The Disciples of the Eternal Dragon met the eyes of the Tiger-warrior.

"Brother Fai-Deng," Feng-Lung began, tentatively. "This is an intrusion on ground sacred to the Eternal Dragon Sect."

"Brother Feng-Lung," the Tiger replied. "You might tell that to your little toy."

XJ-V stiffened. He had expected the boy to come after him. He had expected retribution for the embarrassment Fai had suffered at his hands. But he had not expected it to come so soon.

"Brother," he said, stepping forward and digging his heels into the hard stone floor of Dragonpyre Hearth. "We do not need to –"

A bolt of lightning shot from the Tiger's flaring hand in an instant. So fast – too fast – that XJ-V was thrown back against the Dragon fresco and fell to the ground in a smoking heap. He stiffened, tried to stand, but felt his systems fail him. His limbs would not respond.

"How does it feel, Cog?" Fai-Deng whispered. "How does the sting of a true warrior feel?"

XJ-V begged his sensors to respond to no avail. His eyes blurred. The electric charge burning through his metallic veins had shot every receptor in his body.

"Since our last meeting," Fai said. "I have thought only of your corpse. It is a beautiful dream, seeing you crumpled and debased before me. It was that dream I held on to as I redoubled my training. Now, my Lightning Claw-Spear has been perfected. And it will finish you.

He began walking forward like a predator stalking his wounded pray and would likely have slung another lightning bolt at the inanimate Cog if Feng-Lung had not stepped forward and launched a gout of fire at his feet.

Fai-Deng dropped into a roll and rose, looking with animal fury at Feng-Lung's Bow Stance.

"Walk away, Brother Fai," the young Disciple said.

The boy rose from the ground slowly, and both he and the Dragon Disciple began pacing round the other like two ancient duelists before an earth-shattering battle.

Fai-Deng spat on the sacred grounds of the hearth.

"You dishonor the name of your Sect, and all of Ramor-Tai," he snarled at Feng.

"Does the Sect of the Tiger permit attacks upon fellow Disciples, now?" Feng replied, unfazed. "Perhaps we should ask Master Yoma-Dur."

"If you call that thing Brother," Fai replied with barely controlled scorn. "You will not leave this room alive."

The silence that then descended upon the Hearth was so still that XJ-V thought he may have completely blanked out. If Arha had not suddenly interrupted with a shrill shriek of fright, he would have assumed his systems had finally shut down.

"This boy is mad!" the Huli screamed. "Mad, mad and uuuuugly!"

"Arha," XJ-V said in all but a whisper. "Find…Master…Longhua…"

The fox-spirit nodded with uncharacteristic determination and sped towards the door.

"Stay where you are, demon!"

Fai-Deng's foot crackled with the coiling energy of another lightning strike aimed right at the fleeing creature and would have blasted the tiny fox to ash if Feng-Lung had not performed a masterfully timed Flaming Dervish kick that singed the Tiger's head and knocked him against the far wall, giving the spirit leave to pass.

"Your battle is with me, Tiger!" he shouted.

Fai-Deng rose with slow, quiet fury, blue veins of lightning surrounding his smoking body as he Arha phased through the great doors of the hall. He cracked his knuckles, clenched his bandaged fists, and snarled at the boy standing before him.

And though Feng didn't move a single muscle in the face of his fellow Cultivator, XJ-V could tell that, in this moment, he was afraid.

"Have it your way, Brother."

The Tiger's form blinked out of existence and appeared directly behind young Feng, who spun just in time to block a vicious flurry of jabs aimed at his chest and neck both. Fai-Deng struck with speed that could not have belonged to a mortal man. XJ-V could barely keep up with his strikes, never mind Feng's timed counters that were managing to block them.

As Feng's arm came up to block perhaps the twentieth punch, the soft flesh of his fingers met nothing but air, and the foot of the Tiger Disciple came up from his left side to deliver a kick that knocked against his ribcage and winded him.

Feng staggered back, readying a Dragon's Tooth that would blow the Tiger away. But Fai was quicker. He pounced on the young Feng without giving the boy a chance to recover, clawing at his face and spinning to launch several arcs of lightning at his body through his feet. The form of the Tiger seemed nothing but a blur of snapping sapphire light, singing through the air and delivering a payload of electrified energy directly at Feng-Lung's chest with both his open palms. The boy flew back against the fresco of the Eternal Dragon and slipped with a groan of pain to the ground.

XJ-V watched the battle with eyes that blared with fear. His chest felt heavy, and his whole chassis ached as he tried to move. If even just the simple touch of the Tiger's lightning could lay him so low, the effect of a full-frontal, unblocked attack on Feng-Lung would be unthinkable.

"Stay down!" Fai screamed at the cloud of smoke that covered Feng-Lung's inert body. "Only one must die tonight."

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He walked away from the body after his command, hand still sending sparks flying uncontrollably across the wall frescos, scarring the stone body and limbs of the Eternal Dragon.

XJ-V looked into his burning eyes, seeing the fury that had been locked in the boy since their first meeting in the courtyard before Longhua's chambers. He saw no compassion beneath those pupils. He saw no quiet reservations about his striking down his Brother Disciple. There was nothing but hatred – a white-hot flame, burning eternally and only for him.

And yet it was a far hotter flame that struck the boy's back and sent him collapsing to his knees, screaming with animal agony.

Both he and XJ-V looked towards the column of smoke that was now worn by Feng-Lung like a shield, obscuring all but his two burning hands wrapped in threads of flaring carmine.

"You are not the only one who's training has improved, Fai-Deng." Feng-Lung stated as he walked like a living pillar of ash and ruin towards him.

Fai roared as he brought both his arms forward, directing the lightning flowing through his body to fly towards Feng-Lung's body, only to see it merely coil around his smoke-plume and then dissipate entirely into thin air.

Fai-Deng stood back, grunting with grim satisfaction.

"The Charred Pillar," he said. "A Third-Grade Earth technique. I would be impressed, Feng-Lung. But this display only makes your ignorance all that more disappointing."

"You are a fool to persist in this course, Fai!" Feng-Lung shouted back through the protective black haze that surrounded him. "The Master will be here soon! You will have no choice but to back down, then."

Fai-Deng nodded with a nonchalant grunt.

"True," he said, licking his scarred lips. "I suppose I must simply kill you faster, then."

Without warning Fai surged forwards with unnatural speed, bridging the gap between both men in an instant and effortlessly dodging Feng's firebolts.

Feng…XJ-V thought, becoming struck at the idea took hold of him. You are holding back…

He watched as the maddened Tiger threw himself through Feng's protective cloud and aimed a punch straight at his face that had him on the defensive again.

He can't use his lightning strikes….so he is relying on raw strength…

Feng countered with a series of fiery blocks that should have seared the flesh from the Tiger's bones. Even at the other side of the hallway, XJ-V could feel the heat. But there was something…limited in their power. Every time they met the sheer, brutal strength of the Tiger's strikes, XJ-V could feel that Feng Lung was not allowing himself to throw a punch.

You don't want to kill him…

So when Fai took Feng's head in both his claws and brought his knee up to crack the boy's jaw, XJ-V snarled with slowly building fury.

That's your weakness…

He saw the black smoke plume vanish as Feng struck back against Fai. But it was a strike that swept the boy's legs, attempting to make him lose his footing. Attempting to do nothing but buy time, and knock the boy back to the ground as though this were simply another practice Kata.

But this was no practice. And when Fai's body did hit the ground, his arms reached out to grab Feng's leg and send an electric shock up the boy's body that lit up the entire Hearth with its strength.

XJ-V watched as Feng-Lung fell, his body twitching with stray electricity.

"Pfft," Fai spat, standing over him with both his fists still clenched, licking the blood from his grazed chin. "You could never best me, Feng. You know the techniques, but you lack the spirit of your Sect. You aren't strong enough to stand among us, even if you are a human."

Feng looked up to see the fist of his Brother raise to deliver its final strike at his exposed neck.

But, once again, the Tiger's strike did not come.

Instead, his hand felt the sting of the Dragon's Tooth's full power, and he looked down in shock to see the burning threads of his bandages fall to the ground.

And the sound of two metal feet planting themselves behind him.

He turned to see XJ – the object of all his unbridled scorn.

The Cog stood locked in a perfect Fuhubu – a Crouching Tiger stance – smoke-trails sailing from his steel-plated fist.

"You insult me using that stance, machine," Fai said as his lips folded up into a smirk of vengeance. "Is your wish for death really so great?"

XJ-V's vision became that of a tunnel locked on a single target. A red mist had overtaken him the second he had seen Feng-Lung fall. The flame beneath his breast was now in full bloom – the same flame that he had finally been able to channel into pure, living fire.

For that was his purpose: he was a war machine, was he not?

He looked upon Fai-Deng and tightened his fists, watching as the boy laughed in his face.

It was time to do what he was built for.

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