2018-08-11: Punishment
- Cutscene: Punishment
- Cast:Pearl
- Where: Beneath Meribia
- Date: 2018-08-11
- Summary: Following the events at Blue Master Lunn's tournament, a Shadow Dragon cultist faces punishment for her failures. CW: Violence
The fact that Pearl was reporting in at all was a sign of her failure.
She had been spared. Not only that, she had been saved. When the guards had swarmed the arena, she had been pulled from the site by the one person who had no business doing so. Her arm had been set. Her injuries tended to, if briefly. She had fled as soon as she regained consciousness. She was in no condition for another fight. And she had her orders.
The cell she was to report to were not high ranking. Mostly, they were those who had been around at the forming of the cult, those drawn to the cruelty of the Master. They weren't like her. But they had a message for her. A scroll, with the Master's seal on it.
'Whichever of them kills you will be rewarded. If you survive, you may return to your previous duties.'
Pearl was already surrounded. Six of them. Uninjured, they would be barely a threat. Was this a sign of how little her master thought of her now? Or was she truly this weak?
She had no time to consider further, as two rushed her left side. The arm that wouldn't move. The obvious target of opportunity. Predictable.
Step back, hook the attackers leg with your good arm. Twist, let him take the full brunt of his partner's attack. Drop his corpse and drive your claws through the now stuck attackers throat. Two down.
There was no time for pulling her blows. No time for anything but efficiency and brutality. Her third attacker tries to strike from a blind spot. Sidestep, shatter the kneecap, grab the head and drive it into the ground. Repeat once to make sure.
The last three strike as one. Sensible. There's no way to evade all of them. Take the claw in your bad arm. It's useless for anything else. Bite back the pain, as you drive a knee into the liver of one who goes past. Take the satisfaction of the organ rupturing as ki flows through. Block the axe kick with your good arm, close, letting the stuck claw tear away your flesh. Drive the palm into their heart and drop them. One more. Once again, he charges. Turn, raise your hand, and release your ki in a blast to reduce to them to a pile of bloody flesh. No more.
That should have been all of them. It was only the slightest disturbance of air that alerted Pearl that she had missed one. The claw drove into her back, just barely missing her lung. She twisted to face her attacker. A girl, maybe ten years old. Too skilled for these dregs. Why was she here, instead of the training grounds?
She'd had the sense to wait until Pearl's guard was down. She only had one strike, and she used it well. But she had failed. Pearl twisted her body and delivered a roundhouse to the girl's midsection, sending her into a wall. She limped towards her, hand glowing with the black-purple ki of the Shadow Dragon cult. Time to end this.
Time to end the only one smart enough to fight with any intelligence. The only one who had potential. Snuff her out before she becomes a threat. A threat to him.
Pearl stopped. The energy faded from her hand. "...Return to the training grounds. Tomorrow. I don't care how." Was this mercy? No. Mercy would be killing her. This was committing her to more years of brutality. "When next I return, you will prove me correct or you will be dead. Understood?"
Pearl doesn't wait for a response. Instead she turns and walks away. She still had a mission. That was all there was.