~CHAPTER 62~

“Achoo!” Kris sneezed while in the midst of a battle. He was already exhausted. Just how many are they?! He covered his body with scales when the assassins started to attack again. He noticed how some of them looked different. By different, he means- they don’t get hurt even if he used his full strength. Though, he wasn’t as strong as D.O., he can destroy a 5meter-thick wall. “Tsk.”

He was near his limit. He was panting. After a few minutes, his vision was blurry. Fighting these 20 “humanoids” (he named them) and 50 assassins was not easy. “Just a little mo-“ His body was ready to fall when he heard a voice.

“Need some help?” Kai smirked at Kris.

“What took you so long? Psh.” Kris muttered under his breath. Kai rolled his eyes and laid Kris' back on a tree before he started fighting. Lay came to his aid. “I knew it was your clothes.” Lay smiled showing his dimples.

“It’s good that I wore a shirt under or else I’ll be half-.” Kris joked.

D.O. held two humanoids by their necks and turned like a tornado. He threw their bodies towards the upcoming assassins. They fell hard. “Is that all you’ve got?!” He shouted. His eyes widened when the two humanoids he just threw stood up as if nothing happened. “What the?!”

“D.O. they don’t feel anything” Kris said to warn him. “It’s better if you remove the heads from the body. But it was not that easy either.” Kris continued.

“Oh~” D.O. nodded slowly. “You should have said so, hyung!” He grinned and lunged towards the two humanoids. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared before his eyes. “Where are they?! Aish!”

“Above you!” Kai shouted but it was late. They managed to hit D.O’s arms with their feet. Luckily, it was only his arm. It was painful but it was not broken. “Now you make me mad.” D.O. glared at the humanoids who just tilted their heads. “You’ve got strength and a little bit of reflex but you have no feelings.... That is your weakness!” He closed his hands and his eyes turned the shade of hazel brown. Large spikes of stone popped up from the ground and pierced to the bodies of the humanoids but their heads and limbs were still moving.. “Now you’re trap.” He smirked. “No feelings, eh?” He held their heads and ripped them off easily. “Never EVER mess with Daeji’s man!” He punched his arm on the air as a sign of victory.

Meanwhile, Kai and Suho were standing back-to-back. Two humanoids with some assassins were surrounding them. “How many can you handle, hyung?” Kai asked while raising his brows.

Suho smirked back while flexing his neck. “More than what you can handle.” He was fired up. In a glimpse of an eye, they lunged and killed the assassins. Suho kicked and broke the ribs of some assassins. He wasn’t able to use his powers since he was saving it for later. Kai, on the other hand, teleported here and there. He was fooling around with them. But it was until one of the humanoids kicked his side. He flew to towards a tree but fortunately, he teleported in a distance.

Kai cursed while holding his side. “You didn’t just do that!” He hissed and wiped the blood off his mouth. He stood up and teleported again. In a second, he appeared behind the humanoid and managed to punch his back. The enemy moved a few meters away but when it turned, it looked like it didn’t feel anything. Kai cracked his knuckles. “Not good enough?” He ran towards the enemy.

After defeating the assassins, Suho stood there staring at the humanoid in front of him. He was thinking how he can defeat this “zombie”. He blinked before his expression darkened. He just thought of an idea. “You have water in your body right?” He asked. The humanoid tilted his head interpreting his words. “Let’s try this, shall we?” He narrowed his eyes and in a glimpse of an eye, water come out from the humanoid’s mouth. Suho smirked and created a sharp slicer. He used it to slash its head off. The humanoid’s body and head fell apart from each other. “too easy.”

“Hyung, Kai is troubled~” D.O. called Suho. He was sitting on a log while leaning his head on his hands.

“He can finish it.” Suho walked around the bodies of the assassins. He was searching for an alive one- if there was any. “Luhan, got any luck?” He asked him who was standing by the tree. He was concentrating. Luhan was silent.

“Luhan?” Suho stepped in front of him waiting for a reply. His eyes opened and his expression told Suho that it was not good.

“They’re coming.” Luhan told everybody before looking around the forest. Kai gripped on the lifeless humanoid’s neck. “Who’s coming?”

“Hana and Daeji.”

Kai’s gripped loosened making the body fell on the ground. “You gotta be kidding.”

Kai was glaring at Hana who was doing the same. The atmosphere was tensed. Kris, Lay, Luhan and Suho chose to wait on a side. Kris was obviously clueless of what was happening.

D.O. clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. “I can’t believe you tricked me.” He searched for the tracker on his clothes and when he found it, he threw it on the ground and crashed it to pieces.

“Yah, I wasn’t planning on going now but things changed.” Daeji raised her head at Hana.

“I thought I made things clear.” Kai hissed at her. Hana’s glare turned to a normal stare. She knew he was just putting up an act. She sighed and stepped in front of Kai. Kai blinked. Her hands were now cupping his cheek.

“Kai, babo.” She said in the most hurting tone. “Babo.babo.babo.”

Kai felt like his heart was being squeezed. He knew that maybe Daeji has given her the letter. His eyes were teary. “I-“

Hana smiled painfully. “I’m sorry.” She looked down. Seeing his face full of pain, she felt her heart sank. She couldn’t look at his eyes. Kai closed them and removed her hands from her face before pulling her into a hug. Kris raised his brows surprised of the things happening.

“I should be the one saying that...” He tightened the hug and leaned his chin on top of her head.

Hana gripped on his shirt and inhaled Kai’s scent. She will miss the old times because right now, she knew it will never be the same. A tear fell from his eye. Kai treasured this moment. This might be his last. 

The two just stayed in their position letting silence surround them. Kris’s heart was sinking. He didn’t know why but watching from afar made him feel that he lost a battle for the world. *What’s going on, really?* Lay and Suho watched his expression. They sighed. *If only you open your eyes...* They thought.

It was already nighttime so they decided to take some rest. They were surrounding a bonfire. Lay was cooking a soup. Luckily, he brought foods.

After eating, they prepared their improvised beds- banana leaves and some large grasses. “Comfy~” Hana said while patting her bed. She glanced at the guys who were already sitting on their beds. Daeji was sitting beside D.O. She was apologizing and D.O. was pretending he didn’t care. Hana rolled her eyes.

“Hey guys, where are the others?” Hana asked them. Suho looked at Kris.

“We decided to separate because we thought it will be easier that way.” Suho replied while drinking some water.

Kai sniffed and rubbed his nose. “I was thinking about something.” Everyone’s attention was on him. “Why did we fight with the assassins?”

Hana raised her brows. “Because you need to?”

Kai clicked his tongue. “Aish. Yah, not it that way.” He sighed. “What I mean is, we divided because we thought that they can remove the obstacles, but the odd thing that happened, we still encountered those enemies.”

“Oh”

Kris looked at Luhan. He was in deep thought.

“Then, maybe they chose a different path.” Hana tapped her chin. “It’s possible. This place is huge.”

Kai blinked a few times. He hoped that his hunch wasn’t right.

The next day, the group woke up early and decided to continue on their way.

“We’re near.” Luhan said after slashing some grasses. We trailed before him watching carefully.

After a few minutes, we arrived in front of a huge building with a huge door.

“Whoa~ It’s ginormous!” I exclaimed as I looked up. I could see a huge tower from afar. Kris flew into the air to observe the place. His eyes widened when he saw how it looked.

“What can you see?” Suho shouted at him. Kris landed. “It’s a huge pentagon.” *But with those things, I can feel that something will happen.*

I approached the huge door. It has a huge number four sign in it-just like my dream. “This symbol.”I touched the door and it opened.

“Whoa~” We chorused. It was dark and I could feel and evil aura emanating from it. I looked at Kris who was beside me. He nodded and held my hand making me smile.

“Let’s go.” Luhan led the way.

I don’t know how long we are walking around the place. We always got a dead-end. Yes, this place was a labyrinth.

“Another dead-end.” Kai muttered while messing his hair. He sat on his knees. “Luhan, where next?” He hissed.

Luhan bit the inside of his cheek. He looked hesitant at one moment.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked him. He looked startled. Then, he just shook his head. “Let’s try this way.” He led another way.

After trying many times, we were able to pass the labyrinth. Now, we’re facing four large doors.

“Does this mean we’re going to split up?” I asked them. They looked at each other before nodding. I sighed.

“Lay and I will go to the first one.” Suho-oppa pointed at the dark blue door. Daeji and D.O nodded at each other. “Second one.” They went in front of the large red-violet door.

“Luhan and I on this one.” Kai said while looking at the dark green door. I looked up at Kris. “Then, that leaves us the red one.” I looked at the third door.

“Guys, before we enter this door, I just want you all to know that this will not be the end.” He eyed each one of us. “Whatever awaits us inside, let’s promise that we’ll fulfill this mission.”

“Neh.” I smiled while placing a hand at the center. “We will return.”

Daeji and D.O. placed theirs on top of mine. “safely.” The other guys placed their hands too. “Together.” Kris said.

And just like that, we went to our own paths.

Suho’s expression darkened when he saw what awaits them. “Chen and Xiumin. What’s the meaning of this?” Chen and Xiumin who were sitting casually on the center floor of the place smirked at them.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Chen glanced at Xiumin. Lay narrowed his eyes.

“We’re playing....to death.” Xiumin touched the water surrounding the center floor and it turned ice. “Shall we begin?”

“Are we in some kind of survival movie?” Daeji placed her hands on her waist. “Gosh, midnight assassins are so lame!”

D.O. rolled his eyes before gazing at the land ruins. They were surrounded by tall lands and the path in front of them was divided.

“I’ll take the right.” Daeji started walking leaving D.O. behind.

“Then, that leaves me the obvious left.” He just shrugged.

“Kyungsoo! Be careful!” Daeji shouted even if he can’t see her. D.O. nodded. “That’s the cue.” He needs to be careful or else she will beat his every bone if doesn’t come back.

“Kris, um...why are you holding my hand?” I asked him awkwardly. He was holding onto it ever since we entered this huge hall. “I’m not going to be lost you know.” I joked but he walked quietly.

“What’s going on between you and Kai?” He asked me. I raised my brows.

“Huh? Nothing-“ And then, it started to sink in. *He noticed?* “W-why are you asking?”

He stopped and looked at me. “Forget it.” He looked away.

I held his arm. “Eh?! Y-Yah! Don’t tell me-“ I was cut off when I saw his expression. He was gritting his teeth. I turned my attention at what’s in front of us. My eyes widened. “Chanyeol?!”

He was standing from afar.

“Chanyeol!” I beamed and ran towards him but a hand stopped me. I looked back and saw Kris shaking his head. “Huh?” In a glimpse of an eye, Kris was already hugging me. His body was covered with scales. And then, raging flame hit his back. My jaw dropped.

After the fire was gone, I pushed Kris to talk to Chanyeol. “Chanyeol, why di-“

His eyes were showing no mercy. He looked like a fierce beast that was ready to do anything to his prey.  I stepped back because I realized I was the prey.

Kai and Luhan were walking quietly. They stopped on their tracks when they saw a figure in front of them.

“Sehun?” Kai asked and Sehun turned. He had a blank expression.

“I’m sorry about this, Kai-hyung...” He narrowed his green-glowing eyes and then a fast wind slashed through Kai’s body. Blood started to cover his body as he fell on the cold ground.

“OH SEHUN!” Kai hissed in pain. He was going to charge at Sehun but was stopped when Luhan stepped in front.

“I’m sorry Kai.” Luhan looked at him and he flew across the room. “But this is between me and Sehun.”

Jiyoung sat beside the man in cloak who was watching the monitors. “You seem to be enjoying this, Master.”

“What are you still doing here, Jiyoung?” The Master glanced at her. “Done packing for the States?”

“Yeah.” She replied after looking at her nails. “I should take my leave now. I’ll see you later Master.” Jiyoung left while the Master continued to watch the screen.