We were currently chasing Jisung up a staircase to the second floor.

Every time he looked back at us, his eyes were filled with malice and hatred.

"Xander is gonna pay for what he's done"

"Hyung, we can't worry about him right now! We need to focus on getting Jisung back!"

The moment Renjun said that, Jisung raised up a wall of water to prevent us from catching him.

Enzo shot a beam at it, and it surprisingly bounced off and almost hit him and Renjun, if he hadn't ducked in time.

"He's found out how to make his water stable and rubbery at the same time!"

Renjun exclaimed.

"How is that even possible?!"

Eunji shrieked, tightly holding on to my arm.

"It takes a lot of concentration and power to adjust its properties like that! It's not something that just anyone can do!"

Enzo informed.

This is getting irritating.

"Rubber can be melted right?"

I questioned, and Enzo nodded.

"Put a barrier around us real quick"

Enzo immediately did as I said without question.

I adjusted the temperature of the air in our area, and the water started to heat up.

When it turned red, it slowly began to melt. The wall soon melted in front of us, and I quickly cooled down the air's temperature again.

"Let's get moving"

I ordered, and Enzo quickly brought down the barrier.

We continued running up the staircase, until we finally reached the surprisingly dark second floor.

"Where'd he go...?"

Eunji questioned, clinging to me tighter.

I held my ring up, and used Jungwoo to temporarily light up the area.

"D A M N  I T !"

We heard Jisung yell.

Renjun sent a decomposing ball in the direction we heard his voice, and decomposed a pillar to reveal Jisung behind it.

I stopped using Jungwoo to light up the area, and Jisung angrily gazed at us.

Surprisingly, he was wearing different clothes than before.

"I t  d o e s n 't  m a t t e r  i f  y o u
d e f e a t  m e  y o u  k n o w. Y o u 'l l
n e v e r  d e f e a t  J e n o"

"Damn it. He's being controlled so much that he's not using honorifics anymore"

Renjun sighed.

"That's gonna change real soon"

I stated.

"Y o u  r e a l l y  t h i n k  y o u
s t a n d  a  c h a n c e  a g a i n s t
m e ?  Y o u 'l l  n e v e r w i n  i f
y o u  k e e p  h o l d i n g  b a c k
y o u r  t r u e  p o w e r  T a e y o n g ~"

It shocked me a little when he said that.

"True power???"

Renjun questioned.

"What's he talking about oppa???"

Eunji tugged my arm.

I know exactly what Jisung is talking about.

None of them should know about it, but he clearly knows about my secret.

'He's right you know. You'll never be strong unless you release me again~'

There it is.

That same voice from back then.

I've got to see to it that nothing happens to the other three, if something happens to me.

"Shut up..."

I ordered the voice.

"Oppa?"

Eunji worriedly tugged on my arm again.

I know what I have to do.

I gently removed Eunji's hands from my arm, and made her hold Renjun's hand.

"Enzo. Put another barrier up"

"Ok..."

I quickly stepped out of the barrier as it was going up.

The three of them were inside, confused as to why I stepped out.

"Enzo. Don't bring that barrier down, unless it's absolutely necessary"

"But-"

"That's an order Enzo!"

I sternly yelled.

He flinched, but he nodded with understanding.

I smiled and refocused my attention back to Jisung.

"Do you really think you'll beat him Jisung?"

I heard Seifer speak.

We found him sitting on top of one of the statues in the room.

"W h a t ?"

"Did you forget that you're nothing but a mere mortal against an immortal god? Even if you do bring him close to death, he'll never die. You on the other hand, will die no matter what"

"I-I  d o n 't  c a r e  a b o u t  t h a t . . ."

"Really? You don't? Fine. Go ahead and die then. It's not like we care about you. They don't care about you either you. They're only here because they see you as a threat. You're too strong for your own good. Maybe we'd all be better off if you did die"

I used Lucas to fire multiple spikes at him, but he swiftly dodged them all.

I felt myself getting angrier and my power rose with each second.

"You shut your goddamn mouth. Don't you dare even try to lie to him you fucking bastard. Don't you dare try to convince him to die. Don't you FUCKING DARE bad mouth Jisung!"

'That's it! Let it all go! Release that power to save him! Protect what matters to you, even if they'll never trust you again! You must protect them! You must save Jisung!'

I let go of all my restraints, and finally released the power I've been hiding for years.

The power of a god of war.

-

Taeyong was now emitting a very powerful and somewhat malicious aura.

It felt insanely powerful, even if we were inside the barrier.

That power just keeps getting stronger.

At this rate, Jisung will...

"Enzo! Let Jisung in!"

I yelled, running towards him while holding Eunji's hand.

"But he might attack us!"

"He won't! Please just do it!!"

I yelled once more.

He finally opened up the barrier on one side, allowing me to use my other hand to pull Jisung in before he closed it again.

"W h a t  a r e  y o u  d o i n g ?! L e t
m e  o u t !"

"Do you wanna fucking die?! Shut the fuck up and stay still!!"

I yelled at him.

He flinched, but he obeyed.

Taeyong suddenly yelled out, and released a huge burst of energy that destroyed everything in the room.

Jisung looked very shocked, as if he was wondering how I knew that this would happen.

I felt the room shake more than it already was, and I quickly brought Enzo, Eunji, and Jisung closer to me to at least try to protect them more.

After I did that, the room shook so hard that even the barrier started to crack under the pressure.

After a few seconds, the room stopped shaking but the barrier unfortunately came down.

I let the three of them go and saw an amazing, but terrifying sight.

Taeyong had completely changed.

His hair turned black, he was surrounded by a powerful purple aura, his skin became scale-like, much like a snake, his eyes turned silver, and he had a white snake-like tongue!

"W-What happened to Taeyong-oppa...??"

Eunji mumbled.

"I have no idea..."

"T-T h i s  p o w e r . . .  S e i f e r  w a s
r i g h t . . .  I-I 'l l  d i e  t r y i n g  t o
b e a t  h i m . . ."

Jisung stuttered.

He looked just as scared as Jaemin did before.

Taeyong suddenly moved from his spot so fast that we couldn't see him. He reappeared behind Seifer and almost succeeded in hitting him, but Seifer moved out of the way quick enough.

"Woah there Snake god of War, don't forget who you're up against"

He suddenly aimed a small gun at the four of us, and fired it.

Jisung suddenly pushed us out the way, and it hit him.

I could feel his power rising, and he groaned in pain while gripping his head.

"What was that you said to Jaemin earlier? Pull yourself together, or Xander will indeed have your head"

Seifer commanded Jisung.

That gun must've had more of Xander's mind control power in it. Jisung saved us, even though he was still being controlled...

"I'll deal with you later, reptile"

He smirked at Taeyong.

He hissed at Seifer and tried attacking him, but he disappeared into a plume of dust.

"F o r g o t  a b o u t  m e  a l r e a d y ?"

Jisung stood up, under Xander's complete control again.

I quickly backed away with Eunji and Enzo, and he put another barrier up.

Taeyong was the first to attack Jisung, but he dodged him skillfully. They began fighting each other so fast that it was getting hard to keep up with them.

"I thought Taeyong-hyung was a god of fortune?"

"He's a god of war too Renjun..."

Johnny confessed through the communicator in my ear.

"When did this happen???"

"He's always been a god of war. He only became a god of fortune after he met your parents. That's why he hid his identity from you all for so long. He was scared that if he killed somebody, none of you would trust him or see him the same way you did before..."

"So that's why..."

"But now, Seifer has brought that power out of him. We don't know what he might do, and we can't stop him. You must never interfere with a god of war's work. You'll die for sure if you do. We just need to wait until he either burns himself out, or when he kills Jisung. But, hopefully the Taeyong we know is still in there. He won't dare to kill Jisung if he is"

"Right..."

We all watched with fainted breathe to see what would be the outcome of this fight.

After a few more minutes of them fighting, Taeyong struck one of Jisung's earrings, the dangling flower one. Jisung quickly backed away and made sure that it was ok.

He thought that Taeyong just merely touched it, but then his power started to drain.

The earring evaporated into dust.

"That's one of the earrings gone! Taeyong-hyung is so cool~!"

Doyoung cheered excitedly.

"How did he do that hyung???"

I asked Johnny.

"It's a move called Virulent Touch. When he's in this form, most of Taeyong's anatomy temporarily becomes that of a venomous snake. Most places on his body generate temporary scales, his eyes temporarily become snake-like to somewhat increase his eyesight, his tongue temporarily becomes snake-like to somewhat increase his sense of smell, and a temporary venom courses through his body. With this specific power move, when that venom secretes from his fingertips, whatever he touches will either melt or evaporate under the pressure of the venom"

"Does that venom hurt him?"

"No. He's completely immune to it. But to anyone or anything else, it's extremely lethal and will indeed kill you"

"I see..."

It makes a lot more sense now.

Having this much power would potentially scare us back then, especially at that very young age we all were. Even if he tried to explain everything to us, we would be too scared to understand.

He felt like he had to hide himself from us, so that when we looked at him, we wouldn't look at him and see a monster.

He suffered in silence, so he wouldn't be more heartbroken than he already was.

"Oppa...is so amazing"

Eunji mumbled.

I'm glad to know that she's not scared of him.

"End of the line Jisung. Give up now, and I won't have to hurt you anymore"

Taeyong stated.

Jisung looked even more angry than before now.

". . . I 'm n o t f i n i s h e d y e t !"

He performed multiple hand signs, until he completely spelled out a new technique.

"S h a r k F r e n z y"

He spawned one huge phantom shark behind him, soon followed my miniature ones that swam around him.

"I 'm j u s t g e t t i n g s t a r t e d !"

The miniature sharks started to fly towards Taeyong to bite him.

Taeyong in response turned his venom into a Toxin Daggar, to try and combat them.

He tried slicing one, but it just fazed right through it.

It makes sense.

He forgot that you can only destroy a phantom with an attack composed of light, or with a weapon infused with light.

Taeyong was too surprised to move away in time, and multiple sharks bit onto him. He cried out in pain and tried to remove them, but they only bit down harder.

More of the sharks came for him, and he started dodging them. Some blew up after they hit debris from the destroyed structures in the room, but others ricocheted off of the debris and bit him on his legs and arms.

His blood seeped through the bites, and he could barely move. His power level was starting to decrease as well.

While he was trying to pull himself together, the shark behind Jisung fired an energy blast at him.

When Taeyong had finally noticed it, it was too late.

It hit him head on, and the impact of it made all of the other sharks attached to him blow up in a chain explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Taeyong was still standing, but he had changed back to normal.

"N o t  g o i n g  d o w n  h u h ?"

Jisung huffed.

"..."

"Y o u  s t i l l  t h i n k  t h a t  y o u
c a n  b e a t m e  w h e n  y o u
l o s t  y o u r  p o w e r  t h a t
q u i c k ?!"

Jisung chucked.

He formed a giant hand made out of water, and roughly grabbed Taeyong, bringing him closer to look him in the eye.

"T h i s  i s  w h a t  h a p p e n s
w h e n  y o u 'r e  t o o
o v e r c o n f i d e n t"

"...Jisung, I'm really, really proud of you...~"

He smiled, surprising Jisung.

"...You're so young, yet you were able to beat me at my full power. You really are an awesome kid...~"

Jisung's expression softened with every word.

"...But, even though you may have beaten me, I won't stop trying. I... I refuse to rest until we've saved you. I c-can't leave you here to suffer anymore........... I can't...."

Jisung stayed silent, but then he started laughing.

"Y o u  c a n 't  w i n  T a e y o n g ~"

He slowly started closing his hand, and the water hand began to squeeze Taeyong inside of it, slowly suffocating him.

"Oppa..."

Eunji looked very scared as she squeezed my hand.

"We have to think of something... If we don't, Taeyong-hyung is gonna be killed, and Jisung will continue to be held captive against his will..."

Her grip suddenly loosened around my hand.

"...Captive"

"Eunji?"

"......Captivity! That's it!"

"What's it?!"

"That's who I am! I'm a god of captivity!"

"You remember?!"

"I do! I know how we can apprehend Jisung, but I need your help!"

I nodded.

"Enzo, take down the barrier. Makes sure to hide somewhere safe, just in case things get rough"

"Got it"

He hopped off my shoulder and took the barrier down.

We watched him to make sure he was somewhere safe, before trying to think of a good strategy.

But before we could think of one, we heard Taeyong's bones break and the sounds of him crying.

-

"Jisung broke Taeyong-hyung's back!"

Doyoung yelled from his monitor.

"Jisung is that powerful?!"

I questioned, worrying about Taeyong.

"...Wait, something's happening"

He informed.

"What is it???"

Hendery asked.

"Both Renjun's and Eunji's power levels are increasing. But Renjun's power isn't the same as when he went full demon. It's more pure!"

"Angelic pure?!"

Johnny questioned, and he nodded.

We all looked to the drone camera monitor, to see if what we thought was about to happen was correct.

Soon, his hair turned pink, his eyes turned blue, huge pink wings grew from his back, and he was surrounded by a light pink aura!

"H-He's done it! He's conquered his other powers and has gone full angel!"

Doyoung informed with a huge smile.

"What about Eunji?!"

I inquired.

"She's recovered her powers as a god of Captivity and finally remembers who she used to be!"

She was levitating and surrounded herself with chains that she summoned!

Renjun suddenly moved so fast that we lost him on the monitor for a second.

When we found him, we saw that he had destroyed the shark behind Jisung, and he was covering his eyes.

He must've used an attack composed of light! Not only did it destroy the phantom shark, but it also stunned Jisung in the process.

One of Eunji's chains quickly sliced up the water hand, and it completely dissipated, dropping Taeyong.

Renjun flew up and caught him easily, and rested him somewhere safe. But before he returned to help Eunji, he quickly healed him just a little bit.

Jisung tried putting up a fight against Renjun with his Water Scimitar, but Renjun dodged every attack like it was nothing.

Renjun actually caught the blade and took the sword, while hitting Jisung with a energy ball he quickly created.

We it hit him, it knocked him back a little, but he looked dazed and confused.

The orb had the power to confuse its target!

Eunji quickly manipulated her chains to wrap themselves around Jisung tightly. She pulled him close to them to finish the job.

Taeyong suddenly called out Jungwoo, and he changed from his regalia form. He quickly joined Renjun and Eunji.

Renjun carefully removed the other earring from Jisung's ear, and crushed it. Jungwoo immediately emitted a light that began to expell the darkness out of him.

I quickly got out of the ship, to join them and help in anyway I could. After all of the darkness was expelled from him, Jisung muttered, "I'm sorry", before he finally passed out.

Renjun changed back to normal, and Eunji carefully lowered Jisung into his arms. Enzo came out from where he was hiding and returned to his spot on Renjun's shoulder.

Eunji, Jungwoo, and I rushed over to Taeyong, finding that he called Lucas out too. He informed us that Taeyong was fine, but he was pretty banged up.

Taeyong could only smile.

I love that idiotic smile.

Even if he's in a dire situation like this, he still smiles like the bubbly fool he is...

"You remembered...~"

He smiled at Eunji.

"And Jun finally mastered both of his powers. We both accomplished something oppa~"

She smiled.

We suddenly heard a familiar scream from the floor above, soon followed by a loud boom that made the ground shake.

"That's Jeno's voice!"

Renjun exclaimed.

"Could it be Xander's doing?!"

Enzo questioned.

"This is bad! Something's happening to Jeno! His body is changing drastically after something Xander just did!"

Doyoung yelled through our communicators.

"I think he might've used his Monster ability on him! And there's nothing the others can do on their end up there! Levi is unconscious, Donghyuck is paralyzed, and Mark is almost out of energy! They're all gonna die if we don't do something!"

Johnny explained.

"Ten-hyung, take Jisung. I gotta go help them"

Renjun stated, handing Jisung to me.

"Renjun! Don't do this by yourself! You might not survive against Jeno if Xander used his Monster power on him!"

I exclaimed.

"He's not going alone! Jaehyun, Doyoung, and I are going with him! Where on our way now! Don't try to stop him Chittaphon!"

Kun ordered.

As much as it pains me, I have no choice but to let him go.

Jungwoo and Lucas helped Taeyong stand up, and Renjun gave Enzo to Eunji.

Kun, Jaehyun, and Doyoung arrived and informed us that the coast was clear for us to go back to the ship.

"Renjun"

I called him before they left.

He turned back to us with a questioning look.

"...Don't die, ok? None of you better die on us..."

"You worry too much, Ten~"

Kun smiled, finally calling me by my hero name for the first time.

I smiled before we parted ways.

I hope we get Jeno back safely, and the rest of them back alive...