'It's true, there's no way she can outrun this bunch since they exceed her in cultivation level,' Nanny Folander thought hopelessly but in her heart, she prayed for a miracle.
"I'm going to get that brat," Kiba said while levitating.
Grab!
"Hmm?" Kiba stared at the hand that grabbed his left hand which happened to belong to Tarok.
"There's no need, she'll come back herself," Tarok said while grinning in the direction of nanny Folander. She immediately had a bad feeling when she saw his grin.
Rin was already ahead by more than three thousand feet when she heard a scream echoing through the forest.
"Kiiiiiaaaarrrrrrthhhhh!"
Rin paused for a while feeling that the voice sounded familiar.
"Nanny!" Rin's eyes widened as she figured out which voice it was.
She immediately turned around and started running back in the direction she came from.
After running for several minutes, three silhouettes were in her line of sight.
"No, why did you come back young miss? run," Nanny Folander shouted but Rin didn't listen and kept running towards them which made Tarok and Kiba grin from ear to ear.
On getting a much closer look, Rin found out that nanny Folander was missing her left arm and there was a stench of blood that permeated the air around this area.
"Nanny!" Rin shouted in tears.
Just at Rin was about fifty feet from them...
"Die traitor!" Tarok said and his hands morphed into a beastly one, covered with blue furs and with seven inches long claws on all fingers.
Slash!
He slashed out at nanny Folander separating her head from her body and making blood jet out like a fountain from her empty neck. The slash was so powerful that it traveled across the ground of the forest, causing meters long crevices and uprooting some trees in its way.
"Nanny?" Rin paused after witnessing this gruesome scene.
Looking at nanny Folander's headless body with blood jetting out and her neck a distance away, Rin felt her innards churn and vomited.
"Blergghhh!"
While she was vomiting both guards were laughing so hard, not even disturbed by the bloody stench that the area reeked of.
"Now that the traitor has been taken care of, this brat is next," Tarok said while slowly stepping toward Rin.
Rin whose mind was still in a state of shock about the loss of another person who was dear to her just stood there like a person whose ghost had been removed from her body after vomiting out the content of her bowels.
Suddenly...
Gbbbbbb!
A person in dark green robes landed from the sky, right in between Rin and Tarok.
Rin only saw a broad back blocking her view, but on staring closely she recognized him as one of her parents' most trusted guard.
Tarok paused and stared at the familiar-looking silhouette, "Li Dogblin! Why are you here? I thought you were dead?"
Although Tarok should have been scared due to the fact that Li Dogbin was one step above in terms of cultivation, he wasn't because he had a partner.
"Young miss, it's time for you to go," Li Dogblin said with a solemn-looking face while turning his head around to look at Rin, "Wherever it leads you to, keep running and don't stop," Li Dogblin statement made Rin feel puzzled.
Before Rin could ask what he meant, she felt the ground beneath her protrude, forming a bump which elevated her standing. Small rocks covered her feet from the ground, tightening around her leg area, making her body deep-rooted into the ground.
Brrrrooooonnnnn!
Before Rin had the time to process her thoughts, the bump on the ground moved with speed carrying her with it.
It was so moving so fast that it already covered thousands of feet in a few seconds. If the rocks weren't holding her legs firmly she would have been launched into the air due to the intense velocity at first.
"Don't think you can defeat us, just because you're at the star transformation level, there's two of us and one of you," Tarok said while Kiba walked towards him and stood by his side.
"Especially now that you have to focus on getting that brat away from here safely," Kiba said with confidence.
"Oh is that so?" Li Dongblin said while unleashing his aura on them.
Tarok and Kiba felt the huge pressure due to the cultivation difference but they tackled it with their aura, making the pressure decrease.
"Only time will tell," Li Dongblin said with a solemn face while walking towards them.
-
Although the wind was loud in Rin ears, she could still hear the intense sound of battle, it seemed that the planetary level beings had gone all out wreaking havoc on the forest.
The bump kept moving Rin for about an hour till she came out of the forest and arrived at Muremeu city. The bump finally went into the ground back and freed her legs.
The streets were quiet and empty as people were probably still sleeping due to the time.
Rin transversed through the dark streets alone, knocking on several doors but no one answered. After walking the streets for about thirty minutes a man in green robes landed in front of her.
This was none other than Li Dogblin but this time he had gruesome-looking wounds and cuts all over his body and his left arm was missing. Turns out the battle was very intense and he was not able to get away in one piece.
Rin gasped in shock but Li Dogblin had a non-challant look like he wasn't even bothered. Only he understood the relief of finally avenging his brother and master.
"Come with me," He said and carried her with his one arm flying towards the far end of the city.
After some minutes of flying, they landed in an area that looked very local but had a lot of shops which were obvious from the structural look.
He dropped Rin and they walked to the end of the street where there was a small looking courtyard.
He knocked several times, which was way louder than Rin's knocking, and in a few minutes, someone came to open up the door. It was a tanned looking middle-aged man with a bald head.
"Who is it so ear.." The middle-aged looking man was still rubbing his eyes while talking when he noticed who it was, "Dogblin! Oh my goodness, what happened to you?" The middle-aged man asked with concern.
He looked behind and noticed the little girl in stained looking nighty.
"Bardmus, let's talk inside," Like Dogblin said and while beckoning to Rin and stepping into the courtyard.
They went into the small apartment inside the living room area, where Dogblin explained everything to the middle-aged man named Bardmus.
Bardmus was presently a hunter and formerly a martial arts teacher.
He agreed to take Rin in after hearing her sorrowful story. At first, Rin was reluctant to stay with a man that she had never seen before but Dogblin assured her that Bardmus would keep her safe.
Bardmus applied some medicine and put some band-aids on Li Dogblin's empty left shoulder. After all that was said and done, Li Dogblin walked towards the door and was about to step out, "Where are you going? are you not going to stay?" Rin asked with a shrill voice.
Li Dogblin bent down to reach her height level and patted her head with his right hand, "Don't worry miss, I just need to take care of some issues and I'll be back," he said while showing her a sweet smile which she nodded to.
Li Dogblin left and Rin never saw him again since that day. She lived with Bardmus for five years before he died of an unknown illness which left Rin devastated again. Through the years Bardmus was the one that taught her everything she knew, how to fight, how to hunt, and how to use her abilities. She came to love him as a second father, alas the heavens were cruel to her once again and took him from her. For two years she learned how to take care of herself before meeting Ruby and Alusec in the forest after being ambushed by the people she formed a party with to hunt.
She saw Ruby as a senior sister and hoped for them to remain together but she saw Alusec as a barrier and as a person who couldn't cater for himself without Ruby. She saw Alusec as a competition.
********************************
-The present
It was already dark when Alusec and the rest arrived at the Baki clan. Since everyone could fly it was a very easy task to get there, though Briella and Ivrena were not as fast and had to be carried along by the elders and their father. What surprised everyone was the fact that Alusec was able to keep up with their speed. The elders purposely tried to leave him in the dust but it was impossible.