I couldn’t move a muscle as Gackt stood over Rain.  He put his hand on Rain’s forehead and a ring of fire ignited around them.  I looked over to where Mir’s body was lying.  The demonblade was right there, still shimmering with his blood.  Gackt’s eyes started to glow and so did Rain’s.  The force holding me to the wall was released... Gackt was too busy to concentrate on holding me in place. 

I rushed forward and grabbed the blade, but I stopped cold when I noticed something… Mir’s throat was healed.  I should’ve seized my opportunity, because Gackt noticed that I was free.

“You sneaky little bastard,” he said.  His voice was much deeper than it had been.  Rain’s body was starting to waste away.  I ran at him as fast as I could, but he sent me flying again.  I held the blade tighter so I wouldn’t drop it, and as soon as I landed, I jumped to my feet and charged at him again.

 I jumped over the ring of fire and tackled him.  I raised the demonblade and tried to stab him but he stopped me and grabbed my neck.  I managed to shove the blade into his leg.  He yelled and dropped me.  His wound started to smoke and burn.

“That… hurt. The ritual will have to wait… You die now,” Gackt hissed.  I scrambled to my feet as the ring of fire disappeared and Rain’s eyes stopped glowing.  I started swinging the blade wildly, and Gackt dodged every strike.  My heart felt like it would explode from my chest.  I was so desperate to hit him.  He ran across the room with lightning speed, trying to put distance between us to lessen my chances of hitting him.  He raised his hand to freeze me in place... but nothing happened.  The stab must've weakened him. 

“I will kill you Gackt… that’s a promise,”

Gackt snickered.

“You and that brother of yours… you truly have your father’s fighting spirit,”

My father? How did Gackt know anything about my father?”

“Stop trying to stall Gackt… you know nothing about my father,”

“I don’t? I actually knew Lee Minhyuk rather well,” he replied with a sadistic smile.

“You’re not worthy of saying his name you son of a !”

I ran across the room but Gackt met me halfway and smacked me… hard.  When I say “hard” I mean, the pain exploded like two hundred tons of dynamite.  I dropped to the ground as my nose bled profusely.  Gackt stood over me and I didn’t miss my opportunity again. I slashed him across the shin.  He screamed again as the wound started smoking.  I stabbed him in the leg repeatedly and he fell to his knees. 

“Who’s in pain now, Mr. Overlord?” I taunted.  I stabbed him again in the chest and his scream echoed throughout the room.

“I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU! YOU ARE A HUMAN, A USELESS SACK OF FLESH AND EMOTIONS.  YOU ARE A LESSER BEING!”  He yelled.

“Well the lesser being clearly has the upper hand here,” I replied.

“Is that what you think?” he stood up and stared me down.  The ground started to shake.  I tried to stab him again but he grabbed my hand.  Out of nowhere, Rain tackled Gackt and punched him.  Gackt threw him at least ten feet backwards.  Even in his current state… Rain was still being awesome. 

Gackt jumped up and ran at me and I aimed the blade…. And impaled him.  His eyes widened and he gasped for air.  His mouth, ears, and eyes started to bleed.  He collapsed on the ground and started to shake violently.

“Goodbye Gackt... You should’ve never ed with my family,” I said as his skin burst into flames, reducing the former demon overlord to a pile of smoking ash.  I ran over to Rain.

“Good job little brother… I taught you well huh?” Rain said.  I chuckled.

“Let’s get you out of here,”

“No can do kid… I’m done,”

“What? What do you mean?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat.

“I’ve taken too much abuse.  I used up the last of my energy to save your ,” he said with a laugh. 

“You can still make it Rain... you have to,”

“Listen Joon… you not only saved me from Gackt, you saved everyone.  I honestly can’t believe you did it.  The same kid that I had to save from the vampires, werewolves, goblins, and the dragon…”

“Dude… there was no dragon!”

“Okay… so there wasn’t a dragon, but you get my point.  You’ve matured a lot Joon. I’m proud of you,” he said.

I heard a faint cough.  I turned my head and Mir was stumbling over to me.

“Mir… you’re alive!?” I practically squealed.

“The blade didn’t kill me.  Maybe because I’m only half demon… whatever the case, I’m thankful,” he replied.  His happiness faded when he saw Rain begin to cough up blood.

“He’s dying Mir,” I said softly… trying to fight off tears.  Mir took a deep breath.

“I can heal him Joon,”

“What? How?”

“If I give him my blood…. All of it,”

“But then, you’ll die…”

“I might… but this your brother we’re talking about.  You’ve done all of this to save him, and I can’t just let him die,”

“But Mir... I thought the only reason you were helping me is so you could live in peace without the slayers hunting you,”

“Maybe at first, but somewhere along the way I gained respect for you… both of you.  The world needs the two of you,”

“Mir listen to me, you don’t have to play the hero.  We’ll find another way,”

“I’m not a hero Joon… I’m just willing to help someone who can’t help himself,” Mir said.

I was completely speechless as Mir took my knife and sliced the bend of his arm.  He forced Rain to drink.  Tears flowed down my cheeks as Rain’s wounds healed and his complexion returned.  Minutes later… Mir dropped to the ground and Rain sat up.

“He… He saved me.  But he didn’t even know me,” Rain said, wiping his mouth.

“Joon… when I was in the mind matrix… I saw… Gackt has another warp seal… through that door…” Mir managed to choke out.

“Mir… I…. Thank you,” I said, wiping my eyes.  He smiled as he closed his eyes.  His chest rose and fell… and then there was nothing.  My lip quivered as I tasted the salt from my tears.  Rain walked into the other room and returned with the warp seal.

“Is this what he was talking about?”

“Yeah… let’s get out of here Rain,” I said, picking up Mir’s body.