1
12 Years Later, In The Present Time
"...And that's when you murdered him in cold blood..." Bianca snapped, lying flat on the ground in front of Yang Lu.
Her voice shook, and her eyes were drenched with tears. She couldn't hold them back, and she clenched her fist. She punched the ground forcefully and yelled, "You took him from me, you piece of shit! He had a daughter, one grieving from her mother's death!"
"Oh yeah, I did kill him. Now I do remember," Yang Lu reflected and stroked his chin.
Bianca creased her brows lower and clamped her teeth. She hissed, "You don't even care, and that's messed up. How many lives have you taken without remorse?"
"I'd say hundreds love, killing is my second nature. William Colonel happened to be another poor, helpless sap that I just ended," Yang Lu said, his voice calm and casual.
"Anyways, I'm not here to talk about your father. What happened to the Colonel happened a long time ago. I suggest you move on from that event and heal from your wounds before they bleed out again."
Yang Lu tucked his right hand in his pocket, and with the other, he pointed up as he reflected on what he was about to say. He turned around to face Bianca and spoke. "Alexis and I want to know how you stole the Meta gene serum. We also want to know what you're doing here on Earth, fIfty-one. What is your business here with the Divine Guardians?"
"You're a dumbass if you think that I'm going to spill everything out!"
Yang Lu tutted, "That's not the answer I'm looking for, love. Alexis, let's have fun with her. I want us to play the piñata. Let's see whether we can pop candy out of her."
Alexis smirked, tilting her head slightly, "I thought you never asked."
Yang Lu stepped aside while she stretched her hands toward Bianca. She expelled a haze of smoke from her hands and directed it toward her. The smoke coiled around and lifted Bianca off the ground.
She inhaled the smoke once more and coughed. Yang Lu took out Blood Bath, his sword, from behind his back. He directed the dreaded weapon at her and sauntered to her. Bianca gaped her eyes when she saw the dreaded blade. She remembered how it liquified her father's flesh. Although she wanted to give in, she braced herself for whatever outcome.
Yang Lu approached her and directed the weapon at her. Fortunately, it was still veiled by its sheath. He struck her on the solar plexus.
She groaned while stationed in the air by the nebulous smoke. He struck her again, and she spewed blood from her mouth as the smoke filled her lungs.
Alexis cackled from afar.
Yang Lu ordered , "Release her. "
Alexis did as she was instructed, and Bianca tumbled to the ground. He stood before a helpless Bianca and lifted her head with his foot, asking, "Are you ready to talk?"
She gasped for air and shook her head in defiance. He released her and shoved his black boot against her face. She rolled over and glanced at the black sky. She coughed as her lungs pumped more smoke out.
"Again!" He ordered, his brows sharply pointing down.
Alexis grinned from ear to ear; his words were like a sweet melody. She stretched her hands again toward Bianca, and the nebulous smoke enveloped her. With the strength of a bodybuilder, she easily lifted herself off the ground while she held her breath.
Yang Lu swung the sealed sword at her. She closed her eyes to brace herself, but nothing happened. She waited a bit more, and nothing still happened. When she opened her eyes, she saw a large smirk plastered on his face. She scowled in response.
"Just teasing you, love," he struck her in the gut again, and she clamped her teeth to suppress her agony. The searing pain intensified with each passing second, and even worse, her lungs expanded to inhale the passing carbon. Soon, her lungs expanded more, surpassing their limit.
Yang Lu struck her again, and she unwillingly inhaled the smoke. She choked from it as it filled her lungs. She coughed, but more smoke entered her nasal passages. Her eyes turned red from the irritation of the toxins. Yang Lu struck her again, and she spewed blood. She longed for death to knock on her door sooner. And just when it did, it was suddenly taken from her.
"Release her," Yang Lu ordered.
She fell on the ground face-first. Her vision was as hazy as a mist on a cold winter morning.
Yang Lu approached her once more. She gasped for air and struggled to move. She relied heavily on her hearing before slowly passing out.
He tutted, "What's it going to be this time? Are you ready to talk ?"
She cocked her head up and looked at him; his features were blurry. However, she recognized his trapezoid-shaped body. She directed her middle finger at him before passing out. Her head then slammed against the ground.
"Oh, well. We'll take you back home with us," he sighed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
Yang Lu and Alexis looked around and saw a round, plump figure standing before them. It was Pete. He stretched his right fist at them while he tucked his left elbow against his left rib, his right fist pointing up. His loose, black onyx curls dipped down his white collar, and his eyes were a stern gaze.
Yung Fu stood beside him, stretching his right hand in their direction. The other hand was positioned next to his facial features. He bent four of his fingers in each hand to make a half fist. He also bent his thumbs to align a width closer to his middle fingers. His feet were slightly spread apart as he embraced himself for battle, with one of his many battle stances, the tiger stance.
Yung Fu looked at Alexis briefly, and he creased his brows lower as he studied her. Her petite body, black long hair with red linings, and thin, sweet eyes. She was the spitting image of Alexa, his ex-wife. Could it be that she was working with the enemy? If so, why would she stoop so low? As he pondered, he realized that it wasn't her. After all, Alexa wanted nothing to do with his world and valued their son way too much to turn to the dark side.
As he looked at her, Alexis noticed that his eyes were glued to her. She wondered why and just smiled with intrigue.
"I thought you took care of the Guardians!" Yang Lu snarled, glaring at Alexis.
"I did, I filled all their rooms with Halothane gas. How they escaped is beyond me. It's a powerful sleeping agent; a single whiff from its scent should've taken them out," she admitted stiffly.
"I'm sorry to spoil your fun, but Yung Fu and I have an antidote that can reverse any anesthetic gas."
"Even so, it's impossible that both of you are here, awake. I filled your rooms with the Halothane gas. It works almost instantly; there was no way you guys could've accessed your antidote from where you hid it." Alexis bawled.
Pete smiled and licked his lips, "Well, honey. When you filled my room with that gas, I was having a late-night snack. So I snuck out of my bedroom to eat twelve slices of a yummy ham and melted cheese sandwich. Oh, god, that was delicious. I'll go for another round after this fight."
Yung Fu glared at Pete; his expression gave the impression that he wanted to strangle him from where he stood. "You lack discipline, Peter. I'm fairly disappointed in you. I'll have you punished for your irresponsible behavior."
Pete cloaked his mouth with his hands, "I said too much, didn't I? But hey man, my appetite saved us on the flip side." He playfully punched his teacher on the shoulder. Yung F sighed in response.
"How could you be so ignorant, Alexis? I gave you more credit than you deserved. I will deal with you once we've captured Bianca!" Yang Lu bawled.
"How was I supposed to know he snuck into the kitchen? If you were with me, you'd also think he was sleeping in his..."
"Silence! I don't want to hear anything from you! Your mistake has grave consequences, and if the Heavens are not with us, it will cost us our heads!" Yang Lu shouted.
Pete chuckled, "Oh, that. You fell for the oldest trick in the book, lady. That was not me under my bedsheets. I hid four large pillows to make them copy my round shape. When I realized what had happened. I took my antidote and gave it to Yung Fu."
Yang Lu leisurely slipped Blood Bath from her sheath. The two ( Yung Fu and Pete ) watched as he unveiled her. The dashing sheen bounced off the silver surface, and the serrated edges exuded a bone-chilling aura. The surrounding plasma energy surged around, and the electric streaks crackled frantically. The two wondered how many poor souls fell victim to her.
"It's unfortunate that I can't kill you with Blood Bath. We still need to bring you into Sovereign Havoc to revive the talisman's power and emancipate Emperor Death Wrath from the Dark Realm..." He said with distaste as he rotated the sword with his hand and carefully studied it.
He glared at the two Guardians, his eyes so sharp and narrow that you could sense malice crawling out of them. He smirked, "But nobody said anything about cutting your limbs. off"
Blood Bath slowly dematerialized from their line of sight. The phenomenon was quite bizarre. It appeared as though she was slowly being erased from existence. Furthermore, the same phenomenon occurred to Yang Lu as he seemingly faded away. In time, Yang Lu and the sword were no longer in their line of sight.
"Um... what just happened...?" Pete's eyes ballooned with astonishment.
"Be on your guard, Peter!" Yung Fu said as he closed his eyes.
From a distance, Alexis placed her thumb and forefinger on her chin and pondered. "Hmmm, why did Yung Fu close his eyes. Is he trying to sense Yang Lu's qi?"
"He's coming for you, Peter; move to your right side before he cuts your hands!" Yung Fu shouted.
With the skill and flexibility akin to that of an athlete, Pete put his hands on the ground and stood on them. He cartwheeled to the left side while an invisible force moved past him, missing him by a second. It cut the ground and melted the surrounding bricks.
"What in a dozen cheeseburgers just happened? Dude, did you turn invincible?!" Pete marveled excitedly.
"Focus, Peter, form a barrier to block his sword attacks!" Yung Fu snapped in frustration.
He moved his hands in a spiral direction, from his head to his knees, and formed a yellow energy barrier. When the sword came in contact with the barrier, it shattered it into shards and thus repelled the big oaf off his feet a few meters away.
"You are a bigger problem than I imagined, Master Yung Fu. You're the third person I encountered who sensed me in my invisible form. I'll take care of you first!" Yang Lu said. Even though Pete couldn't see him, he heard his voice in front of him.
"And I'll take care of you, sweety," Alexis giggled from afar. She placed her finger in her mouth and bit it with a smirk. Then she stretched her hands toward him and giggled once more as she sent forth a haze of smoke that encompassed Pete's body. Naturally, it lifted him off the ground. She summoned the coil of smoke back to her and kept him afloat as she looked up at him.
He inhaled the smoke as it entered his lungs. He coughed persistently.
"That's right, big boy, Mommy will take care of you now. Just breathe it in," Alexis giggled.
Pete tried to raise his hands, but the nebulous smoke incarcerated him like cuffs to a man's wrist. He wriggled so he could escape, but he failed all the same.
His hands and feet did not move while the smoke continued to fill his lungs. She directed her hand toward the ground, manipulating the smoke to slam him against it. Once he collided with the ground, he coughed intensely as his lungs expelled the smoke. He placed his hand on his chest and rubbed it to soothe the searing pain; however, the agony tormented him from within. Despite that, he had to rise to his feet before she tried to incarcerate him again.
As he lay face flat against the ground, he lifted his head and directed his gaze at Alexis, who stretched her hand toward him. She expelled another cloud of smoke at him.
"Not, this time," Pete muttered. He miraculously applied rapid movement, transitioning at a speed far greater than her mind could process, and appeared behind her, just slightly in the air.
"Hey, sunshine!" He called out to her from behind and clenched his fist.
"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but hey, I'm still a gentleman at heart!" Pete shouted as he fell lower while she turned around. When she faced her back, he rammed his fist straight into her jaw.
Strangely enough, his fist phased through her chin and left her head from the back. The rest of Pete's body passed through her as though she were an apparition. Her rolled on the ground until he stood on his knees. His eyes widened with astonishment, and he looked at his hands to reflect on the madness that had just occurred.
"What the fuck?!"
He stood up and turned around to face her. She smiled at him, "You're good, Peter. If I hadn't taken control of my smoke form, you would've punched me."
"Hold a sec, Lady. You're tryna tell me that you don't just control smoke, but you also turn into it. That's another level of craziness!"
"It's not only Peter, but I can control other gases too, let me show you." She raised her hands slightly, just below her shoulder. She expelled a haze of fog in his direction. The haze spread thoroughly, making it difficult to spot her.
He stretched his hands in all directions and fired several yellow qi blasts, hoping that one might strike her.
"Try as you may, but you'll never find me. I'm hidden in this mist, making you a prime target in my trap." Alexis said, her voice echoing from an unknown location.
********
With his eyes closed, Yung Fu focused on sensing Yang Lu's qi. Not only did he know about his foe's whereabouts, Yung Fu was also a sensory warrior, a skill a few mighty have mastered.
Yung Fu bent over his back as the invisible sword passed by. Yang Lu then jumped from where he stood and attempted to kick him in the gut while Yung Fu gathered to his feet. Swifty, Yung Fu flipped to the side like a dexterous athlete. Yang Lu landed on the spot Yung Fu had previously graced with his feet.
Suddenly, the two heard a loud thunderclap from the black sky; it was as if the sky cracked open. Yang Lu materialized into his normal form after hearing that.
"That energy, it's incomprehensible!" Yang Lu muttered with astonishment.
Meanwhile, Alexis deformed from her gas state and regained her human shape. She, too, sensed that energy. It was unlike any other and far more intense.
"That energy just outclassed Lord Shai Ken's! Who is coming this way?!" She inquired as she eyed Pete nervously.
The ground shook when the figure landed, and the dust gathered, concealing him from the four. Even though the dust shrouded him with mystery, he scorched a gargantuan crater with his impeccable landing. And when the dust withered away, it majestically revealed his long, white, milky beard, which cascaded past his golden chest plate. His hair, the color of a clean canvas, was tied in a bun with a hairpin molded into the shape of a phoenix. In the center of the chest plate was an insignia with a phoenix design surrounded by a ring of fire. A white cloak hung from his scaly pauldrons.
He held a polearm in his right hand, engulfed in red flames. Alexis and Yang Lu diverted their attention away from Pete and Yung Fu and faced this legendary figure. They trembled as they looked at him from afar.
"Ken Sou!" They muttered simultaneously while Ken Sou stared daggers at them.