บท 49: Storming the Hideout
The two were looking over their prepared soul tools. Flash grenades, check. Sonic bombs, check. Sleeping and poison gas, check. A gas mask for said gases. Earplugs for the sonic bombs and finally paralysis rays. Everything was put into storage rings. They had two of each soul tool and both of them carried one of each as well.
They knew their schedule well and they knew the assholes' Friday schedule especially well. This was their time to strike. The only thing stopping them, was that they were hoping for cloudy weather on a friday, that would mask their approach greatly.
This was exactly why they postponed their operation for two more weeks than necessary: the southern weather was regularly stormy. A week ago, they warned the residents of the region of the incoming storm. That time was soon upon them. They have trained their skills and understood them to their best abilities for now. They've learned everything about the surroundings perfectly, and they prepared all the necessary soul tools. They are as ready as they'll ever be.
They told Grandma Ying of their decision to strike and she reminded them for one last time to, in the worst case scenario, run.
There were only a few uncertain aspects. First of those being the unknown soul rings. The corrupt police unfortunately didn't have sparring sessions in their base. If anything, they were lucky to even see their martial souls when the Big Bro broke through. Then there were variables which they hoped would stay the same, like the schedule or the weather. You never know when they might suddenly change their schedule and you never know when that storm suddenly decides to slow down a bit.
This gave them only one way to go about the mission. Blitzkrieg. They had to be fast, strong and finish them in one go, in surprise. They made the soul tools for a reason and they weren't about to be frugal about their usage.
Ever since they decided on their date, the week seemed to pass by quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly for Karni's wishes. He was nervous and Siduo was clearly nervous as well. If they can't get rid of them fast enough or if the big brother arrives too soon? They might be, and this is said in a very nice way, fucked.
So the promised week arrived, and of course, there was already a wrinkle in their plan. The storm was late. It was supposed to start on Wednesday and end on Monday or Tuesday.
It was now Thursday, the day before the big day. The two were debating on what to do. Change the date? Wait for the storm to arrive? Or just rush ahead and hope for the best?
"Well, at least we'll have cloudy weather. Maybe it will rain during the night?" Siduo was guessing.
… … …
It didn't rain. Sure, the weather was cloudy today, but the ideal situation would have still been to be at least rainy. It would dampen the sounds, if something were to go awry.
They set off at 4 in the afternoon. The trio of the goons would usually come around 7, while the Big Bro would join either soon, only about half an hour later, or at the latest around 9 in the evening.
They had things to break into, soul tools to hide, and most importantly, they needed to conceal themselves. Three hours should be more than enough, perhaps even too much time, but they would rather be safe than sorry.
Karni and Siduo arrived in the now already familiar alley. Walking to the vent, they opened it and Siduo went inside first. She was the most familiar with it. She opened up the vent on the other side and sent a message over their new wristwatch to enter. Her immediate next action was to complain. "It's messy."
Karni went inside and his first thought was the same as Siduo's. "It's messy. Good."
It really was. Bottles of alcohol were laying around. Boxes filled up with all sorts of things, drugs, lower ranked weapons, more alcohol. They didn't find any weapons 3-star or above though. They guessed they stored them in another place.
The place was completely unprotected. More so than a hideout, this was a hangout spot. A place for house parties for hooligans. No wonder they never activated their soul rings here.
The good thing was, hiding things was easy. Corners were hidden because of all the clutter, so their task of making things not visible wasn't much of a problem. What was a problem was that they themselves didn't know where to hide. They would have to move things, and even though they doubted those guys would notice, they refused to actually take that risk.
The two looked around for a little bit. Corners, other corners, the ceiling, below the couch. Everything was filled with clutter or it was too open. Karni noticed a pair of boxes. "Hey, you think we could fit inside these?"
He showed boxes that were full of drinks. They would have to move those, but as long as they put them in another box, or perhaps under the already cluttered couch, there really shouldn't be a problem.
"Let me try."
She went in.
"Truly a cat."
"Feeling good enough to make jokes eh? That's good."
Karni chuckled. It did calm him down a little.
After about 30 minutes of hiding all the soul tools and connecting them to the wristwatch, they also hid in the boxes. They left one bunch of soul tools safe. Those stayed on Karni. One of each remained on Karni for their safety, as well as for the leader once he arrived. They finished preparing everything far sooner than they thought. They went into the boxes, gas masks and earplugs in hand.
"Now we're both cats." Siduo joked a little to ease the tension.
The two stayed like that for a while, mostly in silence. Barely an hour has passed in total.
"Sisi."
"Yeah?"
"It's unbearably hot."
"Yeah."
"I'm gonna get out for a bit."
Siduo followed suit.
"Freedom."
Siduo looked at him.
"Hey Kiki, you don't want me killing them, yes?"
Karni nodded, a bit surprised at the sudden question.
"Is it okay if I cripple them?"
Karni was a bit shocked, wasn't that too cruel? To cripple a person? Then again, they were having disagreements on how to deal with all of them. Overall, this could be said to be better than killing, but thinking about how Shi Ying's ended like-
"I mean as a soul master, they'll be just normal humans after." Siduo could almost see how his mind was turning.
"Oh. Sorry. Not used to… that. I forgot for a second there was that kind of crippling as well."
"Yeah, figured. I can't guarantee anything about the Soul Ancestor and the Soul Elder though. If they turn out to be too dangerous, I won't hold back."
"I understand. Safety is still paramount if there's nothing else we can do."
The two stood waiting. They didn't want to sit on the couch, and they didn't even consider the floor. Who knew when this was last cleaned?
One could say they overprepared. They had to wait until those guys came. They just stayed inside, chilling, until it was half past six. The last half an hour they decided to stay inside the boxes. The gang could come any minute now, who knew if they'd be a little early?
The rain still wasn't here and the rain wasn't the only thing that was missing. The corrupt police haven't arrived yet either. It was already seven. Instead of being early, they appeared to be late.
The two still put on their gas masks and earplugs. Even if they were sweating for a while longer, they would at least be prepared to react at a moment's notice.
About 15 minutes later, they finally heard some noise outside.
"Looks like a storm's a brewing, I wish it'd just come already so it can bugger off quicker."
"That ain't really how it works."
The door clicked. It was unlocked. Three people walked in. There was no sight of the fourth person, thankfully.
Two walked in, while the third closed the door. The very second he did, Karni and Siduo activated a flash grenade. Their gas masks were shaded, so they had no problem with the light.
The three screamed, but immediately summoned their martial souls.
In the next second, the sleeping gas was released. The man with a mosquito martial soul quickly stumbled and fell unconscious. He was the least resistant to these things.
The other two were stunned. The strength type was clearly slowed a bit, while the Stonefish guy actually only got stunned by the flash grenade, the gas had no effect on him.
They released the poison gas immediately after. The strength guy slowed down even more, but by now he activated his second soul ring, becoming stronger. The third soul ring was beginning to light up.
In a similar manner, the smallest of the three activated his second soul ring. His skin became the colour of stone, none of the soul tools seemed to affect him. His first soul ring began to light up as well.
Just as giant tusks started to appear on the Gold-Tusked Elephant soul master, the paralysis ray released. Both opponents were affected, their skills interrupted, but both of them quickly regained control. These two were resistant to many effects, though through completely different characteristics.
Siduo and Karni jumped out, Karni threw a sonic bomb into the air and activated his third soul ring, while Siduo similarly activated her first and third soul rings.
Karni's Bo Staff was filled with sound, a melody filled the air and with it, he hit the sonic bomb. It exploded. It sounded like a lightning strike hit the room. He didn't expect it to be so loud when amplified through his martial soul. This definitely wasn't confined to the building.
The Stonefish soul master instantly collapsed, while the Gold-Tusked Elephant fell to the ground without being able to control his body. Just when he tried to stand back up with a lot of difficulty, Siduo was upon him. Three of her fingers forming a decently sized short blade made of incredibly sharp energy.
She stabbed him right below the abdomen, the location of one's dantian. The focus of all soul power cultivation. The man started bleeding quite intensely, but he couldn't use his soul power at the moment.
Out of sheer pain, the strength type soul master collapsed, but this wasn't enough to cripple someone. Siduo wasn't strong enough to do that instantly, but it was good enough as a temporary solution. Luckily the Stonefish guy was knocked out by the sonic blast. His body was resistant to poisonous, sleeping and paralytic effects, but sound wasn't something it accounted for.
The only problem now was that they made themselves known. This was far too loud.
As if the doctor ordered it, thunder was heard outside. The storm finally came. They released a sigh of relief. That should conceal them for at least a little while. In the next few seconds, rain started.
The two patched those guys up just enough for them to not die, while Siduo circled her two energies of martial souls, forcefully infusing them into the other soul masters. The first being the strength type. She needed to be careful, otherwise, she might be the one to explode when her martial souls attempted an unbalanced fusion.
This went surprisingly smoothly. Siduo essentially put their soul power into an everlasting state of chaos until they'd wake up and try to do something about it. Even when they did, if they didn't want to accidentally die while fixing themselves, they had to take this slowly.
Karni and Siduo put them on the couch in what appeared like sleeping positions. They found a myriad of soul tools on them as well while taking a look at their personal information just in case. Preparation for what comes after everything is over is a must. Now they only had to wait for the true boss to show up as well.
The two opened up the back windows, letting out the gas that has now filled the room. They can't make the big brother suspicious after all.
"We didn't use any extra soul tools. Right?"
"One of each is still on me."
"Hopefully it's enough. That Gold-Tusked Elephant guy was still able to move until the end."
"Speaking of, you think they'll stay knocked out?"
"For at least a day. I infused extra sleeping gas into everyone before we let it out, even that Stonefish guy should be out for a few hours when his martial soul can't protect him." Siduo said in a somewhat hopeful voice.
"That's good."
They went back inside the boxes. Now they only had to face the White Armoured Dragon.
The rain was getting more and more intense by now. Lightning flashes were regular. The two even put in some of the guys' music that they had in here, to make it seem like it's active as normal, though it could hardly be heard due to the rain.
They waited for quite a while. It was already 8 in the evening. Everything seemed even darker than usual right now because of the raging storm outside. The journey back wasn't going to be fun. If there was going to be one at all.
Finally, they heard a click on the door, and a man entered.
The man sniffed something in the air just as the flashbang was thrown.
He was suspicious as soon as he walked in. His martial soul activated immediately, the second of his four soul rings lighting up before the sleeping gas was released.
The poison followed together with the paralysis ray to slow the man down, but he still managed to activate his fourth soul ring. Facing the soul tools head on, he only paused for two seconds.
It was unfortunate. That poison was strong, but not as strong as that of the Stonefish. Even that one couldn't go past the armour, so how could this one. They couldn't create weaponry strong enough to pierce through that. The Tang Sect didn't give away such information freely. The man held his breath as soon as he smelled something funny as well. He really faced the poison perfectly.
Karni jumped out with his sonic bomb and activated his third soul ring when hitting it. The immense thunder-like sound was heard again. The White Armoured Dragon was thrown backwards as his plate soothed the immense pain.
Siduo dashed into the fray and activated her third soul ring, but just when she was about to hit thim, a metal like, wide blade that was completely white and looked like a single giant scale interrupted her own blade.
The man's third soul ring was shining. It was actually his scale that elongated into a blade, wider than his own arms, sharper than most claws yet still durable like his own armour.
Siduo's eyes went wide as she quickly retreated back to Karni. Karni already shared his second soul ring with her. The man didn't follow.
"What do we have here, a couple of chil-"
Siduo didn't let him finish. She went in there with her second soul ring shining. Hundred claws attacked the man, yet he took them all head on. At the end, the hundred claws seemed to fuse in with her Hell Blade and one last, giant slash sliced the man.
One of the scaly blades was cut off. The man looked at her in surprise.
This was the best she could do right now. The most she could fuse her third and second soul ring with. It was just that she couldn't do so yet when she used her Mysterious Jade Hands.
"Feisty," he noticed the soul rings, "strong childr-"
Karni suddenly appeared at his side as an illusory shadow, his Sonic Rhythm active. Thumping with threats, he aimed for the head.
The man attempted to dodge, but still got scratched. The melody released into his head was still immense.
"You BRATS!" His first soul ring shone.
Karni and Siduo jumped back at the same time. A sudden rugged tail missed both of them by a mile.
The man looked frustrated, he couldn't let these two dictate the fight, they might be kids, but he could feel the danger.
"Let adults spea-" He was interrupted again, this time by both of them.
The two were focused, but happy. They made him reveal all of his abilities. This time, the man's third and fourth soul ring shone. Unlike before, the plates seemed to fuse into his blades. They became bigger and thicker. He was using his soul skills in tandem with one another.
He blocked both attacks. This time, Siduo's Hell Slash infused with the Mysterious Jade Hands didn't even leave a scratch, while sound put into the blade from Karni didn't really affect anything. It wasn't really effective unless it hit a crucial part of the body.
He knocked them away, but they weren't imbalanced thanks to Karni's Golden Insight, they saw it coming. This time, it was the man that charged towards them. First he went to Karni, he felt more danger from this kid. The sound penetrated his defences.
Unfortunately for him, Karni dodged with immense precision, but he had no time to actually activate his third soul ring. To dodge the man's attacks took all of his focus. He might see the future, but he still had to react to this speed.
Then a slash came from behind, Siduo's second and third soul ring shined like before. She was fusing them again.
The man didn't really worry. He had trust in his defences. A shame, Siduo knew exactly how to make her Hell Slash sharper.
Two fingers. At the end of her second soul ring, she used the force and infused it into two fingers. A sharp, very short blade appeared. She stabbed the two fingers directly into the man's neck. And pierced.
The man suddenly jumped away. Feeling his neck. Blood. A lot of blood. He was bleeding. Because of two brats?
A tinge of fear settled into his heart. He was injured and these kids knew where to aim for as well. These might soon turn into lethal blows.
The children wouldn't let him rest. They chased him and before he even tried to swipe them with his tail, the two jumped back. Just how were they doing this? It was like reading his mind.
He couldn't let this go on. Who knows how long his younger brothers had. What if they're gravely injured? He noticed their states, but still hasn't checked on them. He'll have to use his mother's technique.
His third soul ring shone and he slashed his wrists with the two blades of white plate. The blood let out from him infused into his blades, then turned towards the body. Suddenly, his whole body had a bloodthirsty aura. It was like actual liquid blood had a layer over his entire body.
He had to do this. Even at the expense of his vitality. If he didn't do this, he might actually die!
The two looked at him in shock. This aura. It felt almost like a Soul King.
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AzKoPo
AzKoPo I'm uplouding this (technically) late again. While I'll continue updating on monday, this schedule will keep up. It just so happens that monday (for me) will now have to be updated in the evening (or technically midnight tuesday).
Enjoy!
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