Anger and betrayal

[Tai Lung's POV]

"What is this?" I asked out loud with wide eyes as I realized my sense of hearing and smell could not even cover the entirety of the city.

It's like something was suppressing my senses. I thought that the suppression was done by me but I realized that was not the case after I tried to free them. Something was interfering with my senses.

But what?

It almost felt like I was cursed by the world itself as I was unable to do what I wanted. I released a growl in anger and I flared my chi, resisting the world that was trying to suppress me.

Who dared?

Then I finally felt myself relieved from the supression as a new world opened up to me. A world full of sound and smell greeted me as my senses easily covered more than 10 kilometer radius - which I could increase with the help of my chi.

But I need not increase the distance as I immediately picked up something as close as 3 kilometres around me.

Well, it might be the understatement of the millennia to address it simply as something.

An army of two thousand soldiers and what felt like moving mountains.

That was what my senses picked up. I spread out my chi to get a better feel of exactly what was approaching me and then what I found out caused me to frown deeply.

An attack.

And from the stregth I felt even from this distance, it was planned.

"Hahahahaha." a laugh void of humour escaped from my throat as my mind worked overtime to make sense of the situation.

How did this happen? How had such a powerful force gone unnoticed from my senses? Was this an attack from the Tibetan Empire? But it was nothing like the information I got.

I thought they were still trying to get the alliance with the Guptas. And how can they approach me so boldly? Don't they fear the consequences?

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Lies.

I had been fed lies. I thought it was not possible for somsone to lie to me because I could alwasy sense it with my chi and even judge truth from a lie by the heartbeat of a person. But I was thoroughly tricked.

How? Of course, it was because somehow, Mei was able to alter my sense.

Mei.

It's always the innocent-looking ones, isn't it?

By the time I came out of my musing, a few minutes had already passed so I immediately took action.

I leapt off with a loud explosion that collapsed the roof of the tower. I shot through the air like a missile and then flew towards the inn.

I did not care for proper etiquette anymore as I crashed into my room. I wanted to see Mei and force out whatever she was hiding to get more information.

"Mei!!" I screamed but I was greeted with silence.

The room was empty.

I looked at the place where I left her chained up but she was no longer there. She had escaped.

But no matter, I was going to find her. She couldn't hide from me and she couldn't have gotten far. It's only been a few minutes.

So I tried to find her through her smell. But as I searched for her, my nose caught something scent of something else.

An intense smell came from the bottom floors and in my own room. It smelled like crude oil or gasoline.

Then my ears caught movements outside the inn. I could disrinctively hear the clicking sound of armour and the sound of heavy iron being moved.

The yell of soldiers crept up and from their breath and heartbeat, I could tell that they were hundreds in number and were surrounding the innI was at.

My body became lose as the situation took a sudden turn. From cheery and peaceful life, I found myself in the middle of a war.

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"FIRE!!!" They screamedscreamed and then I heard the sound of consecutice explosions. The thick smell of gunpowder had warned me of this long ago.

"I see. It has begun."

Then cannon balls pierced through the inn with lound tearing sounds. Wood exposed and slitered in to many deadly prices.

The whole building shook violently and it immediately caught on fire. The building which once accommodated me in its welcoming grace turned into hell.

The sounds were deafening, the aftermath could only be described as disastrous. A weapon made by China had turned against it's Emperor.

The structure collapsed and so do I.

The flames consumed me and the spliter of wood, glass and stone tired to tear my body.

A great battle broke out.

Yet strangely enough, the hellish scene brought a smile on my face and peace in my heart. The once luxurious inn finally felt like home after all this time.

A fish was never afraid of drowning. It was made to thrive in the ocean.

And so was I, in a war.

It could come in the span of one moment, it could catch me off guard all were for naught.

All I could say was, good job making a fool out of me.

But no one could be more foolish than people who chase after a dream that promised no victory and those who hope for the impossible.

And now,

I'm angry.

BOOOOOM!!!

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[3rd POV]

She liked him.

It might seem like an unrealistic conclusion for most people since she had only known him for about four days but it was true for her. It might only be four days for other people but for her who was never close to anyone in particular, it held weightweight they would never understand.

The past four days were one of the best days of her life because she liked spending time with him.

Because unlike the nobles and the Emperor, he was honest and treated her like a person, not like a rare specimen or a valuable asset.

But most important of all, he was not repulsed by her. In fact, in his words, he even found her beautiful. The last person to call her such a thing was her own father.

She understood that she was different and people's reaction to her couldn't be helped but it was nice to see someone who was completely unbothered by her.

But now, everything had to come to an end. She was both sad and happy to see that her job was over.

She was sad because she didn't want her time with Tai Lung to end but she was happy that she could finally stop lying to him and face him with the same honesty that he always showed her.

*Cling!*

"Escape the building Priestness!!" The soldier said after cutting the chain that held her. He had sneaked into the room right after Tai Lung left.

From the windows, many other soldiers barged into the room and started pouring flammable oil as well. She did not hesitate and she immediately escaped from the room.

She made her way outside and ran towards the captain who was standing 20 meters away from the inn. She also noticed that the soldiers were pushing the cannons they had stolen from China to the right position, aiming for the inn.

"You have done your job spectacularly." The captain applauded her. She quickly wore her mask and her outfit when she reached what she considered to be a safe distance.

She nodded at his compliment.

Of course, she would do her job well, because for the first time in her life, she wanted to do well. While she was staying with Tai Lung, she learned many things from him and that included an ambition.

Finally, she felt like there was a purpose to her life.

She would complete her mission and get the promised reward from the Emperor. And then she was going to escape and get her freedom before finally heading North and spend her life searching for the place that her father told her about.

"Thank you." She said when she saw Tai Lung flew back into the inn.

"And I'm sorry."

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*Ting-Ding-Ding*

The captain, a giant bull, had a huge smile on his face after hearing her bell. "Okay everyone ready!!!" He called out.

"FIRE!!!"

The cannons shot out at a speed which it had never been shot before. The cannonballs were also harder than usual as they easily ripped through the structure of the inn.

A mighty explosion shook the whole city and alerted the citizens. Then the building creaked and exploded in brilliant light before collapsing into the ground. A powerful shockwave of heat spread everywhere.

The citizens screamed in panic and many died due to the cannons and the building's fall. But the soldier paid no heed. They were all a necessary sacrifice the Empire could spare.

Mei looked at the rubble in which Tai Lung was buried and she had a small smile on her face. She was on the opposite side but she wished Tai Lung well.

A part of her hoped he would become victorious.

But she would do her best as she had her own reasons to win as well.

"Soldiers in position!! Do not believe for a moment that that much was enough to take him down." He yelled out and every soldier held out thier weapons.

"This is just the beginning." He whispered and not a moment later, an oppressive aura of rage and anger spread throughout the whole city, striking fear so immense that the soldiers felt like passing out.

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[sick GIF]

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