The Dreams of a Lonely Girl

“Bang”!

The chill in the air was becoming deeper, as if ice was enveloping Alice!

There was no surprise: upon returning home, Alice was not greeted by her father's gentle smile, nor by the beauty of the flowers in the garden.

What awaited her… was just a bullet that had been planned long ago.

A small military electromagnetic carbine, a war tool with impressive destructive power, capable of piercing a hovering vehicle with a single shot, with an effective range reaching thousands of meters! A target hit by an electromagnetic bullet, which possesses terrifying kinetic energy, could suffer mutilation or even die instantly.

And, due to the presence of a silencer, this sniper weapon doesn't make much noise when firing.

At that moment, Alice, who entered her yard unprepared, immediately saw that dark gun barrel that, in a way, symbolized death.

The girl, who had already seen the concept of “gun” in movies and even in physics classes, knew very well what the fate of someone targeted by it would be!

“Being hit by a bullet means death”!

In the Astralis Empire, this is a basic and simple concept.

A huge wave of fear, mixed with a sense of unreality, suddenly surged in Alice's heart.

She instinctively wanted to move like the protagonists in movies, jumping to the sides to dodge bullets, but with her legs trembling, the girl could only sit paralyzed on the ground.

How could she escape the bullet? Although “superheroes” in movies always manage to jump and deliver heroic speeches in the midst of gunfire, in reality, most people who think like that end up dying.

The initial speed of a thousand meters per second of the electromagnetic bullet far exceeds the movement speed and reaction capability of any living being.

When you hear the gunshot, the fatal attack has already hit its target!

Many people say that when a living being realizes it is about to die, it quickly thinks of many things.

This is what they call a “flashback”.

Now, almost staring down the dark gun barrel aimed at her head, Alice was experiencing this terrifying near-death experience.

“Who are those men in black? Why do they want to kill me? Where is my father? I haven’t watched the third episode of ‘Magical Girl Ifa’, I haven’t eaten today’s snacks, and I haven’t spent money on the new game character…”

Confused and varied thoughts filled her mind.

Alice felt she was going through what they say is a moment of clarity before death because, deep down, she knew she had truly heard the sound of the sniper's shot.

If there were no “miracle,” she should already be lying in a pool of blood, like many girls who are just supporting characters in stories, meant to inspire the protagonist’s righteous heart.

But…

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”!

Three more shots from the sniper.

The ground, shaken by the shockwave of the electromagnetic weapon, trembled three times.

A frightening heat burned the cold winter air, and the dark sky seemed to stir and bubble.

However, Alice, kneeling on the ground, felt neither the arrival of death nor the pain in her body!

Yes, it’s hard to believe, but the little girl, who was hit four times by the sniper's bullets, was completely unscathed!

“Nisha”?

Slowly lifting her head in surprise, Alice stared ahead.

Although the dark barrel of the gun from the men in black was still aimed at her head and the cold wind blew the flowers against the wall, the girl clearly noticed that the four bullets fired by the electromagnetic gun seemed to have “stopped” magically in front of her!

To others, those bullets that had been fired appeared to have halted ten meters away from the girl, but Alice could clearly see that the small spirit always in front of her had transformed into a ten-meter round “shield,” enveloping her.

The four bullets had indeed stopped because they had struck that shield, as thin as a spider’s web.

It was unbelievable, astonishing. Remember, this was a high-destructive power war weapon, and the kinetic energy of electromagnetic bullets could not be compared to ancient gunpowder weapons.

Before such a weapon, even a concrete house would seem like a piece of paper.

And now, those bullets were easily neutralized by Nisha!

The expressions of shock and disbelief on the faces of the seven men in black made it clear that they never expected this to happen.

“………”

“Nisha, are you okay?”

Totally indifferent to what her enemies were thinking, Alice, now a little free from fear, was more concerned about Nisha’s condition, who had endured four sniper shots.

It’s worth remembering that the little spirit had never had the ability to generate “shields.”

That protection surrounding the girl was, in fact, Nisha's body expanded to its maximum.

Although Alice always knew that Nisha was very strong, capable of moving any furniture in the house with ease, the girl, who had studied physics in school, understood what an attack from an electromagnetic weapon meant.

It was hard to imagine that any “being” in the world could withstand such damage with its own body.

“Isn’t it like those anime characters who, when about to die, unleash a final move to protect the protagonist?”

Just thinking that Nisha could disappear like many supporting characters after performing some touching act filled the girl’s heart again with anxiety and worry.

With the sudden invasion of unidentified men in black and her gentle father missing, Alice was in the most helpless and powerless moment of her life.

If her most important companion, Nisha, got hurt now… the little girl, who was just a middle school student, wouldn’t know what to do.

But fortunately, that clichéd scene did not happen.

The little spirit, who discarded the four bullets as if nothing had happened, soon began to convey her confused thoughts to Alice.

Although this “message” was always a bit vague, Alice, who knew Nisha well, understood that the little spirit was telling her that it was just a minor impact.

It could come a thousand times, ten thousand times, it didn’t matter.

Yes, it seemed that for the “spirit” that had never shown its impressive power, even the attacks of the electromagnetic sniper were something trivial!