Solar pressed her back against a brick wall, panting hard, clinging to what little shreds of Vis still remained within her. Clothing torn, skin scored by a dozen different cuts, each dribbling the gaseous orange mist of her lifeblood. Out of sight, the Sirdar screeched out their hungry calls as they searched the city for her. She no longer had the ability to fly; if she tried, it would sap the rest of her Vis and kill her. The idea of such an unceremonious, somewhat peaceful death - to die of simple exhaustion, sputtering out like a drained battery - seemed preferable to whatever torture the Sirdar would force her to endure.

    A hand brushed her shoulder, gentle but urgent, familiar enough that she didn’t have to question who it was.

    “We can’t stay here,” Byul said, slim face coated with sweat, cheeks hollow and depleted. “They’ll find us.”

    Solar took her lover’s hand. Even at a time like this, Byul’s touch brought her comfort.

    “We can’t give up,” the navy-haired beauty whispered, displaying her infallible ability to read Solar’s emotional state. “The world needs us.”

    Both Representations froze for a moment as the sound of shuffling footsteps echoed through the alley. They glanced at each other briefly, then took off running in the opposite direction. Heavier, frantic footfalls smacked the cement behind them as their pursuers gave chase.

    Solar stumbled, barely caught herself before falling, nearly collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Her escape attempt was broken into sections of immense, overwhelming exertion, followed by breaks in which her mind went numb, operating on momentum. The periods of pain seemed to grow longer each cycle, and the periods of reprieve seemed to shorten. Eventually they combined into a continual, crimson haze of agony. Despite the growing cold that seemed to be radiating through her body - surely a sign of her impending death - Solar still had the mental capacity to curse Geulim Ja and his eternal night. This was the Earth after all; things like this weren’t supposed to happen here.

    Solar wasn’t sure how long they’d been running for when she and Moobyul finally fell to the blacktop, unable to continue on, left with only enough Vis for basic bodily functions. Solar rolled over onto her back and took Moonbyul’s hand. They were on an abandoned street in the middle of Brunswick. Shadows shifted around them as the horde honed in on their location. Spilling from alleyways, breaking through glass windows, pouring out from both ends of the street.

There was no one else around in sight; the sound of an approaching horde of Sirdar would be enough to clear the place out if it hadn’t already been emptied.

    A skinny, red-haired Sirdar led them, and at her command they formed a circle around the two Representations.

    “And with your death, this planet is finished,” the Sirdar hissed in its grating voice, pointing at Solar.

The Sirdar sprinted forward, a wild look on her face, tongue lolling out of like a hungry dog, black tendrils slapping the ground as she came.

“I love you,” Solar whispered, closing her eyes tight.

“I love you, too,” Byul gasped in response.

A scream rent the air, and the insides of Solar’s eyelids glowed against a strange illumination. She opened her eyes just in time to see Seungwan drop out of the sky, slicing straight down the center of the Sirdar’s body. The red-haired girl fell in two separate pieces, bisected from the top of her head to the fork of her crotch.

    “Seungwan?” Solar said, smiling slightly, as the brown-haired girl ran over to them, “ing… perfect timing.”

As one, the horde of Eodum’s minions cried out, enraged by their master’s death. The ground rumbled as they began to charge.

“Thank me later,” Seungwan said, throwing Byul unceremoniously over her shoulder, then doing the same for Solar.

Solar would have protested this greatly, but she didn’t think now was a wise time to complain. Not that she had the energy to do so, anyway.

As Seungwan took off into the sky, Solar felt a slight stutter to their flight. The glow around Seungwan was dull and weak, like a dying fire.

Her Vis must not be recovering either. This is bad... Solar thought as she tried, and failed, to fight the black, velvety embrace of unconsciousness.

***

    Seulgi glided just a few feet from the pavement below her, gathering as much speed as she could as she zoomed down a two-lane road, tilting from side to side to avoid abandoned cars and busses. She could sense the inexhaustible blackness of Cade giving her chase from behind. Not quite as fast as she was, but not quite slow enough to fall behind by a meaningful length. She circled the streets of Brunswick, dodging Eodum’s minions when she could, cutting them down when she couldn’t, and clashing with Cade whenever he managed to catch up with her.

    They were at a stalemate. So long as Seulgi and Stardust adhered to guerilla tactics (a cowardly, shameful strategy in Stardust’s opinion, but she made no effort to stop Seulgi from doing it) then their silver Vis was able to recover enough strength to match Cade. Stardust cursed the fact that they hadn’t noticed the ebbing away of their white Vis until it was nearly gone. Had they combined both types of Vis from the start in an all-out assault, with Seungwan by their side, they might have been able to take Cade down.

    Distracted by thoughts of her love, Stardust allowed Seulgi to take full control. As much as the Representation hated to admit it, her previously pitiful host had undergone a transformation. Where once there had been dithering hesitation - born from uncertainty and a lack of belief in one’s own ability - there was now an assured competence. Seulgi had her own personal style when using Vis, preferring a defensive approach rather than one of aggression.

    Sooyoung needs to get here soon, Seulgi said, crossing her blades over her torso in order to block a sneak attack by Cade.

    Stardust took control of the swords, allowed Seulgi to take care of the footwork. It might have been an awkward arrangement for a less integrated pair, but their mental synchrony ran deep. Their communication was as swift as the electrified nerve endings of a mind-muscle connection.

    What are you talking about? Stardust asked with a chuckle, chopping half of Cade’s tendrils away with a single sword , We could do this for days.

    Seulgi made to kick Cade in his exposed face, but he was able to pull back at the last second. Seeing her opening, she sent a blast of Vis from the bottom of her foot, taking off in the opposite direction. 

Yeah, but the other Representations can’t.

    Stardust sighed internally, allowed one of her weapons to vanish back into her hand. I see that you aren’t in the mood for lighthearted battle humor?

    Seulgi didn’t answer as they rose high into the sky, sacrificing an extra bit of strength in order to get a lay of the land.

    Didn’t you want to be a doctor? A morbid sense of humor is key in such a profession. Or so I’m told by your knowledge. Stardust inquired as casually as she could, scanning the city.

Under the cast of the eternal night, chaos reigned. Entire blocks burned, Eodum’s minions ran rampant through the streets, and the final survivors of the invasion fought for their lives. The crimson lightning no longer came down from the clouds, instead dancing between them as if it were a kind of sealant - or barrier - to prevent those trapped by the eternal night from fleeing. Or, perhaps, to prevent help from arriving.

    Seulgi grunted in annoyance, then took off eastward, heading for a faint trickle of white. Is this really the time?

    It was Stardust’s turn to fall silent. Her nerves were starting to show; she couldn’t shake the feeling that things were nearing a lethal, sharpened point. She hadn’t experienced desperation of this caliber since… well, her duel with Seungwan.

    Seulgi landed on the steel balcony of a fire escape, releasing most of her Vis in order to both remain hidden and recover from the enhanced flight she’d just undergone. She scaled the ladder with a dexterity that surprised herself, swinging up onto the rooftop and immediately rolling under the shadow of an awning.

There, as she’d expected, crouched Seungwan. Moonbyul and Solar lay beside her. Seulgi allowed Stardust to steer now, instead choosing to keep a metaphysical eye out for Cade.

The auburn-haired Representation was not in good shape. She knelt, supporting herself with a single outstretched hand, wielding a flickering, weak blade of Vis in the other.

Stardust ran a hand over Seungwan’s cheek and found it to be startlingly cold.

    “I have to get you out of here. To safety,” Stardust whispered as tightened.

    “You need to take them, instead. It’s my turn to hold Cade off,” Seungwan gestured to Moonbyul and Solar, then tried to rise.

Stardust stopped her, appalled at how little resistance the shorter Representation was able to give. This was supposedly the woman who had been able to take Stardust down with such ease before, weakened to the point that she couldn’t even stand.

    “I refuse to leave you here.” Stardust said solidly. “I will… I’ll carry all three of you.”

    “I would just slow you down too much. Find Tyler, Evanie, or Summer,” Seungwan said, finally managing to shake Stardust off. Her trembling legs barely held her; she used a hand to hold herself upright. “I can at least distract him for a little bit.”

    Cade’s here! Seulgi exclaimed.

    Seulgi Stardust spun, a whirlwind of silver around her as she crossed her blades over Cade’s chest before he could reach them. The Sirdar cawed in fury and pain, recoiling.

    “You need to go now!” Seungwan yelled, holding her pathetic blade in front of her as if to join the fight.

    Cade approached from a different angle this time, aiming for Seungwan. Stardust stepped in front of the weakened Representation, deflected the blow, but Cade immediately changed directions, lashing out with a tendril at Solar.

    No! Seulgi screamed.

    Seungwan sprung, blade glowing white as it came down, lopping off Cade’s tentacle before it could strike the supine woman. Stardust followed up, kneeing Cade in the hip and slashing at him. The Sirdar retreated, limping as his shattered femur reknit itself.

    Seungwan fell to her knees again, blade vanishing, breath stuttering with the irregularity of near-death. Cade took his opportunity, but Stardust was wise to his tactics. She was just able to repel him, using a well-placed series of s to force him back to the edge of the roof.

    We can’t keep this up, Seulgi said as Cade began to circle them. A smug rictus was fixed on his torn, destroyed visage. It spoke of deathly victory.

    The Sirdar tensed, shifted his footing into a feint. Stardust mirrored his movement, leapt to the side, and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled in a tangle of sludge and silver, tendrils and blades. Stardust’s Vis flared in spite of its worn-out state, keeping the grime from suffocating her.

    Both combatants let out guttural cries that rent the air, trumpeting sirens of murder. A pact forged by mutual hate, swearing to drag the other to the grave.

    Then came a change, however, disrupting the destructive course of their struggle. With a thunderous crack that vibrated throughout the air, the eternal night split open, and a beam of golden light exploded from the heavens.

***

    Sooyoung fell through the eternal night. Bloody light formed reaching fingers of static as roiling clouds rushed forward to crush her. Yerim and Joohyun remained limp, hanging from her arms like dolls, unaware of the storm that raged around them. The bubble of golden Vis repelled Eodum’s attacks, deflecting lightning and breaking the oncoming waves of clouds. There was an unsettlingly calm silence within her orb of safety, the opposite of what Sooyoung’s senses told her should be happening. She should be deafened by the winds, tossed around and battered by the clouds, burned by the lightning. Instead she slipped safely through hell, unaware of even the speed at which she was falling.

Sooyoung noticed a presence, a silver glow burning somewhere far to her right. She recognized it; hadn’t Seulgi/Stardust given off the same color light? Sooyoung struggled against the pressure around her, tried to head toward that metallic glow. Keeping the bubble up around them was easy, but using it in conjunction with flying was anything but. It felt like she was trying to swim through Jell-O. The eternal night resisted her, and she fought for every inch of advancement, squirming, clutching Joohyun and Yerim at awkward angles to avoid dropping them. Grunting with exertion, Sooyoung was finally able to set herself to a spot more or less above Seulgi’s aura. She wasn’t even sure that directions were the same within the eternal night as they were on the planet’s surface, but she figured it was their best shot. Either they wound up somewhat close to where Seulgi was right now, or they landed in Bermuda and took a plane New Jersey.

Time was meaningless within the atmosphere of the eternal night; she’d learned that on her first encounter with it. So, when Sooyoung finally felt some type of upward drag against her shield, she assumed that they were close to the “floor” of the eternal night. Channeling a rush of Vis, she let out a grunt and threw herself against it, holding Joohyun and Yerim tightly as she struggled. She could feel her Vis becoming tired again, but the eternal night gave beneath her, and for a moment she felt as though she was floating in an empty sea.

The clouds parted, shards of smoky glass cascading around her like pieces of a broken mirror. Below, Caldwell and Main Ave’s campuses stretched were laid out before her like the miniature models she’d seen in Bristol Museum. Seulgi’s silver Vis burned at the center of the Main Ave campus, increasing in size and intensity; she was probably fighting something. Bridge Tower stuck out above everything else, covered in the eternal night’s smoke and lightning, melded with the sky by black fog. Sooyoung stared at it, transfixed by its terrible presence. The heart of madness, the dream-killer, the destroyer of planets. Geulim Ja. Something - maybe it was her shiny Vis, maybe it was just gut intuition - told her that Eodum had evolved, advanced by his conquering and consumption of countless planets and lives. Eodum was far more abstract, far more horrible, far more unstoppable than a simple black hole.

From behind her came a powerful breeze. It was filled with the infinite Vis of the Astral Plane, a palpable power that caught her attention as it washed over her body. Sooyoung felt it disperse across the planet, watched as several candle flames of Vis spiked in response. Just at the horizon, three separate hues flared like bonfires doused with lighter fluid: bursts of bright orange, dark blue, and glittery white.

Sooyoung allowed herself to land on one of Caldwell’s large, grassy lawns, then set Joohyun and Yerim down gingerly. They were still breathing, and no longer thrashed around, which were probably good signs.

Allowing her Vis and body to rest, Sooyoung looked up at the hole they’d somehow managed to tear through the eternal night. It was much larger in diameter than she initially thought; it had to encompass the entirety of Bristol’s campus, maybe even beyond that. Pale sunlight streamed through, painted by a rainbow of colors from an exposed section of the Astral Plane. At the edges of the circle, a sheen of droplets - the same tone of gold as Sooyoung’s Vis - formed a mist that gave the appearance of constantly falling rain. The eternal night attempted to cover the area up with more fog, but it seemed like the golden rain was preventing it from doing so.

“S-Sooyoung?” a tiny, confused voice said, causing Sooyoung to snap her head to the side. “Where are we?”

She crawled across the grass to Yeri’s side, took the blonde’s pixie face in her hands.

    “Hey,” Sooyoung whispered, leaning over and pressing their foreheads together. “We made it through. We’re on Earth.”

    “Good,” Joohyun said, sitting up. The black-haired Representation looked disoriented, but she managed to get to her feet without help. “We have to hurry and find the others. I fear that the situation is far worse than we expected.”

    Joohyun scanned the area around them, then turned and looked directly at Sooyoung.

    “Where is Jennifer?”

    Sooyoung swallowed the lump in and forced herself to meet Joohyun’s gaze.

    “She wasn’t close enough for me to grab hold of when Eodum attacked us,” Sooyoung said quietly. “I tried, but she fell in alone… I’m sorry, Joohyun.”

    Joohyun’s lips twitched downward imperceptibly, a brief flicker of hollowness coming over her eyes. Not a moment later, she pressed into a line and exhaled through her nostrils, steeling herself.

    “Then she is in my husband’s hands. The faster we purge him from this plane of existence, the sooner she can be freed,” Joohyun said, Vis gathering around her feet and hands. “We must waste no time.”

    Sooyoung paused. She wasn’t exactly shocked by how quickly Joohyun was able to regain her senses, but in light of Jennie’s uncertain fate, it was still impressive. Remembering her own rant about how selfish Joohyun was, she felt slightly ashamed. When it came to the people close to her, Joohyun showed the utmost dedication.

    “Yeri, how are you feeling?” Sooyoung asked, taking her angel’s hand.

    “I’ll be okay,” the blonde said, grasping Sooyoung’s arm, allowing herself to be pulled up. There was a surprising amount of strength there; Sooyoung barely had to help her.

    Sooyoung pulled the blonde to her chest, took a second to enjoy the feeling of embracing Yeri, then summoned a burst of Vis. Instead of using her golden Vis, she used the white energy stored in her earring. Now that the eternal night was broken, she could allow her golden Vis to recover. Picturing the vortex of darkness that the Bridge Tower had become, she firmly believed she’d need her new powers to be as close to one-hundred percent as possible.

    “When we were falling, I saw what I think was them, on Main Ave,” Sooyoung said, “I think I have a vague idea of where they are.”

    Joohyun nodded and formed swords in her hands. “Take us there. I’ll follow.”

    Sooyoung took off, feeling Yeri exuding her own Vis in order to bolster Sooyoung’s. There was a slow, uncertain moment where Sooyoung had to mentally switch gears to the “up and down”, momentum-based flight path of regular Vis. After a few seconds, the skill returned to her like muscle memory, and the three women made for Main Ave.

***

    Stardust disengaged with her tentacled foe, tucking her limbs and rolling violently in order to escape from him. She let out a burst of Vis in every direction around her, sending herself flying upward and out of reach, landing on her feet on the opposite end of the rooftop. She grinned in the novel sunlight, drew her second blade, and fell into an open, offensive stance.

    Cade spun, ignoring her, intent on his prey. He was met only with Seungwan’s swords. Solar and Moonbyul were a mixed dot of orange and blue in the distance, having fled into the sky the moment their Vis returned.

    Seungwan rushed Cade with a flurry of slashes, then somersaulted into the air and kicked him on the underside of his chin. The movement brought her backwards, and with an extra jet of Vis, she was able to land neatly beside Stardust.

    “That had to be Sooyoung,” Seulgi said, glancing up at the torn blanket of the eternal night. Shimmering Vis mingled with sun and starlight, glimpses of deep purple and bright azure visible at junctions where the Astral Plane met reality. A constant starfall drifted to the Earth, not quite snowflakes, not quite raindrops, kaleidoscopic specks that cleared the air of the eternal night’s haze.

    Cade turned his head slightly, regarding the two Representations behind him with a hateful glare.

    “Follow Moonbyul and Solar. Make sure he doesn’t catch up to them,” Stardust said out of the corner of . “Keep them safe.”

    Seungwan nodded, then charged Cade. The Sirdar hissed, tentacles shooting forward, catching empty air as Seungwan arced past him. With a growl, Cade kicked off the rooftop to follow, but was prevented from doing so as Stardust grabbed a handful of his tentacles and yanked him backward. Seulgi the tip of her blade downward, aimed at Cade’s face, but the Sirdar threw her off before the attack could connect.

    Before Stardust could react, Cade was gone, shooting across the sky on his collection of tendrils, following in Seungwan’s wake.

    Naturally, Stardust shot after them.

    Cade was fast and dogged; his focus was trained on Solar and Moonbyul, who took cover behind a set of historical buildings; Seulgi recognized the area as the northern end of Main Avenue. Seungwan paused above their landing point, blades drawn, bobbing up and down with calm readiness. Cade allowed himself to drift between Stardust and Seungwan.

    Seungwan has her Vis back, but that doesn’t mean we can beat Cade. Seulgi said as Stardust summoned her weapons.

    Stardust looked around. In the streets below, Eodum’s minions gathered, tiny dots of darkness interspersed with the larger, deformed shadows of Sirdar. Several of these - smaller than Cade, but equipped with similar tendrils - rose into the air. Their flight paths were ungainly, jerking around with erratic madness. As if they were unable to still themselves.

    Seulgi counted seven of them in all. Surely they weren’t as strong as Cade, but dealing with them at the same time as Eodum’s main Sirdar would be too much, even for both her and Seungwan.

    Well, Sooyoung better hurry up, then.

    A spasm of scarlet lightning speared the air, and Stardust twisted to avoid it. As she did, the Sirdar attacked.

***

    Sooyoung saw the battle from afar. Petals of silver and white fending off an onslaught of black and crimson. Lightning crashed from the eternal night’s clouds; Seungwan and Seulgi avoided the strikes as they fought, keeping a tight formation, revolving around an area between the two of them, as if they were protecting that specific location.

    “Joohyun!” Sooyoung cried behind her, shouting to be heard over the sound of the slipstream, “I’m going to get Yeri somewhere safe. I’ll meet up with you guys soon.”

    Joohyun nodded, an intense expression on her face, then sped away in a blur.

    Sooyoung found a church rooftop with a large spire at its front, one that provided sufficient cover to hide behind, if necessary.

    Yeri frowned as Sooyoung set her down. “I want to help, too.”

    Sooyoung kept one arm around Yeri’s hips, ran her unoccupied hand through the blonde’s hair. “And you can. Are you able to use your healing powers from this far away?”

    Yeri peeked over the spire, eyes narrowing as she judged their distance from the battle.

    “Yes, I could. It won’t be easy. I’ll need to concentrate hard.”

    Sooyoung smiled and kissed her angel on the forehead. “I know you can do it. Just keep an eye on us. If we get hurt, just heal us to the best of your abilities, okay?”

    Yeri nodded, turned her face up, and gave Sooyoung a kiss in return. “Be careful, please.”

    A shockwave shook the air, a great swell of energy that washed over Sooyoung, nearly making her stagger. She smiled as she held Yeri upright; they both knew the tone of that Vis well. Joohyun had joined the fray.

    “You know me, Yeri,” Sooyoung said, jogging over to the edge of the roof, “I’m always careful.”

    Anticipation - bordering on excitement - tingled throughout Sooyoung’s body. It felt inappropriate to her, but she couldn’t help herself. After everything Cade had put her and Yeri through, she finally had the chance to get back at him.

***

    Seulgi Stardust, Seungwan, and Joohyun tore through the Sirdar. They moved as a single unit, like six blades controlled by the same swordswoman. Joohyun took the role of defense, keeping their enemies away from Solar and Moobyul, throwing the battered Sirdar toward Seungwan and Stardust, who engaged them with gusto. Cade buzzed around like an errant wasp, attempting to get strikes in at different intervals, but each time he approached, at least two of the women were there to beat him away.

    Seulgi felt a wash of warmth come over her as she watched her beautiful, raven-haired Joohyun. An elegant dancer of the skies, cloaked in a spotless white shift, wearing a mixed expression of furious passion and measured calm. Seulgi hadn’t realized how much she missed the Representation; seeing Joohyun was akin to standing in a summer thunderstorm, hot raindrops soaking her body, a cleansing torrent that washed away the grime of stress, leaving her bare to-

    Focus, Seulgi! Stardust growled internally, parrying one of the Sirdar’s tendril strikes, Your thoughts are bleeding into mine!

    Seulgi felt her metaphysical face grow warm. . Sorry.

    Stardust huffed, somersaulted to dodge a lightning bolt, then used her sword to block a strike that would have connected with Seungwan. The two Representations met each other’s eyes for a moment, shared wild grins, then threw themselves at their foe.

    This Sirdar, a woman with tendrils squirming from every orifice on her head, backed up and tried to escape, but she was too slow. A slice across the chest from Seungwan, a knee to the abdomen from Stardust, and then - in an unexpected, but welcome move - a diagonal slash down her neck from Joohyun. The monster dropped in three separate pieces.

    The six remaining Sirdar hesitated, as if shocked by their comrade’s fate. Cade had no such doubts; he raised a skeletal hand, and three bolts of red lightning descended from the sky.

    A shield of golden energy appeared above them, deflecting the electricity up into the clouds. At the shield’s edge was a slim, baby-faced woman, bright yellow aura surrounding her, hair whipping behind her, giving her the appearance of a goddess.

    “Sooyoung!” Seulgi Stardust called out, warding off two of the Sirdar with her blades, “Glad you decided to join the party!”

    With a roguish grin, Sooyoung joined their defensive formation, turning the triangle of their bodies into a square.

    Seungwan and Joohyun exchanged a meaningful look, shot into opposing directions. With wide, sweeping cuts, they each managed to engage three of the Sirdar at once. Their flight paths became wildly intricate, difficult even for Stardust to track, serving to trap their chosen targets within a tandem assault of figure-eights and loops and twists.

    Cade growled, summoned lightning in order to try and strike them down, missed terribly. In any case, he was only able to get a single attack out before Sooyoung and Stardust were on him.

    Stardust hadn’t expected her and Sooyoung’s fighting styles to align so well. On a basic level, they were vastly different. Sooyoung fought like a wrestler and a brawler, using her physical superiority to put her opponents in positions where she could gain the advantage, beat them into submission. Stardust was a duelist, using her speed and evasiveness to land exact, devastating strikes that served to end her foe as swiftly as possible.

    Brute force and tactical precision simply shouldn’t have worked together so well. But in the context of these two Representations, one of silver and one of gold, they were the perfect combination.

    The two metallic colors combined as they fought, forming a colorless luminosity that shook the air, seismic eruptions that caused the clouds to bend away further, widening the hole that had formed in the eternal night. Radiant Vis rained down like waterfalls of ichor. When Eodum’s minions were touched by it, they screamed, their shadowed bodies melting away beneath the liquid energy, leaving only the remnants of their once-mortal corpses, finally allowed to accept the restful embrace of death.

Sooyoung grabbed an armful of Cade’s tendrils and tore them from his body, creating an opening. Stardust stabbed him in the side, piercing his ribs. He raised his left hand, tried to summon lightning, was stopped as Sooyoung punched him in the throat. As he doubled over, clutching his windpipe, Stardust delivered a spinning kick to the exact spot where she’d stabbed him. He released a caw of agony that was stifled as Sooyoung met his face with a wide, momentum-driven swing, sending him tumbling toward the earth.

With a grunt of rage, Sooyoung shot after him.

Quickly, Seulgi checked on Joohyun and Seungwan. She turned just in time to see Joohyun struck in the midsection by a lightning bolt. Seulgi’s heart dropped, but even as Joohyun reeled from the pain, the black, smoking burn mark began to rapidly fade away. Seulgi swiveled, tracking a retreating stream of Vis that had briefly connected to her lover. The white thread was hardly visible, even to Seulgi’s enhanced eyes, but she traced it to its source: a church about two blocks up the street. Seulgi smiled as she caught a glimpse of the crown of Yerim’s blonde head.

Seungwan and Joohyun had already slayed three of their opponents, and the others were growing desperate. With Yerim providing them backup, Seulgi Stardust was reassured.

She went to join Sooyoung.

***

    Sooyoung drove Cade’s face into the pavement, pushing against him with every bit of strength she had, propelling them down Main Ave. A savage roar escaped from her, a noise that she’d never heard come from her own lips, a noise of hate and anger and catharsis. Chunks of cement and blacktop spurted up around them, the monsters’ screams muffled by the sound of falling debris. They left a rut of empty, upturned road in their wake.

    Sooyoung could feel her Vis becoming exhausted, but she didn’t care. She knew that she was being cruel, knew that she should just end it already, but her body seemed to act of its own accord. She was driven by hatred and a desire for revenge. Cade had led the army of evil that came to destroy her home. He’d stolen Yeri from her. He’d made her feel so vulnerable, so scared, so… powerless. Just like that horrible day, eight years ago.

    But the circumstances had changed. She was the one with the power now. It had come way too late to save her family - and for that she would always be regretful - but they were dead and buried, losses that she’d come to terms with. Memories that still brought her great pain, memories that had become part of who she was, allowed her to focus on the things she did have control over. The things that she could save now. It wasn’t too late to save the planet, to save the ones closest to her now.

    A burst of golden Vis encapsulated her body, and she finally released Cade, just at the end of Main Avenue. She looked down at the Sirdar; he twitched uselessly in a pile of rubble, the entire left side of his body reduced to black ooze, his right side broken and twisted at odd angles.

    Sooyoung wiped tears from her face, only then realizing that she’d been crying.

***

Stardust allowed herself to relax as she landed beside the ruined Sirdar. Sooyoung stood nearby, panting, face flushed with anger and exertion. There was a grim - if a bit ashamed - expression on her face.

Sooyoung stepped toward Cade and raised a Vis-swathed fist, but Stardust stopped her with an outstretched arm.

What are you doing? Seulgi demanded.

Stardust ignored her. “Don’t you understand, Eodum? I thought it would have been clear to you by now.”

Despite the damage he’d taken, Cade still tried to stand, the stump of his left leg thrashing about uselessly, sending droplets of liquid night flying all around him. His tendrils slapped the concrete, unable to regrow.

Stardust crouched before their defeated enemy, and he tried to snap at her with his teeth. She swung, struck him on the underside of his jaw, left it so unhinged that he was unable to move it.

“We’re the Chosen Ones, you old fool. By assaulting this planet, you’ve finally doomed yourself. How does it feel?” Stardust leaned in further, grabbed Cade’s face and forced him to look at her. “Does a being like yourself even feel fear?”

Cade continued to writhe, singular intact eye locked on Stardust. The hate in that eye might have made a lesser woman turn away.

“Just do it,” Sooyoung said, sounding pained. She placed a hand on Seulgi’s shoulder. “Please.”

Stardust nodded and raised her blade. “I will see you in the Barathrum, Cade.”

As the sword came down, Cade raised a hand. Stardust cut through the arm, found the Sirdar’s neck, and ended his life. His head rolled from his body, thrown into an odd shade by a scarlet flash in the sky.

From somewhere to the south came two screams, so close in tone that they became one. They were the piercing, shocked, contrary screams of individuals that had been visited by Lady Death at a time when they least expected it.

Oh… no, Seulgi whispered internally.

Stardust felt herself grow cold. Those screams could only have belonged to Solar and Moonbyul.

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That OT5 vs. Cade and the Sirdar scene was really fun to write. I feel like Stardust and Sooyoung fighting with Cade individually went a bit too quickly, but I feel like it better conveyed just how utterly outmatched he was. There was literally 0% chance for him to come out on top in that situation. 

Because I love leaving you guys with cliffhangers, the next chapter will be "Jennie's Interlude"...

Thanks for reading, and make sure to upvote and comment if you liked the story!