✔Sacrifice || ENHYPEN FF

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 143

~the end of the final battle...~

~pls voteeee (and comment) this ch took me a lot of brainpower to write.~

-Start of Chapter 143-

The world jerks back into focus in fragments—blurred metal, cracking stone, the sting in my ribs.

I'm on the ground.

And Sunghoon is already in front of me, arm thrown out like a shield, blade angled towards Seorin

Seorin steps through the settling dust like she owns the battlefield, eyes cold, lips curled in cruel amusement. 

"Still breathing, I see," she hums, her flicking towards me with a smirk. "Your boyfriend here was doing a great job protecting you." 

Her eyes now shift to Sunghoons, lips curving into a sickening smile, "You wouldn't mind dying for your girlfreind would you?"

Sunghoon doesn't answer.

He disappears.

A blink later he's behind her—steel meeting steel so violently sparks burst across the forest floor. Seorin only laughs, twisting out of the way and aiming a slice for his throat.

He teleports again.

She anticipates it.

Their blades collide midair, the sound ringing through the forest like a cracked bell.

"Predictable," Seorin purrs, her heel slamming into Sunghoon's ribs and sending him sliding across the grround.

My heart drops. "SUNGHOO—"

He teleports again before he hits the wall, reappearing beside me just long enough to breathe, "Stay here."

Then he's gone—back into the fight, back against the only person who ever truly got under his skin.

Seorin lunges.

Sunghoon blocks.

Their speed becomes a blur—shadow against shadow—steel screaming, feet exploding dust with every strike.

I push myself upright, clutching my sword—

—or trying to.

A white-hot bolt of pain rips through my side.

"Ah—!" 

The sound tears out of me before I can swallow it back. My vision splits, swimming, my breath hitching against the wound carved through my ribs.

The sword isn't beside me.

It's meters away, lying discarded where I dropped it earlier, its faint glow pulsing like a heartbeat I can't quite reach.

"No... no, please..."

My fingers drag across the stone, nails scraping as I crawl toward it. Every movement sends another spike of agony through my entire body. I choke on air, on dust, on despair.

The clash of Sunghoon and Seorin's battle rings behind me—teleportation snaps, steel shrieking, Seorin laughing between strikes—and all I can think is: