The tournament was over before it had truly begun, a violent, soul-deep tremor ran through the Heart of Heaven. It was not an earthquake. It was the very firmament of their new world buckling, a sound like the groaning of reality itself. The sky, which had been a patchwork of seven different suns and moons, began to tear apart at the seams.
The convergence was ending.
K'un-Zi was the first to be ripped away, its frozen peaks and cold, dark halls receding into a shard of frozen darkness. K'un-Lun ascended gracefully, its golden-roofed pagodas and serene mountain vistas dissolving like a dream at dawn. Tiger Island was torn from its jungle moorings with a primal roar, a living, breathing landmass retreating back to its misty sea. The Kingdom of Spiders dissolved into shadow, its obsidian towers melting back into a world of perpetual twilight. Peng Lai faded into mist, Z'Gambo was swallowed by a vortex of green, and the Under-City sank back into the earth, a great tomb sealing itself once more.
In the space of a minute, it was all gone.
The Heart of Heaven, the grand colosseum, now stood alone, an isolated island in a sea of nothingness. The sky above was no longer a patchwork, but a blank, empty canvas.
And on the arena floor, only three figures remained. Danny Rand, Davos, and John Aman.
Davos looked around, his face a mask of confusion and rage. John Aman, however, was calm, his expression one of cold, dawning understanding.
"It seems," John said, his voice a quiet, chilling thing in the sudden silence, "the Heart of Heaven needs its champions."
"Then battle it out," Danny said, his own focus narrowing, his honor dictating the terms. "I'll be waiting until you're done."
But Davos was not a man of honor. He was a creature of pure, venomous ambition. He moved, a blur of silver and black, and threw a punch aimed directly at Danny.
Danny, his instincts honed by a thousand training sessions, dodged, leaping back several paces. "What the hell?!" he shouted.
"No words, kid," John Aman said. He dissolved into a formless green mist and shot toward Davos, a ghost of an attack.
Davos countered, the silver serpent of his chi lashing out to meet the green mist. But he didn't just defend; he attacked both. A coiling, venomous kick was aimed at Danny, who was still recovering his balance.
Cornered, with enemies on two fronts, Danny realized there was no other choice. The time for honor and rules was over. This was a battle for survival. The golden light of the Iron Fist erupted around his fist as he, too, joined the fray.
…
In the cold, echoing halls of the Underworld, a place built on the foundations of silence and eternal duty, Hades, Lord of the Dead, paused. He looked up from the endless scroll of souls awaiting judgment, his ancient eyes narrowing. He felt something. A raw, unhinged energy, a chaotic, joyful storm, was dancing at the very gates of his realm.
"Does he know?" Hades muttered to the empty, cavernous room, a rare, almost imperceptible smile touching his lips. "Does he know one of his fragments is here?" He then shrugged, the moment of amusement passing. "Well, not that it matters." He picked up his quill and returned to his paperwork, a monument to eternal bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, in the only corner of the Underworld that knew life, Persephone was humming an ancient, forgotten song. She moved through her garden, a place of impossible beauty where glowing fruits hung from silver-barked trees, their light a soft, gentle defiance of the surrounding darkness.
She heard a rumbling, a tremor that shook the very foundations of her sanctuary. But unlike the terrified souls that shivered in the fields beyond, she smiled. "Come here, boy," she called out, her voice a melody of pure, untainted joy.
From the shadows, Cerberus emerged, his three massive heads looking at her with a happy, dog-like affection. He lay down before her, and even then, his back was still taller than her. Persephone reached up, scratching one of his massive heads behind the ear, and chuckled.
"Did you bring news to the palace, boy?" she asked.
One of his heads gently lowered and coughed up a sealed scroll, its surface untouched by slobber, bearing the unmistakable seal of Charon, the Ferryman.
Persephone smiled and patted his snout. "Good boy," she said. "Now, go play with the souls, will you?"
Cerberus stood, gave a happy, rumbling growl, and trotted off toward the Asphodel Meadows, ready for a game of chase with the lingering, terrified spirits.
Persephone walked to the palace, the silent servants of the Underworld bowing as she passed. She arrived at Hades's chambers and knocked softly.
"Come in, my love," his voice rumbled from within.
Persephone entered, the scroll in her hand. "Charon sends news from the Overworld," she said, her tone light and cheerful. "And this one seems urgent."
Hades didn't even look up from his work. "It is not news to me. It is Jack Hou, the reincarnation of the Monkey King. He seems to know one of his fragments is at the entrance to my realm." He finally looked at her, his expression a mask of weary resignation. "Well, it is my brothers' drama. I already told them I want nothing to do with any of it. If he can take it, then I will not pry."
Persephone's eyes danced with a mischievous light. "You seem cheerful."
"Do I look cheerful to you?" he asked, gesturing to the mountain of paperwork on his desk. "This is the census of souls from last year. It is… tedious."
"Well," she said, walking closer, her voice a low, teasing purr, "I see a god who seems to be unable to wait for fate to happen."
"Fate's business is none of my concern," he said, his voice a low grumble as he tried to focus on his work. "I am here for my duty alone."
"Can we take a break?" she asked.
"I can't. Or else it will pile up."
Persephone walked toward their private chambers, a seductive smile on her lips. "Too bad," she said, her voice a silken whisper. There was the soft rustle of silk as her gown fell to the floor, her perfect, divine form a stark, beautiful contrast to the gloom of the palace. She disappeared into the bedroom.
Hades sighed, a long, defeated sound that echoed through the vast, empty hall. He dropped his quill. The souls of the dead could wait for a bit longer. He stood and walked to the bedroom.
…
In the sleek, modern makeup room of a Manhattan television studio, J sat patiently while an artist dabbed powder on his face. He was wearing his signature hanfu, this one a brilliant white with a light blue, wave-like pattern, a custom piece from Aunty Vivi.
Natalie Beckman walked in, her expression a familiar mask of controlled stress. She politely asked the makeup artist to leave them alone.
She let out a long, weary sigh. "So, it's your first time on TV. As I lobbied with the network, they're letting you do a cooking segment with the guest chef."
J just smiled, a bright, cheerful, and utterly unconcerned expression on his face.
Natalie sighed again. "I don't even understand why you made me help you do this."
"Sooner or later, the people need to see me," J said, his tone surprisingly serious. "They need to have a little bit of trust in me."
"The people in the Golden Peach already trust you," she countered.
"Not enough," he said, his gaze distant. "I need all of New York to believe my words when the inevitable nuke goes to New York. And with my existence here, who knows what's going to happen."
Natalie rolled her eyes. "Again with your nonsensical reasons. If you don't want to tell me the real reason, you don't have to make shit up."
"No, I—"
A producer stuck his head in the door. "Five minutes, Mr. Hou."
J stood, walked over to the guest chef, a friendly, middle-aged woman, and gave her a hug. "Let's try not to burn the building down," he whispered cheerfully. "But if we do, I know a guy."
Then, the show began.
The segment went smoothly at first. Natalie, watching from the wings, almost allowed herself to relax. J was charming, his chaotic energy dialed down to a quirky, manageable level. The guest chef was showing him how to caramelize onions.
"You want to keep the temperature low and slow," the chef explained. "It takes a long time, but it's worth it."
J, impatient, turned the heat up slightly. "Whoa, look, it's starting to shimmer!" He leaned in too close to the pan, and a spatter of hot oil shot up, hitting him directly in the face. He didn't even flinch.
The guest chef let out a nervous laugh. "Don't try this at home, folks! Since it's Jack Hou, he can take any heat like that, right? Haha."
J straightened his posture. His cheerful demeanor vanished, replaced by a flat, deadpan expression. "You know," he said to the live studio audience, his voice a quiet, conversational thing, "when I was a kid, before I was a gangster, I was pooling up money that I pickpocketed from people at the market. But unknowingly, a local gangster at the time somehow found out where I hid my money. Turns out, his girlfriend stole it from him and then used it on an abortion."
A long, heavy, and profoundly awkward silence fell over the entire studio. The only sound was the gentle sizzle of the onions and the soft, rhythmic stirring of J's wooden spoon in the pot. The camera crew froze. The producers in the control room stared, their mouths agape.
Then, J's cheerful smile returned as if nothing had happened. "Oh, look!" he said, pointing at the pan. "They're almost done!"
The show's director and producers scrambled, their voices a frantic, panicked whisper in the host's earpiece as they tried their hardest to save what little they had left of their morning cooking segment.
…
The arena was a ruin. In the center of the devastation lay three broken figures: Davos, his limbs severed; John Aman, his misty form struggling to maintain cohesion; and Danny Rand, his chi pathways shattered, every breath a searing pain.
John Aman began to crawl, his movements slow and agonizing, dragging his broken body across the cracked stone toward Davos. From the sole of his shoe, he retracted a small, thin blade, a final, hidden venom. He plunged it into Davos's heart.
As the life faded from the Steel Serpent's eyes, a single, deep, final bell chimed throughout the Heart of Heaven.
Danny, struggling to push himself up, looked over. "What… what was that?"
"The final round," John rasped, his own body on the verge of collapse. "The sign."
"Do I… have to fight you now?" Danny asked, knowing he couldn't even stand.
John looked at him, a strange, calculating glint in his tired eyes. "Put a good word in for me with Lei-Kung, kid."
"What?" Danny stammered.
John took a final, ragged breath and, with all the strength he had left, roared, "I YIELD!"
A moment of stunned silence, and then the bell chimed again. Seven times this time, a triumphant, final peal that declared the end of the tournament.
"Don't forget my words, kid," John said, a faint, victorious smile on his lips. "Congratulations."
And then, one by one, they were gone, their forms dissolving in a flash of light as they were transported back to their respective realms.
…
In K'un-Zi, the Crane Mother searched for her champion, her heart a cold knot of anticipation. Then, a scream echoed from the city square. One of her daughters stood there, her face a mask of horror. In the center of the square lay the limbless, mutilated body of Davos. On his chest, seared into his flesh, was the unmistakable mark of a palm strike, the residual chi tracing a perfect, undeniable link to K'un-Lun's martial arts.
The Crane Mother's hands clenched into fists, her knuckles white. She was not sad. She was furious. He had died without bringing them glory. He had died a failure. She looked at the false evidence on his chest, her grief twisting into a pure, venomous rage.
"K'un-Lun," she hissed, the word a promise of a war to come.
…
In K'un-Lun, the seven bells of victory rang out, a joyous, triumphant sound that filled the city with a hope it had not known in generations. They had won. They could appear on Earth again, their body and soul intact, every decade. The city was in a celebratory mood.
Lei-Kung, however, went straight to the infirmary. He checked on Danny, his ancient eyes scanning the young man's injuries. The boy's chi paths were blocked, twisted, but not severed. 'Thank the heavens for that,' he thought, a wave of profound relief washing over him. A grand banquet would be held for their new, victorious champion, Danny Rand.
…
In Z'Gambo, the green mist settled, and the realm sealed itself off from the world once more. They would not be able to appear on Earth for another five decades.
John Aman's subordinate materialized beside him. "My king," the subordinate hissed, its voice a whisper of confusion. "Why give up such a prize?"
John stood, his body already healing, his gaze fixed on a distant, unseen point. "We don't need Z'Gambo to appear on Earth right now," he said, his voice a low, cold thing. "As long as I alone can go, Wakanda will remain oblivious." He looked at his subordinate, a slow, predatory smile on his lips. "And now, I have a new, powerful ally in K'un-Lun. When the time comes, Wakanda will fall, even with all their Vibranium."
**A/N**
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**A/N**