“OH. MY. TIFFANY!!! Krystal? Is that really you?” Jessica exclaimed, her jaw dropping to the ground, as she stared at her sister in amazement. Krystal saw her shocked sister and smiled. She waved back at her sisters, Jessica and Hyoyeon, as she unfurled her newly gained wings, surprising Jessica even more.

For added effect, she transformed her right arm into a crystalline scythe, which was made of diamond that day. Her scythe would take the form of any gem, which happened to match her current mood. When she was angry, it would turn into ruby, when she was calm, it would turn into sapphire and so on. That day, she felt like an angel, hence was the gem of her scythe. Well, to be precise, she WAS an angel that day… “Unni annyeong! Second young mistress asked master to grant me immortality, so now I’m the Angel of Vengeance! I’m in charge of making sure everyone is properly avenged, so people like me can eventually rest in peace. For now, I’ll be the vanguard’s trainer for weapon training.” Krystal happily told her sister. Jessica’s jaw dropped even further.

“Sica… Flies are going to fly into your mouth if you keep it open any longer…” Tiffany teased Jessica, as she eye-smiled at Jessica. Jessica immediately shut , as she felt her heart stop for a second.

“Yonghwa… Are you… immortal… as well?” Seohyun asked, hoping that Yonghwa would be an immortal like Krystal. Yonghwa smiled and revealed his demonic wings, claws, horns, eyes and tail, pretty much scaring the living daylights out of Seohyun.

“My Goddess Seo, are you alright? Sorry for scaring you… I must look hideous like this… But yes, I was granted immortality as well. I am now the Demon of Pestilence, in charge of the fates of those who fall ill. Based on their deeds and sins, I will decide if they will survive an illness, so that more nice people like me will get to live longer with their loved ones. For now, I’ll be in charge of the vanguard’s user-weapon training” Yonghwa replied, as he returned back to his less scary human form.

Seohyun, after getting over the shock of her boyfriend turning into a demon, laughed: “Come to think of it, you were pretty demonic when you were still alive… Always trying to scare me into jumping into your arms. I’m just happy we can be together again!” Seohyun stepped forward to embrace her boyfriend as Taeyeon talked to her parents.

“Umma! Appa! If Krystal and Yonghwa are immortal, you two must be immortal too, right?” Taeyeon asked her parents, as she ran to hug them. Her parents smiled, as they hugged their beloved daughter.

“Yes, we have been granted immortality as well. We are now the Guardians of the Realm of the Dead. We’re in charge of helping the poor wandering souls complete their last wishes, so that they can finally move on to their afterlife. Since we are just guardians, we only have a human form… For now, we’ll be in charge of the vanguard’s teamwork training.” Taeyeon’s parents replied.

“It’s okay even if both of you aren’t angels or demons. I’m content to have the both of you around!” Taeyeon told her parents, as tears of joy flowed freely down her cheeks. Her parents just smiled at their understanding daughter and her short, brown hair.

“As for me… I’ll be in charge of teaching Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun how to properly control their powers and to add on to any of the other trainers’ trainings as I see fit. Hyoyeon will be in charge of making sure my… I mean our stomachs are filled.” Sooyoung told the group.

Before Hyoyeon could open to reply, Sooyoung continued: “And Hyoyeon, I know you’re going to complain about why you can’t be a trainer as well. The reason is because, you’re the best at cooking and that you’ve only been with me for five years, so you’re not as experienced as the rest of us… I ask for your understanding on this matter.”

Hyoyeon trusted her partner’s decision and silently nodded her head in acknowledgement. She wasn’t always a choding, contrary to popular belief. She knew when to be serious and when to play around. However, there was one question which always bugged her and whenever she asked Sooyoung, Sooyoung would quickly change the topic. “Sooyoung… I know you don’t want to answer this question… But I think as your partner of five years, I have a right to know… Who was your weapon when you were part of the last vanguard?”

Sooyoung looked at Hyoyeon in the eye and took a deep breath, before replying: “Yes, you have a right to know… Sorry for not telling you earlier, I was too depressed over the loss of my boyfriend to think straight… Well, I’m like Seohyun, I have two destined weapons. One is you; the other is Blade of the Shadows. Let’s just say she’ll continue to live on, inside me…”

“You mean she’s dead? I thought if your destined weapon dies, you would die as well?” Hyoyeon asked. Seeing that the rest of the group were waiting for an answer as well, Sooyoung had no choice but to continue.

“Well… As I said… She is living on… Inside me… So, she’s not dead…” Sooyoung replied, as she thought: “I have my reasons not to reveal who Blade of the Shadows is… Please stop asking…”

Hyoyeon could see that Sooyoung wasn’t telling the whole truth, but she decided that Sooyoung had her reasons to do so, thus she did not ask anymore questions, but simply said: “Okay… When you’re ready to tell, I’ll be all ears. I trust you have your reasons not to tell us the whole truth.” Sooyoung was glad that her partner was so understanding. She smiled and gave Hyoyeon a hug and thanked her for her understanding.

“Well now that the introductions are over… Let the training BEGIN!!!” Sooyoung shouted dramatically, hoping to get some reaction from her trainees. Unfortunately, they just stared blankly at her, waiting for her to get on with the training. “These kids have no sense of humour…” Sooyoung thought as she sighed and continued: “First things first, you girls must know of the prophecy of the Vanguard of Death…”

Sooyoung then started reading out the prophecy: “There is balance in everything. With good, there will be evil. No matter how hard each Vanguard of Death strives to wipe out all evil, new evil will rise and challenge the next one. Each Vanguard of Death will be gathered when evil threatens to take over the world and will be made up of two children of the Three and a normal human with the purest heart. They will train and they will fight. Good always prevails, but victory will come at a price… The human with the purest heart will lead the Vanguard of Death to victory, but will be the first to fall at the point of victory and will have a blessed afterlife in Paradise, located in the Realm of Gods. Of the two children of the Three, one will die saving the other, gaining immortality at the point of death. The sole survivor will live on in sorrow and will be tasked to train the next Vanguard of Death, attaining immortality once the deed in done…”

“For many generations, the prophecy has always remained true… But don’t lose hope! Maybe you girls will be the first to defy the prophecy and all survive!” Sooyoung told the stunned girls, trying to lift up the mood.

Taeyeon, who was always the fastest to recover, asked: “So, I guess I’m the human with the purest heart? Since my parents are obviously not any of the Three. Who are the Three anyways?”

“Yes, you are the human with the purest heart and you will lead the Vanguard of Death to victory… AND hopefully not be the first to fall… The Three are the three godly siblings, my father, God of Death, my uncle, God of Sleep, and my aunt, Goddess of War.” Sooyoung replied, mentally slapping herself for reminding Taeyeon that she might die first.

“Wait, if Taeyeon is the human with the purest heart, does that mean I’m a descendant of the Three? I’m pretty sure I have no godly parent…” Tiffany asked, puzzled.

“Have you ever thought why your mother left you when you were young? She’s the Goddess of War; she didn’t want you to get hurt by her violent personality, so she left. That also explains why your power is that destructive, since war causes destruction.” Sooyoung calmly replied.

Tiffany was shocked. She thought: “Umma is the Goddess of War?!! Am I hearing things?” Meanwhile, Jessica was completely excited and as she bounced up and down, she exclaimed: “Fany-ah! I knew you were special from the moment I first saw you! And I was right! YAY!!! My partner is the daughter of a GODDESS!!!”

“H-H-How did you know?” Tiffany managed to stutter as she finally managed to regain control of her vocal cords.

“Well, my dad tells me stuff” Sooyoung replied, smiling. She knew that it was hard for Tiffany to accept the fact immediately. Tiffany, still slightly shocked, nodded in comprehension as she digested the new information.

“Before I hand the time over to Krystal, I have one more thing to settle… The three of you need a title. For example, my title is Maiden of Death, which my father, my trainer when I was in the Vanguard of Death, gave me. So now I shall give you each a title… Something that describes each of your powers…” Sooyoung told the girls as she thought of appropriate titles for each of them, while munching on an apple.

“Okay! I’ve thought of them!” Sooyoung exclaimed excitedly, bits of apple flying out of , as she continued: “Since Taeyeon can seemingly move at super speed and can turn invisible, so she can be pretty sneaky… Taeyeon will from now on be known as Taeyeon, the Swift Assassin!”

“Ooookay… That sounds fine to me… I guess.” Taeyeon replied, liking the title a little. Sunny thought it was the coolest name for Taeyeon and expressed her delight by enveloping Taeyeon in a bone crushing hug and screaming into Taeyeon’s ear about how cool the title was. To prevent her ears from further damage, Taeyeon shouted at Sunny: “Yah! LEE SUNKYU!!! I swear I’ll slap your nice little  SOOO hard that you won’t be able to sit for a week, if you continue screaming into my ear!!!”

Hearing that, Sunny immediately stopped and turned away, so that no one could see her cheeks turning bright red. Sooyoung smirked slightly and continued: “As for Tiffany, since you can control fire… From now on, you’ll be known as Tiffany, Wielder of Flames!”

Tiffany, who was expectantly waiting for some cool title to be bestowed upon her, was truly disappointed and her facial expression showed it. She pouted and complained: “What kind of lame title is that? Just because Taeyeon is the maknae doesn’t mean she should be pampered you know!”

“True enough. Maiden of Death is a pretty lame title too, so you have two choices: Live with it or… DIE!” Sooyoung replied, raining bits of apple onto poor Tiffany. Tiffany grudgingly accepted it, as the look in Sooyoung’s eyes told her that there was no room for discussion. Sooyoung nodded approvingly before continuing: “Well, Taeyeon IS the leader, so she should have the coolest title and I do have a soft spot for short, cute little girls…”

Immediately, Sunny and Taeyeon shouted: “E!!! AND WE’RE NOT SHORT!!!” In a softer tone they whispered: “We’re just vertically challenged…” Sooyoung just laughed as she started eating a chicken drumstick. “God knows how she kept a chicken drumstick in her pocket…” Seohyun thought as she waited for her cousin to announce her title.

“And as for my cute little cousin, Seohyun… Since she has regenerative powers, from now on she will be known as Seohyun, Protector of Health” Sooyoung concluded with a smile, before assuring the girls that she was NOT a e. “Which e would admit that he or she is one…” Sunny thought, eyeing Sooyoung suspiciously.

Seohyun just nodded in acceptance of her title. Truth to be told, she thought that her title was pretty lame as well, but she decided it kind of fit her, so she did not raise any objections. Not that doing so would have any use, of course. It wasn’t in her personality to raise objections anyways.

“Anyways… We should start the training proper. Evil isn’t going to wait for us to get stronger before they wreck havoc on Earth, you know?” Sooyoung stated in a louder voice to gain everyone’s attention. She then passed the time on to Krystal to train them on weapons. At the same time, Hyoyeon went off to prepare lunch.

“Okay unnis, let’s get started!” Krystal exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her hands and jumping up and down a few times. “Looks like the bubbly personality runs in the family…” Tiffany thought.

Krystal continued on once she got everyone’s attention: “Lesson One! A weapon has three states of power release: Innate, Aligned and Resonating. A weapons innate power can be utilised whenever the weapon is in weapon form, but for more powerful weapons, they can use their innate powers while in human form as well. For example, Jessica unni and me, we can both activate our respective auras even in human form. Everyone weapon form now! Let’s see if you know your weapon’s innate power.”

“Screech of the Chilling Spear’s innate power is her icy aura which slows down the movement of any enemy around her. That’s why your movements seem to slow down when we were fighting the other day” Tiffany stated confidently. Krystal nodded and moved on to check on Seohyun.

“The innate power of Blade of Eternal Bliss is to passively increase my regenerative powers and with more blood drawn by her, my regenerative powers will increase. Blade of Eternal Pain’s innate power is to absorb any pain I feel and return it to the next enemy impaled by her, multiplying the agony by a million times. I know this as my unnis and I have been in fights before… We are regulars at the arena near our house and no other duellist has managed to defeat us yet. That’s how we earn money... hehe” Seohyun admitted to Krystal. Krystal was surprised that the innocent looking Seohyun would actually agree to commit such acts to earn money. Nevertheless, she nodded and went to check on Taeyeon.

“I think The Dissonant Blade’s innate power is to lend me her energy so that I can warp faster…” Taeyeon told Krystal, uncertain of her weapon’s innate power. Krystal smiled and nodded, indicating that Taeyeon was right. Taeyeon smiled back, reassured that she was right. It would be pretty embarrassing for the leader of the Vanguard of Death not to know the innate power of her own weapon, right?

Behind Krystal, Sooyoung nodded to herself, pleased that Krystal was doing a good job and that the girls were learning fast. Then she thought: “Wonder what’s for lunch… I’m starving! Then again, I always seem to be starving…” Sooyoung chuckled to herself and continued observing the training, while snacking on some sandwiches.

Satisfied that each member of the vanguard knew the innate powers of their own weapons, she then went on: “The next state of power release is the Aligned state. This can only be released when the weapon and the user soul aligns, with the exception of some weapons, like me. This stage of power release can be utilised by saying a codeword that releases the power, for example, mine Aligned state power release codeword is Crystallize. There will be time for you guys to try it later, because we haven’t set up the targets yet…”

“The last state of power release is the Resonating state, which can only be released when the weapon and user soul resonates, with the exception of some weapons, like me again, for I can release my powers on my own. This state of power release can also be utilised by saying another codeword that releases the full extent of the weapon’s power. For example, mine is Crystalline Storm. Also, for the weapon and the user to be able to soul resonate, the user must enter the world of the user’s weapon and defeat his or her weapon, since only when the user fully understands his or her weapon, then he or she is able to defeat his or her partner. And only when the user fully understands his or her weapon, then the user can soul resonate with his or her weapon. No matter how close or how much you girls think you are to your weapons, they are ultimately separate beings from you and will subconsciously reject your total control, so by defeating them in their own world, will then finally fully submit to your control and allow you to soul resonate with them.” Krystal finished her lesson and paused awhile, letting the girls absorb the information she just told them.

The seven girls thought about what Krystal said, especially the last part about defeating their partners. The weapons realised guiltily that what Krystal said was true, they would not cede total control to their users, despite how much they loved them. The users were worried that they would not be able to defeat their own weapon and wondered when and how would they enter the world of their weapons.

Just as Taeyeon was about to ask Krystal a question, Hyoyeon returned from the kitchen and informed them that lunch was ready, so Sooyoung decided to wrap up the training for the moment and continue after lunch. After all, to Sooyoung nothing is more important than keeping her stomach full…

Just like that the girls took their first Baby Steps into the realm of the unknown…What challenges will they face in the near future? Only time will tell…