It's times like these I hate being a Summoner. 

Powerless against Warriors who are so much stronger than I, unable to do anything against them. Placed on the sidelines to call the shots and be protected, unable to battle and unable to do anything but yell encouragements from behind my shield.

Powerless to help.

The blade bites through flesh in a splash of red as wide golden eyes find mine and plead with unshed tears for help, a yelp and a soundless scream parting lips as the body they belong to collapses to the ground. 

Luhan rushes forward, catching his brother as he falls and gently lowering him to the ground as the blade in his back drips away and he inspects the damage left behind in its wake.

His panicked look says it all.

It's not good.

"Yes! Yes! Take out the healer and everyone else is ripe for the picking!" Geonhae yells, laughing as he orders his only remaining, surrounded, and vulnerable Warrior to attack my remaining ten Warriors. 

The ground beneath me becomes impossible to stand on as it ripples and waves, the air heating to a sweltering degree and moisture sets in thick and heavy as the clouds above us swirl in threatening shapes.

Outraged, my Warriors lose their smiles and let out cries of anger and anguish as yet again, their kind and gentle healer is targetted, stabbed in the back by a blade of water and air that leaves a gaping wound as the only evidence it was ever there.

Enraged and no longer playing with the dual Warrior, all nine converge on him, knocking him unconscious in seconds despite his desperate struggling and continue to beat his body after he has left the conscious world, not stopping until he is black and blue and glowing from his chest as his card calls him back to it unwillingly.

With him gone the only person left responsible stands with his starting ring, having retreated as far as he possibly could as his Warrior was pummeled to the ground. 

I let out a shaky breath as Luhan drags Lay into my reach and falling to my knees, I pull his card from my case and force him back so that he can heal there as much as possible until we are home safe and I can attend to him there. I take no notice of the fight in front of me as I force Lay back, the task much harder than usual due to both his being unconscious and my scrambled mental state.

Trusting that I would care for his brother, Luhan draws his attention away from the glowing and slowly fading form of Lay to his remaining brothers as they begin to close in on the Summoner who gave the kill order.

Fighting his brothers is one thing, fighting him is another, but aiming to kill his brothers, all but screaming the order - that's draws a line in the sand so deep it draws a deep, dark piece of his soul from where it had been entrapped for more than three hundred years.

I look up just in time to see the aftermath.

Luhan rolls his neck as he feels a small trickle of power escape its cage, like release after cracking a painful joint, or finally digging a splinter from your skin, the familiar feeling of his forgotten power sets his veins alight in a deep purple light, crackling with pure energy and sending his soul singing in its completion.

He clenches his fist and the world around us stops. 

Teachers and students alike are panicking outside the barrier as the Instructors and Judges are unable to enter and everyone inside is frozen in time, unable to move, not even to breathe as Luhan crackles with untamed power.

The sound of thunder overhead alerts me to the barrier, cracks spider web their way through the pulsing dome with each ripple of thunder, fragments falling to the ground before dissipating in a burst of light as with the boom of a cannon, the dome shatters.

Releasing his fist only to clench it again with white knuckles, Luhan freezes the officials who cross the lines of runes still marking the ground. 

He makes his way forwards, the unconscious bodies of Geonhae's fallen Warriors glowing and retreating to their cards as he passes making a beeline to the Summoner himself where he is frozen, cowered against what used to be the outer edge of the barrier. 

Passing his brothers, still poised to attack, he forces each of them back to my side, locking them in place on either side of me as I stay kneeled, able to move but too afraid to twitch. Lay has long since been returned to his card and the faint pulse of green and purple emitting from it tells me he is being healed just fine.

Outside the ring, there is panic in the masses. A clearly powerful Warrior stalks to a powerless Summoner with clear murderous intent and yet no one can get close. Warriors sent in to restrain him have been sent straight back to their cards and Summoners who enter past the runes are frozen in place.

He's going to kill him and no one can do a thing.

They are all powerless to help.

Yet, he doesn't raise a hand to him. He doesn't make to rip his throat out or tear his heart from his chest. Luhan glances back only once before raising his arm in the air and unable to control himself, Geonhae follows suit, mimicking his movements even as Luhan forces him to jump up and down.

Death is never a pretty thing. 

Even with Luhan in control Geonhae's death is not going to be a pretty one, the resounding thoughts from the student body enter his mind like whispers amid a busy street, loud and chaotic but all flowing in the same direction.

Geonhae will regret the day he was born.

Geonhae will die painfully.

It will be bloody.

There will be nothing left of him to bury.

Yet as Luhan lowers his arms, forcing him to reach to his belt where two items hang swinging in the aftermath of his movements, eyes widening in horror as he pulls an item free, his body moving despite his brain screaming and resisting each millimeter, a resounding bang echos and the thoughts fall silent.

His death doesn't come.

Instead of using the curved knife strapped to his side to tear out his own throat, Geonhae holds a small canister with both hands the remnants of white chalk dusting the battlefield and his frozen form as he points it to the sky.

Unable to take much more, Geonhae collapses, now able to move of his own free will.

Luhan strides back to my side, unfreezing his brothers as they stare at him speechless. Still glowing lilac and crackling with energy, Luhan hands the discarded coats back to their original owners, lingering half a second longer as he hands Suho's over.

He turns to me last. His eyes swirling in an enchanting mix of silver, purple, and magenta as his veins pulse more rapidly as he pulls me from kneeling on the ground and cups my cheek, laying his forehead against mine as a single tear escapes his eyes and a small smile appears.

Saying nothing he closes his eyes and pulls back, rubbing his thumb over the apple of my cheek one more time before letting go and looking at everyone staring at him in a mix of horror and awe