Yunho clambered into the van a few minutes after the alarm blared on his phone. Hongjoong and Seonghwa were buckling up in their seats and Mingi sat at the far left of the two rows of seats facing each other. He wore a tight black sleeveless turtleneck and his cargo pants and heavy duty boots. Though Yunho sent him a hasty nod, he didn't let his eyes linger. The recent happenings between them left him befuddled, and he didn't want to lose his concentration.

After Jongho slammed the door shut, once the last person made it in, they took off for the rift. As the van hobbled over the bumpy road, Mingi pulled up some information on his phone to brief them.

"This rift in Mapo area opened as rank A but turned into rank S within seconds. Auresce already positioned its espers. We will be late since it's on the other end of the city, but we will have work to do. I want you to work together. Don't underestimate even smaller demons. And Yunho, you don't grab onto anything an Auresce soldier is aiming at," he summarised and accepted their questions about the details. Apparently, Lux was there, together with two other S-class espers. Yunho wasn't too keen on seeing him, but he might not have to.

"We will be the backup for the demons trying to breach the barricades," Mingi instructed him after Hongjoong and Seonghwa were told to move into the masses. "You time your abilities with Jongho and let go of demons before he injures them. If something happens, I will be nearby."

Yunho was nervous, as anyone would be going into battle against hell spawn. But with their strategy and these people he knew and could communicate their battle techniques with, he was relatively confident in his survival.

Mingi saved him before, twice already. Yunho would prove it was worth the effort.

The guides took out their weapons and muttered with their team partners about specific attacks based on Mingi's information of a tentacled S-class demon that was hard to take down. Yunho tugged on his pants with empty hands and tried to regulate his breathing. His trainer watched him from the side with watchful eyes.

"Usually, it's mandatory to receive guiding before a big rift," Jongho muttered and when Yunho froze because he hadn't contacted Wooyoung again about a guide, a smile tugged on Jongho's features. He took Yunho's hand in his smaller one, holding on with warm fingers. His guiding was pleasant and mellow, not as overwhelmingly charged as Mingi's. With wordless gratitude, Yunho leeched off him.

They made it to Mapo at breakneck speed thanks to the mandatory space other cars had to make on the street when people of the NEA came through. The red air greeted them through the tinted windows and Yunho's heart lurched despite the guiding. It remembered the dread he associated with this air. Feared what may happen this time.

Everyone piled out of the car and Hongjoong leapt right over the barricades with Seonghwa chasing after him on long legs. They could use fire hydrants for emergencies, since Auresce's water espers certainly wouldn't collaborate with Hongjoong's explosive mood.

The others swarmed in, mingling with the armed police, who took down smaller critters barrelling their way through.

Some buildings got damaged by flailing tentacles from down the street, but the shields were largely intact, warding off brutal hits. The entire area was ghostly. Everyone left for far shelters with improved safety. Only the foul stench of the demons poisoned the air. With their hue of blood, they dawned like a plague upon the much smaller humans. Baring claws and sharp teeth in their endless hunger.

Yunho steeled himself when they made their way inside. Mingi's voice was soothing by his side.

"Concentrate. Remember, you are B-class. You can protect people."

Yunho wanted to ask him so many things. He wanted to resolve this lingering tension because he felt bad for ignoring his boss and his kindness because of personal feelings.

But alas, going out into battle, there was never enough time to speak. Always something Yunho would forget. People he didn't thank, goodbyes he never told.

He supposed that meant he just had to come back to catch up on those.

Mingi departed from his side and slung a sniper rifle over his shoulder. While he scaled onto a balcony to have a better range, Jongho pulled out two dull batons. He had showed them to Yunho before. A button at the grip crackled electricity over them.

"I will only go once you are disconnected and the movements of the beasts pick up. And if I ever miss the timing, you will only get a bruise and recoil from your control before I zap them," he assured Yunho with the same words as last time. A wise weapon choice for their work as a pair. He paid attention to Yunho's harrowing drawback.

After Yunho nodded at him, they committed. The first demon rushed at them and Yunho stretched out his feelers for it, clamping its arms down against its sides and tripping up its feet like he practised with Hongjoong. By physical strength, he wasn't strong enough to control a demon entirely. But he could mess with it and disorient it while Jongho dashed in from the side, batons lifted at the maw screeching with rage and confusion.

Yunho didn't let anything else distract him. Not the hum of the rift, the demons wriggling all over each other in their eagerness to get to their food, nor the distant clamour of various espers using their powers and their surroundings to fight the higher-levelled demons.

The moment Jongho lifted his arm for the swing, Yunho snapped back from the demon. It screeched, rising to its full height, only to get its skull bashed in by the baton a moment later.

The prickle of danger tingled down Yunho's spine. As he watched the demon die, he was keenly aware of how that could have been him.

With no time to waste, Yunho relied on their trust. When Jongho leapt for the next nearby demon, Yunho was right behind him, opening up his arms along with the demon to expose its vulnerable spots.

Though Yunho's powers still terrified him and he wanted to run away and hide from the demons like he had done his entire life, he stubbornly persisted against his human instincts. Together with Jongho, he took out several more demons and didn't suffer even a scratch. When their alley was cleared out, Jongho flicked his bloodied hair back with a huff. His grin was infectious when Yunho came jogging.

"This is nice. They don't even get to think about hurting me then I'm already there," Jongho brought out while catching his breath. Yunho kept an eye on him, but his trainer also didn't suffer any injuries. He waned sooner than an esper since the muscles bulging through his shirt were only human, but he was still full of energy.

"Let's see where else we can help," he suggested, since the earth still trembled under the stomps of the demons. Before the red air wouldn't seep back into the hellhole it came from, the battle would go on.

Together, they rushed out of the alleyway they gradually delved into and back onto the main street. A shot banged overhead and Yunho flicked his head around to find Mingi reloading his rifle with practised movements. He didn't waver even once, mind and body on highest alert, as he scoped out the area for enemies most susceptible to sneak up on someone. His shots always landed and his firm shoulders caught the recoil of the weapon.

"This one, Yunho!" Jongho called for him and Yunho snapped back to work mode.

Things were going well. Though he only fought on the sidelines, Yunho was helping with something. He was improving the situation and saving lives with his ability.

The high that came from this feeling of importance was addictive, but Yunho didn't let it blind him. He was still easily harmed, and the more he used his powers, the more he felt his exhaustion draw on him.

As he snatched up the next demon, Jongho kicked the spindly legs out from below its body. Yunho staggered, but the hit was harmless and he trusted Jongho with it. As he let go, the baton zapped its deadly strike, frying the squealing creature.

It was getting harder to breathe. The stench of demon blood made the humans cough, and the ground became slippery with black blood. More ammunition was hauled over by the police and espers retreated momentarily for quick guiding before they rushed back in.

Jongho jogged to get them some water, so Yunho took a moment to check on Mingi. He would be needed soon, so he clicked the safety into his rifle and got ready to depart from his balcony. Though whatever drew his eyes to him had Yunho's awe stuck on his lean body and how he handled it so confidently, his senses were alert to the remaining demons, even if this area was cleared.

A tentacle had crept through the alley Jongho and Yunho had cleared out, seeking companions for another strike. When it felt its way out from the darkness, it blended into the shadow, since its black blood covered it.

If it hadn't coiled so unnaturally over the railing of the balcony Mingi stood on to listen to his comm to find the first person who needed his guiding, Yunho might have missed it. Though it wavered and trembled, the main body close to defeat, it found a victim to latch on to.

Yunho jerked forward the moment it veered in Mingi's direction.

"No-" He called, stretching out his powers quicker than his voice could reach Mingi and warn him of the lurking danger.

The tentacle was smooth skin, no suckers and no spikes. But it might crush Mingi's body or draw him to the monster's maw to feed on, so Yunho didn't allow it. He slipped into its shape, made it his own even when dealing with limbs different from his own was challenging to him. If demons had six legs, he couldn't control all at once yet.

But a tentacle was one limb. When Yunho connected with it, he felt as if swathed in a cocoon. Wrapped in the skin of the single tentacle.

A wave hit his brain, knocking into him with a violent headache. This demon's level was high above his and it could easily shake him off. Yunho gritted his teeth when he forced himself to endure the pain, slowly sinking backwards to stem against the feeble slithering of the hurt demon.

He couldn't hold out more than a few seconds. So he tensed every muscle in his body, eyes locked onto Mingi, when he spotted Yunho's cramped figure focused on him and spun around to defend himself.

Mingi just yanked a knife from the holster on his thigh when the beast in the distance seemed to check on its many limbs, realising one was strangely occupied. Its attention shot at Yunho and he prepared for another hit, a stroke perhaps, but he was met with far worse.

The demon's mind slithered through the tentacle he held onto and used it as an extended link. But it didn't stop there to throw the pest clinging to it off. Realising its path was not over yet and a mind was connected to it, it came forward, curious who dared hold on to it.

Yunho realised something was wrong at the sudden wave of nausea and pain that struck him. Black tendrils spread over his mind when the demon entered his head to take a look at him, to check on who he assumed himself to be. A cluster of glowing red eyes appeared before his inner eyes, peering into him full of malice.

Yunho immediately let go and clutched to his head. A wail broke over his lips when he stumbled, willing the pain out, but the gaze on him persisted. The demon's seed lingered, clutching onto his brain as it left a permanent mark.

The pain was excruciating. Yunho didn't notice when his body his the floor, violently convulsing and writhing as he tried to shake off the beast. His soul was bared to it as the demon laved on it, spreading fire and ice that stabbed at Yunho's conscious.

Tears and drool dripped from his face. He babbled and pleaded for help, ripping on his hair to get out the foreign presence that tormented him.

But his pain wasn't physical. When steps rushed his way, they found no injury on him, just crazed eyes and a convulsing body. Yunho tried to convey his pain, to beg them to remove it, but he teetered between consciousness and losing his senses.

The demon's hungry eyes awaited him in the abyss, not intending to let go again.