Chapter 20: The Brother

  In one of the high-security facilities of Zeal, silhouettes of stars seemed to hover in the rafters. They weren't stars, but eyes—floating, watching, gathering data as the soldiers below scurried to prepare for a move.

  Shade stood near the center of the chaos, leaning back as he spoke to Dr. Pierce.

  "Make sure you keep them distracted." Shade drawled, his voice muffled by his gas mask. "Wonjung is busy right now and can’t afford any worm catching up to her, got it?"

  Pierce gave a stiff nod. "I got it. No..." He looked directly into the dark lenses of Shade’s mask, his voice dripping with venom. "...worm." He said it as if Shade himself was the very pest he was describing.

  Shade let out a long, dramatic sigh and reached out, tapping Pierce’s shoulder. "You’re a scary, scary dude."

  Suddenly, the floating eyes emerged from the darkness. With a violent puff of shadows, they coalesced into a man—the watcher who had been following the scenes from the demon statues, the woods, the eyes of meta. The Bronze Masked Man had finally revealed himself.

  With mass precision, he began hurling throwing knives. He killed one, then three, then seven soldiers in a blur of steel.

  He hurled a final knife past the guards and posts, aimed with such precision that it was supposed to hit Shade—almost. But Pierce reacted, his cybernetic gauntlet humming as he swiped the air, the knife bouncing harmlessly off the metal.

  "Go!" Pierce yelled. Shade didn't wait to be told twice; he laughed as he turned and ran toward the exit.

  The Bronze Mask was fast, throwing knives like poison. One by one, the Zeal soldiers fell. Pierce, seeing the room being cleared, hurled a massive wave of wind from his gauntlet. The blast knocked away dead bodies, heavy tables, and the Bronze Masked man himself. The intruder hit the ground hard, but he quickly spun his legs and snapped back to his feet.

  His eyes scanned the floor, finding a baseball—likely a desk decor. He snatched it up and threw it at a random wall. It bounced exactly as he intended, ricocheting off the surface and slamming directly into Pierce’s face.

  "Ahhh—seize him!" Pierce shouted, shaking off the dizziness as he turned to flee.

  The Bronze Masked man’s eyes glowed a vibrant green. He summoned a spectre ghost of himself, a glowing-eyed phantom that flew through the walls, revealing his method of stalking. The spectre soared outside while the man himself stayed behind, finishing off the remaining soldiers with his knives.

  The spectre watched as Shade and Pierce scrambled onto a helicopter. Just as it prepared to lift off, the spectre became the Bronze Masked man again, teleporting him to the pad. He flicked a small chip at the chopper; it attached to the hull and started blinking—a tracker.

  Inside the rising helicopter, Pierce panted, clutching his bruised face. "Who is that?"

  Shade sighed, watching the figure below. "A man from the Covenant."

  The Bronze Mask kept staring at them until they disappeared into the clouds. He summoned another spectre and watched it fly away in a different direction, already moving toward his next target.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  ***

  The next day, under the harsh sun of the outlands, Sungmin stood tall on a jagged cliff. His silver mask was off for a moment, and his top was torn at the right shoulder, revealing fresh bandages.

  "She's moving. Wonjung is making progress. This is not good," Sungmin muttered to the wind. "Come on, Hyeonseok. Where are you?"

  Suddenly, a demon flew up—a gray-skinned humanoid with wide wings, dark claws, and a maw of sharp teeth. It growled, a guttural sound of hunger. Sungmin quickly slid his silver mask back on and dodged a fireball that hissed past his head.

  The demon lunged. Despite his wound, Sungmin effortlessly hopped over the strike and slashed his katana through its wings. The creature shrieked, skidding across the dirt. Sungmin dropped into a combat stance, but the demon stood up, its wings healing instantly. It smirked at him.

  Two more demons climbed up behind him. Sungmin’s mask glared menacingly at the trio. "Xin won't rest, eh?"

  All three attacked at once. Sungmin’s eyes glowed a deep purple, and his sword caught the same light. He spun elegantly, dodging claws and fire, delivering slashes that left a blazing Chaotic violet flare across the demons' faces.

  The demons took to the air, hurling fireballs from above. Sungmin ran across the cliffside, dodging the explosions. He did a vertical wall-run on a pillar of rock and pushed off with immense force. Mid-air, he slashed through the oxygen, sending a purple wave that severed four wings from two demons.

  They tumbled to the ground. Sungmin dropped onto one, stabbing it through the chest until it evaporated into ash.

  The second demon struggled to rise, but Sungmin closed the gap with a Chaos Dash. He glared into its eyes, stunning it, before impaling its heart with his chaos-coated blade. It, too, vanished.

  ***

  Back at a different Zeal hideout, the Resistance was in the middle of a frantic assault. Eunchae charged in with a small army of clones. "Woohoo!" she cheered, pinning a soldier to the ground. "Where is he? Where is Pierce?"

  "He's gone! He left us!" the man sobbed under her weight.

  "Wrong answer," Eunchae said. She raised her arm to stab him, but her form flickered and disappeared—it was only a clone. The man breathed a sigh of relief for a split second before Rin stepped in, puncturing his skull with a single, precise hit from her bo staff.

  More soldiers flooded the hall. Rin read their movements like a book, knocking them out one by one with calculated strikes. "Go!"

  Leeseo and Seonho were at the far end of the facility. Leeseo stood straight, arms crossed in an X as she held her tonfas. Seonho lunged forward and hugged her face-to-face. He gave her a quick wink, making her blush, before they teleported together into the back office.

  A lone soldier stood there, frozen. Leeseo levitated him instantly, slammed him into the floor, and followed up with two critical hits from her tonfas.

  "Nice," Seonho said.

  But then, a sound filled the room. Beep. Beep. Beep. A bomb was tucked in the corner, 5 seconds on the clock.

  "Leeseo!" Seonho yelled.

  Leeseo reacted by telekinetically shoving Seonho out of the room, throwing him clear of the blast zone. 3... 2... Her eyes widened. For a split second, she tried to levitate the bomb itself, but—ZIP.

  Seonho blinked back in, grabbed her, and blinked out just as the room turned into a fireball.

  "Thanks," Leeseo panted, leaning against him.

  "You pushed me out of the way... that’s... wow, Leeseo," Seonho smiled.

  "That was dumb. If I didn't do that, you could've grabbed me and blinked us out right away."

  "It's the thoughts that count." Seonho smiled.

  Rin ran up to join them. "So?"

  "No... no Pierce," Leeseo said, frustrated.

  "MAAAN!" Eunchae yelled from down the hall, shoving one of her own clones away in a fit of pique.

  "Why me?" her clone groaned.

  ***

  Back at the wasteland, the last demon facing Sungmin threw one final fireball. Sungmin was trapped in a bad spot, but he didn't move. He glared with his Chaos Eye, creating a mystical purple well—a chaotic vacuum that sucked the fireball into nothingness.

  The demon tried to fly away, but eyes were watching from above. Flash!

  The Bronze Masked man dropped from the sky, stabbing the demon in the back before disappearing into shadow again. As the demon hit the ground, Sungmin parkoured down the cliffside to meet it.

  The demon flipped over, only to see a spectre emerging from the air. It solidified into the Bronze Masked man, his green eyes glowing as he drove a knife into the demon's heart. It evaporated instantly.

  He stood up as Sungmin approached. He pulled off his mask, revealing the young, pale face of Hyeonseok.

  "How's your shoulder?" he asked.

  "Healed."

  "Really? My brother Mansu would always lie about his wounds."

  He walked over to check the bandages. Sungmin chuckled, "I’m not your brother."

  "Shade got away and uhm, I could not see Seonho. I'm sorry."

  "It's fine. I have an idea." Sungmin sheathed his sword.

  "Are you really leaning in with the whole vision thing?" Hyeonseok asked.

  Sungmin sighed. "I don't know."

  ***

  Meanwhile, Yaejin and Jiwon finally stood at the end of the coordinates, far to the west of the Outlands. Before them stood an abandoned temple, its massive entrance barred by two heavy doors.

  "Well? What now?" Yaejin asked, looking around.

  "The clues say coordinates lead here," Jiwon said, tapping her tablet.

  Yaejin tried the door. "It’s locked."

  A low growl came from behind them. Demons were crawling out of the shadows of the rocks.

  "Uhm, Jiwon?" Yaejin stared at them. "I don't think we're welcome here."

  "Man, outlands is so weird," Jiwon muttered, reaching for her weapon.

  "Hi guys!"

  Both girls spun around. Yaejin’s eyes went wide. Standing in front of the temple doors was a holographic girl.

  "Gaeul-unnie?"

  "It's me, Aki!" the hologram smiled brightly. "Gaeul's trusted AI!"

  The demons growled as Yaejin and Jiwon stood there, completely stunned.

  Green.