The guards were approaching a wooded path. The road was very narrow, barely wide enough for the wagons, and framed by gentle hills covered in spring foliage on either side of the path. While, in the back, Cea peacefully ate small cakes contained in boxes hidden under the straw. Once satiated, the samurai fell asleep, after ten minutes of finding the right position.
Cea opened her eyes, not in the world we know. It was the world of shadows, where she found herself alone in the nothingness of her mind. Silhouettes surrounded him, as in the bistro. Like when she was a child, in the Valley. But this time, she couldn't, or rather couldn't manage to defend herself against the growing evil in front of her. The shadows gathered again and again, making her even more vulnerable, weakened. Céa curled up against her trunk, the shadows invaded her, enveloped her. When, as bright and blinding as the sun, a light shines under the dark cloud.
"Wake up, Highness.
That voice, Cea had never heard except here, in the shadow world. This knot either, none of these gods possessed it. Only this misunderstood creature was capable of producing such a gangsinsul. She never saw his face, only his voice reached her. Well, often it was when Muteki was in danger. Cea opened her eyes wide. Above, a man standing, his hand on his abdominal belt.
– I'm hallucinating, no, but... You pervert!
Cea kicked him in the stomach, propelling the man out of the cart, she put her belt back in place.
– It doesn't suit you to fiddle with people while they sleep, she screamed down, you sick!
But when she hit the ground, the man was already gone, a rope took her foot and made her rise a few centimeters from the ground.
– What is this madness ? Let me down !
Her head upside down, Cea whirled around to see the situation still unclear. The guards were all down, all dead. Even stranger, the cut of their wounds was straight and thin.
Sabers, or katanas but not just any.
Cea finally turned to the protagonist, who punched her in the stomach. She directly spat blood, he had hit a weak point, the first time it was not something a simple human could do. Her face was covered with a black scarf, as black as her clothes.
"You hit well," Cea told him, once recovered. What are you, a ninja thief right?
He hit her again. Céa doubled over in pain, or so she pretended, she had already gotten used to the pain caused by her blows, they had become ineffectual. But just when she thought he was going to beat her to death and leave her for dead, the masked thief pulled out a saber out of nowhere.
– Oh no ! Wait, before you kill me, at least tell me why me? It's in the ninja code, you don't kill for no reason, right?
Despite the headscarf, Cea could see a smile on her face, thanks to her squinting eyes.
Yeah, no doubt if he did that, he was a ninja but now he's not. A ninja does not kill for pleasure, that is why he never laughs before the act. But there's one thing that bugs me, his gun.
He raised his saber, and Cea began to beg him using more surprising than stupid arguments, one after the other. The ninja lowered the blade with such speed that he only gave Cea a third of a second's walk to save his skin. In this time, Cea closed her eyes, then she opened them again these pupils changed color to become metallic gray, she spat the blood in her mouth on the face of the ninja. He was disoriented, missed his shot and cut the rope that held Cea. It crashed without zeal on the ground, she grimaced.
– Shit, after groping me, now you want to kill me... Asshole.
While Cea was still massaging her neck, she saw a kunai coming towards her. She narrowly avoided him, horrified.
– But are you crazy?
Barely recovered from this attack, her attacker charged at her, foot forward. Cea only managed to parry his blows, he was so fast, and his saber attacks were violent, she made her katana tremble. She had no respite to be able to reply. The samurai made a hunted jump in order to take a step back from the fight, she began to meditate. Cea took a deep breath and placed her katana in front of her eyes, straight up.
I can't summon gods because this guy has a strange knot, they can be in danger. And his weapon's gangsinsul is powerful too, for sure, he is powerful. I'm going to have to call my noudo.
– I appeal to the Heavenly God, so that with his hand, I restore justice through the essences of earth, water, wind and flame. I become an artifact of good and evil, of all walking, flying and crawling beings. Acquisition, declared Céa by turning the blade in horizontal position, resonance of the wind!
Suddenly, his tunic became a transparent white. She was identical to the one Kaze wears, including her eyes.
Acquisition. It's a technique specific to my noudo, I developed it so as not to have to invoke the gods. It simply consists of using the god's gangsinsul without invoking it, but the only downside to this technique is that it consumes a lot of noudo so I only do it rarely because if I can't neutralize my enemy, once my noudo weakened I find myself at his mercy.
From then on, Cea moved into attack position, guided by Kaze's knot into the Sanctuary. His adversary remained standing at first, he seemed to be watching him. He was right, this gangsinsul emanated from her. Chungseong also felt it again, that evil gangsinsul.
At the same time, the news was conveyed by the guards to their master. One of them arrived at the height of their horse cart, he confirmed to chungseong the situation, a few meters away.
– Monsignor, the rear troop has been ambushed. We think it was looters who spotted us in town, but we don't know how many there are.
Chungseong frowned, perhaps the worst was about to happen. He had felt this gangsul far too close for it not to be the same person, then he felt a second, still as powerful. He looked at his sister, he had to get her to safety at all costs.
– Get Lady Eunchong to safety and make the procession move forward as quickly as possible, ordered Chungseong, and bring my horse to me!
– No, Chungseong! You can't leave like that, Eunchong gasped immediately, you want to abandon me for good?
Eunchong was worried, dispossessed by the unexpected situation. Chungseong dried her tears of distress, and smiled at him.
– Don't say anything, after all it is my role, is not it? As always, I'll be back, don't worry.
For a moment the cart stopped. Chungseong descended from it, he mounted his horse, under the frightened gaze of his sister. The Section Chief left with his men to intercept the impending danger, only giving his sister a brief look.
– Be careful !
– Yes, proceed carefully!
Eunchong looked at them going in one direction, while she went in the other. She felt like it was so heart splitting, Chungseong took part. She should have got used to it because he was an imperial officer, he often went into battle yet the fear during these departures remained the same. Although he was the best guardian of the imperial seals, a prodigious and unstoppable warrior since childhood, Eunchong could not stop worrying about his elder. Because if something happened to his brother, his family would be weakened forever.
– Dame Eunchong, enter your head, it's dangerous!
Eunchong sat back down, his heart heavy. The guards surrounded his procession in a human wall, the strategy was also applied by the small battalion of Chungseong. They advanced in a triangle of which he was the center of gravity, while maintaining a good speed. Yet, despite the short time, when Chungseong arrived with his men, everything was already over.