Back then, I was only seven years old, yet my mana level had already reached eighty thousand—strong enough to kill around 450 mana‑less adults with ease. As usual, I was reading books and cultivating my mana. Then I glanced at the clock and muttered to myself:
"Mother should've been home an hour ago… Why isn't she here?"
She was never late. Not once in her life. This was the first time, and unease immediately crept into my chest. I hurried toward the brothel where she worked.
As I entered the narrow alley behind the building, a scream pierced the air. I followed the sound. What I saw froze me in place:
Three men stood over a battered woman, kneeling at their feet. I couldn't see their faces clearly in the dark—but the woman's voice…It was familiar.
Normally, I wouldn't involve myself. I didn't want to get caught up in trouble that had nothing to do with me. I turned to leave, but the thought struck me like lightning:
"What if… What if that's my mother?"
My body trembled as I stepped closer. The woman, lying on the ground, grabbed one man's ankle with her bloodied left hand and pleaded:
"Do whatever you want to me… but please… don't hurt my son…"
The man severed her hand without hesitation and replied coldly:
"A whore dying means nothing—and her brat means even less."Then he struck her head to knock her unconscious.
At that moment, I stepped out from where I'd been hiding. Because I already knew.
That woman was my mother.
She saw me and screamed desperately:"Run! Run, my son!"
But I didn't run.I couldn't.All I could think about was killing those three men.
Until that moment, I had never harmed anyone—yet right then, I became something monstrous.
The two men behind him had their heads crushed in an instant. I tore off the right leg of the man who mutilated my mother. As he writhed on the ground, I grabbed him by the collar and asked:
"What were you planning to do to my mother?"
He sobbed, begging for mercy. I repeated the question. Finally, trembling violently, he answered:
"S‑she… stole something. T‑that's why we cut her hand… If we handed her to the city guards, she would've been executed… W‑we were helping…"
I already knew he was lying.I had figured out the truth before even reaching them.
They planned to kidnap her and sell her as a luxury slave at an underground auction. It happened to many courtesans, but my mother's situation was different. Even though she was the best in the country, the brothel only pretended to protect her. No one actually cared. Everyone believed my mother was "cursed."
After getting my answer, I made him suffer—slowly. I ripped off his nails one by one, broke each finger, then tore them apart. He begged me to kill him, but I didn't.I felt no pity.No guilt.Not even pleasure.Only a hollow, silent rage.
Eventually, from the pain and his own desperate screaming, he suffocated and died.
My mother fainted after witnessing everything. I carried her home.She woke up 25 hours later, and the doctor examined her. He said she would never walk again—partially paralyzed for life.
My mother couldn't understand how I was so strong, but she never asked.I told her everything myself.
She could still eat and take care of basic needs, but she could no longer work. Thankfully, she had saved money over the years, enough for us to survive. But her dream of sending me to Phonixe, the greatest magic academy on the continent, seemed impossible now.
At least, in her eyes, it was impossible.
Because I already had a plan:to enter with a full 100% scholarship.All I needed was to wait four more years until I was eligible.