Prologue:
Deep in the night a fire break out in the Vermillion manor.
"Fire Fire!" screamed the servant of the manor. Several servants are helping to put out the fire with buckets of water.
Several shadows appeared in the courtyard."Kill the entire household, no one is allowed to live." said the man with the golden mask.
"Young lady wake up!" repeated the maid several times. Aya opens her eyes slightly and asks "what is going on?"
"The whole manor is on fire, quickly dress up m'lady and we need to out of here" responded the maid. "Where is father?" asked Aya.
"Master is in the courtyard helping out with the fire, Lars is accompanying him." Aya quickly gets out of her bed, removing her white sleeping dress.
She grabbed her normal clothes and dressed up. Suddenly she heard a loud scream outside her room. She grabbed her sword next to the wardrobe.
She opens the door and in the hallway, she sees her maid laying on the ground covered with blood. Next to the lifeless body stood a person wearing a bronze mask.
"Anna!" screamed Aya. The person with the bronze mask run towards Aya and swing his sword towards her. Aya quickly parried with her own sword. The person swings his sword horizontally.
Aya quickly evades it, and she uses her technique "rapid thrusts" to attack the enemy. Several thrusts are coming towards the masked person and he parried it effortlessly.
Aya is shocked, because since she learns the technique "rapid thrusts" no one has ever successfully parried all her thrusts.
She learned swordsmanship since the age of 8. She always practices with her sword 3 hours per day.
She spends 2 hours swinging her sword and 1 hour practicing with the guards in the manor. She personally received instruction from her father bodyguard Lars since the age of 12. Her father always said:"Stop acting like a boy Aya, you should become more ladylike because if you keep training your sword of yours no boy is ever going to marry you." Her mother died from an illness when she was 5.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
She has a 3 year older brother that likes to play with her. Since she loses her mother so early and her 2 closest relatives are males, she grew accustomed to their way of thinking. Her brother departed when he was 16 to join the army of the empire. Each month she receives a letter from his brother. The letter contains the daily training he has to go through, his friends and their description, the weather and food.....
She is always happy when she receive a letter. It's already 3 years, she missed her brother.
Sword sounds can be heard, they already exchanged more than 50 sword moves. Suddenly the masked person shoots a dagger towards Aya and cuts her right shoulder.
The dagger float in mid-air and attack again. "He can control the dagger?!" said Aya. She tries to dodge the dagger, but the masked person attacks her with the sword.
She parried the sword and when the dagger comes to her again, she jumps out the window. Noises of breaking glass shards could be heard. Aya is trying running away, but the masked person jumped after her and use his entire strength to knock her sword out. Aya is exhausted and think "Am I going to die like this?" The masked person thrust his sword and aim for her heart. A voice from afar shouted "Devour!" A shadow with a shape of monster appeared before the masked person attacking him. In an instant, his head is ripped off by the monster.
Aya couldn't believe her eyes, she knows how strong the masked person is. But that monster just killed him with a single attack.
Someone emerged from the shadows. He has white hair and blue eyes. The shadow monster seems to come from his right hand. "Are you Aya?" asked the stranger.
That was their first meeting.