Meanwhile, Baekhyun kept standing still in front of the oak tree, waiting them coming. It was out of his expectation that they came in a short time. There were many of them and Baekhyun knew some of them. They were no other from Boreumdal Kingdom itself. Baekhyun smirked as they stopped in front of him.

“Search her separately!!”

They separated, leaving Suho, Sehun, Chanyeol, D.O, and the three werewolves alone with Baekhyun. There were also Kris, Tao, and Lay. All of them had their sword ready with them. Suho sighed deeply. His expression seemed bitter.

“Where is she?” the one who asked was Kris. Yes, he joined force to kill Haruka.

“Baekhyun-ah,” Suho called.

“Hyungnim, as I said before, if you want to kill her, you have to kill me first.” Baekhyun pulled out his sword and aimed it to them. Chanyeol and D.O quickly did the same to protect Suho and Sehun from Baekhyun’s sword.

Kris chuckled. “It’s not even the time for us to fight, right? Are you doing this on purpose so she can escape from us? Baekhyun-ah, I don’t want to hurt you, okay?” He even clicked his tongue.

“Kris is right. I don’t want to fight you. I won’t fight anybody tonight.” Suho said.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Baekhyun ran towards Suho while swinging his sword rapidly.

Chanyeol and D.O quickly handled him. They fight bitterly. The sound ‘crank’ came continuously when their sword met. But Baekhyun wasn’t just a standard warrior. He could even fight 5 people in one. Sehun, Lay, and Tao joined. It was actually easy for Baekhyun to fight like this.

He sometimes tried to take a chance to attack the defenseless Suho. However, Chanyeol for the last time—because he deadly wished that it would end—swished his sword to Baekhyun’s arm and it made his arm bleeding. Baekhyun collapsed once that he unconsciously let his sword fall to the ground. D.O stole his sword aimed it to Baekhyun’s neck.

“Ahh…” He moaned in pain.

“Hyung, don’t protect her anymore.” D.O said.

“Let her free…”

“We can’t do that.” Lay said.

The three wolves suddenly growled and ran towards the other direction. Baekhyun knew it might be the end of Haruka’s life. So, in this very last time, Baekhyun would use this to protect her. He ran so fast, following the wild wolves behind. He didn’t care for people who were after him. One thing he needed to do is to protect Haruka.

Baekhyun grabbed some arrows and shot them to the three werewolves, to make them weak. One of the werewolves turned and showed his grin. He suddenly attacked Baekhyun after growling loudly. Baekhyun fell backwards and hurt his ankle. He also felt some of his bone crack when he bumped to the ground which was full of wild root and wild plants.

“Hyung!” D.O called, but Baekhyun ignored it.

He kept running to find Haruka. Truthfully, he ran out of energy already, but with the unwavering thought of Haruka, he kept looking for her, until he spotted that girl surrounded by the three werewolves. She was quite far. Baekhyun vaguely saw her kneel down, submitting to her own fate.

She didn’t try to flee. With the overflowing tears, she bowed her head down. Her body trembled so much. Baekhyun surely wanted to hug her, to comfort her heart, bringing her to an ease, but he just couldn’t. He couldn’t do much since he had his sword nomore. He grabbed his arrows, but only two left. He didn’t have much time left, so he quickly pulled his arrow when someone suddenly came and threw his sword back.

“Hyung, use your last minute.” D.O said coldly.

Baekhyun, again, pulled up his arrow—poisonous arrow, aiming it to the werewolf at the right side whom he knew it as Chen. There was no time to feel sorry, so he shot it right away and just in a count of second, Chen collapsed. The other arrow, he aimed it to Minseok. It was quite hard for Baekhyun to shoot it because Minseok was very nice to him. He was a close hyung of him, but what could he do actually? Nothing, so he just shot it right to Minseok’s body. He also collapsed after that.

Baekhyun grabbed his sword and ran towards the only werewolf left. It was no other than Luhan. If they were to fight, then it would not be their first fight. They fought a lot and the scars were remained on Baekhyun’s body. Baekhyun said to himself, although it’s not the first, but it will be our last fight.

So with that thought, Baekhyun swung his sword to Luhan’s body. That wolf growled, but he didn’t fall down. As a reversal, Luhan threw Baekhyun’s sword down forcefully, making that guy defenseless. But Baekhyun was faster. He grabbed his sword back and stabbed Luhan’s body. It was stabbed right to his heart. Luhan growled in sorrow for a long time until the last time he turned into his human form, leaving tears in his eyes.

“Luhan-ah!!!” Haruka crawled to the spot where Luhan’s body lied.

“Oppa!! What have you done to Luhan!!!” She blamed in tears.

Baekhyun released his sword. He kneeled down in front of Luhan’s dead body. He shook Luhan’s body but Luhan would never respond. His hand shivered and he didn’t know what to do. He just couldn’t believe that he killed Luhan for real. Luhan had been very nice to him. Although they fought a lot, indeed, they were still good friends. But then, Baekhyun just ended his life. Of course, as a friend, it was burdensome.

Baekhyun still trembled a lot that he couldn’t hear anything. His ears kept ringing hurtfully. He was so defenseless that he didn’t know that someone had just come to attack him. Haruka widened her eyes and quickly ran towards Baekhyun. “OPPA, NO!!”

It was too late. The sword slashed Haruka’s body ferociously. The blood spurted and it couldn’t be stop. Slowly, Haruka fell down. There was no word or moan, only tears left. Baekhyun got his hands ready to catch Haruka. All of her clothes were full of blood and it kept spurting. Baekhyun held her hand tight. His heart beat so fast that he was afraid it would jump out. Nothing left but tears.

“Haruka, no… It shouldn’t be like this…”

Haruka opened but the words just didn’t come out.

“Haruka…” Baekhyun moaned. He shouted her name out loud. He didn’t care with all gazes spotting at him. His heart felt like exploding. It hurt so much to see her dying.

“Oppa…” She finally called—softly.

“Haruka, no, it’s not the end. Let’s fight until the end, huh?”

“I feel terribly relieved…” She said. “I remember you said to Kai that—people who died in order to protect someone’s life are not actually dead. They’re still alive.”

Haruka’s voice was getting weaker. Baekhyun grabbed her shoulder to make her back to her sense although he knew it would be wasted.

“Baekhyun Oppa—” she called again. “I’m not dead. I want to—protect you, so I can live.”

Baekhyun cried even harder, calling her name loudly. He nodded and hugged her. Now his clothes got drenched by blood. Even at this state, Haruka still talked to him, whispering in his ears softly. “Let’s meet in the future—in the next life. Oppa—if I were to meet you again in the next life, I—I—will only trust you.”

Haruka coughed blood. She knew she had no time, but she had so many things to say.

“Oppa—” she coughed again.

“Stop talking nonsense! You’re fine! Haruka, you’re fine… it’s just a small wound! It can be healed!” Baekhyun yelled.

She smiled.

“Oppa—if we were to meet again in the next life—make sure to find me. I might forget your face, but oppa—I will always remember you who had always saved me.” Haruka raised her hand slowly and weakly, touching Baekhyun’s face, wiping his overflowing tears. She cupped his face and smiled. “I will definitely remember you as my hero—my savior, so—you have to find me, Oppa…”

Baekhyun nodded. He held Haruka’s cold hand and kissed it softly. “Let’s meet again in the next life—just two of us…”

Haruka smiled sincerely.

“Oppa, I love you…”

In the end, she closed her eyes, but Baekhyun believed that it lasts just a moment. A person who died to save someone’s life was not dead. They lived eternity. He always believed that words. In the end, it wasn’t him who became her savior, but her. She bravely took the fatal risk to protect him. With that small heart which was afraid of death, she gave her life. In the end, she finally overcame her fear, alone.

Even Suho didn’t know what to do. He kneeled down in front of his sister’s corpse. In the end, he was the one who killed her. In the end, he killed his own sister. Even until the end, he couldn’t protect his sister.

***