SHATTERED LIKE GLASS!

Solomon ducked away just in time, barely dodging what you'd think was a missile exploding at the top of the temple staircase.

Debris and dust shrouded the area, creating a cloud of eroding brick and stone. He fixed his glasses, his back siezed against the gigantic temple door which was covered in all sorts of weird patterns and runes.

But most notably, a crescent moon carved into its mossy rock body...the symbol of the timeless Xiao Dynasty.

Piercing through the dust veil like an arrow, a flying fist ROCKED Solomon with a meteoric punch that sent him flying away from the temple, crashing through several decaying buildings like a comet!

The shrieks of shattering pots and the cries of walls violently CRRRUMBLING sent legions of frightened birds bursting out of the trees, screaming like colorful fireworks.

"How sad. I thought you would've known I was going to punch you into that rotting house...you know, since you know a lot," the man scoffed, laughing as he looked down at his rival. What? He was a know-it-all, wasn't he? Jouer hated those—always acting like they were better because they knew some arbitrary, insignificant fact.

His voice crackled like fire, burning throughout the jungled city as he laughed.

Solomon could taste the metallic tang of blood dancing on his tongue. His head throbbed, and he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. What the hell had just happened?

Obviously, he'd just eaten the most delicious T-bone knuckle he'd ever had in his life...but what the hell? The fight had just started, and yet somehow it felt like his opponent was already enraged?

Must've been his bonbon.

Have you ever been punched in the face by a truck?

Solomon pulled his cracked glasses off and tossed them onto the humid, vine-covered gravel with a grim face, spitting on the ground.

If only he could've seen himself, hot blood dripping from his swollen red nose like a bloody faucet.

Surrounded by thousands of eroding buildings, he dusted off his robe and wiped the blood from his face. This was the Great Pawpaw City? The warzone, or "playground," as this blonde weirdo called it, where King Liu Kai and King Wei Xiao had that one really crazy fight over a piece of gold.

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All those years later and look: people were repeating the same thing they did. The Xiao Dynasty was truly timeless. Or rather, it was humanity's greed that existed outside of time, never aging, never dying.

The air was far from cool, thick like cake batter. Everywhere Solomon walked, green tendrils and vines of some sort gripped his boots like snakes trying to coil around him and devour him.

It was so...annoying.

With veins writhing beneath his flushed face, the only thing you'd see behind his pink-tinted olive-green eyes...

“Rather undeserved, I'd say...” Solomon muttered.

...was rage.

He drew his blade from his hip, a slick silver saber with a sleek curving edge that would cut your eyes just by looking at it. Polished to perfection with a metallic sheen that winked at you.

"You know, I like to think us kings have decency and etiquette...and then disappointment digs into me with her fangs, and I'm poisoned by...Distraught...when I meet people like you. Who are you?"

If there was one thing that made him want to vomit, it was a lack of professionalism. All he'd come to do was raid the temple and bounce. None of these random commitments he had to fit into his already fattened schedule.

Quick business.

In and out.

But before he could even continue his beautiful elegy, laughter slithered into his ears from atop the temple staircase, and that blonde man was flipping a coin?

Seriously?

"Look at that! Mr. Know-it-all doesn't know something as basic as who the Almighty Jouer Dyce is. You learn something new every day...heads or tails?" the blonde said.

Who?

Without a second thought, Solomon shot through the air like a bullet, clashing blades with the rather unpleasant individual.

"There's no reason for us to fight, sir. We don't even know each other. Besides, don't you think there's more to this hellscape called life than fighting the next guy over a piece of gold? Just look at this place: don't you want to know more about its history?" Solomon repeatedly cut clean slashes across the air as the man parried with both his golden axes.

Sparks flew as they slashed and danced, metal CLANGING loudly, vibrations coursing through their arms from the monstrous impact like electricity!

The gold-clad man stared Solomon dead in the eyes, his eyes like aquamarine gems in the sun. "I don't care about knowing any stupid history unless it helps me find more shiny things to look. More beautiful things to tease my eyes, like those queens from Spice that fully cover their bodies...I bet there's something beautiful to feed my eyes under their robes..."

There. His neck. An opening—

But before Jouer could swing his axe and chop off his new rival's head, loud humming vibrated the moist jungle air, sucking away his focus.

Taking advantage, Solomon drove his boot into the man's face, sending him flying back. With the new space created, he could tend to the curiosity clawing away at him from the inside, screaming at him to investigate that strange buzzing.

And when he looked up, what else would it be other than fluffy, golden-furred, jolly, gigantic killer bees!