[A/N: Are you gusy ready for duizhang's return? Badass chapter ahead!

the battle is ending soon....]

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Chapter 87

Baekhyun and Suho paled at the sight they had just witnessed. Cheonji almost stopped breathing. Strife basically glared at the new person in sight.

Kris’ eyes widened as he felt his right cheek burning. Cheonsa’s slap almost shook the soul inside of him. He looked up to meet Cheonsa’s eyes filled with pain and just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, she pulled him to her embrace.

“What is hurting you?” Cheonsa whispered as Kris’ chin rested on her shoulders.

Strife had to act fast. He growled as he increased the gravity that pulls everyone by tenfolds. Baekhyun cursed as he felt his legs giving in and he knew that he would suffer a great fall if he gave in to the gravitational pull. Suho’s physique was being crushed against the ground and Cheonji was already screaming in pain. Lay was still panting from all the running when he felt his body being by the soils below him.

Kris and Cheonsa felt their lower bodies and upper bodies being pulled from different directions. The gravitational pull was so strong that their ears were being blocked by what seemed like turbulence caused by a freefall. But Cheonsa knew she couldn’t give up – not when Kris needed help.

“WHAT IS HURTING YOU? TELL ME AND I’LL MAKE IT GO AWAY!”

Cheonsa felt no response so she shouted louder.

“LET ME HELP YOU! AM I NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT’S INSIDE OF YOU?”

Kris mentally cursed himself.

“WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

Despite all the pain she was feeling all over her body right now, she still managed to smile. The ground below them started forming craters.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! I DON’T KNOW WHO I SHOULD PROTECT! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO I REALLY AM!”

“STOP BEING SO CONFUSED! I DON’T SEE WHY YOU SHOULD BE! YOU’RE KRIS! YOU’RE KRIS AND NO ONE ELSE! YOU CAME HERE AS KRIS AND I’M NOT ABOUT TO LET YOU TURN INTO SOMEONE ELSE I PROBABLY WON’T RECOGNIZE ANYMORE!” Cheonsa cried as Kris started heaving his shoulders up and down – almost close to tears again.

In front of Cheonsa right now, was not EXO’s leader. He wasn’t the holder of the power of flight either. He wasn’t that ‘Mr. I’m Always Composed’ person she first came to know. He was but a young man, who needed help. He was a normal person who also felt pain, confusion, anger and above all, he also needed guidance. All this time, Kris had been the one holding everyone together – despite the fact that he, too, was breaking inside. He had never let anyone in before; he only trusted a few people and he always burdened himself with making the biggest and hardest decisions. But it was alright for her. She had been longing to see that face she could fill, so that she could prove that not only her – but all of the members indeed fit with him. That they indeed need each other. And she was about to prove that.

Cheonsa pushed Kris lightly away from her as she wanted to cup his face. She stared at him in the eyes.

“Shh”

Kris’ features were now so soft that Cheonsa’s heart ached and rejoiced at the same time. He was hurting but it was a turning point in his character.

“Listen to me. Don’t think of anything else. Instead, try to see what your heart holds. There’s a picture that will appear there – and whatever that picture is, it’s the truth. It’s what you cherish the most. And it’s what you need to protect. You told me once, that it’s hard to believe something you cannot see and feel, even if everyone around you tells you it’s true. You told me once as well, that you firmly believe that what your eyes can see and what your heart can feel -  is what you believe to be of value right now. Can you not remember, Kris? The time you told me that you value me not because I have the seed inside of me, but because you see me as a person”

Kris’ eyes slowly beamed with life once again.

“What you have right now – it’s what you see right? You can’t see what you had before. Whatever happened before, it happened for a reason. What came into your life right now, also came for a reason. Hold on to that”

Kris nodded weakly.

“Kris...remember what I told you before? I’ll do what I think is the best thing for me to do – even if it will end up being wrong or even if I will get hurt in the end…because I don’t want to have regrets. No matter what happens, hold on to your fear of regrets. That way, you’ll know what to do so you won’t feel that awful feeling anymore. Now, you choose”

The leader of EXO nodded as he finally figured out what he had to do. For the first time, Kris’ eyes only gleamed with certainty. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was freed from all burdens. And for the first time in his life, he was making a decision not only by himself. Kris was about to close the gap between him and Cheonsa when the next set of events changed his mood once again.

Strife let go of his hold on gravity, in swift motion, he picked up Kris’ sword and he pulled Cheonsa by the hair. Before anyone else could react, he stabbed the young woman that his son cherished the most – in front of his very eyes.

“K-Kris…” Cheonsa fell on the ground weakly. Baekhyun paled while tears fell from Suho’s eyes. Cheonji cried her name loud while Lay struggled to wake up his legs and run towards Cheonsa.

“You are a traitor! A disgrace to our kind! A powerless Earthling could affect your whole being, how awfully weak!” Strife hissed as he swung the sword up in the air again, ready to attack Kris this time. But before he could do so, Kris’ eyes changed coulour once again and he swiftly snatched the sword out of his father’s grasp. With gritted teeth, Kris swung and twisted sword before he strucked in into the ground below him. The temperature dropped as a ferocious dragon materialized behind Kris. It roared so loud that everyone was blown away, including Baekhyun, Lay, Suho, Cheonji and Cheonsa – whose consciousness was almost drifting off from the terrible pain.

Kris’ white cape flew with the wind as he stood like he had never been tortured by his demons just a while ago. He levitated and finally landed on the ferocious dragon’s shoulder, which perhaps stood higher than a 30-storey building. This time’s dragon was different, and Strife paled in realization. The dragon was black in color, with red eyes that matched Kris’. If memory served him right, this dragon was a descendant of the owner of the fangs used to forge the sword he was holding right now.

“I honestly don’t know…” Kris began.

Strife saw hope in those words, “The right thing to do is join me!”

“But what I know is…” Kris continued. Strife smiled as he thought his son would give in, finally.

“I just saw my salvation hurt by a piece of trash in front of my very eyes”

Strife paled as the words escaped Kris’ lips.

The black hole was now closing and what happened next scared every single living thing from all over Earth.

An eclipse grazed the skies.

Kris looked down to meet the shivering gazes of all that is living, below him.

“I am EXO’s leader, the one with the power of flight – the 12 Forces’ Kris”

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Xiumin, Chen, Sehun and Chanyeol watched as the skies turned a different color – it was blood red. They also saw how the black hole that was spitting out monsters from different planets a few moments ago was seemingly being eaten by it.

“The battle’s ending finally, isn’t it?” Sehun broke the silence.

“Finally, hopefully…I’m tired” Chanyeol answered.

“I’m just hoping for the best” Chen added.

---

D.O. looked up at the skies as well as he moved the rocks away from the entrance of the cave. Kai was still sleeping by his side.

“It’s ending”

---

Lu Han’s attention was suddenly diverted as he realized what was happening.

“Good to have you back, duizhang”

Then he crushed another chimera between two larger-than-life boulders

---

Tao stood up with his gaze fixed at the heavens.

“Is that his doing? He’s actually that powerful?” Joon questioned as he himself too, stood up.

Tao nodded, “Duizhang was gifted with the powers of flight – but flying is not his only ability. He’s also the so-called ‘child of the heavens,’ – I mean that’s how the High Sages of EXO addressed him. Apparently, he’s somehow connected to the creatures of the skies: dragons, avians…the sort”

“He’s inherited the best of both worlds, I see”

Tao turned to him in confusion.

“The race where his father has come from…” Joon stopped for a while as the phrase sounded very vague; after all, he didn’t want to reveal any information, “Was a mythical race who had the powers to talk and befriend great spirits – they were priests after all. Then added with powers from EXO”

Tao didn’t quite get everything, so he just shrugged and turned to look back at the crimson skies.

“What is he planning on doing?” Joon asked once again.

“Trying to give everyone the happy ending they deserve”