The Martial Arts Prodigy

Chapter 20

Song up above Hero by Nas and Keri Hilson

“Evil cause, evil effect.”- Japanese Proverb

"Long time no see... Cole Michaelson. How long has it been, seventeen years? You haven't changed one bit. Me, on the other hand... I have made a few friends since our last encounter." The woman says, walking towards Cole, Laura, and Carly.

"Cole, you know this woman?" Laura asks.

"Yeah, her name is Iana Ming. Member of the Hidden Lotus Clan." Cole says, with disdain in his voice.

"On the contrary, due to an incident to our leader, I am now taking command. Secondly, I am ever so thrilled that you remember me!" Iana smiles.

"So you were behind all of this. This was your plan all along wasn't it?" Cole asks, pointing his katana at Iana's face.

"Is that any way to treat an old pupil of yours?" Carly and Laura appear shocked at the revelation that Iana has made.

"Old pupil?" Carla exclaims.

"Oh, are those some of your new students? I know the blonde, but the black girl... you have a strong aura around you. You have the spirit of the panther, am I not mistaken?" Iana says, approaching Laura with a sword in hand.

"What's it to you?" Laura wonders as Iana circles around her, dragging her sword along the ground.

"Losing a loved one when you were little, trained under African sages. That is how you were brought into this world of Martial Arts is it not?" Iana asks an uneasy Laura.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Laura asks.

"Me? I am a woman of vision, the arrow that is the driving force of a new age. An age where we are the ones who set the world back on the course. Society is on the tipping point of chaos, it is up to the Hidden Lotus to bring peace." Iana says while staring into Laura's eyes.

"You talk about peace, from the looks of things, it looks like you mean the other thing." said Laura as she clenches her fist.

"Sometimes, in order to bring peace, one must be willing to make sacrifices for the greater good." Iana says, placing her gloved right hand on Laura's shoulder. As Iana looked into the eyes of Laura, Zoella and Danny emerge from the smoke as it dissipates.

"ZOELLA!!!!" roared an enraged Carly. Zoella stepped forward, not taking her eyes off of Carly.

"Well, well, well...the little princess wants to pay me back, how sweet! What I did to your family wasn't personal, I just enjoyed hearing their suffering shrieks, as I eviscerated every last one of them." Aggravated of Zoella's taunting, Carly charges at her, only to be slammed to the ground by Iana.

As Laura tries to help her, Danny throws a chain at Laura and it wraps around her torso and arms. Laura loses her balance and she feels the world tip over, as she hits the gravel beneath her. Cole grabs his katana, preparing to strike at Zoella, but Iana surrounds him with seven ninjas in a circle.

Zoella laughs as she kicks Carly in the ribs, breaking two of them as she screams in agonizing pain. As Laura tries to break free from her bonds, Danny pulls on the chain and tightens the grip. Laura could hear her bones being crushed and broken as the chain suffocates her slowly.

"Shame, I expected more from you all. I almost forgot to show you the man, who slipped me the blueprints of your building."  Iana points to her left and to the shock of Cole, Master Ken Shu appears, with a broadsword in hand. Shu swings his sword at Cole, but the flabbergasted dean rapidly blocks the attack.

"Ken! What the hell are you doing?!" Cole grunts, grinding the sword against Ken's.

"What I wanted to do a long time ago!" Ken Shu says, sweeping Cole's leg and pointing his broadsword at his face. Iana smiles, with a sinister aura spewing from her eyes. As she walks over towards a pinned down Cole, looking at the Katana he was carrying. As she picks up the blade, she appears to be stunned by how it was crafted and structured.