Kase felt a surge of pleasure as his foot crushed the mayor's head. He relished in how the blood and brain matter splashed across the stone street. He felt someone staring at him and looked up, seeing a crowd of people from the bird sect. His grin stretched hard against his cheeks, trying in vain to grow larger, and he began to laugh.
“Looks like you want revenge! Well, come try and take it!”
He leapt forward, claws wreathed in flames as he stabbed an arm through the first idiot he saw. The man managed to dodge and instead of piercing his chest, his blow just punched through his side. He decided to name that goon 1 as he tried to stumble away, Kase didn't let him however, and spun left to swipe the man across the face, shearing it off.
1 crumpled and made way for 2 and 3 who charged him together, 2 swung a sword for his neck and 3 lunged with a spear. He grabbed the spear with his left hand while he ducked under the blade, wrenching his arm sideways to smash 3 into 2 sending them careening away. 4 leapt forward with a pair of curved blades and Kase didn't have time to dodge. He swung his hands to try and intercept the swords, but only blocked one of them, the other just managing to slice a thin gash in his chest.
4 looked ecstatic at drawing first blood, and that expression was frozen on his face as his head was removed from his body. 5 screamed something and thrust forward with a dagger that sank into Kase's side. He briefly felt that squiggly wrong feeling again and recreated the feeling of burning, cleansing the poison from his body. 5 only had enough time for half of a word before he struck her with a backhand so hard her neck snapped. She dropped to the side and inadvertently blocked a spear thrust from 6.
6 tried to recover, but Kase grabbed the head and pulled him closer, snapping the shaft of the spear with a quick downward chop and stabbing the jagged end into his throat. 6 stumbled away and 7 charged in from the left while 2 and 3 charged in again from the right. He hopped over 7’s sweeping swing with a spear thing, grabbing onto the charging 2 and smashing his head into hers. There was a sickening crack and she went limp, he proceeded to swing her body into 3 who was trying to recover from his failed stab.
He picked up 2’s dropped sword and stabbed it through her corpse and into 3’s chest, hoping that would keep him down. 7 meanwhile had taken advantage of his distraction and had gathered a strange white energy on the edge of his blade and launched it forward in an arc. Kase blocked the attack with crossed arms, feeling his skin split open under the intense energy. The other trying to pincer him from behind didn't seem as sturdy however, as 8 got cut in half and 9 lost an arm.
7 looked shocked at his collateral damage and Kase capitalized on that delay to swipe a claw down his chest. His fingers broke through each rib on the way down, and the man's insides spilled to the ground in a macabre waterfall when he was done. Kase felt a series of impacts on his back, followed by a sharp pain, and more poison. He spun around to see 3 archers standing not 20 feet away, smirking as their allies closed in.
He didn't get to see if their expressions changed unfortunately, since his vision was blocked by the rush of Dragonfire spewing from his mouth. He ignored the screams as he turned to deal with 10 whipping a long bladed chain at him. He held up an arm and the chain proceeded to wind and coil around his forearm, metal thorns biting into his skin. 10 tried to pull him off of his feet, but Kase pulled him in instead. A sharp yank sent 10 flying through the air and into Kase's waiting claws.
As his fingers punched through 10’s fragile skull, 11 stepped up to try and strike him with her hands. His teeth disabused her of that notion, as she stumbled back screaming and clutching at her stumps. 12 flew in from out of his vision and drove a glittering spear cleanly through his chest, coincidentally also impaling 13 who was about to stab him in the neck. Kase grabbed the spear with both hands and snapped the head off, stabbing it into the eye of 12. He staggered forward and the shaft of the spear caught against something behind him as he tried to turn.
Pain was blossoming in every part of his body, his legs shook, struggling to keep him up and he couldn't catch his breath. There were only a few more opponents that he could see, three women and two men. He realized that he might not live through this battle. But neither would they.
“What's wrong?” His voice gurgled as he spoke, bubbling up through the blood in his throat, “You scared?!”
Before they could answer Kase ripped the spear shaft out of his chest and threw it at one of the women. His aim wasn't very good, nor did he really know how to throw a spear, but his overwhelming strength made up for that as it ripped through her stomach. He roared as he charged forward at the remaining enemies, blood mixing with the fire that sprayed from his mouth.
Chen Jo could hardly believe what was happening. They had come to fight one rival Chosen with a full 30 mixed Disciples, and he was destroying them. He had taken dozens of blows, but few of them even properly breached his skin, some he didn't even seem to notice! Hi Mei had managed to stab into his kidney with a poisoned stiletto, but his wound exploded in flames and he broke her neck.
Truly the Sect had underestimated Un-Kase of the Dragon Sect. But he would not be foiled so easily. He used his Spirit Arts to fuel the abilities of his pawns, strengthening their blows beyond their normal capabilities. It backfired somewhat when Fang Din had used the Soaring Wing Slash and inadvertently bisected Nam Ge and crippled Yusuong.
It worked perfectly when he empowered the Keng triplets’ arrows, finally managing to pierce his skin. He responded by bathing them in a torrent of flames so hot that nearby windows cracked. Chen Jo was beginning to think he should fetch more warriors when he was interrupted by En Lung, who finally landed a mortal blow. He had flown in with a Light Piercing Thrust of Eagle’s Beak and driven his spear clear through Un-Kase's chest. Unfortunately the spear also killed Xuen Nong, but that was an acce-
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The cheer died in his throat as Un-Kase snapped the head off the spear and twisted sideways to stab it into En Lung’s eye. He then turned to look at them, and Chen Jo felt a shiver of fear tickling his spine. The eyes were filled with pain and madness in equal measure, blazing with an internal golden light that seemed to dim the very sun. The teeth were bloody where he had bitten off Jin Jin’s fingers, and now that he thought about it, Chen Jo didn't recall seeing him spit them out.
“What's wrong?” He growled at them, his voice taking on a strange otherworldly quality, despite the blood clearly bubbling in his lungs. “You scared?!”
Before Chen Jo could respond, he had ripped the spear shaft out of his chest and shunted it through Po Ben’s stomach. Un-Kase roared and charged at them, the flames dripping out of his mouth nearly indistinguishable from the blood. Lap Xen and Mao Xi met his charge with their own, much to his dismay. Lap Xen’s face caved in quickly while Mao Xi ducked under his strike and wrapped herself around his legs. She stabbed a series of needles into his torso and was met with an equal series of miniature explosions as he performed whatever Technique he had with the stiletto.
Before she could properly react, Un-Kase had taken an unrestricted step forward, completely disregarding her attempted leg-lock, and dislocating her knee in the process. As she dropped off of him, he brought his left foot back to step on her, not even looking as he stomped her femur to splinters. Chen Jo exerted his control over the last of the two Disciples that he could truly make use of, channeling their Spirit in harmony to overpower the normal limits on a mystic Technique.
A mental pinky nudge sent Yin Fe forward to stall as he and Gao Man wove energy together. Yin Fe was perhaps one of the most skillful Core Disciples of the Sect, despite her younger status. She had perfected all of their Inner Techniques in record time and had steadily consumed the Core teachings as well. She was a promising candidate for ascension to a Shadow Role, and he would have enjoyed seeing her grow.
She had instead been reduced to a mere stumbling block for the monster they faced. While she worked frantically to dodge and weave past Un-Kase's attacks, her own counters lacked the force to even break his skin. Chen Jo was about to direct her away as they finished the Technique, but she mistimed a strike and Un-Kase ripped her head off in a geyser of blood. Praying that the man would suffer every possible atrocity in the afterlife before being reborn as a worm, Chen Jo struck.
He stepped back calmly and quickly, just before Gao Man could finish the final formations of the Prismatic Eagle Usurps The Sky Technique that had been double charged with Spirit. He kicked Gao Man in the back, cut off his own spirit flow, and leapt as far backwards as he could. Having a Technique broken was incredibly damaging on the user in the best of cases, a standard martial Technique would cause a rebound on the inner Spirit, damaging the body.
A supercharged mystic Technique however used more external energy, so when it was disrupted the results would be explosive. Literally. Gao Man tried to twist back around towards him, most likely to curse his name and bloodline, but there wasn't enough time.
As the broken Technique burst apart, the chaotic rainbow of energies ravaged the surroundings. Stones were melted, walls were erased, street lamps were sheared in half, and at least a few pedestrians were caught in the blast judging by the screams. Chen Jo projected the Sheltering Wings Technique in front of him to block the rampaging Spirit. Once the energy had calmed he dismissed the Technique and stared dumbfounded at what he was seeing.
Amidst the destruction and carnage of the battlefield, surrounded by the mangled remains of his Sect underlings, covered in wounds both great and small, stood Un-Kase. Stood Un-Kase! He was still standing! After everything, after all the resources lost, the promising youths culled, the destruction to both the Sect image and the city! He! Was! Still! STANDING!
“How. Dare you!? How dare you!?! Do you have any idea what my Sect has lost today!? What you've taken from us?!”
Chen Jo knew he had lost his temper, a bad habit he had thought he overcame, but he was beyond caring.
“You have the audacity to still be alive- to still be standing! You stand, in your arrogance, in your foolishness! Where anyone else would know to have the good decency to be FUCKING DEAD!!”
Un-Kase said nothing, just stood there and stared at him. Stared with his cold, burning, monster's eyes.
“I am going to peel you, tear the flesh from your bones and beat your still living husk with them! I will make you suffer for each life you have taken today! I will leave you in a world of pain and suffering, begging for it all to end! And I will NEVER release you!”
He began to gather the latent Spirit energy from the fallen, refilling his drained reserves.
“I am Chen Jo, the Puppet Master, the Shadow Elder, the Master of 1000 Mysteries! I will make of you a symbol, of what happens when the Prismatic-”
Un-Kase pulled his hand out of the screaming man's face with a grimace, his legs collapsed under him from the sudden movement. He had managed to get his wild impulses and instincts under control, but it had taken a toll on his mind, and had only come after grievous damage to his body that he wasn't sure he could recover from. He hadn't really payed attention to whoever this guy was, but whatever the last guy had done to him, had hurt like nothing else.
He could feel his wounds pulling tightly at his skin, but they weren't bleeding anymore, courtesy of whatever that explosion had been. Now that he looked around, he realized that he hadn't really been himself for a while, he remembered the battle, but only hazily. He coughed up some of the blood that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in his throat. His emotions had been flying high since the conversation with the mayor, and he had made some choices he regretted.
But these people came for him, and he had no doubts they would have killed him if given half a chance. They nearly had killed him actually, and he wasn't sure if that counted as half or a full chance. Un-Kase stumbled sideways, catching himself against a ruined wall, pulling himself shakily back to his feet and beginning the trudge back home.
He was so tired…