Rumi POV
The sound hit me first — a low, thrumming bass that wasn't music so much as a heartbeat, heavy and wrong.
The stadium loomed ahead, its lights blinding against the night, and beyond the gates the air was thick with heat and voices that didn't belong to the crowd.
I stepped onto the catwalk, boots steady, eyes unfocused. My mind was a flat horizon — no fear, no fire, just… blank.
Then the sky split with light.
It wasn't lightning.
A brilliant ring erupted from the Tower and arched over the stadium, folding in on itself until the entire place was sealed under a glowing dome. A shimmer of blue light crawled over every demon form in sight, clinging to them, weakening them.
Gwi-Ma froze mid-motion, his towering mouth of fire twisting into a look I'd never seen from him before — confusion.
Something in my chest clicked into place. The blankness bled away, replaced by something sharper, surer.
I stepped forward. And I sang.
Nothing but the truth now, nothing but the proof of what I am.
The worst of what I came from, patterns I'm ashamed of. Things that even I don't understand.
My voice carried, cutting through the haze. From the corner of my eye, I caught movement — Zoey and Mira, their eyes clearing, their bodies stiff as the hypnosis broke.
I tried to fix it, I tried to fight it, my head was twisted, my heart divided, my lies all collided…
They saw me. Really saw me.
I don't know why I didn't trust you to be on my side.
I broke into a million pieces and I can't go back,
but now I'm seeing all the beauty in the broken glass…
They started moving. Mira from the left, Zoey from the right, weaving through the packed, swaying crowd.
The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony, my voice without the lies—this is what it sounds like.
Zoey's voice joined mine, soft but sure.
Why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head?
Mira's followed, low and steady.
I should've let the jagged edges meet the light instead.
I looked between them, warmth spilling through me despite the chaos.
Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony.
All three of us, together now:
The song we couldn't write—this is what it sounds like!
Light erupted from us, not harsh like the Star-Veil, but warm, golden-white. It wasn't just seen — it was felt. The spiritual energy swelled, weaving between us like threads tying something broken back together.
Gwi-Ma's voice ripped through the air like burning metal.
"STOP THAT SONG!"
The ground split in three places, each rupture yawning into a swirling black portal. Faceless demons poured out in waves, their limbs too long, their movements jerky and eager for blood.
We kept walking forward. Weapons shimmered into our hands, the weight of them as familiar as breathing.
A ripple in the air to my side caught my attention, and then space bent — and he stepped through.
Sable, blade in his right hand, a strange chalice in the other. His silver-white eyes caught the stadium lights as he gave me a grin that was half amusement, half challenge.
"Nice entrance," he said, voice dry. "Real flashy."
I smirked, never missing a beat in the song.
And then I charged — not alone.
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Sable POV
Rumi and I moved like we'd been running drills for years, not minutes.
Her blade cut high, mine cut low. I'd feint to the left, she'd slide into the gap on my right. Any demon stupid enough to try flanking us found themselves run through from behind — either by me or by the burst of pink smoke she left in her wake.
One faceless brute lunged for her back. I stepped in, blade flashing, and took its head clean off before it could so much as breathe down her neck. She didn't even flinch — just pivoted and covered me when a water demon tried to melt my footing with a wave of boiling spray.
"On your left," she called.
"Already got it," I replied, cutting the last demon in my lane clean in half.
The stadium air stank of burnt ichor and evaporating magic by the time I carved through the last one in reach. I glanced over — Zoey and Mira were sprinting in, blades dripping, and Rumi… well, Rumi was suddenly in a tangle of arms with them, the three locked in some breathless, sweaty group hug.
Above them, the Honmoon shimmered — its threads knitting themselves back together. You could feel it in your bones.
I snorted. "Seriously? This the best time for a group hug?"
Three heads turned my way.
Zoey giggled.
Mira narrowed her eyes but smirked.
And Rumi… just smiled at me, warm and steady.
They broke apart, turned in perfect unison toward the grinning furnace that was Gwi-Ma, and started marching forward. Still singing. Still glowing. Still perfectly in sync.
I let out a wry sigh. "…Alright, guess I'm part of the band now."
I fell in beside them, chin up like I'd been on the poster all along. Fake it till you make it.
That's when the Saja Boys moved to intercept. All except Jinu, who hung back, stuck somewhere between fight and flight. His eyes were on Rumi, and hers didn't even flick toward him.
Before I could read it, the floor split open again.
Three fresh portals.
The first vomited out hulking red-skinned giants, all horns and tusks.
The second spat faceless demons by the dozen.
The third churned with water demons, their bodies rippling like knives hidden in waves.
I tightened my grip on the blade in my right hand and surged forward. The first red giant's club came down hard enough to crater the ground — I rolled under, came up slicing through its hamstring, and drove my sword up into the second one's gut before it could bring its axe around. The Chalice in my left hand pulled their essence into a swirling violet-gold vortex, heat running up my arm.
I didn't stop moving. Big swings were dodged, claws parried, bodies cut down as I cut a line straight through them — still absorbing, still feeding the Chalice. My boots slid across wet stone when one of the water demons tried to drown me in its own mass; one quick slash and its form split apart, steam curling around my legs.
Then I stabbed another faceless, only to see its essence drift away from my Chalice — drawn like iron to a magnet. My eyes tracked it… and swore under my breath.
The stream was going to Gwi-Ma.
One by one, the fallen demons' energy peeled away from me and poured into him, excluding the Saja Boys. The bastard was feeding, his violet flames swelling higher, body growing until he towered over the stage like a bonfire given teeth.
Great, I thought bitterly. That's my shtick.
"YOUR VOICES CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Gwi-Ma roared, the sound warbling through the dome.
But I knew better. I knew exactly what was supposed to happen next.
Which is why I ran — straight for Rumi.
She was in the front, blade raised, still singing. Gwi-Ma's jaws split wider than seemed possible, and the violet fire poured forth in a single, massive stream aimed right for her.
For a heartbeat, she froze, then braced, sword lifting to block it.
"Not today," I growled.
I hit her side-on, yanking her behind me just as the flames surged closer. Planting my boots, I raised the Chalice in my left hand toward the torrent, blade angled across my body in my right.
"Hope this works," I muttered to myself.
Then the world went violet. The fire swallowed me whole.
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A/N: Sable is kill stealing….REFF!!
I actually liked this one…not fully but it didn't make me look at my hands in disappointment at least.
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SSSSEEEE YYYYAAAA NNNNEEEEXXXTTT TIIIIMMMMEEEE!!!!!!