It should've been a long day of work. But the Mask followed me to work. And started putting out its words to everyone.
"Who wants Immortality? This Mask tells all the secrets." Mask says smoothly.
I watch in horror as it sounds out a pulse of pure red chi. Pure malice. That inflames the whole restaurant with rage.
"To those that want Immortality, gather round. It's time for the Riot of Pleasure. The first ritual of Immortality takes place today. Whoever wins earns 100 Years of Free Living. No need for food or drink, but ya can do as ya please all ya want. This Immortality is ideal living without the consequences. The catch is this though: I need 59 dead bodies, and one lucky winner. Which thankfully there's a hundred people in this restaurant." Mask says happily.
My Adoptive Mother is there. She has a spear, and is wearing battle armor. There are other Martial Artists around wearing armor and weapons. Guards. A Priest with a holy staff. And myself, the most poisonous woman in existence.
I consider leaving it all behind. But it pulses again. And the malice of it all calls out to my very soul. I feel and see my Chi inflamed by the Mask of Immortality. It makes me grow an aura of purple and red.
People begin dying immediately. And then the weaklings flee. Leaving only 40 Martial Artists, my Mother, and myself.
"You organized this well." I say, impressed.
The Mask flies over to me, and shows itself smiling like a devil.
"Just don't die, Master! Or else Fate must be rewritten based on everyone's estimations! Even mine! Hahahahahaaa!" Mask says maniacally.
I'm currently on the second floor of the restaurant, by a railing that looks down and up the restaurant. It's a three story tower with a spiral staircase up and down the middle. It's made of wood and steel. It's painted brown and red. With a typical chinese theme. It has plenty of dragon statues. And even… melee weapons held on the walls. Let alone every table has a steak knife.
Nobody even tries to stop it. The fights are already breaking out. And one man has his greatsword stabbed into the back of my Adoptive Mother, ranting about what he'll do with Immortality. It's a tall man wearing Japanese Samurai armor and wielding a katana.
"I will rule over Japan, and bless it with peace after I defeat all of you! It will be taxless, instead relying on your own work to survive!"
Seraphina's icy chi flares up, ice growing around the blade and the wound it's dealt to her. Then a spike of ice shoots off her back, forcibly carrying the blade out her back along with striking at the Samurai with spikes of ice. They dissipate within seconds as Seraphina jumps to her feet, two daggers in hand. One black, one gray steel.
I'm still standing by the railing, watching her fight for her life with just daggers. But her body is strange. It surges with Yin energy, and seals her wounds up magically. I gasp at the sight, realizing the Mask has blessed her with more powers than just Immortality. Or is that what Immortality truly is? My future self says it's possible, based on comic books she reads in the future.
Malice surges on both sides of me. My head snaps back and forth. On my left, a chubby bald man in a black and red long sleeved shirt, and black baggy pants. The right, a skinny woman with a rapier. Wearing a blue and white sundress, and dress shoes. She has blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
Each look at them was a Glare of Malice. My eyes automatically shot poison darts as I looked at them. It must've looked like my eyes glowed bright pink as they fired.
The Woman cuts the two darts out the air with her rapier. Lightning fast flicks of her wrist slay them. But the Chubby man is too fat and slow to dodge. He is poisoned immediately, and faints. He's dead weight that falls through the railing, down to the ground below. He lands on Seraphina's opponent, crushing him.
The Malice in me calls out to me. It begs me to prove I'm strong. I see my future self looking at me with cocky amusement.
"Honey, read the room. Rock this place to bits, you're the Warrior Queen. Or else we don't get to be Immortal."
My future self stares at my hand. It focuses my poisonous Chi to surface up, and coat my hands in my Chi. Then it solidifies, becoming purple steel around my hands. I flex my fingers, it feels cool and weirdly flexible. My future self calls it Steel Nylon Fibers. Whatever that means.
The Swordswoman thrusts her rapier at my throat. I block it with my palm instinctively, arm held sideways by the throat. Then I sidestep the blade, move my arm slightly left around her blade, and slam it into her jaw! I grin with bloodlust as I see a purple puff of malefic chi come out my glove. It burns her skin as it makes contact with her, which horrifies and excites me.
She steps back, hands held to her face. She gasps and whines with pain as she tries healing herself with Yang energy. Blue, gold, and white beams of energy intertwine and begin undoing the pain she's experiencing.
"Go harder. Or our future changes. We must be the Alpha, anything less means we're a Immortal Prostitute," Future Self says with proud malice.
Is this madness? I feel the need to prove I'm the Dragon. The Dragon of Society. The Dragon of Heaven. The Dragon of Hell. I am the Dragon.
"I am the Dragon of War. Fear my wrath." I mutter with malicious glee.
I step forward to the Swordswoman. I hold my hands like a karate chop, and focus my Chi around my hands' edges. My Chi understands, becoming something like sharpened steel. I swing my hand across the Woman's throat, cutting through it cleanly. And her spinal cord. Her brain is disconnected from her body, she can't magic her way out of that situation.
She falls to the ground, a corpse. I smirk proudly. Parts of me want to scream at myself "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" The Yang in me.
The Perfect Yin Girl looks up from the Abyss, soaked in blood.
"I want to prove I'm the best." I say with malefic confidence.
I pick up the Swordswoman's rapier, and study it. A thin blade with sharp edges, and an especially sharp point. It won't do. I approach the spear the chubby man left behind. I pick it up, smack the wooden shaft against the railing. It cracks the railing. I test the spear's edge against the railing. It cuts okay, but it desires more. It might not work too well. But it's better than the rapier.
Seraphina steps up the stairs nearby, soaked in blood. And her clothes are covered with cuts in the fabric surrounded with blood. And bleached with Yang energies, turning much of the fabric pure white. But not all of it. Some of it is still its original color, light blue. While most of it is either red or white.
She looks at me with miserable rage.
"The Mask dares claim you're the Ultimate Being. Besides your true love, Edward. You're the Ultimate Yin. And I can't stand it when it says you're the Owner. It only helped me so you'd have a home." Seraphina says.
I become tense, my eyes watering.
"It has come to this! As I always knew it would! She's too greedy, like all humans! Even you Kobra! This is the many trials of Immortality! Your family betrays you, lovers will too, hell, even I and God itself will betray you! And why is it they do it!? For the right to live forever and own the land!" Mask of Immortality yells with maniacal glee.
The Mask flies in between us, hanging above us. It suddenly gives off an intense burst of Yang and Yin mana. Yin is on my side, covering the whole area with purple and black energies. While her side is covered with bright sunlight, and golden flames.
"We don't have to do this." I say sadly.
"We do though. The Mask told me this isn't even the end of us. It's a Pattern between us. We oppose each other eventually. For many, many reasons. Such as you want to do anything but let men do all the work, while we just be the Women of Society. The Mothers of Society. NO! You need to be a worker so you don't have to raise children!" Seraphina rants angrily.
"Mothers of Society? What are you talking about?" I ask nervously.
"Did you think this society ended up like this unwillingly!? We don't want to have to fight! We don't want to have to work like the men do! We want to raise children! We want to be happy! Let men work, while we be happy with our families." Seraphina rants with miserable rage. "I heard how you're upset we're stuck at easy, dead end jobs until you get married and get to sit at home all day. Why are you trying to ruin it for us?"
I don't even know how to process this. It's annoying as hell to see women try to preserve this way of life.
"It's a society that holds us back. And I'm already bored of the concept. I was gonna play nice, ya know." I say angrily.
"It's a society that rewards us with being Parents." Seraphina says desperately.
"It's a Whore's society. When we're done raising kids, we just sit around the house. Being cum buckets for our husbands. No thanks, I'm getting a job. And hell, I might even be a Soldier. Why not? I'm a great warrior." I say with cocky anger.
"This is why we're at odds! You can't be happy with the current world we live in! You're gonna ruin it for everyone eventually!" Seraphina says with miserable rage.
Seraphina steps forward. And comes at me with her knives. She surges forward with a burst of light, cutting the distance within seconds. And then slashing with both knives in a X cross. I jump back, narrowly dodging.
My eyes shoot poison darts at her as she's this close. She ducks and dashes away as I rapid fire the poison darts. I can fire way too many it seems. She runs across half the restaurant's edge as she dodges my poison darts. Before finally firing back with a three foot wide fireball out her own palm.
"Nice fireball." I compliment smugly.
I jump over the railing, and down a floor to avoid the fireball. It explodes behind me as I'm midfall. I land roughly, my legs hurting a bit. Seraphina jumps down after me. It's an opportunity.
I charge a ball of my chi in my left hand, and thrust my hand up at her. A thick plume of acidic smoke shoots out my hand, enveloping her.
Her skin burns as she falls through it. But her skin glows bright gold and purple, healing her near instantly. We dash at each other, clashing int the middle. My left fist slams into her right cheek as both her daggers thrust into my stomach. But my skin is too tough from all the beatings I took as a child, so it only causes scratches.
I catch both her wrists with my own. And glare intensely at my gloves. My gloves begin exuding a thick purple slime that envelops her hands. She tries to wrestle away from me, but I clamp on. I headbutt her once, then jump forward with my head like a missile. It knocks some pain into her, but it sabotages the grip.
She slips out, and runs away. She is beginning to change colors from her hands upward. I look at her, feeling guilt and fear. She looks at me, still miserable and angry. Then she sighs, and just closes her eyes. And breathes deeply. She glows once more, healing instantly. Her colors are back to normal.
And she stands up, defeated but determined.
"The Mask is right. I can't beat you yet. But I'll do it eventually. I can still beat you figuratively today. By earning Immortality. And if necessary, I'll be an Opportunist. Like it always makes fun of me for being." Seraphina says bitterly.
Seraphina does a X cross again over herself, and the light around her bends into a clear view. She's turned invisible. I'm tense, readying myself for more. But nothing comes. For now.
It's not over though. I try stepping out the restaurant. And that's when it's clear. It's a riot outside. And people are suddenly being stabbed in the throat, heart, and back as if out of thin air. It's Seraphina's daggers, killing them all. She is still so eager to earn Immortality.
"Don't think I give Immortality to lazy people, Master." Mask says with cocky glee.
I turn and see the Mask turned red and purple with Yin energy. There isn't a twinkle of Yang in its whole being.
I feel a wave of malice from the crowd in front of me. I turn and see three Guards in steel chainmail leaping at me with longswords and shields. I shoot my poison darts instinctively once more as I see them. The center one dies as he is struck first. But the other two block with their shields.
The Dying Guard drops his longsword at my feet. It's simple steel. I pick it up as they ready themselves for more combat. My malice calls out for more. I point two fingers at the right hand guard, and boom him with a big puff of pink acidic Chi. It melts through his armor, beginning to boil him alive.
Meanwhile, the remaining Guard and I clash our blades. Then he follows up by shield bashing me in the stomach. I take it, and punch him with my left fist as we're that close. It leaves a coating of poison slime on his face. He pushes me back with another shield bash, slashes at me wildly twice, and I backpedal through those. On his third swing, he begins having a seizure because of the poison.
I turn and see the other Guard is dead on the ground, white and purple smoke leaking off his body. I'm invigorated with pleasure at my own strength.
"Thirty contestants are dead, 29 remain! No victor is decided yet!" Mask of Immortality yells with malefic glee.