Chapter 71: Cut & Dry
Yuan’s core pounded so hard it hurt to think.
He had rushed to Battletown as fast as he could without overtaxing his Gun Demon Incarnation, since he would require it for the battle ahead. While Arc had insisted that he leave her to fight Manhattan on her own so his group could prepare their trap, he refused to cower and hide. Yuan knew he was nowhere near strong enough to challenge Manhattan, but he had hoped to at least distract him at a critical moment while Orient and Holster continued setting up their counter-attack.
Then his bullet-core had sensed Slash’s presence.
The fact that he survived Manhattan’s surprise attack hardly surprised Yuan, since his enemy was in a Dyad bond with the Yinyang Khan himself. Mel and Hardy already warned him that the student would likely survive so long as the master remained alive.
Locating the Authority swallowing the Khan’s old pagoda didn’t take much time; the sphere of iron covered most of the area like a bubble preventing anyone from escaping it. Having witnessed both Manhattan’s Fukushima Paradise from afar and Arc’s Headshot Forge up close, it didn’t take Yuan long for him to identify its owner. The mere fact that the Khan managed to activate it meant that Arc was either dead or on the backfoot.
So he had jumped into the fray.
Crossing the Authority felt akin to entering the Thunderlands. Getting past the veil between reality was hardly disorienting, though he sensed the path close up behind him. Yuan soon leaped into a domed arena where four fighters eyed each other. Arc had transformed into a mechanical figure which Yuan took as her Gun Demon Incarnation. His relief at seeing her alive lasted until he noticed that Manhattan, the Khan, and Slash were still standing too. Yuan’s bullet-core pounded in his skull upon seeing the last two, his qi sight immediately noticing the ungodly similarities between them.
They’re one and the same. A light and its shadow. Most would have been intimidated by this revelation, but not Yuan Guang. Learning that the man who put him in the ground was the same tyrant whose cruelty led to Holster’s branding as a Human Pillar only heightened his desire to slaughter them both. Their death is long overdue.
“What’s that shovel for, trash?” Slash asked upon noticing Yuan’s tool.