Mexico

It was already too late for Jaejoong to evade the worms, so he faced them with his talons. Five worms were rushing toward him. The first one to reach him was cut apart by his talons before it managed to strike his face with its blade-shaped anterior. For a moment, he wished he had his soul sword. That would be a most effective weapon against Soo-hyun. If the soul sword was a Lightside weapon, it would be so easy to summon. But the soul sword being a dark weapon cannot be summoned. There was also the matter of the ritual that he had to go through in order to become the new master of the soul sword. That ritual required the sacrifice of a human life, and his conscience didn't allow him to do that before. Now that he had gotten rid of that conscience, he would definitely go through that ritual.

He set aside such thoughts and slashed another worm aiming directly at his chest. The worm was sliced into two. He didn't even need to make any effort. Soo-hyun's worms were weak and easy to kill. Which made him suspicious. Why would Soo-hyun send such weak creatures to defeat him and Minho?

He grabbed the third and fourth worm and easily crushed their bodies with his hands. But the fifth worm managed to sneak up behind him. It buried the dagger-like part of its body in his right thigh!

He was surprised not to feel any pain. If he wasn't seeing the worm trying to enter his thigh, he wouldn't have noticed it. The worms seemed to carry some sort of anesthetic, preventing its victims from feeling their presence and attack.

He grabbed the end tail of the worm and began pulling it out of his thigh.

He overheard Soo-hyun's laughter.

"Have I told you the ability of my pets? They can enter a body without giving pain to their victims. In fact, most humans whose body they entered never became aware they were inside and were quietly collecting all their organs and life force to sacrifice to me."

Jaejoong gave one powerful tug to finally get the worm out of his thigh. A small chunk of his flesh where the worm had taken hold was sacrificed, but he didn't mind it. His healing powers could easily take care of such injury. He proceeded to cut the worm into pieces before throwing it down the pyramid.

When he turned to look at Soo-hyun, he also saw Minho. It was clear that Minho had also dispatched the worms Soo-hyun threw at him. Minho was now rushing toward Soo-hyun.

"Was that the only thing you could do?" Minho taunted Soo-hyun. "These worms are pathetic! They are nothing but fleas I could easily crush with one finger!"

Jaejoong flew toward Soo-hyun. He would also be attacking. Minho and him would converge and made mincemeat of this ancient sun god pretender! They had to finish this fight before Soo-hyun could again release those pesky worms.

Minho reached Soo-hyun first. The demon's claws slashed left and right. But Soo-hyun quickly dodged these attacks. Minho's long tail wrapped around Soo-hyun's waist, preventing him from getting away. Jaejoong rushed toward Soo-hyun.

When Soo-hyun was within Jaejoong's reach, he quickly grabbed Soo-hyun's head from behind and broke his neck!

Whenever Jaejoong would make this maneuver, he was rewarded by the sound of breaking bones. But he didn't hear that familiar snap. In fact, Soo-hyun's neck bent like rubber!

Soo-hyun's head slipped from his hands. He also easily slipped out from the grasp of Minho's tail. Soo-hyun backed away from them, grinning, his eyes on Jaejoong.

"Come now, Jaejoong, do you really think that my body is that weak? That was the same move you made when we first fought. Have you forgotten how ineffective breaking my neck and my bones were?"

! He didn't remember it!

"It's now my turn. Let's see if you can evade my attack?"

Jaejoong was surprised to see Soo-hyun's hand lengthened and increased in size! He then formed a fist and punches him both on the face and body! The force pushed Jaejoong away from the pyramid's top!

"Stupid! You never learned anything from our last fight!' Soo-hyun taunted him.

Jaejoong moved his wings to counterbalance the force Soo-hyun used to throw him. He soon gained control of his body back. He quickly flew back toward Soo-hyun. He tried to remember what happened during his first fight with him, but his mind remained blank

"!" he cursed. Did Joong retain all the important memories they had? Damn it! Those memories were not important! He would just adjust his fighting technique to the situation!

Upon returning he saw Soo-hyun and Minho fighting again. Soo-hyun seemed amused even though Minho never let up on his attacks. Minho used his horn to impale Soo-hyun's chest. Electricity surged from Minho's horn and ran through Soo-hyun's body. But Soo-hyun didn't even flinch! To Jaejoong's surprise, Minho suddenly backed away. Minho's eyes bulged in disbelief as he stared at Soo-hyun.

Before Jaejoong could reach the two combatants, Minho's head exploded! And a worm crawled out of his neck.

Liang Feng, China

It took Jaejoong twenty minutes before he managed to get to Liang Feng. His worry increased when he saw how polluted the town was! There was smog everywhere! The town looked like a huge factory because of the numerous industrial plants that continuously produced smoke and polluted liquids. He also noticed the coal mine near the town. Everyone living in the town looked dirty and sick.

A part of him was urging him to help these humans but he ignored that. He was here to find and save Dara. These people would survive for several more years but Dara only had a few minutes to live! The pollution inside the town was like poison to someone like Dara.

He took a deep breath and began to sniff the air. He still had his strong sense of smell. Despite the different strong odors around him, he hoped he would be able to locate his wife.

Dara had always smelled like flowers and freshly cut grass, depending on her mood. She smelled like flowers when she's happy. The freshly cut grass appeared when she went into battle mode or into too much physical activity.

But he couldn't locate any of Dara's familiar scents. He left the streets and decided to go on top of one of the buildings. After making himself invisible, he jumped up to the rooftop of a nearby two-storey building. He couldn't fly, but he could jump high enough to reach the rooftop.

He used the two-storey building as a stepping stone to travel to the other buildings. When he finally landed on a ten-storey building, he began scanning the whole city with his eyes. He faced the direction where the wind was coming from. The wind would bring him the different smells and odor of the city and hopefully, the scent of flowers and grass.

He was about to close his eyes to clear his mind and concentrate on identifying the different scents around him when a faint glow caught his eyes. It was like the green glow that Dara's body had when they first met!

He had to jump several rooftops before he finally reached the roof where the green glow was located. But before he could get near it, the glow disappeared! Fear gripped his chest.

He looked around. Studied everything on the roof. He almost shouted with relief when he finally located Dara! She was lying motionless on the left side of the rooftop!

He rushed toward her and picked her up with his arms.

"Dara, I'm here! You're now safe!" he said.

Dara opened her eyes and smiled.

"I knew it. I would see you again before I die, Jaejoong," she muttered.

"You are not going to die!" he castigated her. "I am not going to let you die!"

With her in his arms, Jaejoong jumped from the rooftop and landed on the streets. The moment his feet touched the ground, he began running. There was a Lightside portal nearby, but Dara wouldn't be able to use that. He needed to get her out of this town. It only took him seconds to get them away from Liang Feng.

But it wasn't enough. For Dara to survive, she needed to be brought to a forest full of fresh air. He looked all around him. All he could see were barren land and hills. There were a few tuft of grass, and some trees dotted the landscape. But those weren't what he needed!

"Dara!" called out a guttural voice.

Jaejoong turned his head and tried to locate the owner of the voice. Was the owner a Siesmyre?

"I came here as soon as I heard your call. But my reserve of fresh air ran out before I was able to find you. I was forced to leave. Please forgive me for failing to find you." The voice was quivering with emotion.

It quickly became apparent to Jaejoong that the owner of the voice was a Finder! Only Finders could risk their lives going into polluted areas because of their ability to store fresh air in their body. But each Finder had a limit as to how much air he could store.

"Stop crying. We need to take her to a forest. A clean forest with plenty of fresh air!"

"She is already dying, Jaejoong!" The voice began bawling.

Jaejoong studied Dara. He was shocked to see the changes happening in her body. Her eyes were now closed and she had also reverted to her green form, but she was no longer green. Her skin had begun to turn to brown. Her brilliant green hair was becoming yellow. Like a tree, she had begun to wilt!

"Where is the nearest forest!" he shouted at the Finder.

"S-Southwest," the Finder blurted.

Jaejoong ran toward that direction using every ounce of his strength and speed. Despite the situation, he noticed the strange dust following him. It soon began to catch up to him and remained beside him. It wasn't being affected by the wind but kept its steady movement.

He knew right then and there that this was the Finder he had spoken to in the outskirts of Liang Feng. The Finder Unit had one hundred members. Though he had met and been with them several times, he still wasn't able to recognize most of them immediately since they had the ability to change their forms.

The dust began to outpace him. It also took the shape of a huge arrow pointing to the Southwest direction. The Finder was clearly showing him the way to the forest.

Jaejoong clenched his jaw and increased his speed. But it still took him several minutes before he finally reached the edge of the forest. He continued toward the heart of the forest.

Several Siesmyres began appearing. They had felt the presence of Dara. All of them started following him. Jaejoong knew they were concerned and worried about Dara, but they were forming like some kind of funeral procession behind him!

"Sanctuary..." whispered some of the Siesmyres.

"Bring her to the Sanctuary, Jaejoong!" shouted those with big voices.

Jaejoong had no idea how to find a Sanctuary. So, he kept following the dust arrow. He soon ended up in front of a large tree surrounded by colorful mushrooms.

He was out of breath! This never happened to him before. But he ignored such trivial things.

The dust Finder swirled around the Guardian Tree. A door opened beside the tree. It showed Jaejoong the portal to the Sanctuary. He didn't hesitate and ran inside immediately. The other Siesmyres remained outside and surrounded the portal. Only the dust Finder followed him.

Once they got inside one of the paths of the Sanctuary, the Finder began to take on a more solid shape until it became a brown rock the size of a fist. A black eye opened in the middle of the rock. The rock began rolling beside Jaejoong.

Jaejoong finally remembered the name of this Finder! He was called Onyx. He was more familiar with Onyx's rock form than his dust form.

"Thank you, Onyx." he said.

"What I did wasn't enough," he said sadly. "We must hurry! The Elders are waiting for us."

Jaejoong wasn't surprised by this. Finders could always communicate with each other. And the other Finders upon learning what had befallen Dara must have informed the Elders. The last time Dara became ill, the Elders put her in a sarcophagus and made her sleep for several decades.

But Jaejoong had unintentionally broken Dara's sarcophagus before. Hopefully, the Elders had found or created another sarcophagus for Dara.

All thirteen Elders were present and waiting for them when they entered one of the caverns in the Sanctuary. But instead of a sarcophagus, Jaejoong saw a bed of flowers.

"Put her here, Jaejoong," instructed Elder Duk hwa.

Jaejoong carefully laid Dara on the bed of flowers. He tried waking her up but, she remained unresponsive. Checking her pulse and her heart would be useless. He never once heard even one heartbeat from her body. But her body though remained warm and showed signs of life.

"She is in a very deep sleep, Jaejoong," explained Elder Iora. "In the world of the humans, they would call her condition a coma."

"You need to make a sarcophagus for her!" he blurted.

"She needs you more, Jaejoong. Or rather the half-demon, half-angel Jaejoong. You must become one again!" insisted Elder Jyunyi.

"You were capable of giving her the immunity she needs when you were a half- demon and a half-angel. But when your two nature separated, your power to give her immunity had also disappeared," Elder Mi Kyung informed him.

"Find your other half, Jaejoong," ordered Elder Duk Hwa, "and merge with him!"

"As long as the thirteen of us are here, we could temporarily halt Dara's death," Elder Mi Kyung assured him. "You should go now, and become whole again. Because only you could truly bring her back to the land of the living."

Jaejoong nodded. He also picked up Onyx who was lying beside his feet.

"Call every member of the Finder Unit, Onyx," he ordered the Finder.

"Most of them are already here. And the others are already on their way."

"Have they found Jae?"

Onyx's single eye blinked as if he was communicating with someone.

"They said, Jae is in Mexico," he said after a few seconds. "And he was fighting with Soo-hyun!"

Jaejoong frowned. If that demon died, he would never forgive him!

He and Onyx left the cavern. Outside the cavern, on one of the winding long pathway of Sanctuary, all the other members of the Finder Unit had already gathered and silently waited for him. He glimpsed Yabu who immediately flew toward him.

"This is my fault. I should have found Dara in time," he said sadly.

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