A dry mouth and throat woke up Jiyeon early in the morning before sunrise. The need for her thirst to be sated forced Jiyeon to rub the sleep out of her eyes so that she could get up and grab a glass of water. She was lying on her side with Eunjung spooning her and holding onto Jiyeon's waist with a tight grip. While Jiyeon couldn't deny that she liked being in this position with her girlfriend, the need to quench her thirst was stronger at the moment.

Jiyeon gently pried Eunjung's arm off her waist in order to not wake up the older girl. Slowly she moved out of bed and let out a yawn and shook her head. She made her way towards the door and opened it, allowing the lights from the ceiling to shine down on her. Jiyeon's eyes automatically closed as she tried to adjust to the light and made her way towards the cafeteria.

She was still rubbing her eyes when she got to the kitchen and didn't notice a shorter figure standing in front of the refrigerator scarfing down food like it was the end of the world. Finally Jiyeon opened her eyes and the image in front of her fully woke her up. She forgot about her thirst and grinned widely at the sight of Soyeon stuffing a sandwich in .

“Soyeon unni! You woke up!” Jiyeon jumped on Soyeon and hugged her so tightly that the priestess almost spit out the food in in surprise.

Soyeon started coughing after trying to swallow some of the food in and nodded at Jiyeon to acknowledge her. Jiyeon quickly started patting Soyeon's back. “I'm sorry unni-”

Jiyeon started coughing herself because of how dry and throat were. While Soyeon caught her breath, Jiyeon finally opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She twisted the cap off and gulped the entire content of the bottle in one go despite how cold it was.

“Ahh!” Jiyeon breathed out after swallowing the last bit of the cold liquid. By now Soyeon had caught her own breath as well and took a sip from the juice box she had put on the counter next to the fridge earlier.

“I woke up not long ago and I was so hungry. This is my third sandwich. I usually don't eat this much.” Soyeon laughed out and Jiyeon grinned at the priestess.

“I was so worried about you! I'm so happy you survived unni.” Jiyeon hugged Soyeon once again and the priestess smiled as she returned the hug. The sudden close contact between the two caused Jiyeon to frown, sensing something odd about the priestess.

Jiyeon pulled away quickly and simply looked at the priestess who was looking back at the younger girl. “Survived? I was just unconscious Jiyeon.”

Soyeon now frowned at Jiyeon the same way the girl was frowning at her. “Unni... you almost died...”

“What? Heh...” Soyeon chuckled slightly. “I'm fine Jiyeon.”

“You don't remember fighting Hyori...?” Jiyeon asked. Confusion marked her beautiful features.

Soyeon finally looked away from Jiyeon towards the fridge and slightly tilted her head in thought. “I...I remember confronting her...and...a blue stream...”

“You must have out fairly quickly unni.”

“I guess I must have. I honestly don't remember much other than trying to stop her and her attacking me.” Soyeon replied and offered a small smile to Jiyeon. “The good thing is that I made it right? Like you said.”

Jiyeon finally stopped frowning and smiled while nodding her head. “Yes, you did, and that is really what matters. But unni, you should go lie down again. It's still dark outside I think.”

Soyeon chuckled and pointed to the windows at the top of the wall next to them. “The sun will rise soon. I think I'll join the cooks and help with breakfast. Want to join?”

The feeling that something was odd about Soyeon still bothered Jiyeon, but she decided it was best to leave it be. The most important thing was that the priestess was awake and seeming energized. Jiyeon looked directly into Soyeon's eyes, noticing a slight glimmer, and nodded.

“I'd love to join unni.”

Kwangsoo had sent several of his soldiers out to patrol the perimeter around their base in order to stop anyone that tried to attack. These men and women never sensed the royal army as they all traveled past them through the shadows. They only knew they were under attack when the guards outside the gates were instantly killed by rogues and the gates were opened.

All the unsuspecting soldiers in Kwangsoo's base had little time to react as suddenly an entire army appeared from the shadows and attacked them. Those patrolling the outside of the base had to hurry back to help defend. The rogues of the royal army were the first to attack as their stealthy attacks caught many enemy soldiers off guard. The warriors and death knights being led by Seunghyun appeared next striking those who had enough time to react to the rogues.

Finally the warlocks and priests appeared. The distraction from the other classes allowed them time to cast their spells and attack. It was an all out war as the enemy soldiers in different areas of the base made their way towards the main gates just like those patrolling did from the outside. Several of the warriors from the royal army holding shields followed Seunghyun as she rushed an attack with his shield further into the base.

They cleared a path straight through for the warlocks and priests following Jiyong. The casters started running through the path as their goal was to further spread out. The warlocks needed to unleash their demons to aid in the fight and prevent the enemy warlocks from doing the same. As Seunghyun and Jiyong approached the middle of the base, they stopped in their tracks at the sight before them.

The guys from the group they had been a part of in the expedition were sitting on the ground chained up. The chain was long with cuffs around the men's wrists and ankles. By the looks of it, the warrior and warlock could tell their friends were weak and had lost a lot of weight. The most shocking sight was that of the King and Queen lying unconscious on the ground with a black orb floating above them slowly draining what little remained of their life essence.

Seunghyun and Jiyong couldn't move and Kwangsoo grinned maliciously at the sight of the two men. Kim Kwangsoo's army outnumbered the royal army and even though their attack had been a surprise, the forces of the royal army wouldn't last long.

Kyurhee knew her sister needed time to compose herself after what happened, so the rogue went ahead to scout the area from which Jinyoung had arrived only to find a cliff. The evil man had used the shadows to probably make his way up the cliff. From this cliff Kyurhee could clearly see the base and how it was now lit up in fire. She smirked knowing that the attack lead by Seunghyun had succeeded for now.

The rogue turned around to head back to where Jaehee was so that the two of them could lead their attack from the north. Compared to the army, the two of them didn't seem as much, but they were naturally more powerful, more attuned to the darkness, and better skilled at fighting than anyone in Kwangsoo's army.

Kyurhee stopped in her tracks at the sight of her sister standing up holding her ax in her right hand. Jaehee looked up at the rogue and placed her ax on her back. Kyurhee smiled at her sister and walked right up to her moving her glove covered hands to wipe the trail of tears away from the younger woman's face.

“Are you ready champ?” Kyurhee asked her younger sister while caressing her face. Jaehee looked down and gave her older sister a shy smile. It was so rare nowadays for the two of them to have a moment like this. They always supported each other unconditionally but acts of affection like this hardly ever happened. The Kang sisters could never explain why they weren't more affectionate with each other, but right now it seemed like it was the one thing both needed from each other.

They had friends and followers down there fighting for them and soon alongside them, but yet they felt like right now they were all alone in the world. Just the two of them fighting against the world. Jaehee closed her eyes and pulled her sister in for a hug, rubbing the older woman's back as Kyurhee held on tightly to Jaehee.

“Don't ever call me champ again.” Jaehee chuckled and Kyurhee joined her while smiling widely.

“We finally did it sis. We finally ended him.” Kyurhee's voice suddenly turned serious and Jaehee pulled back, this time cupping her sister's face as Kyurhee had done earlier to her.

“You did it Kyurhee. You ended him and he will never hurt you again.” A tear rolled down the rogue's cheek and Jaehee gently wiped it off.

“The army is currently fighting inside the base. It's time we join them; they need us.” Kyurhee sniffled and brought her sister's hands down from her face to simply hold them in their hands.

“Yes. Let's go. Let's end it once and for all.” Jaehee replied and backed away from her sister. The death knight walked over to grab her helmet and Kyurhee picked up her backpack to place it around her shoulders.

The two sisters looked at each other once again, this time in their true forms, and then turned to face in the direction of the enemy base. The determination in their eyes fueled them greatly as they blended into the shadows and made their way towards Kwangsoo's base.

“I'm very disappointed that neither Princess could join you in this fight, but alas, I will wait for Jinyoung to bring them here personally.” Kwangsoo sighed and placed a hand over the book he was holding.

He needed the two sisters to complete his plan and he really hoped Jinyoung would be able to capture them. Kwangsoo knew in the back of his mind that Jinyoung could fail; the man was so desperate to get his hands on Kyurhee that he was not thinking straight. Kwangsoo eyed the soldiers that were now standing behind him facing Seunghyun, Jiyong and the group of warriors, warlocks and priests who were standing behind them.

“I hate to disappoint you, but I believe your man has failed. We were given our cue to attack not long ago from Kyurhee herself.” Seunghyun told the man and smirked under his helmet.

A frown and a snarl from Kwangsoo let the warrior know that the man wasn't happy to hear that. Kwangsoo balled up his right fist and dark magic started to swirl around it. The warlock quickly stuck his arm out unleashing a Shadow Bolt at Seunghyun, but the warrior raised his shield and withstood the attack as it disintegrated upon contact.

Seunghyun almost seem to roar as he began to charge at Kwangsoo but two of Kwangsoo's soldiers jumped in front of their leader and let themselves be struck by Seunghyun's attack. The warrior tried to swing his mace at the evil man, but another warrior parried his attack.

Jiyong stood still as he watched his boyfriend charge at Kwangsoo, but when the other soldiers jumped in, Jiyong cast his own Shadow Bolt and struck a distracted Kwangsoo knocking out the book he was holding in his left hand. Kwangsoo stepped back after being struck but he wasted no time in attacking Jiyong himself. That single move from Jiyong caused all of the soldiers with them on both sides to start fighting each other.

Yonghwa, Jonghyun, Jungshin, Minhyuk and Jungkook all struggled with the chains around their wrists as they watched their friends fight with the enemy. Despite being weak and hungry, they wanted to get free and jump in to help defeat the enemy. Yonghwa tried to unleash his true form but he was to weak to even do that. He punched the ground in frustration and desperation since he felt useless.

The sound of a galloping horse suddenly caused the chained up men to stop struggling and look over in the direction from which the sound was coming from. Kwangsoo was too distracted trying to best Jiyong, who continued to dodge and counter attack him, to realize that two powerful entities were headed their way. An undead horse suddenly jumped over a group of warriors and warlocks engaged in battle, and the ax being carried by the rider struck two warlocks on the way down that belonged to the enemy army.

The sound and sight of the horse with its death knight sitting on top of it caused Kwangsoo to look away and turn to the new arrival. His sight was suddenly directed to the cries of his priests being struck in rapid succession by a very skilled rogue who in a matter of seconds had downed five priests and landed next to the death knight sitting a top her horse.

The northern part of the base had been completely abandoned by Kwangsoo's army since the fight had shifted to the southern area. Kyurhee had led Jaehee to the cave where their parents were being held captive, so they were surprised when neither of their parents were in the cave. It was obvious Kwangsoo had moved them, but they could not waste anymore time; the sisters needed to end the evil man's reign.

“I believe this belongs to you.” Jaehee addressed Kwangsoo and threw the severed head of Jinyoung in front of the warlock.

Kwangsoo's eyes went wide at the sight of his right hand man's head landing near his feet. Kyurhee smirked underneath the hood that covered her face. Kwangsoo's reaction confirmed what both sisters believed; that Kwangsoo actually believed Jinyoung could defeat and capture them.

“Cat got your tongue?” Kyurhee mentioned and Kwangsoo finally turned to look at both sisters. His demeanor quickly shifted from surprise to an evil smirk and his eyes turned a dark shade of purple. He grinned and even let out a small maniacal laugh.

“It doesn't matter if you killed him. The fact is that he eventually led the two of you straight to me. Soon the two of you will be just like them!” Kwangsoo left the evil grin on his face as he stepped to the side giving both sisters a chance to see what was behind the man.

On the ground were the King and Queen lying unconscious with a black orb floating above them draining what was left of their life essence. The fighting around them had also stopped as both the royal army and Kwangsoo's army were curious about this interaction. It was Jaehee and Kyurhee's turn to be shocked.

Kyurhee's eyes scanned her parents' bodies and then she looked past them to see Yonghwa and the rest of the guys sitting chained to each other. She could tell how weak they had gotten since the last time she had seen and spoke to them, but she glad that Kwangsoo had not killed them yet. Jaehee had not noticed the men as she had kept her eyes on her parents. When she did look away from them, she turned to her sister and followed the rogue's eyes towards the chained up men.

Jaehee remembered them despite not knowing them all too well, and she knew that Kyurhee had tried to save them but had to leave them behind once again. The death knight called off her mount and landed on her feet as she faced Kwangsoo once again. She pointed her ax at the warlock and started taking steps towards him.

“If you have any last words you better say them now because soon your head will be lying right next to that filthy scumbag you piece of trash!” Jaehee gripped her ax tightly with both hands as she rushed at Kwangsoo. She wanted the man dead, plain and simple, and was willing to put everything on the line to achieve it. Kwangsoo only grinned again and stood still as Jaehee ran towards him and laughed when the demon he had summoned to aid him appeared before Jaehee and swung its mighty sword towards the death knight.

Jaehee's ax clinked and vibrated as it struck the demon's sword, but she stood her ground and traded blows with the relentless demon. Kyurhee vanished before the eyes of everyone and reappeared as she struck several enemy soldiers once again. The rest of the royal army had managed to subdue or kill the enemy soldiers by the main gates, and now they had made their way to the center of the base.

Their numbers aided in the battle that had started once again and despite still being outnumbered, the royal army was holding steady and surprisingly had not lost any soldiers. Some had been wounded yes, but the priests had cast healing spells on them that helped them keep going. Kwangsoo did not care how many of his men fell, he just wanted to capture Jaehee and Kyurhee, but the two sisters were extremely formidable opponents.

Kwangsoo had summoned all of his demons to keep Jaehee distracted as he ran towards the book he was previously holding. Once he picked it up, he called on his warlocks to join him in summoning their most powerful demons to join the battle. Soon they had Doomguards and Infernos appearing out of nowhere to aid in the battle.

Jiyong had called on several warlocks to summon their own Doomguards and Infernos as well. And while both armies clashed, the powerful demons from both sides clashed behind them. The death knights of the royal army were rising the dead enemy soldiers to fight for them adding more numbers to the royal army, but the enemy death knights, were doing the same to their own comrades. They did not care if that was their friend at one point, they just needed to win this war for their leader.

Kyurhee was now leading the rogues into quick stealthy attacks to defeat the enemy. The rogues were a thing of beauty to watch as they appeared and disappeared attacking any enemy soldier that appeared in their way. This helped Kyurhee finally reach Yonghwa and the rest of the guys. She picked the locks of their chains finally freeing them. From her bag she gave each men a potion that would boost their energy and bodies temporarily allowing them to join the fight.

“Drink these potions now. We need to get to the armory for your weapons and armor. I will guide you all there.” Kyurhee instructed them and all five men nodded. As they made their way to the armory, Kwangsoo's men followed the group to stop them from getting there.

All of them underestimated Kyurhee's ability as the rogue struck every enemy soldier down. Dark energy was pulsating around the rogue's body as her determination increased. The five men running behind her could feel the energy radiating from Kyurhee and it empowered them even more. Once inside the armory, they all grabbed weapons and a few pieces of armor to cover their bodies.

Meanwhile, the royal army was still managing to stand their ground against the enemy. The priests had switched completely over to healing their comrades while the warriors protected them from being attacked. Kwangsoo had managed to gain a few moments to observe the fight and he had to admit that the way the royal army was fighting was incredible. They had planned how to attack, defend themselves, and how to survive. His men were just trained soldiers.

He had seen Kyurhee fight so elegantly and swiftly. She was the model rogue and the darkness around her body was pure and invigorating. Darkness was the base of their power and it was always neutral. Depending on how darkness was used, it could be good, pure and clean like the one that surrounded Kyurhee; but darkness could also be twisted to become even darker and evil like Kwangsoo had done with his.

Kwangsoo had also observed Jaehee's darkness. The younger Princess had defeated his demons and any soldier that tried to attack her. The darkness around her body radiated more than anyone else and unlike Kyurhee's, Jaehee's darkness was more peculiar. Kwangsoo could see how little of it seemed pure and how the majority of it was dancing on that thin line of madness. The warlock grinned knowing that there was a chance Jaehee could twist her darkness into what he had done.

“Your heart is dark Princess and your darkness even darker. Just surrender before you completely lose it.” Kwangsoo smirked and started casting all of his spells at Jaehee.

Jaehee felt every single attack from Kwangsoo hit her body. She felt how they burned and stung despite the heavy metal armor that covered her body. The more Kwangsoo struck her the more the darkness around her body grew. Every step she took, she got closer to Kwangsoo who continued striking her time and time again.

Drops of sweat were running down Kwangsoo's forehead and the side of his face as he continued to rush his attacks. Any other person would have dropped dead a few attacks in, but Jaehee seemed unfazed by everything he was throwing at her. He could see the fire burning on her armor and in the parts that the armor did not cover but Jaehee did not budge. Kwangsoo barely managed to dodge the swing of Jaehee's ax when she was finally close to strike him.

“My soldiers! Aid me! Stop her!” Kwangsoo yelled out but none of his soldiers came to his aid. All of them were too distracted fighting the royal army. Kwangsoo looked around and grit his teeth seeing that it was just him against Jaehee.

The death knight swung at him again and this time Kwangsoo rolled out of her attack. He quickly summoned one of his demons again to distract Jaehee. As the felhunter tried to bite Jaehee and she swung her ax at it, Kwangsoo summoned two more of his demons. They all ran towards the death knight and this allowed him to summon another one. Finally Kwangsoo placed the book inside of his robes and he himself took on a demon form.

It wasn't his true form, but one that turned his body completely black, his feet turned to hooves, his hands became sharp claws, horns adorned his head, and wings sprouted from his back. In this form he would give Jaehee a good fight. Jaehee had taken out two demons by the time Kwangsoo swung a clawed hand at her. He struck Jaehee's shoulder and the next swing struck her chest, but the heavy metal armor she was wearing took the attack keeping her intact.

Jaehee traded more blows with the remaining demons and this time she used her death knight magical abilities to kill them off quickly leaving just Kwangsoo in his demon form. He continued to swing at her and this time the death knight dodged most of his attacks except one that caught the bottom of Jaehee's helmet knocking it off her head. Kwangsoo jumped on her since losing her helmet distracted Jaehee for just a second.

Kwangsoo's claws struck Jaehee's armor despite her distraction and to push him away she kicked his midsection causing Kwangsoo to double over. Jaehee then swung her ax upwards catching the demon warlock in the chest and cutting deep into it. Kwangsoo screamed in pain as he clutched the wound on his chest. This caused him to lose the demon form and he returned back to his human form. Jaehee felt a warm trail of liquid running down her face and she brought her hand to it. The cuts on the side of her face from the banshee had reopened.

In her peripheral vision, Jaehee noticed the dark orb that was draining her parents life essence. She looked down to see she was standing next to both of her parents and the dark orb. Jaehee let out a scream as she raised her ax to strike the orb. In the area behind Kwangsoo, Yonghwa and the rest of the guys had appeared to help out their comrades and behind Kwangsoo, Kyurhee was running towards the man with her daggers drawn.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Kwangsoo screamed when he finally saw what Jaehee was about to do. His eyes were wide as he saw Shadowmourne glowing brightly about to strike the orb.

Jaehee struck the orb with Shadowmourne and fought the incredible resistance from the orb by unleashing all the darkness inside her. It spread through the entire area and in the blink of an eye, and then it suddenly drew back into Jaehee and then into Shadowmourne. As the ax started cutting straight through the orb, Kyurhee's daggers started cutting through Kwangsoo's neck.

The last image in the man's eyes was the orb being destroyed by Jaehee. As his severed head began to fall forward, Shadowmourne finished going through the orb and it's destruction sent a wave of energy all around the area sending everyone flying backwards. Kwangsoo's severed head flew back past everyone and his body simply fell back. The Book of the Ancients slipped out of the robes and flew backward as well.

A bright light blinded everyone as they tried to look in the direction of the orb after they had finally landed on the ground and managed to somewhat compose themselves. Jaehee and Kyurhee fought against the blinding light in order to get closer to it. The bright light started to dim as the sisters approached it and they could see it was now a bright orb. The orb was spinning counter clockwise and returning all of the life essence to the King and Queen's bodies.

Jaehee and Kyurhee looked at each other and then back at their parents' bodies. A smile grew on their faces realizing that everything was over. Kwangsoo was dead, his army defeated, and their parents were going to survive. Kyurhee placed a hand on Jaehee's shoulders and grinned widely now seeing how life seemed to be returning back to her mom and dad. Jaehee turned to look at Kyurhee and smiled at her sister before closing her eyes and falling forward right in between her parents.

“Eunjung, this place is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it...”

“Eunjung! I can't believe you're back. I missed you. We have so much to catch up on.”

“Our wedding is tomorrow. I'm so nervous but yet so excited. I love you Eunjung.”

“Jiyeon...I love you too.”

“Jiyeon!” Eunjung shot her eyes open, gasped, and sat up on her bed. For a moment panic marked her facial features but quickly they turned back to that expressionless look she always had.

Eunjung turned to her left side where Jiyeon should have been but her girlfriend was not there. The Guardian groaned and rubbed her eyes finally realizing there was light in the room from the morning sun. She pushed the covers to the side and got out of the bed to head over to the bathroom. She opened the bathroom door and peeked inside, but Jiyeon was not there.

Eunjung headed out of her room only to see several Guardians heading over towards the cafeteria. I wonder what's going on and what was that dream... She ran a hand through her hair and stood in front of her door thinking about the dream she had. Jiyeon was in it, but where they were was not any place she recognized. And there was someone else there, she could tell it was a woman but her face, the woman's face she could not see it. All she could see was the red cape hanging from the woman's shoulders.

“Jungie? Are you okay?” Jiyeon's voice broke Eunjung out of her thoughts. Jiyeon placed a hand on Eunjung's cheek and gently caressed it. “You seem lost in thought.”

Eunjung pulled Jiyeon towards her and hugged her tightly. “I'm fine, I'm just wondering what is going on. Everyone seems to be rushing towards the cafeteria.”

Jiyeon giggled in Eunjung's arms and pulled away from her girlfriend. “That's because Soyeon woke up earlier and everyone just wants to see her!”

“What?”

“Yup! Let's go, you have to give her a hug and annoy her by telling her how happy you are she's awake. After the bear hug she got from Boram and Qri, she might just disappear.” Jiyeon's giggle turned into a hearty laughter. She grabbed Eunjung's hand and led her girlfriend towards the cafeteria.

Everyone moved out of the way when they saw Jiyeon leading Eunjung towards Soyeon who was trying to drink her coffee at their usual table. The Guardians knew their leader most likely wanted to see the High Priestess and didn't want to be in the way. Soyeon turned to look in the direction everyone was looking and smiled at Jiyeon and Eunjung who stopped next to her chair.

“Soyeon, I'm glad you woke up. I can see you're feeling well.” Eunjung told her and Soyeon offered her a smile.

“Yes, I'm feeling just fine thanks to the Light. I know I caused everyone a lot of concern but I'm fine.” Soyeon responded offering Eunjung a smile.

“Jungie, take a seat. I'll bring your breakfast over.” Jiyeon motioned for the older girl to sit in the empty chair next to Soyeon. Eunjung nodded and took her seat. The rest of the Elite Six greeted her but only Hyomin noticed that something about Eunjung wasn't quite right.

“Are you alright?” Hyomin asked Eunjung who turned to look over at the warrior. The rest of the Guardians turned to look at the two of them, curiosity growing in their looks.

“I'm fine.” Eunjung tried to reassure the warrior but Hyomin didn't believe her. She was about to say something but Jiyeon suddenly appeared with Eunjung's breakfast and took a seat between her girlfriend and Hyomin.

What could have been a conversation suddenly ended there and a new conversation started as Jiyeon started telling Eunjung how she had found Soyeon practically eating a sandwich in one bite. The rest of the table giggled at the story embarrassing Soyeon in the process. Doing such action was not expected from someone who was always super composed like the high priestess. Eunjung patted the priestess's left shoulder and Soyeon placed her right hand over Eunjung's. They did not exchange any words, but Soyeon knew that Eunjung was letting her know that she shouldn't be embarrassed.

Eunjung began digging into her plate of food but she barely got a chance to eat half of the serving Jiyeon had brought her before some of the Guardians ran into the warehouse calling everyone to come outside. Everyone stopped what they were doing to simply looked at the Guardians running towards them with an alarmed look on their faces.

“Something is happening outside! I don't know how to even explain it. Please come outside!” One of the Guardians yelled out and turned around to run back outside. The Elite Six and Jiyeon eyed each other wondering what exactly was happening.

“Let's go see.” Hyomin commented and everyone nodded.

“Eunjung where are you going?” Jiyeon asked the older girl as she noticed Eunjung walking in a different direction from everyone else.

“Just getting my sword from my room. I'll meet you outside.” Eunjung explained and took off towards her room. Jiyeon watched her walk away and then turned to follow the rest of the Guardians outside.

Eunjung quickly grabbed her sword that was lying on the floor by the end of the bed and ran out of her room towards the main doors of the warehouse. The Guardian pushed her way through the crowd that was completely surrounding the open area between the main warehouse and the parked vehicles outside. Eunjung stopped in between Jiyeon and Soyeon to look at the bright light shining down in the middle of the crowd.

The Light started moving forming into a sphere that started rotating rapidly. In the blink of an eye it split into five different spheres that opened up portals facing the ground and suddenly five people appeared underneath the portals. All five wore white metal armor trimmed in gold. The helmets on their heads covered only the sides of their faces and their foreheads with wing like designs spreading out near their temples. They seemed to almost resemble the super hero Thor's helmet. Behind the helmet their hair flowed freely as all of them seemed to have long hair.

The three men and two women also had wings of light sprouting from their backs and both women had a shield in one arm and a mace on the other hand. The men all were wielding large two handed weapons, a mace, ax, and sword respectively. The Light also radiated from their bodies and their presence exuded strength and power.

“Who are these guys?” Hwayoung blurted out. The Guardians around her briefly shifted their eyes to Hwayoung before looking back at the men and women standing before them.

“I have no idea.” Eunjung responded.

The man standing in the middle of the five warriors stepped forward and pointed at Eunjung with his heavy sword. “Eunjung! Step forward. We're here for you.”

Eunjung took a step forward as the man had asked. Jiyeon reached for her girlfriend grabbing Eunjung's left arm with both hands. Eunjung's eyes veered towards her girlfriend's hands on her arm and made no move to pull it away from Jiyeon. She quickly shifted her sight towards the man who had called her by name. “Who are you? And how do you know who I am?”

“We are warriors and priests of the Light. We are Paladins! And we've been sent here on behalf of our Lord. He gave you a chance to correct the wrongs you've committed but you've continuously disobeyed. Your punishment is at hand.” The man and the rest of the Paladins lifted their weapons above their heads and then brought them down to slam the ground as hard as they could.

A bright dome of light quickly spread away from them creating a barrier between the five of them, Eunjung and the rest of the Guardians. Everyone was struck by the dome except Eunjung and were sent flying back a few feet. Even Jiyeon was caught in the attack and was sent flying back as well, loosing grasp on Eunjung's arm. The Guardians and Jiyeon quickly recovered to run towards the dome but the barrier was strong and it would not let anyone go inside.

Eunjung seemed unfazed by the dome or the Paladins who had appeared to punish her once and for all. God had never told her about such warriors existing, so that was a surprise but it also wasn't. Eunjung had dealt with him long enough to know that he would hide secrets like this and that he would always have something up his sleeve. She knew he could read her thoughts and knew how many times she questioned his judgment.

It was true after all. Eunjung had not spoken to God in a while and he had not reached out to her. He had finally given up on trying to correct her himself so now he had sicked his best dogs on her. The leader of the Guardians reached for her sword and took her stance ready to either attack or defend herself. The paladins took several steps to separate themselves from each other and readied their weapons.

Outside of the dome of light, the Guardians and Jiyeon became alarmed at the sight. Jiyeon banged her fists on the barrier trying to break through it but it didn't budge. Hyomin drew one of her swords and tried to cut through the dome but her blade simply bounced off it. Qri tried to freeze it by touching the dome but her magic simply dissipated. Anything that the Guardians tried did not work and the dome stood steady.

“This is not personal.” The paladin holding the sword told Eunjung and charged at her. He swung his sword sideways to strike at Eunjung but the Guardian parried his attack with her own sword. The sheer strength of his swing caused not only Eunjung's sword to vibrate but her arms as well. These guys were not Shadows or any other warrior she had faced in the past.

Eunjung tried to maintain her footing as best as she could from parrying the attack but she was not quick enough to avoid the shield that flew straight at her. It caught her midsection, on the right side of her ribs and she took several steps to the side. The paladin with the ax came down from the air swinging the ax to strike her but she quickly raised her sword up to barely block the attack.

The paladin with the mace followed next striking her left shoulder and sending her flying across the area. She landed on her back but managed to keep the sword in her right hand and used it to block the female paladins' attacks. The two women tried to push their maces down trying to break the buster sword, but Eunjung rolled her legs up and used the bottom of her feet to push her own sword upwards. The movement caused the two paladins to go flying backwards and landing on their backs.

Using the momentum from her legs again, Eunjung jumped up and ran towards the three male paladins to launch her own series of attacks. She swung the mighty buster sword at the sword wielding paladin first, which he dodged, and then threw a swing at the mace wielding paladin. She caught the metal on his arm causing sparks to fly everywhere.

Suddenly she was struck by two flying shields that pushed her body forward into the swing of the ax wielding paladin. He caught Eunjung with his ax effectively cutting through the straps that covered her chest and leaving a shallow cut there to bleed. A grunt escaped Eunjung's lips as she stepped back and felt the warm liquid soaking around her torso. A strike like that from anyone else would have never cut through the straps. The Guardian now understood who she was really dealing with. These paladins could hurt her, perhaps even kill her.

The sight of Eunjung being cut to the point where she was bleeding shocked everyone outside the dome of light. Jiyeon started screaming out Eunjung's name and banging on the barrier while tears rolled down her face. She was desperate to get inside of it and protect Eunjung. Jiyeon could not allow these men and women to kill the woman she loved.

“Jiyeon stop! It doesn't matter how much you hit it! We can't get past it!” Soyeon grabbed Jiyeon to pull her back but the young girl struggled to get free of Soyeon's hold.

“They're going to kill her! I have to stop them!” Jiyeon cried out.

Jiyeon's screams could not be heard inside the dome of light. It was just Eunjung and the paladins who took the chance to continue attacking the Guardian. Eunjung blocked and parried as many attacks as she could, but she was struck more times than she could defend herself. She had cuts and bruises around her arms, legs and torso but still she managed to hold her footing until the male paladin with the mace struck the side of her head.

Eunjung's sword flew off behind her and she herself fell face first onto the ground. The pain shooting through her body was starting to make her go numb. She felt the coppery taste of blood in the back of her tongue before coughing out a good amount of it. Eunjung could feel the warm liquid trickle out of her left ear where the paladin had struck her. She managed to turn her body to the side before being struck by the maces the two female paladins were holding.

She could hear the swing of the maces as her body was continuously struck, but her will did not allow her to give up. Eunjung moved her hands to grab the desert eagles on her thighs and in the brief respite she got from the women's attacks, Eunjung moved to lay on her back and raised the guns to point them at both women. She fired the weapons in rapid succession striking both women and sending them back a few feet.

The bullets bounced off the armor the women were wearing but the force of the bullets did manage to push them back. Eunjung continued clicking the trigger on both guns even after they ran out of bullets and chuckled before coughing and spitting out more blood. Her eyes were starting to glaze as consciousness started to leave her body. The female paladins launched themselves at Eunjung again to strike her with their maces as the men looked on with satisfied smirks on their faces.

Outside Jiyeon had freed herself from Soyeon's grasp and was desperately trying to fight her way through the barrier. She could sense how Eunjung's light aura was weakening quickly and Jiyeon could not take the sight of losing Eunjung. The Light began to glow with such radiance and power from the Chosen One that her next punch broke the dome of light, shattering it and sending everyone outside of it flying backwards again.

“GET OFF HER!!!” Jiyeon yelled at the two women and even before she could reach them, she sent a giant fist of light flying towards the two women. The fist hit the women so hard that they flew back past the male paladins and landed head first on the ground. The men gasped in shock and were not sure if the women were dead or alive.

Jiyeon turned to the men and ran towards them with a buster sword of light that resembled Eunjung's. Cages of light appeared around the male paladin's bodies keeping them in place and allowing Jiyeon to strike each one with her sword. The sword struck the cage of the first paladin, shattering it, and striking him straight through his armor. She did the same to the other two who fell to the ground in pain.

Jiyeon moved to strike them again, but the paladin who wielded the sword suddenly cast a spell and all five paladins disappeared. Jiyeon stopped her swing midway and the sword disappeared from her hands as she turned around to run over to Eunjung's body. The Guardians had recuperated in time to see the paladins disappear and Jiyeon run towards their leader's body.

The Guardians tried to gather around Eunjung but Hyomin pushed them away asking them to give Eunjung some air and Jiyeon a chance to heal her. Jiyeon placed her hands over the wound on Eunjung's chest and used all the Light within her to heal her girlfriend who was now unconscious and probably dying. The Light traveled from Jiyeon to cover Eunjung's body completely but instead of being healed, Eunjung's eyes shot wide open and she began to scream in pain.

“Jiyeon stop! You're hurting her!” Soyeon yelled at the younger girl and pushed her off Eunjung. Jiyeon fell back, shocked at what Soyeon had told her but didn't protest when she saw that none of the wounds had healed.

“But how unni?! I should be able to heal her!” Jiyeon cried out as Soyeon was removing her robe to press it down on Eunjung's chest, leaving the priestess in a white shirt and blue jeans she was wearing underneath.

“I think the Light has left her Jiyeon. I can't even heal her with my powers. We need to move her into the infirmary quickly. Only regular human medicine can save her now and with the blood loss I will have to give her a transfusion. Qri, teleport us please.” Soyeon continued to push down on Eunjung's wound and the mage nodded at the order Soyeon had given her.

With Hyomin's help, Soyeon picked up Eunjung's body and disappeared into Qri's portal to the infirmary along with the mage. Boram and Hwayoung wrapped their arms around Jiyeon asking her to calm down and just pray for Eunjung. They tried to assure her that Soyeon would do everything she could to save Eunjung. Jiyeon fell to her knees and nodded. She cried into Boram's arms who continued to hug and console her while Hwayoung gently rubbed her back. The rest of the Guardians took seats on the ground and began praying for Eunjung's well being.

A/N:  I've was really excited to write chapter 34 and 35 since I've waited years to get to this point.  I'm curious as to what every one's reaction is.  Will Eunjung make it?  Did Jaehee die?  What is next for this story?  Kwangsoo is dead but God seems like a threat now.  I hoped everyone enjoyed! I'll see ya next time with Hwayoung's back story on Masquerade: The Guardians ;D