Chapter 143: The Opening Bell
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[Third Person Point of View]
The Central Nexus sat where all seven cities met.
It was a round platform of fused stone and jade, maybe two hundred yards across, hanging over a drop of white fog. There were no railings, just the edge and then nothing.
The floor and pillars didn't match. One side had K'un-Lun's clean pale marble, another side had Tiger Island's rough grey blocks, then there was black obsidian from the Under City, and gold crane lines from K'un‑Zi running through all of it. Seven different cities all mashed into one, almost as if the builders had argued the entire way through. Except all of this had occurred naturally, as if it were the will of heaven.
The seating ring was a single, long curve that perfectly wrapped around the entire arena. There were no private boxes, curtains or walls this time around. Lords, sponsors, their champions, all those were on the same height of white stone bench, with only their banners behind them to mark who belonged where.
Everyone could see everyone. That was clearly the idea.
The Crane Mother sat in K'un‑Zi's section with her mask on and her hands folded on her knees. She sat very straight and still. To her left, three empty cushions sat between her and Illyana Rasputina. Illyana had taken the far edge of the section and sat with one boot up on the railing and the Soulsword resting against the chair. The gap between them looked like something they'd both agreed on.
Across from them was Tiger Island's section. The elder sat in the center, back straight, hands on his knees, jaw tight. On one side of him, Li Hua sat with her arm in a sling and her jaw wired shut. On the other side, the Champion of Tiger Island, a wide man with ritual scars across his bare chest, watched the arena floor. His face didn't move; his eyes did.
K'un‑Lun's section held Danny Rand.
He looked young next to the others. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and wore a plain white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Nobody would be able to guess that man was possibly the strongest here.
He sat leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his fists together, and he kept glancing at the empty arena like he was trying to hear something. His right fist glowed faintly on and off. He clenched and unclenched it without seeming to notice.
Fat Cobra sat in Peng Lai's seats, chewing candied plums from a paper bag. He tried to hand one to the Dog Brother, the Under City's champion, who shook his head.
Below the lords' ring, another ring of seats held people who mattered but didn't rule. It was for normal people. Luna had a place there, alongside the rest of Agents of Atlas, Charmcaster, Colleen, and Psylocke.
Luna crossed her legs, visor piece in one ear blinking blue as she quietly recorded the entire thing. She couldn't post this, that'd bring her trouble, but she wanted to watch it later. Hope sat beside her, book shut on her lap, eyes fixed on the arena.
Psylocke stood instead of sitting. She leaned on the back of Luna's bench with her arms folded, head tilted slightly as she watched the lords' ring and not the arena, counting faces and exits.
A few rows back, Amadeus Cho scribbled on a tablet without looking up much. Lin Lie sat next to him with the Sword of Fu Xi balanced across his knees. People's eyes lingered on that sword. They didn't linger on Lin Lie, given what had happened. Colleen Wing had found a spot near a pillar and was doing her best to blend into the stone.
There were countless other rings like this. One such was hidden from mortal eyes, invisible to most, save for the Champions and the City Lords.
Only one seat occupied that ring.
It didn't have a city banner behind it. The figure sitting there wore pale gold layered robes and a deep hood. There should have been a face inside the hood, but anyone who tried to look saw only blur, like hot air over a road.
Danny Rand's fist flared brighter every time his eyes drifted to that seat, as that ring was quite close to the lords' rings. Every time he looked, he caught himself and looked away fast. Dangerous thing.
The announcer walked out to the middle of the arena. This was a different man than the Kun'zi Tournament's announcer. He was tall, wearing ceremonial robes, and his voice was already boosted with chi before he opened his mouth.
"Champions and honored lords of the Seven Heavenly Cities!" His words rolled around the Nexus. "The Grand Tournament of the Celestial Pavilion begins now!"
Noise rose from the lower galleries, where hundreds of martial artists and sect members packed in shoulder to shoulder.
"First match!" the announcer called. "Tetra‑Man, Champion of K'un‑Zi, versus the Prince of Orphans, Champion of Z'Gambo!"
Up in the gallery, the Crane Mother's fingers tightened on her own knee.
She'd already learned of this match up before, that was why Ben and the Prince weren't present in their seats. Even so, as the match was about to begin, she couldn't help but get annoyed. Her eyes moved to the glowing bracket that appeared over the arena, and her jaw locked under the mask.
The Prince of Orphans in the first round.
A bad pairing for a champion who liked raw power.
Her gaze slid across the ring to Tiger Island's section. The elder was watching the floor with a thin, satisfied curve at the corner of his mouth. Li Hua's eyes were bright above the metal keeping her jaw shut.
The Crane Mother's head turned slightly toward the hooded figure in the separate ring, who was sitting alone.
He didn't show any reaction.
She faced the arena again and said nothing. The Prince of Orphan entered, as people cheered for him too. Ben was late. While others whispered where he was, the Crane Mother could feel that her champion was nearby so she wasn't worried.
I just hope that at the very least, she prayed in her mind, he somehow wins this. That he somehow can fight Iron Fist and give him a beating. But suddenly, she wasn't so sure.
After all. The Prince of Orphans, truly, was a peculiar opponent.
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[First Person Point of View – Ben Tennyson]
I came up through the fighter's tunnel and hit the Omnitrix right before the light reached me. Green light flashed as my bones stretched, muscles swelled, and two extra arms punched out of my sides.
My skin went red and hard, my body growing heavy. By the time I stepped into full sunlight, I was Four Arms again.
Nine feet of Tetramand with four fists and a grin full of teeth stepped into the light. The crowd lost it. "Tetra‑Man! Tetra‑Man!" rolled around the stands. I'd smashed Tiger's Daughter in the prelims, so of course they wanted an encore.
"Such a great feeling, being cheered for." I rolled my shoulders, cracked all four sets of knuckles, and looked across at my opponent. "Don't you agree?"
The Prince of Orphans stood about forty feet away. He said nothing.
He was a lean man with a bald head and a sharp face that could have been carved with a knife. He wore a dark cloak that was fine, but… old goggles pushed up on his forehead. What was the point of that? His hands hung loose at his sides. He wasn't in any stance or crouch. He just stood there like this was an appointment he'd been waiting on all week.
This guy beat Danny Rand in the comics. Let's remain careful.
A person who could beat the Iron Fist in martial arts, he surely was no weakling.
Still. He was kinda small… and I was four-armed and full of stolen furnace power. It can't be too bad. Psylocke's crash course from last night echoed in my head. She'd told me not to push chi past certain points, and to watch my breathing. Particularly, she'd said, "Don't let people play with your pressure spots!"
But honestly? I felt fine. Four Arms could eat backlash my human body couldn't.
"Both participants are here and ready," the announcer's arm cut down the air. "Begin!"
I made the first move. Four Arms was fast for his size and I took advantage of that. My huge legs covered the distance in three big strides and swung with my lower right. The punch could have made a new door in a house.
Unfortunately, I hit empty air. He was already somewhere else. Fast… way too fast.
Dammit. He's the speed type, and he's really good at it. That wasn't good for me though. If I were up against someone like Fat Cobra, victory was as simple as guaranteed. But against an opponent I couldn't catch…? Even if I were a dozen times stronger than him, what could I do?
I felt him appear behind me and turned fast. But he'd already tapped my back and vanished. I didn't have the chance to pursue him because the tap wasn't just a tap.
I hissed in pain, feeling a thin needle of chi slide through the armor of my skin and poke a channel underneath. My Dantian did a weird hiccup thing, and my right arm went numb and heavy for a blink, like somebody had poured cold snow on it.
My legs still moved so I rushed him and tried to turn that into a sweep, coming around with my upper left. He ducked under it without hurrying and brushed fingers against the back of my knee as he passed. Another little chi sting. My leg glitched this time and I had to stamp my foot down hard so I didn't face‑plant.
By the time I got my balance, he was ten feet away again. His arms remained loose, hanging, and his face expressionless. "Cheers, you see," he said, "don't mean much if you're not strong enough to meet their expectation."
"True that," I agreed, even through my annoyance.
He's doing the Psylocke thing. Points and flow. How do I counter it when he's this fast? He was likely the fastest among the Seven Champions, otherwise it made no sense. What bad luck that I just had to have matched against him for my first match!
I went at him again, faster. I used all four arms, high and low, crossing strikes so there'd be nowhere to go. There should not have been a gap in that net.
He slipped through anyway. I lost track of his feet completely. One second he was in front of me, next second he was at my side, then behind me, always just off‑angle. It reminded me too much of what Psylocke had done. Every pass came with another little hit. Spine, ribs, and inside of my upper left elbow, just like Psylocke. Tiny touches that didn't feel like much but kicked my chi sideways every time.
Suddenly, I felt really grateful for her training. She'd realized my biggest hurdle was a faster opponent, and she'd shown me a demo of that. So while this situation was super annoying, I maintained some form of control.
Within half a minute, my punches started to feel faulty, if that made sense. Power was there, but it wasn't where I needed it. I'd throw with my upper right and feel the surge drop into my lower left instead. My own energy kept leaking into the wrong limbs, so the ones I was actually using felt slow and soft.
I'd already lived this once with Psylocke. This was that, on hard mode.
Why do I say that?
Because then, I saw lightning crackle around his hands. He raised his hand and it rushed toward me. It came straight at my chest. Palm strike with lightning chi, nothing fancy. It hit center mass and my heart did a weird double‑beat then a skip.
Four Arms had an incredibly durable body, indeed, but these martial artist bastards used acupuncture and whatnot to target weak points. Even Four Arms had weak points. So my whole chest clenched and my vision flashed white.
Before I could reset, something hard snapped into the side of my head, supercharged and strengthened with lightning. An explosive, fast elbow slammed against my temple, and the arena tilted.
Four Arms does not go down easy, but my legs didn't seem to care about pride.
The crowd noise dipped like someone turned a knob.
I caught myself on two arms and shook my head. Warm trickle above one eye. He'd cut me….? With his fist? Strange.
Okay. New plan.
Since capturing him was the goal, I should do the one thing that typically worked against fast opponents. The Prince of Orphans came in again, using that smooth step that made him look like he wasn't touching the ground. I wasn't going to out‑speed him, and I wasn't going to start winning the pressure point game. So I aimed for the one thing I could change.
The floor.
I gathered Chi on my fists. This much was easy even for an untrained baboon like me. My fists glowed like four miniature suns, and the Prince of Orphans slowed down in hesitation. I used that opening to slam all four fists down and drove chi into the stone.
The energy roared up my arms.
I didn't try to guide it delicately, I just shoved it down like an ocean. The arena jumped. Cracks spidered out from my hands and chunks of stone and jade popped up around us. The whole platform shook like something huge had just tried to get up underneath.
The Prince had to actually react. His step pattern snapped for half a second as the ground under his foot moved, and he had to kick up off a rising slab to keep from eating it.
Got you.
I lunged while the floor was still a mess. Broken ground made his glide‑style footwork harder. He couldn't just skate across smooth stone anymore, he had to actually place his feet. I trapped him between two tilted slabs and let all four arms go. High and low, cross and hook. He blocked and shifted instead of just vanishing. One of my lower fists hammered his forearm and I felt him move from the hit.
At this rate, I could shove him if I actually connected!
For a few seconds it was a real brawl. I chased him across the rubble and clipped him twice more, one to the shoulder and one to the ribs that knocked him sideways. The crowd started to wake back up, noise building again.
Then his cloak flared and something green hissed out of his sleeves.
A thin mist washed over me. I breathed it in before my brain finished registering oh shoot, that's not dust. It tasted metallic and burned down the back of my throat.
Three seconds later my vision went weird. The edges warped and my chi started doing things I definitely hadn't told it to do. It wasn't point disruption this time, it was like something was chewing on the channels from the inside.
"Poison… seriously?" I muttered.
"Thunder Dragon Poison Array. Sorry."
I didn't care for his unapologetic apology. My next punch went wider than it should have. Just a little, but enough. He slid past it easily, and his hand speared into my solar plexus, three fingers and lightning chi focused tight.
The Lightning Chi went through my muscle and hit the Dantian itself.
Everything inside me lit up the wrong way. I screamed in pain. The Crane Mother's chi, my own, and whatever junk he'd pumped into me all crashed together. My whole meridian network lit up with pain. It felt like being scrubbed out with hot sand.
My knees hit the stone and all four arms followed a second later when I tried to push back up and nothing responded properly. The Prince of Orphans stood in front of me.
He was breathing heavily now, but clearly less injured than I was.
I tried to make my arms work. They shook. But didn't move any further.
The Omnitrix started beeping. What the hell? The Four Arms form was slipping. The watch's dial was flashing red, and my body started pulling in on itself. I was a bit confused about what was going on. I no longer had the time limit problem, so…
Fuck, right. It was a common theme in the cartoon for the alien form to revert back to human form if it was too hurt. Was direct attacks on my Dantian really that intense?
Extra mass shrank, extra limbs started to fold. I slapped my left hand over the watch, trying to force it to hold, but the fail‑state had already kicked in.
Red flashed.
Nine feet of Tetramand compacted into six feet of human, four arms collapsed into two. Red skin turned fair, armor turned into a jacket and cargo pants. My body remained on the stone, this time with a lot less weight but a lot more nakedness in front of a few thousand strangers.
For about two heartbeats there was complete silence.
Then the yelling started.
"What is that?!" from somewhere above me. "He's human?!" from somewhere else. Voices piled on top of each other, angry, shocked, and even excited. The announcer shouted something I couldn't catch over it.
I got one hand under me and pushed. My whole body shook.
The heat in my Dantian still burned, but it felt hotter and messier than when Four Arms had used it. Thankfully, there was no poison in my human veins. I slowly stood up, breathing hard. The world swam a little when I lifted my head.
The Prince was still there. He was watching me. "Surrender," he said, not surprised to see my human form. Of course he knew. Since Tiger Island was known, all the VIPs definitely knew.
The only ones in the dark had been the crowd, and that problem had just solved itself.
I opened my mouth to reply to him, but I ended up spitting blood onto the floor instead. I wiped my mouth and looked up at him.
"Oh brother."
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