Volume Two: Eyes of Hate
Chapter XXVI
Skirmish
The Jade Antlers gave a wicked chuckle. "You call that invitation, Wang?" Chen Xing snapped.
"Let go of me!" Kai wrestled his lofty arms against two hawk jombies clenching his wrists. They tossed him onto the wooden platform beside Crane, and the porcupine jombie released his quill. Almost made the green quill instantly, Chen Xing's paw caught it with haste, flinging on the rocky floor.
"Stop it, Wang. What are you doing with Kai? Why him?"
"The Mightiest Warrior had failed. Upon most subjects before him, neither succeeded in purging every soul, so I've decided to devour every chi. And after every last one of you," he spun chains over his wrists, clenching Kai's emerald knives, "I shall reign in all of China as the Jade Emperor."
Madness.
The Nine's Leader began to skid his feet position as a horse stance, both arms guarding forward. Four jombies invaded their surroundings further as Crane flickered his wings; the Dragon Warrior guarded his limbs in panda stance, including Shen rotating his wooden pole. All three, even the insect, whose antennae twitched, shone their humming chi.
"What's your play here, Xing?" Po glared at the other gorilla jombie while Crane and Mantis kept their eyes on the Swan Dancer, who readied her black sash behind General Kai.
"Let's show them all how to bathe with chi."
The encounter embarked with the ape jombie swing his arm, made the panda bridge against the firm blow, and the other pawing at his chest.
"Skadoosh!" Po's chi launched the stone bandit across two platforms, plunging him toward the mouth.
Crane spun and cast his wing, firing his disk of chi on Amy, who nearly attempted to snap her ribbon under Kai's throat. The cloth shredded, letting the Mightiest Warrior hit the dirt while Crane soared toward the Swan Dancer, propelling themselves away from the main ridge.
While in haste, Shen enabled gyration to his pole; each turn, he clobbered the hawk's head, deflected two quills from the porcupine, and the last he almost maneuvered Wang's jade sword. Chen Xing caught links, jerked the sword back, sidestepped, and struck his left elbow on the deer's muzzle.
Po engaged the second hawk, whose talon revolved on the panda's head twice. At first, the Dragon Warrior propelled most fast punches after he maneuvered the hawk's wings, which jade feathers were sharp on edges, twirling toward his knees and chest. A green flash to his right spat, launching his tiger colleague on a stiff ridge.
The Jade Antlers revolved chains over his wrists and flung his right knife at Kai. Po made for one kick toward the side of the blade, deflecting it off course to the ground. The bull retreated his steps back before one hawk jombie clenched Po's back of his robe and tossed him on the bottom platform.
"Go!" the panda screamed at Kai as he and the hawk crashed on the wooden floor. One of the arms supporting the floor snapped, slightly wobbling. As far as the former Jade Slayer had no weapons to defend himself from but only use fists and feet, he heard a polished string pull ahead, and the porcupine freed his quill.
Somewhere under the green jade, Mantis diverted it off and booted on the jombie's head, disorienting him. Instead Wang engaging Kai, he bounded where his adversary was as Xing did leap in the air, swinging his right foot. "If I was you, Kai, get out of this cave, now!" Mantis advised the bull and sprang toward the porcupine's feet, slamming him side by side.
Instead, the Mighty watched the peacock thwack the first hawk's ribcage with his talon; Shen furled his rope dart over the bandit, and hammered him over the rocky structure, made the jombie avian screech after. Kai hastened to the bird and resisted his hoof.
"Summon that chi of yours!" Shen spat.
His hoof reached and made few attempts to thrust his own chi. Grunted under his throat, Kai battered the hawk's neck—
The hawk jombie quivered his body, hammering Kai's jaw upward. The bird progressed his agile on the peacock, screeched in total, and the jombie tackled him off to the second platform under the ridge. The Mighty clenched his whole muzzle, which a polished stone was more fierce than a mortal being's lethal blows. He had never been hit by one of the jombies before.
His muzzle spilled a small splotch on his hoof after he growled while dizzy. More shouts swam, the cave repeatedly echoed with pulsing rumbles. Metal against metal surfaced, that the edge against edge gave sharp rings, irritating Kai's hearings.
On the stiff ridge above Shen's second platform, Chen Xing drew his chokuto sword out forward, and Wang revolved links over his wrists, clenching jade swords. "You think that dull sword of yours should cast me away?" After taunting, Wang swiveled most cuts cross by and the next; Chen Xing parrying most of the centers, made the tiger spring a heel kick to his stomach.
Skidding his feet to a halt, the Jade Antlers snapped first before he snickered. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! HAA!" He threw his left knife, plunged the rock structure behind the tiger, slicing across rounds and over the top. Bits of fragments rained on the peacock's platform.
"SHEN!" the tiger yelled.
The peacock exposed a small portion of chi from his pole, welting the hawk's chest. He flung his head above before the jade knife stopped cutting. The bottom of a moist stalactite shattered freely; without any chance to remain on the second platform, Shen darted to the edge and spread his train.
Awakened but too late to scream from the mortal hawk, the stalactite plunged his body, and the wooden floor was fragmented, drifting every speck down the incline. On the ridge, Wang chuckled, slicing on Chen Xing's katana sword. The deer and tiger resisted their blades against themselves, snarling. "Too bad that hawk lost his sibling. More will be on the way!"
Chen Xing darted most swirls to his sword, barely sliced the deer's chest. Wang dodged to the side and rammed his antlers forward, throwing the tiger off near the two dragon stones. He sharply pulsed his emerald eyes, far brighter than before the former Jade Slayer. "FLY HERE, YOU SCUM!" the cave resounded Wang's scream, attempting to quake soft rumbles.
Mantis ripped off the porcupine's bow in half after the insect fastened his hands, tumbling on Po's platform. "Damn! How many does that boy have?"
"No time for numbers!"
Po merely combined fast punches on the hawk jombie as Mantis began to spring. The porcupine jombie shifted his right paw, catapulting the insect in the air in between two birds amidst their skirmish.
Crane broke left as the Swan Dancer Amy swished her ribbon near his chest. He diverted in a u-shaped turn and achieved double talon kicks behind her back; right at instance, the avian grasped her weapon and twirled it on the swan's body, whirling her onto the third platform behind Po's, farther down near the cavern's mouth. Crane cawed, diving on the swan's chest, the essence of the avian's chi streaking vibrant yellow after a hard strike.
PLOW!
The swan's body bathed with a raging sun, made Amy hastily wobble, scream in awakening. With only slight tremors after her silky black feathers thrust off emerald splinters. "Easy—easy, whoa!" Crane resisted her wings flickering. "You're alright, Amy! Calm down."
Amy, stopping her screech, panted her burnt breaths in wary. Under slight confusions to sense utter cries in the cave, the swan swam her head wildly, distorting her sob. "That deer—that deer stormed—OH!"
She gasped as the glossy string from the porcupine jombie cackled from pulling. Crane twirled his feathers in diversion, blocked a jade bolt, thrusting another. Up among the third platform, the peacock performed his pole gyration above Shen, lunging down on the jombie. Thwacking his head and the hawk's back, which made the brown bird stumble toward the wooden floor, Shen kept his shaft pin on the porcupine's throat.
The swan stammered under her breath briefly, demanding responses to this turbulence. "What is the meaning of this?"
"You need to fly away from here as you can. This battle is getting out of hand."
"PANDA!"
Crane and Amy glimpsed at the Dragon Warrior's platform, which the peacock Shen gave growls while forcing his wings against his pole on the jombie's neck. Resisted much, but not enough when he had to summon a small portion of chi from his wings; the porcupine launched his paws, striking the peacock's upper chest. The jombie rotated his body, giving a sinister glare at the two birds, which one unveiled her horror, while the other squinted his eyes warily.
Shen merely crashed on top of Po before the hawk jombie stopped advancing his talons at the panda. The next was the deer and the tiger combating their swords above the Dragon Warrior's platform; Wang cast his hoof and empowered his jade chi, propelling Chen Xing straight on the dragon stone.
Wang fastened his gaze at the two birds. "Kill that avian, Spikes! You too, Chao!"
"Fly, Amy!" Crane and Amy flapped their wings and quickly departed among the streaming clouds.
Spikes shrunk into an amulet after shrieking, darting out of the burrow's mouth; the hawk Chao widened his wings and twisted his body, booted Po's grasp, soaring with the other jombie. Other four jade amulets raced into the cave in time, spawning one bovine with a cross scar forehead above the panda, slamming his cleave hammer. The second jombie rabbit tackled the peacock, and the third, boar, clenched Mantis in the air; the fourth crawled on the ridge platform as Kai embarked to whirl his fighting stance.
The leopard with a crown jewel snarled with ruptured glass, her paws summoning dark emerald claws.
Shit.
Kai widened his eyes before Lady Kasi sprinted on all fours, performing acrobatic spins. His palms thwacked her wrists, better enough to be safe from getting mauled. Parrying her uppercuts, including round kicks, which almost cut the bull's throat and his crotch, Kai threw most straight punches, ceasing her paws.
The Mighty charged his head, launching Kasi in the air. Amidst falling, Kasi's amulet orb dove toward his head, her paws pummeling his shoulders. Distorting his grunt, the Mighty booted her chest.
"This way!" the avian uttered.
Farther back, one amulet raced over the outer ridge, swimming in a dense of light orange clouds. Crane maneuvered into multiple gaps of roots beyond trees, which layered various leaves billowing, having the Swan Dancer Amy follow him. Advancing through the obstacles, including logs bridging on the next and forever bathed downward with pine trees, Spikes cast two pointy greens at the two birds; Crane and Amy swiveled one large tree to the next and the other, gliding upward.
"My wings! I can't fly higher!" Amy cried.
He turned and quickly saw the swan's wing feathers slowly shatter in each flap. Before pacing back, Crane glided right and parried one quill, which almost penetrated Amy's back. What thundered the avian's heart more was from the porcupine grumbling, repeating the jombie master's growl.
"SHE'S MINE!"
Behind the porcupine (shifting to an amulet), the hawk jombie Chao flapped his sharp wings above, diving with his talons wide open. Immediately, Crane set his body to sway over the ridge boundary; in the branch gaps, he tugged his wings as the hawk was wrecked on the log's arm.
Thud!
These obstacles made the avian remind of the old training when he became the janitor, knowing each dummy and action weapons. The bird could dodge, sway, maneuver through the impossible (which by the only way to head straight to the banner flag, but had to take consequences when leading forward). Woosh! Crane rotated his glide upside down, letting his head level on the height as he dove over the ridge trees, avoiding two quills that whizzed near his chest.
Advancing near the Swan Dancer in time under the streaming clouds, Crane made through whirls, spreading his wings as he deflected other three quills from the porcupine jombie, who threw more. "Amy. You still got your sash?" Crane asked.
Her wings clenching with flares under her flesh made Amy's breath pant heavily. "What's your idea?"
"Use that stick while I grab the end of the cloth!"
They stretched the black silk ribbon after they soared within deep ridge trees. Crane stood on the thick branch as Amy positioned on the bulky root, cloaked with velvet green foliages; two jombies (one amulet) rushed in at a greater speed, left their humming emerald trails behind. "Now!" both birds extended the sash after a good aim.
The hawk crashed on the ribbon and launched back into multiple branches, smashing down he went. The porcupine landed amidst their root, snarling at Crane and Amy; he pitched one quill and the other. Crane developed swift turns from his wings left and right, and Amy spiraled her leap, parrying her talon on Spike's fifth dart.
The porcupine went through to her first, springing rapid blows on her agile wings. He opposed Crane with one heel and high kick, gripping Amy's garment after soaring on Spikes; the porcupine slammed her on the middle log, made the swan cry out in pain. The jombie jerked one of his quills (a large, dark green), snapped at the swan, embarking on plunging her heart.
"Haayah!"
Crane clobbered Spikes's jaw with an empowering double-kick, did the jombie reel forward, and plunge with shattered branches. The avian took moments to relieve his harsh breaths when he struggled beside the Swan Dancer, who began to rise from her knees.
"Master Crane!" Amy gasped.
"Come on!" Crane gestured his head, and they launched to afar, barged in the streak cloud.
"Where are you?!"
One of the jombies thundered Wang's demand, which the Swan Dancer twitched her body after studdering. For a moment, both birds glided three-tower mountains toward the river, streamed with sparkling sunset reflections; Crane kept his eyes behind at once they landed on the riverbank, sprinting into the forest, which foliages thickened with bulky logs and branches. Best enough to prevent getting spotted from jombies.
No sparkling emerald eyes gloomed, nor from above the streak clouds swimming on the center of the ridge, as the avian sighed in relief, leaned against the tree beside Amy, observing the sky. "That imbecile rented some of my feathers!"
"Did that deer Wang do this to you?"
"He's a violent one," she snapped, unveiling her tears across her cheeks, "treated me like I am his slave."
By the Gods. . .
In a shock to discern the character that Crane wanted to know, he progressed no further after witnessing the swan, barely vulnerable she suppressed her sob. "Listen to me. You're going to be alright. One way another, the Masters of Jade Palace will handle the new Jade Slayer. You will not be harmed by him anymore."
After hesitation for a brief period, Amy quivered her nod, sniffing. "You must go back to them. The panda and the others — they need you."
"What about you?" Crane asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Fly up there and save your friends. I know where I must go."
"Maybe you can come to Jade Palace? You'll be safe there whenever until you are ready to go home."
"Jombies are going to be everywhere if you and your friends can't stop the deer. Please don't let him steal my chi again, Master Crane."
"He will not," Crane assured. "Hide here. I'll be back."
After inspecting the cloud beside the mountain, he searched two amulets swim across and swallow in the cavern; Crane soared and fanned his wings, the wind streaming with hissings. At this time, the circumstance kept him persistent and covered his companions' backs. The swan was one thing to him to be safe from Wang.
Shen thrashed rapid straight blows on the bovine's belly and throat, staggering the charging bull jombie from heaving heavy attacks. Behind the peacock, while the insect was persisting in leaping over structures and on the panda's platform, Po elbowed various parries as the bunny stone stormed quick kicks in the air, slamming his wrists.
Before slamming down to the seventh shove, the sixth kick commenced the insect bound on the rabbit jombie. "Come here, you!"
Mantis grappled him, wrecking on the rocky soil. Just as the Dragon Warrior grunted from his forearms, which his fur was soring with lethal blows, he engaged the bovine with his peacock student, sidestepping to the right. The cattle hammered the platform and caused one of the three-arm columns to snip in half, wobbling the surface.
Both Shen and Po spiraled their bodies, struck a talon and a foot toward the jombie's muzzle, propelling the bovine on the edge of the cavern's mouth. Soil rubbles collapsed on the cattle. "Well done, Shen!" Po gave a triumphant smirk to his student—
"Dammit!"
Mantis cursed while the insect rolled on the platform. Instead, he pummeled under the rabbit's throat, launching the stone warrior across the air. "That deer is getting out of hand!"
"Panda," Shen called beside Po, made the Dragon Warrior turn over to his shoulder.
Po looked where his student was glancing. "Oh, not those guys again!" Two jombies, porcupine and hawk, darted on the two, beginning to slash their surroundings after landing.
Thrashes and blades blared, creating the cavern echo.
On the moss ridge near the four dragons, Kai countered thrash punches as he stomped his hoof, and the next, the leopard jombie retreated her steps back, flickering her tail back and forth. Kasi clenched his wrists, tugging her claws in, which the Mighty snapped his roar; Kai fluttered his arms down and thrust her chest, hammering circle punches and thrice combos with open palms toward her muzzle.
Backflipping once, giving a wicked snarl with her teeth, Kasi went for the spiral skid under Kai's feet, spinning left and right while the Mighty maintained his limbs to diverge back, one step and the next. He sometimes had one issue against the quick, which by being a muscle of a brute, partially slow but powerful enough to fight. Catching the leopard's feet was harder to counter. By attempting his fourth step backward, Kai launched straight jabs after Kasi somersaulted upward.
Kasi swam her extended arms on Kai's sixth blow, dragged his weight to the left, wobbling him off balance. With her watery flow of tai chi, which was only necessary to empower her strength but not focused more on combat, she pummeled the Mighty's chest, endlessly thrashing his ribcages, heel-kicking both leg joints. Kai cried out to his roar, met his main hoof on the rocky ground, and Kasi whirled another kick, slamming his cheek.
A fierce kick tumbled Kai, made his muzzle spill some splotches, and his cheek hueing dark gray. Only reeled with multiple minor fractures, the Mighty began to fall his back, wheezing after snorting his harsh breath. Indeed, he had practiced various ways of Kung Fu, then quite plenty of those who focused different arts of fighting, but what of his defeat without his ebony jade power? This defeat as a mortal being could be genuine in only unfair.
Kai rolled to his back and faced the leopard jombie leap above him, her claws emerging with flickering sheaths. Get it over with, dammit! Kai gave in, but a firm gust swooshed Kasi, crashed on the rocky structure with moisture above the third dragon, ruptured with zigzag cracks.
Crane arrived in time with wings were glittered to a dawn chi, reverberating his hail throughout the cave. While disoriented with rock splinters on his cheek and body to sweep off, Kai sought Kasi bound on Crane; the leopard and the avian launched down they went under the cavern's mouth, rippled by vein leaves.
Kai immediately crawled while struggling his feet to rise; one of the shrills beckoned a high-pitched metal clanging a thrust. He peered at his feline teacher, who snarled his teeth at the new Jade Slayer. A moment was two blades of velvet green collapsed, having the Mightiest Warrior to ease his pain. "Give it up, Wang! Your dad will break his heart if I banish you to the Spirit Realm!" Chen Xing unsheathed his chokuto sword. "Please, let me help you!"
A Tibetan red deer darted his hoof at the tiger. "To hell with my father! You should have known what he had done to me with terrible things, made Le monster after he had done to that child!"
"What child? What are you talking about?"
"Behold the hoof's grasp under the subject's neck, the eyes of innocent's face hued purple!"
Did Wang's father harm the kid? That let the Nine's Leader softly gasped under his throat. His rival grumbled. "The front door to Le's temple will silence his misery! Mounting that coward's head on my wall shall make me pleased."
"Killing your dad will not satisfy you," the tiger widened his glare at him.
Wang bent his muzzle, popping his neck twice. "He won't breathe in my presence any longer."
And Wang dashed on all fours, clashing Chen Xing as the tiger delivered several parries, his palms clobbering elbows and chest.
The former Jade Slayer inspected his twin-blade from his double halberd, his weapon of choice through various battles in the Great War. The same grip feeling he was good at wielding these swords. That made the Mightiest Warrior simper, fulfilling capabilities. The way he started collecting amulets of heavenly warriors of the Spirit Realm, where he was banished long before his return and the next by his former adversary.
Can my blades empower me back?
Kai mostly pondered his ancient weapon, which he had lost for the past few months ever he fought the bear in black, who suppressed his jade power and made him mortal like the rest of those he met, even throughout China. He wanted to dethrone the new Jade Slayer. Ignoring the turmoil that stormed the cave in his ears, Kai maintained his knee upward, nearly reaching for his ancient weapon, which lay with links of chain surrounding two jade blades. His hoof almost touched the blade's grip, and his feline teacher roaring at the Mighty made Kai twitch his head.
"Kai! Wait! STOP!" Xing glared, but Wang elbowed his chest, oscillating him off guard. One bovine jombie clasped his whole arm over the tiger, wrestling him from free; his wrist smothered Xing's neck.
Wang tossed his gesture, taunting at the former Master of Pain. "Go ahead, Jade Slayer. Do you want to bring your jade back? Finish what you've started!" he glinted his green eyes.
I'll show you the power of the Jade Slayer, Little Deer.
Kai grasped his jade knives.
Motioning the side of his emerald swords by reflecting a fog-like mirror cast the face of the forgotten warrior, Kai began clenching grips, trails of jade pouring within his hooves, down under his forearms. For a moment, Kai forced his breath under his throat, glimpsing at his limbs, which tendered tiny emerald sparks and veins staggering. I can't— I can't break my grip.
The Mightiest Warrior's face hued white. "KITTEN?"
"LET THEM GO!"
Xing finally exploded his yell from the bovine's forearm, which had locked his throat temporarily. Many attempts paced in when the Mighty flung side by side, the grip of his swords refusing to release Kai's grip until a moment was too late.
Both knives gloomed the hue of the bull's skull, screeching its rasping roar; Kai, finally broke his grips free from his jade swords, reeled back in terror, bellowing at the monster. Now, only his former self of the Jade Slayer snapped back at him, but at what did it cost to Kai? He was no coward to ignore all possibilities of full obstacles. Difficulties throughout the war made him the Mighty, dared not to emerge a single flinch from death.
His throat no longer roared in horror, which burned his breath after he armed his forearms on his head from the monster. The ghost reeled back into his blade, reverberating Jade Antler's wicked laugh. Wang gripped one blade, launched his other hoof fastening Kai's throat.
"Your swords betrayed your presence, no longer to serve in your will. Many before you failed him," Wang crooned his grumbling tone, the end of the blade tipping the bull's right cheek. "The era of Deng Wa has come again, without you!" A Tibetan red deer thundered his shout after heaving Kai's knife. One streak of snow chi whizzed on Wang's torso, swaying him in the air.
Chen Xing pummeled heavy streaks of circle punches on the bovine jombie's ribcage and his torso, his palm thrusting him above Po's platform. Above the stand, in which the hawk launched his wings, the cattle's body shrunk to an amulet, along with the leopard ornament soaring with it. The hawk jombie Chao captured his master, who began to sway side by side when jombies retreated out of the mouth's cavern. Wang swiveled his jade knives, slicing the top lip of the cave; he roared the rest of rocky cliffs, which poured many under, blanking the light.
The tiger raced to his mighty student, who timidly crossed his arms on his knees, lying his back beside the ruptured dragon stone. The Dragon Warrior mounted on the platform ridge where Xing and Kai were, as his peacock student followed his teacher and their avian banking his wings toward them. "What happened, Xing?" Po asked.
"That deer is a coward, panda. He fled," Shen said.
"I almost had Kasi. She went off flying with him and other amulets he shut this cavern," Crane finished his explanation in a regretful way.
"Kai, relax," Xing pressured his paw on Kai's torso, which hastily flickered a tiny spark of white; the light waved his gray fur throughout his body. After recovering his student, he took a long look at Kai's frightened face, only tormented by Wang's weapon that terrified him, far terrible.
What the hell was that thing?
"What happened to Kai?" the avian asked.
The tiger's wary glance turned to Crane. "His knives — it snapped back at him," he turned back to his student, who muttered his breath under his throat. "Dammit, Kai, you should have escaped from here. Why did you—?"
The tiger's chokuto sword sang with a sheath, whispering in his ears.
His swords scarred him. Let my beloved breathe his time.
Either one made their voices to demand, but distant ruptures over the cavern and the mountain thundered. Clapped small, and another ripped and creaking soil shed. "Guys?" Po pondered warily, made the group glimpse their surroundings, and the cavern softly trembling. For a moment, crumbles repeated a long yell across rocky structures, higher above and throughout the sides. Chen Xing tracked someone's scream.
His rival, thus whirring blades slicing soils, turned the tiger's eyes wide.
Oh, no.
Chen Xing wobbled his student's shoulders. "Kai. Get up! On your feet, General. We must go, now!"
"What's happening?" Mantis startled.
"Wang is cutting down the whole mountain. This whole place is going to collapse!"
Two stalactites fell on the Dragon Warrior's platform, and another, a large rock pile of structure beside small stalactites, collapsed, crumbling with bits. "MOVE!" Po made his run toward the vein ridge where the group entered before, as his peacock student raced behind the panda, and so did the avian and insect.
"On your feet, Kai! We have to go!" Xing shouted.
The Mighty quickly observed the rubble plunging with trails of dirt and rocks on them. Without hesitation, he rose rashly by his teacher's paw, dashing down the ridge with Xing. The two barged in the cave tunnel, searched for one of the two paths (the left hole merged with distant rope bridges, lined elsewhere, and the right one was wooden platforms with ladders).
The port tunnel struck with large rocks plunging various cross paths. "No!" Kai gasped.
"THIS WAY," Xing guided him to the next tunnel. "We gotta jump across those platforms!" Once the tiger and the bull darted in, made a few leaps on one and the next without stopping, the group was ahead of five platforms down; the tunnel behind sealed its path, collapsing to waterfall dirt.
"XING!" his panda colleague on the eleventh platform wavered.
"Go! Keep going!"
Five wooden platforms on their tail fell; structures were ripping apart, followed by snapping ropes and bridges collapsing. The six landed on the central floor through the bones tunnel, rushing straight into the crossing pit; their hearts endlessly raced as their feet skidded to a halt.
The path was clogged with ruptured soils and large rock debris. "We're trapped!" Mantis hollered.
"Not for long!"
Chen Xing shouldered in front and motioned his tai chi flow, spawning his snow chi; the three immediately unleashed their chi, counting from one to three. Rocks and soils shattered through broke its dusk light on a whole, and they ran on the edge of the steep ridge.
"Go, guys! Fly away!" Po wavered the two birds.
Mantis clenched on the avian's conical hat, having Crane and Shen launch themselves in the air, the sky raining with small and enormous boulders. The tiger gesticulated his paw with two fingers on his chest. "Call your dragon and fly us out of here, Xing!" Po commanded.
Their feet wobbled by rapid zigzags under, beginning to rupture the entrance ridge as debris on both sides poured, wrecking many trees and roots. The ground and the opening tunnel slid, tumbling a structure on the slope. Sliding down they went, all three warriors screamed dodging rubbles, which each hit burst on steep slopes, roots snapped, trees ripped—
The tiger's stone eyes became the Mind's snow eclipses. "To me, NOW!"
Chen Xing glistened his paws to a white ray, fluctuating above him. Right on the moment that Po and Kai were surrounding the tiger close enough, covering their heads. Thousands of wave soil and rocks plunged, the debris washing on top of the three, thumping one by one. Their cries immersed.
Darkness swallowed them.
Crane and Shen paced their altitude down toward the debris clearing, landing near hills of stones where a sparkling silver and white had peeped. Silence winds burgeoned after thousands of rubbles splattered into specks across meadows, left with tan mists and various mess throughout the area.
"PO! XING!" The avian hollered, swimming his head onward these piles of rubble.
Suppressing coughs from the dirt billowing with clouds and fallen leaves swimming elsewhere, Shen leaned on a ruptured structure, which gathered with numerous stones shaped to an uneven hill. Both birds scanned for any rapid movement under these soils as Mantis kept springing on each stone. Yet, they were unable to catch any screams under the ground beneath their talons.
He scrutinized soils under, and a rapid flash of snow peeped, the light chiming metal. One by one, rocks swirled on the Mind's body as the peacock retreated downward. The white dragon's head arched its long neck upward; under the belly, a silver bubble emerged the panda and the bull uncovering their heads, and the tiger illuminating his stone eyes.
The dragon vanished in Chen Xing's heart, stirring the Nine's Leader on the edge of the small crater.
Harsh rings struck, unable to hear worries for a moderate time. Until then, Chen Xing could barely see his panda colleague wobble his walk in front of Crane and Mantis. Shen had only widened his beak, petrified to move an inch, but came to aid his teacher with Crane and Mantis.
Chen Xing checked his back, and his student immediately crashed his elbow on thick soils, almost sensing Kai's grunt while harsh rings continued to chime. The tiger sheathed his chokuto.
"Where— is —" Chen Xing disoriented, wobbling his sword aim after hacking his rattle breath.
Aiming left, above, right, and beyond ridges, the tiger rubbed his stone eyes, his ears slowly progressing several sounds as if chimes whispered. There was Shen's, Crane's, now Po's. Instead, his whole weight on his chest kept in barrier; Kai prevailed the tiger's upper torso from Xing collapsing on the riverbank, which lingered with dark timbers and moss specks on ripples.
Chen Xing's chokuto fluttered the blade's cobalt light. Only the voice of Wugu entered his head.
Wang is gone.
End of Volume Two
Author's Note:
— That's the cliffhanger ending of Volume Two! It took me a while to write 16 chapters this year. The introduction of the new Jade Slayer shall have a background story on the third volume, and the name of V3 was "Winter." Instead of saying, "Winter is coming!" (only a few grownups (adults) like me know a series), I think I'll name a proper title on one of the fics I read (and will continue to catch up where I was last time), mentioned something valuable. To one of my constant readers, the dagger's owner (only a soul) will present in V3. ;-)
— You've noticed multiple points of view when there's a big fight going on, so each scene could happen later (or simultaneously)? It's likely I've done to several characters through Third-Person Omniscient.
— Thank you all for reading, guys! I really hope you all enjoy this story so far! Could you give me some feedback? That helps me to what you think of "The Trinity," even you spot some words confusing to read. For now, I'll be heading back to my first book, "A New Prophecy," going to re-edit Part One, and later this year or around 2022, Part Two will have significant changes. Part Finale will cleanse some errors, no need to change furthermore.
— I left with a few chapters of V3 scattered with words throughout the past year or less, so I'll continue to write part-time to expand the story, contact some writers to help me out. Enjoy your days and nights ahead of you, pandoms!