Win No Matter What

CHAPTER 38 - THE END

Lord Luciferous turns around to see Hak Kun pointing his wand at him. Laughing, he says, "Oh....it was you was it? I see now," and after a momentary pause, "And how do you plan on stopping me old man? I've had enough of this." With that, he blasts Hak Kun off his feet who flies several feet up into the air and then lands with a heavy thud.

You all look at Hak Kun's lifeless body in horror. Eyes wide with anger, Ji Min turns to his father and points his wand at him. You follow suit, instinctively knowing what to do, and chant together, "Spiritus Guardium."

Ethereal creatures snake out of each of your wands and take their shape as they hurtle towards Lord Luciferous. Nam Joon's is a blue bear, Seok Jin produces a pink horse, Yoongi's is a black cat, Ho Seok forms a red stag, Jung Kook's is a purple hare and Tae Hyung produces a green tiger. The TXT boys shoot out black pumas from their wands, Principal Bang creates a dragon, whilst Ji Min and you both produce swans. His is black and yours is white.

The united power of the fourteen Spiritus Guardium spells is more than enough to knock Lord Luciferous over. You all hold your spirit guardians over Lord Luciferous' hunched body. It takes all of your strength to close in on his body which steadily grows weaker. Driven by grief and remembering the cruel things he'd done so far, your strength increases until all the power from Lord Luciferous gradually gets extinguished. You all finally stop and back away when you see that only a shell of him remains.

Principal Bang speaks, "I think we've done what we need to. Lord Luciferous is not Lord Luciferous anymore. I suggest we leave him here. He's too weak to go anywhere or do anything anymore."

Leaving him with the rest of the weakened demons, Jung Kook and Beom Gyu carry Hak Kun's body whilst you all make their way out of the room, back to the pool, through the cave and out to the waterfall. None of you even look back at what has been left behind. The sooner you get out of there, the better.

Once you are halfway through the bamboo forest, Principal Bang indicates that you stop. "Ji Min, I think you'll be able to take your lockets off now. Please give them to me," he says.

Ji Min takes them off easily, your locket still inside his. Principal Bang says, "Unfortunately, I need to destroy the lockets as their purpose has been served, both good and bad."

"What do you mean?" asks Seok Jin.

"Well, they served their initial purpose of protecting Ji Min and Rumi all these years, but once they both met, the portal in the library appeared. Their destinies had to be fulfilled and all of this had to happen. But now we need to close off that portal and to do that, the lockets need to be destroyed forever," Principal Bang explains.

Although you say nothing in objection since you understand why this needs to be done, you still feel a pang of sadness at losing something so precious. Your mother gave it to you and, eventually, it connected you to Ji Min.

As though reading your mind, Ji Min holds your hand and says, "Don't worry Rumi, it's more than the lockets which connect us."

Principal Bang drops the lockets to the ground, chants a short spell and they immediately vanish leaving behind a thin purple vapour. "Now we need to go back to our world through the lake," Principal Bang instructs.

"No way, I just got over the trauma of coming through it once already."

"My hair though, I spent ages fixing it."

"Cool, I get to see the weird creatures you talked about."

"I wish I'd taken more swimming lessons when I was a kid."

After lots of sighing and rolled eyes, you all make your way to the only portal back to your world. You make the uneventful journey through the lake which Principal Bang seals afterward. Without Lord Luciferous, the demons would not be able to make it through to this side anymore.

You walk back to the Academy, comfortably holding hands with Ji Min. Is it all really over? Is Ji Min really free from this curse? You look at him; his head is down and he seems to be concentrating on the steps he's taking.

Nobody is talking at the moment,very likely exhausted from all the preceding events. You look at the Bangtanguys, your protectors and saviours. You look at the TXT boys whose braveryknows no bounds and look like they will follow in their hyungs' footsteps. Youthink about Yoongi whom you hope will set aside his distrust of you now. Youknow that you have lifelong brothers in Seok Jin, Ho Seok and Jung Kook. Youhope one day you will have Nam Joon's leadership and mental strength. You smileat Tae Hyung's innocence and look forward to catching glimpses of the worldthrough his eyes. Principal Bang put his faith in you and you hope you didn't lethim down. Finally, back to Park Ji Min, the devastatingly handsome Park Ji Min.The one who stole your heart from the moment you laid eyes on him. The one whomyou look forward to spending the rest of your life with. You look ahead and feelcontented relief. In the end, you won.