Allies

[3rd POV]

She didn't know what to do.

She didn't even know which side she was on.

On one hand, she was always loyal to Tibet and she was promised great rewards if she remained loyal and worked for them.

On the other hand, there was him. He did not promise her anything and she only met him four days ago but her heart ached whenever she thought of the possibility of him dying.

She was happy when someone finally arrived to help him but it was not enough. And he won't run away.

A simple question she was afraid to give answer, brewed in her mind.

What will she do?

She did not give answer and she did nothing. She just became a spectator until he finally found her.

"Are you going to kill me?"

She asked when she saw him. Mei did not know why her heart shook when she saw his injured state but it did. She wanted to heal him.

"Maybe." He replied coldly.

Maybe. She repeated in her mind.

"What's stopping you?"

"You helped me before. Why did you do that?" he asked her.

She would love to hear the answer to that as well because she herself didn't know. Feelings were difficult to understand, much less for someone like her.

"I don't know."

She said and turned her body to face him. She was only around 6 feet tall so she looked small compared to him. But she held his eyes with hers.

"You don't know?"

He asked her and she nodded her head confidently. She truly didn't know. She thought she had found her ambition, she thought she finally found her path. But he just robbed them from her after being the one to inspire her in the first place.

"Which side are you on, Mei? What do you want to do?"

The sound of battle and the explosion caused by the fight between Mighty Eagle and Samudragupta was a background noise as her thoughts rang louder in her mind.

She didn't know either and she didn't know what she wanted to do. She only knew what she didn't want and that was to see him die.

But his silence demands an answer. So her mind worked as quickly as possible in a short time as she went into thought.

Different thoughts crossed her mind until she came to one answer.

"Be my king." She said.

That seemed to be the only choice in this situation. She didn't want to see him die and he won't run, so she must help him win.

Although she regretted not being able to get her reward, she reckoned it was not a big loss. Tai Lung was also the ruler of China and as a ruler, he should be as powerful if not more than the Emperor of Tibet whom she was serving.

She didn't know what she wanted to do, not yet.

So she just wanted to listen and follow orders just like she had done so most of her life.

She would betray the Empire. It was what she was planning to do anyways after getting her bloodline purified.

"Command me."

Tai Lung looked at her with a weird light in his eyes. She blushed under his gaze that seemed to say, 'What the fuck is wrong with you?'

"You wish to serve me?" He asked and she nodded with a red face she was trying to hold back. Good thing she had a mask.

A short silence followed again and then, "I accept your service."

Surprisingly, a smile bloomed on her face. Tai Lung spread out his arms and smiled as well. Then he gave his first order.

"Work your magic then."

She immediately went to work, following the order of her new king. She brought out her bell and then did her best to not disappoint.

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*Ting-Ding-Ding*

*Ting-Ding-Ding*

*Ting-Ding-Ding*

*Ting-Ding-Ding*

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"I am happy that Tai Lung left you to me!!" Samudragutpa roared as he violently unleashed a flurry of punches at Mighty Eagle whose wing was injured. He hopped away but the enemy followed, unleashing relentless assault.

"I will rip you to shreds!!"

"Nope!" Mighty Eagle swung his wings, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that almost blew even the Mammoth away. "Already experienced that and I never want to do it again."

"You don't have a choice." Samudragupta swiped at his wings and stomped on it, trapping Mighty Eagle. Then as he was about to crush him, the mammoth suddenly felt something coming at him from above.

He had just enough time to cross his arms as Tai Lung slammed a powerful hammer kick from above. The ground quaked and sank a few meters from the force. Mighty Eagle escaped quickly but he could not run far as the other elephant warriors surrounded them.

Samudragupta was sent rolling away and when he stopped. He threw a look of surprise towards Tai Lung.

He was completely healed and he now had a decent amount of chi.

"Time to put you in your place."

Tai Lung said. His arrogant smirk sent blood to his face and he flushed in anger. What preposterous trick had he used to recover so quickly?

Nevertheless, he will kill them.

For the glory of the Empire, he have to bring him down no matter the cost.

Samudragutpa's aura flared as he started burning his lifeforce rapidly for an increase in stregth. it was the same technique used by Wubao in his fight against Tai Lung albeit more refined.

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!!!!!

*Ting-Ding-Ding*

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[Tai Lung's POV]

She's a weird girl for sure.

Maybe due to her upbringing but I found myself not being able to understand her even after days of spending time with her.

Girls like her were always tricky. Raised in a broken family or having childhood trauma, and all that jazz. I did not have time for such things right now.

The only thing important was that she was now on my side. It seemed that the few nice things I had done for her in the passing days made her attached to me.

A win for me I guess, too bad the Tibetans couldn't even treat her nicely enough to crave such affection. Now I had an overpowered, mentally unstable, cat girl under me.

"I am not sure how to deal with you since your chi is very different and powerful compared to others. This might completely exhaust me." She said, "I wouldn't be able to be of much help after this."

"it's fine. I only need to fight at full stregth for a few more minutes."

I said with a nod and she began. She jingled her silver bell and I felt her chi invade my body. Then she proceeded to order the chi around us to seep into my body.

Her chi along with the chi of the world started going inside me and I watched in disbelief as they slowly mutated to match the signature of my chi.

At a certain level of power, you attained a distinctive chi which even the universe could no longer take back from you to recycle. It was a mutation caused by years of training.

But Mei was able to order the chi of the world to literally change their nature so that hey were exactly like mine. So that my chi reserves could be filled.

"Amazing." I muttered.

I imagined her cheeks turning rosy at my honest compliment, "Really? Its my first time doing it as well since I did not have to change the nature of chi to refill the reserves of others."

So basically, the more powerful you were, the more special your chi was, causing difficulties refilling it through absorbing the world's chi.

Beads of sweat started forming on her body as she also started running out of chi. For her to order and manipulate energy, she had to use her own chi.

"Okay, that should be enough. Now onto the next." She said and then rang her bell again.

*Ting-Ding-Ding*

What sounded extremely annoying in the not long ago, now it felt pleasant in my ears. I felt strength return to me.

Mei ordered my chi to change. It gave me a newfound strength and vigour as if I was constantly enhancing myself with it.

What she did was change the basic activity of my chi. Normally, chi remained still inside a person's body and would not do anything unless directed. What Mei did was change that normalcy, now, the chi inside stregthing me became normal and I did not have to put any effort into enforcing myself.

She changed the default state of my chi from doing nothing to passively doing something.

That was how her buff and debuff worked.

It was extremely interesting and I had to stop myself from thinking about it since I still had a battle ahead.

After a few more seconds, Mei staggered back and her breath had become ragged.

"It's done." She said and fell on her butt with a sigh.

I walked close to her and gave her a few head pats and a smile. Then I took off the mask on her face so that i may see her. Earnest's sweat fell down her pretty face.

"Thank you." I said and then I disappeared with the use of flashsteps. I used the air as a foothold and launched myself towards Samudragupta.

The battle continued.

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"You're killing yourself." I said with a chuckle, " This is not the first time someone fought me while killing themselves like that."

The image of Wubao came to my mind. The Bear Guardian of Mielin City who tried to avenge his father.

The mammoth who was releasing an aura many times thicker than before remained quiet. If he was already that strong before, he might be equal to me now in this state.

"And you." I said and turned to another direction. "You finally revealed yourself after all your soldiers have died?"

The general of Tibet remained quiet. I was honestly offended he shared the same title as me. He was a muscular Tiger who was a bit bigger than me.

"They died with honour. I plan to do the same." He said while revealing his claws. I had to resist the urge to flashstep beside him and slap his head off.

That would just quicken the conflict. I had to remember, I was the one buying time.

While we were having a staredown, the rest of the remaining soldiers who were mostly the Guta warriors surrounded us. Once a thousand strong force of nature, now reduced to barely three hundred in a single day.

But as their 20 feet frame surrounded us, they seemed like triple thier number. Thier faces were solemn and many of them took off their golden armour. Some even started using the same technique as Samudragupta which was burning their vitality and lifeforce for instant power boost.

I looked to my side and eyed the only ally I had.

"Are you not going to heal your wings?"

I asked and Mighty Eagle just looked at me with a tilt of his head.

"What do you mean? I'm not a healer."

"What? Have you not attained inner peace?" I asked with a face that was borderline disappointed.

"Hah?! What's with that face? You were the one who disrupted my secluded training in the first place!!" He defended themselves but the disappointment was still there.

"And besides, inner peace is not something you can attain so easily."

I sighed and shook my head. That's a skill issue. I touched his injured wing before I healed him up quickly. He seemed genuinely shocked at my action.

Which was reasonable. I once ripped the same wings off heartlessly but now I was healing them.

"Ridiculous." I whispered.

You never really knew what the future held. Yesterday's enemies could be today's allies and today's friends could be tomorrow's enemies. The quote cemented in my mind with the example of Mighty Eagle, Shen and even Mei.

And to be completely honest, I did not hate Mighty Eagle and even respected his strength. Hence why I didn't even kill him in the first place. I might have forgiven him because of his help today if not for him killing Alpha.

"Its done. Now you know what to do."

I said and Migthy Eagle smiled while he wiggled his healed wings,

"Bring me hell."

He immediately shot off the ground and went up the sky like a living missile to bring down hell for me. It was then that the enemy finally made thier move

"Now you have sent your only help away. No one can save you now." The general of Tibet said. That was why they didn't do anything while we talked. They wanted me to be alone.

I finally gave in to my urges and used flashsteps to appear beside him even before he could react. Then I slapped him in the head.

An explosion of air rang out as he was sent tumbling away like a doll. Then the fight started.

Animals probably weighing tens of tons came rushing at me with the speed of a cheetah. They were encased in thier cultivator aura and the air was overwhelmed with raw strength.

The world quaked in the wake of monsters and I couldn't help the wide grin spreading my face like a maniac.

I had never been closer to death.

Because they were strong enough that one hit of theirs could blow up my whole torso as I was constantly fighting and had no time for defensive measures.

Trying to attack and defend at the same time was useless as I was attacked on all sides. Either I go full attack or full defensive mode to survive. I chose the former

I threw away the very idea of defence as I went on full attack mode. Utilizing my superior speed, I was able to escape each death by the skin of my teeth

I did not use shaori, no armament haki, no water stream rock smashing fist. I had absolutely no guard. The best defence was the best attack.

There was a thin line between life and death. Some people would tread on that thin line and escape thier death. They experienced this once or twice in the span of thier lifetime.

But I did not tread that line, I ran along it. I thrived in it.

I felt myself growing leaps and bounds. One second was akin to days and maybe weeks of training as my body did everything it could to grow stronger, to move away from the thin line between life and death.

When I was so close to death, I felt the most alive.

Time ceased to exist for me. Time did not stop or slow down, it just disappeared. It felt like a month but also a second, it felt like a year but also instantaneous.

I did that until I ran out of chi again.

Then I felt reality drop down on me like cold water.

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"HAH!! THIS IS IT!! YOU ARE DONE!!" The General of Tibet, the Tiger rushed at me in my moment of weakness.

But it was done.

I smiled.

*BOOOOOOM!!!!*

The Tiger's claws that came for my throat at the speed of sound was deftly caught by a hand which looked extremely similar to his. The hand had the same colour and pattern as his.

"Tigress." I said and looked at the back of my sister with a smile.

But it was not the end as Samudragutpa came at me like an angry running mountain. He charged at me from behind and I looked back but I did not move.

Samudragupta's eyes widened and he planted his feet on the ground. He slide to a stop before quickly moving away as something heavy fell on his previous position.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

A cloud of dust rose and after it settled, it revealed a warrior of black and white.

"The dramatic entrance~" He said while doing a silly pose that he thought was cool.

"Oh yeah, and right on time." Po said.

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"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Peals of laughter escaped my lips as I felt my body relax.

I thought I preferred being alone. I had no problem challenging fate by myself. I could stand against the world alone.

But to have allies...

Was not so bad after all.

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[IMAGE]

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Author : This deserve stones. And you might not get a chapter tomorrow. Depends.

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Emmanuel_Capricorn