Chapter 36 Two Superior Scorpions Clash!

[Whoosh!] Tainted Scorpion continued chasing after Crimson Scorpion all the way up the peak of Mt Venom. Along the way, many trees and forest animals were uprooted from the ground due to Tainted Scorpion’s vicious chase sequence. She cast her Gold Spiral Gaze of oblivion at her fleeing target but every time Crimson Scorpion would evade by a hairs-breadth, resulting in nature’s destruction.

[Boom! Boom! Boom!] After exhausting all of her Psionic Scorpion’s strength, Crimson Scorpion arrived at the Assassin League of Black Scorpions’ monastery. The first thing she did upon arrival was located Master Odok’s whereabouts then dashed into his private dojo.

[Dum!] When Crimson Scorpion burst inside, there seemed to have been an important meeting taking place between the elders of the Assassins League of Black Scorpions. “Master! Master! You have to save me!” her outburst caught the attention of the elders present in the dojo along with Master Odok’s gaze.

“Crimson Scorpion? What is the meaning of this insolence? Can’t you see that we’re having a private discussion here?”

“Master it’s about Tainted Scorpion she’s after me…!” [Boom!] When she heard the loud bang crashing into the dojo, Crimson Scorpion understood who had arrived. She hurriedly dashed past the elders and dove into Master Odok’s embrace. “Master! Save me!”

“Hmm? You are missing an arm?” Master Odok noticed that his apprentice had recently lost her right arm.

“It’s Tainted Scorpion’s fault! She’s trying to kill me for accidentally stamping on her toy!”

“What did you say? Tainted Scorpion is…?” [Boom!] From where Anna crashed into the dojo, a huge spiralling wave of energy burst out, engulfing the space.

“What is this sinister presence?” The elders got scared away into the air to avoid getting corroded by the sudden outburst of unfathomable golden energy.

Looking at the origin of the shockwave, Master Odok along with everyone present in the edifice notice Tainted Scorpion’s evolved appearance.

“Who is that diabolical woman?”

“Is she one of your assassin’s Master Odok?”

“How could she just barged into our private discussion unannounced?”

“You need to discipline your disciples better. Such rudeness must not go unpunished.”

Following the elders’ scolding who was still floating in the air, Crimson Scorpion added: “Yes! Yes! She obviously has no respect for sanctuary rules. She should be punished severely.”

“Die! Die!” Tainted Scorpion could care less about the rants spitting from the elders’ wrinkly lips. Her only focus was to assassinate Crimson Scorpion. [Dash!] She lashed out her vambrace’s sharpness at Crimson Scorpion who was seeking shelter in Master Odok’s grasp.

“Tainted Scorpion you seem to have gone insolent!” [Crash!] Just as the chained-blade was about to penetrate Master Odok, White Scorpion appeared between them, blocking Tainted Scorpion’s golden charge with a flick of her wrist.

“White Blizzard!” [Boom!] From the tip of her fingers, a large snowflake manifested which blasted away Tainted Scorpion to the opposite end of the room.

Witnessing this spectacle gave the elders some assurance. “It’s White Scorpion. She came to put that disrespectful disciple in her place.”

“It’s about time. If she hadn’t shown up, I was about to unleash my age upon that rile child.”

“Me too. Young ones these days lack all manner of respect for us elders.”

“Ahf! Ahf! I’m saved.” Crimson Scorpion felt relieved after avoiding near death. Master Odok glanced down at her and asked:

“Crimson what did you do this time to provoke Tainted Scorpion?”

“What do you mean, master? I did nothing to agitate that child. All I did was help her locate her long lost mother. It seems that their reunion didn’t go so well and now she’s taking her anger out on me. I think she might have gone insane after awoken her latent Psionic Scorpion.”

“Is this true?” Master Odok gave Tainted Scorpion’s evolved appearance his conservative gaze. “Her appearance is indeed bizarre. Her mental faculty seems to have been affected. These are common side-effects of a superior Psionic Scorpion taking over its host. Moreover, due to her having merged with two Psionic Scorpions the stress she’s experiencing must be unbearable.”

“Yes! I agree with your assumptions, master. Please beat some sense back into her so she can stop aiming for my life.” Crimson Scorpion tossed all the blame away from herself. She was a clever manipulator.

With all animosity now fixated on Tainted Scorpion, she felt the urge to kill even more. “Die!” her target for assassination now changed from Crimson Scorpion to White Scorpion seeing as how she was the person standing in her way.

“So you’ve finally revealed your true nature, Tainted Scorpion? You’ve violated our code of conduct. Now I shall expel your foul self!” Saying this, White Scorpion dashed her arms asunder to create a freezing blizzard which engulfed Tainted Scorpion entirely.

“Die!” In retaliation to the sudden drop in temperature, Tainted Scorpion unleashed a Golden Dimensional Dark Spiral that started obliterating the chilling storm. To add to her counter-attack, she made good use of the 4 limbs protruding her back.

“Die” [Whoosh!] The 4 golden limbs spread apart to pierce through a darkened dimension. From that abyss, Tainted Scorpion pulled out 4 enlarged scorpions decorated in golden chains. These phantasmal arachnids clamped their claws at White Scorpion the moment they enter the physical realm.

“What sorcery is this?” The elders who were watching from above got startled when they ascertained the appearance of 4 enlarged beasts replete with violent tendency. “Will White Scorpion be enough to handle those vicious things?”

“Don’t worry 4th elder. White Scorpion is the most powerful among Master Odok’s Coloured Scorpions. She will surely put out that tainted woman’s flame. Just watch.”

[Boom! Boom! Boom!] White Scorpion was dashing around the dojo, dodging all of the enlarged beast’s attacks while defending against Tainted Scorpion’s combined onslaught. She had to multitask to keep her head on her body.

“I’ve had enough of you, Tainted Scorpion!” Saying this, White Scorpion held her ground firmly then activated 70% power of her White Psionic Scorpion. “Unleash, Frozen Valhalla Prison!” [Fwoosh!] Right after her outburst, the 4 phantasmal scorpions which were attacking turned to a Popsicle and shattered immediately. Moreover, a massive transparent sphere manifested around Tainted Scorpion. She was being trapped inside a freezing array of deadly ice.

“Die! Die! Die!” In the spur of her madness, Tainted Scorpion uncontrollably bombarded the transparent sphere. [Boom! Boom! Boom!]

“Try your worse, Tainted Scorpion. You will never escape my Frozen Valhalla Prison. Not with that broken mind of yours.” White Scorpion’s sentiment was spot on. After bombarding the internal structures a couple of time, Tainted Scorpion found her movements to be slowing down exponentially.

[Thud! Thud!] White Scorpion ventured closer to the Frozen Valhalla Prison with a sexy feature to her gate. She didn’t walk on the frozen floor, instead, she slid over by forming a trail of ice. Reaching closer to the Frozen Valhalla Prison, White Scorpion touched the chilling sphere then said:

“You’ve caused enough trouble for one night, Tainted Scorpion. Letting your dangerous Psionic Scorpions run loose in the master’s private quarters deserves death of the utmost agony. Prepare to die!”

“Wait, White Scorpion, don’t kill her.”

“What do you mean, Master Odok? Should I spare this insolent scorpion’s life?”

“Yes.”

“Then I won’t disobey your order. However, I will make her suffer for raising arms against you.” White Scorpion retracted the killer move which she was just about to use on Tainted Scorpion and replaced it with a lesser lethal technique.

“Frozen Heart!” [Fwoosh!] As these words escaped White Scorpion’s snow-white lips, Tainted Scorpion who was trapped inside the Frozen Valhalla Prison felt a stabbing cold in her heart. Her entire body began to turn to ice. Within seconds she became completely frozen.

“That should take care of you.” White Scorpion undid her Frozen Valhalla Prison which caused Tainted Scorpion’s frozen complex to crash into the ground causing her to shatter in pieces.

“Hm?” Master Odok used an unseen ability to scan Anna’s Psionic Scorpions. Discovering that they were still functional, he gave his gaze to Crimson Scorpion. “Pick up Tainted Scorpion’s frozen parts and bring her to the Abyss Water healing chamber.”

“What? You can’t be serious master!” Crimson Scorpion disapproved with her master’s decision. “That girl tried to slaughter me in cold blood and you want me to assemble her corpse in the Abyss Water and thaw her out? What if she attacks me again?”

“You don’t have to worry about her going berserk again. Like how her Psionic Scorpions have just suffered a mental breakdown, it will take some months for her to regain control of her abilities. Now go and do as you were told.”

The elders finally descended and joined the conversation. “You heard him, disciple. Go now and clean up that trouble maker. While you’re at hit get me some freshly brewed ginger tea”

Another elder flicked his beard, adding: “Why are you still standing there motionless? Do you need this old man to teach you some discipline?”

“No! No! Please don’t. I’m going right away. I’ll make sure that the tea you requested be delivered shortly.” Crimson Scorpion acted compliantly while thinking to herself: ‘These damn geezers. Think that they can boss me around just because their bones are rotting faster than mine. Wait until I’ve learned the secret behind Master Odok’s overpowering strength. All you geezers will be volunteering to lick the shit from my asshole.’

[Step! Step! Step!] “Wait.” As she crossed path with White Scorpion, Crimson Scorpion felt a sudden grasp on her arm. She gave the owner a weird look.

“White Scorpion… c-can I help you with something?”

“Give me your arm.”

“Oh, alright.” White Scorpion noticed that her fellow disciple’s severed limb was still spewing out blood and gave her aid by applying ice to the wound.

“Make sure you get this injury looked at as soon as you’re finished with your task.”

“Yes, I’ll do just that. Thank you big sister for caring.” Crimson Scorpion paid her respects to her senior disciple then went on ahead to carry out her duty. Instead of picking up Tainted Scorpion’s frozen body parts one by one, she used a variation of her Hell Evade technique to teleport them all at once.

“Hell Vanished.” [Poof!] Crimson Scorpion disappeared from the grand dojo along with the frozen parts of Tainted Scorpion.

An elder flashed his long beard which was practically kissing the ground then spoke. “Good, now that the troublesome children have disappeared, let’s get back to our important discussion, Master Odok.”

“Yes.”

……..

Later that night after Ember closed up the flower shop she paced back and forth wondering where Anna had run off to. “Why isn’t she back yet? Did she ditch me to go fulfil a contract on her own? That is so like her.”

Ember got fed up of waiting for her mentor to return. “I’m sicking of this. I’m going home to get my beauty sleep. Tomorrow I’ll give her an earful.” Before leaving, Ember went up to Anna’s apartment. She told Deleon to stay put and not to snoop around until Anna returns.

“Okay, okay. I understand. I’m not the type of person to snoop around other people’s place.”

“You better keep your word.” After Ember went home, Deleon broke his promise early by snooping around Anna’s apartment. He eventually found himself into her bedroom, standing directly where the coded hand painting was positioned on the wall.

“This artwork is amazing. Is it the genuine article?” Deleon motioned a hand towards the interesting painting. But didn’t get the chance to interact with it due to a sudden knocking on the door. [Bang! Bang! Bang!]

“Huh? Did Anna come back already? Why would she be knocking on her own door? It’s probably that forgetful Ember come to retrieve something that she left behind.” Deleon straightened up the place to make it look as if he hadn’t been snooping around. Finished doing so, he motioned his legs to the banging door.

“I’ll be right there.” [Creek!] As soon as the door came asunder, Deleon witnessed a familiar face of terror. “You… you’re from that time? How did you find me?”

“Wo-ho-ho-ho. I followed the bread crumbs left behind by a naughty birdy and look what I’ve stumbled over. I wasn’t expecting to discover a dead man here, I was expecting to be greeted by a more tainted foe. But I will settle for this unforeseen discovery. Your expertise might be able to aid the Demon’s Horn resurrection.”

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Deleon vaguely understood the words which spat out of the Bone Elder's mouth.

“Capture him.” [Whoosh! Whoosh!] Masked men in black came from behind the Bone Elder and subdued Deleon very quickly. There was nothing he could do to resist his kismet. From this night onward, certain events will be set in motion which will awaken a mysterious apocalypse to befall the inhabitants of Arak Gold.

[Swoosh!] Billowing Elij-Plum leaves adorned the silent night with swooshing valour. Their beautiful presence will continue to flourish even through the imminent bloodshed.