The Secret Sonata || Ryeji

Chapter 31: The Demise of Demon Princess

By the time Han and Lucy were ambling along the shore of a lake in the woods, the sun was slowly going down the horizon as its burning light got dull and mingled with the light blue colors of the sky, producing a vast contrast of different colors. To Lucy, watching the sunsetting in the sky was like watching a screen slowly changing colors, and it was, indeed, beautiful.

"You see the cliff over there, Lucy?" Han pointed at the waterfall cliff ahead them, so Lucy spared a glance at the area where he was referring to. "That was where Shin Taek and Sol were killed, many centuries ago."

"Really?!" Lucy gasped, awestruck.

"Yup. And the city of Andong was where the Woo clan settled down." Han flicked his wrist and levitated a palm size pebble, then he hurtled it toward the water, making it skip ten times across the surface. Watching Han, Lucy tried to levitate a nearby pebble of the same size, but only managed to raise some dust a few centimeters into the air.

"I still can't lift things up," the young ghost complained, pouting as she tilted her head. On the second day of her death, Han took her out to the woods and toured her around, explaining about every area and the short cuts while teaching her how to teleport, fly, use telekinesis, and everything that ghosts should know; all of which she failed. Nevertheless, the demon kept encouraging her and telling her that she was too good for a beginner.

"Patience, Lucy. Patience is all you need. Moreover, it takes practice to master all those things I taught you today," the demon said, his eyes fixated on the babbling water before he plonked himself down on a rock in front of the stream. "Let's rest here for a while and I'll continue telling you the story from yesterday."

"Ne!" Lucy briskly dashed beside Han and sat down on the bank, expectantly staring at the demon.

"After the death of Shin Taek, his father was extremely enraged by the loss of his beloved son and he led a war between the Shin Clan and Woo Clan. The war lasted about six months until the Woo clan won, thereby capturing all the members of the clan and making them slaves. They killed anyone who tried to disobey them. At first, the Woo leader gave the Shin leader a chance to live and become his right hand man for rescuing his life in the past, but the latter declined the offer, saying that he would rather die than serving under the father of his son's murderer. So, the Woo leader beheaded him in the end. As years passed, the Woo clan began to grow larger than ever as they invaded several clans, killing their leaders and enslaving the people. At that rate, they could almost build up a big empire. However, little did they know that some people from the Shin clan, who'd run away long before they were captured, were bringing all those other clans threatened by the Woos together and joining allies to overthrow them once and for all. One day, the power-thirsty Woo leader and his daughter were ambushed on their way to invade another clan—not far from their own village—, and they were tied to a tree and slowly burned to death by their enemies, while all their followers, including both genders, kids and new borns, were buried alive, thus clearing the whole clan of Woos from the roots.

"Yet, that wasn't the end of Woo Ma Wang and Woo Ma Yeol's legend since it continued even after their deaths. The whole clan became vengeful evil spirits and haunted every oblivious wanderer who traveled or passed by the place where they were executed. Soon, they got bored of it and the Woo leader's spirit decided to lead his dead clan to the forbidden woods where the demon king and his demons resided. There, Woo Ma Wang challenged the demon king for his throne and asked for a fist-to-fist combat with the king, demanding him not to use his magical scythe that was forged with dark, lethal spells and curses. Then, the two leaders were engaged in a combat, weaponless and mundane. Nevertheless, the demon king didn't know that the Woo leader had schemed to steal the scythe in advance before the clan came to the demons' lair. During the fight and while the king was distracted, Woo Ma Wang sent a secret hand signal to his daughter, indicating that it was time for her to steal the scythe on behalf of him. Thus, Woo Ma Yeol used her beauty to maximum advantage and passed through the horde of entranced demons who were guarding their king's invaluable weapon. With a bedazzling smile, she was able to seize the scythe on short notice and slaughter all those spellbound demons with one swipe of the weapon. Next, she tossed it toward her father, who caught it in one hand without even needing to spare a backward glance at her. Just like that, he slashed the demon king's throat, decapitated him with his own weapon and took over the throne as dark magic from the scythe seeped through his soul, transforming him, his daughter and followers into the most fearsome demons in the whole Korean peninsula.