The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) (39 page)

Yoori and Tae Hyun were not spared from the destruction.

“Ahh!”

“Ahh!

Simultaneous screams emitted from them after the bullets grazed over the top of his shoulder and skimmed over her left leg. 

“You’ve dreamed of this moment?” he asked, looking down at her from the upper landing in disbelief.

The barrage of bullets slowed for a moment before ceasing completely. The only sounds that could be heard in the stairwell were Tae Hyun and Yoori’s labored breathing. 

Yoori could hardly keep her eyes open. The throbbing within her body was killing her and her ears were ringing from the deluge of bullets. She only regained her bearings when she eyed the security camera. A constant red blink came from the camera hanging over the stairwell, indicating that the Underworld was still watching them. She pushed back the last of her pain and rallied together all the strength she had left. She refused to be viewed as a weak human in front of the Underworld. She was raised to be better than this, to be stronger than all of this.

She gripped the railing of the stairs and pulled herself up. She saw Tae Hyun stagger down the stairs, getting closer to her with every step. He was not paying attention to her, but tending to both the wound from her sword and his new bullet wound. Using his moment of distraction as her opportunity, she jumped in the air and swung across the open space of the stairwell. She used the momentum of her jump to kick Tae Hyun right across the face. Coagulated blood flew from his mouth at the attack.

“Yes,” she answered, jumping back onto the stairs, “this entire moment is all that I’ve dreamed of—all that I’ve lived for.”

Tae Hyun fell forward, his entire body smashing over the concrete stairs several times with bone crushing echoes. He was barely moving when he crashed onto the next landing. Tae Hyun slowly opened his eyes and looked at the second camera in the bloodstained stairwell. A flood of energy poured into him after catching sight of it. As Yoori jumped down to complete her assault, he rocketed up and kicked her in the chest. A loud thud poured into the stairwell when his foot connected with her chest. The force of the impact was so strong that it sent Yoori crashing through the door by the landing. At the same instant, another stampede of bullets entered the stairwell, missing Yoori as she flew into an empty office floor and nipped off pieces of Tae Hyun’s shirt as he ran in after her.

Unlike the anarchy in the stairwell, the dark office floor they stumbled into was utterly peaceful. The change in environment was such a breath of relief that for a suspended moment, Tae Hyun and Yoori put fighting one another on the backburner. While Yoori laid on the floor, chest rising and falling in agony, Tae Hyun took a seat against the wall, shaking while clutching his wounded arm.

Their moment of peace was short-lived when a flood of bullets pierced through the enormous windows of the office floor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Tae Hyun let out a curse of fury, leapt away from the wall, and dove behind a desk in the center of the room. At the same second, Yoori propelled from the floor and lunged behind the same table as Tae Hyun. They sat close to one another, catching their breaths as a mass of bullets flew over them like a stream of arrows. When they strategically peered over the table to assess where the shots were coming from, they saw two sniper rifles sitting on the office table, illuming under the moonlight like an offering to the Gods. It did not take Yoori long to deduce that these rifles were a gift from Ju Won—they were to either use the rifles to combat with the snipers, or with one another. 

“Motherfuckers,” Tae Hyun seethed, pissed that he was being shot at while he was trying to concentrate on fighting.

“Pieces of shit,” Yoori muttered, furious that her leg hurt like hell from the bullet that had grazed it.

She signed up to fight with a fellow God, not to have faceless snipers shoot at her like it was target practice. The rage inside Yoori mounted. She was not going to allow them to fuck up this historic battle. She would not allow them to fuck with her plans.

“Should we show them who they’re fucking with?” Tae Hyun asked, reading her thoughts. He shared her fury. He, too, wanted to kill these faceless assholes for screwing with his battle.

Yoori gave a stiff incline of the head, wordlessly agreeing to a momentary ceasefire in order to teach these bastards a lesson. She would return to fighting him soon enough, but for now, they had a lesson to teach.

They each grabbed a rifle and propped them on the desk. They strategically aimed past the windows and began to fire their rifles with accuracy, successfully shooting through the glass windows and killing several snipers within their vantage point.

Their offense worked in their favor. The instant they shot back, the barrage of bullets ceased. For the time being, it was just Yoori and Tae Hyun.

Now that she was done with the snipers, she had a King to return to.

Fully aware that Ju Won would send in replacements for the dead snipers soon, Yoori did not waste time. She had to end this fight before the next set of snipers joined this battle.

Without warning, she jammed the back of the rifle against Tae Hyun’s neck.

Soon,
her heart assured as her body ached in torment.
It will all be over soon.

Tae Hyun staggered back, but not before he used the rifle to perform an uppercut on Yoori. The back of the rifle slammed into her jaw. The impact caused her teeth to clack together. Fresh pain surfaced over her. Yoori doubled over and smashed into a metal computer chair in the process. While unbearable aches engulfed her wounded body, she bit back a scream of agony, grabbed the office chair, and slammed it against Tae Hyun’s back.

Bam!

Tae Hyun arched his spine, violently gasping for air. It took Yoori everything she had not to reach out and help him. She empathized with his pain, for she was going through the same thing. Anyone else would’ve died by this point, but not him and definitely not her. She curbed her impulse to help him. She could not show that she cared for him. Not while the Underworld was watching.

Tae Hyun spit out blood from his mouth and eyed another camera on the floor. Once he drew in a preparatory breath, he speedily jumped on the desk and flew in the air, delivering an air kick so powerful that Yoori went airborne across the room. She crashed on another set of tables with a loud bang. To add insult to injury, her head collided with the corner of a computer monitor that nearly knocked her unconscious.

“Augh . . .”

Refusing to allow the pain to deter her, Yoori jumped back onto her feet. When she stood upright on the desk, she found that Tae Hyun was already standing on an office table that was about five desks away from hers. Like alpha dogs fighting for territory, Yoori and Tae Hyun sped towards each other. Years upon years of training came out in her battle with Tae Hyun after they collided on the center table. 

Punch after punch was thrown, block after block held up, kick after kick bestowed, and blood after blood was spat out as they fought across the room like warring tornadoes.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The snipers reappeared with a vengeance, and no expense was spared. Countless bullets thundered into the room, destroying everything in sight. As this scene of pure pandemonium took place, Yoori and Tae Hyun continued beating the living hell out of each other while simultaneously avoiding all the bullets.

Fuck you, Ju Won,
Yoori screamed out in her mind, knowing that he and the rest of the Underworld were enjoying this too much. By now, ninety-nine percent of the people in the world would have died in this situation. Their King and Queen were making them proud.

In spite of the bullets that were increasing with every progressing minute, Yoori and Tae Hyun continued to forge on with their fight.

Yoori glanced over at the security camera just as another bullet missed her head. She executed a flying knee kick and elbow punch combo that knocked Tae Hyun against the wall. Using this moment before he regained his strength, she grabbed the side of his neck and slammed his head against a cubicle wall. She could feel the pain multiply in his body. He was in complete agony—not just physically, but also emotionally—just like her.

Now,
her subconscious commanded.
This is the moment. Enough is enough.

It was time to end the fight.

It was time to crown the Lord of the Underworld.

Yoori took in a preparatory breath to curb her emotions and to prepare her body for what was to come. Then, she punched him. Repeatedly. Mercilessly. She punched him again and again and again, until she realized he wasn’t fighting back.

The bullets stopped coming and Tae Hyun stopped fighting.

He merely sat there, motionless as his head rested against the wall. His quiet and tired eyes gazed up at her with soft hope. It was as if he was taking a mental picture of her in his mind before he prepared himself for death.

Torture inundated her at the sight of this. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and fought through her tears.

“Fight me!” she shouted, falling to her knees. She pushed against his chest, urging him to take action. “Fight me back!”

She was ready.

She was ready for him, so why wasn’t he fighting back?

“Why aren’t you fighting me back?” she cried, hurting more from seeing him in this state than from the pain in her own body.

“I think . . .” he began faintly, hardly moving as he locked eyes with her. “I think by now, they know what a powerful God you are.” He swallowed softly, eyeing the camera in the room as he had been doing the entire time. “They know you deserve this throne.”

Her stomach coiled in misery when she realized what his plan was all along.

He purposely fought her the way he did because he wanted the Underworld to witness how gruesome this battle was. He wanted them to see how powerful she was; he wanted them to fear her so that they would think twice about betraying her once she sat on the throne. This was why he fought back so mercilessly. It was because he wanted to give her the throne. He wanted to give it to her in such a manner that no one would dare challenge her for it. He wanted to ensure her safety, even after his death.

“You know why they stopped shooting, right?” he asked quietly, staring at her while she felt her own heart clench in unrivaled pain.

She remained quiet as he went on.

“Because they know it’s ending. They got the epic fight they wanted, and now they know it’s ending. You’ve won.”

He smiled at her, his eyes harboring no hatred or bitterness. There was only love and adoration—the same ones he always held for her.

“When you kill me,” he advised, displaying no fear for what was to come, “cut my head off in front of the cameras. Do it so they can clearly see, so they will never forget how powerful you are.”

Agony twisted inside her. His words stabbed her like swords.

“You stupid idiot! Why are you giving up already? You’re not supposed to give up!” she shouted, shaking him as she ripped a knife from her pocket and held the blade to his windpipe. “Fight me back!”

She trembled while holding the knife underneath his chin. She was infuriated that he was making no movement to defend himself.

“Fight me back!” she commanded, threateningly pressing the blade deeper into his chin. She was one pressure away from cutting into the skin. “Fight me back—”

Yoori stopped yelling when she noticed the necklace he was wearing. She felt her entire world come to a standstill. Her disbelieving eyes ran over the pendant he wore as a necklace—a ring. A silver ring from a past that felt like a lifetime ago.

Tears that she could no longer hold back shrouded her eyes. A distant memory coursed through her mind as she gazed at it, bringing forth emotions that crippled her very being. 

“. . . Gosh, what should I get him?” Yoori asked, running around the mall with Kang Min.

She had been at the mall for a few hours, plowing through all the stores in an effort to find the perfect birthday gift for Tae Hyun. The birthday shopping turned out to be more challenging than Yoori anticipated it to be. There were no potential gifts that spoke to her; no potential gifts that seemed perfect enough. After another half hour of no success, she was ready to call it quits when something in a display window arrested her attention.

Yoori backtracked, nearly crashing into Kang Min as she ran into the jewelry shop with a big smile on her face.

She found it.

Tae Hyun’s perfect birthday gift.

Yoori leaned over the glass counter, admiring an identical ring to the one she saw in the display window. An engraving of a serpent ran across the outer surface of the silver ring like a protective guardian. It emanated nothing short of awesomeness, and she knew Tae Hyun would rock it well.

While admiring the serpent on the ring, her eyes traveled to the interior of the ring. A light bulb illuminated in her mind. She had an idea of how to make this gift even more perfect.

“Hey mister!” Yoori shouted ecstatically, scaring both Kang Min and the shop owner behind the counter. She waved him over to her. “Excuse me, but is it possible to engrave something inside a ring like this and have it done by tonight?”