Chapter 1 #2
Odd bemusement took over the momentary confusion in the man’s gaze when Hao Chan removed her exquisite dress, armaments of silk and guile replaced by the enchanted seafoam-hued scale armor that had served her so well, once before.
The entire court was breathless as she calmly stepped forward, the queen of Alex’s heart now looking every inch the seven-foot-tall battle maiden she truly was.
“Gold. That child radiates the might of a Gold!”
“Impossible. She’s not even twenty summers old!”
The gold-attired spokesman gave Hao Chan a sad smile and clapped, instantly freezing her where she stood. “Only those of imperial blood may stand in for another in contests of martial might. You have been recognized as a princess of an auxiliary house. Is this not enough for you?”
Hao Chan took a hitched breath, exchanging a pained look with Cheng Lei, as if even this had been discussed, for all that she dreaded the step she must take.
“Every word Cheng Lei uttered is true. With your permission, I would swear it upon my own talisman and allow His Imperial Majesty to judge whether or not I am fit to duel in my nephew’s stead.”
Her words earned a curious look even as the entire court held its collective breath, as if her presumptuousness was grounds for instant immolation. Yet the spokesman’s eyes lit with good humor, indulging her with a nod.
“Your Gold ascension buys you the clemency of excellence, but it will only do so once.” The words were said with gentlest reproof, but Alex couldn’t help shivering along with Hao Chan, even as Dongfang Hong looked on with a curious smirk, as if eager to see the uppity girl blasted apart by lightning from her own sire.
“Very well, child. Make your—”
His words cut off. As did the entire hall, when Hao Chan revealed her greatest prize, to the crowd’s awed murmurs.
“A triple-sigil Jade-tier talisman!”
“She is the emperor’s daughter. No other could possibly be worthy!”
“There’s no way both Jade-tier talismans could be stolen. That must be the real thing!”
“Neither were stolen, brother. Not even the Fox would dare such madness. Red just needed a pretext to duel Blue.”
Hao Chan trembled, though whether it was with the weight of her oath, the realization of just how perilous what she was doing truly was, or the fact that absolutely everyone’s eyes were now upon her… she still managed to say the words.
“I count as true every last word Cheng Lei uttered regarding the fall of Baidushi, the innocence of the Ruidian and kitsune peoples, and the malevolence of the mastermind behind the failed coup, who most definitely was channeling the divine malice of a spite-filled tactician who has always hated jesters and fools. My Cultivator’s Oath upon it! ”
The last she said in a rush that was almost a roar, now trembling as her face grew momentarily wan… before she took a deep breath, somehow looking more whole and vital than she had, even moments before.
For all that her words echoed through the vast chamber as countless stares of wonder became ones of horror and dismay.
Even Cheng Lei blanched. As if he, too, feared that Hao Chan had gone too far.
Yet the gold-colored spokesman said only, “The imperial hall and all administrative and political halls of power throughout the empire are to have no truck with the divine.”
Hao Chan blushed and lowered her gaze as the spokesman continued.
“And should Blue be vindicated… immediate steps will be taken.” He glared coldly at a suddenly blanching Dongfang Hong.
“Are your weapon rings at the ready?”
Alex blinked, thrown off only momentarily by the query as Hao Chan nodded, raising a mercury-hued ring on her left pinky, a smirking Dongfang Hong doing the same.
“Very well.”
The spokesman received nods from no less than half a dozen Gold-tier wujen seated to either side of the emperor.
“Your rings have been unlocked! Let the duel commence.”
The words, said so casually, came as a bit of a shock to a still-blinking Hao Chan, who suddenly found herself in a sand-filled arena, globes of spiritual energy now giving the entire court an unobstructed view of the tiny portal realm that she and Dongfang Hong had somehow been teleported to.
Hao Chan needed a second to get her bearings, but Dongfang Hong had clearly been expecting it.
His lips stretched wide in malicious glee as his ring glowed and the same vile nagamaki he had once used against Alex manifested once more.
Hao Chan quickly rubbed her ring as well… and nothing happened.
Qi Perception check made.
Artificer skill check made.
You sense disaster!
In a horrifying epiphany as time seemed to stretch and slow, Alex could sense it. The tight spiritual grip that no less than three Deep Gold wujen among Dongfang Hong’s coterie had on Hao Chan’s storage ring.
The betrayal filled Alex with horror and fury in equal measure.
“Hao Chan, look out!”
He knew his panicked cry would do no good against the bulwark of history, yet he cried out nonetheless, suddenly frantic to flail against the callous hands of time.
And it did nothing to stop the inevitability of a cackling Dongfang Hong racing forward, his killing blade held high, the arena echoing with words so filled with vitriol and hate that the ground itself warped and shook.
“Now you will die by my hand, wanton harlot! As do all pieces of excrement that dare to consort with my eternal foe!”
Alex howled as he desperately tore at the web of spiritual energy twisted about Hao Chan’s ring.
Pointless. Futile. Clawing against the utter inevitability of ancient history.
But he didn’t care as his features twisted into a furious grimace, the warm halcyon haze and dreams of a sweet, serene life shattered before the vindictive spite of gods and men.
All conspiring to hurt his loved ones yet again, so eager to make him suffer as he was forced to watch helplessly from behind time’s veil that he knew damn well could never be breached.
Which, of course, made the messages ringing in his head all the more outrageous and unexpected.
Piercing Strike has SUCCESSFULLY disrupted Wujen Curse!
Storage ring is now fully accessible.
Yet even those words were a mockery of hope as a roaring Dongfang Hong struck with such impossible speed that it was beyond even Alex’s ability to counter on his best day, back when he had reached the peak of Silver.
He choked back a scream.
Yet it was his foe who lurched back in surprise.
Because as true as it was that Dongfang Hong’s twisted Silver was at least Rank 6, possessing Quickness greater than what Alex had enjoyed at his absolute prime, Hao Chan wasn’t Silver at all.
She had already ascended to Gold.
The Red Prince’s eyes widened with dismay when the air flared with brilliant, purifying light and the clang of magical alloys being struck and deflected.
“No, impossible! There’s no way you could ascend so far! This is more of the Fox’s foul tricks!”
Hao Chan’s lips twisted into a snarl. She inhaled as if to shout her outrage at her sneering foe, before immediately darting forward, her ko-naginata cleaving through the air in a flurry of cleaving strikes and precisely angled lunges, her blows crackling with the pent-up fury of the storm.
And how sweet it was to see the unmistakable look of fear in his enemy’s eyes.
For long moments, as a furious Hao Chan overwhelmed her opponent with her desperate flurry, it almost seemed like she had a chance.
Yet somehow Dongfang Hong managed to counter every blow, even if Alex had sensed not one but two Gold-tier wards shattering when his beloved unleashed an attack that made the very air crack and boom with the sound of flooding rivers washing entire towns away and massive waves pounding harbors to kindling as her silent shout rang against Alex’s soul.
“BLACK SWAN!”
Yet still, Dongfang Hong’s wards had protected him, even if an absolute fortune in protective treasures—the fortunes of a true prince—had been squandered in their battle already.
Nonetheless, it had brought their foe precious time.
Time for Dongfang Hong to embrace the hideous, the bestial, and reveal to the entire court what a monster he truly was.
Time enough to become that which Alex feared would slaughter even his beloved princess.
The monster’s face twisted as his skin flushed a fiery ochre hue. Muscles bulging and popping underneath his customized armor that expanded to fit his monstrously bulky form made it painfully clear that he had enjoyed this twisted transformation many times before.
With a deafening roar, he beat off Hao Chan’s desperate assault with a brutal sweep of his terrible weapon. In the heartbeat that she was suddenly vulnerable, he lashed out with his blade to slash open her left thigh in a spray of blood and despair.
“Cursed. That artifact’s cursed! That monster actually brought tainted artifacts to the imperial court!” cried a voice Alex instantly understood to be Hao Chan’s ally, whose cultivation arts made sure that her words carried through the entire court.
“It doesn’t matter,” muttered a nearby courtier with a tired sigh. “The trial ends only when one party has fallen. Not even the emperor will interfere with such a trial.”
“Hao Chan!” Alex cried to the pitiless void of time and space as the battle continued playing itself out.
The mad cackles of a twisted god slipped free of Dongfang Hong’s lips, his eyes lighting up with vindictive glee at the sight of suppurating flesh as Hao Chan groaned from the wound on her leg.
Hao Chan’s desperate winding parries grew ever more frantic as she struggled against her foe’s furious assault, her eyes widening with fear as the incensed monster pressed his advantage.
“You will fall before me, harlot of the Fox! As do all mortals who dare to defy me!” Dongfang Hong roared as his nagamaki turned blood red with the twisted power saturating the artifact so utterly that the very air seemed to twist and bleed.