CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: RYOMA V LIAN’ER

Ryoma sat in his study, his old face riddled with wrinkles of age—the failed assassination attempt on their target not only made them lose favor with the RavenClaw but it made his Sect, a Sect that prides itself on assassination to appear like fools.

He rubbed his temples. "This person... I feel like she’s going to be a problem for us going forward."

His attendant placed a cup of tea next to him and Ryoma thanked her—he drank the tea, letting the hot brew ease away his worries and relax his mind and body from the tension it was going through.

But little did he know—problems were coming to him.

Lian’er walked into the dirt path after following the blood trail that the assassin left—she had been tracking it for a day and a half and she could see the large gates surrounded by large walls in the distance beyond the trees. She let out a grin and inched her feet to the side a bit.

ABSOLUTE ZERO: GLACIER

Neuro-Qi flowed through the conduits in her body and from the pores of her skin—cold air oozed out freezing everything within a ten kilometer range. She pointed her finger at the gates and ice formed around the top stretching outward and becoming a massive icicle which she fired at the entrance.

The Sect disciples stationed at the entrance could not react in time as the events of what happened, happened in the blink of an eye—they were just getting accustomed to the mysterious coldness when they saw a large icicle speed towards them. Before they can react, the icicle slammed into the gate and tore through the walls creating a massive opening while blasting them away from the vicinity.

Lian’er stepped over the unconscious guards. "Tch." She mused as she saw the disciples piling into the courtyard after the crash made by the icicles. "This has turned into quite the party."

One of the Sect disciples stepped forward. "You dare attack the Shadow Trinity Sect? Bold of you! State your name intruder, we might as well as get your name before we kill you."

Lian’er laughed. "Kill me? Isn’t that amusing." The ice around her feet rose and created a sword which she grasped in her hand. " My name is Shen Lian’er." She introduced herself.

"Shen??"

"What are they doing here? Shouldn’t they be in the heavenly cities?"

"Go, inform the Sect leader."

The man who had stepped up to represent the rest took out his weapon, a small katana and glared at Lian’er—he was rattled by the thought of having a Shen in Sunderfall but despite that, his reasoning told him it’s impossible for them to be here. "Your bluff would’ve worked but there’s no way a Shen can be here! Never!"

Lian’er shrugged. "Fight me and see."

The man did not need to be told twice and he jumped into action—his footwork making him nimble enough to ignore the terrain disadvantage as he made his way to Lian’er.

SHADOW SNATCH

The man’s body slowly vanished into his shadow and by the time he came into attacking range of Lian’er, his body was completely gone—he grinned as he surfed underneath the ground and appeared from Lian’er’s shadow aiming to attack her from behind. "DIEEE!!"

"Predictable." the man’s eyes widened when he saw Lian’er looking at him—in his moment of shock, he failed to dodge the sword of ice and it pierced through his shoulder.

Lian’er’s mouth creased downward. She had missed the vital spot but the effect of the sword assured her that the assassin was as good as dead—She let go of the sword and turned her attention to the shocked Sect disciples and a grin married her face.

ENHANCED BODY

A basic application of Neuro-Qi was put into use and she disappeared from sight through sheer speed easily outpacing her shadow—the disciples lower than Awakened Saint II fell victim to her assaults rather quickly as she weaved herself inbetween them cutting through body after body with her ice swords—the Gleam of her icy eyes being the last thing the terror striken disciples saw before darkness consumed them.

Lian’er appeared behind the disciples and swung her blades allowing the blood coating them to fall to the frozen ground—bodies collapsed one by one and the assassins were cut in half... Or maybe more, for those that were standing were slowly starting to get incased by ice which froze them on a molecular level cutting off their ability to weld Neuro-Qi.

MIMICRY

Ice rose from the ground and split into three—the three chunks of ice became clones of Lian’er and they got to work dispatching the rest of the disciples.

Lian’er stood before the doors to the Sect leader’s office—behind her, she left a trail of bodies of disciples which she had personally executed.

"Show time." She said with a cheeky grin and kicked down the door—her eyes landed on Ryoma sitting on the futon in the center of the office and she walked in and stood at a distance from the latter. "Before you die, I know someone paid you to kill me, what’s their names? And where can I find them?"

Ryoma closed his eyes and chuckled. "You do look like a striking resemblance to your mother."

Lian’er’s widened and she quickly returned to her stoic demeanor that had a touch of arrogance. "An old man’s dying trick? That’s sad isn’t it?"

Ryoma opened his eyes and got to his feet—he removed his jacket and settled into a fighting style. "You can choose to believe me or not—" He then remembered her question. "to know, you have to defeat me or else I wouldn’t be a good client now would I?"

Lian’er chuckled. "Fair point."

She disappeared from sight and appeared before Ryoma with her sword in motion to decapitate the man—Ryoma merely raised his finger and stopped the sword much to the shock of Lian’er. He thrusted his fist and an invincible force blasted Lian’er away.

She skidded to a stop and looked at her torso, the ice armor she usually wore was torn apart. The armor can withstand upto Awakened Saint I attacks without damage and one attack did this? She looked at Ryoma. He is dangerous.

Lian’er decided to change her approach, if charging head-on was not ideal then long range attacks would work—she clasped her hands and ice accumulated around her and it rose from the ground—once the ice construct was complete, the office had no roof and she stood atop of a large figure with glowing yellow eyes and a dragon for a neck accessory.

The dragon lashed out at tremendous speeds approaching Ryoma, its mouth wide open ready to chomp down on the latter.

Ryoma’s speed defied the condition of his body as the old man darted away from the dragon as it crashed on the ground, sending the debris flying and destroying what was left of the building.

SHADOW STRIKE

Ryoma thrusted his hand again, sending a wave of shadows towards the construct Lian’er was standing on—but the latter was quick and her buddha was quicker. The humongous constructs shifted just as the shadows wrapped around where it was and once in the air, Lian’er raised her hand and a massive disc blanketed the sky.

"Say your prayers."