Taeyang
Through fire and oath
The air was thick with blood and brimstone, smoke curling around my armor like serpents. The battle below raged on, but my focus had already shifted.
Something was wrong.
I felt it like a spear lodged in my chest — not just from the pain in my bond with Yuna, though that throbbed hot and alive beneath my skin — but from the shift in the magic around us.
Seori.
Rheon.
“We need to go,” I snarled, sliding my blade through the final demon lunging at us, its body crumpling in a cloud of ash. I turned to Jisoo, who was still catching his breath beside Minji.
His eyes met mine, wide with realization. He nodded once.
“He’s in danger,” he said, his voice sharp with urgency.
I turned toward the girls. Yuna stood with blood on her thigh, defiant, chin high despite the pain. Minji’s side was wrapped tight with cloth, her blade trembling in her hand but her gaze steady.
I hesitated for half a breath.
“Can you hold the line?”
Minji nodded.
“We’ve got this.”
Yuna, despite everything — despite the hurt, the confusion, the unspoken words between us — stepped closer.
She touched her chest, where I knew the mark burned just as mine did.
Her eyes met mine, and it shattered something in me.
“I’m not afraid,” she whispered. “Go. Save him.”
I wanted to say something. Everything. But there wasn’t time. I touched her wrist — just a brief, aching contact — and ran.
Jisoo was already ahead, moving like shadow, his wings flickering in and out of visibility as he bolted up the stairs toward the throne platform. I followed, the world narrowing to one single point of fire — where our brother fought the king who had cursed us all.
The screams below faded. The clash of magic above grew louder.
We were almost there.
My feet slammed against the stone steps, each one burning with the heat of ancient magic, the scent of ritual fire thick in the air.
Then— A blast of light. A scream.
“RHEON!”
We crested the final step… and I saw him.
Collapsed on his knees, covered in blood and flame, facing the Demon King — who towered above him like a god of war. Seori was on the ritual altar behind them, glowing, shaking, her lips mouthing something I couldn’t hear — but Rheon could.
And his scream — her name — broke something in me.
Jisoo growled beside me, blade drawn. His wings fully unfurled now — all rage and fury and devotion.
We didn’t wait for orders.
We charged.
Magic screamed through the air — gold and violet clashing like two gods fighting for the sky.
My boots slammed into the stone as I fell into step beside Rheon, the heat of his shadow flame burning around us like a living beast. Jisoo came in from the left, blade flashing with angelic fire, his face carved from rage.
And across from us…
The Demon King.
Still standing. Still smiling.
His crown was askew. His robes shredded. But the power pulsing from him… it was ancient. It cracked the walls, splintered the floor, bent the very air around him.
But Rheon didn’t falter. And neither did we.
“You’re not doing this alone,” I growled, pressing my blade into a reverse grip as I dodged a spell that melted the column beside me.
Rheon didn’t speak — but his eyes flicked to me, the fire in them answering with something wordless and primal.
Brotherhood.
Jisoo let out a roar as he hurled a spear of light at the king, who batted it away like a toy — but it was enough. It gave Rheon the opening.
We charged.
Together.
I struck high — clashing steel against obsidian claw. Jisoo struck low — slashing through the wards binding the king’s shield. And Rheon — gods help us — he unleashed.
His shadows swallowed the throne room, his power dark and wild and feral. He called every ounce of flame in his cursed blood, and it answered. The Demon King reeled as Rheon lunged forward, twin blades gleaming — one for vengeance, one for freedom.
He roared Seori’s name as he came down, the final blow arcing—
And then time stopped.
My breath caught in my throat.
Rheon froze — mid-strike, mid-scream — eyes wide.
The shadows around us rippled like water, and a soundless crack split the air.
I turned—heart lurching in my chest—
“Seori.”