Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

"Always saying high expectations but giving me no means for me to attain it." Lily mumbled while walking out of the office.

The Master lifted one brow and then threw a dagger. As her foundation had increased, Lily could sense something coming at her with great speed so she jumped out of the way. The dagger ended up encasing itself on the frame of the door with a loud thud sound. Had Lily senses not warned her, she would probably be dead or disfigured by now.

"Mmm...Master?"

"The means to...." Lily was panicking a bit...Did Master heard what she mumbled?...oh noo.

"safeguard your life." Lily sighed with relief internally.

This Ran...such a fiery temper, Lily was thinking. How many times had she almost lost her life due to her impulsive behavior and uncontrollable tongue?

"Still not going?"

Lily took the dagger, took a handkerchief out, then made a temporary scabbard to hold the dagger at her belt. It would do for now. She hurriedly exit the office to return to her room. This time it was a dagger, god knows what would be thrown at her the longer she stayed.

As soon as she left, another secret guard came forward.

"Go and protect her. The assassins have not been caught up yet."

"Order received" Swiftly, the guard disappeared to trail Lily.

"This Valley is in this Lord's palm, just mere assassins and want to dare to challenge this Lord?"

For a moment, the usually indifferent Master had a very terrifying expression.

As for Lily, though initially she wanted to return to her room. She instead got mesmerized by the beautiful garden she saw on her way and couldn't resist to sit on the bench and enjoy it. Unknown to her, a secret guard was on standby not far from her, ready to parr and counterattack any assassination attempt.

Luckily, nothing happened. The girl just sat still on the bench. When some time passed, Lily thought it would not be bad to continue her training in this environment, while the sun was still high and she was surrounded by a beautiful landscape.

Wanting to consolidate her foundation, she first practiced the martial art, then meditate to refresh her body and mind. Once she did the first step, she took her booklet and opened it to the 3rd page. Strangely, this page was not white but grey with very thin red lines. What would the technique be this time? Lily touched it slightly.

The technique in the 3rd page was truly a powerful technique but also a terrible one. As soon as she touched it, Lily felt a strange despair invading her and it seemed all the light in the world was disappearing. Lily fought very hard against the feeling but it wanted to swallow her whole. Lily couldn't see anything, her senses were covered by a black mist. Since she could not see, hear, smell or feel, Lily closed her eyes and converted all her attention to fight that internal struggle. A lot of negative feelings were surging in her, trying to convince her it was not worth to live, that she would never make it, that she was a sinner, unworthy. Lily wanted to resist but the flow of black thoughts kept gushing in her mind, threathning her to insanity.

When she thought she was about to lose the battle, the patterns in her hand rose up, undid themselves to circle Lily. As it was circulating all around her, she felt peace and the despair feelings receeded until she could only feel tranquility in her heart. She knew she was safe now though she didn't know how. When she opened her eyes, the patterns in her hand had long returned back and disappeared, thus Lily wasn't aware of what happened in the outside world.

However the secret guard had witnessed it all, she touched the book and then all the life in the garden started to drain. He could see black filaments pulling the lifeforce of the garden toward her. First the grass started to fade from green to yellow, flowers started to wither then trees were loosing their leaves. As he thought he would also lose his life, white lines surged from her body and circled around her. The decay then stopped. Such a destructive force! The secret guard was shocked, still he couldn't leave his position to report as his mission was to guard and protect her. But with such power, was there even a need for him?!

Lily being unaware had an even bigger shock. The radius around her had turned into desolate landscape. It was initially a l.u.s.trous and bright colored garden with vibrant flowers. Now, it looked more like a desert, the ground was no longer green, the flowers had all died and even trees were starked n.a.k.e.d. She wasn't sure what caused it but it was definitely linked to her. What techniques did her Master enclosed to her?!? This didn't make sense!?!

But Lily couldn't ramble very long on it as she felt very unwell and immediately after was vomitting blood...cascades of blood. She thought she was probably going to die retching all her blood and just fainted.

The secret guard panicked as well. No assassins attacked her but she was already covered in blood. Did she die? Thinking about it, the Master of the Valley would probably punished him to the 18th level of hell. Very swiftly he approched her and put a finger under nose.

"Good, she is still breathing though it's faint." The secret guard sighed in relief. He may have a chance at redemption.

Loading the young girl on his shoulder, he transported her back to the Master of the Valley.