slay  

[sley] 

to kill by violence.

Hurried and busy footsteps echoed along the corridor.

"Where is he?"

"He could be in his chamber!"

"We must hurry!"

Chanyeol led the rest, running towards the direction of the altar room. Kyungsoo kept up with a good pace and the rest trailed behind. He was worried about Baekhyun as he felt that something isn't right. The wretched feeling in his guts that made him feel sick; something is awfully wrong. 

Reaching the altar room, Kyungsoo was the first to slam open the door. 

The altar room was dimly lit with a single candle on the table. Behind it stood a small figure, standing in front of the mirror. Joonmyun was smoothing his palm across his own reflection before they barged in. He turned around shocked.

"Incentimus-"

"Refracto!" Kyungsoo screamed, stopping the sorcerer's midair hex, causing Joonmyun to stumble for a moment. Joonmyun quickly recovered and stretched out both his hands to put up a protective barrier between him and the rest, but Kyungsoo was quick to dismantle it. He threw a mystical lance and it speared right through Joonmyun's shield which made the latter feel a clutching sensation around his chest area.

Kyungsoo then used telekinesis to lift and hold Joonmyun up against the wall, suspended in the air. Joonmyun put up a weak struggle, but he just couldn't resist the force that was holding him up. He tried to deflect the force, but he was immobilized. 

"Where is he?" Kyungsoo demanded.

"I-I don't know!" Joonmyun whimpers softly.

"You better not lie to me..."

"I-I..."

"He's not gonna talk." Luhan said as he puts a hand on Kyungsoo's shoulders as if to calm the other down. The deer spirit spied a huge map on the other side of the room. "Let's cast a location spell. That will lead us to him."

Kyungsoo nodded, "good idea, but first," Kyungsoo clenched the fist that was holding Joonmyun with his magical hold, and Joonmyun felt a squeezing sensation up on his heart, traveling towards his palm, "we will need his blood."

Joonmyun felt his heart speeding up, pumping blood at full force inside his body. He felt suffocated as he begins to pant restlessly. The pressure built up on his palm then became too much as the blood being ripping his palm at the surface, gushing out in steady streams. He lets out a soft cry as his blood hits the map beneath his suspended body.

Kyungsoo hurried over to the table and murmured a spell. Slowly, the splatter of blood began moving towards a spot and formed a hexagonal lotus shape, showing that the other sorcerer was already in Bucheon state.

"He has reached Baekhyun! We have to hurry!" Chanyeol shrieks.

It all happened too fast, Joonmyun thought. Kyungsoo looked up at the other with burning hatred, clenching his fist even harder that a vein strained against the skin of his upper arm, causing Joonmyun to choke. He slowly rocked his fist left to right and Joonmyun felt his insides being twisted as if he swallowed as turbine and it was rotating inside of him.

"Kyungsoo, we don't have time for this!" Chanyeol pleaded, Joonmyun looked down at the fox with his pitiful eyes, begging for him to stop. Those eyes, pathetic and deceitful. Kyungsoo hated it. Putting his hands down harshly, Joonmyun fell hard to the ground.

"If anything happens to Baekhyun..." Kyungsoo did not finish what he said. He just turned his back towards the fallen sorcerer.

Joonmyun was halfway to being unconscious when he saw a woman with orbed gloves swiping her palm in the air, creating a dimensional rift. Then, light flooded the room, and as soon as it begins, the room is back to its dimly lit state.

Joonmyun felt weak, and just before he passes out, he saw a cloud of black smoke engulfing his body.

Fifteen years ago.

"Joonie hyung!"

A childish voice interrupted Joonmyun's quiet reading session. A small smile etched upon his tender lips as he recognizes the voice. Joonmyun looked up from his grimoire and sees his younger brother before him. 

"Yes Jonginnie?" He smiles.

"Look! I can make fire!" Jongin beamed as he held out a small fire ball within his palms. "And I can make it fly!" the six years old giggled, before letting it whizz around the room as he cheered.

"Jonginnie! Stop, it is dangerous!" Joonmyun exclaimed as he put out an arm as if wanting to stop the younger.

"But it is so fun!" Jongin laughed.

Just as the fireball grew bigger and bigger, it got out of control and hit the walls, causing it to bounce all around the place. Jongin tried to extinguish it, but it was flying at such a high speed that he could not catch it at all. Then, the fireball flew straight towards him, directed at his head. In the moment of consternation, he closed his eyes and awaited for the impact to come.

But the burn didn't came.

As he opens his eyes, he saw that Joonmyun had his arms outstretched, and directly in front of him was the fireball, surrounded with a film of green. Joonmyun coaxed the fireball towards himself, turning it from burning hot red to a mellow green colour as he tamed it. He looks up and smiles at Jongin.

"You have to be more careful. Fire is a very powerful element. It can be impassioned and be used to harm, or it can be  tender and be used to surround us with warmth." Joonmyun said softly as he turned the now tamed fireball in his palms and extinguished it. "How to use the flames is up to you."

"Wow hyung, you are so strong!" Jongin said as he went up to hug his brother.

"Of course, if I am not, who would be there to protect you?"

"I want to be strong like you too so that we could protect each other!"

Joonmyun ruffles Jongin's hair as he smiles serenely.

"I'm sure that you would."

Jongin shook himself awake.

He pinched his nose as he sat up straight. That dream, why did he dream of that again?

After all these years...

He stares at the lifeless body of the Radiant One laying sprawled at the feet of his icy throne. Love, such a useless thing. Jongin doesn't needs that in his life. He toys the ring; the Kim's talisman that was sitting snugly over his fingers.

Power.

All he needs is power and nothing else.

They are coming.

Jongin thought as he glances up, towards the door.

Let them come. 

Jongin closes his eyes. He could hear the Darker Spirits whispering in a language he don't know of as he channels their power. He could feel their dark and seductive energy creeping through his entire being. Ominous summoning circles began carving itself on the front yard of the house. Stench of sulfur filled the air. Monsters of every children's darkest dreams came crawling out from the ground as the whole place shook.

I am not afraid of them. 

"We are here!" Tiffany announces as they took turns to get out of the dimensional rift. Something was wrong. Kyungsoo knows it. The smell in the air is different. It stinks of sulfur and burning flesh. Then, the group felt an enchantment surround them.

"A barrier spell to keep us locked in and to keep other humans out, how considerate of him." Luhan commented. Then from behind them, they heard a growl coming out from the dark.

"Undeads. Tons of them." Taeyeon whistles as she cautiously unsheathed her twinned swords and went to a battle position. Beside her, Jessica pulled the strings on her bow and light gathered to form a golden arrow. Luhan and Tiffany both condenses a ball of energy in their palm. Even Chanyeol felt uneasy as he pluck out two daggers from his back pocket, handing one of them to Sehun.

Without even a warning, a pair of red eyes suddenly opened up in front of them before the unholy roar that came. Kyungsoo observes that there were a horde of creatures of the night prowling at Baekhyun's front yard, as if ready to fight a war with them. And from the ground, more unholy beings crawled out from the circles filled with dark symbols.

A Wendigo eyed Kyungsoo hungrily. It's teeth still red from its previous victim's blood. It's cheeks torn and rotten flesh hung off it. It's breath, foul and stinks of rotten eggs. It is truly a creature of hell.

Monsters. These pathetic cannibalistic beings are monsters.

The Wendigo charged at Kyungsoo, and he instinctively duck and slashed its back with his claws now out. Kyungsoo snarled as he ripped the Wendigo into two halves before throwing the rotten body onto the ground casually. His nine white tails shot out behind him as he turned and stared at the other creatures with a sardonic smirk on his face.

To beat the monsters, you have to become the better monster...

"Who's next?" He jeers.

They pounced.

Kyungsoo went down the line and tore a demon's heart out. He cave in a head here, smashed a sternum there. And the floor was littered with his victim's bodies. Right now, Kyungsoo is a predator. He is on top of the food chain. He doesn't cares as he pluck the demon's head from his body. He doesn't even flinches when he felt the hot red blood staining his claws.

Not too far from him, Luhan was desperately trying to keep Sehun alive, putting a charm on Sehun so that the creatures could not touch him without getting burnt while he fends them off firing spells after spells at them.

"From beyond the mistletoe, come to my arms." Luhan chants as four rock spears appears beside him. "Somniando Coniciunt Misteltein!" He fired at the group of advancing monsters. Before him, the spears multiplied and perforated right through them, turning them into stones before they turned to dust.

A few yards away from the pair, Chanyeol was being overpowered by the Wendigos. He slashed at them randomly while they snapped their jaws at him, tried to eat him up. His eyes filled with fear when one of them eventually got his dagger. Just as he the Wendigos proceeds to finish him, a pair of swords came into sight and beheaded the monster. Beside it, a barrage of arrows rained down with a blast of strong and concentrated magic killing off the rest of the pack.

The Valkyries landed and helped Chanyeol to his feet. 

They are fighting a losing battle.

"This is useless, Jongin must be trying to weaken us before he comes to finish us himself!" Chanyeol says frantically. Taeyeon nodded as she stares at the number of monsters climbing out of the hole.

"We have divide and conquer." Taeyeon said. "Kyungsoo, change of plans! You take the human, the deer and Chanyeol in to save Baekhyun, the rest of us will try to purify the summon circles and destroy it!"

"Okay, whatever you say mi'lady" Kyungsoo mimicked in an ancient Norse accent.

Holding out both her swords, Taeyeon spun and cut through the ranks of demons, straight to the front door of Baekhyun's house. Her tornado slices precise as the whole row of creatures turned into dust.

Tiffany closed her eyes as a gold film of light surrounds her.

"Rain down from the holy land." She chants. "Yggdrasil Genesis!"

Rays of golden light thundered down, striking all the creatures from hell. And upon contact with the rays, crystal cages surrounds the creatures, immobilizing them. Beside Tiffany, Jessica fired an arrow which sent explosions throughout, paving a route for them.

"Go! My spell will not last for long!" Tiffany shouted.

Nodding, Kyungsoo led Luhan, Sehun and Chanyeol into Baekhyun's house where the final battle will began, leaving the Valkyries outside to fend for themselves.

"Stay safe." Kyungsoo heard Taeyeon telepathically.

"I will."

Kyungsoo was the first to enter. 

It felt cold. Really cold. As if the heat of the entire place was out from it. As though hell froze over. The place was in a mess. The photo frames Baekhyun hung around the living room was dusted with a thick layer of ice; some of them even cracked in the middle. The couch was overturned and door to the kitchen was froze shut.

The stench of magic fills the air.

And in front of them, sat Jongin on a throne made out of ice. Sigils and enchantments were carved through the place as if Jongin was trying to mark his territory. Kyungsoo growled, but it soon turned into a soft gasp.

There is Baekhyun, lying face down on the feet of the throne. His skin had turned blue from the cold, his hair was in a mess and his pale arms were stretched out lifelessly.

No.

Kyungsoo felt tears blurring his vision as he tried to pick up signs of life from Baekhyun.

Please.

He strained his ears and tried to detect that soft heartbeat; that little pianissimo rhythm that beats to show that Baekhyun is alive which he always hears whenever he sleeps with his head on the radiant one's chest. 

It couldn't be.

But there isn't any.

"B-baek?" Kyungsoo heard  Chanyeol softly behind him.

They were too late.

In front of them, Jongin smiled satirically at them. In his hands, he was playing around with a long wicked blade that gleam in the light that was reflected off the ice. That same long wicked blade that took Chanyeol's blood. Meaning that Baekhyun went through the same thing.

Kyungsoo felt revolted. Something snapped inside of him. Tears rolled off his closed eyes as magic roiled off his skin. His entire being was shaking, so hard that he could fall apart at any moment. The ice around him started melting as his magic began to warm the place, and slowly, the area around him was filled with water while the ground Jongin stood remains as ice.

The melted ice began gathering in both his palms as he began to siphon it off the ground, and it was shaped into three huge water balls that floats dangerously behind him. When Kyungsoo opens his eyes, it was overflowing with magic that his sclera turned bloodshot.

"You will pay for this..." Kyungsoo growls before he leaped. The dangerous aqua bombs followed him as he flew straight towards the sorcerer. When he was close, he fired one of them at Jongin, only to have it froze into ice. 

Jongin stepped out from the frozen ball of ice and fired a bolt of dark energy at Kyungsoo, which he ducked and fired the second ball of hydro-projectiles. Jongin teleported in a nick of time and appears again only to fire another bolt of energy at him. This time, Kyungsoo did not bother to dodge as he caught the energy in his hands and diminished it with his bare hands.

Jongin was laughing as he fires bolts after bolts while laughing maniacally, and Kyungsoo was crying freely as he tries to struck the gloating bastard down. Jongin swiped the blade in his right hand in the air, causing a huge arc of force to slice across the air, which Kyungsoo threw three bolts of light at it to repel it.

"You guys get Baekhyun, I will assist Kyungsoo!" Luhan commanded before flying straight into the chaos as Chanyeol and Sehun went over to Baekhyun. As they neared him, they could see that Baekhyun's eyes were wide and frozen in shock and pain.

In the air, Jongin began condensing a huge ball of darkness.

"In a distant land, sink into darkness," he chants as the ball grew bigger and bigger, before it condenses into a thin pencil line. "Diabolica Emissionem!" 

A thin but concentrated dark ray of magic was fired towards Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo stood his grounds and fired back a huge blast of white energy which consumed Jongin's magic and was directed head on towards the sorcerer. Luhan appeared behind Jongin a shot a red killing beam at the sorcerer, who then teleported and allowed Luhan and Kyungsoo's magic to cancel each other out.

Luhan flung out his hand to cast a barrier to shield himself when Jongin suddenly appeared in front of him and sliced down with the blade. With Chanyeol's blood infused in the blade, the barrier melted away. Seeing his own shield disintegrate, Luhan immediately flew back up a few feet to avoid being cut down. 

"Are you scared of this blade?" Jongin smirked. "You don't have to be, because you will all die the same."

Luhan snarled as he threw a magic cannonball at Jongin, who then disappeared once more. Luhan and Kyungsoo then stood back to back as they tries to pinpoint the next location where Jongin would appear. Beneath them, Chanyeol and Sehun tried to rouse Baekhyun.

"Baekhyun, wake up!" Chanyeol shook the frail and lifeless body in his arms. That was when Sehun noticed that on Baekhyun's chest, a little to the left, there is a huge gaping wound. But there isn't any blood there. Is it an enchantment? Could Baekhyun still be alive?

"You must be wondering why there isn't any blood. I'll tell you why. I froze his body so I could let you all say goodbye to him before you all burn together. Thus no blood can flow through the incision of that open wound." Sehun heard Jongin's voice sneered behind him, and as he turned around, he saw Jongin with his blade raised. His eyes widened in fear as Jongin sliced down.

"Stay away from him!" A blast of red came crashing into Jongin, causing an explosion. 

Luhan panted as his palms sizzled with the magic he just fired. Then, he waved his arms to clear away the haze. The smoke from the explosion swirled and spun into a tiny tornado before it disappeared into nothing. Jongin was nowhere to be found.

"Did I get him?" Luhan asked softly. Kyungsoo's huge eyes scanned the area for the sorcerer. He was nowhere in sight.

"Nope, but I got you instead."

Kyungsoo whipped around in horror just as Jongin drove the blade through Luhan. 

Luhan coughed out blood as he stares at the blade that was protruding out from his heart. His eyes widened at the sight of the sickening blade that was gutting him as it burns slowly. The sorcerer then pulled out the blade harshly, and Luhan could hear a revolting sound of the blade swishing with his insides as he stumbles. Turning around, Luhan swiped at Jongin, who teleported away while cackling at him.

"Luhan!" Kyungsoo and Sehun screamed simultaneously as they dashed towards the deer spirit.

Everything was in a blur. Kyungsoo dashed towards Luhan, but in an instant, Jongin appeared before him and blasted him with a huge ball of energy, causing him to fly backwards across the room. Then, Jongin turned around and lifted Sehun up into the air by the cuff of his shirt.

"N-no! Luhan!" Sehun cried as he flailed around in the air, trying to reach the deer.

Jongin laughed. "Love. Such a pathetic thing." He then threw Sehun aside before summoning a ice cage to descent upon the human, trapping him.

"No! Luhan!" Sehun sobbed as he punched the ice cage, trying to break through it, but to no avail.

"I will now teach you that love is not everything. Power is everything. Love is weak, it is nothing!" The sorcerer slowly walked towards the deer spirit with his blade raised, as if wanting to deliver the final blow upon him.

Jongin was gloating as he slowly approaches the  fallen with a smirk. With each step he took, Luhan fades more. He felt victorious; a feeling that always gave him such joy as he relished in the impending death of the poor deer spirit. Not having his immortality, it would mean that the deer's existence would simply fade into nothing. And it gives no more joy to Jongin other than to watch as he dies.

Just as Jongin towered over him with a sardonic grin on his face, the door was slammed wide open.

"Kriztal Cage!"

The Valkyries rushed in and Tiffany shot out her arms, shooting out a ball of light that imprisoned the sorcerer. Jongin was froze in a pink pyramidal shaped barrier that suspended him in it. His eyes wide in shock as he was caught off guard. The three goddesses rushed towards the fallen and crowded around him.

"Let's do what we have to do!" Jessica said.

"Hurry, Tiff!" Taeyeon barked. 

Tiffany immediately casted a repelling field around the dying deer, pushing the caged Jongin and Kyungsoo out of it. She hummed and a pink light glowed off her orbs. Her seiðr shone brightly, shrouding her in pink light. Taeyeon closes her eyes and she gave off a holy pure sky blue glow. At another side of the room, Jessica flared the brightest yellow. A circle of light expanded around Luhan's body and it extended to form a triangle on the ground, touching the Valkyries' feet.

"What are you doing?" Sehun screamed as he punches the cage walls again.

"We are saving him, boy. He always was ours to be saved." Taeyeon's voice boomed.

"But I don't understand!" Sehun screeched.

"The Rite of Sovereignty." Taeyeon says, ignoring the despaired human as the three Valkyries started glowing even brighter; blue, yellow and pink respectively. 

In the centre of their triangle, Luhan was cloaked with a ball of light, instantaneously blinding the onlookers. Luhan opened his eyes for a moment and gasped, before he dissolved in the light, melding together with it as one. Flashes of light exploded like a light show during the Fourth of July. The light shrunk into a small ball and floated towards Taeyeon.

"Come to me, my einherjar..." Taeyeon smiled as the ball of light went into her. All these while the others watched.

"Y-you made him into an einherjar?" Kyungsoo asked with his lips trembling.

"Yes, he was born in Scandinavia. His family all became einherjars, and for hundreds of years they had watched after him. It should only be right to return him to his family. That was why we are here." Taeyeon explained. 

"S-so he's safe with you now?" Sehun wiped his tears away.

"Yes. When he wakes up,  he will be in Valhalla safe and sound." Taeyeon said as she walked towards Sehun. She unsheathed her sword and dismantled the cage with two slices before sheathing it back. She then pulls the boy up to his feet, who immediately hugs her.

"So I will never see him again?" Sehun asked softly, holding back his sob.

Taeyeon ruffles the boy's hair. He was so kind, with such a tender heart.

"He will always watch over you." Taeyeon that's all said. Sehun nodded as he suppressed yet another sob. From her left, Kyungsoo slowly limped over towards the other two.

"Thank you." Kyungsoo whispers.

"You're welcome, my friend. It is my job after all."

Foolish children...

They actually think that they can defeat me?

What an insolent thought!

They will pay... 

I will make them pay...

Jongin felt breathless in the barrier.

Something was his powers. He is growing weaker and weaker by the seconds. He pounded and clawed at the barrier that surrounded him, but the ones outside couldn't see him. He screamed, but they could not hear him. A shadow appeared by his side. 

He snapped his head towards the cloaked figure, eyes widened as recognition hits him.

"W-what are you doing here? H-how did you get past barrier? Y-you shouldn't be here..." Jongin gasped. The cloaked figure just smiled sardonically at him as he raises a palm towards Jongin. Jongin's eyes widened in fear as he scrambled back against the barrier.

"Hello Jonginnie." The person smiles.

Jongin felt air being squeezed out of his lungs. "N-no..." 

"Goodbye Jonginnie."

He clenches his fist and Jongin's world went dark.

No... It can't be...

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A Cup of Sunshine

My my my, what a tragic chapter.

Oops, didn't see that one coming.

Some of you may be confused as to some words I've used, so I'm explaining it to you here ^^

Einherjar: In Norse mythology, the einherjar are those humans that have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by Valkyries to become soldiers that would fight for Asgard, or heaven, during the Ragnärok which is something like the End of the World.

Seiðr: It is an Old Norse term for a type of sorcery which was practised in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age. 

All the above info are taken from Wikipedia as I have no idea how to explain it to y'all in my own words OTL hope that you'll have better understanding of my story after reading this ^^

On a side note, I am so sorry for not updating this for so so long D: please forgive me >_< but I'm having my holiday now! meaning I'll update more often! :D

One last chapter to go! Then epilogue, and we will be done with this story ^^

Thank you all for subscribing and up voting although my writing is only of substandard and my updating speed is those as of a snail >_< I really love y'all! and thank you so much for tolerating with me >_<

Please do forgive me if you find any mistakes here >_<

Till next update~

PEACE OUT ^~^v