When Mengxiang had sensed the section that had once been the bathhouse collapse, she also sensed the Dragon Warrior escape death by leaping into the stairs that had been broken open. She held out a wing for Shifu and Eagle Jr. to stop so she could concentrate. The panda ran up the rest of the stairs to the topmost corridor, blew a hole in the ceiling with a chi ball, and climbed back outside.
"Mengxiang, what is it?" Shifu asked.
"Nothing." Mengxiang said ultimately before an idea came to her. "Except that I now know a way out of here. Follow me."
In two minutes they were at the bottom of the stairs, looking out into the abyss. Eagle Jr. didn't look at all keen on flying out into the darkness. "Are you sure about this?"
"The library balcony is clear. All you have to do is fly." Mengxiang said. "Trust me."
"I'd rather not."
"Eagle Jr., do as she says!" Shifu snapped, putting a swift end to the dispute. Grumbling under his breath, Eagle Jr. waited for Shifu to grab his legs before flying out. Mengxiang flapped her own wings and followed them. She quickly pointed out the wide opening where the balcony had been connected to the library interior. As they headed in that direction, Mengxiang glanced at the base of the massive cube that held the throne room, which had been loosely set into the very top of the dark space that had once been the palace interior. She again cursed Hei Nuwang for taking a beautiful, technological marvel of a building, a part of Nuwa's legacy, and turning it into a giant death trap. It was yet another crime that could not be forgiven.
Speaking of unforgivable crimes...
"You go on ahead." The pheasant stopped to hover in mid-air. "Get out of here while you still can."
Shifu frowned at her while he held on to Eagle Jr.'s legs. "What about you?"
"I have unfinished business here. You will find your students in the courtyard outside. Now go."
Mengxiang sent Shifu a message that Eagle Jr. could not hear. Shifu understood, nodded, and motioned for Eagle Jr. to continue on. The larger bird shot Mengxiang one last look of distrust before making his escape.
Mengxiang didn't blame him. After what she had done, she could never be trusted again. Fighting back the tears, she steeled herself and started the slow flight up to the throne room.
Through the pain and the madness, Long Feng followed the girl with the ember fur. Even with a half-healed leg and a rapidly healed head injury she was infuriatingly elusive. He'd hoped to finally end her life on the roof of the entrance hall, but the hunt had taken them up the outside of the steps, up the set of metal runs that ran up the outer wall of the throne room and they now stood on the roof.
Long Feng rubbed the slowly healing wound on the back of his shoulder, glaring at the witch. At one point during the skirmish, she'd somersaulted over her body and yanked out the glowing green sword in mid air. That one move trebled both the pain and the overwhelming urge to kill her. The witch now stood twenty feet away, clutching the sword with both paws. She was weak. She'd lost blood and energy. He could see it in the way her arms shook and her chest heaved. It was already over. Long Feng smiled through his suffering and stepped forward to rip her apart.
The witch leapt to the side when Long Feng swung at her, and his fist left a spider web crack on the ground. The witch growled and swung the sword. Long Feng raised his rhino arm to block. The blade sank all the way into the flesh until the bone stopped it, but Long Feng didn't feel a thing. However, he did feel his demon arm slam into the witch's chest and break several ribs.
The witch flew back and rolled to a stop inches from the edge of the throne room's roof. She didn't get up. Long Feng first felt disappointment that she hadn't fully gone over, and then elation when he realised that he could merely finish her off with his own bare hands.
"GET THE HECK AWAY FROM HER!"
Long Feng spun round. The panda was rushing at him with a face like thunder. He leapt and sent a flying kick into Long Feng's face. It felt like being hit with a coin. Long Feng retreated two steps. He waited until the panda was on the spider web crack before slamming his demon fist into the centre of his black and white chest.
Long Feng heard and felt the sternum break.
The Dragon Warrior's eyes went fully round. With a sharp gasp he fell on his paws and knees. It was surely a crippling blow. Long Feng watched the panda suffer. If he got back up, Long Feng would gladly lengthen his pain. The panda stared at the ground, coughing and gasping, his fingers running over the deep cracks. Clear water welled up from between the separated pieces of rock. The panda narrowed his eyes and looked up at Long Feng with absolute defiance. Slowly, surely, he started to get up.
Long Feng shook his head, the part of his mind that was still sane feeling a supercilious amusement at the panda's futile resistance. When the panda was fully standing, Long Feng stepped forward punched him again, sending him falling on his back. The panda was visibly fighting to stay conscious.
"Po!"
Long Feng turned his head to look at the witch. She was on her knees, one bleeding arm wrapped around her torso. She was in no condition to fight, but there was a fierce determination in her eyes as she threw the glowing sword towards the panda. It skidded across the ground and stopped by the panda's arm.
The panda and the witch locked eyes before she sank back to the ground. The panda gritted his teeth as he turned his body. He grabbed the sword and stood up.
Long Feng shook his head again. What an idiot.
"You can't kill me." the half demon smirked.
The Dragon Warrior, Po, held the sword so the point was facing downward.
"Probably not..." He wheezed. "But Nuwa can."
He raised the sword above his head. Long Feng waited for the blade to enter his body. He would give Po five seconds to realise just how futile his efforts were before tearing his head off. The witch's death would not be so quick.
Without a word, Po sank the Sword of Heroes into the cracked ground Long Feng stood on.
Long Feng had just enough time to look down before the ground crumbled like dry mud and he plunged into the throne room.
Cold was the first thing that came to him. Then pain, the kind that he'd felt before in the flooded tunnels beneath the palace. Water. The entire throne room was full of water. Long Feng looked up towards the hole above. The panda would pay for this. He would scream and scream and-
I'll have your blood.
Long Feng heard the voice before he felt massive claws sink into his right side. The pain grew worse. He felt the water actually try to grab at him with limbs he could not see. He punched at the water and kicked towards the surface. His demon arm burst through the surface and grabbed the edge of the hole. He pulled his head and shoulders above the surface and saw the panda standing over him, sword hanging loosely by his side. The water burned Long Feng's skin and seared his eyes, but the pain was no match for his fury. He grabbed the stone with his other arm. "WHY DO YOU PROTECT HER?! DO YOU SEE WHAT I'VE BECOME?! DO YOU SEE WHAT SHE HAS DONE TO ME?!"
Po closed his eyes and looked away.
"You brought this on yourself."
Claws made of water wrapped around Long Feng's shoulders. He held on to the edge of the hole with all his strength, wishing that Po would open his eyes so he could look into them one last time, to admit that the panda may have a point. But then the stone crumbled beneath his fingers and the claws of Nuwa dragged him down, down into the dark and the stabbing and the pain below.
Po never saw him again.
It was the same almost every time. Every time he vanquished a foe, he would wish that things had gone another way. The death of Long Feng was no different. All he could do was hope that Nuwa would make it quick.
Po sighed deeply and turned away from the hole. He saw Tigress lying motionless at the edge of the throne room roof. He tried to make his way over to her, but his body chose that moment to remind him that Long Feng had inflicted significant injuries. His chest exploded with a pain so vicious that he fell to his knees.
When he looked up, Hei Nuwang was standing over him with a look of murderous intent.
"I thought I'd find you here." The panther spoke like she had reunited with an old friend. "Time to put an end to your misery."
Po couldn't move. He could barely breathe. He could only watch as Hei Nuwang formed a blade of amethyst, rendered indestructible through her own chi, and sent an overhead swing at Po's head-
Clang!
Only for an empowered obsidian blade to plunge in from the side and stop the purple blade dead.
Yujin didn't say a word as she pushed with the blade, forcing Hei Nuwang away from the weakened panda. Hei Nuwang hissed and ran at her. Battle was joined.
Po didn't watch the battle, instead crawling to Tigress as fast as his heavy legs and arms could carry him as the sound of swords clashing over and over filled the air. When he reached her, he found that she was barely conscious. Immediately he set to work using his chi to heal the damage in her chest.
"Po! Tigress!" Po recognised Viper's frantic voice before she slithered into view, staring in horror at her fallen friends. "Thank gods you're still alive!"
"You too." Tigress said, so faint it was terrifying. Po held her close as the three looked towards the warring Children of Nuwa. The duel of blades was so fierce the weapons were mere blurs to the naked eye. At some point when Po was checking on Tigress, the psychic pheasant Mengxiang had appeared on the corner of the throne room roof and was now watching the battle with horror.
"Sister!" Hei Nuwang cried when the panther spotted her. "Sister, do something!"
Mengxiang looked away, her expression cold. "I've done enough."
Hei Nuwang snarled. The duel halted when they locked blades and began pushing at each other will unnatural strength. "You're right." As she spoke, she locked eyes with Yujin with a cruel smile. "You have done enough. You've done more than enough to help me kill her precious hybrid. That's right, Yujin. She helped me invade the palace."
Hei Nuwang's decision to twist the knife in the wound would be her undoing. Right after she finished revealing the truth, Yujin had plunged a crystal dagger into her abdomen.
The panther's eyes went blank from shock. A red stain started to form around the dagger as she looked up to face her sister. If there was any sign that Yujin had acknowledged what Hei Nuwang said, she didn't show it.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Yujin whispered, her eyeholes glowing red. "That's for my baby, my mother, and everyone else you hurt, you monster."
She twisted the knife, lifted Hei Nuwang off her feet with one paw, and then threw her over the edge and into the abyss. She never screamed.
For a long time, Yujin stood still as a statue, both the obsidian blade and the crystal dagger falling from her grasp. Then she turned to the three masters.
"I honestly hadn't expected her to risk her own life to end ours." She said. "Her mistake."
"Yujin, are you okay?" Po asked, then immediately cringed from the pain of his own breathing. The way her shoulders slumped concerned him. For a half-crazy demi-god who had just gotten revenge on the woman who ruined her life, Yujin didn't look all that happy.
Then again the woman who ruined her life also happened to be her sister.
The fire in Yujin's eyeholes went out. "I thought ending Hei Nuwang's life would give me pleasure. I was wrong." She looked down at her gloved paws. "It's no surprise, really. No matter how I could have punished her, it would not change the past."
Po understood, then. Yujin wasn't unhappy about killing her sister, not really. She was unhappy because centuries of betrayal, pain and death had led to this moment.
He pushed himself onto his knees, still holding the dazed Tigress, suddenly feeling a great fear for Mengxiang's life when Yujin turned to face her.
Shifu froze the second he let go of Eagle Jr.'s legs and touched down. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened.
It had happened again. In its own unique, sometimes infuriating way, the universe had sent him a message concerned his own students, the students who happened to be stranded atop the last remaining room within the Palace of the Body, and among them was his adopted daughter."
Eagle Jr. touched down beside Shifu, prompting the red panda to grab him by the wing.
"We have to go back." He was slightly breathless from the experience. "My students."
Yujin turned away from Mengxiang and strode to the flooded hole where Long Feng had met his end. Po entrusted Tigress to Viper's care, forced himself to his feet and followed her. Side by side they stood before the hole. There was no tide or wind, but the waters within were turbulent.
"You did the right thing." He said gently. Yujin didn't respond. "So now what? We figure out a way to save Nuwa and Su?"
"I already have a plan," Said Yujin. From her tone and slightly weakened posture, Po knew she was still reeling from the recent confrontation. "And I have almost everything I need to complete it."
"Okay, so what do we do?!" Po's heart was leaping at the revelation that the cute little girl from his birth father's village could still be saved.
Yujin turned to the panda. "To help mother and Su, I must first find their souls."
"And me?" Po pointed to himself in his excitement.
Yujin took his paw and put something in it. Po eyed the little elephant sculpture with confusion.
"Take care of Xian."
Po's leaping heart suddenly plummeted.
"Wait a sec, what're gonna- YUJIN!" Po yelled, but it was already too late. Before he could stop her, Yujin had stepped off the edge of the hole.
Po stared in blank shock at the water, but Yujin never surfaced.
The panda sank to his knees. He couldn't believe what Yujin had just done. His chest hurt so much he couldn't breathe. His vision doubled as he kept staring at the hole.
He fell on his side and passed out. Yujin never came back.
