Broker-Chapter 156 v2

Chunhua clashed with Kant, her internal energy cycling. She knew what she was dealing with skill-wise now. Kant had held back just as much as she had during their initial exchange, both of them testing the waters. She let me catch my breath, she thought as she pushed Kant’s blade to the side, letting it slide down the length of her own weapon before snapping out a kick. Kant threw herself back and landed on her hand, flipping once before sliding to a stop. Chunhua was already moving when she caught herself, her blade turning into a blur of sparkling pink petals.

One Hundred-Eighty Petals!

Kant seemed to sense the incoming attack, her eyes widening with a mixture of fury and delight. She took swaggering steps backwards, flicking her sword left and right to deflect blows that came too close. “That’s more like it!” she shouted, “I want you at your best! If you’re the strongest then no one can stop you, right?” she bellowed as Chunhua’s attack dissipated. Chunhua scowled and dove down before rising up in an uppercut. Kant brought her sword up and down, blocking Chunhua’s stroke. She stared wildly into Chunhua’s eyes, dark mist billowing from her mouth.

Chunhua flinched when she smelled it and pulled back, breaking the lock as Kant released a gout of caustic mist from her lips. Kant laughed, “Liberty has it right! The strong survive, the weak serve! Heroes go against the natural order of things!” She bellowed and started striding towards Chunhua while pointing at the surviving cultists. “They’re here because they want to be! Because they know they serve a higher purpose. Us!” She roared, “Don’t you get it? We mythics are the future of mankind!”

Chunhua glowered at the woman from where she stood. Her vision wobbled from just the slightest touch of that mist. She frowned. “You’re wrong. We have a responsibility.” She thought as she glanced towards Ewen and Ellis who were hanging out as if having a goddamn picnic, watching their fight from the side. They’re trying to wear me down. Even if I beat her, they’ll just hop back in. This is endless. I can arguably get away with using my powers up to heroic-tier but if I push my luck any harder… She bit her lip. She looked the woman in the eyes as she got even closer.

“Screw the rules, am I right?” Kant laughed and made an inviting gesture, “Come on, I want to see it all.”

Rules. Chunhua thought and looked down at her knees. Do I even deserve to call myself a hero? She thought about Sonya. About that day in her office. About what she’d done. About how much Sonya had given to a world that would never forgive her for saving it. About how every single day she struggled to compromise her feelings, her respect, and her desire to do what she needed to do and stop Ishtar, regardless of her intentions. Rules. The World’s Strongest? She looked back at the bodies laying in front of the common building. What a joke.

Her shoulders sank as she held her opponent's gaze. What am I supposed to be? She thought. Who am I supposed to be?

A crackle sounded in her ear, Amos? An update?

<”That’s not all you’ve got, is it, Little Hero?”>

Ishtar! Her eyes went wide, Sonya!

<”Heroes do whatever it takes, they put everything on the line. Are you a hero, Black Lotus? Or are you still a soldier?”> Ishtar’s mocking voice said. A message, a challenge. Kant raised her weapon and snorted as Chunhua’s heart pounded in her chest. <”You’ve already toed the line, using your powers this much. What’s a little more?”>

You aren’t going to tempt me either, Monster. Chunhua snarled back even as she felt a twinge of relief from hearing that voice. A relief that turned into fire in her veins. I’ll be there. I’ll fight you every step of the way. I’ll be there for her and I’ll fight you. I’ll beat you. Somehow I’ll make it work. Because that’s what a hero does. They make the impossible possible.

Chunhua kicked off the ground with all the strength she could muster while limiting herself to heroic output. She was in Kant’s face in an instant. Her foe leaped back, surprised as Chunhua swung, “And that is exactly why I follow the rules!” She shouted, “Because if I’m the strongest, if I can do whatever I want, and I make that choice, then everyone behind me will know it’s okay to do the same! That it’s the right thing to do!” She bellowed, “So I’ll follow those rules, even to my dying breath!” She shouted and marched forward, weapon at her side, “Come, villain! Because that’s all you are, and all you will ever be!”

Kant bore her teeth and stalked forward in response, a sneer on her face, “Have it your way!”

<”Well said, Little Hero, I have a present I’ve arranged for you, I hope you like it.”>

BRRZZZT!

Both of them froze, Chunhua looked up, The intercom?

“Attention invading force. My name is Carla Mint of the Pandora Committee. I am asking you to lay your arms down immediately and surrender. This is non-negotiable,” That small woman said in a hard voice, “Respond at once.”

Kant snorted and raised her voice, “No!” She laughed and looked back to Chunhua.

“Very well,” Miss Mint said, “Then as acting Chairwoman of the Pandora Committee…” She began and Kant’s head whipped towards the building, her eyes going wide before looking back at Chunhua, “I hereby temporarily reinstate Lian Chunhua, Black Lotus, and end her suspension until the time that all existing threats are dealt with. All actions taken thusfar by the hero will be considered under the emergency clause of the Hero Act,” there was a heavy pause, “Black Lotus!” she snapped with a commanding tone.

Chunhua felt something fall off her shoulders she didn’t even know was there, she stood up straight and tall, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Yes Ma’am!” she barked with all the strength in her lungs.

“Do not hold back under any circumstances, Full power. Heroes are being dispatched to suppress the dungeon. Bring them to their knees and show them exactly what the world's strongest hero is capable of!” Carla commanded and cut the signal.

To all the world around her, Chunhua’s eyes started to glow. The ground shook. The clouds moved. The earth cracked. She gripped her sword tight as she took a thunderous step forward, “Hero Black Lotus, on duty!” she rumbled as she raised her sword.

Across from her, Dame Kant’s eyes went wide. She looked around for a moment, taking in the change in atmosphere. Chunhua cycled her power, letting it blaze through her body as her wounds began to close. She felt her muscles flood with power. She raised her head high and let out a roar, a crack formed in the earth between them, splitting open so wide that Kant had to dart away. She snapped her head down and charged, a flash of movement bringing her back into Kant’s face.

“Look at me,” she growled, “This is what you wanted. Here I am. And now I’m going to make you pay for the lives you’ve taken.”

Kant took a step back in response as rage replaced the moment of fear in her eyes. Frown cracking into a mad smile. Off to the side, Ewen shouted her name. Kant pointed her sword at him, “Shut up!” She barked, “Don’t do a damn thing, this duel isn’t over!”

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Chunhua raised her head and looked down at her over her nose, holding her gaze. She watched a rush of emotions pass over her opponent's face as she completed cycling her power. All the momentum and tension she’d built up over the grueling fight ready to be unleashed. Kant seemed to be of the same mind, though.

“I hate you,” Kant hissed, “I hate you and everything you represent,” she snarled. Chunhua felt the other woman’s power rising, cycling, growing. She allowed it. She would crush her for what she’d done, her pride, her will to fight, all of it. “STRENGTH FROM LIBERTY!” Kant roared, “I am Dame Kant of the Round Table!” she bellowed and a cone of coppery light slammed down from the sky. Chunhua sighed and raised her weapon.

She charged.

Chunhua whipped her weapon down in a slow stroke, holding it out to her side, her eyes unblinking, her face a stony calm. “First Whisper of Spring,” Was all she said in a voice so gentle it caused a moment of doubt to flicker on Kant’s face. A ripple of air passed over Kant in the second it took her to cross the distance. Cuts formed across her arms and chest, nicks and scrapes that stretched into wounds from an invisible blade meters and meters long. Kant’s eyes were wide with pain and fury as Chunhua’s sword followed the path from the first swing and came up in an arc just as Kant reached her.

“Second Drop of Rain.”

Their weapons clashed, Kant letting out a scream of effort into the strike that sent the ground shaking and cracks forming around Black Lotus in a ring. Kant’s weapon pushed down against Chunhua’s. Chunhua glanced at the woman’s hands, they were shaking. She flicked her gaze up to Kant’s face and gave her an almost pitying look.

Kant’s pupils shrank and she bore her teeth, “Don’t you dare!” She screamed, “Don’t you dare pity me!” She bellowed and broke the lock, spinning like a top and swinging into an uppercut that the Chunhua blocked with a casual swipe down. The swing cut a divot in the earth just past Kant’s own weapon. Kant snapped her hand out, reaching for the hero’s face. Chunhua barely paid any mind to the black energy wreathing the woman’s fingers.

WHOMP!

Chunhua drove a fist into Kant’s gut, she felt bone and cartilage bend but not break beneath the force. That strange glow saved her life just now, Chunhua thought as Kant’s eyes bulged. She was sent flying back through the opening of the dojo. Chunhua turned her eyes on Ewen and Ellis who looked about ready to make a move and dared them to strike. She turned back to the dojo and took a step, vanishing and appearing behind Kant as the woman pulled herself, blood pouring from her mouth, from the wreckage inside the building.

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Kant whirled, raising her weapon as Chunhua brought her weapon down again with unforgiving force. All the anger she’d held back during the fights brought down on the villain in front of her. Kant was sent hurtling away again, right out the opening she’d come through and skipping across the ground like a stone over water. Chunhua darted forward, taking one step, then another, past One Hundred-Eighty Petals and into the next strike of that form. She swept her blade and a ribbon of visible light swept over Kant, over Ellis, over Ewen, and over all the remaining cultists.

Ninety-Ton Flowering Branch.

The flare of light dissipated and Kant remained standing, her weapon raised in a guard, her clothes and skin torn and smoking. Trees were devastated behind her. Chunhua took in Ewen and Ellis who had dropped to dodge the attack as well as the scattered few cultists who had done the same. Their number cut down a pathetic handful. She looked at Kant, the mythic breathing hard. For all the potential of your ability, and this is all you can muster. You learned sword techniques and that’s it, she thought cooly, It looks like my assessment was correct.

Chunhua took another step.

Kant looked down at her, as she appeared beneath her, her weapon rising in a gleaming uppercut. She let out a shriek of indolent fury, swinging down to block only to get thrown into the air. Chunhua looked up into the sky, watching in silence. Kant drifted for a moment before righting herself. Her bloodied face twisted with rage. Chunhua felt the woman’s internal energy explode inside of her, rage turning into power as a black aura wrapped around her weapon. She raised it over her head while pointing her free hand at Chunhua.

“BLACK LOTUS!” Kant screamed. “Obelisk of One Hundred Eight Judgements!” she screamed as a pillar of dark light rained down towards Chunhua. Atoms sizzled against it, the air screamed, the world darkened in that place.

Chunhua lowered her weapon to her side and she sighed, taking in both hands. Her dark, pitying eyes met Kant’s. “Three Songs for the Fallen Heroes,” Black Lotus intoned and mana surged towards her. She gathered it up and swung. For a moment, it felt as if the entire world turned its eyes on Chunhua. Like she would be subjected to another heavenly tribulation. Chunhua swung her weapon, once, twice, three times in a bisected x that remained before her, glowing with a blue-white light. She drew her weapon back and stabbed through it. “Let the petals come.”

WHOOSH

When the light faded, Kant fell to the earth like a meteor. Her skin burned and cracked, her limbs twisted, her nose bleeding freely. Chunhua took a slow step forward and stepped off the ground, hopping into the air and catching the villain before she hit the ground. She hovered there, letting the woman hang in her grip. Kant slowly turn her head even as her eyes danced with the agony of the movement. She looked up at Chunhua, her lips trembling.

“I hate you,” she croaked.

“I know,” Chunhua said with a sigh as she wondered what kind of life could create a wretched person like this. She surreptitiously steadied the grip on her sword. It had taken more than she cared to admit to block it. That last attack was powerful. So much potential, wasted. She started to turn, “I think you all should leave-” Pain exploded in her chest as fingers dug into her side. She looked down in surprise at Kant’s ruined hand coated with black light. Something corrosive began to spread through her body. The girl sneered up at her. “You!” Chunhua snarled.

Kant’s twisted face broke into a manic smile, her broken toothed grin coated in blood, “Finally got you! BOYS! NOW!”

Chunhua snarled and threw the girl to the ground just as many things happened at once. The sound of whistling filled her ears and a brilliant flash of red light rose up from her flank. She brought her sword up only for a thunderous crash to sound from the common building. She didn’t have time to pay attention to it, she turned as soon as she sensed Ellis’ incoming attack, blocking it even as her side screamed in protest. That strange corrosion sapping her strength. She was blown back only to feel herself get tugged by a hand grabbing the back of her robe.

The next thing she knew she was back on the ground, feet planted, and standing next to a very familiar brown-haired woman in a maid outfit. Her eyes went wide.

“Handmaiden,” she breathed only to wince as the pain from whatever Kant had done to her surged up again.

“It’s fine,” Handmaiden said, knowing her concern, “We’ve got bigger problems.”

Chunhua narrowed her eyes, glancing at her hand. My blood’s turning black, she thought before cycling her power to suppress the poison and shore up her strength. She took her weapon in both hands. “What bigger problems?”

She needn’t have asked.

A presence so heavy it even made her knees buckle washed over the courtyard of the camp. A weight that sent a thrill of genuine fear up her spine. It felt almost like Ishtar had at Vegas but far, far more oppressive and tyrannical. It pushed the breath from her lungs. She shuddered, her breath catching in her throat as she locked eyes with Ellis who was standing opposite her, next to Kant’s beaten form. His eyes were wide as well, and not with excitement. There was fear there as well. She turned her head slowly as she shifted a bit, getting back to back with Handmaiden.

A clap of thunder announced the new combatants' arrival. A woman standing nearly seven feet tall and entirely clothed in heavy armor. She held a broadsword in one hand and what looked like a withered human in the other. Her blonde locks fluttered around her head, glowing blue eyes burning in the dim light cast by the few lamps left lit during the fighting. Liberty cast the man she was holding down to the ground with a grunt and stepped forward.

“Heroes,” she growled, “You have my attention.”

–

Hundreds of miles away, Sonya raised her hand to her head. Blue motes of light washing over her as her regalia encased her body. She stalked out of the room where she’d left an unconscious Phillip. Rest up, Phillip, you need to live so you can call Liberty home when you wake up, I just need long enough to make a point, she thought as her helmet formed over her head. She let out a relaxed breath as the sole guard who had been standing outside the room jumped in surprise. She turned her head slowly to look at him, You’re up, Ishtar, she thought and her shoulders went slack.-

Ishtar snapped out her hand and grabbed the man by the throat, her cruel rasp rattling out from her helmet. “You, on the other hand, aren’t so lucky,” she said and snapped his neck. She raised her right hand and clenched it into a fist as she dropped the man’s body. Streaks of light forming in the hallway that opened into the strange gates that gave birth to her Legion. Marble skinned Legionnaires stepped out, their own glowing eyes turned to face her.

She gave them only one order.

“Lay waste.”