The glowing Scraper roars as it's arms slam the ground, making it shake a bit. It then opens it's mouth, and reveals a glowing, icy bowling ball. It then fires it toward Jihyo at high speed.
"Wh--" Jihyo swings her blade at the incoming projectile and effectively slashes it in half, but she gets dragged back a bit due to the force of the glowing enemy's attack.
The Scraper fires off more bowling balls from it's mouth. Jihyo unleashes her crystalline shield as it barely deflects the icy projectiles.
The Scraper then widens it's mouth and more icy bowling balls pour into it. Soon, it blasts them toward Jihyo all at once.
"Ugh!" Jihyo successfully blocks the icy bombardment with her shield, but the force of the attack sends her flying to a concrete pillar nearby, crushing it.
Jihyo stands and shakes off the debris off her clothes. She's worried about Zeke and the kid. They might get caught in the enemy's deadly line of fire.
She turns to Zeke.
"You guys better retreat to a safer location. This Scraper is deadly..." She exclaimed. "Don't worry. I'll rid of it soon."
Zeke, recognizing the severity of the situation, looks at the kid, still seemingly wincing in pain after getting his leg trapped on ice.
He goes to him, and assesses his injuries.
"What's your name, kiddo?" He asks.
The kid replies. "G-Glendale..."
"Oh, okay, hello, Glendale. Can you walk?" Zeke asks Glendale. "We are moving to a safer place, okay?"
Glendale was trembling in fear, but manages to utter a faint "yes". Zeke nods and immediately assists him up.
Jihyo takes a deep breath and readies her Manifest, and once again, advances towards the Scraper with even more speed. The Scraper fires more of the freezing projectiles.
Her blade shines as she strikes down the bowling balls with grace, slowly but surely making her way toward the head of the glowing Scraper.
One of the balls, however, misses Jihyo and goes straight for Zeke and Glendale.
"Zeke! Watch out!" Jihyo shouts as she kept blocking the other bowling balls.
"Son of a---" Zeke immediately sprints towards Glendale, pushing them both out of the way of the icy projectile. It grazes Zeke's back, however, tearing a part of his hoodie. They hit the ground with a loud thud.
Without any more time to lose, Zeke stands up immadiately and assists Glendale to a counter at the far end of the alley to shield themselves from the enemy's attacks.
Zeke takes a deep breath, trying to relax and recover his strength. He looks at Glendale.
Glendale was still visibly trembling, scared of the monstrosity that just attacked them.
"I... I want my daddy... Daddy, I'm sorry I ran outside... Please come here and protect me..." Glendale said to himself as he hugs his knees and sobs.
Zeke moves closer to the scared kid.
"Hey... It's going to be okay... We'll get you back to your daddy, I promise. Just hang on a little bit longer..." Zeke said as he tried to comfort Glendale. Glendale doesn't reply, but he scoots closer to Zeke, seemingly trying seek shelter in his arms.
"I'm scared... I'm scared... I don't want to be here anymore..." Glendale said.
"Dont worry, I'll protect you. We'll get you to your dad..." Zeke tries to give him comfortable rubs on the back.
Zeke didn't know how to properly comfort a kid. Despite him taking a Human Resource job back in the Philippines---where he dealt with different people of all ages---he wasn't really good with children.
Zeke just silently stayed next to him, trying to be a comforting figure in this situation.
Glendale sniffs as the ground slightly shakes due to the clash between Jihyo and the bowling ball-shooting enemy. A part of a ceiling starts to cave in above Zeke, and a chunk of debris fall onto them.
"What in the---" Zeke looks up. Glendale flinches as he shuts his eyes in fear, and curls into a ball.
Glendale then opens his eyes after a while and slowly looks up, only to see Zeke blocking the fallen debris with his arms. He struggles to lift it as it was too heavy, even for a regular person. But Zeke manages to carry it.
Glendale sees that Zeke has a huge wound at his back, with blood dripping from it. He realizes that Zeke got hit by the bowling ball earlier.
"I t-told you! I'll protect you!" Zeke said.
Glendale just stood there, in awe of Zeke's strength.
Zeke grunted, and with all his strength, pushed the debris off as it crashes down on the ground. Zeke sits down, panting hard as he tried not to wince in pain.
Glendale shows a concerned face as he scoots to Zeke. He sees as Zeke held his right arm. It had a wound in it, seemingly from the debris that he caught earlier.
"Mr. Zeke... are you... okay...?" Glendale said.
"Yep.. 'Tis but a scratch! No worries." Zeke faintly smiles.
Glendale immediately opens his fanny pack, and digs around. He then pulls out a small handkerchief and gives it to Zeke.
"H-here... You can wrap this on your wound..." He said.
"Oh, thank you..." Zeke replied as he took the cloth and wrapped it around his arm silently.
"No, thank you, Mr. Zeke..." Glendale said. "You've been taking damage for me twice now... We don't even know each other, and yet..."
"Don't you worry about it." Zeke smiled. "I'm good at protecting people, as you can see. I take pride in that. And I told you, we'll get you to your dad safely again." Zeke said as he gave Glendale a thumbs up.
Glendale smiles a bit.
The two then hear a defeaning roar, followed by a strong crashing sound, then a low-sounding "oof", that seemingly came from Jihyo. Zeke takes a peek at the battle that was ongoing.
Jihyo has already managed to slice off one of the Scraper's arms. But she was still struggling due to it's constant firing of bowling balls toward her.
They feel the ground quake as more huge, icy veins slowly sprout on the floors and wall. Zeke holds Glendale tight as he sees these veins glow in power.
Zeke then notices that one of the glowing veins---which as just a few feet near them---- seemingly have something moving in them. He observes as a few bowling balls in it traveling quickly. His eyes follow the huge vein as it lead to the Scraper.
"This particular vein..." Zeke said to himself. "Could this be the reason why this Scraper is able to fire off those bowling balls...?"
He looks around, checking the other veins for the same movement, but none of them contain travelling bowling balls.
"This is the main source of its attacks... If that's case, I must destroy it!"
Zeke reaches for his flare gun. He sees that it has only one charge. Taking a deep breath, he loads it up.
"I know this is for caling backup, but there isn't any time to call for one... I have to help Jihyo now!" Zeke said as he aims for the vein. He shoots, and the flare sticks to the icy vein, slowly vaporizing it. It starts to crack, and parts of it started falling off, but it still wasn't enough to halt the advance of the bowling balls.
He looks as Jihyo is seemingly exhausted. She was forced on the defensive as the balls still keep coming, preventing her from landing solid blows at the towering enemy.
"There isn't any time to waste...!" Zeke said as he immadiately rushes toward the icy vein that was still on fire and starts to hit it with fierce stomps.
"Come on, come on, come on! Tsk.." Zeke realizes he has to apply more force to the vein if he wanted it to break and collapse. He backs a few feet, ready to charge at the vein with all his might.
"Here goes nothing..." Zeke immediately charges at the vein.
"Take this!" He then delivers a strong dropkick that destroys the damaged vein completely as it shatters, with the bowling balls in it dropping at floor.
Zeke was panting hard. He was injured, after all, and it took all in him to deliver a strong attack like that one. For some reason, the place was warmer, too. It must've been due to the heat of the flare gun.
Meanwhile, Jihyo was able to land a few devastating hits to the Scraper, cutting off its arms and injuring it's head. But she was now tired, overwhelmed by the Scraper's relentless ranged attacks. She kneels in agony, the exhaustion finally taking a huge toll on her body. She can't even feel her arms and legs anymore, much less so, take another step.
The now damaged Scraper looms over her and opens it's mouth once more, preparing to fire another shot. Jihyo readies her shield again, preparing for another icy bombardment.
To Jihyo's surprise, nothing came out of it's mouth.
"Looks like our friend finally ran out of ammo." Jihyo turns around and she sees Zeke and Glendale emerge from the counter. Zeke was holding a bowling ball on his hands, and gently rolls it towards Jihyo.
"Zeke..! The kid..!" Jihyo smiles as she slowly stood up. "What did you do?"
"Oh, just blasted some icy vein. It was supplying the bastard with alot of ammo, so I just ....cut it off." Zeke smiled.
"Wow... So that's why this bastard was able to fire off a lot of these balls. Is the kid okay?" Jihyo asks.
"Yep. Glendale's perfectly fine. Told ya I'll defend him." Zeke replied.
"That's honestly good to know..." Jihyo then turns to the Scraper as she took the bowling ball Zeke gave her. "And as for you... you'll pay for giving me a hard time..."
The Scraper roars in agony and anger.
Jihyo's body glows as she takes a stance, preparing to launch the bowling ball toward the freezing enemy.
"Flashlight Meteor:..."
She rushes and throws the ball down the bowling lane with immense strength.
"...Strike!"
The ball rolls towards the Scraper at unimaginable speed, and it tears right through the Scraper's head, leaving a gaping hole where it's head used to be. The glow on the enemy fades as it crumbles to the ground, with the pins, balls, and other debris scatter around the alley. The path to the exit opens again as the icy debris around it crumbles once more.
Jihyo sits down in exhaustion.
"Guess I finally know how to play bowling, huh?" Jihyo said as she giggles.
"Not counted. That Scraper wasn't a bowling pin." Zeke replied as he walked to Jihyo and helped her stand up.
"Oh come on!" Jihyo frowned. "The Scraper has bowling pins in it. So technically, I hit a strike."
"You didn't even hit any pins inside it..." Zeke said.
"Yah. Zeke!" She pouted and started taking tiny stomps in place.
They suddenly hear some grunting downstairs, and someone screaming Glendale's name.
"Glendale! Glendale, where are you?!" the voice exclaimed.
"Daddy...?" Glendale said as he ran toward the staircase. Zeke and Jihyo followed, and they see a man come up the stairs. He clad in a bulletproof vest and a lightweight backpack.
"Daddy!" Glendale said as he hugs the man.
"Oh goodness... Are you okay? I heard roars and clashing of metal... and I even saw flying bowling balls!" He said worringly.
"There was a monster, daddy." Glendale said as he pointed at the crumbled enemy. "But don't worry, Zeke and Jihyo here protected me!"
He turns at Zeke and Jihyo and bows. "Thank you for saving my son. My name is Benedict. Pleasure to meet you two."
"My name's Zeke. And this is Jihyo, member of the girl group TWICE." Zeke replied. Jihyo waves at him as she smiles.
"Oh, you're a celebrity, hmm? Sorry. I don't know any celebrities here. We aren't from South Korea. Me and my son are actually from New Zealand." Benedict said. "Trapped here because this damn apocalypse, and now we couldn't get out."
"I guess that makes us two, sir." Zeke replied. "I'm from the Philippines. Stuck here for the very same reason as you are."
"Ah, I see. Well, we have seen better days, don't we? I hope this whole thing would end soon so that we could finally go back to our lives. It's not really easy being in here, you know?" Benedict chuckled.
Zeke nodded. "Yeah."
"So... what brings you here, Mr. Benedict?" Jihyo asked.
"Ah... I came here to South Korea so that I could find my wife... Callie. She moved here somewhere because we had a falling out... and we're not currently in good terms. I wanted to... reconcile with her, and you know... Become a complete family again. I'm sure my son is excited to see her after so many years..." Benedict said as he pats his son. "How about you two?"
"I'm trying to find the rest of my friends." Jihyo replied.
"I just want to get home, honestly. But I'm helping Jihyo out in her cause for now while I do so." Zeke replied.
"Well, that's good. If you're out here risking your lives in this desolate place, I guess you are really bent on looking for someone you truly care about, huh..." Benedict replied.
"Mhm..." Jihyo nodded.
"Me too. I just wish to find her and make our relationship right. I didn't expect a full-blown apocalypse." Benedict chuckled. "Now here we are, trying to survive..."
Benedict's voice trails off as he then assesses the corpse of the enemy Scraper.
"This is amazing. How were you able defeat a thing this huge...? Normally, it would take more than three people to deal with one of these. Yet..."
"Because Jihyo is amazing, daddy! Her cane turned into a katana, and she fought so well!" Glendale said.
"Wait... what..?" Benedict turned around. "What do you mean?"
Jihyo concentrates as the cane slowly turns into a brightly shining katana. Benedict was taken aback by what he just saw.
"So... you're a wielder..." Benedict replied.
Zeke and Jihyo's eyes widen.
"You know all about Manifests?" Zeke said.
"Yeah. Because I have one right here." Benedict said as he unveiled a black and red scissor with cracked marks on it from his pocket.
"What...? You're a wielder as well..?" Jihyo said in shock. "You've got some explaining to--"
There was a rumble as the building suddenly shakes. From the Scraper's remains rose a mechanical icy core that glows, creating a circle of ice with otherworldy inscriptions on it. It then materializes a figure. Zeke, Jihyo, and Benedict placed themselves on guard as the figure finally forms, revealing a pale woman, clad in a faintly glowing otherworldly armor. She was also holding a rapier, with its tip burning with icy power.
"So someone has already defeated one of our creations? Surely, it has to be a wielder, hmm..?" The woman speaks. "If it isn't, I'll just waste my time killing all these pesky humans all over again..."
"What the hell is that..?! I've never seen such being before...! She's... not human, is she?" Benedict said as he squints his eyes, trying to assess the new threat that suddenly appeared in front of them.
"And not only that, she looks strong too..." He said to himself.
"A Koul'in...! The aliens responsible for this apocalypse! She must be one of their generals!" Jihyo muttered.
"Oh, I'm no general. I'm nowhere as powerful as one. Their raw strength is just... unparalleled. I'm only a subordinate." She replied.
"Subordinate..." Jihyo thought.
"But we already beaten one of your generals." Zeke said. "Vesper. Tough one, yeah, but we beat him. So if you think you have a chance here, you're mistaken."
Zeke expects the enemy to be intimidated. Surely, if she hears that a Koul'in general has been defeated, then she would feel threatened by their presence.
But she just laughs.
Hysterically.
"Oh, you're talking about Vesper, right?" She replied as she continues to laugh. "He's a joke. He thinks he's strong enough to be one of the generals. That prick didn't wanna be called a subordinate, so he just self-proclaimed himself to be a general. But he's just outright delusional. If you want the real deal, I could call my general, Khera, who oversees this place you once called Daegu. But it seems that it wouldn't be needed. I, Shintel, will be enough."
"Tsk..." Jihyo clutches on to her Manifest tightly. She was still wobbly and weakened from her previous fight.
Benedict notices this, and he readies his Manifest as well.
"You seem to be struggling, Miss Jihyo. Let me assist you in this battle." Benedict said.
"That would be very much appreciated, Mr. Benedict." Jihyo smiles.
Benedict glows in a fiery orange aura as the cracks on the scissor glows, and it slowly turns into a fiery, molten hot silver-colored switchblade, and slowly, he blankets himself with fire. The snow on the ground vaporizes due to the heat eminating from him.
"Ohoho, so there are two Manifest wielders here?! I am so lucky today... But its not fair if you're two... Ah, well... Time to take this job seriously."
Shintel suddenly blitzes towards Benedict and Jihyo, tackling them with both of her arms. The two were flung outside of the building. They crash into one of the pillars of a nearby elevated train track.
Zeke and Glendale were left at the topmost floor of the bowling center, frozen in shock.
"Daddy!" Glendale screamed.
"Jihyo!" Zeke shouted.
Jihyo and Benedict grunts as they slowly stood up, brushing off the debris on their clothes.
"Stay there, you two!" Jihyo exclaimed. "We got this...!"
They see Shintel slowly descend from the building, landing her feet perfectly on the snowy ground. She lets out her free hand, and her nails slowly turn into ice-tipped claws.
"Don't move, wielders, this will be quick... I promise!"