A/N: Hey everyone, sorry this took so long. Work has been hectic and life has been kicking my ass so haven't had time to write this chp for a while. I'm hoping to have more time in the up coming future to write more often. Once again, i'd just like to thank all of you, the readers for enjoying my story and ask that you leave comments and reviews telling me what you think of the story. Thanks!

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While Yong Hwa, Chang, and Seol Hwa had been caught and begun to flee, there were another two shadows who had been hiding on the opposite side.

“Lady Dal, I don’t know who the idiot was who made so much noise, but we should take this opportunity to safely go back and inform master.”

“Guem ah, but those people might be from the Kingdom or another allied family. If they’re our allies, we should help them out.”

“But we don’t know if they’re our allies or not, my lady….”

“That’s why we should follow them! We need to find out their identity!”

Guem sighed when he heard lady Dal’s reasoning. Ever since they were children, he had been assigned as her personal bodyguard. Even though a woman is usually chosen to be a lady’s bodyguard, he had been very talented since young and the master had given him the task to protect his one and only child. One of the things he had observed in those times was that the lady was very forthright and stubborn; she could never leave alone someone in need and would never back down, just like now. Knowing where the argument would go if it went further, he simply gave in.

“Then which one should we help, my lady?”

“You go northeast and I’ll head southeast, okay?”

“I refuse, my lady. How am I supposed to protect you if we’re far apart?”

“Guem ah, you know just as well as I do that even those warriors aren’t a match for me, right?”

When Dal said that, the words of dissent that were in Guem’s throat disappeared. It was true that none of the people were able to pose a threat to her, not to mention himself. With another sigh, his shoulder drooped. At the sight, a bright laughter came out from inside the shades of Dal’s bamboo hat.

“Haha, we’ll follow and observe the situation to identify if the people being chased are an ally or foe, okay? I promise I won’t do anything reckless so relax okay? Let’s meet back up at that shed we saw at the base of the mountain in two hours.”

With those words, Dal turned southeast and rushed forward. At the sight of his lady rushing forward so quickly, Guem once again let out a sigh. He didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at the situation. After a few moments, he turned northeast and ran after the pursuers.

The mercenaries froze in their place when they saw the sudden arrival of a new person. The two warriors, in particular, had looks of disbelief on their face because they had never noticed the mysterious figure’s presence, and only noticed her when she had appeared. To them, that meant one of two things: Either the woman in front of them had trained in hiding their presence or she was a lot stronger than them.

While the two thought about which one it was, one of the mercenaries got their wit back and spoke out.

“Miss, you should act as if you didn’t see this and just leave. You shouldn’t mind other’s business. If you put your nose in places it shouldn’t be, you’ll get hurt you know?”

“That would be true usually, but do you really think that the seven of you could harm me?”

When the pursuers heard what Dal said, they all felt as though cold sweat was dripping down their back. Even the dumbest one out of the mercenaries knew that the woman in front of them wouldn’t have appeared unless she was confident enough to handle the situation.

Dal, who saw their expression, let a smirk appear on her face before she dashed forward to the female warrior. The warrior, caught by surprise, raised her broadsword and slashed forward in an effort to keep her at a distance. Dal, however, easily deflected the huge broadsword with her rapier that had suddenly appeared in her right hand and then swung down hard and hit the woman in the temple with the handle. The woman’s eyes immediately lost focus as she lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

Not even bothering to verify whether the warrior had collapsed, Dal swung her sword out in a large arc in front of her. As the sword completed its arc, a wall of flames erupted upwards in front of a group of mercenaries, causing them all to leap back in surprise and fear at the sudden blaze. Using the moment that the enemies were in chaos, Dal went back to where Yong Hwa was and pulled him up. She was about to ask whether he could run before she noticed how unfocused his gaze looked.

’Shit, they drugged him somehow. Just how am I going to be able to get him out of here?’

As she worried about how she was going to escape with the stranger, she shook his shoulder and spoke.

“Hey! Can you hear me? Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Right as she was worried that he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, Yong Hwa slowly nodded his head in answer. At the sight of the action, Dal let loose a sigh of relief.

“I know that you probably can’t control your body much right now, but I’ll lead you. Just try to keep up as much as you can, okay?”

Once she saw the stranger nod his head, she turned around once more and verified that the rest of guards approached them with caution. After she made sure she knew where everybody was, she helped Yong Hwa slowly get up.

“On the count of three, we’re going to rush forward, okay? One… two… three!”

After she had counted to three, she rushed forward to the location where the pursuers had gathered closest at. Startled by her sudden approach, they quickly assumed a defensive position as they nervously watched her approach. A smirk appeared on Dal’s face when she noticed their hesitant expressions, and so, she once more called upon the power of her beast soul.

When the two sides were only five meters apart from each other, countless amounts of small fire balls suddenly appeared in front of each pursuer. Alarmed by the sudden light, all of them were unable to help but quickly close their eyes at the sudden brightness. Dal, using that quick moment, rushed past them and into the forest.

“Shit, that bitch got us. Hey! Stop dawdling like fools and follow after them! She couldn’t have gotten far with that guy!”

The remaining two warriors were the first to recover, and they quickly figured out her trick. Furious at being caught by surprise, they barked orders at the remaining guards who had followed them to rush into dark forest after them.

Yong Hwa, who was trying to fight against the effects of the powdered drug, was in a state of confusion. Everything happened so suddenly, and felt dreamlike. Just who, and why, would someone suddenly appear at that moment to save him? Why would that person go through so much effort to save him? As those thoughts passed through his mind, his surroundings blurred as the two quickly ran to who knows here.

Still, he knew that this was his only lifeline, and he ran as fast as his body would allow him to, so that he wouldn’t be too much of a burden to his savior. For what seemed like an eternity to him, they rushed down the mountain, not even hesitating with all the trees ahead of them. During that time, even though the drug’s effects hadn’t gotten better, they at least didn’t worsen either.

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’Azuron, how’s it going with getting rid of the drugs?’

‘Young one, even though I was almighty when I was alive, I am merely a soul now. I don’t have much power. Even though I can suppress the drug’s effects, there’s not much more I can do. Still, don’t use any powers since, when you do, I won’t be able to hold back the drug anymore, and it will hit you all at once. Even though you won’t die, you’ll probably be unconscious for a day at least.

Still, we should be very grateful toward the lady. Even though I don’t know who she is, she helped us get out of a sticky situation. Sheesh, for you to be caught by such a cheap trick, you still got much to learn young one…’

‘Yes, yes, I understand, Azuron. I’ll work hard so that, in the future, I won’t be caught by such a petty trick again. Okay?’

‘Hmph.’

While the two mentally communicated, the string that kept Dal’s hat in place loosened, and the bamboo hat fell off her head. Surprised, she momentarily turned and looked back at the hat before she gritted her teeth and continued to run forward. While she moved her head, her hair, which had been held by the hat, flopped down to her shoulder.

Dal’s face was oval shaped, and had a small sharp chin. Her skin tone was pale, and looked flawless. Dal’s brown eyes were large and round, giving people a sense of innocence when they looked at them. Her shoulder length black hair looked glossy under glint of the moon that was in the sky.

If anyone had been there and seen her face, it was guaranteed that they would have stopped and stared in shock. They would swear right then and there that a goddess had appeared under the moonlight. She really was a beauty that seemed to transcend humankind, and would easily cause nations to go to war over. Unfortunately for Yong hwa though, his vision was still blurry, and he missed the view at that time.

Dal, on the other hand, was silently cursing at herself for losing her hat. If the enemy saw her face and recognized her, it would cause trouble for her clan. All she was able to hope for at the time was that no one would be able to catch up to them and see her face.

That hope, however, was quickly destroyed as Dal noticed a shadow jump out from behind a tree on her right. Startled, she released her grip on Yong Hwa, and immediately swung her rapier out to greet the enemy. The warrior, who had jumped out in ambush, quickly determined he wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack in midair, and moved his katana to deflect the attack.

When the two weapons met, even though he was able deflect the attack, the warrior was also pushed back ten meters by the force of Dal’s stab. The warrior’s expression showed shock at how this young lady was so much stronger than him. Sure, she had the advantage since she was grounded and he was in the air, but, for her to push him back ten meters while she stayed in the same place, just what kind of ridiculous strength was this?!

“Ho….. for you to be able to catch up this quickly, and for you to be able to deflect that sudden counterattack, you must have a wind attribute, huh? Wait, it doesn’t really matter anyways, since you’ll be gone from this world shortly.”

The warrior felt a shiver run down his spines when he heard what Dal said at the end of her sentence. He couldn’t believe that such cold words would come out the mouth of such an innocent and beautiful looking lady. Feeling that the situation wasn’t in his favor, he quickly turned around and retreated. As he took a step forward, if one looked closely they would be able to see transparent wind at the bottom of his foot which thrusted him forward. Still, after moving only twenty meters, a whisper sounded out from his right ear.

“It was your grave mistake in thinking that just because you were able to catch up to me while I was basically carrying that dead weight that you’re faster than me. Sadly for you, I’m not just fire attributed, but also possess the light attribute..”

“Dual Ele-?! Guuuakk!”

Just as the warrior showed shock at the fact that she possessed a dual element, the rapier rushed forward and stabbed through his throat, cutting him off mid sentence. Just as quickly as it had entered, the rapier slipped out the throat and caused a fountain of blood to follow suit. After she had verified that the warrior had passed away, she swung the rapier in an arc and removed all the blood on the blade before she returned to Yong Hwa’s side.

“Haa… to think that they had a wind attribute fellow with them. What bad luck for him though, to see my face. If he hadn’t I could have just knocked him out and let him….Eh?”

As she spoke those words, she had a face filled with regret and slowly helped Yong Hwa who had fallen down up. She really didn’t enjoy taking away a life that could be spared, but unfortunately her face had been seen and she couldn’t let him leave alive. Just as she was expressing that, Yong Hwa, who had stayed still until then, showed a sudden burst of strength as he swung her around. Caught off guard by the sudden action, she was quickly spun around, and saw that a shadow had appeared only a couple of meters behind where she had been. Just as she wanted to shout out a warning to Yong Hwa and attack, she felt a sudden chill descend upon her.

As if time had suddenly slowed down, tiny specks of snow slowly and lazily descended from the sky. The shadow, as though he was in slow motion, was barely inching forward at a snail’s pace. The descending sword over his head looked as if it was in slow motion, and was moving inch by inch. Dal, seeing the scene in front of her, couldn’t help but show a shocked expression, as she had never seen such a weird scene before. Just as she was contemplating what was happening, a sword thrust backwards and stabbed through the abdomen of the warrior before it was once again quickly taken out. As the sword withdrew, blood spread out in slow motion, slow enough that even the average citizen would be able to clearly see each drop’s movement.

Just as if everything had been an illusion, the snowflakes quickly disappeared, and time returned to its normal speed. The warrior quickly fell down in place, and the blood spurted out like a fountain. While Dal contemplated whether everything that just happened was real, or if she had imagined it, a shaky voice sounded from her shoulder.

“Thank the gods I made it in time. You’re not hurt, are you? That’s a relief. Well then miss, I’m going to… have to trouble… you…”

While he was talking, his words slowly became slower before he collapsed into Dal.

“Eh? Hey, you alright? Oi, can you hear me?”

Caught by surprise by the sudden turn of events, Dal tried to shake Yong Hwa to wake him up. Even though she shook him pretty forcibly, he didn’t show any signs of being awake. While she was baffled, she looked forward and saw that, on a small hill in the clearing in front of them, there was a single cherry blossom tree.

Behind the tree, the crescent moon seemed very close, and looked very large. From where she was, it almost looked as if the cherry blossom tree was sitting on the bottom portion of the crescent moon. As she marveled at the sight, she suddenly remembered the words from the monk earlier in the market.

“Lady, if you ever meet a person by a cherry blossom tree outlined by the moon, avoid him! Do not let your fate with him deepen any further!”

Thus, the fate of two people who weren’t supposed to have met began, and the fate of the world slowly began to change.