Chapter 19: End of the Sins Part 2
"Rush!" Rai shouted, enraged. He started to run up to the two Sins across the room, wanting to start the battle immediately. But Chief blocked his path with his spear.
"Not yet." The elderly man warned. Rai tensed up with every intention of hitting the old man, but he backed off, knowing that he knew best. "You know why we're here, Pride?"
"Greed and Gluttony are already dead." Pride stated. "Of course I know why you're here. With a small army battling just outside, two of my minions dead, and all seven Virtues gathered… you're here to finish what was started fifteen hundred years ago." Pride suddenly started to laugh. "Ironic, isn't it? The man who started all of this is one of the only ones who can stop me."
"What are you talking about?" Dojo demanded, moving in front of Raven with small flames flaring from his nostrils.
"Why don't you ask Chief?" Pride suggested. "He knows the entire story."
Rai, Raven, and Dojo turned to Chief who hung his head and clinched his free fist. "Ironic indeed." he muttered.
"Chief…" Rai said.
"It's true… were it not for his brash actions you would not exist at all, but… but you were the lesser of two evils! It was either face an enemy we had even a small chance of defeating or throw away our lives trying to defeat a true immortal!"
"What the hell does that mean?" Rai demanded.
The four rebels swung around as the double doors behind them suddenly swung open, flooding the room with light. In walked the ten they'd left behind to battle the other Sins; Kimiko, Omi, Clay, Saya, Jack, Dashi, Master Fung, Nina, Jess, and Charity. "It's true." Dashi said. "I'm responsible for Pride's existence."
The rebels went silent, as did Rush… but Pride began laughing again. "He finally admits it!" he gasped between laughing. When he calmed down, he continued. "Allow me to explain. In the days before my birth, my father came to this world from another realm, sort of like the tails side of a coin to this world's heads. You see, my father was an all powerful being who could've destroyed this pitiful planet without even a gesture. But he liked to toy with his prey… kill it slowly. The world was plunged into complete chaos under his thumb, for back then you had no means of defense, magical or otherwise, capable of taking on my father. One day, the monk you call Dashi approached my father, not with a declaration of war, but begging for mercy on this planet. My father may have been evil, but he was no fool. He saw that Dashi was willing to do anything to save this world… so they made a deal. In exchange for my father leaving this realm and never returning, he would give Dashi unbelievable magical abilities which he would use to bring my sister and I into this realm."
"That makes no sense." Kimiko shouted. "Why would he leave only to have you and your sister come here in exchange?"
"Because, like with most parents, our happiness meant everything to him… if we could take this world instead of him, it would be even better than doing it himself." Pride explained. "And Daddy's wish is about to come true… with or without my sister."
"What happened to her?" Fung questioned.
Pride chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's just say…" he paused and bit his lower lip as a strange purple haze appeared and covered the floor. "Never mind." he finished. "Our purpose here is not to discuss the past but to determine the future… those of you who wish to face Envy and I, please step forward."
Chief and Raven stepped forward immediately, Chief gripping his spear tightly in both hands and the golden aura appearing on both of them. Rai stepped forward next, a faint black spot starting to appear on his chest. Then Dojo slithered up next to him, still super sized and snorting fire. "Let's do this." Rai said as the black spot fully manifested on his chest and the hilt of his black sword show out of his chest. He grabbed it and ripped the blade out, roaring in anger as his shirt ripped apart, the black angel wings appeared and unfolded from behind his back, the whites of his arms faded black and his irises turned red.
"And so it begins." Pride laughed as the energy blade shot out of his wrist and he stood. Rush nodded and stretched his arms out, the two swords that Greed formerly used appearing in his hands. The next second he'd thrown one of them straight at Raven who, by some miracle, simply swung her hand in front of her and caught it by the handle.
"Only fair that we all have a weapon." Rush said.
"What about me?" Dojo demanded.
"You can breath fire." Rush snapped.
"Oh yeah… speaking of which," Dojo let a jet of flames from his mouth and swung his head, not reaching Pride and Rush but blocking their view of their opponents. Rai burst through the flames, wings outstretched and flew straight at Pride. Pride simply grinned and vanished from before his throne, reappearing in the air, the top of his head almost touching the ceiling. Rai threw his feet in front of himself, kicking off of Prides throne and going at him again while Chief threw his spear with all his strength at Pride. Pride dodged Rai, grabbed Chief's spear and threw it back at him. Chief aura erupted in a flash of golden light, teleporting him into the air so he could jump off his falling spear and attack Pride in the air.
Meanwhile, Rush and Raven where going at it in a sword duel. Rush blocked an oncoming slash from Raven as Dojo lunged into the fight with his claws outstretched. Rush knocked the dragon away with his free hand and then pushed ravens sword away with his, swinging around so his fist could nail her in the chest. Raven fell back but pushed off the ground with her hands and flipped back onto her feet only to go charging at Rush again. Rush readied himself as attacked as she approached, but she managed to duck under the attack and barely catch his arm with the edge of her blade. It was only a scratch, but Rush still stumbled back and yelped, clutching his arm. Dojo took this opportunity to throw a jet of fire his way, but Rush simply slashed through the flames and lunged at Dojo, ready to stab him between the eyes.
Pride roared and threw and energy blast at the elderly African man. Chief, now knowing he could fly like Pride, whacked the blast away with his spear, sending it back at Pride. Pride did the same with his energy blade, sending it at Rai this time who sent it back to him with a swipe of his sword. This went on at a rapid pace for about ten seconds before Rai knocked it back to Pride and then flew after it. While Pride was busy throwing the blast back to Chief, Rai tackled the Sin, causing them both to crash into the wall, sending ruble down to the floor. Pride threw Rai away and then dove at him, his energy blade ready to stab the Brazilian boy through the chest. Before he could, however, Chief's spear came hurling past him, barely missing his face and Pride stopped in mid air.
"Damn." Chief muttered.
Raven slammed the blade of her sword against Rush's, successfully knocking it out of his hands and clear across the room. She could've stabbed him and ended it right there, but something in her prevented her, so she tossed her sword aside and they went into hand to hand combat. She went to slug Rush in the face, but he blocked her and threw her aside. Dojo then lunged at him, coiling his serpentine body around the African boy and tightening. Rush seemed trapped and he almost panicked as the rest of Dojo came back at him with fangs bared and claws extended… and the light of a fire glowing in the back of his throat. But just as Dojo was about to strike Rush grinned evilly and teleported onto the back of the dragons neck. He clutched his hands together and slammed then into the back of Dojo's skull, knocking him straight into the ground. When the dragon crashed, Raven jumped into the air and lunged at him. Rush jumped to his feet, still on Dojo's back, and snatched Raven from the air, swinging around and throwing her.
Raven crashed into the wall, leaving a crater. If she could've spoken she would've admitted defeat right there… but there was something other than being mute that prevented her from doing so. When Rush grabbed her, she saw something in him that didn't seem to fit… regret, apology, remorse? Something didn't seem right. She not only knew he was holding back on his fighting skills, but he seemed to be biding his time… but for what?
Before she could figure it out, something crashed into the floor nearby. A cloud of dust masked it, but she guessed it was Pride since she saw the shape of Rai's wings sticking out of the dust. Rai jumped away from his opponent landed next to Raven, helping her to her feet while Chief went to assist Dojo. Pride staggered to his feet from the crater left in the ground, his eyes glowing blood red under his blindfold as Rush teleported to his side.
"I'm getting tired of this." Pride muttered. "I believe it's time to finish it… Envy."
"As you wish, master." Rush said blankly. He lifted his arms, pointing his open palms at them. His hands glowed red and chains shot out of them, magically wrapping around the four and binding them. They were sitting ducks now, unable to move. Pride grinned, obviously pleased. He turned around and waved his hand at the others. Identical chains appeared above them and bound them as well.
"Oh, this is too easy." Pride chuckled.
"Guess again!"
The next second, there was a sound like a nearby gun shot, and then another. Pride quickly raised his hands as two golden blurs shot at him. The bounced off and went straight back from where they came from. Only seconds later, the dead and bloody bodies of Wrath and Gabriel Spicer fell from the ceiling with bullet holes between their eyes.
Pride looked at his palms. There were small, circular burns on them. "Bullets… charged with Humilities chi… Show yourself, traitor!"
Wuya suddenly appeared before him, flustered and panicking as if she hadn't done it willingly. Pride grabbed her by the throat and started choking her. "Did you really think I didn't know?" he growled. "Did you really think that by simply taking me into your bed you had earned my trust and could parade around behind my back doing whatever you wanted?" Wuya tried to say something, but gagged and choked. "I knew all along that you were conspiring to take me down. Wrath and Sloth… you were a fool to think they could do the job… and now your foolishness and will cost you your life." He tightened his grip on her neck, digging his fingers in to draw blood, but then he paused and tossed her aside. "Wait… I have a better idea." He turned to Rush. "Envy, you finish her off. Prove to me your loyalty by ending this once and for all."
Rush glanced at the Sin and slowly nodded. "As you wish, my lord." He muttered as one of Greed's swords appeared in his hand. He slowly approached Wuya, everyone else in the room watching in horror was he stood above her and raised the blade above his head.
"Think about what you're doing Rush!" Omi called.
"This isn't you!" Saya shouted.
"You're not one of them! You're a hero!" Clay agreed.
"You're not evil!" Rai snapped.
"Don't do this!" Kimiko shouted.
Omi and Saya turned to Master Fung who was watching with the same blank stare he always had. "Say something!" Omi demanded. "We can't let him do this! She may be evil, but she's not the one we're fighting against!... Rush is one of us… we can't let him turn into one of them…"
The elderly monk eyed his student carefully, taking in his words. He nodded to and turned back to Rush. "Do what must be done, Rush." He said calmly.
Rush looked at the old man, making eye contact. He nodded back and lifted his blade slightly higher. "I am doing what must be done." He said. "This whole ordeal is my doing… and I will take the punishment for it…" With that he dropped the sword, turned towards Pride, and pointed his open palm at the Sin.
A thin beam of neon green energy shot out of Rush's hand and hit Pride in the center of his Chest. Pride gasped in surprise. He'd been caught with his guard down… but how? A large green orb of chi was slowly pulled out of him and flew over to Rush who absorbed it into his body, making his eyes glow blood red.
"But… how…" Pride managed to gasp.
"You forgot one thing." Rush said. "You're my responsibility."
"How…" Pride gasped again.
"I used my ability to take anything from anyone on you… I took the Sin of Pride away… so you're nothing but a mortal now… which means you can die."
Pride looked up to him, now sickly pale and seemingly so fragile. It was almost like he was dying already. But for some reason her was smiling… grinning in ironic pleasure. "You… fool… you've doomed… yourself." He said as he staggered to his feet. "The Sin of Pride and I… we were created… together. We share… a special bond. If… I die… it goes with me… as does whoever it… inhabits. You've just killed yourself!"
Rush just snorted as a dagger appeared in his hand. "You know something, before now I was afraid of death. I couldn't think of a single thing I was willing to die for… but now I have found something I will die for… and there's over six billion of them."
Pride laughed. "You're going to sacrifice yourself to save this pitiful race of humans?"
"Better than letting you exterminate them!" Rush shouted as he threw the knife. It stabbed directly into Pride's heart. Pride dropped, his body now cold and lifeless. Rush smiled as an identical wound opened over his heart and he dropped to his knees, blood starting to run out of his mouth. "Begun by blood… by blood, undone." He said before falling to the ground, dead.
Rush died with a smile on his face.
~LATER~
The chains that everyone had been bound in disappeared after Rush died, as did the entire lair and the army of the Sins that those who were left behind had been fighting. They were alone now in the Antarctic… cold, sad, but victorious.
Omi and Mimi immediately ran to each other, greeting each other with a tight hug and a passionate kiss. The others rushed over to hear what had happened inside. Raven just kneeled next to Rush's body, weeping.
"So, Rush really was on our side?" Elena questioned after Master Fung finished telling the story.
"I do not know." Fung admitted. "But in the end he made the right decision."
After that Mala Mala Jong used the Golden Tiger Claws to open a portal to the ruins of the Xiaolin Temple. Many of the rebels went through immediately, wanting to get out of the cold and start celebrating and spreading the news. But Rai, Kim, Clay, Saya, Omi, Mimi, Julia, Elena, Dojo, Master Fung, Chase, Wuya, Hannibal, Jack, Dashi, Nina, Chief, Jess and Charity waited behind and watched as raven continued silently weeping over her lost love.
Eventually, the mute girl knew it was time to go and went over to them. In kind act, Clay picked up Rush's body to carry it back with them. But something went wrong… the portal disappeared.
"Look!" Wuya said with terror in her voice.
Everyone swung around to witness it, but no one believed what they saw. It was impossible. Dead was dead, he couldn't come back! But he was… Pride was still alive… bloody, wheezing, and barely able to move, but alive and standing... and his eyes were still glowing blood red. "No…" he growled. "I won't let it end like this…" he reached up and wrapped his fingers around his blind fold. "I won't… let it end… like… THIS!" he ripped the blind fold away from his face. Red light poured out of his eyes and everything was engulfed in it.
(a/n) 4 chapters left, people (2 of which will be epilogues). you could cut the tension with a knife. now only a few questions remain: how is Pride alive, what is he going to do next, and will he be able to be stopped? youll have to wait and see... MWAHAHAHAHA!