The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing the casino. Rama limped out of it with Lorraine’s left arm slung over his shoulder. He frantically looked about, worried about Jet and his master. To his delight, he saw the two of them approaching. Jet ran to them, leaving Sifu Ramos to blithely stroll up from behind.

“Bro!” Jet exclaimed.

“Bro!” Rama yelled back.

“You’re alive!”

“Yeah, so are you!”

“Bro you won’t believe what happened. I had to play blackjack, but not any normal blackjack, i-it was like super magical evil blackjack!”

“Lorraine and I fought a weird lady that went through walls and I think was racist.”

“Ramos lost most of his limbs.”

The two of them continued to recount what happened, speaking so quickly it became indecipherable to any third party. Sifu Ramos joined them mid conversation, snapping his fingers to make the boys focus.

“Nice to know you kids are still full of energy,” Sifu Ramos observed, looking Rama and Lorraine up and down to take note of their wounds.

“Sifu! I wouldn’t exactly say that,” Rama admitted, feeling his body ache. “I kinda want to fall over and sleep forever.”

“Hmm that sounds like death. Don’t do that. Death is banned.”

“Darn what a shame,” Jet sarcastically added.

Sifu Ramos bent forward, looking at the unconscious Lorraine.

“You two really had it rough huh?” he asked.

“Lorraine had it worse than me. She had to fight by herself.”

“Lay her down.”

Jet and Rama gave each other a glance, confused by the order. The latter slowly did as told, placing Lorraine on the ground. Sifu Ramos shook his head.

“I underestimated these punks. Once we’re out of here, you kids are sticking to me like glue.”

“Is Lorraine going to be ok?” Jet inquired.

Sifu Ramos put a hand on her head, taking in a deep breath. Chi started to form around him, coalescing in his hand.

“If it weren’t for that sword of hers, she’d definitely be dead by now. The sword’s Chi is healing her body and I’m speeding up the process.”

“Bro,” Jet whispered to Rama. “Can you do that? My body hurts a lot.”

“I would if I could.”

“Chi healing is an advanced technique, you’re too much of a novice to begin learning it,” Sifu Ramos said, watching the wounds on Lorraine’s body close up.

He stood up, smirking to himself.

“She’s going to be fine. That sword was worth every penny. Now, let’s get out-”

Music played. The three of them stopped, hearing the all too familiar distorted music blare throughout the casino. The boys were filled with a sense of dread.

“The hell is that?” Sifu Ramos wondered.

“It’s the music I told you about earlier,” Jet explained. “It somehow mind controls people.”

“This music does?” Sifu Ramos said, incredulous. “It sounds awful!”

Rama saw the casino’s patrons slowly making their way to them, their eyes overcome with purple.

“Sifu!” Rama yelled, pointing behind him.

With a raised eyebrow, Sifu Ramos turned around, seeing the people approach. Sifu Ramos grinned, entering his fighting pose. He bounced in place, eager for a fight. However, they didn’t attack. They instead made a path to a large set of double doors across the room. The possessed moved as one, despite their variety in sizes and shapes. In sync, they bowed.

“Oh that’s creepy as hell,” Sifu Ramos commented.

The nearest possessed lifted their head. It was an elderly man, perhaps a retiree that had come to waste some money, but had unfortunately gotten wrapped up in this mess.

“You have defeated my allies. This was not the plan,” the man said through his bushy mustache.

“Is that so?” Sifu Ramos replied. “Sorry about that old timer.”

“Oh I’m not upset, not in the slightest. I’m impressed. It proves how they did not truly embrace the music.”

“Riiight. I totally understand what you’re talking about.”

“You jest, but I’ll show you what I mean. Come, the symphony shall truly begin. Attendance is mandatory.”

Rama and Jet raised their fists, ready to charge. Sifu Ramos put his hand up, letting them know not to proceed.

“Alright,” he accepted.

“What?” Rama and Jet said in disbelief.

“Sifu don’t go!” Rama begged. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Oh Rama, how am I gonna kick their ass if I don’t get close to them? Rule 1 of fighting: You can’t kick someone’s ass, unless they’re in ass-kicking distance.”

“Woah, so profound,” Jet said in awe.

“Besides,” Sifu Ramos added. “We need to get to the source if we want to free these people.”

“But what about Lorraine?” Rama inquired.

“Bring her too, it’ll be fine.”

The possessed continued to bow, waiting for the group to move. Sifu Ramos walked ahead, whistling to himself. Jet tried to pick up Lorraine but struggled to move her body.

“Bro help, she’s heavy,” Jet breathed.

Rama leaned down, helping to pick up Lorraine.

“You’re so lucky she wasn’t awake when you said that,” Rama commented.

“Yeah yeah,” Jet grunted.

Together they picked her up, putting an arm over each of their shoulders. They proceeded to walk behind Sifu Ramos, keeping their heads forward to ignore the people on their sides. Sifu Ramos stopped in front of the set of double doors.

“You boys ready?” Sifu Ramos asked, smiling at the door.

“I guess,” Rama conceded.

“Don’t be so worried. I got this. You kids have been having all the fun. Now it’s my turn. You kids are going to learn, I’m really freaking cool. Rama, you pay especially close attention alright?”

“Yes Sifu.”

Sifu Ramos kicked the doors so hard they flew off their hinges into the room. Sifu Ramos nonchalantly went in with the teenagers following behind. They entered a massive auditorium, filled with rows upon rows of red leather seats. The seats extended before them, all the way to the elevated brown stage in the back. As Sifu Ramos moved forward, he noticed that the seats also extended upwards, rows upon rows stacked, the last of which just beneath the massive lights above. The seats were filled with people, but it was silent. The audience was enraptured by the music being played by the orchestra situated on the stage.

The lights slowly dimmed. The only lights remaining were those focused on the orchestra. The male performers were dressed in black tuxedos, the women in black dresses. In the very center of the stage before the orchestra sat a woman in a slick black dress. Her curly red hair drooped down her shoulders as her arms held a violin decorated with intricate carvings. The woman had an angular face with a sharp chin and narrow eyes. She was young, appearing to be in her mid twenties. She reached to the ground, picking up a bow to play her instrument. The bow’s string glowed a bright white light.

Sifu Ramos stopped in place, intrigued by the sight. The orchestral music stopped as the possessed conductor stood up, getting onto the stage to look at the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” He began, his eyes emitting a hazy purple. “Our esteemed guests have arrived here to see the performance of a lifetime! Without further ado, I present to you, the 10th Apostle: Miri Ben Ari!”

The woman looked up, showing her bright brown eyes as she stared at Sifu Ramos across the auditorium.

“I envy this world. You get to enjoy all the music you want. Where I’m from, there is no symphony, no orchestra, only death. Hero of Prophecy, please let me kill you so that you can bring music to my world. Help me so I can play music for the living, and not the dead.”

A new song began. It filled the room, sounding mellifluous yet disturbing. The music did not sound natural. It was as if all the instruments were slightly out of tune. Sifu Ramos turned his head, smiling at Rama and Jet.

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“I have no idea what this lady is going on about but I got this! Check this out boys, I’m-”

An audience member leaped from his seat, getting close to Sifu Ramos in the blink of an eye. He launched a kick, forcing Sifu Ramos to step back. Rama’s master grimaced, feeling his chest sting.

“Ow!” he yelped. “That’s not what I wanted to show you boys. It was supposed to be more like this!”

He threw a kick of his own, knocking the man across the room.

“Oooo he’s gonna feel that in the morning. I hope these folks don’t hold it against me,” Sifu Ramos reflected.

More members of the audience began to exit their seats, filling the pathway before Sifu Ramos.

“You can’t stop this performance. It is a fool’s errand,” Miri said. “You must embrace it, be ensconced in it. Become one with the notes. It’s harmony.”

“Too bad this music sucks!” Sifu Ramos yelled, preparing to barrel at the people before him.

“You have no taste in the arts,” Miri spat. “Hero of Prophecy, don’t fight this. Accept fate. To fight fate brings nothing but pain.”

“Rama, rule 2 of fighting: don’t let your opponent get into your head. If you’re fighting someone, they’re not worth listening to,” Sifu Ramos stated.

With that his yellow Chi started to flow around his body. He went ahead, hitting the first possessed with a quick punch to the face, knocking him over the others. He continued forward, punching the people before him. They put up resistance. They would block his blows, throwing counter punches of their own. He ducked and rolled past each one. They tried to flank him, jumping over the seats so they could get behind them. Without breaking a sweat, Sifu Ramos pushed them off, making them fly across the room in multiple directions with mighty blows.

“He’s fighting dozens and dozens of those possessed people,” Jet commented. “He’s barely breaking a sweat.”

Rama nodded in agreement. Suddenly one of them turned to the boys, a man with a large beard. He ran to them, putting his arm back to throw a punch. Rama and Jet abruptly dropped Lorraine, unintentionally letting her hit the ground with a thud. They braced for the attack when Sifu Ramos appeared behind the man, kicking him in the back so that he flew over them, out the room.

“Jesus,” Jet said in astonishment.

“I told you boys, I got this!” Sifu Ramos proclaimed. “My job is to protect you kids and that’s what I’m gonna do! When I’m here, you have nothing to fear.”

“Fool!” Miri exclaimed over the music. “That boy will die to save my world!”

Sifu Ramos flipped another man over, then punched a woman down the aisle, making her crash into dozens of people.

“Aren’t you asking too much of a teenage boy? He can’t even drive yet!” Sifu Ramos queried, still fighting his way through the horde of possessed.

“He will grow into who he needs to be. By force, if necessary.”

“What he needs is for you psychos to stop coming after him!”

Sifu Ramos began to speed up, his punches and kicks becoming faster and faster. He jumped onto someone’s head, then began to zip around the room, going to and fro, leaving behind a trail of yellow Chi. Rama and Jet looked on, utterly amazed.

“Ramos is…something else,” Jet gasped.

“Yeah,” Rama concurred.

“If only Lorraine could see this.”

“Yeah. We should try to wake her up.”

They leaned over Lorraine’s body, ignoring the battle going on around them.

“Lorraine, wake up!” Jet yelled.

“Wake up!” Rama added.

“Wake up!”

“Wake up!”

“Lorraine!”

“Lorraine!”

They began to shake the girl’s body to no avail.

“Bro this ain’t working,” Jet concluded.

“Yeah. What should we do?”

“Hmmmmm. Do you think she needs mouth to mouth?”

“Isn’t that for if someone drowns?”

“What if she’s choking on her blood?”

“I still don’t think that’s how that works.”

Another man flew over them as the boys paused.

“Ok…ok I got this” Jet decided.

He took a few deep breaths, slowly lowering his head when Lorraine’s eyes opened, shooting an arm up, punching Jet.

“Ow!” he wailed.

Lorraine sat up, breathing heavily. She was clearly disoriented.

“Lorraine!” Rama yelled in excitement.

“Rama? What in the world is-”

She stopped, noticing the music.

“What’s happening!?”

“You hit me in the face!” Jet exclaimed.

“For good reason but I’m not talking about that.”

“Sifu is beating that music freak for us,” Rama told her.

Another one of the possessed charged at them, only for Sifu to dash to them. He grabbed the man’s head and slammed it into the ground.

“Hello Lorraine!” Sifu Ramos jovially said.

“Ugh Mr. Ramos?”

“Oh don’t worry about this, just sit back and watch. Now that you’re awake, I can end this.”

Sifu Ramos turned his attention back to the horde, continuing to fight his way through them, moving around them like water over a rock. He began to jump over them, using their heads like stones to traverse a river. He then dashed, appearing on Miri’s side.

“Show’s over lady!” he exclaimed, winding up a Chi infused punch.

He never got to throw it. A burst of wind came from one of the tuba players, launching him across the room, through the auditorium’s entrance.

“Sifu!” Rama shouted in worry.

“The performance will not be interrupted,” Miri declared, continuing to play her violin.

“The closer you get, the stronger my magic becomes. Approach at your own peril.”

Rama stood up, glaring at the musician.

“Alright, I guess it’s my turn to-”

Something rushed by him in a flash, almost making him fall over.

“I told you, you’re not doing anything!” he heard his master yell ahead of him.

He went from person to person, striking them down with single blows, moving about them like a ball in a pinball machine. He quickly closed the gap once more, standing on the stage. A tuba player blasted another note but this time Sifu Ramos dodged, jumping back. He stepped up to the player, ready to counter. He threw his punch but for some reason, it went to his face instead of his opponent’s.

He knocked his own head back, then was blasted back once more. He flew to the back wall, landing next to Rama. The three teenagers quickly helped Sifu Ramos get up.

“Your strength is too much to control you from a distance, but up close I can,” Miri revealed.

“Is that right?” Sifu Ramos said, wiping the blood from his nose.

“Sifu are you ok?” Rama asked.

“I’m good but man I pack a punch!”

“Do you need us to do anything?” Lorraine inquired.

“Yeah, keep watching.”

By now most of the possessed audience had been knocked out, laying about like a tornado had gone through the room. Sifu Ramos slowly walked down the aisle, stopping about a dozen feet before the stage, looking up at Miri. She continued to play her violin while giving him a look full of disdain. He took a step forward when he inexplicably hit himself in the face again. Then again. Then again. He smirked, ignoring the pain. The teenagers looked on, quite worried.

“Huh, guess you really can control my body once I get close enough. Not enough to permanently control me though, can you?” Sifu Ramos observed.

“Your magic prevents me,” Miri acknowledged. “Same for the others. It matters not, I will win regardless. If you get near me, it’ll mean death.”

“Sorry lady, but that’s not how this works. I’m the strongest you know? I’m not allowed to lose here, especially in front of my students.”

He turned his head back to them.

“Rama! Rule 3 of fighting: victory requires sacrifice.”

Sifu Ramos gave them a thumbs up with both hands, then plunged his thumbs into his ears. The action caused everyone, even Miri, to look on in shock. He took his thumbs out and they were covered in blood. Miri played her violin, seeking to control Sifu Ramos’s movements but nothing occurred.

“So you figured it out,” she said.

Sifu Ramos jumped onto stage, where a tuba player tried to blow him off it but he dodged it, then closed in on him. He kicked the man in the side, causing him to crash through multiple band members. Their instruments flew off stage.

“Wahhh,” Sifu Ramos said, flexing his arm like he was out of an action flick.

The rest of the symphony abandoned their instruments, charging at Sifu Ramos. He swatted them aside with punches and kicks, letting out a wail with each attack. Miri became frustrated, gritting her teeth.

“How dare you ruin the performance!”

Sifu Ramos fought on, sweeping people off their feet, slamming them through the stage. He made his way to Miri, who remained seated. He finally got close enough, getting in striking distance.

“You disgust me. I put in so much effort to create harmony,” she complained.

“What!?” Sifu Ramos yelled.

“I said you-”

“What!?”

“...I-”

“I can’t hear you lady! I took out my ear drums! I’m just gonna attack! I look cool, right Rama!?”

Jet and Lorrained looked to Rama, expecting him to answer.

“Ugh…yeah!” he eventually yelled.

“What!? How about you tell me after my hearing comes back ok?”

“Ok?”

“What!? I’m assuming you said ‘ok’”.

“This conversation is pointless,” Lorraine realized.

Sifu Ramos went to Miri, launching a kick. To his surprise, Miri swiped with her bow, deflecting the leg and cutting it. Sifu Ramos jumped back. He touched the wound, realizing that the cut was on par with that inflicted by a sword.

“I still have a Smokeblade,” Miri announced. “I don’t like it. I’d rather play music. That's all I want to do. Yet here I am, forced to kill.”

“What!?” Sifu Ramos called out.

Miri sighed, remembering her opponent can’t hear.

“Go Ramos, kick her ass!” Jet cheered, sitting in a seat and ignoring the unconscious bodies around him.

“Jet what’re you doing?” Lorraine asked.

“I’m cheering him on and I wanna be comfortable when I do it so I’m sitting in this seat.”

“That doesn't seem appropriate.”

“Well, do you want us to stand the whole time?”

“Fair point bro,” Rama admitted.

He took a seat next to Jet. Lorraine sighed, joining the boys. On stage Sifu Ramos stepped in, launching a flurry of kicks. Miri got out of her seat, dodging blow after blow. With quick thrusts she tried to cut Sifu Ramos but the man was quick to dodge. He moved so fast it all became a blur. It was hard for the teenagers to keep track. He got a punch in, knocking the woman back.

“Impressive lady!” Sifu Ramos congratulated. “I wonder how fast you can go.”

He increased the tempo even more. Miri was on the defensive, clearly out of her element in this engagement. She tried to back pedal but Sifu Ramos moved to get behind her.

“If music is what you do best, fighting is mine!” Sifu Ramos bragged.

She whipped around to meet a punch to the gut. She coughed, collapsing onto her knees. Miri tried a last ditch effort to strike from her downed position but Sifu Ramos snatched the bow out of her hands. He snapped it in two, dropping the broken instrument in front of her. Miri looked around, her symphony destroyed by a single man. She squinted her eyes, looking at Rama.

“This changes nothing Hero! This man can’t protect you, not when the truly strong arrive. The show’s not over, this is merely an intermission!” she proclaimed.

“Oh yeah, well I want a refund!” Jet yelled back. “Boo! You stink!”

“Very mature Jet,” Lorraine added. “That doesn’t even make any sense. You didn’t pay.”

“And yet I still feel ripped off.”

“I don’t know what you just said but I’m assuming you’re trying to make my students sad so this is gonna hurt,” Sifu Ramos told Miri. “Watah!”

He punched down, knocking Miri’s head through the floor. Sifu Ramos stared at the woman, ensuring she wasn’t going to get back up. Content with his victory, he jumped off the stage and made his way back to the group, stepping over dozens of unconscious bodies.

“Ramos is something else isn’t he?” Jet reflected.

“Yeah, I struggled fighting a few people. Sifu just demolished an entire auditorium full of them,” Rama concurred.

Sifu Ramos rejoined them, when they heard the sound of sirens blaring in the distance, followed by the sound of footsteps.

“You don’t think that’s for us do you?” Jet asked the group.

Policemen entered the auditorium. The three teenagers looked back to see that they were quickly being surrounded.

“I’m pretty sure they’re here for us,” Lorraine deadpanned. “Great, we’re going to jail.”