Chapter Fifty-One Sunny
Chapter Fifty-One
Sunny
Ethan cuts down the horrific creatures coming at me, his axes flashing. I stand paralyzed, trapped in a waking nightmare, and the Shin’gwangdo shakes in my hands. The trauma of Heaven Lake still haunts me—these monsters still haunt me.
Cheyun slashes at the dark beasts, her eyes growing wider and wider with disbelief. Every time she cuts them down, they stitch themselves back together. She wasn’t with us at Heaven Lake. There is only one vulnerable point in their twisted bodies.
I open my mouth to warn her, but no sound comes out. Then my panicked gaze shoots to Minju when she cries out. The nightmares are slicing her arm ragged.
Get it together, Sunny.
“Do not touch her,” Jaeseok roars.
Leaping into the air, he spears a dark monster in its red mouth—its Achilles’ heel—and it blinks out of existence. The dokkaebi fights the rest of the monsters around Minju with deadly precision, his handsome, playful face distorted into a furious mask.
But the historian is no shrinking flower.
With her lips pressed into a determined line, she heals her ruined arm with silvery light from her other hand.
Then she draws a vicious-looking dagger—I recognize it as the one she stabbed me with once upon a time—and hacks at the unending stream of monsters coming at them.
I snap out of my paralysis with a furious growl.
I head toward Minju and Jaeseok—I don’t know if I’m running or flying, but my surroundings become blurred from my speed—and I slash the dark creatures in their red, screeching mouths. But as soon as one blinks out of existence, two more take its place.
“Watch out,” Minju screams.
I spin and barely manage to evade a misshapen maw, then I stab the monster in the eye, too startled to aim for its mouth. But it blinks out—sucked into a black pinprick in the air, then gone.
“Your sword of light.” Minju points at it. “It kills the monsters anywhere you cut them.”
“Sweet.” I offer her a smile of vicious delight and go to town on the terrifying motherfuckers. And even as adrenaline rushes through my blood and roars in my ears, the blurry outline of a plan forms in my mind.
“Jaeseok, you have her?” I yell over my shoulder.
“I think my violent little historian has herself,” he shouts back.
I risk a look behind me, and Minju is airborne, swooshing down like the angel of death to stab away at the bloody red mouths of the monsters. Her heart-shaped face scrunches into a scowl, and growly screams burst past her Cupid’s-bow lips.
“Fuck yeah.” I hoot, then I fly to my darling, stabby friend. “Minju, let me try something.”
I place my hand over hers, gripping the hilt of her dagger, and push the Yeoiju’s light into her weapon.
Once her dagger glows white like my Shin’gwangdo, my nerdy friend whispers fervently, “That is brilliant.”
“Now try.” I smile.
With a high-pitched squeal, Minju ferociously slashes the closest monster at hand, and it winks out obligingly.
“It works, Sunny,” she says with a gleeful smile. “Now go do everyone else’s.”
“You got it.” I whoosh away with a wink. I fly—not like an airplane, but more like a UFO—popping in and out of view.
To think, Draco made fun of me for being the only Sentinel who couldn’t fly. Look at me now, kid. And I’m going to save the worlds like I promised them.
I grab the handle of Jaeseok’s spear and infuse my power into it. Then I do the same for Hailey’s crossbow, Cheyun’s twin swords, and Jihun’s long sword.
“Thank you, Goddess,” Jihun says with a shit-eating grin before thrusting his sword backward to kill a monster behind him.
“Shut up.” I stick my tongue out at him and fly away to find my husband.
A horde of nightmare beasts rushes him from all sides, and he chops them all down with ice-cold accuracy. “Ethan.”
I realize my mistake the moment his name leaves my mouth—the only sound that could penetrate his razor-sharp concentration.
He glances up at me, and a monster takes advantage of his distraction to slash him down the back.
Ethan grimaces, arching his back against the pain, then he cuts the hateful thing down with a growl.
“I’m so sorry.” I land by his side. “Are you okay?”
He shifts his shoulders with a wince. “I’ll live. How are you?”
“Just swell.” I swing my sword of light to keep the nightmares at bay and crush a swift kiss on his mouth. “Here, I can help.”
“Yes,” he groans and tugs me toward him. “More.”
“No, not like that,” I chide. “This.”
I grab the handles of his axes until the blades shine with white light.
He smirks, testing them out on the beasts leaping toward us. “This will come in handy.”
We flatten the nightmare beasts with the help of the supercharged weapons, but they keep coming.
Will it ever end?
I don’t know how long we’ve been fighting when I raise the Shin’gwangdo and stab the last monster. It blinks out of existence, and silence descends around us. I scan our surroundings, fighting for my breath.
The monsters are gone.
Cheyun falls gracefully to her ass, her twin blades still gripped in her hands, and Jihun plants his long sword in the ground to prop himself up.
I weave on my feet, and Ethan appears at my side. He wraps an arm around my waist, and I press a grateful kiss on his cheek.
He smiles down at me, then cranes his neck to check on our friends. “Is everyone okay?”
“Define okay,” Taeyoung says, limping toward us. He didn’t have a weapon for me to juice up, but he battled brilliantly with his nerdy magic.
“Don’t be a baby.” Bora elbows him gently in the side. “You’ll be fine.”
The Queen of Sky floats down from above, lightning retreating into her fingertips. “I could use a moment to catch my breath, but I am otherwise unharmed.”
“Please forgive me, Your Majesty,” Minju says, “but we might not have a mo—”
An enormous dark hand rips past the barrier to the Kingdom of Sky and grabs the historian, cutting off her words. The fist of darkness tightens around her, and she screams in pain.
“Minju!” Jaeseok races toward her.
Her eyes flare red and silver, drawing on the magic of both her life sources, and her lips move with a silent incantation.
Her small body burns with silver-and-red fire, and she raises her dagger and brings it down on a dark finger.
The hand twitches and drops her, and Jaeseok catches her in the air.
I fly over the hand of the Amheuk and strike its wrist with the Shin’gwangdo. I hear a keening scream from beyond the kingdom, and the darkness swallows my sword and creeps up my arms.
Ethan leaps from the ground and slashes his axes across the black hand. The darkness suddenly releases me, and I’m flung into the air. He doesn’t reach me in time to catch me, but he maneuvers himself beneath me and takes the brunt of the impact.
His skull hits the ground with a crack, and his body goes limp. I scramble off him and cup his face in my hands. The fall knocked him unconscious, but his gi pulses with power and strength.
I raise my head as a shadow passes over us. The hand of darkness mends itself and rises to the sky. Then it falls to the ground so swiftly that I only have time to flinch.
Jaeseok’s scream of anguish rends the air.
“No, no, no,” I breathe. Ethan moans next to me, his eyelids flickering. “You’ll be okay, Ethan. Let me check on Minju. I’ll be right back.”
I push up to my hands and knees, but my legs give out when I try to stand. I have to get to Minju. Gritting my teeth, I stagger to a stand and run toward her. When I get closer, I see her lying limply in Jaeseok’s arms as he rocks her back and forth.
No. Please, no.
“Minju.” I stumble the last few feet and fall at her side. “Please open your eyes.”
To my utter relief, her eyes flutter open, but her gaze is faraway. And when she speaks, her voice is faint as a soft breeze. “I need . . .”
“What is it? What do you need?” I swallow my sob. She’ll be okay. There’s no reason to cry. “Anything, Minju. I’ll do anything.”
“I need to tell you . . . The true heart of the r-righteous . . .” She finally looks at me. “Sunny, the prophecy . . . You have it all . . .”
“I don’t care about the prophecy.” I angrily swipe a hand over my eyes. Don’t fucking cry. She will be okay. “Just tell me how to help you.”
“You have it all wrong . . .” she breathes.
“Don’t talk, my love.” Jaeseok tenderly smooths her hair off her forehead. “Save your strength.”
“You’re so handsome and kind. And terribly funny.” She cups his cheek with a shaky hand and smiles up at him. “Did I ever tell you that, Jaeseok?”
“You haven’t, as a matter of fact,” he says, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Now you have to tell me that every day to make up for lost time. And don’t forget about what a great dancer I am.”
“I love you, Jaeseok.” A single tear rolls down her temple. “I will find you in the next life.”
“No. Please, Minju,” he cries, anguish twisting his face. “I love you so much.”
“I know,” she says sweetly, and her arm falls limply to the ground. “You made me so happy . . .”
“That’s all I ever wanted. To love you and make you happy.” Jaeseok takes a deep breath, and steely determination cements over his sorrow. Then he places a featherlight kiss on her forehead. “Don’t be scared, my love. I’ll see you soon.”
With a serene smile, she closes her eyes.
“M-Minju?” My teeth chatter. “O-open your eyes. I can’t lose you too.”
“Don’t hold her back, Sunny. Let her go on to her next life in peace.” Jaeseok hands me her body with precious care. “Here. Keep her company while her soul leaves her body. She’ll feel safe with you.”
I numbly take my beautiful friend from him and cradle her head against my chest. Then ugly animal sobs erupt from me. Her body is still warm. Why her? She was the smartest, sweetest person I ever knew. Oh gods. Her parents are waiting for her in the Mortal Realm.
“Why?” I ask in a plaintive whisper.
“Everything will be okay.” The dokkaebi ruffles my hair. “You will set all things right. Minju believed that, so it has to be true.”
“Jaeseok.” I raise my grief-filled eyes to peer at his face.
He taps my nose and gets to his feet.
Something isn’t right.
“Wh-where are you going?” I follow his gaze and see the Amheuk’s arm rise slowly to the sky. Ethan is out of harm’s way, but our battered friends stand in the shadow of darkness as the dark hand clenches into a violent fist.
“Run,” Jihun shouts. “Everybody, run!”
They might not make it. I have to buy them time—a few seconds is all they need—but my grief has me in chains. My ears ring, and I can’t stop shaking.
“Goodbye, Little Sister.” Before I can respond, Jaeseok saunters toward the shadowy fist, swirling his spear lazily above his head. Then he takes off in a dead sprint and leaps into the air, his entire body bursting into scorching dokkaebi fire. “Get away from my friends, motherfucker.”
As the dark fist falls toward our friends, Jaeseok slams into it in a blaze of red flames. The Amheuk falters while Jaeseok’s fire burns against it.
Then . . . he’s gone.
“Noooo,” Hailey screams.
Jihun drags her away as they all run out from under the murderous shadow. She flails her limbs, screeching bloodcurdling screams. But the monarchs and the Sentinels, or what remains of them, stumble away seconds before the fist falls onto the ground where they stood.
“It’s okay, Minju.” I carefully lay her on the ground. “Jaeseok will find you soon.”
Ethan reaches me at the same time as our friends and falls to his knees next to me. He squeezes my hand, and I bite down on my lips.
I would’ve lost him too. I would’ve lost everyone.
An ominous rumble shakes the ground beneath us, and my Yeoiju emits a sharp chime. Yelping in pain, I press my palms against my ears, even though the sound came from within me.
“What is happening?” Bora widens her stance when the ground shakes beneath us.
The sky is literally falling around us. The hand of the Amheuk tears at the barrier to the Kingdom of Sky, and its other hand pushes through. More cracks split open in the sky, zigzagging down to the field of clouds.
I rise to my feet as my power flares with horrifying violence.
I will not allow Minju and Jaeseok’s sacrifices to be in vain.
“Do not follow me,” I order the others in a voice I hardly recognize. “The Amheuk is mine.”
“Wait,” someone rasps behind me.
My feet falter at the desperation in the single word, and I turn to face Hwanin. He steps out from under Gyun’s arm, which was around his shoulders, and stumbles toward me.
“You must come with me.” Something of his former power returns when he intones, “Now.”
“I’m rather busy at the moment.” I shoot an impatient scowl at my great-grandfather, the male who disapproved of my bear-spirit grandmother. I’m not inclined to listen to a single thing he says.
“It will not be enough. Your power . . .” He swallows. “Your power is not complete. You cannot stop the Amheuk yet.”
“Sunny.” The Judge of Tenth Hell squeezes my upper arm to get my attention. “You have to go with him. He is telling the truth. He told me everything.”
My lips part with surprise. No one can lie to the Judges of Ten Hells.
“Go with him.” Gyun nods when he sees the realization in my eyes. “He will explain everything on the way.”
Ethan stands. “I’m coming with her.”
“No, Your Majesty.” The judge holds up a hand. “No one can follow where she goes. Not there. She needs to focus on keeping herself safe—not on keeping you safe.”
I glance at Gyun, his face tight with fear and worry, then at Hwanin, his eyes wide and wild.
“Ethan.” I turn to him and cup his cheek. “Hwanin is telling the truth. I need to do this. Alone.”
“We do this together,” he growls. “Or not at all.”
“This is how we do this together. Please let me go, my love,” I plead, knowing how much I am asking of him. “Minju, Jaeseok, and Draco cannot have died in vain. I can’t let that happen. I need to stop the Amheuk. Please, Ethan. I will come back to you. I promise.”
Ethan exhales a shuddering breath, heartbreak in his eyes. “I will hold you to that promise, wife.”
I crush my lips against his but draw away before he can pull me close. Then I grab Hwanin’s arm and yank him away from the field of clouds. “Where to?”
“The Suhoshin headquarters.” He huffs as he struggles to keep up with me.
The damn fool will slow us down, but I don’t have enough strength to teleport us yet. “Why? What’s there?”
“You have only absorbed three-quarters of each of the gods’ gi.” Hwanin ages before my eyes, stooped and ancient. “The rest of our divine life forces is in the . . . Donggul.”
“The place of the Suhoshin trials?” My brows pull together.
“Yes.” The old man begins to weep. “The monster within holds the remainder of the four gods’ gi.”
Then he tells me the horrifying story.