“I’m feeling it, I’m feeling it in me!”, said Yuqi’s lookalike from one corner. She put her hands out to create a small spiral of wind, directing it towards Yeosang, who was still determined to crack the crystal.

Yeosang could feel the strength in his body fade away with every passing second, and just as he thought he gathered a strong frequency of vibration to fully shatter the crystal, there was an overwhelming sense of emptiness within him. “Damn it!”

But there was no time to spare. As Yeosang moved away from his position to look at the small gathering by the black box, he was relieved to see the doppelgangers take the situation into their own hands.

After what felt like daunting hours of lifelessness, Kai was finally awake, although a little disoriented with the sudden change in events. He had a rather confused expression plastered on his face as he tried to keep up with all the explanations being thrown at him, but he couldn’t help but peer up to look at the mysterious creature in the gloomy background. He saw how the giantess withered and whimpered in her place, constant slashes and attacks being thrown one after another. Suddenly, it was clear to him just how insanely skilled the true wielders of the powers were, compared to him and his friends.

“You guys need to stay back!”, a voice warned amidst the loud chaos. There was no way to identify who it came from, not when it was dark and not when everyone sounded frightened with their voices hoarse.

Kai gently pushed away Taehyun and Soobin’s hands, pulling himself together and taking a bold step forward. His body could barely stand on its own, but with his arms spread out, he could maintain some form of balance. He then felt a strong grip on his shoulder, so he stopped his feet and chose to stare at the battle in front of him.

“Is that… That’s me…”, he muttered in a quiet voice as he spotted his lookalike – although in a much drastically different style and somewhat taller – throwing variously shaped flames and crackling fire towards the giantess. He then noticed how the gust of wind was almost as strong as a tornado, circling around the massive creature.

“The fire and the water are going to-”

He saved himself a second as he saw how the wave of water cleverly diverged away from the fire. If he wasn’t on the verge of falling to his knees, starved and exhausted, he would’ve actually enjoyed the sight of such bright and vivid colours hitting a purple canvas.

“Kai, please talk to us. Are you okay? Drink some water, please. We should have at least some snacks left with us. Besides, I think we can go home very soon, so we can definitely feast now.”

The youngest paid attention to Soobin’s words and even put out his hand to take the last granola bar, but his eyes remained fixated on the creature. “What’s happening? Who are those people?” The thirst in his throat could not be satisfied through the warm water from the bottle.

He felt cold.

“You’re not listening to us, Kai, look at me.” Yeonjun forcefully turned the younger to face him. He then repeated his words from earlier, “There are people from another world on this platform, okay? Doppelgangers, a different version of us, and the powers that we had? It’s theirs, although not rightfully… Anyways, my point is-”

“Move aside!”

That voice was easily recognisable – loud and sharp and just enough to grab everyone’s attention. It was obvious to them that Kai’s lookalike was objectively the strongest out of them all, clearly having mastered the full potential of the powers.

It then dawned upon the team why their own Kai was burdened with massive strength and constant vulnerability to exhaustion and danger.

When the intention is not to escape, surely, danger follows power.

Immediately, Kai felt weightless, his body supported between two much stronger figures. With his feet barely touching the ground, he let himself be carried past the length of the black box and over the cluster of broken blocks of concrete. He then looked over his shoulder to see Jisung, Felix and Soyeon pushing the black box in the direction that he himself was heading in. He wondered if the others had figured out what was in the box.

“What’s in the-”

A loud crash halted his speech, and he flinched instead.