THE FINAL WHISPER- XI [ FINAL]

Chapter 16: Venom and Vengeance

The wind howled through the skeleton of a once-thriving city, now a graveyard of concrete and rust. Ash rained down like cursed snow, blanketing the streets in grey silence. This abandoned ruin had become the battlefield. A war zone. A crucible of hatred.

And at the heart of it stood Kim Ji-ho, eyes burning red like molten steel, his black hair flickering in the energy-charged air. His brother, hidden in the shadow of a collapsed mall, watched from a safe distance, jaw clenched in worry.

Across the shattered avenue stood Dae-hwan, the fourth name on Ji-ho's list.

AA-ranked. Poison Awakened. A serpent cloaked in human flesh.

The man's entire body radiated venomous aura, thick and green like toxic mist. His eyes glowed like twin acid pools, and his lips curled into a sneer.

"So... you're the brat they warned me about," Dae-hwan spat, flicking his tongue as if tasting the rage in the air.

Ji-ho said nothing. Words were meaningless now.

Instead, he activated Destructive Ray, the air around his body warping violently. The Ray split into six streams, dancing around his arms like living snakes, humming with deadly heat.

Dae-hwan cracked his knuckles. "You're one arrogant bastard to come here alone."

He stomped the ground—venom surged like a tsunami, exploding the pavement into bubbling green sludge. The toxin hissed through steel and stone, corroding everything it touched.

Ji-ho leapt, his foot launching off the edge of a tilted skyscraper wall. His eyes locked on Dae-hwan. He didn't blink.

A pulse of thought, and the Ray morphed into a glowing crimson sword, vibrating with violent intent. It cleaved the air like lightning and met Dae-hwan's clawed fist with a thunderous BOOM.

The street cratered.

A wave of destruction rippled outward, disintegrating several buildings instantly.

But Dae-hwan didn't back down. His entire body pulsed with venom, a shield of corrosion and pain.

They clashed again. And again. And again.

Every punch was a bomb. Every swing a catastrophe.

Buildings turned to rubble. The sky blackened. Cracks split the earth.

Ji-ho's rage spilled over. "This city dies with you, Dae-hwan!"

"You think you scare me?!" Dae-hwan screamed back, laughing maniacally.

He unleashed a poison mist explosion, swallowing half the block in choking acid vapor. Ji-ho's Ray Sword melted halfway before he reforged it with sheer willpower. He focused, and the sword split into a thousand laser needles, each locking onto Dae-hwan's vital points with deadly precision.

Dae-hwan swiped his hand, forming a poison dragon from his blood. It roared and devoured the lasers, but Ji-ho was already behind him—teleporting with a burst of raw speed.

He drove his fist into Dae-hwan's spine.

CRACK.

The poison Awakener roared in agony, spinning to grab Ji-ho, but the Ray Sword slashed diagonally across his chest. Blood hissed on contact with his own toxic skin. The ground collapsed beneath them.

They fell into a subway station, the train cars rusted, the walls half-eaten by mold and time.

Dae-hwan coughed up blood. "You… you're just like us now…"

"I'm nothing like you," Ji-ho growled, "I don't kill for pleasure. I kill for justice."

But even as he spoke, his hands trembled. The memory of Seo-oh being tortured, raped, killed—her cries echoing in the video chip—haunted him like fire in his lungs.

That was why this man had to die. No mercy. No restraint.

Dae-hwan stood tall again, drawing poison into his lungs for a final, city-killing attack.

"You'll die with me then!" he roared.

Ji-ho stared him down, blood trickling down his temple. "Try."

The Ray Sword extended, wrapped in destructive aura, flickering between a blade and a spear. Ji-ho channeled all his hatred, all his fury into the weapon. His body surged with power. His mind screamed with vengeance.

And he threw it.

The sword pierced through Dae-hwan's chest, igniting every cell in his body. The blast was apocalyptic, a chain reaction of energy that collapsed the entire subway, shattered the surface above, and reduced an entire city block into a pit of glass and fire.

Silence.

Ash floated through the air.

Dae-hwan's smoking body lay in pieces, twisted and blackened. His final scream echoed faintly through the rubble.

Ji-ho stood in the center of destruction, panting, shirt torn, body burned, but unbroken.

He had won the battle of death and poison.

Another name. Another soul. Another memory avenged.

He turned and walked back toward the ruins of the mall where his brother waited, the tattooed symbol of the angel-turning-devil burned into his memory.

Four down. Six to go.

And now… the true hunt begins.

---

To be continued....