Chapter 111: Chapter 111- Brutal

*Swish*

Without having the time to even register what she felt, her hands moved to her sword as she guarded her side as fast as she could.

*BOOOOOOM*

A split second later, she felt a strong impact on her arm that almost broke it. Instantly, Hyun-Jae was blasted away at full force, smashing into the ground a few times before hitting a tree and stopping.

Hyun-Jae's ears rang painfully as she felt her body go numb for a moment. Her heart was racing quickly.

'What... Happened? Was I attacked...? Who attacked me?' Many questions popped into her head as she tried to calm down from the shock. Her eyes slowly went down to her body. She could see blood seeping through her clothes.

'I was injured...' She thought to herself.

Luckily, it didn't seem like a heavy injury even though the impact was really brutal. Hyun-Jae felt numb at that moment so the pain didn't register yet. But, she knew that when she regained her senses, it was going to be hellish.

"Hah... Hah..." Her dilated eyes then moved up as she heard the sounds of someone walking toward her.

Immediately, she felt her heart grew even colder. Those steps belonged to the entity that attacked her a second ago.

Without waiting a moment, Hyun-Jae forced herself to stand up as she rested her back on the tree and pointed her sword forward. Her eyes grew a few degrees colder.

The steps continued moving till they finally appeared in her vision.

'A woman?' Her eyes squinted when she saw the silhouette.

The person in front of her was a woman, clad in what seemed to be black clothes. She had a terrifying, demon-like mask on her face that hid her features with only her black hair being visible.

Hyun-Jae's grip naturally tightened on her sword and her senses started going haywire, alerting her of this mysterious enemy.

But, Hyun-Jae didn't move from her place and instead opened her mouth. "You... You're that same girl, aren't you?"

She didn't even need to see her face to identify this person. Her entire presence already foretold who she was and Hyun-Jae sensed that.

'So this is the mastermind behind all the mess that happened.'

Just realizing all the trouble this woman made for them made Hyun-Jae's anger rise to new levels.

Without uttering another word, Hyun-Jae stood up on her two feet as she channeled her Aetheris. Electricity coursed through her body and made her body seem like it exuded light.

The energy coursed through her body and filled her with even more strength. Staring coldly at her enemy, Hyun-Jae suddenly dashed forward at top speed. Her explosiveness broke her expectations as she crossed a good distance in a split second.

Reaching her enemy a few seconds later, she swung her sword as her lightning sizzled terrifyingly.

The mysterious woman stood still and didn't move the entire time. The sword closed up on her neck and was about to hit her when suddenly, her hands moved like a flash. Before Hyun-Jae could react, she felt her arm being struck, pushing the sword away before the other arm moved in and punched her in the guts powerfully.

The hit was so strong that air was blown out of her lungs along with a big mouthful of blood.

The girl was thrown back a dozen meters, falling on her back.

"BLURGH!!" Coughing powerfully, Hyun-Jae heaved loudly. She couldn't breathe at all and that made her eyes widen.

Eventually, her ability to breathe came back to her as she slowly rose from the ground. At that moment, she felt her senses go off again!

Hyun-Jae aimed her sword at the kunai and blasted it with another lightning ball.

*BOOOM*

The weapon immediately exploded the moment it was hit with the lightning ball.

'It's explosive too?'

Hyun-Jae had never seen in her life a weapon that could follow someone to this great degree. It was as if it had a mind of its own and knew how to chase after a target.

Slowly, Hyun-Jae descended to the ground as she was about to dash again. But, at that exact moment, she felt something appear behind her.

Before she could even understand what happened, everything blanked out for her.

*BOOOOOOM*

A second kunai had reached her during the time she was dealing with the first one and exploded on her back. A huge cloud of smoke rose in the air.

Hyun-Jae couldn't even realize what happened as she fell to the ground powerlessly. Her senses were completely overloaded by the explosion and her mind refused to work. Landing on her stomach, she stayed in her place, unable to move.

'... H-Huh... What... a second... kunai... She... used... the first one as... decoy...'

Slowly realizing what happened, Hyun-Jae didn't even know how to react. Her body refused to move, everything felt numb and painful at the same time. She didn't know how bad the injury she sustained was. But, she was sure of one thing... It was lethal.

She didn't know why, but a sense of coldness filled her body that she had never felt before in her entire life.

Even when she risked her life countless times, never did she feel something like this. It was as if life was getting sucked out of her body. She was on death doors.

Meanwhile, the mysterious woman walked toward her silently, taking her time to close the distance between them. When she reached her, she looked down at the dying girl. Her eyes were as cold as ever through the mask.

But, for a moment there, her stoic eyes squinted slightly as she realized something.

'This girl... At the last second, she diverted the kunai's direction right before it could stab her back... If it stabbed it... It would've been an instant death.' She thought to herself.

Never did she expect her enemy to have such a fast and smart reaction. As useless as it was, this simple move had given her a few extra seconds of life.

"... Interesting..." She murmured as she pulled another kunai. "If you didn't die here, you would've probably gone places, miss. Curse fate for letting both of us meet."

Then, she aimed the weapon at her target and was about to throw it and finish off the girl.

However, out of nowhere, something flashed in front of her eyes. The woman felt her senses going off as she quickly and instinctively jumped back a few meters.

Looking up hurriedly, she noticed a new presence had appeared next to the girl out of nowhere.

'I didn't feel his presence... Did he grow stronger again?' She realized what just happened and her wariness immediately grew.

Meanwhile, Talon crouched down near Hyun-Jae silently, his hair was blowing with the wind and he had a solemn aura around him.

Just a small glimpse at her condition made his entire body shudder.

"Hyun-Jae..." He murmured her name as he slowly and carefully lifted her up from the ground. His movements were extremely swift and gentle as if he was dealing with something very fragile.

(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )