Chapter 8 - An Unexpected Attack

Melodi was sitting on the deck of the ship. She watched as the mist parted ways before the ship. She felt the wind blow across her face. And she was frustrated.

She was trying to practice Zhang. But she had sat here for the entire morning, and she hadn’t accomplished anything. Yesterday night before she fought Dashan, he had managed to experience Zhang. She had felt the Jing rushing inside her. But she couldn’t replicate that feeling anymore.

She took in a deep breath for what was maybe the hundredth time. And then she tried to clear her mind. She stopped thinking. She wiped her thoughts. And she began to focus. The wind howled around her. It helped her focus.

She felt like she could her own heartbeat. She could feel it… She could hear it… She could hear something near her…

She opened her eyes and turned around. “How long have you been standing there?” She glared.

Kuren looked back at her.

“Oh? You’re not going to talk to me? Tch.” Melodi clicked her tongue. “I know you can talk. I heard you talk before to Dashan.” Melodi waited for a response, but none came.

She sighed. “Why am I even wasting my time with you?” She turned back around. She closed her eyes and tried to resume her training.

“How long was I in there?”

Melodi whipped back around. And Kuren was still standing there alone.

“How long in where?” She asked, a little on guard.

“The cave. How long was I in there?” Kuren repeated. Melodi watched Kuren’s mouth as he spoke. It was a strange sight.

“I don’t know.” Melodi shrugged. “I don’t know anything about you. My teacher just told me to go inside that cave and get you. And I doubt my teacher knows much about you either. I asked him and he told me that he was hired to transport you to Antiqua.”

Melodi finished her answer and then looked at Kuren. She took a good look at him. His short, black hair. His green eyes. His expressionless face. Melodi supposed that she would find him cute if he ever showed an expression on his face. But his face was a motionless mask.

“How did you learn Phantom Slash?” Melodi suddenly blurted out. “I mean, it had only been a day since Teacher had shown it to me. So how did you learn it so quickly?”

Kuren stared at her. “I just did what he showed.” It was a simple answer. And Melodi could tell it was a truthful one. Kuren was completely serious. He had watched Melos use Phantom Slash. And then Kuren copied him.

It was a simple answer. And Melodi could not accept it.

“What the hell does that even mean?” She angrily asked. But before she went on, she let out a deep sigh. There wasn’t much point in continuing this conversation. She doubted Kuren would give a meaningful answer.

“I just thought of it.” Kuren answered. And as she thought, it was a useless answer.

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He just thought of it? If only it were so easy. Melodi glumly went back to training.

Step one, clear her thoughts. Wipe her mind. Blank head.

…

Why did he have to say those things? Why did her teacher have to act like that?

“Maybe he could my student instead of you, Melodi!”

Of course, he wasn’t being serious. Was he? Kuren managed to learn his technique within a single day. Meanwhile, she couldn’t even use Zhang reliably. The idea of her using Phantom Slash was a joke right now. What was the point of her even trying? What was the point of her training? What was the point?

“Stop thinking.” Kuren suddenly spoke.

Melodi opened her eyes with a start. She looked at Kuren sheepishly. “I can’t even keep my mind clear, can I?” She shook her head and got up.

“Let’s go, Kuren. I think I’m done training for now. I don’t think I’ll be getting much more done here.” Melodi began walking back towards the cabin. And Kuren followed after her.

Suddenly, the ship shook. And then, the sea exploded. The ship swayed rapidly and Melodi lost her balance. She fell onto the deck, and Kuren fell as well. Melodi looked up just in time for a rush of water hit her in the face.

“Gah!” She spluttered, water in her mouth. She wiped the water out of her eyes and looked around. It didn’t take her long to find out what made that huge splash of water. Right alongside the boat, coming out of the Mist, was a great monster. It’s body was incredibly long, incredible huge; it was larger than the ship. Dark blue scales shimmered along its body. Great, long fangs protruded from its maw.

“Sea Lion!” A sailor’s voice shouted and broke Melodi from her trance. “It’s a Sea Lion!”

Melodi felt a chill run down her spine. She had no idea what a Sea Lion was, but she felt fearful of it anyways.

The Sea Lion’s long arms reached out towards the boat. Its long claws looked like they would tear through the ship’s wood easily. But before they could reach, the ship suddenly lurched to the side.

“Don’t let her catch us!” The captain yelled, wildly turning the wheel. And the ship began to sail right alongside the Mist, only a few feet away. And the Sea Lion swam right after it. Waves began to splash on the ship, sweeping over Melodi and the rest of the passengers on board.

Melodi grabbed Kuren’s hand. “Come on! Let’s get inside before we get swept overboard!” Melodi and Kuren ran back inside the ship, away from the terror of the sea. Once they made it inside, Melodi took a look at Kuren. She noticed the blood flowing from his knees.

“Oh! Did you hurt yourself when you fell?” Melodi bent down. “Are you okay? Let’s get you inside before anything else happens.”

Melodi stretched out a hand to Kuren. And as Kuren reached out, they heard a familiar voice.

“Oh, you two shouldn’t leave just yet. The fun’s just getting started.” Melos walked up beside them. “Don’t you want to watch that magnificent beast a little longer, Melodi?”

Melodi’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got be kidding me. There’s no way I’m staying here any longer!” But before Melodi could turn and leave, Melos grabbed her hand.

“Come on now, watch your master take down that nasty little Sea Lion.” And Melos began to stride briskly towards the monster swimming alongside the ship.

“Oi! You there! Get away from there! It’s not safe up here!” The captain saw Melos on the deck and started yelling at him. But Melos just ignored him and walked towards the edge of the ship. Melos drew his sword and held it in front of him.

Almost instantly, the Sea Lion noticed his presence. It was almost as if it could tell that Melos was extremely dangerous. It let out a roar and dove back into the sea. Melos raised his sword and prepared to strike.

Melodi felt a strange sensation in the air. As if everything was being drawn towards Melos right now. She could see the Jing gather around Melos.

And then the Sea Lion suddenly jumped out of the water. “Watch closely, Melodi!” Melos yelled as he swung down at the monster jumping right at him.

All the Jing in his body had gathered into his sword. It was flashing blue as it fell down at the Sea Lion. And then something unexpected happened.

Someone leapt out of the shadows and struck at Melos with a dagger. Melos had already swung his sword, so he couldn’t redirect his blade. The new enemy rushed at Melos, dagger aimed right at his back.

He was an assassin. Melos had almost made it out of Quiroso without anybody important noticing, but in the end he was still caught. The twin lords had noticed that there had been an intruder. And so they had sent their assassin to take care of business and retrieve the missing boy.

The lords didn’t know that the infamous Melos had been the intruder, otherwise they would have sent more after him. But they had thought that this one assassin was enough.

His name was Kuai Si. He had been an assassin of the Quiros family for his entire life of 22 years. His entire family had always served under the Quiros family. They were trained assassins that would do the biddings of the Quiros. The twin lords of the Quiros family had made full use of this family of killers.

Kuai Si had been following Melos ever since he had left Quiroso. But he had never struck until now. The reason was that Kuai Si instantly recognized Melos. Nobody had seen Melos in ten years, but Kuai Si still knew who he was. An assassin like him never forgets a face. Since his target was Melos, Kuai Si had to bide his time. Kuai Si had no doubt that Melos could easily best him in a fight. But Kuai Si was no planning on fighting. He was ordered to kill Melos, so that’s what he would do.

He was patient. He followed Melos as he rode to Viminello. He followed Melos as he boarded the ship. And he watched as Melos fought and killed the warrior Dashan. And not once did he reveal himself. Because not once did Melos reveal an opening.

Until now. The Sea Lion had captured Melos’ full attention. His guard had been dropped. He already attacked. He was defenseless. And so that’s when Kuai Si finally attacked. He drew his dagger and then jumped at Melos the instant he swung his sword.