A/N: Thanks to all who read and reviewed the last chapter! I tried to make it a nice little break from the violence, however, in this chapter we're diving right back into it! And a word of advice, this chapter is going to be extremely violent compared to all the rest.
Chapter 12
Survival of the Fittest
Meanwhile, in a large throne room in Mongolia
"Lord Jian, how do you plan to frame the Tiger for treachery when almost the whole army supports him?" Asked an Asiatic Lioness standing before the throne of her master.
"It's actually quite simple, when we convince the warriors that Akuma is of Chinese decent they will rally with me against him. With the Mongolian army fully allied on my side again, I will allow them to slay the Tiger in the arena but keep his hide intact so that I may have the fur of my mortal enemy's son." Explained a tall Asiatic male Lion as he sat down on his throne while maintaining a devious grin.
"Understood my lord." Answered each of the Lion's personal guards as they all bowed in respect.
"Even now I can imagine how he fears death within that cell. He probably begs to the gods to spare his fate… That fool really thought he could deceive me. Well he will pay for his insolence with his life!" Mused the Lion.
But what Jian did not know, is that this was quite far from the truth. And moments later, a loud banging sound echoed throughout Jian's large throne room. It came from just outside the front doors of the room, and everyone turned to look at what the strange clamor was about.
"What the hell?" Asked Jian, having heard the noise and now rising up from his throne.
Things were silent for a brief moment until another identical sound was heard, but louder this time. And all upon a sudden, the doors to Jian's throne room burst open and in ran one of his Water Buffalo guards who panicked, "My Lord! We're all in trouble-"
But before the large Buffalo could finish, he dropped to the ground dead as a small dagger impaled his back. And as the guard fell, Jian could now see what had caused the Buffalo's death, it was the young Tiger who he had thought was still in the confines of the prison cell. All of the Lioness' gasped as they looked upon the entrance where stood Genji holding the prison guard by the neck with one paw as he walked inside the large throne room.
"Impossible…" Jian nervously muttered as he watched the scene unfold with his jaw agape.
The prison guard was desperately trying to pry off the Tiger's paw from chocking his throat and he struggled to remove the unstoppable Tiger's paw. But it was no use, and only a moment later, the Bull suffocated to death and went motionless in the Tiger's grasp, his limbs all dropping and not even resisting Genji anymore. With this, Genji looked over towards the exasperated faces of the Lioness' and the single Lion in the room. He then threw the now dead carcass of the Bull towards Jian's throne. After landing, the Bull skidded directly in front of the Lion's throne and stopped. Jian looked down for a second at the body, and then immediately back up to the Tiger who was now walking up closer to the throne.
"I challenge you! One Warrior to another! And only the strongest will rule Mongolia!" Shouted Genji from the other side of the hall as he pointed directly at the Lion who stood up from the throne.
'This cannot be happening right now… HOW DID HE ESCAPE THAT CELL!?' The Lion nervously thought as he looked directly ahead where the Tiger whom he had capture not an hour ago was challenging him to a duel to the death.
He then looked at each of his near a dozen guards, who all stared him down waiting for his response. His heart was beating faster than it had in a while, seeing the Tiger reminded of the Dragon Warrior who had beaten him many years ago even with him having the boosted power of 3 Kung Fu artifacts. And this Tiger was the Dragon Warrior's son…
'I can't refuse this fight… If I don't agree to fight him, he will spread word to the army… not to mention I'd look like a coward in front of my guards…' Jian thought with a nervous expression.
A moment later, he answered, "Very well Tiger, have it your way!" And with this, the Lion descended the small steps leading towards where the Genji waited for him. He unfastened his royal red cape and handed it to one of his guards and then went to go face his opponent.
A menacing grin formed on Genji's face as he got the exact response he had wanted. He now also began to walk forward to meet the Lion in combat.
As Genji walked closer, he began to pick up the pace until he was almost running, to which Jian did the same, only not quite as quick. Within a moment, they reached one another, standing mere feet away from each other and staring the other down intently.
"Now I shall finish you once and for all, Dragon Child." Jian stated as he prepared himself for the upcoming fight.
"You had your chance." replied Genji as the Tiger got into his traditional stance.
Neither fighter moved to attack for a good minute, they simply scanned each other as they walked in a circle. All of Jian's personal guards watched as the two large felines were getting ready to fight one another.
Normally, Jian would be the first to make a move as he preferred to end his battles quickly. However, if his fight with Tai Lung nearly 2 decades ago was any indication, it was that making the first move wasn't always an advantage.
He didn't have to wait long though, after nearly half a minute of circling one another, Genji lunged to land a hit on Jian's head. The Lion narrowly avoided the attack, but was not given any time before Genji threw another hard punch towards his chest which hit him, forcing him back and allowing Genji to deliver a powerful side kick to the Lion's shoulder.
Jian was knocked to the ground by this crushing blow, but immediately shrugged off the pain and got up. He attempted to land a couple of strikes of his own, though this granted him little success, with the only blow that connected with his target being repelled with a counter attack of Genji's own.
The Tiger was clearly not going to be beaten so easily. And with the sudden shift in momentum, he went back on the offensive and managed to land several more hits on the Lion.
As he knocked Jian back Jian he confidently smirked and taunted the Lion, "Is that the best you can do? Lord Jian?"
Jian wiped his mouth from which he was bleeding from his lip and said to himself discreetly, "Cocky bastard…"
And with this, he got up from the ground and attempted to hit the Tiger again, but with no success, for Genji was a far better fighter than he. And after avoiding a couple more strikes by the Lion, Genji decided that he would end this fight quickly. He waited until Jian was open and launched a counter punch directly at the Lion's jaw which caused him to fall to the ground in pain.
Jian was in a really bad spot now, he had yet to land a single decisive hit on his opponent, and worse he was tiring with each time he was hit back. However, an idea then came up in his head and he rose from the floor while hiding a mischievous grin.
Genji folded his arms in arrogance as he looked down upon his defeated foe. The Tiger walked up to the kneeling Lion and remarked, "Do not worry Jian, when I am finished with you, I will honor our agreement and murder my father along with any who stand in my way from conquering China." Genji then prepared to end his opponent's life with a finishing blow to the back of the kneeling Lion's neck.
However, as he brought his paw down to finish the fight, Jian put his plan into action and in a split second, he rolled forward avoiding the strike and unsheathed his hidden sword swinging it up towards Genji's right eye. The Tiger was not expecting this sudden attack, and the swing from Jian's sword caught on Genji's right eye, cutting a gash across the right side of the Tiger's face and causing him to fall backwards.
As he recovered his footing, Genji placed his paw on his face where the sword had cut into his flesh. He could no longer see out of his right eye, and moreover, blood trickled down his paw and also down his face from the new wound.
Now that Jian had finally landed a hit on the Tiger, he prepared to finish the fight once and for all. He had to act quickly before the Tiger had an opportunity to retaliate, so he dashed for his opponent, his sword raised as he prepared to bring the blade down to slay his foe.
However, before his sword made contact, his arm was stopped as a paw took hold of his wrist. It was Genji. Without any explanation, the Tiger had managed to completely ignored the painful gash on his face and had intercepted Jian's sword strike before it could hit.
Jian's eyes widened as he watched the Tiger rise from the floor with a disturbing crimson aura now emitting from his left unscathed eye.
No matter how much strength he applied, he could not overpower the Tiger's hold on his wrist, so he took his free left hand and began to pummel the Tiger in the face. Several of his punches collided with Genji's face, though they seemed to do little damage to the unstoppable striped feline.
Jian then threw one last punch, but this time, Genji avoided the punch and hit the Lion in the jaw as his opponent was open while still holding Jian's wrist in place. He then twisted the Lion's wrist hard, making Jian yell out and dropping his sword to avoid the Tiger breaking his arm.
Having successfully disarmed Jian, Genji could now finish the Lion off for good this time. He maintained his hold on Jian's wrist and proceeded to land several bone crushing punches on the Lion's face, and knocking him to the floor. The Lion recovered, weakly standing up as his stamina was fading quickly. Genji did not allow the Lion any time for recovery, and ran up swiftly and landed an elbow strike to the side of Jian's head followed by a finishing blow to the Lion's chest.
Jian now lay on the floor in severe pain, and no longer able to rise to face his opponent. Genji didn't give Jian any mercy however, and proceeded to kick the Lion across the room towards the throne. On his way towards the throne, he noticed Jian's sword which still lay on the ground after it had been dropped by it's previous owner. He picked up the sword, and walked over to the limp body of his defeated enemy, picking the Lion up by the shoulder with his other paw and dragging him across the floor to the throne.
Jian knew that this was the end, he looked around at his guards who had watched the entire fight and who looked down at their defeated master. He got up on his front paws and his knees as the Tiger stood above him, sword in hand and preparing to execute him once and for all.
Then, the Lion spoke his final words, "Like you said. Only the strongest, shall rule." And with this, he accepted his fate and lowered his head.
Genji grinned evilly upon hearing those words, he brought the sword up in both hands and then…
"SSHLUCK!"
The Lion's body collapsed to the floor. The throne room was now silent. It was done.
Genji brought Jian's sword up and wiped all of the blood off of its blade. He then examined it more closely, it was a beautifully fabricated Mongolian Saber. It had a strong and sharp curved steel blade along with a golden guard and pommel, and ironically to Genji, it seemed as if it suited him. Almost like this sword was meant to be wielded by him.
He then looked over to Jian's former personal guards who all knelt on one knee.
"What is your first order? Lord Akuma." The guard at the center asked while still kneeling.
A smile formed on the Tiger's face, 'That'll take some getting used to…' He thought with pride.
~"It feels good to be in a position of power… Doesn't it Genji Ping?"~
Genji listened to the voice in his head, and he subconsciously asked, "What should I do now?"
To which the voice replied,
~"You have a powerful army, however, you will need more than soldiers to conquer China. You will also need greater weapons. Order your forces to Chorh Gom Prison, there you will find the weapons you need."~
Genji then grinned and replied to the Lioness, "Ready our troops, we head for Chorh Gom Prison!"
And with that, the guards each nodded and headed out of the room, but not before Genji ordered one last thing,
"And could someone be so kind as to clean up this mess?" Clearly referring to the disembodied corpse of his fallen opponent.
Two of the Lioness' stayed back and carried out their new master's commands. As they did this, Genji sat down on the throne behind him. It was an expensive chair, made up of perfectly shaped white marble, and to Genji it seemed as if it befitted him.
But it was then that a drop of blood landed on Genji's lap, it had come from the still open gash on his face left from the fight. He growled a bit at the thought that Jian had caught him off guard. He had hardly even noticed the wound until now, his natural tolerance to pain and sudden rush of adrenaline saw to that, but having lost his rush of adrenaline, the pain was coming back to him. It was the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced, so unbearable that he rushed out of the room immediately.
He was searching for something to treat his wound with, for if he did not close the wound soon, it would get infected or worse. Upon rushing through the halls, Genji came across a fireplace with a lit fire, and inside the fire was a super heated metal poking rod. Genji picked up the poking rod from the handle and thought to himself, 'this is going to hurt like hell…'
What Genji did next would have disturbed anyone, taking the still hot metal rod, he used the tip of the super heated poker to cauterize the wound to his face. Roaring in pain as the hot metal seared the wounded flesh on his face, he managed to seal the wound completely in a matter of seconds. He dropped the metal rod and then rushed to a nearby bath room to wash out the wound.
Once he arrived, he knelt down to a large water basin and began to pour the cold water onto his wound, the water. The cold water was much of a relief after having just cauterized his own wound, it had the effect of cooling him down, but also washing off the blood from his fur. As Genji washed himself off, he took a moment to look at himself from his reflection in the rippling water, he saw the new scar that ran across his right eye. It it was very noticeable, not only the torn flesh, but also the fact that his right eye had been blinded. As he looked at his reflection, a burning hatred consumed Genji, hating how he had dropped his guard, hating how this had happened. His anger grew so great that he took out his frustration on the water, smashing his fists down upon it's surface and greatly disturbing it. This sent water splashing and flinging everywhere, and to top everything off, he then let out an anger filled roar.
Once the water settled back into the basin moments later, Genji again looked at himself in the reflection of the water. He again saw himself, however as the ripples quieted down, Genji noticed the image in the reflection of the water changed slightly. Genji saw his own face behind the face of what looked like… A Komodo Dragon? Blinked his left eye and rubbed it to see if he was hallucinating, but he wasn't.
"What is this!? Some sort of sorcery!? What is going on!" Genji ranted, not understanding how this was possible. The lizard had the normal look of a Komodo Dragon, only, it's right eye had a red gemstone as a fake eye.
~"Hello Genji Ping, I must say, I am impressed to see how close you are to accomplishing your goal."~
A revelation then hit Genji like a blacksmith beveling a blade. "You're Akuma!?" He asked the voice while looking at the image of the reptilian.
~"Yes Genji Ping, I am Akuma. And I am pleased with how much your skills have progressed now that you have embraced your hate."~
"Why are you doing this? Helping me I mean." Genji asked, still looking at the reflection.
~"Because we share a common goal. The destruction of the Dragon Warrior."~
At this, Genji nodded and was about to reply back before he was interrupted by a female voice, "My Lord, the troops are ready to move out, we await your order." He looked behind him and saw one of the Lioness guards who now served him, she knelt on one leg in respect.
"Good, we shall leave as soon as possible, I will join momentarily." Genji replied looking back at the reflection. The guard nodded and left to regroup with the rest of the mongol army.
"I'm glad we share this common goal Akuma, it will make killing my father all the more satisfying." Genji replied to the reflection one last time before departing the basin.
A/N: Finally got chapter 12 done! For those who have watched Star Wars the Clone wars season 5, you will all know the reference in this chapter! Sorry it took so long, finding inspiration has been difficult for the past while. I plan to release the next chapter before the end of May, so stay tuned! Just a reminder to all readers, please review this story and let me know your thoughts and your opinions! Feedback helps to inspire me to write more and gives me more ideas. As always, favorite and follow if you're enjoying the fic so far!
Thanks,
-Ace_Risk