15 // The True Guardian

 

 

Jongup's smile faltered a little when he noticed how everyone was still gaping at him. "What's wrong? Are you guys hurt?"

 

Everyone shook their heads.

 

"J-Jongup…" AeMi stuttered as she eyed the green glow on his forehead. "D-Do you even realise who you are?"

 

He blinked with a blank expression. "Moon Jongup?" he answered a little unsurely.

 

AeMi gasped in exasperation. "Well yes, but that's not what I meant--"

 

Youngjae held up a hand to stop her. "She was referring to your ability to control the element of earth."

 

Jongup looked surprised. "Oh, you guys didn't know? I thought the ditch that Daehyun fell into and the tunnel from before made it obvious enough."

 

"You mean you used your ability to create those?!" Daehyun demanded.

 

He nodded.

 

Chanyeol stepped forward. "I don't mean to interrupt you guys, but there is still an influx of demons to take care of first."

 

The group finally reverted their attention back to the approaching demons -- just in time to see the first few rows of low-grades combust into fiery, red flames.

 

The figure responsible for the assault jumped down from the roof of one of the buildings. "The guy's right you know. These demons won't just stand around waiting for you to finish talking."

 

Yumi's expression brightened. "Yongguk!"

 

Chanyeol glanced at the weaponsmith. "Seems like we have three Guardians in our presence tonight, rather than just the one we were expecting."

 

Jongup looked at him in confusion. "What's a Guardian?"

 

Daehyun looked at him pointedly and said, "You're a Guardian," before running off to fight the demons alongside Yongguk.

 

"Only the Guardians can control each of the four elements," AeMi quickly explained. "You can control earth, while Yumi controls water and Yongguk over there can control fire. The only exception is that demons can also somehow control water."

 

She skilfully threw a dagger at a low-grade behind Jongup, who quickly snapped out of his clueless state and started fighting again.

 

After Daehyun had finished clearing a pathway through to the level-3 demon, he started sprinted towards it at full-speed and noticed that there someone else was matching his speed alongside him. He tilted his head to glare at Chanyeol, who didn't even flinch at the least.

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"Fighting," the soldier simply replied. "Taking care of these demons takes priority over our personal matters."

 

Daehyun scowled to himself. He didn't like the guy, but he was right. And with Chanyeol being a high-class spellcaster like himself, their chances against the demons together were much higher.

 

The level-4 behind the smaller demon saw the two approaching spellcasters and let out a deafening screech. It lifted its two front limbs high up into the air and slammed it back down with a rumble, sending down two lines of spiky ice-trails resembling stalagmites directly towards the two young men. They quickly leapt into the air at the last minute and watched as the spikes reverted back to its state of water, before being utilised as a sizeable blade of the liquid that easily sliced through another pack of disfigured hounds.

 

Daehyun glanced behind them to see that Yumi was still breathing heavily from chasing after the two. He sent her a look of gratitude.

 

"I'll take care of the small fry," she said. "So go take down that level-3!"

 

The two spellcasters didn't need to be told twice, as they immediately scaled the buildings and jumped from roof to roof until they were standing high up on a taller structure and were staring down at the water-manipulating demon. It let out a low growl and sent forward two large streams of water, only for them to be taken into Yumi's control and deflected back to itself.

 

The demon roared in an agonising pain as the attack struck both of its eyes and blinded it permanently. Both Daehyun and Chanyeol immediately jumped into the air as they chanted spells that transformed their katanas into much larger weapons, with their bodies spinning down rapidly as they descended towards the monster's head and braced themselves for the powerful impact.

 

A loud sound came from the impact between the blades and the demon's armoured head and it seemed for a second that the attack had failed. But the armour eventually caved in a few moments later and silenced the howling demon, causing it to disintegrate into a large pile of ash that disappeared into the late, night air.

 

The level-4 was visibly anguished by the defeat of its comrade as it trembled with a low growl that threatened to be released from its throat. When it finally screeched yet again, the two spellcasters watched in horror as the demon catapulted three identical spheres of spiked ice that were as huge as the one Jongup had deflected earlier. Yumi held out her arms and summoned every ounce of her willpower to be able to do something useful about it this time. The spheres hovered in the air just above them as she only just managed to hold them off. She groaned under the weight of the three objects and felt her arms starting to ache severely from the strain of holding them up.

 

Daehyun pulled out a few talismans and chanted a spell to create a barrier. Warning signs went off in his head as he sensed something dangerous heading towards him and looked to his left to see a stream of water flying directly towards him. Chanyeol quickly jumped in front of him and sliced the water around him. What he didn't expect was for the water to suddenly curl around his body, knocking his sword out of his hands and crystallising into a cylindrical trap of ice. Yumi stared at him helplessly and was unable to help him while she was still holding up the spherical spikes. Daehyun managed to finish creating the barrier, but the level-4 easily destroyed it with a large blade of ice.

 

The demon-slayer cursed. Creating a powerful barrier was an art of time and could not be conjured with such a short amount of it. Chanyeol was suffocating with every second that passed, and without his sword, he was incapable of using a powerful enough spell to break out on his own.

 

Fortunately for him, Youngjae and the others had just finished wiping out the last of the pitiful low-grades and quickly came over to their aid. Yongguk hurriedly torched the ice trap with channels of fire while being careful not to incinerate the person inside. Chanyeol was gasping for his breath by the time the ice had melted at his feet.

 

Jongup, on the other hand, had gone over to help Yumi. He performed a few complex moves and watched as the three intended columns of earth shot up from the ground and collided into the edges of the spiky spheres, catapulting them high up into the air and back at the level-4.

 

The demon easily reverted the spheres back into water, increasing its speed as it shot back towards the group. Yumi quickly stepped forward and took control of the element, sending the water back towards the level-4 at twice the speed while forming it into large, jagged fragments of ice.

 

Yongguk stood up next to her and spiralled down a blaze of fire around her fragments, while Chanyeol used a spell to release a shock wave from a swipe of his blade. Daehyun's katana crackled with bolts of blue and orange lightning that he channelled down along with the dark energy that Youngjae expelled from his dark sword.

 

Large chunks of earth rose up from the ground, and a somersault by Jongup sent them soaring through the air towards the demon. Lastly, Lay conjured up a spherical blast of force fields that combined with the rest of the attacks to form one multi-coloured, powerful force.

 

The group inched back a few metres as they watched the great attack progress in anticipation. They prepared themselves for any retaliation that the level-4 may make in response, but were perplexed when it simply stood its ground and did nothing at all.

 

The demon's lack of response was explained only moments later when their attack had finally crashed into some sort of a barrier that had suddenly appeared before it. It took many seconds for the after-effects of the impact to finally subside, and for the group to see what it was exactly that had managed to block off their attack.

 

Wide eyes stared on in astonishment as they saw what seemed to be a barrier of ice that was flickering between being visible and invisible.

 

"How is it doing that?!" AeMi gasped in disbelief.

 

Yumi shook her head. It had never occurred to her that making a barrier of ice that powerful was possible, let alone one that was invisible. The barrier had managed to repel a combined attack from both Guardians and spellcasters. And if even an attack like that could not take it down, then she wasn't so sure what exactly could.

 

A low grumble sounded from the demon's throat as it started breathing out a sheet of cloudy, white mist that quickly covered the entire town. It wasn't long before the group found themselves standing within it, with visibility being cut down to only being able to see someone within a close proximity.

 

"Everyone, stay together!" Youngjae stressed. "If we get separated in this mist then we'll be at a huge disadvantage."

 

"Yumi," Daehyun called as he came up next to her. "Do you think you can get rid of this mist?"

 

She hesitated a bit before replying with a "I-I'll try." She scrunched up her brow in concentration as she painstakingly tried to summon her dormant abilities. If the demon was capable of doing something like this, then surely she, as the Guardian of Water, was able to do it too. Yumi closed her eyes to allow herself to focus more closely on manipulating the fog.

 

But no matter how she tried, she just couldn't gain control of it. Her eyes shot open in frustration as she shook her head in despair.

 

"I-I can't. I don't know why, but I can't!"

 

Daehyun put a reassuring hand on her shoulder to tell her it was okay and that she shouldn't force herself. After all, her awakened abilities were only a few days old. Time was needed in order to gain control over anything.

 

Chanyeol held up a hand to signal everyone to be quiet. They all did as they were told and listened closely to whatever it was that the spellcaster seemed to hear. And surely enough, there was the distinctive sound of something's footsteps coming towards them.

 

They were not the sounds of a demon's footsteps, but rather… the footsteps of a human.

 

Adrenaline pumped through their systems as they all braced themselves for whatever, or whoever it was, that was going to appear out of the mist.

 

Slowly, slowly, the footsteps came closer, and closer, until the outline of a person was visible through the hazy environment.

 

The figure finally emerged from the fog to reveal a beautiful young woman with long, wavy black hair wearing a blue and white dress.

 

The young woman stopped when she was but a few metres away from them and seemed to observe them with interest. Her eyes shifted from one person to another until they finally landed on Yumi. They seemed to darken at that point as the corners of curved upwards just the slightest bit.

 

Daehyun sensed the air of malevolence coming from her and quickly stepped in front of Yumi. His voice was tense. "Who are you and what do you want."

 

The young woman remained silent as she glanced up at him. She gave him a little, sweet smile before it instantly dropped and was replaced by a cold expression. With a small movement of her arms, a barricade of ice suddenly appeared out of thin air and pushed everyone but Yumi off to the side, trapping them all from the neck down within a large rectangular slab of ice. Yumi looked over at her friends in horror and instantly reverted the element back into the state of water.

 

But she was interrupted by a slab of ice suddenly shooting up from around her feet, trapping her body all the way up to her shoulders as it effectively restrained any movement she needed to use her abilities. The barricade immediately regained its solid form and stayed in its place as an immobiliser.

 

"What are you doing?! Let us go!" Daehyun demanded while he was struggling to free himself along with the others.

 

The young woman ignored him and stepped forward until she was only a metre away from Yumi. Her eyes flickered down to the pendant that hung from her neck, before moving up to look at her face again.

 

"Why are you doing this?" Yumi questioned. "What do you want?" She looked down at the ice that was trapping her. "And how is it that I can't control this ice?"

 

"How?" the young woman repeated in a condescending tone.

 

Yumi glared at her. She remembered how AeMi had told her about those fearsome level-5 demons that were capable of taking the form of humans while manipulating water and ice. She must have been one of them.

 

"How is it that a demon like you is capable of all of this." 

 

She let out a small laugh. "Demon, you say? But no, I am a human."

 

Yumi furrowed her brow. *Human? But she can---*

 

"I suppose you are wondering why I am able to control the element of water?" she chortled. "Well, that is simple."

 

She stood back a few steps with a glint in her eyes. Her entire body suddenly slowly started glowing in a bright blue light before the brightness grew and completely encompassed her body. She emerged from the brightness a few moments later having changed into a different appearance.

 

Daehyun, Yumi, AeMi, and Youngjae stared at her in stupor as they recognised the clothing she wore -- from the blue and white wide-sleeved robes, to the patterned lines of silver, and from the dark blue ribbon tied around her waist, to the matching dark blue ribbon in her high ponytail.

 

Their hearts pumped heavily when they realised how similar it all was to Yumi's transformation as a Guardian. In fact, it was identical.

 

And what everybody else easily noticed about the woman was the blue, illuminating glow of the Chinese character for water '水' on her forehead.

 

The young woman stared at the group with her bright, blue eyes and sent them all a meaningful smile.

 

 

"It is because I am the true Guardian of Water."

 

 

 

---

 

Wow, the true Guardian of Water? D: Then what does that make Yumi *gasp*

Welcome new subscribers and thank you all for reading :)

--- Mistlea