The team encounters darkness beyond what they dealt with so far. In the midst of that silken darkness lies a desperate act of rescue.
April 19, 2023, 6:01 am, E-World Observatory Tower, Daegu, South Korea.
[MAJOR EVENT: OPERATION SHIBA]
The elevator doors tightly close behind Zeke's team as they all walk to Zheri and the gigantic Scraper.
"You know you're in more trouble here now that your other wielder is gone, right?" Zheri said as she looks at Hyungwon, Hangyeol, and Minhyuk.
"Yep, we know what we are doing here," Minhyuk replied.
"I don't...?!" Hangyeol said to himself.
"And that is highly likely you'll die?" Zheri added.
"Yeah, more or less," Zeke replied. "But we'll try not to." He added.
"Good, good. Because it wouldn't be an interesting fight if you died easily, right?" Zheri grinned as her Scraper throws a punch towards Zeke and his team. They all successfully dodge the swing as the punch lands on a wall and shakes the whole building a bit.
It follows up by stomping on the side, narrowly missing Zeke as it now faces towards the park.
Hyungwon, Hangyeol, and Minhyuk fired their guns at the enemy in retaliation as the Scraper tries to block. It whittled the Scraper's snowy exterior bit by bit as the bullets get buried inside of it, but it's rather ineffective by means of lethality.
"Nothing works...!" Minhyuk thought.
Zeke runs toward the enemy and jumps forward, his rocket seals crackling in fiery might.
"Five-Star Strike!"
Zeke swings his flaming switchblade sideways towards the Scraper's abdomen. It connects, unleashing a roaring flame that seemingly twinkles like stars, generating a blanketing mist that spreads throughout the area. The giant enemy roars as it backs a few feet, seemingly stunned by the sheer force of Zeke's strike. But it still stood unfazed.
As the mist clears, Zeke sees that his attack was blocked by a gigantic metal scrap that wasn't there before.
"Where the hell did this come from?!" Zeke said as he observes the creature. He notices that the steel scraps and beams that the Scraper absorbed earlier slowly move around it, as they were being carried away by a seemingly swirling snow inside its body.
"Surprised? There's a reason why this Scraper is my best creation. The snow inside of this Scraper is constantly moving... As such, it can move the steel it absorbed earlier anywhere in its body where it needs it. Wanna know what else is inside?"
The Scraper's body suddenly displays the bullets they all fired toward it earlier on its compacted skin and drops it all to the ground.
"It's truly indestructible..." Hangyeol shivered.
"I'm getting bored. I'll just end you all in an instant now. No hard feelings." Zheri scoffed.
The Scraper swats Zeke away from it, and the flaming wielder crash lands back at his original position. It then raises its fists so high up and does a massive ground slam that sends shockwaves that soon hit them.
"GAAAAAH!" Hangyeol screamed as he gets dragged slowly away.
"Urgh!" Minhyuk resisted with his arms but to no avail.
"Tsk...!" Hyungwon tried to grab on to something but fails.
"Damn... it...!" Zeke generates rocket seals on his back to try and withstand the shockwave, but even it couldn't stop the snowy onslaught.
Soon, they all get sent flying away towards the rides area.
The four of them were so high up in the air, and Zeke worries that the three of them may not survive the landing at this rate.
Zeke reaches out for Hyungwon and Minhyuk, instantly generating a rocket seal on their body that bursts with immense firepower, to counteract the force of the shockwave and reducing their velocity so that they'll land much softer on the ground.
Zeke then goes to Hangyeol and catches him just in time as they all crash to the snowy ground. Thanks to Zeke's quick thinking, the three non-wielders suffered few injuries.
"Oh? They're okay? These humans... are really interesting!" Zheri said as she and her Scraper pace towards the team.
"Nice... job... Zeke-nim..." Hyungwon said as he wobbly stands.
Hangyeol was shivering in fear but manages to stand. "Ugh... I'm not going to put skydiving on my bucket list because of this..."
"Men...it looks like she's still coming after us," Minhyuk said as they all hear heavy footsteps slowly getting louder.
They're at a huge disadvantage. With the huge, nearly unstoppable enemy absorbing most of their hits, there wasn't any way to defeat it head-on. There must be another way.
"At this rate, we are going to tire out and die before we defeat those bastards," Minhyuk said. "Zheri knows what she's doing. If she plays smart, we gotta play smart too." Minhyuk replied in a whisper-like tone.
"Any new ideas then, Mr. Minhyuk?" Zeke asked.
"We'll have to use our surroundings..." Minhyuk muttered as the Scraper closes on them again. "But we gotta act quick. It's four brains against one, we can surely come up with something..."
Zeke looks at the Observatory Tower.
"Jihyo... please. Make it back to us safely with Sana..."
April 19, 2023, 6:13 am, E-World Amusement Park, Daegu, South Korea.
At the rides area, near the now-frozen water slide, Alstone and Seojun immediately fought in a direct and fierce close-quarters combat.
Blow-by-blow, both are equally matched, and Seojun knows this battle can't last longer than it should be.
Seojun generates a glitchy light on his left hand, and it radiates as he swings it towards Alstone.
"Glitch-Flash Strike!"
The Koul'in takes the hit directly, full-force, but much to Seojun's surprise, he doesn't get damaged, nor have his senses go haywire after the attack.
"I felt that, old man! But such blunt attacks wouldn't cause me real harm. I'll only absorb them! My turn!"
The insignias on Alstone's arms soon change into a glitchy signal-like color, like a gauge meter filling up.
Alstone soon strikes the old man on the gut with a mighty uppercut and flings Seojun toward the trees.
Seojun, trying to immediately stand up, suddenly feels the buzzy feeling coursing throughout his body as he expels blood from his mouth.