The Vampire Realm was eerie and dark with little light scattered across the screen. The area seemed quite empty, with one or two vampires lurking in the shadows. The familiar scent of blood wafted in the air, making Jieun feel slightly sick. She looked over at Mino, who was already up on his feet. His expression crumbled in pain, still sore from the sudden fall into the Vampire Realm.

"So where are we supposed to go?" Mino asked, rubbing his bottom.

Taemin slipped on his gloves. "Somehow, we need to go underground."

"What about that castle over there?" Jieun asked, pointing at a far-away castle. It stood on top of the only hill in the realm.

"We avoid that," Taemin said. He looked over at Minhyuk. "Can you get a sense of what time it is?"

"Night time. Vampires are probably spending the night with their beloved ones," Minhyuk said. He distracted himself by trying to pluck on the strings from his skin.

"What time does the underground fight start?" asked Mino.

"Not until later," Minhyuk said. "You basically have some free time before it's time to go and save your friend—" He looked at Jieun. "—and free me."

"I'll try to figure out a way to detach these strings from you," Jieun muttered.

"But these strings will grab attention," Taemin said, noticing how bright and vibrant the red was. "Can you turn back into a cat?"

"I'd rather not, especially since my witch is dead," Minhyuk said.

"But you were originally a cat."

"How could you tell?" Jieun asked, surprised.

"Witches are able to make creatures their familiar. By making an animal her familiar, the animal can use some of the witch's power to do certain tasks, like shape-shifting. However, if the host is gone, then the creature loses the power." Taemin glanced at Minhyuk. "For him, losing Bora means reverting back to a cat."

"Is that why Naeun's after the cat? Because the cat holds Bora's powers?" Mino asked.

"It's true that Minhyuk seems to be special in the case where he is able to store Bora's power for this long. Usually, he would've turned to a simple-minded cat already. I think the main reason why he's able to still be in his human form is because Bora was his witch, and the Captain of the Seventh Court had a lot of magic in her. I would suspect that Naeun was after Minhyuk to eliminate any presence of Bora, since that's what the Captains seemed to have done," Taemin said, rubbing his chin.

Flap, flap, flap…

As Taemin and Mino continued to theorize why the Council was after Minhyuk, Jieun couldn't help but noticed a strange creature lurking in the darkness. The moment she made eye-contact with the creature, she started to see more of the same hornless goat-like monster. She slowly reached out for Taemin's sleeve and pulled out it. He turned and looked at her.

"What?" he asked.

"What are those?" Jieun asked, her eyes still glued on the first beast. A strange odor lingered in the air, making the four feel queasy.

"Sigbins," whispered Taemin. He looked over at the nearest light. "No matter what happens, don't let them touch your shadow. Don't go into light."

There was a swarm of the ear-flapping creatures. They all crawled closer to the four, like rats in the sewer. 

"Ew, ew, ew," she whispered, slowly backing away.

"What do we do?" Mino asked. "Should we run?"

"I can't tell if these are hostile," Taemin whispered.

"Of course they're hostile! They on our blood from our shadows! You think they're just going to walk by without jumping for us?" Minhyuk hissed.

"I would run if only you turned into a cat." Taemin hissed at Minhyuk. "If we start running, I don't know if a vampire will catch us and report us. If you haven't notice, those red string are very visible. Us running like this is way worse than slowly backing away from the sigbins."

"I refuse! I—" Minhyuk locked eyes with Mino, whose eyes were pitch black. For a brief moment, Minhyuk's eyes flashed black before returning to normal. Without another word, he changed to his cat form while Mino's eyes returned to its original state.

Taemin looked at Mino, who innocently stared at the sigbin.

"Quick! Grab the cat and let's run!" Taemin shouted.

Jieun lunged forward and grabbed Minhyuk, holding the black cat in her arms. The three started running, hoping to find a place to hide from the sigbins.

Myungsoo rested on the floor, closing his eyes. He pretended that he was sleeping, but he knew that he wouldn't be fooling anyone. Yoseob came in, followed by two shadowy figures. Myungsoo opened his eyes and slowly sat up, looking at the unexpected guests. His eyes widened and he crawled closer to the bars of the cage.

"Naeun," he whispered softly. His voice was so full of love, so sweet and heavy with affection. He smiled fondly at her. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Pft. He's a lover boy," Yonghwa said, snickering. "That's probably why he has a little soul in him left. That magical resistance is really protecting that little soul."

"Is that so? I tried to out all his soul, but he refuses to let me do that," said Yoseob. He turned to Yonghwa. "Anyway, are you sure you want your puppet to fight mine?"

Myungsoo widened his eyes. "I will not fight Naeun."

"Oh, but Naeun will fight you," Yonghwa said. He leaned closer to the cage. "She will not disobey me, right, Naeun?"

"I follow my master and my master, only," Naeun said monotonously.

Myungsoo stared at her with terror. "Naeun…no…"

"I'll have him fixed up before putting him in the ring," Yoseob said. "Or should I let him go like this?"

"Doesn't matter. My puppet will slaughter him," Yonghwa said. He strummed his fingers on the guitar. "Let's go, Naeun!"

She nodded. She turned her back and walked away with Yonghwa, not even turning back.

Yoseob looked at Myungsoo before opening the palm of his hand. He sent the prison boy a glowing object, which gently floated down and touched his chest. Myungsoo hitched his breath as his body became overwhelmed with emotions. Yoseob continued to observe Myungsoo, who was in a state of complete shock. His fingers around the bars loosened and fell to his side. The thought of fighting against his former friend terrified him. His body began to shake with fear and a mixture of anger.

Yoseob gave him a smug smile. "Tonight, I will return your soul. I will let you experience the horrors of fighting your friend."

He laughed and walked away, leaving Myungsoo alone in the cage. He shut his eyes tightly before opening them again. With the remaining strength he had left, he inhaled through his nose and exhaled. He rested the palms of his hands on the bar, holding his grip firmly. Then, letting out a wild scream, he pumped all his electrical magic to the cage, electrocuting himself while managing to shoot an oddly bright blue lightning through the ceiling and up in the air.

The lightning disappeared after a good minute. His heart stopped beating. Speechless and numbed, he fell backwards, collapsing on the floor.

"W-What was that?" Jieun asked breathlessly as the three continued running. There was an incredible blue flash hovering over the castle. Taemin bit his tongue while he fixed his gloves.

"That was Myungsoo," Taemin said, "and he made a stupid move."

"W-What's going on? Is he okay?" she asked, worried.

"Six minutes," Taemin told her. "You have less than six minutes right now to wish us into that castle."

Jieun's eyes widened. "W-What? All of the sudden? I-I need some time to prepare!"

"That's why I'm giving you less than six minutes! Wish us into that castle!" Taemin yelled. "Myungsoo basically electrocuted himself to send that signal. That's where he is. If we don't save him in six minutes, he's practically dead and there would've been no point in saving him."

She gulped and nodded. "O-Okay. Just give me a few seconds…"

She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as they kept running.

I wish… I wish— 

Her thought were cut off when she felt a sharp wind glide against her skin. A piece of her hair was cut loose and fell right before her eyes. She stopped and looked up at the direction of the attacker. Her eyes widened when she noticed Naeun standing next to Yonghwa.

"Naeun!" Jieun shouted, calling for her.

Naeun raised her sword and pointed at the cat. "Give me the cat."

"Jieun, we have no time! Make the wish!" Taemin yelled.

"We have to split," Mino said, getting a better understanding of the situation. "I'll take care of the sigbins. Taemin, you take care of Naeun. Jieun, go save Myungsoo!"

"Since when did you start making the rules around here?" Taemin muttered.

"It's not like you can wish yourself into that castle or fight these sigbins with your powers. Like you said, the fire would cause light, and light causes shadows," Mino pointed out. "Are you going to keep complaining or move? If I remember correctly, Myungsoo is dying on us at the moment."

Taemin kept quiet for a few seconds before clicking his tongue. He climbed a nearby tree and charged towards Naeun, grabbing her and disappearing into one area of the night. Yonghwa clicked his tongue and followed Naeun and Taemin. Myungsoo positioned himself in front of Jieun, saving her some time to make a wish as he casted a heavy black blanket of smoke on the sigbins.

Jieun clasped her hands together and shut her eyes tightly.

I wish to go to Myungsoo! she pleaded. She stood still for a few minutes, but nothing happened. Instead of having her wish granted, the red strings glowed dangerously red. She opened her eyes and felt her fingers burn. She screeched and smashed her fingers against the concrete, trying to find a way to heal the pain. Minhyuk cried and hissed with difficulty as if the strings also pained him.

When Mino cleared the first wave of sigbins, he turned around, shocked to see Jieun.

"Jieun, why are you still here?" he yelled.

"Argh—! I don't know! It hurts a lot when I try to make a wish!" Jieun cried. She felt something wet trickle down from her eyes. She thought that she was crying, but when she wiped the liquid with her hand, she noticed a red stain smeared on her knuckles. It took her a while to realize that she was crying with blood. She checked the other eye and sighed in relief when she noticed that it was only one eye that was crying out blood. A sharp pain trickled from her fingers again. She screamed and curled up into a ball. "It hurts! It hurts!"

"This isn't a good," Mino mumbled when he realized that his plan backfired. The sigbins continued to multiply. He bit his bottom lip before running over to Jieun and scooping her up bridal style. "Hang out! We're making a run for it."

Jieun nodded and hugged Minhyuk tighter in her arms as her hands gripped onto Mino's shirt. He started to run, hoping to find a way to save Myungsoo without causing any further trouble.

Fwoosh!

Swoosh!

Taemin's white flames died out as a loud gush of wind suppressed the fire. He landed his foot on one roof while Naeun managed to find her balance on the roof right in front of his. At the center, there was a tall pole where Yonghwa stood on his toes, strumming his guitar and spinning around like a ballerina in a music box. 

Taemin's brown eyes shifted to Yonghwa, who continued to hum and laugh in pure delight. The Captain of the Fourth Court was certainly enjoying seeing two previous friends turn into foes. Taemin casted a fireball on his hands while looking at Yonghwa. Naeun charged straight at him, hoping to take advantage of his distractedness. However, when her wind sword was centimeters away from slicing his face in half, Taemin combusted into flames, burning her a little while he somehow transported to the other side of the roof.

Naeun quickly spun a cool wind of air to suppress the heat. She looked at Taemin with a strong gaze before pointing her sword at him again.

Yonghwa stopped twirling and looked at Taemin, who had been keeping his eyes firmly on the Captain.

"I can't tell if you're serious about killing her or not," Yonghwa said, strumming his guitar.

"I wonder why you picked Naeun to be your little servant," Taemin said. "If anything, I would've hypnotized Myungsoo."

"Myungsoo is Yoseob's prey. I can't steal him," Yonghwa said. He paused and tapped his finger against his lips. "Although that would be a good idea…"

Naeun dashed towards Taemin and sliced the air, creating a shockwave of sharp wind. Taemin turned himself to flames, letting the wind cut through him. However, the flames recollected, and he was back in one piece.

Yonghwa narrowed his eyes. "This doesn't look quite right… You're a fire user, right?"

"That's what I've intended to be," Taemin said, nodding his head.

"Are you an Elemental?" Yonghwa inquired.

"Before you question others, you need to question yourself: What are you?" Taemin asked. He clasped his hand and stretched his arms, creating some kind of fiery white chain between his hand. He detached one side of the flame, using it like a whip.

Yonghwa grinned. "That's easy. I'm Captain of the Fourth Court, Yonghwa, the orphic who's known to create a massive army just by a mere strum on my guitar."

Taemin smirked. 

"Wrong," he said. "The answer was…" Naeun jumped behind him, ready to stab his back with her sword. However, he used his whip to grab Naeun's hands, tying them together. "…a pile of ashes." He lunged towards Yonghwa and grabbed his hand before whispering, "Final Judgement."

Three figures dropped dead to the ground, gambling for their lives while racing against time.