The scent of wet dirty socks covered the air that the three were breathing in the sewer. Every second the pungent stench hit their nose, they would want to vomit. They had always thought that the smell of the sigbins were terrible, but the smell of old cheese and dried blood was far more terrible than they had imagined. Drops of cold water dropped on the three at random moments, making them tense and more alert than usual.

As Mino, Jieun, and Minhyuk wandered through the sewer a little longer, Mino finally turned and looked behind him. The way Jieun held Minhyuk so close to her chest even though her fingers were in terrible pain made him feel sick in his stomach. He used to think that getting his cursed mark was bad, but the more he looked at Jieun, the more he began to realize that she was having it far worse, even though she had greater powers than him.

But why? Mino wondered. Why is it that Jieun is chosen to obtain a rare power and why is it her that suffers the most consequences?

He stopped midway when Minhyuk hissed. Mino turned and the two humans looked down at the cat.

"What's wrong?" Jieun asked.

"Is someone coming?" Mino added.

"I can sense a strong magic coming from the end of this sewer," Minhyuk said. "It's not something we want to be in contact."

"Myungsoo might be there. If he's there, then we have no choice but to go there," Mino said.

The cat carefully looked at him. "Is saving this 'Myungsoo' more important than saving your own life?"

"What do you mean?" Mino asked. "I value both our lives."

The furry animal looked ahead at the darkness. "If we walk a little more, we'll step into a barrier. I can sense incredible magical powers from that barrier, and can only assume that the Captain of the First Court placed something like that."

"So we can't go in to save Myungsoo?" Mino asked.

"No. You can go into the barrier with ease, but coming out of it will be difficult," Minhyuk explained. "Either way, I predict that there will be a lot of blood if the Captain of the First Court was here." The cat looked away and muttered, "But I'm not sure as to why she placed a barrier with the Captain of the Fifth Court still here…"

"Should we be worried about whether or not she's still there?" asked Jieun.

"She's long gone. If she was still here, you wouldn't be able to withstand her magical grace. Not only is she the most beautiful creature in this world, but she's the most cunning. She looks very innocent, but she can easily be deceptive. She is the true definition of an angel—a perfect one."

"If she's so great, then why is she part of the Council?" Mino asked. "It seems like the Council is holding her down."

"Angels are one of the most rebellious creatures. I won't be surprised if she starts rebelling against the Council sooner or later. She might have other unclear motives. We wouldn't know until she actually starts carrying out those plans." Minhyuk's eyes darkened. "With several changes in the system, I fear that the worse will come soon. I tried to convince the Captain of the Seventh Court to not take the opportunity to join the Council's Court, but when she heard that it would benefit the witch community, she felt like it was her obligation to join. Now that Bora is gone, I don't know if the Council will destroy the witch community or if they'll pick another Captain."

"They can pick another captain?" Mino asked, widening his eyes.

"Yes. I don't know if you heard, but the Captain of the Third Court was replaced with a new werewolf. We were told that Sohee lost the ability to tame herself so she was 'put down' by the Council Leader."

They way Minhyuk worded his last few words made Mino and Jieun feel uneasy. They weren't sure why, but they felt like there was more to the story. They didn't bother asking, especially since it seemed like Minhyuk didn't know or care much about the full story.

"Hey, so I know you're Bora's familiar and that she's…um…dead, but what's going to happen to you?" Mino asked the cat. "Like, are you going to find a new witch or something?"

"I can't become another witch's familiar unless curses are involved, and I wouldn't want that," Minhyuk said. "If anything, I'd probably turn back to a normal cat. There wouldn't be anything special about me. I wouldn't be able to possess any magic. Even now, I'm feeling Bora's magic slowly drain out of me."

Mino looked straight into the darkness.

"If I follow this path, will it lead me to the castle?" Mino asked.

"Most likely," Minhyuk said, nodding his head, "but I wouldn't recommend—"

"Okay, then I'll go," Mino said. He turned to Jieun. "You stay here or you can get help."

"Now, wait a minute," Minhyuk snapped. "This isn't a good idea. Let me go with you—"

"You're attached to Jieun with those strings."

"We don't know how long these strings can stretch out. It might be enough—"

"I'll be fine on my own."

"What if she starts rolling around in pain?" the cat pointed out. "What if we encounter the sigbins? As of now, she's powerless and can't do anything until the red strings are gone. You are her only protection."

Mino pressed his lips. He kept silent for a few minutes, then snapped his fingers.

"Wait, I got it," Mino said. 

He put his two finger on the cursed mark on his neck. He opened his eyes. Jieun and Minhyuk watched his eyes turned completely black, with not even a spec of white. From behind him, a gooey substance formed from his shadow. It rose up, then formed an exact replica of Eunji the pixie. Although the pixie was covered in ink, they could still make up the fluttering wings and the sneaky smile.

Mino proudly smiled at Jieun and Minhyuk, who stared at the pixie in surprise. He had expected the two to look impressed, but instead, they gave him unexpected terrified expressions. His smile faded and he confusingly looked at the two.

"What?" Mino asked.

"What are you?" Minhyuk whispered.

"What? What's wrong?" Mino asked. "Isn't this cool? I get my own little minion!"

"That's…Eunji," murmured Jieun. She finally looked at him. "What did you do to Eunji?"

"What are you talking about?" Mino look at the gooey figure. "She's just something I made. I've never met her before. I just thought that it was part of my powers." He slowly looked at her. "Well, you seem to know something about this figure…?"

"She's the reason why the red strings appeared in the first place!" Jieun yelled, remembering Hoya's inevitable death. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she nearly choked from the memory. "She's the reason why Hoya's dead…" She turned to Mino. "What did you do to her?"

As the two stared at Mino with intense eyes, he could only remain silent, clueless of the entire situation and what he had done.

The moment Naeun woke up from her deep slumber, she saw Yonghwa's decapitated head resting next to her. She screamed, but was covered by a mysterious man behind her. She tried to attack him, but once she saw the white flames lighting his face, she calmed down. Taemin removed his hand from and went back to fixing his glove.

"W-What happened?" Naeun asked, speechless. She tried to sit up, but her body felt heavy. She groaned while Taemin tossed her something on her stomach. She barely lifted her head and looked at the bag he had given her.

"Take that," Taemin said. "Once you feel like you can move, we'll head over and save Myungsoo."

Naeun managed a nod. "What happened, Taemin? Where is everyone?"

"What do you last remember?"

"I remember sending Jieun to get help when we were surrounded—" Her body paled and became light. She quickly sat up with a heavy heart, remembering her actions when she was under Yonghwa's control. She felt vomit threatening to come out every time she remembered the bloody tasks that Yonghwa happily gave her. She curled up into a ball and stared at the ground with incredible wide eyes. "I remember everything…"

"Fortunately I managed to cast Final Judgement on you and Yonghwa. You got off easy this time, but be weary. I can't guaranteed that you'll survive the third time. Yonghwa's dead, as you can see from his body," Taemin said.

"Did you do this?" Naeun asked.

"Of course I did. I used Final Judgement."

"How long have we been out?"

"What?"

"How many days?"

"It's only been, like, a couple of minutes," Taemin said.

"And you're not exhausted…?" Naeun eyed him carefully. Taemin remained still and slowly glanced behind his shoulders.

"Naeun… You're not suspecting me, are you?" he asked.

"Suspect you? Why—" Her trial of thoughts were cut off when noticed Taemin take off his glove and create a faint glow of fires on his palm. She stared at the fire as if she was in a hypnotic trance. "…would I ever suspect you?"

His fire disappeared and Naeun blinked. She looked at him with wide eyes, almost stunned.

"What did you just do?" Naeun asked.

"What? I was just exercising my fire," Taemin said.

"No. No, you did something. You did something with that." Her eyebrows furrowed. "But Elemental Powers can't do what you just did to me…"

He chuckled and patted her head. "You're imagining things. You must be getting a headache or something. Rest up a little, okay?"

Naeun stood still. Normally, when Taemin would make physical contact with her, her heart would skip a beat. She would blush furiously and act flustered, but she didn't even blush a little. Her brown orbs slowly gazed up at Taemin, who gave her the sweetest smile she had ever seen.

Yet, her heart did not beat for him.

Huh? She looked down at the ground as Taemin removed his hand. This isn't right. Why is it like this?

"Let me know when you're feeling okay," Taemin said, getting up from the floor. He began to wander around, leaving Naeun alone with the dead body.

Once he was gone from her sight, she looked down at Yonghwa. Second later, she found herself digging around his limp body, trying to find any clues of what had happened. 

If Taemin really did this, then he would've burned Yonghwa's body. There's no way that the fire can cut through things like this without leaving any burn marks, Naeun told herself. She looked back at the direction where Taemin left. But he's definitely Taemin. He's the only one with white flames. So… 

She looked back down at Yonghwa's dead body, noticing that his guitar was missing. She gulped and looked back at up before standing.

Just what the hell is going on?

The previous Council Leader lifted his head as he his beard. He stared off at the distance for a few seconds, before making a soft smile and comfortably resting back in his seat. The wizard looked at the current Council Leader, whose wings were broadly stretched and white.

"So what brings you here, Shim Changmin?" the wizard asked in his low, solemn voice.

"You can stop wearing the old wizard costume, Lee Jongsuk. Let's talk. This is important," the angel said.

"Well, if it's important, that's more of a reason for me to keep my disguise on," the wizard pointed out.

"I just want to talk. I won't hurt you or anything."

"You say that when you have all these guards ready to jump on me at any given moment?" Jongsuk said. He wiggled his thick eyebrows and looked around curiously. Changmin could see the wizard eyeballing at the invisible figures lurking around them. 

"As expected. You've noticed," Changmin muttered. 

"So," Jongsuk said, still remaining his old wizardry form, "what am I being questioned for?"

"Very well. I'll cut to the chase," Changmin continued, sighing a little out of boredom. He had expected the wizard to pull off a fight or to resist a little, but it seemed as if the "old" man wouldn't budge. "I'm planning to hold a National Assembly, and I fear that you might get in the way."

Jongsuk gave him a large smile. "Whether I'm arrested or not will not matter. The apocalypse will go as planned. This National Assembly will only quicken the process."

"With the National Assembly, I can assure you that the apocalypse that you foretold will not happen."

"Have I ever been wrong before, Changmin? Why are you doubting me? Or is it the Creator's doing?"

Changmin narrowed his eyes. "You are one very mysterious creature, and I have every little reason to doubt you."

"Oh? But I gave you the position as the Council's Leader. Aren't you—at the very least—grateful for it?"

"I'm only grateful that you gave me such a position so that I can proceed with my initial plans," Changmin said.

"The National Assembly will not go well. You know very well that Emperor Junsu is doing everything he can to block off any potential leaks that may cause someone from our sphere to travel into his. Also, you haven't met with Lord Jaejoong and Chief Yoochun in years. Perhaps King Yunho will overlook your lack of experience as the Council Leader and help…"

"This is important," Changmin said. "I will not let this world be destroyed."

"It's not the first time this has happened. You'll just feel a pinch of pain before you're hopefully reborn again," Jongsuk said. He pinched the air teasingly. "Just. A. Pinch."

"Either way, I'd like to keep you detained and make sure that you don't do anything funny," Changmin said.

"When did I ever do anything funny?" Jongsuk asked. He got up from his seat and walked over to his large bookshelf. He pulled out a book while his eyes were on the invisible guards.

Changmin got up from his seat. "You are the only creature I know that can read with no problem. You don't go insane and you don't talk nonsense about this 'Creator' every single second you breathe. I know that some people use special charms to keep them from going insane, but you are the only one that I know who don't use any charms. If you do, I haven't seen any, but I highly doubt you have any charms since only witches can produce such a thing."

Jongsuk nodded. He his beard once more, then waved his wand in the air. Golden glitter fell from his wand and surrounded his entire body, transforming him from an old man to a healthy young man in his late twenties. His rich silver hair has messy but full. He had a charismatic smile that had charmed the guards to the point where they finally lowered their guards. Changmin was the only one who resisted Jongsuk's natural charms.

Jongsuk flipped open a page from his book. He flipped around for a few more seconds before looking at Changmin.

"Do you know how this world was created?" Jongsuk asked.

"Are you telling me this story again?" Changmin asked. He groaned and sat back down.

"The Creator stumbled upon this world. At first, everything was dark. The Creator, fearing darkness, created light. When the Creator saw that he could create things out of his imagination, he began to create a world. However, since the Creator didn't know how to control his powers, he accidentally made his nightmares come true. So, the Creator scrapped that world and started all over. As the Creator began to create, scrap, and recreate, the Creator felt lonely. Then, the Creator decided to create a being that could keep record of everything."

"And that is you," Changmin said, looking at Jongsuk.

Jongsuk paused for a brief moment, then smiled bitterly. "Yes, that was me. I am the creature that the Creator created to be his company—a lifelong companion."

"Which is the excuse that you always use when we ask why you're the only one who can read," Changmin added.

"As the Creator continued to live, he became lonely. So, he started to lure his own kind into our world. Unfortunately, the Creator's own kind would leave, making the Creator lonely once again. So the Creator decided to create the very world you're living now. He made all of our kinds: witches, elves, ghouls…"

"Angels," Changmin said, a little annoyed that his kind wasn't mentioned.

"Yes, angels…" Jongsuk paused. "Well, he definitely created other creatures in previous worlds. Like dragons."

"Dragons?" the angel repeated.

"Yes, yes. They were these monstrous lizard-shelled creatures that had the power of flight and fire. They ended up destroying the sixty-fourth world."

"And according to you, we're in the ninety-ninth world."

"Yes, and after this world is completely scrapped and destroyed, we will hopefully go into the one-hundredth world made by the Creator and his companions. In order to manage this world, the Creator and I decided that we needed leaders. This is the part where the origins of the god powers come from.

"We created Lord Jaejoong first, but he became a symbol of darkness. He was the original Devil user who would rule the world in darkness while the Creator would be the light. Sadly, the people were fearful of him and tried to rebel. Eventually, he decided to create his own sphere and contained his Devil magic. Before he left, he ended up being so hateful towards the Creator for giving him such dark powers, he was the one who created curses in this sphere and left.

"King Yunho was created to rule, but he was so fascinated about the origins of the world, the Creator had created a separate sphere for him. In order for him to cover more information, he had gifted several other species with Dimensional powers. With the lack of King Yunho's presence and the long duration, the Dimensionals eventually forgot their true purpose and remained as they are today: innocent, but rare. It would be difficult to tract the original Dimensional user since he jumps around so often, but not impossible. 

"Then Chief Yoochun was born, but the people feared him too much because he controlled all the elemental force. When he was angry, he would send in storms and fire. When he was upset, it would rain endlessly. His emotions got the best of him, and people didn't see him fit to rule. He gave some of his powers to certain individuals before he retired, and since the Elemental power was useful and easy to control, it was the more popular power that spread across the world. He eventually created his own sphere because his heart was too soft. He was a good ruler, but he was an Elemental with a weak heart.

"The Creator finally made a risky decision and placed Emperor Junsu in charge for a few years with the Galaxy powers. However, Emperor Junsu realized the terrors of the Galaxy powers. He questioned the Creator's motive, and once he found out about the prophecy, he quickly encouraged the death to anyone who had Galaxy powers. When he was the only one left, he wished for his own sphere and disappeared with non-magical users. He's been trying to block off any connections between his sphere and our sphere, but it looks like that there's some gaps in between."

Changmin folded his hand. "And then there's me, you, and the previous Council Leaders."

"Yes. The creation of the Council was my suggestion, and the Creator liked it. A few other creatures before me had taken the position as Council Leader, but once we got some of the Creator's kind into this world, I was assigned to the Council Leaders position." Jongsuk smiled. "They were lovely peaceful days…"

"It will still be peaceful," Changmin said, rising from his seat again, "when I prevent the prophecy from coming true."

"Well, whether it comes true or not will depend on the Creator and his kinds," Jongsuk said. He closed the book and put it back. "So you wanted to arrest me?"

"More than that. I want to execute you."

"How upsetting. I would've handed myself in, but the Creator is preventing that from happening. I'm needed later in the future, so I can't die just yet," the wizard said, still giving the angel a breath-taking smile. He returned to his old wizard-like form, with a long beard and an oversized robe. He twirled his wand, which grew in length and became a wooden staff. He tilted his head, noticing that Changmin pulled out his spear from his back. 

The weapon lunged itself at the wizard, but once the tip of the spear made contact with the wizard, the old man had turned into golden dust. Changmin clenched his teeth and bitterly laughed. He opened his fingers, retrieving his spear automatically back in his hand. He walked towards the dust, spun his staff in a circle, then stabbed the center of the pile of dust. The golden flakes floated upwards and floated away to the window, disappearing into the sky.

"Of course he'd use a fake placement in his home," Changmin muttered bitterly. He turned to the Council's Court. "Find Jongsuk and bring that wizard to me as soon as possible."

The members of the Council's Court looked at each other. Then, one werewolf stepped up.

"Council Leader Changmin. I understand your frustration, but I fear that it will be difficult for us to capture old wizard Jongsuk. Not only is the wizard wise and cunning, but the wizard is also very powerful."

Changmin looked at the werewolf. He pulled out his spear from the ground and walked over to the beastly creature. He stared at the werewolf for a few minutes. Then, letting out a sigh, he turned as if he acknowledged the situation. The werewolf smiled for a brief moment before its face was stricken with horror as Changmin drilled his spear into the mouth of the werewolf.

Blood splattered all over the ground. The werewolf struggled, but stopped moving in seconds. The remaining Council's Court paled and cowered as Changmin pulled out his spear and gazed at them with dark, glowering eyes. His white wings turned pitch black, revealing his bad intentions.

"You will either die finding Jongsuk or die in my hands," Changmin said. "I will guaranteed that next time, you will not get out of this situation with an easy death from me. I will make sure to have you suffer for eternity before your body is put to rest. Do I make myself clear?"

The Council's Court nodded and dispersed.

Changmin looked around and waited for his wings to turn back white. He sighed softly and began to fly upwards, heading out of the large window.

Now then, Changmin thought, it's time to call for the National Assembly.

From the shadows behind the bookshelf, Jongsuk slowly came out and looked up at the window in the ceiling. He clicked his tongue and shook his head, reverting back to his youthful form.

"Foolish angel," Jongsuk mumbled under his breath without smiling. "When will you learn to accept your fall?"