The Jade Warrior

Prologue

The sky shook, the heavens tore, and mountains were flattened into plains. Wukong, the one who dared to defy gods, was facing one of the emperor's strongest creations, an unstoppable Jade Soldier powered by the Emperor himself.

"You'll have to actually hit me to defeat me, you know," Wukong taunted, ducking under the massive glaive swinging toward him, its blade pulsing with green energy. It missed his head by inches, slicing the air so closely that a few strands of his hair fell away, and in the blink of an eye, more of him appeared. Clones, each one as daring and lively as the original, encircled the towering war machine. The poles of their staffs extended, crashing down on the armored colossus.

Sparks flew from the Jade Warrior’s armor, cracks splintering across its polished surface.

"A lucky hit," the machine's voice hummed, deep and unyielding. "Your approach has been calculated. It will not happen again."

The real Wukong grinned as all his clones declared in unison, "No machine can keep up with me, not even one made by that uptight jerk!"

As they spoke, their poles continued to grow, stretching skyward before crashing down again, the relentless assault pushing the Jade Warrior back, green light flickering erratically across his form.

"You are futile. Stand strong and be contained," the Jade Warrior droned, as if the damage meant nothing. With a single sweep of his glaive, he cut through the air, a shockwave exploding outward, knocking Wukong and his clones back in a chaotic tumble.

"Pathetic," the Jade Warrior uttered. His voice never rose, cold and emotionless.

The ground trembled as the Jade Warrior planted his glaive into the earth, green runes blossoming in a circle around them. "Wukong contained. I will now await the arrival of the Emperor."

But as the Jade Warrior stood tall, his victory assumed, a grin spread across Wukong’s face. The real Wukong floated above on his cloud, watching the scene unfold from the skies.

"Actually, I think I'll go see him myself," Wukong said with a chuckle.

Below, the supposed Wukong vanished in a puff of smoke, revealing it was nothing more than a clone. The real Wukong soared upward on his cloud, free as ever, leaving the Jade Warrior standing motionless. He only now realized he was trapped within his own containment field, the very runes meant to hold Wukong sealing his own fate.

"No course of action can rectify mistake…" the Jade Warrior’s voice, for the first time, faltered. His green glow dimmed. "Failure is punishable… by immediate cease in function."

The light within him flickered once more, then went dark. His form slumped, armor still shining but devoid of life. The once-unstoppable machine stood frozen, a relic of an emperor’s ambition, now just a hollow shell.

And so, the Jade Warrior was left behind, forgotten as Wukong flew toward the heavens, seeking his next adventure, unaware of the impact this confrontation would leave on the future.

This moment, Sun Wukong’s triumph and the Jade Warrior’s entrapment, would fade into legend...... But the day would come when the past would be unearthed, and with it, the stirring of the Jade Warrior once more.