Few years ago, when Rio was still trapped in the dungeon, and the whole world had announced him dead, - Amy was going through the toughest ti.
Because she believed it was her fault he got trapped in the dungeon.
Her brother went into a battle without the support of his goddess who always looked after him, and it was all because of her stupid mistakes. (Hinted and talked about in ch160 & ch163)
After all, before the battle of the dungeon was going to take place, he had co to et her once. Cause she ssed up.
To get more experience about the world and be helpful to her brother, whose high talent and record breaking academic performance was putting him in danger every other day, with different talented heirs and students ganging up against him_ Alia chose to join the adventurer's guild in secret.
So when she joins the academy later on, she is not a drag to him. But soone who actually knows how to handle herself. _ At Least that was her intention in the beginning.
Until she started to enjoy this newfound freedom of hers, and all the responsibilities, restrictions, expectations and comparisons_ brought by being born a noble beca a burden to her. Sothing she started to hate and avoid at all costs.
One can say her rebellious teen phase had started off a bit early.
For a whole year while Rio was busy in the academy, making plans and preparations for her safe future, she started sneaking out every now and then doing small guild missions. Nothing dangerous as she was afraid to get into trouble, so she always joined so other groups, circling between different teams and gangs while hiding her na and appearance with a gift she received on her birthday.
With the rare elent of space, blessing of chaos improving her physique, and being an avatar of a primordial - despite being newly awakened she had so strength. Plus her unlimited supply of pills, potions, armors, weapons and everything else, kept her safe. - so she had a smooth journey of sorts for so ti.
She'd go to so lowest level of dungeons, do so guard missions for rchants, or pick so tasks which taught her sothing new. She made a few friends, made happy mories, and etc etc.
What she didn't know however was that she only saw light in the world, as her mother erased all the dirt in darkness.
Whoever dared to have any idea about her due to power, greed, lust, or any other twisted desire, was secretly killed even before making a move on her.
And just like that after tasting successful missions, handling all kinds of jobs away from anyone who knew her, _ she started to enjoy this freedom, enjoy living her own little adventure. And over ti, her confidence in herself only increased further and further.
The things she used to check dozens of tis, the plans she used to prepare over careful consideration, the research she'd do before taking on a job or joining a party _ it all beca irreverent.
As the feeling of being invincible, being favoured by fate, and belief that everything will work out just fine filled her heart.
And that's when she slipped.
Making a mistake by trusting soone's lies which resulted in her perfect little adventure to co to an end.
During a certain mission, the group she joined would enter the controlled open dungeon and be on guard duty, while miners would co and mine the ores from that world.
That's where she t a boy, an unawakened porter who was tasked with handling their luggage and items while they patrolled the mine for any remaining monsters, and protection against thieves.
Over ti this boy quickly beca her friend, and she started to co there daily, forgetting her rule which wanted anonymity and not staying at one job for a long period due to safety reasons.
But she did it for him.
Her overgrown confidence and the boy's sweet words and funny little jokes were the reasons behind everything.
Amy liked how he'd rely on her protection when entering the dungeon, how he'd praise her every ti she slayed even the smallest of monsters, or how he'd pester her to show him so small trick of mana or space magic any chance he got.
It was all new to Amy, the feeling where she wasn't on the back row, the one being protected and looked after by everyone, being treated as a kid - with him, she felt like being the most important. The role model, the idol, the Angel - the rush when soone looks up to you and wanna be just like you, it was a high that brought her a smile no matter how many tis she heard it.
It made her feel just like Rio, and how he'd smile when being called an angel.
(Trust sister, whatever u think he was smiling at, is definitely not the reason. Rio was probably going crazy in heart over how easy it is for the devil to beco an angel just by giving so freebies to weak, poor, and holess dudes.)
"Ria, where were you yesterday, I looked everywhere?" The boy said, looking at the '18 year old' Amy who entered the dungeon.
(Oh yeah, forgot to ntion, Ria is the na she gave at the adventurer's guild when applying for this job. As for the reason for choosing it, well her brother would call her by this na so ti by mistake, and it kinda just stuck to her.)
"I was busy." Amy replied, and parted from her team and followed the boy. "So what did you want to show ? I don't have much ti, I need to go back ho early today or my mother will catch ."
The boy's face shifted slightly, as he looked at her a little gloomily and asked, "What? But you just ca here?"
"I know, but I told you that my brother's taking part in a tournant, right, so we have to go there to cheer him on." Amy replied.
"You said he's in Zenith, right?" The boy turned around and asked her, "He must be really talented to make it there?"
"Of course, he's a genius. You know, he's the one who taught magic, not the master mother hired. That old man's classes are so boring, unlike when my brother used to help ." Amy replied, her voice filled with happiness as she recounted her childhood, and how she could sleep and Rio would do her howork.
"What rank do you think he'll get?" The boy asked.
"Rank, of course it's first. He's the best." Amy replied instantly without any doubt.
"First? But I heard people say Rio Blake is first?" The boy spoke, raising his head to look at her reaction.
"Duh, that's my _ I an, yeah, but _ uh, that _." Amy realized her mistake, but failed to salvage it.
"Ohh, I get it. They must not be in the sa class then. I heard big academies have 10 or 20 different classes each year." The boy spoke, interrupting her embarrassnt with his witty answer, before she turned tail and ran away to avoid any more questions like last ti.
"Huh, yeah, that's_ what I was saying. Exactly _ different class." Amy replied imdiately and agreed with him.
And to make sure she doesn't make the sa mistake again, she just took a deep breath and changed the topic, "So what did you want to show ? This isn't the path to the ore mine?"
"Ohh yeah, I wanted to show you a beautiful place I found yesterday, trust , you'll like it." The boy said and increased his speed. "It's not that far, we'll be back in a few minutes, so don't worry."
Amy looked around and found they were walking through the thick trees, going deeper into the forest, but ignoring her instincts once more, she followed the boy.
Walking right into the ambush awaiting her..
The boy kept glancing over his shoulder, his gaze flickering between anticipation and a controlled grin.
"Here we are," the boy said, gesturing around them. "Isn't it beautiful?"
Amy looked around, confused. The place was… fine, she supposed, but it wasn't anything special. The flowers were sparse, and the trees here looked a little picturesque, but that was it. "This is what you wanted to show ?"
Before she could voice her disappointnt, a sharp whistle cut through the air, followed by a flash of silver. _ "Shinnn"
Amy barely had ti to react. Her body moved on instinct, dodging the tallic star that whizzed past her cheek. Her heart pounded as she turned to face the direction of the attack.
From the trees erged a group of masked n, their black robes blending seamlessly with the shadows. Showing no mark of any special organisation or gang's affiliation. They moved with precision, surrounding her in a matter of seconds. Knives, stars, and other weapons glead in their hands, like ninjas brought to life.
tallic stars flew around, along with small sharp knives, attacking the duo of children from all sides.
Seeing the ambush and number of enemies, Amy's first instinct was to run away, but seeing the unawakened boy being injured by a knife and his hand nailed to a tree,_ she couldn't bear herself to leave him.
Thus she ignored her defence, and started focusing on protecting him. Wasting her mana, trying to heal his injuries, and setting up a barrier for his safety, while facing those trained assassins herself.
Not aware that as she turned her back on the bleeding boy, his painful expression disappeared, being replaced by a crazy smile watching her struggle.
"You're gonna fetch a good price, little princess. Took over a month, but my lies finally worked their magic." The boy muttered, pulling a knife out of his storage pouch.
But before he moved to stab her in the back, a bloody mist rose in the air, and out of nowhere a sneaky vampire rushed at his n. Sucking their blood and turning their bodies to aty husks.
"Es, you're here." Alia shouted excitedly watching her shadow coming out to protect her.
"Don't worry master, I've inford the Reapers and Alphas, they'll be here soon enough." Es said and unlocked the whip from her waist. Swinging it with a force that crackled in the air, moving freely like a serpent, before coiling around a man's neck, whom she pulled close and drained dry. "You can run now, leave these guys to ." She said, in between her drink.
While Amy was hesitating about what to do, the boy started shouting too. "She's right Ria, run away. Leave and go. I'm already injured but you can run. Gooooo."
He shouted like a loyal friend, while silently cursing her in his heart, 'dont you dare run, you bitch. You're my ticket out of this hellhole. So don't you dare leave.'
The boy cursed in his mind, over the ss up, before adjusting his plan and issuing a new order to his group.
"We can't take them alive, kill them all." A masked man said, and rushed with a katana at the boy's direction, while all the others ran to block Amy and Es.
"I'm sorry, Ria, because of , you…But you're really my best friend." The boy said in indignation as he closed his eyes and raised his hand in fear.
But after a while when he didn't feel any hit, he opened his eyes, slowly, only to see Amy standing in front of him, blocking the attack.
The emotional influence of seeing her friend dying in front of her, finally solved the mystery of space travel she always struggled with. And she teleported with her magic for the first ti.
Albeit all it did was a whole lot of nothing.
She lost all her mana afterwards and was hardly in any strength to stand straight, not to ntion with no mana the magic barrier around her beca ineffective, giving open access to the masted man's sword to her body.
Knowing her fate, Amy looked over her shoulder, giving a last warm smile to her friend, as her body shrunk in size, and the shapeshifting illusion trick started to wear off.
She wanted to explain, to speak, to speak she cherished their friendship, but there was no ti, so she just smiled gently to the boy, who stared right into her eyes, as he wiped his tears, and his lips curled into a cruel smile.
Under her confused eyes, his body shifted, growing taller, older—his true form. He was no longer the sweet, innocent boy she had befriended. He was a man, dangerous and twisted, with cold eyes that glead with malice.
And if this transformation wasn't enough, then she heard him give an order gave a that shocked her to the core,
"Kill her." The boy said with a crazy look, his eyes filled with mockery he felt for how shocked she looked.
"Sorry, kiddo. But mommy says you gotta die." The boy said while licking the dagger in his hands. Stepping forward to plunge it in her heart.
But sothing strange happened right that instant, the earring Amy wore in her right ear, started glowing brightly in a blinding light, and when the effect wore off, and the man opened his eyes again, in front of him, he saw _ death.
(The earrings were Rio's first gift to Amy, an artifact called Call Of Duty, introduced in ch 65.)
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