them to make out what it was. The man had drawn his sword and stood on guard. He waited for Dante and Rane to approach. Rane was the first to understand, so she held her arms up, indicating they were not here to fight. Dante had copied what Rane was doing. As they got closer, they could see that the other men were also wearing armour, and the thing they were surrounding was a person, a young woman, in fact. It was clear that she was in trouble.
Rane and Dante were now close enough to speak with the armoured man.
"Do you know how to fight?" Rane whispers discretely to Dante, avoiding the notice of the man in armour.
Dante nods, lacking confidence, however. He remembers the martial arts he was taught via robots since no one dared to go against such a physically capable opponent. The robots were much faster than ordinary humans, and the boy could keep up. The boy was unaware of this fact; therefore, he lacked confidence. The lack of confidence was also, in part, due to the beatings he constantly received, no matter how well he had performed, which led him to believe he was inadequate.
"We do not wish to fight; we are simply lost with no place to go," Rane said slowly and clearly to the man to avoid any misunderstanding.
He smiled; he seemed happy to hear those words.
"So no one will look for you when I kill you?" he shouted as he charged straight for them.
Rane had stepped in front of Dante, as if to say, 'Let me handle this. '
Rane was now in the range of his sword. He had aimed for Rane's head, but she narrowly avoided it by taking a step back and bending her body back.
Dante was confused.
The man continued to swing his sword at Rane. Occasionally, he would cut her arm or her leg, and she would wince in pain.
Dante became even more confused.
Didn't she basically say she can handle it? Why is she struggling? He is so very slow.
In an instant, Dante lunged forward towards the man. He clenched his fist as hard as he could to the point that he had cut his own palm. With all his strength, he hurled his fist towards the man's face. The other hand cautiously steered the blade away from its course and into the ground. Just as his fist was about to make contact, it stopped.
The man in armour hadn't even seen him coming. He was scared to the point where he stumbled onto the ground. Rane could hardly see him coming either.
"Go away," Dante said to the man.
He ran towards his companions, leaving his sword behind. Rane had picked up the sword.
"Thanks, but I have it from here", she said, dismissing Dante's effort to help her.
She slowly walked up to the group of people. As she raised her sword to prepare for battle, sparks appeared around the sword. These sparks then grew into raging flames that covered the blade entirely. She continued her walk towards the men. She looked adamant to kill them.
The armoured men charged her all at once. There were six of them, not including the man who had just run away. One of them appeared to be armed with a crossbow. Rane instantly, upon seeing him, charged towards him. She was very fast and had reached him in less time than the man had to react. She swung for his torso with her flaming sword.
Before the sword had even made contact with the man, the armour he wore began to melt under the heat of the fire. Then, the sword had sliced through him like butter. The man's blood had boiled completely under the heat of the sword, and the dry residue of the blood had ignited, causing small explosions in the man's body. Not only had he been cut in half, but he had also been torn apart by the explosions.
It was gruesome, and the blood that did not boil completely was showered on the other men, burning them. They still tried to put up a fight, however, even after witnessing their powerlessness. Rane had proceeded to carve each of the men, one by one, until none remained alive.
In the meantime, Dante had run to check on the girl. She was bound by ropes. Dante had broken them with his bare hands and set the girl upright. He faced her away from the grotesque display of violence.
She was in a state of shock and despair. Dante didn't really know how to comfort her, and it showed; he tried to ask her for her name, but mixed his words before he could finish and made a fool of himself. He had also accidentally knocked her to the ground. The girl had gotten ash in her mouth and began trying to spit it out while coughing.
Dante then heard laughter slowly emerge from the girl as she laughed at Dante's idiocy.
Dante was relieved.
"W-what's your n-name?" Dante asked the girl.
He was nervous, and it was obvious.
"Maya", the girl replied.
Rane had now finished dealing with the men and walked towards the two. She looked exhausted from all the fighting.
"What're you doing here?" Rane asks Maya.
Maya pauses to think, then replies, "I'm looking, looking for my sister" It was clear that she was deeply saddened by something.
"So, what happened to you?" Rane asks again, clearly not interested in the girl's problems.