QT: Against My Will

226 4.15.50 – Die for you – Dangerous Angels

‘~ Why is it that whenever I get attached to something, it dies?’

As a child, she strongly believed that she was cursed; she needed to be alone, always, or else, the monkeys in her head would give her a headache with their endless lectures. She was against raising any pets, so when Xuan Mu bought Sharkie behind her back, she gave him a huge cold shoulder, not because she hated animals, but because she knew they would die one day.

[Hidden Quest: Gain Cheng Young’s trust.+2000p]

Cheng Young thought about how he would be able to lure Tian Shi out with the silence of the dogs, not knowing that their life held more importance to Tian Shi than her human guards. His smile widened, looking at the blurry image of a girl that strolled towards him with indignant steps. He noticed that each breath he took, the moisture from his lungs left a slight burn in his throat with each exhale, leaving him tipsy. He knew. It was her.

The surrounding air was cold; it drew out the heat from her dull eyes, which color matched the skies that had been low and grey these past few days. Like a dream, her radiant white outfit made out of soft, satiny fabric, faded into the thick cloudy fog. Adorned in precious jewelry, the gentle hue of her skin glowed attractively in the light. Her aqua green hair moved much as soft grass in the wind, back and forth, revealing and hiding the golden wings hairpin that indicated her identity.

Her captivating beauty was magically extinguished by a dirty broom in her hand; which, she brandished at his people that tried to get a hold of her.

“Master, we found her!” said a man in merchant’s clothes. Sauntering with a big gap in between him and Tian Shi, he switched his confused gaze between the harmless-looking girl and her broom, which brush’ head almost broke during their short confrontation.

‘~ Outreach your opponent, and you are more likely to win.’

“It’s been almost a year since I got them; I had yet to celebrate their birthdays...” she said. Standing closely to Cheng Young, Bing Shi’s height reached his shoulders. Looking down at the pool of blood that oozed out of her beloved animals, her voice cracked; almost in a brim of tears, “My precious pets...”

.....

“Umpf!” Cheng Young held his right wrist in pain; his gun fell on the ground, together with her broom’s head, alerting everyone.

The moment his defense was down, Bing Shi quickly struck his right hand that tried to pick up the pistol. When he avoided, she frowned in confusion. “Don’t let anybody escape,” she ordered her men, hitting Cheng Young’s gun towards her direction, a war for the mysterious weapon began. Taking advantage of the disoriented chaos, she picked it up and stuffed it into her bag.

“Leave her to me! Take care of the rest!” Spreading his oppressive aura, Cheng Young leaped towards Bing Shi, attempting to grab her stupid broom. The scene could be compared to a cat trying to catch a feather teaser. Bing Shi being the feather teaser. Noticing his futile attempts, he unsheathed his sword with his left hand, showing his full capability to use both hands efficiently. He maneuvered around the wooden staff without getting hit with it or having to block it with his sword, only parring – a swordsman doesn’t want to have his blade hit wood. A gentle hit with a staff could leave a finger numb for days. Imagine what a full impact hit would do.

On the other hand, a gentle stroke of a blade could kill. He had a superior weapon; using perfect angling distance with footwork, he could close the gap and take her down. There was a problem though. He couldn’t get close.

Getting Tian Shi’s message, her guards didn’t have time to be surprised and spread out, battling against the foreign men, having a great advantage due to their huge builds and expensive armors that Bing Shi let Hasan implement right after the first unwelcomed visit.

Training under Ru Quan’s harsh regimen and Ziek’s diet, her guards were specialized to fight against skilled opponents like Zhao Rong, by using underhanded tactics, making others think twice if they wanted to anger these walking Hulks. Despite wearing heavy loads of steel, they weren’t slow nor clunky as it still weighed a lot less compared to what special forces had to carry in modern times.

Cheng Young’s men couldn’t do much. Even if they were more experienced and closed the gap to strike a fast kill with their poisoned daggers, her guard’s armors and mesh under their helmets couldn’t be pierced!

Having their vital points protected, Bing Shi’s guards got an opportunity to take their opponents down. Within the city limits, nobody was normally allowed to carry arms, especially slaves. Rania citizens, were by definition, Rania soldiers too. Natives and their registered guards were legally obliged to possess arms, but only when they were outside of the cities or inside their properties – it was a matter of personal safety to protect oneself against robbery and wild animals.

Cheng Young wanted to avoid unnecessary attention; his power had yet to reach that far. His ten shadow guards with superior martial arts knowledge only carried small weapons that could be concealed easily, like daggers and poison. His only sword was enough to gain suspicious gazes, not speaking about a spear which was like an ancient version of an assault rifle. He was sure that he could subdue a mere courtesan, whose eight guards looked like a gimmick. Today, her security was at its lowest, because the rest of her guards were helping out with the reconstruction of Eliaros. Taking advantage of Zhao Rong’s absence, relying on the mysterious weapon to terrify her guards, it should have been enough to finish them off.

Bing Shi asked for a permission for her guards to carry weapons. Using an opposite tactic, she flaunted her heavy armored guards so much that the citizens (spies) had gotten used to their presence. Seeing familiar faces, they didn’t get wary as they’d usually do.