Sub-Zero panted hard, studying his fallen enemy. On the ground, Rain squirmed and whimpered pitifully, dying in slow agony. The Cryomancer couldn't stifle the satisfied sneer that crossed his face as he watched the Hydromancer writhe uncomfortably, his battered hand pawing at the icy sword rammed through his belly. Blood oozed from the wound, gradually pooling in a puddle beneath his purple and black armor, smearing along the ice as well. A surge of strange adrenaline pumped through Kuai Liang's veins, an overwhelming hatred and evil he'd never felt before in his life, compelling him to kneel beside the profusely sweaty demigod.

"Sorry if my sword's a bit hot for you, Rain," he said mercilessly. "Most people think I burn cold. It's actually quite the opposite."

"She's mine," the Edenian weakly croaked, his eyes drooping tiredly. "You can't keep me from claiming her-"

Sub-Zero didn't wait for him to finish his statement before he punched him in the face once more, the sharp crack of his skull breaking bouncing off the chamber walls in a strangely gratifying echo, knocking Rain completely out. A split second later, the demigod expelled a loud, ragged breath and then slumped like a sack of rocks onto his face.

"Is he…is he dead?" Anya asked timidly as she slowly approached.

The Cryomancer looked at her and nodded solemnly, the bizarre homicidal feelings rapidly fading into nothingness. "Yeah, he is."

She swallowed hard as if stifling relieved tears, then scowled as she promptly kicked Rain in the face. His motionless body flopped onto its side. "Serves you right!" she screamed at him, her face now contorted in rage. Then she kicked his chest for good measure.

"Okay, calm down, Tiger," Kuai Liang said as he got to his feet and put his hands on her shoulders. "He's gone now. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

He thought Anya would be happy, so much so that she'd throw herself at him in a show of love and affection. To his surprise, her angry lavender eyes narrowed at him a moment before she punched him in the gut. In shock, he doubled over with a grunt and staggered backwards, looking at her in disbelief as she marched after him. She had actually hit him quite hard.

"And you!" she squealed. "Stupid – goddamn – ninja – tricks! You – scared – the – shit – out – of – me! I – thought – you – were – dead!" Every word she yelled at him matched a fierce slap to the bare skin on his arm.

"Ow!" he yelped as Smoke watched them in amusement. "Stop hitting me!"

"Fine," she hissed and looked at her guardian. "Will you hit him for me?" she asked him. Wordlessly, Tomas slapped Sub-Zero in the back of the head with his automated arm.

"Ow!" he cried again, rubbing his stinging scalp. "What are you, her trained lapdog or something?"

The cyber-ninja shrugged. "What can I say? I'm mad at you too."

"For what?" he replied indignantly.

"Because while you were playing possum, some of us were actually working."

Anya chuckled triumphantly. "See?" she said pointedly.

"You both can be mad at me, but I had to pretend I was dead," Sub-Zero growled in annoyance. "I needed to buy some time."

"But…he stabbed you," she argued as her voice cracked. She blinked, and a few tears leaked out. "I watched you die. I thought…I thought…And I didn't like that at all." She covered her mouth and looked down at her bare, dusty feet.

"Yeah, well, now we're even," he replied coldly, understanding the look of anguish that crossed her face, remembering how heartbroken he felt a couple weeks ago when he thought she was dead. And when he thought of that, anger slightly warmed his cheeks.

"What are you talking about?" she bristled in confusion.

"Your motorcycle accident," he said flatly. "When Frost made you crash. Stryker and Kabal got your message and passed it on to me. They also got cell phone video of it, and showed it to me. And I thought you were dead, and it…it nearly killed me. So we're even."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault. I should've been dead. That's a whole different thing than faking my death like you did."

"No, we're even," he insisted. "See, you only had to feel that way for a few minutes. I, on the other hand, got to mourn you for a week before I just happened to find you running from Quan Chi's army."

"It's not the same!" she snapped, her voice taking on an even more irritated edge.

"No, it's worse!" he snapped back. "You didn't even remember me!"

"Listen, pal-"

"Okay, that's enough," Tomas intervened, stepping between the two. "If you two kids don't stop arguing, I'm going to turn this car around and we're going home."

Sub-Zero scowled at him. "That's really funny, Tomas," he growled.

"Well, that is what you pay me for," he shrugged. He paused. "Now look, it's completely obvious that you two are just itching to kiss and make up, and I for one wish you would already because you're clearly in love with each other. It's so sweet it makes me sick." Now he waited for someone to budge, but when neither Kuai Liang nor Anya refused to give in, he sighed impatiently and stepped behind his best friend. Then he grabbed his cheeks and made his mouth move, in spite of the Cryomancer's resistance. Imitating his voice, Smoke said, "Annalise, I'm a jackass, and I'm a bad dresser, and I smell funny, but I'm sorry and I love you." Then, as the Grandmaster gave him a dirty look, he stepped behind Anya and said in a falsetto voice, "Kuai Liang, I know you're a jackass, but for some strange reason I love you too so I forgive you. And I'm sorry too."

As he spoke, the Hydromancer's angry face cracked and she burst into giggles. "Okay, okay," she said to him. "That's enough. It looks like the vein on Kuai Liang's head is about to explode."

Smoke chuckled. "Yeah, that happens a lot because he's a testy little girl," he said as he shoved her towards his friend and then walked to the side to give them some space. "Could you hurry this up?" he asked. "We've still got to deal with Heckle and Jeckle and put a kibosh on their plan to raise that army."

Sub-Zero glared at Smoke, then sighed as Anya stepped to him and gingerly touched the stab wound in his shoulder. "Does it hurt much?" she asked.

"Not as bad as it could," he replied, gently clutching her dirty fingers while she rested her palm on his injury. Immediately, he felt better. Not just physically, though that was definitely a big part of it. No, he'd longed for her soothing touch for weeks now, ever since she'd left the Lin Kuei temple in a fit, swearing she'd never come back again. In fact, until her delicate fingernails finally tickled his skin, he hadn't realized just how much he missed the sensation, the subtle affection coursing from her to him, the mysterious way it rejuvenated him at the height of his exhaustion. Involuntarily, he rested his forehead on hers.

"Is that better?" Anya asked hopefully a long moment later. "I'm still getting the hang of this healing thing."

"Yeah, you did a good job," he told her in all sincerity. He felt the spot where Rain had stabbed him earlier. The skin was smooth, completely wound free.

"You know, I can kind of read your mind when I do that," she said, a slightly impish smile spreading over her lips.

"And?"

"And you like it when I touch you."

"I don't think that's exactly news, Ahn," he told her.

"Yeah, well, I never realized just how much or why."

"Well, now you do."

She smiled. "Now I do." With that, she stood on her tip-toes and slid her arms around his neck, planting a gentle kiss on his mouth that he returned in kind. Then, several long moments later, she pulled away and mischievously grinned.

"What?" he asked, both curious and slightly worried. He didn't trust the expression on her face. That was her ornery look.

Immediately, she nuzzled her nose against his earlobe and then whispered, "You know, when this is all over, I really think we should have angry sex."

Now Kuai Liang couldn't contain his amused chuckle as she giggled softly. "Oh you do, do you?" he replied.

Anya promptly kissed him again. "Yup. I think we both deserve it."

"But I'm not angry at you anymore," he argued.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll think of something to piss you off."

"I'm feeling the love, Ahn," he told her as Smoke rejoined them with amusement plastered on his face.

"Thank God," he said. "Now can we go?"

"Not yet," Anya replied as she let go of Sub-Zero and faced him. "I want to have a word with you too, pal."

"What did I do?" he yelped defensively, throwing his arms up in the air and taking a step back.

She smiled. "Nothing," she said. "Everything. You kept me as safe as you could, and you did a great job keeping me patched up. Thank you." She quickly threw her arms around Tomas' torso and hugged him tightly, just like he was really a giant teddy bear.

But the Cryomancer knew the Czech man wouldn't be able to help himself. Sure enough, the cyber-ninja looked at his best friend when she let him go and said, "Hold me, Kuai Liang. That was beautiful."

Sub-Zero crinkled his nose. "Hold yourself, weirdo," he snapped.

"Oooh, nice one," the other chuckled. "Come on. We need to go."

"I agree," the Grandmaster said.

He took Anya's hand in his and led her towards the exit while Smoke walked beside his other arm. Nobody spoke. There was no need to. Kuai Liang had both his best friend and the love of his life back, so for now, he was content to just enjoy the silence. And thank God, for once, that both of them let him. His peace lasted until they nearly reached the end of the maze, but suddenly, a ghastly green aura slithered across Anya's skin, enveloping her with all-too-familiar magic.

"Kuai Liang?" she half-whimpered, half croaked as her hands drifted to her belly. Then, as she began to choke and gasp for air, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"Anya!" he cried as both he and Smoke dropped to their knees beside her. "She's having a seizure!"

"No kidding!" Tomas said back. "Probably Quan Chi again. Trying to yank more energy from her. I'll bet the other prisoners are just as sick right now."

The Cryomancer pressed his palm against her extremely feverish forehead, releasing his ice through the skin of his palm. Bending to his will, it molded itself to the shape of her skull, forming something of an ice pack to cool her down. It didn't work.

"Moron, that's not gonna help," his friend admonished him, a worried look on his face.

"I'm not a doctor, I don't know what to do," he snapped back.

"I'm not a doctor either, but fortunately for you, I've got a whole mess of medicines on board, including anti-seizure." Quickly, the cyber-ninja tapped a sequence of black buttons on his robotic gauntlet before a tiny port opened near his elbow and pushed out a pre-filled syringe. Then he yanked up Anya's skirt to the thigh and jammed the medicine in. Finally, he looked at Sub-Zero once more. "I don't know how much that'll help. I don't think the pharmaceutical companies had black magic in mind when they designed this crap. We need to get her to Raiden, and fast."

"For once, I agree," he said as he scooped a still-shaking Anya into his arms and got to his feet. He resumed his path, stepping as fast as he could without actually running. Smoke stayed on his heels the whole time.

Outside, the normally dusky sky had turned a sickly green that perfectly matched the ether currently swirling around the Hydromancer, a product of the soulnado. Both men paused for a moment to stare at the vortex the size of the largest earthly tornado, twisting and pulsating as it stretched to the sky and beyond. But Sub-Zero couldn't worry about that at the moment. He was already on the move, determined to find Raiden and save Anya's life. God, he prayed he wasn't too late. Not really aware he'd done it, he lifted her torso so he could kiss her forehead. And then he heard an ear-piercing shriek that startled him. A split second later, someone small and wiry landed on his back, forcing him to drop Anya while also dragging him to the ground. The nurse rolled through the dirt and came to a stop at Smoke's feet.

"I'm ba-ack," a familiar, obnoxious voice teased him just before a set of teeth sank into the upper trapezius muscle that joined his neck to his shoulder. The mouth clamped on like a pit bull's, refusing to let go, even when the Cryomancer howled at the unbelievably jagged fire that now spurted blood down his back.

"Frost," he grimaced as he quickly wrapped his hands around the back of her neck, yanked her head down and into his chest, and then flipped her completely over his shoulder. She flopped onto the ground before him, but before she could recover, he hammer-fisted her in the nose.

Now it was her turn to howl, and as she writhed on the ground with tears and blood spurting through her slender fingers, Sub-Zero scrambled towards her. Though in obvious agony, she had the presence of mind to scoop a handful of dirt in her palm and throw it directly into his eyes, blinding him. Then she yanked her legs towards her chest to build momentum for a kip-up, the toes on both her boots slamming into his chin and knocking him backwards in an explosion of stars as she rolled back, before she finally leapt to her feet with a maniacal cackle.

"Oh, dear brother, why won't you just die like a good boy?" she asked in a melodious tone.

"I was just about to ask you that, sister," he growled as he wiped the grit from his face.

She had also wiped much of the blood from her face, and to his astonishment he saw that her battle with Scorpion had left a peculiar scar. Specifically, an ugly blue and purplish line stretched completely from her right eyebrow to the middle of her cheek, in exactly the same place the Grandmaster bore his. The only difference between the two, in fact, was that while Kuai Liang's was razor thin and so clean that it was surgically precise, Frost's scar cut through her cheek in jagged swipes like a zipper, the seams bulging hideously in several places. Her older brother momentarily could not catch his breath at the uncanny sight.

"Your face," he began when he finally recovered from the shock. "What happened to it?"

"What do you think happened?" she snarled. "Your pal, Scorpion, did this to me and then Quan Chi left it this way when he healed me to punish me for my failure."

"It's an improvement," Smoke called as he cradled Anya in his arms, tending to her.

"Whatever," she hissed. "Just fork over the Medallion, Sunshine, and I'll be on my way."

"Go to hell," Sub-Zero snarled as he started to throw an ice ball at her. She anticipated it and beat him to the punch, throwing one right back at him, giving him barely enough time to dodge to the side and sweep her.

Frost yelped as she fell to the ground, and then screamed when he dropped his elbow into her already broken nose. "You're not fit to be the Grandmaster of any clan, let alone the Lin Kuei," he declared as he tried to elbow her again. This time, she skillfully blocked and then punched him, and before he knew it she had him on his face with his arm locked behind his back at an awkward angle. She twisted his captive wrist even more, enjoying his groans of discomfort. Then, once more, she sank her teeth into him, this time ripping open his bicep while growling like a ferocious animal.

Kuai Liang howled at the pain. She straddled his back as if he were a horse, so when he recovered from the bite a moment later, he decided to give her a ride. With a furious shout, he pushed his body up with his free hand, moving so quickly that it bucked her body to the side and she toppled onto her elbow, giving him the chance to scissor kick his legs over her head and twist his arm loose. Now they both scrambled to their feet. While Sub-Zero gingerly cupped the still-stinging and gushing bite wound on his arm, Frost dabbed at the blood dribbling uncontrollably from her nose.

"I'm not fit to be the Grandmaster?" she repeated with a nasal voice.

"Not remotely," he said, grimacing as he pumped his ice into the wound to dull the pain and slow the bleeding.

"Sounds familiar," she said. "I believe my father said it to me right before I gutted him like a fish and then strung him up for the vultures!"

"He was obviously smarter than you, Frost," Sub-Zero couldn't resist saying.

"Oh, I don't know, Brother," she said in her annoying sing-song voice before she grinned insanely. "A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'd be better than you."

"I don't have time for this," he mumbled, looking at Anya. She'd stopped shaking, but she still seemed to be unconscious in Smoke's arms. His friend looked back at him and slightly nodded his head no, confirming his thoughts.

"All I want is the Dragon Medallion, Sub-Zero," Frost chirped.

"I don't think so," he retorted.

She clicked her tongue as she now prowled in front of him like a lioness circling a gazelle. "Poor little Anya doesn't look so good right now. Quan Chi's really doing a number on her, far worse than what I did. And I'm sure a certain obnoxious thunder god could help her, but your little sister is blocking your way. Sure is inconvenient when you're trying to save the damsel in distress, isn't it? Of course, I'll move. Just give me what I want."

Kuai Liang wrinkled his nose and sneered in defiance. "No."

"I want it now!" she screamed.

"Tough."

Now Frost's scream became an ear-piercing shriek that hurt his ears as she charged towards him. A split second before she reached him, her arm outstretched to punch him, he threw his arm out like a sword and caught her directly in the throat, clotheslining her and knocking her to the ground. As she fell, though, she flailed her arms and threw thousands of tiny ice daggers at him. He scarcely had time to react before he formed an ice clone and back-flipped. The effigy took most of the damage, but some of his sister's weapons found their way through and sliced both of his arms with dozens of minor cuts. One of them, however, was more serious because it plunged into the thin skin just above his left eyebrow, sticking into the skull and weeping even more blood into his eyes.

Startled by the injuries, half-blinded by all the blood gushing from his head wound, Sub-Zero didn't quite see Frost use the opportunity to race towards his ice clone, flip onto its head, and then springboard from it onto him. They fell as one, but before they hit the ground, she sprayed a jet of ice beneath them, forming a slippery slide. A staunch chill prickled at the Cryomancer's skin when he landed, but he barely had time to notice it before Frost now aimed a new jet of ice behind her, using the subsequent energy to propel them both towards the temple wall like a booster rocket. He made no sound as they flew over the slide, but she screamed triumphantly, stopping only a moment before he slammed headfirst into the wall and she jumped to safety.

More stars exploded through his sight, and for a second he felt stunned stupid. And then sharp, stabbing pain filled his skull as his brain discerned what had happened. But by then, his sister had lifted him up by his tunic and started pounding him in the face. On her last punch, however, she got greedy, wound up her arm too far, and gave him enough time to duck out of the way when she threw it. She missed him entirely, but her momentum carried first her fist, then her face, into the stone wall before her.

While it was her turn to be stunned silly, Sub-Zero scurried to his feet and then promptly crescent kicked her on her exposed back, driving her body even further down. But now, just as it had with Rain, all his rage towards her overwhelmed him, poisoned his blood. He couldn't stop with just one hard kick. His first kick smoothly became a front snap kick to the ribs, and another, and another. He took sadistic joy in her grunts of pain, in the vomit she spewed when he found her gut. But he quickly tired of it – the pain he was inflicting wasn't enough – so he dug his fingers into her stark-white, spiky hair and yanked her head up so he could knee her repeatedly in the face. Only when he kneed her so hard that he knocked her backwards did he stop.

Frost slumped to the ground now, seemingly unconscious. Once more, the Cryomancer stepped towards her, still not satisfied with her level of suffering. For everything the bitch had done to Anya, to their mother, to his friends' families, to him, his protégée deserved a slow and cruel death. He would be the one to give it to her.

But just as he started to form a kori sword in his hands, Frost came alive once more, screaming as she rammed a newly made ice dagger through the top of his foot. Sub-Zero yelled in agony as cold lightning surged through his blood, carrying the new pain to his brain. He crumpled and staggered slightly, and while he did his sister yanked the weapon from his foot and drove directly into the same spot Sareena had stabbed him in when Outworld invaded Earthrealm. Frost spat out a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to his knees, then promptly kicked him in the crotch as hard as she could.

The pain from that was far worse than the knife through the foot, the gut, and hell, even the sword through his shoulder. Brilliant light – not colorful starbursts but blinding white light – consumed his vision as it sucked all the air from his lungs. When gravity forced him to fall on his side, he couldn't even resist its insistent pull. He smacked the ground weakly, trying to will his oxygen to return again while forcing his powers to his hands, and that is why, when Frost tried to stomp his face, her foot came down on a kori knife instead.

Sub-Zero's younger sister screamed as the blade burst through the top of her foot, and then to both their surprise, a jet of water blasted the female Cryomancer in the face. Shocked, trying to recover from the shot to the groin, the Grandmaster glanced over his shoulder and saw Anya standing a few feet away, her palm up and poised to shoot more water at her nemesis. Dark circles painted her eyes, and she was deathly pale, but none of that could mask her rage for his former pupil. Frost sputtered and flailed blindly while she hopped on her good foot, but the Hydromancer sprayed her a second and even third time, saturating the other woman and turning the dusty earth into a soupy, muddy mess.

When Frost finally slipped and fell into a large mud puddle, Anya shrieked a ferocious war cry before she charged towards the woman, leapt into the air, and tackled her. "You – are – a – cunt – a – saurus – REX!" she roared as she punched the Cryomancer in the face over and over. "I – hate – you!" She shrieked incoherently.

Anya started to punch Frost again, but this time her opponent shrieked and threw her off, rolling on top of her, then throwing her own punch into the nurse's face. "Who knew the Princess would be up for getting a little dirty?" she jeered as she slapped her. "Especially when she's clearly not in the best of health." Frost now backhanded her. "Careful, Princess, you might break a nail."

Anya furiously brought her knee into Frost's crotch, quickly following up with a palm-strike to the face. The force knocked the Cryomancer over, and a splash of muddy water sprayed through the air. Both women were soaked and decidedly slicked with mud at this point, but neither of them seemed to notice or care. Frost was only momentarily stunned, but before she could react, Anya had already tackled her and ferociously slammed the other's face into the mud.

"That is my man that you're messing with, you bitch, and when you mess with him, you mess with me!" the nurse yelled, yanking on her muddy hair to pull her head up, only to shove it down again.

But Frost only tolerated that once before she got out of it, twisted around to elbow Anya in the face, and laughed as blood spurted from the Hydromancer's nose. Immediately, she jumped onto the nurse's middle, straddling her, wrapping her fingers around her throat. "Oh, my dear, sweet Anya," she began with a wicked smile on her face, her dark blue eyes almost black with evil, "I've been looking forward to this." Frost started to freeze her enemy's neck, chuckling uncontrollably under her breath while Anya squirmed and punched at her to get free.

And then someone lifted the Cryomancer by the waist before throwing her several feet. Both women looked at Smoke in wild-eyed surprise as he waved his index finger and clicked his tongue at her in admonishment. "Now Frost, as much as it pains me to break up a girl-fight, I can't let you go at my friend like that." He grinned and then lifted Anya to her feet.

Frost, meanwhile, staggered tiredly to hers. "Tell me something, Smoke," she began as she wiped the mud on her face. She only succeeded in smearing it around. "Do you actually listen to yourself when you speak, or do you find that you drift in and out?"

"Let me at her!" Anya screeched as she darted towards the woman again, but Tomas caught her and held her back with a chuckle. Then he stared at their enemy, the mirth fading.

"You act like your arrogance is a virtue," Smoke said to Frost as Sub-Zero finally limped to them with his ice-charged palm outstretched and aimed for his sister.

Frost saw all three of them standing together, glaring at her as if ready to kill, and promptly turned and ran away. Smoke started to give chase, but as it turned out he didn't have to. As the female Cryomancer looked back and threw an ice ball at him, she immediately slammed into a new opponent. Nobody could contain their look of shock when they saw the ominous black figure towering above her, his arms crossed in condescension, his milky white eyes faintly amused. Frost fell on her butt from the force of the impact, and suddenly she seemed much smaller as she looked at him with wide, slightly fearful eyes.

"Hello, Sister," Noob greeted in that ghastly abundance of voices. "Going somewhere?"

"Brother, they're taking Quan Chi's prisoner!" she yelped as she scrambled to her feet. "Help me stop them."

"Somehow, I don't think you're terribly worried about what happens to Quan Chi's prisoner," he sneered behind his black mask.

"Brother-"

"You wouldn't happen to be trying to steal the Dragon Medallion from the Grandmaster, would you?" he asked pointedly.

Frost's sapphire eyes narrowed and she scowled, though with all the mud coating her face, her expression lost much of its cold fire. "And what if I am?" she snarled.

"Then even for you, that's a whole new mountain of stupid," he hissed back.

She didn't wait for Noob to speak again before she threw a right hook at him with a strangled cry, but he patiently chuckled as he blocked her. Then Saibot exploded from him and rammed into her like a freight train, knocked her into the dirt, and pinned her beneath his shadowy weight. Sub-Zero and the others watched in amazement as she screamed and fought to get free and couldn't while the wraith calmly walked to her head, produced a cobalt collar, and fastened it around her neck. Then, with some sort of dark magic that wreathed his fingers in purple, he fused the clasp shut so she couldn't remove it without help. Frost howled like a wounded animal again, more from rage than injury, with furious tears now streaming from her face.

"A gift from Quan Chi," Noob said to her. "He suspected you had something to do with why his spell against his prisoner wasn't working properly."

"It wasn't me!" she shrieked. "It was Rain and Sub-Zero!"

"I know," he replied. "But I don't care. I like you much better like this." With that, Saibot hoisted her to her feet. "Now, be a dear and finish what you started." The wraith thought his joke terribly funny, and he laughed wickedly at the notion of her fighting three angry Earthrealm warriors without the benefit of her powers to help her. Ruthlessly, Saibot shoved her towards them.

Kuai Liang was already charging towards her in spite of the limp in his step, the pain still exploding from his wounded foot and tender groin. His sister stood still in his path, seemingly paralyzed like a deer caught in the headlights, perhaps the first time she'd ever felt fear. The Cryomancer could care less, however. Sister or not, she had to go. When he'd gotten within just a few feet of her, she threw up her hands in surrender.

"I give up!" she squealed.

Her concession angered Sub-Zero further, and pitilessly he punched her in the jaw and tackled her with a roar before the weight of his body pinned her to the dust. Then, he started beating her face with his fists, ignoring the blood and the mud smearing his knuckles as well as the pain from the spots where they split.

"You're not so tough now, are you?" he cried. "Without your powers, you're nothing!"

Behind him, he vaguely heard Noob laugh with sadistic glee as his younger brother backhanded their sister for good measure. Then he wrapped his hands around her neck above her new collar to freeze her like she'd planned to do to Anya. His icy palms squeezed Frost's throat, and he realized he was laughing too, an insane quiet chuckle barely audible, as his power flowed into her skin and tinged it a deep blue. She struggled to push him off, but couldn't, and weakly croaked instead. Twisted satisfaction consumed him as her eyes began to roll into the back of her head, and he was content to let it. He drifted away in perverse pleasure.

And then he heard a voice calmly say, "Kuai Liang, stop." Startled back to his senses, he looked up. Standing before him was the Elder God, Himavat.