Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Led by his Divine Sense, Mason joined everyone who had gathered in the Ancient One’s study. Not only were Izo, Danny, and the Ancient One there, but also the 13 members of the Chaste.

When Mason unceremoniously opened the doors, they were seemingly in the midst of arguing, and by they Izo and his wayward disciple were the only ones included, but they stopped.

Looking at the members of the Chaste, Mason had to admit they were quite impressive. Each and everyone of them was a first-stage Awakening Master, but with unusually powerful Spirits. All trained in psionics, of Egocentric Magic, Mason assumed.

Then, there was their master, Stick. The man looked old, but Mason could feel the strength of his Three Treasures from a distance. They were just as strong as Izo’s, with his Spirit a tad more powerful than the other two, bridging into the realm of a Grandmaster. But Mason could also tell it was not awakened, blocked by the magic he had learned.

A faux Awakening Grandmaster.

Mason was not impressed. While everyone stared, Mason went to sit next to the Ancient One, the only one focused on her tea, and poured himself a cup, unbothered by the stares, before finally greeting, ”’ Sup.”

The Ancient One, or as Mason had started to call her, Yao, chuckled, ”Impeccable sense of timing. Everything has been set; our tracking spells are about to locate the remaining Immortal Weapons. These gentlemen just now were discussing how to retrieve them safely.”

Mason took a sip, looked around the room, and said, ”Does it have to be so complicated? I take one, you get the other. Ensure success.”

Yao placed down her cup, gently shaking her head. ”I cannot leave Kamar-Taj, unfortunately. We still do not know what their weapon is, but seeing its effectiveness at killing Sorcerers, I must stay to defend the fortress. Losing Kamar-Taj would be far more devastating than even freeing the Beast. Our spells will also only give us an approximate location on them, so you will have to spend some time there.”

At this, Sadhan, better known as Stick, intervened, ”Hence why the Chaste should take the lead. We will split in half, targeting them both at once. The old man clearly is too far gone to lead a team, and if his teachings are any indication, so will this so-called Grandmaster.”

Mason raised an eyebrow at the guy, clearly not expecting the upfront antagonism. He quickly figured Stick was projecting, but that did not make him like the guy any more.

So he replied, ”Don’t talk to me about poor decision-making when you guys willingly mutilated your Spirits and didn’t have the balls to go further down that road. We will divide our forces smartly. The Chaste and Izo will take one, and the Iron Fist and I will take the other. It would also make things easier if we had at least one Sorcerer with us, even if only for transportation.”

Yao nodded, agreeing to send the Sorcerers. Stick, however, still had something to say. ”You fool, concentrating all of our forces in one location is exactly the worst thing to do.”

Mason rolled his eyes, as he had a strong feeling that the ‘strong’ side Stick was referring to was his own. It only spoke of the rarity of Awakening Grandmasters, much less peak Grandmasters, as no one seemed to really understand just how strong Mason was.

The Chaste might have over a dozen Awakening Masters; Mason was confident that were they to fight, he could solo them. In fact, he did not know if they would do any better than those Hand Ninjas he fought in New York.

Mason was not so sure Danny could replicate that, because despite Shou-Lao’s Chi being so much stronger than Mason, he was kind of a glass cannon. Physically, he was only as good as a peak Body Refinement expert, and his senses were not that much better either. He could take any of them one-on-one, for sure, but all of them? Debatable.

If Mason were to be honest, the fairest distribution would be to send everyone else on one side and go alone on the other, but not only did Mason have a feeling that he would piss everyone off if he proposed that, but he also wanted to keep Danny with him.

The Hand needed the Chi from all seven Immortal Beasts, but they could also substitute that Chi with that of martial artists. They had estimated that they could only do it for one Immortal Beast because it was not just a matter of quantity but also of the nature of the Chi.

So if Mason sent them all to the other Immortal Weapon and they somehow failed, then even if he managed to save the Immortal Weapon with him, it would be for naught. Taking Danny with him meant that if something happened, it would be on him alone.

Meanwhile, Izo scoffed at Stick, ”You’re the fool here, you arrogant twerp. You are no Grandmaster.”

Stick, who was just as blind as his once-master, stared at him and said, ”You boast of stepping up to an unbreakable wall. We are preparing to jump over that wall.”

Yao looked up from her tea, saying lightly to Stick, ”Who’s to say who is right, but what matters is the now, Sadhan. And that is indeed the wisest distribution of forces.”

Although his face remained of marble, Mason could feel the fluctuation in Stick’s Chi at Yao’s words. He figured her opinion meant a lot to Stick.

Then, the blind man’s eyes locked on Mason, and he snarled, ”You think this child is better than me? I am a blind man, and I can still see his indulgence, his laziness, his weakness. He did not even have the resolve to follow his master in augmenting his senses.”

”Don’t compare yourself to me. You blinded yourself to feel your Breath, which only speaks of your lack of talent. Then you mutilated your Spirit because you failed to awaken it. The reality is that you were only good enough to barely breach the Awakening Realm, and you had to rely on shortcuts after that crippled your path. You can’t even feel the Dao, can you?”

Stick clenched his fists, Mason’s words hitting at the deepest, rawest sore spots of his soul. After decades of stagnation, doubts in his way could have only increased, even when he did his best to suppress them.

Still, his self-delusion was strong as he spat angrily, ”There is no such thing as the Dao, only tricks and delusions from old men stuck in the same spot for too long. Does it not strike you as odd that only ‘invisible’ Daos could be mastered?”

Mason snorted, and with a snap of his fingers, his entire hand was lit ablaze. Stick’s eyes widened dramatically, and so did the rest of the Chaste. ”That’s the Fire Dao, you good-for-nothing. Now stop with your tantrums and follow the plan.”

This time, Stick said nothing, only staring at Mason’s hand, even after the fire disappeared. He wanted to deny what he had felt, that it had been a trick, a spell, a mutation. Anything that would explain it.

But Stick could feel it. Like Daredevil and Izo, he had blinded himself to become better attuned with his senses, and mutated his Breath doing so. It was not as bad as Daredevil, because the crime fighting vigilante got splashed with radioactive material that triggered the mutation, while Stick and Izo used their Chi for the transformation, but functionally, they worked the same.

Instead of being able to focus on one person to read their intent, their Divine Sense worked passively, enhancing several times over their senses. That made it nearly impossible for them to feel the Dao normally, because of its elusive nature, but with Mason calling on it so strongly, they could feel it clearly.

The Dao was unique, in the sense that nothing could feel like it. So no matter how much Stick wished to deny the nature of that flame, his mutated Breath forced the truth on him.