They battle the hostile winds---with all the strength they could muster.
March 12, 2023, 5:32 pm, Dalseong Park, Daegu, South Korea.
Jihyo felt something trickle down her forehead. She wipes it off and looks at her palm, now smeared with a maroon-colored liquid.
It was her blood.
She has seen her blood before. She had injuries before. Cuts, bruises, even a dislocated knee that required treatment. Those were from her days of performing as an idol, days in which those injuries meant they were signs of hard work, a sign of a great performance.
All to make their fans happy, contented, and proud.
Now, it was different.
She was injured because she's fighting for her own life.
She looks at her enemy in the distance--- A Koul'in general named Vesper--- who controls the icy winds around him. An entity that will kill for the sake of power. One of the living testaments that humans aren't alone in the universe.
She has been only fighting him for at least five minutes, but to her, it felt like hours. Her arms were starting to get tired. Her strength was slowly fading. Worse off, she can barely penetrate his Typhon Barrier --- a razor-sharp, impenetrable, tornado-like barrier that violently rotates around him and has the power to slice everything in its path.
Vesper was fighting Jihyo using his environment, jumping from tree to tree as he attacks Jihyo from unexpected directions. Jihyo was having a really difficult time blocking his attacks, and the dim surroundings didn't help, either.
But she keeps trying.
Vesper charges again, narrowly missing Jihyo. He uses another tree next to Jihyo to gain momentum and flings himself toward Jihyo once more.
"Crystalline Blanket!"
Jihyo unleashes a blanket of crystalized slashes towards Vesper. The slash collides with his violently rotating Typhon Barrier, having little effect.
"That didn't work.." Jihyo thought. "Prismatic Burst!"
Jihyo follows up with a short-burst crystallized laser, which, didn't have any effect as well.
"Damn it..." Jihyo said to herself. "His barrier has no openings... I can't get a clean hit on him. If this keeps up... I'll..."
Vesper misses Jihyo again and uses another tree to launch himself towards Jihyo again at full speed.
Jihyo braced herself as she let out her palm. It glows and forms a crystallized barrier made of pure light, clashing with Vesper's intense wind barrier.
Vesper immediately retreats and removes his barrier by separating his arms, and quickly rushes toward her again, readying his wind-infused fist.
"Fortress-Shattering Wind!" He delivers a devastating punch that shatters Jihyo's crystalline shield.
The force of the punch sends Jihyo a few feet away from Vesper, and she crashes towards one of the benches in the open area of the park.
Jihyo kneels in pain and exhaustion. She has wounds all over, and she can't take another step without healing herself first. She concentrates as she faintly glows, trying to close up her wounds with her powers.
But before she could completely heal herself, Vesper rushes in and kicks her to the ground, which makes her lose her concentration. Her wounds open again as a result.
"I never actually understood why the Artificer chose this race to wield his creations," Vesper said, walking towards Jihyo. "You're no challenge, and your attacks are utterly predictable."
"Ugh..." Jihyo writhes in pain and agony as she held her waist, tightly gripping the Manifest on her hand.
"More importantly, I don't understand why are you clinging on to a weapon that you don't technically need.." Vesper continued.
"I... need it... to protect my family and friends.." Jihyo said as she tried to stand up.
"Tsk. What a waste of power... Those kinds of weapons are to be used in conflicts. Full-scale wars. Not in some dumb, heroic sounding reasoning like protecting friends or family. It's utter nonsense. Manifests are literally built for destruction. Built to make beings stronger so they can rule over others. And if you're just using it for such a mundane concept like that, then clearly, you don't deserve it. It should belong to me." Vesper said with a disgusted tone.
"Yeah..? And what makes you think YOU, out of all beings, deserve this..?" Jihyo said.
"Because I'm stronger than you. Isn't it already obvious? I mean, look at you. Already beaten and bloodied in just a few minutes of fighting. Do you seriously think you're even worthy of wielding that Manifest with what strength you have? Let alone fulfill your so-called "goal" of protecting your loved ones? " Vesper said.
"..." Jihyo didn't reply.
"You're laughable. And I kind of pity you now, too. You came here to save and protect the people around here, am I right? But, so far, you haven't saved nor protected anyone, and now, no one's coming to protect you. That's sad." Vesper said as he readied to slam Jihyo onto the ground with his wind-infused fists.
Suddenly, from a distance, a car appears out of nowhere, mowing the scattered benches down as it continued to head towards Vesper at full speed. The injured Jihyo's eyes widen as she sees Hangyeol driving the car, with Zeke seating next to him.
"Take this, you cheap, knock-off Airbender!" Zeke shouted.
Vesper notices the incoming vehicle and immediately folds his arms to create a wind barrier, but fails to do so as he gets hit by the speeding car first. Hangyeol drives the Koul'in general toward a small stone clock tower nearby. They hit the tower with a loud crash, and the stone tower collapses on Vesper.
The airbags in the car popped out just in time and saved Zeke and Hangyeol's body from sustaining damage.
Jihyo then saw the two crawl out of the destroyed car, sustaining little injuries.
"T-told you it was a bad idea.." Hangyeol said to Zeke as he groaned and held his back and stood up.
"Ugh... But we did land him a good one, hmm?" Zeke replied as he slowly stood up as well.
They then both look at Jihyo, who was faintly glowing as she focused on slowly healing her wounds. They both limp toward her.
"Jihyo!" Zeke checks the injured idol. "Jihyo, are you okay...?"
She looks at Zeke for a while. She couldn't believe Zeke came to her rescue this time. She breathes a sigh of relief and faintly smiles.
"Y-yeah. A couple of bruises here and there, but they're healing." Jihyo replied. "You..? You good?"
"Yes... We found survivors and took them back to Mr. Minhyuk's settlement... We saw Mr. Seojun, too, and he said he's going to be okay and that we should go ahead and help you." Zeke replied.
Hangyeol sat immediately on the ground, groaning in pain as he held his knee.
"Hoooo... I'm going to sue you, Zeke." Hangyeol said.
"What? What did I do?" Zeke replied.
"You coerced me into doing this... insane plan!" Hangyeol said.
"Coerced?! You said, "Okay then"?! I didn't even convince you, not one bit!" Zeke replied.