Final Chapter - Kai, The Boundless Daemen

Kai held Yin by her hoodie as he darted towards the stage. He tossed her down as he landed gracefully on his feet. She grunted in pain as she regained her reflexes. When she got back on her feet, her back was facing him instead of her front.

“That was quite the Crux you had there: the Winged Horse that the might Hercules once fought alongside with,” he mused.

"What are you going to do about it?" she put up the tough front.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about it? It's your Crux, but I can't help it when your forgotten abilities are so desirable to the Daemens, you know?"

Yin couldn’t dare to move a muscle. It was confusing because she was internally trembling in fear and yet entranced by his presence. She heard his footsteps until he was standing a inch away from her.

It was like her dream all over again - the captivating demeanor and the warm breath brushing her neck. She was about to draw her fist but Kai’s hand was quicker when he held her wrist in a firm grip.

“Don’t resist,” he whispered.

He enclosed his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his chest. The Daemen energy emitting from him was suffocating her. Before he was about to kiss her neck, she whipped her head around to meet his dark gaze and his marked face. Her head started to sting again and she squeezed her eyes together.

She saw herself about to enter a portal and someone stopped her from going by herself. 

“Why do you want to come with me?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“Then don’t come.”

She was yanked into his arms while he said, “I don’t know what you did to me, Ja Young but I can’t bear to risk losing you.”

“Do what you want, but don’t be a reckless idiot.”

Yin snapped out of her memories and swung herself around to land a hit on Kai. He teleported a few meters back. 

‘Her strength increased.’ Kai scowled.

As Yin took her battle stance, she thought to herself, ‘I don’t know what this means but he shouldn’t be my enemy. Something isn’t right.’

"What do you know about me? And what do you want?" she demanded.

"Maybe I know you; maybe I don't," he mysteriously stated, "Maybe I want you; maybe I don't. Heck I'm not even sure you're the person I'm supposed to eliminate. You barely have any Argentic power running through you, so it might not even be worth taking when you're still mostly human."

When he disappeared and teleported behind her in attempt to restrain her, she tried to block before he could attack.

"But for some reason, I still want you."

However, he was stopped in mid-air and Yin heard someone wheezing from the house.

It was Lu Han with her possessions. He threw her sword and the pouch containing the Origin Runes before releasing Kai. He ran and used a flying kick. Yin caught her weapons after jumping off the stage and onto one of the seats.

Lu Han called out, “I’ll handle him. You go and find what you are looking for.”

Yin firmly nodded and ran out of the main hall and into the corridors. Kai tossed off his sparkling blue jacket into the orchestra pit and cracked his knuckles. He was already sweating on his exposed chest of the low cut shirt. Lu Han spotted a black pearl merged with his flesh and started to concentrate before reaching his limits. He knew he needed to buy as much time he can for her. Kai broke into a charge as well as Lu Han. They unleashed their own battle cry and clashed their energy together.

Yin didn’t stop to rest or to be distracted, knowing that she couldn't summon Pegasus on the same day twice in a row. She wouldn't have enough stamina to sustain another summoning. She had no idea of the mapping structure of the building so she could only follow the resonances of the Runes. She took out the Rune of Time and studied its pulsing. 

When she reached the last passage, nothing was there except for two rows of armored statues, each with five statues to name. The Runes were vibrating uncontrollably but she couldn’t see the one she needed to retrieve. When she ran through the long hallway, she stopped to realize that she was walking into a deadly trap. One by one, the statues turned their heads towards her. Yin staggered back when they moved their arms and legs. On their plates, an eye opened. She prepared a fist and landed the blow onto the nearest statue.

Despite her best efforts, only a crack formed and the enemy swung its axe in attempt to decapacitate her.

Lu Han slid on the floor, wincing from a vital attack in the abdomen. Kai stopped for a moment and mused, “It seems your little friend just ran into my new friends. She should be proud to be the first guinea pig for slaughter.”

The telekinetic user coughed and retorted, “Don’t underestimate her, Kai. You're not who you think you are!”

“Like you, the enemy also knows what her goals are. She’s trying to gather all the Origin Runes before the solar eclipse. It’s impossible because her Argentic abilities are barely noticeable.”

“Don't do this, Kai! I don't want to kill you even if there wouldn't be a way to!”

“I’d like to see you try.” He taunted. Lu Han stood up and began to perform a new technique he developed. He summoned thin hair-like energy threads from his telekinesis. He mentally commanded them to wrap themselves around his arm and his waist.

“Telekinesis Secrets: Puppet Master,” he introduced his creation. Kai raised an eyebrow, amused and excited.

“Interesting.” He sadistically chuckled and launched another attack while Lu Han did the same.

Yin narrowly escaped the statue’s swing but she was cut across her forehead, making it bleed heavily. With no choice, she pulled off the large hoodie and tossed it on one of the enemy’s head. She ripped the glove and bandages off her arm and tore off the sleeve. She equipped the Rune of Time into the Origin Arm and the gaps began to glow purple.

She released the Rune’s flow of energy to stop time for only a few seconds. She hurdled over the frozen statues until she reached the dead end. She tried to feel anything that she could trigger until she accidentally leaned against the display case. The part of the wall revolved around, taking her to the other side causing her to roll and collide with the cabinet inside the hidden chamber.

Shaking her head, she blocked a blinding navy light from in front of her. She quickly removed the Rune of Time from her hand and gripped on the Rune embedded on a trophy. Like the experience she remembered from the mountain cave, the power of the Rune initially resisted her arm from taking it. There was no colour transferring into her Origin arm, so she tried harder. The symbol was a pyramid with a circular swirl inside. She remembered the sage being on top of that same symbol, which was the power of teleportation. 

The revolving passage gate broke down behind her with all ten statues ready to fight her again, but the Rune finally tore itself off from the trophy. When it was automatically inserted into the back of her palm. She snapped her fingers to teleport back to the house before the blade could slice her. The statue that swung its axe only hit the case and destroyed it, puzzled to see that the enemy was nowhere to be found.

Lu Han was reaching his limit. Kai was too strong for him to prevent himself from killing him. He was trained for honorable fights but not for retrieving an old friend. His Puppet Master technique wore off seconds ago and he could barely move from his spot. If only he could reach to his right arm and summon his Crux, but he no longer had the strength to move again. His arm and abdomen have already been injured and unusable.

“It’s over.” Kai said as he raised his hand. He stopped his sentence mid-way when he was knocked to the side by an iron fist that made a loud thud when it came in contact. Lu Han opened his eyes and warily raised his head. The first thing he saw was the Origin Arm. Inside of the back of the hand was the Origin Rune of Teleportation. His mind went blank as he pieced everything together.

“Hong Ja Young? It can't be! It's impossible!”

Yin didn’t answer back and Lu Han began to understand her situation while she held her sword in front of her, preparing for combat. Kai didn’t have enough time to regain his footing when she danced with her blade. He teleported behind her but she was just as quick to use the power of the Rune to teleport into a different position and intercept him.

‘She’s fast. What happened?’ He was underestimating Yin the entire time and he regret it to his bones. She landed anther punch on his chest, inches away from the pearl. Kai covered it with his hand. She took the hint and hypothesized that the pearl was his weak point. He was about to retreat but she beat him to it with her borrowed abilities. She dropped her kick onto his stomach. While he was falling, she reached for his pearl and forcefully pulled it out of his chest.

"Stop it!"

Kai let out an ear-piercing scream that was combined with a piece of the Great Daemen Spirit. The black smoke evaporated from his body and his markings faded away into ashes. The spirit bulleted towards Yin but she slashed the face with her sword. When the debris cleared up, she crushed the pearl in her hand and let it crumble to the ground.

She ejected the Rune of Teleportation and tucked it into her pouch, catching Kai’s unconscious body in her arms just before he could hit the floor. When their skins made contact, she felt a very tingling feeling that made her want to flinch away. 

Lu Han limped towards them and thought to himself that Zhang Yin was just an illusion, a mirror of her true identity that had been sealed away. Hong Ja Young was revived and alive but not completely. She lost a very important part of herself and yet she tried to fight against her former fate anyway. She had the bare minimum of her memory including from when she was born, along with when she first had her abilities until she was nearly killed by the enemy. It was indeed a miracle, but it was also a very complicated dilemma.

Yin brushed some of Kai’s hair from his unconscious face and asked, “Who are you?” Without knowing, her tears started to fall and stream down her cheeks and land on his. But, could it really be Zhang Yin's tears or actually Hong Ja Young's tears? 

Was it the tamed and valiant warrior that Master Huang Zi Tao had trained vigorously, or was it the tough and complex teenager that longed for her twin sister's life?