Further back in the forest, one could find an extremely fast woman speeding her way through the forest.
YES! It was Ann! She wasn't dead after all!
She had been worried for Ran the entire time and once she had defeated the swollen pig, he had turned into a puff of smoke. Thus she thought Ran was in grave danger, but as she neared to where he was, an intense smell of sakura had penetrated her nose. It was such a soothing and comfortable experience she had unknowingly slowed her pace to that of a stroll through a park.
It ended up taking her over ten minutes to catch up to where Ran was, but what she found astounded her. A young man in completely clean white clothing had curled up next to a tall tree near where the body was. One could even hear a bit of sniffling from him. After all, he was just an eighteen year old kid that had little to no actual combat experience; especially killing someone. No matter who you are, after your first kill, you never go back to being the same. In fact, he was so distraught that he didn't even notice Ann until she was in front of him and even then he was confused.
Aren't you supposed to be dead? Was the only thought in his head at the moment when she said,
"See, told you I would catch up."
Click…
A click came from Rans brain as he realized that the person in front of him wasn't a ghost, but a real person.
At this point, no words were needed. He just stood up and hugged her for what seemed like an eternity.
On the other hand, Ann was shocked to find the pig's body on the floor. This means that the one she fought was only a clone, substitute or something similar. But then, how come this one didn't disappear. Ran couldn't have possibly done it right? He's just an ordinary person after all. That was until she hugged him and found a very familiar smell of sakura on him. She then checked the time and found it to be past 12:10pm.
This means that Ran had already awakened and that this was his smell the whole time! This smell had affected her mental state to the point of calming and slowing her down after all. It's just the fragrance that a person's soul juice carries, it shouldn't have such an effect right?
Well, that didn't stop her from embracing him and taking a few more whiffs. She seems to be addicted already and he had just awakened.
NO! This story absolutely cannot become a harem. I refuse to believe our Ran Ran is like that!
Even Ran noticed her strange behavior and asked her what was wrong.
"Cough… nothing. Just, you smell nice."
To which Ran proceeded to whiff himself, and indeed, he smelled quite nice.
"Anyway, how did you get Willy to kick the bucket?"
She was curious to find out how he had done it. From what she could see, a knife made of energy that had stabbed through his heart, but the knife wasn't embedded in there. And the only one that fits the wound pattern would be the pig's own energy knife, but he was still holding onto the knife in his hand and there was no trace of blood on it. Not to mention that Ran never carried a knife with him, much less the same one the pig had. The fact that Ran had a corresponding cut on his clothing was also a mystery.
"It was my sigil, Parry. It reflected his attack onto himself. I must say that he tried to kill me at the same time my sigil activated, otherwise that would be me on the floor."
Oh Ran Ran you… you don't have to thank me. It's all in the name of plot-armor.
"A reflection type, hmm…"
She seemed jealous of this type of ability and who wouldn't. All you have to do is stand there and wait for someone to hit you and you've done your job. She didn't think he was lying though. Not because of the mysteriously similar circumstances between the cut on the body and the cut on Ran's clothing, but because when one awakens, one will immediately receive all the basic information of their sigil through the will of the world. This includes the name of your sigil, its connection to your fetal organ, and it's basic function.
In Ran's case, his sigil's name is Parry. While its connection to his fetal organ allows the organ to harness the power of any attack Parry has absorbed but has not reflected. As for its basic function, you already know about that. It's in the name after all.
Sigh… fine. For those who don't know, to parry is to counter or reflect, so he's just sending attacks back to where they came from.
They looked at each other for a second and then Ran immediately stiffened himself as though a plank in order to be carried easier rather than be a slippery noodle. And they had no time to talk about his father or mother, though he knew that they must be going through something much more difficult. But nonetheless, If they wanted to escape, then they had to leave the city.
***
After about 20 minutes of Ran being carried around like luggage, they finally made it to the border. But what they found wasn't a completely safe exit, instead, it was guarded by a group of 5 rank 7 soldiers.
"Psst. How are we gonna get past them?"
Ran's face was pretty grim right now. Although they were hiding behind a house, as soon as they made a move, they would be noticed.
"What do you mean how? I'm going to beat them up!"
Now Ran was sweating bullets. Girl, what chu mean 'beat them up', that's 5 rank 7's right there! Ann saw his confusion and replied.
"Simple, I'm a rank 6 and my sigil is a speed type. How hard could it be?"
She even smirked! How daring!
Ran, on the other hand, slapped his thigh so hard the enemies almost heard him.
SHIT! No wonder she beat me at everything! Ran thought that maybe she was not talented, Just insanely powerful. With sufficient time and resources, getting to rank 6 is just a matter of time. But then, he began thinking again and then received another shock this time. He might really die of a heart attack some time soon with the amount of shocks he's getting.
An eighteen year old rank 6! He regretted thinking she wasn't talented several lines ago.
Ann, meanwhile, was just waiting while Ran's face cycled through various expressions. It was clear that she never told him her power level and saw this coming. She was even a little smug.
After Ran was done processing what he had just figured out, Ann proceeded and rushed like the wind at the 5 soldiers. Although I said that they would notice as soon as they made a move, Ann was just too fast and ended up taking one of their comrades by the time they did notice. Even then, she totally wrecked them within a couple minutes. One should know that she doesn't even use a weapon.
More accurately, her whole body is a weapon.
Punch, kick, uppercut, jab, roundhouse kick, etc, you get the idea. She's been training in the art of street fighting since she was basically born after all. How else can she protect the heir!
See, this is why I kept her alive! Totally not because she's plot-armor or a romantic candidate!
Ran was completely astounded by her performance. He was completely mesmerized by her barbaric fighting style. At least according to stereotypes, girls are fragile and gentle… not! If one were to see the scene in front of them, they would probably puke honestly. I mean, she seems really passionate about kicking two of the guys in their family jewels; effectively neutralizing them completely. But that's not even the best part. She literally stuffed her hand up a guy's mouth, through his brain, and out of his skull.
The last soldier who saw that, immediately fled in a panic with his arms flailing in the air.
He didn't want to be fisted to death… oh wait… Why does that sound wrong? Of course, it's because she didn't use a fist! That's totally inefficient. Instead, she extended her fingers in a jabbing motion; combined with her speed, it was as easy as pie to fist that last guy to death… oh wait…