MAZE - The Endless Quest

#### Author's Note ####

Ok this was a really fun fight to write.

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Hera watched as Master Yu leaped from the pagoda, floating in the air. The cold wild serving as a foothold as the Orc woman stood on snowflakes that were mid descent. Dozens of floating blades of ice hovering behind her. All weapons of different shapes and sizes, much similar to the ones in the Empress’ own court. However, their movement was stiff. It took her but a moment to realize she wasn’t facing someone with a similar ability. Instead, Master Yu was simply preparing for an ice attack. No different from the kind of attack she could expect from Bonnie and her elemental fists. Sure, the Orc woman was clearly capable of controlling a large number of attacks at once, but Hera didn’t believe for a second she would be able to mirror the versatility of the court.

All of which were already out, with two notable exceptions. Vulcan was still with Yuwei, and it was better like that. If Forge was to follow along with Hera’s emotions, he would likely end up triggering the [Daemonic Form] and that wasn’t what she wanted right now. The intention wasn’t to turn Yuwei into an orphan, just to give a good beating to her so-called mother.

The other court member who was told to stay on the sidelines was Glacia. Not by Hera, but by Twiggy. The tiara realized that someone would need to make sure Vulcan stayed in range of the Empress and the ice falchion would likely be fighting against her element in this space.

Master Yu watched Hera from above, her eyes colder than the ice of the island itself. She watched as this snake woman with an odd colored skin called her own blades of Qi. Yet, they were different from her own. Not just extensions of her will, but possessing their own intentions. Each moved freely from each other, untethered from the need for commands. Yet, still incapable of not working in perfect harmony.

However, her hesitation lasted but a moment. This woman had come to her house, endangering years of hard work, and still laughed at all the turmoil created by the situation. Even if she would be kind enough not to kill the rude woman, Master Yu was more than willing to carve this memory on the woman’s bones. The memory of why one should not insult others in such a way.

There was a pause as the two women stared at each other. Master Yu, standing still in the air, with her hands by the side of her body and a torrent of ice blades ready to move at her command. Hera, holding a pair of rare hand axes, and her court floating around her, all in their weapon forms at her request. Despite her anger, she didn’t want to escalate the situation to a death match, and having an extra five people on her side could lead to that. However, five powerful floating weapons that were just as powerful as people? That was more than fair without crossing a line. In addition to that, she also called a skill the moment Master Yu revealed her ice blades. Since she was going to try to suppress her with numbers, the Empress might as well even the odds.

[Blade Graveyard] was in the process of being triggered. The weapons slowly being created under all the snow. But before they emerged, one of the icicles dangling from the house was unable to withstand the wind and fell. The moment it shattered on the ice below, the two women sprung into action.

Master Yu sent out her avalanche of ice blades, all floating along the wind. While Hera and her court jumped towards her, Livy working as a catapult to propel the Empress upward. Clay was right by her side, moving the chain whip to intercept the incoming ice, the segmented blades moving like a snake in full control of every inch of its body. The movement also had another effect. The blades still under the snow, summoned by the [Blade Graveyard] all jumped out, dragged by the limit of the range they could away from the Empress.

Seeing the new 17 blades, all with their own intent and various levels of strength appear, finally made Master Yu’s face change. It was just one raised eyebrow, but even as she attacked Hera, this was the first time her expression had changed in any way. The Ophidianite blocked a few of the straggler blades of ice, while Nimbus took care of the rest, creating small mana shields to parry the attacks.

Hera got close to Master Yu and brought down her hand axe on an overhead swing. But the Orc woman simply stopped floating and plummeted to the ground, evading the blow completely. Not done with her attack, the Empress told Lurize to become her footing. She spun in the air, her feet now pointing to the sky when they connected with the zweihander. Hera ‘jumped’ down, attempting to meet Master Yu before she could respond. Spinning horizontally, she went for another overhead swing, one that was blocked by the sudden appearance of another blade of ice. But the Ophidianite wasn’t done. She continued her spin, bringing down Pyro, who was attached to her tail. Once more, her blow failed to meet its mark as the Orc woman took a step to the side.

While Hera was still in the air, getting ready to land, Master Yu slammed her open palm on the woman’s stomach. Sending the Ophidianite flying across the field and slamming her back against the ice in the perimeter. Nimbus, Twiggy, and Robin followed her, but the rest of the court started their assault. Master Yu wasn’t the only one who could send in a barrage of attacks.

From above, Yulan watched with wide eyes and a worried expression. She turned to Helena, “Master Helena, are you not going to help?”

Helena glanced at Yulan, “I don’t think so. They… are not going for the kill,” she was sure Hera was pulling her punches. At least a bit. She had yet to use any of her big buffs, or the break combo that could cause some serious damage. As for Master Yu, her attacks might as well be deadly. The mage triggered her [Observe] one more time to make sure she saw things correctly.

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Yu Bingqing - Level 80

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Going by levels alone, Master Yu should be able to defeat Hera. But she didn’t have any weapons. Helena’s eyes shifted to the opposite end of the pagoda. To the back wall of the room where they met the master. Hidden amongst the ice was a very subtle silhouette of a glaive. A glaive that emanated a deadly cold energy capable of sending chills down the mage’s neck just by looking at it. If Yu Bingqing truly wished to kill Hera. There was no reason not to use that weapon. So until that came into play, Helena would let them fight. After all, the battle was still undecided.

Even with the legacy, Hera might not be able to do anything against the attacks. There was a 20 level difference between the two. Then again, the Ophidianite was the only person who fought against a Soldier of Strength that was close to her own level and won.

Hera didn’t take long to recover. She could feel the bruise in her stomach, but at least her bones were still in one piece. [Ophidianite Scales] doing their work. Nimbus also received a quick mental ‘thanks’ as he took around half of the damage from the blow. Taking one step forward, she triggered the Shroud of Tartarus using the setup in her [Empress Palace]. A thin layer of miasma instantly appeared around the field. All the blades gained a buff thanks to the effects of the spell, and the attacks became even stronger.

Master Yu was struggling a bit to evade all the blades. Not because they were dangerous, but due to the sheer number of strikes coming in all directions. She was used to fighting against groups, but none that worked so well together. Especially with a few unorthodox weapons, if they could be called that. A tiara, a diadem, and a pair of earrings. Those three were giving her pause, as she had never faced that kind of attack before. With every step, she was forced to twist at an uncomfortable angle to escape the next stab. Even worse were the two daggers that were seemingly able to come out of nowhere to strike. They were unable to scratch her so far, but her robes were slowly being cut by the twin blades.

Annoyed by the situation, she flipped her hand upwards, tossing all the snow into the sky and obscuring her presence for a moment. The weakest blades tossed to the sky due to the force of the movement. Master Yu dashed towards Hera, but was met by the twin headed axe of the Leviathan. The dragon heads glowing as a torrent of water exploded from below with [Draconic Eruption] sending a massive wave of water into the air. Parts of it were frozen before they even landed back on the ground, but the damage was done. Master Yu might have escaped the main part of the attack, but she was now soaking wet, and the cold weather quickly froze her garments in a way that even the powerful ice cultivator struggled to move.

Twiggy activated [Silvered Strength] and [Bathed in Silver]. At the same time, Robin fired a barrage of arrows with [Spectral Guardians] and [Seal of Mystic Resonance], Clay unable to use his [Earthen Cleave] due the lack of actual earth, once more wrapped around their opponent with a [Crushing Grip]. Storm triggered a [Crackling Strike] to destroy all the ice blades in the area, the lightning chaining from one ice blade to the next, giving the Empress a clean path to Master Yu. Pyro’s [Inferno Burst] melted the ones that survived as the flames expanded in a fan around the area. Sun slammed the back of his form beside Master Yu, activating [Seal of Eternal Radiance] to increase the power of the court as Shadow desperately attempted to interrupt the defensive abilities of the Orc woman with his both [Subtle Sabotage] and [Whispering Ink]. Lastly, the twins appeared, finally coming into Master Yu’s view and activated their [Alluring Presence] in hopes of distract her for long enough.

During that combination attack, Hera dashed forward, Lurize appearing on her back, triggering the [Winged Boost] to give the Empress more power, and Nimbus covering her body in small mana shields. She reached Master Yu before the Orc woman could notice and with a final skill [All In] delivered a punch directly to the icy face of Yuwei’s mother.

The impact echoed through the area as Master Yu fell to the ground, a small line of blood slashing the blue ice. However, that was quickly covered by the falling snow from the master’s previous attack.

Hera was breathing heavily, mostly due to her wounds than anything else. She took a deep breath and snarled, “If you are leaving for milk, you get the fuck back, bitch! And bring the damn milk.”

Master Yu was on the ground, still in shock at what had just happened. It had been decades since someone, or something, was able to make her bleed. She had been the strongest cultivator around for so long that no one dared to defy her. Ever since she reached the Divine Manifestation Realm, not even several masters were able to tire her. And yet. This woman, halfway through the Heavenly Ascension Realm, had wounded her. Had made her bleed. Touching her lip, she felt the warm red liquid, a warmth she never believed to be inside her, and started to laugh.

Still on the ground, with the snow falling over her body, Master Yu. No, Yu Bingqing turned to Hera, “I supposed I did forget the milk. Yuwei and I have much to discuss,” she paused and shook her head, glancing back to the pagoda with a warm expression “We have much to talk about,” turning back to the snake woman, Yu Bingqing nodded, “Thank you for reminding me of what truly is important.”

Hera hesitated, she honestly didn’t expect this to happen this quickly. Then again, this was a dungeon. If this was part of the setup created by the MAZE, things like character growth had to be sped up, “It’s fine. It just sucks to have a bad mother. Trust me. I know,” the Empress reached out a hand to help Yu Bingqing up.

The Orc woman took the hand with a smile, “But, I cannot leave things like this. I have a reputation to consider.”

Hera frowned, “What are you-“ before the words came out of her mouth, Master Yu spun around and with the sound of a whip crack, delivered a spinning kick to the side of the Empress’ head.

The Ophidianite only felt the pain for a moment, before everything spun and went dark. Nimbus following the same motion as he took half of the damage. Before she even hit the ground, the entire court vanished, their Empress left unconscious.