The Last Esper [BL]
Chapter 33: What makes a monster

Chapter 33: What makes a monster

Rhys fired again.

The bullet grazed Arthur’s shoulder, but the Butcher barely flinched. His body absorbed the damage like a shield.

"Damn it!" Rhys lowered his rifle, taking a few steps back as he watched Arthur straighten up again.

Rong Ye watched them from below. His neck was still bleeding, though the bleeding was slower now. His body ached, but not as much as the knot beginning to form in his chest as he watched Rhys face that thing alone.

"Eun-woo!" Rong Ye shouted, turning to face him. "Do something! Now that he’s distracted, you have to attack him!"

Eun-woo blinked. His hands were stained with blood and dirt, still holding Rong Ye, but he looked up. He saw Rhys narrowly dodge Arthur’s claws and spin around to hit him with the butt of the rifle.

"I..." Eun-woo swallowed. "I don’t know how to do it..."

Rong Ye looked at him in disbelief. Then, in anger.

"Are you kidding? You’re a fucking esper!"

"I don’t know how to defend myself," Eun-woo murmured. "It happens sometimes, but not when I want it to. I have no control."

"Then control it now!" Rong Ye snapped, his voice rising in despair. "What are you waiting for?! For Rhys to die?! Because that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t do something!"

Rong Ye knew how much Eun-woo cared for Rhys. And if that was the only thing that could shake him, if mentioning his name made him stop trembling and start acting like an esper, then he was willing to squeeze that wound hard. Whatever it took to force Eun-woo to fight.

Eun-woo closed his eyes, trying to concentrate, but his body was shaking. The fear, the pressure, the pain... nothing helped. He felt his pulse pounding in his temples, but there was no connection, no energy, no voice being cruel to himself. Just emptiness.

"No... I can’t." He said, voice cracking.

"Of course you can’t!" Rong Ye spat out each word. "Because you’re weak. You’re a burden. You’re not an esper, you’re a fucking accident with a pretty face. Rhys is going to end up dead because of you. And you know what? We’ll be next. Caelan. Jae. Me."

Eun-woo gritted his teeth. He said nothing. His throat closed and his eyes burned, but he didn’t look away from Rhys.

Rhys struggled with Arthur up the hill. The Butcher moved with the rage of a beast and the precision of a killer. Every time Rhys fired, the Butcher responded with a brutal blow.

One of the bullets had gone through his thigh, another through his shoulder, but it didn’t seem to hurt him.

Rhys barely managed to dodge the attacks. One claw ripped through his right arm, another ripped off part of his sleeve, revealing a long, bloody cut. Still, he didn’t back down. He was quick, agile, and used every rock, every root, and every tree to deflect Arthur’s blows.

But he was losing ground.

Sweat ran down his face, mixed with blood. And even though he raised the rifle again and again, his shots were getting less accurate. His hands trembled. His legs buckled. And Arthur, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it.

The Butcher swung a swipe at Rhys’s face, which he barely managed to block with his weapon. The impact was so powerful that the rifle flew out, crashing into a tree and out of range.

Rhys fell to his knees.

Arthur approached slowly, dragging one leg, his crooked smile full of sharp fangs and black saliva. He raised a hand, the claws glistening with traces of dried blood in the forest light.

Eun-woo leaned forward, his trembling fingers digging into the damp earth. His breathing became erratic, his ears ringing.

His heart begged him to do something.

But Eun-woo couldn’t.

He squeezed his eyes shut, searching within himself for that impulse that had once connected him to the Rift, that strange power that had made him close the sky and push back the creature that emerged from the Rift. But it didn’t respond.

Eun-woo felt something break. A part of himself that still believed he could be useful, that he could save someone, shattered like glass under the weight of reality.

Rong Ye was right.

He was useless.

And Rhys was going to die because of him.

"When we’re all dead, you’ll be left alone. As you deserve," Rong Ye said ruthlessly. "Because you’re incapable of protecting anyone."

Then they heard it.

Grunts. Not just one. Many grunts.

From the summit, the echo resounded like a terrifying symphony. Shadows moved among the trees, eyes flashed through the mist. High above, emerging from the thicket, a pack of mutant wolves became visible.

They were enormous. Bigger than the first one Arthur smashed. One of them leaped down, landing a few feet from the Butcher, who immediately turned around with an instinctive roar.

"The first one was... just a cub," Rong Ye whispered, surprised at the size of the wolves.

The adult wolves attacked the Butcher without warning.

Arthur fought back, roaring and clawing, but he was no match for all of them. The jaws bit at him, dragged him, lifted him by his flanks. One tore into his back, another sank its fangs into his leg. The creatures weren’t going to grant him a quick death. They were dismembering him. As if they recognized that he had killed one of their own and wanted to eliminate Arthur for treason.

Rhys slid down the slope at full speed.

"Eun-woo!" he shouted, his footsteps crunching through the dry leaves.

Eun-woo’s eyes widened as if he’d just woken up from a nightmare. The lump in his throat broke with a shaky breath, and without even thinking, he broke away from Rong Ye and ran.

He lunged at Rhys as soon as he was within reach, throwing his arms around his neck in desperation. The impact staggered them both slightly, but Rhys held on firmly, surprised by the strength of the hug.

They were both panting, covered in dirt, wounds and fear, but in that moment only the two of them existed.

"You’re alive..." Eun-woo murmured against his shoulder.

Rhys nodded, sweaty, hurt, but alive.

"Are you okay?"

Rhys looked from Eun-woo to Rong Ye, who had fallen a few feet away.

"Define ’okay,’" Rong Ye spat as he stood up.

"Alive." Rhys smiled wearily before returning his gaze to Eun-woo. "I swear, if you scare me like that again..."

"I was so worried about you," Eun-woo said.

"I was worried about you!"

"Me?!" Eun-woo replied, feigning innocence. "You should have stayed home."

"Wasn’t it you who ran straight into the woods like a total maniac?"

"I told you I’d be back," Eun-woo replied in an annoyed tone.

Behind them, the wolves continued to tear apart what remained of the Butcher. The crunch of bones breaking echoed like dry branches under an immense weight.

The wolves surrounded Arthur’s body, one holding him by the torso, another by a shattered leg, and a third sinking its fangs into what remained of his face.

Eun-woo didn’t dare look at all. He was still trembling inside. For Rhys, for Rong Ye, for himself. He clung to Rhys as if letting go was a risk, as if at any moment someone could snatch him away again.

Rhys kept an arm wrapped around Eun-woo, his gaze fixed on the wolves’ brutal feast. His expression was tense. He didn’t relax his posture for even a second. Only when he noticed the slight weight of Eun-woo’s trembling against his chest did he look down at him, softening his expression. He stroked his palm down his back.

Rong Ye, on the other hand, watched silently. The blood had dried on his neck, leaving a scab that pulled at his skin every time he swallowed. His face remained pale, and his clenched jaw didn’t entirely hide the traces of pain.

But his eyes did not look at the wolves.

His eyes were fixed on Eun-woo and Rhys.

The way he held him.

The way Eun-woo allowed himself to be protected.

A bitter taste formed on his tongue. He said nothing, not a single word. But he gritted his teeth until it hurt.

And he looked down, just for a moment, as behind them, the wolves finished off what was left of the Butcher he had brought.

The growls ceased one by one. The wolves, now covered in blood, remained in a circle for a few more seconds, breathing heavily. Then, as if summoned by an invisible command, they began to retreat. One by one, they reentered the forest.

All but one.

The last wolf stood still, his eyes fixed directly on them.

On Rhys.

And Eun-woo.

And finally... in Rong Ye.

The wolf raised his head slowly, as if assessing them.

Rhys felt a chill run down his spine. He gripped Eun-woo’s shoulders tighter and spoke barely above a whisper.

"Nobody move... and be quiet. Don’t breathe loudly. Don’t make any noise."

Eun-woo nodded with a slight trembling motion. He kept his lips pursed and his eyes open.

Rong Ye, however, could not stay still.

Frustration ate him up inside.

It had all been in vain.

His plan had failed. He had failed as an enemy, as a threat, as something that mattered. He had let a monster in, and even that hadn’t worked.

And the worst part: Arthur’s phrase echoed around in his head like a poisonous echo.

Your mother is going to pay for that.

His world was falling apart. His body was still there, battered, exhausted... but the emptiness inside him was even more unbearable.

He no longer had a mother.

He didn’t have an Esper.

He no longer had a purpose.

And it was all his fault.

Rong Ye didn’t plan to live like this.

Suddenly, without thinking, he took a step back. A dry branch snapped with a sound so sharp it chilled everyone’s blood.

The wolf turned its head with a low growl. The sound was guttural, threatening, a warning... or perhaps a sentence.

Rhys’s eyes widened.

"No...!" He began to say.

But it was too late.

In the blink of an eye, the wolf launched itself at Rong Ye.