The Attack of the Nian Beast (IV)

The chaos was evident,

And she doesn't know what to repent,

It was like something was forming inside her,

Something that was called power.

***

THE YEAR 1904, a century away from the present time.

He breathed as the Nian beast recovered from his place and ran up the steps. Qing Long rotated and swiped the Jian sword in the air, releasing a blue flame and energy through that whish. The flame caught off a little of its fur, but it didn't penetrate the beasts' skin.

He looked at Althea, and he saw from his vision that she was crumpled in the dark corner of the rocks. He wielded the Jian sword once again and the sharp teeth of the Nian beast didn't crash the blade of the sword. The blue flame was evident as he rotated it on his palms, and stuck it through the beast's neck but it had been eradicated once again.

The Jian sword tumbled out of Qing Long's hands but he shielded his face with its sheath. It released a cerulean flame, much more powerful than the one the Jian sword giving. Qing Long stepped on the side as the Nian beast felt the heat on its eyes, making its body turned into a human form once again.

The woman with the glowering yellow hair was evident as it rubbed its eyes on the lawn. Qing Long huffed some air as the waters calmed down in a split second. The rain and the thunder accompanied by the lightning vanished into thin air, the clouds were once again calmed down. The woman with the dandelion hair was looking down as Qing Long readied his Jian sword.

The glow in her skin had eradicated by that cerulean flame that Qing Long exuded out of his body. He swallowed as the woman was wearing a golden olive headdress on her forehead, the ivory robes were evident, and her skin was smooth and flawless. The robes looked so clean in Qing Long's eyes, but he glared at it after observing her head lying down.

It was that old woman who came inside his palace, pleading for bread, but Qing Long had shouted obscenities to her. He sighed as he looked at the other side and Althea was still obliging her orders. He stared back at the woman who cursed her and asked, "Why are you coming out of your dark shell again, Nina?"

Qing Long pointed his Jian sword to the woman as it slowly stood up and revealed her gorgeous face. Her eyes were of color golden haze, shimmering as the sunflower petals, and her nose was raised and pointed. Her full, shade of french rose color lips was pursed as it squinted its eyes to Qing Long. The Nian beast earlier could also be called Nina.

She was the one who cursed Wang Qing Long a thousand years ago before the present time today.

"It's been a long time, Wang Qing Long," Nina didn't part her lips to say it. The words were vomiting out from the goldenrod wisp of air through her forehead. It vanished as soon as she said the last word while she was knuckling her fists. Her hair was of the color of the golden fleece, and her robes were still clean, even though earlier, she was a beast.

"Did you found your Last Healer? Oh well, you will not be lifted off that curse if you will stay nasty like that...," Nina smirked as the goldenrod wisp of air had been eradicated again while she was glaring to Qing Long.

At the same time, the people around the hall were confused about why the rain had stopped completely again. They didn't know what to do, but they knew it would be the sign that a Nian beast was coming. The whole empire immediately lit up their torch with fire, ready to fight the legend that was fixed on their mind, and even though they didn't know if it was true, they were still determined to fend off the beast.

"It's Lunar New Year, Nina, it matters to me the security of the Qing Empire...," Qing Long was still pointing that Jian sword with the blue flames around it. He was holding the sheath, in case something happened a little out of his hand, but he thought that it was not the first time he would fight with Nina.

"She was only here for a day? You think Althea Xi could help you with that fear on her heart?" Nina asked with a sniggering face and put her hands behind her back. Her snake-like pupils glowed a little as Qing Long turned his head from where Althea was still crumpled and he gritted his teeth. He took a step forward and the blue flame was still resonating all over the sword.

Qing Long whispered, "Don't even lay a finger to Althea, or else I will kill you even if it means my death."

Nina smirked as she replied with that wisp of air while she was raising her one eyebrow, "Don't you ever get to notice yourself? You are no match for me, King Wang Qing Long."

Qing Long felt that his body was shaking. But he doesn't know if it was a sign of his transformation. He knew that it was, and he knew he had to fight once again to the Nian beast with that kind of physique. He swallowed as he closed his eyes and whispered on his mind for a second.

"Open your eyes now."

Althea stopped sobbing as she heard those words on his mind. She opened it up and an azure flame came out from her eyes. Althea was surprised to see it and thought that it would burn her skin. She jumped from her place and she was turning her back from where Qing Long was. She saw the azure flame extinguished on the grass, making the tips of the grass froze for about a minute.

She swallowed as she huffed some air and looked at the sky.

The rain had gone.

And when she turned around, something unexpected was there to witness.