DISCLAMER: Darn... Still haven't captur- I MEAN legally GOT THE RIGHTS TO OWN Ling and Lan Fan. So they do not belong to me. THE LITLE CUPBAORD IN MY ROOM SHALL WE AWAITNG THEIR ARRIVAL. Meep :3

A/N: The Emperor is a bitch. ~THE TRUTH~ and no I'm not talking about The Gate of Truth. *sassy finger snap* Gurrlll. Wow I need to get a life one day. Where can you buy those wondrous things from? *.*

Chapter 2 –MIDDLE

The door opened and closed again. It was Ling. Well, of course it was Ling, who else would it be? Looking away from Lan Fan's gaze and nervously rubbing his arm he hurriedly directed the way down the enormous, marble engraved corridor. Once they arrived at the hall, they noticed a large crowd of women as well as the rest of the Emperor's sons. The women were not the Emperor's daughters as they were all the same age and looked nothing at all like him.

Ling leaned backwards to Lan Fan and whispered "Who…?" but she pushed him forwards making him clumsily fall over onto his face. Smacking the floor was both painful and a little discouraging to the Prince but she had done the right thing, preparing him for the highly skilled level of combat which he was about to face, as he needed to be ready at any moment.

The Emperor, being a man of well-accomplished skills and tactics, usually did not wait for his enemies to be ready and simply charged straight for them without warning. Lan Fan knew this for she was older and therefore wiser than Ling.

Ling did not understand this and was rather annoyed at Lan Fan's mini-preparation-attack.

"What was that for?!" he hissed as he got up and brushed off the dust and tiny pieces of fluff and carpet strands.

Lan Fan said nothing but lifted her hand toward Ling and pointed straight past his shoulder.

"Huh?" Ling mumbled but suddenly a large and over powering fist came slicing through the air, barely missing his face by a millimetre. It came so quickly and out of nowhere that he felt the wind of the punch blow towards him afterwards. It was so powerful that the Prince needed a moment to recover, but too late, another knuckle came thundering at him and this time Lan Fan's reflexes failed the task of saving the Young Lord. He was hit straight in his right shoulder and sent flying face-first into the wall.

As much as she wanted to, Lan Fan could not interfere. She had been given severe instructions by the Emperor himself to remain discreet during the battle and not aid the Prince, for this was his assessment of strength and masculinity. She stepped back away from the Emperor after bowing and nervously watched from the side-lines along with the mysterious crowd of women.

Why are these women here? she wondered.

The crowd starting cheering for their beloved Emperor as the fight continued. Lan Fan noticed it took the same repeated pattern. Ling continually ducked as the Emperor swung his leg over his head or tried to attack. Attack. Duck. Move. Attack. Duck. Move.

Lan Fan wanted to help the Prince so badly, but by this time now she was at the back of the crowd, amongst the women who were jeering at Ling and screaming for their ruler. Trying with all her might she pushed her way through them and yelled "QUIT BEING AN IDIOT MY LORD! USE YOUR SKILLS! USE YOUR SWORD!"

Ling heard this and faced the crowd, distracted for a moment. In this one moment the Emperor was able to kick Ling in the gut with a lot of force, making him fall to his knees in pain. Grinning heartlessly, he pinned his son to floor, knowing he had won.

"I win, son," he taunted and smiled victoriously.

"I don't think so, father," Ling replied as he sprung back up onto his feet and pulled out his sword from behind him.

The people booed and hissed at the Prince's supposedly 'weak efforts', but Lan Fan was so happy and enthusiastic for him that she cheered for him loudly, one that could be heard above all the discouragement the crowd was giving him.

Ling was aching all over but knew that he must continue otherwise there would be no chance of him being Emperor. Having already shown his Philosopher's Stone, the Emperor disregarded it and deemed as useless, claiming that another clan many years ago had already produced a Philosopher's Stone. The Prince knew that this was not true; he had researched it in the libraries in Central with Ed.

That no good son of a bitch, Ling thought to himself, He lied to me and the whole of Xing just so that he can continue being the Emperor. I won't let him do that!

Thinking of this, all of Ling's anger built up within him and he carelessly charged straight to the Emperor, holding out his sword. The Emperor was too quick for him and had soon turned the tables in the fight. Ling's own sword which he was holding was now pressed against his neck, the Emperor forcing Ling to almost kill himself.

The Prince was still fuming with rage and powerfully kicked the Emperor backwards, making him hit his back against the wall. Ling approached his father smugly as he lay there like a helpless bug, and Ling could easily squash him.

However, being the kind person that he was, he could not kill the Emperor, so simply gave him a deep scar on his face.

"I'm not a murderer like you, old man," he said as he looked down at the ruler of Xing. "I don't kill people, but seeing as I have won this fight and am now Emperor; I will order you to be killed."

The Emperor began the shake with fear at the thought of losing his life and begged at the new Emperor's feet. "Please, son, I beg of you. Do not kill me! I will do anything you want! Give you anything you desire, just please, spare my life!"