“What did you say...?” A woman said, baffled.

The room was spacious. A little too spacious, in fact, for a simple office room. Wood composed the floor, cleaned, and disposed of any trash and dust. In its center stood a rather large desk, and on it was placed what had to be a very expensive laptop. Bits of paper and books were neatly arranged next to it along with work utensils like pens, rulers, erasers, and such scattered in chaos on the surface of the desk.

On either side of the room, placed against the wall, stood an imposing shelf showcasing dozens of books that could overwhelm any avid readers. It could have been mistaken for a small library. In between some of the books stood golden trophies, family photos, and perhaps photos of the family's previous generation, some portraits, and some accessories.

Three people were inside the room. One adult male was seated on a comfortable chair behind the desk; one adult female, the one who had asked the question; and one adorable little girl who stood behind the woman. The father, the mother, and their child. The man wore a calm expression, though it was apparent to any who paid close attention that he was repressing his frustration; the woman wore a disbelieving face, unable to accept what she had heard; and the child was... simply confused.

“A-are you telling me t-that...” The mother continued, trembling while clutching her head. “That my daughter isn't.. that she isn't—”

She suddenly turned and looked down at the kid. If look could kill, then certainly, the little girl wouldn't have survived. The child unconsciously took a step back and wept.

“M-mother..?”

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped at a fast rate. White, imperceptible fog formed and filled the space. At its center stood the trembling woman looking at her child.

“You're telling me,” Disgust filled the woman's expression, “That this kid can't become an Elite!?”

The child's breath became visible through the coldness. Her eyes watered and she was ready to cry at any moment. Fear flooded her heart.

‘What was happening?

What did I do? What should I do?

Why?

Why are you looking at me like that?’

Rin was unable to voice any of those questions. Under the cold and hateful gaze of her mother, she had frozen.

Literally.

Before she even realized it, she was already shivering. Her skin, which was already pretty white, paled even further and she felt numbness course through her entire body. Surprisingly, though, she didn't feel cold and instead just felt a tingling sensation. Her core body temperature began to drop.

Hypothermia.

If she was an adult maybe she could have survived for around five or ten more minutes. Unfortunately, she wasn't even five years old at the time.

Five more seconds and she would have died. By the hand of her mother.

In fact, Rin survived not because her mother stopped using her power but because other members of her family used theirs to save her.

Rin was an early person. She generally wakes up at around 5:10 am and begins her day with a splash of water on her face. Though it's only after her morning run around her neighborhood and a little workout that she finally takes a bath and prepares to go to school, which starts at 7:30 am.

Her school was just a 20 to 30 minutes walk away from her home so Rin usually arrive not too early but not too late either.

Rin wasn't a great cook, but, to begin with, she didn't care about the taste of what entered her mouth. Thanks to the abundance of information available on the net, so long as it was healthy and maintained her in a good enough condition, she was fine with it.

Once school ends, she immediately heads toward the dojo to deepen her knowledge about martial arts and, even once that's done, she follows up with her daily workout. Only after that's finished does she finally attack the normal duty of a high school girl. That is to say, homework, menial chores like cleaning and such, and preparation for her next days.

Even on her weekends, she takes no rest. She uses her Saturday to exert her body to its limit by doing workouts and martial art training and, just about everything that could make her stronger, while she uses her Sunday to, instead, train her brain by reviewing her notes from school to keep a good grade and by amassing knowledge about Monsters and Elites.

And all of that was just her routine for the past three years. Before that, long before that, Rin had already been working hard nonstop. Ever since her family deemed her as trash, which is to say for as long as she could remember, Rin had never ceased to chase after her dream.

Even when her relatives mocked her, even when Celia, her one and only friend, told her she was working too hard, even when no one believed in her, she never stopped. Because she wanted to become a Noble, to become someone her family would finally acknowledge.

She never gave up. In all her small sixteen years of life, she had hope.

And then, it came. The Monster she had prepared for so long to face, to fight, finally appeared right before her very eyes.

And, she froze.

«WARNING! WARNING! PLEASE, EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY!»

Rin didn't need to listen to the loud voice to know what she should do. She couldn't hear it, in fact, nor any of the panicked voices the people and students present were making. Helplessly stuck looking at the terrible thing in front of her, she was detached from the outside world.

She couldn't hear anything and she couldn't utter any sound. Everything around her became background noise, and she felt like the only thing that still existed were herself.... and the abomination that came out of the Rift. People more commonly called them Demon. And for a good reason.

The thing had a humanoid appearance, which made it more creepy as all of its skin, from head to toe, was colored in dark red. It didn't have hair, but to make up for it, two large, disgusting, pointy horns protruded from its forehead. Its teeth were like razors, naturally open, as though ready to eat someone, and showing its long, filthy dark tongue. Its eyes were two small dots of scarlet pupil, and to top everything off, a pair of gigantic, tattered yet thick black wings came out of its back in a domineering manner.

The thing was the embodimemnt of fear itself.

It looked at her.

She would have shrieked if she could, but, she seemed to have forgotten how to even breathe.

‘This is a Demon...?’ Sweat formed on her forehead.

To become a Noble was to fight against monsters. Rin knew that. She knew that too well. She also knew that it wouldn't be easy. She was prepared for that. She had put in the effort. She worked hard so that when the time finally came, she would be.... ready. And yet...

The monster screeched.

Rin unconsciously took a step back and could no longer hide the expression of terror on her face.

Fear.

‘This is...’

Her instinct told her to run. Her body was paralyzed. And her thought...

Her thought were blank.

The part of her that never gave up during the past sixteen years.... the one that always told her to advance... the one that had hope... was shattered.

The Demon kicked the ground, leaped forward at high speed, and extended its claws... at Rin.

The girl's whole body trembled and tears formed at the corner of her eyes. She bit her lips and clenched her hand unconsciously. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Rin could see the wide-open red eyes of the monster, its disgusting face, and the grin-like expression it was wearing. The sight alone suffocated her. Its killing intent prickled her skin as though thousands of needles were penetrating her and, yet, she couldn't scream.

‘Help...!’

She wanted to, but she couldn't.

Death approached her with its terrifying scythe extended widely, but, she couldn't do anything.

She wasn't ready for this. Not one bit. And, she realized she would never be.

‘...Trash...’

The words repeated in her mind endlessly, and, she tried to close her eyes.

“R-Rin...” A scared voice pronounced.

Time instantly flowed back at its normal pace bringin Rin back to Reality. She drew blood from her lips to keep her movements from being sluggish and extended her arm in the direction of the voice. Then, she pushed. With all her strength.

Rin and Celia's gaze connected for a brief instant and she tried her very best to smile.

Had she succeeded? She didn't know. She couldn't even be sure if she properly managed to move Celia out of the monster's path. In the very next moment, her vision rolled upside down. She smashed against the hard ground of the street, coughed some blood, and didn't even have the time to comprehend the situation as the monster picked her up by her neck and smashed her on a wall.

The sound of several of her bones breaking painfully penetrated her brain and she screamed. Or at least, she would have if not for the increasing pressure caused by the demonic hand on her neck. Instead, she began to desperately seek air.

She felt as though her head was being ripped off.

Her complexion became blue and red at the same, all the veins in her head began to pop out and her tears were running down like a river. She struggled of course. She kicked the monster several times, remembered her martial art knowledge, and tried to apply it to remove the hand from her neck but it was no use. Even with both of her hands combined, the monster's didn't even move an inch.

Rin felt like an ant in the face of a lion.

What could she do?

Her brain couldn't even think straight anymore.

Before she could die from suffocation, however, a thundering pain assaulted her belly and she coughed blood. She felt it. The monster's other hand was in her stomach, gouging out her inside. Blood fell like a waterfall. It was atrocious, but, the silver lining was that her brain decided to numb out the pain. Along with all her other senses.

Rin's vision blurred, wavered and her eyelids grew heavier. She knew that her hands were still trying to free her neck subconsciously, but, she couldn't feel them anymore. Even her attempt at seeking air stopped altogether. It was over.

‘Am....I dying...?’

The faint sound of her heartbeat resounded in her ears.

‘Just...like that...?’

Darkness seeped into her vision and she lost all strength.

«What did you expect?» A voice reverberated. «Did you really think you could become like us?»

...I...

I did my best...

«So what? You think that's enough?»

I worked....hard!

Really, really.... hard...!

«And look where'd that got you, trash. Nowhere!»

A cry of despair resounded.

«Haha! Make up your mind, Rin, you can never become an Elite, let alone a Noble. You just weren't born for that.»

That's ...not fair!

«But that's how it is. Life was never fair to begin with.

«You were born a trash, and you will die as one.»

...No...

«A fitting end, don't you think?»

No!

I...

I don't want to... die...

◇

It happened in the blink of an eye. It felt surreal. It was surreal. Celia's entire body trembled and she could only look on in horror as her best friend was being killed. Her breath grew haggard, yet, her brain couldn't process what was happening. No, it didn't want to process it.

She just couldn't accept it. She hoped that it was all just a dream. That this wasn't real. That Rin wasn't.... that she wasn't...

Celia's heartbeat quickened.

“R-Rin?” She spoke unconsciously.

The monster turned to look at her, but, scary as it was, the abomination was already outside of her mind. All she could see was the red liquid growing into a puddle beneath the feet of her friend. The sight clenched at her heart and threatened to crush it into a million pieces.

Fear left her completely and she took a step forward unconsciously.

The Demon screamed in rage, which effectively brought her back to the present. Terror returned as quickly as it was gone and Celia found herself unable to move again. To make it worse, the monster choose her as its next target as it flew at her with its mouth wide open.

Celia simultaneously shrieked, fell on the ground, and inadvertently closed her eyes. Tears fell on her face and she was practically sure she had pissed herself. The monster's screech resounded again, and Celia immediately prayed to the goddess.

A prayer that, against all odds, was answered.

No matter how much the orange-haired girl waited, the Demon never arrived to take out her heart.

Instead, she heard a very apologetic and regretful voice. “I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I was late!”

Celia hesitantly opened her eyes and saw a panicked man standing just above her.

The man seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He frantically looked around himself as though trying to find the best course of action. However, before he could convey any sort of instruction that Celia could hear, he ran out of her field of view. Probably toward the monster.

Celia's mind lingered blankly for a minute before...

“Rin!” She screamed, looking in the direction of her friend.

The image she saw threw chaos into her emotion.

Rin was there, seated on the ground, covered in blood. Her head was hanging down, hiding her face and her back was leaning against the shattered wall she was smashed on. The most horrifying thing, however, was the very distinct hole present in her stomach. With just a little concentration, her inside were clearly visible.

Celia nearly vomited. With her body still trembling, she tried to hastily get back on her feet while at the same time advancing. Naturally, she failed, stumbled, and smashed her head on the ground. Her vision vibrated and pain assaulted her. Nevertheless, she continued and used her hands, instead, to crawl as fast as she could.

The seconds before she arrived felt like an eternity of agony, but, at long last, she arrived beside her friend's corps while standing on her knees. Reality was even crueler up-close. Was Rin already dead? She didn't know. She was afraid to know and didn't dare to touch the body.

“T-this can't be real.” She said with ragged breathing.

Why was this happening?

“Y-you c-can't be dead, right, Rin?”

“...”

“Th, this i-isn't funny, you know?” Her voice quavered.

Her expression distorted into sorrow and water overwhelmed her vision. With all the courage she had left, she finally lifted her trembling hand and touched Rin's shoulder. It was cold. Even through the coat, the girl was wearing, Celia could tell that it was growing cold.

‘B-but, that's just because of the snow, right?’ She thought.

She shook the shoulder a little bit.

“...”

“C-co, come o-on, Rin...” She sniffed loudly. “W-we're, g-gonna be l,late, you k-know?”

Her voice slowly grew indistinguishable.

“Y-ou'd... hate, t-that, right?”

“...”

Celia lost strength and began to slowly lower her head against Rin's chest.

“...You can't do this, Rin.

“You.... You can't leave me.”

She wept.

The smell of blood entered her nostril and she closed her eyes.

“You promised...”

Distant pleasant memories filled her mind.

“You... can't....”

Rin was Celia's very first friend. For as long as she could remember Rin was always there for her. She was her best friend. There was even a time when Rin was all she had. Ever since she woke up three years ago, Rin was.... and still is, her everything. She couldn't lose her.

“...”

Celia swallowed and slightly raised her head. Using her quavering hands, she caressed Rin's cold cheek and lifted it slightly to have a better look. The girl's eyes were left half-open, devoid of life. She couldn't even hear her breathing anymore.

‘No...’

She shook her head unable to accept reality.

“Please...”

Then she bumped her forehead against Rin's, trying to feel even just a little bit warmth. Her tears fell and mingled with the blood on the other girl's chest. Yet, nothing. Rin was already.... dead.

‘No...’

She was...

‘No!’

“Please... wake up...”

Rising on her knees, Celia embraced Rin's head against her chest.

“I can't lose you...

I just.... can't...”

Then it happened.

With Celia as the center, a bright pillar of light emerged from the ground.