Fallen Lightbringers' Return

Chapter 69: Evolution at 50

Lee Dojin thought about Ji-ah and Hassan. Normally, the shadows would dissipate if the summoner was dead, however, as the three of them were currently in a party, the darkness remained until the whole group had perished. He answered Do Jiwoon honestly. "No."

The boy nodded. "Thought so." He cracked his neck. "In the first place, I don't think you'd die that easily."

"That is correct."

Do Jiwoon sighed. With his only hand, he reached for his pouch, grabbing out a flask. "Here, take this."

"That is.. ." Lee Dojin received the present, realizing it was familiar. "The flask of the space worm?"

"If I had to guess, you will probably be needing this, right?" Jiwoon laughed. The wind brought his white hair aflutter, revealing his charred left eye. "Finish this a bit faster will ya? Otherwise, I am going to die."

Dojin took a scrutinizing look at the bottle. Though he could not prove it, the boy felt the thing to be the real deal. "Well, miracles do happen. Who'd think you'd come to lend me a hand? Really, God works in mysterious ways."

"There's no God." Do Jiwoon turned around. His black robe veiled his bandaged body.

Lee Dojin drank the liquid sealed within the bottle. It was refreshing. He wiped his mouth. "I would not be so sure of that." He stood up again, still filled with vigor. He wrapped his arm around Do Jiwoon, surprising the latter. "If you are already here, why don't you let me borrow your shoulder too?"

"Giving an inch and taking a mile huh?" Do Jiwoon clicked his tongue. He then faced the humanoid shadow, whose red eyes were glowing menacingly. "Well, I suppose I have little choice."

The shadow watched everything unfold. It knew Do Jiwoon was approaching the darkness, but it did not interfere, seeing how that boy was already half-broken. Its eyes remained glued on the two people, propping each other up, one more hurt than the other, but still full of spirit. It could not help voice out, "Humanity.. . is beautiful."

Do Jiwoons mouth fell slack. "That thing can speak?"

"Oh, it can do a lot more than that," Lee Dojin said and laughed.

Jiwoon reciprocated with his own chuckle. "Can't wait to find out then."

Lee Dojin flashed forward, arriving next to the shadow. He punched out, and the shadow moved its head, dodging with ease. The shadow returned a punch, though it went blocked by Lee Dojin. The two of them remained in hand and hand combat, until from the side, Do Jiwoon came, kicking the shadow in the face.

Not expecting the attack, it could not dodge in time, flying away. "Why ,yo"

Before finishing its sentence, Lee Dojin phased behind the shadow, kicking the things' temple and bringing it to the ground. Do Jiwoon from behind, sent out several of his souls, all crashing into the shadow, creating a giant smokescreen.

"Interesting, very interesting." The shadow swiped its hand, the fog, and debris flowing away, revealing it on the ground. It slowly stood up again, wiping its mouth. The shadow clasped its palms together, and when opening them again, a giant spear appeared, in between. "Come."

Lee Dojin and Do Jiwoon both smiled at the same time, though one looked heated, while the other ice-cold. The shadow swung its spear, creating almost a whirlwind, sucking anything nearby in. But in the first place, the two of them weren't planning on running away. Lee Dojin moved in fast, though the spear came already swinging on him. 

He placed his arms in a cross, catching the spear and twisting its path. The shadow moved its hands, changing his hold, and the moved, almost whiplike, and came around, slapping Dojin's head from behind.

Do Jiwoon, once more appeared from a blind spot, and caught the shadow's neck. And with a merciless pull, he turned the shadow's head a clean 180 degrees. A vile crack resounded within the void, and the shadow's neck turned bent.

The shadow stared right into Do Jiwoon's eyes. It grinned. "Your attacks do not work on me." 

Jiwoon felt his sweat flow backward, quickly retreating, landing right next to Lee Dojin.

He asked with a baffled voice, "What kind of monster have you created?" The boy had forgotten, no attacks work on those shadows unless you were the ones to summon it. That meant that thing too was currently invincible to him.

"At this point, I am unsure myself." Lee Dojin stood up again, his skull hurting. "Are you gonna run away?"

"You'd wish so, huh?" Do Jiwoon put two of his fingers up. "Purgatory: Soul Symbiosis." At once, just like Lee Dojin had seen before, the souls around Do Jiwoon gathered, warping around him. Only this time, instead of creating an armor, it wrapped around his missing limbs and body parts, creating new ones. He pulled the bandages away, revealing his new body. His left arm and leg were jet black ( though they gleamed slightly), with imprints of faces, that seemed to suffer horribly. He tucked his hair behind his ear. What was once a charred eye, had turned into a golden iris, with two white streaks swirling around.

Lee Dojin whistled. "You got stronger already. Impressive."

Do Jiwoon replied with a huff, and he moved forward, so fast, it almost appeared as if he had teleported. He arrived in front of the shadow, punching out. The shadow blocked it with his spear, but the thing caved in, unable to stop it, and the punch hit the shadow's chest, sending it flying. "I can't hurt it, but at least I can touch it."

"That's enough for me," Lee Dojin said, appearing next to the shadow. On his back, a pair of wings sprouted out. "Scorched Earth," he muttered, and with pinpoint accuracy, his finger pierced the shadow's neck, sending out a fiery ember that eradicated everything underneath him, turning it into mere ash.

"Fu" the shadow could not mutter anything before the light enveloped it and sent it to its demise. The darkness surrounding them rapidly vanished, basking Seoul in the light created by Lee Dojin.

Do Jiwoon squinted his eyes. The scene was too bright for him to see. "Did you succeed?"

Lee Dojin lifted his hands. He breathed out, a tired breath. As he looked down, the once-great tower had a giant burnt hole running down the middle. However, there was no sign of the shadow.

"I think so."

Yet, they were both wrong. Out of the blue, a great pressure, surrounded the two of them, pressing upon their shoulders. Lee Dojin looked afar, while Do Jiwoon turned his head, but as the latter saw a dark silhouette behind him, a sharp object pierced his shoulder, causing him to scream.

The shadow returned, though looking tattered. It breathed heavily, and there was no darkness surrounding it anymore. Still, it was undeniably alive.

Lee Dojin's face scrunched together. "How many damn phases do you have?" He activated his ability, 

"This is my last one." The shadow dropped its arms to the ground, tired. Wings sprouted on its back, and it flew up into the dark sky.

Do Jiwoon held his wound and wrapped it with bandages. Lee Dojin could not help admire his tenacity. He was like a zombie. A dark fog wrapped around the guy, and guided him into the air. From afar, souls began to gather, flying towards the shadow and attacking it.

"It's just a bunch of flies." It swatted the souls away, one by one. Though it looked simple, the shadow moved fast enough for it to leave after images.

Lee Dojin phased forward. Now, everybody was high up in the sky. The three of them fought, trying to bring each other down. It was a war of attrition, as they were all hurt. Lee Dojin knew instinctively, the first to fall to the ground would be the loser. He constantly moved through the stars. Blood seeped out his nose. Even for him, this was straining.

The shadow's eyes moved left and right. Souls came from all sides, barraging it, while Lee Dojin kept attacking him, without giving him any chance to retaliate. It screamed out, a primal voice, devoid of any meaning. Dark liquid fell from his body, looking like blood.

Lee Dojin closed his eyes. He moved his fingers. He kept moving through the stars, now fast enough that no one could see him. He seemed everywhere and nowhere at once. Never had he overloaded himself with this skill. He felt his head ringing. Yet, he knew it to be an inspiration.

[A skill has leveled up!]

[A skill has leveled up!]

[A skill has reached level 50. Would you like it to undergo a small evolution now or later? The upgrade will take 5 hours.]

[A skill has leveled up!]

[A skill has leveled up!]

[Upgrade time has shortened due to an epiphany within a skill.]

[...]

[Your skill has successfully evolved.]

Blood splattered out of Lee Dojin's mouth, but he laughed loudly.

[Skill: Cosmic Steps.

Tier B, Level 1.

Level 10 Evolution: Five times a day, the user can latch onto other living entities and likewise guide them through the stars.

Level 50 Evolution: Switch places with any entity standing within a star.]

The shadow appeared in front of Do Jiwoon and stabbed out with its spear. Jiwoon did not dodge, instead, he parried, with a strike on his own. The two of them fell back. But the shadow had expected it, and it wasn't finished. Taking the momentum from before, it struck back, aiming for Do Jiwoons glowing eye. The shadow was sure he could not dodge.

However, as it was sure of its victory, the white-haired boy disappeared, switched by Lee Dojin, who grabbed the shadow by its wrist. He hit the thing in the face, causing its head to fling back.

Lee Dojin stepped back. "Oh, you landed in the sweet spot."

The shadow was alarmed but didn't understand what happened. It moved away, but just as it turned, it had realized the scenery had changed. Where was it? Why did its sight switch? Questions kept popping up, putting invisible pressure upon it.

Lee Dojin kicked the shadow, who was still confused, and the monster flew to another star. He chuckled. He understood how the new evolution worked now. He phased around, sometimes switching with the shadow, giving it no time to fight back.

"What's going on?" The shadow quickly straightened itself. It lifted its head, but realized it was upside down. The things perception had been destroyed. Being in the sky, it couldn't tell which way went down. 

Just in time, Do Jiwoon caught the shadow. "I wasn't done with you." The souls in his golden eye swirled. "Purgatory: Road to Hell."

It was unknown what exactly had happened, but staring into Jiwoons eye, the shadow stopped moving. Suddenly its skin started to bubble, then fall apart. 

Lee Dojin switched places with Jiwoon, wings on his back. "Day of Judgement, Second Trumpet: Sunken World."

".. .Splendid." The shadow could only watch. Its face rapidly decayed. It did not understand how, but Do Jiwoons attack had connected. Facing the sky, the shadow was serene. With a melancholic voice, it uttered, "Too bad. I wanted to live a bit longer."

Lee Dojin's eyes widened ever so slightly. His fist, like a hammer that sealed fate, fell down, sinking the shadow toward its eternal end, burying it within nothingness.