The Crimson Rose

Is time subjective or objective?

Rita didn't know the answer to this question. She was an assassin, a mercenary, not some dialectical philosopher. Who had the time and effort to think about such things?

But tonight would be a long night. Rita knew that much.

A thick ice pillar flew past Rita's body. Rita spun twice in the air and threw out two small incendiary bombs.

But the incendiary bombs seemed to have misfired. Not only did they not hit the rampaging Parvati, but they didn't even trigger the fuse. They were just unceremoniously swallowed by the blizzard.

The dark night sky provided good cover for the clusters of ice crystals rising from the ground. The moment Rita landed, she felt something wrong under her feet. A sharp pain from her ankle told her that she had probably sprained her ankle.

This was a fatal injury. Before Rita could even confirm how serious the injury on her foot was, Parvati had already arrived in front of her.

I can't dodge this time...

Rita thought to herself, raising the [Yu Long] to block in front of her. But it was like an ant trying to shake a tree, a mantis trying to stop a chariot. She was directly thrown away by Parvati's raised limb.

The last few incendiary bombs also fell into the snow. Rita landed in the snow. This time, she couldn't get up immediately.

Lying on her back and looking at the dark night sky, Rita suddenly felt a little melancholic.

She didn't know how many times she had dodged Parvati's attacks... perhaps this number was meaningless. She should be recording how many times she had failed to dodge an attack.

In that case... perhaps it would be easier to count?

Forget it...

Rita used the [Yu Long] to support her body and struggled to stand up from the snow. Rita knew that she no longer had the ability to dodge the next attack.

Why am I fighting so hard? Staying here and fighting alone... is this really a choice I can make?

What happened to the old Rita who used to plan everything out? Why did even I start taking risks, doing things I'm not sure about... or rather, just sending myself to my death?

For a moment, Rita really wanted to ask herself this question.

But then, she laughed at this somewhat foolish behavior.

What... am I really different from before?

---||---

"Teacher Ragna, why are you a maid even though you're so strong?" The little girl's question made Ragna a little embarrassed.

Although in her heart, the profession of "maid" was a sacred profession that only a perfect person could be competent for, to outsiders, the identity of a maid was still a bit...

"Ahem..." After a light cough, Ragna threw away the miscellaneous thoughts in her heart and reached out to rub the little girl's head. "Because... only when my identity is as humble as a maid can I hear the voices in more people's hearts."

The little girl's face showed a look of confusion, and a sense of effort to understand.

This made her delicate smiling face a little distorted, but it also made this usually expressionless child a few points cuter.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Ragna, I don't understand." After a long time, the little girl looked up and shook her head at Ragna, who was secretly laughing at her troubled look.

"It's okay if you don't understand." Ragna really couldn't hold back this time. The little girl had been with her for almost half a year, and this was the first time she had shown such an expression.

This made her hands itch.

"In life, there are many small and trivial things that need to be handled. Not everyone has the energy and willingness to handle these things." But Ragna still gave her answer.

"At this time, it's time for the maid to appear, neatly solve all the trivial matters, and then focus on the biggest thing, do everything well, to perfection. This is my maid's way!"

The little girl didn't answer, but instead cast a somewhat distant look.

Is there really such a thing as the maid's way? It's not like the ninjas in "HOMU Ninja," who have to find their own ninja way... The little girl decided to reserve her opinion on Ragna's words.

Ragna keenly caught the disdain in the little girl's eyes. After a sheepish smile, she still stretched out her sinful hand to the little girl.

"Don't underestimate a maid's ambition, you little brat!" Ragna reached out and pulled the little girl's cheek, doing what she had been thinking about for a long time but hadn't dared to do because of the little girl's expressionless face.

"Mmm..." The little girl let out a whimper unique to a child, silently expressing her protest.

After laughing at the resentful little girl, Ragna patted her head. "There are too many things a person can encounter, and too many things they can do...

"People always choose to do what they like and what they have to do, and they are perfunctory about other things.

"When a turning point occurs, everyone finds that they seem to have been able to do something in the past, and then they start to regret, saying things like 'if only I had known'..."

Ragna shook her head at the little girl. "I don't want to be like that, so I want to do everything I can do around me well, let the present me serve the future me, and plant the seeds of hope from now on.

"And then... go help others, let them also achieve the things they can achieve in their lives. These seeds are planted today, and in the very, very distant future... maybe they will bloom into flowers..."

The little girl was very ignorant, Ragna's words seemed to give her some insight, but she was also blocked by her age and experience.

In the end, she could only say such a sentence.

"That flower... must be very beautiful..."

---||---

"Yes..." The smile never left Rita's lips. Even though she was on the verge of withering, in this snowstorm, the rose still spread her arms.

"This flower... is really beautiful..."

Time seemed to freeze at this moment. The incendiary bombs that Rita had consciously placed on the battlefield from the very beginning finally showed their power at this moment.

They were scattered in just the right places, like the petals of a flower, one after another, blooming in this icy and snowy world.

The layered explosions of flames made Parvati, which was immersed in the snow and ice, let out a terrified howl. For the first time, it wanted to retreat, but all directions were flames, the high temperature it hated.

This time, the flames did not go out immediately. They depended on each other, supported each other.

Finally, a domain belonging exclusively to fire unfolded here