"Nobody's going to die. You've said it time and time again. So I said it again, as well." Sunoo told him, attempting to calm his nerves.

"Nobody's going to die..." Sunghoon repeated in a breath.

Sunoo nodded his head.
"Yes, nobody will."

"Nobody?"
Sunghoon turned to Sunoo, who smiled back at him.

"Nobody. Not a single one of us."

...

Time: 20:13, October 23

"How long shall you dwell on it, Hong Eunchae?"

Eunchae was curled up, sobbing and shaking violently. She couldn't bare the thought of it.
The thought that the spirit was going to kill Sakura and Chaewon.
They were two people she held dear.

And they were going to die at her hands.
Eunchae shook her head, her hands coming up to her ears. She let out a yell of pure desolation, one so heartbroken that even the spirit was slightly taken aback.
But the creature showed no remorse. Just triumph.

"YOU- YOU MONSTER!!! W- WHY!!! WHY!?!?" she cried, her head in her hands.

She couldn't even look up at the spirit.
Her heart felt like it had been split in half and ripped to shreds. The amount of anguish she felt was agonising.
She had lost everything and everyone.
Her friends and herself.

She had nothing.
The spirit had taken everything from her.

"Denial in the face of reality... Everything has changed, Hong Eunchae. Your life might not be over yet, but it will be. Why deny the truth?"

The creature grabbed Eunchae's shoulder, forcing her to look up at it.
Her eyes were tear-filled and bloodshot. All the colour was lost from her lips, and her eyes sagged, all of its cheerful youthfulness lost.

"It's what you've been told, Hong Eunchae..."

The spirit took a moment to recall the words it had said to her in the past.
"'Everyone you care for will die at my hands'... you've heard that one before, haven't you?" it taunted.

Eunchae closed her eyes, taking a hand through her hair.
"No- they can't- they- Sakura... Chaewon..."

The girl had completely lost herself.
As she had lost everything else.

"They will die, Hong Eunchae..." the monster jeered.

She frantically shook her head.
"No, no-"

Eunchae cowered down to the ground, tears flowing from her eyes, muttering the same phrase over and over again.

She was weak.
And her emotions were controlling her.

The spirit spoke to her again, in a voice welled up to the brim with a sadistic felicity.
This was it.
Everything was about to go down in history.
And Eunchae couldn't do anything about it.
It was fate.

"They will die... just like how Garam did."

...

Time: 20:15, October 23

"Up for a spar, Chaewon?"

Sakura glanced at Chaewon, a wooden grey rod in her hand; the sparing swords.
Chaewon looked at Sakura, blinking slightly. Being away for so long, she even had to get used to the luminance of the gym lights again.
To her, everything felt odd again. Like everything needed time to get used to, despite this being their own headquarters.

"A spar?" she inquired.

Sakura nodded at her. She handed Chaewon's dummy sword to her.
"We never got to do this in the past... you know, just the two of us. It's always ever been with the others. And plus, it's good practice."

Chaewon let out a scoff.
"Good practice? Who are you kidding? It's only practice for me! You'll beat me in an instant!"

"Come on, it's just for a little bit of fun. What's to life if you're bored all of the time?" Sakura told her.

Chaewon stared at the rod in her hand.
"You better go easy on me."

She made her way onto the mats, gripping her weapon in her hand. Chaewon stretched her shoulders and arms.
There was little hope that she was going to come close to matching Sakura's power, but, as Sakura had told her, what was life without a little bit of fun?
Sakura made her way to the racks, and picked up her own sparing weapon before joining on the mats.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you, Chaewon. How are you going to improve if I do? Besides, there's dangerous stuff out there, and they don't hold back. So neither will I."
Sakura gave her a sly grin.

"I thought this was all for fun, Sakura!"

"It is! Who says you can't improve when you're having fun?"

Chaewon let out a defeated huff.
"Okay then... Let's see how this goes..."

After some last second stretches, she readied herself, poising her weapon forwards, like how she'd really do in combat.

"Try not to get hurt."
Sakura flourished her blade, and readied herself, her eyes in a state of focus.
Just the look of her stance alone, how it seemed so experienced, so natural to Sakura, unsettled Chaewon.
She shifted uncomfortably.

It was Sakura who made the first move.
She advanced on Chaewon, in a slightly slower manner, almost like a lure in a way.
Nonetheless, it was still as menacing as ever.

Chaewon held her blade far in front of her to keep their distance. She could already feel the cold sweats getting to her.
She took a step back, and Sakura just kept advancing on her more and more.

Before she knew it, she was already at the edge of the mat.
And Sakura could see it as well.

Not even a second later, she had to lean out the way as Sakura went for a jab at her left, just about grazing her. Any later, and Chaewon thought, if it were to be a real sword, her arm would've been gone.
This is what she had feared.
Sakura had so much agility, it was scary.

Chaewon went for a counter attack, going for a high sideways slash. She missed by a mile, as Sakura ducked out of the way, kicking away her calves.
She landed straight on her back with a thud, winded.
Her weapon was sent clattering out of her hands, rolling away, stopping right at Sakura's boots.

"I always get you with that..." Sakura mumbled.
She allowed Chaewon to stand up, and handed her the dummy sword back.

Chaewon brushed herself off.
"Every single time. I can never see it coming."

"Don't let me get you. Come on, let's do it again." Sakura coaxed, beckoning her forwards with her hand.

They reseted back at the middle of the mats, and got back into their positions.

Chaewon decided to put pressure on her opponent. This time, she advanced on Sakura, with different blows. Yet, Sakura was able to parry or dodge each one of them. Not a single one came close to hitting her.
She went for one large overhead swing, and Sakura brought up her sword to defend.

Their weapons came together with a wooden clash, and Chaewon gritted her teeth, trying to overpower Sakura's defence with her brawn, pushing her sword against her opponents'.
None of their swords budged, but their hands shook with the effort that they were exerting.
But, Sakura did something that she didn't expect.

Sakura let go of her sword, and kicked away both of their weapons. The two weapons flew out of their hands, and landed far off the mats.

Now, it left them weaponless.
Chaewon let out an involuntary gasp.
"What-"

With no more hesitation, Sakura grabbed her arm, and took her down with a throwing takedown over her shoulder. Chaewon felt the air brush against her before she collided with the mats, back first, once again.
She let out a grunt, coughing.

Chaewon crossed her arms, tapping out.
"Yeah, I'm done... I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes..." she mumbled.

Sakura helped her off the floor.
"Sorry. I got a bit carried away." She told her, scratching the back of her neck.

"A bit?"
Chaewon gave her a glare.

"Quite a lot."

Chaewon felt her arm, where Sakura had grabbed her.
"It was cool though, the throw, I mean. I wish I could do that."

Sakura shrugged.
"It's pretty cool, but I don't think I'll be using it against any spirits. Not any strong ones, that's for sure. Thank you, though."

She went over and picked up the two dummy weapons, placing them back in the rack.
"We should do this again. It was fun."

Chaewon shook her head, smiling.
"It was fun. I just hope I don't get slammed. Like now."

"So, you want me to-"

BANG

An abrupt, deafening noise cut Sakura off. Chaewon covered her ears, scrunching up her face. Sakura's heart started to race. She jumped up, and grasped her sheath from the floor, slinging it around her waist.
Chaewon followed.

The noise had sent a cold chill of fear down Chaewon's spine.
She was fully alert, and so was Sakura.

Chaewon could've sworn she felt the ground reverberate from the noise itself, like there had been such a big impact. The air around her suddenly felt like it dropped, like it had some kind of heaviness or weight to it.
It almost even felt like it was constricting her breathing, the more she tried to breathe, the more she felt like her lungs were being weighed down.

The hair on her arms stood straight up, almost like a reflex.
She took out her blade, clutching it in her hand, which was shaking.

Sakura put a finger to her lip, telling Chaewon to be silent.
She too, also unsheathed her weapon. She poised it in front of her.

The sound had come from somewhere through her room, all the way in the main room. Even though it had been from afar, the noise was so loud, as if it had just erupted from next to them.

It sounded like one big impact, like a brute force had struck down against something.
She had no idea what it had been.

And neither did Sakura.

"Stay here." Sakura whispered to her.
She turned to proceed towards the sound, but Chaewon grabbed her arm.

"No. Sakura you can't." She pleaded, shaking her head.

"You'll be safe here. Just wait for me. I'll check it out."

She shook her head.
"No. It's dangerous, Sakura. You have no idea what it is."

"That's why I have to find out what it is. I have to know. It'll make it worse if we don't know."

"No, Sakura-"

Sakura withdrew her hand from Chaewon's.
"Chaewon, it might be nothing big."

Chaewon continued to plead with her.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling."

Sakura shook her head, and made her way to the gym door.
A strong pang of fear hit Chaewon like a brick.

She didn't want Sakura to go.
But there was no more changing the girls' mind.

"Sakura, wait-"
She ran up to Sakura, who had stopped by the door.

"Let me go with you."

Sakura looked at her, and put a hand to her lip again, but nodded.
Chaewon could come with her, but she had to be silent.

Other than the one loud bang, there hadn't been any more. But yet, still, something in Chaewon wasn't at ease.
She still felt like something was off.
Like there was a tearing feeling in her gut.

Sakura made her way into the main room in silence, looking around wearily, her weapon gripped firmly in her hand.
Chaewon followed close behind, trying hard not to make a sound through her rattled breaths.

There was nothing in sight. Nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked completely normal. Nothing had moved a single inch.
There had only been that one noise.

But it seemed to be completely gone now.
Sakura glanced around the room, scanning even the darkest corners.
There was no threat in the room.
So then what had that noise been?

They stood in silence, waiting.
Nothing.
Not another sound.

It had really only been that one sound.

But, as soon as she had thought that the coast was clear, a minuscule noise droned through the room. It seemed magnified, as the room had been completely in silence.

It was gruelling to listen to.
A small scratching noise wound from next to them, above their heads. It sounded sonorous, like a needle point being slowly grated across glass.
It made them freeze in their spots.

The noise was coming from very, very close to them.
Just by the ceiling.

It was coming from the circular skylight window above them.

Sakura looked up.
Through the glass, she could see them.

The two glowing red eyes that stared back at her.