Trials of Destiny: Way of The Sword

As the sun dipped beneath the horizon, its golden rays bypassed the trees with a warm, dim glow, as if guiding Jin and Stella toward their destination.

Amidst the fading light, a mysterious figure approached them, dressed in all white. His hand gripped a stack of papers, the edges fluttering gently in the calm evening breeze.

"You two seem like ki users," he remarked with a small grin. Nodding to himself, he handed one of the papers to Jin. "Maybe you can figure out what happened here," he added before turning and walking toward the village Jin and Stella had just left. His silhouette gradually faded until it was out of sight.

Jin took the paper and began to read it carefully aloud: "The sudden disappearance of the Lion Clan happened around two weeks prior to sending out this quest. The reason is unknown. Find the reason and bring it to 'Tavros.' Reward: 40 gold pieces." He looked over at Stella, who held on to her sleeve tightly; she appeared suddenly stressed.

"Stella, are you okay?" Jin asked, unsure what had caused her distress.

"T-that's… my clan," she muttered under her breath, barely above a whisper, turning to Jin. "W-we need to hurry," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Jin's eyes widened as he heard this, his heart sank slightly realizing that Abel and Gray could be in danger, or worst. "Let's go then! We can't waste any time." Jin said aloud before using "Swiftless Feather" to increase movement speed to make the trip quicker. Stella soon followed; she wasn't as quick due to the mercurial nature of her emotions, which slightly disrupted her ki flow. She managed to keep up, albeit a little slower than usual.

They arrived at the clan ground and to a haunting scene of chaos and ruins. The ground scorched in flames, ice covering the open ground inside the clan's gate. Buildings were collapsed, wood formed from under the ground, rooted out as to restrict mobility. It appeared that the walls were crushed in from the remaining large fragments of wood crashing down onto the clan's wall, destroying them.

Stella dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face and pooling in her lap. "T-This place…" she murmured, her voice barely a whisper, as if words failed to capture the ruin unfolding before her.

Jin shifted his gaze to the ground, unsure how best to console Stella, when something caught his eye—a faint outline of a footprint, larger than any humans could be. He glanced over at Stella, wanting to tell her, but held back, unwilling to add to her distress. After a moment of hesitation, he made a decision. He would follow the trail, leaving Stella to her thoughts for now.

Jin followed the faint footprints deeper into the forest, each step more cautious than the last. Suddenly, a loud howl pierced the silence, sending a chill throughout his body. He quickly ducked behind a nearby tree, peeking out barely enough to catch a glimpse of the creature ahead. Another wolf, it was larger than the one he had fought before. It's eyes glowing red as if aflame, ki radiating from every inch of its massive form with each step.

Confidence surged within him—his recent progress into the Heptagon stage gave him the confidence he needed. With a determined deep breath, Jin leaped out from behind the tree, tanto drawn. In an instant, the beast's gaze locked onto him, and it charged, swiping a massive claw in his direction.

"Forbidden Azure: Condensed Redemption" Jin's blade slashed forward, slicing through the wolf's claw just enough to stagger it. But the reprieve was brief; the beast immediately lunged again, claw descending upon Jin.

"Swiftless Feather" Jin channeled his ki, dashing out of the way with a swift, featherlight movement, leaving only a faint trail of his ki. The beast's eyes immediately locked onto the trail, its next swipe infused with ki, surging toward him. Jin's only option was to meet its force head-on.

"It's… heavy," he murmured, feeling the strain as he poured ki into his arms and blade, trying to overcome the relentless power of the beast.

Suddenly, a flash of blue dashed past Jin, striking the beast and killing it instantly. Electric currents crackled around the wolf's corpse, leaving Jin in stunned silence as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Moments later, Luna Frostvale appeared, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "Hi," she said casually.

"W-what the hell are you doing here?" Jin demanded, gripping his tanto and raising it defensively toward her.

"Well…" she hesitated, eyes glinting with amusement. "I was just passing by and noticed you struggling with that." She pointed to the wolf's body, sparking lightly with lingering electricity. "So, I thought I'd give you a hand considering…" Her gaze lingered on him, and bit her bottom lip slightly as she took a step closer. "…Considering I want to fight you when you're stronger."

Jin's grip loosened on his weapon, unsure how to respond. Slowly, he lowered his tanto and sheathed it. "…So, you're saying you stepped in because you want to fight me—once I'm stronger?" he repeated, more to himself.

"That's one reason." A faint blush crept across her cheeks, softening her usual hardened expression. Her smile which was subtle but still visibly there. Her long silver hair caught the dim light filtering through the trees, casting a gentle glow around her, while her red eyes seemed to sparkle with a warmth Jin hadn't seen before. He couldn't help but notice how different she looked now compared to their clash just a day earlier.

Jin felt conflicted as he looked at Luna. Beneath her piercing gaze and subtle smile, her eyes held a warmth, and her expression softened in a way he couldn't believe existed.

Something happened inside him while looking at her like this. He contradicted with his emotions while looking at her. Why did she have this type of effect on him? Out of everyone, why did it seem like, with her, time was just a suggestion.

Jin hesitated for a moment, his gaze dropping to the ground before he took a slow breath. "…I need to get going now," he murmured, turning his back to her, forcing himself to ignore the feeling gnawing at him.

Luna's smirk softened as she tucked her fan back into her sleeve, eyes lingering on his figure as he walked away. "We'll meet again… I promise." she whispered, her voice carrying just enough for him to hear.

Luna stood there watching Jin walk away, thinking to herself, "Maybe he can give me a real fight… but how long must I wait for that?" She sighed deeply, her lips curling into a smirk. "Well, it's fine… after all, he will be mine." A blush crept onto her cheeks as she bit her bottom lip, her eyes half-lidded and smoldering with a dark, possessive glint.

Jin walked back following the same set of footprints just in reverse, eventually leading him back to the Lion Clan. He saw Stella inside the gates looking around and still distressed in a way about everything. "… They're most likely fine." Jin said softly trying not to stress her any further. "They're both strong, after all." Knowing his words may seem like a lie because Jin never fought against Gray or saw him practicing.

Stella just quietly nodded along, not really sure what else to do. "I-I should've… just stayed here." She said with a stream of tears flowing down her face still.

Jin looked above them at the sky seeing it becoming darker and sighed. "Just…let's stay here and then figure out what to want to do in the morning, alright? I promise they're both perfectly fine."

Stella, who wanted to place the blame of this on someone, however she didn't want to blame herself. "J-just go… I want to be by myself instead for a while." she was slightly pushing the blame on Jin, even though deep down she knew it wasn't either of their faults that this happened.

Jin clenched his hands into a fist tightly for a moment before letting go with a deep inhale and exhale. "Will you be okay?" He asked looking at her back while she sat still, still observing the surrounding sight. "I-I…" She struggled to get words out at first, "I'll be fine. Just… please leave."

Jin reached into his sleeve and pulled out the rest of the money they had from that job and placed it down next to Stella before turning around, "I'll head for Valor's Reach. Meet me there… after everything okay?"

Jin turned back to look at her, and she nodded slowly in agreement. "I'll go there… after I find out what happened here and what happened to them."

Jin walked up towards her and crouched down and suddenly hugged her. "I'm sorry for this happening… but I promise they're both perfectly fine." Stella turned to him and just silent cried in his arms for a few minutes before pushing him away. "I-I'm sorry… just please leave me alone for a while. I'll meet you at Valor's Reach one day, so wait for me there." Stella said, slowly standing up and walked towards where her bedroom was, somehow the only room that was left untouched from when she was walking around earlier.

Jin sighed again not knowing what to do for her currently but decided to listen to her and left the building and headed north for Valor's Reach.

Stella walked into her bedroom and sat down looking at the place not seeing a single thing damaged. Even though she was in a bad state of mind, even she found this strange. "W-why was my room not damaged either?" she thought to herself for a moment before looking at her floor and realizing it had a protection barrier of ki carved into a symbol around her room, her door, and her window. "I-is this why?" She said quietly before getting up and shutting her door and locked it trusting the protection barrier as she fell asleep on her bed with tears covering her pillow.

"Abel… you did a wonderful job over the years. Have you just returned from the last assignment I had given you?"

"Yes master. I killed Gray, destroyed the Lion Clan, and the Shadowless Tavern has fallen, all within the year as you planned." Abel said kneeling.

"What about that girl?"

Abel slightly gulped but replied, "While Gray and I were both watching over her when he was alive, we both lost track of her…"

"Lost track of her? Is that what you said?" The figure looked over at Abel, releasing their ki.

"That bitch was the only reason for all of this… this was the opportunity to get rid of her in the context of the shadowlesss tavern. Do you have any clues on where she might be?"

"Her room at the clan was put up using barriers. However, all the barriers seemed to be replaced with a stronger ki barrier and the soldiers you had sent to watch the place had also all been eliminated… I'm not sure how." Abel said, hoping he wouldn't lose his life tonight.

The figure sat down in defeat, "You lost the girl, my soldiers are all dead, and what else?"

"That's all."

The figure spoke again, "Next year on the first of the month, go and check on the clan. She might be there. Until then, we have a lot to start preparing."

Someone walked off from the Lion's clan base with a mountain of bodies burnt with electricity running through them. "It's the least I can do for someone who was with him for a while…though it pisses me off." her red eyes held a possessiveness to them before vanishing into the night leaving bodies behind.