Skill.

Little Red glanced at the wood shards below her. Scattered on the floor were the shards of broken wood and pools of murky red water.

She let out a frustrated exhale, stomping to the kitchen for a broom and mop.

Dozens of minutes passed as the woman cleaned the mess she made.

Alone in the cabin. Nothing but the sound of broom and mop graced her ears. It was only in rare moments of peace like this could she relax.

Soon, the last of the evidence was swept and mopped away.

Inexplicably, she found herself thinking about the boy she threw out. She wasn't worried that the kid would die, she knew how to hold back her strength.

As long as his Fortitude was at least seventy, then nothing too bad would happen. At worst perhaps a broken bone or two.

Something else bothered her, something she couldn't place her mind on. Was she too hasty? Did her emotions get the better of her?

"No, he had too much flair. Only two hundred Fortitude, telling that to me all confidence-like..."

She took off her mask, drinking from the cup she fixed for herself.

Her hood stayed on.

Cups slowly piled onto the floor as the hours passed, as she kept going into the kitchen for more water.

Finally, she fashioned another table from wood, taking another half an hour of work. With a sigh, she stacked the cups she had accumulated neatly onto it.

*Knock Knock*

"It's that kid again..."

She lived a dense forest; there was no other human in a dozen-mile radius but her.

Only one person could be knocking on her door.

"Miss Red? I- uh, I'm sorry for saying that earlier!" The childish voice that came muffled from the door confirmed her guess.

The kid sounded fidgety as he apologized with a stutter.

The woman sighed as she readjusted the wolf's-teeth mask onto her face, hiding her mouth once again.

She twisted her heel, opening the door with exasperation.

Asher blushed as he hid his bare body from her as best as he could. It didn't help that Little Red stared down at him with her single, lamp-like eye, mocking his expression of embarrassment.

Finally, she scoffed.

"Get inside." Little Red flicked her head, turning around without another word.

Asher lowered his head, stepping inside with some hesitation.

The woman's voice didn't contain any anger, but it also didn't hide any niceties, either.

Which was to be expected; they were only strangers, after all.

By the time he entered, Little Red had already left the living room to do other things.

Asher plopped down next to the fireplace, kneeling next to it to warm his naked body.

He heard a cough next to him.

Little Red stood behind him, a crimson outfit slung over her shoulder.

"Get up. Change into this."

Asher yelped as she threw the clothes onto his back.

The clothes consisted of an unevenly dyed red cloak, a baggy black shirt, and a gritty pair of long pants, with pockets extensively sewn into it.

Having no other excuse, he swiftly changed in front of her.

"Hm?" Surprisingly, the clothes fit quite well on him.

Little Red seemed to guess his thoughts.

"I grew out of that one decades ago."

The woman turned away to leave once again.

However, a small tug on her cloak kept her from leaving.

"Er... Listen, I'm sorry for saying all that before, if that made you mad at me."

Little Red stared at the boy, wondering whether to explain her thoughts.

She growled, brushing him off.

"I'm not mad at you. It's more like this: Say someone came up to you, promising that It can break your loop of pain as long as you

"$%@#$

"%^&[]$," the woman's voice turned into static, unintelligible for a moment.

Little Red didn't notice the confusion on Asher's face, continuing as if nothing happened.

"And then It gave you this 'chance', in the form of a little brat, boasting about a 'two hundred Fortitude'. How would you feel?"

The rhetorical question was easy to answer, considering her tone.

"Well, I guess I would be pretty unhappy."

"Unhappy, exactly! So, so, so unhappy... But," she switched out of her drippingly sarcastic lilt, "I suppose you are the 'chance' this time, no matter how much I complain. Your room's beside the kitchen. You'll be staying here for a while."

She left him to his own thoughts.

'Might as well check in.' Asher shrugged, finding the room that Little Red gave him.

Opening the door, he found a slightly cramped grey cot, a mirror, and a wash basin. No toilet and no running water, but that was kind of to be expected from a wooden cabin.

The view inside the mirror interested him greatly. His hood was a near replica of Little Red's, though obviously a bit smaller. The dyes were also more uneven as the cloak she had on now, too. A bit more amateurish.

He grinned.

'This would be really cool for an E.G.O or Synchronization.' Asher imagined how he would look in a cloak like this.

And that wolf's-teeth mask... Dang, that was cool.

But what should he do now? Was he just going to wait there until Little Red decided what she wanted to do with him?

How to kill time...

A light rap on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Come out." Little Red's voice came from outside, with perfect timing.

She leaned on the doorway as the door swung open. Her expression held a sense of resignation and resolve.

"I'll make the most out of you. Follow me."

Before Asher knew it, he found himself outside, on a grassy hill next to the cabin. The freshly churned dirt suggested that Little Red was pulling out trees as Asher was exploring his room.

"You said that you have a few skills, right? Show them to me."

Asher nodded. He had somewhat expected this, after all.

Wordlessly, he shifted to [Fairy Queen].

Glass-like wings sprouted from his back, and a spritely blueish suit materialized onto his body.

Seeing as the woman was not impressed, he sought to explain what the E.G.O could do.

"So, this thing has three skills. One-" He clenched his arm, biting into it with all his strength. The pain of breaking skin wasn't even enough to make him flinch.

As he released his jaw, a miniature fairy emerged from the ground.

Little Red remained silent.

"When I get hurt, fairies spawn. They can eat other things to heal me again."

"Show me." Little Red's eye narrowed as a purr rumbled in her throat. The fairy cowered under the woman's manic stare.

Asher twitched, pointing at the woman with some hesitation. And with that same hesitation, the fairy floated over, opening her mouth timidly.

A fraction of a second passed before-

"Next." The woman plucked the fairy off her skin with the hem of her cloak, popping it between her fingers like a bug. She could easily interact with the fairy, just like how Yujin could.

A tiny patch of the cloak seeped with a deeper red as Asher gulped.

"W-Well, the next one is, if I attack someone with this club, the damage they take is used to heal me."

Little Red shook her head, disappointed.

"Attacking? How pointless. Next."

That was true. It was practically impossible for him to land a hit in with such impossibly strong Abnormalities. Especially the Wolf.

"For the final one, um, it activates if I get injured really badly. It converts all my stats into Fortitude, basically. And it also spawns one fairy a second."

A slight glimmer of interest shone in Little Red's eye. Her pupil widened noticeably, at rapt attention.

"Paired with that skill you told me earlier..." She sank deep into thought. "A one-to-one conversion? Of all your stats?"

Asher nodded.

"With two hundred Fortitude and Insight from that skill... Five hundred Fortitude shouldn't be a problem-"

She exhaled the breath she was holding.

It was still too little to help her.

But Asher still had a piece of bad news.

"...And it has a two-day cooldown. There's one day left on it for me right now."

Little Red shrugged carelessly, swiping her hand at him for the next ability.

The air effused with the scent of cherries. A rippling pink kimono swapped with Asher's previous outfit, and a closed fan appeared in his hand.

It opened with a light whisk.

"For this one~" Asher's accent had changed slightly, "Waving my fan can put people under a trance. Though, it depends mostly on Temperance..."

He swished his fan absentmindedly, directing his skill at Little Red. As expected, she did not react whatsoever.

"I understand your point; all of your stats are trash. Will any of this one's powers help me?"

At Little Red's question, one of Asher's fingers traced his cheek slowly in thought.

After a few seconds, he shook his head. No, none of these skills would be helpful against a bona fide stat monster, they were mostly for crowd control.

Little Red's stare softened somewhat as the boy's honesty earned a bit of her appreciation.

Asher's appearance reverted back to the red cloak she gave him.

"For this next one... It's a general skill, but I'm not sure I want to show you it." As Asher spoke, he nearly slapped his forehead in regret. [Echoes from Beyond]...

He didn't use it once against the Stray Dogs!

'Dang... I really underestimated them, huh.' The fight ended too quick to use it.

Little Red's attention pulled him out of his thoughts. Her eyes asked for an explanation.

"This skill pulls the targets into their past trauma, I believe. If they are unable to overcome it, they get turned into husks. I don't know exactly how it works, but It says this one is also related to Temperance."

The woman's eye flashed with understanding, followed by an uncontrollable shiver.

She took a step back, her eye shifting to a myriad of different expressions, from anger to pain to fear. Finally, she leaned back onto a tree trunk, stabilizing herself. A single, shuddering sigh escaped her body.

"...Thank you for the consideration."

The voice that came from the cloak had turned less jagged, an infinitesimally small bit more... Kind?

Asher didn't know how to react. He responded with a hum.

"Any other skills?" Little Red interrupted him as he stared dazedly into space.

"R-Right, one last one."

Ash began to snake around his body, wreathing his skin with grainy black char. His clothes remained unchanged, except of the slightest veneer of black soot.

He immediately started with a disgusting series of joint rotations. As his fingers and arms shifted and weaved, he explained what was happening.

"All of my joints are replaced with the ball and socket variety, like a puppet. This makes dodging attacks easier, and the movements can also confuse practically all opponents." Asher remembered how even Salvador was beaten by this skill.

Truly, this might be the most versatile skill in his entire moveset. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit jealous of Sophie's utility.

It seemed that Little Red could also see the skill's prowess in combat.

"This one is interesting. Let's see how it responds to this." She stepped forward, taking out her blade from her cloak. It flicked open with a slash.

"Alright."

Asher calmed his breathing, waiting for Little Red to make her move.

Suddenly, the woman burst forward in a blur of explosive movement. Asher's eyes could barely register what happened before a blade sliced at his eyes.

"-!"

His spine crackled as he twisted out of the way.

But that wasn't the end. Through the corner of his eye, he could see Little Red's black combat boot swing toward his kneecap.

Asher dug his hand into the ground, pulling his legs out of the way like a pair of limp noodles.

Before he could form a thought, Little Red's fist shot toward his nose, just centimeters away. She had predicted all his dodges, so that his body would be positioned for a perfect, unavoidable blow.

Only to hit air as he tore his skull out of the way at the last moment.

All of this in a fraction of a second, before Asher could process what happened.

Little Red grinned.

"That was seventy Fortitude I used just now. Combined with the conversion skill and that 'two hundred' skill you told me earlier..."

Maybe five hundred Fortitude was enough for a moment of distraction.

Asher smiled, happy that he could finally be of use.

"But there's also one extra skill I have. I think... it might even be more useful than this one."

The Fourth Match Flame.

"More useful? More useful?? Hahaha!" She burst into laughter, a chilling, grating noise that made Asher's bones shiver.

Finally, the tiniest glimmer of hope could be seen in Little Red's expression.

"Then, show me."

Her voice was hoarse and repressed.

The ground trembled with anticipation.

Maybe this will be her chance, the first opportunity since-