“[…And then she just, didn’t get up. It wasn’t even a hard hit, I swear.]”
Lu nodded. “[I know she didn’t have any substantial damage. I’m not blaming you – and I don’t think the others are either, exactly. It’s just an incredibly strange situation, and nobody knows what to do.]”
Stingy’s explanations of proper ki flow had been interesting, if poorly worded, though not nearly enough to provide a clue as to Jiendao's comatose state. It was more than obvious that any wounds she had taken during training were entirely incidental; Lu was, at this point, more concerned about giving a full accounting to Braveheart, so they could put this useless suspicion aside and work together properly again.
The Emperor’s wrath extending to Moving Waters is a problem that should have been solved within days. I’d ask what the Elders were doing, if their plates weren’t obviously overfull.
“[I’m not sure it’s like that, Lu. That muscly guy seemed pretty ready to just drag me off.]” She blew air through her nostrils, the sound carrying a feeling of tension. “[But that’s it. I carried her up to the foot of the mountain where some humans took her, then came back here.]”
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Cobo watched from the sidelines as Lu continued to question Stingy, his attention more on his own thoughts than either of their words.
As much as his… discussion with the woman had helped him settle some of his muddled emotions, the fact remained that things were starting to go bad. He wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted, but huddling in a mudpit for the rest of his life wasn’t it. Even if the Sun wasn’t trying to kill them, it was only a matter of time before relations between his quasi-adopted clan and Lu’s sect broke down completely. And yeah, fixing the Jiendao thing might plaster over the cracks a little, but how long would that last? This planet’s energy and his literally ate each other on contact; maybe they could make things work with a nice barred gate between them, but squatting on their land was obviously not working.
Cobo had seen the way Still Water and that human Warboss had squared off. Clans weren’t meant to be this close together, and the reasons why were becoming more obvious every day.
He remained silent until the back-and-forth died down. Lu was chewing on his lip the way he did when he was stressed, but he put on a cheery tone as he put his hands together.
“[Thank you for this, Stingy. I know that recent, ah, hostilities have made you wary of trusting the sect, but I promise everything will work out. Braveheart is…]” A pause, the man’s mouth hanging open as he searched for something polite to say. “[Zealous, but I’m sure your troubles with him are over. And I’m sure that Jiendao will be cured any day now, which will put any remaining rumours in their graves.]”
It was hard to tell if Lu meant what he said, sometimes. He always sounded sincere, but then he’d spew some crap that was so obviously stupid it just had to be a lie. Our troubles are over, huh? Yeah, I’ll just take a walk up the mountain and see how over it is.
Sting wasn’t buying it either. “[…Yeah, okay. Is there anything else?]”
“[No, I should have everything I need.]” His eyes shifted. “[At least, everything I can get here. The investigators already went over the site where it happened, I’ve gotten your testimony, there weren’t any other witnesses… Yes, I think everything should be wrapped up on your end.]”
She nodded. “[That’s good. I suppose you’ll be going then?]”
“[For now. Ah, though I might need Cobo’s help with something.]” Lu’s eyes turned Cobo’s way, and for a moment he was pleasantly surprised. He had been about to interrupt the man and demand they speak, but it seemed that things were going his way today. “[I’ll discuss it in a moment, but before that, I’d like to ask the two of you if you wanted to get out of the sect for a bit. Not right now, obviously, but…]” Another bite of his lip. Cobo could smell the damaged meat, just faintly, less pungent than a warrior’s blood would be. “[…At some point. After Jiendao wakes up, I think.]”
Stingy answered for both of them. “[Maybe? If things work out, I guess we’d both like to get away for a bit?]” She sent a questioning look his way, and he nodded. “[Yeah. Another training thing?]”
Lu perked up a bit, his mood rising as they moved away from the actually important shit going on. “[No, not quite. More of a… let’s call it a supply run of sorts. Hunting beasts.]” He smiled thinly. “[I want to make a real play for the inner realms before fighting breaks out again. Would you help me? You can take the meat, all I’m after are their spiritual organs.]”
Stingy, like Lu, became gradually more animated. It was something they shared, a tendency to shy away from thinking about the hard topics. There was a reason he had been the one to plan out the actual path of their journey – not that that had worked out. “[Like, hunting stuff? Sure, that sounds fun!]”
For the first time in a long while, he spoke up. “[I could be convinced to tag along. Who else is going?]”
“[I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to get back to you on that once things are more settled.]”
Cobo grunted. “[Bull’ll be there?]”
“[Ah, yes, almost certainly.]”
“[Good.]” I’ll talk to him, then.
A moment of silence as the good mood stretched thinner, before Lu spoke again. “[Yes, very good. On that note, I was actually meaning to ask you if you would come up and see-]”
“[I want a fight.]” Lu’s eyes widened as Cobo’s interruption reached his ears, and he opened his mouth only to be talked over. “[Not just a sparring match, a real fight. I need to know where we stand.]” And there’s only one way to do that. “[I’ll do whatever you want after. Deal?]”
I’m not strong, not yet. But I don’t want to be weak. All this stuff with different realities and invasions, I couldn’t give less of a shit. That doesn’t concern me. Something like a smile crept up, the corners of his mouth edging towards his goggles. That’s what I’d like to say. But you dragged me into this mess – I want to know if I’ll be able to drag myself out, or if I’ll need help.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
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“[Deal?]”
Lu blinked, so unused to seeing any kind of smile on Cobo’s face that the expression seemed foreign.
“[Ah…]” You’ve been hanging around Bull too much, my disciple. Fighting isn’t the only way to express yourself. But, seeing as it’s been a while, and since I’m trying to become stronger myself, I suppose I’ll indulge you! “[I accept your challenge. Right now?]”
“[Right now.]”
Stingy looked between the two men, their eyes locked, and hopped in place. “[Oh! That’s good! I’ll just be over here away from the sun, then!]”
That’s good, hmm? Lu glanced over to the towering woman, but though he couldn’t agree with her words, he equally couldn’t stop his own smile from forming in mimicry of his student’s. She made her way to the nearest building and turned, watching from its shadow.
His attention went back to Cobo, and more specifically the roiling energy under his skin. Though Lu’s Comprehension of ki had increased, his understanding of his student was a muddled as ever – worse than ever, maybe; as everything else became clearer, the chaotic mass of Cobo’s spiritual stomach was more and more unpredictable in comparison.
Lu took his stance, a single sword – a normal one, not a treasure – appearing in his hand. “[I suppose I’ll count us down. Three, two-]”
Cobo’s form blurred forward and Lu clamped down on the urge to sigh. Entirely too much like Bull. I’ll have to start giving him etiquette lessons again.
The battle began with an exchange of spacial techniques. Space folded over and over again violently as each of them attempted to place themselves in an advantageous position, moving across the bank of the moat in a series of rapid-fire teleportations. Lu quickly got the upper hand; his Space Rippers were faster and more precise, and he scored three consecutive hits with the tip of his sword as they danced, mere centimetres apart, their surroundings shifting rapidly.
Cobo retaliated with a rainbow spray, and as Lu moved to dodge he found the surrounding fabric of space hopelessly twisted. A trap? His shield took the brunt of the assault, but as the effects cleared Lu saw that his student hadn’t been idle.
A large, round sphere of stone shot from Cobo’s Junk pistol with a clean BANG, just slow enough to see. There was no way Lu would be able to get his sword up in time to parry, so he accepted the qi loss and cast a stronger shield; the stone bullet ricocheted off his glowing pane of solidified qi, followed by a second spray of random elements.
Wind Cutter! Light Ray! Volleys of ranged attacks tore into the grass-covered earth, caused steam to erupt from the moat, and would have added several unwelcome new windows to the nearest building if Stingy hadn’t jumped in and cut them down.
Lu attempted a few illusions but they were swiftly destroyed; Cobo was actually fighting intelligently, hiding high-powered attacks inside weak but wide-ranging ones. The ki was thick enough that Lu’s senses were becoming unreliable, especially when they both added their muscle reinforcement to the mix and returned to blurring across the field.
I swear he wasn’t this capable a week ago. Ah, but you haven’t surpassed your master just yet! A massive Spacial Freeze flattened out Cobo’s bastardised version of Anchoring Distortion, while Lu cast the proper spell in a thin beam to keep the other man from teleporting out – unless he wanted to leave behind a chunk of his torso, he wasn’t going anywhere for a few seconds. I don’t exactly have a good track record with this strategy… But it has to work at some point!
Fireball, Snowball, Lightningball! Go, three elements barrage! Lu Ripped himself up into the air, firing his spells down. The balls of elemental fury orbited each other tightly as they descended, their light melding together as they struck the frozen half-sphere. “[You wanted a real fight, so here it is! Anchoring Distortion!]”
A fist-sized corridor opened, allowing the finishing blow through, and as they detonated in a spectacular lightshow Lu felt a tremendous satisfaction at finally landing an attack, marred only slightly by a lingering worry for Cobo’s person. It’s fine, it’s fine. He may not be Stingy or Bull, but Cobo isn’t weak by any means. He’ll be fine with a steak and a nap.
As the frosty smoke cleared, Lu’s internal narration was proven correct. Cobo knelt on the ground, singed and battered but conscious. Touching down gently, Lu smiled widely. “[You might have gotten some hits in, but it seems you haven’t caught up to me just yet. Was that satisfying enough for you?]”
Cobo’s head rose. His cowl was tattered, letting sunlight through to illuminate own sharp and bloodstained grin. Lu paused. Wait, shouldn’t he be burn-
Another tremendous BANG, and Lu’s shield shattered like poorly tempered glass. Pain erupted in his side, hot and jagged, a burning lance shoved into his gut from just to the side of his spine.
“[Ah-!]” The Cobo in front of his eyes dissolved into smoke, and Lu immediately recast his shield as he whirled. An illusion?! And paired with a stealth technique – you’ve been holding out on me! Space Ripper took him away from the follow-up spray of chaos, and the two men warily eyed one another as they each attempted to catch their breath.
“[Been keeping that combo up your sleeve, disciple?]” Golden light played over Lu’s wound, chunks of fractured stone being pushed out as the hole closed.
“[A real warrior always keeps his best techniques secret.]” Cobo panted. Either he had been caught by the edge of Lu’s attack or only managed to swap in an illusion after the Freeze broke, because he was just as damaged as his decoy had appeared to be. His wounds were crusting over, but slowly – the ki expenditure impeding his regeneration.
Gravity Vision. Let’s not get fooled by that a second time. “[You’re pretty injured there. I’ll ask again: are you satisfied?]”
Cobo responded by spitting red-tinged saliva. “[A real fight ends when one side can’t fight anymore. Come at me.]”
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Stingy watched the men fight. It was pretty interesting; she didn’t know if they knew, but their fighting style was actually really similar. And not just because Lu was Cobo’s teacher, either.
They both alternated between ranged and melee, instinctively backing off before rushing back in when their frustrations built. Cobo was bigger, but Lu was the better fighter. They were like two dragonflies jousting, always looking like they’d collide but never actually doing it.
And even more, they both seemed to have endless techniques. Lu shot out wave after wave of alien magic, beams and orbs and more esoteric effects combining unpredictably as Cobo replied with expressions of chaos, his attacks never moving quite the same way twice. They moved swiftly, zagging back and forth faster than her eyes could track one moment and utterly still the next. With a rising warmth, she realised that if she had to fight them both at the same time, she might just lose.
They weren’t equal; Lu was older, much older, with experience and training on his side. But Cobo had a fighter’s instinct – when Lu pulled out something new, he didn’t hesitate or get confused. Lu wasn’t like that; every time he was blindsided or outsmarted he would flinch, genuinely surprised. The next time they fought Cobo would be at a massive disadvantage… But right now, full of techniques he had kept hidden, he was holding his own.
They broke off, switching back to ranged attacks like they had planned each other’s moves ahead of time. Cobo threw sparks while Lu let loose scything disks of wind, their techniques exploding as they collided. Both men disappeared from view, only to blur back a second later, Cobo spitting teeth as Lu burned power to repair his glowing shield.
They just kept going, and Stingy watched as the warm feeling continued to grow. Cobo wasn’t wrong when he said that Lu was stronger, but the gap was a lot narrower than he thought. One more year, maybe a year and a half, and he’d have caught up, dragon blood and sheer persistence filling out his frame where the circumstances of his birth had left him weak.
Her hand tingled, urging her to draw her sword and wade in, but she ignored it. This wasn’t her fight.
She sat in the still-bright shade, watching, occasionally intercepting an attack where it threatened the fragile buildings, but mostly thinking about the future. An army. Three people aren't an army, but… it could be the start of one. Is this what mother meant for me to find, when she sent me away?