Once the Outworld guards removed Kollector's armless and headless corpse from the arena, and cleaned off any of the blood left behind. Shang Tsung looked towards the Earthrealmer's and then to his champions. As the bright blue day evolved into a dark harrowing night, with dark clouds blotting out the sky entirely, Shang knew this would be the final fight of the day.
His gaze narrowed once he made his decision.
"For the final night for today, the Kombatants shall be...Baraka."
The crowd cheered once more, and the humanoid creature with razor sharp teeth and a white vest covering his chest came down the stairs, unsheathing the blades protruding from his forearms as he made it down to the bottom.
"This Tarkatan general has been a loyal member of Shao Kahn's army for nearly 1,000 years! His skills and expertise matched only by his ferocity and brutality. Very few have fought this fearsome warrior and lived another day." Shang was exaggerating greatly. Yes all of those things might have been true, but he also neglected to mention the numerous failures that the warrior was mounting up in recent decades, and Baraka's stubborn loyalty to his race to which he values more than his loyalty to the Emperor of Outworld.
"And as for his kombatant, it shall be, LIU KANG!." The crowd, rather than the silence that succeeded the announcement of the last two Earthrealm warriors, filled the air with boos and jeers. As Outworld citizens themselves, two failures in a row in their final tournament against Earthrealm was quite a dent in their national pride.
As the insults and heckling died down, Shang continued. "A Monk of the White Lotus Shaolin Monks, he comes from nothing special. He comes from a regular parents with nothing impressive about him." Shang said in an ineffectual attempt to insult Liu Kang's pride. "I even hear that outside of his Shaolin duties, he works as a lowly fisherman!"
The crowd burst into a mocking laughter, while Liu Kang stood in confusion at how that is something to be mocked.
The two Kombatants moved towards the center and kept a distance with each other, but close enough to talk.
"Say your prayers, Monk!" As Baraka's monstrous voice left his sharp teeth and lack of lips, Liu Kang decided to banter with him.
"I'm more of a fighting Monk, Baraka." He politely responded.
"Then my prayers have already been answered." Baraka responded in a nearly cheerful tone.
The gong noise sounded, and the two of them walked a couple feet behind them and got into position.
Liu Kang widened his legs, arched his right arm upwards, and kept his left arm on his side, arched calmly. His feet had an energy to them, keeping a slight bounce to keep himself ready and light-footed.
Baraka's stance was wide, his back huddled and arms ready with his blades at their longest possible length.
Just before Shang Tsung could announce their fight, Reptile came from behind him, and whispered something into the sorcerer's ear that made his face contort itself into an excited grin, a contrast from the sour, bitter expression his face was observing since Cage won his first round.
"Round 1, FIGHT."
Baraka ran full speed at the Monk and lunged towards preemptively slashing the air to get ready once his opponent's tender human flesh was in his reach.
Liu Kang instinctively knew to leap backwards and block, but given his opponent's unique anatomy he knew this would not work, so he ducked under his opponent's blades as they reached him, and Liu hit Baraka's stomach with his right hand in an open palm.
Baraka, maintaining his feet on the grounded, slid back a few feet as a result of Liu Kang's palm. Dust flew up as his feet slid across the concrete floor.
Baraka was taken aback that such a devastating blow came from the scrawny Earthrealm monk, and blood spurted from his mouth, some coating his ghastly teeth.
Liu kang flew across the remaining distance with a kick, led by his left leg that was as straight as a leg could be, with his right leg arched.
The bottom of his shoe hitting the top half of Baraka's head, avoiding his teeth for obvious reason
Unable to maintain his footing as before, the Tarkatan was sent flying through the arena for nearly 6 meters. Once he landed on the hard concrete floor, the first thing he saw was Liu Kang running towards him.
Liu leaped into Baraka's position, preparing to stomp his stomach into the floor, thwarted by Baraka's successful escape through rolling to his left. While doing so, he slashed in Liu Kang's general direction, hoping that would cripple his leg for the rest of the fight.
Rather than doing major damage, or cutting Liu Kang's entire foot off (which Baraka hoped for the most) it left but a small cut on the side of Liu Kang's ankle. It stung but with the adrenaline that was pumping through Liu Kang's veins, it meant nothing.
Baraka rolled once more to get back on his feet.
The two fighters stayed in silence observation while circling around the arena, maintaining the same distance from each other.
Liu Kang noticed how Baraka's fists tightened and his expression narrowed in concentration, and prepared for another lunge from his Tarkatan adversary. To his surprise however, Baraka swiftly pointed his hand out at Liu Kang, and the blade attached to it detached and launched at Liu Kang at blinding speeds and the hole it left behind quickly filled up by another blade of bone.
In a flash, the sharp projectile was deflected as Liu Kang kicked it to the side, and as soon as he saw Baraka prepare to do the same with the other arm, he refused to stay passively defending himself. As the second projectile flew through the air, Liu Kang ran and slid under it and once he got up he took to Baraka's stomach once more and through a fast succession of punches he left Baraka sputtering out more blood than ever before. These quick and powerful blows that began from his stomach moved on to his chest, and every strike to Baraka's ribcage felt like it could shatter it entirely. Before Baraka could finally respond to his situation, Liu Kang struck Baraka's throat with his hand, more specifically at his fingertips. As Baraka was left grasping his aching throat and stepped backwards, Liu Kang jabbed Baraka by the face, then one of the same force to the stomach, and once again to Baraka's nose, breaking it. The Tarkatan was staggered, and was bent over as he tried to recover from the pain. Liu Kang kicked Baraka's chest with his shin, breaking a few ribs, and hitting Baraka's head twice more with full fury. Baraka, bent down even more but still standing, received a chop to the back of his neck, cracking his vertebrae. Liu kicks Baraka in the stomach using his shin once more, which sends his torso back into an upright state. Liu Kang punched the back of Baraka's head, which gave Liu Kang a full view of the Tarkatans back, and delivered 9 more blows to the center of Baraka's back until several sections of his spine were cracked and broken.
Liu Kang landed one final hit to Baraka's spine, strong enough to send his opponent flying before he fell to the ground face first. Baraka was in the most pain he had ever been in the past century and he kept motionless in fear of worsening his injuries. He didn't even move his face away from the hard floor to avoid hurting his spine.
The Earthrealmers, most particularly Kung Lao and Raiden, looked at Liu Kang with a feeling of confidence and pride. Kung Lao, seeing an opportunity to rub something in Sub-Zero's face, he turned around to see if he was behind him, and his hopes were fulfilled as Sub-Zero stood behind the row of seats behind him.
"So much for the weakness of the Shaolin, Lin Kuei?" Kung Lao said smugly.
Rather than some bitter expression or another harrowing staredown between the two of them as Kung Lao expected, Sub-Zero just stood there, observing the arena while ignoring Kung Lao entirely. He did not have the usual fearsome stare that he typically wore. His gaze was soft, surprised, almost as if he were impressed.
Instead of continuing prodding the icy ninja, Kung Lao just stared there in confusion and in a serious attempt to decipher what could be the meaning of this.
The Outworlders' stood in disbelief at how quickly Baraka was defeated. And even after Shang announced Liu Kang's victory, it was clear that Baraka was not getting up. Shang reluctantly gave Liu Kang the orders he gave Cage, and the ones that Sub-Zero followed without needing to be told.
"Finish Him."
Liu Kang approached his fallen foe. As the sound of his footsteps rang in Baraka's ears louder and louder, the Tarkatan shut his eyes in anticipation.
Sub-Zero watched eagerly, hoping that Liu Kang would let go of his Shaolin delusions and finish his opponent.
To his dismay however, rather than delivering any strike down onto his already fallen opponent, the monk put his hands together, one in an open palm and one bawled into a fist, and politely bowed down while keeping his eyes closed as a show of honor and respect to this Outworld creature.
The typical look of contempt and disappointment fell upon Sub-Zero's expression, while Kung Lao turned around Sub-Zero to mock him.
After a few seconds, Liu Kang began to walk away, content and proud of his performance.
As Shang watched the guards lift Baraka's pained body away from the Arena, he slumped back into his chair, imagining what could be the absolute worst punishment the Emperor could give him, before realizing his Lord's cruel and twisted mind would always come up with something far, far worse than even the deepest wretches of his old psyche could.
"That "Fisherman" defeated Baraka faster than Sub-Zero defeated the Naknadan..." Jade, the woman in green said in sheer disbelief.
"I could barely keep up with his movements, are you sure he is nothing more than a Shaolin Monk?" Kitana asked the Sorcerer.
"Apparently the thunder god and his brother helped in his training in this tournament, which he has been doing since he was a child." Shang Tsung answered before covering his face with his palms to battle his stress.
A spark of inspiration hit Reiko's mind, and he began devising and revising a plan in his mind to guarantee success. "Perhaps..." He said and looked around him to make sure all of his fellow Kombatants and the old sorcerer were paying close attention to his words. "We could deal with him, outside of the tournament and its rules and regulations."
All of them looked at him in intrigue and wonder of how such a thing was allowed.
"Ain't that like, Illegal according to those rules the Old Gods or whatever the hell they're called, made?." Mavado asked.
Shang Tsung smiled deviously, realizing the feasibility of Reiko's plan. "The rules do not explicitly state that someone NO LONGER in the tournament can do such a thing..."
Reiko directed his attention to the Sorcerer. "You were not apart of Outworld's legion at the time sorcerer, but such a tactic has did us well in the past on numerous occasions."
Shang Tsung realized that he had not officially declared the end of the tournament for today, as he looked around and saw the crowd's eyes were all on him.
Shang stood up, arms cordially placed behind his back. "That concludes the tournament for this day, we shall resume in the morning." He turned towards the Earthrealmers. "Do not believe early victories automatically mean you have won the tournament. Pride can kill."
The gongs were hit, signaling for everyone to leave. The stands slowly emptied out as the crowds of people exited through the door from which they entered previously. The Earthrealmers followed suit.
A flurry of fire emerged from Shang Tsung's throne and as soon as it dissipated, the old sorcerer was gone. Teleported to a location none of them knew.
As the Outworld kombatants did as the spectators and Earthrealmers, a thought sparked in Jade's mind. Which she vocalized to the rest.
"If such a dirty tactic is technically not disallowed by the Elder Gods... why have we not done so previously?"
The rest speculated silently as none of them knew either, with one exception.
As Reptile looked among the group, and realized none of them could figure out why.
"Pride." He plainly said in his raspy and dry voice.
"Care to elaborate, Zaterran?" Reiko asked condescendingly.
"Lord Shang Tsung has too much pride in himself and his abilities as The Emperor's chief sorcerer to ever attempt such a thing. If only you knew how difficult it was for the Emperor's advisors to convince Shang Tsung to work with the Black Dragon."
Reiko and Kitana nodded to show their belief that Reptile's words were the truth. Reptile continued.
"He typically wants to win legitimately as a way of showing Outworld's sheer superiority. He probably only ever agreed to taking advantage of a hole in Mortal Kombat's rules out of desperation." Reptile said.
"How fortunate we are that the frail sorcerer's loyal servant is so observant." Kitana sassed Reptile, triggering a slight laugh out of Jade and a chuckle out of Reiko.
Though the one who seemed to find it the most amusing, was Reptile himself. "Trust me, princess. Lord Shang Tsung, even now, is the farthest thing from frail. '