Chunhua took each breath slowly, power rising up through her nostrils and spreading out into her body. She felt it gather at her core and spread back out into the cycle of internal energy within her meridians. Each pathway carried strength where it needed to go, each passing second she felt her power build. She let the breath out and her strength stabilized. This will do for now, she thought before tapping her earpiece. “Amos.”
<”I’m ready,”> he said, <”Do me a favor and drag it out a bit, will you? Those three are probably part of her inner circle or whatever she calls it. Sonya and the Pandora Committee are gonna want footage of their powers. Might give us an idea of what we’re dealing with if there’s more out there.”>
She lowered her hand to her side and focused on the approaching force of masked soldiers, “Understood.”
A storm of footsteps came to a stop, the sounds of guns arming as hundreds of barrels were pointed her way. She stood up straighter, keeping her sword at her side. Instead of attacking right away she drew in a breath and used an insignificant portion of her internal energy to broadcast her voice even as she focused her senses on her surroundings, listening for any idle chit-chat that might give her an edge. “I am Black Lotus!” she shouted, “You are trespassing in a restricted area! Lay down your weapons and submit to arrest!”
No one moved.
She frowned, “Worth a try.”
Amos chuckled in her ear, <”You heroes are hilarious.”>
Your inner villain is showing, she thought darkly. Fixing her gaze on the trio that was approaching from the rear. She readjusted her grip on her sword as a portion of the attackers spread out down the middle, making way for the three suspected members of Liberty’s inner circle. Two of them appeared to be dragging some kind of load behind them, she couldn’t quite make it out with the dimming light. Her eyes narrowed, what are they dragging-
She clenched her teeth.
<”...Hey, take a breath,”> Amos said quickly.
“You…” she snarled.
<”...easy, you know they’re doing it this way on purpose. Calm down, Black Lotus.”>
She felt tears sting her eyes as rage tried to create a cavern in her chest. It took every ounce of training and self discipline not to lash out, not to explode, not to set aside all compunctions and turn this campground into a bloodbath. Even so, mastering herself in that moment was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life. The trio came to a stop just at the edge of the crowd of masked men and women who formed back up behind them. She looked at each of them in turn, barely able to contain herself as she memorized their features.
A thin man was on the left, his lanky frame adorned with what she could only describe as monks robes or an exercise outfit. He had bells tied to his ankles that rang with each step. His eyes were wide, manic, and his smile dripped with barely suppressed desire for violence. Opposite him was another man, he carried a bow slung over his shoulder. His expression was a bit more relaxed, his eyes glowing with ruby-red light. In the middle was a young woman, while the other two were relatively clean, she was haggard and withdrawn, her eyes sunken and her face filled with scorn. Yet that wasn’t what arrested Chunhua about her.
She was a cultivator. Chunhua could feel it. The internal energy cycling in the woman’s body.
She finally forced herself to turn her attention to what they had been dragging with them. Bodies.
The thin man tilted his head a bit, bending at the waist so he could meet her gaze as she looked down at the ankle gripped in his hand. “See something you like?” he snickered. He looked down at the anke in his hand and the foot attached to it before looking up at her. He held his hand over his mouth as if to say ‘oops!’. “Oh! You want this?” he asked and wrenched the body up before hurling it to her feet. The corpse of an aspirant rolled across the ground before stopping, lifeless. She looked down at the bloody face, stricken with horror, the wounds were terrible. Like the poor thing’s flesh had been rippled and torn, the chest caved in.
“Well, well, well, well, WELL! Isn’t this a goddamn flip!” the thin man laughed, slapping his thigh and sauntering a few steps forward as she stared at the body, “Here I was thinkin’ we’d have to fight our way through those nobody prick instructors to get to you. You owe me money, Sir Ewen.”
She flicked her gaze up at the kempt man with the red eyes. Her pulse pounding in her ears. He didn’t have the temerity to toss a corpse at her feet, instead he simply dumped it on the ground next to him as if forgetting to toss out a wrapper. “It seems I do, Sir Ellis. I’m sorry to have doubted you,” he said and walked up to stand next to his compatriot, “You know, if word gets out that you were the one who blocked our path, that could land you in some hot water, Black Lotus. Aren’t you suspended? Did you get a taste of rebellion back at the Hague or something?”
She ground her teeth, “You… killed them.”
Sir Ewen furrowed his brow, “Obviously. That’s what we were sent here to do after all,” he said with a shrug. He paused and scratched his nose, “Oh, actually, we’re really only here for one person. I suppose if you hand them over then we could just leave?”
The haggard woman scowled at him, “That wasn’t the plan,” she hissed.
He turned and frowned at her, “Learn to read the room a little. You know Liberty really just wants her sister back, the rest of ‘em will die sooner or later anyway. What’s the big deal?”
Chunhua closed her eyes, willing herself to find some measure of calm. She opened them and looked down at the body at her feet. There were fifty young people who signed on to become heroes at this camp. Fifty. She sheathed her sword and the two men took a step forward just as she vanished. She appeared next to Ewen and turned to look him in the eyes before reaching down and picking up the boy he’d tossed to the ground. Before he could react she was back where she had been standing before.
She picked the other boy up and slung both of them over her shoulders before vanishing again with a push off the ground. She returned only after leaving them laying next to the doors of the main building. “Ryan Stone, Darell Knight,” she said, the names sending an ache through her chest. It didn’t matter if they weren’t the most famous of the aspirants or the most distinguished. It didn’t matter at all. They’d stepped up, signed on, and even as things got tougher at the camp they’d stayed on. They were prepared to put their lives on the line to do some good in this world.
To her, it was all that mattered.
Ellis tilted his head to the right, his wild eyes staring at her in confusion even as Ewen’s expression went dark. “...who?”
Chunhua exploded into motion, a single step carrying her the brief distance between herself and the robe-wearing maniac. She brought her sword up in a diagonal arc, intending to cleave him from hip to shoulder if she could. Her capacity for mercy was gone. Here, they’d find none. A sudden gleam of red light from below preceded a physical column of red light that absorbed the force of her strike, a shock racing through it that nearly shattered the construct as Ellis took a startled step back. She took another step and was behind him, driving a foot towards his spine.
The wild man whipped his head towards her with a laugh and vanished as her foot passed through where his body should have been. “Fire! Open fire! She’s a Mythic, don’t hold back!” Ewen shouted as Chunhua kicked off the ground again, darting towards the main building as the rapid cracks of automatic weapons going off began to fill the air. She landed half way between the main building and the dojo, darting towards her on-again-off-again home and around it, looking to disappear for a moment from their sight.
“Amos?” she called.
<”All systems go!”>
A loud mechanical whirring rose up from the main building. She turned in time to see parts of the roof rise up in the form of cylinders that sprouted long metal tubes. The turrets swiveled and leveled their cannons on the gathered cultists before unceremoniously returning fire, a hail of bullets raining down on the raiders as Chunhua rounded the back of the dojo. Shouts and screams joined the chorus of gunfire. Now. She pushed off the earth into a leap, hurtling into the sky and pivoting her body, internal energy gathered at her feet and she pushed again the air becoming momentarily solid beneath her feet.
She drew her sword once more only to spot the tell-tale flash of red light from Ewen’s ability, an arrow of red light already moving to intercept her. Tch, she spun, flipping over once before landing on the ground and kicking off again. She ignored the bullets flying over her head, paid no mind to the scattering cultists as they sought cover. One hundred-
Ding~ Ding~
Bells?
The impact was so sudden that Chunhua barely had enough time to even comprehend what hit her. The palm-strike sending a rippling wave of sonic power through her side and chest before lifting her off the ground and sending her sprawling. Her head hit the ground and her vision swam just long enough for her to roll onto her back. When it cleared the wild eyes of Ellis were looking down at her, palm already moving down to follow up his attack. She cursed and rolled again, dodging a blow that left a crater in the ground beneath his palm. In the distance she heard something pop, a briefly lived flash of light following it. She didn’t have time to think about it, though.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He barked out a laugh and she pushed up with her hands, twisting her body once into a sweeping kick that he leaped over. He drove his palms down at her again and she shoved against the ground, this time with enough force to get her to her feet. She swayed left and right, avoiding his next two palm strikes before he took another step and the sound of bells filled her ears again and he vanished from sight. She spun, letting instinct guide her and raised her sword, catching his next strike as a flare of red bloomed in the corner of her eyes.
She threw her head back, the arrow scraping across the tip of her nose as Ellis took a step backwards and disappeared again with that tell-tale chiming of bells. Sound based move- she didn’t even have time to think as he came in again, laughing wildly as palm-strikes were traded out for a series of kicks, her sword moved in response. Head, kidney, knee, shoulder, shoulder, head, she gave ground, letting him push her back. He’s moving me towards Ewen.
A thrill went up her spine, an instinctive reaction she’d felt only during one other fight. An image popped into her mind of the roots of a massive tree in the desolated remains of Las Vegas. She clicked her tongue and disengaged, pushing back even further with a snap kick in Ellis’ direction as spines of red light erupted from the ground and crisscrossed the spot where her heart had been just moments before. Another arrow lanced in her direction and she whipped her sword out and to the side, sending the missile into the ground. She leveled Ewen with a stare before glancing towards the scattering mob. Some were trying to find cover to use to shoot back at the turrets Amos had unleashed while others were just fleeing into the trees or dropping dead.
In the brief heartbeat of stillness, she heard the chime of Ellis’ bells as Ewen drew his hand back, conjuring a new arrow that grew larger than the others. She felt Ellis appear above her at the same time a storm of red streaks exploded from Ewen’s bow.
She clicked her tongue, pivoted, and spun. She swept her attacks around herself in a spiral, Cyclone of Rose Blooms! Each strike collided with red arrows as her attacker from above was flung back up into the sky, pealing with laughter. She shot herself upwards, charging towards him and he turned to look at her, snickering before vanishing with a crystal clear chime of the bells on his ankles. I need to get rid of those bells, she thought and turned again, sweeping aside another series of frantic blows from the martial artist. This time she managed a good kick in the chest, sending him back to the ground.
She went in for a landing herself, turning her focus towards the archer. She gripped her weapon with both hands as she neared him. He met her gaze, red eyes burning. His lips spread into a cruel sneer and he raised his right hand, sweeping it to the left with a callous gesture. Red chains ripped up out of the ground but they weren’t aimed at her, instead, shouts of surprise and confusion rose up amongst the mob as several of this bastard''s own men were dragged straight into her angle of attack.
One of them had the presence of mind to turn and point his gun directly at her. Shit! She swore, throwing her internal energy into a sudden change of direction. The abrupt forces acting on her body made her muscles ache as she hurtled away, her new trajectory ended as she slid to a stop among a small cluster of the masked soldiers. The turrets that had been firing in that direction immediately changed targets and the soldiers didn’t miss a beat, they opened fire.
She took a slow and deliberate breath in the heartbeat it took them to adjust their aim, a scowl forming on her face. You should have kept them out of this. She thought angrily. She let her inner energy cycle faster, moving it to her limbs as the scent of blossoms filled the air.
“Scatter!” A woman’s voice called out just as Chunhua charged, diving into the small army that had gathered and unleashing on them, one cut became thirty in an instant as she revved up, letting her momentum build. Screams of surprise and pain joined the chorus of gunfire. A flash of red in the corner of her eye drew her attention and she turned to block as a large arrow punctured two of the masked men in order to get at her. She snarled and swept it down to the ground with a bang, the energy it released sending more of the masked soldiers to an early grave.
“THEY’RE YOUR MEN!” She bellowed, hopping back to avoid another hail of gunfire as two more arrows launched in her direction. She swatted them away, retreating a bit more to get some distance and noticed that the shooting had stopped.
Ding ding.
Her lips curled into a snarl as she turned around, faster this time, and found Ellis staring wide-eyed at her incoming fist. She drove her fist into his nose and sent him careening through a dozen of the masked soldiers. She launched herself forward and grabbed him by the shirt in mid air, dragging him with her as she slid across the ground before hurling him to the dirt. He bounced off the ground once, grunting painfully and the bells on his ankles chimed again. His eyes opened only to widen as her sword turned into a blur. The chains holding the bells on snapped.
She met his gaze, her eyes hard. She saw panic followed by mad excitement as he clapped his hands and vanished. They’re going to start shooting, she realized. She went to jump and found herself held fast, she looked down and spotted red chains wrapping around her ankles, burrowed up from the ground. She scowled and slammed her fists together, pushing her internal energy out and to her skin as she furrowed her brows in concentration. She felt the first bullet strike her cheek before bouncing off of her hardened skin. Another hit, then another, soon automatic weapons were emptying themselves as she burned through power to defend herself.
Golden Scale Technique! It was a not-insignificant drain on her resources but as she wasn’t going full tilt yet, even so, they kept firing until there was nothing left in their magazines. A hail of gunfire that didn’t just hit her, but the soldiers around her as they wildly sprayed bullets in her general direction. When the shooting stopped she lowered her arms and turned to look in the direction where she felt the two men, both standing next to one another and watching as their men literally killed one another to get at her.
She spat on the ground, “Done playing tricks?” she demanded and pointed her sword at them, “Is this all Liberty’s people have to offer? I’m surprised anyone’s even worried,” she said and swept her blade down, cutting through the chains around her ankles. They dissolved only for a pillar of red light to shoot up towards her face. She threw her head back and kicked away as spikes exploded from the earth, red edges looking to tear through her flesh. Her lips twitched down into a frown as she reached the edge of the treeline wrapping around the camp. Her eyes shot towards the building, wait a minute. Her eyes widened, NO!
The woman, the cultivator, was moving towards the common building. She’d drawn her sword and was flicking it left and right as the turrets fired down at her, casually sending the incoming fire away.
<”Hey hey hey, Chunhua! Get over here!”> Amos shouted.
Internal energy turned into fire in her veins, the trees behind her exploded as she pushed far beyond what limits she’d set for herself in this fight. She rocketed across the gap, her eyes burning with power. A mocking face appeared in her way, both hands outstretched. She snarled as he brought both hands together. Her weapon rose and fell, the sound wave he created colliding with an arc shaped flash. She split the wave in half and pushed through, her hand grabbing his face before he could react. “OUT OF MY WAY!” she roared and hurled him at Ewen.
The woman had drawn her sword at this point, raising it up over her head only to whip around just as Chunhua neared, she snapped her foot out and it collided with Chunhua’s jaw. Chunhua felt a bone creak under the force of the blow as she was sent skipping across the ground. She landed in a heap, pulling herself up quickly to block the follow up strike from the woman who jumped out of the way just for a barrage of red arrows to come raining down. Chunhua leaped out of the way and in a flash of movement landed in front of the building again, breathing hard.
The trio approached, all eyes on her.
“Not bad! They say you’re the world''s strongest, gotta admit, I am impressed,” Ewen said.
She whipped her blade out and to the side, catching her breath and immediately beginning to cycle power again. I understand their abilities now. That man with the red light can create constructs and beams, like Bluestar. Similar power? She flicked her gaze towards Ellis, He teleports with sounds and can use sounds to attack, the teleportation depends on a distinct noise though. If it can’t be heard by his target, basically, it’s of no use to him. But if it’s a scattered sound like gunfire, he can’t take advantage of it. Or maybe he has to make the sound himself.
“Working out our abilities?” Ewen asked.
“I think you three know you’re outmatched,” she growled, “Stow the bravado and leave before I am forced to kill more of your men.”
“How generous,” Ewen laughed, “Thoughts, Ellis?”
“Pretty sure Liberty would tear us to pieces if we did that,” Ellis said, “Besides, she’s already winded.”
“She’s holding back,” the woman cut in with a terse snap of her voice. The two men glanced at her but her eyes were fixed on Chunhua, “Restraining yourself to epic-tier, right? Against two Heroics? It’s insulting.”
Chunhua stood up straighter, meeting her gaze as her fingers tightened around her sword, “You have good senses.”
The two men scowled but Chunhua ignored them, “What about you?” she asked the woman.
“I think you know,” the woman said and rest her hand on the hilt of a sworn on her belt, “But I don’t think you need to worry about me right now. My friends are angry now that they know the truth.”
Chunhua glanced at the two furious men, “Anger is false strength.”
The woman’s lips parted in a wicked smile as she leaped backwards to get some distance, “Strength from Liberty isn’t.”
Chunhua’s eyebrows furrowed, “What-”
“STRENGTH FROM LIBERTY! I am Sir Ellis of the Round Table!”
“STRENGTH FROM LIBERTY! I am Sir Ewen of the Round Table!”
Both men bellowed their declarations at the same time, a copper column of light slamming down from above as if sent down from the heavens. Their bodies glowed, their skin tensing, muscles expanding, their eyes gleamed as renewed vigor flooded through their bodies. She could feel power raging beneath their skin, waiting to be unleashed. Did they just… jump a tier? She thought as the two men moved. A pillar of red light erupting from the ground beneath his feet and sending him flying backwards for distance as Ellis darted in with a blur of attacks. She blocked each one, but the gap had narrowed significantly. Flashes of sound were hitting her body, leaving small spots of pain here and there.
She hissed and snapped out a kick that he twisted around like a snake, moving into her guard to try to land a strike with his palm.
No choice.
She pulled her body back around his extending arm, the world around her slowing down as her senses went into overdrive. The internal energy pouring from her core turned from a stream into a river as she responded to their spike in strength with her own. The words spilled from her lips as she took a step forward.
One-hundred eighty petals!
The jabs came out like a blur, a ripple of strikes that caught the man and sent cuts across his tough body before throwing him back towards Ewen.
She entered her ready stance once more, “Find all the fake power and false might you want,” she declared, her weapon gleaming, “You will not pass me!”