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  “How long has it been since I’ve talked to my children?”

  She had beeing inside her coffin for years now.

  Sihe birth of her daughter Camil and finding out she was also a Dhampir with a defect that made her strao others, Teressa has fallen into despair.

  She was exiled by the man that she ohought loved him, and after having lost the Blessing of the Evil Gods after her sed child, she believed her life was over at that moment.

  The Iron Blood Empire was a nation of great disciples amongst the noble families, and also of excellency; the Emperor desired the stro children, blessed by Evil Gods and with amazing talents.

  Only those with all of those traits could ever pete for the throne, which he would give away the moment the stro of his children stood amidst a mountain of the corpses of their siblings.

  “I gaihis through violence, and it shall be taken from me with violence.”

  Because Vampires did not age and had no lifespan, they would only die when they were directly killed, not out of old age, or even from diseases, most of the time.

  There was no cept of “iing” the throo someone else willingly; the Emperor raised assets, ons, and also assassins that would e after him.

  As a battle-loving warmohere was nothing more exg for him than his own powerful children ing after his head.

  As wicked as it was, this was how the imperial family of the Iron Blood Empire worked and how the Emperor wahings to be.

  Because of this, when Vd was born as a weak, sickly dhampir, uo walk or even develop any magic or power, and weaker than even humans, she immediately khat a weakling like him wouldn’t please her husband.

  Teressa cared for him, taking care of her child and seeing him slowly grow up, in the hopes that he would one day recover, but he never did. Vd remained sickly and pathetid she felt frustrated with herself.

  She bmed only herself for this; she had the duty to give her husband a worthy oppo, yet she could not even give birth to a det warrior.

  Her sed child was her hope, yet Camil was born a dhampir as well; her blood was cursed, some said, to give birth to two dhampirs. The result of a vampire bloodlihat had grown too thin was often mocked by the nobility, even though it was quite a normal occurrence for the oners.

  To the high society of vampire his was a terrible thing to happen; many of the other es called her cursed and even a monster in disguise. The Emperor still held some sort of mercy, givihe smallest, poorest territory of his try, Elderbridge, a small city riddled with crime that had three weak dungeons inside.

  Falling from grace, Teressa was exiled, moving to a run-down manor with only three pathetic butlers, whom she always suspected to be spies of her rivals, the other es of the Emperor.

  Her son was always in bed, being given medie to alleviate the agony of his existence, and his daughter, whom she tried many times to heal her strange mind, simply ignored everyone, always going around alone, as if she were in her own little world.

  She talked alone and would oftentimes ignore her mother’s words entirely, making Teressa more and more frustrated.

  With no family to go back to and only her miserable life, Teressa decided to sleep, because only in her dreams could she have a better life, ohout disgrace, dishonor, and two children that only made her ridiculed and a ughingstock.

  She cared for them to aent, leaving them a lot of money, but she couldn’t take it anymore and simply decided to run away from her reality and from all her problems.

  Yet…

  The more years went by, the more she felt guilty for what she did. As she slept, she dreamed stantly of her children, of the days they were born, of their little selves, and of their cute giggles.

  Vd, as sickly as he was, was such a bright, adorable boy; she remembers how he often grabbed her hands only a few days after being born, always curious about the world around him.

  And her Camil, as pretty as a doll, was so cute and small that she wao always hug her and protect her. She was never able to uand her, unlike Vd, but she often hoped for the day she could address her mother.

  And as her dreams started to ge, being memories of her disgrace, her ridicule, and the imperial family that always mocked her beloved children, she couldn’t help but grow frustrated.

  “Why… Why do I deserve this treatment?”

  “My children… They’re my precious children.”

  “I don’t care what they are or how they are... They didn’t deserve to be mocked like this.”

  “If only I had the strength to stop running away.”

  “If only…”

  As she cried while sleeping, something happened.

  RUMBLE!

  A huge tremor made the ey of Elderbridge shake. Her eyes opened wide, waking from her sleep that had sted four years. She felt the presence of Camil in the room o her, but Vd was o be seen, nor were the butlers.

  “Heeelp!”

  “What’s going on?!”

  “Dungeon Break!”

  “Run!”

  The screams of the oners down below quickly forced her to kick open her coffin and slowly walk out of it, slightly dizzy after having slept for so long.

  “W-What day is it? How long have I been asleep?” She wondered, looking through the window. “What’s… AH!”

  Her crimson eyes widened in shock as she g Elderbridge’s capital pza, where the three dungeon portals were located. Two of the portals had turned deep red, and cracks across the empty air opened, making them three times as rge.

  Red crystals and fmes spread out of the portals, and strange monsters covered with these same red crystals and crimson fmes emerged endlessly from them, by the hundreds!

  Some Pyers and Hunters were trying to hunt them down, but the monsters, which were supposed to be weak monsters at Tiers 1 to 2, had bee several times stronger now; even the Pyers struggled against their big numbers and explosive fmes!

  “What is happening?! This has never happened before, nor even beeed.”

  She g the sky; the red moon was soon to lose its light for the moon to shine brightly above the night sky.

  “I have to go!”

  Her long, silvery-white hair waved by the wind as she opehe window, her Blood Aura surging endlessly, shaking the foundations of her house.

  Despite being raised as a priestess of the Red Moon Goddess, Teressa had achieved Tier 6 of her Blood Core, being sidered detly strong; she erhaps the stro inhabitant of Elderbridge at the moment.

  The reason she was worried about the Red Moonlight was because her Magic as the Priestess of the Red Moon lified and showed its true power beh its moonlight.

  Ihay mihe Red Moon would cease thten the night sky.

  “Camil…!”

  However, she wasn’t reckless; thinking about her only daughter, she rushed towards her room, which was actually Vd’s room.

  BAAAM!

  She opehe door and saw her daughter sleeping over her brother’s bed, which was empty.

  “Camil! Wake up, Camil!”

  She started to quickly try to wake her up, moving her arouly.

  “Hmm… W-Wha…? Mama?”

  Camil slowly opened her eyes, reizing the face of her mother, which she had not seen for more than four years now.

  “Mama is awake.”

  She slowly sat down, looking at her mom.

  “I missed you, mama.”

  “C-Camil?!”

  Teressa was suddenly hugged by her daughter, the cold, distant daughter she always thought didn’t love her.

  "Mama, I missed you.”

  “Y-You did? But… I thought you didn’t like me?”

  “I-I thought mama didn’t like me.”

  “I… No, of course. Of course not. No matter... what you are, I will always love you, Camil.”

  Teressa had to pause a bit as she decided to hug her daughter and tell her what she had been dreaming of for years. Her precious daughter, whom she had abandoned because she felt so ashamed of herself,.

  “Really?” Camil wondered.

  “Yes, really.” Teressa nodded gently, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry for not being there for you... Mama was too disappointed in herself. I wao run away from everything. I am a bad mother.”

  “Mama, there’s a burnt smell,” Camil said, looking into the window. “What’s happening?”

  “A big crisis...” Teressa sighed. “Something I have never seen before or that has ever beeed. In Dungeon Break, monsters are invading and burning everything. Mama will have to go solve this. Or die trying.”

  “Eh? But what about Big Brother? Where is he? He’s strong. Big brother could help!” Camil said.

  “Strong?” Teressa wondered. “Vd is very weak; he ’t even stand! What are you talking about, Camil? Do you know where he went? And what about the butlers? They didn’t... they didn’t kidnap him, right?!”

  “No, the butlers disappeared,” said Camil. “but brother… He went to buy me blood. I helped him with my powers!”

  “Powers? owers?” woeressa.

  “These…”

  Camil pointed her little fingers at the bed beh her as it suddenly started floating.

  “W-Wha…?! That’s… Telekinesis?!” Teressa gasped. “Camil! You awakened as an Esper?!”

  “What’s that?” Camil tilted her head.

  “Ah, no, we don’t have time for this! I’ll go outside, look for your brother, and try to solve this. Please, go to the underground; there’s a buhere where you should hide!” said Teressa. “I’ll bring you there myself!”

  “N-No, wait, mama! I want to help too.” Camil said.

  “Help?! You must be insane! Yoing to die out there, Camil!” said Teressa.

  “B-But…” Camil muttered as tears fell from her eyes. “I don’t want the city to burn... I want to help Mama! Buuaaaah!”

  She started g because her mother was screaming too loudly. Camil had always been bothered by very loud noises and would often cry because of them.

  “B-But…!”

  As she was about to knock her daughter out t her to safety, mostly driven by the ruthless nature of Vampires, she suddenly noticed something.

  Several magigs lie over the bed, attached to a string, alongside a little bracelet and a small, bck steel wand.

  And a note.

  “What’s this?”

  She read the note.

  “For… Camil from her brother?” she muttered. “I made these things for you... Once you wake up one day, wear these magigs and use this wand; they will help you amplify your Psychic powers and have more Ara?! What? Since when has Vd been a magic crafter?! And the quality of these items is incredible! What’s going on?!”

  “For me?! Big Brother is so nice! See mama?” Camil quickly equipped all the rings ahe wand.

  Surprisingly, the immense aura of Ara emanating from them didn’t affect her at all.

  Espers were especially talented, gifted people born with innate psychic powers.

  The ability to wield a through psychic powers was much better than any spell casting.

  Among them, the most coveted Esper abilities were Telekinesis and Telepathy.

  “Perhaps… It wouldn’t be a bad idea t you along then. e, Camil, mama will carry you,” Teressa held her daughter in her arms.

  “No, mama, I don’t like it!” she said, suddenly moving away from her mother. “I will fly; look.”

  FLUOSH!

  Little Camil suddenly floated in midair, surprising her mother even more.

  “W-What…?”

  Vd had suddenly bee an incredible Magic Crafter, and her daughter was now an incredible Esper.

  Just what had happened? Years ago, both children couldn’t even unicate with their mother properly.

  In four years, everything ged so much that she was having a hard time believing it.

  “Hah… We will o talk about all of this ter, Camil.” Teressa greair e, bat-like wings made of her Blood Aura “Let’s go! Please, PLEASE stay by my side at ALL times, okay?”

  “Okay!” Camil nodded but immediately flew out the window.

  “Camil! Be careful!” Her mother chased after her, and the twreeted by the pza of Elderbridge burning.

  And two gigantic beasts roamed around.

  “Don’t run away, my little fmes!”

  “Embrace the fmes; bee oh the ashes!”

  “All of you shall return to the primordial fire!”

  “You will burn, and you will die!”

  “What’s there to be afraid of?”

  And they were talking.

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  Pach