"Cousin, it's time," Fujin announced as he surveyed the battlefield below, jarring Kuai Liang from his thoughts. The Dragon King's army had stopped marching and now stood in place as if waiting for the rebels to make the first move, though they still beat on drums and occasionally blew their horns. It was mildly unsettling.
The Cryomancer said nothing, merely nodded.
"The men look kinda nervous, Iceman," Jax began as he loaded a clip into his M-16 rifle. "You should give 'em a pep talk."
Sub-Zero inhaled deeply and glanced at the Ranger. "And what do I say?" he asked, truly wondering how to rally the troops for a battle they'd almost certainly lose. "I've never given a speech like that before."
"Say whatever pops into your head," he replied.
"That's helpful," he drily remarked. Jax shrugged before he and Sonya trotted off to join the Falcata.
"He's right," Fujin said as he turned to face the soldiers.
Kuai Liang thought about what he should say. It had to inspire the troops and make them believe in victory. He sighed at the thought. That was a job for a poet. He was a warrior, not a poet, and not a particularly eloquent warrior at that.
"Brave warriors of Earthrealm-" he began in his normal voice, but was abruptly cut off.
"You have to be louder than that," Fujin criticized. "The soldiers won't be able to hear you. Shout it, Cousin! And climb up on that rock so they can see you."
The Cryomancer shot him an annoyed glance but then scurried onto the nearby boulder that the Wind God meant. It was huge and stood around five feet tall, more than enough for the men to see him. He cleared his throat and began to shout.
"Brave warriors of Earthrealm, Outworld, Edenia, and Netherrealm," he started, "we see our common enemy approaching. We hear their drums echo across the valley. Soon now, we will meet them face to face." He paused to contemplate the next words, and quickly decided what to say. "I am resolved in the midst and heat of battle to live or die amongst you all!" he yelled, raising his kori sword high into the air. As he did, the warriors from all factions cheered. The noise was deafening but it set his heart pumping wildly in excitement and anticipation. His fear subsided, now replaced by something primal and hungry, something like bloodlust.
When the rebels quieted, he continued: "We will not let them annihilate the Realms. While we stand together, none of Onaga's warriors will pass." He sneered at the thought now. "Let him come with all the undead armies that he can conjure, but they will not pass. And when this day of battle has ended, we will meet again in the afterlife...or on the field of victory!" He raised his kori sword once more, this time smirking behind his mask. "Now, my friends…Let's go start a fight."
The Edenian trumpets blasted again while thousands of voices screamed back at them. Sub-Zero leapt from his boulder and took his spot at the front line, directly in center. "Forward!" he roared as he began marching down the hill. King Henryk, Kia, and Jataaka flanked him, and they were followed by the Edenians and Hydromancers of their particular brigade.
It didn't take long for Smoke to teleport to his brigade and join Scorpion, Noob, and Sareena. He glanced to his left; not far from him, in his neighboring contingent of warriors, were the Falcata looking terrifying in their war masks and headdresses. Kailyn led them, though her mask was lifted at the moment so that she might bark out some final, encouraging words to her people. Her new spear was in her hand, and her new curved blade, bow, and quiver full of arrows were strapped to her back. She raised the spear to elicit war cries from her people, and the sight filled Smoke's heart with pain because it was then that he realized this thing with her was no longer a game: he really loved her.
The revelation made her betrayal feel even worse.
As if sensing his eyes watching her, she swiveled her head towards him and caught his eyes staring. A pained expression crossed her face. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then motioned for the Falcata to join her as she marched directly towards him. Behind her, the other warriors in her brigade surged forward, joining the rest of the front line as they pressed towards the Dragon King's army. Similarly, his contingent, led by Scorpion, pressed forward, but he and Sareena hung back while they marched by.
"What do you want, Kailyn?" he rudely called out. "We've got a war to fight."
"I am well aware," she replied as she and the other warrior women joined him. "But I cannot go to battle with my mistake looming over my head," she declared. "I want your forgiveness, Tomas Vrbada."
"Learn to live with disappointment," he said coldly.
"I should not have done what I did," she told him. "I know that. I was a fool."
"That's not the word I was thinking of," he retorted.
"I was a fool to lay with Lord Fujin," she declared loud enough for her Falcata to hear. "I regret it because it deeply hurt the man I truly love."
Tomas recoiled at that. Helplessly, he looked to Sareena for help, but bug-eyed, she merely shrugged. "What did you say?" he asked the Tetrach, his tone now more confused than angry.
Kailyn half-smiled. "You heard me," she said. Then she lifted her spear and looked at the Falcata. "When the first Tetrach, Aibreann, picked up her spear and joined the men in battle, they thought her a silly child playing at war," she began. "They treated her with disrespect, like she was only their concubine. Disgusted by them, she decided that no woman should ever be treated like a mere plaything for a common man to enjoy, and she decreed that no Tetrach should ever give a man so much as a kiss unless he had proven, without any and all doubt, that he was worthy of her. This is a tradition that every Tetrach since Aibreann has honored."
The cyber-ninja looked at her in confusion. "Kailyn, what are you doing-" he asked, but she abruptly cut him off.
"Sisters," she said, "it is rare to find a worthy man in this world, especially one who is not a Hydromancer, but I have been blessed by the Water Mother to meet such a man." Kailyn now looked at him. "My dear Falcata, behold Tomas Vrbada. I once thought him a fool. He seemed careless and irresponsible. He was definitely not to be trusted. But I tell you now, under the sky where the gods and spirits may witness, that I was wrong. This Champion from Earthrealm is honorable, and just, and trustworthy. He is, and always shall be, a friend to the Hydromancer people. I tell you that he is worthy of my kiss."
With that, she gripped his shirt to pull him close, and looked up at him pensively with her wild lilac eyes. Their bodies were so close now that he suddenly noticed a tiny scar on the bridge of her nose that he'd never seen before. For a fleeting moment, he wondered how she got it. And then he realized he wanted to know everything about the woman standing in front of him. More than anything, though, he wanted to feel her lips on his. At the thought, electricity shot through his body, quickening his heartbeat. She took a step closer; he wasn't sure his heart had ever pounded so fast or hard in his life. Just as his longing became unbearable, Kailyn's lips finally met his. The warmth of her mouth sent a current running through his body, and without realizing he did it, he wrapped his arms around her and got lost in the feel of her soft lips and gently probing tongue.
And then, just like that, it was over. Kailyn slowly pulled away, leaving Tomas aching for more. He gazed at her dopily, knowing he probably looked like a simpleton, silently begging. But she stepped back in spite of him, and as she did, the Falcata raised their spears to salute him.
"Tomas Vrbada!" they cried as one.
"What?" he said dreamily. "What just happened?"
"Come on, Lover Boy," Sareena sighed impatiently, grabbing his shoulder. "We've got to go. You know, war, battle, a fight to the death and all that?"
Even still, she had to pull him along because he couldn't help but stare at Kailyn, who was getting ready to pull down her mask. "Wait, you're not gonna make me participate in your bizarre mating ritual, are you?" he called to her as the demoness dragged him into formation. And then he inwardly smacked himself. Of all the things to say to her in that moment, and he chose that?
"Until we meet again," the Tetrach replied with a knowing grin as she lowered her mask. She and the Falcata now rejoined their own contingent, disappearing into the throngs of marching warriors and rising dust.
"I love you," he muttered under his breath, but she was too far away now to have heard.
Drums rolled and fires leapt up as the rebel army approached the skeletal soldiers, who now let out a deafening, jeering yell. Dust rose into the air when the Tarkatans broke into a fast run with their arm blades out and ready to kill. On the other side of the great host, the Zaterrans followed suit. But there were more skeletons than Sub-Zero could count, and soon, their forces would mow every last dissident down. The wind blew and the Edenian trumpets taunted Onaga's army while the arrows softly hissed through the air.
The trumpets blared again. A line of enemy spearmen had formed ahead, bristling with steel, waiting behind tall bronze shields with a mighty dragon etched into the metal on the front. Sub-Zero was the first to reach them, leading a lightly armored contingent of Hydromancer and Edenian veterans. He and most others broke their charge and turned about before they ran into the spears, but many others died, the sharp steel points ripping through their chests. In a second, the Grandmaster saw at least a dozen of his men go down. He, however, rose untouched and started freezing the skeletons and deflecting many others with his kori sword.
Kia and Jataaka burst through the new gap before the shields could close, with King Henryk and the Hydromancers hard behind them. Sub-Zero shouted at his brigade, "After me!" but most of them were already ahead of him. He glimpsed an Edenian impaled on a spear, watched Henryk shatter a skeleton's bones with one swipe of his impossibly broad sword, sending it spiraling into dust to be deposited elsewhere on the field. A flight of arrows rained on both armies, rattling off armor or finding flesh. The Cryomancer formed a kori shield around his left arm and used it to protect himself from them.
The front lines of the Dragon King's army were crumbling fast, the skeletal soldiers reeling under the impact of the Cryomancers' assault. Near him, Fujin stomped his foot, tipped a newly formed tornado on his side, and waited for Sub-Zero to blast it with ice as the enemy soldiers fought to stay standing. His younger cousin didn't make him wait long; within a second, he obliged him, and like the battle of Eridu, wave after wave of ice washed over the skeletons, freezing them into statues.
At the left wing, Motaro caught a Zaterran squarely in the chest as the foolish beast came at him at a full run. His ax sheared through his armor, hide, muscles, and lungs as if they were nothing. The reptile was dead on his feet, the ax lodged in his breast, yet Motaro galloped on, cleaving another Zaterran's head in two with his other battle ax while the corpse was bouncing along like a doll on his right. Finally, the dead Zaterran slid off, and when it did, Motaro smashed the two axes together and roared.
By then, the enemy surrounded him. A Zaterran spit acid at the Centaur, but Motaro dodged the attack before his ax lashed out, knocking the reptile aside. The Zaterran hissed and leapt forward for another try, but the Centaur dispassionately ran right over him, leaving hoof prints and dent marks across the beast's bloody face. He then reared back, his powerful legs kicking at any enemy who dared to come too close.
The onslaught of Centaurs and Edenian cavalry proved too much for the reptiles, as the Cryomancer had predicted. The Zaterrans, outmatched and outnumbered by the rebel forces, darted back, scrambling to get away from the field. Motaro scowled at that. Cowards, he thought. On the same token, though, it was exactly what he'd prayed for because it was what Sub-Zero had wanted to happen; it needed to happen in order to make the plan work. Screaming in fury, he lifted his heavy axes into the air and led the charge to hunt the beasts down.
On the leftmost side of the field, the Seidans were sufficiently protecting the Cryomancers in their charge while they mowed through the remnants of the Zaterran forces. The Centaurs had scared off most of them, but a few brave ones stayed behind to slow down the wing's gradual movement towards the skeleton army's flank. The artillery commanders were undoubtedly bored; they scarcely needed to use their Order cannons against the enemy, but when they did, a rapid fusillade of muffled thumps bombed the plain and reverberated through the ground. The entire battlefield shook as a series of concussive blasts ripped across it, shock waves hurling earth and dead Zaterrans this way and that, white-hot flame disintegrating anything those shock waves missed.
Hotaru, their General, was surrounded by three Zaterrans, but he lopped the head off the first reptile that came at him with a mighty swing of his naginata, and then he raked its blade across a second's face on his backslash before he blasted a smoking hole into the third's chest.
As he was finishing up with them, a spear came hurtling at the Seidan from the right and he barely had time to dodge aside before it plunged into the ground beside him. It wobbled in place, even as he wheeled about and raced towards the Zaterran who threw it. The beast roared as he approached, but Hotaru fearlessly circled around him, stabbing and chopping at him with his naginata. The reptile spat at him with his vile saliva, but the Seidan's armor shielded him from injury, and before the creature could attack again, it slipped on dewy grass. The Seidan destroyed him with a sweeping downcut that splattered green blood across his armor, face, and hair.
As he was distracted by that, a purple-clad figure with dull eyes charged toward him. Before he noticed her, she lifted her arms and blasted him with a powerful, sparkling blast of ethereal energy. Instantly, it lifted him into the air with a startled cry, launching him backwards while she withdrew her long, narrow dao from a scabbard strapped to her back. Hotaru groaned in pain as he staggered to his feet, the explosive stinging from his attacker's weapon chittering through his blood and nerves. He looked at her as she stomped towards him, and he recognized the woman who'd been traveling with the rebels, the one he'd killed in Eridu when he snapped her neck. He was not surprised that Onaga had resurrected her.
"You are a traitor to your King," she accused, her voice devoid of passion or hatred. She was merely stating a fact.
"Seidans bow to no King," he retorted, gripping his naginata tightly in both hands.
"That is why you will all die," she replied.
"Then come, woman," he said. "Let us see who the better warrior is."
On the rightmost side of the field, Johnny, Ermac, and Erron were also protecting the handful of Cryomancers in their brigade from the Tarkatans well, and those sailors were efficiently freezing anything that came close to them. They brilliantly wielded the powers of ice and snow, their power great, their determination fierce. Vivid blue jets of ice raced out in all directions from their palms and many caused explosions of jagged ice merely by stomping the ground.
From behind their rebel line, the Seidan artillery commanders fired round after round from their Order cannons, disintegrating their enemies only to have several more take their place. Their heavy infantry were just as deadly as their weapons, though, Erron noticed. They were well-organized and fought like a deadly machine, wielding their energetic naginatas and halberds with skilled expertise. The Guards hacked and blasted their way through the enemy, cutting a large path through the middle of their lines. Their reputation in all the Realms was clearly well-earned.
Even still, the Tarkatan horde surged forward with gnashing teeth and armblades extended. They outnumbered their Zaterran allies on the opposite side of the field, and the Centaurs and Edenian cavalry hadn't been able to frighten off as many, so nearly half of their original number raced towards the Champions, the Cryomancers, and the Seidan Guard to stop them from circling around the back of the Dragon King's army.
Johnny plowed through the center of the enemy battalion, deftly deflecting Tarkatan blades into other Tarkatans. The enemy swung their arm blades in broad strokes, making it easy for him to grab their arms and redirect them however he saw fit. Beside him, Ermac rose into the air on a green, ethereal mist, his powers lifting, ripping, crushing, and contorting any creature foolish enough to stand too close.
Erron swept around the outermost edge of the mass, occasionally darting in and out to prove that even those farther from the borders were not safe. Against them, he wielded his revolvers, knives, sand bombs, and shotgun – all of them lethal. Few of the Tarkatans came anywhere near to hitting him, and those who got close found their heads or bodies riddled with bullets. Only when he had no other choice did Erron rely on his fists to stop an incoming stroke; he wasn't about to waste any of his energy on these inferior creatures.
Not when their true enemy had yet to appear.
Even now, the Champions from all Realms had nothing to fear from these bloodthirsty Tarkatans. Had it been only a question of slow destruction, with no concern for time, they could eventually have whittled down even so large a horde as this. Unfortunately, slaying this brigade was not the Tarkatans' only course to victory. The creatures began to disperse, streaming around the edges of the conflict and making for the main line. And here, out in the open, even the mighty warriors could do nothing to restrain the tide.
"Fall back!" the Seidan commander, Kiyoshi, yelled at Erron, Ermac, and Johnny's squadrons. The Champions wheeled at the Guard's call, as did the Seidans under their command, and they swiftly outpaced the Tarkatans. Kiyoshi pointed at the three. "Harry the flank!" he ordered.
"What the hell does that mean?" Johnny wondered as they sprinted. His words came out in disconnected pants.
"He wants us to poke the bear," Erron replied. "We're gonna give 'em hell."
"You got a plan to do that?" Johnny shouted a moment later.
"I have," Erron drawled, reloading his revolvers while he ran. He then threw several caltrops behind him for the Tarkatans to step on.
"Want to let us in on it?"
"We take whoever gets in our way."
"You call that a plan?"
"You got a better one?"
"No," the actor grumbled.
The three warriors spread apart on the left flank of their brigade with several Seidans to bait the Tarkatans while the rest of their battalion now marched forward with the Cryomancers. The Champions' small squadron of soldiers was the only thing blocking the enemy from the Shokan, who were now marching towards the right flank of the main block to box the Dragon King's army in. Again, naginatas, halberds, bullets, and artillery shells flew, and again, Tarkatans fell.
Soon, Johnny was attacked by Baraka, who leapt at him like a vicious beast with ropes of drool spilling through his sharp teeth. He was a slave to Onaga too, his eyes dull like all the rest of the slaves' had been. Erron cried out to his temporary ally – his precise words lost in the bedlam – and dived forward, his revolver raised high. The bullet's impact was enough to stagger the Tarkatan, and he howled, hacking down a Seidan with his arm blade, but the gunslinger barely noticed.
Johnny looked from Baraka to Erron and back again in surprise before he attacked the weakened Tarkatan, but the other spun his body around like a twister, and knocked the Earthrealm Champion backwards several feet. Erron, on the other hand, had already gotten to his feet and was now stomping towards him with his revolvers cocked and aimed. Baraka roared and then flourished his blades around as if the gunslinger were supposed to be impressed. Erron stared at the display for a long moment, but when the Tarkatan had finished, he calmly shot him in the gut.
Blood splattered everywhere when Baraka collapsed to the ground. Erron marched towards him again, this time holstering his revolvers and withdrawing his shotgun. The creature looked up at him as he clutched his wounded belly with thick fingers tipped in long, black talons.
"Don't just lay there and bleed," Erron cruelly taunted.
"You will bend a knee to the Dragon King," Baraka gasped, spitting up blood. "It is his law."
Erron smirked at that behind his red bandanna mask. "No law written is as powerful as hot iron," he retorted.
"You…will lose," he croaked.
"Here's some free advice, friend," he replied. "Never corner something that's meaner than you."
With that, he aimed his shotgun at Baraka's arm and calmly fired two shells just above his elbow, the noise ringing through the sky, piercing the chaos of battle. As expected, the blasts separated his arm, tearing free the limb. The Tarkatan wailed in pain, but between the blood loss from that wound as well as from the bullet holes in his gut, he quickly quieted as his dull eyes rolled back into his skull.
"Nice shot!" Johnny complimented him after he warded off a handful of Tarkatans. "You're really good with guns. Have you ever thought of doing consulting work in the movies?"
The gunslinger chose to ignore his question. He glanced at the actor. "I do handle guns pretty well. Trouble is, those best able to testify to my aim ain't around for comment."
Erron now bent over to retrieve his prize – the Tarkatan arm and blade which he planned to make into a sword – but was caught off guard by a sudden screech and the dull, heavy whap! of something sharp and spinning plunging deep into his shoulder blade. He groaned and dropped to his knees as he grabbed for the weapon, and was surprised when he yanked out a bloody, blue fan. He and Johnny looked up; they saw a woman – she was dressed in an indecent outfit to make the whores back home look like churchgoing prudes – running for them with another fan ready to throw.
"Kitana-" the actor trailed off, preparing to fight her.
He didn't have to. Ermac caught her with his powers and yanked her into the air. "We outnumber you," he said in his eerie voice. "You will not win. Resistance is futile."
As the Edenian princess struggled to get free of his telekinetic grip, another woman in pink who was even more scantily clad than this one, teleported from above and landed on Ermac's back. Though her yellow eyes were entranced, they were also as mad as a wet cat, and she yanked down her mask to reveal a set of Tarkatan teeth before she sank them into Ermac's neck.
He merely groaned as he tried to pull her off, but he lost his grip over Kitana, who fell like a rock to the ground. Erron already had his guns in hand and aimed, one at the princess and one at the other. He started to squeeze the triggers, but then he was hit from behind by a hard staff, and he fell once more, this time losing his grip on his revolvers. The staff hit him once more, this time in the head, knocking off his hat. The assailant would've hit him a third time, but this time, as the staff was hacking down, the gunslinger rolled out of the way and sprang to his feet. His attacker was a fat man with beads and bells that tinkled woven into his long, black beard. The man quickly aimed his weapon at Erron once more.
"El rey dragón tendrá su alma," the man slurred in Spanish. The Dragon King will have your soul, Erron mentally translated.
"Hoy no, borracho," he shot back, also in Spanish. Not today, drunkard.
A sudden shriek made them both look away in time to see Johnny ripping the pink-clad monster from Ermac's back. She fell to the ground but quickly bounced up, facing him. Now, all three Champions stood in a wide circle with their enemies. Ermac stared at Kitana with eerily glowing eyes, his hands wreathed in green ether, but she had retrieved her bloody fan and was now poised to fight with them. Johnny glared at the pink-clad one, who had yanked sais from her back, and was now growling viciously like a rabid dog. And Erron had his two revolvers aimed at both her and the drunk who'd attacked him.
"Well now," he drawled. "It seems we have something of a Mexican standoff here."
At the front lines, Noob, Scorpion, Sareena, and Smoke were rapidly tiring fighting these immortal soldiers, but they held their ground all the same. They couldn't fall back until Sub-Zero commanded, or they'd ruin everything.
The lines of skeletons marched through the ash, not even slowed by it, but they were destroyed as rapidly as they appeared. Inky shadow spread over them, poured from some unseen well fueled by Noob's power, and the life, artificial as it may have been, simply fled their bodies. Even inertia seemed sucked from them, for they ceased marching instantly and they toppled, some tripping the next rank following behind. Pools of tar, not unlike the one he'd used to tease his living brother, welled up from the layers of ash and dust, yanking the skeletons down just enough to stop them from moving forward, but not enough to kill them. That was his most effective method of dealing with them, but unfortunately, he couldn't conjure them quickly enough.
Near him, Sareena had ripped off a skeleton's arm and was beating him across the face with it. Arcs of flame from Scorpion seared the skeletons while Smoke used his missiles to blast holes through his enemies as well as craters in the ground for them to fall in. And from those craters leapt fiery ghouls conjured by the Shirai Ryu to fall upon the enemy with ripping fang and rending claw.
"I'm impressed," Noob praised, pausing to look at the pits exploding in flame.
"What's hell without fire?" Scorpion replied before he threw his kunai spear through a skeleton's skull.
As he said that, a portal swirling with green and purple flames appeared before the skeletons' lines, and it deposited Quan Chi, Cyrax, and Sindel on the battlefield against the demonic warriors. They were, not surprisingly, entranced by a powerful spell, nothing but mindless drones, mere slaves to Onaga's power. Noob scoffed behind his mask, his lips curling in a venomous sneer for the sorcerer; he enjoyed the profound irony of his enslavement.
Panting hard, Smoke was the first to say something to them. "Well, here's one for the list of dumbest things ever," he started. "Drop in on the people who want to kill you."
"Murderer," Scorpion growled at Quan Chi while he and the others blankly stared at the cyber-ninja. "I will end you once and for all."
He fiercely withdrew his katanas and poised to attack, but before he could, Cyrax, who appeared completely human again, threw a glass ball full of napalm into the demons' midst. There came a hollow boom, like a thunderclap cutting through the din of screams and shouts. A moment later, a brilliant, burning light flashed not ten paces from Noob, slicing through several Edenians and skeletons like a razor. Had he or his allies been lesser beings, they would have perished alongside of them. As it was, it still stunned them as it blew them apart.
While the demons rolled on the ground, writhing in pain, Cyrax raced towards Smoke and tackled him, beating at his face before the cyber-ninja could react. As the two rolled around in the long grass, punching and kicking at each other, Sindel marched to Sareena, curled her fist around a large clump of her hair, and yanked her to her feet. The demoness weakly punched at the Empress, but Sindel blocked her with her free hand and then proceeded to shriek like a banshee into her ear.
That left Noob and Scorpion to face Quan Chi. The dark wraith glanced at the other one, his rheumy eyes cold and vengeful, and he nodded, a silent understanding passing between them. Then both proceeded to descend upon the architect of their destruction like a pack of hungry wolves. Quan Chi, however, had other plans. He said nothing – no condescending retort or promise of pain – he simply lifted a green wreathed fist into the air and twisted it just as the two reached him.
A matching green ether enveloped Noob, and it compelled him to walk towards Scorpion and send him back to the Netherrealm in shame. The wraith resisted, but every fiber of his being burned with torture. He grimaced and groaned, but it was futile. The pain made him forget himself and everything but his order to kill his uneasy ally. It marauded through his mind. His gloved fingers tightened into fists as he staggering forward, suffering, even as Scorpion whipped around to ward him off.
Set me free, a sinister voice whispered through his brain. The sound of it, so familiar and haunting, jogged him free just long enough to have a moment of clarity. His strange power surged through him, so he reached for it, grasping at the edges. In that moment, he found the strength to turn the mad dog loose.
"Yes," Quan Chi hissed as Noob marched ever closer to his comrade. "Destroy him in the name of the Dragon King."
Noob sensed it without having seen it. A quick tap on the sorcerer's shoulder caused him to whirl around and loosen his grip over his darkest creation. Noob risked a glance over his shoulder then, just in time to see Saibot wind up and punch Quan Chi directly in the teeth.
Kabal raced around the battlefield with his tremendous speed, though he was considerably slower than normal because his hips, still sore and recovering from their recent dislocation, prevented him from running any faster. Still, he was quicker than any man on the field, and that had come in handy because his old partner, Stryker, was relentlessly shooting his .9 mil at him and chasing after him as if he were a perp. Kabal soon tired of the chase, though, so he came about and then raked the hook on one of his swords across Kurtis' hands just hard enough to disarm him. As predicted, the former cop lost his grip on it and it toppled harmlessly into the long waves of grass, disappearing into the dust and the bedlam.
Catja only saw part of this engagement because she was currently fighting her own battle; she may have passed on her title as Tetrach so that she could become the Queen, but she had lost none of her fire or skill for warfare. With her notched spear, she took a skeleton out with a well-placed crack to the skull, and then she danced around in a circle and dispatched another with a stab to the chest that broke through several rib bones. It was tiring work as the skeletons kept reforming at other parts of the battlefield, but so far, Kuai Liang's plan was working: the Dragon King's army seemed to be lulled into a false sense of security.
When Catja had hacked and stabbed her way through several enemies, she stopped and took a breath, glancing worriedly at the ridge where Anya, Adaia, and the other healers were probably already busy tending to the wounded. As a prayer for her only daughter welled up inside of her, she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. Her heart leapt into her throat as she whirled around, startled, inwardly kicking herself for her complacency. But when she saw who it was, her heart abruptly dropped into her stomach, and she felt nauseous.
He was a tall man, handsome, with stern lavender eyes and a hard set jaw. She never thought she'd see him again because he was dead, but like all the other slaves she'd seen thus far, his eyes were glazed over and distant, faded and dim.
"Halsey," she breathed, tears flooding her eyes as she studied her husband. Catja immediately forgot the battle raging around them, and she dropped her spear so that she could reach for him with shaking hands. "Oh, my love, what has that monster done to you?"
She tried to wrap her arms around him, but he automatically pushed her away and then followed up with a cruel punch to her scarred jaw that easily knocked her to her knees. Never before in his entire life had he struck her, but now that he had, it shocked her more than it hurt her, though it did hurt. Badly. Hot blood spilled from the deep wound she accidentally bit into her tongue, and blinding tears gushed from her eyes in pained torrents. She had no time to reflect on whether they stemmed from the physical pain burning across her face or the unexpected blow to her psyche.
"You should not be fighting against Onaga, Catja," Halsey reprimanded in a robotic, hollow voice. "You are the Queen of the Hydromancers. Surely, you see the wisdom in allying your people with him."
"They're your people too, Halsey!" she cried, rubbing the rough skin on her tender jaw in disbelief. "And the man I love would never ally himself with that tyrant. He would die before he allowed it, and I will too!"
"Yes," he calmly replied. "You will."
"Not today, she won't," an equally calm voice said as blue ether slithered over Halsey's body and lifted him into the air. Catja glanced to her right and saw the blind swordsman, Kenshi, standing nearby with Nightwolf at his side.
"Catja, this is not your husband," the Apache called to her. "He is an imposter."
The Hydromancer Queen wiped her eyes, retrieved her spear, and got to her feet just as Kenshi proceeded to slam Halsey's body into the ground over and over, almost taking sadistic glee in the action. An evil half-smirk enveloped his face as he pressed his fingers to his temple, focusing his powers and concentration. Misty clouds of blood exploded from Halsey's mouth as he bounced up and down like a ball, and he cried out in pain through muffled gurgling.
"Kenshi, stop!" Catja screamed as she raised her spear to run him through.
She darted towards him; if Halsey had been resurrected, perhaps there was a way to reverse the enchantment over him. Adaia seemed to think so, and if the Grand Healer believed there was a way, the Queen didn't dare question it. She turned the haft of her spear over in her hands to heft it at the Champion, but just as she did, a golden green aura glowed around Halsey's body, and it was accompanied by an unearthly scream. It shot through Catja like a thousand needles of ice and echoed across the plains and the hills, seemingly causing everything to vibrate. It took her breath away and caused Nightwolf to stumble backwards.
Kenshi, however, maintained his firm mental grip on his prisoner, who had now gone quiet, though the aura around Halsey had become a maelstrom of violent, sickly colors that sucked all the surrounding light into it. Darkness fell about them. Where Catja stood, it was black as night. The only light was around Halsey – night conquered day. And then, as she watched in astonished horror, her husband's body melted and reformed into a person she'd loathed for many long years: Shang Tsung.
"You bastard," she growled at the sorcerer, suddenly hating herself for being lured into one of his cruel tricks. "It's time to put you down like the rabid dog you are!"
Kenshi held up a hand to stop her. "He's mine," he greedily said. And with that, he psychically picked her up and threw her backwards into the Hydromancer ranks.
At the forefront of the battle where the fighting was the thickest, on and on Sub-Zero's cryogenic weapons raged, and on and on, the Dragon King's army advanced, a rising tide of bone and metal. The Grandmaster, for all his power, never had the slightest doubt which would fail first. His army could never overcome the skeleton soldiers head-on, and the enemy probably understood that just as well. But that was exactly what he was counting on.
"Fall back!" he ordered his warriors, and they repeated the command down the line. Slowly, the entire battalion began to back up as Sub-Zero had planned, but they didn't do so in a straight line. At first, they merely spread out, their lines thinning as the wings grew outward and began to curve around the advancing soldiers. It was a measured retreat, carefully done, and it lured the skeleton soldiers into his trap as they chased after the rebels.
Again, Sub-Zero's kori sword and ice jet flew. On occasion, when the sheer press of numbers threatened to force him and the others backward faster than planned, he unleashed a powerful copse of penitentes, King Henryk sprayed furious blasts of water, or Jataaka unleashed a storm of grasping ghouls that she'd summoned from the Netherrealm to drive back all who approached. Heaps of broken bones and metal expanded into hedges, hedges into walls, until the skeletons could hardly even approach without first digging through multiple layers of their own writhing allies.
"I'm still not comfortable with this arrangement," Henryk huffed between heavy breaths. "We have little room to maneuver."
"They'll have an even worse time trying to maneuver," Sub-Zero reassured him as Fujin tipped another tornado on its side and he impregnated it with icy power that froze all the skeletons in the vicinity.
"That should give us a few moments," Kia said, taking a quick breath as she wiped a sheen of sweat from her brow.
She overestimated. Dozens of skeleton soldiers began marching along paths through their newly frozen comrades, and then burst through the front lines. Sub-Zero easily froze the first few, but more surged towards him. Slowly but surely, the rebels' front lines backed up even more.
"Scarcely matters how many we kill," Jataaka shouted over the screech of rending metal and the distant explosions, her laser sword whirling in vicious arcs. "Soon, we won't be able to move. They'll be able to pick us off at leisure."
Sub-Zero, who had already reached the same conclusion, was crouched behind a circular barrier made from a double-bladed kori sword he formed in one fist. His other hand he held toward the skeleton soldiers, slowly curling his fingers into a twisted claw. Gnarled tendrils of ice crept up from the ground, following the motion of his hand, creating a cage that snared many of the enemy. Henryk watched for a moment, a grumbling mass of violet and steel.
"Stick to the plan!" the Cryomancer barked at Jataaka when he was finished.
A horn – deep and reverberating and unlike anything Sub-Zero had heard that day – sounded then. On the ridge rising behind the Dragon King's army, on the outskirts of the Bīnglěng Di Dìyù, stood an unexpected sight: the Lords of Mòhé. The horn blew again, and this time a blue wave crashed down the hillside, attacking the skeleton army's rear.
