The Alps, an unnamed snowy mountain.
A streak of blood-red light darted through the endless white snow, looking especially out of place.
The powerful aura within the streak of light was not concealed in the slightest. Everything in the Alps seemed to tremble in fear of that smear of blood-red amid the white of heaven and earth!
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, an unusual aura came from the snowy mountain, drawing the blood-red streak's attention.
"Why is there a Blood Seed's aura here?" Had her mental strength not been so powerful, she probably would never have detected it.
The blood-red streak paused in midair and took human form, looking for all the world like a harmless young girl.
She then concentrated her mental strength and searched for the source of the aura. A silver light flashed, and she appeared directly inside a cavern formed from ice and snow.
"This is..."
A human child lay curled on a lotus pedestal formed from ice crystals-or rather, a child with a human appearance.
No matter how she looked at him, the girl could not regard him as a normal human.
Could a three-year-old child survive in the icy mountains of the Alps?
Not to mention that he carried... the aura of a Blood Seed! That terrifying power!
What was strange, however, was that aside from the aura, there was no visible trace of a Blood Seed at all.
Hair white as snow, skin of ice and bones of jade, exquisitely beautiful as though favored by heaven and earth...
"Could this be a newborn holy spirit?"
The girl could not make sense of it despite racking her brains, and, for once, fell into thought.
"Witch! Surrender at once!"
Before long, a command like that of a god echoed over the Alps.
"...What a headache. They actually caught up." Her train of thought interrupted, the girl muttered under her breath.
It would have been absurd if they had not caught up. In fact, she had been fleeing from the very beginning. Whether she was too confident in her own strength or not, she had never concealed her aura at any point.
Angelic wings blazed with dazzling light, as though even the perennially snow-white Alps would melt beneath it.
Uriel was gathering terrifying destructive magic. Now, with a mere thought, he could easily burn a hole through the Alps!
Everything outside the ice cavern was relayed into the girl's mind through her mental strength.
An archangel, execution angels, Holy Judgment Mages...
"It seems the West has no room for me. In that case, congratulations on your glorious return to the Holy City." Looking relaxed, the girl sighed softly.
It seemed that only Uriel could hear those words. Upon hearing them, he thought the girl intended to give up and was about to withdraw the destructive magic he had been gathering.
Of course. Pursued by an archangel and practically at the Holy City's gates, with countless Holy Judgment Mages here, how could anyone possibly escape?
"Blood God!" The girl's expression instantly turned fierce!
A terrifying pillar of blood-red light shot into the sky, rushing straight at Uriel's entire body.
What!?
Caught off guard, Uriel instinctively unleashed the magic in his hands at full force. Heavenly flames and earthly fire engulfed the entire Alps in that instant.
The Holy Judgment Mages who had followed him were so frightened that they hurried away, afraid of being caught in the forbidden flames.
They might not be of any use whatsoever from beginning to end. Someone capable of matching an archangel...
Perhaps simply witnessing this archangel's glorious return was already an honor for them.
The blood-red light and the flames filling heaven and earth clashed and canceled each other out. Endless blood-red vapor dyed the entire snow-white Alps red. It was also thanks to the protection of that blood-red light that the Alps, a landscape worthy of being called one of the world's wonders, did not evaporate at that moment, and that the spirits of ice and snow were not completely annihilated.
Heaven and earth fell silent.
Uriel remained on full alert. He would not assume that this single strike could kill the witch!
But...
The endless flames were almost burned out, and the witch's aura was fading too.
Suddenly, the witch's aura vanished completely!
Uriel's heart tightened. He immediately beat his angelic wings and dove, only to find a pool of bright red blood where the witch had just been.
Was she dead?
That question swelled deep within Uriel's heart.
The Holy Judgment Mages driven away by the terrifying shock waves gathered around at that moment. All they saw was the archangel Uriel standing quietly on the ice crystals.
Uriel shone with divine radiance, while the witch was nowhere to be seen. Only the blood on the ground stood out so starkly!
Was that the archangel Uriel's? Impossible!
Then everyone cried out in unison, all bowing slightly in the most respectful and devout posture!
"Welcome back to the Holy City in glory, Archangel!"
"Welcome back to the Holy City in glory, Archangel!"
"Welcome back to the Holy City in glory, Archangel..."
They were fanatical. They were devout.
Only Uriel remained utterly silent, still pondering.
Dimensional Magic was not his greatest strength. In other words, the witch's Dimensional Magic surpassed his, so she could not say with certainty that the witch had died at his hands.
Had he really killed that witch?
One year later.
China.
In a fairly lavish detached Western-style house in Bo City.
A child of about four was reading with great interest in the study, greedily absorbing everything about this world.
A world filled with magic truly was wondrous. He just did not know when he would be able to awaken his magic.
That was right... he had transmigrated!
A year ago, he had arrived in this magical world. The science fiction of his former life had become fantasy here, while magic had become reality.
But right now, he knew nothing at all about the outside world. He did not even know where he was.
Because his master had grounded him. Ever since his memories began, he had stayed in this house for an entire year.
Fortunately, he never tired of reading about magic. Otherwise, being cooped up would have driven him mad sooner or later.
"Ling'er, come here." A light, lilting voice sounded beside his ear, as though a young girl were murmuring right into her ear.
"Coming!"
Lu Ling closed his book, jumped straight down from the tall chair, and hurried to the room next door.
"Eat."
A fairly sumptuous lunch was laid out on the table, as it was every day.
"Master, aren't you eating?"
"I already ate." A blonde girl reclined on the sofa, her expression somewhat cold.
"..."
Lu Ling said no more and obediently began eating his lunch. He knew that whatever he said next would receive no response from his master. But there were still times when he could not help pondering.
Ever since his memories of this world began, he had never seen his master eat. She lay here like a statue, like some immortal.
Within the blonde girl's indifferent gaze, there was only Lu Ling.
She had observed him for a year. Apart from being a little smarter than ordinary children, he was completely ordinary, with none of the traits of an ice holy spirit whatsoever. Even the original aura of the Blood Seed was disappearing...
It had even... vanished completely!
Lu Ling noticed his master suddenly stand up, and surprise immediately appeared in his eyes. To him, such unusual behavior from his master was quite remarkable.
The blonde girl sighed inwardly and sat back down.
Forget it. He's quite an interesting little fellow anyway. I'll keep raising him for now.
"After today, you can go outside. I have only one condition: you must not die."