"Does Li Wei have a weakness?" I asked May as we sparred together.
"None that anyone knows of," she answered as our blades clashed.
"So how do we intend to get rid of him?" I asked again.
"We were all waiting for you to come up with a plan of attack," she replied.
"Hmm. It will take a while before they attack again," I said.
Suddenly, noises approached the training grounds as several monks hurried toward us. I scanned the area for a dark spot to hide in immediately, but before I could move, I realized I was already concealed within the shadows.
I tried to understand what had just happened but simply couldn't comprehend it.
A loud peal rang out from the temple bells and gongs. All the monks rushed toward the temple square.
Master Li Ming stood at the center, accompanied by Li Na and Zhang Lei. He raised his voice and addressed the crowd.
"We retrieved the gems from the Claws."
Before anyone could celebrate, he delivered the bad news.
"They have been drained of all light, rendering them powerless. Alongside the witches, the Claws sought to cripple our greatest weapon against them."
"Weapon? What weapon?" the monks murmured among themselves.
"The Vanta," Li Ming continued.
The monks exchanged confused glances.
"What is a Vanta?" they whispered to one another.
Li Ming raised his staff.
"But from now on, we will not remain idle and wait for the Claws to attack. We will hunt them down. Every last one of them. We will become the predators, and they the prey. We will destroy them so that we may finally achieve everlasting peace."
The monks erupted into cheers.
Li Na and Zhang Lei seemed pleased by the announcement, but I couldn't help thinking:
That's not how monks are supposed to act.
Wei perched beside me as the days passed.
The monks went out repeatedly to hunt the Claws, but what returned were either the corpses of Claw members or those of the monks themselves.
This continued for several days.
Then one afternoon, when the sun stood high in the middle of the sky, it began to sound as though rain was falling upon the temple.
Dark spherical objects dropped from above and landed throughout the temple grounds.
A warning bell rang.
Then a voice thundered across the entire temple.
"Get out of the temple! It's about to go up in flames!"
The voice was so loud that it reached every corner of the compound.
Before the warning had even finished, the dark spheres began exploding one after another.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Everyone rushed out of the temple. Those who couldn't reach the doors jumped through the windows. Those who were too slow were consumed by the flames.
May leaped out first, her twin blades already ablaze and ready for battle.
Zhang Lei and Li Na descended soon after.
Then Li Ming walked majestically out of the inferno itself.
He stood beside Li Na and Zhang Lei as the walls and gates surrounding the temple shattered apart, exposing what lay beyond.
An army of Claws.
More than two hundred men.
Throughout the chaos, Wei and I remained hidden within the massive tree in the temple square, blending perfectly with the darkness despite it being afternoon.
The remaining monks numbered fewer than fifty, and most were already injured.
The two hundred Claw warriors charged forward.
The monks met them head-on.
As the two forces collided, men began dropping on both sides.
Li Na and Zhang Lei prepared to join the battle, but Li Ming suddenly stopped them.
"They are here."
The color drained from both Li Na's and Zhang Lei's faces.
May also looked frightened.
I knew exactly what that meant.
The final showdown had arrived.
Li Ming struck the ground with his staff.
A wave of light burst outward, similar to Jianya's attack.
Zhang Lei and Li Na immediately leaped away, narrowly avoiding it.
I jumped from the tree with May and evaded the attack as well.
The wave tore across the battlefield, carving a clean path through everything in its way.
Monks and Claws alike were cut down instantly, unable to react in time.
The attack moved as fast as a gunshot.
Trees standing in its path were sliced apart as though they were nothing.
That was a surprisingly ruthless decision for a monk.
He had killed both his enemies and his own men without hesitation.
Yet three figures remained standing directly in the path of the attack.
I immediately recognized Li Wei.
He had taken the wave head-on, but it had no effect on him whatsoever.
The second figure was struck as well. The attack sliced cleanly through his body, yet he remained standing as if nothing had happened.
The third figure was a woman.
The instant the wave reached her, she vanished.
She reappeared the moment it passed.
A normal human would never have noticed the movement.
The three figures slowly advanced toward us.
Zhang Lei gripped his mace tightly with both hands. It was even larger than his previous one.
Li Na assumed a fighting stance.
Li Ming stepped back.
May stood beside me, both blades engulfed in flames.
Wei circled overhead.
Together, we waited for them to reach us as they approached slowly across the ruined battlefield.