A crystal streak of light travels through a seemingly endless, cloudy background. There was nothing but flakes of snow whizzing past, signifying that the streak was flying at a ridiculous speed no mortal eye could ever hope to see. It remained on its course, shining brightly as it continued to advance rapidly without fail.
It soon fiercely hits what seems to be dark blue metal, the shockwaves of it cracking its surface. Crystal shards and steel scraps fly around as the streak of light tears through, creating a giant, mangled slash on the metal's surface.
The snow around the streak of light fizzled, the wind roaring in its wake. The cloudy background soon fades as a snowy grove took its place, and among its barren trunks and crumpled, icy leaves, stood Park Jihyo, holding a crystalline blade glowing faintly on her hand.
General Khera backs away as she sees her armor get severely slashed away. Jihyo lunges to slash her again, and the ensuing clash causes shockwaves to ripple all over the area.
"Guh...!" Minji and the rest of the settlement resisted the strong winds created by the ferocious battle.
The two exchange blows, and Jihyo can now dish out the same damage as Khera.
The Koul'in general, in a stroke of luck, manages to push Jihyo out of melee range. She then uses her tendrils to wrap around some branches near her to launch herself upward into the air.
Batches of her hair then turn into massive, deadly tendrils that rain down on the talented TWICE member.
"Ivory Comet Shower!"
The tendrils sharpened as they advanced, and pelted the snowy ground with such strength and power that it shakes the ground around everyone.
Jihyo does not hesitate and takes the tendrils head-on. Glowing in a white crystalline aura with apricot lightning arcs flowing around her, she held her ground, slashing most tendrils that were falling toward her with incredible speed.
Jihyo then rushes towards Khera as she disappears in a streak of light, but even more, tendrils keep on blocking her path, hindering her from getting closer to Khera. And while Jihyo can now keep up with multiple tendrils at once due to her power-up, she realizes she needs to do something more to close into her again.
She backs and goes for a defensive maneuver to try to analyze the situation ahead.
"Seojun-nim taught me a total of four techniques to help me get familiarized with the Seraphim: Crystalline Blanket for a balance of offense and defense, Radiant Burst for faraway targets, Skyscraping Light for ranged defense, and Heaven's Descent for a powerful, single strike offense. He told me those were techniques that came straight from the very first wielder of the Seraphim, but he also said I could make my own. So I developed Sunset Lumina, derived from one of the songs I made back in the day. Yet... none of these techniques work against her entirely..."
Jihyo just glares at Khera as she continues dodging and slashing.
"So if none of them work, how about I just make a new one? Right! That should do the trick."
Jihyo keeps her pace and navigates herself around the attacking tendrils, still trying to observe Khera. Trying to see if she has patterns of attack. Anything that can give her an idea of how she can deal with her.
"But what could work? Come on, Jihyo. You're a world-class songwriter. Surely you can come up with something... An impromptu fighting technique isn't that hard to make, right...? Come on, brain, any idea is welcome now... fill me in..."
She gets hit by one of the tendrils due to a single misstep and gets rained down once again by more of them as she desperately tried to block with her blade.
"Ack...! Who am I kidding?! Developing fighting techniques in this situation is hard. Even Seojun-nim said it took him a few years to make one. It's not like I can make one in a flash... "
Jihyo's eyes widen, and a lightbulb moment occurs.
"...Flash. That's it. Flash!"
Jihyo breaks loose of her defensive stance, slashing off the tendrils that were attacking her. She was now finally ready to attack. Mustering all her remaining strength, she sprints towards the Koul'in general.
"If I could create an extremely bright light similar to a flashbang, it could blind Khera, and I could go full offensive!" Jihyo thought. "Hehe, I surprise myself sometimes. Park Jihyo, genius boss of technique making!"
She brandishes the Seraphim, as it glistens, and apricot-colored lighting arcs appear around it.
Jihyo then places her hand on the base of the blade as she gets closer and closer to the general again.
"What are you planning to do...?" Khera thought. "You've been trying to do a frontal assault for a while now, surely you know it doesn't do anything, right? It's for naught!" Khera said as she focused all her tendrils toward Jihyo.
"Now... I hope it works... Focus all your strength... into one, a big blast of light..."
"...Flash Burst Horizon!"
With a quick motion of her hand, Jihyo strikes her palm along the blade, like a match striking a matchbox. It creates a field of blinding, prismatic flash that renders Khera incapable of sight. The Koul'in general was dazed, only seeing nothing but dancing lights in her eyes, even when she closed them tightly. The tendrils all miss Jihyo as well.
"What the---I can't see...?!" Khera gasped.
Despite the strong blinding flash she just created, Jihyo is unaffected as she can still see what was going on. The Seraphim allows her to see even in the brightest of lights.
The settlement team behind the battle was slightly blinded by the flash as they all either closed their eyes or covered them.
"I... It's too bright...!" Zeke muttered as he closes his eyes. "What is going on...! That technique... I've never seen that before!"
"This is my chance, I'll strike her down!" Jihyo muttered as she waltzed quickly towards Khera.
"Where the hell are you, wield--"
SLASH!
Khera feels a sharp cut going down through her back. She blindly swings her tendrils in the direction of the attack, but she only hits cold air.
SLASH!
She gets struck on the shoulder this time, the armor on it crumbling. Her hair tendrils go around in a desperate attempt to find her but to no avail.
SLASH!
Another one comes for her leg, injuring her greatly as the shrapnel from her bent armor pierce through her soft, pale skin.
SLASH!
And another one in a different area of her body.
SLASH!
And another one.
SLASH!
And another.
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
To Khera, she sees nothing but light and feels nothing but slashes that were seemingly coming from every perceptible direction possible.
But Seojun notices Jihyo's movements beyond the bright light. He sees Jihyo---clear as day--- and her graceful footwork, moving all around Khera as she unleashes massive, continuous slashes around her; decimating both the general's hair and armor at the same time.
"I can't believe it. She actually made a new technique to adapt to the situation..." Seojun muttered to himself in awe. "And an agile one, too. Even I couldn't make such technique in a short amount of time..."
Khera was now beginning to get pissed. She was being one-upped by someone who was should've given up a long time ago. It was a dishonor, a jab at her pride of being a general, to be defenseless, to not know when the next strike falls.
Her hair tendrils weren't fairing well, either. She has dried up all the Koul'ins in the area, and she has no more sources of energy to draw into so she could regenerate her hair quickly. Once flowing at 30 feet long--her hair now stands in as little as 10 feet, and she couldn't risk unleashing more of it in fears of Jihyo cutting it shorter and shorter.
Worse, she's close to her limit as well. She has been clashing with the enemies for two full hours, after all--- fighting two wielders, an armored lady, a former wielder, and a multitude of armed men. She wouldn't admit it openly to Jihyo, of course, but if she doesn't do anything, she'll die.
The general gives out a bloodcurdling scream, releasing the pent-up anger she has been hiding since she got blinded. Jihyo gets startled by her sudden roar, and in that few seconds that she was distracted, Khera reaches out her hand, grabs Jihyo by the neck, and pulls her closer to her face. She seems to have recovered from getting blinded.
"Ggh...! She still got me at that speed?!" Jihyo writhed as she tried to break loose.
"I'm done with your tricks, wielder!" Khera said as she slams Jihyo to the ground and tosses her with a lot of strength. Jihyo crashes down on the ground as patches of snow rise due to the force of Khera's throw.
Khera, in a fit of continuous rage, lunges immediately at Jihyo, who had just stood up. She gets pummeled as Khera attacks with both of her arms and hair tendrils in a series of wild barrages. The valiant member of TWICE rolls to dodge the attack and swings her blade diagonally, creating room for her to retaliate.
The two engage again in a quick clash, stopping in between strikes to catch their breaths. Khera's hair was being split and her armor whittles down. Jihyo's hoodie was tearing apart, and she sustains more wounds.
Khera and Jihyo then simultaneously unleashed their fists and swung them towards one another. Their fists connect as it creates a shockwave, sending the two combatants flying onto the ground.
Not wanting to be the last to strike, Jihyo hastily stands up, readying her blade in a thrusting motion as she ran towards Khera. However, she is surprised to see the Koul'in general run toward her as well, readying her fist in preparation for her attack.
"You have been alive far too long enough, and I am extremely irritated by your perseverance. With this, I'll end you, and then, I'll savor the moment of watching your friends scream in utter despair as you fall, Park Jihyo!" Khera said in a maniacal, ominous tone.
Jihyo then sees all of Khera's hair wrap around her left arm and fist. They solidify into an ivory-colored, spiked bracer, giving Khera an otherwise even deadlier limb to attack with.
And, at that moment, that's when Jihyo knew: this was their final attack. An attack that will determine who wins or who loses.
The decisive strike.
As she runs closer and closer to the Koul'in general, Jihyo felt her heart thumping loudly. Her body was now pumping out the last of its adrenaline towards all of her limbs. Her eyes dilate, and its sclera glows in a passionate hue of crystalline white with a touch of apricot in it.
She holds her Manifest ever so tightly like never before. So tight that she felt her palms burning, cramping, screaming that it should loosen its grip over the crystalline blade. Yet Jihyo ignores this, focusing more on pouring all of her strength in her final attack, her eyes set to a victory, her first major victory as a wielder.
The two close in, and in a blink of an eye, they unleash their final attacks towards each other with a defeaning battlecry.
BOOM!
Sparks fly. The air around them roared as a shockwave of snow rise throughout the whole area. A fine mist blankets the battlefield, as the settlement team was forced to shut their eyes.
The mist clears quickly. Soon, the whole settlement sees the aftermath of the decisive clash, and they froze in horror as they gasp.
Jihyo has stabbed Khera right through her left abdomen, and out her back. Khera, on the other hand, has her keratinous fist buried deep within Jihyo's abdomen as her blood dripped onto the messy, snowy ground.
The two combatants were panting. Blood was spilling through their mouths.
"JIHYO-SSI!" Minji cried out in despair.
"Jihyo...!" Zeke reached out.
The two combatants grunted and writhed, maintaining the same standing posture. They struggled under their breaths, wanting to go further and fight, but it seems that the both of them were at their limit.
"....You fight... with such passion in your heart. I do not believe... that your only goal... Is to save fleeting lives. There must be more... Something that lasts, that makes you fight like this..." Khera grunted further as she glared at Jihyo.
"You do not get it, do you...? Even saving lives are worthy of being a passionate goal. Because saving those lives... means that we are also saving everything they have...their hopes... their ideas...their memories. Things that can last... more than a lifetime." Jihyo replied, gasping for air.
"...You... are only but one woman. You are not strong enough... to save all those people, and their ideas and memories... from this catastrophe..."
"That may be true," Jihyo replied. "But for now... I am contented at the fact that I'm strong enough... to beat you."
Khera looks at Jihyo's abdomen and sees that the TWICE member has completely crystallized it, preventing her keratinous fist from going right through and injuring her gravely. The hair around Khera's fist cracks, and soon, it crumbles away as Khera is left with a short, mullet-type hairstyle.
The general chuckles as she lets down her attacking arm, now devoid of any strength. She uses her other hand to hold Jihyo's blade, using it as a support so she could remain standing.
"You humans... are indeed dangerous..." Khera muttered. "If you're capable of going beyond your limits for these trivial goals... Then what more if they become bigger? More ambitious...? You're not even close to being a type one civilization... and yet..."
"..." Jihyo just kept silent.
"Ah, well...That's enough chit-chat for me... I lost. I'm not even angry that I did. After all... Beings with stronger passions ---no matter what they are--- always emerge victoriously. And in this battle, you won. But I wonder... can you maintain being the victors... as you continue fighting us...? And if you do, would it still leave you satisfied at the end...? My soul... cannot wait... to see how it all unfolds..."
Khera looks at her and faintly smirks.
"...Park... Ji...hyo..."
Khera lowers her head and exhales her last breath. She died standing.
Jihyo slowly removes the blade from Khera's abdomen, and the Koul'in general falls elegantly, with a soft thud.
Everyone was silent. Nothing but the cold wind was heard for the next few moments.
"Did we... finally win...?" Hangyeol thought as he shuddered.
"Ungh..." Jihyo immediately winces due to her wounds all over her body. Although the Manifest gave her a massive boost in strength, her body could not keep up with the strain that came after. She kneels in agony as the Seraphim returns to its cane form.
Zeke forces himself to stand up and jogs toward her.
"Jihyo...!" Zeke nudges her.
The tired TWICE member slowly looks at him.
"You alright...?" Zeke asked worryingly.
Jihyo remained silent for a while as she looked at Khera's lifeless body.
"....I still just couldn't believe these beings exist, Zeke... I used to think these kinds of aliens were just... a thing in sci-fi movies or anything similar... That it was fun to see them pit themselves against protagonists with all these... cool weaponry and unique powers. But when you're here, it's... totally different... It's not fun at all. They will definitely kill us unless we kill them first..."
Jihyo sighed as she just focused on healing her wounds.
"This... is really going to be our life for the time being, huh..." Jihyo muttered. "Until I find my friends and family, and possibly even beyond that, this will go on..."
"Yeah..." Zeke looks down.
"...On a slightly brighter note, at least we are learning more about a lot of things in this apocalypse... Not just about the Koul'in, but ourselves and the things we do in it, too..." Jihyo said as she lets out an exasperated sigh. "Lessons that are... somehow, eye-opening."
"Yeah. Like how Khera would be a horrible model for a shampoo commercial." Zeke suddenly said.
"....Eh?" Jihyo's face contorted in utter confusion.
"You know... because she has extremely long hair. It wouldn't probably fit the television screen." Zeke said in a serious tone.
"..." Jihyo just gave Zeke the stink-eye and then punches him by the shoulder.
"Ow!" Zeke winced as he held his arm.
"Zeke, why are you like this?! I say something real serious and then you go with these kinds of sentences. This is the second time you've done this. What's going on in that stupid head of yours?! It's not funny." Jihyo scolded him in a serious tone.
"You say it's not funny... But... why are you smiling?" Zeke smirked.
To Jihyo's surprise, she realizes she was smiling a bit. Not wanting to admit that he's right, she tries her best to suppress it, but she was failing.
"H-Hey. I'm not." Jihyo said.
Zeke ignores her as he looks away and scratches his chin.
"....Damn. Imagine shampooing all that hair on camera. That commercial will probably last a month."
"Z...Zeke... quit joking around..." Jihyo was now holding her laughter.
"Khera's hairdresser must have nightmares just fixing them off-screen, too. She's like... "Oh my god, I can't hair this anymore!" But she can't quit the job cause she's trying to make split-ends meet. Poor hairdresser."
"Z-Zeke, please..." Jihyo was now really trying her best not to laugh.
"So I'm guessing that the hairdresser must've called her best friend who was a barber. The barber heard her pleas for help and he's like, "Hey, don't worry. I'm here to shave the day!" Good guy barber, am I right?" Zeke said in a comedic tone.
Jihyo, unable to hold back, suddenly lets out the cutest laugh Zeke has ever heard, with an occasional little snort here and there. Zeke smiles at the sight of Jihyo genuinely laughing with her eyes shut. He has made jokes with her before, but he hasn't really taken the time to appreciate how she looks like when she's laughing. It was a spectacle.
Jihyo's laugh dies down as she looks at Zeke and smiles.
"You really are an idiot. You try so hard to make me laugh. You should've been a clown." Jihyo chuckles.
"Well, if you only knew how many times I became a clown for you and the rest of TWICE..." Zeke mutters as he shakes his head, chuckles, and slowly stands up. He then reaches his hand toward Jihyo.
"Alright, Miss Jihyo. Let's go, Sana is waiting."
Jihyo smiles as she, without hesitation, takes his hand as he helps her stand.
April 19, 2023, 10:33 am, En Route to Minhyuk's Settlement, Daegu, South Korea.
"....u....ssi.... Hey...!"
"Ryu....ssi...! Hel....!"
"Ryuji...ssi...! Ar....ou awake...?"
"....yujin-ssi!"
"Ryujin-ssi!"
"OH!" Ryujin jolts awake and sees herself staring at a dark green cloth ceiling. She also sees Minji looking at her, as well as a few injured armed guards with bandages all over their bodies. She quickly realizes she's lying on a stretcher.
"Oh, you're finally awake!" Minji said in glee. "You were moving about while you were unconscious so I got a bit worried. How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Ungh... My head kinda hurts... but overall... I'm fine..." Ryujin replied. "Where are we...?"
"We are in a truck right now going back to base..." Minji replied.
"Wait... what? But... the fight! I gotta get back! Zeke and Jihyo-unnie, they're---!" Ryujin frantically said as she tries to sit up.
"O...oh! Please...! Relax...! It's done, Ryujin-ssi! The fight is done! We already won...!" Minji frantically declared.
Ryujin stopped as she looks at Minji.
"We... won...?" Ryujin asked.
"Mhm! Everybody worked hard to defeat Khera, especially Jihyo-ssi! She held out to the end and won!"
Ryujin breathed a sigh of relief, but knowing that Khera proved to be a difficult enemy, she can't help but worry how they all are after the battle.
"So... where are they? Are they okay...?" Ryujin asked.
"They're all in the truck behind us. Everyone sustained wounds and bruises all over, but they're mostly fine. The heaviest injuries are Jihyo-ssi's wounds and Minhyuk-nim's broken rib. Fortunately, I don't think we don't have to worry about that too, but we still need to do an intensive check up on them when we get back just to make sure..." Minji replied.
"How about Miyeon-unnie and Sana-unnie?" Ryujin asked.
"We evacuated them early on before the final clash... So they're already safe on the base for about an hour."
"I see..." Ryujin's voice trailed off.
She was at loss for words. They have completed the mission, they have won against the Koul'in. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
The ITZY member felt the victory deep inside too, but it was a different feeling of victory, something she's not familiar with.
Because it wasn't a victory due to a successful performance, or winning an award---it was more of a victory of surviving and staying alive. It felt exhilarating, to feel alive after an otherwise deadly situation.
And she was sure that Jihyo and Miyeon were feeling the same way.
She snaps out of her thoughts as the truck slowed down.
"We are here!" Minji said as she went down first and assisted Ryujin out of the truck. A couple of nurses were waiting for her and the other armed guards as they begin doing quick assessments on their injuries. Ryujin looks and sees Zeke, Jihyo, Hyungwon, Hangyeol, Seojun, and Minhyuk all come out from the other truck as the other doctors flocked at them, doing the same thing.
"Oh, Ryujin!" Jihyo waves as she slightly limps towards her, thanking the medical personnel who checked on her. She was bloodied, and her hoodie was utterly damaged. The Seraphim was okay, however.
"Jihyo-unnie! Are you okay..?" Ryujin asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah. Although I'm really mad at Khera for destroying my favorite hoodie. It may take some time for the tailor to fix it again... Oh, how about you? You okay?"
"Just a slight headache, Jihyo-unnie..." Ryujin replied.
A commotion from the inside of the medbay suddenly catches the settlement team's attention. Frantic voices were heard, seemingly trying to stop someone.
"...you can't...! You haven't recovered out...!" A panicky voice said.
"...unnie...! Hey...!" Another voice said.
The doors of the medbay bust wide open, and out comes Sana, who was limping as she tried to run. Miyeon follows suit as she tries to stop her.
"Sana-unnie, please stay! It's only been an hour, you need rest...!" Miyeon exclaimed.
"No... I can't rest... You said she was here, I wanna see her! I want to see..."
Sana soon sets her eyes on her beloved friend, Jihyo.
"....Jihyo...?"
Jihyo soon notices her as well, as they just stared at each other.
"...Sana...?" Jihyo's voice trembled and softened at the same time. She drops her Manifest and sprints towards Sana, and the rest of the team followed, surrounding the two TWICE members as they close in on each other.
Jihyo immediately embraces Sana with a warm hug that was so tight and felt like home. Sana responds with her hug as well---a clingy one, full of longing and comfort. She soon feels wetness on her shoulder and realizes Jihyo was silently but messily crying.
"Oh god... Oh god...! Oh my god Sana... Oh my god... you're here... after so long... You're finally safe...!"
Sana's tears began to well up, and she sniffles as she buried her head on Jihyo's shoulder.
"I missed... you so much, Jihyo... I'm glad I'm able to see you and hug you again... I... I... Jihyo..."
Minji, Hangyeol, and a couple of settlers began tearing up as well. They could feel Jihyo and Sana's emotions, and they were just so happy that the two TWICE members been reunited after so many life-threatening challenges. It's a heartwarming scene full of feelings of comfort, warmth, safety, security, and a sense of vulnerability---one that gives a lasting impression that will be difficult to forget.
Soon, a glimmer of light ripples the sky.
"Huh...? That's...?"
Zeke and the rest look at the clouds thinned a bit, and a few rays of light from the sun began seeping through the dark clouds after so many months of hiding. It faintly lights up a few areas of the settlement, but it was most noticeable in the area where Sana and Jihyo were hugging.
The two didn't notice the sun glimmer on them. Sana and Jihyo soon kneel onto the snowy ground, still hugging each other as they quietly sob.
Soon, Jihyo's hug seemingly loosens, and Sana looks to see that Jihyo has her eyes closed, and her body was now completely limp.
"Jihyo...? Hey...?" Sana said as she shakes her. She then begins to panic. "What happened...! Somebody!"
Minji rushes towards the leader of TWICE and assesses her.
"Oh... She's just passed out... I'm guessing it's overfatigue. She had fought for hours, after all... I'm surprised she even had the strength to remain conscious after all that... Well, we should get her to rest. Sana-ssi, you should rest as well..."
Sana slowly nods as they all went to Jihyo and carried her safely towards the medbay.
Zeke was left behind. Before Jihyo was taken to the medbay, he catches a glimpse of her face. He sees that she looked peaceful and content in her unconscious state, and her tears already dried up on her smooth cheeks.
The way that she fell unconscious, and the way she looked when she did, made it seem like it was a voluntary surrender to slumber---as if Jihyo knew that it was time to finally take a rest for a while knowing Sana is now completely safe within the bounds of their temporary home.
"Sleep well, Jihyo. You deserve it." Zeke smiled.
He then closes his eyes, breathes, and looks up in the sky, taking the time to savor his first sunshine in what seemed to be months of utter darkness.