Edit AN: So apparently the website was having issues updating stories for a while? And as a result, this latest chapter was having problems showing up for people for quite some time. Apologies for the wait, peoples!
Chapter 4: Jinsei Struggle
A careful, seasoned hand was gently guiding an ornate bottle through a serene pool of blue liquid. As soon as the bottle filled up, it was closed with a cork and placed beside several other bottles.
"Will these be enough?" Fujin, the one that was filling the bottles, asked.
"Yes, they will be sufficient." Shang Tsung answered. He was so entranced by the Jinsei that was gathered that he subconsciously moved his hand toward one of the bottles. Fujin, noticing this, started placing the bottled Jinsei inside a pouch on his belt, while leering at the sorcerer.
"I'll stay behind to seal the Grotto. It should not take too long, so your 'aid'," Fujin said, turning to Shang Tsung, "is not required." He then turned his attention to Nightwolf and Kitana. "Go on ahead without me."
While Nightwolf and Shang Tsung did leave, Kitana remained behind. She was looking around the Dragon Grotto with awe on her face. "This place is magnificent to look at! I never knew such unearthly beauty could exist outside of Edenia!"
Fujin smiled gently. "I am sure the Shaolin masters would be thrilled at your compliment." He then began channeling his divine power towards the dragon statues, ceasing the flow of Jinsei from them.
"And this Jinsei." Kitana continued, looking at the blue liquid as it seeped back into the earth. "I feel relaxed and at peace just standing near it."
"That is due to the nature of the Jinsei. It is, quite literally, the lifeblood of Earthrealm. Each realm has its own lifeforce that sustains it. Even Outworld, for it being a jumbled mass of conquered realms, has its own that its rulers can tap into with its Soul Chamber. But Earth's is unique due to its properties."
"How so?" Kitana asked, her face showing genuine curiosity.
"When any mortal being breathes its last," Fujin began to explain, "it leaves behind a portion of its spiritual essence before it departs for the afterlife, which becomes infused into the realm. In a way, it allows a mortal to give back to their home realm after taking from it during the course of its life, and helps infuse said realm with continuing life. But Earthrealm works a bit differently. Through a special process that only the Elder Gods knew of, only a portion of a mortal's essence that is composed of virtue and light is taken from them upon their demise. That way, the essence that becomes the lifeblood of Earthrealm is much more pure and beneficial, becoming Jinsei."
"Most fascinating." Kitana said, surprise in her voice.
"We lesser gods are partially made of Jinsei energy, so we need to immerse ourselves with it in order to renew our divine powers. Normally, just being near Jinsei is enough to recharge ourselves, but we need to either bathe or consume it if we are gravely injured or have not recharged ourselves in a very long time." Fujin continued.
"... which is why you strive so hard to defend Earthrealm from being conquered!" Kitana realized.
"ONE of the reasons, besides simply wishing to prevent its peoples from being enslaved to a mad warlord. Being merged with Outworld would irreversibly dilute the Jinsei to the point of it no longer being produced. Not only would a large portion of virtue be removed from the universe, we gods would no longer have an earthly way to renew ourselves. We would have to shed our physical bodies and return to the Heavens to do so, and remaking said bodies would take a long time to do so."
"And while you do so, leaves Earthrealm at the mercies of those who wish to conquer it."
"Exactly. And while Earthrealm's peoples can certainly take care of itself, especially these last few centuries, they could use all the help they can get." Fujin concluded, as he also finished the sealing of the dragon statues. "Now, I believe we have left the others alone for too long. Shall we?"
"Let's." Kitana agreed.
They only took a few steps down the corridor leading to the main dungeon area when they heard the sounds of Kombat!
"OH NO. We were found out!" Kitana exclaimed with horror!
"We need to help the others, now!" Fujin declared! The two warriors ran down the corridor as fast as their legs allowed!
When they arrived at the main area, they found Nightwolf and Shang Tsung in a very difficult spot. They were surrounded on all sides by not only Lin Kuei cyborgs, but also Geras, Frost, and the revenant Kitana. The two were also slightly injured, but not enough to prevent them from fighting on.
"You both have fought valiantly," Geras said, not yet noticing the new arrivals, "but you are defeated. Surrender now and come with us. Kronika is keen to learn about your escape."
"We will never talk!" Nightwolf declared. He then noticed Fujin and Kitana's arrival with his peripheral vision, and then smiled. "And we are certainly not done yet!"
"Such confidence, Nightwolf!" Frost chuckled out. "How long will that hold out once Kronika gets her hands on-"
SLICE! THUNK! THUNK!
Suddenly, a wind-sharpened short sword went through Frost's neck, decapitating her! At the same time, two bladed fans embedded themselves in Geras's back and head!
"Longer than you expected!" Nightwolf exclaimed! He then brought out his club and smacked away the cyborgs that were closest to him! Shang Tsung started shooting magic fireballs at the stunned Geras to press the advantage, while Fujin and Kitana approached the revenant Kitana while she was stunned by the sudden reversal.
"Tch, I was wondering where the two of you were skulking about." Revenant Kitana said. She then brandished her own fans as the living Kitana called back hers. "But now we can handle the four of you at once."
"With what numbers, Kitana?" Fujin asked. "Nightwolf is making short work of your machine slaves, Shang Tsung is holding off Geras, and Frost has already been cut down." He continued, pointing at the still standing headless body.
Without warning, said body's left arm pointed at Fujin and shot out an icicle spear at him! Fujin instinctively parried it with his sword, and it barely sailed past his cheek, leaving him slightly chilled but otherwise unharmed.
The head of Frost suddenly opened her eyes. "Foolish wind god. I'm much more powerful than even you can imagine!" She said. Her body then walked over to her head and placed it back on her body. "And now, i'll use that power to secure my future!" She then used the jets of her cybernetic body to tackle Fujin to the other side of the chamber!
This left the two Kitanas alone in the center, staring each other down.
"I know who you are, abomination. The Kollector warned me that you intend to take out my younger counterpart, then take her place so that Shang Tsung can control Outworld." Revenant Kitana sneered. "As much as I loathe to help that spoiled, traitorous brat, her death will lead to my destruction. Which means I have to cut you down!" Revenant Kitana then suddenly threw her fans at Kitana!
FIGHT!
Kitana lifted her fans up and called on a small whirlwind to deflect the Revenant's attack! She tilted her head, puzzled. "Traitorous? She saved Outworld from Shao Kahn! He was a tyrant that took over your realm and enslaves everyone that he conquers!"
The Revenant charged at her, growling in rage. "I may not share blood with him, but Shao Kahn is my father!" She called her fans back into her hands and started swiping at Kitana! Kitana blocked each blow, but wasn't able to find an opening which to counter. "He took me in! Raised me! Taught me how to fight! Treated me as royalty when he had no reason to! Yet despite all he had done for me, I betrayed him! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AS A RESULT!" She roared out! She then called on her own wind to spin herself around, landing two kicks to Kitana and knocking her to the ground!
The Revenant tried to lunge at Kitana while she was on the ground, but Kitana was able to kick her away with both her legs, and got up swiftly.
"Is that why you're so angry? Because you blame yourself for ending up like this?" Kitana asked her Revenant self.
The Revenant had a look of sadness on her face once she heard the question. "... yes. Because if I had just done my job," She suddenly blurted out, some form of malice taking over her, "if I had killed Liu Kang when I met him instead of falling for him, I wouldn't be in this cursed state!"
The Revenant steeled her resolve, and stared intently at Kitana. "Why am I even telling you this? You're just another flesh pit duplicate I need to cut down. And once I do, i'll make SURE Kronika's new era occurs, where my life will finally be back to normal!"
Kitana too steeled her resolve, and replaced one of her fans with a sai. "You have no idea how misinformed you are. For your sake, i'll try to make this quick."
The Revenant scoffed at Kitana. "So not only are you a clone, you fight with a sai as well? This must be a common trait with you clones."
"It is more than a mere decoration!" Suddenly, Kitana disappeared in a flash of pink energy!
The Revenant looked around, trying to find Kitana. "Come out, coward, and face your end with SOME-"
BASH!
Kitana flew down from the top of the arena and kicked her Revenant square in the head! While the Revenant was still standing from that strike, Kitana followed up by stabbing her in the gut with the sai, then knocking her in the air with an upward fan swing!
The Revenant stood up afterwards, bleeding from her stomach but otherwise able to keep fighting. "Heh, the one good thing about this curse is that it takes a LOT more to take me down!" She then turned around, and used a gust of wind to propel herself behind first into Kitana!
BASH!
This quick attack struck Kitana head-on! While Kitana stumbled back from the hit, the Revenant disappeared in a burst of blue energy and appeared above Kitana! She dove down feet first to try and cave in Kitana's head!
GRASP!
But Kitana was able to grab onto the Revenant's legs at the last second!
The Revenant looked down at Kitana in disbelief. "No one has ever stopped that before!"
Kitana smiled behind her facemask. "Guess that makes me no one!" She then used this moment to tighten her grip on the Revenant's legs, and threw her across the room!
She used this moment to quickly look around and see how the others were faring in their battles.
All the Lin Kuei cybers were destroyed, Fujin was slightly battered while holding a cut arm, and Frost was sparking from all the major injuries she sported. He was doing just fine.
Shang Tsung and Nightwolf, on the other hand, were struggling against the immortal Geras. Though they were able to land many grievous blows against the construct, he kept healing from them as if nothing happened.
This glance around the battlefield only took half a second, then Kitana turned to her Revenant, picking herself up off the floor. 'Time to end this!' She thought to herself.
Kitana folded up her fans and threw them at her Revenant, embedding them in her chest! She then ran up to her and drop-kicked the blades deeper inside her!
"AGGGH!" The Revenant cried out in pain, dropping her fans in the process!
Kitana then swiftly picked up those same fans, folded them up, and jammed them inside the Revenant's shoulder blades! Using those same blades as leverage, she forcibly slammed the Revenant down to the floor! Said Revenant's head hit the floor with a sickening CRUNCH, knocking her out!
Kitana retrieved her own fans from her defeated Revenant. "Like you said, you're tough enough to take this. And I promise you, Liu Kang and I will set things right." She said to her defeated opponent, likely knowing that she would not hear it.
"Huh?"
Geras turned his attention towards Kitana, having heard that last sentence. He paid for his lapse in attention by being hit in the stomach with a burst of concentrated wind.
"Your fight is with us, Geras!" Fujin called out. Behind him, a disabled Frost is lying on the floor.
Fujin and Kitana joined up with Nightwolf and Shang Tsung, and stared down the now-alone Geras.
"I may be alone," Geras declared, "but I am eternal. It is only a matter of time before you four are exhausted and overcome with injuries, while I can keep putting myself back together forever if need be."
Kitana brandished her fans. "Then we will have to scatter your parts across the realms! How long will you take to come back together THEN?"
Shang Tsung smiled devilishly at the declaration. "That is quite the innovative theory. Let us test that out."
The four of them then charged at Geras!
While Geras tried to put up a fight, he was slowly overwhelmed by the four skilled warriors working in tandem! For each attack he blocked and tried to counter, another one would strike him from a blind spot he could not prevent! And even though he would use his temporal powers to try to separate the group, one of them would interrupt with a solid blow, cancelling out whatever spell Geras would cast!
Eventually, Geras was stunned and weakened enough from the all-out assault to leave him vulnerable!
"Now, time to Finish Him!" Kitana declared!
She charged her two fans with wind and threw them at Geras horizontally. One of them bisected him around the stomach, while the other one embedded itself clean through his neck! Kitana then called back the stomach fan, and pulled an atheletic spin kick at said fan back at Geras! It flew right into his decapitated head, flying it across the chamber and sticking into the far wall! The rest of Geras's body fell to the floor, with both upper and lower halves completely severed from each other!
FATALITY!
Despite this bodily mutilation, the torso of Geras still tried to crawl towards the four warriors. Nightwolf responded by throwing his tomahawks at the torso, cutting off the arms from it!
"Fujin, summon the wind!" Shang Tsung yelled out, while calling on his magic. Eventually, two different portals popped up behind the severed body parts.
Fujin called on the divine winds, and sent the severed body parts into separate portals un-resisted.
Once all the body parts were sent away, the four were finally able to relax.
"Where did you send them?" Fujin asked Shang Tsung.
"Orderrealm and Chaosrealm, respectively. Havik will enjoy the new unbreakable plaything to mess around with, and the government running Orderrealm will likely seek to detain what they will interpret as an "artifact of Chaos". This will buy us precious time."
"I… will… recover..." a pain-filled voice cried out.
Over at the wall, the severed head of Geras was still conscious, and capable of speech! The four warriors turned towards him, surprised over the fact that he can still function!
"My body will find a way… to reassemble. Then… it will find me…" he continued. "Then… I will tell Kronika… you're from the future…"
Kitana looked at Geras with total horror! "You figured us out?!"
"Kronika… suspected you four… were from the future… Your declaration, princess… confirmed it for me…"
"Damn it all!" Nightwolf exclaimed! "We can't just leave him here now!"
Shang Tsung walked up to the wall, and forcibly removed the fan pinning Geras's head there. The head fell down, and Shang picked it up.
"Then you will have to come with us, golem." Shang Tsung sneered angrily at Geras. "We cannot let you spoil our scheme to your master." He then ripped of a piece of cloth that was from a dead monk and shoved it inside Geras's mouth.
Nightwolf walked up to him, a bloody burlap sack with string in his hand. "Let us carry him with this."
Shang Tsung forced the head inside the back and tied it shut. "Now that this is out of the way, let us continue with our plan."
Fujin looked serious. "The Netherrealm, then?"
"Exactly. We have no time to waste." Shang Tsung then started conjuring up the magics to open the portal to that damned realm.
To be Kontinued.
AN: A bit of a time gap since last I updated, huh? A combination of offline shenanigans I needed to deal with, combined with going through several different versions of this chapter before settling on this one slowed down my pace considerably. At least I didn't keep you lot waiting for too long, I hope! ^_^
But yeah, I also wanted to expand upon the concept of the Jinsei in a way that would make a bit more sense. I decided to go with that "lifeblood of the realm" definition that was used once and applied that to all realms. That way, it also helped explain Kotal's and Kitana's continued use of Outworld's Soul Chamber. After all, I imagine them still using the power of captured souls would not sit well with them being good guys; but the Chamber instead tapping into Outworld's version of Jinsei would work out better on balance. Hopefully that explanation makes sense to you guys as well.
Anydangways, now that I finally pushed this chapter out, im'a go work on the next chapter in between sessions of Bloodstained. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out in a more timely manner than this time.
Until then, see you next chapter!
Sine