Fates Parallel Chapter 74 - Intervention

Yoshika sighed heavily, then winced at the twinge of pain caused by the movement. There was really no sense denying it—she’d been caught red-handed, so to speak.

“We don’t suppose we could convince you that it was a different demon that killed Yan Zhihao? That this really was a big misunderstanding and that everything we’ve told you until now has been true?”

Zheng Long scoffed and shook his head.

“Do you think I’m stupid? I’ll admit, I had been overcautious of Seong, but it’s clear to me that you’ve been the mastermind behind all of this—presumably you threatened the others, or perhaps held Miss Lee there hostage.”

Yoshika glanced back at Jia’s body. Her breathing was labored, and each intake of breath caused the chest injury to flare up with a sharp pain—all of which Yoshika could feel herself.

“Yes, we actually kind of do. You’re so caught up in your own head that you’d sooner believe whatever strange story you’ve made up for yourself than the truth. We had nothing to do with Yan Zhihao’s death, the sword demon Jianmo killed him, and Jia won his ring in a fair duel. That’s it. That’s the truth.”

Zheng’s eyebrow twitched a bit at the insult, but he otherwise kept a straight face.

“Even if I believed all of that. You are a demon, Miss An. That is reason enough for me to kill you here and now.”

Yoshika shrugged.

“We don’t think you ever needed one, Zheng Long. Frankly, we’re surprised you didn’t try to kill us while we were healing Jia.”

He laughed and shook his head.

“Did you always use ‘we’ like that? You’re not acting at all the way you did when we captured you. Well, I thought you were trying to turn her into a demon like yourself. I’ll admit I’m not familiar with the process, but if I had been right you have to admit that it would have made for an excellent cover for this whole altercation.”

Yoshika stared at Zheng Long incredulously.

“What a world you must live in, to even imagine that life could be so convenient. You really just thought that everything was going to fall into place for you? That you’d come away from all of this with no consequences for your actions?”

“Tsk, well it certainly would have been nice. Frankly, I’m not in any danger here, and I never was. It was only ever a matter of how much effort I would need to make, and how much I stood to gain. The Young Master’s death threw my plans into disarray, but avenging his death by slaying a demon and returning the stolen artifact should more than make up for it, I think.”

“You honestly must think the fucking world revolves around you. The possibility of failure has never even crossed your mind, has it?”

Zheng Long scoffed.

“Against a bunch of foreigners? One must learn to read the auspices of fate, and I am fortunate indeed to have been given a task that’s as trivial as it is prestigious. Anyhow, I think I’ve let you stall me for long enough. I don’t know what you’re waiting for, but I’d rather not find out.”

Yoshika clicked her tongue in irritation as Zheng Long’s fiery aura enveloped him once more. She had been stalling him, and had hoped to avoid a fight entirely. She dropped into a combat stance for—the Soft Fist style. It wasn’t ideal, but it would take too long to reattune Eui’s ki to the destruction element. It was still a martial art—she just hadn’t really practiced it in combat before.

Oh well. She’d just have to make do. It wasn’t like the Soft Fist was her only weapon. She had a number of talismans on her, and while Eui wasn’t as skilled at combat casting as Jia was—well, Yoshika was Jia. It wasn’t a problem.

Rather than give Zheng Long the initiative, Yoshika made the first move. The Soft Fist style had graceful, flowing movements—completely different from Lightning God’s erratic, zig-zagging dashes, or Asura’s stompy, forceful stances. The change in movements seemed to catch Zheng Long off-guard, and he was still wary of Eui’s destruction element—he didn’t know that she couldn’t use it at the moment.

He backed off as she advanced, hurling barrages of flaming spears at her. Yoshika’s eyes widened as she saw the truth behind his attack.

“So that’s how you use Illusory Mists!”

As Jia, she had wondered how Zheng Long was able to afford the qi expenditure of such a powerful technique for so long, and neither Eui nor Jia had been able to see it on their own. Within Yoshika’s domain, however, it seemed obvious—the spears weren’t all real. It had been difficult to tell the difference, since they were all constructs of qi and the illusion was very well crafted—Zheng Long really was a master of his style.

Yoshika conserved her energy by dodging only the real spears, allowing the illusions to dissipate harmlessly against her body. Zheng Long’s eye twitched as the first one struck her.

“Ah, so you noticed that, eh? I had thought to conserve qi by cutting corners, but I suppose I should have known better. Try this!”

She had almost reached him when he unleashed another barrage, impossible to dodge at this range and—they were all real spears? In a panic, Yoshika accelerated her thoughts as much as she possibly could, and inadvertently activated the only technique either Eui or Jia knew that could help her—Absolute Awareness.

The world froze, and for a moment Yoshika thought she had made a fatal error—after all, Absolute Awareness was debilitating. Except, it wasn’t—she felt a splitting headache that was rapidly getting worse, but she was otherwise fine. Did her processing ability really improve that much in this state? Yoshika didn’t have time to question it—she knew she was still extremely limited in how long she could maintain Absolute Awareness.

Within her perception she could now see that the spears weren’t all real, after all. Zheng Long had simply crafted a much more convincing illusion. Even more deviously, it was still impossible to dodge the spread of real spears entirely, as most of the fakes were the ones aimed directly at her. Not all of them, though, so simply blocking wasn’t an option either.

The answer was to continue forward, deflect the most vital spears, and allow herself to take a small amount of superficial damage—actually, she realized that she could activate a mana shield to stave off even that.

Yoshika released Absolute Awareness and lunged forward. Zheng Long’s eyes went wide with surprise as she slipped her head to the side just enough to dodge a spear, while simultaneously deflecting the one aimed at her heart with a burst of ki and allowing a third to graze harmlessly off of the mana shield she had activated through her domain. The rest she allowed to strike her directly—they were illusions.

He was so shocked by her ability to avoid his attack that he hesitated long enough for her to close the distance. He caught his bearings before she could strike, but she had finally brought the fight to him.

Zheng Long’s flaming aura flared out, but Yoshika ignored it—her mana shield, as well as her warmth element offered her limited protection from the passive effect of the flames. The fiery tendrils he produces to lash out at her were another story, though, and she was forced to dance her way around them, deflecting, dodging, and occasionally allowing glancing blows as she continued to pressure Zheng Long.

Yoshika recalled Jia’s duel with Yan Zhihao. Back then, he had used three such flaming whips to corner her, but now she found herself going toe to toe against nearly a dozen and holding her own. Part of that she could attribute to the style, which was far more suited to avoiding attacks than either of her other styles—both of which focused on creating openings. However, she was forced to admit that her speed and reflexes were an order of magnitude greater than either Eui or Jia could have accomplished on their own, and evidently Zheng Long had noticed it as well.

“Impressive, demon! Your stolen power suits you well! I don’t think I would lose, but your techniques are quite dangerous, so I don’t think I’ll take my chances. Han Yu!”

Yoshika’s head whipped around in time to see Han Yu rushing towards her, his face a mask of grim determination. As she met his eyes, she could sense Yan Yue’s apologetic gaze behind them. Time had run out, and Yue had been forced to make a decision. As before, she picked the side she thought was winning.

Yoshika had been too focused on her fight with Zheng Long to notice Han Yu’s—or rather, Yan Yue’s—approach. Now she was trapped between them with no hope of escape. She wanted to scream in frustration. Would it kill Yan Yue to take her side one fucking time!? She resigned herself to her fate—she’d done everything she could, but it just wasn’t enough. She hadn’t been able to buy enough time for—

“Mujuuryoku!”

Zheng Long’s smug grin disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by Hayakawa Kaede’s fist sending him crashing violently into the ground and tumbling off a cliff. Yoshika winced. She’d experienced that technique first-hand as Jia, and it brought back unpleasant memories.

Yan Yue came up short, halting her attack to stare in shock at Hayakawa’s sudden appearance. Hayakawa maintained her fighting stance and turned to face Han Yu before addressing Yoshika.

“An, explain the situation.”

Yoshika quickly shook off the shock of Hayakawa’s sudden appearance.

“Zheng Long thinks we—I mean, I am the demon that killed Yan Zhihao. He wants to kill me to avenge him, and bring Jia back to Qin to answer for stealing his dimensional ring.”

Yoshika cringed as Hayakawa raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look.

“What?”

“It’s a long story, but we don’t have time—he’s going to be back. Han Yu is under Yue’s control but I don’t know if she’s on our side or not because she keep changing her fucking mind!”

Han Yu winced and glanced back nervously towards the cliff.

“Y-you realized that?”

“I also noticed you knocking Xin and Guan out again the moment you thought we were going to lose. You change allegiances like you change clothes, Yue!”

Yue wasn’t able to offer a retort before Minami Yuuko and the other Yamato students came running down the path—obviously they hadn’t been able to arrive as quickly as Hayakawa herself. They had only just begun to gather the injured before a bright, flaming dragon came soaring up from the cliff where Zheng Long had fallen.

Hovering in the air, in the center of the dragon was Zheng Long, with blood streaming down his furious face.

“Worthless barbarian! How dare you!? I swear, I’m going to kill every last one of you—you too, Yue! It will be a pain trying to excuse it to your father, but this insult cannot stand.”

Without waiting for a reply, Zheng Long dove towards them and hurled a massive fireball, targeting the injured group. Yuuko’s group blocked the attack with a linked barrier, but they were still lightly injured by the backlash.

“Hahahaha! Your inferior techniques won’t save you. Witness the power of a true cultivator at the peak of the houtian realm!”

Zheng Long drew in a deep breath, and the fiery aura around him shrank inward. Yoshika’s eyes widened—she recognized this technique. It had been Yan Zhihao’s trump card, and it had already been powerful in his hands. Yan Yue seemed to recognize it as well—Han Yu’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, and Yoshika could sense Yue’s real body fleeing behind the wall of stone.

Yoshika activated Absolute Awareness, and once again time seemed to slow to a halt. Zheng Long was using his sect’s ultimate technique, with as much power behind it as one could muster before reaching the xiantian stage. Even from behind cover, Yue was fearful enough to run for her life. It didn’t seem likely that any of them were going to survive this attack.

Something tugged at the back of her mind as she desperately observed everything within her domain, searching for an answer. Hayakawa was gathering her own ki, but she’d just used her ultimate technique—it would take her some time before she could use it again. Yuuko and her friends had already had their defensive technique crushed once, and they wouldn’t be able to activate their talismans in time to protect the injured a second time.

Rika, Eunae, and Dae were all unconscious—her friends had fought to protect her, and now their lives were in danger. Among them, Jia’s body rested, barely being kept alive by the ongoing infusion of wood qi from Yoshika—thankfully something she could do through the connection of their domain. There, hanging around Jia’s neck, was Yoshika’s last hope.

She’d almost forgotten about the talisman that Jia had made as one of her trump cards. Based on the one that Dae had made for her to use against Yan Zhihao, it was the culmination of all her efforts in magical study. If there was any time to use it, it was now.

Yoshika focused her attention on Jia’s body—her body. She had been mostly operating through Eui’s less injured body, but Jia was still just as much a part of her as ever. Jia was in an extreme amount of pain, and though Yoshika had been doing her best to put it out of her mind, she now had no choice but to give it her full attention.

It wasn’t just her injury, as severe as it was. She hadn’t come away from the temporary loss of her soul unscathed, and Jia’s meridians were a complete disaster. Both the wood qi and the spirit within her soul were working to repair them, but the damage was extensive and would likely have long term consequences for her. Unfortunately, Yoshika was about to make that situation even worse.

With great effort, she lifted Jia’s arm to pluck the talisman from around her neck. There wasn’t enough time to be as careful as she would have liked as she pointed her hand at Zheng Long and began pouring lightning ki into it. Jia’s entire body convulsed painfully as she directed the ki through her damaged meridians, and much of it was lost through ruptured or incomplete pathways, causing minor deviations all over.

Though Yoshika was able to think much faster than before, the speed at which she was able to manipulate her essence hadn’t really changed much, and the tension of the moment seemed to stretch on interminably as she charged the lightning bolt talisman. Would she make it in time before Zheng Long unleashed his deadly flames? Would she even have enough ki left after losing so much of it through the damaged meridians? Would Jia even be able to survive the deviations this was causing? Would—

CRACK! BOOM!

Yoshika’s anxious musings were cut off by a thunderclap followed by an incredible explosion. The thunderbolt from Jia’s talisman had been many times more powerful than the one she had used against Zhihao, and caught Zheng Long completely off guard. When it struck him, the qi he had been building up was immediately released in a huge, fiery explosion that blinded them all momentarily.

When their vision cleared, they saw Zheng Long, charred black and broken, falling from the sky—there was no sign of the dragon-like aura of flames. Yoshika expected a sickening crunch when he landed, but to her surprise he was caught by—Yan Hao stood among them, holding Zheng Long’s broken body in his arms. He wore the same jolly smile as usual as he looked over Zheng Long’s injuries.

“Oh dear, oh dear. You’ve certainly done a number on my poor disciple. By the Emperor! It’s a wonder he’s even still alive! Here, here, here, and...here. And a pill for good luck.”

Yan Hao poked a few pressure points before feeding Zheng Long a pill. Apparently satisfied with his treatment, he then set Zheng down on the ground gently before turning his smile to the confused group of students.

“That ought to hold him for a while. Now then, dare I ask what’s going on here?”

Yoshika felt a wave of hopelessness and despair wash over her as she sank to the ground. It was over. She’d been so caught up in the idea that Yan Hao wouldn’t act directly. She’d believed it when Yan Yue told her because she desperately wanted it to be true. What could she possibly do against one of the instructors?

Most of the students stayed silent as they glanced nervously at each other and Yan Hao, but Hayakawa stepped forward with confidence.

“I’d like to know that myself, Esteemed Elder. We invited Zheng Long on this trip as a cooperative training opportunity, yet he and his circle have not only snubbed us repeatedly, but attacked the Goryeon circle unprovoked. Since you’ve just named him as such, do you have anything to say on behalf of your disciple?”

Yan Hao’s cheeks jiggled as he chuckled amiably.

“Hoho! Bold accusations, Miss Hayakawa. Well, I can’t get my disciple’s side of the story. Han Yu? Hmm, out cold. Yue! I see you trying to slink away, back there. Get back here—and release those poor boys from your spell. By the Emperor, teenage girls are such a handful.”

Yan Yue came shuffling around the corner, her head hanging low like a child who’d just been caught lying to their mother.

“Yes, master.”

“Very good. Now then, Yue, would you care to enlighten me as to what actually transpired here?”

Hayakawa’s eyebrow twitched at the implicit accusation, but she didn’t interrupt as Yue glanced hesitantly towards them and gulped nervously.

“Master, what they say is mostly true. Zheng Long made accusations to justify his actions, but I believe that...some of his accusations were without merit.”

Yan Hao’s eyes lit up and Yoshika was confused. Why did he seem so happy to hear that?

“Is that so? How careless of him. Which false accusations did he make?”

Yan Yue sighed and gestured towards Jia and Eui.

“He claimed that Lee Jia stole our sect’s artifact from my brother, which she didn’t. He also claimed that An Eui murdered my brother, which she didn’t.”

Yan Hao’s smile grew even wider and Yoshika became increasingly confused. She didn’t know which was stranger—the fact that Yan Yue was telling the truth, the fact that she was carefully telling only the truth that was most beneficial to Yoshika, or the fact that Yan Hao seemed so pleased about it.

“Quite the blunder, then. He’s always been a bit too cocksure for his own good. You implied, however, that some of his accusations did have merit?”

Yue winced, but nodded after a moment.

“Technically, yes. It wasn’t one of the accusations he made before starting the fight, but...we witnessed An Eui draining qi from Lee Jia, after which her power grew immensely. Zheng Long came to the conclusion that she was a demon and—I can’t think of another explanation for what I saw.”

All eyes fell on Yoshika, and as she saw Yan Hao’s ear-to-ear grin, she realized why he had been so pleased. He knew what Yue was going to say, and he knew what had happened. He was steering the conversation towards this outcome—one that allowed him to disavow Zheng Long’s actions while still achieving his goals. This, she realized, was what a real master of Qin’s social games looked like.

“Well now! That’s quite a damning accusation indeed. Have you anything to say in your defense, Miss An?”

Yoshika reached up to pull on something in frustration, but she didn’t have Jia’s ears, and there was no way she was pulling Eui’s hair. Instead she just clenched her fists and sighed in exasperation.

If she survived this, she was going to kill Yan Yue.