Tanulia gritted her teeth, moving her head to the side. Her pointy ears twitched as she heard a rustling sound from the dark woods. She pulled out the arrow from her hand.

"Show yourself," Tanulia snarled. She snapped her finger as the torch on the ground lit up.

Soon, Tanulia saw a figure walking out of the darkness in the torchlight. The figure wore a dark cloak. Under the cloak showing the glint of metal armor. With every step, a mild clanking sound echoed. However, the metal armor didn't resemble the ones the Knights or royal guards wore. Rather, it seemed like the figure etched armor plates into flexible leather armor. Tanulia had fought soldiers wearing metal plate armor before. So she knew the drawbacks of cladding in full metal plate armor. In exchange for protection and defense, they forsake their movement and agility.

"Who are you?" Tanulia asked the figure. Although the figure spoke the exact same words Harriet Hunt used to recite, Tanulia couldn't believe the figure might be the legendary Harriet Hunt. She died in an accident along with her two sisters. Besides when Tanulia met Harriet twenty-five years ago, the latter was at the Core Strengthening stage. With Harriet's cultivation speed, she would have reached at least a Fusion stage cultivator by now if she was alive. However, the figure who walked out of the shadows was only a Soul Refining stage cultivator.

There was no way it was Harriet Hunt. To her surprise, the figure didn't attack Tanulia. Instead, the figure kept walking toward her. Tanulia grasped her sword tightly. She readied herself for the upcoming battle. Her instincts screamed at her to leap into the fray. But to his astonishment, the figure didn't even unsheath the two swords that formed an 'X' behind her back.

Instead, the figure snapped her finger as several objects hit the ground beside Tanulia without a heavy thudding sound. Tanulia turned her gaze towards the objects only to realize they were her personal guards. In the dim light, Tanulia saw the deep cuts across their necks. They died with their eyes open. Despite their cultivation level, the woman slit their throats without a problem.

Tanulia slowly picked herself from the ground.

"Answer me," snarled Tanulia. With no personal guards and energy, Tanulia knew it was going to be a battle of life or death. The odds were not in her favor.

"Tanulia Valren. Next time you want to sacrifice someone else for your benefit, sacrifice yourself," Harriet slowly cracked her knuckles.

Boom!

Harriet raised her leg, sending a powerful kick to Tanulia's chest. The kick contained enough force to send Tanulia flying and colliding with the carriage. The horses neighed violently.

"Argh," Tanulia hit the ground with a small thud, a deep growl escaping her mouth. The old man on the other hand did not bulge from under the carriage. He just curled himself further, tightly closing his eyes. Through the small gap between the ground and the carriage, the old man saw Tanulia coughing up more blood.

A few seconds after Tanulia hit the ground, Harriet dashed at Tanulia in a blink of an eye. The latter just grabbed Tanulia by her hair and picked her up.

Thud!

Harriet slammed Tanulia's head against the carriage,

"Why?"

Thud!

Harriet slammed Tanulia's head again,

"Can't,"

Yet again she slammed Tanulia's head,

"You,"

Again,

"Whore yourself,"

The carriage trembled each time Harriet slammed Tanulia against it. Cracks began to form in the carriage where Harriet kept slamming Tanulia's head against. Because Tanulia had lost her connection to the energies, her body wasn't strong enough to withstand the blows. As a result, the back of her head split open.

"To the vampires?"

Tanulia hit the ground again with a sharp pain in the back of her head. When Harriet picked up Tanulia, the latter mustered all the remaining strength in her body and stabbed Harriet. The pair of killing intent-filled eyes under the dark hood glared at Tanulia before grabbing her sword. Harriet yanked the sword out of Tanulia's hand.

"AHH!"

With a roar, Harriet punched Tanulia right in the abdomen. Tanulia managed to block the punch using her forearm. But to Tanulia's horror, the punch carried enough force to make her fly towards a nearby tree. She hit the trunk and splintered wood flew. She coughed as pain coursed through her entire body. Tanulia looked at her arm to see a white bone sticking out in the dim torch light. Even though Tanulia lost her ability to use energy, she could still gauge someone else's power level. The woman might be at the Soul Refining stage but her punch carried the force of a Fusion stage cultivator. Tanulia doubted she could fight the woman toe to toe with her full cultivation and win. The woman was a monster. Tanulia had no doubt in that matter. By the time Tanulia managed to pick herself up again, Harrier appeared in front of her in a flash.

Tanulia could feel the murderous aura radiating from the woman's body. Tanulia had never felt such killing intent. It was as though the woman craved taking her life in the most brutal way possible. But no matter what, Tanulia wouldn't go without a fight or beg for mercy. Tanulia was coughing hard as her chest was rising and falling rapidly. But she was standing. Her entire body was riddled with cuts and bruises. Blood dripped from her wounds, covering the ground under her feet. Despite the injuries, the fighting spirit in Tanulia's eyes continued blazing.

Tanulia wiped the blood coming from a cut on his lips. On the other hand, Harriet put a pause on hitting Tanulia. Instead, stabbed her black sword into the tree just a few inches above Tanulia.

"Coward," Tanulia spat on Harriet's face.

Ignoring the bloody saliva on her dark mask, Harriet took a step back. She slowly pushed back the cloak, revealing her long raven black hair.

"This mask I wear is not for me. It's to protect the people I care about. I put it down for some time, only to realize people like you will always try to harm them one way or another. Would you like to see me without my mask?" asked Harriet.

Under Tanulia's gaze, Harriet slowly removed the black mask to reveal her face in the dim light. And the moment Tanulia laid her eyes on Harriet, she was stupefied.

"No," Tanulia mumbled. It was Harriet Hunt herself standing in front of her. Tanulia thought she died, not only Tanulia but the entire Awor thought she had died. However, there was no doubt in Tanulia's mind, she was Harriet Hunt. The heaven-defying prodigy was too special of a person for Tanulia to forget.

"You" Words didn't come out of Tanulia's mouth.

"How did you"

Harriet did not reply. She threw the mask onto the ground and cracked her fists. Without giving any time for Tanulia to react, Harriet began to punch her rapidly. The images of Sabrina getting tortured by the vampires flashed across Harriet's eyes. Her rage multiplied by several folds when she thought about Sabrina and Tanulia's involvement. For the first twenty to thirty punches, Tanulia tried to block. But as time went by, Harriet's punches became more violent and powerful.

The light in Tanulia's eyes slowly started to fade away as her legs gave up. Still, Harriet grabbed her by her neck and kept punching Tanulia in the chest using the other bloody fist. Blood spurted out from Tanulia's chest as Harriet rained down violent punches. A few seconds later, Tanulia's chest caved in. When the light in Tanulia's eyes was completely dimmed, Harriet threw Tanulia's body into the air above like the elf weighed nothing. When Tanulia hit a certain height in the air, gravity pulled her down to the ground.

Seeing Tanulia coming down, Harriet twisted the sword she stabbed in the tree. Just like she calculated, Tanulia's neck came into contact with the blade. Blood sprayed out as her head was severed from her body. It flew into the air and dropped and rolled onto the air. Harriet noticed there were tears in the corner of Tanulia's eyes. Was it rage, shock, or regret? Harriet did not know. To be honest, there was no need to find the answer. Tanulia sent Sabrina into a trap, knowing what the vampires would do to her. Harriet had to kill Tanulia before she could harm her family any more than she had already.

Harriet felt no regret or remorse, not even a bit. If roles were changed and she hurt one of the Valrens, Harriet doubted Tanulia would show her any mercy. A while later, the headless body hit the ground. Harriet turned her gaze to the body, noticing the glowing rune on Tanulia's chest. If Harriet had severed Tanulia's head herself, the rune would have transferred itself to her, and the Valrens would have come seeking revenge. However, Tanulia died by falling from the air and cutting her head with the sword.

So the rune had no living person to attach itself to. This was a small trick Harriet picked when she trained under Wulfric.

Even after killing Tanulia, Harriet's anger didn't lose its flame. On the contrary, it blazed brighter and hotter. But for now, she took a deep breath and extended her arm towards the mask as it flew straight into her hand. Harriet wore the mask and pulled back the hood to cover her head.

After taking several steps away from the head and Tanulia's body, Harriet looked at the sky.

"The moonless sky,"

The moonless sky reminded Harriet of the night she had lost Dean. She may have failed to protect him once, but the gods have given her a second chance. She had waited for this moment. With Tanulia out of the way, her son Ghost would have an easier time hiding his other persona.

"This is what you get for messing with House of Halrid," Harriet spoke, loud enough for the old man hiding under the carriage to hear. Having a conversation with Alicia about House of Halrid's involvement in Peyton's murder helped Harriet sew an enmity between Houe Halrid and House Valren. Simply put, Harriet got two birds with one stone.

She couldn't wait to see the treacherous guardians go against the House of Halrid.