I didn't remember my father's face, nor could I recall any memories with him.

Since childhood, my mother was the one who took care of both me and my brother until he became old enough to provide for us financially.

Maa…

That's how I addressed her.

Maa wasn't literate. She used to work on a rented farm all day and cook for us the moment she returned.

We didn't even have a proper roof over our heads, so it became even more difficult during the rainy seasons. Still, there wasn't a single rainy night that could soak me or my brother, as Mother would embrace us in her arms, covering us with a torn tarpaulin.

Her lips were cracked, her eyes carried deep dark circles, and her skin clung to her bones due to malnutrition.

Yet she was the strongest warrior in the world to me.

Her battle wasn't against cursed beings or lecherous people — it was against fate itself.

And I was the living proof of her victory in that battle.

She was the person I loved, respected, and worshipped the most.

She was the breath of my heart.

"Maa, how are you so strong?" I once asked her while walking beside her, holding her finger, as her other hand supported the bag of wheat on her shoulder.

"Hahaha~ you're so stupid you don't even know that," my brother, who walked on the other side of me, laughed.

"Don't make fun of him, Aryan. Didn't you ask the same question a few days ago?" Maa scolded my brother before replying,

"It's because I'm a woman."

"Woman?"

"Yes, women are so strong that they have the power to create life. So remember, Raj — never turn your back when a woman's dignity is at stake."

"But Mother, if women are so strong, then why would they need my help to protect themselves?"

Maa chuckled, patted my head, and replied — her voice turning serious,

"Because a woman's strength lies in giving life. But when the giver of life is faced with those who would defile her, it becomes the duty of a true man to protect her."

---

"I'm sorry, Maa," I murmured, looking upward. "I turned my face away when that fiend touched those women inappropriately. I'm ashamed of myself."

"Wh-who are you?" Thomas stammered, pouring sweat. "Y-you want this woman, right? Here, you can have her."

He immediately untied Silvia and shoved her toward me before trying to bolt for the exit.

"I will kill you right now if you run," I declared, smashing the hammer into the ground.

My statement turned his whole body pale. His feet froze, refusing to obey his brain.

I slowly walked toward him, stepping over the pile of corpses, and as I reached closer, his legs gave up and he fell to the ground on his knees.

"Pl-please don't kill me. I will never touch a woman again. Just—just give me one chance."

"Chance, huh? You're right. Everyone deserves a chance."

I crouched in front of him and ordered in a low voice, pointing my finger between his legs, "Cut it off, and I'll let you live."

The moment he heard my order, he began panting heavily, his entire being shaking, and his pants soaked wet.

The bastard had pissed himself.

"Tsk, pathetic."

A sharp uppercut landed on his chin with a cracking sound as his jaw broke.

I rose to my feet and moved toward Silvia, who was trying to cover her body with her hands in embarrassment.

"Pl-please... sob... sob... don't look," she murmured, her eyes filled with shame.

I grabbed a blazer from my inventory and tossed it toward her without letting my eyes fall on her.

"These fiends don't deserve your tears," I stated, walking past her toward the explosives where a rope and blasting wire were placed.

---

"We should return to mining!" one of the thousand slaves gathered outside the basement murmured.

"The guards must be coming anytime now," another said. "We only came here because you insisted, Daniel."

"Yeah."

"That's right."

"Edrick, why did you ask me to gather everyone here?" Daniel asked.

"It's Sir Morning Star's order," Edrick replied.

"Lucifer's order? But where is he? Don't tell me he's..."

The murmurs of the slaves turned silent as a figure emerged from the basement.

"Sil-Silvia!" Aris gasped, seeing her friend come out safely, covered in a blazer.

It wasn't only Aris who was surprised. Every single slave gathered before the entrance couldn't stop themselves from shaking. Their eyes widened, their lips parted, their limbs trembled.

However, their gaze wasn't fixed on Silvia. They were staring at another figure walking behind her.

I ascended to the surface, my whole body soaked in blood, with a sledgehammer in one hand and a rope in the other, tied around Thomas' neck as his body was dragged behind me.

I hurled the rope forward, sending Thomas flying into the air before he crashed to the ground at the feet of all the women he had assaulted.

No order was given. No word left my lips.

Yet every slave standing there knew what they had to do.

The women surrounded Thomas with hammers and pickaxes in their hands.

Their eyes burned bloodshot red, their veins ready to rupture from their foreheads.

All the harassment, shame, and torment they had silently suppressed over the years exploded in that one moment.

Bam...

Bam...

Bam...

The tools they had used to survive until now became the very weapons of their freedom as they struck Thomas until his body turned into nothing more than a pile of flesh.

I raised my foot and walked past the thousand slaves as they subconsciously moved aside, paving the way for me.

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star!" Edrick's thunderous voice echoed through the crowd.

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star!" Daniel's loud, cracking voice followed.

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star," another voice shouted.

Then another and another and another. Soon, every slave present there yelled with every ounce of strength they had,

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star!"

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star!"

"Bring the dawn, Sir Morning Star!"

Their roars thundered through the cave, shaking every corner of the Grade 3 mines.

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