Quantum Cultivation

by Jace Kang

  When he reached the first landing, the door slid open, revealing a Peacekeeper. He started to point the gun at Ken, but he was so close that Ken was able to grab his wrist, pull, and landed a Xingyi Water Form’s uppercut into the man’s chin.

  Bone cracked, and Ken reflexively pulled his hand back and wrung it.

  But no, it was the now-unconscious man’s jaw that had broken.

  Just one punch had done that.

  “Sorry,” Ken said. He had little time to think about it as another Peacekeeper barreled through. Before he could even point his gun, Ken landed six Wing Chun punches into the man’s chest in half a second, felling him as well.

  How was he doing this? Was this speed and power the result of advancement? “Sorry!”

  He turned to the next steps, but then ran into solid air. It would knock anyone else back, but Ken just noticed a buzz.

  “Force field,” Ken said. “We have to take this door and go to another stairwell.”

  “Not necessarily,” Siena said, holding out one of her titanide beads. “This is why you should let me lead. These will drain the force field’s energy and allow me to use it.”

  “You could have said something earlier,” he mumbled.

  A blue bolt slammed into the wall near Ken’s head. He tracked it back to its source: a female Peacekeeper one flight up.

  He dashed past Siena, avoiding the rain of blue bolts as he zigged and zagged up the steps. When the woman pointed her gun at his head, he turned out of the line of fire, seized her wrist, and twisted the weapon away. A hero didn’t strike defenseless women—

  In a quick, smooth motion, she whipped a stun stick out and swung at him.

  A pulse from below struck her in the chest, knocking her back into the wall just before the stick would’ve connected with his chest.

  Ken looked back.

  Siena snorted. “I mean, she’s pretty, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous.”

  Sheepishly, he let her take the lead. They continued up the steps unmolested until the eighth level. Thirteen flights of steps, and he wasn’t tired at all.

  “All right,” he said. “The interrogation rooms are down the hall, on both the left and right sides. Do you know which one she’s in?”

  Siena coughed. “I think she passed at least four…”

  Which still left another ten. And on the other side of the stairwell door, they’d probably have to fight through at least a dozen Peacekeepers.

  What would Master Ryu do?

  Chapter 32:

  The Cultivator

  L eaping rooftop to rooftop through a neighborhood which hadn’t changed much since his youth, Ryu worked his way back to Pontocho Park. There the open space would take away the cover all the buildings provided his pursuers. For now, they darted among the skyscrapers which formed a valley wall, taking shots at him, then bouncing out of sight when he tried to track the blue wisps back to their source.

  Aya had yelled something out about Ministry of Defense assassins. Whatever they were, they were much faster than any of the other XHumans he’d encountered since his return. Their speed made them the equivalent of Second or Third Rank. Maybe even Fourth.

  Still, Cores did not lie. With the air thick with water vapor, Ryu sensed that they were just as internally weak as all the other XHumans. Like Aya, they had technology-enabled abilities with nothing substantial to back them up.

  He slipped left, dodged right, pulled up to a sudden stop, each time avoiding more blasts which sizzled into the pavement. He was almost there.

  Avoiding one last blast, he arrived at the park and skidded to a stop.

  The six assassins darted in and surrounded him. Clad in form-fitting black skinsuits, they wielded pistols in each hand. They shifted back and forth with admirable speed and coordination, enough that a regular person wouldn’t be able to get a good look at them.

  With his Wood Path-enhanced vision, however, Ryu could tell they were short and wiry. Instead of trying to spin around, he let their movement through the water vapor reveal their location and vector.

  Then their weapons unleashed a barrage.

  Unlike the careless Peacekeepers, they only shot when one of their comrades wasn’t in their line of fire. Ryu sidestepped, bent over, twisted and turned, always finding the safe gap between the pulses of light. Still, their coordination kept him from getting closer to any of them, their encirclement adjusted to his position.

  There was a pattern, though. Even though he’d introduced some unpredictability with the way he reacted, they’d adapted quickly. As if they operated like all the AI.

  Well, it was time to introduce something their programming would have never conceived. With his next leap between the twelve different blasts, he landed. He rooted to the ground for a split second and drew his hands up in a Watershaping movement. A Water Whip formed in the path of an assassin’s jump, decapitating him.

  The remaining five paused for a split second, giving him enough time to slash the Water Whip through the outstretched arms of another. Both his hands, guns and all, fell to the ground.

  Ryu’s next three slices missed as the assassins dodged and countered with blasts of their own guns, but he’d successfully taken the initiative. In the meantime, the handless one jumped in with a series of kicks.

  Ryu spun away from the first two, then rooted and shoved his shoulder into the man’s chest as he landed. The Crashing Wave cracked ribs and sent his victim flying into the path of one of his comrade’s shots. He fell to the ground, convulsing.

  In unison, the remaining four holstered one gun and drew a knife. They surged in, stabbing and slashing, then shooting. Ryu caught the first’s knife hand. With a twist of his hips, he pulled the assassin’s arm so that he stabbed the next closest. The black blade slide through the man’s sternum as if the bone was no harder than jelly.

  Ryu swam his arm through the first’s outstretched arm and cranked. The pressure on the man’s elbow and shoulder would immobilize anyone else, but he flipped with the force and landed on his feet. Still, Ryu was able to sweep his knife away. When the man landed, he drew his second gun again and shot both.

  Both pulses zipped by as Ryu turned to make himself a skinnier target. With that momentum, he stabbed another assassin in the throat. As before, the Ministry of Defense knife slipped through skin, muscle, and artery, and the man collapsed.

  Down to two, the assassins showed no sign of letting up. Stabs and shots came in wave after relentless wave, putting Ryu back on the defense.

  It was time to use another trick they hadn’t seen. As one lunged forward, Ryu stomped and used Earthshaping to open a furrow right where the assassin’s foot would land. It sent him into a stumble. With a sidestep, Ryu landed Splashing Hands into his back. Without Qi to support him, bones snapped and tissue tore. The assassin smashed into the ground, unmoving.

  Ryu turned on the final assailant, who holstered his second gun and picked up a second knife from one of his fallen comrades.

  It was almost cute.

  With a sink in his stance and a raise of his hands, Ryu drew a column of water out of the river and launched it.

  Predictably, the assassin jumped out of the way; but then Ryu spread his arms out and spread the water into a sheet. It splashed over the man.

  Pulling back his arms with Fireshaping, Ryu drew the heat out of the water. It froze around the man, immobilizing him from the neck down.

  Ryu walked over and ripped the man’s mask off.

  Very little shocked him, but Ryu had to take a step back. The assassin’s black eyes were such that it was impossible to tell where his irises ended and his pupils began. They were devoid of any emotion, spark of life, or humanity. And the face itself was gaunt, with skin so tight it looked almost like an old pirate flag. A quick scan revealed no Qi in his meridians. His bioelectric energy powered the millions of nanobots coursing through his blood vessels.

  “What did they do to you?” Ryu asked.

  The man cackled. �
�Whatever they did, they think you are better and potentially less expensive without all the wiring. After tonight, I think they are right.”

  Militaries. Always looking for new ways to kill. They’d sent these men to capture their future replacement. Of course, that would be impossible without material from the World of Rivers and Lakes—all the more reason to seal off the portals.

  The Code meant not harming the defenseless, even if this one would be a danger in the future.

  Ryu turned away.

  Standing in his path were three Tivari nearly his height and twice as broad. Tusks protruded from their lower jaws. More concerning were the strange-looking rifles they pointed at him. Instead of their uniforms from yesterday, they wore grey skinsuits that went well with their turquoise complexions.

  “Master Ishihara,” the centermost one said. “We would like to ask you some questions about the power sources the authorities confiscated. Where did you get them?”

  The way Siena spoke about these aliens’ aggression, Ryu wasn’t about to tell them about the World of Rivers and Lakes. He just smiled. “A street hawker in Boston sold them to me.”

  “We left Boston in ruins four hundred years ago.”

  The Onslaught. The smugness of the Tivari’s tone was conveyed clearly through Ryu’s ear dot. “I have places to be. If you’ll excuse me.”

  “Fire!” the leader barked.

  Three lines of blue light zipped toward Ryu, but he stepped forward and to the right so that they crisscrossed behind him. Closing the gap, he seized the leader’s rifle and turned it so that the next shot hit one of the Tivari.

  The alien collapsed to the ground, foam gathering around its tusks.

  Ryu had placed himself so that the leader stood between him and his comrade, who took aim, but hesitated. Rooting, he Watershaped a Water Whip and slashed through the weapon.

  Recovering from his surprise, the leader wrenched the rifle back with inhuman strength. Borrowing the force, Ryu launched Butterfly Palms through the weapon and into the leader, sending him flying back and hitting the other. They tumbled back, but both rolled up and regained their feet.

  The leader’s rifle sparked and fizzled. He threw it down, and pulled a hood over his head and disappeared; the other followed suit. The third, in the meantime, had gone still on the ground, though his chest still rose and fell. Apparently, they’d leave their injured behi—

  A punch landed on Ryu’s cheek, sending him staggering back.

  Apparently they hadn’t folded space, but were instead using some kind of invisibility technology. Rubbing his jaw, Ryu reached out through the water vapor. One stood in front of him, while the other circled around, knife in hand.

  He ducked back under the punch of the front one, simultaneously driving a heel into the alien’s abdomen. It grunted as it staggered back. In the same motion, Ryu kicked himself up into a one-handed backhand spring. As he came down, he wrapped the other Tivari with a scissor kick.

  The technique took the alien to the ground, and Ryu rolled over and slammed his elbow into his face. The creature went still.

  Kip-popping back to his feet, he intentionally presented his back to his remaining opponent. The shift in the water vapor telegraphed the incoming charge, and Ryu sidestepped, seized the Tivari’s arm, and drove him face-first into the ground.

  “Just what is it with your species?” Ryu demanded. “Can’t you just play nice with other species?”

  The Tivari snarled. “Your species is weak. It is our destiny to rule over you again.”

  “But not today.” Ryu was going to melt some of the ice he’d immobilized the MoD assassin in and use it to detain the Tivari; but discovered the wiry man was gone.

  Nothing could be done about that now, so he punched the alien in the back of the head, knocking him out. He then sprinted back toward Hozoji Temple, where he’d left the others.

  His bad sense of direction brought him to a different temple with the words Honnoji emblazoned on its gate.

  This was where he was supposed to close the portals!

  He entered the grounds and searched for the well.

  There was none. Just a large temple with sloping rooves. A monk, dressed in robes similar to the man murdered at Higashi Honganji, poked his head out.

  “It’s dangerous out!” he said. “You should go home.”

  If only the monk knew the whole story.

  “I’m looking for a well,” Ryu said. “Do you have one on these premises?”

  The man cocked his head. Of course, the translator. The monk didn’t have one. The fact that the assassin had understood Ryu’s words suggested he had some kind of translator built in.

  “Well,” Ryu said, mimicking drinking from cupped hands. “Have one here?”

  The man’s eyes widened. “Oh, you’re looking for a well. We don’t have one, but I can get you water.” He started to head back in.

  “Wait.” Ryu shook his head. “Oda Nobunaga. Died here.”

  “Oh, this is the new Honnoji, rebuilt by Hideyoshi. You’re looking for the old one. It’s a school now, about a twenty-minute walk from here. It was all in the news two weeks ago.”

  At last, for the first time since arriving, someone was answering his question about where to find the temple.

  “Say, you look like that missing man!”

  “Thank you!” Ryu bowed several times as he backed out of the temple. When he reached the gate, he turned to run.

  He just about tripped over Teppin.

  “Teppin!” A modicum of relief washed over Ryu. “What are you doing here?”

  “Trying to find you,” it said. “You leave quite a beacon with your Qi in this world.”

  “Where are the others?”

  Teppin pointed back the way he’d come. “The Peacekeepers took them.”

  “Was Ken-kun all right?”

  “It looked like he was getting better. He might’ve Advanced, but I couldn’t tell.”

  Good. If Kentaro had Advanced, in either Metal or Fire, it could’ve saved his life. Of course, modern technology might, too. “Do you know where they took them?”

  Teppin shook his head.

  “Then we need to go back to the scene and see if we can track them. Do you remember the way back?”

  It only took a few minutes. When they arrived, it was like a hive of bees, with dozens of Peacekeepers searching the area, so Ryu kept to the shadows.

  A team of what looked to be scientists in white coats were studying the Nue corpse, while others walked around the Yin-Yang Symbol he’d drawn. In all, at least fifty security staff were there; then, a hovercraft landed and a team of five Peacekeepers in tactical suits jumped out.

  “What is this?” a male Peacekeeper in an enhanced tactical suit said, kicking at the yokai remains.

  He looked familiar—right, he was one who’d greeted Ryu on the first day.

  A female knelt down by the body. “Ministry of Defense fiddling with genetics.”

  That voice! It was Aya’s. Or rather, Keiko’s. Ryu squinted to get a better look.

  “I bet this is the monster that’s been killing people,” the man said.

  Keiko huffed. “More blood on the MoD’s hands.”

  Would she know where they’d taken Aya? Or had she arrived too late?

  Ryu motioned for Teppin to stay, while he worked his way up one street and then back down another, closer to the Nue.

  This vantage point cast Keiko’s face in the moonlight. Indeed, her and Aya’s facial structures were identical, only Keiko’s was fuller. Of course, she had brown hair instead of Aya’s Elestrae gold.

  This was a bad idea, but Ryu could think of no faster way. He darted to behind Keiko and set the assassin’s blade to her throat.

  Peacekeepers drew their weapons and took aim, but Ryu kept Keiko in between them.

  “Ishihara!” one said.

  “Ishihara?” Keiko raised her hands in surrender.

  “Where did you take Aya?” he demanded.

&nb
sp; “Aya? My sister? What are you talking about?” There was no tone of deception in her voice, only surprise, but these government types couldn’t be trusted.

  Ryu gestured for Teppin to come out. The Kappa emerged from the alley, and looking among the Peacekeepers, tentatively picked his way forward. For their part, the Peacekeepers gawked.

  “What is that?” a male Peacekeeper pointed.

  “Another MoD experiment?” one answered.

  “Teppin, didn’t you say the Peacekeepers took Aya, Siena, and Kentaro into custody?”

  “Yes.” It nodded, sending the water in its bowl sloshing.

  “Kentaro, the missing custodian?” Keiko asked, her tone incredulous.

  Ryu didn’t know if he could believe her, and standing behind her, he couldn’t see her expression. “Who did you take into custody?”

  “From what I heard, it was a witness to this creature’s attack: a Hiromi Johnson. Also, an unidentified human male she claimed was her boyfriend, and an Elestrae female.” Keiko’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Don’t tell me it was Kentaro?”

  “And your sister, Aya,” Ryu said.

  “What? No. Aya’s a good girl. And she’s so sick.” She waved at her comrade who’d kicked at the Nue body. “Scott, show me the people of interest.”

  The male, Scott, held out a projector. An image of Aya, Kentaro, and Siena appeared, all in the clothes they’d been wearing earlier. Their forms rotated.

  Keiko gasped. “What have you done with my janitor and my sister?”

  Ryu leaned in, trying not to let the flowery scent of her hair distract him. “You’re going to take me to Peacekeeper Headquarters, and we can both find out.”

  The Peacekeepers all looked among themselves.

  He raised his voice, so they could all hear. “Isn’t that what you all want? To bring me back to your headquarters before the Ministry of Defense strikes again?”

  “Tactical team,” Keiko said, “let us escort Mister Ishihara back to headquarters.”

  And with Aya on the inside already, all it would take would be getting her to a terminal.