FLIA 92

Yohan had taken time to rest first, to bring his body into peak condition. For two straight days, he ate the nourishing meals Yoon Seungryong had prepared with care and slept soundly. By the time he woke up, he was ready. They moved toward the city center, the location Seo Yakrin had spotted from high above. Yohan took a few deep breaths and held out his hand.

“Hoyoung-ah, please give me a buff.”

Ju Hoyoung, rarely this nervous, grabbed Yohan’s hand. As power surged from him, the energy within Yohan swelled violently. “Haa” he exhaled slowly, then released the energy within him, letting it ripple outward.

A blinding flash of light erupted. As always when he unleashed this power, an halo-like shape appeared above his head. Light poured from it in all directions. A vast, glowing dome slowly expanded over the city.

But it wasn’t enough to cover the entire city. Even as Yohan gritted his teeth and pushed to his limits, the field only reached a little more than half the area.

Under the influence of the wide purification field, the city slowly began to clean. Yohan watched with desperate eyes, hoping for a sign. The air cleared, and birds chirped in the distance. The blackened buildings began to shine again, as if their exterior had been scrubbed clean.

That was it. Yohan, exhausted from purifying just a city district, was about to collapse when Lee Hyunmook caught him.. Yohan, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, began to sob, tears streaming down his face.

“I think I was wrong.”

“Yohan-ah….”

Ju Hoyoung tightened his grip on Yohan’s hand. The rest of the group looked just as defeated. Yoon Seungryong cheerfully muttered “Hey, at least it’s nice and clean now!” but Yohan felt no comfort. He wiped his tears with his sleeve. That was when Lee Hyunmook, who had been silently staring up at the light dome, finally spoke.

“Maybe the direction is wrong.”

“…What?”

Sniffling, Yohan looked up. Lee Hyunmook continued slowly.

“Up until now, the goal was to purify us, so you always purified the surface. But this time… shouldn’t it be underground? Purifying empty space above us doesn’t do anything.”

“Underground…”

It clicked like a light switching on in Yohan’s head. Hyunmook was right. The power had been designed like an umbrella, spreading out above, shielding from above. But to purify this city, the target shouldn’t be the surface. It should be what’s below.

“Let’s try again after you recover…”

“No, now…! I have to try right now!”

Yohan shouted, interrupting Hyunmook. He had never felt so clear-headed, so focused in his life. As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out and grabbed the light dome still spread over the city. In his wide eyes, the light shimmered like a galaxy. Slowly, the dome that covered the city tilted and began to flip.

“Whoa…”

Seo Yakrin stared in awe. The soft light, once stretched over the city like a canopy, now dug downward into the ground. The sky, once glowing, darkened again with a rusty-red hue, as if night were falling. Just as the flipped dome faded by about halfway through, some malevolent entity noticed them.

“……!”

Yohan, who was turning the purification dome upside down, suddenly shuddered. A chill ran down his spine and a revolting, vile presence surged through him like a sickness. The Abyss was watching. The ground started to shake. Everyone sensed its wicked gaze and foul intent.

And yet, Yohan felt something closer to joy than fear. Leaning d halfway against Hyunmook, he exclaimed excitedly.

“This is it, right? This is what we had to do! This is how we get out!”

His eyes gleamed with white light. Every time he faced the Abyss and the Flood, he found new resolve. His companions didn’t tried to stop him, for they instinctively knew this was the right answer. The ground tremors grew worse, but Yohan paid no mind and moved the light dome.

“Shit!”

Lee Chanha barely managed to throw up a barrier before the building collapsed. Heavy chunks of concrete rained down with a deafening crash, but the shield didn’t budge. Then the sky turned pitch-black with thick clouds. There were no monsters, they’d already been wiped out when Yohan purified the city. The ones now approaching were airborne monsters summoned from elsewhere.

“No way that’s happening!”

Seo Yakrin shouted as golden energy exploded from her body like a wild beast. The flying monsters, wings folded in descent, burst apart midair, spraying blood. Those that reached the ground and charged were taken out by Yoon Seungryong. A massive beast was obliterated by a blast of black lightning, its body scorched pitch-black. Ju Hoyoung held ontoYohan and poured every ounce of his power into him. Everyone was desperate.

When the purification dome had flipped more than halfway, the quake grew even worse. Yohan, no longer able to stand, collapsed to the ground, barely holding his focus.

‘Please, please, please…’

The city trembled. The ground cracked open. From those cracks, Yohan could feel the Flood, hastily scraped together from the Abyss, beginning to surge upward like filthy sewage. He gritted his teeth, feeling a pang of nausea. Just a bit more… just a little more…

But the Flood rose faster than he could push it back. Even as he despaired, Yohan refused to give up. He heard the roar of waves in the distance. What disaster is about to strike again? Yohan raised his head, sweat and tears dripping from his chin, and his eyes widened.

“That’s…!”

A luminous wave was approaching. It was the ripples of the Eternal Stones, awakened by Yohan’s first purification,

Something unprecedented occurred in the Abyss, both monsters and his allies who had been fighting them, stopped and stared. Then a flood of light crashed down with a roar. But it didn’t fall on the city. It poured into the open cracks in the ground.

“Ah…!”

Yohan gasped. He could feel the Eternal Stones sinking deep, wrapping around the city’s underground like a protective shell. The city quaked even more as the Eternal Stones, untainted by the Flood surged in. He could feel it, the Eternal Stones pressed upward, the city began to rise.

The Flood, just a beat too late, slammed against the Eternal Stones and failed to reach the surface. The struggles of those who had fallen into this horrific hell, worn down to the point of no return, were holding the line. This was the true Flood. And then, when the purification field completely flipped and engulfed the underground, an unexpected effect occurred: the resonance of the Eternal Stones touched by Yohan’s light.

Just as the Eternal Stones that Hyunmook had given Yohan had once amplified his power, the Eternal Stones beneath the city unleashed its full force. Tgey grew so large that they swallowed the city, and then overflowed, and surged toward the sky. A dazzling multicolored aura billowed upward from the ground like waves. Above that, a condensed orb of artificial light rose. Lee Hyunmook murmured unconsciously as he watched.

“…A sun.”

It was a sun made from the will to live, the cries of countless beings. It shone, but did not blind the eyes of those who saw it. It was simply a warm and gentle ray of light. One by one, the monsters, twisted by madness, slowly began to regain their original forms.

A scream echoed from somewhere. The malice that clung to everything, that refused to release what it had swallowed, began to peel away. The light grew too bright to bear. Yohan shut his eyes. In that instant the world flipped upside down. The red sky and the filthy air crumbled. It all collapsed.

But unlike the endless fall he had once felt in the Abyss, this time Yohan felt his body lifting. He shut his eyes tightly. A moment that felt like eternity or perhaps a fleeting moment, passed. His ears began to ring and it felt like he had broken through a tunnel.

He instinctively felt that something had changed, Yohan panted, too afraid to open his eyes, only trembling. Someone nearby took a few shaky steps, then dropped to their knees.

“We’re… outside….”

At those words, Yohan finally opened his eyes. The blue sky reflected on his tear-blurred eyes. Blink, blink… No matter how many times he closed and opened his eyes it didn’t disappear. Unlike the sky in the Abyss, which had always seemed to be halfway through its sunset, a bright sun and white clouds now appeared. He could hear the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance.

“I… I made it? I’m really outside?”

Yohan stammered. The group remained silent in response. They simply started blankly, eyes wide open. The clear air, cold breeze and warm sunlight were too unbelievable.

Yohan turned his head to the one who was holding him. Under the sunlight, Lee Hyunmook’s hair gleamed like gold thread. His dark eyes, always tinged red, now looked clearly brown for the first time. Lee Hyunmook, who had been looking at the sky, turned his head.

“Yohan-ah.” The voice calling him low and heavy. Breathing heavily, he pulled Yohan, brushed their cheeks together, then hugged him so tightly it hurt. His body trembled, for the first time, he’d lost his composure.

“I’m glad… that you didn’t give up. That you made me believe that.”

Only then did Yohan’s face contort. Holding Lee Hyunmook just as tightly, he burst into sobs like someone reborn.