by Con Template
Yoori glanced at Tae Hyun. Though no words were exchanged, they knew exactly how to fight together. After a nod of confirmation, Yoori took full estate of the bamboo sword. She jabbed it upwards, breaking through the maze of swords up above and weakening the attackers with her skillful wielding.
Just as this happened, Tae Hyun used the opportunity to kick various assailants across their stomachs. The attack triggered a tide of assassins to tumble onto one another. In this spell of chaos, he seized a lone assailant from the tide and grabbed hold of his arms. Tae Hyun became the puppet master of the night when he held up the arms of his captive and fought the other assassins with him. While directing his captive’s sword grasping hand, he began to wield the weapon as though it was in his own hand.
Swish!
The sword whipped through the night, slicing through flesh and injuring a myriad of assailants.
Bang!
Anticipating the next wave of attack, Tae Hyun used the captive assassin as a shield for the chain of bullets that came flying in his direction. Multiple bullets plunged into his captive, prompting blood to pour profusely from the masked man’s wounds. While his captive took his last breath, Tae Hyun proceeded to kick another lone assassin over to Yoori, who effectively used the masked soldier to block another thread of bullets that came for her.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As this shield assassin died for her, Yoori was still fighting her own set of attackers with the kendo stick. Displaying enviable skills, she whipped the bamboo stick with a force so strong that it left multiple opponents to go airborne across the room. Despite how difficult it was to concentrate in this massive arena, Yoori was careful to use her heightened hearing as she fought. Whenever she sensed the bullets coming for her, she would use the assassins around her as living shields.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Strangely enough, the longer she fought, the more taken aback she became. It occurred to Yoori that she actually recognized some of the moves being used against her. To her horror, she then realized that those moves were the ones she taught—those moves were the ones Tae Hyun taught. Her stunned eyes raked over the masked men and women in a brand new light. They were not fighting unknown assassins. They were fighting their own people.
Her Siberian Tigers and his Serpents: their own people were being used against them now.
“It is ironic, isn’t it?” Ji Hoon stated offhandedly, reading the shocked reaction of not only Yoori’s, but also Tae Hyun’s. “Fighting against the ones you trained, the ones who once revered you?”
Although this discovery hurt them, they did not allow it to cripple them. If they were attacking her and Tae Hyun, they were enemies—it was as simple as that. In an arena where they were fighting for their lives, they could not allow things to become complicated. Putting that knowledge aside, Tae Hyun and Yoori used all the power they had left to fight their ten remaining adversaries.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In a harmonized motion, Tae Hyun and Yoori leapt onto the harnesses that were still hanging from the ceiling. They swung their bodies into the air and used their controlled momentum to kick several assassins at once. Up above, the snipers shot away, the bullets grazing over Tae Hyun and Yoori, but fully lodging themselves into their opponents.
Even though she was able to hold her own, the various maladies plaguing Yoori’s body were beginning to take a toll. The bullet wound on her arm was acting up after she used the last of her strength to swing on the harnesses. And then, just as she grabbed another harness, the wound became her undoing. An excruciating ache surged up and down her arm, momentary blinding her with pain.
Tae Hyun, who was unaware of the pain Yoori was experiencing, jumped in the air and spin-kicked several assassins at once, leaving a wave of black figures to plummet brutally to the floor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Swish!
“Augh!”
Distracted by the pain weaving through her deteriorating body, Yoori was unable to defend herself when one of the attackers sliced his sword over her left arm, cutting through her stitches and opening up her bullet wound. A rush of blood flowed from her wound as she fell from the harness and crashed to the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Applying pressure to her wound, Yoori dodged around the bullets and ripped out the bottom hem of her shirt. She tied a knot around her newly opened wound and secured the knot by using her teeth to pull at one side of the fabric. After taking care of her injury, she angrily went after the assassin that attacked her. Then, just as countless bullets overflowed the stage, just as Tae Hyun killed the five assassins he was fighting against, and just as Yoori snapped the head of the bastard who attacked her, the sound of another pair of feet dropping onto the floor pulsated through the amphitheater, signifying the beginning of the real battle to come.
“Vacate,” said the authoritative voice of An Young Jae.
His demand was instantly met.
On direct cue, the fighting ceased and the bullets stopped. With a groan of agony from the four surviving assassins, all of whom were bleeding nonstop from battling against their former King and Queen, they struggled to bow to both Ji Hoon and Young Jae. As commanded, they vacated the onyx arena, leaving the blood-covered stage to the Kings and Queen.
Tae Hyun and Yoori breathed in vigilance. They stood in the center of the arena, watching with unblinking eyes as Young Jae stepped over the fresh corpses from the carnage that had taken place. He began to make his way over to Ji Hoon. On the other side, Ji Hoon rose from his throne and made his way over to Young Jae. They convened in the center of the arena where they stood parallel to Yoori and Tae Hyun.
Yoori regarded them with disgust. She should have known that Ji Hoon and Young Jae would only administer the full duration of their “punishment” after they had been brutally weakened by their former soldiers. Others might view their strategy as ingenious. She simply saw it as cowardice.
“You didn’t think your one hour would be that easy, did you?” Ji Hoon asked nonchalantly, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt to prepare for battle.
Tae Hyun smirked. Even after the attack, he still looked unscathed. The only difference in his appearance was the splatters of blood that belonged to those who were foolish enough to fight him.
Yoori, on the other hand, was feeling the excruciating after-effects of the “warm-up” battle.
“It would make sense that you’d be cowardly enough to wait until others had fought and weakened us before you were brave enough to come down yourself,” Tae Hyun remarked dryly, unaware of how weak Yoori was becoming.
In spite of her mounting pain, Yoori maintained her mask of composure. She refused to distract Tae Hyun by bringing attention to her injury. In this type of capacity where they were fighting for their lives, it was better to keep these useless, demoralizing facts to herself.
Young Jae smiled as he picked up a sword and tossed it to Ji Hoon.
“It was entertaining to watch you fight the ones who once loved and respected you so much.” Young Jae laid his cruel eyes on Yoori while reaching down to grab hold of his own sword. “But there’s a reason why I came here, a reason why the entire Underworld is here, and a reason why the two of you are here.” He smirked at Yoori and motioned his head to a fallen soldier. His eyes sharpened onto the sword that was in the dead soldier’s hand. “Pick up the sword, little one. You weren’t allowed to use those as weapons in the warm-up round, but in this round with me, seeing as our skill levels are highly comparable, I want you to have every advantage there is before I give you what you deserve.”
Unnerved that he used the nickname he had given her when they were children, Yoori did her best to stow the once pleasant memories of him aside. She bent down as he suggested and picked up a sword of her own. She knew all too well how this fight between the Gods would be split up. It would be Yoori versus Young Jae, and Tae Hyun versus Ji Hoon.
Yoori felt the anticipation rise up in the amphitheater. The Underworld was on
its hands and knees at the prospect of watching two Gods battle one another when it came to Yoori and Tae Hyun. But this very moment was different. The enormity of this entire scenario was too perfect for her sadistic society. The four Gods that stood across from each other had so much history with one another, so much individual reverence, so much power, and so much desire to kill one another. The battle between Yoori and Tae Hyun may be considered the epic fight of the century, but this . . . this fight would be infamous and legendary, and it would live on for the ages to come. It was truly the battle of a lifetime, and it was truly a battle fit for the Underworld.
“We have been waiting a while for this battle, haven’t we, Tae Hyun?” Ji Hoon asked coolly, kicking a sword-holding cadaver over to Tae Hyun. It was his wordless prompt to Tae Hyun to pick up the sword.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for five years now,” Tae Hyun answered, ripping the sword from the corpse’s hand. “I can’t wait to finish you tonight.”
A smirk edged Ji Hoon’s lips.
“Funny,” he murmured, expertly twirling his sword in his hand. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”
Tae Hyun smirked. Whereas Ji Hoon’s smirk was calculating and mocking, Tae Hyun’s was filled with deadly promise.
“When I kill you, I will make sure to line this floor with your blood while your head falls beside my feet. We’ll see then if you still have your sense of humor.”
Fury morphed onto Ji Hoon’s visage. He tightened his grip on his sword and looked at Tae Hyun with fire in his eyes. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Clank!
Akin to two bulls finally being released from captivity, Ji Hoon and Tae Hyun charged at one another at full force. Their swords clanged together, causing sparks to fly in the air as the fight between them commenced.
As this occurred, Yoori and Young Jae were still circling one another.
Young Jae’s eyes were filled with bloodlust while Yoori’s eyes rippled with regret for the situation they found themselves in. She knew that he had been waiting for this moment with great anticipation—the moment to finally bring his revenge to fruition. For Yoori, this moment could not be more heart-wrenching. Despite how much guilt she harbored for killing his wife and unborn child—and despite how much love she still had for him—in the end, she saw the unforgiving truth behind their story. She was not a fool. There was no chance for reconciliation. Not after everything they had been through and especially not after everything they had done to each other. Although every part of her agreed that his thirst for her blood was justified, in the same token, every selfish cell within her body found this justification to be inconsequential. She would not give him an easy fight; she refused to die by his hands tonight. She had too much to live for to die without a fight. It was inevitable that one had to kill the other to make it out alive, and for her own survival—and more importantly for Tae Hyun’s survival—Yoori hoped that she would be the sibling who came out alive before the hour was up.
“The first Lord of all the Underworlds,” she began, still circling him with her sword held high in her hand. She was ready to battle him within a moment’s notice. “Your dream has come true.”
“A bittersweet dream to the nightmare you bequeathed to me,” he replied coldly. Hatred bled through his stare. “You should’ve listened to your boyfriend and stayed away.” A cruel smile outlined his lips. “But I’m glad that you came. I would’ve never been able to live with myself if I did not make you pay for what you did.”
A bloodthirsty mask crept onto his face at this very statement. As though this was the very catalyst he needed to summon all his strength to destroy her, he did not delay the inevitable any longer.
Swish!
Young Jae initiated the battle by swinging his sword in the air. The metal blade sped for Yoori’s neck. It was an inch away from connecting with her flesh before Yoori proficiently blocked the attack with her own sword. A loud clang surfaced over the arena as Yoori used her sword to wield his away. Once their swords parted ways, she maneuvered her weapon around his. There was no longer any hesitancy weighing her down. He was not going to go easy on her, and she planned on doing the same. Family no longer existed in this arena. All that existed was survival.
Rallying together all her strength, Yoori swung the sword across his chest. Her blade cut through the fabric of his suit jacket and would have sliced into his skin had Young Jae not back-pedaled in time.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Her plan to spur forward to wield another attack came to a standstill when she heard the bullets come her way. Her instincts taking over, she spun the sword around her. Her talented hands dexterously manipulated the weapon to serve as her shield. She threw the sword behind her to cover her back from flying bullets and then flipped it forward to veil her face. As another wave of bullets came storming into the onyx stage, she threw the sword in mid-air to block a bullet that was coming for her neck. In the same moment, she also performed a quadruple backflip to evade ten consecutive bullets that chased after her like shadows.
Gasps flooded the amphitheater. Yoori’s effortless demonstration of her God-like skills held the Underworld audience in absolute awe.
Excited whispers poured from the upper levels of the arena.
“Holy shit, that was a bomb-ass move!”
“No wonder she’s the Queen, right?”
“What a fucking great show.”
Yoori landed on her feet, grabbed a sword, and quickly looked up once the snipers momentarily ceased with their shooting. Above in the highest echelon of the arena, where the 1st layer heirs and heiresses sat, she could see their eyes glow with amazement. They were in awe of the unparalleled skills she displayed in protecting herself with a simple sword. In that instant, everyone in the arena was reminded of why she would always be the Queen of legends in their world.
Yoori took her eyes off the 1st layer Royals when she felt seething eyes lay upon her. Her eyes rested on her brother, who was watching her with composed rage. There was fury in his eyes because she had gotten the better of him in front of their society. This was a travesty that he would not permit again.
Yoori gazed at the bullets that rested beneath her feet and examined the spotless ground around Young Jae’s feet. There were no bullets surrounding his immediate proximity. Sans the piece of his jacket that she cut through, Young Jae had no other maladies on him. A slow realization dawned in her eyes. This time, unlike the previous bullets that hit everything that moved, the last bullets fired were not shot without discrimination. It was fired with extreme prejudice.
She smirked to herself, knowing how this game would be played now.
The bullets were only deployed when it looked like Young Jae or Ji Hoon were about to lose their fight and needed assistance. It was used as a surefire way to ensure that the show would go on until the hour was up. More importantly, it was used to keep Yoori and Tae Hyun from defeating Young Jae and Ji Hoon.
Cowards, she thought disgustedly. Only in the Underworld would this callous technique be looked upon as entertainment rather than a cowardly act.
“You ungrateful bitch,” Young Jae growled, breaking her out of her reverie. The composure he held melted away from the heat of his anger. He was not happy that she nearly sliced his chest open. If looks could kill, Yoori would be dead with her heart ripped out of her chest.
Yoori held the sword tight in her grasp, ready for round two with her brother.
With an inferno blazing in his eyes, Young Jae did not disappoint her anticipation. He spurred forward and charged at her, expertly swinging his sword in the air. This time, he was ready to give her the fight of her life.
Yoori met his sword with hers and poured her own anger into their fight.
Battling one another with unmatched rage, they simultaneously jumped in the air, punched one another, kicked one another with bone-crushing force, and nearly destroyed one another while their swords violently clanged together.
“Spoken by the ungra
teful bastard who killed his own father,” Yoori spat out moments later, responding to his earlier remark. She bequeathed him with an uppercut to the chin that nearly took his head off. Unfortunately for Yoori, Young Jae was quick to recover.
Speeding back to her, he bestowed her with a powerful punch across the face. The force of the punch weakened her legs and caused her to fall on one knee. Darkness edged her vision as she tried to see past the pain. All the injuries she incurred while fighting with Tae Hyun in the business district sprouted to life, reminding the nerves of her once healing body that the same treatment was coming again. Her body begged Yoori to remove herself from this situation, warning her that it wasn’t physically strong enough to go on.
She heard all of this, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she chose to listen to her heart. She would not leave Tae Hyun here. She would stay with him until the very end.
Not long after this resolution, Yoori felt her instincts spark to life when she heard the snipers rustle up above. They’re getting ready to shoot again! Placing her pain on the backburner, Yoori blindly groped for something to aid her while the darkness dissipated from her vision. Her hands grazed over the harnesses in the arena and she gratefully clung to the one closest to her. With an impromptu plan in mind, she propelled herself up onto that harness and speedily removed herself from the incoming gunfire. In that same second, seven sequential bullets came at her while she hung in mid-air, nearly causing her to crash to the ground. Refusing to fall, she tightened her grip around the harness and swung her sword about, shielding herself from the random bullets that were still coming after her.
“Ah!”
Yoori screamed when her grip nearly failed her. Aware that it was physically impossible for her to hang onto the harness any longer, especially given her injuries, Yoori changed her tactics. Using her body as the catalyst to move the harness further along, she swung like a pendulum. Giving herself one powerful push with her swinging body, she finally let go of the harness. With wind running through her hair, Yoori soared through the air with the grace of a bird. She braced herself, easily landing in a crouching position on the foundation of the six-foot-marble wall that embraced the arena.