The small, familiar cottage was once again in shambles when the group arrived.
Ik-soo once again failed to take good care of himself while Yun was away which resulted in multiple cuts and bruises all over his limbs and slight malnutrition.  The cottage appeared fine on the outside, but the inside was a complete mess with broken plates and bowls littering the floor, unrecognizable goo that Ik-soo claimed to be soup stained the mats, and a severe lack of usable food in the house.  After Yun scolded his supposed "caretaker" for a while Hak reminded Yun of the two unconscious and ill girls that him, Kija, Jae-ha, and Shin-ah took turns pushing in a cart.  The cart was just barely wide enough for the two girls to lay down in and was padded with the straw mattresses that Yun sewed while the group was staying in the abandoned village.  The cart was made from an old delivery cart that was fortunately left near the shrine so it was affected by the Yang Warrior's power to prevent things from deteriorating with her positive aura.  Hak simply attached 2 extra wheels to each side of the originally two wheeled cart so the cart would stay level and upright even when someone was not pushing it. Hak and Jae-ha moved the two girls into Yun's old medical wing in the cottage so that they would be more comfortable.
    Yun patched up Ik-soo's minor injuries before he took him to see Huan and Lanying. "So these are the two unfortunate maidens that contain the Demon Queens." Ik-soo grimly comments.
    "You knew about the Demon Queens?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Yun asks; visibly annoyed.
    The dark atmosphere lifts when the forgetful priest smiles innocently and says, "I didn't?"
    Yun's eye twitches at this comment. "Well what do we do now? They are experiencing symptoms that I have never seen in these combinations before. Zeno doesn't know what's wrong either. The only thing that we could think of doing was taking them to you; you're the only priest we know." Yun's speech quickens a bit; showing that he is actually quite worried about the two.
    Ik-soo smiles as if Huan's and Lanying's conditions were nothing but passing colds. "Of course I am the only priest you know; I am the only surviving priest in Kouka that still receive messages from the gods. But I do have something that I think can help." Ik-soo stands up and goes to the small, fresh water bath that Ik-soo claimed to be filled with Holy Water. He fills a small, porcelain vial -- about the size of a walnut -- with the water, corks it, and puts it on a string.
    "This water will help to temporarily balance out the storm of negativity festering inside of Huan. This won't last long however, the pure negative energy that the Yin Warrior exudes is far to strong for any earthly items; blessed or not. The only way to permanently rid Huan of this pain is to exorcize the demon inside of her."
    "Exorcize? As in killing the Yin Demon? How would we even begin to do that? And what about Lanying?"
    "The gods luckily foresaw this day would finally come. All the ingredients have already been given; you just need to find them. Water from the Water Tribe's ocean, soil from the deepest cave in the Earth Tribe, ashes from the Fire Tribe's sacred flame, the last breath from the Wind Tribe's current general, and finally, the blood of the Sword and Shield."
    "What?! It will take us over a year to gather all those things! And the "Last breath from the Wind Tribe's current general" and the "Blood from the Sword and Shield" implies that we have to kill three people! There is no way we are doing that."
    "If you don't then everyone will suffer; not just Huan and Lanying. This is the predetermined path the gods have chosen." Ik-soo has suddenly become serious.
    Yun is visibly shaken at this point.  "I don't care about what the gods have chosen! The gods are what forced the Dragon Warriors, Huan, and Lanying into terrible lives! Violence and death is never the answer!"
    "All things return to Heaven one day.... Just as I will soon." A sad smile dances on his lips as he looks up to the clear blue sky.
    "You are not making any sense. What do you mean-"

Blood.

    The crimson droplets spatter to the ground and stain everything. Including Yun's face. For a terrible, awful moment, there is nothing but silence. Then a blood curdling screams rips through the air.
    The murderer stands there. Eyes totally black except for the pupils and veins that are red. Expression blank and doll-like. And poisonous claws covered in blood.

・・・・・・・・・・・・

Hello there readers! Death! Character death! Canon character death! I did warn you that the plot would thicken in this chapter. Sorry if this was anti-climatic, but while I did plan for this death I didn't really know how to go about doing this without this story getting repetitive. It's already repetitive enough with Yona and the gang needing to go and find more stuff to achieve Yona's goal but I didn't really want the process to not only be repeated but for them to have to go back to Ik-soo once again to get instructions. Please tell me your thoughts on this because I really want to improve my writing for you guys and anything helps really. Also! If you are into Yuri!!! On Ice be sure to check out my profile page later for my new book "Yuri!!! On Ice Shipping Oneshots" that will be out later today. Anyway, enough of the advertisement! I hope you enjoyed this chapter an if you did be sure to vote and comment. If you didn't like this chapter then be sure to comment why! Constructive criticism is greatly welcomed.
Wishing you all happiness, laughter, and Pocky, this is Beijing_Aru and I will see you all in the next chapter!  Bye! :)