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Back at the Temple

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After the fifth finishing blow had been dealt, all of the other blows resumed at the same time and they all returned to the temple in the blink of an eye.

After realizing they were all together again, everyone powered down while things were still calm and spent some time to heal up and reconnect with each other. After just a few minutes, Li re-emerged from his temple and stood and at top of the stairs.

"..."

"Hey. Are you alright Zen?"

Jeno asked, noticing how Renjun didn't look too good despite just being healed.

"Yeah.. I just feel weird.. I'm fine though"

"Let us handle this just in case. We can't afford to lose you hyung"

Jeno insisted, protectively standing in front of his older brother.

"..."

"I'll admit, perhaps splitting you up wasn't the best tactic. You all have been fighting together for years. Even if I split you up into completely random groups, you all would've still found a way to best me"

"So what's your next move? Or are you gonna make this easier for us and let us help you and Tristin?"

Johnny asked, causing the latter to snicker.

"Not a chance. However, I think I'll take this time to turn the tables a bit"

The moment he looked towards their direction with a malicious smirk, Jeno immediately knew that what Renjun was feeling had something to do with Li.

His other brothers then noticed how sick Renjun suddenly looked, and he soon covered his mouth. Jeno already knew from past experiences that it was a sign that the older had to throw up. He ran behind a tree with him, to make sure he was mostly concealed. But when he couldn't hold it in any longer, what he had regurgitated wasn't vomit, but a weird black substance that also escaped through his eyes instead of tears.

The substance clouded up his vision a bit and Renjun rubbed his eyes to try and clear it up. However, getting the substance on his hands only made things worse. Soon, his nails sharpened and the substance merged with his hands completely and traveled up his arms until it stopped close to his elbows, greatly alarming everyone that saw.

"W-What..?"

"Hyung..? What's going on..?"

Chenle asked, entirely confused about what was unfolding.

"I don't..know..."

Renjun tried to rub the substance off of his arms, but it had become part of his skin and wouldn't come off.

The substance leaving his eyes then slowly travelled across his most of his body, and his head started pounding as his demonic energy escalated. In that moment, Renjun realized what was going on and knew that he couldn't stop it.

"Guys.. Run.."

"What..?"

"Hurry!! Take everyone and go!! All of you need to run!!!"

Renjun warned all of his teammates, knowing that they didn't have much time.

Once they realized why he said that, instead of running, a few of them sprung into action to try and help him. Jaehyun, Nitro, and Jisung bound him in place, Sungchan shifted into his Titan form once again and trapped him in his hand, Robin attempted to deactivate Renjun's demonic powers, and Tayden attempted to free Renjun from any control he was slowly becoming a victim of.

"Wait.. No... It's not working.. Why isn't my Sentient Releasing working?!"

Tayden panicked as Renjun's condition got worse, making Jonah finally recognize what was happening.

"Corruption..."

"Jonah! Did you figure something out??!"

Ten asked the younger.

"What's happening to Renjun-hyung isn't a form of control, but something much worse. This is a form of an unstable corruption.."

Upon hearing this, Jean looked into Renjun's mind along with Jisung to see if it would help.

"No! Stop! What are you two doing?!"

Right after Jonah tried to stop them, they both stopped immediately after as they felt themselves being affected by the corruption as well.

"Entering his mind will only corrupt you too! There's no way to get through to him since it just started!"

"No.. I'm not gonna let it happen just like that! Hyung! Please listen to us! You have to fight it! We all know how strong you are! You can get out of this like you always do, and we'll all help! But don't let the corruption win!"

Donghyuck begged Renjun.

Most of others tried to talk to Renjun to help him fight the corruption as well, but others were too scared to even move at that point. And unfortunately, Renjun's condition only worsened. His teeth sharpened, his eyes rolled back into his head as tears mixed with the black substance running out of his eyes, he could no longer speak and only release whimpers and screams, and his body began to grow as he started breaking free of his binds and Sungchan's strong hold.

"Hyung... Zen...!! Please..!! We're doing everything we can, but it's not working! Please don't turn against us..! We need you..brother!!"

Jeno pleaded, his eyes snapped shut as he yelled for the older.

But as a response, Renjun only screamed and squirmed more, much like a frenzied demon.

"Dad... He's...not gonna be able to fight it... Damn it... D-Damn you... DAMN IT ALL!!!"

Xinrei became enraged and ran to attack Li, furious about what he had done to his father, despite Xinya running after him to stop him.

Even though he was losing himself at an alarming rate, Renjun got an arm loose and reached out for Xinrei to stop him, having finally stopped screaming and squirming for a brief moment. However, the power that had built up within finally broke free, causing an explosion that engulfed the entire area.

Some were prepared for the explosion, while others took the full force of it, including Xinrei. Just as the explosion went off, Li used a portal to escape the blast, after stabbing Xinrei with an Ethereal Blade all the way through his chest.