The defenses had been breached, the enemy had been beaten and all that was left to complete the plan was to make the Water Dragon herself pay for trying to destroy the Empire. Emperor Sun Hai strode quickly into the heart of the Dirge Temple intent on ripping that miserable deity's heart from its body, then he would be able to prolong his divinely appointed reign indefinitely, or so he thought. This plan to take the heart of the Water Dragon would not have been a reality without his brother the Glorious Strategist, the Conqueror of Heaven Sun Li. As he neared the critical chamber, bloodstained hand outstretched he found himself pondering for perhaps the thousandth time, what it would actually feel like to be a god? Certainly that is what he would become when he took the Water Dragon's heart, though he never had the chance to satiate his curiosity as his mind suddenly focused on an ungodly pain that bore through his abdomen. Was the Celestial Bureaucracy punishing him for this blasphemy? No! His brothers had betrayed him; uncertain or unwilling to let him come to power he had been cut down and was dying on account of his wounds, that is unless he could get to the Water Dragons heart. With a sudden burst of speed as if he were an energetic toddler he crawled forward desperate to claim the heart of the Water Dragon and save himself and his Empire, he was too late though, the head of the Imperial Army, or his brother Sun Kin, he would never known for certain due to his eyes being set on the Water Dragon's heart and not on his assailants. Of his two brothers it was Sun Kin who administered the final blow, his curved blades decapitating his brother. Sun Li walked past his brother's corpse unconcerned as he stepped forward and seized the heart and became instantaneously God-Emperor Sun.
The Hand of Heaven looked at his brother in awe and in fear, caused by not only what they had just done but what his brother was now capable of doing, he could do anything now, he was a god. Still reeling from guilt from the fratricide that he had committed moments earlier he comforted himself with the words of his brother, "Hai is too unstable, too immature to wield such power, though he is the brother we love, our first duty is too the Empire and it's people. If Hai knew of this conversation, he would surely kill us; therefore we must sadly reciprocate and sacrifice our brother to save the Empire." Kin was so wrapped up in trying to clear his conscience that he almost missed the first command of the God Emperor. "Kin," he said simply "there was a man who ran down the stairs and into the temple courtyard with an amulet and an infant. Kill him and bring me both." Despite his cloudy conscience, Kin wasted no time in obeying his brother the god.
Sun Li was not long in waiting as he approached his brother with an infant in his arms and an amulet dangling from his elbow. With the heart of the Water Dragon firmly in place he could immediately sense what the amulet was and knew immediately this his possession of it would elevate him from the mere demigod that he was right now to an actual deity. He quickly extended his hand and with simple phrase "Throw it to me" he was now in possession of the amulet and was now unstoppable.
Sun Kin watched his brother with the amulet, for several moments he stood there as if in a trance, ignorant of all that surrounded him. This was complicated by the fact that Kin could feel energies, as if they were winds, sweeping past him and going to his brother and he had no idea how his brother was going to respond when he came around. Kin's wonder was soon brought to a conclusion as his brothers eye's opened, and a facial expression never before seen on the Glorious Strategist's face appeared for the first time. A look of… satisfaction; he finally had the ability to be the conqueror of heaven. Turning to his brother he began to approach him and the infant he held in his arms. Looking down at the infant confirmed what he suspected, that this child was a Spirit Monk and that after the excellent strategy executed by his Army, this was the last Spirit Monk left alive.
Li's immediate thought was to kill the child where it lay in Kin's arms and he began to marshal his power to do just that when it occurred to him why? His entire mode of thinking was calibrated as if he were still mortal, like he could still be defeated. Remembering as a boy that he had followed the Open Palm until that day when he was thirteen he had come to the realization that the organizing principle for an society was war, the authority of the state over it's people was based on the fact that all the nice things that a society could build for itself would be rendered useless if a foreign force could come and kill and plunder as they pleased. That was the day he converted to the Closed Fist. Granted, killing the infant would make sense if he still could be defeated, but now that he was omnipotent, he could afford to follow the Open Palm and in this case show mercy to this infant. It was no threat to him, by the time it would have been old enough to fight him as he was now he would have been so empowered by the Water Dragon that the adult Spirit Monk would be no match for him. He was now all-powerful and with this power came the luxury of a more lenient philosophy.
Raising his gaze from the infant to his brother he treated him to a rare smile, "We have accomplished our mission my brother, with the future of the Empire secured, let us return to the Imperial City as the heroes that we are."
As the Imperial Army returned to the capital with the carcass of the Water Dragon in tow, which was moved along by the newfound powers of Sun Li. Li's genius was not only military in nature but also mechanical for it was his mind that produced the idea that was became the machine that would continuously bleed the Water Dragon's body. In fact the machine was Li's first destination upon his return to the palace as he personally saw the Water Dragon's body set up and bled. Then and only then, knowing his mission was complete did he venture into the actual living quarter's of his home. But first he had to deal with one last trifle, that infant. It was a female and Li had decided that since he was a god he might as well be merciful, though not having much interest in what happened to the baby one way or another, he had Kin pass the baby off to Zu one of the more loyal Lotus Minks, which concluded Li's interest in the manner.
Upon removing all distractions, and having secured the carcass he went to the bedside of his wife, Sun Lin, who was in the final days of pregnancy. She was asleep as he approached and he did not try to wake her. Li did not know how long he waited for her to awake. The stirring of her eyes was the dead giveaway.
"My dear, did our child allow you to rest soundly?" he asked as any dutiful husband would ask his wife. She smiled weakly and registered a yes in a voice just higher than a whisper. "The physician said it is going to happen any day now. Were you able to accomplish you mission? The one you said would decide the fate of the Empire." Li put on a sad, tried face before answering, "Yes, the Empire is secured for generations more, however the cost was great, the Spirit Monks were savage warriors and Hai… he have his life for the Empire that he loved." Li bowed his head as if to drive his point home. The tears began welling up in Lin's eyes, Hai had been her friend, yet she believed Li's story, that he had died for the greater good and if he Hai were to die, that would be the way he would have wanted to go in service to his Empire. "Oh, Li," Lin began, putting her hand atop her husband's, "it must have been terrible, but at least your brother did not die in vain but for what he knew was right." Li secretly smiled himself as his wife swallowed his performance, as a fish swallows a lure. "I have dispatched Kin to inform Ilia of her husband's death, I hope she understands that even though she has lost a husband, he died as an Emperor ought, as a hero, in service to his Empire.