𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 54 ~ Showdown

"He's not powerless. He now has US." They lunge at my throat with an outstretched arm, moving so powerfully and so agilely that If I had wasted any more time, I would have had my larynx crushed right then and there.

I swivel just in time to catch his arm and twist it behind his back, putting all the training San and Jongho have given me into practice. All the movements I've learned from them come into my head as I hold a struggling Yunho down, except... the thing I'm fighting against is no longer Yunho.

It's now a monster. A person that had been left up to fend on their own and has now been consumed by his own evil emotions. The man I'm fighting now so no longer that cheery brunette I first met on the Aurora.

He's no longer Mingi's childhood best friend.

He's no longer the Aurora's happy virus, the one with the contagious smile that could light up the room on even the darkest of days.

He's no longer the man that I sat under the stars with, chatting endlessly about each other as we took in the beautiful night sky.

He's been disfigured and reshaped by his hatred and anger into something foreign, something filled with nothing but wrath and violence toward others. The longer that he allows Asura and Yama to feed on his emotions, the stronger he gets. It's gradually becoming harder and harder for me to hold him down while I think of what to do next. When he swings his head back, I lose my grip on him completely.

Yunho's head swings back harshly, crashing against the bridge of my nose, and I stumble backward, left a bit disoriented from the impact. Before I can fully recover, his knee connects with my torso and the wind gets knocked out of my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. The pain that has arisen in my ribs is excruciating, so much so that I can barely move when I fall to my knees.

"What's wrong? If I recall clearly, you were so adamant just a moment ago that we couldn't help your dear friend." Asura goads, using Yunho's voice to speak up.

"Now look at you. Who's the helpless one after all?" Yama follows up after Asura, stomping hard on my back to flatten me out on the ground. I groan from the contact, already feeling the nasty bruises that are forming on my injuries. I flip myself over to lay on my back, focusing on the rising and falling of my chest.

Through my closed eyelids I can feel the shift in lighting as he moves over to stand at my head. A moment of silence passes between us and when I open my eyes I see him towering over me with a wicked smile tainting his features. It's unnatural and foreign on his face. It's out of place.

"Just give up," Yama advises, looking down pityingly at me. My face hardens into a stern expression, trying to suppress my boiling anger. "You've lost, Sun-Mi. The Queen's men are here for you and your friend Yunho is long gone. Let's make this easier for the others and let us do what we have to do."

I glare at them from my position on the floor, letting them know full-well that I have no intentions of backing down whatsoever.

"That's where you're wrong," I grit through my teeth, quickly acting by impulse. I stretch my arms above my head grabbing a secure hold of Yunho's ankle and bring my legs upward to wrap around his leg as well. With what power I can extort at the moment, I pull my legs back down once they're securely attached to him, bringing him down along with them.

He hadn't expected the force I was using, widening his eyes in surprise, so I know I caught him off-guard. He practically falls on his face, hitting his head harshly on the ground and I quickly move to get on top to hold him down.

"Yunho!" I frantically call as we both wrestle for the lead. "I'm so sorry for this," I apologize beforehand, retracting my arm as far back and bringing it with added force from my magic. The instant my fist makes contact with his jaw, he hisses in pain; his head lolling to the sides a bit with a scowl plastered on him.