Going back in time, just before the voidlings invaded Avalon, Cain, Elizabeth, and the rest of the Nobles were all having a peaceful discussion with the King and Queen. They each reported to the King about their territories, trade, technological advancements, etc. 

This went on for a while until suddenly, everyone’s hair stood on end. They didn’t know what had happened, but they were sure something big was about to happen. 

“It seems the rest of you have felt something off. Let’s end this meeting here and co-” Before the King could finish, a spatial rift abruptly ripped off the top half of the castle. 

There was no warning, noise, or attack; it simply vanished. 

“What the hell?!”

Everyone in the room immediately raised from their seats and prepared for battle. That is until they looked up and saw that countless black specks blotted out the sky. 

What they saw made them go pale and their knees weak. Countless black creatures filled the sky and were falling toward the city. 

Most people in this room have never experienced a true war, and many have never fought with their lives on the line. Thus, many nobles were scared when they saw hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of creatures falling from the sky.

However, the King was no slouch and was a battle-hardened warrior who could quickly take control of the situation.

“PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!” The King yelled, erasing their previous fear and loading them with confidence.

That's right! With the King with them, what was there to fear?

““Yes, My Liege!””

The nobles got in position and readied themselves for the incoming attack. Although not all of them were battle-hardened warriors, they weren’t weak by any stretch of the imagination.

“Your Majesty, what about the kids?!” Elizabeth asked, worried about Olivia and Mika.

The King pondered for a second before quickly coming to a conclusion. 

“Why don’t you go and protect them, Elizabeth? If it’s you, then I can trust you with this mission.” The King ordered to which Elizabeth nodded.

“Yes, Sire!”

She took a set of dual daggers and dashed to the exit.

Unfortunately, things wouldn’t go the way she had planned. 

As she was about to leave, dozens of pitch-black humanoid creatures charged into the room and immediately began attacking. 

These creatures didn’t have a face, only a mouth. They were over two meters tall, their entire bodies were pitch black, and they had blade-like appendages. 

“Get out of my way!!” Elizabeth roared and disappeared from her position, only to reappear above them. Before the creatures could react, Elizabeth had already beheaded two of them and moved on to the rest.

“None of you bastards will prevent me from saving my babies!” Elizabeth’s face darkened, and she began to emit a cold, killing intent, a complete contrast to the usual loving look she shows to her family.

She hopped from the two dead creatures to the next two and began slaughtering them in droves. However, as soon as one died, another would appear before her.

Elizabeth wasn’t the only one experiencing this, as the room was quickly flooded with these things.

The Nobles started bombarding them with spells, but their attacks seemed to bounce right off their shells, leaving the creatures unscathed. 

After another barrage of attacks, someone shouted, “They seem to be immune or highly resistant to magical attacks!”

It didn’t take long until the other nobles realized that his words rang true as their magic seemed to have no effect against these monsters!

Most people use magic nowadays and have never learned to wield a cold weapon. 

At least there was no need to do so at their current cultivation. 

Many of them practiced using cold weapons when they were younger and much less powerful, back when battles were more up close and personal. 

However, with their high mana cultivation, they could avoid facing their opponents in close-quarter combat. If they could fling spells at the enemy, why would they willingly choose to fight them up close?

So, in a situation like this, where their Mana cultivation was no longer useful, they were like a fish out of water.

However, some people still didn’t rely on spells and magic to fight. One of those people was the King, and another one was Elizabeth. 

The King reached his arm out, and a spear manifested in his hand. With a casual wave of his hand, he swept his spear through half a dozen monsters, splitting them in half.

“THEY ARE WEAK TO COLD WEAPONS!” He roared with all his might, not just to let the nobles know but also for the Knights and mages stationed around the castle.

When those words fell on the noble's ears, they drew their alternative weapons immediately. However, it wasn’t cold weapons they pulled out, but guns. Although the technology was a bit primitive compared to their current advancements, most nobles carried one as insurance.

While guns might make the situation a bit more chaotic, what choice did they have? It’s not like their bullets would affect anyone in this room anyways.

All the nobles who relied on magic began firing with surprising accuracy.

On the other hand, Cain took out a sword and charged at the monsters. 

Ever since his daughter, Mika, showed more interest in the sword rather than magic, he got curious and decided to try it out. 

There wasn’t much of a reason behind his actions; he just thought his daughter looked beautiful when she practiced with a sword, and maybe he could connect with her on a deeper level through this.

Cain cut through the body of one of the monsters and then stared at the sword in surprise.

‘Swinging a sword around… feels amazing!’ A grin crept up on his face, and he slashed apart another monster.

From that moment on, Cain went on a killing spree, cutting up everything in sight as if he’d gone insane!

‘Hahahaha! Who knew swinging a sword around would feel so good? Feeling my sword cut through their flesh and knowing they died because of me is a totally different feeling than just bombarding enemies with spells!’

Only now did he partially understand why having a sword filled him with confidence; when his mana ran out or if he needed to fight against something resistant to magic, he’d still be able to fight.

He swung the sword toward one of the humanoid creatures. Although he faced quite a bit of resistance when he cut into it due to the edge not being aligned properly, he could still cut it in half because of his overwhelming strength and the quality of the sword. 

After killing the first humanoid creature, Cain immediately rushed to the next one. 

The battle continued to rage for the next few minutes, and the tides started shifting in the noble’s favor. Sort of…

The nobles got better and better at killing these creatures as they learned they weren’t intelligent. Most of their movements were crude and predictable; anyone skilled with a cold weapon or gun could easily take them out.

The only problem was that the longer the battle raged on, the more their numbers seemed to increase.

“Fuck! Where are these ugly monsters coming from?!”

“How are there so many of them?! It’s like they respawn every time one of them dies!”

“Right?! I just want to clear this room of these bastards, but they just keep coming!”

The nobles huddled together and slaughtered anything close to them, but the more they killed, the worse things got. The monsters’ corpses filed up at their feet, creating a pseudo barrier that blocked their feet and disrupted their footwork.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth felt like she was going crazy. She slaughtered these creatures faster than anyone else, but it was not enough. 

On many occasions, she tried to leave to go protect the children, but these creatures seemed intent on keeping her where she was.

She just wanted to see her babies and ensure they were fine, but these… these… bastards kept preventing her from doing so! 

“Die! Die! Die!”

She screamed as her eyes turned bloodshot. 

“Fuck it! I’m leaving this room, even if you bastards rip chunks out of my flesh! You’re not stopping me from seeing my children!” Elizabeth roared in rage, but Cain appeared beside her before she could do something reckless.

“Go. I’ll clear a path for you. Make sure our kids are safe and protect the rest of the children. We’ll deal with the mess here.” Cain said in a calm voice with his sword raised.

Elizabeth nodded, not noticing the sword in her husband’s hands as she was too focused on saving her babies!

Without needing to communicate further, Cain dashed in front of his wife and began clearing the way for her. 

Elizabeth followed behind him, looking for an opportunity to leave while cutting up anything that got past him.

The two of them worked as a perfect team, showing their trust in each other’s capabilities. 

They quickly made a path through the sea of monsters and stood in front of the exit, with piles of corpses all around them. 

Elizabeth glanced at her husband and nodded. Cain gave his wife a slight smile and returned the nod. There was no need for words between them.

Afterward, Elizabeth turned around and dashed toward where her daughters were supposed to be.

It only took her a few seconds to get there, and what she saw shocked her to the core. 

She saw her youngest daughter, Mika, wielding a real sword in her hands as she took on several monsters at a time. 

Meanwhile, her oldest daughter, Olivia, was yelling, screaming, and throwing stuff, trying to catch the attention of the monsters chasing the other children.

Surrounding the two of them are many small piles of monster bodies. 

Finally, she noticed a little girl lying face down between her two daughters with a monster arm through her stomach. 

“Watch out, Mika! There are monsters ten meters to your left and twenty meters on your right!” Elizabeth heard her oldest daughter call out, which made her feel weird, but that was the least concerning thing about this scene because her youngest daughter…

Well… she wasn’t acting like a child at all…

“Hahaha!! Come at me, you bastards!! I’ll take you all on since you’re so damn weak!! Are you guys really a bunch of scary monsters?! It seems to me you’re nothing but a bunch of dogs who can only be stepped on by my tiny baby feet! Hahaha!” 

Elizabeth’s mind went blank listening to her youngest daughter. 

‘Was this really the same quiet daughter she knew and loved? She seems less like my baby girl and more like a psychopath!’ Elizabeth screamed internally.

However, she instantly snapped out of her daze when she saw the two creatures rush toward her youngest daughter. She saw how Mika just stood there, relaxed, like she didn’t even notice they were coming after her.

She was about to jump in and protect her daughter, but then she saw one of the most extraordinary acts of swordplay she’d ever seen.

Mika sidestepped the closest creature as soon as it neared her while slashing her sword upwards, immediately amputating one of its arms and removing its head. 

Then, in one fluid motion, she ducked under the next creature that had dived at while slashing her sword toward the ground, cutting its head in half along with part of its body.

Elizabeth stared at this scene and didn’t know what to make of it. 

First, why was Mika so relaxed when her life was on the line? 

Second, how can she kill things without even flinching, almost like she’s used to it? 

Third, why does it seem like she’s cutting through butter rather than an actual living being? 

Lastly, where the hell did she get a sword?!

She shook her head to eliminate these thoughts and began approaching her daughters.

“Mika!! Olivia!! I’m so glad you’re okay! Where are your brothers?!” She shouted as she approached with tears in her eyes.

Mika and Olivia turned their heads when they heard a familiar voice before their eyes lit up.

Elizabeth noticed Mika was about to say something to her until her expression froze. She saw her daughter quickly grasp Olivia and the little girl on the ground with a panicked look before staring back at her.

“Mom! Please save Akira Raven! I don’t know where I’m teleporting to, but I love you, and we’ll see each other again!” Elizabeth was confused by her youngest daughter’s words.

“What do you me-” However, before she could question her, Mika pushed Olivia and Akira to the side, then vanished into thin air!

“WHAT?!” Elizabeth stood there, rooted to the ground, feeling like the world was collapsing around her. When reality finally hit, her expression crumpled up into despair, and she screamed, 

“NOOOOOOOO!!! MIKA!!!!” Elizabeth dropped to her knees with her arm stretched out, tears falling down her cheeks as she stared at the space her daughter used to be standing in.