Prologue

The war has ended.

Silence reigned in between the scorched trees while the smell of death filled the air with the silent cries of a lone girl. She was kneeling beside a mountain of bodies, gruesome and dead. Everyone had died fighting for their lives, for their own survival and for their own kin, however, fate was not on their side. The humans stabbed and hacked them without mercy. They were too savaged.

The small girl bent her body. Her head bowed, the forehead almost reaching the solid ground, as a gesture of respect to those who has passed away. Her body shook and she bit her trembling lips as a flood of tears gushed down her ashen cheeks.

And as the sky was ablaze with the fire of the setting sun, it has colored her world crimson.

Dead... All dead...

They all left her alone and as the only survivor, as the only proof of what was left of them, she needed to do what needs to be done. She stood up weakly, her eyes looking back at the horizon. Taking a deeper breath, her mouth opened and a song came out. The words and tune were different. It was of the ancient language used by the ghouls. It is not a lively song but a requiem for the dead. A song for those who are forsaken and murdered cold-blooded by those so-called "heroes".

Her voice was hoarse and angelic, beautiful yet full of melancholy that as series of light footsteps had stopped to listen to it.

The general of the army focused his eyes at the only living that was in the middle of the corpses. The girl looks like someone from between 7 to 8 years old. She was small and only wearing a white thin dress that made her look frail and her skin paler. Her long dark hair almost covered her whole face, adding to the mystery of her sad voice.

He watched as the girl switched from crying to singing then sobbing, though it was not a language he could understand but it still made his heart wrenched in guilt and sadness. Her voice is like an arrow that was piercing at the very depth of his soul and consciousness, and he felt that her words had embedded inside of him. Forever will remain and never be forgotten.

When the song finally ended, the general took a deep breath before coming towards the pitiful child and stopped a few distance away from her. The girl turned her head when he sensed his overwhelming presence. Her face was covered with dirt, strands of hair had stuck on her tear stricken cheeks. However, the color of her eyes has immediately gave way to her undeniable identity. It was the color of the blood, deep red and dark. Something in her gaze made him took a step back, it was not the fact the she was a ghoul but because of the hidden danger that lies in it.

Why not? He was the one who raised the flag of war and murdered her whole family.

And she witnessed it all. Of how he lead the humans, raised their moral, and ordered them in slaughtering each and every ghouls that live in their village. He was her enemy. Her villain.

Dusk finally came. Cold wind struck him with a clear realization so the moment the little girl shifted her head to once again see the remnants of her loved ones, he unsheathed the sword that was hanging on her waist and raised it with conviction.

If he doesn't kill her right now then she will be the root of another chaos in the future. While the plant is still a sprout then he needed to uproot it to prevent it from growing.

Swish!

"Dad..." A broken sob suddenly came and the blade that was about to slice the back of her neck stopped midway.

"Mama, Dada!"

His grip tightened. For the first time, the general was engulfed with overwhelming guilt.

'This is wrong.'

"Dada..."

That ghoul is still a child and now she just lost her whole family. The general shut his eyes to think for a while.

For him, the child was innocent and it's just that society had already deemed her as both a monster and a threat. She is a cab that will soon became a tiger, but when a cab was raised and trained properly then it wouldn't become as ferocious as a wild animal.

He was in a dilemma. He just can't kill her. Killing a child was his bottom-line.

The general slowly put the katana back to its scabbard. He stood upright and gaze up at the already dark sky that was blanketed by the shining stars.

"War is inevitable," He started. "And so is death. Those who have died today had chosen to sacrifice their lives for the greater peace. For a better future. Your family is gone but you need to live a better life for them. That is what they want."

Something pulled on his trousers. He looked down only to see her calling his attention. She stared back at him with her wine red eyes that was full of wary and questions. She tilted her head and pulled on his trouser again.

"Dada!" She sobbed and that's all it took to break his defenses.

He stretched his arm and his palm landed at her soft head.

"From now on," He patted her. "Your name is Cordelia Lodovicus."