Weapons smashing relentlessly against golden and divine white magic without even scratching the sleek surface of the shield. The young hunters tried their best to break through the barrier that was in between them and their enemy.

Meanwhile, Byungho almost felt like he could relax. There was no way for the hunters to get through his newly reinforced shields that surrounded him and Chan like a bubble. The brunet almost wanted to smile at his new power.

The golden ring on his pinky was pleasantly warm and the divine white of his mother's magic was webbed into his own golden one like they had always been together. It felt good to have this much power at his disposal to protect the ones he loved.

Chan was situated beside him. His dark brown wolf eyes were wide with wonder and fear alike. The wonder stemmed from the sheer amount of magic Byungho suddenly commanded and the fear from the relentless attacks of the young hunter group.

Metal clashed against pure magic and Byungho wondered how long it would take for the hunters' weapons to break. If they stood before Byungho's shields with broken weapons it would surely extinguish the last bit of hope they had burning in their hearts for their crystals to work and break the magic apart. Some of the young hunters in the back of the group already had glimpses of utter hopelessness in their eyes. Byungho hated it because among the ever consuming void of hopelessness was fear. They were afraid of Chan and him, so they made offense their defense from the unknown. Part of Byungho wished he could just talk them out of fighting, but not even Michael, one of their own, had managed that.

Speaking of Michael, Byungho still had no clue what had happened and why he was brought back nearer to the clearing. He had no clue if time had really been turned back or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Maybe his mother had just teleported him to another location after they had sealed their deal. Yet for a brief moment he had had the mind link back only for it to break again. That couldn't be a coincidence could it?

He would have asked Chan what had happened and if they had met a young hunter named Michael, but the other couldn't properly answer. It was one of his wolf form's disadvantages and the last thing Byungho would want was to force the other out of his defensive stance for a response.

"Hyung, I need you to create a linked portal with me as soon as you can. I will be reaching out to you the whole time, so you can choose the timing that's most beneficial for you. Hope you're safe," Seungmin's voice echoed through Byungho's skull. It shot a bolt of lightning through Byungho's body when he remembered that Seungmin had called out to him shortly before his mother had pulled him from reality and into the weird dark in between. Back then had sounded desperate and hurt, but now he was calm and focused with an obvious plan in mind. The contrast made Byungho almost shiver. What had happened while he was with his mother - or at the very least an image of his mother. A very realistic image.

Byungho shook his thoughts away, eyes focusing back on the young hunters and huntresses still bashing against his shields. The golden and divine white magic was holding up nicely, so he surely could create a linked portal with Seungmin and hopefully reunite with his younger brother.

A snout was pressed into his upper thigh, letting the brunet's gaze drop down to Chan. The grey wolf was looking up at him with mild worry in his eyes. Byungho's hand landed almost automatically on the wolf hybrid's head. How Chan managed to always sense when something was up with him remained a miracle.

"I'm alright. Just got an opportunity to get us out of here," Byungho answered, patting the wolf's head gently. Chan let out an affirmative huff, but remained in his spot, not moving away an inch.

A rather aggressive hit on the barrier above their head let Byungho and Chan's eyes snap upwards. On top of the cluster of barriers was Lilian. Half of her face was still covered by a face mask yet you didn't need to see the entirety of her expressions to know that she wanted Byungho and Chan dead.

Byungho scowled at her murderous expression and let the barrier on top push her off with a flick of his wrist. Lilian yelped as she slides down the barrier bubble, not doing any sort of damage. If her gaze could get anymore murderous, maybe she could kill creatures with her eyes alone. She took her anger out on the magical shield before her, doing no damage.

"Someone needs to teach her to hate less," Byungho mumbled for only Chan to hear. It earned him a shoulder in his thigh and probably an unspoken warning to take this seriously. Somehow, Byungho couldn't find it in himself to take this any more serious than it had to be with all this pure magic flowing through him freely.

The brunet gently nudged Chan with his knee as a retort to the shoulder that had bumped into his thigh. The wolf hybrid huffed and Byungho allowed himself a brief smile while he began casting the portal spell. He closed his eyes and let his magic reach beyond his shield in search of Seungmin's familiar red magic.

A heartbeat passed and he found the familiar warmth of Seungmin's magic. He let his magic seep into the one of his brother while starting to create the portal. Gold and divine white mixed with a dark shade of red in a swirl of magic that slowly came into existence before Byungho.

The young hunters stopped their attacks to stare wide eyed at the void that was forming behind the shields they stood before. Some stumbled back, some froze in their spot and very few continued their attack. Yet, it was not mercy that was holding them back, but fear.

Lilian smashed her sword against Byungho's shield again and again with as must strength as she could muster. Her eyes burned with hatred and only for a heartbeat did they show fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs, bringing her sword down again only to watch it break on the golden-white surface.

Byungho and Chan watched her as she stood frozen before the shield, gripping her broken weapon like a lifeline. The rest of the young hunters had stopped their attack, some even fled and two of them had briefly raised their hands to their ears mumbling to themselves. They were probably calling for backup. Meanwhile, Lilian remained in her spot, unmoving and now shivering. She had been defeated without ever being fought.

"You don't need to hate us, you don't need to fear us," Byungho said, the words leaving his mouth without him fully realizing. Lilian's gaze snapped to him; pure horror reflected in dark brown eyes. The fear quickly drowned in anger, yet she made no attempt to bark back at him.

"We won't hurt you when we can avoid it," Byungho simply added. He made a little hand gesture behind his back to get Chan moving into the portal before he did so himself. Lilian blinked at him, saying nothing yet her shoulders grew slacker and she lowered her broken weapon. In that moment, she reminded Byungho an awful lot of Michael, but the brunet quickly banned that thought out of his mind. Michael had been the guy to protect Chan and him from her. Michael had been the one that had seen more in them than a wolf hybrid and a black winged angel.

The brunet ripped his gaze away from Lilian and mentally shook his head before he backed into the portal. He looked back to Lilian, who hadn't moved an inch until the swirl of red, gold and white magic obscure his vision.

He eased the shields that had protected Chan and him from the young hunters down and immediately closed the portal as soon as he stepped out of it on Seungmin's end. A quick glance to the side reassured him that Chan was right there with him and therefore safe.

"Hyungs!," Felix exclaimed shortly before a mop of ginger hair collided with Chan and Byungho when they were pulled into a hug. Byungho left out a little huff and patted the young cat hybrid's back.

'All of Stray Kids back together.' That would have been a nice thought if some part of Byungho's brain didn't immediately remind him that he had given up that connection for power. The claws of regret sunk into his chest, but he tore them away. He shoved that train of thought into the back of his mind and locked them there.

"Good to have you back," Seungmin's voice came from behind Byungho. The brunet turned his head as far as he could to catch sight of the redhead. His younger brother stood where the portal had been mere seconds ago with his horns and devil's tail at fully display. It worried Byungho until he saw the small smile on the other's lips. He was fine with it.

"We should get going now, kids," Ms. Hwang spoke up. The attention of the younger creatures was instantly on her. The mixed blood had managed to sit up, but she was leaning heavily on Jeongin. The young kitsune was supporting her fully weight with only worry in his eyes.

"You cannot help me teleport us again, auntie. You are injured and exhausted," Jeongin said with his fox ears flat against his head and a frown on his face.

"I can take care of transportation with Byungho-hyung," Seungmin spoke up. The redhead looked at his older brother and received a brief nod in agreement. Felix pulled away from Byungho and Chan and the brunet ignored how the cat hybrid's eyes widened a little bit when they caught sight of the massive black wings that his hyung had on his back.

"It could be dangerous to teleport back to the clearing. We don't know what kind of fights are still going on there," Changbin noted. The vampire stood beside Seungmin with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes still glowed blood red in the dimness of the forest and his expression was almost painfully neutral and calm.

"We will have to risk that. We can't stay here. Not with-," Seungmin wanted to argue, but he stopped himself when Jisung's voice choked out a soft 'Guys?'.

Jisung stood a bit further away from the rest with Minho at his side. The older cat hybrid looked worriedly at his boyfriend, whose hands were slowly covered in blue sparks that danced over his skin almost teasingly. Minho had his hands raised as if to catch Jisung if he fell but not touching him just yet.

"I think I'm having a vision," Jisung said but it sounded more like a question. Clouded sky blue eyes looked in Seungmin's direction, searching for some kind of reassurance or confirmation.

"Why now?," Seungmin muttered more to himself than the warlock who was swaying dangerously on his feet. Jisung dropped down to his knees and under Minho's soft instruction laid down on the forest floor before the blue force field began to surround him.

"We need to build temporary defense. Now," Seungmin said, looking at Byungho. The brunet gave his brother a quick nod understanding that he was the only one, who could create shields that hunters couldn't break through with their crystals. He started muttering the shield spell, conjuring up dome-like structure made of golden-white magic that surrounded them.

The golden ring on his pinky warmed the more divine white mixed with his rich golden magic, yet it never grew hot enough to hurt him.

"Innie, create an illusion in Byungho-hyung's shield," Seungmin instructed. Jeongin nodded and quickly let Hyunjin take his place at their guardian's side before starting to create the illusion. His brows were frowned in concentration as he tried to let his orange magic slip into divine white and gold.

Byungho did his best to help him by trying to meet him halfway. The magic clashed at first but soon enough white and gold mixed with orange to create the oddest color combination Byungho had seen so far, but if it worked he wouldn't complain one bit.

Meanwhile, Jisung was withering on the floor. Occasionally whimpering soft 'No's while tears ran down his face. Minho was kneeling helplessly by the blue force field the warlock had around himself, not having the ability to do anything to ease the other's suffering.

The warlock whimpered Minho's name, begged someone in a barely audible voice to help him, giving no context who he was talking about and in the end he let out a gasped that made Seungmin flinch so violently Byungho questioned if the redhead knew something about Jisung's vision.

After a few excruciatingly long minutes, Jisung's body grew lax and the force field around him slowly disappeared. When he was safe to touch, Minho pulled him into his arms, cradling him gently like he was made of glass.

"Find Michael," Jisung then mumbled barely audible with his eyes still closed. Byungho perked up at the name and so did Chan while the rest remained utterly confused.

"Who is Michael?," Minho asked, looking at the others for an answer. It was in that moment that Chan decided to allow himself to go back into his human form.

"I know a young hunter with the name Michael," Chan said, earning him a few confused gazes so he went on to explain, "At the battle at the moon pack I was surprised by a young hunter. He couldn't be older than me and he was clearly scared and didn't want to fight so I talked to him. I caught his name by chance, but what's important is that Michael didn't want to fight me, didn't want to hurt me. If we hadn't been interrupted by an older huntress maybe Michael would have just stopped fighting right then and there."

"So you are saying there are hunters who don't want to fight us? That helps us how?", Changbin asked, his voice neutral and non judging. Otherwise, it would have sounded like mild ridicule.

"We could stop this war more peacefully by trying to work with the hunters who don't want to fight us in the first place," Chan answered, hope shimmering in his dark brown eyes. The group looked at him with varying degrees of disbelief with the exception of Byungho. He knew that Michael would literally fight for them along with some of his friends. Among the hunters he was one with good morals and apparently enough charm to persuade others.

And while this sounded wonderful, Byungho also came to the realization that somehow he really had gone back in time. Chan seemingly had only this one memory of Michael and was speculating on his good will. He didn't know that the young hunter would fight for them for sure. With that in mind, explaining why he knew vaguely where to find Michael was interesting to say the least. Yet, if Jisung, still riding some spiritual high from his vision, told them to find Michael, they had to give it a shot no matter what.

"I might know where to find Michael," Byungho spoke up. The attention of the other's snapped from Chan to him. Seungmin blinked a bit at him like he was internally debating something, but he remained silent.

"How do you know?," Chan asked the question probably everyone was thinking to themselves. Byungho wasn't sure if he could explain why he knew. He had no clue if he would mess something up by telling them, so he decided to not risk it.

"Just trust me on this," Byungho said, looking at Chan just a heartbeat longer before letting his gaze drift over the others. Felix's gaze flickered between Minho, Jeongin, Ms. Hwang, Changbin and Byungho. Minho primarily looked at Byungho and Chan, holding tightly yet gently to his body while waiting for someone to speak up. Changbin seemed to contemplate all the options that had been on the table. Hyunjin looked worriedly at his mother, but his eyes also flickered to Changbin and Seungmin before they settled back on Byungho. Jeongin met Felix's gaze at one point, but also glanced at his aunt and Hyunjin for a brief moment. Ms. Hwang watched Byungho with calm yet mildly hooded eyes. Seungmin and Chan's attention remained on Byungho. Unlike the rest, they didn't check anyone else's reaction.

"Alright," Chan breathed out, "I trust you." He showed Byungho a small smile, which the brunet returned as he silently thanked the wolf hybrid for always having his back.

"I guess we don't get to ask how you know," Changbin spoke up, his blood red eyes piercing into golden ones.

"I'll explain later if I'm able to. For now you will just have to take my word," Byungho replied to which Changbin nodded. The vampire let his arms drop to his side, the red in his eyes easing up a little bit.

"Then let's go," Minho said, readjusting Jisung, so he could carry the warlock on his back. He stood up, Jisung's limp form draped over his back. The rest nodded in agreement. Hyunjin and Jeongin hoisted Ms. Hwang up with each having one of her arms around their shoulders.

"Do you know that things could have gone differently?," Seungmin's demon voice echoed in Byungho's head, "Nod once when yes and twice when no." Byungho looked at the redhead, who was already looking at him. The question in itself was a bit cryptic, but Byungho assumed that it had been on purpose. It also proved that Seungmin knew time had been turned back. He gave his younger brother a brief nod.

"Is this how you know about the whereabouts of Michael?," Seungmin asked, still using his demon voice. Byungho gave the other a brief nod again, hoping the rest was occupied enough with the injured to not see it.

"Don't tell the others about time turning back. They don't remember it happening - for the most part at least - and I still need to ask father about it," Seungmin concluded, a bit of worry lanced in his demon voice. Byungho gave his brother another barely visible nod, which the other returned before he walked over to Minho to help him with Jisung.

Before they set out to search for Michael, Byungho used the remaining time in their little safe bubble to heal Ms. Hwang to the best of his abilities. He knew that he couldn't do anything for Jisung since the warlock was merely unconscious due to magical exhaustion as always after his visions. Ms. Hwang had an arrow wound that he healed entirely though it wasn't a problem for her in the first place. He couldn't do much else for her since her weakness was also caused by magical exhaustion and he didn't want to risk worsening her state by pushing a bit of his magic to her.

They set out to find Michael with Byungho in the lead. Jeongin, Hyunjin, Ms. Hwang, Minho and Jisung were in the middle, flanked by Felix and Seungmin. Changbin was at the back and Chan, back in his wolf form was circling the group from time to time. He was looking out for everyone was constantly checking up on everyone.

Byungho did his best to remember where he and Chan had run to ultimately crash into Michael's group. He had a vague idea because before time had been turned back, before he had received access to his mother's power, he had been exhausted enough to just run blindly after Chan. To the gods, he wished Chan would remember where to go because at the moment Byungho was grasping at straws and masking it as certainty. He was thankful for his demon blood right now, otherwise pretending to be confident in where you are going while leading a group into the unknown would have been difficult. Especially with two kitsunes in tow.

Anxiety was swirling in Byungho's chest the deeper they walked into the forest and he started to doubt that they were finding Michael anytime soon until Chan ran to his side, bumping his head into his thigh. The brunet looked at the grey wolf tilting his head forward while his ears turned around on his head. He had heard something.

"Footsteps and quiet voices," Minho said. The hazel ears on his head twisting similar to the ones' of Chan. Byungho nodded, letting a bit of magic follow into his hands just in case they scared Michael's group enough for them to attack. After all, they were a full group of supernaturals. Michael's group could easily see them as a threat, but Byungho prayed that it wouldn't be the case.

The group stopped walking and Chan remained at Byungho's side. The wolf hybrid was probably their best bet at getting through to Michael. After all, the young hunter knew Chan and knew that the other didn't want to harm him.

Except for Chan and Byungho, everyone hid themselves in the forest, out of immediate sight in case the approaching group was not the ones they were hoping to encounter. They were tense as they ducked behind trees and Byungho could almost physically feel the anxiety pulsing off them.

Soon, Byungho and Chan caught sight of a group of hunters and luckily a familiar young hunter with a brown crystal was among them. He carried his two swords lowered in his hands while he looked around, catching sight of Byungho and Chan as the first of the group.

Michael froze in place, the grip in his swords tightening as the rest of his group also dropped into a defensive stance. They weren't immediately attacking but they weren't calm either through it was to be expected when they thought a 'messenger of death' stood before them.

Chan took the initiative and turned back into his human form, raising his hands. The young hunters tense for a moment before confusion took hold of them. They shared glances while Michael was focused on Chan, recognition flashing in his eyes.

"We mean no harm. We just want to talk," Chan said, his voice soft yet clear and non threatening. The confusion grew among the young hunters, their weapons held unsure in front of them. Michael watched Chan carefully, his eyes flickering to Byungho from time to time while also looking around. He seemed wary, but ultimately lowered his swords and relaxed his shoulders, slowing coming closer to Chan and Byungho before slowly putting his weapons in their holsters.

Chan showed the young hunters a small smile while Byungho tried to seem harmless so the rest of the young hunters would relax too. Right now, they watched Michael with a mix of confusion and fear.

"It's nice to see you again, Michael," Chan smiled, slowing letting his hands drop to his side before they became numb. The young hunter with the brown crystal seemed surprised for a moment, but quickly schooled his expression into something neutral.

"Yeah, it-," he started but had to clear his throat quickly, "I'm glad to see you alive."

Chan huffed quietly while Michael shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His gaze flickered to Byungho again before he focused back on Chan.

"I'm Chan by the way. This is Byungho," Chan introduced himself and Byungho. The brunet nodded at Michael as greeting, fearing anything else would shatter the fragile trust with the young hunter's group they were slowly building up. Michael returned the nod, a bit of the poorly hidden fear visibly leaving him when he made brief direct eye contact with the winged male.

"It's nice to finally have a name for you. I mostly referred to you as 'grey wolf' which is kinda lame," Michael attempted to joke. He chuckled a bit awkwardly, but it grew a bit more genuine when Chan joined in.

Byungho looked past Michael for a brief moment, checking the reactions of the other young hunters. Most of them had sheathed and put away their weapons but they remained in their spot a bit further back. Some still eyed Byungho warily, yet the majority seemed to be very much okay with Chan ever since 'grey wolf' had been mentioned. It seemed as if Michael had talked about Chan and painted him in a good enough light for the other young hunters to not fear him.

"Michael, would it be okay for your group if we got our friends? They are hiding right now," Chan asked carefully. He watched Michael with caution not knowing how the young hunter would react. Before Michael could answer a young huntress from the group slowly approached them, joining Michael's side. Byungho remembered her darkly as one of the young hunters that had fought for Chan and him in the other timeline, but now he realized that she couldn't be older than Jeongin. Her cheeks were still a bit fuller and she was a head smaller than Michael who wasn't much taller than Chan.

The young huntress looked at Byungho for a long moment. Her expression was unreadable, but it surprised the brunet to not see any kind of fear in her eyes. She then let her gaze wander to Chan.

"We will be fine. Bring your friends out," she said and Michael nodded in agreement. Chan smiled gratefully at them before turning and telling the others to come out.

From behind tree barks the rest of their group emerged. Changbin, Felix and Seungmin came first, acting as a barrier between the young hunters and their injured party members. Michael and the young huntress were stunned for a moment before recollecting themselves. Byungho noted how Seungmin had hidden his horns and devil's tail again, but the magic was weak and would probably break as soon as he walked closer to Michael and the young huntress.

"Do you need help?," Michael asked, looking at Chan.

"We would appreciate it, but we tried to find you for something else," Chan began, obviously perking Michael's interest, "We want to try to resolve this conflict more peacefully, without fighting."

Michael pressed his lips together tightly while the young huntress looked almost saddened.

"It's too late to resolve this fight peacefully. Too much damage has been done on both sides," Michael said, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his combat pants.

"We're not talking about this fight. We're talking about a long term goal," Changbin spoke up, his blood red eyes focused on Michael. His voice and expression neutral, almost cold. It caught both Michael and the young huntress off guard but they didn't pull back.

"We need your help to get through to the humans, to show them we are merely defending ourselves," Changbin added. Michael looked at the vampire for a moment before diverting his gaze, thinking.

"I don't really know if we can be of much assistance," he began and looked back to the rest of the young hunters, receiving some nods, "But we will help where we are able to."

In Byungho's opinion, Michael underestimating his impact widely. The glimpses Byungho had caught of the young hunter's character told him only good things about the other. He was courageous, trusted his own judgement, had a good moral and was willing to fight what he thought was right. Even if in this timeline Michael hadn't put himself in harm's way for Byungho and Chan, the brunet would always be grateful for it.

"Your willingness to help all we can ask you to do," Chan said, his smile warm. Michael mirrored the wolf hybrid's smile until something seemed to catch his attention. Byungho looked around, seeing nothing that could have attracted Michael's attention. He looked back to the young hunters noting that they had all reacted simultaneously as if they all had heard something at the same time.

"I assume you need help getting back with the rest of your forces to escape," Michael spoke up again, receiving some odd looks from the supernaturals.

"Yes, but how is that important now?," Seungmin asked, getting Michael's full attention for the first time. Luckily, the brown crystal around Michael's neck didn't react to Seungmin at all.

"We can help you with your escape by distracting other hunters if you're willing to trust us with that," Michael offered. The group of supernaturals looked at each other and ultimately looked to Chan for an answer. The wolf hybrid gave Michael a small nod.

"You trusted us, so we trust you," Chan said to which Michael showed a small smile.

"You can teleport or at least magic yourself somewhere else right?," Michael asked. Seungmin huffed at that, barely containing an eye roll to which Byungho had to suppress a laugh.

"Yes we can 'magic' ourselves somewhere else," the redhead replied, putting a rather mocking emphasis on 'magic' to which Michael sheepishly avoided Seungmin's gaze.

"Good because you will need that now," Michael then added. The young hunter raised his hand to his ear, tapping something there. It was then that Byungho realized the hunters all had ear pieces to use for communication.

"Here is unit YH8. We have eyes on a class ten beast. We assume Lilian's black winged angel. It's back-upped by a large group of creatures. Among them yet uncounted class two and three beasts as well as class five and seven and even a class eight mixed blood," Michael began reporting. A sudden fear struck the group of supernaturals until it dawned to them what the young hunter had in mind. He was leading hunters to his current location so they would be missing where the real fights were taking place by using Byungho's species to let it seem dangerous.

Seungmin seemed to get the gist fairly quickly because he dropped the magic hiding his true form and in a mix of genuine surprise and half-faked fear he added, "We need immediate back-up from all available units! We just spotted another class ten beast, a demon! We are outnumbered!"

Michael's hand dropped away from the ear piece, listening to the responses while eyeing Seungmin with a little fear shimmering in his eyes. The young huntress beside him was faring much better but she quickly collected herself and seemed to take Seungmin in with a bit more interest now. Meanwhile, Seungmin avoided eye contact and pretended to be relaxed, but the tip of his devil's tail was drumming on the ground  betraying his nervousness.

"I didn't expect that to happen to be honest," the young huntress chuckled.

"I figured it could help," Seungmin mumbled.

"It did," Michael said, "Three senior groups are on their way here as well as Lilian's group so you should get going."

Chan nodded and Byungho immediately moved to the side with Seungmin to start working on a portal that would get them back to the main clearing. They combined their magic in hopes of making the location more accurate and the portal more stable. After all, they were teleporting to a place they had to picture in their minds and not link up with another portal. It was harder to do, but they would manage. They had done it before to transport inanimate objects, so livings beings couldn't be much different, right? Mostly.

Michael ordered the hunter young hunters to scatter and pretend they had run away from their enemy in order to cover up that they lied to their fellow hunters. Byungho briefly looked over his shoulder seeing Michael and Chan still standing together while the rest was preparing to set this plan in full motion.

"I hope you're not getting in too much trouble for this, Michael," Chan commented as he watched the other young hunters scatter. Michael lightly shook his head with a smile.

"No matter the punishment it will be worth it," the young hunter answered, waving it off with a smile on his face. Byungho would never regret putting his trust in Michael.

The portal was finished and Byungho would be the first one to go through in case they immediately needed a defensive line of shields. They were entering this scene completely blind but they had no other choice.

Michael was ready to get on his way too, but Seungmin quickly stopped him by calling his name. Byungho blinked at his brother not knowing what the redhead could want from the young hunter. Michael turned around to Seungmin and looked just as surprised as Byungho felt.

"Should you ever hear a voice in your head that sounds like me but more echoey, don't freak out. That's just me getting into contact with you," Seungmin quickly explained. Michael nodded with a quick smile before taking off.

Byungho looked at Seungmin with a raised eyebrow. The younger just shrugged. Normally, Seungmin was rather secretive with his demon voice, yet it was also a very effective way to communicate with Michael should they need it.

Without further interruption Byungho headed into the portal, Seungmin staying back to keep it up right until everyone was through. Golden, divine white and dark red surrounded Byungho as he readied himself to fight should he need it.

He came out into the clearing where Seungmin had been before the rescue mission became the disaster it was now. Surprisingly, Byungho didn't have to immediately dodge an attack, but he did see fighting.

Overhead he saw Leedo spitting fire while dodging arrows, his white leathery wings a stark contrast to the dim sky. He saw the telltale of the fast movements of vampires, he heard the beating of feathery wings and assumed it to be a harpy, therefore it was probably Johnny. A bit further in the forest he could also see Taeyong's scarlet red magic accompanied by Taeil's bright aqua.

The rest of their group filtered through the portal and when they were finally noticed by a hunter, Byungho quickly casted a restriction spell and Seungmin immediately ripped their ear piece out while Changbin took of their crystal and tossed it down the valley with one mighty throw.

"We cannot let other hunters see us before we get to Taeyong or Taeil. We're screwed of that happens," Seungmin said and the rest of the group nodded.

Now they just needed to get to one of the NCT members and then they could finally get out of here.

Author's note: I am back with another chapter! I have two more chapters planed for this story along with a little extra and then the story comes to an end! I am excited for the end somehow. This story will be the first ever book/story I will really finish.
Also, this chapter was proofread by the amazing ARMYxNeverlandxTXTxZ I cannot thank them enough for the hard work, so give them some love uwu
Until the next chapter guys!

Remember to stay safe, healthy and take care of yourself!
With lots of love and appreciation,
Akeminii