The group of seven could feel intense winds fanning their cheeks as heavy specks of dust swirled in the air.
"W-What happened, is he alright?" Taehyung's voice came small, almost a whisper as he gasped at the youngest's current state.
"He's unconscious," Jimin was in disbelief as he carried the limp body of Jungkook, whose arm was slung over his shoulder, his eyes still gleaming with a light shade of magenta. "First, make a room for him."
Considering the gravity of the situation, Moon collected some of the water in her palms from the magnificent lake nearby, pouring it in Jungkook's mouth one drop at a time.
Soon after, a few coughs erupted as Jungkook opened his eyes slowly. He groaned in pain as Taehyung helped him sit, his body covered in numerous bruises, blood seeping out from open wounds.
"Just a minute," Moon's eyes were now ice-blue as she kneeled down beside Jungkook. She wiggled her fingers over the deep gash that was on his forehead.
At that point, the tension in the air thickened as Moon could feel more stares bore into her skull. As the healer of the group, she figured that there was a reason why everyone was abruptly filled with panic. "Why...why aren't you healing?"
Everyone was caught off-guard when a scoreboard showed up unanticipatedly, which was titled moonstar.
Moon's eyes widened in shock when she deciphered what it showed, a cross, 'Healing ability' was marked with a bold red cross.
"W-What?" A scream left her lips at the instant as she was in denial. "This can't be!"
Certainly, there was an assurance before. But now with losing her healing powers, she was actually...distraught. She felt...she felt as if a part of her was snatched away from her.
"I think this should do," Jimin bobbed his head as he glanced for a sign of approval before he sprinkled the same fresh water on Jungkook's lesions.
"Argh!" Jungkook winced in pain as he clenched his jaw, his hands involuntarily curling into fists. "It h-hurts,"
Jimin facepalmed himself for taking the step out of eagerness. He ran his hand through his blonde hair in frustration as he thought he messed up and worsened Jungkook's condition.
"It works!" Yoongi shouted as he tapped Jimin's shoulder, almost alarming him out. Jimin's eyes shot up as he felt overwhelmed when he saw the former's wounds begin to heal gradually.
"Now we have to leave this place," Jimin spoke as he squinted his eyes, scanning the place out of instinct. "The King, his cavalry is after us and it won't take much longer for them to track us."
After affirming that Jungkook was alright as he got himself cured thoroughly and he explained in detail what had happened to him, the team of nine passed up the area.
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As they had reached a few miles, they were least expecting to be surrounded by huge slabs of walls all of a sudden, each making a loud thud as they fell of out nowhere and halted their way.
It didn't make sense to have their faces hidden anymore after Jungkook's identity was already revealed and those veils just gave them a feeling of no other than cowards. So by then, none of them had their faces covered at the moment as they were determined to fight against whatever was coming and to end up all the mess, once and for all.
Just a few seconds of determination and it seemed to waver already when everyone had to do a double-take as they found themselves looking at themselves, each one of which landed jumping from behind the walls.
Seven replicas stood facing them as if staring right into their souls with their fierce eyes.
"Come at me, bitch!" Bee blurted out as she balled her fists into combating position, pale golden shine taking over her orbs.
The other Bee had a blank expression on her face as she stepped forward with small footsteps, caressing her long hair.
Bee eyed her replica as the cool and calm composure of other her was disturbing her to the core.
The fake Bee then lifted both of her arms in the air as her eyes glowed golden and before Bee could process anything, a buttery mist suddenly confined her as she could only swivel around getting perplexed.
She was caught off-guard when not one, not two, but a whole army of fake Bees encircled her.
Everywhere she looked, she found herself as if those were her multiple mirror images.
"How about you come and get me yourself?" Bee heard the voice but she wasn't sure from where it was coming, which one of her replicas was its actual source.
Basically, Bee had to figure out which among the fake ones was her real fake, if it made sense?
But how could she possibly do that?
"What happened, can't do that? All the fake Bees cackled loudly, each of their's red-tinted lips curling into mischievous smirks.
Hoseok glanced around. A horrified expression started settling on his features when he spotted Bee getting outnumbered by her own multiple forms. "Hey! Leave her alone,"
"Woah Woah, what's so hurry about?" Strong orange flames wrapped around Hoseok's torso as he was glued to the place.
"Not even care to have a little chitchat with me, huh?" Duplicate Hoseok whose eyes were now shining reddish-orange walked out in front of him as a wide grin was plastered on his face. "Well, that's cruel."
Hoseok grunted as he felt burning flames tightening around his body as the other him controlled them mercilessly.
"How more pathetic can you look?" Fake Hoseok folded his arms against his chest as he titled forward, gawking at him. "Can't even get your girl."
"Shut up!"
Anger.
Hoseok's every feature was screaming anger. Within a snap, he burst out of the flames as his irises glistened beautifully sunset orange.
"Don't you dare mention her name!" Hoseok charged forward as he summoned a ball of fire over his palm and without thinking twice, he threw it towards his replica.
"Ouch! That hurts...you know," Hoseok's eyes widened with shock when his flames burned a good portion around his fake's body but he didn't seem bothered by it at all as he brushed off some ash from his now hollowed out sizzling chest.
Jin snapped his head almost immediately as he saw both the Hoseoks having combat as powerful orange flames were wrapping them. Jin gulped hard as they literally looked like two blazing balls of fire. He could really feel the heat around himself out of the effect.
"I wonder if you are even capable of doing anything else besides cracking lame jokes, bragging about your face, and making out a fool of yourself around every single time." Jin was surprised when he faced his replica, he had pretty much figured about the matter after what Jungkook had explained to him, but he didn't expect it to resemble every inch of himself.
"God, it's so embarrassing!" Fake Jin held a creamy-white color in his eyes as he eyed Jin while dramatically cringing out.
"And if that wasn't enough, while all your friends have such brilliantly colored eyes, you have those sickly pair of white eyes which makes you look a—a ghost!"
"Enough!" Jin's eyes immediately changed their color to pearl-white as he whipped out his katana, lunging towards his replica.
The invisibility power holder was dumbfounded when his replica bought out the same kind of katana as well, a smirk lacing around his lips.
The blades of two similar deathly weapons clashed together with a clank in the mid-air as both the Jins now levitated up in the air, the long capes attached to their backs fluttered behind.
The site caused Namjoon to look over in despair as he was facing his replica, anticipating what was about to come at him.
"I must mention about your dignity," Namjoon was confused at first when his fake began to clap amusingly, but he maintained his demeanor as he didn't want to look weak in front of his replica, even for a split second. "How witty it is."
As soon as Namjoon opened his mouth to argue, he was pinned to the ground by his fake who cracked a grin, arching his eyebrows at him playfully.
Namjoon struggled under his fake's grip around his throat. He scratched at the hands choking him on air in desperation, his eyes widening in the process.
"All your friends have such extraordinary powers— they can summon fire, electricity, winds, ice, have super strength, perform illusions, have the ability to perform mystical magic, one of them can even be invisible!" Fake Namjoon's voice was laced with disappointment as he hardened his grasp around Namjoon's throat. "And you can do what? Just move some mere things up and down, right and left, nothing more."
Namjoon's eyes now glistened emerald green as he gritted his teeth in an attempt to free himself from the imprisonment of the other him who had created strong gravitational force around them, as bright green energy confined them.
"You think of that as some great power? You've got to be kidding me," Fake Namjoon scoffed as he harshly picked Namjoon up to his feet. "You don't have an idea how I'm ashamed to be you."
Namjoon was a type of person who got influenced easily by almost everything and everyone, except whether it was good or bad.
Irrespective of everything going on around, he just got lost deep within his thoughts. He thought about the situations when he wanted to but wasn't able to help out his friends when they seriously needed it. How he couldn't even fly and reach out at the right time when Jin fell off the bridge and when Jungkook fell off the mountains.
Coming to think of his replica's words- All your friends have such extraordinary powers, he wasn't completely wrong. They all do have some of the amazing superpowers in the world and he couldn't deny that. But something deep inside Namjoon snapped which made him wonder about the positive side as well, about his own powers.
Pulling through his thoughts, Namjoon finally lost his cool as he strongly ripped his replica's hands off his neck, causing his duplicate's all fingers to bent in awkward positions. He then sent a hard kick right on its replica's chest, causing it to roughly collide with one of the walls behind.
The ground shook violently as Namjoon crackled his knuckles, his pupils glowing brighter emerald than ever. He drastically increased the gravity around his replica as its feet dug into the ground, leaving it immobilized at the moment, a big crater then scooped out of the land and got titled over his replica as the gravity power holder manipulated it.
"What did you just say?! Say it one more time and you won't be able to let a single word out from that filthy mouth of yours, forever!" Namjoon's chest heaved in rage, his teeth were gritted.
Fake Namjoon started to tremble under his gaze as anxiety was evident in its features.
"You got it right, my friends do have great powers and that without a doubt." Namjoon approached his fake, furrowing his eyebrows. "But that doesn't mean that my own powers are any less. I've given my best shot at everything and I will continue with that. And no one could underestimate my abilities on behalf of that."
"Not even you!"
With that, Namjoon twisted the big crater at ninety degrees before crashing it down above his replica wholly, thick green mist escaped out from under it in the form of his fake.
"ARGH!" Jin shouted in pain as he received a deep gash on his arm as his replica slashed him with its katana. He stumbled backward as Namjoon ran to his rescue shortly. "Are you okay?"
Jin nodded slightly as fresh blood dripped from his arm. Without giving it a second thought, Namjoon tore off a piece from his clothes and firmly tied it around the elder's gash.
"Where did it go?" Jin and Namjoon both watched in horror as they squinted their eyes to find Jin's replica who was nowhere to be found.
"Namjoon! Watch out!" Jin yelled as he pushed the Namjoon to the ground as the blood-coated katana's blade nearly missed him.
"Thank god, I sensed his footsteps." Jin breathed heavily as he offered his hand to Namjoon as he pulled him to his feet.
Before his replica could cover himself and be invisible again, Jin caught its cape and ruined it into rags with the help of his own katana.
Panic was written on fake Jin's face as he backed off and tried to escape from Jin's eyes.
Fake Jin's steps immediately came to a halt when a sharp katana pierced through its torso.
There stood Jin right in front of the other shivering him as he removed the invisibility cloak off himself, making his appearance more evident than ever as he held the weapon in his hand. "Now you know what I am capable of?!"
Fake Jin's face was plastered with worry as he took in Jin's words. While Jin squeezed the blade into his fake's torso even deeper, causing a trail of white liquid to seep out from him.
"I don't give a damn about what you think of me!" Jin's eyes shone into the brightest pearl-white shade as he clenched his jaw. "You. don't. matter. at. all."
"What matters is the people around me, they like me for who I am. That's me and I like me."
"No. In fact, I love myself!" A smile spread across Jin's face as he stood tall and prominent.
"And you are no one to change my opinion."
Jin's replica dissipated into a translucent white mist that swirled in circles before vanishing completely. "I admit it."
Author's Note:
I guess, this is the longest chapter so far *phew*. Hope you enjoyed it! There's much more to come!!
I 💜 You!