*Boom!*
Hearing the loud sound coming from the Jade Palace, Po worriedly looked at the Jade Palace on top of the mountain, suddenly having a bad feeling inside him. As if something that is precious to him was gone.
"Po! Focus!" Hearing Crane's reminder, Po was suddenly punched in the face by one of the devils that invaded the Valley of Peace just in time as they arrived.
*Bam!*
"Ow!" Po caressed his chubby cheeks in pain before his eyes widened in surprise as he dodged another claw strike from the devil.
"Raarrghh!" As if irritated that he missed his opponent, the devil growled in anger and his attacks became more ferocious, making it hard from Po to dodge his strikes.
"Who are these guys?" Po loudly complained while parrying most of the devil's attacks, since dodging became difficult.
"We have no idea! If fighting one is hard enough, what about those guys who are watching us?" Mantis replied to his complaint while dodging an attack from his devil opponent, after finishing his sentence, he pointed at the hundreds of devils who are on top of the roofs, looking down on them with ferocious smiles and grins.
"...We're doomed." Viper gulped her saliva and weakly uttered.
"Po! It's time to use your training for good. Use your chi!" Holding his mighty staff, Monkey was doing fine against his opponent, and although he was not doing bad he could see those hundreds of devils watching them and felt a slight despair before giving a reminder to Po.
"I can't! I can't control it yet!" Po's mouth quivered in sadness, he has been training under Master Shifu along with the help of the pandas in the village and he just can't seem to control chi.
"It's now or never, Po!" Monkey yelled once again before his opponent managed to punch him enough to throw him across several structures.
*Bam!*
"Monkey!" Crane quickly flew down to help his companion when he was suddenly intercepted by a flame arriving in front of him.
"Oh no!" Too late to dodge and not expecting the attack, Crane was shut down from the sky and started to fall. His burning feathers is enough to tell that he's in a very critical condition.
"Crane!" Seeing two of his fallen friends, Po seemed to have entered the state of despair.
"Po, watch out!" Seeing the devil that Po was fighting earlier approaching him from behind with a large blade on his hand, Viper's instincts quickly forced her to abandon her own opponent and help her best friend.
*Slash!*
Just as the devil slashed down his blade, Viper managed to wrap herself around Po's chubby belly and pull him out of the way, however this feat wasn't without an exchange as the blade managed to slice Viper's tail.
*Splat!*
"Aggghh!" Viper yelled in pain, in which Po immediately tried to help her.
"No! Po, we have an opponent! Don't care about me!" Realizing what Po was about to do, Viper quickly reminded Po who managed to dodge in time as the devil once again tried to slash him off.
"I'll take you out of here!" Feeling her self being lifted up, Viper weakly opened her eyes just to see Mantis carrying her body and running back towards the Jade Palace.
Behind them, the devils started to spurt out wings from their backs and chased after them.
"It's no use. Sooner or later, they'll catch us and kill us." Viper muttered, despairing that she was about to die on this day.
It was just yesterday when she bid farewell to a friend and now, she was about to die.
Hopefully, the other masters would receive the news about their demise and would be able to respond in time in order to fight the red skinned intruders.
Unknown to the Furious Five, the Valley of Peace aren't the only place experiencing such chaos, in fact the other valleys and villages are experiencing attacks from the devils.
Master Rooster, Master Ox, Master Rhino and several other Masters throughout the world are also fighting the devils and are at a disadvantage.
"Master Shifu." Looking up at the Jade Palace that is now in ruins, Viper and Mantis suddenly had a bad feeling about it.
It's like they're slowly walking towards a place that reeks with death!
"Master Shifu! We need your help!" Mantis yelled and tried to look for Master Shifu inside the Palace.
"Master Shifu?" Mantis carefully dropped Viper's body down on the ground as he searched around carefully, until he stumbled across the large hole on the wall.
Jumping and crossing through the holes led him on the west side of the Jade Palace which coincidentally where the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom resides.
"Master!" Quickly catching Master Shifu on his peripheral vision, Mantis dashed towards Master Shifu's motionless body on the ground.
"No! No! No! Master wake up!" Mantis starts shaking Master Shifu's body and after receiving no response, the worst thoughts start to surface in his mind. Mantis might not be a pessimist person but seeing the bloodied face and tattered robe of Master Shifu, Mantis slowly placed his stick-like hand on Master Shifu's neck.
"!!!" Feeling no heartbeat, Mantis froze. He was stunned by the revelation.
"H-How could this happen?" Mantis muttered with disbelief in his voice.
"You must be his student. Seriously, this is the first time I encountered a world full of talking animals and now an Insect? Mostly, earth is always occupied by humans or other races besides animals." Suddenly hearing a voice behind him, Mantis quickly turned around and glared at the figure.
Seeing the red bulging muscles and the long horns that extend past his neck, Mantis knew that the being in front of him is somehow similar to the devils that he fought back on Valley of Peace. But not entirely similar.
Mantis's animalistic instincts told him that the devil in front of him is different when it comes to strength.
It's like he's facing someone on Master Oogway's level, probably much stronger than the aforementioned individual.
"Who are you?" Mantis went into his Mantis-style stance, knowing that the devil in front of him is an enemy.
"The same question again. Your master asked me the same thing and look at what happened to hi-" Just as Malphas the Malevolent was about to finish his words, he didn't expect Mantis to suddenly grab his ankle and throw him away.
*Bam!*
Colliding with a tree, Malphas raised an eyebrow while looking at Mantis in surprise. He didn't expect the small insect to actually have the strength and speed much faster than his previous opponent.
Though he felt like something was lacking on Mantis.
'If I was in his place, I could've done something that is much more effective in order to deal with my opponent instead of just throwing the enemy away.' Malphas shook his head in disappointment. Unlike Master Shifu, Mantis lacked battle experience and he could tell that Mantis hasn't experienced killing someone unlike Master Shifu.
"Alright, let me admit I was surprised by that but that'll be the last time you'll ever hit me." Malphas stood up from the ground and stretched his limbs, popping some bones on the way.
"Hah~ that's a first. You're strong for an insect." Malphas praised. Though Mantis could care less from his recognition as Mantis never views it as a praise especially since it is coming out of his opponent's mouth. An opponent that killed his master.
"You killed my Master, you demon!" Mantis's eyes were slightly blurry from the tears forming on his eyes. Everything that happened was so fast, he was just receiving an order from Master Shifu five minutes earlier and now he's dead.
The happening is so fast that he couldn't even mourn properly.
"Calling me a demon is actually a praise, just so you know." Malphas showed a toothy grin, flashing his red teeth that looked as if it was drenched in blood.
"Raaarrrggghh!" Flashing away from his position, Mantis appeared in front of Malphas, with the intention to beat him to near death, which disappoints Malphas.
"Fighting you would be fun at first but without the intention to kill, it'll be boring." Malphas then parried Mantis's strike by slapping his small figure away with a quick backslap.
Mantis might be faster and stronger than his previous opponent, but Malphas is stronger than him in both and more aspects other than the strength and speed.
*Bam!*
For the next few minutes, Malphas only deflected all of Mantis's strikes with a simple slap with his hand. Not taking Mantis as a serious enemy, which not only frustrates Mantis but also surges his determination to beat Malphas.
"Hah~! Hah~!" Exhausted, Mantis cautiously eyed Malphas while trying to use the small time to rest and recover his stamina in which Malphas allowed him to do so.
Why?
Because Malphas decided to finish the fight with a single strike. A strike that he used to kill Mantis's master.
"Done resting? If not, then let me help you rest for eternity!" Finishing his monologue, Malphas finally showed his true strength.
Appearing in front of Mantis as if he teleported, Mantis could only widen his eyes in surprise as he watched Malphas's burning fist slowly descend towards him.
Closing his eyes, Mantis has already surrendered to his fate without resistance. Fighting back is just inevitable and besides, at least he died with dignity.
Just as Malphas grinned madly from having a taste of another soul from this world, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise when a long green staff with a Yin-Yang symbol appeared and blocked his flaming fist from killing Mantis.
Before hearing an old voice speaking to him.
"Calm your thirsty tits down, will you?"
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 202 - A True Master of Chi]
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