Now that Seunghyun had undergone his transformation Jiyong didnt know what to think about him. His aura seemed to change and he had a way of speaking that was unlike Seunghyun's speech. Jiyong chewed on his bottom lip and gave Seunghyun curious glances as they traveled. They were headed to a clearing to practice fighting with Seunghyun as he was supposed to be the most inexperienced in fighting. Though something told Jiyong that everything would come naturally to Seunghyun.

Jiyong had felt that their time was near and that they needed to make sure they had everything in their arsenal before the war started. He sighed, everything they had wasn't much. Seunghyun was their best bet since demons couldn't actually touch him, but that didn't mean the more powerful demons didn't have their ways to hurt him. Jiyong was completely worried about everything that was going to happen. There was a sense of dread hanging over him that he couldn't shake off and it made his mood rather dim.

On the contrary he was excited to see what Seunghyun had to offer. The armor he had radiated power itself, and the sword seemed to gleam brighter as Seunghyun's training approached. There was an otherwordly glow about Seunghyun that made Jiyong shiver from just looking at him. He wasn't just Seunghyun anymore, he was entirely something else and Jiyong didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. The unknown slightly frightened him.

When they made off to the clearing Lilith cleared and made a stance in the middle. She clapped her hands together and blew out a breath of fresh air. She didn’t quite have an understanding of what was going on. Just that whoever came back with Jiyong wasn’t entirely Seunghyun. She eyed Seunghyun’s posture, even that was different. The way he held his sword was natural and in his eyes, was some type of knowledge that maybe even she couldn’t understand. She pointed at Seunghyun and smirked, “Show me what you got. Whoever you are.”

Seunghyun raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes, “You know who I am.”

“Allegedly, before we start I want to know something. Who came back with Seunghyun?”

There was a long pause and Seunghyun swallowed thickly before he took a few steps forward and stared Lilith down. The aura about him was calming, but underneath all that was a sickening turmoil that seemed to swirl around him. Lilith almost stepped back when she noticed it. Seunghyun was struggling within himself, with who he is now and who he was then.

“All I know is that angels have many faces, and this time he has chosen my face, my body. It’s hard to differentiate from someone else’s memories and my own. To keep my individuality while accepting the new knowledge within me, but I’m trying.”

“Well who is it? Who’s the angel?”

“Uriel. Now, you’re supposed to be teaching me a little something.”

Lilith could see that Seunghyun was done talking for now from the way he drew out his sword and eyed her like she was a piece of meat. She let out a small laugh and stuck out her hand as if to tell Jiyong to stay out of this, “Okay, young one. Try to parry my attacks,” she cracked her knuckles and like before her wings sprouted from her back bony and menacing, and Seunghyun didn’t even flinch. She gave him a short smile before charging toward him and attacking with her wings, using the leathery things to rain down swift blows.

Seunghyun was almost taken off guard at the speed of her attacks. He thought she would at least go easy on him, since she didn’t know the extent to his combat skills, but then again, he sensed that she knew more of what he was capable of than he did. He dropped his sword and quickly blocked a kick that came straight at his face with his forearms. The kick was strong enough to push him back several feet and if he had still been human he knew he would have been done for.

He dived for his sword and used it to block another kick that Lilith brought down from above which was meant for his head. He smirked, she really wasn’t playing around. He pushed up against her foot and threw her off balance, then threw his sword behind him. He wanted to fight her with no weapons. Lilith threw an experimental punch which he dodged without any effort. Letting his confidence get in the way he didn’t notice she was coming in with a second punch and felt a sharp pain explode on the right side of his jaw.

“You got to pay attention, that could have been your life Seunghyun,” she flipped her hair back and put her fists up, “Come at me.”

Seunghyun grit his teeth and jabbed at her face with an otherworldly speed that even Jiyong had trouble keeping up with, but Lilith was experienced and she had no problem dodging them, simply because they were predictable. What she didn’t notice was Seunghyun’s knee quickly approaching her side. It was too late for her to move out of the way before it connected and she lurched to the side from the force causing Seunghyun to get the upper hand, “You got to pay attention, that could have been your life, Lilith.”

She sneered and got up quickly and lunged at him. With their combined bodyweights off balance Seunghyun fell over with her on top of him. She pulled back to punch him square in the jaw but was too slow for Seunghyun and he wound up punching her first and causing her to spiral back.

She laughed, and wiped . Lilith was enjoying sparing she hadn’t done so in a long time. She was ready to start again but Jiyong stepped in between them thinking they had enough.

“Okay guys, maybe we should focus on something else.”

“Like?” Seunghyun got up and waited patiently for Jiyong to elaborate.

“Spells, incantations that may come your way. These demons are going to give you everything they’ve got and they’re not going to play fair. Hand to hand combat is cool and all but you really need to channel your energy and learn to focus it into spells.”

Seunghyun nodded his head and then looked at his hands, “The light, you want me to channel the light, more so a fire actually. Wouldn’t that be dangerous for the both of you though?”

“We’ll see,” Jiyong walked over to Seunghyun but stayed just a few short feet away from him. He showed him his hands and made eye contact with him, “This…power, is a part of me. I can always feel it inside of me so when it comes to bringing it out it’s like moving it from the center of my being to release it to the world.”

Seunghyun raised an eyebrow, “Wow very poetic,” he smiled wryly and held his hands out the way Jiyong was holding them.

“Very funny, what we’re going to try and do is form a ball of energy in the palm of our hands, like so,” slowly a white ball that radiated energy emerged in Jiyong's palm. It was uniform in shape and didn't seem to flicker or really move at all besides the slight hover it was doing over Jitong's palm, "What we're going to try and do is get you to make a ball of energy like this. At first yours won't be as stable as mine, but when you get used to it you should be able to concentrate enough to make it look like this.

Seunghyun nodded his head in understanding and took in a deep breath, "Okay, so I'm supposed to draw the energy out from within, correct?"

"Mmhm, just pretend it's like an exhale, and let the ball grow with each breath."

Seunghyun looked at his hands and started to concentrate, a little spark emerged in his hand and he grew excited. with his excitement the energy grew but it did not look like Jiyong's at all. It was a small flame in his hand that emerged and it was hot, at least to Jiyong it was. A small smile emerged on Seunghyun's lips that disappeared when the flame was continuing to grow bigger. He couldn't stop it from growing and he looked at Jiyong for help. There was a small whisper in his head that gave him a tick as he tried to ignore it.

burn them

"Jiyong I can't, stop it."

Jiyong had anticipated this, but the flame was a lot larger than he had expected it would ever get this quickly, "OKay, what you need to do is calm down and focus on stopping the power from growing."

"That's the thing Ji, I am calm." everything in his being was like a breeze, he didn''t feel panicked nor was he scared. there was a just a dull concern.

everyone one of them

In a split second the flame grew bigger causing a surge of energy that blew his hair and Jiyong back from the force.

Jiyong shielded his eyes from the blinding light and grit his teeth as he tried to stand the heat, "Seunghyun! Fight it!" his eyes widened in awe as the flame engulfed Seunghyun leaving his body in a silhouette of flames. Seunghyun looked frightening. Jiyong's jaw dropped in shock as Seunghyun took slow torturous steps toward him. he crawled back as he looked at Seunghyun while shallow breaths escaped his lips. The heat was immense.

Seunghyun couldn't control his own movements, he was futile in his attempts to gain back control and was shrouded in a false sense of security as he stalked toward Jiyong.

This isn't your mission, he thought as he looked at Jiyong. This is not why you're here Uriel. his body stopped and for a second it seemed like it was listening. They are not the enemy, Seunghyun thought quickly. we're in this together.

Someone is decieving you, I've senssed deception through your memories.

With that last sentence Seunghyun felt Uriel searching for his sword and watched as the sword flew into his grip.

No! I'll handle it when the time comes. If they were to decieve me, I will be the one to handle. If i said.

Jiyong blew out a breath he didn't know he was holding when the flame seemingly went out, "What was that Seunghyun?"

"Nothing, it just got out of hand, I think I have control of it now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

In the background Lilith watched with a weary eye as Jiyong continued to train Seunghyun. She knew something was up that Seunghyun wasn't letting on to, and with the war approaching so quickly, secrets were only going to hurt them in the end. she watched as Seunghyun was able to conquer every spell that Jiyong taught him and hone in his powers. she just hoped that whatever Seunghyun was thinking, that he was still on their side, and not the side of the angel that was obviously fouling up his mind.

She sighed, if Uriel had his way they'd be dead by now. He was a pitiless angel when it came to demons and the damned. She wondered if Seunghyun could ever be strong enough to overpower him. She hoped so.

"What's going on round here?"

Lilith recognized that childlike voice anywhere, and turned to see her suspicions confirmed. Phenex stood not too far from them with his arms crossed as he looked at them curiously, "What do you want?" Lilith didn't need any distractions and neither did Seunghyun. He needed to get everything done now because tomorrow could be the end of times.

"Well I just felt a huge surge of energy and came to check it out. I had no idea that it would be you three."

"Well now that you knbow who it is you may leave Phenex, we have work to do."

"Why so harsh Lilith?"

"I don't know if you know this, but we're in the midst of an upcaming war and vastlly unprepared. we need to train. demons already have an army."

Phenex nodded his head in understanding, "I see, you're stressed," he looked at Seunghyun and watched as Jiyong practiced with him. A small grimace played on his lips as he noticed something odd about Seunghyun. he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Lilith, "He's gotten stronger?"

"Mhm, we're not prepared for this though. I fear the worst."

"Worry not, in the end all will be great. I must be going," he gave Lilith one last nod before turning and transforming into a pheonix and taking flight.

Lilith walked up to Seunghyun and Jiyong and cleared to get their attention, "I think we should leave."

"Already? i was just getting started," Seunghyun smirked in Jiyong's direction.

"Yeah, I feel compromised standing here, we need to go."

Seunghyun didn't question Lilith's sudden coldness, but he did note it. She was sensing a lot and wasn't saying what was on her mind. He retreated into his thoughts as they packed up and left the clearing and wondered what was going on. as they traveled Jiyong suddenly became hyper aware. It seemed as if he was looking through Seunghyun but his eyes were wide and his lips slack. Seunghyun waved a hand in front of his face, "Ji?"

"I have to collect a soul."

"What? We haven't done that in a while."

"I know, but I'm being called to do so, we must go right, the soul is very near," Jiyong still had that wide eyed look that was unnerving Seunghyun,"It's here," he stepped out the carriage well before it stopped and dropped to the ground.

Seunghyun followed wordlessly as he watched Jiyong hurry to the body. he stifled a gag when he noticed the state the body was even in. It was massacred and didn't even look human. Jiyong bent down to collect the soul and placed in his bag. Seunghyun couldn't find the point in any of this. he didn't know if they were going to start collecting souls again or was this a one time thing. Before he could get his thoughts together, a shroud of darkness came upon them and Seunghyun's breath hitched as a tall figure loomed over them.

"Jiyong," the figure spoke with a familliar voice.

"Death."

"It's time."

Seunghyun was confused as to what was going on, and when he looked at Jiyong he was aware that Jiyong didn't have any answers as well. Death waved his hand and the shroud was removed, but the land was still dark. Seunghyun's heart beat sped up, why was everything so black? He took a step back and almost let out a shriek that would have embarrased him for an eternity if he had let it out. The land was stained with blood as well. It wasn't black, it was bloody, he could smell the iron, "What is this?"

Death paid Seunghyun no mind as he focused on Jiyong, "Your time is up Jiyong."

Jiyong chuckled, "My tome has been up for centuries, what is it you mean? Why have you called me here, us here."

He simply pointed in a direction and Jiyong and Seunghyun looked for any type of answer to their questions. That's when Seunghyun noticed that they had to be inbetween worlds. They were elevated and if he hadn't had been shown he would have not noticed the drop off into what he assumed was enemy lines. right below them there were thousands of demons lined up and ready to go.

Jiyong's face screwed up in disbelief, "How many is that?"

"One hundred thousand demons are waiting for the go ahead to walk amongst earth. I have given you my power Jiyong, and it is time that you utilize everything I have given you. With great difficulty you can win this."

"This is more than difficult, are you saying we're too late?"

"Almost."

Seunghyun didn't like the sound of that. he had just gotten this strength of his. How could things have escalated so quickly.

"You needed to see the goddess, but it's at the cost of losing time," Death paused, "Jiyong, I've given you this time to train him as much as I could have, but your time is up and they know you're ready now."

"Wait no, how?

"I.ve masked your reality and it has been compromised. I could only give you so much time to prepare before my hand in this became more than an indifferent approach. This body, is only the beginning of the carnage you will see. It's up to you to figure out who you need to stop in order for everything to go back to the way it should be."

"And if we fail?"

Death shrugged, "Not my problem."

"What!?" Seunghyun shouted out, but it fell on deaf ears as death was already gone and so was the shroud of the lush forests and full meadows, what was left behind simply the start of darkness.

Lilith looked out the carriage and noticed that things had changed and let out a sigh. They were already at a disadvantage.

>>>>>>>

Sorry guys, I'm really trying to finish.