Park Jiyoung

After reading the message that Jiwoo had sent me, I rushed to my position in the rear, where Jiwoo had told me to. Soon I stopped, and climbed on top of a big slab of concrete, which was riddled with several cracks over its surface.

There were many dried, and dead trees surrounding the area, with many broken structures, which I suppose were houses.

But what boggled my mind at this particular moment was the message that Jiwoo had sent me.

That request was last minute, but I knew what Jiwoo had asked me must be something he had planned, if he didn’t tell the others specifically.

Ever since fighting alongside him in the dungeon, I had been flabbergasted by Jiwoo’s strategic prowess, coupled with his unimaginable strength at such a young age.

He hid is strength, for god knows what reason. But many guilds and organisations would drool, for a talent like him.

He’s fought off a demon all alone, with inevitably killing it. I couldn’t even fathom what was going on inside his mind.

Because whenever I spoke with Jiwoo, I felt like he was not a teenager like me.

I had talked with lots of grown ups, and the feeling I get when talking with Jiwoo was the same, as when I spoke with an older person.

As if every word he spoke, comes from experience. As if he was not someone in my age group, someone who had experienced life.

And most of all, his strength wasn’t something I could imagine to reach even if I trained every single day.

He was different from the others.

As if he was miles away. Every step he took was taken with some purpose in mind.

He had his awkward moments, indicating his age, but whenever I looked at his back, I felt like he was carrying a big burden over his shoulders.

As if behind that smile of his, he tried to hide something.

Like he was always looking ahead, calculating each and every action he could take, beforehand.

I had seen many people like Jiwoo, who are considered strong for their age, and held as geniuses. But they were nothing less than arrogant, who cared about nothing but themselves.

When I first time met Jiwoo inside the dungeon—when he had saved me and Jihoon. I thought he had some ulterior motive in mind. But he didn’t.

He was always humble, caring and never arrogant. He didn’t come from a big background, but that didn’t make him arrogant with the talent he possessed.

Jiwoo was calm and caring normally, but frightening when he fought.

He was someone I had came to respect. He also had a good control over his emotions and mentality.

Soon my eyes focused on an individual who was making his way towards me, disturbing me out of my thoughts for now.

I focused my eye on that person, and it was Ryuya.

I pulled my sword out of the sheath and extended my arm forward. I kept my guard up; as Jiwoo had told me they could attack as a group.

I stepped forward and jumped down from the concrete slab and landed on the ground. Soon Ryuya’s figure became perfectly visible to my eyes.

His sword was drawn in his hand, and he quickly made his way towards me.

Ryuya had came alone and so blatantly, not even making an ambush to try to catch me off guard. Something was off.

I firmed my grip over my sword, and soon Ryuya's figure only stood a few metres away from me.

“I guess I got lucky, that I get to fight you again,” Ryuya said as our eyes met.

“This time I won’t hold back,” I solemnly replied as I took a stance and locked my eyes on Ryuyu.

Ryuya did the same and took a stance, he firmed his grip over his sword and held the hilt tightly. “Back at you”

Soon our swords clashed and sparks flew left and right. A shockwave resounded in the air as I dodged Ryuya sudden barrage of sword slashes, and summersaulted whilst intercepted with a quick diagonally slash mid summersault.

Ryuya dodged by a hair’s length and took three steps backwards. Then he shot his right foot forward and dug it deep into the dry ground.

The ground cracked and he shot forward with a bright crimson aura emanating from his body.

In the blink of an eye he covered the distance and now he was on me. He thrust his sword forward, but I dodged by twisting my body on a forty-five degree angle.

His sword went past me, and quickly maneuvering my body, I twirled and shot my leg backwards.

Just as my ankle was about to collide with his bicep, Ryuya shot his right hand forward—as if an invisible wall had came to life in front of his hand—and he changed the trajectory of his body, and ducked down whilst rolling sideways to dodge my kick.

He rolled twice, and shot up on his feet quickly.

He shook his hand twice, as his brows knit together.

‘I guess that skill puts a toll over his body, with the way he manipulates it,' I thought as I saw him steading his body.

I had seen him use his skill—during his fight with the Behemoth Turtle—but I thought he could only use it with his legs. But to use it with his arms...

He truly was hailed as the number one ranked for a reason.

But it seemed like it had some kind of backlash when he used his skill with his arms.

Because the muscle structure of the arms and legs are different from each other. So the increase in tension over his arm muscles when using his skill must me different, from when using it with his legs.

He straightened, then pulled his sword forward, then a second later his sword burst with a violent crimson, as he lunged in my direction.

I extended my arms forward, and the body of my sword also started to emanate a deep crimson hue.

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Soon Ryuya closed the gap and performed a horizontal slash. But mid slash, he twisted his body, twirled and shot his ankle towards my side.

I tried to counter, but his sudden change in position didn’t allow me to react in time.

His ankle connected to my side, and I crashed into a broken slab of concrete nearby.

My brows knit together as I groaned in pain. I wiped the side of my lips, as I got up on my feet.

I ducked a few inches down, and pulled my left leg backwards and shot toward Ryuya. I propelled my sword towards him, and firmed my grip over the sheath, and at the exact moment I had propelled my sword forward, I pulled the sheath, and hit Ryuya in his side.

A weak moan escaped his mouth as he tried to intercept with a horizontal slash.

Seeing this I twisted my torso, and spinned in mid-air twice as I shot my leg forward and hit Ryuya straight in his forehead.

But from the corner of my eyes, I saw a spear-head vertical slashing towards me from the right side and an arrow on the left side.

I couldn’t dodge mid-air, so I shot my free foot towards Ryuya’s sternum, and pushed my body backward, with the outmost force I could.

The spear-head, and arrow, went passed me as I dodged and summersaulted backwards.

Ryuya fell on the ground, as he groaned in pain for a few seconds. Steading my posture, I saw the other members of his team.

A boy with short brunette hair and blue eyes, with a long spear in his hand; Karan Singh. And on the rooftop of a wrecked house, another boy with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes, who held a green bow in his hands and a pack of arrows hung near his hip; Haris Olter.

‘Its going to be hard to fight back if they have an archer with them,’ I thought as I cleared the sweat that had accumulated over my forehead. ‘Not that its going to be easy holding my own against three people, while buying enough time for Jiwoo and Felix to arrive.’

Waiting a minute?

I looked at them again and saw the people who were here.

‘Wait... Ryuya, Haris Olter and Karan Singh.’ There were three on them here, despite the doubt of me having the key.

Unless... they knew I had the key.

I snapped my head to my right and dashed towards the big compartment building a few metres away.

Haris released several arrows from his bow. I dodged as I made my way toward the building.

I turned my head behind, and saw Karan following me. Ryuya was a few metres behind Karan.

Soon I reached the building and entered through a broken window. The inside was dark and cold.

I dashed forward and soon stepped onto the staircase, and made my way up the floors.

I tapped over my watch and spoke with my rushed voice.

“They know I have the eye! What should we do now, Jiwoo?”

Then I quickly tapped over my watch a few more time, then made my way upwards.

I took a deep breath after I reached up to the third floor, and entered a big hallway. It was covered entirely and didn’t have enough sunlight to light the inside.

The cracks in the concrete wall did allow light to pass through, but barely.

I stopped in my tracks and saw Ryuya and Karan standing behind me. I turned around and all three of us glanced at each other.

But in this place I held and advantage over them. I had scouted the area before going to my position. So I lured the both of them here.

“That was a pretty decent kick, Jiyoung,” Ryuya said as he rubbed his hand against his sternum once and extending his other arm in which he held his sword.

Soon he dashed forward and covered the gap. But my attention was not on Ryuya rather on his teammate, “Karan”.

The curved tip of Ryuya’s katana glowed with a crimson hue, as he propelled it forward with great force. The air fluttered as his katana shot forward, and a shockwave shook the area around us as the violent crimson hue increased.

I didn’t intercept his attack. But rather, I kept my gaze focused on Karan, sequentially activated my skill “Shadow Emergence”.

Soon I felt my existence becoming one with the darkness; shadows.

I felt my body melting into the shadows surrounding us in the hallway. I could see Ryuya’s eyes shot wide as he saw my body disappear from in front of him.

But my target wasn’t Ryuya rather his teammate.

Soon I completely disappeared into the shadows, and emerged out from the shadow, behind Karan.

I felt my body becoming heavier. A clear indication of my mana being steadily depleted by the activation of my skill.

Karan was caught off guard by my sudden appearance behind him. He tried to turn around and attack with his spear. But I diagonally slashed from my right and my sword hacked through his protection suit.

My sword ripped through his suit, and was about to cut through his flesh. But a thin translucent barrier erected around his body, stopping my sword, and immobilising Karan on the spot.

He fell down on the floor and I locked eyes with Ryuya.

The hair at the back of my head stood, as I twisted my body to my right and entered a small room.

I saw an arrow stuck in the wall, riddling the cracked wall with even more cracks.

I saw through the large hole in the room's wall which displayed the hallway outside, and I saw Haris’s figure standing at the edge of the hallway with his bow tightly held in his hand.

‘I took care of one of them, now what should I do?’

***

Seo Jiwoo

“You really thought I wouldn’t know, Felix,” I coldly said as I glared at him.

“Jiwoo what are you talking about? We need to go and help Jiyoung,” Felix shouted.

I covered my mouth to hide the smile which had crept up my face. Then with a long sigh, I looked at Felix who looked dumbfounded.

‘He really takes me for a fool.’

“You really think Jiyoung has the key?” I asked him.

Felix looked at me incredulously, as he opened his mouth and asked. “What do you mean?”

With a lopsided grin over my face, I inclined my head and spoke, “what if Jiyoung didn’t have the key? What if someone else had it?”

“What?” Felix said.

“I had asked Jiyoung to give the key to Han, before they went to their positions.”

Just as I explained, a wide frown flashed over Felix’s face.

I knew it. I was right all along. Since the first day of the tournament, I had my doubts, but, now they were all cleared up.

I saw from the corner of eyes, Felix reaching out to grab his rapier.

But I pulled Bleak star out of the sheath and dashed towards Felix, propelling my sword forward.

I cut the strap which hung his rapier over his hip. I extended my hand near Felix’s neck, and then pulled it back.

His rapier went loose, and with a sudden turn of my feet, I kicked his rapier to the side and took a few steps back.

Felix simply stood there, with his eyes wide open. He couldn’t even react to my speed.

He snapped his head towards his rapier which fell a few metres to his left, and then snapped his head back in my direction.

I could see the surprise over his face. “How did he do that?” Was what was written all over his face.

“Why are you doing this, Jiwoo?” He looked perplexed by witnessing my sudden actions.

I looked him straight in his eyes and asked. “What is your real purpose, after selling out Jiyoung and distracting the others?”

I could see drops of sweat over his forehead, trickle down his side.

By now all of my doubts had been cleared up.

I activated Mind’s Eye, and looked at Felix's mana signature, which brightly burned within his body.

But upon closer examination, I could now see the mana which sustained and fluxed through his body, was mixed with blood red motes of demonic energy. Giving his mana a more corrupted sensation.

“I knew it,” I said as I deactivated Mind’s Eye and once again coldly glared at Felix.

“K-Knew what?” Felix hesitantly asked.

I sighed again as I shook my head. ‘How long is this guy going to paly the ignorent fool?’

I extended my left arm forward and opened my palm. There was a necklace resting in my palm of my hand. An emerald stone attached to a silver chain which Felix was wearing.

Felix’s eyes shot wide open, as he touched near his neck, but horror flashed his face instead.

“So you were a demon’s contractee all along?”

In the back of my head, I kind of already knew this, but I waited to confirm my suspicion before taking some brash action.

He extended both his arms forward and hurriedly exclaimed, “w-what do you mean Jiwoo, that I’m a contractee? Stop with the jokes.”

I held the emerald tightly in my palm and asked, “then if I broke this emerald, will all the jokes end?”

But without wasting another second, I increased my grip and crushed the emerald in my palm.

“No!!!!" Felix screamed as he weakly stepped forward.

The emerald crushed in my palm, and a bright green light emanated from it, before the light resided, and the emerald turned into a mount of dust.

Felix’s face twisted with horror, as he stumbled on the ground.

I activated Mind’s Eye again, and this time the burning mark of his mana, had become more duplexed with demonic energy.

Felix weakly got up on his feet, and slicked his dirt-blonde hair back. His pupils and retina had taken a deep shade of black, as he glared at me.

But his entire body started to quake with convulsions, as all of his veins and muscles bulged outward, and they could be prominently seen through his suit.

“Uek...”

He hoarsely screamed in pain, by his sudden mutation.

That necklace had worked as a catalyst to sustain and hold the demonic energy to not cause him to transform.

Because we human are not compatible with demonic energy, because its a life form which only the demons can inherently use. So a human who is weak and forms a contract with a demon, there body tries to accept the demonic energy—mixing it with their mana—but when they fail to do so, their body mutates. As they can’t hold the impulse of the demonic energy.

After a few more seconds his body stopped convulsing, and he opened his eyes.

The left side of his face had dried up, and his veins had popped out, moving like worms. Making his face look fugly.

He covered his face with his right hand and started to laughing menacingly.

“I guess I don’t need to hide anything now.”