Plain Girl Hero of Darkness
Baby In The Forbidden Forest

"Grandma, read this one!" A young boy took a picture book off the shelf, and handed it to his grandmother who was knitting on a chair, named Camilla. The warm light from the fireplace illuminated the smiling boy's face.

"You want to read this again? Mikhail, you really like this book huh?" Camilla stopped knitting, and took a picture book from the little boy's palm. This was Mikhail's favorite book, and his grandmother had read to him hundreds of times. The eroded edge is the proof. Especially the cover of a book whose picture is completely worn out.

And Camilla could also clearly remember the cover image that there was a picture of a black sword piercing into a hill, and there was also a picture of someone looking at it from a distance.

Plain Girl Hero of darkness. That's the name of the book in this picture.

"Yes I like it! From all the picture books I have, this main character is the strongest!" Little Mikhail waved his limbs with a gasp of breath, as if he was mimicking the main character of the picture book. Her cute figure made Camilla relax her cheeks.

No matter in which era, it was obvious that a boy would always admire his hero.

"Alright, Mikhail. Come here!" Camilla called her granddaughter, and Mikhail sat on her grandmother's lap obediently. The children were warmer than the adults, and Camilla could feel this warmth through her grandson's back.

"Let's hurry!" Mikhail swung his leg, and urged as he looked up. Camilla flicked Mikhail's silver hair, and opened the first page of the picture book.

"A long time ago, there was a girl who was raised by the God of Death ..-"

The words from Grandma It was a story that happened in the past. A story about a girl who is called the Hero of Darkness.

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All stories start with a small beginning. Deep in the wilderness or far from the human realm, towering trees reached the sky, and the canopy turned the forest dark as night. In addition, the fog that always enveloped this forest, as if covering the existence of the forest itself. Whether since when it began, and driven by fear in the hearts of everyone finally people gave the forest the name "Waterless Forest Back".

If anyone gets lost in the forest, he will be finished. No matter how sharp the direction of one's goal, it was clear he would never be able to go back. That's the basis of his name. From time to time, there were many brave people, they were not afraid of the legend and they explored the forest, but in the end they all did not return.

And now, no one else dared to enter the No Way Back Forest.

In the heart of this forest, there was a tower made of fine black stone. The tower was covered in moss and vines, yet it still had a dignified atmosphere. In addition to the tower, there were six black pillars carved with intricate patterns surrounding the tower.

Three of them were half destroyed. It was clear from the damage that these three pillars had long since collapsed. The other pillar was covered in cracks and badly damaged. It was no wonder that the pillars were ready to collapse at any moment.

The temple was named by the people of the past or people from ancient times as "Gate to the Underworld".

For some reason, near the entrance of the temple long abandoned by the people, there was a figure of a Baby sleeping on a blood-stained cloth. There was also a man covered in blood leaning on that pillar. He had already breathed his last, and was holding a broken sword in his hand.

Forests in general must be controlled by wild animals. The pleasant smell of babies and the smell of blood from human corpses definitely captivated them. Usually, both of them would be eaten by ferocious beasts in a short period of time. However, the temple had absolutely no wild stars, and not even the chirping of birds could be heard.

The location was very quiet, as if everything around the temple had fallen asleep. Tranquility is a great way to describe the situation, but another way to describe the current situation is a frightening and gripping silence.

In the atmosphere that felt like a different world, there were suddenly three shadowy figures that trembled like black flames approaching the temple. The shadow stopped when they realized the presence of a baby and a dead man.

"A baby, huh... A weak soul like this is not enough to satisfy my hunger - but it is an easy meal ready to be picked." The second shadow makes a sickle that has an unstable shape. The scythe shot up high, and swung it towards the baby's heart without hesitation.

However, the third shadow placed its arm in the path of the crescent to stop the swing of the second Shadow that was next to it. Just before the scythe touched the arm of the third Shadow, it disappeared as if it had never existed.

"... Why did you stop me? Do you want to devour it too?" The second shadow asked.

"No. I just wanted to watch her a little." Answer of the Third Shadow.

"Amati...? Is that your bad habit again?" The First Shadow.

"Really, what's the point of doing this ... Never mind, whatever you want" said the Second Shadow.

After the short conversation was over, the two shadows fused to the ground and disappeared. But the third Shadow floated silently towards the poor baby, and took it with a hand whose physical form seemed faint. At this moment, the baby opened his round and very clean eyes, those eyes were reflecting the object of the shadow figure.

The baby looked at the shadow in confusion, then a cute smile was very sweet.

"I think there's no point in watching him." The third shadow muttered, then he saw a pomegranate stone in the baby's neck. The shadow turned his gaze between the ruby stone and the smiling baby, then he snorted and commented on the smile.

*******

It had been ten years since the third shadow had taken a baby in the Temple. The baby has now become a beautiful girl, she lives in a temple that has a dark wall along with the third shadow named "Z". But they don't eat, sleep and play together. To be more precise, Z doesn't do any of that. Other than observing the girl, Z did not accompany her. And now is the observation time.

At the training ground outside the temple, the girl was fighting with a weapon against Z. The girl wielded a brilliant white short sword, which contrasted with Z's large black scythe covered in black fog.

The girl jumped back after her punch was repelled by the scythe, she pulled herself back avoiding the Z. She looked tired and used her sleeves to wipe the sweat off her pretty eyebrows.

It had been 30 minutes since he started the observation. After a long struggle, the girl realized that her stamina was running out.

Z placed his scythe on his shoulder, and asked calmly, "Why are you? ... Are you tired?" Z is not insinuating. Part Z never satirizes. This was just the conclusion he revealed from observing the status of the girl.

Even so, after taking a deep breath, the girl also advanced forward. His surroundings turned into a thin line, and Z was within the range of his sword in an instant. The girl swung towards Z's stomach. Unfortunately, the white sword did not touch Z's body. The girl's all-out attack could be repelled easily by the scythe, and the sword was stuck on the ground.

"Hm. .. Fleet Footed Rush .. You're great, but your movements are too simple." Z murmured, then kicked in with incredible speed. The girl drew out her sword and used it as a shield. The girl could not block completely, thus making her bounce off the flight.

"Ugh!" The girl's brain was numb, she almost fainted. But he bit his tongue to refrain from fainting, and landed after spinning a few rounds in the air.

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...To Be Continue's...