Chapter 24: Hamster

  A wet, subterranean shriek echoed through the desolate canyon. Wonjung’s eyes blazed with a terrifying, absolute blue. With a flick of her wrist, her Reality Manipulation surged; two massive boulders materialized on either side of a giant sand-worm’s head. They slammed together like two palms in a thunderous clap, crushing the creature instantly.

  It collapsed into a heap of gore near the shattered remains of the second pillar. Dust and ancient Aion energy swirled around the wreckage.

  Jimin let out a long, weary sigh. "That’s the second. One more... and you’ll get Xin. Let’s go."

  Before Jimin could take a step, a jagged, obsidian spike materialized inches from her throat. The tip hummed with a dark, vibrating energy.

  "My lord?" Jimin asked, her voice steady but her eyes flickering with calculation.

  Wonjung, her face hardened by the scars of her conquest and the weight of the powers she’d stolen, glared at her. "Betray me, and I will bury you in needles. Nod if you understand."

  Jimin didn't blink. She simply nodded, the spike dissolving into dark mist a second later.

  ***

  The Outlands: Near the Ancient Temple

  On the fringes of the map, far from the Zeal Tower, the air was thick with the smell of sulfur. Aki was pacing frantically, her hands shaking as Yaejin and Jiwon finished off the latest wave of demons attempting to breach the temple's outer sanctum.

  Yaejin flicked the blood off her spear, her breathing even. "What’s wrong, Aki?"

  "The second pillar is down, Yaejin!" Aki cried, her voice cracking. "Someone is trying to open the gates to free the Ashen Ghost!"

  Jiwon chuckled darkly, leaning against a weathered stone pillar as she glanced at Yaejin. "Any wild guesses? Mine is Wonjung."

  "Then we need to stop her," Yaejin said firmly.

  "Are you crazy?" Jiwon snapped, her humor vanishing. "The resistance confirmed three powers she possesses right now: The Void, Spikes, and Gaeul unnie’s Reality Manipulation. And she can erase my power, too. Yours got erased once already—you are one dagger-slip away from giving Wonjung immortality."

  "I am not letting her steal my healing powers," Yaejin countered, her grip tightening on her spear.

  "Yeah, right. You are 'not' letting her," Jiwon mocked. "How inspiring."

  "We can't just stand idly by and let her unleash a dangerous demon ghost tucked in the back pocket of Korea," Yaejin insisted.

  Jiwon sighed, rubbing her temples. "And how do you expect to fight her?"

  "Maybe... we can talk to her. She is Wonjung."

  "She killed Gaeul, Yaejin!" Jiwon yelled, the grief momentarily breaking through her tough exterior.

  Yaejin pouted, looking down at her boots. "She didn't kill me."

  Jiwon stared at her in total shock, her mouth hanging open in disbelief at Yaejin’s stubborn optimism—or perhaps her naivety.

  Aki raised a trembling finger. "If I may..."

  "NO," they both shouted in unison, cutting her off before she could even start.

  ***

  The top floor of the tower shuddered as the Monkey Mecha slammed its massive mechanical fists into the floor, cratering the steel. Seonho and Leeseo blurred in opposite directions, dodging the impact. Seonho found an opening and Blinked directly toward the machine's torso, his daggers leaden with intent.

  CLANG.

  An invisible ripple in the air struck him like a physical wall, throwing him backward. He slammed into the reinforced concrete of the far wall, sliding down with a groan.

  "Seonho!" Leeseo’s eyes ignited with a fierce blue. She thrust her hands forward, attempting to catch the Mecha in a telekinetic grip to crush its joints—but the machine didn't budge. It felt like trying to grab smoke. The Mecha roared and raised a foot to stomp her into the floor; she was forced to abort her attack and dive away.

  "Not a zapping disc, not an antibound," Pierce’s voice crackled through the Mecha's external speakers, dripping with smug superiority. "This armor is coated with an Aion Force Field. Any of your powers coming into contact with the hull are NULLIFIED! You can use your powers, sure..."

  Leeseo rushed to Seonho, pulling him to his feet.

  "...but not on me!" Pierce finished with a cackle.

  Seonho wiped blood from his lip and offered a grim, dry joke. "I mean... he basically explained his own weakness. How helpful."

  "I know, right?" Leeseo managed a tight smile, her mind racing.

  She reached out and tore massive chunks of the wall and ceiling away, hurling the jagged debris at the machine. If she couldn't touch the armor, she would use the environment. Pierce just laughed, deploying shoulder-mounted cannons and arm-blades to shred the incoming rubble. "Hilarious! Is that all?"

  Seonho saw his chance. While Leeseo kept Pierce’s scanners occupied with the debris, he sprinted low and managed to mount the Mecha’s back. He scrambled toward the exposed cooling vents, stabbing his daggers into the wiring, but the metal was too thick.

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  Pierce pressed a button. A high-pressure hiss of toxic coolant smoke erupted from the joints. Seonho, blinded and choking, lost his grip and tumbled to the floor.

  The Mecha’s chest cavity opened, revealing a glowing aperture. A concentrated heat laser fired, aiming to incinerate Leeseo where she stood. She reacted instantly, pulling a massive sheet of metal from the wall to act as a shield. The beam melted through the layer, but she leaned into it, telekinetically driving the shield forward against the surging energy until it slammed into the chest aperture.

  BOOM.

  The beam backfired, frying the internal emitter. The Mecha staggered.

  "Seonho, now!" Leeseo yelled.

  Seonho Blinked into the air, and Leeseo caught him with her power, using him as a living projectile. She hurled him with everything she had toward the damaged chest. As he neared the shimmering force field, she "let go" to avoid nullification. Seonho’s momentum carried him through the barrier, and he plunged his daggers deep into the exposed, sparking core.

  "NO!!!" Pierce screamed.

  The shimmering force field flickered and died with a pathetic whine. The armor was finally vulnerable.

  Pierce’s eyes went wild. He hammered a sequence of buttons on his console. The core—the very spot where Seonho was standing—underwent an emergency purge.

  An explosion of raw energy ripped through the Mecha's center.

  Seonho was thrown back like a ragdoll. He hit the floor hard, skidding several meters. He was motionless. His skin was charred, his clothes smoldering, and blood began to pool beneath his broken form.

  Leeseo didn't scream. She didn't cry out. The world around her went deathly silent. She began to walk toward him, her footsteps slow and deliberate. "Seonho..."

  ***

  Wonjung and Jimin trekked toward the horizon, their silhouettes small against the looming shadow of the Third Pillar.

  Wonjung broke the heavy silence, her voice cutting through the dry wind. "So..." she turned slightly, her eyes tracking the shifting dunes. "What is he actually like? Xin."

  Jimin let out a long, weary sigh, the kind that came from someone who had seen too many worlds burn. "He is the True Scarlet," she said, her voice dropping an octave. "Back in Oblivion, his story isn’t so different from yours. He wasn't content with just one gift. With his crimson power, he hunted; he stole Chaos and Soul from the other Demons until there was nothing left to take. He... he owned the Scarlet energy, Wonjung. Be careful."

  Wonjung didn't flinch. If anything, her gaze sharpened, cold and calculating. "Well, right now he is weak, and judging by my vision, weaker than the Paragon. I need his power," she muttered, her hand twitching at her side. "It’s the only thing that will give me the edge I need to beat Seonho."

  Suddenly, the silence was shattered. A twisted, snarling demon lunged from behind a cluster of obsidian rocks, its claws outstretched and dripping with hunger.

  Without even fully turning her head, Wonjung flicked her wrist. A single, jagged spike of energy whistled through the air with lethal precision. It buried itself deep into the demon’s chest, hitting the heart dead-center. The creature didn't even have time to shriek before its body dissolved into a cloud of gray dust, scattered by the Outland wind.

  Wonjung didn't miss a step. "Let’s keep moving."

  ***

  The Mecha, though damaged, lurched forward to strike Leeseo down while she was distracted. But it stopped mid-stride. Without Leeseo even looking at it, without a single hand gesture or movement, the multi-ton machine was frozen in place.

  Leeseo kept her eyes fixed on the boy on the floor. "Babe?"

  Seonho didn't answer. He was unconscious, his breath shallow, hovering on the edge of the void.

  Pierce’s voice crackled over the internal speakers, a mixture of static and sobbing. "YOU ALL DESERVE DEATH!" he shrieked in English. "MY SON! MY POOR SON!"

  Leeseo didn't even flinch. Her voice was cold, vibrating with a power that seemed to hum from the air itself. "I do not give a SHIT about your son!" she roared back in Korean.

  She slammed her hands together. The massive Monkey Mecha was jerked off the ground as if it were a tin toy. With a violent outward motion of her arms, the armor plating was torn away like paper. She slammed the entire chassis into the floor—once, twice, three times—the impact shaking the very foundation of the tower. With one final, bone-chilling grip in the air, she crushed the entire machine inside-out. The giant pile of scrap metal dropped onto the tattered floor with a deafening thud.

  Leeseo raised her left hand, telekinetically snatching Pierce out of the ruined cockpit and dragging him through the air toward her.

  "For Kanghyuk!" She slammed him into the floor, the impact shattering his nose.

  "For Eunchae!" She slammed him again, his ribs snapping.

  "For Rin unnie!" She slammed him a third time into the concrete.

  She pulled her arm inward, dragging his limp, broken body across the floor until he was at her feet. She gripped his neck with an invisible force, her eyes glowing with a lethal blue light. She was ready to end it.

  Pierce looked up at her, his eyes welling with pathetic tears, waiting for the killing blow.

  Leeseo took a jagged breath, the fire in her eyes dimming just slightly. She sighed and let go. Reaching behind her, she pulled out a pair of heavy-duty cuffs and snapped them onto his wrists. "Zeal has fallen," she whispered, her voice trembling with exhaustion. "You guys are done."

  Pierce let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

  "Leeseo?"

  Leeseo spun around, her heart stopping. Seonho was getting up. His skin was mapped with glowing blue nerves, a luminous map of power beneath his flesh.

  "Seonho!" Leeseo cried, rushing toward him.

  A strange, pulsing blue aura enveloped him. "Leeseo..." he muttered. As they watched, his charred skin and jagged wounds began to knit back together. The aura hummed, the damage reversed as if time were being wound back, until the wounds vanished completely. The blue glow faded, leaving him standing whole and healthy.

  "Thank god..." Leeseo threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. "What happened?"

  "I told you I am cursed." Seonho looked at his hands, his expression dazed. "Though I didn't know it could do that." He glanced over at the battered Pierce.

  "I’m so glad you’re alive," Leeseo sobbed.

  "Him too?" Seonho asked, nodding toward the prisoner.

  "I’ll let the Generals handle him," she replied.

  Suddenly, the floor beneath them groaned. The massive metal chunk of the crushed mecha shifted, the weight finally too much for the damaged structure. The giant ball of scrap metal plummeted through the floor, then the next, and the next, literally piercing the tower like a needle through paper. The building shook with the violence of an earthquake.

  "We're gonna die!" Pierce yelled, his battered face twisted in terror.

  Seonho didn't hesitate. He grabbed Leeseo, his hand finding hers.

  BLINK.

  They materialized on the ground outside, the cool air hitting their faces.

  San was slumped on the dirt, still scorched but recovering. Rin was beside him, her one remaining arm resting on her knee. Haruka and Eunchae sat near the sheet-covered body of Kanghyuk, their faces hollow. Ren held his ground at the backlines. Around them, the surviving trainees were gasping for air, their victory feeling heavy and cold.

  As Seonho and Leeseo joined them, dragging the tied-up Pierce along the dirt, the sound of the world ending filled their ears.

  They turned to see the giant Zeal Tower—their nightmare for so long—begin to buckle. The skyscraper groaned, tilting forward, a vertical mountain of steel and glass ready to crush everyone in its path. All the Flux and Zeal soldiers alike, the wounded and the weary, stood in its massive, looming shadow.

  "Retribution," Pierce whispered from the dirt.

  Rin pulled San close, shielding him with her body. Haruka pulled Eunchae into a tight embrace, hiding the girl’s eyes. Ren stood firm, shielding the trainees with crossed arms as the tower groaned above them. Seonho stepped behind Leeseo, wrapping his arms around her as they both looked up at the sky, watching the tower fall.

  The shadow of the falling skyscraper grew darker, swallowing the sun. The wind pressure alone was enough to pin the wounded trainees to the ground. Leeseo’s eyes ignited—not just with blue, but with a radiance so bright it looked like sapphire fire.

  She shoved Seonho’s protective arms away and stepped forward into the path of the falling mountain.

  "Leeseo!" Seonho cried, reaching for her.

  Leeseo ignored the pain in her muscles, her feet digging into the dirt as if she were rooted into the Earth’s core. She threw her arms toward the sky. "I am not... a hamster!" she roared, her voice cutting through the screeching metal of the building.

  The entire tower, from its base to its jagged antenna, suddenly glowed with a shimmering blue aura. It looked like a meteor caught in mid-air.

  "No way..." Rin whispered, her jaw dropping as she watched the physics of the world defy itself.

  "Leeseo?" Eunchae’s voice was small, trembling with a mix of terror and awe.

  "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Leeseo’s entire body shook. The weight of a million tons onto her mind. She didn't just hold it—she began to push. Her arms trembled violently as she leaned into the invisible weight.

  "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

  With one final, soul-shattering shove, she heaved her arms forward. Everyone watched in absolute silence as the small girl tipped the massive skyscraper. The looming shadow shifted. The tower groaned, its center of gravity forced back by the sheer will of the "Mountain."

  "GAAAAHHHH!!!!"

  The skyscraper fell the other way, crashing into the empty valley behind the complex. The impact sent a shockwave through the ground that knocked everyone off their feet. A massive wall of dust and wind roared over them, but as the smoke cleared... the sky was open.

  They were alive.

  Leeseo’s knees buckled, and she collapsed into the dirt.

  The silence lasted for only a heartbeat before the trainees erupted. They cheered, they sobbed, they screamed in pure, unadulterated joy! Leeseo had saved them all.

  Rin stood up, tears streaming down her face, while Eunchae began jumping around with her signature quirkiness returning. "LEESEO! LEESEO! THAT’S MY BESTIE!"

  Haruka fell to her knees, crying into her hands—the hope of the future, of the life she wanted with Rahee, was still possible. Ren’s knees finally gave out, and he collapsed in silent relief. "She's... remarkable."

  Seonho was the first to reach Leeseo, scooping her into a hug and kissing her forehead. "You okay? Are you hurt?"

  Leeseo caught her breath, wiping the oil from her forehead. She looked up and flashed him a bright, cheeky smile as if she hadn't just moved a mountain. "Are you kidding me? Never better," she chuckled weakly.

  The celebration was earned. The air felt lighter. But the moment was short-lived.

  Through the settling smoke and the howling wind, a figure emerged. He walked slowly, his footsteps heavy and deliberate. The cheers of the trainees died down as a cold, oppressive aura began to drown out the joy.

  Seonho and Leeseo scrambled to their feet, their muscles tensing.

  It was Sungmin. He wore his silver mask, the polished metal reflecting the orange glow of the fires behind him. He didn't look like the friend Seonho remembered; he looked like a judge of Chaos.

  "Is that... the Silver Mask...?" Seonho whispered, his throat tight with a fear he couldn't name.

  "Who?" Leeseo asked, sensing the sheer power radiating off the man.

  He kept coming. Slow. Menacing. Each step felt like a second ticking closer to the end of the world. The war with Zeal was over, but the nightmare was only beginning.

  Mountain.