“Helen!!!” Catherine screamed on top of her lungs as she ran toward the guard rail and looked down.

Surprisingly, Helen stood up and continued to walk forward as if nothing happened.

Realizing the anomalies, Catherine took a deep breath and activated her [Clairvoyance]. In that instant, surge of Mana gathered around her eyes, which she used to gaze at Helen.

'As expected,’ Catherine thought. She saw a form of dark mass clouded Helen's mind, but it was different than the one she saw in the morning. ‘Some kind of mind-controlling magic?’

Nonetheless, Catherine return to the bedroom in a hurry. But just before she reached for the door, she paused her step and pulled an invisible string on the wall beside the table.

A hidden compartment popped out. Within, was a gold emblem engraved with a special Magic Formation.

'Just in case.’ Catherine took the emblem, then burst out of her door while yelling, “Yohan! Yohan!”

Yet, there was no answer…

“Damn it,” she cursed. “I swear to god I will fire you!”

Though her guardian seemed to disappear, she still decided to run through the hall, went down the stairs, and onto the front door.

The manor seemed to be really quiet that night, when usually, some maids and guards would patrol all night long. But this time, all of them collapsed on the ground –unconscious.

In her panic, Catherine did not seem to notice the abnormality. She just made her way out and went to the other side of the manor, in the hope that she has not lost sight of Helen.

The sounds of rustling grass came from beneath her feet. When she arrived behind the manor, she saw that Helen was already quite far away toward the direction of Inner West Wall. Fortunately, Helen did not appear to be running, rather, she walked while her body constantly swung from side to side as if she was sleepwalking.

Catherine dashed toward her until she arrived within 100 feet from her, then shouted, “Helen!”

Helen stopped at the voice, then turned her head around. But when their eyes met, Helen's face went pale and her shoulder flinched --visibly terrorized.

“STAY AWAY!” As soon as she screamed, Helen broke into a sprint, increasing their distance even more.

“Shit!” Catherine knew that she messed up. What Helen saw must have been altered by the mind-controlling magic. Now, she had no choice but to increase her speed.

After running for another while, Catherine remembered, ‘There should be a wall up front…’

They went past some shrubberies and several trees on the field near the edge of the inner city. Before long, they finally reached the Inner West Wall. However, beyond her expectation, Helen ran through the wall as if there was no wall to begin with.

“What?!” Catherine stopped in her tracks and re-activated her [Clairvoyance].

'Illusion formation?’ Catherine frowned. In front of her was a giant hole, which directly connect to the forest outside the city.

One must know that the royal family of Aurelia boasted about their inner wall, which could only be cracked by 7th tier highly-destructive Magic. Note the “crack”; to pierce it? Not even 8th tier Mages were capable of doing it after tens of tries.

Looking at the case, there was no sign of it being pierced multiple times. Worst of all, not even the Grand Commanders of the kingdom seemed to notice this problem.

Catherine shivered at the thought. 'Why would something so dangerous came here?’

At first she thought that the thing was her father's enemy, but she quickly denied the possibility. If it came to kill her, there was no need to even lure her this far with Helen. Considering its might, it could wreak havoc anytime it want in the kingdom and escape “peacefully” after doing so.

'That can only means…’ Catherine gritted her teeth and went after Helen into the forest. She knew that that thing was going after her friend, and it needed her alive!

'Helen's identity…’ With the aid of her [Clairvoyance], Catherine began to put the pieces together. ‘It can only be that person!’

Catherine gripped the gold emblem in her hand tight. Soon, it gave off a white radiance as an old man's voice resounded through it, “What's the situation, young-”

“Level 3! Please bring over Sir Raymond and Sir Robert's party to my position!” Catherine spoke in a hurry. “I found the culprit, and I'm going after it right now!”

“...On our way,” replied the other party.

…

Helen woke up drowsily after a few nudges on her shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she saw her grandma smiling at her.

“Grandma?!” Helen sat up right away. “How did you get here?”

“You silly child.” Irene caressed Helen’s head gently. “What do you mean by that? This is our home isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

Helen looked around to see that indeed, they were at home. It seemed that she fell asleep on a chair in the living room.

“That’s weird…” She tried to recall something, but nothing came out of her mind. All she could remember was how she had waited the whole night for her grandma to come home.

Helen was getting anxious for no reason and her limbs were covered in cold sweats.

“Having a nightmare again?” Irene asked.

“Maybe…” Helen answered, still unsure herself.

Irene chuckled. “Grandma is sorry for making you worried for a whole night. I saw a kitten drowning in a river and just had to save it.”

“Oh!” Helen exclaimed, expectations built up within her. “Where is it?”

Irene tilted her head to the floor next to the chair. There, Helen saw a kitten with blond fur sleeping peacefully.

“We should leave it alone for now,” Irene said. “It must be tired after last night's ordeal. By the way...”

Irene stepped forward to hug Helen. “Happy 10th birthday, dear.”

“Ah…” Helen replied absentmindedly, then return the hug. “Un!”

After a while, they let each other go. Irene stood up and took Helen’s hand, saying, “Let’s make haste to the Cathedral to receive your Mana Blessing, shall we?”

Helen felt elated. She remembered how her grandma said that the ritual will washed away all the bad things inside her.

“Okay!” she replied.

Helen ran toward the front, but then she realized that the door did not budge after she pulled it a few times.

“Err… grandma?”

“Ah…” Irene attempted to open it a few times to no avail. “I wonder what’s wrong. Haish, I might need to call the repairman again.”

“So, what now?”

Irene chuckled, then said, “Let’s go out through the window this time. We can visit the repairman on our way back.”

“Oh!” Helen giggled. “Fine!” She moved to the window next to the door, pushed it open and jumped over.

When she got to the other side, Helen suddenly felt a weird momentary floating sensation. In her shock, she fell on her four.

Irene who just got over quickly went to her side and held her body. “What’s wrong?” she asked with concern.

“Nothing…” Helen held her head, seemingly confused.

“...We should hurry to Cathedral, can you stand?”

Helen smiled and stood up. “I’m fine, grandma.”

The Cathedral was not too far from their home. It was just right across Helen’s school. Thus, they should be able to reach it soon.

A short distance later, Helen suddenly heard someone calling for her name from behind.

“Helen!”

It was a voice she was familiar with. But just as she turned around to reply, a terrifying horror revealed itself.

It was the black abomination, coming at them on full speed!

“STAY AWAY!” She pulled her grandma’s hand and ran for her life.

After running for a while, exhaustion started to build up inside her. The cathedral was just right up front, she believed that the evil creature would not dare to enter it.

Suddenly, she felt a hand grabbing tightly on her arm.

“I got you!” The abomination had caught up!

“NOOO!” Helen tried to pull her arm, but she was not strong enough to free herself. “Spare me, please! Someone! Anyone! Grandma! Help me!”

Yet, not a single soul was around. Even her grandma had frozen into a statue.

“Ah…” Now, she remembered that the creature was capable of stopping time. Tears poured down from her eyes. Her will and hope were broken thorough and thorough.

Ignoring her state, the monster embraced her waist with one hand and put the other on Helen's head.

“I'm sorry,” it said. “This will hurt a bit.”

“AHHH!” Helen screamed on top of her lungs as a surging heat pour into her brain.

Once the “creature” release its hands, the real world began to reveal itself in Helen's eyes.

Catherine release her embrace, upon which Helen slumped down on the forest's ground. Power sipped out of her limbs and her face was in a mess because of tears and snot.

“Eh? Eh?” Helen still did not get what was going on. Her face was still lingering with despair.

Catherine panted for breath as she sweated profusely. She had exceeded her current capability and now, she had to pay for the consequences. Her pupils dilated, her consciousness began to wander, yet, she gritted her teeth to stay awake after she sensed that someone was approaching.

“Should I say, ‘as expected of someone of Rochatier's bloodline’?” said the approaching figure.

“I knew it, it was you…” Catherine replied.