“Who the fuck are <em>you</em>?” sh asked.
Yuan’s bullet-core burned in his skull. The power of the Gun which sustained his life magnified his righteous fury, fanning the mes of his anger until they transformed into a ze of rage. It took Yuan all of his willpower to not wave a Recoil st Barrier around his hand and shoot sh down in front of the entire racer assembly.
Weeks after weeks of meditation gave him enough self-control to resist that overwhelming temptation. Yuan knew that even if he managed to y sh in one blow, doing so inside the Khan’s stronghold would result in his and his team’s own destruction. Yuan cared little for his own personal safety, but the thought of Holster being sent back into very and Orient being destroyed by an artillery bombardment stayed his hand.
“Of course you wouldn’t remember,” Yuan said, his voice little more than a low, threatening growl. “The likes of you, they <em>never </em>remember the lives they take.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing. I can <em>feel </em>your hatred towards me from here, but I would remember a borg as ugly as you are.” sh chuckled disdainfully. “Unless you went to the Metallists for power? What, couldn’t take me on your own?”
Yuan’s jaw clenched. How dare that soulless bastard mock all the struggles he had to ovee to refine his body into this? So many eyes had turned to stare at him, but he ignored them all. He pointed a finger at sh’s handgun.
“That gun is <em>mine</em>,” Yuan threatened. Alongside three lives, Yuan’s own included. “I’m going to take it back!”
“This piece of junk?” shzily grabbed the handgun and pretended to study it. “Oooh, right… I remember.”
He pointed the gun at Yuan’s forehead, at the exact spot where he once shot him dead.“I took it from a Scrap who died like his teammates,” sh said, his voice oozing malevolence. “Like a whining <em>bitch</em>.”
Memories of that ‘duel’ surged back to the forefront of Yuan’s mind, blinding him with that dreadful memory of being humiliated and then murdered in the desert. The sensation of that fatal shot worming its way into his skull scorched his iron brain, forcing him to recall the <em>pain</em>, the <em>shame</em>.
Yuan tried to take a step forward, only for iron bindings to subtly rise from the spirit-train’s roof and restrain his feet. Orient’s influence. Yuan also sensed a presence below him touching his qi with feng shui, calming his wounded soul and helping clear his mind of the Gun’s vengeful madness.
Holster.
His closest allies had wisely stopped him from making a big mistake.
Realizing Yuan wouldn’t take the bait, sh decided to pour more salt on the wound. “I’ve only used it to kill Scraps since. My sword is too good for them, you see? Too good for the likes of <em>you</em>.”
“Come down from your perch if you dare, asshole,” Yuan replied coldly, his mind his own again, but his disdain unabated. “You’ll be the one dead in a ditch then!”
“Violence is forbidden for now,” sh said with a sorrowful sigh as he holstered his stolen gun. “Outside the race itself, of course.”
Yuan spat liquid gunsmoke onto the ground below the lotive. “Coward!”
The fangs of sh’s mask morphed into a vicious scowl. Yuan started to wonder if it was part of his actual face. “Hardly,” sh replied. “Can’t kill you even if I wanted to. The Big Bad Khan won’t let his men participate, myself included. It’s gotta be fair, you understand. No favoritism.”
“He’s afraid we’ll kill you all?!” one of the racers jeered, the taunt echoed byughs and shouts of anger. The assembly brimmed with bloodlust, excitement, and vengeful hatred for the Khan.
“I like your spirit!” sh replied with a maniacal grin. He dramatically pointed at Yuan with his fist. “Say, Scrap, how about we raise the stakes! You and me, one-on-one!”
“Pick the time and ce,” Yuan replied with a snort of disdain. “That’s where and when you’ll die!”
“In four days’ time, in the Pagoda of Conquest!” sh waved his hand at the immense pce overseeing Battletown. “If you win the race, or at least get into the top three, then you’ll be invited to the big boom party! There we’ll be free to fight at our leisure! I’ll get to behead you right in front of the big man himself!”
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Yuan smiled, his teeth morphing into a furious and predatory snarl. “Dig your tomb.”
“I look forward to putting you back into your own!” shughed maniacally, then lost interest in Yuan. “Anyway! Thank you all foring to unmake this world further! You’ve got three days to write your will and make peace with death, ‘cause afterward, many of you won’t outrun it!”
sh snapped his fingers. The giant screens adorning his perch tower lit up and projected pictures of arge racing circuit with six major checkpoints.
“For neers, the rules of thepetition are simple!” sh announced. “Once the race begins, your registered vehicle has to pass by all sixndmarks and then cross the finish line first! A special Barrier fueled by the Big Bad Khan himself will prevent you from veering off track! Otherwise, <em>anything </em>goes! Murder, techniques, whatever it takes to win! It’s first past the post at any cost!”
Yuan nced at the other racers. To his frustration, he realized quite a few among them were eyeing him in particr, from that Duckman to monstrous hulks of flesh and savage borgs. Publicly singling out one of the Khan’s henchmen for a duel had brought too much attention to his team.
“Our first three victors will get a seat at the Khan’s table and a front-row view of the celebrations, but only the winning team will earn the ultimate prize!” sh chuckled darkly. “A fortune in ves, pills, and gold, plus the Right of First Annihtion!”
The History Road map shifted into one of the Fanged Coast. Multiple points appeared all across it alongside names. ‘Fleshmarket,’ ‘Gatesville,’ ‘Furnd’ and so many others...
“These are the fifty-three settlements within the Yinyang Khan’s reach, many of them your own or your enemies!” sh boasted. “Win the race, and you’ll get to pick which one is wiped off the map forever! Only one of you can win the right to fire the first shot!”
“First shot of <em>what</em>?!” The racer in the red race car next to the spirit-train asked. “How can we be sure this isn’t an empty threat?!”
“Oh, believe me.” The lips of sh’s mask stretched the ghastliest, most ominous of grins. “You''ll know.”
A chill traveled down Yuan’s spine. He could wager how the Khan intended to prove his threat was no bluff at all: with an early demonstration.
“We’ll now distribute a bracer to all participants and their crews!” sh announced, patrolmen moving among the racers. “You’ll enjoy the Khan’s protection inside Battletown until the race’s start, and not one more day! The Big Bad Khan will see you all at the battle’s dawn for the final salute!”
Burying his overwhelming urge to ughter sh now that he had finally shut up, Yuan forced himself to prioritize his allies’ safety and return to the lotive. The cloud of fury veiling his mind quickly dispersed the moment he lost sight of his murderer. His bullet-core continued to pound in his skull, but nowhere near as painfully.
Having a clear mind let Yuan realize that he hadn''t thought things through. Even if he won the duel with sh, fighting him in front of the Yinyang Khan''s court meant that the warlord might take an interest in him and his allies; either to execute him for killing one of his men, or worse, force Yuan into his service. Then again, this could provide a good distraction to take the cube…
If only Arc hadn''t been so cryptic! She had warned him that the Gun fed on the cycle of revenge between Gunsouls and their murderers, but failed to mention its pull. It seemed their patron was <em>very </em>willing to remove their safeties and hasten the gunfight whenever the opportunity presented itself. Yuan would have appreciated a warning on that front.
He and his mentor would have to talk. Again.
Yuan found Holster and Orient waiting for him in the engine room, both of them giving him looks of concern.
“Are you feeling better, Honored Conductor Yuan?” Orient inquired.
“Yeah… yeah, I think so,” Yuan replied with sincerity. Holster’s small smile of relief warmed his heart. “Thank you, both of you. I… I wasn’t myself back there. Wasn’t thinking clearly. Brought too much attention to us.”
“I am not so sure, Honored Conductor Yuan,” Orient reassured him. “Challenging one of the Yinyang Khan’s men in public indeed puts the spotlight on you, but it will also encourage our host’s enemies to approach you. I suspect we will find an opportunity to form valuable alliances.”
“Maybe,” Yuan conceded. He doubted every racer was happy to participate in this race. Many threw their hats into the ring for fear of their own destruction. He would trust none of them with the cube’s secrets, but a few might be interested in sabotaging the race.
Afterward, Yuan had Holster briefly hide under a seat while the Khan’s men distributed bracers to the contestants. They looked in enough, a mere ring of ceramic bearing the Khan’s skull insignia and woven sutras.
“It’s a simple enough object,” Orient said after checking it out. “It registers the wearer’s qi signature and allows the creator to track down the wearers anywhere.”
“Does it have any other effect?” Yuan asked. He didn’t detect anything special about it. “Like draining our qi?”
“Not that I can tell yet. Miss Holster and I will do our best to analyze it.” Orient shook her head. “I am more worried about that masked man. His qi felt wrong to me.”
Yuan cursed himself for hisck of foresight. He had been too busy keeping hisposure and dwelling on his anger to analyze sh’s qi while he had the chance. “Wrong how?”
“I am not sure how to exin it,” Orient said, her fingers stroking her chin. “He is… <em>divided</em>, forck of a better term. I had the feeling half of him was somewhere else.”
Yuan heard a knock on his side. He looked down to see Holster peeking from beneath a seat, her hands joined to form a hand-sign.
“Mask?” Yuan tranted. “Something with his mask?”
Holster shook her head, then borated with more hand-signs whose meaning bothered Yuan. “sh <em>is </em>a mask?”
Did she mean sh was hiding his skills? It made sense considering his seeming importance in the Yinyang Khan’s hierarchy, but Holster’s unnerved expression told him he should take the warning literally.
What was sh hiding?
<em>Whom </em>was he hiding?