Chapter 12: Reality VS Illusion Part 2

  At the decoy site, the air was a thick sludge of ash and screams.

  San was a whirlwind of dark energy, his claymore carving through hordes of corrupted Flux soldiers and ANTI zealots. He reduced the attacking mecha's to scrap, weaving precise blade work with the environment and detonating perfectly timed corrupting implosions directly into their engines.

  He was holding the line alone, leaving the big target to the partners.

  Rin and Seonho stood a dozen yards away, facing a titan of a man clad in heavy, blackened plate armor. Yunsung. He didn't just carry a weapon; he carried an aura of suffocating heat. As he raised his hands, the air ignited into a roaring inferno.

  "Yunsung? Another traitor," Rin spat, spinning her staff to create a gust of wind. "So it’s you who stole Jian's powers."

  "I didn't steal it," Yunsung's voice boomed through his helm. He lifted his sleeve, revealing a jagged, red-veined scar on his forearm. "It was given to me as a gift by the Lady in Gold Mask."

  "Then we’ll take it back the hard way!" Seonho yelled.

  Yunsung slammed his fists together, sending a wave of fire toward them. Rin vaulted over the flames, her staff glowing with blue energy. She landed a flurry of strikes against Yunsung's joints—clack, clack, crack—chipping away at the heavy plating. She buried her staff in his gut, folding him in half.

  Yunsung hurled a fireball, but Seonho blinked forward, letting the flame whistle harmlessly past. He reappeared inches from Yunsung, only to find a second hand already raised. Yunsung had read the move. A massive wave of fire erupted, the concussive heat slamming into Seonho and sending him hurtling backward. His armor scorched black instantly, the flash-heat searing the flesh of his forearm. "Gaaah!"

  Yunsung roared, swinging a pillar of flame like a whip. Rin spun her staff in a rapid blur, snuffing out the clinging flames. Nearby, Seonho blinked through the air to land a heavy kick on Yunsung, immediately flickering to the opposite side for a dagger slash that scraped the armor. A final zip took him behind Yunsung for one last strike before he vanished again.

  Rin charged, slamming her staff against Yunsung’s helmet. He lashed out with a wave of fire from his palm, but Rin dodged and thrust the butt of her weapon into his chest, knocking him back.

  Suddenly, the ground beneath Rin glowed. Yunsung swung his hands upward, and a burst of fire erupted from the floor. The force of the explosion threw Rin to the ground.

  "Rin!" Seonho screamed as he dodged another fire wave surging his way.

  Rin struggled to her feet, using her staff to pat out the embers on her armor. "I'm fine," she shouted back.

  Yunsung conjured a fireball between his palms, tracking the air for Seonho’s next blink. He hurled the flame blindly, and it detonated exactly where Seonho reappeared, mid-lunge.

  The explosion bloomed in a roar of heat, but Seonho tore through the smoke like a living nightmare. His eyes burned with a piercing sky-blue glow, and Yunsung froze, paralyzed by the sight of him emerging completely unscathed.

  Inside Seonho, the azure blood began to boil—a primal hunger clawing at his insides, demanding to be fed. Driven by raw strength and a yearning dark enough to swallow the room, he delivered a devastating slash across Yunsung’s chest. The blow shredded the armor in a spray of sparks and steel, leaving Yunsung's defenses in ruins.

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  Zip. Seonho appeared behind him. Zip. Above him.

  Seonho gripped his daggers, weaving through the tongues of fire with suicidal grace. While Rin distracted Yunsung with a devastating sweep to his ankles that brought the giant to his knees, Seonho materialized directly over the armor's neck seal.

  With a roar of effort, Seonho drove his dagger deep into Yunsung's chest. The fire died instantly, the heat evaporating into the cold night. Yunsung collapsed, the "stolen gift" failing him as his eyes went dark.

  "Way to go, Seonho!" Rin cheered.

  ***

  Back at the Citadel, the Aion Cage shimmered with cold indifference. Inside, Leeseo stopped crying. She wiped her eyes, her gaze hardening. She touched the glowing energy wall and inhaled deeply, her small frame trembling.

  "I can do this," she whispered, her voice steadying. She began to channel, her own hidden energy humming in resonance with the cage.

  ***

  In the Great Dojo, the silence was heavy. Wonjung stood trembling, her eyes filled with tears.

  "Gaeul... if you don't surrender now," Wonjung sobbed, "what happens next will be dark."

  Gaeul, bloodied but standing tall, gave a haunting chuckle. "Odd... I love darkness."

  Flash.

  Gaeul moved faster than the eye could follow. She landed a punch so powerful it bypassed Wonjung’s telekinetic shield. Wonjung hit the floor, spitting a spray of crimson.

  "Wonjung, I won't kill you," Gaeul whispered, her voice like a death sentence. "I will just beat you up real bad."

  What followed was a masterclass in brutality. Gaeul didn't need reality bending. She had years of raw strength, speed, and sonic-engulfed energy vibrating through her brass knuckles. She pummelled Wonjung with a relentless barrage of strikes, the sound of metal meeting bone echoing in the rafters.

  Wonjung was sent flying into the wall, bruised and bleeding out. She stood up, her legs shaking. She switched back to her Blue Eyes—she needed raw power now that she had already erased Gaeul’s unique ability. She hurled a massive Void Orb, but Gaeul didn't dodge. She punched the orb dead-center, her sonic knuckles causing the void to evaporate into nothingness.

  Wonjung looked genuinely terrified.

  The gust cleared, and Gaeul was already a blur, zigzagging across the dojo with lethal speed. Wonjung lashed out, summoning spikes from thin air, but they only bit into the floor. Anything that came close, Gaeul swatted away with her bare knuckles.

  Wonjung blurred her own movement, swinging her sword in a desperate arc, but it sliced nothing but empty air. The General was already behind her.

  Gaeul buried a fist into Wonjung’s stomach. As Wonjung doubled over, Gaeul’s eyes turned to shadows. She stomped the ground—pure physical power without a hint of reality manipulation—shattering the floor and sending a shockwave through the room. She followed up with a punch to the chest to stagger her opponent, then a brutal haymaker to the jaw. Wonjung went airborne, cratering into the far wall.

  Wonjung shook her head, wiping blood from her lip as she scrambled back to her feet. She dashed forward again, but Gaeul was already gone, blurring past her so fast the kinetic surge nearly took Wonjung’s head off.

  Wonjung was quick too. She spun and swung her blade in a fast arc, but Gaeul caught the steel with her left brass knuckle. Kinetic energy hummed through the metal, grinding against the sword.

  Wonjung gnashed her teeth, her eyes darting from the blade back to Gaeul’s face just in time to see a fist coming. The blow landed hard, knocking her back. Before she could recover, Gaeul seized her shoulders and drove a knee into her abdomen. Gaeul then jerked her head back and delivered a brutal headbutt, leaving both their foreheads bloodied and bruised.

  Gaeul followed up immediately, her fists moving in a relentless blur. She landed one punch after another, snapping Wonjung's head back with every strike. Desperate to end the assault, Wonjung thrust her blade forward in a jagged stab. Gaeul spun on her heel, the steel whistling past her ribs, and transitioned seamlessly to Wonjung’s unprotected side.

  Gaeul closed the distance. Landed an uppercut then a left hook to crater Wonjung to the ground.

  Gaeul pinned her down, driving the blade of her knuckle-duster into Wonjung’s shoulder.

  Gaeul defeated Wonjung.

  "You done?" Gaeul panted, her shirt stained with sweat and blood.

  "I want to," Wonjung teared up. "Gaeul... I love you." Gaeul's eyes widened.

  A black spike erupted from the floorboards behind Gaeul, stabbing her through the back. Gaeul gasped, staggering forward as she tried to reach around and remove the impaling shard.

  Wonjung was up in an instant. She gripped her broadsword and, with a scream of agony, drove it straight through Gaeul’s abdomen.

  Gaeul froze. She didn't scream. Instead, she looked Wonjung dead in the eye and smiled.

  Wonjung broke. She wasn't the "God" anymore; she was just a girl. She began to wail—a raw, ugly, sobbing scream. "Gaeul... I’m sorry! I'm so sorry!"

  Gaeul reached up with a trembling hand, touching Wonjung’s tear-stained face even as blood began to pour from her own mouth.

  "I love you too," Gaeul whispered.

  Her hand fell. Her eyes glazed over. They both slumped to the floor, Wonjung cradling Gaeul’s body, her wails echoing through the empty Citadel.

  "Gaeul!!! Gaeul!"

  The despair in Wonjung’s eyes curdled into a cold, hollow dread. She looked soulless. Reaching for the gold dagger, she plunged it into Gaeul’s heart, the vial filling with a brilliant, shimmering red energy. Then, she stabbed the vial into her own chest.

  The wounds healed. Wonjung stood up, the air around her vibrating. She could feel it—the fabric of the world was now hers to command. She could manipulate reality.

  She snapped her fingers.

  The space in front of her distorted. In three flashes of light, the Three Councils—the masters of Flux—appeared on their knees, plucked from their hidden chambers.

  "Wonjung, let's talk," the lead Council member pleaded, his voice trembling. "We can settle this!"

  Wonjung didn't say a word. She didn't even look at them.

  Three black spikes erupted from the ground, skewering each Council member through the heart. They died instantly.

  Silence returned to the Dojo. Wonjung stood alone in the wreckage, the new and absolute master of a broken world.

  Darkness.