Seonghwa was worried. All that he can hear were screams and the fire is starting to get worse, it could attract a lot of blackened ones to check what's happening. He didn't know what Hongjoong have seen to look so angry and disgusted at the same time while Yunho is too focused on eliminating any blackened one that is getting near their location.

"Jongho!" the eldest sighed in relief as he saw the youngest male yet the menacing glint on his yellow eyes tells him that he isn't alright.

"Hyung, let's go." Jongho muttered as he can see how twisted his smile is.

"What happened, dear?"

"I just had fun, hyung. It's been a while since I've had too much attention on me that I felt like I'm drunk with it," Jongho giggled as he went beside him and looked at Hongjoong, "Hyung, what's the matter?"

"Let's go!" They looked at Yunho that is about to run out of bullets.

"Let's proceed to the fountain, hyungs!" Jongho said but before he started to run, he threw one of his energy sphere in the gate of the church, causing fire that would make the blackened ones back away.

They immediately arrived at the huge fountain and just like what Jongho said, the water in the fountain was drained and a passageway leading downwards opened, making them look at each other. Jongho grinned at them, waiting for the praise that he's anticipating and Yunho sighed.

"Nice one, Jongho."

The tallest ruffled Jongho's hair which grinned wider, "Thank you, hyung."

"Let's proceed now," Hongjoong said as he started to lead the others while holding the blueprint on his left hand.

As everyone entered the passageway, it immediately closed which made Seonghwa jolt in surprise and everything went dark. None of them could see a thing in which Jongho snaps, making a ball of light in front of Hongjoong to let them see enough on the dark passageway.

Seonghwa noticed how it was made from cement and wondered why would anyone make a passageway leading to the sewers. He can't help but feel uneasy on the situation that he's currently in, staying alert as much as possible.

They suddenly arrived on a dead end as a large pipe seems to be attached to an another part of their city and Seonghwa looked at Jongho which seems to be waiting for them to enter it.

"Where will it lead us?" Seonghwa asks.

"The sewers." Jongho replied, furrowing his eyebrows when Seonghwa seems to be unconvinced, "What's with that look, hyung?"

"I'm having a bad idea with this. Is it really safe or are we just dragging ourselves to more trouble?"

Jongho tilted his head in confusion, "If you're being wary about it, I can crawl first then all of you will follow me."

"I'll go next to Jongho," Hongjoong announced as he looked at Yunho, "How about you, Yunho?"

"He'll crawl after you, Hongjoong. I'll be the last one to crawl so I can assure you that no one is suddenly gonna follow us," Seonghwa assures him as he looked at Yunho.

"Okay then!" Jongho beamed as he entered the large pipe.

The others followed the youngest one as they crawled on their way towards the end of the pipe, Seonghwa kept on glancing behind them to make sure that nothing's going to pop out in all of the sudden. And he sighed in relief when they arrived in the sewers, immediately wearing a mask to avoid smelling the stench from the water beside them. With the ball of light coming from Jongho, they realized that they're currently on the floor next to the murky water and small railings that reaches their thighs are the only thing that separates them from it.

"So we're currently below the mall right now after going through a lot of passageway just like how the blueprint illustrates it," Hongjoong muttered, looking throughly at the blueprint on his hands.

"So how are we supposed to arrive on the manhole near the bridge?" Yunho asked, taking a peek on the blueprint before sighing, "You know what? Nevermind. I'll help you on locating it too."

"How?" Hongjoong raised an eyebrow, staring at their tallest friend.

"I can communicate with nature, Hongjoong-hyung." Yunho lets out a sweet smile, "It can lead me towards the lake by sensing the water from it and even just the trees near the bridge is enough."

"That's great," Jongho gasps in amusement.

"I told you that my goddess have blessed me with a lot," Yunho proudly stated, standing as straight as he could.

"Shall we proceed?" It was Seonghwa who cut their conversation that kept on looking around the sewers, "I'm having a bad feeling on this place. Staying here for too long is going to be dangerous especially that we weren't on a safe place."

"We can use our powers to attack them-" Yunho was cut off when Jongho immediately shouted.

"Don't!"

"What?" Yunho gave him a side-glance with a bit of doubt on his expression.

"There are blackened ones that can detect powers," Jongho said, making the three look at him in surprise and disbelief.

"And why is that?" Hongjoong asked, his voice firm as he stared at the youngest male.

"There are blackened ones that is knowledgeable to magic and that's how they found Monsieur," Jongho replied.

Seonghwa's eyes widened as he immediately walked to the youngest male's direction and yanking his collar, "How did you even get that information?"

"I'll tell you the reason why but promise me one thing.." Jongho looked down and Seonghwa felt a pang of guilt as he lets go of the younger male's collar.

"What is it, Jongho?" Yunho asks in a soft tone, not in the mood to join Hongjoong and Seonghwa on accusing the sweet boy in front of them.

"Hyungs, you love me. You love me, right?" Jongho asks, raising his head to look at them.

"O-Of course, Jongho. You're our youngest friend and we treasure you a lot," Yunho stated, immediately walking his way towards the youngest male and cupping both of his cheeks, "Always remember that we love you. Despite all of the doubts, conflicts and shit that we're currently facing, we still love you."

"You'll still love me, hyungs? Even if I'm someone that's hideous?"

"We would. Of course, we were together because of that shitty bastard that they called 'fate' so being with one another is like the one-way ticket. We'll still be together," Hongjoong said, leaning on the wall.

"All of us are already hideous, Jongho. Whatever that is, it's better to spill it out because it'll just make you more suspicious." Seonghwa stated as his eyes turned blue, "Despite you being my friend, I'm already desperate on saving Yeosang. I'll do everything that will prevent anyone on interfering me towards that even if it's all of you."

Jongho looked at Hongjoong and he didn't even showed any hostility at all. Seonghwa, on the other hand, is merciless and will crush everything that will block his path towards saving Yeosang. Yunho is making him confused, the tallest male is good at sweet words and smiles. Deep inside this angelic appearance is a devil that is thirsty for blood and the fact that Yunho have worked once as a double spy just to exterminate everyone in the mental facility that Yeosang was confined makes it worse.

He wanted to trust Yunho but is it worth it? Is his trust going to be worth it or will Yunho stab him behind because he might be working for Monsieur?

Monsieur can care less about revelations. All that he needed is freedom.

"I know a lot about Monsieur," Jongho announced, making Seonghwa gasp again.

"Why?"

"Because a close relative of the light element users knows him," Jongho replies, making sure not to spill too much information because he knew how that relative of his would be angered by him on how he tattletale about it.

"Then why didn't you said something earlier?" Hongjoong asks, "We could've saved a lot of people!"

"Because I'm scared! I thought that all of you were mortals without any knowledge on what's happening but newsflash! Everyone has powers and San kept our memories!" Jongho exclaims, clenching his fists "I couldn't even talk about it because all of you despises Monsieur to hell and if I talked about how he only wanted to be free from the townspeople's curse then you'll be treating me like a traitor!"

"You knew that we wouldn't.." Yunho looked away, "We wouldn't do such a thing. You're our baby, Jongho."

"That's not the point, Yunho-hyung!" Jongho stomped on the ground in annoyance, "Monsieur only wanted to be free because he was punished for his foolish acts by being kept in that antique pot. And what chained him more in the mortal world is the Arceana people getting him and treating him as their God. It's just unfortunate because the vessel and soul that he needed in exchange for his freedom is Yeosang's!"

"That's already bad for us!" Hongjoong shook his head, "We must kill him."

"You wouldn't be able to kill a demon without a vessel even if you use magic. That demon needs a vessel to make him vulnerable and to be able to exorcise him," Jongho said as he slumped on the ground, "It's useless. The fate have decided to be an asshole to Yeosang-hyung, he's the only way to end this."

"So you're telling me to let Yeosang sacrifice himself?" Seonghwa asks in such a chilly voice that everyone looked at him.

"No! That's not it!" Jongho shook his head furiously, "What I'm saying is that we need to kill every single blackened one then finding a vessel for Monsieur and exorcise him!"

"But haven't you said that he needs Yeosang?" Seonghwa asked in a firm tone, his blue eyes getting brighter as the influence of the sin, wrath is taking over him.

"Yes! But we can still find a way. But first thing's first! We must find the pot then eliminate the blackened ones!" Jongho said as he clenched his fists once again, "This is why I don't want to spill anything at all. You won't believe me and the sad thing about this is that I'm on your side, hyungs. I won't betray you! You're the only ones that knows me better than I know myself!"

Seonghwa was about to retort when they heard Yunho gasp as a sound of chains clinking was heard from the distance along with the loud footsteps, Hongjoong gulped as Jongho immediately looked behind them just to sense that someone is getting near.

"This is bad. We have to run, guys." Yunho warns as a growl was heard.

"Let's go!" Hongjoong exclaims as they started running.

"But where are we supposed to go?" Seonghwa asks which made Hongjoong groan in frustration.

"It's not important for now! We should keep on running because our lives are in danger!"

"We shouldn't have went in the sewers.." Seonghwa muttered before glaring at the youngest male, "If you've recommended this just to get us killed, I swear that I will be the one to shred you into bits."

"Seonghwa-hyung!" Yunho immediately gave Jongho a sad look in which the youngest male looks away in shame.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be," Seonghwa spat.

They continued running, not even taking a peek at the blueprint to make sure that they're going on a safe place as Yunho was leading them by sensing the water of the lake. Yet the loud footsteps just wouldn't disappear as if it's following them no matter what is happening.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

The lunatic was still on the loose, mercilessly killing the blackened ones as he tried on locating the cursed Kang along with his seven friends. His hands kept on shaking in excitement just with the thought of stabbing all of them to death, making them inferior in front of him as they die slowly and feeling the pain until their last breath.

And he looked at the church which was in flames, it must've been done by them and was convinced that he should head there yet he sensed the familiar ability. The ability to control blood and lets out a chuckle as he looked at the opposite direction, immediately on his way to his main target's whereabouts.

"You must be pretty stupid to use your ability, young man." he snickered, gripping his axe tightly.

Only one of them is able to do such a thing and that is no other than the cursed Kang. For all of the years that he has been working for that clan, he have witnessed and memorized the flow of magic in their bodies as they use their ability to control it. Yet the cursed one's the most gifted as of now, it's quite unfortunate that he isn't trained because if he had an idea how to control it properly, he could've surpassed the head of their clan and inherit the title.

How unfortunate. How unlucky. How painful it is for the cursed one.

Yet what he saw in front of him seems to be unbelievable, it's something that could possibly happen but he haven't even gave a thought about it.

In front of him was Yeosang and Wooyoung, filled with fresh scars as they held onto each other tightly while San, eyes and claws as dark as the night sky along with sharp demon horns was in front of them baring his fangs towards the duo.

"San! Please stop!" Yeosang cried out as he tries to control the blood from their scars, not letting it flow out of the cuts.

"Why are you stopping me, Yeosang? He's trying to steal you away from me~"

"H-He isn't.. please.." Yeosang tried to convince the demon yet it seems that he couldn't even do it.

"He's stealing you away from me, Yeosang. I cannot allow that to happen," San replies as he shook his head and widening his eyes, "You're mine."

"No, he's not!" Wooyoung gritted his teeth as an another bunch of summoning circles appeared all around as a bunch of undead crawled out of it.

"Who are you to say such a thing? You're nothing but a forgotten bestfriend!" San growled, immediately charging towards the undead and slashing them into bits with his claws, "You aren't special for him! But me? I'm special!"

"He didn't want to!" Wooyoung exclaimed, summoning undead animals to launch towards San.

"Weak! Pathetic! Is that all?! That's all that you can do! With that power, you won't be able to protect him! Or even steal him away from me!" San lets out a laugh and with just a snap, all of the undead that Wooyoung summoned have exploded, "Let go of him. He's mine. You see.. I'm trying to be nice because Yeosang cares for all of you but if it wasn't for him, I could've murdered all of you already!"

"San.. just stop!" Yeosang covered his ears as he shuts his eyes, "Stop it, please! I'm begging you, San! Enough!"

"Yeosang, you don't understand. You should be with me.. we're connected by our pact. We'll be together forever.. I can get you out of this curse if you trust me. So get away from that weakling and come to me," San said in a gentle tone as he raised his hand, "Come, Yeosang. All that he ever did was hurt you and me? I would never even dare to do such a thing. I'll cherish you and thank all of the Gods for your existence. I'll do everything just to make you smile and I.. will save you."

Wooyoung held his bestfriend tighter as he glared at the demon in front of them, he can't help but feel worried of Yeosang letting go of him anytime.

San was right. All that he ever did was hurt his bestfriend and if Yeosang would even choose the demon, Wooyoung deserves it.

But he doesn't want him to let go. He knew that he's weak but with all of his might, he'll do his best to protect Yeosang. He might've hurt Yeosang before but he's willing to change for his bestfriend. He wanted to redeem himself from everything that he did, he wanted to make Yeosang smile too.

But he's afraid right now.

"Yeosang, come.."

Please don't.

"Sanie.." Yeosang looked at San before glancing at him.

"I can protect you way better than him. I'm better than him.." San assures the brunette as a gentle smile was seen on his face despite his demonic appreance right now.

"San.. I.."

Yeosang, please don't let me go.

Yeosang pursed his lips before taking a deep breath, "San, I'm sorry."

"What?" San asks in a low tone as his eyes widened in surprise.

"I won't come with you," Yeosang stated in a firm tone as he held Wooyoung's hand, "I promised to be with Wooyoung no matter what."

"But we had a pact.." San was starting to get frantic as he looked at him with disbelief, not being able to understand the situation.

"If he fails then I fail too and if he succeeds then I'll be experiencing the same," Yeosang said as he smiled at Wooyoung, "As long as we're together, we're ready to face it."

"You've got to be kidding me," San muttered before shaking his head as he lets out a laugh that can outshine any telenovela villains out there.

"San, I'm terribly sorry."

"No, you're not.." San said, growling once again, "I tried to persuade you, Yeosang. But I'm afraid that if you don't want to cooperate then I'll be taking you by force."

"Don't!" Wooyoung screams.

"Yeosang, you're mine." San took a step forward towards their direction, "You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're mine."

"No.." Yeosang whimpered as Wooyoung held his hand tighter.

"You're mine. You're mine. You're mine."

"I said no!" Yeosang exclaimed, his yellow and blue eyes shines brightly as San grinned wider.

"Kang Yeosang, you're mine!" the demon exclaims as he launched himself towards the duo.

The two are already weak from trying to evade and escape from San that has been going berserk for almost an hour yet they couldn't even do it and they knew that San would be able to catch up to them no matter what. Wooyoung's rainbow-colored eyes brightened as a lot of summoning circles have appeared around them, he knew that he doesn't stand a chance with San but despite being the child with the influence of the sin, Sloth- he'd rather die than not try to save him and Yeosang from this demon.

"Get away!" Yeosang screams and he was surprised when San suddenly lets out a pained cry and when he opens his eyes, he gasped at the sight of his friend that has been stabbed by a dagger on his shoulder, "San!"

"You.." The demon glared towards the lunatic which seems to interfere their battle.

"I wouldn't let them die in your hands, demon. That is my job," the lunatic says as he looked at Yeosang, "I would be the one that is the cause of your demise, cursed Kang."

"Oh really? Then I won't let you do that.." San tilts his head a bit as he smirked before snapping his fingers, sending Wooyoung and Yeosang a few meters away from them with an invisible force.

"I thought that you're supposed to get him for yourself," the lunatic mused.

San chuckled, "Checkmate, motherfucker."

"Wha-"

San smirks as the duo started running away from them which made the lunatic surprise with the sudden turn of events before glaring at the demon which seems to be quite calm for someone that is acting like he's in berserk a while ago.

"Did my acting made you believe all of that shit?" San asks in a sickly sweet voice, "Now, where was I? Oh. I am supposed to stop you so now that my friends are out of my sight, I can do whatever I want with you."

"You're going to have a bad time.."

---

heya, folks! it's been a while and i'm terribly sorry for the shitty update. i really couldn't write anything at all and i know that i'm lame ;; i'm really sorry for this update aaaaaaaa qwq even i hated this ;;reading your thoughts about this update would be helpful tho ^^

what's yer fave ateez song from the latest album? mine's dazzling light!

anyway, i went to ateez philippines' cupsleeve event for jongho's birthday last saturday uwu it's good! ateez ph are sooo damn good on handling events for our boys! kudos to 'em ;;