[Red's POV]

With the verdict of sending me back home to continue the investigation, I was to leave the academy immediately.

The person who ended up escorting me out the gate of Mundi Magicae turned to be the oldest Adhira sibling, Edward.

"Are you ready, Mr Jenkins?"

I nodded my head and stepped close to the portal gate. With the majority of my items kept in my inventory, there wasn't really a need for a bag or luggage. Though to the others, it might seem that I was lightly packed.

As we waited for the rest of the other mage to arrive, suddenly a buzz could be heard.

It was from Edward Adhira.

Picking out from his pocket was a small rectangular device as he switched it on with mana.

From there, a voice appears as Edward excuses himself and continues his conversation a few feet away

[...isn't that just a phone?]

[*A phone that uses mana as battery.*]

'...'

A few minutes later, Edward returned and spoke:

"There's been a change of plans now."

"What?"

"The high council has decided that you will be heading in yourself first while the rest of the mage will stay behind for a little while before meeting up with you."

"Why? Are they planning to send me to my death?"

"No. It's because you have a greater chance of survival against those creatures than the rest. As of now, the majority of population of the mages are still too weak. If we send the majority of the fighting power to investigate, there will be no one left to help defend Mundi magicae itself. Because of that, it's better if you scout the area and gather information before we send reinforcement."

Seems like it all ended up working well for me anyway since I prefer to work alone.

"So how do I send a report or contact any of you?"

Edward reached from his pocket and threw magic phone to me.

"Use this to contact me."

Grabbing it in midair, I asked onr last question before planning to step into the portal.

"Where do I start?"

"Exactly where you came from. The area you call London."

With that, I stepped into the portal, but before submerging myself entirely in, Edward called out to me once again.

"Hey. Thank you. For both Desmond and Irene."

Nodding my head as a response, I submerged myself fully, stepping back in the Non-Magus world.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Upon stepping out of the portal, I ended up in another alleyway yet again.

**

*Huff* *Huff*

The tale begins in yet another alleyway, with dear Betty running as fast as she could across town.

Running for her dear life, she cursed and swear at herself for the unlucky mess she stumbled across.

15 years old, Year 10. Betty is what the normal people would normally call the common Joe.

With an average look, average grade, and an average height of 1.58 meters for a girl her age, Betty literally has the status average in everything she does.

Like any normal people, she tries not to stand out and keeps to herself as much as she can, hiding her face feature with the bangs from her bowl haircut.

Being in the school band, Betty does have a few close friends around while she excels in playing the piano from a young age. This was one of the more interesting aspects that she prides herself in. She has been in several musical competitions and has always placed around the top 10

Well, none of that matters anymore since she was going to die in a few minutes.

Cut back to earlier that day, there were signs of omen that showed what was going to happen.

The moment she woke up, upon checking her phone, it was already 9.06 am. when her school started at 8.30 am.

She panics, grabbing whatever shirt she had in her closet and wore it, unaware that it was inverted inside out.

As she scurried down her house, Betty extended her hand on the dining table in an attempt to grab the toast that was laid on the table. Only to have her elbow knock the salt shaker, sprinkling it all over the table.

With no time to spare and a simple sorry, she rushed out her house with her mother nagging due to her tardiness. While on the way to school, without looking at where she was heading, a black cat walked past her as she sprinted across the black cat's path and ignored everything around her until she reaches her destination.

From that morning earlier on, many signs were given. Her eyes were twitching the entire day. She was thrown to many different misfortune incidents such as Her wallet was lost out of nowhere, all of the water cooler in the school, the one she used was spoiled and poured water all over her head and body. Being hit in the face while playing dodgeball, not once, not twice but thrice in a row. If things couldn't get any worse, she missed the deadline to submit her application form for the piano competition as she left her house early without bringing her form.

It was really a series of misfortunate events.

Thankfully, due to her teacher knowing how much this meant to her, Betty was given the chance to submit the form before the school closes.

As the school ended, Betty immediately rushed back home to retrieve her form and headed back straight to school. She has been practicing the piano rigorously for the past 2 months in preparation for this part.

As she ran through her school without stopping even once, she stopped by the stairs to catch her breath before slowly climbing up another flight of stairs that would lead up to the music room. There, she slowly made her way forward before stopping dead on her track in the hallway that was located right outside where the music room resided.

*Splat*

There was something wet on the ground.

Thinking it was probably just water, she continued forward again.

*Splat* *Splat*

Whatever it was beneath her feet, there was certainly a lot of it.

Betty began walking nearer to the music room, her feet started to sink into whatever it was on the ground to the point that her shoes were completely drenched. As the moonlight illuminates through the windows of the school, providing a natural source of light to the young girl, she covers her eyes, surprised at how bright the moon is shining.

With her eyes now glued to the ground, this would shake Betty's normal life, which will never be the same again.

Reflecting from the moonlight revealed a pool of crimson blood that was flowing slowly, from the crack of the door gap.

Betty's body immediately started trembling vigorous as the strength in her legs gave out as she dropped to the ground.

As she tried her best to comprehend the situation at hand, a faint sound could be heard behind the music room door.

Her hands shook violently as she slowly crawled towards the source of the sound. Her heart beating so hard, it felt like it was about to pop out of her chest.

With the small gap, she peeked through the hole, and this was a sight that might haunt her entire life.

There was a man with his back facing the entrance the door, making it hard to make out what was happening other than the sound of something tearing and ripping apart. Lying motionlessly next to the man was another person. A woman who looked as if she was mummified. The person's skin and flesh all looked as if it was drained by a vacuum, which made the skin look crummy and wrinkled.

But that wasn't what caught Betty off guard. It was actually the face of the woman. Though the face was distorted due to what was happening to the lady, Betty could tell who the person was.

It was her teacher.

"....run.."

Betty shriek and fell on her back, causing a loud thud to be echoed in the hallway. The man who was busy feasting on the music teacher stopped on his track and got up, turning his head towards Betty.

Smudges of blood were dripping all over his face while his teeth, more accurately, his fangs, were protruding out from his mouth.

"Hoh. A little lamb seemed to have stumbled into something she shouldn't have seen."

Betty's survival instinct immediately kicked in as she bolted straight for the stairs and ran out of her school.

She ran with all her might without stopping through the streets and buildings, going by the alleyway, which would grant her easy access to her way out of this district. It may seem that this was advantageous to her, however this in fact, was even better for the man who was lurking around in the sky looking for her.

As her lungs started to act up, making it hard for her to breathe, Betty then landed on the right side of one of the alleyways, which ended up being a dead end. She stopped to catch her breath, only to be met with the same man who appeared earlier on, floating with his hands held up as he was reading the time in his watch.

"7 min for 2 kilometers. It's pretty fast for a human brat."

She swallowed her saliva, and her legs once again dropped to the ground as she tried inhaling as much air as possible to hopefully calm down.

It seems it is futile regardless since the being in front of her was something that killed without remorse and looks like she was his next target.

"Blame yourself fornyou bad luck, little lady."

The man said as he widened his jaw, showing the entire sets of teeth and fangs.

Betty closed her eyes and started praying to the gods as she awaited for a miracle to happen.

*Skinth*

Looks like her prayer was answered.

But not in the way she was expecting.

From the corner of her eyes, a spear struck the back of the man, pinning him to the ground. A man wearing a mask then appeared from the shadow and proceeded to grab the spear, driving the blade of the Spear further into the flesh of the man.

"KUHH...WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU???!?"

The masked man then proceeded to walk in front of the man, squat down, and simply replied to him:

"I'm Batman."