“...Why, Mina?”

On top of a certain hill, two figures stood out with the stars and the full moon in the background. If people were to see the scene from afar, every single one of them would immediately assume that the two were having an intimate moment. The male was cupping the female’s face with his right hand while he pulled her up to his body. It looked as if he would lean in and kiss her at any moment.

The man was around six feet tall. He had long black hair that was tied together into a ponytail which reached down to his shoulder blades. His face looked rough with a long scar that went from the corner of his left eye to his lip. On his body, he wore fine leather armor which was laced with small pieces of metal. A halberd and helmet, which the male discarded, laid on the ground beside them.

The female, on the other hand, was a little over five feet six inches tall.She had long, sleeky, black hair went down to her chins, which complemented her almond shape face. Her skin was snow white and looked very gentle. She wore a tight fitting red dress which showcased her slim figure and long legs.

As one looked closer at the scene though, they would start to notice that something was off. The two were surrounded by dozens of corpses that laid out in almost a circle around them. The stench around them was also horrendous as the smell of blood and bodily fluids wafted throughout the area.

When looked upon from even closer, you would also be able to see that the scene of the man embracing the girl also seemed off. From in between the two, a small stream of red liquid was flowing down the man’s body. On the ground below the male’s feet, a pool of blood was beginning to form.

“Why? Because this was the plan from the start, of course.”

The soft, feminine voice that rang out sounded plain, void of any emotions. The female’s facial expression seemed bland as though she was looking at something boring.

“Tens years ago, during the battle of Cesius, the commander that you killed was my father. Four years ago, during the battle of Wazenkus, you killed both of my older brothers. To think that I would really love you, that must be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

As the female spoke, anger and ridicule slowly began to permeate into her voice. The originally bland facial expression also began to turn into one of ridicule. Hearing all of that and seeing the change in her expression, a self depreciating smile formed on the male’s face.

“Haaa, it must have been hard trying to act like you loved the person who killed your family members, huh? How were you able to hold on until now?”

Truthfully, the male had noticed a long time ago that something was off with her. Even when they showed affection toward each other, he felt a sort of coldness radiate from her. It was just that he loved her too much and decided to act as though he didn’t notice it. Slowly, he began to ignore that feeling until he didn’t notice it anymore.

“You don’t know how much I wanted to puke when I acted intimate with you. Still, it was also laughable to see how you ,Hwaryeong, the strongest general of the Long Kingdom, fell so helplessly in love with someone that you would ignore everything and rush into a trap to save your lover.”

As Mina’s cold voice echoed out into the night, she slowly pulled away from the man. As the distance between them increased, one would be able to see that in her hand was a bone dagger which was coated in blood. Losing the support of the her body, the male collapsed down to one knee as a fountain of blood flew out from the wound in his chest. After watching him collapse, Mina turned around and slowly began to walk away. A couple of steps in though, she suddenly stopped and stayed still for a moment.

“Still, if there truly is an afterlife, I hope that we will be able to meet with a better circumstance.”

Mina’s voice was so soft that Hwaryeong was barely able to hear what she said. With those words said, Mina once again started to walk away. As her figure slowly disappeared from his view, his eyesight started to blur.

Even though he was dying, Hwaryeong didn’t feel any pain. If he wanted to, he was actually capable of using the ki in his body to slow the bleeding and he might be able to hold on long enough to go to the nearest village and try to find a doctor.

Just as Mina said, his situation was pretty laughable. With his skills, it was basically impossible for someone as weak as her to be able to stab him. Even the dozens of ambushers weren’t able to cause him any injuries. If he hadn’t been so worried about Mina and stopped his flow of ki in relief that she was alright, the dagger wouldn’t have been able to pierce through his skin no matter how hard she tried.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Still, he didn’t move from his position. Even if he somehow miraculously did make it to the nearest village, he doubted he would be able to find a capable enough doctor to heal his wound. Also, he truthfully felt as though there wasn’t much to continue living on anyways. While those depressing thoughts went through his mind, he started to recall memories from the past.

Numerous scenes began to float past his eyes. The time he first saw Mina. The times he used to go on walks with her. The first time he hugged her. His first kiss with her. All the different memories he had of the time he was with her flashed by. As he watched those scenes, a sad smile appeared on his lips.

While he viewed those memories though, Hwaryeong started to feel emotion that were not his rise in his mind. Noticing the familiar feeling that came from the emotions, he picked up his halberd and looked at it tenderly. With the little energy he had left, he tried to sound upbeat as he spoke with a hoarse voice.

“Ah, Moon’s Reflection. It seems like this is as far as I can go with you. I’m sorry that I won’t be able to accomplish the promise I made with you. I hope that your next owner will be someone who will be able to fulfill their promises.”

Most people who saw the scene of a dying person talking to their weapon would assume that the person was hallucinating at the end of his life. The thing was though, as Hwaryeong spoke, the halberd seemed to vibrate and release a light blue light. Seeing the halberd’s reaction, Hwaryeong raised his left arm with much difficulty and patted the weapon.

The people who were close to Hwaryeong, however, would know differently. Moon’s Reflection was actually a weapon that had sentience. It was said that in ages long past there were master blacksmiths whose skill were so advanced that they were able create such fine masterpieces that they were able to place sentience into their products.

The knowledge of such skills, however, was slowly lost over the passage of time. All that was left as memento of those ages were the few remaining weapons that were passed down through the ages. It was said that there were only five such weapons left now.

Moon’s Reflection was such a weapon. It was also the Long Kingdom’s national treasure. When Hwaryeong was promoted as the Commander of the Long Kingdom’s army, he was bestowed with Moon’s Reflection as a reward.

He still remembered the wonderful feeling of being able to sense the halberd’s emotions. He swore to the halberd the first time he received it that he would use it to become the strongest person in the continent and ensure that all the people would acknowledge that it was the strongest weapon. Thinking of how he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise with his partner made Hwaryeong fill regret.

By that point in time, everything in his field of vision was now a blur and he wasn’t able to make anything out. The only reason he was able to pat the halberd was because he was holding onto it. Soon, even the blurs disappeared and all he was able to see was black. The sense of touch soon started to disappear and he wasn’t able to move his body anymore.

As his body began to lose its function, the halberd slipped out of his hand and began to fall toward the ground once again. Just as it was about to hit the ground though, the halberd flew forward on it’s own. After traveling forward for ten feet, the halberd turned around and flew back toward Hwaryeong.

Just as his soul was about to leave his body, the halberd that was rushing toward him finally reached him. The halberd, which should have pierced through his body, strangely seemed to lose its corporeal form and began to disappear as it hit his body, leaving no traces that it was there in the first place.

Hwaryeong never noticed any of this, however. By that time, he had already lost all of his sense. At that time, he felt as though he was swimming in a sea of darkness already.

For an unknown amount of time, Hwaryeong’s soul remained in the state of floating in the darkness. At some point though, a faint light began to appear in the all encompassing darkness. Noticing the light, it felt as though his soul was being slowly pulled to it.

As he moved closer, the faint light slowly began to become brighter until it reached the point where his whole vision was covered by the light. When he finally arrived at the source of the light, his soul continued forth and passed through the light...