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Kurai and Shinnok trade blows with each other, trying to force the other to submit, but neither of them would. Shinnok grew irritated that Kurai, a mere mortal, could stand toe to toe with a fully powered Elder God and refused to give up. Kurai, on the other hand, despite hating his transgressions and crimes against Earth Realm, respects Shinnok power and prowess as a fighter.
Though Shinnok has little to no technique. It is all just brute strength which is enhanced by his status as a former Elder God, but an Elder God nonetheless.
Shinnok kicks Kurai away again and knocks him down to the ground. The former Elder God smirks thinking that Kurai has had enough. But to his shock, Kurai gets back up slowly and spits blood near Shinnok's feet, which infuriates him. "Stay down, damn you! I am an Elder God! I am a literal god among you mortals! A fighting god! What are you?! An Edenian Prince?! A silver spoon brat?! Huh?! What are you?!" He shouts angrily as Kurai looks up and glares at him.
He stands up and wipes the blood off his mouth. "What am I? Well, I'm not a god for one thing. I'm something that's often more important. I'm not just a prince. I'm a man. A warrior. I'm a resident of Edenia, Earth Realm, and often times Outworld." He says to Shinnok, who continues to glare at him and grits hit teeth while Kurai continues.
"Who am I? Well, to be blunt, Shinnok. I'm the guy that's going to beat you senseless until you beg me to stop." He says sharply as Shinnok looks at him furiously from the insult.
"We'll see about that... mortal." He says darkly while the forces of light continue to fight off the demons.
Kurai vs. Shinnok...
Kurai and Shinnok charge towards each other once again looking to throw punches at each other. Their fists collide and causes an explosive shock wave that flows throughout the entirety of Sadira's former palace. The two are blown back a few feet away from each other before charging each other again and begin trading blows with each other.
Blow after blow the two strike each other with the intention to kill or force the other to submit. Neither one would dare submit. Kurai punches Shinnok's face with such rage that it causes the former Elder God to stumble backwards as Kurai follows after him and doesn't allow him any breathing room.
Coming upon Shinnok, Kurai grabs the former Elder God by his collar and knees him in the abdomen. This causes Shinnok to bend over painfully while groaning painfully.
Kurai then grabs Shinnok by the neck and leads him over to a wood crate looking to throw him into it. Realizing this, Shinnok punches Kurai in the stomach before grabbing the Prince and throws him towards the wooden crate. Kurai crashes into the crate and groans as he sits up.
Shinnok glares down at him with an arrogant grin. "Had enough yet, boy?" He tauntingly says to him.
The Edenian Prince looks up at him and spits blood out of his mouth before standing up with a smile. He waves his hand tauntingly at Shinnok, who looks at him in shock before gritting his teeth furiously. "Not even close. If that's the best a "fighting god" can do, then I have noting to worry about." He says mockingly as Shinnok continues to glare at him.
Shinnok dashes towards Kurai to punch him in the face, but the prince dodges at the last second. Kurai then kicks Shinnok in the knee and causes the former Elder god to shout painfully. The Edenian Prince then grabs Shinnoks head and knees him in the face multiple times.
Teeth fly out of Shinnok's mouth before he stops another attempt of a knee to the face and roughly shoves Kurai away. Kurai stumbles back as Shinnok shakily stands back up to his feet while gritting his remaining teeth angrily.
The former Elder God then begins to chant and raises his hands sharply when suddenly a pair of giant, glowing purple, skeletal hands pop out of the ground to grab Kurai and hold him to the ground. Kurai quickly jumps into the air to dodge the skeletal hands while Shinnok launches a massive fireball towards the prince.
The forces of light and the demons all stop their fights when they noticed Shinnok's fireball heading straight towards Kurai, who was steadily falling from the air.
Jade, who had run out of the palace and into the garden with Ophelia, Tanya, Kitana, and Sindel, looks up just as the giant fireball is about to overwhelm Kurai while Shinnok laughs madly.
"NO!!!" She and the other women scream in a panic as Kurai launches his own fireball at Shinnok's. The white flame fireball flies towards Shinnok's and enters into it.
Shinnok's fireball suddenly explodes, but Kurai's white fireball is still flying towards the former Elder God. Shinnok, in shock, looks up with bewilderment. "WHAT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!" He shouts furiously just before Kurai's fireball hits its target.
Shinnok's face.
Shinnok grabs his face and releases a painful bloodcurdling scream while collapsing to his knees just as Kurai lands back safely on the ground. "My... My face! My beautiful, immortal face!" He screams sadly while hiding the right side of his face. He turns and glares at Kurai, who was walking towards him with a stern, but calm, expression.
Shinnok trembles with fury at what Kurai had done. He grits his teeth together and growls. "You... You wretched mortal! How dare you...! HOW DARE YOU!!!" He shouts furiously before madly charging towards Kurai while revealing his now burnt and disfigured face.
The Edenian Prince scoffs before shifting into his fighting stance again, which Sindel recognizes and causes her eyes to widen in shock. As does Grandmaster Han, but his reaction was much different than Sindel's. It was happiness.
"He's going to use it! The Divine Dragon! He's going to use it to defeat Shinnok!" He thinks to himself happily, but Sindel felt worried as she watches Kurai dodge and block each of Shinnok's wild and undisciplined attacks.
"Kurai, my son, how do you know that style?" She asks herself quietly as she focuses on the cold expression on her son's face.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'm going to KILL YOU!!! Then I'm going to kill the rest of you pathetic mortals and take all the realms for MYSELF!!!" Shinnok shouts insanely as he attempts and fails to land a hit on Kurai. He makes another attempt to attack the Edenian Prince, this time aiming for his heart.
Kurai catches his fist which sends a minor shockwave through the garden as the forces of light and the demons all wait with baited breath. Both their hands tremble as Kurai glares at Shinnok with glowing fiery eyes.
"Hmph... Not likely at this point, Shinnok." He says sharply as Shinnok's eyes widen with fear. Kurai uppercuts Shinnok in the chin and causes the former Elder God to stumble back, stunned.
Kurai quickly makes a few hand motions before using his left fist to his Shinnok squarely in the chest, which sends the former Elder God back a few feet away from Kurai. "This is the end for you, Shinnok." The Edenian Prince says darkly as Shinnok snarls and glares at Kurai.
"No... No... NO!!!" Shinnok shouts before Kurai suddenly disappears in a white flash.
Shinnok then suddenly feels pain all over his body in a rapid pace. He looks all around him to find Kurai, but sees only a white flash moving around him in a circle that leaves behind a trail of white flames in its path. He continues to experience the absolute worst rapid pain before he sees Kurai one last time, screaming furiously while rushing towards him.
Kurai's fist lands on Shinnok's face once more and sends the former Elder God flying in the gardens stone wall, beaten, battered, and broken. Shinnok lets out a gurgling gasp before collapsing face first into the ground, but he wasn't unconscious. He was still very much conscious, but the former Elder God couldn't feel his body.
KURAI WINS!
Kurai pants heavily before collapsing to his knees and coughs roughly. The demons, seeing that Shinnok has been defeated, all begin to panic before fiery portals begin to open and demonic hands begin to pull each and every demon back into the Nether Realm. All the demons begin to roar and screech fearfully before the portals close, leaving only Shinnok behind.
Shinnok, hearing the fearful screams of the demons, painfully lifts his head up to see what could have caused them to scream in such a way until a portal opens beneath him. Then Shinnok begins to understand. "Wait... Wait...! I didn't open this portal...! No... NO! He's back?! But I thought he was dead?!" He screams in his head as a bright red demonic hand shoots out of the portal and grabs Shinnok by the throat.
Out of the portal, with the forces of light watching with interest, rose a muscular, winged and horned demon that was unlike the others that Kurai and the others had fought. This demon held an aura of true strength that they could all feel.
Lucifer. The King of the Nether Realm.
Lucifer turns his head to face the forces of light before smiling at them with a toothy grin. Raiden and the others that could still fight ran down to stand beside Kurai to aid him in case another fight would happen.
But Lucifer chuckles darkly before staring back at Shinnok with an unamused expression. "I'll deal with you momentarily, Shinnok. I hope you enjoyed your freedom while it lasted, because you will not get out again.I shall see to that myself." He says to the former Elder God sharply before he hurdles him down into the portal back to the Nether Realm. Shinnok screams helplessly as he falls back into the chains of his prison in the Nether Realm.
The portal closes and Lucifer turns towards the forces of light, who are ready to fight the King of Hell if need be. Lucifer's burning yellow eyes stare intensely at the heroes while his long white hair flows in the wind. The heroes all stand ready as Kurai shakily stands back up to his feet, ready to continue fighting if he has to.
Lucifer soon smiles respectfully and raises a hand in a calming manner. "Be still mortals. I am not here to fight. I am only here to reclaim a prisoner that had escaped from his prison." He says calmly which confuses the Earth Realm heroes as Lucifer chuckles lightly.
"I must say that you all handled yourselves well against an army of demons and a fallen Elder God. Especially you, Kurai. I commend you most of all. Very well done." He continues while praising them for holding their own against the demons with a light clap.
He grins and turns before opening another portal. "Well, I can plainly see that my presence here already has all of you on edge with everything that's happened. So, I'll not stay here much longer and just take my leave." He says before walking towards the portal which causes the forces of light to relax and ease up.
But before Lucifer steps inside the portal, he stops and turns to glance in Kurai's direction. "One last thing, Kurai." He says calling out to the prince, making him tense up before looking at the demon king with narrowed eyes.
"Beware theDragon King." He says simply, confusing Kurai and the others before he walks through the portal with no other parting words.
The portal closes and Kurai suddenly collapses to the ground and passes out unconscious, causing the heroes to surround him with concern and worry while Delilah watches from inside the palace with a grin.
Drake, who was making sure that Kurai was still alive, notices Delilah standing inside through one of the windows. "Hey, it's that woman again!" He shouts before running off in the direction he saw Delilah.
"No, Drake! Wait!" Han shouts desperately, but Drake was still running after Delilah and enters the palace. Han glances over at Akuma urgently. "Follow him, Akuma! Make sure the fool doesn't get himself killed!" He orders as Akuma nods and runs off after Drake.
Minutes later, Inside the Palace...
Drake runs through the halls of the palace to find Delilah and comes upon the place he spotted her, but she is nowhere to be seen. All he hears is feminine, sinister laughter all around him before he turns around to see Delilah right in front of his face with a twisted grin.
He gasps and takes a step back but Delilah grabs his throat then slams him hard against the wall. She giggles sinisterly as her red eyes glow in the dimly lit hallway. "Aw, Drake, you came all this way to come after little old me? How brave..." She says to him sweetly before she leans close to his ear.
"But also very foolish." She whispers with a chuckle before lightly licking his ear.
Feeling violated, Drake flinches his head away before kicking Delilah in the belly causing her to bend over painfully before he punches her and backs away. Delilah backs away while holding her cheek and begins to laugh just as Akuma arrives and stands beside Drake, ready to fight the woman.
Delilah turns her head and looks at Drake with a wild expression and grin on her face. "Now, Drake, is that any way to treat a lady?" She says with a mockingly hurt tone, but her expression doesn't match it.
Drake scoffs. "Don't flatter yourself, Delilah. You are no lady." He says as Akuma nods in agreement. Delilah's wild expression fade before she looks out of the window staring at the still unconscious Kurai.
"Maybe so..." She begins then pauses before glancing back at Drake again. "But I happen to know your mother, why she abandoned you and what you did to her." She says cryptically, which causes Drake to freeze before he begins to tremble as if his entire body were freezing.
Delilah smirks before bowing elegantly then suddenly disappears in a pool of blood. Not wanting to let her get away, Akuma leaps into the air to catch her, but she had already got away just as he lands his fist into the floor where she was last standing.
He pulls his fist out of the highly damaged floor and turns when he hears Drake drop to his knees, hyperventilating. "How... No... She couldn't... How can she possibly know...?" He whispers quietly as his whole body continues to tremble from what Delilah had just told him.
Akuma originally had every intention of berating Drake for foolishly running off like he did, but seeing Drake in the state he is currently in made him change his mind. Instead, he walks over to Drake calmly and tenderly helps him to his feet. As Drake stands up with Akuma's help, he can see great fear on the young warrior's face. Understanding more now that now is not the time to berate or discipline his student, Akuma pats Drake on the back gently.
"Come, Drake. The others are waiting. We should head back." The Temple Master says to Drake tenderly, who nods somberly before quietly walking with Akuma back to the others.
Minutes later, the Palace Garden...
Jax and Cage each hold the unconscious Kurai on one side and lift him up gently while Sindel, Jade, Kitana, and Ophelia watch with sorrow and worry for his well being. Liu Kang and Kung Lao, the latter of whom had regained consciousness, both look over at Tanya, who also watches with worry for Kurai. The two look over at Sindel and Kitana, both notice them looking before looking over at Tanya. They then look back at the two Shaolin monks and shake their heads gently, letting them know that now is not the time.
They nod just as Drake and Akuma return to the group before they left. Han angrily walks towards the two of them to berate Drake, but Akuma quickly stands in front of the Grandmaster and shakes his head firmly.
Han, of course, didn't understand why Akuma was defending Drake for his foolishness, but deduced that something may have happened with Delilah that caused Drake to be stressed. So Han nods with understanding before allowing Akuma and Drake to regroup with the heroes.
No other words were said this night. The heroes would celebrate their victory another day. With each hero beaten, battered, and bruised, all they wanted to do now was get some rest and celebrate another day.
For now, the events of this night have left the heroes feeling severely exhausted as Raiden teleports himself and the group away from India.
As Raiden and the heroes left, a bright light appears from the heavens and engulfs the palace before cleansing it of Shinnok's darkness and corruption. Restoring Sadira's former home to how it once was before Shinnok corrupted it.
Nether Realm...
Quan Chi sneaks around the demons, avoiding their gaze as best as he can to not get caught. He makes his over to the imprisoned Shinnok, who was hovering twelve feet above the ground wrapped in chains.
"Lord Shinnok?" He calls out quietly to the former Elder God, but no response. "Lord Shinnok!" He calls out again more loudly, but still quiet. Still no response from Shinnok.
He walks up a little closer and begins to see why Shinnok isn't responding. Chains were tightly wrapped around the former Elder Gods neck, which prevented him from speaking or even breathing properly. Shinnok's eyes were rolled to the back of his head and he was just barely breathing.
Alarmed, Quan Chi runs over to one of the chains and begins yanking on it to release Shinnok from his restraints. "Don't worry, my Lord, I'll get you down. You aren't done with those pathetic mortal yet." He says confidently before preparing a spell to allow Shinnok's release.
"Actually, Quan Chi, I'm afraid he is. And so are you." A voice says from behind the pale sorcerer, causing him to turn around quickly but feels a quick and sharp pain in his throat before his head suddenly falls to the burning Nether Realm ground.
Delilah walks around his decapitated body as it crumples to the ground and walks up to the chained up Shinnok with an uncaring expression. "Hmm, you know, Shinnok, those chains look rather good on you. You should sport that look for a while. Hmm... maybe even for eternity, perhaps?" She says mockingly as Shinnok gurgles furiously.
Delilah chuckles harshly and walks around Shinnok in a circle. "Shinnok, my dear, you can growl, snarl, and seethe at me all you want, but your loss changes nothing. Your plans may have failed, but mine, however, are just beginning." She says confidently before turning around to walk away while Shinnok continues to gurgle and growl furiously at the sorceress.
Walking past Quan Chi's decapitated corpse again, Delilah stops when she notices something that the dead pale sorcerer should not have had.
Shinnok's amulet.
Curious, she walks over to the body and yanks the amulet off it before examining it closely. "Hmm... I have no use for this... but I know someone that will when he arrives." She wonders thoughtfully to herself with a sinister grin before disappearing in a pool of blood.