The ring blades in Liao’s hands collided with his opponent’s. Thanks to the momentum built up from Liao’s preparedness and the height of his jump, the figure in black’s ring blades were knocked out of his hands.
At the very last moment, the ring blade wielding figure in black burst into a final counter attack. His right hand clenched into a fist, striking upwards at Liao’s left shoulder. Liao’s blades cut into the figure’s chest and neck, the Qi concentrated on them slashing through the skin, muscles and bones. At the same time, Liao’s left shoulder took the close range fist strike point blank and head on.
A head in a black cloak rolled and bounced on the floor, while Liao was thrown backwards with his left ring blade falling off his grip, and his left upper arm dangling powerlessly. Almost at the same time, Ruo was knocked onto the ground by a powerful kick from her opponent, with half a metal staff still in her abdomen.
“Ruo!” Keying and Ming screamed at the same time, lunging at the rest of the two figures in black. Both of them were struggling against the effects of their opponents’ Ink Qi, yet at this very moment they were no longer concerned about it - they only wanted to beat those two figures in black into pulps and relieve Ruo of her circumstances.
The staff wielding figure in black, now without a weapon in his hands, tried to reach into his cloak. While the figure wielding a metal whip flailed his weapon again, attempting to unleash a sweep attack at both men charging at them.
But right this moment, two knives shot at both figures in black from the side. One was a simple, almost edgeless table knife, aiming at the staff wielding figure; the other was a fruit knife with a sharp tip, aiming at the whip wielding figure. Both of them tried to stop what they were attempting to do and back off, but were stopped by a sudden, gentle but still unmissable energy pulse spreading through the air.
Just a mere moment’s hesitation doomed both of them. Both throwing knives struck true, not causing any serious damage but further impeding their movements. Ming’s streams of concentrated Qi shot through the staff wielding figure’s chest, while Keying’s Dao crashed the metal whip into dozens of pieces, and the Qi blades shooting from the edge slashed across the whip wielding figure’s chest and neck.
“How dare you!” Witnessing his teammates’ demise, the staff wielding figure let out a roar using all his might: “All of you will die! YOU WILL DIE!” He coughed, droplets of blood spilled from his mouth. His only movable right hand reached into his pocket, taking out a talisman made of completely dark paper and red ink. A sharpened piece of cement shot at his head - this was from Luoshan Zi, the only one with strength to fight at the moment.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The figure did not dodge at all, and did not even resist. The piece of cement pierced through his skull. Blood gushed out and poured onto the talisman.
The moment it came into contact with blood, the dark talisman was ignited and engulfed in an ethereal green flame. Dark smoke rose and poured from the fire, slowly spreading around.
“Back off! Back off!” Luoshan Zi barked as she flung all the folded talismans she brought with her - these were almost all she had collected all these years. All of them were made from the best materials, with the most meticulous techniques and by the best makers. There was no better or more appropriate time than now.
Almost all of the talismans burst into orange, red and golden flames at the same time. The energy they released resonated with each other, forming into waves and waves of purifying rings of light, pushing back at the dark fog.
The entire subway station began shaking. The ground, the walls and the ceiling all started to crack. Screams and moans flooded at everyone from every corner. The rings of light were crashing against layers upon layers of dark energy that enshrouded and embedded inside the very station itself.
“Come on, come on. Wake up, Ruo! WAKE UP!” Luoshan Zi was by Ruo’s side, using her hands, her Qi, and her clothes attempting to stop her friend from bleeding out. But right now, Ruo’s body was already growing cold, her face was growing pale.
Ming laid on the ground, also bleeding profusely from his wounds. Keying stayed by his side and was using everything he could to keep the limping old man alive, while yelling his questions at the others: “Ruo! Liao! Are you okay!? Answer me! Talk to me!”
“I’m fine.” Liao was barely able to stand up and walk straight: “Did we - did we win?”
“I don’t - that depends on Gloria and Turner.” Luoshan Zi put her fingers on Ruo’s neck, tears dropping from her eyes: “I don’t know - ”
Another energy pulse blew through the air. This time it showed some more effect on everything - the dark fog from the green flames were weakened, but the dark energy coming from all around them seemed to have become much more violent and volatile.
Luoshan Zi sighed and finally relented, for Ruo’s breathing had all but stopped. So had her heartbeats. For a moment she had no idea what she could tell Keying, that his partner in life would no longer be with him.
“We did it! We did it!” At this moment, Sue’s voice echoed in the crumbling subway station: “Out out out! Get out as soon as possible!”
The smell of sweat and body odor hit everyone before everything. Lucky for them, their tactics worked: those with power to fight to create a diversion and defeat the guards here, while the two who could not sneak in and try to sabotage the array in this station and free those who were held here.
“There’s another room!” One of the individuals, a monk with frizzly grown hair and in a ragged cloak grabbed Turner Ouyang and Sue by their arms, urging with a hoarse voice: “We need to save them first! We are only kept here as backup, there are ones who are held in some kind of altar room.”
“We’ll get them next. But please, head up and find a place to hide first!” Turner Ouyang nodded at the old monk: “Please, hurry!”
“We must go! The place is about to collapse!” Luoshan Zi warned.