“Don’t!” Seeing that the group was about to unleash attacks on these two shadows, Master Liaoran raised his voice using his Qi: “They are the shadows of the council - the very people who run the entire array. You can’t harm them, not without interrupting the array and bring about unpredictable outcome.”
“You can’t do it. You can’t - tou shouldn’t.” A shadow that looked like an old woman, whose chest, neck and face were all heavily wounded by acid, said: “You’ll doom the entire city.”
“People will die. Countless people.” The other shadow, that looked like an old, boney old man with sores and gaping, rotten holes all over his body: “You have no idea what you’re doing - this array is what keeps this entire city safe, safe from the damned spirits and apparitions born from the dragon’s curse!”
“Lies!” Marcus barked: “You’ll pay for all you’ve done! All those children - how dare you pretend you even care about anyone but yourselves?!”
“And you sunk that cruise ship, killing hundreds of people, just so you can be in your positions of power.” Gloria spoke through her teeth: “We are doing this. Come at me if you must! I’ll rip and break all of your old crusty bones!”
“There is simply no way you can stop it.” Master Liaoran stood up: “There are only four of you left. Even if you are at your most powerful, you will never be able to complete this cycle without the curse lashing back at you. Then, even granted that you get through it this time, you will not be able to pass the cycle of Earth. ”
“You have no idea of what the council is capable of, disgraced and traitorous monk!” The old man’s shadow cursed: “You broke your deal with us. You broke your word! And you fooled these poor souls into this quest of personal vendetta of yours. You’ve failed everything you claimed you stand for!”
“This monk knows. And they know all they need to know.” Master Liaoran let out a whole-hearted laugh. A laugh of relief, a laugh of triumph. Before either of the shadows could react, both his hands lit up in golden and thrusted in the air in grabbing forms. Two golden shadows of his hands shot from his arms and landed right on both shadows’ chests. Both shadows screeched in pain. They struggled, but the golden hands had locked into some crucial parts of their bodies which rendered their attempts futile and helpless. “Go! Get to the tail end of the bridge!” The master raised his voice at the rest of the team.
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Marcus and Gloria took one final look at the two shadows before leading the way towards the exit through which they came onto the bridge.
“Those - those people of the ‘council’...” Tae Kuo panted as he ran behind Kevin and Mick: “They’re - they’re not dead, nor are they alive - ”
“They’re in between?” Kevin asked.
“No - not really, they’re - NOT either.” Tae Kuo sighed: “These people, what the fuck were they up to…”
As the rest of the group retreated from the central crystal chamber, Master Liaoran shot at the position with his two hands still holding on to the two shadows. His entire body began to glow as he closed in. By the moment he reached the chamber, his entire body had turned into a human-shaped construct of golden energy. His robe turned to ash, scattering into the air through his entire path. In but a moment, he went through the crystal wall, dragging both the shadow council members along with him.
“No!” Marcus saw this and froze where he was, which led to Kevin and Mick bumping into him. He caught them in time so they did not fall off the bridge, and only after a short moment of hesitation he proceeded to run towards the way from which they came.
“Marcus, Gloria. Everyone.” Master Liaoran’s voice permeated through the space before his glowing body would collide with the crystal chamber: “Get ready to run. This entire place will become hostile and could even be leveled. The effects of the purple talisman should help you navigate through it. Find Liaowu after this and run as far as possible.”
“Master? Master!” Tae Kuo turned towards the crystal chamber: “What are you doing?”
“Remember, there’s more to be done after this.” Master Liaoran’s voice echoed in the room: “This monk - I, chose not to tell you this: in order to ‘reboot’ this entire array, I will need to mend this sword plate. It and I will have to become a new pillar for the array. And you - you will know what to do next.”
“Master! ” Marcus roared: “No!”
“Go! You have done enough!” Master Liaoran’s voice formed a gentle shockwave, pushing the rest of the team gently at the door from which they came: “I only have enough power to hold them for a moment. Leave, NOW!”
“You heard then master!” Keryn slapped Marcus, whose eyes were still fixed on the crystal chamber: “Go! We must go!”
“Boom!” The entire crystal chamber burst into thousands upon thousands of transparent grains. At the center of the chamber was a stone sword with its tip pointing upwards at the sky. Unlike the sword plates they saw before, this one had some kind of thick, crooked black outer coating. The master, still in his golden energy form, had both his hands on the blade of the sword plate. With every pulse of energy coming from his chest, the energy from his body cracked the dark coating around the plate by just a little bit.
“Go! Get out of here!” Master Liaoran’s voice was resounding but calm: “You know what to do, and do everything you can to achieve them!”
“Boom!” Another explosion came from the master and the sword plate. The energy radiating from the old monk’s body finally broke through the thick dark shell, and resonated with the energy of the plate itself.
A beam of golden energy shot from the tip of the sword, straight up through the pillar above it. The ceiling and the levels above all began to crumble, yet no debris actually fell into the abyss below, for they just turned into dust and ash in the air.