Perfection.

Down in the kingdom's tavern, the air was thick with the smell of cheap ale and roasted meat. Asami stepped through the entrance, her jet-black hair with its premature ash-gray tips catching the dim light. She walked toward the counter, her dark crimson and obsidian robes swishing with every deliberate step.

The bartender looked her up and down, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Can I help you, lady?"

Without a word, Asami tossed a heavy leather pouch stolen from the royal guards onto the wooden counter. It landed with a loud, metallic clink. "The name is Asami. Bring me food, and make sure it's delicious."
The bartender rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath as he swept up the coins and disappeared into the back kitchen.

Asami slid onto a wooden stool, pulling a small, worn photograph from the inner lining of her robes. She stared at the image of Kai, her golden-embroidered sleeves resting on the counter. "Soon, my dearest brother," she whispered, a cold smile touching her lips. "You will be mine."

The heavy tavern doors swung open, admitting a squad of royal guards. They carried a wanted poster, approaching the bartender as he returned with a steaming plate of meat and bread. The guards pointed toward the bar—specifically at Asami.
"

Hey, ma'am," the lead guard said, stepping up to her stool. "Let's talk."

Asami swallowed her food slowly, not bothering to turn around. "Surely we aren't going to have a problem." She opened her palm slightly; sharp electric blue arcs danced wildly across her fingertips with a soft, threatening crackle.
The lead guard immediately took a step back, raising his hands in defense. "No, no! No trouble! The King has an offer for you."

Asami turned her head, her sharp features fixing him with an icy glare. "An offer? What offer?"

The guard coughed nervously into his fist. "He wishes to speak with you personally at his estate."
Asami clenched her fist, slamming her hand onto the counter and leaving a scorched, blackened palm print on the wood. She stood up, her tall, poised frame looming over the guards. "Fine. Lead me to this 'King' of yours."
The royal palace was silent as Asami followed the guards through grand marble halls into the King's private meeting chamber.

Sitting at the head of a massive obsidian table was the King. His head was encased in a sharp, angular all-white helmet with pointed ears, featuring only a single glowing optic slot and a jagged crack where the other eye should have been. He wore a floor-length dark navy overcoat lined with deep red fabric, gold embroidery along the hem, a high stiffened collar trimmed with white fur, and a starburst brooch with gold chains draped across his chest. A decorative gold belt with a central red gem cinched his waist.

"Oh, hello," the King said, waving gently. "Please, sit, sit."
Asami raised an eyebrow, stepping forward. "Why am I here?"
She slowly pulled out a chair and sat down. The King tilted his masked head, letting out a disappointed sigh as he drew a slow circle on the polished table. "Man... nobody ever says hello anymore."
Asami scoffed. "Pfft. Why am I here?"
The King sat up straight, his single optic gleaming. "Well, I heard what you did to my soldiers, and I'm not particularly pleased."
Asami leaned forward, resting her chin on her knuckles. "So what, are you going to arrest me? You know I could—"

The King raised a gloved hand, his voice suddenly deepening into a resonant, heavy baritone that rattled the room. "I am not surprised you could kill me. And I wouldn't be surprised if you could level the entire capital. But that is not why I brought you here."

Asami narrowed her eyes, leaning back into her chair. This guy is weird... why did his voice shift like that? "Go on with it then."
The King's voice returned to its casual, normal pitch. "I want to hire you as my new military commander. You see, my last one was... turned to ash. But I believe you would be the perfect replacement."

Asami scoffed loudly. "Why would I ever help you?"

The King chuckled. "Because we share common goals. You want your brother, and I want Excalibur. Kai travels with Karai, and I know you want him all to yourself."
Asami held up her hand, stopping him mid-sentence. "I don't just want Kai. I don't want to just attack him physically—I want to target his friends, his past failures, and his guilt. I want to break his spirit completely before delivering the final strike. I want all of them dead. You can keep the sword."

The King shrugged, laughing softly. "Fair enough." He extended a gold-gloved hand across the table. "Shake on it?"

Asami grasped his hand, her blue lightning crackling briefly against his armor.
"Now," the King said, standing up and turning toward the floor-to-ceiling window overseeing the courtyard. "Go train my soldiers. Make sure you show them why your clan's reputation precedes you."

Asami strutted down the palace barracks corridor, a dark smirk playing on her face. Inside the grand training hall, hundreds of heavily armored soldiers were chatting casually. Suddenly, a suffocating, crushing pressure washed over the room. The soldiers instantly snapped to attention, lining up in tight rows, assuming it was the King entering.

Instead, Asami walked in, a cruel smile gracing her sharp features. Her sheer presence made the air feel heavy, causing several recruits to tremble where they stood.
"I am your new commander," Asami announced, her voice echoing in the vast hall. "Any questions?"

A loud burst of laughter erupted from the front line. A burly soldier stepped forward, pointing at her mockingly. "No way! A weak girl like you is our commander? This has to be a joke!"

Asami's smile vanished into a dark frown. "Wanna see a joke? Fine then... let me show you one."
In a blur of absolute speed, Asami crossed the room. Before the soldier could even blink, her hand locked around his throat, slamming him down so hard his knees cracked against the stone floor.

"Still laughing?" Asami purred, leaning down to his ear as her grip tightened. "It would be funny to find out how fast I can crush your throat before you even realize you've died."

She lifted him off the ground by his neck with one arm. "Tell me... what is your role?"
"B-Backline... defense..." the soldier choked out, his face turning blue.
Asami stared at him, a manic grin spreading across her face. She laughed hysterically, throwing him backward so hard he shattered a stone pillar.

"Cracked my shoulder," she muttered, rolling her joint with a sickening click. "Now then... time for training. I killed eighty of your men when I first arrived here—nothing but absolute weakness! I killed your stupid previous commander! But I will carve you into real soldiers. Training starts now!"

What followed was pure, unadulterated hell. For hours, Asami drove the regiment to their absolute limits and beyond. The floor became covered in bruised, exhausted bodies clinging to consciousness. Asami stood at the center of the hall, her hands folded behind her back, admiring the carnage with a radiant smile.

"Alright, fine," Asami barked. "Take a break. That's an order. But if I see anyone drop completely to the floor, I will execute every single one of you."

Leaving the groaning soldiers struggling to stand, Asami marched straight back into the King's throne room.
"I need to take these soldiers somewhere fun," Asami said coldly. "I require an elemental crystal hidden deep within the northern forest."

The King sat up from his throne, tilting his masked head. "How do you know where it is?"

Asami smirked, raising her hand as faint electric tendrils flickered across her knuckles. "I have my ways. I can sense all elemental energy outputs. It's a gift I perfected myself—I tolerate nothing less than absolute perfection. Now, I am taking the troops. Let's see how many of them survive the trip."

An hour later, an armada of armored soldiers on horseback marched into the dense, dark woods, trailing behind a luxurious iron-reinforced carriage.

Suddenly, the carriage ground to a violent halt, sending Asami stumbling forward inside.
"Tch! Why have we stopped?!" she snarled, kicking the carriage door open and stepping out into the damp forest air.

A terrified guard hurried toward her. "M-Ma'am! Some locals are saying we're trespassing! They claim this forest is private property and—"

"There is something in this forest releasing a massive elemental output," Asami interrupted, her dark crimson narrowing. Annoyed beyond belief, she thrust her open palm forward. An explosive shockwave struck the guard, launching him hundreds of feet through the air until he slammed into a massive oak tree, scattering leaves everywhere.
Asami walked deeper into the clearing. Suddenly, the sky went dark.
A colossal wooden fist, fifty feet wide, crashed down directly on top of her!
BOOM!
The ground shook violently. The surviving guards scrambled back, whispering in terror, wondering if their new commander had just been squashed flat.
A young man wearing armored robes landed gracefully atop the wooden fist. He had short dark hair, light skin, and a stern expression. You people need to turn back now," Zin said coldly, "or else you'll end up like your commander."

Sitting on a nearby mossy boulder was a girl wearing an elegant dress, a fluffy white scarf wrapped around her neck, and long crimson hair. She looked at the guards boredly. "I suggest you listen. Zin hates repeating himself."

The guards began to back away slowly—until the massive wooden fist began to creak.
Slowly, agonizingly, the wooden fist was pushed upward. Beneath it, Asami stood, her arms locked above her head as electric sparks erupted from her body.

"If you leave right now," Asami growled, her voice echoing with dark power, "I will bury you alongside this fool! Do you hear me?!"

Zin looked down in shock. She's alive?! That fist weighs tons! He pressed his hands together, applying even more kinetic pressure to crush her.
Asami's feet sank into the dirt, but she forced the wooden fist higher, a wild, unhinged laugh escaping her lips. "I am Asami of the House of Red Feathers! I'll be damned before I get pushed 

around by some nobody! I am perfect! I am PERFECTION!"

A guard from the back fired a wind gale to distract Zin. Asami took immediate advantage, igniting her blue ash flames to burn the wooden fist into falling embers.
She blitzed forward, charging straight for Zin, but Zin recovered instantly, summoning a giant wood golem that backhanded Asami across the forest. She smashed through several trees, her eyes flashing with pure, murderous rage.
Before she could land, Kira materialized directly above her in mid-air, driving Asami's head deep into the dirt with a crushing shockwave.

"Pleasure to meet you names Kira," Kira smiled, stepping down onto Asami's back. "In this new era, if you can't use chi to weave multi-elemental compounds, what good are you with just one Oh mind if I?"

Kira grabbed Asami's left arm and twisted it—CRACK!
Asami screamed in rage as her bone snapped. Kira jumped back, weaving her hands together. Frost + Light Compound: Frozen Pillar of Light!
A blinding, freezing beam of radiant light engulfed Asami, blasting a massive crater into the earth as dust and ice kicked up into the sky.

Zin watched from the treeline as Kira smirked, waiting for the smoke to clear. The guards cowered in terror.

From the center of the crater, a shadow stood up. Asami's broken arm popped back into place with a sickening squelch as she regenerated her flesh together slowly. She raised her head, smiling maniacally.
"I told you... I was born perfect!"

She opened her palm, blasting a shockwave of dark pulse energy straight at Kira. Kira dodged, but the blast behind her leveled an entire swath of the forest, detonating the trees into splinters.

before Kira could look back, In a fraction of a millisecond, Asami appeared directly in front of Kira's face, her hand glowing with blue disintegration fire. Before she could strike, Zin summoned a massive wooden wall, shoving Kira out of harm's way.
Asami grabbed an entire tree, turning it to ash instantly with her blue flames, and charged Zin. Zin tried to construct more wood defenses, but Asami spewed a torrent of ash-blue fire from her mouth, encircling them both.

Kira splashed a torrent of water to douse the flames, but Asami instantly converted her fire into raw, high-voltage electricity, paralyzing them both as the electrified water disrupted their chi flow.

Asami lunged at Zin, going for a lethal strike, but Zin countered with a palm strike. Asami caught his arm in a joint lock and punched his face repeatedly, the force of her blows creating violent shockwaves. She finished with a point-blank lightning blast to his chest, sending Zin crashing through the forest floor.

Kira, recovering, summoned a bird made of pure light combined with an absolute-zero blizzard, hurling it directly at Asami. The extreme frost locked Asami's body in ice while the light beam shattered her skin, leaving her bleeding profusely. Her dark hair fell over her face as she sank to her knees.

Kira stepped forward, manipulating the blood on Asami's body to force her to stay down. Zin limped back into the clearing, summoning a wooden cage that rose from the earth, sinking Asami deep underground to seal her away.
Panting heavily, Zin and Kira turned to leave.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble violently. The earth shattered into airborne debris as dark, unhinged laughter boomed from beneath the soil.

"I TRULY AM PERFECT!"

Asami erupted from the earth in a column of blood and blue lightning. She vanished instantly, reappearing behind Zin, grabbing him by the throat and choke-slamming him into the ground so hard it carved a big crater.
Kira, horrified, tried to manipulate the blood on Asami's skin again, but Asami activated her inner chi, completely severing Kira's control.

"Blood manipulation?" Asami purred, her eyes glowing golden. She flipped the technique backward, using her own chi to seize control of the blood inside Kira's veins, freezing her in place. Kira confused and yells out, "B-but HOW!?" "How did I do it? Because NOBODY is better than me!"

Covered in blood, her injuries regeneration finally finished, Asami walked slowly up to the frozen Kira. She pulled her fist back, driving an open-palm strike directly into Kira's gut. The vacuum of kinetic pressure blasted Kira backward, only for it to bring her back, Asami grabs her by the neck. 
"Names Asami pleasure to meet you too," Asami whispered darkly. "Mind if I...?"
Asami drove a brutal knee into Kira's ribs—CRACK!—making Kira scream in agony before choke-slamming her into the center of the crater.

Wind swept through the ruined forest. Asami stood over her defeated opponents, her soft chuckles morphing into loud, hysterical laughter that echoed through the trees.

She turned and walked back toward her terrified guards. They scrambled forward, offering towels and fresh robes, leading her back to the carriage. Inside, she allowed them to clean the blood from her face as they presented her with the glowing, ancient elemental crystal recovered from the forest core.
Asami held the pulsing crystal in her lap, a soft, sinister smile gracing her lips as she yelled to the driver, "Let's get moving! Now!"

She stared out the window into the dark horizon. "Dear brother... I am coming soon."

Far away, across the continent, Kai sat cross-legged atop a quiet mountain peak, deep in meditation. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. He touched his chest, feeling a strange, dark vibration in the spirit realm.

"What the hell...?" Kai muttered, staring off into the distance.

TO BE CONTINUED...