A Force of Three
Tap. Tap.>
Red liquid that had once been his spilled from Junior’s fallen body, one drop at a time, falling intermittently.>
“Hey, hey man. You… you okay…?”>
“….”>
Teraden’s voice rang out, yet Junior—who lay sprawled at the yokai’s feet—did not even twitch.>
Swish… swish…>
The Activation ability that had been woven into his body gradually faded, thinning until it vanished.>
The severe shock had been enough to strip Maru of the power to wield her Ineung.>
Maru stood frozen, her once-bright face slack and dazed, as though she had been struck hard from behind. She stared silently at the boy lying there.>
“Maru!”>
“Ah! Yes!”>
Only then did Maru snap back to reality. She immediately began to channel her Ineung once more.>
“It’s a shame. I was told to capture him alive at all costs because of those Ouparts. I never thought he’d sacrifice himself like this.”>
Drip… drip…>
The yokai licked its lips with clear distaste, roughly shaking off the tangled mass of blood and tissue between its fingers.>
“You damn bastard…”>
“Honestly, I was a little surprised. That wasn’t the answer I was expecting at all. Still, don’t worry too much. You’ll all be in the same boat soon enough anyway.”>
Click. Click. >
Teraden ground his teeth, eyes blazing as he glared at the yokai.>
“I’m going to kill you.”>
“Teraden, I understand how you feel, but right now—”>
Boom!!>
“Wait!”>
His body shot forward in a blur, faster than a whip. At that moment Teraden had lost all control, and my voice could not reach him.>
Even Teraden himself, whose reins were slack, understood how important it was to calm the panic gripping the battlefield right now.>
“Rui-ssi.”>
I looked toward the remaining allies. Among them, Rui had preserved the most power and kept a clear head.>
“Yes! Yes, sir!”>
“I’m sorry, but could you help me handle Teraden while I stabilize the situation?”>
“Of course! Just leave it to me!”>
“Thank you. It shouldn’t take long, so I’ll be counting on you until then.”>
Rui answered in a voice tight with tension and immediately hurried toward Teraden.>
Teraden was raging like never before, throwing himself wildly at the yokai. Thanks to his overwhelming momentum, the creature had been forced back from the spot where Junior lay unconscious.>
‘Haru-ssi. When things get this desperate, you have to keep your mind perfectly steady.’>
The advice Junior had given me the day before flashed through my mind in an instant.>
“When things go wrong like this, everyone has to stay sharp. First, I’ll rescue Junior and tend to his wounds. Everyone, follow me.”>
I led them all forward in a flash and rushed toward Junior.>
Kwoong!>
“Y-you…”>
Blanser knelt beside Junior and seized his shoulder hard.>
“Open your eyes!!”>
Pfft!>
Junior answered with nothing but blood gushing from his split lip and the hole in his body, spraying like a fountain.>
The two had always been at each other’s throats, yet the time they had spent together had been short. For that reason he showed a reaction that Blanser, in his usual state, would never have displayed.>
“What do you think you’re doing with a patient? Calm down.”>
I tried to stop Blanser, but Maru stepped in ahead of me.>
“Move. I’ll handle it.”>
“Maru—”>
“Yes, older brother.”>
“Leave Junior to me. And…”>
Maru was drenched in cold sweat as she made the plea, so I glanced at Jin, her fist clenched tight.>
“It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”>
There were two main reasons she had been able to save me.>
The yokai had not known about her Ineung, and I had not been captured by it directly.>
But with Junior it was different. The yokai had experienced Jin’s Ineung before, so it could have prepared countermeasures. Plus Junior had been perfectly trapped in its grasp, so if I had tried to help clumsily, Jin herself could have been badly hurt.>
In the end, there was nothing she could have done about it.>
“…Yes. I understand.”>
Jin answered with obvious reluctance.>
“With Maru here, it’ll be fine.”>
“….”>
Twitch.>
Thanks to Maru’s Activation, the color slowly returned to Junior’s cheeks.>
“Kk…”>
The wounds were still deep, but they were beginning to knit together. Only then did his mind clear.>
“What… face…?”>
Junior, finally conscious, looked up at the still-pale Blanser with a shaky voice.>
“…If you die like this, I’ll never forgive you.”>
Hearing Blanser’s true feelings, Junior let out a short laugh before his consciousness faded again.>
“Yeon-om!! Who the hell gave you permission to pass out?!!”>
“Don’t yell like that.”>
“…Blanser.”>
“Ah, yes! Hyung!”>
Blanser jolted and spun around, eyes wide with shock.>
“Maru was right. You need to calm down right now. Take a deep breath, and when you’re steady, protect the others.”>
“Yes, I understand. Hyung.”>
After stabilizing the situation, I turned my gaze toward Teraden.>
“Kyyyyaaaa!!”>
Teraden could not control his rage. Now he had lost even his reason and was rampaging. He hurled himself at the yokai, wielding every Ineung except Hwigwang and Gangtal.>
It was as if he had forgotten that his stolen abilities had to be hidden away from prying eyes.>
Perhaps he blamed himself for Junior’s injury, and the guilt had left him caring for no one but the enemy.>
He charged forward in a one-sided offensive that ignored everything behind him.>
“Y-you…”>
The yokai looked thoroughly shaken by the sheer brutality of the assault.>
For now, they could only endure until reinforcements arrived or help Teraden finish the creature off.>
But I was furious too—though not quite to the same degree—because Junior had fallen because of me.>
That was why more weight was placed on the second option.>
“Rui-ssi.”>
“Ah, Haru-ssi!”>
Rui, gasping and wiping the blood streaming down his face, came running over.>
Unlike the last time I had chased Teraden, he was severely injured.>
“You’ve suffered enough. From now on I’ll take care of it.”>
“Huh? Wouldn’t it be better for me to help too?”>
“You’ve already done enough. Just head to the rear and get treated by Maru. It looks like the best course.”>
“Ah, yes! I understand!”>
After sending Rui away, I rushed to Teraden’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder.>
“Teraden!”>
“Ah… huh… it’s you.”>
The moment my hand touched his shoulder, he finally regained some of his reason.>
He had charged the yokai without thinking about what lay behind him, and the fight had entered a temporary lull as he stood on the brink of exhaustion.>
“Huu… huu…”>
“Junior’s injury isn’t your fault alone. Stop blaming yourself. And…”>
I whispered in his ear, voice barely above a whisper.>
“Stop using the other Ineungs. It’s not the time yet.”>
“I feel calmer now that I’ve heard you. Do you remember that request you went on before? Just like then, I’ll share my Ineung with you. Let’s take this bastard down together.”>
“Brothers! Use my Ineung too!”>
“We’re fine. Just focus on treating this guy and the two over there.”>
Blanser, Rui, and Jin’s urgent voices rang out.>
Almost immediately, three Ineungs surged forward like a tidal wave.>
It felt like the first time I had ever experienced anything so overwhelming.>
Words could not describe the flood of power.>
I felt as if I could accomplish anything.>
“Let’s go!”>
Kwaaaang!!>
Teraden and I slammed our feet into the ground at the same moment.>
I dove from the bottom right, Teraden from the top left, closing the distance in a single breath.>
Puff. Puff-puff-puff-puff-puff!!>
The surroundings were swallowed by the explosions the yokai had unleashed, but the combined Ineung kept the shock from being overwhelming.>
Blisters and burns formed, yet they healed almost instantly.>
Even when wounds appeared, they vanished in the blink of an eye. We charged straight through the hot white smoke without a care for the explosions behind us.>
The thick smoke was so dense I could barely see a step ahead, but the moment I broke through, the yokai’s form stood revealed.>
“Y-you’re… still standing? T-this…”>
Teraden, leaping high into the air, used his Hwigwang as a springboard and shot toward the yokai.>
In front of me, Jin’s Moving Gate had already formed.>
I leaped through without hesitation. The yokai’s flank appeared right before my eyes.>
Crunch!>
I drove my knee into the yokai’s side, the spot where its leg had been about to swing at Teraden.>
“Kyah…!”>
The creature folded in half and let out a pained cry. It staggered, lost balance, and Teraden struck its face.>
“Y-you bastard!!”>
The yokai spat curses and tried to counter immediately.>
But Teraden had already vanished beyond Jin’s Moving Gate.>
I tried to hit it in the back of the head while it was stunned, but it dodged by lowering its head—there was no necklace of eyes to target—and suddenly dropped its body, charging toward me.>
Whoosh!!>
The yokai’s outstretched fist cleaved the air as it came at me.>
Normally I would not have been able to react in time, but my current strength was at least several times greater than before.>
The combined Ineung was slightly weaker than at first, but still more than enough.>
I raised my arm. The yokai’s fist grazed my elbow and continued past. Through the Moving Gate, Teraden emerged again.>
Almost instantly, Teraden burst out from another Moving Gate and wrapped the yokai in thick, rope-like strands of light.>
“K-k… kuhuuu!!”>
It looked as though it was struggling with all its might, but the Hwigwang ropes showed no sign of breaking.>
The creature’s face betrayed its surprise at the unexpected hardness.>
“Now!!”>
The moment Teraden shouted, we both charged the yokai from both sides at once.>
“Haaaaaaa!!”>
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!!>
For an instant something flashed around it, then a massive explosion detonated.>
The blast caught us as well and hurled us upward into the sky.>
Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…>
The explosion’s force sent our bodies soaring high before we crashed back down at terrifying speed.>
Kuuung.>
“Kk…!”>
It hurt.>
My entire right half screamed as though scraped across the ground, skin flayed raw.>
The Ineung had kept me from serious injury, but the powers that had supported Teraden and me had vanished in an instant.>
The self-destruction had been beyond comprehension in its power, yet their own bodies had also reached their limits.>
Still, it was a cheap victory for us.>
“Kulk!”>
Suddenly something gurgled inside me and surged upward.>
Shlurp.>
Blood poured up through my stomach and esophagus in a huge wave.>
Teraden, swept away the same way, lay motionless on the ground, unable to move because of the accumulated damage.>
Meanwhile the yokai’s entire body was blackened and charred. One of its arms had vanished completely, leaving only a third intact.>
“Huu… there was a reason I kept such a close eye on your family. After all, the one who stood alone against that place was a Seven Pillar from your lineage… No, you two must die here.”>
Scrape. Scrape.>
The yokai limped forward, dragging one leg, then pressed its palm hard against Junior’s stomach and squeezed slowly.>
“U-uwu…!”>
The pressure felt as though a mountain was crushing us from inside. My organs felt ready to burst at any moment.>
“Huu… for someone to grow this much in such a short time, just by watching with my own eyes. Has your power run out now? What ridiculous kids. If it had been a moment later, I would have been the one in trouble.”>
Kwa-ddeok.>
“Aah!”>
“First you…!”>
The yokai, pinning me with one foot, was about to slam its remaining arm down when—>
Flash!!>
A single white orb suddenly erupted from somewhere close by, soaring high into the sky.>
It was so bright it felt as if another sun had been born.>
Soon a blinding flash spread in every direction, accompanied by searing heat that made the world go white.