Martial Kim didn't open his eyes when the morning light came. To be honest, he didn't get any chance to sleep. Rather, he felt shameful to sleep after what just happened the previous day. He instead spent the whole night punishing himself with meditation on a rock. He tried to replay the events of what happened, what could he have done to have saved the poor woman.
Every simulation in his head was perfect. Every ending was a happy one. He even went as far as seeing her healed and recovering by a local physician, imagining what voice she would have when she said ‘thank you.’
But the more happiness he gave this dead victim, the more he knew she would never experience it.
I failed her. I truly failed her. I should have never came here. I should have never bothered walking home. I should have taken a horse and went straight back to the Capital like a normal person.
He didn't blame the twin moons, or the mysterious teahouse servant with the heavy wine. Those were his choices to pursue them, thus he had no right to push the shame on others even if it would make him live easier.
The Master eats more grains of salt, than a disciple eats a grain of rice. This bitter experience cuts my heart to deep. I truly wish, it was just some play acting and she sat up to fix her make up like the skull warriors... Hopeful thinking to ease my burden, huh?
Martial Kim let out a deep sigh. It was best to find his way home as soon as--
"SOMEBODY! HELP MEEEEEEEEE!"
Ah. The voice still haunts me. She is calling from the beyond to seek retribution and...
Wait. Why does that voice sound familiar?
----------------------------------------
Keekee wished she had been more serious with her self-defense classes. She paid good money to learn the best from the best, but no amount of excuses can deny her lack of motivation to practice on her own time. Now, she was caught in a situation exactly like a classroom scenario.
Three men surrounded her, popping out from trees and bushes in the mountains, armed with daggers and switch knives. They were dulled with seasoned experience and rusted from countless of victories. The last thing Keekee want, was to be another notch on those blades.
"Alright, hand it over," one of the bandits smirked, waving his serrated dagger, "Keys, purse, phone, credit card. Everything. come on we ain't go all day!"
"O-okay! Okay! D-don't rush me!" Keekee scrambled to unload everything shiny and expensive on her person. Why, or why did she forget to bring her pepper spray of all times! Maybe she can try to stab them with a pen...but then again, yeah no. It's not like she is a retired assassin who can kill with just a pencil – a freaking pencil!
The bandits all watch her drop everything into a pile in the grass. They would have picked it up, but their eyes were distracted else where.
"Hey, bro." One of the whispered to the other, "Check out dat ass."
Keekee was forced to undo the bracelet on her ankle, so of course she had to crouch down. And Wow did she look good from above angle, in the mind of the bandits. With practiced glances, they changed their plans.
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One of them went, "Alright girl, strip. Right here right--DON'T YOU RUN FROM US GIRLY!"
NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!
"GYAAAAH!" Keekee screamed as loud as she could, only for a blur to tackle into her gut. These men must have had experience in doing this. In one fell swoop, they clapped her mouth shut, gripped her hands, and picked her up by the ankle, swinging her about like a heavy sack. It was like they rehearsed this so many times it became second nature. Just as they were going to toss her into a pile of grass as a bed, Keekee prayed for God to help her.
And an Angel of Vengeance swept through the crowd on a stampede of wind.
"HOLY SH--"
"WHAT THE!"
"AAAAAAAGH!"
The angel glided down the road and swung his sword-stick around, to guide the hundreds of leaves he brought with him in his wake. They scattered like a flock of violent ravens, cutting and blinding the three bandits in a flash! With expert strikes, he punched them in the face with thrusts of his sword-stick.
Keekee squeaked when she felt someone grip onto her, kindly and firmly, before she screamed when a gale blew her off her feet.
"K-KIM! I-IS THAT YOU!?"
Martial Kim used one of the swordplay techniques in Dance of the Moon Sage – Fleeting Clouds in the Moon Wind. It involved twirling his blade around like a twisting fan, kicking up the winds to build up a series of swirling cyclones, and blasting his enemies away with a battle-top spin!
Even without his stick touching, the force was enough to sweep the bandits flying as if a bomb went off at their feet. They quickly got up, picking up their daggers. With numbers on their side, they lunged.
"Bastard, we'll gut you luck a fi--OOOF!!?"
Martial Kim twisted his body around to let one bandit to collide with another. He even kicked out his foot to trip them, so both of their daggers collide but avoid stabbing each other in the faces.
Keekee clung onto him for dear life. She wasn't a stunt woman! She didn't sign up for this! Yet she found herself flipping and flailing around in Martial Kim's arms like some kind of complex choreography on wires! The young master used her momentum to send kicks into the bandits chest as he countered another behind him with a palms strike.
Suddenly she felt his grip on her waist tighten.
"No no no no, wait wait wait wai--KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The world flipped upside down for Keekee as she buried her scream in Martial Kim's chest. The wake of actions kicked off the bandit's chin to send them flailing over their heads and heels.
Only one of them survived that attack and tried to charge with the howl of a madman, brandishing his serrated dagger with both hands!
Martial Kim rolled his eyes – and stamped his foot into the ground to glide backwards.
FOOOSH! Keekee's screams were shoved into her throat when she felt something akin to a truck yank them in reverse by stunt wires.
Wh-what was this guy, a ghost!? The bandit screeched in his mind. What was suppose to be a three step gap turned into 20 steps in a blink of an eye. Only for Martial Kim to kick off a tree behind him and fly back like a shooting arrow. 20 steps closed into 0 in another blink!
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! A fencer's flurry came at the bandit, the sword-stick slapping his face around like a mob of 100 angry women. Bruises and cuts ripped across the mans' face before one drop kick sent him flipping.
A crash, and he bowled over his companions - making them all tumble down a steep hill like marbles.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Was all they could say as their screams faded down the hill, buried into the trees below.
Martial Kim floated down with Keekee to the ground, to let her stand on her two feet. He flipped his sword in resting position behind his arm as he powered down his inner energy with an exhale.
"Miss Keekee are you... um."
Keekee was clinging onto Martial Kim for dear life, as if she was still hanging off a cliff. Face paler than a bed sheet, eyes unable to blink, and her knees shaking nonstop.
She really wasn't cut out for stunt work.
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