Chapter IV: First Steps

So her name's Eve, huh? That name suits her, even if she was lying. A[1]tsundere named Eve doesn't sound so bad apart from the fact that it isn't her real name.

The night was still sinking in by the inn. Solis was pretty much exhausted due to the fact that his past smacked him in the face so now he's lying face down on the inn's bed. He was a Solar Elemental, able to utilize the power of the sun and bend it to his own will; he just recently found that out. On top of that, he met another Elemental who said they were the ones to send the Demons back to the Underworld, if only they could find the others. Just how many are there?

"Eight", says Lanette. Eight what, Lanette?

"Last time I came here, it was only six coins", replies Eve. Wait... what are the coins for?

"Well, we sort of expanded the area so it's much bigger now" Oh, it's for the hot springs. "Besides, you got it all for yourself tonight."

"Right...", she pays up, "Oh, by the way...", she follows up, "How come this inn allows weapons inside?"

"I'm not really sure, but my father says this place has a security system. I've never actually seen it yet..."

"Okay then..."

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Does anyone feel hot? You should, not because of the bath itself, but because of the person taking a bath. In that pool of warm water, steam was diffusing on the lady soaked in it. Her neck is sitting just above the water level while the strands of her dark blue hair float on the water surrounding her. Her cat, Lux, is there too, enjoying the warm air that circles around the room. Eve's warm red eyes reflect the liquid that sparkles in that pool. Her skin is pure white but there's also a lot of... scars.

Her companion was sleeping now, and she, herself, also felt pretty tired, so she closes her eyes and submerges into the water.

Eve's childhood was pretty rough. After the Elemental Incident, a couple found her under a patch of leaves with Lux so they decided to take her in and to become her parents. They were Draconians, a lineage of humans with [2]Elder Dragon Blood in them. Also, Draconians were very disciplined and stood out as the most progressive of all humans. As a result, Eve turned out to be very polite and mature for her age. You could say the first sentence in this paragraph was a lie; that is, until you read the next one.

Several years after she was adopted, Eve's age seemed to have already hit puberty. She grew into a caring and courteous young lady in her village, but as anyone knows, when life is merciful sooner, it will be merciless later. In a blink of an eye, her village was painted with blood. It was some sort of nightmare that was so bound with reality that it nearly knocked her out of her sanity. Her mother, her father, her friends, they were all killed. Who killed them? The Demons, obviously, in their quest for power. These cold-hearted monsters would burn her world and murder everything dear to her. So many souls punished without reason. 

Something changed inside her that day. This world has no limit on how violent it could be. These twisted fates are hardly predictable and we suffer for being ignorant from it. Horror, horror was what she felt. However, too much of that horror started turning into hatred for her tormentors, thus it awakened. Darkness.... The reason she is alive this day. The reason she was only able to receive scars and not death. It was a moment of insanity. Those monsters could not handle the monster that they brought upon themselves. Next thing she knew, she was laying in the wake of destruction and could barely breathe....

Bubbles pop up the surface of the water until she finally emerges to catch her breath. It seems the relief she felt when she found another Elemental was short-lived because of the scars left on her body from that dark memory. No sane being should ever lose their innocence like that. Still, she fights to root out the rotten blood that stains this world.

"Another nightmare?", Lux as she wakes up from her companion's constant panting.

"Yeah", Eve, now breathing normally.

"Well I know something that'll cheer you up!", the cat says with a cheerful smile on her face, "I found another Elemental!"

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Back in the room where the main character was sleeping, Eve barges in barefoot with both her boots in one hand, waking up the cat but not the owner. She finds him wrapped around a sheet, [3]mumbling about marshmallows. She kicks the bed to wake him up, but instead he mumbles some more.

Pissed-off, she sits on the middle of the bed and pulls off the sheet as she lashes out: "Get up!"

Surprisingly, Solis wasn't wearing his coat... or his vest, just the same thing he wears when he sleeps at home, causing the Dark Lady who could kill a thousand Stygians... to blush. Unfortunately, he wakes up.

"W-w-w-where the hell are your clothes!", she forcefully asks, stuttering while she's at it.

"Um... you wanna get off first? I'm not very used to situations like this...."

She realized she was sitting on top of someone who's half-naked. It took her quite a while to notice. Now she's all red like when [4]Sairenji Haruna fell on Yuuki Rito in the bathroom when she turned into a cat. She's as Haruna, by the way.

"B-B-B-B-BAKA!!!!!!"

"Ano bang ibig-sabihin niyan?!!!!"

Don't worry. One day you will find out what language they're speaking, probably

Ah, such scenes make ones heart heart quiver and throb with unexplained emotions. Don't fret! More scenes like this to come!

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Moments later, the main character and his presumably future romantic interest in the latter parts of this legendary story check out of the inn by the lake with their pet cats who support them in battle.

(The last paragraph is proof that a one sentence can be a paragraph too)

They walk out the door with Lanette wishing them a safe trip.

"So where're we headed?", asks Solis.

"[5]Rathian Desert"

"Oooh, maybe we'll run into a [5]Cephalos and make a quick buck from its scales!"

"No. We're going to find the next Elemental then move on until Lux detects another one."

"You can 'detect' Elementals?", Tenenbaum.

"I don't really know. Maybe it's when an Elemental emits a certain amount of power, either its lowest or its highest", says Lux.

"Then let's go!"

The sun is about half-way rising, in more ways than one. Meanwhile, another character seems to be lurking right around.... 

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1. Google it; I dare you
2. In the game series Monster Hunter, there were Wyverians with Wyvern blood in them; Elder Dragon Blood is also a resource item in Monster Hunter.
3. This is what Yuuki Rito mumbles in his sleep.
4. Both characters are from the ecchi manga, "To-Love-Ru"(R +18). 
5. Both are monsters from the game series, Monster Hunter.

Reviews

[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

This world has no limit on how violent it could be= That is why I had Kuroha kill the God of Destiny.

Have you played the To Love-ru Darkness Online Game yet?

イヴの台詞はこうじゃなきゃだめなんだよ～
「ば-ば-ば-馬鹿！！！！！！！！！！なんで裸なのよこのエロ魔人！！」

[Oran]

Haven't played it, but if I ever do, I'll stack up the ecchi scenes in one of my chapters including stuff from the manga itself. Preferably at chapter 16.5.

By the way, this will be the first and last time Eve is ever going to go "tsun" like this throughout the course of the book so don't expect much of it in the ecchi department.