BloodStar

Morning had come; however, within Khan Valley, it was anything but peaceful. Two massive ki auras battled it out leaving craters and scars across the valley as they exchanged blows.

A pause in the battle occurred, and Xenia stood in her athleisure karate gi with her 10th degree black belt tied loosely around her waist. Her black hair was in a ponytail. She stood with one eye open, and one eye closed due to severe bruising and swelling. Her face had lines of blood running down each side. Yet, she stood determined as ever to stand against Empress Victoria.

She shouted, “This battle isn’t over yet!”

Victoria casually responded, “I should hope not. You have yet to land a convincing hit on me. Are you ready to fight for real?”

Xenia growled through her teeth as her wounds healed in the pause in battle. Victoria saw her wounds healing and said, “I think not! This time you had better call on all of your strength! There will be no mercy!”

Victoria and Xenia stood across from each other. Their ki auras encompassed their entire bodies with a flame like extension of their ki extending upwards. Victoria’s ki aura swelled to an immense size. Xenia looked on with determination and gathered her own ki.

However, just as Xenia was preparing to fire a ki blast at Victoria, her body constricted and froze. She looked on as Victoria moved both hands with precision in her perfected bloodbending form.

Xenia tried to resist with all of her might to no avail. Her mother had her completely frozen; she couldn’t move a single finger.

Victoria then began to move her hands. As she did, Xenia gave out a loud blood curdling yell. Her right arm began to split from her body as Victoria bloodbent her so viciously that her skin, tendons, and muscles could no longer keep hold against the force. The tear began in her shoulder and continued down her right chest.

Xenia closed her eyes as she tried to steel herself through the pain. Her arm was still technically attached albeit barely just hanging on by a thread of skin. Her organs were exposed to the open air. Her lungs collapsed, and she bled profusely.

Although she was in great pain, on the verge of crying even, her body was already quick to mend itself. Victoria looked on in awe of her healing abilities that made her own look childish. Victoria loudly stated, “It seems I overestimated how easily it might be to kill you. In fact, having seen your true healing abilities, it would be quite hard to kill you. Even for me with all of my might.”

Xenia continued to rage and growl as she fell to her knees from the pain.

Victoria called to her, “Wouldn’t you rather bleed at my hands than die at your enemy’s hands?!”

Victoria then moved her hands once again as she pulled Xenia left leg away from her torso. Once again, the skin split first, followed by the underlying fascia and muscle, until finally her entire leg violently ripped from body.

Xenia fell from her knees to the ground. Victoria showed no mercy, however. Next, she began to manipulate Xenia’s intestines from within her body. Although the damage wasn’t visible from the outside, the rending of her intestines was more painful than her limbs being avulsed from her body as thousands of shooting streak of intense pain rushed throughout her body.

Xenia had dealt out this pain a thousand times to prisoners of hers; however, this was the first time she had experienced it. She didn’t at all mind the pain and brutality as she welcomed pain as one of her sadistic pleasures to be enjoyed. But she felt lowly and weak at the hands of a superior warrior. A rage to win, a passion for strength, and a fiery will to persist began to boil within her.

Victoria yelled at her, “If you did meet a Master in battle, you would fall. You can’t even stand against me in your training. The great Xenia Victoria BloodStar finally failing where I triumphed with ease. The prodigy of a generation, the future Empress, the pinnacle of our family tree… You should be ashamed!”

Xenia slowly raised her head from the ground as she grimaced and growled making eye-contact with Victoria. Victoria tried to bloodbend her face down into the dirt; however, as she moved her hands, she felt a massive resistance unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Xenia’s eyes turned a crimson red, and an explosion of red ki so dark it bordered on black rushed from her body. She couldn’t stand owing to her injuries, but she reached out a hand with a never-before-seen amount of ki and begin to encircle Victoria.

For the first time since the Great War, Victoria felt the threat of death as the pressure of her daughter’s rageful ki closed in on her. She shouted to Xenia, “Yes! This is it! Now you are my true opponent! A warrior who can deal death even to the likes of me! You’ve done it Xenia!”

Victoria could feel the power around her waiting to rush in and annihilate her. She stood in the middle of a dark-red storm preparing her defenses. One mistake could mean her death given that Xenia had no control over this newfound technique. However, as fast as it appeared, the power vanished.

Once the ki storm vanished, she quickly looked to Xenia. She had passed out on the ground from exhaustion. Victoria couldn’t help but think to herself, “What power! What rage! She has done it. She has awakened her inner Bloodlust!”

____________________________

Soldiers quietly paced the defensive walls of the Saber Fortress. It was a quiet evening thus far. However, the silence was quickly broken as two men broke from the tree line running at full speed.

The first solider who spotted them shone the spotlight on the two men and shouted, “Halt! Halt or we will fire on you!”

However, a second, third, and fourth soldier all began to notice something. “Don’t fire! That’s Lord Heraklinos and General Magnus!”

The first soldier softly said, “But… then where are the rest of the men?”

Jacek and Vega ran at full speed as they looked ahead to the fortress gates which had slowly begun to open. Jacek yelled to Vega, “Get inside the gates! Go! I have one last surprise for these rebels!”

Vega nodded and continued running ahead as Jacek slid to a halt and turned around. He outstretched both arms to his sides creating two dense, blindingly white spheres of powerful ki. He then merged both spheres as he brought his hands together in front of his chest.

He gave a loud battle cry and let his attack rip. A blinding white beam of rampaging ki shot forth and into the forest. He maintained control of the beam and swung it laterally across the forest line cutting down numerous trees as he did. Once the attack had subsided, it was clear to see that not only had the trees fallen, but also hundreds of pursuing enemies who had also been cut clean in half. The forest was now littered with fallen trees and halves of bodies covering the forest floor.

Jacek wasted no time as he knew there would be more to follow. He quickly rushed into the fortress and yelled for the gates to close behind him.

He removed his helmet and yelled, “Vega!”

Vega came rushing to his side, “Yes, Lord!”

“Walk with me.” Jacek began to walk towards the staircase leading up to the fortress wall overlook. He continued in an angry tone, “We are equipped to handle small rebellions… but we are not properly manned to take on small armies. Where did this force come from? How could we not have known about such a dangerous new development with the rebels?”

Vega was speechless. He understood Jacek’s anger as he felt the same anger himself. Jacek and Vega continued up the staircase to the wall’s overlook. Nearby soldiers overheard Jacek yell, “We lost 300 men tonight! 300 of my men! Someone is going to pay!”

The soldiers hadn’t seen their Lord like this in a long time; however, they knew he took the loss of life of even one of his own very personally. The thought of losing 300 in one night was incomprehensible.

Jacek and Vega reached the overlook and were stunned into silence. As they looked out, they saw up to 1,000 soldiers beginning to lay siege to the fortress.

Jacek looked on with a stern expression surveying the enemy soldiers. “They must have a leader. This is much too organized for the average rebel.”

Vega nodded, “I agree. Although I am not certain that leader is here tonight. If they are to truly siege us though, he may yet show his face.”

Jacek growled, “Whoever he or she is, I hope they don’t mind losing every single soldier at their command who dares to lay siege to this fortress.”

Vega cleared his throat, “Lord, you may be capable of such a feat by yourself. However, even you will require rest before you do so, and our numbers are currently at an all-time low after tonight’s losses. We will need to call for help.”

Jacek stood with a grimace on his face. He hated calling for help especially in situations such as this one. However, he also knew that Vega had a very good point. While he may very well be able to clear 1,000 soldiers by himself, the fact remained that their numbers were dwindling, and the enemy may still yet have hidden strength to reveal.

Vega stood at his side, “Shall I call the Sage Family? They will put grudges aside to help us out. They are a long-time ally.”

Jacek grunted, “No.”

Vega nodded, “Very well. Then your father?”

Jacek again grunted, “No. I will not call my father to clean up my failure.”

Vega tilted his head and sighed, “Then I very much believe Xenia would help if called upon. Although I must admit, I hesitate to enlist her given her strong ties to the United States… the flagship democracy of the world.”

Jacek gave a half smile, “That may be true, but it also may be true that she is our best choice. I will call her. Tell the men to man the cannons and fire on anyone who comes within range.”

Vega nodded, “Yes, Lord!” He then turned to carry out Jacek’s orders and organize the remaining men at the fortress.

Meanwhile, Jacek entered the command center and yelled to the telecommunications experts, “Get me Xenia BloodStar on the line, now. This is an emergency!”

The telecommunications experts rushed into a flurry. They knew this would be a tall task. They had no number on file for Xenia, and she was frequently on the move from continent to continent. However, orders were orders, and they wasted not one second in commencing their task.

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