An innocent little boy, Abel, was the ten-year-old child of the Argos Family, brother to Cain Argos of Class 3-A, who unfortunately met his demise under the pretext of mocking the heir of the Eurasia Grand Agency, thus breaking the Summit Rules.
Under the gaze of the starry dawn, running through the foggy, wide yet quiet streets of District Y, West Summit City, his knees were on the verge of giving up. Muttering the same words over and over again… that he did not want to die, Abel found a hiding spot and looked at the miniature disc in his grasp—a limited-used teleportation disc manufactured by the Alperion Foundation.
With his breathing ragged while he crouched behind a random car among others, Abel, who knew how to operate the teleportation device, anxiously activated the very disc in his hands.
"Ah- I-I don't want to die…" He kept mumbling to himself while his eyes were glued to the now glimmering palm-sized technology.
Under the scientific mechanism of Portal Technology pioneered and continuously developed by the Alperion Foundation, the dark bluish disc emanated dark bluish mana, which then seemed to condense in one place resembling a moment of something imploding, including the entire entity reached by its determined range—Abel himself.
It was similar to being absorbed by a black hole.
"P-Please… Dad… Mom…" The tension rushing through him was palpable. And in the next few seconds that felt like an eternity, his body glowed and disappeared-
"What a cute little boy."
…or so he hoped.
For some reason, the teleportation disc malfunctioned. However, Abel never saw it as his soul trembled at the familiar, eerie voice of a lunatic girl, which caused his eyes to instinctively lock at the said figure sitting cross-legged atop the very car that served as his temporary shield against this sort of inexplicable malice.
"…I-I don't want to-"
In almost an instant, the howl of the chilling winds returned to the dawn of the night.
Until the surrounding air vibrated as a boom echoed across the street.
***
Bang!
"D-Dad!" Abel shouted at the top of his lungs, utter relief was evident in his voice.
Meanwhile, the female student, who was sitting atop the car, was hit by a sudden kick on her side by the well-built and astute man who seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"Abel… You did well…" Embracing his son, the man gently caressed the back of his son's head, feeling the terror engraved in his flesh.
Facing his son while maintaining his guard against the unknown threat, Cain's and Abel's father then asked, "Where's your mother…?"
It was then that Abel's eyes trembled, releasing a flood of crystalline tears that only meant one thing.
Even if he did not see her, it seemed Abel realized the fate his mother had suffered at the hands of this mysterious intruder.
"It's okay… It's okay… I'm here now." The Argos Patriarch glanced at the female student, whose back immensely hit a tree nearby, now gradually recovering with ease.
His eyes were fierce, and silent rage was boiling in them.
"…Now, son, get out of here. I'll handle this. Use the teleportation disc. Its coordinates will lead you to a safe place, okay?" Maintaining his calm demeanor, Abel's father encouraged him.
If he faltered here, then his son's morale that was regained in his presence would instantly crumble.
After some time, with the female student letting this transpire, Abel was consumed by the void, leaving the limited-used disc cracked on the dusted cold ground.
With his young son gone, thankfully so, Abel's father focused on the matter at hand.
'Even if my wife has been killed… I can negotiate with the Orion World to-'
"Hey, are you longing for your wife already? Well, I can't blame you since I always miss my Oppa even if he's… uh, my classmate. Hehe."
It was at that moment that the dreamy, playful voice of the female student resounded nearby… to the same car earlier.
Without looking at the direction of the voice's source, Abel's father instinctively swung his right fist, smashing the car into pieces. It was an unbelievable amount of superhuman strength.
"Why are you so mad, Mister Argos?" The female student casually jumped a few meters away, dodging the Argos Patriach's strike.
"Who are you, bastard? And why are you doing this?"
"Look at my uniform, Mister. Can't you see that I'm a student from the Summit Academy?"
The female student then formed an unusual stance, standing on her two feet, with one foot in front of the other, with one hand at her back, and the other raised while holding a mysterious object that resembled a galaxy-like quill.
Abel's father didn't know what it was… but his senses caused him to raise his guard even more as the female student continued speaking her heart.
"About why am I doing this…? I guess you should know even if it doesn't matter. Well, I simply used the reason that your eldest son broke the Summit Rules, was then judged by a girl I currently find annoying, who delivered the transgressor's relative's fate throughout the academy… and you know the result based on my actions right now, especially if someone like you also graduated from the Summit Academy. Yes?"
It was then that Abel's father couldn't help but curse in his mind, 'Damn it! What the hell did my son do? No… I have ways to fix this mess… If this girl was sent by the Summit Government, then it's possible to negotiate...'
However, as if his thought was being read the whole time, the female student, whose face remained the same even in his vision… abstract and eerily uncanny, cut off his strings of hope.
"Just so you know, I'm doing this for personal reasons and not under the Head Judge's orders. I mean, if all of you are going to die anyway, I should be the one to do it for my revenge. Don't you think so?"
The Argos Patriarch did not bother asking about the root of this so-called revenge. Hearing the female student, he did not waste any time as he snapped his fingersl and muttered in all seriousness,
"Mirror World."
A mirror world was not a unique godent ability. However, it required a godent to be fairly high-rank to manifest it, a separate dimension that resembled the real world. And that anything that would transpire within this isolated space wouldn't affect what's outside of it.
In other words, it's used to keep civilians out of harm's way.
"A mirror world, huh? I praise you for your kindness, Mister. If it were for me, I wouldn't mind having collaterals." The female student said, her eyes momentarily surveyed the area, seeing the fleeting mirror-like cracks enveloping the surroundings.
Meanwhile, Abel's father's eyes squinted. No matter how he thought about it, this female student, who seemed to possess an unknown ability, was exuding a kind of inexplicable evil.
"I don't need your opinion, you fucking bitch."
At that moment, Abel's father disappeared from his spot, with his entire body bathed with star mana, shimmering dark azure.
He then heard her speak, "Oh, easy now, Mister. It'll be dangerous if you can't control your power."
In the next moment, he arrived in front of the female student whose face was completely obscured… and in his grasp was a manifested elemental sword of darkness, which was conjured in almost an instant.
It was then…
"Mister… are you forgetting about your little boy?"
…that the female student, with a quill in her grasp, drew an imaginary circle in front of her, which then eventually expanded and solidified into some sort of dark misty portal.
In that split moment, she reached through this void and pulled the person who just escaped, causing Abel's father's eyes to widen in horror.
With confusion in his eyes, Abel himself looked at the familiar surroundings.
Behind him, the same familiar voice he thought he had escaped from echoed mischievously.
This time, her words mimicked him…
"I-I don't want to-!"
Spurt!
Unable to control his movement and power, Abel's father accidentally severed his own son.
"…die."