Facing the young girl and her little sister, the armoured knight raised his sword.

To have mercy was to take away a life in a single strike. Struck by the sunlight, the sword glistened high up in the air.

The girl shut her eyes and bit down on her lower lip. Her expression showed that she never wished for this situation. She was simply accepting it since there was nothing she could do. If the girl had power of some sort, she would have used it on the man before her eyes and ran away.

But— the girl had no such power.

Thus there existed only one conclusion.

The girl would surely perish here.

The sword struck down —

—Yet she did not feel any pain.

The girl opened her tightly shut eyes.

The first thing that the girl saw in her world was the sword that had stopped in its path downward.

The next thing that entered her sight was its wielder.

He had stopped in motion as though he were encased in ice. The knight's attention was no longer on the girl. The completely defenseless state of the knight clearly revealed the shock that surged inside him.

As though led by the knight's gaze, the girl also turned her face toward the same direction.

Then— she saw despair.

There was darkness.

Pure darkness as thin as paper, yet of an unfathomable depth. It had emerged from the ground in an ovoid shape with its lower section cut. A scene that evoked mystique with indescribable apprehension.

A door?

That's what the girl thought after having seen it..

Then after her heart beat once more, her thought was verified right.

*Drippp*

Something fell from the darkness.

The instant she realized what it was—

"Hiii!"

—The girl let out a piercing shriek.

An existence that no mortal could ever overcome.