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 — heunleashed.
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.”
Seori
To love is to fall
The air was filled with smoke and magic. I stood frozen, the last of the ritual light flickering around my hands, slowly fading. My voice was gone — not from silence, but fromscreaminginside. Screaming to stop. Screaming to choose something,anythingelse.
But none of them could hear me.
The throne room was chaos — Rheon’s power roared like a storm. Jisoo and Taeyang were fighting at his sides, cutting through darkness and claw and flame. And in the middle of it all stoodhim— the Demon King.
He looked at me. Just once. And his voice — thatdamnedvoice — echoed like poison in my mind:
“Kill me, and the curse remains. No matter what.”
Rheon was going to do it.
Hehad to— I knew he did.
But I also knew… he didn’t know what I did.
