Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Mason glanced at the Immortal Beasts around him and found that the chains holding them had disappeared. They still looked weak, but they were free.

Still, Mason only spared them a moment of attention before running after Krahllak, with the intention of finishing it off.

Not only had the corpse city around them collapsed, but many of the building materials had also been purified by Mason’s flames. For them, the only form of saving was ‘death’, because they were not truly alive anymore. They remained conscious to suffer eternally, but they were little more than zombies in reality.

So when Mason’s Chi interacted with them, it did not heal them, but burned them to the afterlife. It was a merciful way of saving their souls, and quite strangely, Mason felt a profound sense of satisfaction filling him as he did it. More than that, he also felt his understanding of the Dao of the Sun improve.

Mason had never liked killing, even when he dealt with the worst scum imaginable. Even with Krahllak, who had been terrorizing humanity for a million years, and the world for several billion.

So it was quite strange for him to feel relief and satisfaction with the purging of these tortured beings. However, Mason did have a sense of why that was.

Becoming one with the Dao of the Sun meant that Mason had achieved a new level of power, but also that he had grown closer to it. In other words, if he followed the way of the sun, then he would naturally feel good about it. In this case, saving their souls made him feel good because that was the best thing to do.

Mason did not think it was a bad thing either, because it did not mean his personality had been changed per se. He had broken through with the Dao of the Sun because it was compatible with him in the first place, so all it did was reward him for things he would have done either way. If he had wanted to ignore these tortured souls, then the Dao of the Sun would not have struck him down or left him, it simply would not have reacted.

It also seemed that the way to advance in this new realm was to follow his Dao, which only reinforced the importance of the choice of the Dao chosen for the breakthrough to this realm. For now, Mason was the only one, and having chosen a Dao that was 100% compatible with him, progress should come easily. But when others attained this realm in the future, it would be important for them to find the Dao that fit them, or progress would be impossible.

As he moved, Mason’s trajectory could hardly be hidden, as every tortured soul in his proximity was cleansed by the flames surrounding him.

Krahllak tried to run, but Mason quickly caught up to it, his Divine Sense locked onto it. Moving like a wraith, his body impossibly light, as he looked like he glided across the ground from sheer speed, Mason was instantly on Krahllak.

The demon screamed in fright, swinging a claw in reflex, but Mason immobilized the claw by grabbing it by the wrist and slashed a hand blade at the shoulder while he pulled.

The flames of Mason’s Chi, the Sunfire he decided to call it in the moment, burned through Krahllak almost as easily as it did with the building materials, and so Mason literally tore off Krahllak’s arm.

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Screaming in agony, Krahllak swung its other claw at him, and Mason was about to disarm him a second time when he noticed a chain attached to Krahllak’s fingers.

Mason only had the time to cross his arms before him when an immense mass whipped into him, sending him flying this time.

Skidding along the formless ground of the Eighth City, Mason looked up in awe as he noticed a giant dragon flying in the sky. And unlike the seven Immortal Beasts, this one was made of real flesh and blood. This was a true, living Immortal Beast.

Although it was a dragon, it looked very different from Shou-Lao. Its scales were of the darkest black, and while it had a long serpentine body like most eastern dragons, it also had a large pair of wings on its back. It had no horns, but three claws along its body.

Just now, it had slapped him away with its tail.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his lip, Mason looked in the direction of Krahllak, only to see it teleport away. Mason’s Divine Sense lost it. But Mason did not worry much about that, since there was nowhere for Krahllak to go. Once Mason had cleansed the whole city, there would be nothing but open field.

Focusing on the bigger problem for now, quite literally in this case, Mason reached out to his Gravity Intent and suddenly increased the gravity on the dragon.

Mason expected it to fall, especially with its size and mass, but it was surprisingly able to keep itself afloat, although it started beating its wings much more rapidly. The sheer movements of such large wings created a strong wind around them, further destroying the city as the structures came apart.

Since it was of no effect, Mason released his hold over the dragon, and lowered his own gravity instead as he leapt at the dragon. It was high up, but Mason moved like he was on the moon as he shot up rapidly and slammed into the dragon.

It pulled its body up, rearing up to slash a claw at Mason. He feinted an attack of his own, as if he would meet its claw with his elbow, only to grapple it, rising with it.

As he did, though, Mason realized that the claw attack itself was also a distraction, as several ominous clouds appeared above them, with rainwater starting to drop.

Mason prepared for a lightning strike and reinforced his body to protect himself when the first drops fell on top of him.

The rainwater only soaked his clothes, as normal rainwater would, but the moment it hit his skin, it started sizzling like a strong acid.

Upping his output to once again cover himself in Sunfire, the rainwater evaporated before it could come in contact with him as he deftly climbed along its serpentine body, quickly reaching the upper part of its neck that connected with its head.

It tried to shake him off, but Mason’s size worked in his favor as the dragon’s scales made for natural, easy handholds, allowing him to hold on until he reached his target.

Holding himself to one of the scales, Mason did not bother attacking without Chi, as the size difference meant there was simply no way for him to injure the dragon without it. Even if he pierced its body with his full arm, it would only leave behind a superficial wound.

So, instead, Mason finally launched himself onto its head and started raining down Star Fists.

The Sunfire accompanying Mason’s fists did not burn the dragon in the slightest, meaning it was an Earthly being, like the other Immortal Beasts. Or at the very least, from this dimension, since Mason was not sure how Chi would interact with aliens.

But while it was not burned, the flames did help the impact become more powerful. Mason’s fists ignored the scales protecting the dragon’s face, going straight for the brain.

With only the first strike, the dragon seemingly realized the danger it was in, but it was too late. Although it was not knocked out by the first punch, it was stunned, which gave place for a second punch, then a third, then it could not count any longer as Mason kept hitting it until it fell completely unconscious.

Landing on the ground with a heave, Mason patted the unconscious dragon, chuckling to himself, ”Bad dragon.”