Chapter 20: Strength to Fight

The first spear came flying straight toward Ting's eye. Without enough time to counter, he cocked his head to the side. Its razor sharp edge missed his cheek by a hair.

Ting glanced at the chain to which it was attached as it flew past. Only a second later did it disintegrate, the ash vanishing with a poof upon contact with his shoulder.

"What sort of Guang is this?" Ting was perplexed. At the same time, Jiu readied another chained spear, which peered out of another darkness-emanating hole.

Ting concentrated as he tugged at the energy that had accumulated within his belly. It refused to budge at first, but with another tug, he pulled into his eyes and pushed outward with all his might.

The beam of light headed straight for Jiu's knees just as she flung her hand in his direction. Her own projectile shot forward, this time aiming for his heart.

An explosion blew the fighters back when their attacks collided in midair. The boy tumbled onto his back and rolled sideways. He struck a boulder, and watched his niece with wide eyes as she charged through the smoke cloud holding a sword three times her size.

Jiu stumbled around awkwardly. Her first swing missed, but the dark flames that trailed behind left a mark over the one he had given himself.

Ting yelped. With Jiu standing near point blank, he fired off a quick, arrow-like blast. The impact knocked her off her feet and straight into his lap. Before she could pull back, however, Ting gripped her tight.

"Jiu, listen to me! It's your uncle! Please, open your eyes!"

As if she realized how preposterous that final command was, she looked up at him with pitch black eyes; even her pupils had disappeared.

Jiu let out a blood curdling scream. In her mouth, her kanines grew. She bit down on Ting's fresh wound and tore away, forcing the boy to release her.

Ting was in shock, as was his body. Despite the fact that pieces of flesh hung freely from his exposed ribs, he felt no pain. Knowing that his time was limited, however, Ting resorted to the unthinkable.

He raised his fist at his niece as she continued to gnaw at his severed muscle strains. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Please forgive me for this," he said with a catch in his voice. His knuckle came crashing down. Yet much to his anguish and confusion, the little girl didn't flinch. With his fist still pressed against her cheek, she glared at him, then clenched her teeth.

Jiu struck him with a mighty blow to the stomach, disrupting his flow of Guang. Ting spat out blood. Then, he saw the flames that emanated from her own fist. Barely visible beneath them was a glowing outline resembling a grown man's arm.

Without another moment's notice, Jiu commenced her barrage of close range strikes. Each one connected, leaving Ting in a worse and worse state in which to dodge. He screamed for her to stop but to no avail. The final punch landed square on his cheek — the same one of Jiu's that he had punched earlier. Though unlike his niece, he was knocked nearly unconscious. He stumbled around in a daze before at last collapsing onto his back, completely broken.

"I...I…" he managed to spit out, as blood and stomach acid bubbled up his throat. The red liquid seeped from his nose and ears as well. Convulsing, he looked up into the twilight sky and saw the full moon shine brightly. Not too far away was the second one — the same one that let out a heavenly glow when he first awakened his Guang.

With all the strength he had remaining, he reached up, begging for it to lend him more power. But the boy received no answer. Crestfallen, he let his arm crumple back down.

Ting shifted his gaze to his right. Jiu stood there motionless, her expression showing slight worry at something past him. He then rolled his head to the left, and his jaw fell open.

Still lying on the cold hard ground with Heian. Though unlike before, his charred skin had begun to peel away. The skin around his face and hands did so first, revealing new scarless skin tissue underneath.

A strong gust of wind blew past, removing the rest of the charred skin in one fell swoop. Moments later, the man's eyes cracked open.

"H-Heian, y-you're alive!" sputtered Ting.

Heian rose up to his feet like a corpse rising from the grave. He said nothing as he turned to face his daughter.

"Jiu…" he whispered in a gruff voice. In response, Jiu's face changed from worry to anger. But still she did not budge.

The scar-faced man then traipsed over to Ting. Placing his hands over his abdomen, Heian muttered a phrase in a language that the boy had never heard. Before he could object, his body began to glow. The pain of the wounds faded away, as did all traces of injury.

Ting looked at his brother in amazement. "H-how did you do that? Brother?"

His brother didn't say a word. Instead he collapsed onto his side. Ting placed his ear against his chest, and was relieved to hear that Heian was still alive.

"Thank you brother," he whispered, "I won't let you or any of the other villagers down."

The boy stood up and turned toward the now angered Jiu.

"That includes you too!" he shouted. He shifted into the same fighting stance as Jiu's, this time feeling a power far different than before.

Now the energy flowed through the space around his body, entering it periodically as part of a cycle. Sparks jumped from his fingertips and danced down the length of his arms.

All of a sudden, an image of an intricate sword popped into his mind, causing the sparks around his hands to grow excited.

"What's going on?"

Ting looked himself over. Superhuman speed and the ability to super heat the air around him didn't appear to be possible. Once more, the image popped into his mind.

The sparks grew exponentially in abundance to the point that they completely enveloped his hands. Ting clapped them together in an attempt to dispel the elusive beings. As he separated them, a glowing object with the same shape as the sword appeared before him.

Ting marveled at the spectacle that now lay in his hands. Seconds later, the glow disappeared to reveal a shining, double-edged curved sword.

"Woah," he said in amazement. Jiu didn't look nearly as impressed.

"You're nothing," multiple overlapping voices seethed from her lips, "and soon, you'll meet the same fate as the rest of us!"

"The rest of us?" Ting quivered. "No! It won't be!"

Upward he leapt, blade held high over his head. As he descended, a battle cry rang through the air.

He swung the sword downward with all his might. Jiu countered with a new weapon of her own: a two-pronged jian.

Sparks flew as the mighty blades collided. The two opponents recoiled from the impact, yet neither relented. They continued exchanging blows until Ting saw an opening. He spun around with the flat of the blade aimed for the side of Jiu's ribcage.

Just as it was about to hit, one of the black holes appeared beneath. Out of it flew a chain, which immediately wrapped itself around the weapon.

Jiu lurched back, pulling it out from Ting's grip. She caught it with ease before twirling around herself and throwing it back with great force. In the air, it spun around like a fast spinning wheel.

Ting narrowed his eyes and, at just the right moment, caught his sword by the handle.

'This is too risky,' he thought frustratingly, 'I won't be able to defeat her without possibly cutting her up.'

As though the sword had heard his grievance, its razor-sharp edges glowed, soon revealing dull, unsharpened ones. Smiling, he held the weapon in front of him and charged.

The speared chains flew toward him from all directions, aiming for different parts of his body. But Ting was able to parry without so much as a glance. All of his training under the watchful eye of Heian was paying off; the weapon had become an extension of himself. Even more so than his fist.

Ting repositioned his blade as he homed in on his target: the center of her abdomen. He prepared to drive the blunt tip in, in hopes of knocking her unconscious, when another hole snapped open between his feet. Before he could even react, an iron ball attached to yet another chain struck him in the groin.

Ting froze. The pain took a few moments to set in, but by the time it did, he dropped his weapon and crumpled onto his knees. The sword hit the ground with a loud clang and disappeared in a flash of light. He was now defenseless.

His niece stared down at him, baring a maniacal grin. The fangs with which she bit him still had pieces of his flesh hanging off of them. With the snap of her fingers, more than a dozen black holes appeared around her.

'Even with all this strength...even with all this power...I can't win...'

He looked over at Heian, who still lay unconscious. A tear formed in Ting's eye as the reality of his failure dawned on him. 'I'm so sorry brother, Jiu, everyone…'

Accepting his fate, Ting turned to face Jiu. But what he saw instead made him gasp. Tears streamed down the little girl's face. In her very own voice, she whispered, "Help me uncle…"

Her hands trembled as she tried her hardest to prevent the chains from killing him.

"Help me—"

Ting pulled her into his embrace. Then, all of a sudden, memories of all the pain and hurt she had gone through played through his own mind. Everything, from her realization that her mother had died, to her rape at the hands of the Zhou soldier, cut him to the core, like an axe slicing his heart in two.

"There's no need to worry anymore. I'll always be there for you Jiu. You can count on it."

His hands began to glow, just as his brother's had earlier, causing Jiu to do the same. The holes around them vanished, and the toxic aura around her body faded away.

Soon, the black mist disappeared without a trace. All around, the dismembered bodies of human and livestock alike littered the once serene village. Not a single one besides Heian was left in one piece. Each of the stone buildings had also been toppled.

Jiu opened her eyes. She winced momentarily, then smiled at her uncle, completely oblivious to the carnage that had unfolded.

"Uncle? Are you okay?" she asked innocently as Ting released her. He looked at her with a sunken smile. His own eyes now struggled to stay open.

"I think I just need to get some shut-eye," he answered meekly. Ting gave his niece a kiss on the forehead. But before he had the chance to lie down, he spotted something in the distance — something that made his heart sink.