“Mistress, what do we do?” Her attendant cried in panic.

“Fight, fight for your lives. Kill the trash behind me and leave these two to me!” Xueling yelled.

“Yes, mistress!!”

Xueling unclasped her cloak and a brilliant flash of gold blinded the battlefield. Underneath, she wore a full set of glowing golden armor that covered her entirely. She stepped forward and her soldiers parted, giving way to their noble lady.

She held out her hand and a plumed helmet made from the same metal appeared out of thin air. She put it on and with the entire set complete, a heavy aura filled battlefield as if an indomitable giant had appeared.

But that wasn’t all.

A swirl of golden energy surrounded her body, just as brilliant as her armor. The spiritual energy she emitted rose in intensity and strength by several factors and took physical shape. It turned into a pair of arms that seemed to grow out of her back. Two more items appeared, a pair of golden shields. The two spectral hands took hold of the two shields and held them protectively around her.

Wrapped in gold, carrying twin shields and a slender sword, it was as if an angelic warrior had descended to the mortal realm.

This was her strongest form. She was going all out. She wasn’t going to let these assassins live.

Her feet moved liked a blur and she charged at the lead assassin.

Bang!

The two of them met with vicious force. Metal grated against metal. Spiritual energy clashed against each other. It seemed they were evenly matched, at least momentarily.

“Hoh… interesting.” The lead assassin said almost mockingly.

The second assassin took the opportunity to sneak around and slash her from behind. Her ethereal golden arm twisted unnaturally and brought a shield to block. The other arm took a swipe which forced the man to block hurriedly.

Xueling wanted to continue to pressure the weaker foe but the lead assassin launched another attack. Her sword and attention were fully occupied and she could not counterattack properly.

“Beauty, wearing armor doesn’t suit you. It would be much better if you wore nothing at all!” The second guy taunted as he shifted around for another opportunity.

She did not reply, she did not get angry either because she had a way to deal with him. Her twin arms made of energy extended rapidly and closed around the second assassin. Using the shields, she hemmed him in, preventing any room for retreat.

“Shit! Brother, help me!” He screamed in alarm.

Xueling ignored the lead assassin and attacked the second, landing several good hits in quick succession. But before she could finish the job, a mighty strike landed on her unprotected back. There was a crack as a piece of her armor on her back crumbled. A gust of wind followed, sending her tumbling away.

The lead assassin pulled his associate up and shook his head, “Orichalcum armor… Tome of Glorious Fortune… truly a blessed Princess of Fortune. A true pleasure for these old eyes of mine!”

“Orichalcum? You don’t say…” The second assassin stared at Xueling with hungry eyes, ignoring his wounds.

It was clear what he was thinking about and it was nothing good.

“Go die!” Xueling screamed and charged.

She tried to go after the second assassin again but was thwarted by the leader over and over. Her defenses were strong. Her treasure armor and twin shields protected her against countless sword strikes. But they were quicker and faster, slippery and elusive like wind. Her vicious battle with the two continued for a long time with no victor. They exchanged countless blows and chased each other across the swamp.

She burned her energy reserves to maintain her battle form and continued desperately. Eventually, her arms felt heavy like lead and her feet were sluggish to respond to her will. She was tired and bloodied. She suffered countless blows. Her shields had been shattered. Her armor was still holding together but it was also starting to crumble. Her left arm was broken and completely unresponsive. Her chest was on fire and she was coughing up blood nonstop. Just standing upright filled her legs with excruciating pain.

She managed to wound the second assassin many times but she still couldn’t land a single hit on the first assassin. He was so much stronger than her and this reality scared her to the core.

Everything around her was a bloody haze. There was only one attendant left fighting against a small pack of mercenaries. The rest of her troops were dead or dying on the ground. They had all willingly sacrificed their lives to protect her.

She laughed bitterly. They had performed up to expectations, given the circumstances. But it wasn’t enough in the end. She had no way to defeat the lead assassin…

The attendant finally finished off the last of the mercenaries and charged towards Xueling.

“Mistress! I’m coming!”

“Careful!”

In her desperation to assist her mistress, the attendant lost sight of where the second assassin had gone. She was tired and unfocused and didn’t notice until too late that he had arrived at her side.

The first blow was blocked, barely. The second took away her sword hand. She managed to land a weak punch with her other hand but the third cruelly stabbed through her chest.

“No!” Xueling screamed.

The attendant didn’t fall and clutched the assassin with the last bit of strength.

“Mistress!” She gasped.

Xueling knew what to do. The last secret dagger was launched. Her attendant traded her life for this chance so she couldn’t miss.

The second assassin couldn’t move in that instance. He saw the attack coming but it was too late. The dagger seared a burning hole through both sets of bodies, shattering his heart. He could only manage a bloody gurgle before falling over in a pool of blood.

Xueling staggered, half from exhaustion and half from shock. Hot tears finally spilled forth. She had managed to stay strong when all her people were slaughtered but this was the last straw. Regret, anger, helplessness… a wild flood of emotions coursed through her.

“It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.” She mumbled, “We should have never come here.”

The lead assassin walked up casually and threw over a pair of heavy metal handcuffs, “Indeed. It is all your fault. So, what will you do now? I’m sure you’ve realized that you cannot beat me. I promise I won’t hurt you if you hand over all your weapons and armor and put these handcuffs on. I won’t touch another hair on your body.”

She wiped her eyes and glared at her one remaining enemy.

“I don’t know who you are and I don’t know who hired you. But I will find out. I will find out the traitors that leaked my expedition and I will kill all of you!” She spat out.

“Hahaha, you are out of spiritual energy, what can you do? Keep struggling and I’ll strip you naked. I want to see if you are still so arrogant at that time…” The assassin sneered.

The two stared at each other in silence. He was undressing her with his eyes while she was gathering all of her remaining strength.

Once she was ready… she exploded into action. In a flash, her attendant disappeared and a triangle-shaped turquoise-colored plate appeared on the ground. She stepped onto the strange item which immediately grew a pair of translucent wings and shot into the sky.

She actually flew!

Wind gushed around her as she gained speed and took off towards the west. She turned around and watched her enemy become smaller and smaller with grim relief.

“What an amazing flying treasure, what a Princess of Fortune… but unfortunately not rich enough!” The man laughed as the wind started to gust around his feet.

After a second, he shot into the sky as well.

Xueling stared in disbelief as her spirit sank to the bottom. The assassin being a powerhouse that could fly was beyond her expectations. He hid his powers during their fight, he completely fooled her!

The speed of her flying treasure was not good and limited by her fast-depleting spiritual energy. On the other hand, a powerhouse like him could fly much faster and he quickly caught up.

A desperate final duel broke out in midair. The full might of the powerhouse bore down and she had nowhere to run. She suffered mounting internal wounds with each exchange. She sacrificed her armor to protect her flying wings. The force of each impact jarred her body, causing her to spit out mouthfuls of blood that covered the front of her yellow robes. Her left arm had already gone numb and she could barely hold her sword with her cramped right hand. Her orichalcum armor shattered bit by bit until it finally could not hold on any longer. It disintegrated into tiny shards and fell to the ground, leaving her in a thin bloody dress and completely defenseless.

Her spiritual energy was depleted and could not even summon a single strand of strength. Her wings stopped flapping and she drifted towards the ground.

“Come to me, princess! You killed my two brothers so you’ll definitely have to pay!” The assassin cackled.

He charged towards her for the knockout blow.

Xueling was barely conscious. She was barely holding on but she still didn’t give up. She still had a cold look of determination.

“I’ll remember this, wait for me to kill you!” She gritted out.

The plate beneath her feet disappeared into nothingness and she plummeted. Before the assassin could catch her, she pulled out a small orb and crushed it. This was her final trump card.

She fainted as a pale white sphere instantly covered her entire body. The protective wall of pure energy vaporized the assassin’s fingers as he reached towards her and blasted him away. The whole sphere then rose into the sky at an unimaginable speed and shot off in a random direction.