“Mom, I can go to school alone. I am 10 already.” Said a boy in frustration as his hand was being held by a beautiful middle-aged woman. The woman was holding a toddler in her right hand and rocking it back and forth as they were walking along the edge of a paved road 30 meters wide. The road was covered by a canopy of trees and various shops on either side. For some reason, the faces and dresses of everyone in the vicinity, even the middle-aged woman’s were blurry. It looked like a symphony of silhouettes.

“Castiel, growing wings already, huh? Don’t want mommy anymore? You know I carried you for 11 months before you were born.” Said the woman sadly with tears in her eyes. Even though the woman had tears in her eyes, you could still see her smiling. But for some reason, the woman didn’t have complete focus in the conversation, she looked extremely alert.

“Mom, stop acting!!! People are looking at us. This is so embarrassing.” The boy exasperated.

“Hmph! You are a child as long as I think you are. You are stuck with me dropping you off to school forever.” The woman said as she was looking at the people passing them by out of the corner of her eyes. By now the hands of the woman were somewhat shaking. Even the boy noticed that something was wrong with his mother.

“Then I will finish school as soon as possible. Mom, what is wr……” The woman picked the boy and jumped through the crowd backwards at a speed unimaginable to the boy as four people in black robes lunged at her. Their faces were covered by grey smoke. Somehow, the way their faces were blurred looked different compared to everyone else on the street. The pressure from their auras alone sank the earth’s crust by a few inches. The few mortals on the street had already passed out.

The woman ran towards the family mansion as fast as she could carrying the boy and the toddler. She also had to expend considerable mana aura-shielding the two kids so that they don’t die from extreme speed alone. Even though she was fast, the pursuers were faster. The woman had no choice but to hide the kids somewhere.

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On the way to the mansion, she saw an inconspicuous rubble behind one of the shops. She stuffed the toddler in the boy’s hand and gave him an amulet. The amulet had a heart-shaped ruby inlaid. The ruby is used to hold inscriptions. This particular inscription’s only job was to create a barrier that isolates all humanly audible sound waves from going outside. By now, the toddler was awake and loudly crying. Thankfully, the woman had already activated the amulet.

“Cass, listen to me carefully. You are absolutely not to move from this place. Cover Amelia’s mouth if need be. Promise me, you will take care of her and love her as much as you love me.” There was desperation in the woman’s voice.

“I promise.” Castiel said as he was holding Amelia tightly. He was wise beyond his years. Perhaps a product of his environment? He already knew the gravity of the situation.

The woman kissed the boy on the cheek and lovingly looked at her kids one last time before shooting for the pursuers. Fortunately, she had already hidden the kids.

“Please come back safe and sound.” Castiel whispered with a trembling voice but the woman was already too far away to hear him.

The pursuers were almost within visible range. The woman directly sacrificed huge amounts of her life as blood was coming out of every orifice. She was a sorry sight to behold but she was willing to do anything to stop the pursuers.

The woman's eyes turned black as a katana appeared in her hands. With one swing of her sword, clouds were split apart and darkness unfolded. One of the pursuers pointed his index finger at the woman. All the darkness in the vicinity was compressed into a ball at the tip of the pursuer’s finger. Another pursuer threw a spear. Coincidentally the spear had similar properties to the woman’s sword. It brought with it a trail of darkness. The woman barely dodged the spear as it scratched her left shoulder. Unfortunately for her, the power gap between the two parties was too disparate. Dark particles started flowing through her veins and overpowering her own dark mana almost immediately.

The woman cutoff her hand from the shoulder at once without so much as wrinkling her brows. She immediately charged at the enemies again but by now the enemies already had considerable advantage. The one compressing darkness at his finger tip started applying overwhelming spirit pressure on the battlefield slowing down the woman’s reflexes. Maybe the woman was not worth more effort from him. Another enemy started creating walls of darkness around the battlefield that slowly inched towards the woman.