We left the throne room and quickly made our way to the inner sanctum of the Divine Empress’s palace. I melted the few soldiers and servants in our path. “The Inquisitor and the child Qi Ji Long lie beyond this door. Good luck. Boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chick-“

“What are you doing?” It was really distracting as the Avatar made noises in my head.

“Just giving you some music. Good luck, you will need it. Boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka.”

“I am good without the music. Thank you for the thought, but I need all my senses in a fight.”

“Boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka.” I took a deep breath and let it out. Now I knew why the Divine Empress had this woman’s tongue removed and turned her into a human shaped nugget. She clearly enjoyed stirring the pot and pissing people off.

“Stay here,” I told Fuyuka who had been keeping quiet through all of this. She nodded. I forced the doors open and entered this section of the Divine Empress’s palace. The colors were a lot more normal here. With reds, golds, and yellow light instead of the black, white, red horror show that had been going on in the rest of the palace.

An older woman walked out from a side door and stood in front of me. Not as old as the Divine Empress, but she had the same vibe. I used my Sense stat on her. Okay, this wasn’t going to be easy or quick. She said something in Chinese.

“I don’t speak Chinese,” I told her.

“What I asked was, who are you, but it appears you are Champion Michael.” I took off my spikey helmet and tossed it to the side.

“In the flesh. And you are the Inquisitor?” I asked.

“Yes. You are trespassing. Leave and I shall not end you,” she said.

“I am afraid you have something I require,” I replied.

“Then you shall perish,” the woman said and settled into a martial arts stance. It reminded me of the Divine Empress in a way. Only the Inquisitor was wearing reds and golds, had black hair, and didn’t look as nearly as old or scary as the Divine Empress.

Air Burst. I quickly closed the distance. She disappeared! Danger sense! Behind me! I tired to turn, but was too slow. Her hand reached out and struck my armor. It crumpled like wet paper and I was sent slamming into a nearby wall. “Acid Shot,” x5. Air Burst. I needed to keep moving.

Another hit struck my chest, and I went tumbling along the hallway back towards Abs, Fuyuka, and the Avatar. The annoying noise of the Avatar still chanting in my head. “You didn’t think the Divine Empress would choose any less than the best to protect her child?”

I thought the Envoy was the best. Of course, the secret masters and hidden bosses would be tucked away inside the Forbidden City. The Divine Empress would put a greater priority on her child than her evil empire. So of course, the super minion was stationed here with a teleport skill.

Almost matching my stats like this was unfair. I just got a massive powerup, this should be a curb stomp, instead I was getting stomped. At least the blows were doing little damage to me, but I was being tossed around like a rag doll.

Air Burst. I closed in again. The Inquisitor disappeared. Aqua Sphere. I was already ready for the teleporting attack, but nothing came. I dropped my defense. The Inquisitor was right in front of me, hand going right for my armored chest.

Her hand pierced my armor like a claw and kept going. It struck directly over my heart, and I staggered back. Pain hit me as bits of flesh turned black and then into sludge, dripping down under my armor. Pain coursed through me. I felt my heart shudder as more of my flesh began to decay. I wouldn’t be able to survive another strike like that. “What? You were using skills, I thought it only fair.”

“Acid Shot,” x100. Dodge that! As the acid melted into the walls and floors. I saw the Inquisitor hanging from the ceiling, her hand jabbed into it. The acid was below her.

“I am the Apprentice of Grandmaster Hei Long herself. Your tricks won’t work on me.” Just shut up already. This place was changing from the Forbidden City to the City of Annoying Women Who Needed To Die.

“Boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka.”

Not the time to be pissed at that woman making annoying noises in my head, I had a fight to win and kill this other woman. Air Burst. The Inquisitor disappeared. Her hand was headed right for my chest again. Air Burst. I altered my course, ready for attack. “Acid Shot,” x20.

She spun and kicked off wall. I had you now! “Acid Shot,” x20. “Acid Shot,” x20. She teleported a short distance and attacked me again. I pushed out a layer of energy out of my chest and let the blow land on the right side, instead of the left side of my chest where the last one had landed, as my left hand closed around her arm.

“Acid Shot,” x20. She disappeared, and I was left holding just an arm. She was standing a distance away in the ruined hallway, blood squirting out of her stump. “Need a hand?” I held out her own arm towards her. The pain in my chest was quite a bit, but that was worth it to take her arm. Blood and flesh continued to drip down.

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“Ahhhh!” she screamed. It appeared the Inquisitor had gone feral as she rushed at me. First rule of fighting, well maybe not the first rule, but one of the rules. Going feral doesn’t increase your combat power. I flicked her arm at her. Even though I was in great pain, screaming like a banshee didn’t help anything.

“Acid Shot,” x20. I didn’t aim at her, but everywhere else around me. She let out a scream as she collapsed to the ground melting. She had teleported right into my acid. Too predictable. This time the screams were not of rage but of pain.

The acid was doing less to her than other people, since she had quite a fair number of stats. Well one way to fix that. “Acid Shot,” x20. More of her melted and then she disappeared. I looked around but she was gone. Even with my Sense stat I couldn’t track her teleportation and I didn’t sense her anywhere near.

“Boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka, boom chicka chicka. Oh, wait you won. I will stop now.” I staggered slightly from those comments. The worst part was this so called Avatar didn’t seem to care if I left her. She wanted to keep her own life, but why was she being annoying as possible? She wanted me to die or me to be injured. I didn’t like her in the slightest.

“Was there a reason you were distracting me and being incredibly annoying?” I asked as I returned to my group and the Avatar.

“It was entertaining. And I do the same whenever her royal empress of the universe and everything to ever exist is around. I thought you would like to know what I did to her and get some comfort from that. I think that is why she went beyond cutting out my tongue.” This was a woman who liked to cause trouble and just stir the pot. No, stirring the pot was too kind of a description. She liked to throw matches into gas puddles at a gas station to see if it would all explode.

“Better hurry. Don’t want the kid snatched out from under you,” the Avatar said. We quickly moved through the ruined hallway, the acid already having disappeared, leaving slurry behind. Who else would be going for the kid? I didn’t get time to ask that question as we had reached our destination.

I entered a room and a young boy dressed in gold and red with dragon stitching on his clothing was standing there in a very familiar martial arts stance. He said something and I looked at Fuyuka. “He is demanding you bring his mother or the Inquisitor back.”

“You are in charge of the brat Fuyuka. If he gives you trouble, smack him lightly. He doesn’t have any stats,” I said. He had to be around 4 or 5 years old. He looked normal, but I wasn’t taking any chances myself.

“But the Avatar said not to hurt him.” I rolled my eyes at that. The Avatar was a bag of trouble as far as I was concerned.

“You would be instructing him in discipline, not hurting him. Hurry up.” Fuyuka quickly picked the boy up who flailed helplessly.

“You need to hurry.” The ground shook. Why was the ground shaking.

“Care to tell me what is happening?” I asked as I spun to the Avatar being carried by Abs.

“Stuff and things. Things and stuff.” I wanted to ask the Almighty System for some patience and to not kill this blind nugget woman. I raised my hand to use an Acid Shot on her and that incredible sense of doom came back. I lowered my hand. Curse you Almighty System. Why did you give this woman a meta-point and not me?

“We need to get the library first,” I set off into the Empress’s personal rooms. I wasn’t leaving without that library.

I found her bedroom. I took a half a minute to piss on her bed. She called me a dog, then I was a dog. I also left behind the buster stick Abs had been carrying along with the Avatar. I had a message engraved on it when it was purchased. It was went right on her piss soaked bedsheets.

For the old hag who lives here. I stole all your points and other things under orders from the Astrologer. Consider it payback for being such an ugly old hag. Pro tip, get skin cream and kindness. It will make you look younger. Also Naran sends his regards.

The buster stick was a bit beat up, and it would have been nice to alter the message a bit, but it was good enough. The ground shook again. I felt a surge of energy. The entire palace shook, and some nearby rooms burst into flames. I felt the heat wash over me.

“Don’t listen to the person who can see everything. Just go on and do your own thing.” The child began to cry and scream in Fuyuka’s arms. I was getting a massive headache.

“Then help!” I yelled at the Avatar.

“I am helping by giving you sage advice and my one of a kind action music. It is midnight, the perfect time for some music. You should be thanking me.” Breathe Michael, you got the points. You beat the Inquisitor and killed the Master Fleshcrafter. Just keep looking.

I burst into a room and found an entire bookcase. None of the books had labels on their spines. Everything shook again. “Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.” I ignored the incredibly aggravating mental chanting of the Avatar and found a wooden desk. I ripped out the bottom drawer which had paperwork and tossed in 10 books out of the 40 on the shelf. Hopefully they would be useful. There wasn’t space to fit them all or time to look for a bigger storage container.

“Let’s go!” I said right before the sound of a massive explosion shook everything.

“Fugae cantus in mentem venit!”

“What the hell is going on!?” I shouted as we rushed back through the palace. I tried to ignore the chanting music of the Avatar. I could hear screaming in the distance. The ground shook some more. We raced back through the throne room. One of the walls had caved in.

We entered the ante-chamber. I could hear more explosions happening outside as we reached the main entrance. Fuyuka carrying the screaming kid and Abs carrying the Avatar were right behind me screaming in my head in what was supposed to be music in some weird Latin chant.

“Ad libertatem pergendum est!”

I slammed my hands into the doors throwing them open to see what the hell was going on outside. I watched as multiple beam attacks converge in the air on an airship. Several soldiers leapt off the airship, plummeting towards the plaza. The air ship went down in flames. It crashed into a building and exploded. I blinked away the bright light.

Beam attacks continued to fly through the air. I saw soldiers in red and gold fighting across the plaza against the Black Talons. Another airship was still zipping around in the air unleashing beam attacks down into the plaza and city.

“Pernix et velox fugio!”

Everyone suddenly stilled. And that was when I realized I had made a critical error in judgement. Abs was still next to me and looked like the Divine Empress. I had gotten so used to keeping it like that I forgot to shift its appearance. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked our way.

“Ne catenae me tenere possint!” The Avatar wasn’t helping matters either.