The white-haired child fell backward with a shriek as her father jabbed a sword through her mother's torso. The blade made of black ice glistened with blood.

Through her tears, Aya Felicity watched a flurry of soft purple smoke exude from her mother and enter her father. He was absorbing her life force.

Terror seized Aya, but she couldn't look away. The girl knew absorbing life force was a black mana skill. Feeling confused, she began to sob. She didn't understand her papa's motive. He had always cherished his family, and he was often carefree and gentle.

"P-Papa, why? Why did you kill Mama?!"

The man didn't respond. He lay his wife on the floor carefully and removed the necklace that symbolized their bond. He stared into his daughter's eyes, and she felt an overwhelming amount of mana that it became difficult for her to breathe. Aya wasn't strong enough to sense mana. Her father had told her it was warm before being shaped.

She began breathing heavily as she clutched her chest. The mana felt evil and goosebumps appeared on her arms.

"Papa, w-why are you trying to become a Darkness Tamer?" She tripped over her words like her mother often did in her childhood.

Memphis wasn't surprised that his child had comprehended the severity of the situation. Felicity often produced geniuses so they would be well beyond their peers in most subjects.

The mana dispersed as her father stood and turned away, trying to hide his single teardrop, but the little girl saw it.

"But why!? I don't understand! You're already strong! Papa, why risk it?!" She was referring to the Fallen Place. Aya's tutor had taught that the Fallen Place was horrifying. It was where the mind went while the body was transformed into a hideous monster. Aya bawled uncontrollably, her mind unable to put the pieces together as her world crumbled around her. "NO, NO, NO!"

The man looked at his daughter with remorse. "For you, my darling Aya," he said, not lying.

For her? How could this be for her sake? She felt as though her heart would break like the cartoon drawings on the television. Her head was in turmoil.

Her father walked away, knowing her brilliant mind wouldn't comprehend his ambitions. Maybe when she learned what he knew, his little girl would come to understand his deeds.

What he planned to do would make him the most wanted man on planet Lore.

She looked at her mother's lifeless body. The grief she had in her heart was too much to bear.

Aya shut her eyes and wailed at the top of her lungs. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. "Papa! If you don't kill me here, I'll bring you to justice one day!"

The man knew she would try. It was what his daughter had been training for since she could walk. Bringing criminals to justice was a part of being a Knight.

"You'd follow me into the darkness?" he asked.

"Never!" she shouted, her features twisting with hate.

Aya knew what happened when one used mana out of hatred. All children were taught the consequences of using mana for vices to prevent them from getting tainted by black mana.

The little girl felt so much resentment toward her father. The man who taught her how to ride a bike. The man who'd taken her fishing. The man who'd taught her how to shape mana into ice.

The man she adored.

His betrayal wounded the little girl so deeply that she was afraid if she used mana now, she'd be lost in the Fallen Place.

"Black mana is the only way you'd reach me swiftly with the experience gap."

The girl shook her head. "I will never kill for vengeance nor hatred! I'll take you down with my own strength!"

"I look forward to seeing your will against mine when you reach your prime. If yours proves weaker, I will take your life force as I have done with your mother. This is the only reason why you live," Memphis lied. "Don't disappoint me, daughter."

Aya watched in distress as her father walked out the front door of their once happy home. A sudden memory of what she'd learned from her tutor came to mind. She ran to check her mother's pulse, wailing in agony when she couldn't find one. She was supposed to call uncle Eliyah if something like this were to happen, but her legs felt like jelly.