A lone blue star twinkled faintly, its dim light pulsing brighter with every beat. Trails of sapphire shimmer followed in its wake as it drifted through the heavy molasses of the void, weaving an endless mosaic across the dark.
Soon, another blue star appeared, joining the first, their lights intertwining as they left twin ribbons of starlight behind them. Then came two more, and two more still.
Four became eight. Eight became sixteen. Sixteen became thirty-two.
By the time a threaded sky stretched into view, their number had grown into the hundreds. Each star crossed through the vast weaves and translucent lines that spanned the heavens, scattering glimmers as they passed.
And with every passage, the world shifted, like glass shattering into a new mosaic. From the woven translucence of sky, the stars broke through into a land of acrid pink, where the very air seemed aflame.
They soared above jagged mountains, their reflections flickering on rivers grown stale, until at last their journey brought them to the highest peak.
There, a massive pink flame awaited with open jaws.
---
Rumi's eyes refused to leave the red-cloaked figure, even as demons pressed in around her. Her body fought on instinct, blade flashing and parrying without the need for conscious thought, but her mind was fixed on the girl above.
If not for the simple, undeniable truth that this girl was actively tearing open the Honmoon and trying to unleash Gwi-Ma, Rumi might have been entranced.
That was how surreal she looked, standing there and looking down on them, literally.
The movement of her cloak, caught in the wind, framed by the moon's pale radiance, made her seem like a savior descended from heaven. But the mask beneath the hood told a different story. Its strange, unfamiliar design carried an unshakable weight, a quiet dread that coiled in Rumi's chest, as though her body recognized something her mind could not.
It was beautiful. It was terrifying. It was surreal.
And it didn't last long.
Boom!
The red-cloaked girl vanished in a blossom of fire as a projectile struck, the shockwave rippling across the battlefield.
Rumi's gaze flicked upward instinctively, tracking the projectile's arc. Her eyes narrowed as she traced it back, past the rooftops, past the horizon, to the clouds where it had originated.
"Did they get her?" Mira's voice rang from behind, ragged with both hope and disbelief.
The answer came swiftly. A blur of crimson burst free from the explosion, streaking along the shattered wall of the building like living flame.
"Guys!" Rumi shouted, her voice sharp.
Mira and Zoey didn't hesitate. Sisters in all but blood, they read her intent in an instant.
Almost as if time itself had slowed, Huntrix snapped into high gear.
Zoey pivoted sharply, her heel cutting through the air. Her Shin-kai, moved like beams of light turned into spears, skewering dozens of demons in a single sweep. In the blink of an eye, the horde thinned, leaving a ring of space carved out around them.
Rumi and Mira didn't waste the opening.
Mira burst into motion, sprinting in tight arcs around the circle. Her body blurred at the edges, speed straining past her own limits. Every swing of her Gok-do was precise yet feral, the blade cutting down half a dozen demons with each half-second strike. The circle widened with every step, corpses collapsing in her wake.
Rumi broke forward at the same moment Zoey crouched low, bouncing on the balls of her feet. With a sudden spring, Zoey launched into a front flip, twisting midair, only to snap her body down early, planting her palms against the ground.
Rumi met her halfway. She leaped, flipping forward, and as she came down, her boots landed squarely on Zoey's upturned soles.
The timing was perfect.
Both pushed off in unison, muscles straining. The impact detonated like a muffled cannon blast.
Rumi rocketed skyward, a blur of light cutting against the night.
Mira, already flagging from her burst of speed, slid low beneath the swing of a massive tree club. Dirt and shattered tile sprayed as she twisted onto her knees and, without hesitation, hurled her Gok-do upward toward Rumi's soaring form.
Rumi, mid-ascent, turned in perfect sync, and hurled her sword back down toward the now-exposed Mira.
For an instant, both weapons gleamed beneath the night sky, their translucent glow catching the moonlight. They spun past one another, edges almost kissing, their mirrored surfaces flashing like a heartbeat.
Rumi's blade cut the silence first, its arc catching Mira's reflection for the briefest breath before it speared through the skull of a demon towering over her. The monster crumpled as the weapon carried on, spinning through the air to cleave down several more that had swarmed too close.
Mira's Gok-do answered in kind. As it twirled upward, it caught Rumi's face in a fleeting reflection before burying itself deep into the wall beside her. Her ascent slowed, but only for a moment.
Rumi reached, fingers latching onto the Gok-do's hilt. With a sharp pull, she spun once, twice, using the blade like a pole vault to whip her body higher. Muscles screamed, momentum surged, and she launched herself again, this time high enough to crest the rooftop.
The weapons vanished in the next breath, dissolving back into their owners' hands as though pulled by unseen threads.
Time itself seemed to snap back into rhythm. The world roared alive again, demons screaming below as the rooftop showdown began in earnest.
If the red-cloaked girl cared about Rumi landing a few feet away, she didn't show it. She barely even slowed her stride before vaulting onto the next rooftop.
Rumi gave chase without hesitation, her eyes narrowing. 'She's trying to keep her distance. She must be at a disadvantage in close combat. All snipers are.'
The girl leapt again, cloak fluttering, and Rumi tensed to follow, only to blink in disbelief.
'She just… double-jumped!?'
The girl had kicked off the air itself, twisting mid-flight with fluid precision.
"Oh, shit," Rumi swore inwardly as the gleam of metal caught her eye. A sleek, large crimson gun had appeared in the girl's hands, its barrel already leveled at her.
Bang!
The shot cracked the night, and in that instant, for the second time that night, time seemed to stretch thin. The large-caliber bullet spun toward her, close enough that Rumi could almost feel the air rip apart.
Cold fear bloomed in her chest, and survival roared louder than thought.
Her body moved before her mind could catch up. With a swirl of purple smoke, Rumi vanished, the bullet carving mercilessly through the space she had occupied just heartbeats ago.
Rumi reappeared on the edge of a nearby rooftop, her breath ragged in her throat. The purple haze of her re-entry curled like smoke in the night, fading into nothing.
Rumi stumbled back, heart hammering from the shock of her near-death escape and the disorienting lurch of teleportation.
Thud.
She froze as her back pressed against something cold and unyielding. The unmistakable weight of metal touched the back of her head.
Her breath caught. Slowly, instinctively, her eyes shifted sideways, and there it was. The faint flutter of crimson fabric brushing the edge of her vision.
The red-cloaked girl.
Somehow, impossibly, she had appeared behind her. Even though Rumi had teleported.
Her body stiffened, every nerve screaming at her to move, yet she forced herself still. A single twitch could end it.
"Who are you?" she asked finally, voice unsteady, each word dragged through a shaky breath. "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping Gwi-Ma?"
The girl offered nothing. No reply, no sound, only the steady, merciless presence of her weapon pressed against Rumi's skull.
Rumi swallowed, forcing herself to speak again. "Jinu once said… you all hear Gwi-Ma inside your head. Is that it? Is that why you're doing this?" Her voice softened, trembling between fear and desperate resolve. "If so… we can help you. You don't have to..."
"Such…"
The voice cut through her words like a blade, cold and sharp.
"…Ignorance."
The single word hung heavy in the air.
Rumi's breath stuttered as the pressure against her head finally lifted. Relief crashed through her like a wave, her shoulders sagging with it.
But the moment she exhaled, a glint caught her eye.
Something above.
High in the clouds, a flash of silver light.
Her lips parted, the word barely leaving her mouth. "Huh-?"
The rooftop vanished in a deafening roar as fire and steel swallowed them both.