Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Mason moved immediately, without saying a word to the others as he crossed the backyard in but a moment. His Spirit was the easiest weapon to deal with many opponents, but the blast would be indiscriminate, so he would also knock out some Sorcerers.

So he refrained from using it, and the moment he reached the demon fighting with Stick, he hit it with a Chi-empowered fist. He went all out from the start, ignoring the cost in his Chi as he used Chi Manifestation.

The blow was so powerful that it blew apart half the demon’s body, killing it in an instant. The unmastered version of this power had taken down the Incarnation of Set, so even though this was a slightly larger demon than usual, it got killed with a single blow.

But Mason’s face remained icy as his Chi did not dissipate, remaining in that dragon guard as he sent a chilling glare at Stick and asked, ”What happened?”

Stick pointed around, yelling back, ”Isn’t it obvious? They-”

Stick abruptly stopped as Mason launched himself at him. But as Stick raised his guard, expecting to get hit, Mason snatched the cane sword from his hands instead. A single look had been enough to tell him it was the old man’s, but he still wanted to verify it.

It was Izo’s sword. Nearly the exact same as before, except that there was a cut in the handle.

”What happened.” His voice was too flat for a proper question.

Stick clenched his fists, obviously angry, but he still replied, ”We made a mistake. We assumed the Prince of Orphans still had his freedom, but he had been captured. We landed right in the Hand’s headquarters, where we were faced with their weapon. He killed them all.”

Stick slightly raised his right hand, prepared to block an attack, but Mason only closed his eyes for a moment and asked, ” What happened to the old man?”

Stick looked complicated, the disrespect he had shown Izo so far vanishing as he sighed, ”The Chaste warriors were killed in seconds. Their weapon; he is unstoppable.”

”A Grandmaster?”

”No, not a Neidan practitioner. But inhumanly strong and skilled. A mutant, I think. His mind is an unassailable fortress; he ignored our attacks like they meant nothing to him, and he cut us down with insulting ease. I was only able to escape because the Master held him back. He did not make it.”

Mason closed his eyes before sighing as a demon attempted to sneak attack him. He slashed it in half with a single strike, then flicked the blood off the blade as he asked, ”Then you know the location of their headquarters?”

Stick widened his blind eyes, exclaiming as he immediately understood where Mason was going, ”You can’t seriously be considering attacking them now!”

Mason looked at the demons around and replied, ”Kamar-Taj won’t fall today; they have all the help they might need. Make the portal.”

But Stick was not so easily convinced, jabbing his finger in Mason’s face as he yelled, ”Get a hold of yourself, boy! The old man wouldn’t be any happier if you threw your life away. All you will do is give the Hand a peak Grandmaster.”

Mason stared at Stick before clicking his tongue in annoyance. He wanted to go, but Stick was the only one who could lead him there. Mason did not imagine he was the kind of person who could be convinced by violence, so there was not much he could do to force him.

Besides, a part of him knew Stick was right. Rushing in alone would be reckless, considering they had five Immortal Weapons, that mutant weapon, a few Sorcerers, their few thousand men, and possibly Izo and the Chaste depending on how fast they could convert people they killed.

Still, Mason felt the urge to go alone. It would be hard, for sure. Maybe nearly impossible. But at least he would be the only one taking the risk.

Mason paused at that, before passing a hand through his hair with a sigh. Maybe he did have a little savior complex. The realization did not change much, though, because it was not that he believed only he could get the job done, not entirely, at least, but more so that bringing either Danny or Fat Cobra would be taking what he felt was unnecessary danger.

But Mason also had to admit that he could not see a problem with the Sorcerers helping, or even Stick. Most of all, the Ancient One.

Thinking of this, Mason looked up. Yao was still fighting the demons in the sky, though there were three fewer of them, leaving only four. She did not exactly look like she was in much trouble personally, but they were hogging her.

Sending another look at the courtyard filled with demons and Sorcerers, Mason clicked his tongue and dropped the sword before running up the side of the fortress. He rapidly ascended to the highest point, and from there, leaped at the battle in the sky.

Landing on the back of a gargoyle-looking monstrosity, he screamed at Yao over the strong wind, ”I’ll take them; go save your disciples!”

Yao, to her credit, did not question his seemingly questionable choice, disengaging the demons and quickly running down to the ground level. She had mastered the magic so well that she appeared to be stepping on thin air, but she was actually creating miniature platforms under her feet for a fraction of a second using Eldritch magic.

Back to Mason, the moment Yao left, he reached out to the Fire Dao with his Divine Sense and applied the concept of Eruption to his fist before punching down on the gargoyle’s head.

It shrieked from the immense temperature, but Mason immediately leapt to another who tried to follow after Yao, slamming a powerful kick into the side of its head, and using that to reach yet another of them.

The demon he had interrupted snarled in his direction, its attention fully on him now as it said, ”You will pay for that, puny human.”

Mason grinned in response, before bursting into laughter as he swung around the claws of the third demon. There was a gargoyle he had burned, a sort of bird of prey he had interrupted, he was currently swinging on the claws of a flying manticore, and the fourth demon was an abomination too chaotic to liken to anything. A chimera of sorts, though it looked nothing like the one from Greek myth.

Of course, none of the demons looked exactly like the beasts Mason likened them to, as they had extra appendages or something of that fashion, but Mason’s mind automatically assigned them to something he knew.

Using the claws of the manticore to swing himself away, he landed on top of the abomination, slamming a fist into it, his Chi still manifested. However, he felt that the dragon-headed guard was not as efficient as it could be.

Also, the limits of aerial warfare quickly showed themselves as instead of attacking him, the bird of prey and the gargoyle started taking their distance, because they could clearly see he could not fly.

Dodging the manticore’s stinger, causing it to sink into the abomination’s flesh, Mason stared at the two demons taking their distance, hesitating between using the Gravity Dao and his spiritual energy wave.

His Spirit was not appropriate for the ground situation, but he was capable of choosing how far it could expand. Using it here would knock out the demons in the best-case scenario, or at the very least stop them for a moment, giving Yao just that much more time.

But there was also the Gravity Dao. Mason usually used it to modify the Earth’s natural gravity, but he could also use himself as the point of reference. It was how he had learned it in the first place. The only problem was that he was not sure whether the gravity he could create would be strong enough.

In his hesitation, Mason decided to use both when he suddenly felt a bout of inspiration.

His Divine Sense reached out to the Gravity Dao and its Pull Concept, while his Spiritual Energy spread out alongside it instead of separately from it. The two energies almost reached the point of mixing together as they rapidly spread out to envelop all four of the demons.

In that moment, a small sort of domain appeared around Mason. Gravitational energy and Spiritual Energy mixed almost seamlessly, affecting both their Spirits and bodies, as even the furthest demon was pulled in Mason’s direction. Or perhaps ‘yanked’ would be the better term with how violent and sudden the pull was.

The expenditure to keep this domain was astronomical, but all four of the demons were helpless before it as they slammed into each other, threatening to crush Mason between them. In truth, it was not that the gravitational force was so overwhelmingly powerful, but more a combination of factors. Their large size and immense weight made them all the more affected by gravity.

Moreover, they were not flying with their wings; they were far too small for that, but instead used some form of energy. Mason’s Spiritual Energy and Dao energy acted as a direct counter to that, much like Chi, paralyzing them.

Once they were all stuck to each other, he raised both fists, and as he dissolved the ‘domain’, he reached out to the Gravity Dao again, but this time with his Chi.

Instead of manifesting it as dragon heads, his Chi took an amorphous form around his fists as he grinned and punched down.

The punch was cataclysmic compared to anything Mason had ever done. The air around them exploded from the rapid compression as all four demons were hit by the gravity-assisted punch. Even Mason himself was not sure of what he had done as the space around his fists grew distorted, and the demons were pushed.

The sound of the punch made everyone on the ground pause for a moment, looking up into the sky, but by the time they did, the demons had already reached the ground, making another explosion from the sheer impact.

Unfortunately for them, Mason was not done as he, too, rapidly descended towards them. Mason could feel that his Three Treasures were stimulated like never before, and their energies were easier to control than they had ever been. In that moment, Mason felt like he was seeing the way forward. The step he had to take.

He was getting closer, but he was not there yet. Soon.

His heart on his sleeve, Mason laughed as he descended, his fists shining brightly as he fused that amorphous Chi manifestation with the Eruption Concept of the Fire Dao this time.

Mason’s fist landed, and the four demons exploded in a gory mess, their blood boiling and their remains burned charcoal-black.