I went back and made some minor corrections to Chapter 19, so a small detail here would probably make more sense if that one was reread. :) On with the show.
The chaos in the arena had only escalated in their absence. Since Fujin had disappeared, the onlookers desperate for a way out had been trapped, and subsequently massacred by Quan Chi's forces. Hundreds lay dead as hordes of Tarkata, along with the resurrected souls, lay waste to everything in sight.
However, down in the ring, Quan Chi's forces had not yet as a whole registered that two of their own had turned against them. Liu Kang and Kitana continued on their path, tearing through their targets with ease. Back up on the platform, Quan Chi remained oblivious to their defection as he remained focused on taking down Baraka, who had attacked him once he saw his queen literally get overthrown. Unfortunately for him, Quan Chi gained the upper hand, slicing off both of Baraka's arms and kicking him over the edge to meet Mileena at the bottom of the steps.
Quan Chi delighted in his small victory before he was distracted by an anomaly on the other side of the arena. He could see Fujin and his two warriors materializing in the stands, and immediately noticed that Raiden was not with them, causing Quan Chi to break out in an even bigger grin.
He had done it! He had finally killed the thunder god!
His elation was short-lived as someone began barking at him to his side.
"Quan Chi!" Shinnok roared furiously. Evidently he knew Fujin and the others were back, too, given that his next comment was, "Now is not the time to count your victories. Do you realize what you have done?"
Quan Chi whirled around at his master's accusation.
"What I have done?" he responded in frantic disbelief. "I have brought your plans to fruition, that is what I have done!"
"You have done nothing of the sort!" Shinnok shouted back at him in indignation. "Even now, your forces desert you. Look!"
Quan Chi looked back down at the crowd and finally took note of Liu Kang and Kitana's rebellion; even worse, Jax and Kung Lao had also realized what was going on and were just standing there confused, disobeying Quan Chi's orders to continue killing. There was no trace of the Zaterrans.
Quan Chi didn't know why he was losing his grip on his warriors, but he struggled to come up with a defense, even as Shinnok continued to reprimand him.
"It was because of your damned Zaterran henchman that my amulet was destroyed!" Shinnok lambasted him. "Now we are losing our dominion over them! As soon as the realm borders stabilize again, they will be gone from our command!"
Unexpectedly, Quan Chi began to laugh, a low, rumbling chuckling at first, then breaking out into full-blown cackling as Shinnok looked at him in confused annoyance. What he didn't know was that Quan Chi had had it; he was through concealing his every move and motive, he was through with this ridiculous tournament, and he was through with taking orders from a false god.
"What is it? !" Shinnok demanded.
"They will not 'stabilize again,' my lord," Quan Chi blurted out between insanity-fueled bouts of laughter, with a sarcastic emphasis placed on the last two words. "They were not damaged in the first place. Did you really think I was stupid enough to give that overgrown lizard the amulet?"
Shinnok looked at him in bewilderment, demanding an explanation.
"What are you talking about?" he shouted back angrily. Much to his horror, he witnessed Quan Chi take something metallic with an emerald core at the center out of his belt pouch. Shinnok immediately realized his mistake in trusting the Netherrealm sorcerer.
"This!" Quan Chi roared smugly as he held the treasured artifact out, up for the entire stadium and the heavens to see.
"It has come to this."
Although he is bewildered, he has no body with which to express his alarm.
"Through it all you continued to persevere, despite our warning."
The situation feels familiar; then he realizes he can feel the same pressure of their judgmental gaze that he remembers from before. He is back in undefined space, the floating plane of consciousness.
"Quan Chi and Shinnok have destabilized the realm borders," they continue to chant in unison. "If they are not stopped, they will attempt to merge the realms."
He is simultaneously relieved and shocked at the fact that he can once again hear. However, since he cannot speak, he resignedly decides to listen to what they have to say.
"However," the Elder Gods continue. "We sense a change in the tides. Shinnok's forces were not organized; they have turned against each other and are falling into disarray."
He begins to feel hope at their words, but he waits to see why they have brought him back. He knows he did not survive, and he also does not know for what purpose they revived him, and so he remains wary.
"Fujin is but one being," they go on. "He is trying everything he can, but the realms are still in danger. Order continues to break down. It must be restored at once, before it is too late."
They pause. He waits, partially out of respect and partially to spite them, even though he feels he knows what they are about to ask him, a feeling which restores a bit more of his faith.
"You are obviously very attached to Earthrealm," he can hear their voices point out. "You were willing to die for her, even when the task of her safety was left in another's hands."
He begins to feel hope again as the insinuation grows stronger. He waits eagerly for them to continue.
"Her defender's numbers are dwindling. She needs another protector, now."
His non-existent heart floats with anticipation.
"Are you willing to fight for her once more, Raiden?"
His qualms settled, Raiden feels his resolve strengthen. He knows they probably already expect his answer, but he wants to make perfectly clear his dedication to his rekindled duty.
"…I am."
Quan Chi continued laughing and grinning in maniacal delight, holding the amulet up even higher despite Shinnok's protest, causing the already turbulent skies to react even more violently to his magic. Shinnok was powerless as a literal talking head, and only watched in horror along with the others in the stadium, who saw Quan Chi as he began to gloat about his new authority over the realms. Those who had not been slaughtered yet, and even those who were working for the necromancer, began to falter as they realized they would be subjugated to a new tyrannical ruler.
Which was why no one, especially Quan Chi, expected the lightning bolt that crashed down upon the stage, hitting its target with pinpoint precision. The amulet shattered into hundreds of pieces, and Quan Chi's skin seared as his glove had been burned off, causing the sorcerer to step back reflexively, his expression melting into disbelief at what had just happened. And this time, there was no back-up.
Already the open portals on stage swallowed themselves closed, signaling the skies to end their violent seizure. In similar flashes of light, the souls of the fallen were taken, and when the blinding aura died down, all of the souls that Quan Chi had taken as his own were restored: Liu Kang, Kitana, Kung Lao, Sindel, Jade, and all of the other leftover fighters remained glued to where they stood, now flesh and blood and stunned by what was happening. In the ground, a small portal quickly opened up and spat out a confused Nightwolf, Stryker, and human Sub-Zero. As the fleeting joy that resulted overtook those fighting off Quan Chi's Tarkatan forces, spurring them to fight back, Sonya and Johnny looked to the stage, and then briefly to each other. There was no way… was there?
They didn't have time to speculate on what it could have been; another brilliant bolt of lightning touched down on the stage, sending Quan Chi stumbling even farther back, to many cheers from the crowd. This time, the lightning brought something with it, and once the blinding flare died down Sonya and Johnny looked back in thrilled amazement.
Emerging from the flash stood a fully restored Raiden, seven feet of vengeful thunder incarnate, staring a shaken Quan Chi down from glaring white eyes. Static coursed over his towering frame, and his hat topped off his easily recognizable silhouette all the way from the stands.
"Quan Chi," Raiden boomed, clearly eliciting the attention of everyone in the audience. His voice had become compounded with those of the Elder Gods, and caused Quan Chi to tremble cowardly even more than he already was.
"You have upset the order between the realms," Raiden and the Elder Gods continued to speak in unison. "You will face punishment for your actions."
"Aw, yeah!" Johnny called from the stands. "Raiden's back, bitches!"
Panicking, Quan Chi grabbed one of his broadswords with his good hand, and immediately tried to slice for Raiden's chest. Naturally, Raiden raised one of his arms in defense, effortlessly blocking Quan Chi's assault as the metal bounced off of Raiden's arm guards. A fearful Quan Chi could do nothing as Raiden grabbed his other arm, twisting it a full one hundred and eighty degrees before breaking it backwards at the joint. The sorcerer howled bloody murder, much to the joy of those who were free to cheer in the stands.
But Raiden wasn't done yet. He brought his knee up quickly, crushing the ribcage of the much smaller man. Quan Chi was fully incapacitated now, and was powerless to stop Raiden as the thunder deity effortlessly lifted the broken sorcerer above his head like a ragdoll. Everyone in the stadium could clearly see Quan Chi in his final moments, before Raiden charged him with an immeasurable amount of divine electricity. Quan Chi flailed helplessly as his skin was electrocuted off, right before the charge became too much for his frame to bear and he exploded in Raiden's blood-soaked hands. There was even more cheering at the display of raw power that had eradicated the onlookers' formerly potential dictator.
Ignoring the deafening sign of appreciation from the crowd, Raiden turned to his next adversary. Shinnok's floating visage stared back at him, dumbfounded that the thunder god had been resurrected. But Shinnok thought he could find safety in the fact that he was not physically there, and took the opportunity to taunt Raiden.
"So," he remarked dryly. "The Elder Gods were too weak to face me themselves. Serves that they would send out a failure of a protector god as a last ditch attempt. Tell me, Raiden, how does it feel to fulfill a useless duty for superiors who turn their back on you when you need them the most? And yet you continue to serve them?"
Unfortunately for him, Raiden was no longer falling for his opponents' psychological ploys.
"I guess you could say I am a bit of a workaholic," Raiden retorted, this time in his own voice. This incised Shinnok enough to the point that his eyes glowed with fury once more, and he released two more beams of energy towards Raiden's spot. He didn't expect Raiden to teleport out of the way in a burst of lightning, and was unable to pinpoint his foe's location. Within a split second, Raiden was behind Shinnok's floating head, and a series of lightning bolts illuminated the disembodied cranium from behind. Shinnok's eyes grew wide with shock, and he whirled around to look at Raiden, who blinded him with electricity. In a last ditch move, Shinnok recalled his avatar from Outworld, leaving behind a swirling portal that resulted as an unavoidable side effect of the summoning spell. Seizing his opportunity, Raiden jumped into the vortex, knowing it would lead him to wherever Shinnok was. The portal closed up behind him as he exited, leaving no one up on the stage.
A stunned silence washed over the audience. Many began to murmur nervously, unsure of the two gods' fates. Sonya and Johnny looked at each other in alarm, hoping that they had not just lost Raiden again after everything they had been through. Anxious, they both decided to head down into the ring, figuring they would wait by the steps (if anything else happened).
Another tense minute passed. Some in the crowd were able to come to their senses in the meantime, and helped bring the Tarkata under control, while some actively sought each other out in the calm that followed the hours of disarray.
"Liu Kang!"
The disoriented but now normal Shaolin warrior looked for whoever had called his name. He could see Kitana pushing her way through the crowd towards him. He panicked, unsure of what to say.
Even though they were both plenty battered, physically and emotionally, that didn't stop Kitana from approaching Liu Kang with a smile. She brushed some loose hair out of her face before speaking.
"Well," she said. "These certainly are different circumstances."
Her familiar words clicked in Liu Kang's memory, and the Shaolin monk smiled as he offered her a more than diplomatic hug.
Johnny and Sonya, meanwhile, waited at the foot of the stage for Raiden. They briefly exchanged glances every now and then, anticipating their friend's return. But another minute passed. And then another.
Sonya's expression began to falter. Johnny caught this and quickly tried to reassure her.
"Just give him another minute," he tried to convince her. Another passed, and soon Johnny began to have his doubts as well.
Suddenly the air became tinged with static once more. The change in atmosphere was most readily evident to those closest to the stage, who looked up in expectation. From a small swirl of purple energy on top came another brilliant flash of light, which grew into the shape of a man. It took a second for everyone to recover from having to shield their eyes, but all in the crowd dropped their hands eagerly to see who had emerged victorious.
Much to Sonya, Johnny, and the other Earthrealm warriors' delight, Raiden stood at the top of the arena stage, holding something in his hand. He lifted it up to reveal a normal-sized Shinnok's severed head, an expression of complete and utter shock cemented into his face the second he had been vanquished.
Raiden let the skull drop emphatically onto the ground. When he spoke, his voice was singular, heavy with the effort exerted but steady with restored confidence.
"…It is over."
He was met with a jubilant explosion of approval from everyone in the arena.
This is Mortal Kombat, you guys. Death is a slap on the wrist. :)