~ ♘ | ♜ | ♖ | ♗ ~

Surrounded at both sides, Chansung’s eyes jumped left and right gauging which side was more of a threat. Jia and Suzy had managed to recover quickly, and though wobbly, they stood ready to attack once more. Junsu had his crossbow aimed with an arrow nocked and ready to be shot should the need arise. That was of the moment, but Chansung knew the bishop wasn’t unsure of his aim at such close range, it was the hostiles he was wary of. If they were anything like they thought they were, then Junsu’s bolts were useless here.

“Any ideas?” Jia asked, digging her heels on the floor, ready to attack at any given moment. Her broad sword was drawn and raised to her face, but like Chansung, she awaited the enemy’s next move.

Suzy was quiet, but her tightness around her lips and jaw was telling of her caution. She and Jia had run into these men just a while back, and they were completely outnumbered and easily thrown across the threshold. Even with greater numbers now, it was still going to be a rough challenge for all of them. “I’m confused, are we counting to three?”

“Not that it would help,” Junsu answered, inching back as he aimed- he needed as much distance as he could get.

Mai was sandwiched in between Hell and the bravery she put up a while back was now slowly fading as the reality of the dangers approached her at speeds she wasn’t prepared for. These men would show her no mercy, and her defeating Doojoon, while she still denied it, she now understood as not of her doing. Had it not been for Wooyoung she would have died. Though she may have thought she put up a fight, the truth was that she was very much outclassed by everyone else in that room. It wasn’t just skill, it was also the mindset that everyone else besides her was prepared to die for their cause.

Chansung grit his teeth tighter, taking one small step forward to keep Jia and Suzy safely behind him. His fingers twitched uncontrollably as he sized up all seven men. This was beyond him, but he was not about to give up without a fight. His Math professor sneered at him but Chansung’s focus was not on the enemy- it was on keeping everyone behind him safe.

“Jia, Suzy, grab Junsu and Mai and try to make it out of here,”

“No, we’re staying here with you,” said Jia, making no more room for Chansung to argue. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for, right? No turning back now.”

“Besides,” Suzy added, eyeing the men in front of her. “It’s going to take more than a bunch of eye candy to kill us.”

Chansung hoped it was so. “Alright,” he peered behind him, “Junsu and Suzy take that side,” then he turned to Jia, “then you and me this side.”

Mai bit the sides of her cheeks. “I’m still here,” she muttered, though no one answered back.

Chansung raised a three fingers and everyone was suddenly tense as they focused on his countdown. With every breath the atmosphere turned thicker as the seconds ticked by.

Three,

Two,

One.

Without instructions, Chansung crouched low and created a foothold with his hands. Jia leapt immediately and Chansung vaulted her up and towards the enemy. Jia slashed her Dao wildly around her, but it hit only air. Chansung was beside her in a moment’s time, and they stood back to back, waiting.

The hostiles were created under the project name Super Junior. Kyuhyun, Leeteuk, and Yesung surrounded them, all attacking at the same time. Chansung and Jia’s swords were of no advantage to the variety of bladed weapons each one of them had.

Leeteuk’s chain sickle was especially dangerous and Chansung and Jia took turns grabbing the other’s neck just to keep each other safe from the blades. Kyuhyun and his long spear worked in tandem with Yesung’s three-part staff.

“Any more ideas?” Jia asked, ducking and pulling Chansung with her as all three blades attacked them. In a flurry of long range weapons, avoiding was not the best course of action but there was nothing more they could do. Both were short-range fighters, even with the wide reach of their weapons, it was ineffective when stretched to the limit. They needed to get as close as they could to even scratch them.

“Not really,” Chansung grunted, jumping back from Leeteuk’s chain sickle.

Junsu and Suzy were not in any better condition, even with Mai on their sub-team, they were still at a disadvantage. Mai dodged attacks perfectly, but could not land any one of her own. She was light as she escaped Shindong’s Kanabo, the spiked metal tip of the large club only grazing her clothes.

Junsu fired his bolts, all of which hitting his targets with deadly accuracy, but not one of them appeared to be affected. Suzy whirled her chain whip around, though its range was severely limited by the width of the corridor. The crescent blade attached at the end of the long chain kept the Super Junior members, Ryeowook, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk, on their side at bay, but it wasn’t going to fend them off for long. Her sweeping arcs were graceful as she twirled around to generate the force required to keep the momentum of her blade going. While it kept the enemy away, Suzy still had to be careful not to injure herself or her comrades. She had Junsu behind her, and Mai away from them both. One miscalculated move and their heads would drop.

“I can’t keep them like this for long,” Suzy said, throwing the crescent blade again.

“As you can see, I’m pretty useless here,” Junsu answered honestly.

“You always are.”

“Thanks.”

Another swing of the crescent blade, but this time, Eunhyuk calculated the timing perfectly and caught the chain with the hilt of his knife. Suzy staggered forward as Eunhyuk tugged at the chain. Junsu tried to pull her back, but Suzy wouldn’t let go of her weapon. Next to Junsu, Sungmin jumped at him with his metal flail. Surprised, Junsu could only raise his arms in defense, feeling a sharp tugging at his gut as he went flying towards the sides.

He landed on the floor, not because of the flail, and he opened his eyes seeing Rai crouched on top of him. He let out a loud oomph as she kneed his chest to jump off him and towards Super Junior.

Rai unsheathed both Sadame and Izayoi and joined Chansung on his flank. “Did you miss me?”

“You have no idea. Welcome back.”

“I brought a few friends.” Rai tossed her head toward Koujin and Fuujin who were both engaging Yesung.

“Thanks, where’d you find them?” Chansung stepped back to avoid the chain sickle, he was still at a disadvantageous range, but having Rai was comforting.

“They’re my brothers. Me and Junho found them at the orphanage- or, well, they found us.” Backed against the wall, Rai turned to Chansung who instantly understood what she wanted. He crouched down, and Rai jumped on his shoulders, running against the wall, jumping towards the ceiling, and diving nose first into Leeteuk.

She landed on his shoulders, taking him down momentarily, giving Chansung a chance to get closer. The former thief hacked against the chain blade as soon as he was near enough, leaving his math professor with a sickle.

Leeteuk grabbed Rai’s legs and threw her off to the sides; the momentary distraction causing him to be unaware of Chansung’s sword. Blade hit his neck, but it only grazed his flesh, and Chansung stared in horror as his sharp blade did nothing more than that.

Turning to the side, Koujin caught Rai effortlessly as Leeteuk shook her off. “These things are not exactly what we expected.”

“We still need to find Kazuki,” she answered, “he’s here, I can feel him here.”

“But you can’t leave yet,” said Jia, backing up to join them.

Yesung and Kyuhyun surrounded them and attacked at the same time. Fuujin was with them instantly, and Rai vaulted over Koujin’s shoulders, landing behind the two hostiles. All four attacked together, weapons clashing violently against each other, creating explosive sparks that crackled loudly in the narrow corridor.

Jia’s Dao moved swiftly in between Yesung’s three-part staff as Fuujin kept one side busy. Finally sensing a chance, Jia lunged closer, taking in the hits on her body to land a strike. Her flexible sword bended, almost folding in half as she it against Yesung’s body. Fuujin’s kodachi had the same results. They continued to hack at Yesung, as the latter was rid of his weapon.

Rai and Koujin took turns each, spiralling hard into Kyuhyun who, too, was rid of the long spear. Rai alternated between helping Koujin and Chansung, leaping from one enemy to the other, landing hilt deep pierces of Izayoi on each body.

As soon as Leeteuk was on the ground, Chansung took one more hack at his head to make sure he wasn’t going to stand up again. He ran over to Suzy, though he couldn’t do much when Eunhyuk had her own chains wrapped around her neck.

Suzy writhed under her own weapon, unable to breathe. She clawed at Eunhyuk, but he only sneered at her. Her vision was beginning to blur, not even Chansung’s presence was giving her the necessary strength to hold on for even a few more seconds. Darts flew past her, aimed for Eunhyuk’s eyes. The Super Junior member finally let go to avoid the bolts. Chansung grabbed Suzy’s wrist and flung her towards Junsu before attacking Eunhyuk.

It wasn’t over for Junsu just yet. Ryeowook saw the opening and came running the short distance. Suzy regained control over her chain whip and shot at him. Ryeowook couldn’t close the distance, but Suzy had other ideas.

Junsu shot bolts into the enemy’s eyes, and an enraged Suzy hacked away, landing precision strikes of the crescent blade all over Ryeowook’s body.

Junho lifted Mai up to her feet and dragged down the corridor and away from Shindong. “You decide now, of all days, to not fight back?”

Her eyes were wide as she stared at her partner. “Junho, I-” she meant to apologize, but Junho shushed her, pushing her off to the sides and launching himself at Shindong. “Junho, wait, I need to apologize!”

“Now’s not really the time,” Junho answered, dropping to the ground to avoid the large club swinging at him. “But I forgive you.”

Mai had both her jutte in hand, but she was still frozen on the spot. Around her was a blood bath and her flesh prickled with the alarm, panic and dread. The shinobi were all drenched in blood, Suzy and Jia both nursed injuries, Chansung was bruised, and even Junsu limped.

Junho was unarmed, but he didn’t seem perturbed at all. At the back of Mai’s head, she knew it was because her partner was just like them. Shindong lifted the kanabo high up his head again, and Junho raced forward as the giant club swung down. Mai couldn’t stop the scream from escaping her lips as Junho caught the spiked tipped club with his shoulder. She took a hesitant step forward, but immediately withdrew as blood gushed out of Shindong’s mouth, spraying all over Junho and her. The Super Junior member dropped to the ground. Rai had four swords- two in each hand plunged into Shindong’s back.

Mai didn’t even see the other female attack. All she saw now was the other shinobi retrieving their swords from Rai, and the latter sheathing her own kodachi as she walked towards Junho.

“That looks bad,” she said, eyes focused on the gash on Junho’s shoulder.

“It’s alright, I don’t feel anything,” Junho replied. “Are you injured anywhere?”

Rai shook her head, and her eyes wandered behind Junho’s head and onto Mai, but her next words were directed to Junho. “We’re going to find Kazuki,” her eyes returned to him, “you try and find Nichkhun and the others, but first, see if you and Junsu and fix Suzy and Jia up.”

Junho nodded, and all three shinobi vanished into the shadows.

~ ♕ | ♞ | ♖ | ♛ ~

Jay woke up groaning in pain. It shot through his nape and all the way to his head. He was glad he came prepared- Ami wasn’t joking when she just grabbed his shoulder and injected anti-serum into his body. She said it was June’s formulation against the Fortuna poisons being developed. Jay didn’t believe her at first- it was probably why Ami shot first before explaining anything. He d for his railguns; it appeared as if Kass had no interest in them and left him armed. It was almost unbelievable how careless the pawn had been.

He struggled to stand up, and as soon as he did, he heard the sounds of swords clashing. Slowly, he dragged his feet towards the source of the sounds. Someone was in need of his services. Jay was sure he was going to recover in time to be of use.

Nichkhun made the first move. Sword versus sword, he faced Siwon without hesitation. Underneath the fluorescent lights, the markings on his Krabi were illuminated, and he advanced forward with deadly precision. Siwon curved his sword, catching Nichkhun’s before leaping back and jumping forward again. In the narrow corridor, Nichkhun could only move forward or backward like a chess piece with limited action. He didn’t want to be the one to step back, so when Siwon dove forward, Nichkhun matched his pace and met with him at the center.

Siwon grunted as Nichkhun overpowered him, sending him to the ground, swords locked with each other as they battled out their strengths.

Wooyoung was left in the middle of Heechul and Donghae, parrying attacks with his blade and his scabbard, avoiding the long of Heechul’s long blade, and Donghae’s short and quick attacks. Sweat trickled down Wooyoung’s brow as he struggled in between the two men. He was caught between them, unable to move. Heechul had his long sword by Wooyoung’s neck, while Donghae’s rapier was pointed at his chest. Wooyoung was only a hair’s width away from death. His sword was deep into Heechul’s arm and the only thing keeping his head where it was, and his scabbard acted as a barrier keeping Donghae from ing his blade through the inspector’s chest.

Wooyoung’s breath was hot as he searched his brain for a way out. One wrong move and the worst possibility was going to become a reality. He saw Nichkhun and Siwon in another long rally of strikes and parries, and he knew he was on his own. His adam’s apple bobbed sharply and his eyes darted back and forth.

Footsteps in the distance had him worried, but not for long as Jay appeared on one side, and Rai on the other. The standstill was broken when Jay fired at Heechul and when Rai dove down to slash at Donghae’s ankles.

Wooyoung was free for a moment, and he slammed his foot hard on Donghae’s face and drove his sword straight into his throat. Wooyoung looked away as the arterial splash that followed bathed him in blood. Heechul convulsed on the floor, and together Rai and Wooyoung hacked off his head.

Jay limped towards the pair, staring at his railgun. “I think we found a weakness,” he commented, firing another round at Siwon, who dropped on the floor.

Nichkhun chopped the other’s head off before sending his glares towards the group now with him. “Where’d you get those?”

Jay smirked, a profound sense of bragging overwhelming him. “June gave them to me before I left for NeoBerlin. Didn’t think they’d be this handy.”

Nichkhun’s expression soured visibly. He turned to Rai. “The others?”

“Are alive,” she replied, “Koujin and Fuujin, my shinobi brothers are tracking Kazuki. I came by to tell you that if you find him, leave him to me. I will kill Kazuki myself.”

Nichkhun nodded in understanding, intuitively he knew what Rai meant though she had not said it out loud. “SM is upstairs, Kazuki might show up there.”

“Oh right,” Jay interrupted, “I thought you guys might want to know. Kass isn’t exactly who she says she is.”

“I knew it,” Rai mumbled, “I knew there was something off about her.”

“I think she’s Fortuna. She tried to kill me just now, but I’m not sure what she’s after.”

Nichkhun nodded. “Maybe finding SM would clear this up.”