Round One

Like many Guardians, Hina was a vastly different person at the start of it all, with the relationship between her and her Keeper deeply affecting her for the following Rounds.

Hina’s First Round Keeper, Corentin Argall, was a pacifist by nature. Never knowing his father, he and his sister Ghislaine led a simple pegan life, isolated from and safely ignorant of the paternal side of their family. Even after being discovered by his half-brother, Iohannes Pacy (and thus learning of their shared father’s bloodline), Corentin’s world view did not change much. What did change it was the encounter with another distant family member.

Due to his pacifist nature, Hina was never able to properly train or prepare Corentin. She made the attempt several times, as she understood that was her role for existence, but putting more pressure on the genial boy seemed to distress him; which was counterintuitive. With this conflict of duty and personal care, Hina stuffed any frustration down and decided to adapt more to his lifestyle. It was just simpler that way. Hina’s frustrations with both herself and her Keeper’s attitude however grew in the aftermath of the initial attack by the Fire Key’s Keeper, Leonard Longinus.

Corentin survived, but his sister and much of the land they lived on did not. The sudden loss left Corentin broken. Hina first approached with empathy, she hated seeing someone so close to her suffer so. She also understood that the pacifist way was not a winning strategy here.

When it came to it, Hina viciously fought Leonard herself. Even if she were to somehow get Corentin to finally fight, Hina knew he would never stand a chance. He simply did not have the skills to do so; this was a failure on Hina’s part. A failure she took personally. Guardians are meant to assist their assigned Keeper, they are meant to protect their Keeper by means of preparing them for victory; to make them proper candidates for obtaining the God Key. A Keeper is meant to compete against other Keepers, all prepared by their own Guardian. A Guardian is meant to defend their Keeper against other Keepers. A Guardian, however, is not meant to full-on fight another Keeper.

In that moment Hina chose to disregard any of the rules that dictated what methods a Guardian can and cannot use in a fight against another Keeper. Even amidst the degradation of her morals, Leonard managed to slip away from Hina’s furthering onslaught. While he had his own Guardian (reluctantly) occupy Hina instead, Leonard made the final blow to Corentin. Upon his death, in the mere seconds before Hina’s soul fizzled into hibernation, she forged a new, spiteful resolve. Leonard must have seen this in her too, as he chose to “spare” her Key. He figured that should the Curse cycle again, this “new” Hina would make it at least more interesting for the future generations to come.