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Donghyuck's POV

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"I'm really excited to work with you Donghyuck~. It's really an honor~"

"I'm excited to work with you too Yukhei~. But stay on your guard alright? I don't want you getting hurt"

"Gotcha~"

Yukhei and I eventually found ourselves at the center of our chosen globe, and quickly jumped down to enter.

But for some reason, I didn't hear Yukhei land with me. And when I looked over, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for someone?"

The ghoul of the globe suddenly appeared in the room, but he wasn't on his own.

He was tightly holding onto one of Yukhei's horns, holding him hostage! But how did he get to him so quickly?!

"I'm Lee Joo Heon, but you can call me Jooheon. I presume that you're Lee Donghyuck, the prince of Greed?"

"...That's right"

"And this feeble little demon must be Wong Yukhei, the most pathetic demon out of all the Boars. Just what is your purpose among your group? You don't fight, so just how do you contribute?"

"What does that matter? The only thing that matters is that they accept him. He doesn't have to fight. He doesn't want to, and the other Boars accept and understand that because they're family"

Yukhei was scared, but he smiled a bit when I said that.

"He may be a Familiar, but that's no excuse. Those three mutts that Sicheng harbors may not kill humans, but their purpose is to help their master with his work. This Familiar doesn't do anything but lounge around"

"And that's supposed to be an issue?? It doesn't matter if he does anything or not. The main thing he does for us is act as our emotional support. We take care of him, and we enjoy doing it. He's our friend and our family, and we'll let him do only what he's comfortable with doing"

"I see... You all really care for this Familiar"

"That's right"

I smiled at Yukhei, and he smiled back.

However, his smile disappeared when Jooheon gripped his horn harder.

"However, I can't just let this go by unchecked. This Familiar still needs to be punished"

Jooheon grabbed both of Yukhei's horns, and suddenly broke them right off of his head.

All that was left of them were two stumps on his head.. Hearing Yukhei's cries of pain sent shivers down my spine. I can only imagine how painful that must be..

But as if it couldn't get worse, Jooheon suddenly slammed him into the ground face first!

"If you think your punishment ends here, then you're not just useless but stupid as well. The second half of your punishment should be obvious to you by now"

"No..! Don't do it!!"

I tried to attack him, but Jooheon's kagune got to me first.

But unlike other kagunes I've seen, his is composed of mostly unstable shards, in the form of incomplete wings.

Three of those shards impaled me in my chest, shoulder, and leg, and are keeping me hung up on the wall.

"D-Donghyuck!"

"You shut your mouth. You rely on your comrades too much. If you can't save yourself, then you deserve to die. So what's it gonna be? Are you going get yourself out of this? Or are you going to be my next meal?"

The only response that Jooheon received from Yukhei was him bursting into tears while trying to get away.

"Suit yourself. I'll make this nice and slow. I wanna hear you scream as I devour you"

Jooheon menacingly smirked while slowing moving to his neck first.

"No... Get away from him!!"

Despite the shards still being stuck in me, I dislodged myself from the wall and ripped them out myself.

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Before I could throw the first shard at Jooheon, I noticed that the green bead on my bracelet was glowing.

And when I looked up again, the room was incredibly dark, and it seemed as if time had frozen. I could only see Yukhei and the terrified look on his face..

"Greetings Donghyuck~"

"It's so nice to finally meet you in person~"

I nearly screamed when I felt someone touch me all in a sudden.

There were two ghostly figures in the room, floating off the ground with green smoke around them. And......I know them!

"Wait a second... You're Jung Hoseok and Choi Youngjae, from the pictures~!"

"The King and Queen finally told you everything I see~"

"This makes things so much easier! We're here to help you win this battle and save Yukhei~"

They eagerly cheered.

"Really~? Thank you so much~! Wait. Not to be rude, but how are you going to help me if you're as ghosty and stuff??"

I inquired, but they just laughed.

"We may be dead, but we have a special ability now~. Hoseok and I can merge together to form a being known as the Rapacious Fox~"

"The Fox has secret abilities dealing with the green smoke that it has. And it can also instill a bit of fear into Jooheon. That way you can finish this easier~"

They explained.

"That sounds so cool~. But we'll have to get Yukhei away from his first"

"Not a problem~"

"Just give us the word, and we'll get to work~"

Hoseok and Youngjae excitedly held hands, and they soon shifted into a fox.

They grew in size, until they eventually towered over all of us. They were almost big enough to touch the ceiling of the room!

They looked down on me, ready for me to give them the ok to begin.

Not wanting them to have to wait any longer, I gave them the word to commence their plan of action.

"Liberate and detain"

The Fox immediately sprung into action when I spoke, and everything returned to normal as it did so.

It started by using its smokey abilities to teleport Yukhei into my arms, while also substituting him with a dummy to trick Jooheon.

"D-Donghyuck... I'm s-sorry.."

"Shh. You don't have to apologize for anything Yukhei. Hoseok and Youngjae are gonna help me defeat Jooheon, and then we're gonna get you out of here. I'm sure that Sicheng has a potion that can fix your horns, so you'll be good as new in no time~"

"You really think so~??"

Even though he was still scared, hearing that immediately put a smile on his face.

"I'm positive~"

Jooheon bit into the dummy's neck, but figured out that it wasn't Yukhei afterwards. He angrily stood up and looked around to find him, until he spotted the Fox.

He backed away a little bit, but otherwise couldn't move due to the beast filling him with fear. The Fox then proceeded to use another ability with its smoke. It was able to summon several katanas, and impaled Jooheon with them to keep him stuck in one spot.

"Sixth Sin Technique..."

I closed my eyes, and one eye appeared on my free hand, the eye having a pupil with omnidirectional arrows.

This is the same technique I used on one of the ghouls in Timbermount, and I feel like this is a suitable death for Jooheon as well.

I continued to hold Yukhei with my free arm, and my eye quickly locked on to Jooheon.

"All-Seeing Eye of Rapacity"

The eye suddenly snapped shut, and I could hear all of Jooheon's limbs completely dislodge themselves from his body.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that Yukhei had hid his face in my neck, so that he wouldn't have to see what happened.

Apart from that, Jooheon had been defeated and was fading away at an alarming rate.

"...Four down,...two to go..."

He mumbled before his head had disintegrated.

He remains flowed out of the room through the way we came in, which I find very suspicious. Where could it be flowing to??

The room suddenly went dark and time froze again, and Hoseok and Youngjae shifted back to normal not long after.

"Jooheon didn't stand a chance against us~"

"You're really powerful too Donghyuck! I've never seen that technique before!"

"Aw shucks... It's just a little something I came up with one day a few years back.. But will I be able to see you guys again?"

"Of course you can~. Just call on the power in the bracelet and we'll be there for you~"

"You just focus on keeping Yukhei safe. We'll see you again soon~"

They both smiled as they faded away, and everything immediately returned to normal once again.

"You ready to head back?"

I asked, and Yukhei immediately nodded.

"Gotcha~. It might be a rough ride, so make sure to hold on tight"

I changed into my Oni form and summoned my wings before I flew us out the same way we came through.

"Donghyuck! There's only two more globes left! The other ones crashed to the ground!"

Yukhei informed me, examining the area.

"We're making progress~! We just have to take down two more ghouls, and then we should be able to get to the main globe~"

Everything is actually going our way~.

At this rate we'll actually win this war~.

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