The Eclipse Descends
1. The Sky Breaks
Nathan had faced powerful foes before—machines infused with qi, soldiers enhanced beyond human limits, constructs designed to kill.
But this?
This was different.
The air itself felt heavier, bending under a force that shouldn't exist. The ley lines trembled, their energy fluctuating in unnatural patterns.
Then, the sky split open.
A void-black tear carved through reality itself, revealing something beyond human comprehension.
She stepped through.
The Eclipse Queen.
She was not a being of flesh, nor entirely of energy. Her form shifted between elegant grace and overwhelming, cosmic vastness, her golden eyes burning with ancient knowledge and absolute power.
Gorampa inhaled sharply. "She's here."
Mira's scanner overloaded instantly as she tried to analyze the readings. "Oh, yeah. We're screwed."
Nathan took a step back, his instincts screaming.
But the Eclipse Queen…
She simply smiled.
"Your struggle has been entertaining."
She lifted her hand—
And the ley lines obeyed.
---
2. The Eclipse Queen's Power
Li Na moved first.
Her body became a streak of kinetic brilliance, raw motion refined into something close to art.
She didn't just run—she wove through reality, her movements guided by an instinctual grasp of momentum, gravity, and qi.
Her steps barely touched the earth, yet the ground behind her cratered, unable to keep up with the forces she unleashed.
She twisted mid-air, adjusting in fractions of a second, her muscles flowing like liquid steel, every fiber of her being coiled and released in perfect synchrony.
One moment she was a blur of golden light, the next, she was upon the Eclipse Queen, her fist striking straight for the heart.
A direct hit.
A shockwave exploded outward—enough force to level a city.
But the Queen did not move.
Instead, she tilted her head, her golden eyes flashing with amusement.
"Fascinating."
Then—
Li Na collapsed, gasping, clutching her chest.
Nathan rushed forward. "Li!"
She wasn't injured.
She was drained.
The Eclipse Queen had taken her energy in an instant.
Mira stared in horror. "She's manipulating qi like it's nothing."
The Queen exhaled, as if bored.
"You still do not understand," she murmured. "You fight for a world that is already lost."
Nathan clenched his fists. "We're not done yet."
He reached for the ley lines, forcing the earth to respond, bending the world's natural energy into an attack—
But the moment his power surged—
The Queen took it.
The energy vanished before it even reached her, as if it had never existed.
Nathan's breath caught. "What—?"
The Queen's smile deepened.
"You use qi like a child playing with fire."
Her golden gaze met his.
"And I am the sun."
Nathan felt his entire being unraveling.
---
3. The Arrival of the Mud Buddha
Just as Nathan felt himself slipping—
A voice echoed through the battlefield.
"Enough."
The very fabric of reality stilled.
The turbulent ley lines ceased their chaotic pulsing, bending toward a new presence. The Eclipse Queen paused, her golden gaze shifting as something ancient made itself known.
And then, she stepped forward.
Mei.
Yet, it was not merely Mei—this was something far older, far deeper than the woman they once knew.
Her presence stretched beyond her form, her mere existence bending time and space.
Her body was wrapped in tattered silk, colors shifting between earthen browns, deep greens, and sun-washed gold—as if she carried the very essence of the world in her robes.
A halo of golden dust spiraled around her, shifting like wind-driven sand, yet never dispersing. Her bare feet barely touched the ground, yet every step left behind an imprint of energy, like ripples on the surface of an ancient pond.
Her face was Li Na's mirror, yet her expression was calm, eternal—eyes that had seen epochs rise and fall, civilizations bloom and wither.
Her hands—worn, yet timeless—were covered in faint, glowing inscriptions, as if carved by the very laws of nature itself.
The air around her pulsed with the heartbeat of the earth—qi so natural, so harmonized, that it felt like the breath of the world itself.
The Eclipse Queen's eyes flickered with interest.
"Ah. The Mud Buddha's new vessel."
Mei did not react to the title. She simply raised a hand—
And for the first time, the Queen hesitated.
Nathan's pulse pounded. "What's happening?"
Mei turned to him, her expression unreadable.
"You are fighting the wrong war."
Gorampa exhaled. "It's the time difference."
Nathan blinked. "What?"
Mei's golden aura pulsed.
"One day in the Sacred Abyss equals one week on Earth. While you've been fighting here, the Queen has been conquering elsewhere."
Li Na's breath caught. "You mean—"
Mei nodded. "She already controls half the ley lines. And soon, she will control them all."
Nathan clenched his fists. "Then we stop her."
Mei's expression softened.
"You cannot stop the Eclipse."
But then, her eyes burned.
"But you can rewrite it."
The Eclipse Queen's amusement faded. "Interesting."
Then she moved.
---
4. A Battle of Fate
The Eclipse Queen lashed out.
A wave of pure annihilation rippled outward, consuming everything in its path.
Mei stepped forward, and for a brief moment, time folded in on itself.
Nathan saw visions—memories of the world before, echoes of the future that could be.
The war could still be won.
But only if they changed the way they fought.
Mei's voice rang through his mind.
"You must move beyond qi."
Nathan's breath caught. "Beyond—?"
The Eclipse Queen's attack shattered the battlefield.
And then—
Everything went white.
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