I can't die —the thought came back to the mind of a seven-year-old girl who hurries through dark alleys. The darkness of the night embraces the city while a cold rain soaks everything within reach.

In this world infested with demons, humanity has had to unite to survive.

'For the glory of humanity!' This is the motto under which the current human society operates, however, this phrase that should represent hope, actually masks darkness as deep as tonight, and as cold as that of the rain falls and soaks everything.

After the collapse of the old nations because of the plague of demons, humanity gathered around three powers, the Clergy in search of the consolation of the gods, the Bourgeoisie in search for a charity, and the Knights in search for protection.

These three powers joined forces and formed the so-called 'Assembly of the Three Powers'.

The Assembly built walled cities to protect humanity from demons and designed communication and transportation systems to keep these walled cities connected.

The nations, kingdoms, and empires of old vanished and humanity were left under the care of the Assembly of the Three Powers.

However, deep social strata were created in this new human society.

Those at the peak of power are, of course, those who hold the best social position in today's society, the Knights, the priests, and the wealthy bourgeois. Then there are those who have some kind of connection with someone in power, whether as direct or indirect servants and finally there is that unfortunate poor who do not have any kind of connection with the higher social strata, people who can consider themselves forgotten by society, among which are beggars and prostitutes.

"Here it is!"

In the pouring rain, a big man emerged from a dark alley and when he saw that girl one running in the rain, he exclaimed that with all the force of his lungs.

That scream caused three other men to appear from among some alleys and start chasing that girl.

The girl with long, dirty black hair continued to run desperately while her small hands trembled not because of the cold rain but because of fear.

The name of this girl was Atria, she did not have a surname because she did not have a father to provide her with one.

Atria had been born and raised in a brothel, her mother was just one of the many prostitutes who had to please men to get a few copper coins and thus avoid starvation.

Despite her circumstances, Atria had grown up filled with her mother's love and the affection of the other women in the brothel. However, things were not always quiet in the brothel.

Occasionally a man of power would appear and overwhelm himself because of alcohol and some poor unfortunate woman would end up dead. Those at the bottom of this society are beyond the reach of justice, and at just seven years old, Atria knew this very well.

Just six days ago, Atria's mother did not return to sleep in the small room they both occupied at the deep of the brothel. Atria's mother had been just one more of the unfortunate women who would never know justice.

Atria didn't have too much time to mourn her mother's death, because the one who had deprived her of her mother because of alcohol, was apparently someone in a very high position of power, a Knight belonging to a family of ancient lineage.

Since large families with a long tradition like Knights have a stupid pride that they value more than a person's life, that individual's family was not content to just ignore the event and fearing that this might stain their honor, they sent a group of murderers to eliminate all witnesses.

On this stormy night, the brothel was mugged and clients and prostitutes alike were killed.

Atria heard the cries of horror and despair and then left her room to watch the massacre with her little black eyes.

It was because some of those poor women who always regarded her as a sister or daughter that Atria escaped the brothel, they did not even hesitate to use their own lives to buy Atria some time to escape.

However, Atria was just a girl of only seven years old. She couldn't get too far before the assassins found her.

I can't die —the thought repeated itself once more in Atria's mind as she continued to run.

Despite her young age, because of the environment in which she grew up, Atria had been forced to mature prematurely, so she understood very well that if she died, then those kind women who used their lives to help her escape would have died in vain.

Breda was not one of the great cities, its inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture and therefore, the nightlife was totally linked to debauchery. The streets were empty and the sound of the pouring rain drowned out any sound. And even if it wasn't, would anyone dare try to help Atria? The answer is a big no, the only ones who can afford to help strangers are those with power, people at the bottom of society hardly have the strength to care about themselves and their own.

Atria's body was not well nourished, her physical condition was not good since she suffered from asthma and at this moment she was completely barefoot, she could feel the weight of an anvil on her small chest as her vision blurred, even thus, Atria refused to surrender and continued to run.

Feeling the footsteps of her pursuers behind her and listening to their angry cries, Atria filled with despair.

People should live under constant fear of demons, those ferocious beasts that fed on human flesh and inhabited the outside world, yet for people at the bottom of society demons were a secondary concern.

An empty stomach does not give rise to other worries, to fear demons we must first avoid starvation —Atria's mother used to tell Atria this every time she returned to their small and dilapidated room with some bruises on her face.

Right now for Atria, the demons weren't even worth space on her mind. To her, humans were much worse than demons, it was not demons that took her mother away and destroyed her home.

The fear disappeared from Atria's small heart, it had been completely devoured by dark feelings, hatred.

"Little bastard!"

One pursuer stretched out his hand towards Atria as he had it within reach. However, because of the rain, the ground was slippery and to his misfortune, he ended up losing his balance and fell.

Having been so close to being caught, Atria brought her small body to the limit and increased her speed, seeing the corner of another street she turned and take this new street hoping to lose her pursuers.

Atria took only five steps inside that street when she halted at the sight of a shocking scene.

A man covered in a worn brown cloak was holding a man's neck in the air with only one of his hands. Around that man in the brown cloak was three lifeless bodies, all of them wearing light armor and covered in blood.

"Humans today are so fragile, maybe I should go back to sleep for another thousand years"

A sinister mocking voice emerged from the man in the brown cloak as he tightened the neck of the man he held in midair.

"Umh?" —the man in the brown cloak turned his head to look at Atria. "Hate and a pretty deep one considering it comes from a little tadpole" —the man added this as his opponent's neck emitted a loud crack.

Atria was already out of breath ignored the bodies and searched her eyes for a route to continue fleeing. Just a few minutes ago she had seen a much worse scene than this one, and the bodies of that scene corresponded to people whom she considered being part of her family.

"Damn kid!"

Atria's pursuers finally turned the corner. However, like Atria, they halted as they contemplated the scene.

"Something much more interesting was developing under my nose, humans really are always an endless source of fun" —the man in the brown cloak exclaimed this with mockery as he casually tossed aside the body of that man he had just murdered.

"T-those are Knights!" —one of the four Atria pursuers finally broke the silence by noticing the blood-covered light armor of the lifeless bodies around that ominous character.

The man in the brown cloak took a few steps towards Atria with a faint smile of which only he was aware because as if the little light present refused to approach him, his face was shrouded in sinister darkness.

"M-must be a high-level demon!"

That was the last thing one of the four Atria pursuers could utter, in response to an ominous flash of blue that apparently emerged from the eyes of the man in the brown cloak, the bodies of the four men were completely paralyzed.

"Tadpole, do you hate members of your own kind more than demons?" —as if the man in the brown cloak could read Atria's thoughts, he asked this question of which he no doubt already knew the answer.

There was no place in Atria's mind for absurd creatures she had never seen with her own eyes, her heart only overflowing with hatred for those who took everything from her.

"Hahaha∽" —the mysterious man laughed upon perceiving the answer in the little girl's heart. "Tadpole, do you want the power to destroy those who took everything from you?"

Hearing that, Atria's body tensed completely, her labored breathing stopped, and even her asthma seemed to give her a little truce.

"Yes" —Atria didn't even think about the answer, it emerged by itself from her lips as if she was being seduced to emerge by some unknown force.

As he continued to laugh, the mysterious man walked to stand in front of Atria, who, like her pursuers, was suddenly paralyzed.

"What is your name tadpole?"

"Atria" —just as before, the answer emerged on its own from Atria's lips.

"Humans like to carry a middle name"

"I have no father"

Atria's response caused the mysterious man to laugh again.

"Then this being will become your father and give you the opportunity to get your revenge"

After saying that, the man leaned towards Atria, and although the light continued to refuse to show the man's face, Atria could see a pair of elongated cold blue pupils hidden in the sinister darkness.

The man brought his attention to Atria's unprotected neck and dug his fangs into it.

Atria could only let out a cry of pain while her body was still paralyzed. She felt as if part of her blood was sucked, then she felt something cold and ominous enter her body.

The man pulled his face away from Atria's neck as he let out a faint laugh full of malice.

"So the daughter of a simple prostitute, what an interesting turn of events" —the man continued to laugh, thanks to the blood he had taken from Atria he had access to the girl's memories.

As for Atria, she could not pay too much attention to the man's words. At this moment she felt how that coldness that had entered her body spread throughout her being, even towards her soul.

The man approached the four Atria pursuers, and in a swift movement that neither of them could perceive, the head of two of them exploded.

"What is the name of who sent you?"

The remaining two men quickly understood. This human-looking thing had killed its two companions to encourage them to speak.

"L-Londell of the Order of the Golden Griffin...!" —as soon as I could speak, one of the two men did not hesitate to reveal the requested information.

The body of Atria who was still paralyzed shuddered when she heard that behind her.

The mysterious man turned and as he walked again in front of Atria, the heads of the remaining two men exploded. Their bodies were still standing just like those of their other two companions who were killed first.

"Tadpole, now you know the name of the one who took everything from you, in your blood you have the power to prepare your revenge, how far you can go depends entirely on your own conviction"

Atria's consciousness faded as the cold sensation even reached her mind.

"Your name from now on will be Atria Levi, I hope you can fun me since I have given you a part of my name"

Atria heard that just before she lost consciousness.