▬ Chapter 19: Release ▬

Twenty-five minutes have passed since Sungyeol started his timer. As he was still in pain, Sunggyu asked him to rest while he and Dongwoo took care of the human underlings. The latter man suffered minimal bruises while the former got off scratch free. Dongwoo assured his concerned genie that he was fine, though, once he managed to reach Minji.

“We should leave this place before we get caught up in all this mess,” Sunggyu huffed as he swung one of the unconscious men’s arm around his neck while trying to pick up the other one near him to do the same on the other side.

“What are you doing?” Dongwoo asked after he carefully carried Minji bridal-style. Her head slumped by his chest since she was also unconscious from the effect of Sungyeol’s power on her just before the fight started.

“I noticed that these kids were involuntarily under the influence of Niel while we were fighting them. They don’t have to suffer from his misdoings and the Superior said that he’ll take care of them so let’s go. I’ll come back and grab that last one over there later.”

After Sunggyu and Sungyeol exchanged nods, the two men left to try and find a safe spot outside the area. Good thing that their enemy was too focused on his opponent so they were able to get out safely.

Woohyun was doing well even though this was his first full-on fight since he became a genie. He was already out of breath and the blood trickling from the side of his mouth and head weren’t helping. Niel also managed to land a cut on his right side just below the ribs a few minutes into the fight which ruined the suit that he took so long to choose.

With four minutes left, both men were fighting with all their might. Although both had about the same scrapes and bruises, from Sungyeol’s point of view, he determined that Niel had the advantage. That was because instead of feeling tired, he was laughing throughout the fight. Carriers can’t feel pain and Woohyun was able to sense this along the way.

This fight is taking longer than I thought. I need to end this before the Superior stops me.

“End already?” The man in front of him mocked. “We just got started, Woohyun! Do you know how long I’ve waited and wished for this to happen?!”

“You’re getting out of hand, Niel! Your wish, too! Did you not feel sorry for the magician who made a contract with you? You killed him!” Woohyun dashed towards him as he tried to land another blow.

With a single hand, Niel took on the force of Woohyun’s attack, making his hand bleed like mad. As he did so, he pulled Woohyun towards him and kicked him with so much force, Woohyun landed his back on the concrete wall with a resonating crack. “That man was useless! He can’t grant my wish so what’s the point of being a dark magician?!”

After coughing out some blood followed by a deafening scream from the pain, he eyed the man who inched closer to him. “It’s part of our contract. Wishes can’t include death, remember? I can’t believe you have a short term memory, seeing that your grudge for me spanned for quite a long time.”

While the two men were bickering, Sungyeol was on the side, mumbling an incantation much faster than he normally does. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing even with the stinging pain that he’s been feeling all over his body.

“You were always annoying with your stupid jokes.” With a motion of his hand, a metal spear that had a Mobius strip engraved on its edge appeared. He grasped and twirled the spear until it stopped with the sharp edge placed over Woohyun’s heart.

Woohyun’s eyes grew wide when he saw the engraving. His heart began to pound faster by the second as he knew what that spear was for. “How did you get that?”

“You know what this is, right? Aside from that old hag, Death, and the Superiors’ powers, this is the only way a non-higher up can kill a genie.” He traced his fingers over the engraving and smirked. Then he looked down at Woohyun with a mocking face and shrugged, “I guess I win.”

Just before the spear could graze Woohyun’s shirt, a hand stopped the spear’s movements and a man appeared in front of Niel.

“Lucky for him,” Sungyeol cocked his head to the right as he brought his eyes up to intensely glare at the man in front of him, “thirty minutes is up and his Superior is here to save the day.” Using his other hand to place two fingers on Niel’s head with a slight push, he continued, “Release!”

A bright yellow light e