A familiar scene was laid out before Sirus's eyes. A woman was in front of him... she had a beautiful youthful face, smooth pale skin with platinum colored scales on several areas, long silky brown hair, chesnut colored eyes with slit irises, and the most noticable feature was the strange crimson mark on her forehead. And in the background was the interior of a cave---damp and cold.

"You must not hate the humans for what they have done... it is only in their nature... and you have to remember... you are one of them... and yet... you are also one of us... but most importantly... you are my son..."

It was his mother, Asareth

He knew what was bound to happen... the memory had already played inside his head hundreds of times by now, and yet he still couldn't get over it. He would try even if it was a dream---to persuade her not to leave, and yet... he always found himself unable to move just like when it happened. He was frozen in place unable to do anything---he was in the clutches fear... a fear caused by weakness... a fear from being human.

Suddenly the scenery changed.

A burning forest, ashen ground, traces of magic, of struggle, and of slaugher. Crimson blood was spilled everywhere... corpses of Holy Knights clad in their silver armor and mages draped in their magical robes were strewn about and in the middle of it all was a headless demon corpse on a cross... mangled and beaten to the point that it became unrecognizable... no limbs were left... only the torso where even part of the flesh was torn and ripped remained.

He looked at his hands as he fell to his knees in front of the corpse he once known as his mother---his hands were tainted in her blood.

At first he tried to blame the humans, then the Gods, he even blamed fate, but he knew... deep inside... he knew the only one to be held for the torture of his mother was no other than himself... his weak human self.

Then... as saw the face of the only other person he blamed responsible from the beyond the smoke, the sound of a voice calling out to him pulled him out of the nightmare.

...

......

.........

"..."

Sirus stared blankly at the wooden ceiling.

[Hey! Do you know how long I've been trying to wake you up?!]

Without replying to the voice ringing inside his head, he got off the bed and proceeded to wear his worn-out leather boots that was almost completely covered in hardened mud. He then proceeded to put on his black cloth shirt and his light vest made from the hide of a Rock Salamander, and after finally finishing all preperations he reached out for his longsword, a weapon that has proven to be reliable so far.

But just when he put the trusty sword into its scabbard he heard something quite troubling just down below.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure the man you are looking for is somewhere here in this town, at first I thought he was some traveling mercenary, but now that you mentioned it... he was quite suspicious... too suspicious, and then I actually caught a glimpse of a strange mark on his forehead, but if you want to know more it's gonna cost you, nothing that you rich empire boys couldn't afford though."

It the voice of the inn owner. He had obviously been sold out. Well... he was sure that it would have happened sooner or later and it was not like it was his first time being backstabbed.

He spread out his mana around the vicinity to see how many of the empire's soldiers there were---an easy task because of the faint mana signature that their crests gave off, but while in the process of scanning the area Sirus felt someone tap into his mana.

'Shit!'

The mana frequency he was using must have been near impossible to trace for a normal magician, this would only mean someone strong was nearby.

The next thing Sirus saw was a pillar of crimson flames erupting from under his feet.

= 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 =

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

A genius, an elemental saint, peerlessly talented, it was how most would describe the young girl Abigail Grimm, an orphan adopted by the noble family Quinn, after a girl had reportedly burnt down the orphanage in their territory killing everyone inside in the process. This was of course caused by Abigail's strange talent with handling mana---something so powerful and terrifying that it was said that she was blessed by the Elemental Gods themselves.

To the declining Quinn family, they saw this as nothing more than a change to get back up and restore their former power. Abigail become nothing more than a highly decorated pawn. The so called love and care her "family" had showered her with was nothing more than a stunt to give the public a better image of them. She was educated in the art of magic by a Great Sage at the tender age of five, all the while she was also taught how to act like a prim and proper noble of the Quinn family at the same time.

The Quinn family made many arrangements to efficiently make use of Abigail. She was even set to marry the young master of the noble family of Grenne. And yet they failed to see that the tool they think they were using was no tool at all.

Abigail, a child of unknown origins fascinated by the mysterious phenomenon known as death. The fire that started in the orphanage was not because she was unable to control her own magic, it was because of her own free will... to quench her curiousity... but what she didn't think would happen was that it would only entangle her even more into the infinite void that was known as death.

It was when Abigail turned eleven that the entire Quinn family was burnt to ashes. It was then she changed her last name to 'Grimm', the letters engraved on an old gold ring that was supposedly left behind by her mother when she was abandoned at the orphanage.

She went out killing indiscriminately, trying to further her research into death until she met a person she couldn't kill...

...

......

.........

While waiting outside the only inn in the town as their captan continued to ask for clues about their target. Abigail sensed a very thin layer of mana spreading out into the area and quickly tapped into it to find the source.

It was certainly the person they were looking for, she could feel something strange in his mana... something that only the demons would posses.

Without a second thought she casted a pillar of flames from just beneath the wooden structure of the inn. Surely their captain would be able to get away, and the casualties of a few criminals wouldn't really matter.

The roar of the crimson flames was soon followed by an explosion which completely decimated the entire inn---sending bits and pieces of debris flying everywhere.

But what she didn't expect was that her target would be completely unscathed after getting swallowed up in her flames.

She saw something burst out of her flames before suddenly losing consciousness.

= 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 =

'I was too careless...'

Just in time Sirus was able to coat his body in mana to protect againts the flames and shot out a ball of condensed mana back at the attacker.

Landing back on the ground, he dashed to finish off the little girl who was able to miraculously survive his magic with only a concussion, thanks to her amazing reflex that caused her to instantly create a magic barrier which weaken Sirus' spell.

But before he was able to draw the blade on his back, another attack came from his left flank, something much faster.

Seeing something flash in the corner of his eye he quickly tilted his head to the side, barely dodging a rapier tip which was only able to graze a bit of his hair.

Though he was able to dodge the rapier attack, he had been too careless to not realize it was only a distraction for a powerful kick to cleanly make its way into his unprotected stomach sending his body into the air like a flimsy doll.

To cancel out the momentum Sirus spun his entire body in midair, only to recieve a barrage of countless rapier thrusts. 

Pouring his mana into his eyes Sirus was just only able to barely see the trajectories of the sword thrust and the woman wearing a white jacket with the crest of the empire's elite troops.

Evading the sword tip was something he couldn't do perfectly, since the woman's movements weren't only fast, but also skilled. She deliberately attacked places that were vital while also sending out faints to confuse Sirus, but he successfully avoided any lethal thrust and was only left with shallow cuts.

The problem was that the woman didn't even seem close to being exhausted and that Sirus couldn't find any gaps in her flurry of attacks.

[This isn't looking too good...]

A worried voice echoed in Sirus's mind.

'Yeah no shit...'

Seeing a bluish glint within his opponent's eyes Sirus quickly realized she was also using mana to enchant her eyes. This would allow her to gain superhuman vision, but when met with something the eyes can follow and yet too fast for the body to react to it could be a fatal flaw in battle.

Seeing that the woman was intently focused on his actions he grabbed a pouch on his vest and threw it at her.

Almost instantenously the woman thrusted her rapier at the pouch causing a cloud of red dust to explode. 

Seeing that the fire dust was successful in fulfilling it's purpose as the woman dropped her weapon and touched her burning eyes, he took initiative to charge.

'She might be skilled, but she's still green...'

Unsheathing the sword on his back, Sirus slashed at the woman, aiming for the neck.

And then to the left three projectiles flew towards him at an impossibly fast speed, unable to even react in time, the first of the arrows hit the blade of the sword causing his attack to change direction cutting only the woman's arm while the other two shattered the mana coating his body and went through his torso like paper.

[Shit! This is really bad!]

Looking down on the ground Sirus could see a puddle of red below his feet.