Broker

Chapter 156

Dame Kant felt her entire body tremble as the air itself pressed down on her with a might she had no way of anticipating, no way of expecting. She took a step back as the figure before her glowed and flashed with internal energy, mana burning on her skin, her muscles growing, veins tensing, wounds healing, her eyes alight like the sun. Black Lotus raised her head high and let out a roar and a crack formed in the earth between them, splitting open so wide that Kant almost fell in. She hopped back a pace, sweat beading on her temple. 

It’s not fair, she bit out and looked at the building her lips thinning into a line, No! I should have brought that building down first! Damn that woman, how did she pull that off?

“Look at me,” an even voice said and no amount of will or strength of mind would allow Kant to resist. She turned and looked into those void-like eyes that burned brighter than anything she’d ever seen in her life. “You wanted the world's strongest,” Black Lotus said, “Here I am.”

Kant bit out a curse, her jaw working slowly left and right as she felt her beating heart rouse in her chest. Her eyes narrowed. No, this is fine. She thought darkly, chewing on the anger and fear like it was a fresh meal. Like marrow from a bone she tasted the terror that burned in her veins and put it to use. She didn’t do it often, she didn’t need to, she had prey for this kind of thing. But if it was necessary there was another source she could feed from to rally her power. It was a slippery slope, she was aware of it, embracing her baser emotions to fuel her cultivated power. She didn’t care.

Not when you’re right in front of me, Lian Chunhua! Black Lotus!

“Kant!” Ellis bellowed off to the left and she pointed her sword at him.

“Shut up!” She barked, “Don’t do a damn thing, this duel isn’t over!”

She didn’t take her gaze off Black Lotus for a moment, she didn’t dare to. It made something inside of her crack a little to admit it, but even without her powers this woman had stood up to her and fought back, even delivered a blow. Sure, Kant was not wielding her full might at the time, but that didn’t make a lick of difference. She’d stood her ground and fought back without using an ounce of mana, an ounce of internal energy. She’d stood tall. Her lip trembled as she pointed her weapon at that woman who represented everything she couldn’t have.

“I hate you,” Kant hissed, “I hate you and everything you stand for,” She said, her voice shaking. She refused to say the rest, what was on her mind as she stared down the mountain that had sprung up before her. She set into her stance, not the lazy wild stance she’d opened the fight with. She gripped her weapon with both hands and tilted her head forward, the power in her body cycling through her meridians, pooling at her core, filling it up as she drew the energy into her body and amplified it with the raw feelings that filled her mind. A light that wasn’t light burned around her body, an absence that looked almost black, she felt strength surge through her as she threw her head to the sky. “Strength from Liberty!” She bellowed, that coppery light crashing down upon her. She felt the power surge through her, more, more, MORE!

She charged.

Black Lotus whipped her weapon down in a slow stroke, holding it out to her side, her eyes unblinking, her face a stony calm. “First Whisper of Spring,” Was all she said in a voice so gentle it made even Kant’s raging heart ache. Something rippled past Kant as she closed the distance, the half second it took her to move that far felt like an eternity as cuts formed across her arms and chest, nicks and scrapes that stretched into wounds from an invisible blade meters and meters long. She willed the wounds closed, the unnatural power at her fingertips knitting her body together as Black Lotus swung again, “Second Drop of Rain,” She murmured, her blade coming up in an arc just as Kant reached her. 

Their weapons clashed, Kant throwing all of her strength into the strike that sent the ground shaking and cracks forming around Black Lotus in a ring. Kant’s weapon pushed down, her hands shaking with the effort as Black Lotus stared back at her with those cold… no… pitying eyes. Kant bore her teeth, “Don’t you dare!” She screamed, “Don’t you dare pity me!” She bellowed and broke the lock, spinning like a top and swinging into an uppercut that the woman blocked with a casual swipe down. The swing cut a divot in the earth just past Kant’s own weapon. Kant snapped her hand out, reaching for the hero’s face, I’ll take your vit-

WHOMP!

A blow caught her in the gut, the strength behind it so tremendous that only her own physical enhancements and Liberty’s gift saved her life. Kant’s eyes bulged as she flew back, through the opening of the dojo where that hateful woman likely trained, honed herself, with all the luxuries and adoration of her students. Kant coughed up a gobbet of blood as she crashed through the rear wall and kept going, her vision blurring for a moment before she righted herself. She threw her power back to catch her flight, stop before she got too far away. She’s going to attack the other- a presence appeared behind her and her heart dropped to her gut.

She turned as fast as she could, raising her weapon as a shadow cast over her, a pair of dark eyes staring down at her from atop a peak. She grit her teeth and blocked as fast as she could, flexing her muscles as the strike annihilated the momentum from being launched one way and sent her careening back through the very same hole her body had made. She’s so fast! I can’t keep up! Kant reeled, spinning her body to try to dig her weapon into the ground and catch herself again. Yet the moment she turned to face the ground, there she was again. Those eyes, stop looking at me like that!

A blow sent her up into the sky and she drifted for a moment. She looked up at the moon. Not like this! Not so pathetically! She swore, NO! She screamed in her own mind as she forced her internal energy out through her feet, catching herself in the air as she redirected and kicked off, hurtling down towards the hero.

“BLACK LOTUS!” She screamed, she drew it all in, everything she had as she shifted her stance in the air. One hand open and her weapon drawn back. Obelisk of One Hundred Eight Judgements! She wailed, the power in her body screaming to fill her limbs, to get out, to attack, to destroy, to consume. She threw all of her hatred down at the woman as Ellis and Ewen shouted something at her. She didn’t care, she didn’t listen, she had to do this! She had to! Black Lotus stood beneath her and looked up as a pillar of dark light rained down upon her. Atoms sizzled against it, the air screamed, the world darkened in that place. 

Black Lotus lowered her weapon to her side before taking it in both hands. Her dark, pitying eyes met Kant’s. “Three Songs for the Fallen Heroes,” Black Lotus intoned and mana surged. Kant could feel it. As if the entire world turned its eyes on that damned woman. Black Lotus whipped her weapon up and swung it, once, twice, three times in a bisected x that remained before her, glowing with a blue-white light. She drew her weapon back and stabbed through it. “Let the petals come.”

WHOOSH

It was over so unfairly fast. That was all Kant could think as the light consumed her mightiest blow. It was all she could do to let hatred and regret burn through her blood as her skin was cut and marred, her arm twisted and cracked, her leg bent the wrong way, her nose bled, her eyes leaked, she hurtled towards the ground like a meteor. Beaten. Just like that. Even so, even as her body was broken and she fell to her death, she held onto her rage. That was when a hand caught her in mid air,  her body going slack against the weight of gravity. She looked down at the ground just a few feet away before turning to see the woman standing on the air. Not kicking off like Kant had to. Just standing there, looking down at her.

Kant’s lips trembled, her body shook, she snarled and threw her head left and right. All that emotion she had used to fuel her powers burning in her blood. She couldn’t hold it back any longer, she screamed, “I HATE YOU!” She wailed, “I WON’T LET YOU WIN! NO!” She whipped her head towards Ewen and Ellis who were looking up at her in shock. “DO IT! DO IT NOW!”

Black Lotus nearly let go of her, she felt the momentary pulse in the woman’s grip. The instant of tension, of panic. Kant laughed and grabbed onto her with her one good hand. Her eyes wide with malice, “No you don’t!” She laughed through bloody teeth, “No you-”

BOOOM!

The front of the common building exploded.

A streak of glittering white light streaked from where the door had once been, across the field, and collided with Ewen and Ellis as they readied to put the heroes down for good. The two men were thrown back, crashing into the remnants of that stone wall and crumbling, dazed. Where they had been standing, another woman stood. She wore a black gown with white ruffles on her shoulders. Her brown hair flowed off to the side in the wind of the mountaintop as she clenched her gauntleted hand over her head and glanced over her shoulder where a small sack hung.

“Handmaiden?” Kant croaked, “B-but she wasn’t supposed to be here!”

Handmaiden turned her head and looked up at them before nodding to Black Lotus with a smile. She turned her attention back to the wall, her gaze going past Ewen and Ellis towards the army beyond and to something else that Kant couldn’t see. She kicked off the ground and charged, slamming into the mass of cultists and sending them scattering. Her fists flying as she plowed through them like they were naught but grass. It only got worse. Another figure leaped out of the ruined front of the building clad in some kind of machine armor, flanked by a number of those humanoid dolls. He threw out his hands as the dolls raced past him towards the scrambling cultists and from the openings between the plates in his armor, metallic insects crawled out glowing with an inner green light.

Ewen and Ellis struggled to their feet as the dolls charged them. The insects landed on the disabled heroes and… stung them? Kant watched in horror, hanging from Black Lotus’ grip as the heroes started getting to their feet, their eyes clear and color coming back to their faces. She looked up at Black Lotus in confusion and was surprised to see the woman just as confused as she was. Then something seemed to click into place in the back of her mind and she glanced back at the building below her. A smile crossed her lips and she looked down at Kant as the tide of battle slipped from the dark cultivator’s broken fingers.

–

This was taking too long, they’d been delayed. The mana pouring into the dungeon had caused the monsters to respawn faster and faster. Otis chewed on his lip, rage boiling beneath his skin. How am I supposed to save the day and come out the hero if I can’t get there in time? He thought, racing across the latest stretch of path between the trees. We have no idea where we’re going either! Damn it! He spat on the ground in frustration as he raced on ahead. That guy, Greg, was close behind. If only we had a map or- he cursed again to himself. Miss Chernovna was right! Scouts! I need a scout for my heralds! Everything wouldn’t be going wrong if I had a scout!

“I told you we should have gone this way!” Greg shouted.

Otis bit his lip, “Yes! You were right!” He said, “We need to hurry, they need us!”

That seemed to mollify the guy, no, the thing, no- he squeezed his eyes together. He’s useful, powerful, he has potential. He counts as a person, right? He wondered when he had started attributing personhood to more and more people. It seemed like the number was growing each passing day, ever since Ishtar, ever since Sonya, ever since that day in Vegas and that night at the Beach. He pumped his legs harder. I’m not wrong! He thought. Humanity deserves death! Just because there’s a few good ones doesn’t mean a damn thing!

He pushed forward, he needed to get there, to be the hero, to save the others from whatever fate awaited them. He needed them to worship him. He glanced at the profiles screen, pulling up his bookmarked tabs. That girl that kept growing stronger, the impressive one. She was weakening, struggling, she was going to die. The agent of Ishtar, that girl with the hammer, she was fighting for her life as well. No! If they die then everything will be ruined! The guide says so! I can’t let that happen!

I need to be faster! Is there a cheat I can use? A power? Something! He snarled, reaching into the depths of the instincts that governed his ability. He barely touched them, barely considered them, but right now if he wanted his way he needed to look past the stats screens, the guides, the menus, he needed something more. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed hold of Greg’s arm. Greg shouted something but he ignored him. He let the feeling take him, his bloodlust, his greed, his hatred, his desire, he let all of it push him. I will be a King, I will be the one to rule this world and destroy it! 

He felt his body lift off the ground as streaks of gold slipped past his body. The world turned into a blur around him and in an instant, he and Greg were gone.

–

The room beneath the common building was quiet for a moment. No one spoke, no one moved, especially after that crash outside. Miss Chernovna had run out to have a look. The aspirants all looked at one another, huddled together in the dim light. When the door opened again, a few of them moved to defend the others only to stop and relax as Miss Chernovna stepped back inside with a flourish, a smile dancing on her lips.

“Miss Chernovna!” One called, “Is everything okay out there?”

The CEO grinned at them, “Everything’s fine!” She said, “Things are turning our way. Why don’t you cuties just take a load off and relax a bit longer. It’s been a wild night, hasn’t it?”

They looked at one another as one raised a hand, “Shouldn’t you go help them?”

The woman just pointed to herself with surprise before barking out a laugh. She sat down in the same chair she’d been sitting at before, right next to the door. She crossed her legs and looked them all over, there was a softness there that had been missing for a few days. A warmth that set their hearts at ease. “I’m right where I need to be, with you,” She said, and leaned back in her chair, a mischievous look on her face. “This should be interesting.”