It had now been 2 weeks since Marsal's departure, as every morning my mother worked and I was with her, we were in a wheat field under the sun, I was sitting on the ground refining my mana channels, while I watched Yara mow the harvest.

"Everything alright Ros?" she asked turning to me "if you're bored you can also help me"

"Now I'm coming, give me 5 minutes" I replied

"Why? What are you doing?" Yara asked doubtfully "it seems to me that you're just lazing around"

"I'm just a little tired" I said standing up "pass me the sickle, I'll help you harvest the wheat"

My mother looked at me amazed "I was joking Ros" she explained "if you're tired there's no need for you to help me."

Ignoring my mother, I picked up the scythe that lay beside her feet and began scything the wheat

"Thanks for the help" my mother smiled at me as she looked me up with her beautiful blue eyes "You're becoming a good boy" Yara ducked "clap your fist!"

I clapped my fist with my mother before continuing to mow.

Some time passed and lunch time arrived, my mother was lying on the ground exhausted from too much work under the sun, and after a few minutes of silence Yara intervened: "Rest a little Roseth, you did a wonderful job, in 10 minutes let's go home"

"Okay"

Most of the time I had strengthened my body with mana, so even after several hours of work I wasn't tired at all, not knowing what to do I decided to take advantage of it for a quick workout.

I closed my eyes to increase concentration, when the sweet chirping of birds was interrupted by a loud roar.

I turned back, towards the direction of the noise, to notice how the ground a hundred meters away from us had collapsed, leaving a 10-metre crater and revealing an underground cavern, from which beasts of any kind were emerging.

"What's going o-" I was interrupted by a hug from my mother who lifted me up and started running in the opposite direction of those monsters.

Wrapped up in Yara's arms, I could see the beasts approaching, we were in the fields on the edge of Nepenthes, which is the village where I was born.

The various houses scattered across the fields were being attacked as we made our way to the square, in the center of the city, which was supposed to be an emergency assembly point, becouse many people were running in that direction.

I turned back towards the underground cave, to then notice a beast approaching us, it was a kind of dragon the size of a bear, it had long black horns and smooth blue scales, the monster opened its jaws wide as it plunge in dive against us.

Flames coiled in its mouth to create a ball of fire, the dragon stopped in mid-air before throwing it at us.

The ball of fire was approaching the speed of a bullet, I reached out my arm against it but I didn't have time to materialize a weapon, when I felt the flames burn my palm, I suddenly expelled a large amount of mana and incredibly the ball of flames dissolved in front of my eyes.

I don't know what just happened, but the important thing was to be safe.

My mother felt the heat and turned around thus noticing the dragon charge against us, scared Yara tripped and fell backwards.

I immediately freed myself from her embrace, fully empowered my body and almost instantly materialized a mana shield. The long horns of the dragon crashed against the shield shattering, I was thrown back against my mother, while the dazed dragon distanced himself from us with a flutter of wings.

The beast opened its jaws again preparing an attack of flames, but I didn't give it time to act, I materialized a bow of mana and an arrow, which I hurled against the scales that protected the dragon's neck, fortunately its skin was not enough resistant to a mana weapon and the arrow pierced his neck killing him.

"Wh-what…what was that?" My mother stammered

"You mean that monster? I don't know, I was just asking you" I replied "we have to leave or more will come" I reached out my hand to help my mother get up but she remained on the ground.

"N-no, I meant your blue magic, was it pure mana?" Yara looked shocked, she stared at me with wide eyes "When did you learn to shape it like that?"

"Recently" I replied "It was Marsal who helped me"

"But…" my mother was confused, she seemed to forget what we had around her as her attention was all on me "you're just a child… why, why can-"

"That's enough let's go" strengthening my body I lifted Yara from the ground pulling her by the arm, my mother shocked by my strength remained motionless, while the beasts approached.

I jumped and slapped my mother "that's enough, we have to go" Yara came back to reality and asked: "can you keep up with me if I run?" a smile returned to her face

"Sure," I replied

"Then we go!"

My mother and I began to run, as before we were directed to the square, but to make sure I asked: "Where are we going?"

"We are heading to the square" she answered with a heavy breath "it is the assembly point in case of emergency"

I wanted to ask more questions but from her breathing I understood that she was starting to struggle, so I decided to let it go.

We kept running when in the distance we saw 5 figures fighting the same beast I had just defeated, the dragon threw a ball of fire at the quintet, who protected themselves by evoking a stone wall.

With my mana I created another bow, without stopping my run I loaded an arrow of mana and aimed in the direction of the beast, Yara looked at me in disbelief.

"What do you think to do?" she yelled angrily "I won't let you fight mana beasts"

As we approached the group we made out the silhouette of Jackal as he hurled scythes of winds at the dragon which circled over their heads, preparing a new ball of fire.

The other 4 didn't seem to know ranged attacks as they weren't attacking the dragon but were waiting holding their weapons.

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My father's attacks seemed to have no effect, his blades of wind dissolving against the dragon's scales.

The beast went down hurling a ball of fire against the quintet, this time no stone wall was erected, instead a young wizard intervened with a long blue robe, who, raising his stick, invoked a dome of water.

The fireball collided with the barrier, the vapor began to spread until the flames died out.

The blue robed wizard withdrew his spell giving my father the chance to attack again.

We were now and about ten meters from the collision when my mother stopped me.

"I don't know how strong you are but it's still dangerous, let's continue towards the square" she said pulling my arm.

The roars of the approaching beasts were getting louder and louder while my father was still busy with the dragon, I wrenched myself from my mother's grip and with my bow shot a mana arrow at the dragon, hitting its right wing.

As the first time, the arrow pierced his flesh, but the wounded dragon was still able to fly. It turned straight at me shooting another ball of flame but I parried his attack with a mana shield.

I dissolved the shield creating the bow again, but the dragon charged against me, not having time to materialize a shield, I dodged his head by moving to the side, but then turning around I noticed the dragon one step away from my mother who was behind me.

At that moment I failed to react, a sense of guilt prevailed in me, I could only observe Yara's terrified face as she tried to cover himself in vain with his arms.

She's dead, I thought.

A blast of wind pushed Yara away from the trajectory of the dragon, incredulous I observed the scene, my mother thrown 5 meters landed rolling in the grass while the dragon hit the void and rose in altitude.

" Are you OK?" Jackal yelled as he approached us

"I just hit my head a little, but yeah," Yara replied still groggy

"Roseth, can you shoot another arrow?" my father asked.

"Yes," I said, turning to the dragon flying above us

"Then hurry up," Jackal ordered

I was surprised, unlike my mother, Jackal contained himself without asking too many questions about what I was doing, he thought only of our survival and managed to keep his calm impeccably, as always.

I materialized another arrow in my bow of pure mana and hurled it at the dragon.

The sharp point cut the wind as it approached the beast at great speed, the dragon tried to dodge, but the arrow still created a great gash in the right wing causing it to fall.

A woman quickly approached swinging her scythe at the dragon's neck, searing flames enveloping her weapon as it pierced the beast's flesh.

She kicked the dragon's severed head before turning to me, staring at me with her piercing crimson eyes and hinting at a slight smile.

"You didn't tell us to hide another genius, Jackal" the woman said, tossing her long purple hair

"Actually, I didn't know either," sighed Jackal

The crimson-eyed woman approached me and leaning over exclaimed: "I've never seen someone use pure mana like this before" the girl brought her face closer to mine, I pulled back scared.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, my name is Scett, nice to meet you"

"I-I'm Roseth," I said, still shocked at being too close

"Scett we have to go now," my father interrupted

"Let's go again" said Yara grabbing my arm and starting pulling me to drag me towards the square.

"don't we wait for dad?" I asked

"Ros, there's no time" he replied "come on let's go"

I didn't understand what was happening, instead of running away Jackal and his group remained motionless as the beasts approached.

"Roseth we have to go!" my mother screamed

"But..."

"No buts!" Jackal turned around staring at me with a dark and empty look "Roseth, reach the square and protect your mother, I don't know what happened to you but right now you are the most suitable for this task, you have perfect manipulation of pure mana, don't waste this your talent and run"

"Do you want to slow down the beasts?" I asked

"I can help you, you saw how strong I am!"

"Now stop!" My father retorted, he clenched his fists and lowered his gaze "go, or it will all be useless"

The beasts were now one step away from us, a small group of 3 monsters similar to wolves, with a horn on the third reached our group, a dark complexioned muscular man placed his hands on the ground, making stone spears come out of the ground they pierced the beasts.

Meanwhile my mother picked me up and started running, crying head down as we quickly moved away from the group.

I would have liked to stay and fight, I had fun killing the two dragons, plus I could have protected everyone else, but apparently my parents love me too much to let me risk my life like this.

"Let me run, I won't run away" I explained to my mother in an attempt to free myself from her embrace.

But instead of leaning me on the ground, she hugged me even stronger and kept running. This way we would have gone slower and she would have toil more, but she didn't want to run the risk of me running away to help my father.

Empowering my body I forcibly freed myself from the embrace, she seemed frightened for a moment.

"Don't worry, I won't run away," I said following her

Yara kept crying as we ran towards the square, looking around I noticed how the dragons were the least numerous beasts, but at the same time they seemed the fastest since they had managed to reach us first.

Running I turned towards my father's group, they all fought easily against the mana beasts, Jackal remained in the rear attacking from a distance, while Scett together with a little girl who seemed to have little more than 15 years were the front line.

Immediately behind them were the blue-robed wizard and the earth wizard who protected my father and covered the backs of the 2 girls.

My mother covered her face with her hands as she continued to cry, she was all happening so fast that I was having a hard time keeping up with it all.

After several minutes of running Jackal was now out of our field of vision, my mother seemed to have calmed down, her always joyful expression was now reduced to a blank look full of pain, since we left Jackal hadn't opened his mouth even once.

The number of houses became more and more dense as we approached the square, we ran on a dirt road, surrounded by fields with the scorching sun.

Even empowering my body, it was starting to be tiring, I couldn't even think of my mother's immense effort, her forehead was soaked in sweat and she was breathing hard, but even this didn't move her gloomy expression of hers.

We climbed a hill, once we got to the top the road to keep was replaced by a cobblestone one, while in front of us a dense inhabited center stretched out.

We entered one of its streets, the road was wide and covered on the sides by two rows of houses, there were several shops and stalls, but chaos seemed to rule. Everyone was preparing for the arrival of the beasts, people running towards the square, soldiers preparing a defensive line and thieves taking the opportunity to rob the stalls.

A boy in armor saw us enter and approached us. His face was completely covered by the helmet and we couldn't see his eyes, he was very tall and strong.

"You must go hurry towards the square," he ordered, indicating the direction.

"We know" Yara replied with her face lowered "come on Roseth"

After a few minutes of walking we reached a huge circular square full of terrified and injured people. In the center stood a large fountain, around which several wizards were present.

My mother and I sat down on the floor, followed by an excruciating silence interrupted by my question.

"What are those wizards doing around the fountain?" I asked in an attempt to get information.

Yara remained silent, and, covering her face with her arm, she began to cry again. I wasn't the least bit expert in these things, I didn't know how to help my mother.

"H-hello" a soft voice greeted from behind

I turned and locked eyes with a little girl about my age.

"Play together!" She screamed pulling me by my arm with excitement.

"Who are you?" I asked annoyed.

The little girl stared at me and tears began to accumulate in her eyes. "D-don't… don't you want to play with me?"

The little girl burst into tears.

"C-calm down, I'll play with you" I said to reassure the little girl.

"Really?" the little girl looked at me again radiant "Hooray!"

“My name is Ro…” A big battle cry interrupted my presentation, everyone around me got scared.

"Calm down everyone!" a powerful voice resounded in the square "the beasts have reached us, from now on no one must leave this square" just a short pause the mysterious voice spoke again "our soldiers should be sufficient to repel the beasts, but as a precaution we ask everyone to equip themselves of a weapon"

The terrified little girl ran against a woman screaming, it probably had to be her mother.

Yara hugged me from behind her and without a word she made me sit on her and started crying again hugging me "excuse me" she sobbed and hugged me even more "excuse me Roseth".

I didn't know how to react, all I could do was lie "I love you, mom."

"Thanks, mom loves you too"

"I'm scared," I lied.

"I'll take care of protecting you Ros" Yara stammered.

In an instant a huge semi-transparent blue barrier covered the entire square leaving everyone speechless. The square, once accessible from 8 strees, was now a cage with no way out.

The crowd began to applaud the wizards around the fountain, there were 5 of them, dressed in white tunics, they were probably the ones who raised this barrier, for having done such a work they must have an immense mana reserve, I thought.

As soon as the applause ceased the atmosphere suddenly changed.

Several screams began to be heard, everyone seemed confused until several thuds began to be heard, the screams immediately spread through most of the crowd, Yara fearfully stood up with me and embraced me.

We both remained motionless for terror, in one of the 8 streets leading to the square, a large group of wolf-like beasts gored the barrier trying to break it down.

In a short time, several beasts also arrived in the other streets to attack the square.

Panic ensued.

The fact that they were here meant that the soldiers hadn't been able to repel the beasts, but it's strange that they resisted so little, something must have happened, I noticed.

"All those capable of fighting prepare for battle" the mighty voice resounded in the square "the barrier will not last long, once it is destroyed the beasts will be able to attack only through the 8 streets that reach this square, let us take advantage of this advantage. In case you they present beasts capable of flight we would need several archers. All in position!"

Most of the crowd grabbed their weapons and lined up on a street of their choosing, they all looked scared, but very motivated at the same time.

Screams and tears dominated the square, while I was still wrapped in my mother's embrace.

I empowered my body and elbowed my mother in an attempt to free me, but she wouldn't let me go.

"What do you think you're doing!" I scream

"I can help"

"No!"

"Excuse me"

I tried again to detach myself from my mother, she continued to resist but it was useless, my control of pure mana had allowed me to perform a perfect body empowerment, dozens of times higher than that of a normal wizard, so even if I was 3 years old it was impossible for Yara to hold me back.

"Stop..." he punched my mother in the abdomen before she could finish the sentence, it was the only way to stop her.

Everyone around watched as I hit my mother again, this time on her head, to make sure she didn't follow me. Before she could get up I was already gone into the crowd.

I reached a group of 10 people gathered in front of a street, one of them, a young boy with a dagger, grabbed me by the shoulder "it's dangerous here, go back to the center of the square" he ordered.

I glared at him challenging as I materialized a bow of mana in my hands.

"I can fight," I said

The boy looked at me amazed "H-how…"

A huge crack expanded in the barrier, the screams mounting as the group ahead of me prepared to fight.

"You have to go" continued the boy "there is no time!"

I fashioned my bow into a dagger, punching him in the abdomen I brought him down and grabbing him by the hair I aimed the dagger at his neck. Looking into his eyes I could see his terrified face.

"My

name is Roseth" I said while another crack was created in the barrier "As you see I'm ready to fight"

"All right" sighed the boy "get ready for battle, little monster!"

"Thank you"

"But promise me to stay behind the group"

"I promise"

The barrier collapsed and the battle began.