Minhyuk scampered around the palace, using his nose to stiff out a strong magical scent. Donghae followed behind him, worried and lost. He constantly looked around, watching out for any enemies that might pop out. Occasionally, they would open doors with dead bodies and blood stains smeared across the wall and floor. Minhyuk would scowl in disgust while Donghae would want to hurl.

Eventually, they found themselves at the end of the hall. Minhyuk sniffed constantly, scrapping his claws against the edge of the building. Donghae looked at him anxiously, then behind.

"What are you doing?" Donghae asked. "This is a dead end! Let's find somewhere else—"

"There's something here," Minhyuk told him. He used his claws and began to climb the wall.

"What's around here? It's just a wall," Donghae said.

"There's something in there," Minhyuk purred. He rested his ears against the wall. "I can't tell what's there, though." He looked back at Donghae. "You're an elf, right? Do something."

"Fine," Donghae said. He rested his hand against the corner of the wall. Then, he began to knock on the wall as he went across the surface.

Minhyuk frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find a switch to the room," the elf said. "What are you doing?"

Minhyuk glared. He turned away and began to crawl on the wall, trying to find some sort of trigger.

"By the way," Donghae said, "what's your relationship with Jieun?"

"The Wanted One?"

Donghae stopped and stared. "You refer to her as the 'Wanted One?'"

"What do you call her?"

"Jieun."

"Are you allies with her?" Minhyuk asked. This time, he clawed against the ceiling.

"Not exactly. You see, we met in prison and I discovered that she had two colored gems," Donghae explained. "She had a red and yellow gems. They were very beautiful."

"Why didn't you report her?"

"Well, I didn't see her for an awfully long time. Plus, my friend, Kyuhyun, wanted to protect her…" His voice faded. Pain swelled up in his chest. "Instead, she ended up killing him…"

"That might've not been her doing," Minhyuk said. He paused and frowned at a button he found on the ceiling. "During the time I was with her, I started to discover that the red strings have a mind of it's own. The red strings don't protect her. I could've attacked her and killed her, and the strings wouldn't have done anything to help her. It's like the strings have a different purpose, but I'm not sure exactly how it works."

The cat pressed the button. Nothing happened. Then, Donghae, who was leaning against the wall, suddenly found himself sinking inside. He panicked at first, calling for help. Minhyuk quickly fell from the ceiling and dashed towards him, grabbing onto his hand.

The two sank into the wall, finding themselves in a dark room. They were completely lost. The place was cold, but it was moist. Donghae reached into his pocket and pulled out a flower. Minhyuk seemed to be on high alert, but when the elf broke the stem, the flower began to flow. Dew drops began to form on the neon-glowing plant.

"It's a glow-water flower," Donghae said.

Minhyuk eased. "I thought it might be another kind of flower. I thought you were going to burn it."

"No," Donghae said, looking around. "With the high moisture in this room, the flower will provide enough light as it absorbs the moisture and turns it into dew drops."

"As expected of an elf," Minhyuk said.

"Anyway, where are we?" Donghae asked.

Minhyuk sniffed, then hissed. "I sense a lot of of powers down here."

"Great, but is this where we need to do your little ritual?" Donghae asked.

Minhyuk narrowed his eyes. "You're very rude, but it's as expected for an elf."

"Bah!" Donghae retorted, rolling his eyes. "A mere feline wouldn't understand the complexity of an elf's mind."

"Look over here," Minhyuk said, ignoring Donghae's last words. "There's a white light."

Donghae looked up. Just like the cat said, there was a small white opening a few meters away from them. The two approached the light, then noticed a strong scent of blood and iron. They both looked at each other in worry, wondering if something was going to attack them. Regardless of their fears, they walked over to the light.

They took notice of a beaten iron cage that was sliced open. A pool of blood was in the cage. Following the trail of blood, they took noticed that the sign of blood stopped right before the light, which was the exit to the outside world. They looked around the exploded entrance, noticing ash marks surrounding the edge of the opening.

"Someone intruded the area," Donghae murmured, identifying the ash marks on the bricks. "Judging from the angle and the debris, it looks like there was some sort of explosive weapon that created an opening." He his finger and pointed it in the air. "With the wind speed coming from the east, I would assume that someone threw something like an arrow at this."

"The Captain of the Second Court, Jiyong," Minhyuk muttered. "He probably shot an explosive arrow at the wall, blasting it open."

"Yes, and since the blood stopped right here, I believe that whoever was bleeding was entrapped in something or teleported somewhere," Donghae said.

"It could be a Peace Bubble from the Captain of the First Court or the Captain of the Second Court might've put him over his shoulder and used his Teleportation Arrow to warp them through space," said Minhyuk.

"Either way, this is where the Barrier of Wrath was created, right?" Donghae asked.

"Most likely," Minhyuk said. He took a deep breath, then dipped the tip of his tail in the pool of blood from the cage. Lifting his tail to keep the blood from dripping, he walked in front of the cage and drew a circle with the red liquid.

Donghae watched the cat make a strange circular mark. In minutes, he recognized that it wasn't just a circle, but a floral pattern. Donghae made a deep frown and looked at Minhyuk, who was careful with dipping blood on his tail and back on the floor.

"Rhododendrons," Donghae said. 

"You know about them?" Minhyuk asked.

"They are quite poisonous, I heard," Donghae explained. "It's the Creator's favorite flower, according to Kyuhyun."

"It sounds like this 'Kyuhyun' is aware of the Creator's existence and knows quite a good amount about him," Minhyuk said.

"He was the kind who wanted to learn about things, especially forbidden things. He knew the risks of reading and becoming Insane, but he still wanted to learn. It's said that the reason why people go crazy after reading books is because it triggers certain chemicals in your mind," Donghae said.

"Quite true," Minhyuk said, finishing the circle. 

"So how does this work?" Donghae asked.

"It's a Sacrificial Spell," Minhyuk told him. "I'm sacrificing my witch's life and the little magic in me to dispel the Barrier of Wrath."

"Will it work?" Donghae asked, resting his cheek against his fist. He sat down in front of the cat, who sat in the middle. 

"Who knows," Minhyuk said. He waved his tail a little, then looked at Donghae. "After this, I will return to being a normal cat and my witch will die."

"I see," the elf muttered. "It's a pity that you'll have to return to being a cat."

"Yes."

The cat paused, hesitating. Donghae noticed the cat trembling. It was obvious that the cat didn't want to lose his ability to speak, but in respect of his witch's witch, he was mentally preparing himself.

"How was it when you were a cat?" Donghae asked him. "Before you were the witch's familiar?"

Minhyuk paused, reminiscing the past. "It was cold. It was hard. Living was hard. You don't know why, but you have to eat. You have to hunt and survive. For some reason, you just have the thought, 'I have to live,' in the back of your head."

"Pft. Then you went and got cursed to be a witch's familiar," Donghae said, smirking.

"Those who live in the light will not understand me. For me, Bora was my light. Although she lived in darkness, she was the reason my life became better. Although I was her familiar, she gave me warmth and a home," Minhyuk explained. The cat mewed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put down this barrier."

The cat circled around the mark before lying down. He rested his eyes, quickly snoozing off. At first, Donghae thought that he was just sleeping. He reached out to touch the cat, but a mysterious glow started to emit from the circular mark. Donghae quickly withdrew his hand and stared, watching the particles float above and glow purple.

Donghae then hitched his breath. He slowly turned around, noticing an inky black figure smiling behind him. The inky substance took form of a pixie giving him a sinister grin.

Donghae gulped, slowly waving at the goo.

"Ah, ha, ha, ha!" The black pixie laughed. Her laugh sounded like silver bells tinkling at a distance.

"Hi…" Donghae greeted cautiously. 

In minutes, the black pixie began to divide itself. Donghae widened his eyes, feeling his heart stop. The pixies just stood still, laughing and giggling at them. 

Are they my enemy? he wondered. Come on, Minhyuk, finish whatever you're doing quickly…!

He looked back at the pixies. He just hoped that the pixies would stay still like they were doing now.

Crash!

Bang!

Swoosh!

The entire chamber was a mess. Walls were cracked and the floor was beaten. The ceiling began to form cracks, letting dust and rain seep through. Yoseob snickered and bared his vampiric fangs. Jieun's eyes still showed that she was possessed, but she stared at them with calculative eyes. Mino, on the other hand, seemed less intact with his sanity and more with his desire to spill blood.

"This is amazing!" Yoseob cried out.

Mino lunged his crab claw at Yoseob and Jieun threw her shimmering stars at Yoseob. The Captain of the Fifth Court quickly hid in the shadows, disappearing and avoiding their attacks. The stars hit Mino's claw, causing him to howl in pain. 

Jieun glared at Mino. "Stop getting in my way!"

"Stop throwing everything at me!" Mino shouted, retrieving back his arm. His other hand transformed into a black tentacle. He threw it against Jieun, who rolled on the ground, avoiding his attack.

However, Yoseob appeared from the floor of her shadow. He quickly grabbed her neck, forcing her to stay down. Jieun choked, struggling to leave. 

"Now!" Yoseob ordered Mino.

"Don't freaking tell me what to do!" Mino yelled. He jumped in the air and smashed his claw right above Jieun's head, where Yoseob was hiding. Yoseob sneaked back into Jieun's shadow and moved around, avoiding Mino's claw. His left arm transformed from a tentacle arm to a needle. He was about to stab Jieun's stomach, but she clasped her hands and wished to switch places with Yoseob, who was about to bite Mino from the back.

She vanished into golden sparkles and appeared right behind Mino. Yoseob found himself on the ground, surprised. Mino, without hesitation, drilled his needle arm into Yoseob's stomach. The vampire coughed out blood and widened his eyes, feeling the sharpness pierce through his stomach.

Mino angrily turned around, furious that he was outsmarted. Jieun smirked and kicked Mino's face, throwing him off guard and causing him to stumble away from Yoseob, pulling away the needle arm. His left arm quickly shift back to a tentacle and automatically lunged for Jieun. It managed to grab her waist. She gasped and was about to wish herself away until Mino slammed her against the wall.

Jieun screamed in pain, hitting her head first. She felt something warm seep through her wounds. She hissed, enduring the pain.

He was about to throw her again until Yoseob snuck up behind him, biting him with his fangs.

Mino cried out in pain and released Jieun. She fell to the ground from a great height, rendering her nearly unconscious. He quickly focused to attack Yoseob, but stopped when he found himself paralyzed. He was shaking, trying to force himself out of the strained feeling of being enchained. Yoseob made an evil laugh and flashed his teeth, which had Mino's blood on them.

"You're mine, now!" Yoseob exclaimed. He waved his fingers, and Mino moved his left hand. Then, Yoseob made a slapping motion, which made Mino slap himself with his tentacle arm. Yoseob laughed hysterically and made a repetitive motion of Mino stabbing himself in the stomach, which he did. 

Mino grunted as blood spilled out of his mouth. He kept hurting himself against his will, using the tentacle to inflict self-harm and his crab claw to squeeze his ribs until they broke. He flinched and winced every time Yoseob made him use his weapons against him.

"Ha! Die, die, die!" Yoseob ordered.

Each impactful hit dulled Mino's senses. The poor cursed boy found himself hitting himself, throwing his own body against the room. Blood dripped and bones cracked. Each strike was like a bloody flash of violence. He screamed. He yelled. He cried.

Nothing helped.

Click!

Mino felt himself grow weaker. Each stab, each slam, each crush moment—

Death! Death! Death!

The same voice he had heard before echoed in his head. In the right state of mind, Mino never liked the way those chants sang in his head—

Kill! Kill! Kill!

He never liked the way those words sounded. He never—

Stab! Stab! Stab!

He always tried his best to ignore it, to despise it, but—

I want to kill.

But he wasn't in the right state of mind, was he?

He made a demonic smile.

Yeah. This is okay, the voice in his head said. I'll take over from here.

Mino only had one word in his head: Thanks.

He let out a wild scream. A ring of sound blasted around the room. Yoseob and Jieun were thrown against the walls, forming more dents on the wall. They both let out painful cried and fell to the floor, unable to move properly. 

Jieun managed to open one eye. The tiger mark in her eyes were gone, and so were Yoseob's. The two stared at each other for a minute, then back at Mino. The ground shook and a black aura rose around him. His inky arms crawled all over his body, taking over and creating a thick gooey figure of him smiling in a diabolical way. His eyes were flashing white and black to black and white. 

He was a complete mess, and he loved it.

Another blast of air and the sound of crying ghosts screamed throughout the room. Yoseob and Jieun clawed the floor, trying to prevent the wind from blowing them back against the wall. Before Yoseob had the chance to hide in the shadows, the black substance of what used to be Mino scrambled towards him in a desperate way. Yoseob tried to hide, but he found his powers nullified. Out of horror, he tried to crawl away, but the figure had reached out to him with pointy long fingers.

"What the hell is this?" Yoseob cried out.

The black goo smiled even wider and opened his mouth. Yoseob widened his eyes and cried out for help as the slime happily swallowed him in whole.

Jieun stared, stunned. The slime wiggled a little, then threw up the bones and organs that belonged to the vampire.

What the hell.

She cautiously looked at Mino, who slowly turned to her.

It smiled.

She shivered.

"Mino? M-Mino, is that you?" Jieun called. She quickly tried to fold her hands in prayer, but she noticed that she couldn't feel her arms anymore. Panicking, she looked at Mino, who slowly approached her. "Mino, that's you, right? Underneath all that goo is you, right?"

The sludge continued to smile innocently as it approached her.

"Mino? Mino, please!" Jieun begged. "Please, listen to me!"

Her heart raced.

"Mino! I know you're in there!"

Fear rushed through her veins.

"Mino! Mino!"

He came even closer, only inches away from grabbing her.

"Mino!" Jieun yelled. She saw him raise his hand, ready to grab her and devour her like he had done so easily with Yoseob.

She shut her eyes and hitched her breath, tears spilling from her eyes.

This is the end! she thought. Please come and help me, Taemin—

Fwoosh!

Cold. A cold bright light hit her eyes. Jieun flinched, but she didn't look away. She stared at the darkened figure standing in front of her, creating a barrier of white flames around the two. Her heart stopped beating and she no longer felt in despair.

The black goo quickly disappeared, retreating back to Mino. Mino screamed in pain, burning in the white flames. He grabbed the mark on his neck and held onto it as it burned and stung him. He fell to the ground, hissing while trying to fight for his sanity.

Taemin looked behind his shoulders and saw Jieun staring back at him. Then, he turned and faced her, kneeling to her level. He checked for any damages on her skin, then sighed in relief. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. Her eyes went a little wide and she felt heat on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Taemin whispered.

Tears swelled up in her eyes. She began to sob quietly as Taemin parted away.

"Thank you," she cried, sniffing. "Thank you so much for coming…"

She cried for quite some time. He made a small smile and gently patted her hair.

"I'm going to stop this," Taemin said. "You stay back okay?"

"Thank you…!" she muttered, wiping her tears.

Taemin nodded. He faced back at the enemy. The flame barrier was gone with a huge gust of wind. Jieun looked and saw Naeun landing behind Taemin with her wind sword.

"Naeun?" Jieun whispered. "You're…"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, too," Naeun said quickly. She scanned the situation carefully. "What's wrong with Mino?"

Jieun held her breath for a moment. "He's…"

"The guy has a cursed mark," Taemin blurted.

Naeun and Jieun widened their eyes and stared at him.

"He what?" Naeun cried out. "Since then?"

"Since the moment we were at West Witch Wonderville," Taemin said.

"When did you know about this?"

"When we were at Artem," Taemin said. He looked behind at her. "When you were taken by Yonghwa and Myungsoo taken by Yoseob."

"And you decided to keep them?" Naeun cried out. He nodded with a shrug. She looked at Jieun. "And when did you know about this?"

"Since the very beginning," Jieun muttered with guilt.

Naeun looked at the two in disbelief. "I can't believe you two! I can't believe I'm entrusting my life in both your hands!"

"It's not that big of a deal," Taemin said, grunting a little.

"It's a huge deal! Look at where this curse mark led him!" Naeun yelled. 

The two remained silent. Naeun was right. Keeping Mino's curse mark a secret never helped them. In fact, it only led them to this: a monstrous devilish creature without a mind of its own. Mino was no longer the man everyone knew. He was covered in black ink, more-goo and barely human. He had a strong dark purplish aura emitting out of his slimy body. The only thing they could make out from the creature was his eyes, which were pitch black.

"We'll kill him," Taemin said with a sigh.

"You can't kill Mino!" Jieun shouted. 

"There's not much that I can do," Taemin said. "He's beyond help!"

Jieun spilled tears. "Please, don't kill him! He doesn't deserve to be killed! All he wanted to do was go back home!"

Taemin hesitated.

Naeun noticed.

She frowned. "Taemin, if you don't plan on killing him, I will."

Taemin bit the tip of his glove, pulling it off. "You better not kill him, or I will kill you personally."

"That's it!" Naeun shouted. She pointed her sword right behind Taemin's chest, ready to stab him through his heart. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. "I can't trust you anymore!"

"Naeun, don't be stupid! You're still under Yonghwa's influence. You need to stay back and rest! You're not in your right set of mind!" Taemin yelled, trying to convince her to stand down. "Stay here with Jieun! I'll take care of Mino!"

"Nothing makes any sense!" Naeun screamed. "Why doesn't anything make sense anymore?" She pointed at Mino. "That's not Mino anymore—" She pointed at the ceiling. "—Myungsoo is nowhere to be found—" Then she pointed her sword at Taemin. "—and you aren't the same Taemin that I used to know!"

"Jieun," Taemin called. "Wish her to sleep."

Naeun widened her eyes. She turned to Jieun, who had her hands folded in prayer.

"Don't you dare—"

"I wish that Naeun will fall asleep and awaken after this is done!" Jieun pleaded with the last bit of energy she had. The gold shimmers fell from her hand and swirled over Naeun.

Naeun tried to use her wind powers to blow away the sparkles, but it remained futile. She suddenly felt drowsy. Losing her balance, her knees buckled and she began to sway.

"I hate you," Naeun muttered drowsily. She finally fell to the floor in a gentle manner. The sparkles disappeared and Jieun felt drained. She remained on the floor, unable to get up. She could no longer feel anything. She weakly looked at Taemin, who thanked her.

"I'll take care of the rest," Taemin said.

Jieun nodded. "Yes…please…"

She closed her eyes, losing conscious like Naeun.

Taemin looked at the black mess standing in front of him. Strange moans and groans were heard from the core of the blob. The eyes shifted from white to black and black to white. Taemin emitted a ball of white flame on the palm of his head. In seconds, the white flame turned red.

"Hopefully I can stall some time and have you regain consciousness," Taemin muttered.

The black substance moved, then lunged a sticky hand towards Taemin. Taemin quickly dodged it and threw his fire ball at the hand. He quickly circled around the girls, creating a flaming white barrier so that they would be protected. Taemin then clasped his hands together and extended them apart, creating a flaring white rod with red spiral flames.

Mino let out an awful shriek. Taemin frowned, but remained composed.

"Let's do this," Taemin whispered. They began to attack, throwing themselves at each other, waiting to see what kind of fate awaited them.

Hey.

You're in danger.

Lots of danger.

Did you know that?

Mino couldn't see anything, but he felt awfully heavy. He felt like he was sinking in a warm ocean, but was able to breathe in the dark liquid.

Out of everyone, you're the one who's most likely to be stuck.

Did you know that?

"Stuck?" Mino thought aloud. He soon realized his that his thoughts were not private.

Yes. Stuck. Like the Creator.

"Who are you? What are you doing inside my head?" Mino yelled.

I am someone who wants to escape.

You are someone who wants to contain me.

We are not compatible.

"Where am I?" Mino asked, demanding for answers.

You only have three.

Pitiful.

By now, I'd have all five.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Mino muttered coldly.

Well, I suppose that after this, I'll fall back into a deep slumber.

Until then, please recruit two more sacrifices for me.

"What are you talking about?"

Please don't act innocent.

You're not innocent.

Mino curled his fingers into a fist.

You want to lift the curse, right?

He uncurled his fingers.

Just two more.

Then I'll be gone.

"Gone? What are you? Who are you?" Mino repeated.

I wonder that, too.

The mysterious voice faded. Mino called out to it, but it didn't answer. Instead, he found himself alone, surrounded by darkness.

He sat down in the air and contemplated. Then, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

"I just need to practice Command again," Mino whispered to himself. He inhaled through his nose, then exhaled through his mouth. Then, he started to recite a few words that Taemin had taught him during the time he was training to master most of the Command technique.