"Are you guys alright??? We tried to get to you guys sooner, but that Ifrit really made it difficult for us. Sorry about that..."

Minhyung apologized, he and his friends helping Jaemin sit up and helping Renjun stand.

"I'm fine. Donghyuck got to me before any damage could've been done"

Renjun reassured his friends, still a bit wet from the slimy innards of the dragon.

"...I'm all good. What about Haechan-hyung?"

Jaemin asked, not showing a single care about his own wellbeing as he worked on catching his breath. When the group looked over, they found he was choking Johnny with a great deal of force, so much that he had fallen to his knees. They became even more confused when they saw how drastically his appearance had changed.

"Wait... What the hell?? What happened to Donghyuck??!"

Jeno exclaimed, witnessing the new demonic nature of his younger brother as he strangled their guardian without remorse.

"Johnny-hyung said that Hyuck is a Half-Ifrit. This has to be a side effect of him getting his core back. We just have to bring him back to his senses"

Minhyung ran off to his brother and guardian and grabbed the hand that was around the older's neck, attempting to freeze it off of him instead of attacking. However, Minhyung quickly realized that Donghyuck's hand was so hot that his ice melted before it could even touch him, and ended up burning his hand in the process. After stepping back and pulling his hand away to try and cool it off, he noticed that Donghyuck was now looking at him after letting Johnny go. The younger smirked as he stepped closer to Minhyung, ignoring Johnny who was coughing while lying on the ground.

"Are you betraying Donghyuck again, Minhyung? Do you really think I'll let that little attempt to stop me slide?"

The younger ripped off the shirt that covered his torso, revealing his new markings and toned body. His deeper voice and sheer presence alone made Minhyung take more steps back as the younger continued to walk towards him, feeling that there was something different apart from his appearance.

"Hyuck... I let you down before, but I would never do it again. You're not yourself right now. Let us help you calm down"

"Donghyuck's on sabbatical I'm afraid, and will be for a while. You can refer to me as Haechan, but I'm far from the shining light he proclaims himself to be. Now you'll have to deal with my destructive fire"

A raging fire engulfed the younger's hand as he extended it towards the older to attack him, but an orb of water suddenly formed around both of his hands and extinguished the fires. They both looked to find that Jisung had snuck over and stopped his older friend from attacking Minhyung.

"So, all of you want to play? Looks like Donghyuck was right to still suspect all of you. You're never going to be the family he knew before. You're never going to change"

Despite his hands being soaked with Jisung's water, he heated them up even more and made the water evaporate like it was nothing.

"Oh well. If no one is going to be on his side, I'll just eradicate everyone in the realms for him~"

Before Jisung could have time to react or prepare to defend himself, he blinked and found his older friend right in front of him just inches away from punching him with his fiery fist. But before it could land, Jeno made it in time to block the attack with his katana. His blade was also covered with a current of wind that sent the younger's fist at a downward diagonal direction into the dirt, cracking the ground beneath their feet.

"Huh..."

"Hyuck, snap out of it! We don't want to fight you!"

Jeno attempted to reason with him while Minhyung bound him to the ground with his shadows, rendering him unable to move. However, despite the strong hold Minhyung's shadows had on him, he still managed to fight against it with a tremendous amount of force, breaking the bonds altogether and swatting Jeno's blade out of his hands.

"Donghyuck is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Can same be said for you?"

Jeno quickly found himself unable to do anything but dodge the younger's barrage of attacks, unable to find an opening to strike back. He had fought hand-to-hand with Donghyuck years before, but his speed was now so far beyond his own that he could barely think straight.

"What are you waiting for Jeno?! Fight back!"

The younger quickly overwhelmed Jeno to the point where he finally landed a blow on him, blasting him through one of the abandoned structures nearby. Jeno quickly managed to pull himself back up as he slid across the ground, but found the younger right in front of him just as quickly.

After having shifted into his dragon form, Chenle quickly grabbed him with his mouth and tossed him into the air to get him away from Jeno. After flying up to him, he roared and caused a barrage of lightning to plummet from the sky and strike him as he continued to strike him with his tail and claws. This worked for a while, until the older somehow disappeared from his line of vision which caused Chenle to spiral into a panic.

"I'm right here"

The older spoke, revealing himself in his blind spot before punching Chenle so hard that he shifted back to  his normal form. Chenle didn't go flying far before the older grabbed him by his legs, raising him over his head.

"You know what they say Chenle: 'What goes up must come down!'"

The older yelled before throwing him down to the ground, the force of his body landing creating yet another crater. Once he landed, he attempted to finish the younger off, only for Jaemin to block his punch, his arms coated with a thick layer of his own crystallized hardened blood.

"Finally. Someone who can fight~"

"...Haechan-hyung. I don't want to fight you, but I won't let you hurt our friends either. Please, just calm down and listen to us. We only want to help you"

Jaemin pleaded, causing the older to pause which surprised him and the others equally. He nearly let his guard down after seeing the genuine concern and care in the younger's eyes, but quickly snapped out of it before they engaged in their fist fight. Despite Jaemin  being undoubtedly weaker than him, their fists clashed with nearly every blow while he dodged others. They eventually landed a blow to each other's faces at the same time, the older winning the clash and knocking the younger down.

"Too much restraint. You wouldn't have been able to beat me regardless, but you could've lasted longer at least"

"I told you... I don't want to fight you... I don't want to hurt you hyung..."

The older froze for a second before balling up his fist, ready to finish him off despite the sudden urge to hold back. But before he could land a hit, Renjun stepped between the two in order to stop them from fighting. Instead of Renjun getting hit, the younger used his left hand to suddenly pull his arm back, preventing his fist from reaching him. Much to the younger's surprise, he forcefully pushed his own right arm back down to his side, finding it impossible to even attempt to harm Renjun as he took a couple steps back.

"...You..are not..hurting him.."

Renjun noticed how the younger's voice suddenly changed back to normal, and how the color of his two left eyes changed back to their normal brown color.

"Hey wait...how are you doing that??"

"It's my body.. Stop using it to hurt the ones I love..."

They all noticed that Donghyuck seemed to be at war with himself, fighting for control against something they didn't fully understand. While he was seemingly winning in his struggle to gain back control, Renjun stepped closer to him and rested his hand against his cheek.

"Just breathe ok? We only want to help you and make sure you're alright. We can all go home and get some rest now; you'd like that, wouldn't you...?"

Renjun spoke in a gentle tone as he looked into the younger's eyes, feeling when he eventually melted into his touch. The longer Renjun continued to console him and maintain their eye contact, the more Donghyuck began to calm down and revert back to normal.

"There you go. You're going to be ok. We'll make sure of it"

Renjun soon brought Donghyuck into a warm hug, gently petting him and running his hand through his hair to ensure that he felt safe. He felt the younger melt into him in a matter of seconds, before he suddenly felt his body go limp and nearly fall to the ground. Renjun got down on his knees as he held Donghyuck, knowing that he had passed out after everything that had happened. Jaemin managed to pull himself together and felt around Donghyuck's face as the others helped each other and gathered near the three of them.

"Good... His skin is finally cooling off... He'll be just fine..."

"What was all of that..? It was like he was a completely different person.."

Jisung inquired, wanting answers just as much as the rest of them.

"..I'll be happy to explain, but we should get back to the palace. It's not safe for us out here, and it's my duty to protect you and make sure you're out of harms way"

"I'll get us back"

Minhyung pulled out his compass to teleport them back to the palace to keep Chenle from flying in his current condition. They safely made it back to the palace, finding it almost completely repaired thanks to the dwarves in his village that possessed tremendous power regarding building and repairs. While they continued to work, the group went to one of the guest rooms, resting Donghyuck down in the futon before discussing the matter of their situation.