Under the Veil of Night

BAM!

Rolling her body, she managed to avoid the car. Pain enveloped her entire body and spurred her tears to flow out like rivers. Through her blurry sight, she saw her parents dying and the man they talked with disappearing in the crowd.

'Mom.... Dad.....'

Propping her body up, she forced herself to stand up again. It was so painful—both her body and heart were filled with pain, and it threatened to tear her apart.

Bang!

The door of the car that nearly crashed into her suddenly opened. A boy drenched in blood stepped out. His expression was stern, cold, and almost expressionless. Just his aura alone made people unconsciously move back to make way for him.

Glimpsing through the opened door, Kanae saw a man slumped against the window. His pale face, painted red with blood, showed that the man was already dead. It was ghastly and unsightly.

"Watch out!" Kanae yelled to the boy when she saw a man sneaking towards him with a bat ready. Even though she was also hurting from the pain, his appearance distracted for a moment.

The boy, Kevin, shifted his body to evade the attack. Using agile and trained movements, he kicked the man in the stomach. His strength was enough to send the man to the ground, writhing in pain.

Kevin looked towards the other side of the square with a grim face. There were still so many people who wanted to take his life. They had killed his father...

His hand trembled when he caught the sight of the car he stepped out of. Blood trickled out from the open door, drop by drop onto the ground below.

He couldn't die yet!

At this moment, Kanae dashed past the young man. Her eyes were fixated on the two fallen bodies on the ground. Her body hurt like crazy, but she didn't care in the slightest. All she hoped for was reaching her parents' side before their death.

'Please, stay alive!'

Ignoring the sound of fighting around her, she sprinted to her parents. Before she could reach them, a gunshot grazed the top part of her head.

Bang!

"Aaahhhh!"

Falling to the ground, Kanae felt pain in the right side of her head. Blood trickled down, painting half of her face red. Crouching on the ground, she touched her head lightly. Seeing the blood on her hand, she could guess that she must have gotten shot. To be exact, the bullet had grazed the skin on her head as she could feel the shallow wound.

'It hurts.'

Tears poured out even faster. She clenched her fist, trying to distract herself from the pain. Since she was not dead yet, it meant that the gunshot didn't injure her vitals, even if it was extremely painful. Pushing herself up, she dashed to her father's side just as a gun aimed at her once again.

Bang!

The bullet passed by the top of her head. She crouched down near her parents' bodies. Their blood soaked her hands. Putting her finger to her father's neck, she prayed hard that there was still a heartbeat.

"Come on, Dad... Mom...," Kanae cried as she gazed at her parents. Her heart felt like it was breaking into pieces. Please, don't leave her...

Please...!

She was screaming internally, hoping that her parents were still alive. However, she couldn't sense anything. Thinking that it might be due to the fact that she was not a doctor, thus making her unable to feel their pulse correctly, she lowered her head.

Her left ear pressed against her father's chest, trying to hear the sound of his heartbeat. There was nothing. She couldn't hear anything. Their chests didn't even heave from normal breathing.

Tears poured out even harder as realization hit her. They shot her parents' vitals instantly, sending them to their graves.

"Mom...Dad..."

Something inside of her tore and broke apart, sending pain through her entire body. It was so painful that she nearly screamed loudly.

Bang!

A gunshot caused her senses to return momentarily. From the corner of her eyes, she could see a man several dozen meters away aiming his gun at her.

'I'm his target?'

It was inconceivable to think that someone like her could pose any threat to them. To her knowledge, she should only be nothing more than a normal junior high student, without much talent except for her above average grades.

However, her parents' earlier conversation made her rather confused, as she didn't understand why they were targeting her. It wasn't too logical to think that they would target her after her parents now. There was something special about her and her sister that caused them to place importance on the two of them.

It was only in the future that she would remember the information that her parents told her when she was still a kid. But right now, she couldn't think of anything.

Bang!

Another bullet made its way towards her, but it passed by her right shoulder without hitting her. As her eyes looked at the bullet's trajectory just now, something inside her urged her to move.

Without thinking, she reached for her father's pocket. The cold sense of metal on her fingertips told her that she managed to find her father's gun. Taking it out, she used both her hands to aim at the man. In that moment, time seemed to stop as she pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The gun's recoil sent her backwards, tumbling like a rag doll. She propped herself up as soon as she could. Her eyes gazed towards the other side of the square, looking at the fallen man.

He died.

She killed him.

Her heartbeat increased when she realized this. However, she didn't have any time to think about it as the pain intensified, sending waves of pain coursing through her body.

"Aaaaahhhhhh....!!!"

Crouching on the ground, she did all she could to endure the pain. The pain started from her head before shooting towards her entire body. She didn't know how long it took until the pain subsided. All she knew was that her strength had completely drained from her body. She didn't want to do anything other than lying down.

Right now, she didn't understand what had happened to her. But in the future, she would understand that this was the process that awakened her talent and changed her destiny.

A brutal process that only limited people experienced.