1 PROLOGUE I

There was once a small village in the border of Ensteris and Xenaron called the Man's Last Bastion.

In that tiny village were only lesser than a dozen houses and a single farm patch.

Even though the village is always in trouble with money and food, it didn't stop the kids that lived there to play and have fun.

Even though the existence of the children endangers the possibility of demons coming to kill the helpless villagers, that didn't stop the parents to let their children live as innocently as they could.

In one of the few houses lived a small but happy family of three.

Zanien Esentaria, the mother, Armaros Gennaha, the father, and their child, Ancestra Elena Enicillis.

Little Ancestra, or as her parents called her Little Ancy was a somewhat quiet kid. Life always shined brightest in her eyes.

Whenever she played with the kids, they get mad at her for always being the winner in their games, but with her easygoing attitude, they could never really hate her. She was also an exquisite child with raven hair.

Ancestra got her pretty face and features from Zanien, while her raven hair and bright crimson eyes from Armaros. They blessed her with their best traits while she exhibited the smarts and wisdom of her mother.

"Why is Ancestra so pretty with her black hair?" One girl asked.

"All the boys keep on getting her attention... Johannes' mine, not yours!" Another one says out of jealousy.

"Her name is also hard to say... What does Enici-whatever it is even mean? Shouldn't she have the same as her parents?" asked another girl.

"Uh... girls?" Ancestra joins in with a smile and a confused expression.

"W-What? What do you want?" asked the first girl.

"W-we're not listening to you!" stuttered the second.

"W-we're not gonna be your friends!" shouted the third.

"I can't tell you why I have an uncommon name than my parents, but my mother's really pretty. I think she can help you girls look better than me. How about it?" Ancestra looks at the three of them.

They looked at each other, considering the offer. They smiled at her with a triumphant expression, thinking that they've already beaten her even when they haven't even begun on their makeover yet.

"H-hmph! Don't think that we'll be friends because you made us prettier!" The first girl crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted.

"As long as Johannes' notices me!" the second girl happily agreed.

"M-my mom told me to try and befriending one boy, so maybe this can help..." the third one shyly agreed.

"That's great! Just tell my mom that you all want to be prettier, she can give your hairstyles a nice change!" Ancestra beamed at the three before they ran off.

The other girls were not as pretty as Ancestra was and they were very jealous of her. But instead of hating them because they were rude to her she welcomed them to her mother to make them prettier.

"Hey, Lena! Today's the day I finally beat you!" One boy smiled proudly with a badly made wooden sword.

"Is that so? I know you're not alone; I'm just waiting for everyone else to come and join!" Ancestra smiled, looking all around her.

"W-what do you mean?! I-I have no other friends here to help me, I'm more than enough to beat you!" stuttered the boy, feeling sweat down his forehead because of his already foiled plan.

"Sure, sure. You couldn't even touch me last time we played without having the other boys pin me down in place." Ancestra shrugs her shoulders.

"S-Shut up! That was a coincidence!" weakly defended the boy, waving his wooden sword at her.

"Even though you shouted at them to get me?" Ancestra shook her head.

"S-stop talking, you stupid girl! Raaaaaaaah!" The boy couldn't defend himself any further, charging at Ancestra with the sword held high over his head.

"Haaaah. If you wanna become stronger," Ancestra starts, dodging the wide downward swing of the boy's wooden sword before slapping the back of his hand to disarm him, "my dad can teach you how to beat me."

The boys her age were supposed to be stronger than her, and they usually ganged up on her just to try and beat her. But instead of bullying them back she had her dad teach them how to beat and catch her.

Ancestra was a very popular kid not for her energy, but how friendly she is and how easy it is to talk to her. She may be a quiet child, but she wasn't shy. There was one kid in the biggest house in the village that she's only seen once, and everyone told her to stay away from that same house. An abusive father lives there with his wife and their child, they said.

As much as her curiosity begged her to find out why the girl in the big house couldn't come out, there's not much a small child like her can do. This fact saddened her, but she had to look forward.

Time went on by peacefully even if the village was constantly in danger of running out of food. Zanien and Armaros always go out to hunt animals for the entire village whenever the village runs low, so there was no real threat save for the demons that are by their doorstep every day.

The only reason the demons have not attacked yet is precisely because of Ancestra's parents. They know that this pair of lovers are protecting the tiny village. Before then, they waited for the right moment, slowly gathering their own forces until an opportunity presents itself. Then they can run wild.

The parents knew of this as well. With their powers, they would be enough to defend the entire village until age catches up with them. However, protecting the village with the children alongside it, raises the danger to another level.

There were only humans in the Man's Last Bastion, for only Ophelia knows how long this village has existed. Until the family of three had retreated here.

Zanien Esentaria is an Archangel who was cast away Heaven because of falling in love with one enemy they swore to destroy.

Armaros Gennaha is an Archdemon exiled from Hell for the same reason.

Zanien saved Armaros in the war of Heaven and Hell after finding him attempting to save children that were caught up in the war because they used Earth as their battlefield. More accurately, remnants of Earth the humans once knew.

They sought to take care of each other and ran away from the war to arrive in no land, not even angels and devils would come to. And that is Man's Last Bastion.

One day, when Ancestra was tasked to help her mother around the house, the girl asked Zanien questions she was curious about.

"Mom, what does my name mean?" asked the girl kneeling on the floor while folding laundry.

"Hmm? What part of your name, sweetie?" asked the peach-haired angel whilst mopping the floor three meters away from her child.

"All of it! The other kids tell me my name is very weird. I feel a bit isolated sometimes." Little Ancy's beady crimson eyes drooped down as she folded another piece of clothing.

"Sweetie... Well, Ancestra came from the word "Ancestral", meaning "something of, belonging to, inherited from, or denoting an ancestor or ancestors."" explained Zanien.

"So... does that mean I get something from you and Dad?" asked the daughter.

"Of course! You're pretty like Mom, you know? And you have Armaros' eyes and hair color! Maybe you'll get something more for your birthday when it comes around!" Zanien smiled, with Ancestra following.

"A present?!… but..." the little girl was happy for a moment but deflated back down like a balloon.

"What is it, dear?" asked Zanien.

"Well, tell me more about my name first! What does Elena mean?" Ancestra shrugged it off and asked.

"Elena? Your father and I picked that one because it meant "shining light," or "bright one." Which you are! You're a very smart child, you know that? Very strong like your father too!" Zanien beamed. She loved talking about Ancestra but wasn't insensitive or overbearing enough to boast about her daughter. It was actually the other way around.

"Ooooh! Then what does Enicillis mean? Is it a made-up word?" Ancestra finished folding the laundry, in which she lifted up the stack of clothes and teetered to the couch to put it.

"Ah, Enicillis. Your father told me that it meant "strongest while calm."" Zanien softly remembered while looking at her daughter trying not to fall while balancing a stack of clothes taller than her.

""Strongest when calm"... Does that mean I'm, well, better while I'm not panicking?" asked the little girl in a funny way. She couldn't find it in her innocent mind to word it any better than she could.

"Yes! That's why you can beat the little boys without much effort. You and he have the same feeling of nothing can really surprise you and throw yourself off, you know?" Zanien said.

"Why AM I stronger than the boys, anyway? Isn't that weird?" asked Ancestra after hopping up on the couch and sitting down.

"You got your strength from your Dad! He's very, very strong!" Zanien explained, mopping the area that Ancestra occupied before she stood up. A little more and she's done.

"Really? Is he stronger than you, Mom?" the interested little girl asked.

"Mmmm, physically yes!" Zanien pondered for a moment before responding.

"So Dad's body is stronger… What about you, Mom? What are you strong at?" asked Ancy.

"Using my head, and magic!" said the mother. Ancestra's eyes glisten.

"Magic?! Mom, you can make fire or water come out of nowhere?!" Ancestra hopped in place on the couch with a smile.

"Well, I can make light! Actually, I can even control it at will!" boasted the mother.

"WHAT. Mom, show me, show me!" Ancestra was bouncing like a ball from curiosity.

"Let me just finish cleaning~ Okay, dear? Be a good Ancy and Mom will show you magic!" Zanien beamed at her child. The little girl nodded madly before sitting down, dangling her cute legs by the edges of the couch.

After Zanien finished her chores, she and her daughter bonded for the rest of the day, making Ancestra gawk in awe at the beauty of Light magic. They made dinner together, with Armaros being subjected to Little Ancy's first cooking. He told his precious daughter that it was very delicious.

Another particular day, when Zanien was out hunting, it was Armaros and Ancestra left in the house.

"Ancestra, what do you say with training with me?" asked the six-foot male to his three-foot daughter.

"Ooooh! I don't think I can beat you, dad." Ancestra smiled, but she admitted the truth.

"Give it time and you'll be better than me. I don't want my daughter to be a dependent woman, too." He smiled and reached out to pat Ancestra's head. His huge hand was a bit scary if its descending down on someone, Ancestra thought.

"Oh, okay! I wanna make you two proud too!" smiled the little girl. Armaros clutched his chest and recoiled a little from his daughter's smile. The two then went to their backyard. Which also doubled as the back of their house.

"Okay, Dad! I'm coming!" Ancestra was pumped, and as soon as they gained a few meters of distance from each other, she dashed at her giant of a father without much warning. She threw a punch when she was but a meter away from Armaros.

"You don't announce your presence to the enemy, little girl! That's inviting your demise!" Armaros caught Ancestra's fist with his palm and blocked her following upward kick from below with his other. He threw the child back, with Ancestra landing on her feet nimbly like a cat.

"Impressive movement, but your attacks are wide and predictable! Come again!" The father taunted, still standing while Ancestra was crouched in a stance.

"Yaaah!" Ancestra shouted with excitement, charging at her father again this time in a sharper angle, using small and quick movements for her father not to catch her. Until she gave way to a large, powerful kick.

"Strength without control is like a mad beast. Strength with control is discipline. Do you have discipline, Ancestra?" Armaros spoke while Ancestra threw punches, kicks, knees, and elbows at his direction. He patted away all her strikes with minimal strength. When he threw Ancestra back, she was panting and gasping.

"I… haaaah… I-I do! I was raised by a good mother and a good father; therefore I have discipline!" shouted the little child. It did not fit for someone as young as her to say these words. Armaros was surprised by how serious she was. Her crimson eyes glowed and pushed through her spiky, raven-colored bangs.

"Good! Come again and show me that discipline!" Armaros himself was also getting excited, both because it was Ancestra he was teaching, and her saying that he was a good father. It meant that he raised her right and it filled him with pride.

Ancestra charged once more at her father, throwing all she could at him with all of her energy. She wasn't angry, and her excitement simmered down. She was now calm. Her eyes and instincts worked harmoniously as her father started to counterattack with punches and kicks that she took head on. They sparred for the whole day with Zanien coming home to an exhausted pair of father and daughter. They enjoyed a nice and energizing dinner that night.

One day, Ancestra was out playing with the kids. Then, just when things were about to heat up, the abusive father came home to the big house with a human head and a bloody sword in his hands. Ancestra heard screams inside the house.

"Guys? I-I think we should-" Ancestra turned around to see that the other kids already hurried away from the house, back into their own.

"report… this to my… parents…" the little girl trailed off. She was at a loss. She did not know what to do. She was not scared nor was she panicking. It was just that she simply did not know what to do.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!" An ear-shattering wail of terror came from the same abusive father that rushed out of his house. He stumbled and fell down the stairs with heavy thuds against the dead village soil. He found Ancestra and clung to her arms.

When he realized he couldn't barge the child in front of him as well, his eyes rolled up to the back of his head, his mouth foamed and the hands that had Ancestra's frail arms in them fell to the ground. After that, the girl she had only seen once came out of the door, with a huge wound in her stomach. The girl coughed large splotches of thick red liquid while trying to walk. She tripped and fell down the stairs.

"Hup!" At least, if Ancestra didn't catch her she would've. The light, pastel-pink haired girl in her arms coughed even more blood, staining Ancestra's face and her clothes.

"What happened?!" Armaros and Zanien rushed out of their house after he out of their house after hearing screams to find Ancestra looking at them calmly with wide eyes. Her expression was blank, but her lips were quivering. The two spared no moment and ran to their child.

"Dear God… Why did this child have to suffer?" Zanien rushed and knelt by their side, conjuring soft green-colored light from her hand, and put it over the bleeding girl's wound. Soon, the girl's large wound was healed, and she was breathing softly.

Armaros rushed into the house to see if anyone else was hurt and found an adult female with a gaping sword wound in her chest who had the same pastel pink hair as the girl in Ancestra's arms, seemingly her mother. He clicked his tongue, feeling bitter. He cleaned the blood off the female's clothes and the floor's, bringing the corpse outside in his arms.

"She's gone. I'll bury her." Armaros spoke with a stern voice. Amidst all this, Ancestra couldn't speak nor consciously move. All she had was the same blank expression she stared at her parents with when the bleeding girl was in her arms.

"Let's give this child some rest. Come, Ancestra." Zanien carried the sleeping child in one arm and led Ancestra by the hand with the other.

Ancestra walked silently while tightly gripping her mother's hand. For the whole day, Ancestra couldn't bring herself to speak. Armaros and Zanien looked at their traumatized daughter in worry. The girl they picked up was in their bed, sleeping softly. The parents put a hand on each of Ancestra's hands and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Do you want to sleep with us tonight?" asked Zanien, smiling at her daughter.

Ancestra nods quietly.

The day passed normally compared to the incident that happened. The family slept together again after a long while. Ancestra was in her mother's arms, while the girl was in Armaros'. She couldn't sleep for hours, with the vibrant imagery of blood and the girl's shining eyes staring into her soul. Zanien hummed a comforting melody, which soon brought the raven-haired child to sleep.

The next day, Ancestra woke up last among the family with no one in the bed with her. She then learned about the girl's name, Julie. Her personality was beyond the kids her age, and even more than Ancestra's. Julie was quieter than her, stronger, and speaks in less sentences than her. She was a weird child, compared to Ancestra.

As much as the raven-haired female couldn't understand her, she also didn't grow up the same as Julie. That much she understood. With that, Ancestra was her frank self. Julie, as closed off she looked, welcomed that. Although their friendship wasn't long.

Julie told Zanien and Armaros that she had to go after a week has passed. The little girl didn't take no for an answer, and when Armaros grabbed her shoulder, the three-foot pastel pink-haired child kept walking as if the six-foot giant male was nothing to her. The two parents were worried, but they couldn't do anything about the child's resolute decision.

Before Julie went, Ancestra saw her crying in front of her mother's grave. The father's body who was left rotting in front of their big house mysteriously disappeared in the week that Julie has stayed in the village. Their days went back to peace a month after the incident happened.

A few months later, one of the kid's birthdays came around, and Ancestra was invited. A secret from all the kids' parents, they went to the border of Xenaron, the land of darkness. The challenge was that they step inside Xenaron for a few seconds and return back afterward.

Less than a dozen kids were there, around seven or eight kids, including Ancestra and that one boy whom one of the girls liked named Johannes. He had dirty blonde hair and stark emerald eyes.

"Here's the first round! We step in for one second and return!" said the birthday kid.

"Okay!" echoed all the other kids who participated.

And so they did. Apparently it was fun.

"This time, three seconds! Don't chicken out, guys!" shouted the birthday kid once more.

"Let's do it!" one of the kids shouted.

And so they did. Only Ancestra and Johannes felt wary for some odd reason.

"Five seco-"

"I think we should stop, Lucius." Ancestra interjected the birthday kid.

"What, you scared, Ancy?" provoked Lucius.

"I kind of am. Something's watching us, and it's very creepy. We should go back."

"W-what's with you? Don't say things like that! It's my birthday!" Lucius nervously smiled.

"I'm with Ancestra here. Something's off." Johannes spoke, appearing from behind Ancestra. He was slightly taller than her.

"W-what's with you two??? Just because you're the strongest kids in the village doesn't mean you get to order me, the one with the birthday today!" Lucius shouted in defiance.

"You're strong too?" Ancestra asked Johannes, looking at him.

"Not as strong as you, but my dad keeps telling me to toughen up." Johannes scoffs.

"D-don't mind these two weirdos, guys! Let's go for ten seconds to prove that we're not pansies!" Lucius turned to the other kids to rally them to his side.

"Yeah, yeah! Ancestra and Johannes are just idiots and cowards!" one of the girls shouted at them.

And they went in Xenaron for ten seconds. Before their eyes, both Johannes and Ancestra saw huge, seven-foot shadows that moved around Lucius and the other kids.

"That looks like it's trouble, Johannes. What do we do?" asked Ancestra with a casual expression.

"You…" Johannes spoke, his voice trembling a little. His hands were trembling as well, for a moment. He calmed himself down with deep breaths.

"Go back to the village and get your parents. I'll try and save everyone." Johannes had sweat pouring down his face, his eyes showing intense fear.

"…Alright. I trust you, Johannes." Ancestra pats Johannes shoulder, bringing a smile to the male's face.

"Go!" Johannes shouted, and Ancestra went like the wind, moving as fast as she could to the village.

Ancestra found it weird. She did not have the same palpable fear that Johannes expressed when he saw the lurking shadows. Not that she was totally not scared of it, but more so that it didn't surprise her. It was the same with Julie as well. She did not feel whatever Johannes felt. Insecure thoughts circulated in her mind as she rushed back to her parents.

Unbeknownst to her that if she doesn't hurry, she'll lose more than the kids at the border of Xenaron.