Chapter 167: Chapter 167- Not Even The Gods Can Take Him From Me
Chapter 167: Chapter 167- Not Even The Gods Can Take Him From Me
Hyun-Jae couldn't see what exactly happened before it was all over so she didn't know exactly what Talon did to create such an explosion. However, what she was certain of was that doing something like this was beyond reckless and quite life-threatening.
'Where is he?! Where is he?!' Swimming toward the heart of the explosion, she looked around frantically as she fought the raging water currents with all her power. The sheer force of the water as it slowly flooded the crater was massive.
A normal human would've already been crushed by the sheer force and turned into a bloody paste. But, luckily, her body was strong enough to resist the pressure and remain fairly functional.
'Talon!' Her eyes scanned every inch of the area, searching for Talon. The more she searched, the more she grew anxious that he had been caught in that explosion and… And…
Her mind refused to even think of that word and instead quickly pushed all of those negative thoughts away. Instead, she put her entire focus on finding him. But, the darkness of the environment didn't help at all.
'Lightning!' Using the remaining Aetheris in her body, she created a giant lightning ball before she threw it in a particular direction.
The ball flew ahead, creating a tangible source of light and a path for Hyun-Jae to move in. So, she quickly swam after it, letting it guide her way while she looked around for clues.
Time was key as she didn't know if Talon was even conscious or not. If he wasn't, then it would be a disaster to leave him underwater for even a few seconds since he wasn't even able to hold his breath and water would quickly invade his lungs.
Moments passed in eerie silence as Hyun-Jae swam and explored the area.
'He has to be somewhere here! He couldn't have gone that far away from the explosion! If he was caught in it, then most likely, he should be at the bottom of the river right now!'
All of her ideas were simple assumptions that had no actual proof behind them. But, in such a situation where she had no time to even contemplate where he was, anything she could come up with was better than nothing.
So, she quickly created another lightning ball and threw it to the bottom of the river. Then, she watched as the shiny energy ball illuminated the area. Her eyes calmly looked around until… She saw it.
A dark silhouette lying on the river floor, motionless.
'Talon!!' Without even a moment to think, she dashed toward him as fast as she could. The young man was there, and that alone made her heart race from excitement and fear.
When she reached him, she picked him up before she pulled her mask and gave it to him. However, at that moment, her face turned extremely pale. A realization that filled her heart with terror came down like a bombshell.
'He isn't breathing! Oh, no no no…' Pulling her mask back she quickly picked the young man up and started swimming to the top as fast as she could.
'I need to fucking hurry!' Clenching her teeth, she reached the surface in a few seconds.
"Buah!! Hah… Hah… Where is the boat?! Where is the goddamn boat?!" Pulling Talon close to her. "Don't worry, you will be fine, Talon. Just give me a few seconds!"
"President!!"
At that moment, she heard someone calling for her and she saw a boat approaching them at top speed.
When it reached them, Chin-Hwa popped out of the control room as he approached the edge. "Here, hold my hand!" He said as he extended his arm to Hyun-Jae.
"Take Talon first!" She exclaimed as she pulled the young man up with all her strength.
"Huh? What's wrong with him?" The cold prince frowned as he pulled Talon up and put him on the deck.
"He isn't breathing! Talon isn't breathing!" Jumping up on the boat, Hyun-Jae threw the mask away carelessly as she sat next to him and quickly put her fingers near his neck. That's when the second horrifying realization hit her.
"No pulse either…" Her face paled completely. But, instead of panicking, she shook her head and put her hands on Talon's chest as she started doing CPR.
"Is there any resuscitation equipment on this boat?!" She asked as she moved her arms as delicately as she could.
"I will look…" Chin-Hwa ran inside the cockpit again.
"Come on, Talon, this is nothing… You can't do this to me!" Hyun-Jae murmured in terror as she continued doing chest compressions.
Then, she lifted Talon's chin and put her lips on his without a single moment of hesitation. She didn't care if she was doing something she had never done to a man before… This was not any random person to her.
Exhaling all the air into his mouth, Talon's chest rose up a little before it went down. But, there was no pulse.
So, she continued chest compressions with even more vigor. At that moment, Hyun-Jae couldn't think of anything apart from making the young man in front of her wake up again.
"I won't let you die! I won't allow you to die!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "I put it an oath on myself! To help you, however, I can! Our journey is far from over, Talon! We still need to take over Seoul!
We still need to find your family! You can't let this be the end, please!" She called for him desperately and yet no voice replied.
"I couldn't find any resuscitation tools on the boat, president!" Chin-Hwa came back in a hurry.
But, Hyun-Jae didn't reply as she quickly made mouth-to-mouth CPR again. She knew that with each passing moment of Talon not waking up, her chances were decreasing.
But, it seemed normal CPR wasn't enough. She needed to do something different. She needed to make his heart work again, whether it was by CPR or by pure force.
At that moment, an idea popped into Hyun-Jae's head. An idea that sounded so outrageous at first but slowly made itself more prominent the more time passed.
'I have no other choice!'
So, she lifted her hand up, channeling her Aetheris, lightning accumulated in her hand before she put it on Talon's chest.
Then, she closed her eyes as she controlled the lightning in her hand. The bolts coursed through her arm to Talon's body as they accumulated around his heart.
At that moment, his body suddenly jolted as if he had been hit with electricity before it returned to normal.
'Again…'
Hyun-Jae repeated the same thing again when she noticed some results. Then, she did it multiple times after that, each time, she would focus her entire mind on guiding that lightning through Talon's body and restart his heart.
The attempts were hard, and extremely exhausting mentally and physically. But, she didn't give up or even think of giving up.
But, there was only so much someone could do in a situation like this…
Even with time passing, there were no signs of Talon waking up.
"President…" Chin-Hwa stared at Hyun-Jae's face with a broken look. He could see the insane despair in her eyes at that moment.
He had never seen Hyun-Jae in such a state before. Or, perhaps, only once did he see her like that, and yet it was a very long time ago.
He couldn't bear seeing her like that and yet he also didn't know what he was supposed to do.
After multiple tries, Hyun-Jae exhausted all her Aetheris as she almost fell back from exhaustion.
"This… can't be…" Murmuring in a quiet tone, she stared at Talon. Tears were still rolling down her face.
"Please… It's enough, president… He isn't… waking up…" Chin-Hwa said as he tilted his head, feeling as awful as he could be.
"Shut up…" Putting her hand on Talon's chest, she clenched it in frustration as she looked down in anger mixed with sorrow. "Shut the hell up! He isn't going to die here! He isn't like everyone else! He is destined to be great! This makes no sense!"
"President…" The cold prince was completely speechless.
"He isn't like everyone else!! If there are any gods in this world, you are making a grave mistake by taking him away… From me!!" She cursed loudly. "If he doesn't wake up, I won't forgive you for it!"
As she yelled those words, a feeling of hatred and darkness started creeping into her heart. Hyun-Jae felt herself falling into a deep darkness that she had never been to. A darkness that threatened to swallow all of her, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell of her past self.
'I won't let you take him from me! Nobody can take him from me! Not even the gods!' She thought to herself.
But, at that moment, at her lowest point, she suddenly felt something. Opening her eyes, she saw Talon's mouth move slightly as if he was trying to suck in some breath. Her pupils dilated.
"Talon?!"
"*Cough* *Cough*" The young man started coughing violently as he frowned hard. Then, he started throwing up all the water accumulated in his body.
Hyun-Jae shook herself out of her daze as she quickly tilted him to the side with her shaky hands. NovelFire-only
After coughing for a while, Talon's eyes slowly started opening.
"He is waking up! He is waking up! Chin-Hwa!!" Hyun-Jae's dark expression quickly lit up in extreme happiness. She didn't know what to do or say at that moment from pure delight. Her hands were shaking and her heart was threatening to burst.
"Ugh… My head…" Talon groaned lightly as he took in all the light of day that assaulted his retina. "What a weird… dream… again…"
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