King of Stars Volume 1 (An interstellar ATEEZ Hongjoong fanfiction)

Part Sixteen: In Which The Star King is Forced to Choose

~Yunho's POV~

The plan was dangerous to say the least.

The concoction I'd created earlier burned hot with potency in my stomach. It was so hot in fact that I felt like I was feverish, sweat soaking through my clothes and dripping down my face. But I could feel it working.

The power was snaking out from my stomach and anchoring me to the pool beneath me in the observation deck. The cool water served as the perfect conductor for the magic I'd casted. It gently rippled out from underneath me as I hovered cross legged over the pool. Another invisible tether was linked to the crude doll that sat in my lap, symbols as old as time itself drawn onto its body in charcoal.

Aquaceria shone bright blue in the dead of space at the forefront of the ship. The eye of a storm, like a bad omen, travelled in a spiral over its face.

I'd never pushed myself this hard before, like working an unused muscle the strain was starting to fatigue me. The effort made me cinch my eyebrows together in deep concentration.

Although it became harder and harder to maintain that concentration when I thought back to earlier that afternoon. The argument I had with Hongjoong sat uneasily in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't like him to risk someone's life but then again he hadn't seemed the same since Jongho went missing. Something in the guilt the captain carried with him had made him sharper, colder, more calculating. I knew in my bones he'd do whatever it takes to protect any one of us.

But does he think of Ten as one of us?

I shook my head vigorously trying to clear my mind.

Then it finally appeared. A ship lurking in space slowly headed for the ATEEZ. It was using some sort of cloaking device to hide in the blanket of the cosmos but I could sense it was there.

I've got you, I thought a smile creeping up to my face. It won't be much longer now.

~Hongjoong's POV~

The match had begun.

An announcer loudly shouted Cerian into the rolling masses, which were becoming more frenzied by the second. I could smell exhaust in the air and hear the grinding of chains as the doors opened up to reveal the battling EXO suits. I glanced at San who screwed his eyes shut and listened. Then in his soft voice he began to translate the announcer's monologue.

"Born to nomads and raised on a distant planet of wind and rain our contender came to be. Beast of bloodsport and slayer of champions Uranaan the Undaunted..." Aquacerian's stamped their feet until it began shaking the floor of the stands. An alien near where I sat pounded his chest and yelled in Cerian, the bangles on his wrists clanging together.

Uranaan's EXO suit was covered in shining steel that reflected in the lights of the stadium. Claw marks from past battles adorned its reptilian body and it wore them like badges of honor. It crawled out from under the door low on four legs, large bladed tail sweeping over the ground behind it. It fixed Yeosang's EXO suit with two eyes that glowed green within it's long face.

"His past is unknown but his skill in the ring is renowned, hailing from the stars and born of their dust came the warrior from the void. Deus Ex Machina, the God in the Machine..." The applause and shouts in the stands swelled at the mention of Yeosang's old name. Yuyaga raises his fists to the sky inciting a chant from the surrounding onlookers. "Deus! Deus! Deus!" They thundered in Cerian.

Through the opposite doors Yeosang's EXO suit stepped into the ring brandishing a wickedly sharp broadsword. Like a knight from legends of old, it's body was protected by a suit of armor, lit up from within by a ominous blue light. Chainmail swung around it's large frame as it squared off against its opponent.