「 episode 9; arc 4.1 」 —dual restitution//absolute— 「 hyejoo v 」

Below the city, in the middle of a spiraling network of skeleton-filled catacombs, careful footsteps shuffled forward quietly. Four figures made their way through a winding path of bones and dirt, their boots occasionally crunching ancient skeletal remains of bodies long past.

At the front of the group, Joohyun led the expedition with a firm grip on her handaxe. Though their way was lit with an array of torches nestled into the walls that surrounded them, her weapon acted as another source of light with a steady flame of vermilion dancing along its edge.

Behind her, Seungwan followed close behind. She held a sizable sword close to her body, its single-edged blade and its circular hilt both formed from the same piece of azure steel. Decorated with runes, the blade stemmed from the top of the hilt as opposed to the center, making her weapon visually similar to half of a pair of scissors.

She ran a finger across the flat end of her sword, briefly looking beyond Seulgi and Joy behind her. “I can’t help but wonder what happened up there...just where did that flood suddenly come from?”

Seungwan’s open question hung briefly in the air as she stared into the thick steam that filled the hall behind them.

A unforeseen rush of water had very nearly drowned them just a minute prior, stopped only by the efforts of Joohyun and Jungeun evaporating it with collective flames before it could swallow them whole. Joy and Kahei had also made use of air to deflect the torrent away from the group, diverting the water as the women of fire dissipated it. The two foreign sorceresses wasted no time in heading back above ground afterwards, apologizing profusely before excusing themselves.

“I’m still kinda surprised that Kahei can use air-based thaumaturgy like that,” Seulgi chimed in, her eyes also moving to the dense fog of white. “She did it back at the church, too...so did Chaewon, now that I remember. I guess them being able to use multiple elements is just a thing they can do...?"

“If they really do this kind of thing regularly, exploring alternate realities and battling all sorts of miscreations, then it’d make sense for them to be capable of such a feat,” Joohyun said, bringing Seulgi’s eyes to her. "For all we know, it isn't just Kahei and Chaewon. Everyone they work with might be capable of that."

“Yeah, you’re right,” Seulgi said slowly with a nod to herself. “They probably get into way more fights than we do. Wonder how experienced they really are...hey, think they’ve got any other cool tricks up their sleeves? Maybe some kind of powered up state where they, like, break their limits or something?”

“Break their limits?” Joy mockingly teased Seulgi as she mirrored her words, roughing up the shorter girl’s hair slightly with a pat of her head. “You’ve really got to ease up on the comics and games, Seulgi.”

“C’mon, it’s not that out of the question, is it?” Seulgi pondered aloud with a soft giggle as Joy slung her arm around her. “If they’ve figured out how to use multiple elements, then don’t you think they could have some crazy trump card like that? Something that makes them even more powerful?”

“At the very least, the idea of them really coming from another universe is a lot easier to believe when they’re doing things that go against everything we know about thaumaturgy,” Joy conceded, dismissing her partner’s excitable imagination. “Or, rather, everything we thought we knew.”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that,” Seungwan admitted, a hint of disbelief present in her voice.

“Not that I think they’re lying after they agreed to help us regardless of our decision to join them, but a multiverse full of parallel timelines is a lot to process. The concept of actually physically crossing over into another timeline even more so…”

“Yeah, I get the feeling that all of that was the truth,” Seulgi agreed with Seungwan as she tilted her head into Joy’s shoulder, “even if it’s really hard to imagine just skipping over entire universes...”

As Seulgi found her mind getting quickly overwhelmed by the sense of scale in traversing the bubble of an entire reality, she took preventative measures against an oncoming headache and dismissed the thought. “Well, let’s just hope everything’s alright back up on the surface. It’d be nice if they could catch up to us and help out as planned.”

“If we’re lucky, they’ll be behind us again before we know it,” Joy reasoned with hope, inciting a smile and a nod from Seulgi.

“Luck runs out. We have to stop counting on it.”

A stern declaration from a quiet Joohyun brought small grimaces to the faces of the other three. As she turned a corner and stepped past a small hill of fragmented bones and broken skulls on the floor below, she brought her eyes to them and addressed them properly.

“Remember, this was always the plan from the very beginning—just the four of us. Those girls might be on another level, but don’t forget we’re more than capable in our own right. We can handle this and get Yeri back with or without their help. We’ve dealt with Red Velvet’s members plenty of times in the past. Even if there’s more than we’re used to, this’ll be no different.”

The only immediate response Joohyun received was Seungwan reaching forward and interlocking the fingers of their free hands from behind her. Joohyun reciprocated without hesitation, sighing lightly as she squeezed Seungwan’s hand.

After some silence, Seulgi spoke gingerly. “You’re not...mad at them, are you, Joohyun?”

“Of course not.”

Joohyun’s response was instant, her tone void of negativity. “They’re right to be prioritizing Chaewon and Hyejoo over us. I’m still appreciative of them going out of their way to help us, but in the end, our problems are our own and the people more important to them should undeniably take precedence. Them staying down here knowing that something might’ve happened to those two would’ve been absurd.”

“I just hope they’re safe,” Joohyun said softly as her words trailed off. “I can’t even begin to imagine what could’ve caused that…”

“They’ll be fine,” Seungwan reassured Joohyun. “You said it yourself. All of them are on another level, especially Kahei and Jungeun. We shouldn’t worry about any of them. I’m sure they wouldn’t want us to, anyway.”

“Eyes up.”

A sudden whisper from Joy brought the attention of the other three forward. Gazes focused on the sight ahead of them as their walking slowed down to measured paces. The bone-filled walls of the catacombs transformed into natural rock as the path opened up into a wide open cave clearing.

The four sorceresses huddled close together and got low to the floor, propping themselves on single knees as they surveyed the scene.

Several dozen figures donned in hooded robes and cloaks of deep scarlet were positioned around the area. Weapons ranging from swords to daggers to axes were affixed to their waists.

In the center of the clearing sat a titanic whirlpool of mana. The ocean of light gray dust swirled at a snail’s pace above a near bottomless sinkhole even larger than it, feeding and being fed mana to mixed leylines above it.

“Around fifty-five or sixty of them,” Seungwan murmured almost inaudibly, her eyes quickly scanning the area once more as she double checked her count. “About what we expected.”

“I don’t see Yeri,” Joohyun lamented while looking over the clearing in full again. “Where is she…?”

“Maybe down there,” Joy revealed with an extended hand, pointing towards the far end of the area across the sea of mana. “See the path past the phantadrop?”

Joohyun’s eyes followed Joy’s finger to an opening in the wall across the sea of mana. She could see scattered bones on the ground around it. The onset of anxiety that had started to cloud her head vanished with ease as she nodded. “There’s more to the catacombs, then. So she’s further in…”

“I’m sure it’s not just her,” Seulgi stated quietly. “There’s probably a good number of them guarding her.”

“What’s the plan, then?”

Joy’s question coincided with three pairs of eyes falling upon Joohyun at the front. Joohyun kept silent for a brief moment, her mind ablaze with potential plans and their likely outcomes. After jumping through several hoops in her head, she settled on a course of action.

“No choice but a full-scale battle,” Joohyun admitted, turning halfway to look at her comrades.

“We’ll just have to take them all out here...not that we weren’t prepared for that. The fighting should draw out most of the others ahead—they show up, we take them out, too. They’ll probably leave a few guarding Yeri, but it won’t be many.”

“Think she’ll be safe?” Seulgi asked with a worried expression, her eyes jumping between the other three sorceresses. “In all these years fighting them, we’ve never interrupted their prep for a sacrificial ritual before...would us intervening make them jump ahead of schedule or anything?”

“I’m actually not sure what they’d do in this situation,” Seungwan said in deep thought, her voice trailing off momentarily. “Maybe they believe an improper sacrifice would gain them no favor with their god? After going through the trouble of kidnapping Yeri and gathering everyone here, would they really risk ruining the ritual by rushing it...?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Joohyun calmly proclaimed with her eyes back on the gathering ahead. “Once we get their numbers down enough, I’ll run ahead and get to Yeri before they can even consider it.”

“By yourself?” Joy asked, her words tinged with uncertainty.

“Joohyun—”

“I’ll be alright,” the axewoman softly cut off her partner.

Underlying concern was clear on Seungwan’s face even as Joohyun did her best to assure her. “It’s best if you all stay behind. If we break off three to one, we can save Yeri as soon as possible.”

“You wouldn’t have to wait for all of them to be down,” Joy ascertained with a nod, to which Joohyun nodded herself in response. “Clear up just enough so that we can handle the rest, then go after Yeri while we finish them off. That’s definitely the fastest way to get to her, yeah...”

“Surely you could wait until there’s few enough for just two of us to finish it?” Seungwan offered, still taking issue with the concept. “That way one of us could go with you and—”

Seungwan found her words falling short as she felt Joohyun’s hand rest against her face.

She had turned around on her heel and was peering directly at Seungwan, their opposing odd eyes of deep azure and burning crimson focused on each other.

“Seungwan,” Joohyun said slowly, the pain and regret in her eyes pouring into Seungwan as she held her by the cheek. “We don’t know how much time she has left. This is the fastest option, and I need to be the one to do it. I can’t lose my little sister like this.”

Silence fell between the four of them as Seungwan became lost in Joohyun’s gaze. Her mixed hues of vermilion and light brown trembled ever so slightly. They were b with both an easily discernible fear of loss and a steadfast determination to prevent that loss to the best of her ability—even at the risk of her own safety.

“I can’t lose Yeri, Seungwan,” Joohyun said slowly as Seungwan failed to answer.

There was an intense weight to her words as she spoke. She was clearly in pain, and just seeing and hearing that pain alone made it manifest within Seungwan herself. “We can’t lose her. I have to get her back. I have to protect her. Every second counts.”

Seungwan’s silence briefly continued as she placed her own hand atop Joohyun’s on her cheek. She nodded slowly, pushing past her anxieties and placing faith in the woman she loved. “Okay, Joohyun. I trust you.”

“Thank you, Seungwan,” Joohyun said softly. Leaning forward, she parted Seungwan’s bangs as she did at their home. Seungwan closed her eyes as a gentle kiss was placed on her forehead. “I’ll be fine. Everything’s going to work out.”

Joohyun rose to her feet and the others followed. Turning around, she faced the path towards the clearing again. The muscles in her hand tensed up as she tightened her grip on her axe. “Be careful around the phantadrop. Being near that much phantasma that dense is going to make it hard to breathe well.”

Behind her and Seungwan, Seulgi’s odd eye of gold emitted a soft light as her hunting knife came to life in her hand from a coalescing cloud of mana. A veil of electricity surrounded it, passing towards her through the hilt and encompassing her body momentarily as she looked to the others. “Good to go, then?”

Joy’s mismatched hue of forest green began to shine in a similar fashion. A mass of verdant mana coalesced at her waist as a runic circle slowly ran across it. With a single hand, she grabbed it as it materialized—a lightweight submachine gun with a silencer attached, its black finish highlighted with accented streaks of green and matching colored runes along the barrel and grip.

Another small cloud of green dust took shape as Joy exhaled again. It birthed a magazine of ammunition in her free hand. The markswoman attached it to the bottom of her firearm and brought her eyes forward. “Good to go.”

“Whenever you’re ready, Joohyun,” Seungwan said calmly, a resolute aura stemming from her being. The conviction pouring from her words flowed into Joohyun as she took a deep breath, nodding in response.

“Alright,” Joohyun said as she stepped forward. “Follow my lead.”

「 ➤➤➤ ★ ➤➤➤ 」

Jisoo could not have predicted the agility Olivia possessed.

Under new ownership, the body of the soft-spoken girl moved in a mad frenzy unbecoming of its previous consciousness. Jisoo steadied her mind to the best of her ability as it sprinted towards her with laser-focused precision. She and Jungeun responded in kind, challenging the demon after her life and running straight for Olivia.

Ahead of Jisoo, Jungeun approached first with her polearm extended. Coming into range with the axehead poised above Olivia, Jungeun slid to a stop. Planting her feet into the ground hard, she slashed downwards with an extensive degree of strength.

Jungeun clenched her teeth as she found herself immediately met with a returned force—Olivia had caught her weapon’s blade with her weaponized hand, four clawed fingers holding it steady with two digging into each side of the steel.

Jisoo continued her advance from behind Jungeun as she became locked into place. The sight of Olivia remaining entirely focused on her even as she entered an active standoff with Jungeun unsettled her greatly. In the next moment, the unease within her quickly evolved into sudden shock as she found Jungeun’s body being flung at her.

Bearing physical might beyond their expectations, Olivia had bypassed Jungeun’s firm stance.

She raised her body into the air by her weapon, Jungeun grunting loudly as she was picked up like nothing more than a toy figure. In one fluid motion, Olivia proceeded to rotate her body while rearing her arm back, effortlessly launching Jungeun’s body with forced velocity as a projectile towards Jisoo.

The entire sequence happening far too quickly for Jungeun to free herself by letting go of her weapon, the woman of fire inhaled sharply through her nose as she flew towards Jisoo. She was relieved to see that Jisoo had enough wits about her to jump away from her trajectory, allowing her to freely exhale without worry after feeling her body tick once.

An expansive, dense cloud of earthen mana came into existence ahead of Jungeun. Her vermilion eye flashed as it took shape, materializing into a sizable hill of sand. Deep enough to both stop her flight and soften the landing, Jungeun’s barrier lit up with minimal damage as she crashed into it.

From within the mountain of sand, a wave of heat burst out from around Jungeun. It dispersed the sand, freeing herself from her enclosure. Her hands still latched onto her weapon, she safely touched ground on the pavement below her and rushed towards the troubling sight ahead.

Down the road, Jisoo was fighting a losing battle against an absolutely manic Olivia.

The corrupted consciousness slashed at her repeatedly with outspread claws, the fervent fury of her nonstop strikes eerily contradicting the vacant look in her eyes. The speed of Olivia’s string of attacks were almost blinding, as if her present existence in and of itself was enough to allow Hyejoo’s body to break any limit that might have held it back.

Jisoo’s swordplay was deft and skillful enough to match each furious slice with precisely timed parries, but the difference in strength was painfully obvious. Despite her grip on it being so tight that her knuckles had gone white, every clash of blade versus claws was quickly weakening Jisoo’s grasp on her rapier. It wouldn’t be long before she was completely overwhelmed.

Sprinting towards the two with her spear close to her, Jungeun frowned as she saw Olivia turn her head ever so slightly. Her consumed eye of darkness effulged with malignance at the sight of a pesky interloper.

A silent exhale from Olivia gave birth to several runic circles of violet to the side of her, facing the approaching Jungeun. Not breaking away from her ongoing assault against Jisoo, Olivia pulled her claws back for only a moment before pivoting on her heel.

In a single maneuver, she ripped through all of her circles and simultaneously overpowered Jisoo with a roundhouse slash.

As Jisoo’s weapon fell to the ground and turned to dust, the split runic circles gave birth to an array of edged discs similar to the one that Hyejoo had summoned prior. Though they weren’t as menacingly large, the sheer number of them rapidly eclipsed the threat level of Hyejoo’s own variant.

Jungeun was now running straight into a minefield of serrated death, coming closer and closer to dozens of shadowy sawblades spinning in place with every step. Yet, in a show of courageous confidence, she didn’t slow down in the slightest.

As Jisoo nimbly avoided a downward cleave from Olivia with a dexterous somersault, the spearwoman continued her advance even in the face of a thousand cuts. Anticipating the end result of Olivia’s effect, she flipped her halberd over and ran with it close to her waist. The tip of the spear was aimed at the ground until it forcefully impaled it a second later.

Jungeun’s preparations came to fruition as the discs of darkness shot forth, flying towards her at a breakneck speed. The spearwoman lifted her weapon in response and violently brought it down, stabbing it into the earth below. Acting as a makeshift launching pole, Jungeun’s anchored halberd worked in tandem with the force she exerted upwards as she launched herself into the air.

Her vaulting maneuver resulted in a flight path with more horizontal distance than any significant altitude, but it proved to be sufficient as she soared above the flurry of rocketing projectiles beneath her. As she cleared the danger zone, Jungeun’s halberd planted into the asphalt rapidly disintegrated with the passing of a crimson circle over its length.

Her weapon reforming in her hands, Jungeun took in a considerable breath and held it as her feet touched ground once more.

The dark sawblades dematerializing behind her, she rushed ahead towards the sight of Jisoo caught in an extremely disadvantageous situation.

Without her blade, the swordswoman was forced into a endless series of hasty evasive maneuvers as Olivia attacked her without end. Her focus on ending Jisoo’s life was interminably ruthless as she moved with tremendous speed. With every panicked dodge, Jisoo searched for a still nonexistent opportunity to summon her evaporated weapon anew.

To her misfortune, however, every attempt to rearm herself was met with dashes, pounces, and zealous slashing from the corrupted consciousness’ sickly jagged claws.

Jisoo’s heart raced uncomfortably as she left her survival to the saving grace of her adept agility. For as inexplicably fleet-footed as Olivia was, Jisoo’s gymnastic capabilities weren’t at all far behind. Though she had to focus every fiber of her being to do so against an opponent of such prowess, she was finding success in her continued escape act against the claws which were so eager to tear her limb from limb.

With a forward lunge and an extended arm of obsidian, one of Olivia’s slashes had barely made contact with Jisoo as she dive rolled away from the attack. She had managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, but Olivia’s outstretched index claw had nicked her arm as she landed. Though the largely incidental scratch appeared inconsequential, Jungeun grimaced as the damage done was anything but.

Nervous distress coursed through Jisoo’s mind as her barrier materialized. It’s pristine health lasted less than a second as the entirety of her forearm became hidden by a decorated mess of deep, splintered cracks all around it—the sight of such monumentally extreme devastation stemming from a small scrape of laughably insubstantial force unsettled her to no end.

Jungeun continued her speedy approach from down the road. Her eyes were glued to Olivia, filled with insurmountable focus. She felt her body tick once, and with it, a pronounced heartbeat resonated within her chest.

As Jisoo backflipped twice in succession away from Olivia, her eyes found a sprinting Jungeun blazing past her. With labored breaths, Jisoo began to recollect herself as Jungeun engaged darkness itself with hurried steps.

Coming close to Olivia once more, Jungeun repositioned her grip on her polearm and forced herself into the spotlight. Her hands by the bottom of her halberd’s shaft, she leaned down and aimed an extended low sweep at Olivia’s legs. Hopping above it, Olivia avoided the attack with ease as she looked to Jungeun.

When their eyes met, she realized it.

Jungeun’s careful planning had predicted her reaction and taken it into account—with the spearwoman challenging her gaze and peering right back at her, Olivia saw her eye of crimson fulgurate with indignation.

Olivia’s rise into the air coinciding with the second tick of Jungeun’s manastream, the woman of fire exhaled her held breath without hesitation as she turned her halberd over.

The tip of it was aimed at Olivia above, now enshrouded in a cloud of golden mana as a matching runic circle above it took shape. Jungeun’s odd eye burned with rage as she her polearm up with a grunt, piercing the circle through the middle.

A crackling storm of electricity immediately came to life around Jungeun, her weapon and body surging with an aura of red static. A tempest of thunderbolts erupted from the tip of her halberd, shooting up towards Olivia and encompassing her body.

Her barrier flashed into existence as she was covered in a coat of lightning, its vitality being chipped away by slowly expanding miniscule cracks.

Losing control of her descent, Olivia landed on wobbly feet as her body started to convulse lightly from the shocking currents ensnaring her.

Jungeun stood up straight as she shifted her stance, holding her polearm by the base of its conjoined heads with a single extended hand. She took forward steps equivalent in speed to Olivia’s gradual retreat backwards.

Jungeun was equipped with an expression of somber solemnity as she and Olivia came to a simultaneous stop. Stood in place, a regretful frown grew on her face while she watched the possessed body of her comrade writhe and shudder. Her spirit beginning to falter as she was made to inflict harm upon Hyejoo’s being, she sighed and steeled her nerves as she continued to expel her torrent of bolts.

Restraining the corrupted consciousness, Jungeun turned her head halfway towards Jisoo behind her. Her narrowed crimson eye faced the swordswoman, its pained glance inciting a nod from her as she realized the opening she was presented with.

Jisoo took a deep breath behind the safety of Jungeun’s fury, a look of relative calm returning to her face as her rapier speedily materialized in her grasp once more. Alongside its reconstruction, streams of water formed around Jisoo’s forearm, sinking into her barrier as it showed itself. The dense array of fissures concealing it gradually vanished until there was nothing left.

Jisoo felt a miniscule amount of comfort settle into her mind as she finally armed herself once again. In the following moment, that very same comfort was washed over with the anxiety it had just started to replace.

A ring of violet mana had taken shape around Olivia. With her exhale, an immense wave of energy erupted from her center, rocketing down the street towards them.

Jisoo inhaled sharply as vehicles were tossed and turned over yet again with the passing of Olivia’s burst of force. The thunderstorm at Jungeun’s command came to an abrupt stop as she raised her arms in front of her and anchored her feet to the ground with shut eyes. Not feeling a force act against her, Jungeun opened her eyes with a curious blink as her hair suddenly flapped about wildly.

Gale force winds had swept in from behind the two sorceresses, challenging Olivia’s attack with equal force. Jisoo’s exhale came right before the wave had crashed into them as she willed her air currents into existence with a quick, single tick of conversion.

Her odd eye of deep azure shining with a brilliant light, the two effects effectively neutralized one another. The street returned to a tranquil standstill.

Much like every single moment of calm Jisoo had found herself in thus far, the tranquility was dismissed before she could even acknowledge its presence. Olivia had brusquely destroyed it with a frenzied break into an aggravated dash towards the pair.

The woman of fire sidestepped, adopting a defensive stance in front of Jisoo as Olivia approached from down the street.

She flinched in surprised confusion, however, as the dark being suddenly veered into an alleyway without warning and disappeared from sight.

“What…?” Jisoo stated flatly, swallowing hard in anxious anticipation as Olivia’s hurried footsteps faded from earshot. “Just what is she doing…?”

“I’m not sure,” Jungeun admitted, her eyes nervously scanning her surroundings as she began to slowly turn around. Her sight traversed the street in full, even taking in the sky above. “Be ready for anything.”

“Might you care to explain how exactly that...thing is moving so quickly? And how is it so obscenely strong?” the swordswoman openly asked, her own worried eyes similarly moving about the area. “I did not imagine that girl to be capable of such extreme athleticism and strength...”

“You’re not giving Hyejoo enough credit,” Jungeun remarked with a scowl. “Olivia is on a level way beyond her, though...thinking about it, there’s really only one explanation that really makes sense, I think.”

“Well?” Jisoo blurted out after a period of uncomfortable silence. Jungeun’s lack of a follow up only multiplied her stress. “Out with it!”

“I’m just speculating here, but the best way to put it is—”

Jungeun was interrupted by the sound of Jisoo shrieking in terror.

The woman of fire turned around so quickly that she could feel her head spin. She caught sight of the tail end of Olivia’s descent—the corrupted consciousness had found her way to the rooftop of a nearby building from the cover of the alleyways. When their eyes were to their front, she had leapt down at them from behind.

With her successful ambush, she had flanked Jisoo from above. With her knee striking the swordswoman’s spine and forcing her prone, she pinned her against the floor. She grabbed Jisoo’s ponytail by its base with her unaltered hand, driving her face into the pavement.

Seeing Olivia raise her obsidian arm, Jungeun’s mind raced as she restlessly calculated her best possible course of action. With the uneven edges of the demon’s sharp claws basking in the moonlight, she came to the conclusion that there wasn’t time for anything else. Moving so fast she felt a twinge of pain in her spine, she reared her body back and tossed her halberd towards Olivia.

An even louder ear-piercing scream of torment from Jisoo was the first thing that told Jungeun that she wasn’t fast enough.

Olivia didn’t hesitate. Bringing her fingers together above the center of Jisoo’s back, she silently her arm downwards with immense force.

The focused point of her sharpened claws crashed into Jisoo’s shield as it materialized—the initial impact gave birth to a wellspring of cracks, and with Olivia applying severe pressure downwards, the splintered veins danced madly across the expanse of Jisoo’s body. From the single central hit, Jisoo’s defenses were already almost offline as the damage curved all over her, reaching even the tips of her toes.

Jungeun’s breathing was strained as she watched her spear come closer and closer to Olivia.

With Jisoo’s barrier on its last limbs and Jungeun’s projectile weapon fast approaching her, Olivia made her priorities crystal clear.

The fingers of Hyejoo’s alter ego dipped ever so slightly into Jisoo’s now pathetic excuse of a barrier. Penetrating the reflective surface of light that protected her body, she spread her claws outwards against its final ounce of resistance.

In the same instant that the tip of Jungeun’s spear crashed into Olivia’s shoulder and sent her flying, Jisoo’s body emitted a harsh flash of bright light as it was overridden with thousands upon thousands of interconnected fissures.

The cracks continued to multiply and expand until, with a feeble fizzle, her barrier began to fade into gray mana. Unceremoniously, the resulting dust settled onto the floor beneath them before dissolving in a similar fashion.

As Olivia was launched into the side of an overturned vehicle, Jungeun rushed towards the downed Jisoo. Her polearm materialized once more in one of her hands as she flipped Jisoo over with the other. Helping the swordswoman sit up, Jungeun inspected her clothing alongside her.

“This isn’t good…”

Jisoo’s comment was the greatest understatement Jungeun had ever heard.

The two grimaced in unison as Jisoo’s red and black dress shirt didn’t answer to a ring of water that Jisoo had summoned around her abdomen. No response came from her jet black jeans, either, confirming the worst.

“Your barrier runes are gone,” Jungeun announced with a sigh, rising to her feet and stepping in front of Jisoo. Her eyes refocused on Olivia down the street. “Looks like you’re out of commission, then.”

“Excuse me?” Jisoo retorted in shock as she clambered to her feet. “I can still—”

The swordswoman’s heart stopped briefly as she felt cold steel dig softly into her flesh. Jungeun had turned around halfway, gently pressing the edge of her halberd’s axehead to Jisoo’s throat.

With her eyes still on their enemy, she brought her polearm back to her front and spoke with a firm tone of voice. “Without your barrier against an enemy like this, it’s not a question of if you’ll die, but when. Shut up, stay behind me, and do not get in my way.”

Jisoo gulped, disquieted from the reality of feeling an actual weapon against her flesh. Her grip on her rapier tightened as her eyes found the now recovering Olivia. The demon’s barrier was in disarray with splintered veins by her shoulder, the substantial impact of Jungeun’s spear toss clearly evident. “You don’t truly believe that monster will just be happy to deal with you first?”

“Of course not,” Jungeun countered, displeased with the redundant question. “Now, more than ever, she’s going to do everything in her power to make sure you don’t live to see tomorrow.”

“And knowing this, you fully expect me to simply stay out of this conflict? Do you not realize how utterly ridiculous the very notion is?” Jisoo disputed in disbelief. “I have to help you! You can’t possibly protect me on your own, let alone keep its attention focused on you!”

“I have to. You’re going to die otherwise, and Hyejoo will be made a killer,” Jungeun replied, staunchly keeping her motivations in mind. “I’m serious, Jisoo. Don’t interfere from here on out.”

“Brilliant,” Jisoo remarked in frustration with a roll of her eyes. “How, pray tell, do you plan on accomplishing this? Can you really claim to be evenly matched against that creature?”

“I can.”

Jisoo blinked.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Jungeun went silent as she took a deep breath.

When she opened her eyes again, she was met with the sight of Olivia standing perfectly still. Her eye submerged in violet was locked onto Jisoo behind her.

“It’s a last ditch effort, but I have to fight fire with fire. I have to forfeit myself just like Hyejoo did.”

Jungeun’s explanation was met with confusion from Jisoo. “What in the blazes are you talking about...?”

Ignoring Jisoo’s inquiry, Jungeun simply stared hard at Hyejoo’s alter ego down the street. Holding her polearm upright next to her with one hand, she brought her free hand to her chest.

Determination dredged with remorseful dismay settled into Jungeun’s eyes as she made a tightly closed fist.

“I’d be less worried if I had access to the third stage,” Jungeun conceded with a murmur towards herself. A small, melancholic grin showed itself on her face as she shook her head. “If I’m lucky, this’ll be the time it decides to trigger. If I’m not lucky, well…”

Jungeun raised her eyes towards Olivia again, her expression returning to neutral.

“...I’m just gonna have to hold onto my faith that it’ll all work out, because that’s all I have left.”

Jisoo flinched as Jungeun’s voice suddenly boomed. “Kahei!”

From beyond the dual walls of cement reaching high into the sky behind Jungeun, an exasperated yet diligently focused Kahei looked up towards her barricades. Her hands still atop Chaewon’s chest, their rhythmic presses downward paused as she peered ahead. Though her walls blocked her vision, she could perfectly visualize Jungeun as she spoke.

“I’m out of options here,” Jungeun said with a raised tone that carried itself to Kahei past her barriers, “so as much as I don’t want to do it, I don’t have a choice anymore.”

Kahei felt her heart stop for a moment as she frowned, her soft voice trembling with volume so low that she could barely even hear herself. “Jungeun…are you…?”

“I’m sorry, Kahei,” the spearwoman apologized with sincerity in her voice, a grimace forming on her face before she continued.

“I know we agreed that both of us could be shot-calling leaders, but even with your blessing...I still feel like I’m stepping out of line making this decision, even if it’s the only decision left to make.”

With Jungeun’s next words, a rain of anxiety began to downpour inside of Kahei’s mind. Her worried eyes returned to the motionless Chaewon in front of her as she resumed her attempts to recommence the girl’s life.

Unable to make sense of what Jungeun was saying, Jisoo was left to merely be dumbfounded with awe by the aura of tenacious indefatigability the woman of fire now exuded.

Standing perfectly still with strangely off-putting tranquility even in the face of certain death, Jungeun’s steely eyes challenged Olivia in a manner so openly confrontational that the dark being felt compelled to acknowledge her.

Shaking her obsidian wrist and flexing her monstrous claws, Olivia turned her gaze back towards Jungeun.

As Jungeun stated her intentions with an innocuous expression devoid of emotion, the asphalt beneath her began to break.

“I’m going Absolute.”