Time seemed to freeze in the luminescent cave. On one side, Do-hyun, isolated on his island, protecting the fragile shoot of the Tree. On the other, Kwan and his new sinister allies, blocking the only exit.
The Dream Eaters made no sound. They had no visible weapons. But their mere presence created a dissonance in the perfect harmony of the cave. The light of the crystals throbbed, as if frightened.
"Kwan," growled Do-hyun, the Blade of Light instantly appearing in his hand. His voice rang, strangely loud in silence. "Did you associate with them? Don't you understand that they want to annihilate everyone?"
The vampire smiled thin and calculatingly. "Associating is a big word, dear Phoenix. I use tools. Devourers see your little tree as an anomaly that needs to be corrected. I see a lever in it. They will destroy it, and in the chaos, the Guardian will be forced to intervene. The rules will change. And chaos...is a much more fertile playground for my species than this boring status quo."
Soo-ah and Min-ho had placed themselves on either side of the lake entrance, ready to intervene. But they were outnumbered, blatant, and faced with an unknown threat.
"The civilians you controlled...," Soo-ah suddenly realized, his gaze hardened. "It was a diversion. To attract us here. Away from the city. Far from any possible help."
"Very insightful," Kwan nodded with feigned courtesy. "The Balancer gave you a direction. Ligeia confirmed the threat to you. It was easy to guess your destination. You are predictable, imprisoned in your search for meaning."
One of the Devourers raised a hand gloved in black. He made no aggressive gesture towards them. He simply pointed a long, pale finger at the nascent Tree on his islet.
Nothing seemed to happen. No lightning, no breath of energy. But Do-hyun felt it immediately. The small luminous shoot wavered. His regular pulsation became arrhythmic, jerky. A gray spot, like a mold, began to spread to the base of the light rod, eating away at pure energy.
The tree was under attack. Not physically. Conceptually. He was denied his right to exist.
A cold rage overwhelmed Do-hyun. He no longer thought about strategy, numbers, danger. He saw only the vulnerable push, the hope of his parents, being stifled.
"NO!"
He leaped from the island, not towards Kwan, but towards the Devourer who had acted. His aura exploded, no longer into a defensive shield, but into a pure, golden heat wave designed to counter the icy negation of the Devourers.
The light of his Phoenix hit the Devourer with full force. The creature stepped back, its hood threw back, revealing a face that was not a face. It was a smooth, pale surface, without eyes, without mouth, without nose. Only a sense of absolute emptiness, of embodied oblivion.
The contrast between Do-hyun's creative light and the nothingness of the Devourers was so violent that the air itself seemed to tear. The crystals in the cave burned, their bluish glow becoming white and intense.
[ALERT: DETECTED REALITY CONFLICT.]
[The presence of devourers corrupts the local energy field.]
Host: Efficient but expensive.
Blood Energy: 65/100
The Devourer made a sound for the first time, a low, squeaky whistle that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, like the squeaking of the universe itself. The other two Devourers advanced, their hands raised now, aimed at Do-hyun.
"Take care of the vampires!" cried Do-hyun to his allies. "They, it's my business!"
Soo-ah and Min-ho didn't need to be repeated. Soo-ah rushed to Kwan's guards, his spear being nothing more than a flash of deadly money. Min-ho, for his part, used the environment to his advantage, taking a position behind a crystal pillar and opening a precise suppression fire on vampires trying to bypass the lake.
Kwan did not move. He watched the duel between Do-hyun and the Devourers with the interest of a theater spectator.
Do-hyun faced the three entities. He knew he couldn't fight them with physical weapons. He had to fight on their ground: that of belief, of existence.
He concentrated, drawing on the connection he had with the Tree, with the mountain. He wasn't alone. He was the heir, the gardener. He was anchored here.
"You won't get him," he scolded, his voice carried by absolute conviction. "He has the right to exist. He has the right to grow."
He planned not an attack, but an affirmation. A wave of certainty, of hope, of will to live. The energy that emanated from it was unlike anything it had produced before. It wasn't destructive fire. It was the warmth of the sun on a seed, the quiet force of a root that splits the stone.
The Devourers were rebuffed. Their nothingness receded in the face of such a pure, simple affirmation of life. The gray spot on the Tree stopped spreading, and then slowly began to regress, repelled by the firmed light of the shoot.
But the effort was disproportionate. Do-hyun felt his energy melt away. It held up, but it couldn't last.
It was then that a new presence was felt in the cave. A familiar, cold and methodical presence.
The Guardian.
He didn't materialize completely. A simple silhouette of bluish light appeared, floating above the lake, between Do-hyun and the Devourers.
"The balance is threatened," says the Guardian's neutral and ubiquitous voice. "The existence of the Tree has been accepted. Its annihilation would create unacceptable instability."
The Devourers came to a standstill. Their silence was now charged with tension. They faced a higher authority.
"The anomaly must be erased," whistled one of them, his voice a metallic and empty echo.
"The anomaly has been judged and accepted as part of a potential new balance," the Guardian retorted. "You are overstepping your mandate."
The Guardian raised a hand. No bursts of light, no show of force. But the Devourers... began to dissolve. Not as the Ancient, aspirated, but as if they were erased from reality, pixel by pixel, their very existence being revoked.
Within seconds, it didn't remain. No trace. As if they had never been there.
Kwan, for the first time, lost his smirk. His plan had just collapsed. The Guardian had cleared the ground with terrifying efficiency.
The Guardian turned to Kwan.
You tried to manipulate the primordial forces. This is a major infringement."
Kwan stepped back, an authentic fear in his red eyes. "I was acting for the good of my species! To break your chains!"
The chains maintain the structure. Without structure, there is only chaos. And chaos leads to oblivion. The oblivion that the Devourers represent."
The Guardian made a gesture. Kwan began to scream, not in physical pain, but in existential terror. Then, he too began to dissipate, suffering the same fate as the Elder before him.
When it was over, the remaining vampire guards, seeing their master disappear, fled in a messy rescue, fleeing through the tunnel.
Silence returned to the cave. Only the crystals continued to shine, more peacefully now. The Balance Tree pulsed again steadily, the gray spot completely gone.
The Guardian floated facing Do-hyun.
You defended the balance well. You're beginning to understand your role. But it's just a respite. More threats will come. The tree must grow. And you have to grow up with him."
With these words, the Guardian faded, leaving the team alone, shocked, exhausted, but victorious.
They had survived. The tree was safe. Kwan was neutralized.
But the price had been heavy. And the road ahead of them was still long. The Tree was still in its infancy. And Do-hyun had just tasted a level of conflict that was beyond anything he could have imagined.
The war was not over. It had just changed dimensions.