Who's Law
Kitana smiles at Tanya, reaching her hand forward. Tanya nods and reaches for her hand as well. The awkward motions of their handshake caused them to quickly release each other's hands. Tanya chuckles. As does Kitana. One by one, the Earthrealm Warriors began to awaken. Kitana continued to smile as she watched them pick one another up.
"How will we bring the customs of our realm back?" she asked. "We were not aware of our existence when the realm was taken from us."
"Our customs are wherever you want them to be," Tanya responded. "Take some from Earthrealm. Take some from Outworld. Take some from yourself."
Kitana turns to the woman and notices a dark, shadowy figure creeping up behind her. She pulls Tanya away and holds onto her. The figure was Abacus. Unlike before, he was missing most of his hair. A large portion of his body was blown away. It was as if he were mostly skeletal now. His body regenerated much slower than any of the other Lords they'd witnessed. The Lord raises his crisp left hands out to the girls. Kitana grits her teeth and pulls a Kamidogu Dagger from her own pouch. She runs toward the Lord before plugging the blade into his exposed heart. The corruption within the blade slowly burned the Lord away. Abacus seemed to be shocked by the effects of the weapon. Kitana and Tanya, however, were not.
"A blade capable of killing a Lord," the man commented with a raspy voice.
"You know the truth of the world, Abacus," Kitana said. "You could've seen your death coming. You could've avoided this." Kitana maniacally laughed to herself. "No, you couldn't have. You can't see the truth of the other side. The home of this particular Kamidogu Dagger. Unlike the weapons forged by Eva, this one is real." The man rubbed his chin before his hand disintegrated into ash.
"Is this why," the man mumbled.
"Do you see it?: Kitana asked. "The one who wins. Who will it be? How will we stop Armageddon now that fate has changed?" Abacus stared angrily at the girl. As the flames caught up with his neck, he could not voice an answer. All she could see was one letter she believed the Lord mouthed off before his bottom jaw disintegrated. The letter N.
Atop of the first Platform...
"You came just in time," Anomaly said. She bent over, breathing rapidly as she recovered from her skirmish with Eunomia. The Seidan seemed to have no reaction to the arrival of the two Earthrealmers. Cassie held her gun up to Anomaly.
"You," Cassie growled. She pulled the trigger on her weapon, firing a bullet right through Anomaly's skull. Anomaly had a shocked expression on her face as she fell on her side.
"Cassandra!" Chan shouted.
"Oh shut it," Cassie retorted casually, "she'll revive herself anyway." Eunomia also seemed surprised. She knew that shouldn't have been capable of harming the sorceress. In fact, she saw the woman activate her shadow walk right before Cassie fired the weapon. Chan turned his attention to Eunomia as they waited for Anomaly's wounds to heal.
"Are you Eunomia?" he asked.
"If you didn't know the answer already, you would not be here outsider," she said. "So, are you from Earthrealm or Outworld?"
"Earthrealm," Chan responded.
"Do you have proof?" she asked further. Cassie cocks her gun and aims it at Eunomia.
"Does Outworld have one of these?"
"Cassie!" Chan shouts.
"An Earthrealm warrior with Seidan Chi?" Eunomia muttered to herself. "Why do Earthrealm warriors invade my realm?"
"We came for Anomaly," he said. "That is all."
"She is here, and would be dead had you not taken our Lord away," she responded angrily. She directs her staff toward Anomaly, but Chan opens a portal behind Eunomia, prompting her to halt her attack.
"What are you doing?" she questioned.
"We need her alive," Chan responded. With her injuries fully healed, Anomaly woke up. She leaned forward and stared into the girl's eyes.
"Johnny Cage's daughter," she said. "Tell me, when have you last heard—" a bullet passed by the woman's ear. She smiled.
"Shut it," Cassie threatened.
"We know about what you did to Earthrealm," Chan growled. "I didn't come to rescue you. I'm going to make you reverse what you've done.
"Its too late," Anomaly responded. "Armageddon is upon us. Besides, the souls of the dead cannot return."
"You liar," Eunomia said. Chan perked up. "When a soul dies, it must go to Heaven or the NetherRealm. If a souls still remained outside of those bounds, it must return to a formally living being. Be it the trees, the grass, animal carcasses, your own skin and organs, they must return somewhere." Anomaly's eyes widened. She looked at the grass she sat on, staring at the individual blades of grass and crushed flowers. She immediately raised herself up, brushing the smaller blades from her clothing.
"You mean these platforms are…" Eunomia nods. Anomaly had a foul expression on her face. "I knew something was strange about your magic. You're no better than the rest of us."
"I am order and Justice," Eunomia said as she spreads her arms open. "You kill those within you. I save them."
"You use them!" Anomaly says. She sighs. "You two never loved me like Sindel did. I gave her a vision of peace. Right before I took off her head."
"Cassie, Now!" Chan commanded.
Cassie's body glows as she runs toward Anomaly. Eunomia turns her attention to the girl as she observers her power. Anomaly, sees the girl and directs her index finger toward her. She shoots a ring of fire across the girl's shoulders as Cassie immediately leaned down. She kept her momentum before tackling the sorceress to the ground. The girl repeatedly slams her fist into the woman's face. Anomaly struggles to use her magic to escape. Instead, she reaches out toward Eunomia. Numerous souls were drawn from the environment around them and her hair glowed silver. Eunomia detects the missing souls and summons a few around her leg. She leaps into the air and stomps atop of Anomaly's arm before she could finish the incantation.
Eunomia turns her back to witness a new being floating above them. The being reaches out toward Cassie and slowly lifts her into the air. However, the being instantly dispersed. It gave enough distance for Anomaly to utilize her powers and phase away from the women. As she returns with her feet to the ground, a portal appears behind her. Chan leaps from the other side before slamming his fist into the back of the woman's head. She stumbles forward, her vision dimming a bit. As she lift her head up, several red force balls slam against her body. Chan narrowly avoids them as they ripped through the sorceress.
"Watch it!" Cassie shouted to the woman.
"You are all on my land," Eunomia said. "You're free to leave at any point."
"Not until we take Anomaly with us," Chan responded.
"What is it that you don't understand?" she asked. "Aisa will never end her conquest. Not as long as she lives."
"She must," Chan responded. "If she dies, we all lose." As Anomaly's body regenerates, Eunomia creates another series of force balls above the woman. She lowers her arm and they fall atop of the woman. As the energy from the force balls return to Eunomia, she notices that Anomaly was not there. Instead, she stood behind Chan, who held onto her wrist.
"You fool," Eunomia shouts. Anomaly pulls away from the boy and kicks him to the side. She runs toward Eunomia with two four-sided boomerangs twirling along her index fingers. She slides one along the ground toward the girls. Cassie pushes against the ground to allow herself to avoid the weapon. Eunomia steps to the side to avoid it as she senses the weapon changing its trajectory upward as it comes close to the woman. Anomaly throws the second at Cassie. Eunomia's eyes turned away from Anomaly, as she attempts to stop the weapon with her staff. However, Cassie is quick to grab the boomerang as the green aura surrounded her body once more. Eunomia was in awe. The distraction allowed for Anomaly to wrap her arms around the woman from the back. She suplexes the woman to knock her out before tossing her body away. Cassie uses her Shadow Kick on Anomaly, but the woman guards against it using her tonfa shrouded in a golden aura.
"What?" Cassie questioned.
"I've studied your powers long before you or your father were born," Anomaly said. She sweeps her leg against Cassie's ankle, knocking the girl to the ground. "You possess a rare chi capable of allowing you to face an Elder Lord. However, I am no Elder Lord dear." Chan uses a flying kick against the woman, but she counters him in the same fashion as Cassie. Upon landing on the ground, the shaolin lept back onto his feet. He draws his chi into his hand and forces his palm into Anomaly's chest. The force knocks her back a distance. Chan snaps his fingers, and suddenly, an explosion occurs. Numerous souls from within Anomaly scoured about before returning to her body. As the smoke cleared, Chan eased toward the woman. He was startled by her strange facial expression. She looked as if she were trying her best to avoid smiling. Her face was obviously red, as if she were angry or scared. She trembled violently as if remembering a traumatic experience from her past.
"What is it?" Chan questioned. She snapped out of it, face returning to normal. She looked at the boy and conjured a ring of fire.
"The fun we'll have when I see what you can really do," Anomaly said cheerfully. She fires the ring past his head. The ring strikes against Eunomia, who absorbs it within her body.
"Your magic also requires you to use the souls of others, I see," Eunomia confirms. "It is no wonder you cannot fight me as you would others."
"What about you?" Anomaly mocked. "You haven't had a need to fight for so long that you've forgotten how to engage in hand-to-hand combat."
"No need," she says as she sweeps her foot across the ground. A wave of green energy chases toward the two of them. Anomaly covers her right leg in her golden aura and kicks against the energy wave. For a splitsecond, the wave continued forward and slowly moved pass Anomaly's aura. However, she sees that Chan had also kicked against the energy wave using the chi within him around his leg as well. Their combined might sends the wave hurling back toward Eunomia in the form of a force ball. The woman uses her staff to deflect it back towards Cassie. As it collides with the girl, she's knocked onto her back once more.
"Come on!" she shouts in frustration. She notices that her energy was starting to leave her. She slowly rises up and notices it was heading toward Eunomia. The woman smiles. She uses her staff to draw the Seidan Chi from Cassie's body. Cassie tries to use a powered up dive kick against the woman, but the energy was no more. She could feel the difference from within her body, even without seeing it. Chan tackles the girl to the ground as a powerful green orb passed over them. Chan mugs Eunomia, who simply shrugs.
"I sense the corruption within both of you," she said. "I know your game, Shaolin."
"There is no game," Chan said as he arose from the ground. "Did you not hear her? She destroyed our realm. You saw the souls yourself."
"Shang Tsung fought to save his realm once," she retorted.
"We are not Shang Tsung," Chan responded once more. Anomaly appeared behind the woman and grabbed the staff. She squeezed it against Eunomia's chest, lifting the woman in the air in the process. Eunomia activates her shadow walk to phase through the weapon. As she appeared on the other side, she channels the energy within the staff to fire a force ball into Anomaly's Chest. As the woman slides back, she quickly grabs onto Eunomia's wrist. With another blast from her force ball, she knocks Anomaly near the edge of the platform.
"Why do you even try?" Eunomia says. She looks back at Chan. The boy rushed toward her with his right leg engulfed in fire. She raised her staff forward. She hesitates as she saw the purple shroud around her arm. Chan leaps in the air with his flaming foot stretched in front. As his foot contacts that woman's abdomen, an explosion occurs. She's knocked back at high speeds, unable to get her footing onto the surface. Her body slammed into Anomaly, and remained in the air. Anomaly's Naginata protruded form the woman's abdomen. Eunomia looks forward at Chan, observing the dark expression on the boy's face. She couldn't recognize it before, but she finally knew. He didn't come there to save Anomaly. He came to take her out.
"NO!" a loud shriek came from a distance. The three of the looked to the direction of the sound. One of the homes of Seido was used as a platform for Eris, who stared at Eunomia's lifeless body. Anomaly lowered her brows before lowering her Naginata. Eunomia's body fell to the depths below just as she did those who opposed her. The woman unleashes a scream that echos the realm. Warriors and citizens throughout could hear her cries. And suddenly, the realm began to tremble.
End of Chapter 18
(Upcoming—Walk By Faith)