Risk It All: Payback (ch. 43) (Patreon)

I was flung out of the building, blasting through doors, a glass pane, then out onto the street and was eventually stopped by a pillar inside the building across the street from where I started. Concrete and metal might as well have been wet tissue paper for all of the resistance it put up. A glance at my sword told me that it had managed to hold up, blocking the worst of the attack, but I could feel my injuries. The hands had grasped at my shoulder and hip, carving deep grooves into my skin that stung painfully before they were filled and healed.

Extracting myself out of the pillar of what looked to be a shopping mall of some kind, people panicked around me. I wasn’t as worried about them as I otherwise might be. In this case, I didn’t think that Ming-Yue would be killing civilians, or even trying to hold them hostage. It didn’t seem to be his style. Couldn’t say for certain that he wouldn’t consider them collateral to get to me, but I was doubtful.

Flash-stepping forward, I clashed against Ming-Yue as he stepped outside of the hole I had made in the building across the street. Our blades clashed in a shower of sparks before we began to trade blows -- dozens of them in a fraction of a second that sent showers of sparks flying where my broad sword and his jian struck each other. In that fraction of a second, there was no doubt in my mind that he was the better swordsman.

That much was proven when he thrust at my gut and when I blocked the blow, it sounded like a cannon had gone off and sent me flying down the street after punching right through the pillar that I had already weakened. This time, I managed to land on my feet, considering the situation. Evacuations did seem like they were underway and with Seismic Sense, I could feel that the military was responding. It operated on a hair trigger these days, ready for a rapid response in the cities.

However, I wasn’t sure that they would be of any use in this situation. I didn’t dare check my prestige, but I couldn’t have spent more than a million upgrading everything. I doubt that it was more than five hundred thousand -- still a decent amount, but it was comparatively a drop in the bucket. Keeping Ming-Yue contained seemed like a long shot while defeating him seemed like a longer one. Should I try to hold out until someone like Superman or Wonder Woman could step in?

It really didn’t feel like I had a good option. Ming-Yue calmly strode forward, not a hair out of place nor a wrinkle in his robes, unbothered by the instant response security drone that appeared and started firing bullets at the undead cultivator. With almost lazy flicks of his wrist, Ming-Yue effortlessly deflected the bullets. He walked slow, as if he were deliberately giving me the time to consider my next move.

Either I was wrong or I ran out of time because Ming-Yue spoke, “Second Form: Dehydration,” he intoned as Qi gathered around his blade. The bodies were different this time -- their eyes sunken in and bloodshot, their lips chapped, while their skin looked rubbed raw and cracked. Ming-Yue thrust his blade at me, sending the screaming mummified bodies right at me. Taking in a sharp breath, I countered with the night sky, a thunderclap echoing out in the city where our two attacks met.

I knew what was coming even before it happened. Ming-Yue erupted from the smoke, his blade covered in dark Qi, that he brought down upon me. I positioned my broad sword, blocking the blow while my feet sank into the road, forming a crater where I stood. The air vibrated, making panes of glass on the buildings next to us crack before they shattered when we began to trade blows in a blur.

I dodged out of the way of a swing that nearly took my head off, the edge just barely scraping my cheekbone, but it bled profusely down my cheek as the cut seemed to fight my regeneration for a brief second. Ming-Yue made a note of that, shifting his blade to deliver a series of lighting fast thrusts. I managed to divert them, each one getting closer and closer until I was forced to block one thrust witht he flat of my blade and was sent back a good thirty feet down the road. My broadsword cracked, half of it falling to the ground in a clatter.

Frowning to myself, I purchased another one and Reinforced it. I wasn’t beating him in a contest of strength, I realized. Something that struck me as somewhat bat shit fucking crazy considering that my stats were about 10k across the board and further enhanced by Reinforcment, Moon Breathing, and the Black Heaven and Earth technique. I had to be at least as strong as Superboy. The only consolation was that Ming-Yue did seem to be mindful of the collateral damage because he wasn’t sending any slashes that would wreck the building around us.

“Okay,” I muttered, letting go of Moon Breathing for but a moment. My lungs emptied out, stirring the air with how much I held in them. I picked out a skill and jacked it up as far as it would go.

Lightening Breathing

T10R4

A breathing style that prioratizes speed above all else. Of all the Breathing disciplines, it is the least developed. Not because it is a lesser discipline, but because only three forms were ever needed to slay any demon a user came across.

Breathing in, I felt my muscles contract in my legs, strength flowing to them. My lungs filled with air as the cackling of electricity cracked around me, making the asphalt bubble where it struck. The lightning was red and tinged with black, just as like my Cero was. Letting the breath out slowly, steam erupted from my mouth in a cloud. Then, with a clap of thunder, I shot forward and devastated the road between myself and Ming-Yue. The panes of glass shattered as I raced by, the road was ripped up in the wake of my dash, and when I reached Ming-Yue, I found his blade racing to meet mine.

He wasn't able to kill the momentum this time, I noticed, allowing me to leech off some of his swing, adding it to my own, and quickened my barrage of attacks that I sent at him. Lightning cackled around me, sparks and jets of black lightning flying towards whatever the nearest piece of metal was or directly into the ground. The world moved around me in blurs as I flash stepped a half step back, then to the side. I was faster than I ever had been before. I felt like lightning itself -- pure blinding speed that was gone in the blink of an eye.

I darted around Ming-Yue, searching for an avenue of attack. I rushed at him from behind, and even as fast as I was, Ming-Yue responded. His movements weren't a blur anymore, letting me see exactly how he turned around to divert the blow before I backed off. Darting to the side, I attacked again. And again. And again. Steam filled my lungs, my veins feeling like they were filled with fire. Backing off once more, I let out a deep breath of steam while I narrowed my eyes at Ming-Yue. I hadn't managed to get close to him-

"Ah, you noticed," he remarked, sounding pleased. "A simple trick really. One I was forced to learn when an empress carved my eyes from my skull because she found them pretty."

That was fucked up, but he was right. I did notice. "You have a Domain around you," I voiced. It was like my New Shadow Style: Simple Domain. It gave heightened awareness of your immediate surroundings, allowing for instantaneous reactions. It was a good technique, but given that I found myself on the offensive, and it took time to set up, I found myself rarely using it.

"That is not what we called it in my era, but yes," Ming-Yue responded, confirming my hunch. That was… not good, to be honest. For being several thousand years old and a glorified mummy, Ming-Yue was pretty spry. Fast and strong. With a Domain around him, instantly letting him respond to my attacks? Even with Lightning breathing? I wasn't going to overwhelm him with speed either.

Meaning, I needed to increase my stats-

Strength: 10,000 => 10,000

Perception: 9750 => 10,000

Endurance: 10,000 => 10,000

Charisma: 1000

Intelligence: 9000 => 10,000

Agility: 9500 => 10,000

Luck: 1000

Alert: You are currently unable to increase Stats beyond 10,000 due to the current Rank of: Baby, I'm Famous!

Well… that was pretty much the very last thing that I wanted to hear. Wait, that prompt was worded a little weirdly. Could I not increase my stats because I had reached what amounted to the world knowing about me? No, not the time. I could figure it out later. For now, I had far more important things to deal with -- like how I was going to beat Ming-Yue if I couldn't cheat with my stats.

I could still upgrade my techniques, though. That was something. In lieu of further upping my stats until I could bully him for his lunch money, I chose to upgrade another skill.

Simple Domain: New Shadow Style

10R4

Establishes a simple domain around the user, allowing for instantaneous reactions to anything entering the domain.

The technique wouldn’t really help me. It involved me being on the defensive. Exactly how Ming-Yue was. What jacking the skill up did, though, was give me a keen insight into its weaknesses and how it could be exploited. Sucking in a deep breath, every muscle in my legs tensed as lightning cackled all around me. Shifting my stance, I went for a low one that would give the impression that I was going for a slash.

In a blur of movement, I raced towards Ming-Yue as if I were attacking him, only to swing down at the ground at the edge of his domain, cutting through asphalt like it was nothing. With a heave, I ripped my sword up, breaking the ground where he stood and forcing him to back off. He used a foot technique -- it almost looked like the Flash Step to my eyes, though there was something different about it, but I kept pace.

My blade clashed against Ming-Yue’s, this one far closer than the others had managed to reach. Double jumping allowed me to shift my momentum, attacking from another angle.

What I wasn’t prepared for was Ming-Yue shifting midair like he could walk on it, and simply guiding the edge of my blade overhead with a touch of his finger. A hand lashed out, a palm striking me in the sternum that shattered like glass along with every rib that I had, flinging me down the street in an uncontrollable tumble. I carved a long line in the street, only coming to a stop at the base of the steps to a building a block down from where the fight had been taking place.

My skin felt ripped off and raw, my bones ached as they put themselves back together. Regeneration was taking the edge off of the pain, but the damage done was enough that I could still feel it. And it hurt. For a handful of seconds, I could only gasp as white-hot agony flooded my mind. It completely dominated every single sense I had -- I could see, but I couldn’t process anything, and the same went for my hearing. Couldn’t even feel the rubble around me, or if I even had all of my limbs because there was nothing else but pain.

When it faded a few short seconds later, the lingering phantom of it was almost as bad as the pain itself. My brain wasn’t buying that the pain was already gone, leaving me helpless while I tried to process what just happened.

“It was a valiant effort,” Ming-Yue stated, appearing before me with a foot technique. “But you insult me if you believe getting past my Domain was all that it would take to defeat me.”

I wanted to say something smart but all I got was a low groan when I pushed myself to my feet, realizing most of my costume had been ripped away in the process. Still had my sword though, so there was that. I’m just not quite sure it mattered. I still hadn’t managed to touch him yet.

Ming-Yue took my silence as permission to continue as I fought to get my feet back underneath me. The phantom pain was fading into a memory, but I still felt twitchy and my lungs ached from losing my breathing rhythm. “You are likely the most interesting of opponents that I’ve had in a very long time. You are completely lacking in basic techniques, yet you utilize a number of relatively advanced ones. If you had been properly taught, I believe you would have been a sight to see even during what the cultivators of today call the Golden Age.”

“I’m guessing it was just as shit as it was now?” I asked, buying myself time to get my lungs back in working order.

“In some ways, it was better. In other ways, it was worse. The senseless violence on the common folk for imagined slights is preferable to half of the world being massacred for the whims of those that have power for the sake of feeling powerful,” Ming-Yue stated. “Have you recovered yet? I do not wish to be rude and strike you when you are weakened.”

“That's what you don’t want to be rude about?” I said, taking in a low breath, inflating my lungs and Reinforcing my body. All wasn’t lost just yet. I did have some tricks left up my sleeve. I didn’t anticipate how hard of a blow I would take, but it had been part of a plan. Shifting my feet, I prepared to go again and this time, Ming-Yue shifted along side me, readying himself. That told me something.

How much of him letting me catch a breath was for my sake… and how much of it was for his? Each big attack was followed by a pause -- that could just be him giving me breathing room like the nice ancient murder assassin that he was. Or it could be him masking how much those attacks took out of him and he was putting on a show so I wouldn't try attacking him.

I upgraded another skill.

Tsubame Gaeshi

T10R4

Slashing attacks that reverberate the cluster of universes that layer upon each other, all existing simultaneously in the same space. Perfecting the perfect attack has enabled the user to strike as many as twelve times at the same time… as well as striking up to twelve times with a single strike.

Upgrading the skill had a noticeable cost I saw out of the corner of my eye with the screen -- in the ballpark of five hundred thousand points to bump it all the way up. However, it was completely worth it, as I knew exactly how to use it now. It was my last and ultimate ace up my sleeve now.

"I am curious about one thing," Ming-Yue continued, ignoring my remark. "Why do you fight? There is resolve in you, Ren Song. I acknowledge you for it. It's not a simple thing to ignore the pain of getting your limbs severed, or your rib cage crushed, only to rise seconds later. What has driven you to this point?"

The question actually caught me off guard. Mostly because it reminded me of a question that my uncle had asked me what felt like forever ago. I still remembered the answer I gave back then when I hadn't gone through a fraction of what I have now. A reason… I think that got muddled at some point between the hero worship, then the disappointment when being a hero wasn't what I thought it was.

My grip tightened on my sword as my lips thinned. There were a lot of regrets there that muddled the reason why I decided to put on a mask and start fighting crime after Black Mask was taken care of. Some of it was completely on me and putting my expectations on other people then getting upset when they didn't live up to them. Other times it was people tripping over a pretty low bar.

"I don't want to watch anyone die," I answered, making another purchase. The words were uttered with a sense of finality. Of a goal that I once uttered completely out of ignorance, but one I was repeating because it was worth repeating now that I was a little wiser.

Sun Breathing.

T10R4

The original breathing technique that is based upon the sun. Unyielding, intense, and just as capable of scorching the earth to a barren wasteland  as it is to be a gentle warmth to bask in.

The air began to swelter around me as I took in a deep but slow breath. The sweat on my body turned to steam, rising off of me while my core felt like it was housing the sun itself. Heat flowed through my veins in a powerful strength, the air growing warmer around me until the scraps of my clothing started to catch fire. Around my feet, the concrete and stone started to sag, glowing red as they transitioned into magma. Fire shaped around my blade, the intensity of it made rivers of metal flow down the hilt, glowing near white from the intensity.

"I thought it might be something like that," Ming-Yue acknowledged, shifting his stance while the edges of his robe started to ignite in small fires. The longer I breathed, the hotter I became until it felt like I was the core of the sun itself.

I flash-stepped to him, crossing the distance between us instantly and the asphalt bubbled before it began to evaporate entirely when I came to an abrupt stop in front of Ming-Yue. Tsubame Gaeshi began to layer -- my blade shifted into a thrusting position and in that same moment, in another universe, I swung down on his left shoulder while swinging up at his left hip. Swings came at both of his sides, just as another two swings came from above and below on his other shoulder. Attacks raced down from every angle with the final blow being the thrust.

The flat of his blade shifted into position to block me, but I underestimated the intensity of the heat. The tip of my blade clashed against the flat of his, and every time before, it had been completely unyielding, but now, near instantly, the blade  glowed red hot before it was reduced to slag. It punched through just as the other slashes struck, carving lines through Ming-Yue and at the center of them all, my thrust continued through him. Fire washed over the street behind Ming-Yue, making asphalt bubble over and steam, destroying the makeshift housing on the sidewalk, and the glass of buildings started to warp and blacken.

"Overlapping the cluster universes? I would like you to know that your techniques are all over the place," Ming-Yue remarked, reduced to a floating head and a bit of a shoulder that was burning. There was no pain to be found in his voice, but I did hear the sound of defeat. "You have bested this vessel. Something few can proclaim."

This vessel.

Something wasn't right about this. I could feel it. Ming-Yue didn't at all sound bothered that he failed to expunge my bloodline from the face of the Earth. There had been genuine anger in his voice when he spoke about my family, he thought he was doing the right thing by killing us all. To just shrug his now hypothetical shoulders upon failure didn't line up. Not when he had been thrashing me right up until the very end.

"You make it sound like there's going to be a rematch," I remarked, the dried flesh and ancient bone cracking as the flames ate away at it, turned into kindling by the flames that were rapidly consuming the little that was left of the ancient corpse.

Ming-Yue chuckled warmly, "You are hardly the only one that is difficult to kill, young Song."

That was what I was afraid of. "The next time you come around, I'll be putting you down for good," I warned him, flames licking at my nostrils and mouth as I breathed out, letting the Sun Breathing fade.

"We shall see," Ming-Yue responded, little more than a pair of eye sockets and cheekbones at this point, yet I still heard his voice. "For what is worth, you do have my condolences." As he uttered the final words, the last of Ming-Yue was consumed, the ash falling to the ground that still steamed.

Despite how hot my body ran, my blood felt like it turned to ice the moment that I heard the words. My sword was little more than a hilt that still glowed red and it numbly fell from my fingers. I licked my lips, my mind instantly coming to a conclusion, but for a painfully long second, I tried to think of another. That maybe he meant his condolences for my extended family, but that didn’t make sense because he knew that I didn’t care about them.

I tried to come to another conclusion. I did. All that extra brainpower was allocated to figuring it out. Even with it, I only had a single question instead of an answer.

Who?

I flash-stepped down the block, seeing signs of my thrust. In the air, the Lexcorp drones relayed a message to evacuate indoors. The passage of distance was painfully slow for me as I arrived on top of a building. In the corner of my eye, I saw a hologram display breaking news over in China. Reports of chaos and that the Song family compound was attacked. Mass reports of death. Flash-stepping again, I sailed through the air before arriving in front of the building that my father ran his Sect in.

There were a lot of signs of damage -- cuts in the walls and ceiling, craters littered about, and overturned furniture. A cold pit formed in my gut when I saw traces of bodies of cultivators. Without the masks, I saw that every single one of them didn’t have any eyes. I didn’t know for sure but Ming-Yue… could he see through the other cultivators eyes? Could he puppet their bodies? Or… was it backawards? Was there only one cultivator? Was there only Ming-Yue?

I blasted past the doors, slamming through them when they were still on the hinges. The hallways were filled to the brim with signs of fighting. Some traces of the puppets Ming-Yue used. Did he divide his power between them like I did with Multiform? I…

The door leading to my Dad’s Sect was already sliced to pieces, letting me arrive. The room was an absolute mess, thrashed beyond the point of recognition. Blood was splattered on the floor in volumes that no one could survive and I heard the screams and shouts of the injured and dying. Students of my Dad’s sect. Even though my own heartbeat was thundering in my ears, each beat striking with the thunderous force of lighting, I heard nowhere near the number of heartbeats I should in the room.

My gaze darted around before it zeroed in on my team, the Titans. All of them looked worse for wear. Kid Flash was unconscious in a heap, Conner was clutching his side. What I didn’t expect was to see Jin sitting down nearby, a long slash going down her face in a straight line, taking out one of her eyes. For no reason at all as far as I could tell, Jin looked up at the entrance, her lone eye meeting mine for the briefest of seconds.

Then she looked away.

I didn’t recall flash-stepping next to them all, at the body they were standing over with expressions of guilt. I knew exactly what I was going to see when I arrived, but I wasn’t prepared for it. Not in the slightest. Grief punched me in the gut, knocking the breath right out of me. Dad laid on his back, his expression peaceful, almost as if he were asleep. I might have believed it if it wasn’t for the blood stain soaking through his gi right over his heart.

“Ren- we…” Zatanna started, her expression one of horror as I knelt next to my Dad. Shit. God fucking damn it. I… I should have learned from him. We both knew that he didn’t have much to teach me about the White Tiger Fist, but how much of that offer had been about spending time with me? Time I thoughtlessly threw away because of… what exactly? “Your mom is okay. She’s okay, Ren. I… I’m so sorry.”

I breathed in and out, grief weighing heavily on me like a stone.

“Yeah… me too.”