Ryujin, Miyeon and Seojun unleashes hell on a seemingly impenetrable opponent.
April 19, 2023, 6:42 am, E-World Amusement Park, Daegu, South Korea.
[MAJOR EVENT: OPERATION SHIBA]
Cho Miyeon wasn't really ready for Operation Shiba, but she knows that she has to take part in saving Sana no matter the cost. Because Sana is her friend, after all, and she would do anything for a friend, regardless of any trouble or problem.
But the sight of the Koul'in subordinate Alstone really brings her fears back on the table. She knew how unbelievably ruthless and strong he was on their first encounter--- and how brutally he wiped out all her allies, except for Sana and a few others, who were all whisked away from her.
She knows it's gonna take more than all four of them combined to deal with him.
Yet she consistently hopes for some sort of miracle.
Alstone hears heavy footsteps that were rumbling in the area not too far from him.
"Seems like Zheri's magnum opus is unleashed. There are more enemies than we expected." Alstone thought.
"Soldiers! Gather round the remaining Koul'ins and try to help Zheri take out the trash, now." Alstone instructed in a booming voice. The soldiers quickly obliged as they ran off.
"And as for you humans... you're not allowed here, you know? Let me escort you out to your death. Come." Alstone said as he taunts the team to attack him.
Ryujin, having remembered that her strength is multiplied with her armor, runs toward the Koul'in subordinate and bravely attacks first, delivering a punch on Alstone's face which makes the Koul'in subordinate flinch and back away a few inches.
But Alstone remains stalwart. Still mostly unharmed by her attacks, he returns the favor by delivering a massive punch towards Ryujin. She blocks with her arms, but the blow was so strong that parts of her armor started to fall apart.
Seojun gathers most of his strength and runs towards Alstone. He then readies his glowing, glitchy fists, this time, with more power than usual.
Seojun unleashes wild but concentrated strikes of glitched light towards Alstone. Yet again, the Koul'in subordinate manages to withstand his attack, and with his insignias glowing again in glitched light, retaliates with a wild haymaker that narrowly misses Seojun.
While Alstone was busy with Seojun, Ryujin takes an opportunity to attack once more. She runs towards Alstone at breakneck speed.
"Come on, my boots, don't fail me now..."
As she closes in on the tattooed enemy, she presses a button on her pointer finger and the heels on both of her boots form small rocket thrusters, expelling concentrated mists of fire and heat that immediately lifts her off the ground.
She then jumps forward, using the propelling motion of her rocket boots to slam her knee towards Alstone. Alstone quickly grabs her feet as a response and swings her towards the defunct carousel nearby.
The ITZY member's adrenaline helped her became quickly aware of her predicament. As soon as she gets near the carousel, Ryujin grabs one of the horses, and with the rotating momentum of the amusement ride and her rocket boots, she flings herself back at Alstone to deliver a fierce, fiery dropkick on his face.
Ryujin notices Alstone's arm insignias fill up with a fiery red hue, mimicking those emitted by her rocket boots.
But Ryujin didn't want to waste time dilly-dallying over his chameleon-like markings.
She lands on the snowy ground next to Alstone and spins her body, doing a fiery rocket-powered kick on Alstone's face. She notices, for a brief moment, that Alstone sustained a slight burn injury on his cheek, something that she didn't expect to see.
"I... I injured him!" Ryujin said to herself.
Alstone expels the fiery energy on his insignias with a wild swing of his arm, forcing both Seojun and Ryujin back a few feet. The insignias, again, return to their maroon color.
"Well... it's only on very rare occasions I get wounded like this. Impressive, non-wielder." Alstone said to Ryujin.
"We aren't as frail as you think we are. We are strong even without the help of Manifests." Ryujin said.
"Yeah... I guess that's believable. But frankly, no matter how strong you are, you prove no match for me. You see, I'm bio-engineered to take a lot of damage and punishment. My skin can stockpile any attack, especially to those coming from the strong, and return that strength to them two-fold. I can also sense you through the attacks you give off, and therefore, I can counterattack your attacks perfectly. That's why I'm an efficient head guard. I'm like an external immune system perfectly defending against foreign contaminants, like you."
"Talking big about likening yourself to a whole damn immune system... I think it's a better idea if we both agree that you're the foreign contaminant here." Ryujin scoffed.
"Don't make me laugh." Alstone charged at Ryujin and Seojun. Ryujin draws her guns once again, while Seojun raises his fists for combat. The three combatants immediately engage in a fierce hand-to-gun-to-hand combat. A bullet here, a fist there. A swing here, a jab there. Each blow was a testament to the determination they all have.
Minji and Miyeon just gasped in awe. Ryujin was unbelievably well versed in combat, and Seojun was unbelievably strong and agile for a 67-year-old man.
But it wasn't enough as Miyeon notices the two were slowly weakening. Alstone's insignias alternate between a glitchy color and a blue-green hue, taking the enemy's attacks and sending it back to both combatants with fierce blows.
"Ugh!" Ryujin was hit by a glitched energy from Alstone that massively disoriented her senses, rendering her incapable of fighting as she falls to the ground. Her senses were overloaded as she sees nothing but dancing flashes of light.
"Hngh!" Alstone then quickly throws a toxic punch that had the speed of a bullet towards Seojun. He endures the hit, but as a result of the toxin, he was unable to move.
"N...no..! Ryujin-ssi! Seojun-nim!" Minji said as she ran towards the two, immediately bringing out her first aid kit with an intention to treat them. Alstone spots Minji and immediately rushes in to strike her down.
"Gasp...!" Minji froze in fear and her legs turn to jelly.
All of the sudden, Miyeon unconsciously sprints in and tackles Minji, effectively saving her from the enemy's attack.
"Oh...?" Alstone notices Miyeon and walked towards the two. "I know you..."
He looks at Miyeon with his soul-piercing eyes. The same, fearsome eyes that Miyeon saw when he took Sana away from her. Miyeon freezes.
"You're the one that was part of the human caravan I destroyed days ago. The one who was with Minatozaki Sana... I'm surprised you're alive."
"...She's my friend. You took her away from us...!" Miyeon replied in an angry tone.
"Your friend? Hahaha! General Khera was right. Using your friend as bait for you to all come here really worked! Human emotions are fragile indeed, easy to manipulate with a few little strings---"
Suddenly, Alstone gets hit by a volley of bullets. As he looked, he sees a pissed-off Miyeon pointing her smoking MP5 at him.
Something about Alstone yabbering about human emotions and the fragility of them all seemed to tick Miyeon off. "He wasn't human, how could he know how human emotions actually work?!" She thought.
The smug look on his face just added fuel to the fire.
"I have no time for your talks! Fight!" Miyeon suddenly screamed as she unleashed more bullets at the Koul'in subordinate.
She absolutely had no idea what she was doing. Alstone was too strong for Ryujin and Seojun, and most likely, bullets will not work on him.
She knew that she was going to lose in one singular strike if Alstone chooses to do so.
Yet despite all the odds, she was courageous and mad enough to stand up and fight, and at this point, only she can decide if she wins or loses.
"AAAAAAH!" A raging Miyeon emptied the magazine of her gun, and as it runs out of bullets, she discards it and clips another magazine to fire at him, all while slowly walking towards the Koul'in subordinate.
"M...Miyeon-unnie..." Ryujin muttered, looking at the attacking (G)I-DLE member as Minji assessed both her and Seojun.