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Chapter 158
🕑 Added 2024-10-02 16:00:08 +0000 UTCBOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Handmaiden and Liberty crashed into one another, armored fists and sword arcing through the air. Each collison sent a shockwave through the air. Chunhua had held back, trying to keep the amount of mana she was drawing into the area and releasing with her abilities to a minimum. Handmaiden and Liberty had no such compunctions. Handmaiden took a step back, letting a swing of Liberty’s sword pass her by before driving herself forward, throwing a punch that caught the massive woman in the abdomen. Liberty planted her feet as light flashed from the impact. She didn’t so much as budge as she raised her own fist and swung down at the much smaller woman.
Handmaiden threw her arms up to block, the force of the impact sending her sliding backwards, digging a furrow in the dirt and grass beneath her feet. She let out a scream of fury and whipped her arms down, Chunhua’s gut twisting as she saw Handmaiden's twisted limbs set themselves instantaneously.
“You’re strong!” Liberty bellowed as she brought her sword to bare, swinging horizontally with so much force that Chunhua worried the shockwave would hit the common building, “A waste!”
As if in response to Chunhua’s thoughts, the ground shook and a rippling wave of stone walls rose up from the ground, leaping from the earth with the common building at its center. They immediately crumbled beneath the concussive blast, but enough of the force was lost that the wall above Chunhua’s head only cracked. Past the debris, Handmaiden dove past another swing and pivoted to Liberty’s side, throwing a rapid series of punches at the herald’s hips before snapping a kick at her knee that finally got a reaction.
Liberty pulled away, “Ant!” she roared, favoring her knee for a moment and swatted at Handmaiden who dove out of the way again.
Handmaiden can’t build up speed like she did during the fight with An Set. Her power is raw strength and regeneration. No portals means no momentum, Chunhua realized only to gasp as Handmaiden stumbled from an earth shaking stomp from Liberty. Liberty swung again, her glowing sword cleaving straight across Handmaiden’s throat. Handmaiden fell back, her legs planted in the ground and slumped, headless. Chunhua scrambled to her feet. MARTA! She reached for her sword as Liberty turned to face her with a sneer.
Can she regenerate from something like that? I’ve never- oh.
Chunhua relaxed her arms, locking eyes with Liberty who paused, frowning. Her eyes went wide as a glowing white figure in a fluttering gown leaped up behind her. An armored shin collided with the side of Liberty’s head and for the first time, Chunhua watched actual pain flash across the Herald’s face. She staggered to the left, stumbling and nearly falling to a knee as Handmaiden pirouetted in the air, landing and kicking off the ground with an arm outstretched, clotheslining a surprised Liberty and dragging her along as she ran, a scream rising from Handmaiden’s throat.
“GO DOWN!”
Liberty planted her feet as she was dragged all the way to the tree line, further and further away from the common building. “YOU AREN’T WORTHY!” Liberty roared in response as Handmaiden lost her momentum in the battle against Liberty’s strength. Liberty drove her fist up and into Handmaiden's gut, sending her up into the air as she got to her feet, shoulders hunched, eyes burning with hatred. Handmaiden landed and stood up straight. Chunhua could see parts of the woman’s body righting themselves beneath her gown.
How much pain is she in? Chunhua thought and looked down at her side, she scowled and concentrated. Come on! There’s got to be a way to purge this! There’s got to-
“Teacher!”
Chunhua’s heart turned to ice. Her guts bottoming out like a black hole. She looked up and turned her head towards the source of the voice as Handmaiden and Liberty clashed again in the background. No. Don’t come here. There, standing at the path between the common building and the dojo, off to her left, Lillian. Her friends were with her, even that bastard Otis. She turned to see Liberty slow in her fight with Handmaiden, barking out a laugh and snapping out a kick that sent Handmaiden flying back into the trees.
“You came!” she shouted.
Next to Lillian, the blonde Cassiopeia stared in horror at the humanoid mountain that stood like an obelisk of death in the middle of the courtyard. “...Stella?”
Liberty pointed a finger at the girl, “Ewen! Ellis!” she barked, “Grab her!”
Chunhua didn’t have any option now, she needed to move. She started to cycle her internal energy, even if it meant letting the poison start spreading again. “I won’t let you!” she bellowed and grabbed her sword as the two men that had been hanging back sprung into action. Ellis disappeared into a ripple of sound while Ewen slapped his hands on the ground. It felt like time slowed for a moment as Chunhua kicked off the ground, she had to move, she had to get there, she had to block them. She had to-
Ewen screamed.
Chunhua turned to look as the man staggered, clutching at his head. “What is this noise?!” he shrieked as blood began to drip from his ears. Chunhua whipped her head towards the gathered aspirants and spotted Snow standing there, hand outstretched off to the side with a smug grin on her face. At the same time, Cassiopeia whirled around and swung up towards open air with her hammer, roaring as she grew in size, horns growing out of the side of her head. Ellis formed just in time for a mass of metal to collide with his jaw, sending him flying up towards the sky.
“You don’t think I’ve forgotten your tricks?!” Cassiopia shouted, “I lived with you!”
Ellis snarled and snapped his fingers, vanishing and reappearing next to Liberty as Handmaiden came barreling out of the trees. Chunhua stared at the students, wide eyed, and felt tears well up in her eyes as Lillian started barking orders, “I’ll tend to Black Lotus! Ollie, Val and John, stay on the move! Greg! Repulsion wall on the common building! Alex and Cass, that other guy is isolated, grab him! Snow, keep it up! Marc,” she turned to Otis as the others started moving, “Think you can back up Handmaiden before I get back?”
Pride.
Greg raced over to the wall of the common building and slapped a hand against it. Chunhua felt herself get pushed away a bit as gravity repelled her. She turned to Liberty and grinned. The Herald scowled and raised her sword over her head, “I WON’T LET YOU!” she bellowed only to get a face full of Handmaidens fist.
“You’ve got bigger problems!” Handmaiden roared before landing and sweeping out a kick that cracked into Ellis who didn’t even have enough time to whistle. Ellis skipped across the ground like a stone and hit a tree, slumping as an arm swept in around Chunhua’s back. She looked up at her student. Lillian’s hair had gained another colored streak, her internal energy was even more vibrant, cycling with even more certainty.
“You’re poisoned,” Lillian said quickly, “Sit down, I’ll get it out of you, where are the others?”
Chunhua nodded as Lillian helped her to the ground and felt a wave of heat begin working against the poison she’d trapped in her side, the fire racing through her veins and meridians. “Axel’s hurt badly, the other instructors are inside. Madame Rouge is the last line of defense at this point with Doctor Carter controlling the building’s defenses.”
Lillian frowned and nodded as a wild laugh rose up across the battlefield, a golden streak clashed with Liberty’s copper glow. Chunhua looked up and kept her expression still as Otis came blade to blade with one of his own heralds from the past. No one is going to be able to ignore him now, she thought bitterly as Liberty swung a titanic blow down at him only for Handmaiden to charge at her side again. The glow on Liberty’s body was intensifying, the anger on her face real. The ground beneath her feet was beginning to crack.
She looked up into Lillians stern face as the girl held her hands over Chunhua’s side. She could feel the poison burning away. “I’m proud of you,” she said.
Lillian just smiled at her, “Say that again once we’re out of this, teacher.”
Chunhua snorted, “Greedy brat of a student.”
“You picked me,” Lillian said as crashes and bangs and flashes of light shook the ground and illuminated the sky.
“Got the red glowy dude!” Alex shouted from afar, “He’s not going anywhere!”
Lillian glanced up from her work and Chunhua just looked at her face, she watched Lillian’s eyes dart about, assessing the area before nodding. “Bring him over! Cass, keep away from your sister and stick with Alex, today’s not the day!”
“Right!” Cass shouted back.
Chunhua let her head fall back onto the ground and felt an easy breath come, she reached for her side and touched where the holes left behind by Dame Kant had been. Smooth skin was all that remained. She experimentally cycled her power through her meridians and nodded, patting Lillian’s hand, “That’s enough. Support your team.”
Lillian looked down at her, “You sure you’re alright?”
Chunhua scoffed, “Who do you think you’re talking to? That poison was designed for a cultivator like us, now that it’s gone and you’re out of the dungeon, I have no reason not to throw everything I have at her,” she growled and got to her feet, grabbing her sword and drawing in a breath that filled her chest. “LI - BER - TY!” she bellowed.
Ahead of her, the fighting stilled. Handmaiden and Otis were standing just a few feet from one another, both looking back as Liberty stood over them, her eyes burning with impotent rage. She was still completely unharmed from the fight despite every hit she’d taken. The coppery glow on her skin was only getting brighter. Handmaidens stoic frown was a contrast to Otis’ composed, cocky smile. Otis was the first to turn and look up at Liberty, “Oops,” he said mockingly, “This whole thing was a bad idea, lady.”
Liberty looked down at him and raised her fist with a snarl, “We’ll see about that, child.”
Chunhua took a step forward and was about to begin her charge when a red crackle of electricity spread across her path. Behind her, Greg shouted, “Don’t touch it!”
She hopped back as more streaks of red lightning bounded across the battlefield. Chunhua spotted one open near Cassiopeia and Alex who were running in their direction, an unconscious Ewen under Alex’s arm. Cass grabbed Alex and leaped, pulling him away from an arm that reached out of a tear in reality that tried to snatch Ewen away. Three more rips appeared behind Liberty, Dame Kant falling out of one and Ellis falling out of the second. From the third stepped a new man in a red suit. He threw out a hand and two crescent shaped ribbons of warped crimson light launched at Handmaiden and Otis. The pair retreated, not letting the attacks touch them.
The man clicked his tongue.
“Halloway,” Liberty growled loudly enough for Chunhua to hear.
“We need to go, my Lady,” he said quickly, his eyes fixed on a spot just behind Chunhua. She glanced back and saw Greg leaning against the wall of the common building with a grin on his face, he waved his fingers at the newcomer.
“This trash isn’t an issue,” Liberty snarled, “I’ll just-”
“My Lady,” Halloway insisted. Liberty raised her fist to backhand him but he spoke before he lost his head, “Ishtar is attacking the main compound. I just got word from Phillip.”
The entire battlefield went quiet.
Otis burst into laughter as Liberty rounded on Hallway with wide eyes. She grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground only to drop him and let out a furious breath. She turned and fixed her eyes on Chunhua who stood tall. Chunhua jerked her chin, “Run away, Villain, and go clean up your mess at home. Maybe leave it better defended next time.”
There’s no point in trying to arrest her now. She just keeps getting stronger. We’ll end up getting flattened, she thought and met Handmaidens gaze. The gown wearing woman nodded her agreement. Thank you, Sonya, she thought with a breath. She refused to attribute the credit to Ishtar.
Liberty scowled, “This is far from over, Heroes,” she rumbled before pointing a finger at Cassiopeia, Chunhua moved to stand between the two, “Come here, now, girl. Last chance. Return Ewen while you are at it.”
“Fuck you!” Cassiopeia shouted back. “I’m never going back to that place! This is where I belong!”
Liberty looked like she’d been slapped, the expression on her face more shocked than from any of the blows delivered on her by Handmaiden. She lowered her hand and nodded slowly, “I’ll kill Chernovna for this,” she said quietly before turning to Halloway, “Suit yourself, you’ll die with the rest when the time comes. Halloway, Portal.”
Halloway glanced past her before looking up, “Ewen? The surviving followers?”
“This is their failure, we’re leaving,” she said.
Abandoning your men and blaming it on them, you really are the worst, Liberty, Chunhua thought as Halloway threw out a hand and a large rift formed in the air behind them. Liberty reached down and grabbed Ellis and Kant. Ellis was bloody but awake, Kant looked like she was barely clinging to life. Chunhua’s shoulders relaxed. She didn’t move though, not until the four shapes disappeared into the rippling red light and vanished, the tear slamming shut.
Chunhua let out a shaky breath, she felt her legs grow weak as the tension left her body. It was all she could do to turn to the two corpses still laying at the entrance to the common building. She closed her eyes and rallied herself. Tonight is far from over. She raised her voice, “Liberty has retreated!” she bellowed, “Doctor Carter! Contact Pandora Headquarters, we’re going to need support for the clean up!”
“Teacher,” Lillian said next to her, a twinge of worry in her voice.
She turned to her student and put a hand on her shoulder, “Not until its all done. You lost peers tonight, I’m sorry. Can you keep going?”
Lillian looked down at her feet and exhaled, she raised her chin and looked Chunhua in the eyes, “Yes ma’am.”
Chunhua turned back to the ruined courtyard. The bodies of cultists spread out, the few survivors left behind. There had been so much carnage in one night all to soothe the ego of that monster. She’d seen Liberty’s cruelty in Sonya’s memories, but experiencing it with her own eyes was something completely different. She couldn’t argue with Sonya’s goal to put that animal down. Next time it’ll be far worse. I’m afraid we have a war coming, she thought as she turned to the heroes standing around her. The lines have been drawn, the fog of war lifted, it’s only a matter of time.
Comments
83n.70
So excited to see Liberty get what is coming to her!
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
