8 years ago...
Two people walked side by side through a landscape of destroyed houses, debris, and piles of corpses.
The adult wore a black suit and carried a long white sword on his hip. His white beard and hair showed clear signs of aging, but his most striking feature was his chilling, blood-red eyes which is the key inheritance of Bloodrunes.
The kid walking beside him shared the same aesthetic. Though the boy looked fragile, anyone who underestimated him would quickly regret it.
"Can an ordinary 3-star swordsman really pull this off, Uncle?"
"You do not have the standing to talk to your superior like that... especially for a mere bastard."
Vladimir struck little Ran in the stomach. The hit was powerful, but the young prodigy stood his ground and withstood it.
Ran and Vladimir were acquaintances. More accurately, the patriarch of the household had taken a liking to Ran and assigned Vladimir to be his short-term mentor.
Vladimir had brought Ran to the outskirts of the Bloodrune estate, to an abandoned ghost town that had been recently destroyed.
Vladimir knew Ran could not defeat the culprit responsible for the destruction. However, he brought the boy along anyway, thinking it would be a good opportunity for Ran to gain some real combat experience.
The two walked through the destroyed town in silence, staying cautious on every foot. The scale of the massacre made it clear that whatever did this was dangerous.
Vladimir began to regret bringing the boy. If the situation turned dire, he wouldn't be able to protect him.
'That bastard Somes will kill me if I lose this brat!'
Suddenly, a heavy, murderous aura erupted from a nearby alley. The pressure was so intense it nearly forced Ran to his knees.
The scale of the pure murderous energy was so intense it even made Vladimir's eyes wide in shock.
"Don't follow," Vladimir ordered.
"Yes, sir!!"
Vladimir drew his sword and entered the alley with extreme caution. The further he moved, the more the aura intensified, the more his grip tightened.
He narrowed his eyes looking at the source of the terrifying aura. The culprit wasn't some generic lunatic villain grinning widely. It was just a kid curled up like a ball in the corner of wall.
"A Saber!"
There were tales of people suddenly turning into deranged, homicidal criminals for centuries. When it happened, their mana increased tremendously and their body constitution changed, instantly making them an A-level threat to the Empire.
No one knew the cause. It happened just because. However one thing was unusual... every victim shared a common trait: they would constantly murmur, "The abyss is approaching. We have to uphold our ordeal to show our loyalty to the Lord."
No one knew who this "Lord" was or what the "Abyss" meant. In common folklore, the Abyss was just a hypothetical void, but for these killers, it was a reality.
Some dismissed it thinking they have cracked their head while some genuinely started to question. But one thing was common: no one knew what this phenomenon was.
Since the first person to suffer from this condition was a commoner named Saber, the Empire began calling these entities "Saber."
Vladimir stared down at the curled-up girl, his grip tightening on his hilt. Looking at her small, trembling form, a wave of pity fought against his resolve. But looking closely, there was no saving a Saber.
"This is mercy."
The moment he raised the blade to strike, the child exploded into motion.
Her face was a blank, hollow mask of nothingness, her eyes glazed like a mindless killing machine. Before Vladimir could even bring his blade down, she lunged.
A grotesque, mutated arm swollen from pulsating purple mana intercepted him. The clash of steel hitting a steel echoed throughout the ghost town.
"The abyss is approaching. We have to uphold our ordeal to show our loyalty to the Lord," she murmured as their power collided.
Vladimir grit his teeth, pushing her back.
1st bloodrune technique: Shadow Rush!
He vanished into a blur, reappearing behind her to strike. But the child reacted with supernatural instinct, swinging her massive, disgusting arm to shield her back. The impact sent him sliding across the debris of the ghost town.
He didn't give her time to breathe. Leaping over a pile of corpses, he channeled every ounce of his energy.
6th technique: Vertical Crush!
He brought his sword down in a devastating, mana-drenched arc.
The child raised her mutated arm to block. The sheer force of the blow shattered the ground beneath her, burying her legs deep into the earth.
Her bone snapped and flesh tore, but the tremendous mana reserves within her arm glowed, healing the shredded muscle back together in seconds.
"The abyss is approaching. We have to uphold our ordeal to show our loyalty to the Lord," she whispered again.
Breaking free from the crater, she lunged at him. Her clawed hand tore right through his suit, raking across his chest and leaving deep, burning wound. Vladimir stumbled back against the wall of a destroyed house, coughing up blood.
He was heavily wounded.
'This is bad.'
Gritting his teeth through the agonizing pain, he poured the very last of his life force into his blade.
7th technique: Thunder Rush!
A roar shattered the silence, a dragon of pure thunder manifested around his sword. He surged forward. The child met him head-on, her monstrous arm glowing with dark mana as they collided in a blinding explosion of light and fury.
Dust cleared up and the battle was over. Little Ran hurried to the scene... only to witness severely wounded Vladimir lying on the ground.