Mortal Kombat: Rise of the Shoga Ryu – Lillith and Tsumi Kara Umareru

Prologue

When the Shirai-Ryu clan of shinobi was exterminated at the hands of Quan-Chi and his Lin-Kuei collaborators, the sorcerer was unaware of the existence of the Shoga-Ryu clan, a sister clan that held close ties with the now desecrated Shirai-Ryu, which had been founded by the grand master Takeda. The Shoga-Ryu was founded by master Yamino Hikari, the first of Takeda’s pupils, who after many years of study had eventually attained the rank of grand master himself. As no clan can have two grand masters, Yamino was given the blessing by Takeda to leave the Shirai-Ryu and start the Shoga-Ryu. The Shoga-Ryu was operated very similarly to the Shirai-Ryu, with some exceptions. Whereas the Shirai-Ryu was a known faction within Japan and was more traditional in its teachings and methods, the Shoga-Ryu was operated entirely in secret under the guise of a simple town of industry known as Miruga; the clan headquarters and training facilities were built underground for this purpose. Its secrecy was decided upon so that it would become a safety net for the clans—should anything ever happen to the Shirai-Ryu, the Shoga-Ryu would remain to maintain the clan teachings and shinobi presence in Japan. Eventually, members of the new clan were taught to use more technologically advanced equipment and armors than what was typically used in the Shirai-Ryu, as over time, the Shoga-Ryu had become home to some of Japans most esteemed inventors and machinists, who in exchange for protection or teachings in the way of advanced ninjutsu offered their services to advance the clan. In addition, Yamino’s very own son, Kenichiro, chose to pursue the machine arts as opposed to the combat arts. Before long, the Shoga-Ryu clan had become the most technologically advanced source in Japan, yet it’s identity as a clan of shinobi remained hidden. The Shoga-Ryu and the Shirai-Ryu held close ties together, regularly sharing teachings and knowledge of the land between each other.

The Symbol of the Shoga-Ryu Clan.

Chapter 1

Years of relative peace passed after the Shoga-Ryu’s inception, but one fateful morning word came through a scout that the Shirai-Ryu clan had been attacked by a major force. As the Shoga-Ryu was located a day’s journey to the south of the Shirai-Ryu, the word had come too late for them to intervene.  By the time the Shoga-Ryu shinobi had arrived at the grounds of their sister clan, the attackers, identified by the slain bodies of Lin-Kuei warriors strewn about the ground, had already fled. Among the victims were the wife and son of a well known general within the Shirai-Ryu, Hanzo Hasashi, though Hasashi himself was nowhere to be found. The Shoga-Ryu retreated and immediately began to plan a counter offensive against the Lin-Kuei, but Yamino was wise enough to know better than to order an all out offensive strike. The existence of the Shoga-Ryu was closely guarded from the Lin-Kuei, and if they were strong enough to exterminate the Shirai-Ryu so completely, the risk of jeopardizing the clan was too great. Should they fail in their attempts to eliminate the Lin-Kuei, their existence would be revealed and they would be open to attack. Without knowing the true strength of their rivals, Yamino and the Shoga-Ryu could only watch and wait for the right opportunity to avenge their sister clan. Some time had passed, and in that time several Shoga-Ryu shinobi had been selected to undergo extensive advanced training. This group of elite shinobi would be called the “Kouritsuteki”, or “The Efficient”. As Yamino was of a very advanced age at this point, it was clear that some would need to be elected to represent him. The goal was to raise up warriors of a higher ability and an unbreakable will who would lead the strike when the eventual campaign against the Lin-Kuei came.  Among those chosen was Yamino’s own granddaughter, Sayuri. Unlike her father, Sayuri chose to learn the ways of the shinobi from her grandfather. Initially, Yamino was opposed to the idea and insisted that she follow in her father’s footsteps, but she would have none of it. Her will and determination had already proven to be among the strongest in the clan, but that was only the beginning. Sayuri showed an unnatural fighting ability, thought nearly impossible for one of such a young age and for a female no less. She quickly rose among the ranks, easily besting her clan-mates and becoming one of the most deadly and efficient of all the Shoga-Ryu.  Of particular note was her deadly ability with the Tekko-Kagi (Hand claws), and her shinobigatana (Shinobi sword), of which her father designed special versions suited to only her. Yamino eventually agreed to train her as his own special student. He pushed her harder than he had ever pushed a student before, yet she succeeded in every exercise and trial that he brought before her. When he finally deemed her ready, she was given the name “Lillith” meaning “Belonging to the Night”, and was appointed leader of the Kouritsuteki shinobi.

Sayuri “Lillith” Hikari

Eventually, long awaited news came regarding the Lin-Kuei. It had come to light that they were now using advanced cybernetics to empower their warriors. Intrigued by such a turn of events, Yamino saw this as a critical opportunity and devised a plan to turn their own technologies against them. An order was immediately sent out to capture one of the Lin-Kuei cyber warriors in order to reverse engineer the technology. In theory, with the combined technologies of the Chinese Lin-Kuei and the Japanese Shoga-Ryu, they would be able to create a force unlike anything seen before. The Lin-Kuei had several secretly positioned outposts scattered throughout the cold northern regions of Japan, but they could not hide from the Shoga-Ryu in their own land. Scouting of them was regular, but actually engaging them was a rarity for risk of revealing the Shoga-Ryu’s existence. The mission would be undoubtedly dangerous—the risk of engaging an enemy of unknown strength and capability was immense. Nevertheless, as the leader of the Kouritsuteki, Lillith volunteered to carry out the mission at once; and it was with that decision that her life would be changed forever…

She, along with two other Kouritsuteki shinobi, Nomori Washi, (The Eagle) and Yoshitaka Tora, (The Tiger) were dispatched. Journeying deep into enemy territory, The Efficient eventually reached the Lin-Kuei’s major outpost in Japan, and sure enough, they had cybernetic warriors among their ranks. They tracked the cyborgs and memorized their scouting patterns—they moved in groups of three and intermittently separated in a search pattern. There would be only a small window of time to engage one of them alone. Nomori and Yoshitaka split up to cause a distraction to prevent interference. When the time came to strike, Lillith would have to engage one of the singular units on her own. As she watched and waited for the right opportunity to arise, her body began to tremble—the Lin-Kuei had brought an unnatural cold to her land. Angered in her soul, she longed for the day when she and the Shoga-Ryu could rid the Lin-Kuei from Japan once and for all. She focused her mind and tried to block out the cold. Then, just as they had planned it, the opportunity came—one of the cyber scouts had broken off from its group and was alone. Not wasting any time, Lillith made her move. Before the cyborg had even noticed her presence, she bore down upon it, striking it several times in the areas that her father had advised her to aim for. However, the armor of the cyborg was unlike anything she had encountered before; her razor-sharp claws dealt only minor damage. As the cyborg came to full attention of its attacker, it let out a lifeless mechanical battle cry—a sound that sent shivers through Lillith’s body. It became apparent to her at that moment that this machine was once a human being, but no longer. She jumped back to assess her options, but there was no time—the cyborg engaged her at full speed, charging her—she could hear the sound of her own ribs cracking as the large Lin-Kuei machine slammed into her. She was knocked to the ground; the cold of the snow below her biting at her through her armor. As she looked up at her attacker, she could see the armor on its chest begin to move, revealing a large cavity where once a heart beat steadily. Suddenly, from its chest, the metal warrior launched a spherical object toward her at a high speed—it spun through the air and landed right near her. Despite the searing pain in her body, Lillith quickly sprang to her feet and, being fearless as she was, picked up the object and hurled it back at the cyborg, hitting it directly in the head. Taken off guard by her quickness, the cyborg had no time to react. As Lillith had suspected, the object was a bomb—upon impact it produced a sequenced beeping sound and exploded, launching the machine into the air. As she watched the cyborg hit the ground hard, she knew this was her opportunity—just as it began to get up, Lillith rushed it, pulling her shinobigatana from its sheath. With deadly accuracy, she delivered a critical strike to the area that her father designated should be the control unit. The sharp screeching noise of her blade ripping through the metal plating on the back of the machines neck pierced the air, and to her relief, the once human warrior let out a haunting cry as it seemingly began to shut down. However, with the last bit of remaining energy in its stores, the cyborg reached up and grabbed Lillith’s right arm and applied full strength, crushing her limb like paper before finally shutting down with her limp arm still grasped tightly in its cold metal hand. The pain was excruciating. Everything inside of her wanted to scream, but she knew she could not alert the rest of the guards. As tears began to fall from her eyes, she kept silent, cringing, and motionless; now a part of the lifeless metal humanoid she was fighting only moments before. What seemed like an eternity had passed and the cold had begun to take its toll. The snow started to fall heavily and Lillith began to lose consciousness—everything went dark as she prepared to submit to destiny.  She could only hope and pray that her fellow shinobi would find her quickly…

Chapter 2

She awoke to the feeling of a warm fire beside her—a stark contrast to the terrible cold she last remembered feeling. She slowly opened her eyes, finding that she was no longer in that dreadful place, but rather, she was home—back at the Shoga-Ryu. She had little feeling in her body, especially in her right arm. When the aid noticed that Sayuri had awoken, she quickly ran to summon Yamino and Kenichiro. They came quickly and were delighted to find her conscious. Sayuri was too weak to speak, but they knew she would want to know how she was alive. Too caught up in a state of emotion, seeing his daughter alive had overwhelmed Kenichiro. Yamino explained that Nomori and Yoshitaka, the other Shinobi who were with her on that day, had become engaged by the cyborgs, and were not able to return to her as quickly as was planned. Unfortunately, Nomori was killed when he was overwhelmed by his cyborg attackers. Yoshitaka, however, managed to escape, commandeering one of their war horses and making his way back to where she had been…

When Yoshitaka had arrived, he found his leader unconscious, badly injured and caught in the grasp of her defeated target. He managed to free her arm from the cyborg, but her injuries were extensive. He didn’t know if she was even alive, but he had little time to think about it; his pursuers were not far behind. He secured Lillith on the horse and devised a way to transport the enemy technology. Being far too heavy to mount on the horse, his only option was to use his rope to drag the cyborg back to the Shoga-Ryu. As the snow fell around him and the cold of the night gnawed at his senses, Yoshitaka secured his rope to the armor and fastened it to the horse. Fortunately, the horse he had taken was a proud steed, and had little trouble dragging the weight behind. With all the strength he had left in his body, Yoshitaka steered the horse in the direction of their home and set forth. As they began to travel, it was not long before Yoshitaka’s fatigue set in, and he too lost consciousness. When he came to, he found that the mighty steed had taken them very near their home before having to stop for some water at a nearby stream within their borders. The steady downfall of snow had proven to be a blessing as it had masked their trail—the Lin-Kuei had not been able to track them. They would be home by nightfall. Yoshitaka named the horse Kyuuseishu(Savior).

Lillith had completed her mission that day, but at a terrible cost. She had lost her right arm, the internal damage to her organs was extensive, and her extended exposure to the extreme environment had a paralyzing effect on her. She was now only a shadow of her former self, yet her will was as strong as ever and her soul burned with the desire to fight. However, it would be impossible to do so in her condition. Despite the Shoga-Ryu’s state of the art medical facility, Yamino knew that Sayuri’s life force would not last long in her current state, and if something were not done to prevent it, his precious granddaughter would perish. He was sensitive to her pleas and sent out the order to begin work immediately on studying the Lin-Kuei cyber technology in an effort to determine if it could be used to rebuild the broken shinobi. With no hesitation, Kenichiro agreed to head up the program, which was given the name “Mecha Koujou” (Rise of the Mecha). When the disabled Lin-Kuei cyborg was disassembled, they found its construction to be terrifying and inhumane—hardly any semblance of humanity remained with the exception of the brain itself. It was determined that the Shoga-Ryu engineers would not follow the same design protocols as the Lin-Kuei, but would instead develop enhancements that would be equally as effective yet less intrusive to the host. With a full team of engineers working toward the same goal, the Mecha Koujou program developed quickly and results came within weeks. But as Yamino had suspected, Sayuri’s health had taken a turn for the worse, and it became apparent that she was dying. She fell into a coma and her father redoubled his efforts. Within another week’s time, he had developed a working replacement for her slowing heart, followed by a system to support her lungs. With no more time and no other options, Kenichiro’s replacement parts were surgically implanted inside of Sayuri’s body—just in time as she had stopped breathing. Yamino and the engineering team could only stand by and wait to see if Kenichiro’s theory of compatibility was correct. A few moments passed, and with a large gasp of air supplied through the new system, Sayuri finally sprang to life once more. The new technology had proven compatible and the operation was a success—Kenichiro had saved his daughter, though much work was to be done to restore her to her former ability and beyond. In the following weeks, Sayuri grew stronger as she fought to get used to her new support system. She was now able to walk, and had even begun light training exercises once more, though the loss of her arm was proving to be a great hindrance to her. Her father anticipated this and had already begun creating a replacement arm for her.  Upon completion, her new arm was successfully installed, and with it she began to harness her fighting ability once again. But her father didn’t stop there—the technologies adapted from the Lin-Kuei cyborg proved every bit as fruitful as was hoped and Kenichiro developed a full suit of armor that would integrate into Sayuri’s body to not only restore her to full functionality, but that would greatly enhance her abilities entirely. The armor, code named “Tsumi Kara Umareru” (Born of sin) was completed on task and presented to Sayuri. Still traumatized by the memory of fighting with the hulking mechanized Lin-Kuei on that fateful day, she was initially reluctant to accept the armor for fear of becoming no better than them. However, Kenichiro explained to his daughter that this suit was not like the Lin-Kuei variant. It was designed to be a weapon to be used by her, and not as a weapon to replace her. It would be the only way that she could effectively continue to carry out missions for the Shoga-Ryu, and no matter what, her will and her soul would be forever her own. With this understanding, Sayuri accepted and agreed to undergo integration of the Tsumi Kara Umareru battle armor. Yamino watched over her as the procedure commenced. It was painful and uncomfortable for her at first, as the suit linked directly into her nervous system. But as the suit became fully synced with her, she felt a power unlike any she had felt before surge through every ounce of her being—Sayuri became the first of the Shoga-Ryu mecha shinobi, yet she retained her humanity… Lillith had returned.

Lillith – Tsumi Kara Umareru

Lillith Reborn

She stood tall in her new second skin; constructed primarily of a difficult to produce prototype carbon fiber, the incredibly durable yet surprisingly lightweight armor was sleek, colored in pearl white and ebony black to represent her rebirth, along with golden yellow and uncolored carbon accents in honor of the fallen Shirai-Ryu clan. The design of the suit was easily distinguished from the Lin-Kuei cyborg designs, adopting more of an almost organic, yet clearly advanced look that was undoubtedly Japanese in origin. She was now stronger and more able than she ever was before, supernaturally mobile and equipped with advanced weaponry adapted from the Shoga-Ryu arsenal. Her suit also contained an advanced computing and life-support system. On her arms, her father had specially designed emitters that generated energy blades made of pure plasma, serving as a much more deadly and technologically advanced form of the tekko-kagi. He also integrated and re-engineered her shinobigatana into a vibro blade, capable of cutting through nearly anything.

The technical readout of Kenichiro’s armor

Tsumi Kara Umareru plasma tekko-kagi

Small blades cast from iridium alloy adorned her feet—they were exceedingly sharp and completely unbreakable. The suit also featured an advanced cloaking device that could bend light around her, concealing her from view. Projectile weaponry included large razor sharp mechanized homing shurikens (throwing stars) that operated in conjunction with her on-board targeting system, and she could quickly deploy makibishi (caltrops) in a wide area around her. The thruster system on her back, legs and arms allowed her to jump incredibly high and hover for short periods of time or make quick sprints through the air or on the ground. For all intents and purposes, she was a highly mobile, stealth capable weapons platform.

Lillith’s helmet

Kenichiro’s aerodynamic design allowed his daughter to slice through the air effortlessly.

Testing of Lillith’s full capability commenced and she showed tremendous advancement, smashing every previous time, strength and endurance trial record that had ever been recorded within the Shoga-Ryu. She had truly become the fighting force that Yamino had envisioned, and for the first time since the attack on the Shirai-Ryu, he felt that the Shoga-Ryu had a fighting chance. Now that they had the technology to compete against the Lin-Kuei, Kenichiro was commissioned to create more battle armor for the remaining shinobi, starting with the rest of the Kouritsuteki elite and candidates. However, as much of the Shoga-Ryu’s existing resources went into crafting Lillith’s own armor, it would be some time before others could be brought online. As work commenced, a very unexpected bit of information came to Yamino: A Shoga-Ryu scout had discovered that the Lin-Kuei were somehow using some sort of portal to travel between physical realms, and that the realm “Outworld” was grounds for a tournament of sorts called “Mortal Kombat”. But the most intriguing piece of information was that among the competitors of this tournament was a shinobi known only as “Sasori”, the Scorpion. Yamino was taken aback by this news. The only man that he ever knew to be called “Sasori” was general Hanzo Hasashi of the fallen Shirai-Ryu. The thought cycled through his mind repeatedly—If Hasashi has survived, he must have more information about the Lin-Kuei’s current dealings and about what transpired that led to the destruction of his family and clan on that fateful day. Yamino met with his generals and advisors and determined that making contact with Scorpion was of the utmost importance. If it truly was Hasashi, the chance was too great to pass up. The new mission was devised as a covert operation—only one would be sent through the Lin-Kuei portal into the unknown realm of Outworld, and there was only one who was eligible for such a task: Lillith. Being fearless as ever, Lillith stepped up and accepted the mission. It would certainly be a perfect opportunity to test her new ability, though there was no guarantee of her return. If Hasashi was alive, she would find him—though little did she know that she would find him even in death. Before she left, Kenichiro downloaded the Lin-Kuei data he was able to salvage from the dismantled cyborg into Lillith’s on-board database. It would be the only source of guidance she would have once on the other side of the portal. She bid her father, the grandmaster, and her clan farewell until her return, then left the clan and headed to where the portal had reportedly been spotted. Her mission was clear: Enter the portal and uncover the deeds of the Lin-Kuei, infiltrate the Mortal Kombat tournament and find Hanzo Hasashi, and most importantly, defend herself and the honor of the Shoga-Ryu at all costs. Thus began her journey… The trials that awaited her would surely be her most difficult yet.

Lillith, fully powered.

Chapter 3

It took little time for Lillith to reach the portals location; her new suit allowed her to cover distance at an extremely quick pace. Upon reaching the Lin-Kuei base, Lillith successfully infiltrated the compound and was able to quickly dispatch any and all opposition that stood against her. There was no need for stealth. The once fearsome Lin-Kuei cyborgs were now no match for Lillith in her new armor—they never even saw her coming before it was too late. Flying through the air, appearing and disappearing rapidly and coming from all directions, Lillith took the cyborgs apart one piece at a time until there was nothing standing between her and the portal to Outworld. With all opposition dealt with, she located and stood before the portal. As she stared into the otherworldly window she could see visions of battles, and the strange warriors fighting those battles. She knew that whatever lay on the other side would be unlike anything she had seen before. The risk would be great, but she had not come this far to back out now; she stepped through the portal without hesitation. Travelling between realms was a surreal experience. When she arrived on the other side, it was almost as if she was in the same place, only under much more unfortunate circumstances. The air was dark and heavy, the temperature torrid, yet somehow humid at the same time. It was a wasteland in every sense of the term. Lillith’s H.U.D. produced dangerous environmental readings well outside the norm for earth. Nevertheless, she was well protected by her new suit and she proceeded forward. Making good use of her cloaking system, she thought best to stay hidden and avoid conflict in this unknown place—the one thing she could be certain about was the hostility of this realm and its inhabitants. She eventually encountered a group of three humanoid yet inhuman creatures travelling through the wastes. They were grotesque in appearance, bearing pale skin, pointed ears, large sharp teeth and several bone-like spikes protruding from their arms. The Lin-Kuei data files she had downloaded identified them as “Tarkatan”, a native and savage species of Outworld. As she listened in on them, she overheard one of them say, “Baraka is fighting at the temple beyond the living forest to the south!” Lillith wondered if the fighting they were referring to was related to the “Mortal Kombat” tournament she had heard about before. It was a long shot, but in desperate need of more information, she decided to address the creatures. She revealed herself to them asking, “What do you know about the Mortal Kombat tournament, and do you know of one called the Scorpion?” Predictably, the creatures weren’t very welcoming to her, immediately brandishing large blades from their arms. “You do not belong here, but you will die here!” exclaimed one of the Tarkatans. They rushed toward her, one in the center, two at the sides. With hardly any effort, Lillith immediately performed a swift thrust kick landing squarely in the chest of the central attacker, sending him flying back through the air several meters at twice the speed he came and knocking him out cold. Faced with two remaining attackers approaching on either side of her, she launched caltrops at their feet and jumped back. She was moving so quickly that the Tarkatan attackers could not respond accordingly as they struggled to maintain footing over the caltrops. Using the thrusters on her back, Lillith then flew through the air directly toward the attacker on the right with her knee extended out in front of her, smashing into him like a wrecking ball—the large spike on her knee plunged deep into the soft flesh of the Tarkatan’s stomach and ruptured several of his internal organs. Pulling her knee out of the now gaping hole in his stomach and down to the ground, she then spun around to the right with a devastating hook kick which landed against the creatures jaw, shattering it into an untold number of pieces and breaking his neck in the process. But before the body could even hit the ground, Lillith seamlessly followed through with her spin, powering up her plasma claws while in motion and bringing them down across the attackers face diagonally, tearing it off completely. It had been mere seconds since the conflict began, but already, the end was near. A now blood soaked Lillith activated her cloak and disappeared from the view of the second attacker. Dazed in shock at the state of his now mangled accomplice, the remaining Tarkatan never even felt the pain at his neck until he was looking up at his own decapitated body from the ground up. As his vision began to fade to black, the last thing he saw was Lillith performing “chiburi”, shaking the blood off of her blade before smoothly re-sheathing it while walking towards the first Tarkatan she had knocked out previously. As she approached the last of the savages, he had regained enough consciousness to make a weak attempt at slashing at her from the ground. She easily avoided the attack, grasping his left arm in her hand and stepping on the right, simultaneously breaking them at the same time. The sound of the cracking bones along with the creatures piercing cry was as descriptive of the environment as one could imagine. Picking him up off the ground and suspending him off of his feet, Lillith made herself very clear, saying: “I’m going to ask you one more time. Where is the tournament being held, and where is Scorpion?”  With every bit of life the broken Tarkatan had left, he muttered: “…To the south… Through.. The forest. Find.. Quan… Chi…” And with that, he fell unconscious once more. “Arigatou,” Lillith said as she slowly lowered him to the ground, laying his head down softly.

She had little information about the man known as Quan Chi, as the Lin-Kuei data she had curiously contained only vague entries regarding him. Nevertheless, she now had a direction, and she began to head south. Eventually she came upon the forest that the Tarkatan had referred to. As she entered the dark woods, the “living forest”, she quickly understood why it was named so. She could feel eyes upon her from every direction, and a lingering sense of dread loomed heavy in the fog that flowed through the trees. The bodies of slain warriors littered the ground, some eaten away by insects and natural decay, others pulled into the flora as if being slowly assimilated. Worst were the trees themselves, many of which bore faces of a tormented expression and even moved from time to time, as if it were someone struggling to escape an inescapable cocoon. She moved quickly through the woods, continuing to head south. The environment itself challenged her progression—vines and other strange living plant life constantly grabbed at her feet and attempted to impede her, though the sharp design of her armor allowed her to cut through the thick brush and weeds. She thanked her father to herself as she moved on. Deep into the woods and feeling quite fatigued, suddenly she heard the sound of an explosion nearby. She stopped to listen in, and a second explosion sounded—this time she could see a flash of light through the trees. Moving toward the source of the explosion, she came to a small clearing and positioned herself in a vantage point atop one of the trees. Looking down through the smoke produced by the explosions, she could see two men, one a scruffy looking yet muscular Caucasian man with a mechanical eye, the other an Asian man dressed in monk like garb. They appeared to be using the clearing to test fire a rocket launching weapon, though their reasoning was unclear. Next to them were crates filled with the weapons. As she tuned her audio receptors in on them, she could hear the man with the mechanical eye exclaim with an accent: “With a whole army toting these, no one in Outworld or Earthrealm could stand up to you.” To which the Asian man replied: “Well done. You may tell your fellow black dragon that I am very interested in your merchandise.” They fired off another rocket, when suddenly a third man, masked and clad in grey, appeared and confronted them. This man immediately caught Lillith’s attention, as he was dressed in the armor of a Lin-Kuei warrior, though he was not a cyborg. “Shang Tsung!” he exclaimed, directing his voice toward the Asian man. Without hesitation, the Caucasion man stepped forward and began to attack the Lin-Kuei warrior. Lillith watched as the ninja soundly defeated his opponent using advanced techniques and demonstrating a supernatural control of smoke that allowed him to rapidly move within the smoke itself, as if he were teleporting from place to place. Intrigued, Lillith scanned the ninja, generating several threads of information within her Lin-Kuei information database. He was identified as Tomas Vrbada, codename “Smoke”—a specialist that had been drafted into the Lin-Kuei at a young age, and whom held close ties with Lin-Kuei clan mate Kuai “Tundra” Liang. After witnessing the outcome of the battle, the Asian man, identified as “Shang Tsung”, then stepped forward to confront Smoke, now accompanied by an aggressive looking reptilian humanoid that had been in hiding. “Tell me what you know of Sub-Zero’s death,” Smoke inquired. The mention of “Sub-Zero” greatly interested Lillith, as he had been a well-known Lin-Kuei general, and would no doubt have had information regarding the extermination of the Shirai-Ryu. She continued to watch intently when suddenly Shang Tsung, through some unknown power, shifted into the form of Sub-Zero himself. Lillith had never before witnessed such an ability, but could nevertheless see through the disguise. Assuming the form of Sub-Zero, Tsung claimed that although Sub-Zero had failed in the tournament, he had been more powerful than Smoke. Unfazed by Tsungs sorcery, Smoke immediately began to attack him, overcoming him with an impressive show of resolve. Once Tsung was defeated, Smoke again inquired about Sub-Zero, but was interrupted and attacked by an unseen force. Seizing the opportunity, Shang Tsung retreated using sorcery to teleport himself, his accomplices and the weaponry he had been testing to another location. Lillith watched on as Smoke continued to come under assault from an unseen enemy, until suddenly, his attacker was revealed. A crimson Lin-Kuei cyborg decloaked in front of him, claiming Smoke had disobeyed a Lin-Kuei directive and was ordered to submit to “transformation”. Seeing the cyborg immediately flooded Lillith’s mind with memories of her own perilous encounter with a similar foe that changed her life. “Sektor!?” Smoke exclaimed, continuing, “You actually did it. You’re a cyborg!”

(At this moment, Lillith knew well what was transpiring before her. Being fully aware of the inhuman nature of the Lin-Kuei’s cybernetics program, she could now see firsthand the unwillingness that was dividing members of the Lin-Kuei regarding the initiative. A certain sense of relief filled her at the thought that not all of the Lin-Kuei could be so heartless and inhumane.)

The red cyborg, “Sektor” advanced upon Smoke, forcing him to defend himself. The two once clan mates began a vicious battle—Smoke initially struggled to deal with the immense strength and speed of his cybernetically enhanced opponent, a feeling Lillith was all too familiar with. Nevertheless, Smoke again proved his resolve and skill by slowly wearing down his attacker and exploiting the openings in the cyborgs attacks. Although Sektor’s cybernetic body gave him great combat ability, Smoke was clearly the more skilled fighter. After several well placed strikes, he was able to stun and ground Sektor, then claiming: “I will never submit!” before attempting to escape. However, just as it seemed he could escape, several more cybrogs appeared around him in a circle, trapping him between them. They began to generate what appeared to be a portal of some kind, no doubt to transport Smoke back to the Lin-Kuei headquarters, yet it clearly required a great deal of power to generate and would take a few moments to open. Smoke was helpless in this moment, seemingly paralyzed by the force of the cyborgs—it would not be long before he was taken. Lillith could not bear to watch a good man suffer in such a way, knowing what horrible fate awaited him should he be captured. She decided to intervene. Mounting a tree and pulling her blade from its sheath, she prepared to jump down to eliminate the cyborg captors, but just as she was about to act, there was a flash of light. She glanced over to see two men now standing a short distance away; they had not been there before. One of them, a tall man garbed in white and wearing a sugegasa was quick to action, sending forth an immense beam of lightning from his hands directed at the cyborgs surrounding Smoke. The lightning was very effective, shorting out the cyborgs and stopping the portal generation, freeing Smoke. Meanwhile, Sektor, still recovering from his defeat, took the opportunity to flee. Seeing that the situation was now under control, Lillith sheathed her blade and settled back into her place of observation, truthfully glad she hadn’t had to reveal herself yet. She watched on—Smoke, now freed, approached the two men, offering thanks and referring to the man in white as “Lord Raiden”.

(Hearing such a name was amazing to Lillith. Could this man truly be the embodiment of the god of thunder her people knew as “Raijin”? From what she had seen, it was to be believed.)

Raiden explained to Smoke that he was in Outworld to participate in a tournament to save Earthrealm. Surely, Lillith thought to herself, this tournament must be the one that was mentioned before—Mortal Kombat—the one that Scorpion is taking part in. She felt she was getting closer to her goal, but there was still much to learn and do. Their brief conversation concluded with Raiden asking Smoke to aid him in the fight for Earthrealm and Smoke insisting that they locate Sub-Zero in an effort to save him from the Lin-Kuei cyborg program. (Apparently a different Sub-Zero than the original?) With that, Raiden used his power to teleport them away, though Lillith could not know where they went. After the dust had settled, all was quiet. The clearing now looked like a war zone. Nothing but the bodies of the fallen cyborgs that had surrounded Smoke remained, but this would be a great opportunity for Lillith. She came down from her perch and jacked into one of the cyborg’s information database. Some of the data was damaged during the electrical shock, but most was intact. She downloaded the data to her memory bank and relocated back into the shadows to study it.

As she dug into the information, she found that the previous Lin-Kuei data, which had been recovered from the original cyborg back at the Shoga-Ryu, was drastically out dated and was missing several key entries regarding the different realms and their happenings. It seemed the Lin-Kuei had their hands involved in a great many things. Through the new data, Lillith was able to learn the history of the Mortal Kombat tournament and access profiles of many of the key figures that have been involved in it, including the brothers Bi Han and Kuai Liang, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Shao Khan, and most importantly, the sorcerer Quan Chi and his tie to Scorpion. According to his Lin-Kuei profile entry, Quan Chi was among the most powerful of sorcerers and resided in the “Netherrealm”, a place of never-ending torment. He acted as a mercenary of sorts, offering his services to anyone so long as it furthered his own schemes. He is regularly seen collaborating with the sorcerer Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, the ruler of Outworld, and is not to be trusted. Additionally, it was noted that it was within his power to control the soul of another, so long as it is given to him. Lillith cringed at the thought of such a fiend, and wondered how a proud member of the Shirai-Ryu would ever collaborate with him. Continuing her investigation, Lillith accessed all available information about Scorpion. Yamino’s suspicion was correct—the data indicated that he was indeed the Shirai-Ryu general Hanzo Hasashi… At one time. Though he had, for undisclosed reasons, become something else more powerful, and a sworn enemy and constant threat to the Lin-Kuei clan. He was to be avoided at all costs by all but the most skilled Lin-Kuei, who were to kill him on sight. Lillith could not understand what this meant… What had Scorpion become? And why does he participate in the tournaments tied to Quan Chi? She would have to find Hanzo himself to learn the full story. Surely it must be related to the desecration of the Shirai-Ryu, but there was insufficient data to be conclusive.  There were several data entries regarding the Shirai-Ryu clan and its often tumultuous history with the Lin-Kuei. However, the entries end abruptly with no mention of the clan’s current status, and much less about the supposed attack and destruction by the Lin-Kuei themselves. There was no record of any attack at all—strange, as such a significant conquest surely would have been well recorded by Lin-Kuei record keepers. It seemed almost as if the data had been erased somehow, or… Never existed in the first place… Lillith was deeply troubled by what she was discovering. Perhaps the events that transpired in her realm did not play out the way that it had originally seemed… But one way or the other, she would get to the bottom of it. Much to her relief, the Lin-Kuei database was devoid of any information regarding her own clan, the Shoga-Ryu. They had maintained their secrecy, and for now at least, she could rest easy at the thought of their safety. Armed with new knowledge, she proceeded forward to infiltrate the Mortal Kombat tournament… Her mission had not changed.

Lillith’s Equipment

Chapter 4

The updated Lin-Kuei database provided a small-scale map of several key locations in which the current ongoing Mortal Kombat tournament was taking place. One of them was of particular interest: a large coliseum near a palace fortress that was central to all locations. It was also noted by Lin-Kuei command that this location would be the most likely place to find and apprehend any rogue Lin-Kuei, specifically Smoke and Tundra, and that all available units were to engage in searching patterns, converging on this location. Concluding that the coliseum would be her best chance of encountering Scorpion, Lillith set her course and began to move out of the living forest. After finally reaching the edge of the tree line, she came to an intimidating mountain range. Her only way forward was over this range—she would have to cross it to continue. She began to climb using her suit’s advanced mobility to its full extent. The powerful thrusters on her back allowed her to jump incredibly high and even maintain flight for short periods of time. The rocky terrain was sharp and exceedingly dangerous, made even more uncomfortable by the strong winds and very alien purple hue that defined the rocks. As she continued to climb up, she eventually passed through the dense fog that had surrounded her up to that point. She stopped on a ledge in the side of the mountain, taking a moment to enjoy the clearing and take in a view of the land. It was an unfortunate sight—a wasteland that had been consumed by war and chaos. Lillith took a deep breath, hoping to finish her mission quickly and leave this place. As she continued upward and neared the top, she came upon a narrow pathway carved into the rock itself, though it appeared to have been rarely traveled. She decided to follow the path, maintaining stealth and awareness at all times. It lead into a cave that contained only a single circular room with a large open hole in the ceiling structure of the rock, allowing moonlight to shine through in the center of the space like a spotlight. Utilizing her cloaking device, Lillith cautiously entered the open space, checking her surroundings for surprise attackers. As she neared the center of the room, she came to a stand-still. The sound of the wind that had been thrashing against the mountain side suddenly went quiet, and she could feel a presence behind her. Still cloaked and now grasping the hilt of her sword in a defensive stance, Lillith slowly turned to face the presence, whom she now saw as man standing in the entrance way to the cave, facing her. She activated her night vision to cut through the darkness in the cave and get a better look at her potential assailant. He was a slender male of average height, with short black hair and wearing a black skin-tight combat type suit. Most notably, he appeared to wear a blindfold over his eyes. On his back was an unmistakable weapon to Lillith: it was a katana. As she continued to examine him, he began to walk toward her slowly in a very particular fashion. He took small yet meditated steps, his hands folded behind his back. At the sight of this, Lillith had little doubt, this man was Japanese, or at the very least held ties to the weapons and culture of her homeland. Maintaining silence, the man continued to slowly approach Lillith until stopping about 10 feet from her. “You can reveal yourself now,” the man said, taking Lillith by surprise. “I am not your enemy,” he continued. Her presence clearly known, Lillith broke her silence, saying: “Identify yourself,” to which he responded: “My name is Kenshi, and from what I can tell, you and I hold many things in common, most certainly that we are foreign entities in this land seeking something.” With that, Lillith deactivated her cloaking device, yet maintained a firm grip on the hilt of her blade.

Lillith: Have you been following me?

Kenshi: Actually, no. You seem to have masked your presence here well, but you’ve stumbled upon my place of meditation here in Outworld. It’s not often I get guests. Our meeting appears to be purely coincidental, though the spirits have a way of orchestrating certain events. Perhaps this is one of them.

Lillith: I am called Lillith. I’m here only to find the one known as Scorpion, and my reasons are my own. Similar as we may be, unless you have information pertaining to him or his whereabouts, I suggest you stay out of my way.

Kenshi (clearly intrigued) You seek Scorpion? …Interesting. Yes, you will find him in this place. But I wonder if you will find him in the condition that you expect. He bears many burdens on his shoulders, his aura, that of a very damaged soul.

Lillith: What do you know of him? You must tell me.

Kenshi: Likely little more than you already know I’m afraid, though perhaps I can share some of my personal experience with you. As I am sure you are aware, Scorpion is Hanzo Hasashi, general of the Shirai-Ryu clan of shinobi in Earthrealm; our home. I still remember it so well… In my youth, I spent many years travelling Japan in search of the finest warriors to test my own mettle. I was accomplished, having beaten everyone I had come into contact with… That is, until I met Hasashi. It was a chance meeting, much like our own. He had been out gathering supplies in a local village that I also happened to be passing through, when I overheard some of the locals exclaiming that the great “general Hasashi” had come into town. Arrogant as I was at the time, I inquired as to who this “great general” was, with every intent of challenging him to a duel. They pointed him out to me, but warned me to mind myself about him, as he was a very serious man. I heeded their warning for only so long… I watched him finish his business, then followed him out of the village and into the sweeping hills. It was there that I revealed myself to him, though it quickly became clear that he had already been aware of my presence. Setting his supplies aside, Hasashi turned to face me and addressed my obvious intentions. “If you wish to fight me ronin, then tarry no longer and come upon me. My time is not to be wasted,” he told me. His words stung and I became angry, now wanting to fight him even more. I thought to myself, did he know who I was? How many people I had beaten? …Even if he did, he didn’t seem to care. “Very well,” I told him, before drawing my sword and assuming my fighting stance. “My sword will teach you to be more careful!” I stated. Unflinching, he stood before me, set in his mannerism; never even taking a fighting stance. I moved toward him, when suddenly there was an unknown momentary flash of light around us. Undeterred, I paid it no mind. Overconfident and impatient, I made the first attack, rounding my blade and quickly slashing vertically downward, a deceptive technique I had developed during my travels—one that had felled many before. As I swung my sword, it came down upon him quickly, but traveled straight through his body, as if I was swinging at an illusion. As I would soon discover, that was exactly the case. He had somehow managed to fool me into striking in the wrong place, and had already positioned himself behind me. Before I could even react, he had secured a chain around my neck and pulled me off of my feet and down to the ground, kicking my sword from my hand in the process. My breath was gone, and all I could see was the dust my body had kicked up from my hard fall… When it cleared, he was standing above me, his blade to my throat. “I think it is you who must learn to be more careful…” he uttered down to me. Reluctantly, I conceded defeat. I was speechless; it was the first time I had ever been so completely helpless. He slowly returned his blade to his sheath and, picking up his supplies, told me one last thing before continuing on his way: “Do not always trust your eyes, ronin; they will not always help you.” Little did he know how meaningful those words would be to me… He could have easily killed me that day, but he did not. Unlike myself at the time, he was a humble man, choosing to fight only when necessary and for only the right reasons. After my defeat, I took to studying him, asking all who knew about him, and finding any information I could. I learned of his place in the Shirai-Ryu, and that he loved his family and clan more than anything. He would have at any time given his life for them, proving to me that there was much more to life than simply being the best… The lessons I learned from him have remained with me ever since… Hanzo Hasashi was the most honorable and skilled man that I have ever known. However, whatever it is that drives him now has changed him from who he once was, and he has lost control of himself. Unfortunately, I do not know why he has changed… Only that he has. His skills remain intact, but without the power to control them, he has become dangerous to all who come near him. That is why I must ask you: what is your intention with him?

Lillith: Hasashi and the Shirai-Ryu hold close ties with my clan… And I too hold memories of him in my youth. On rare occasion he would come to my village to teach some of the young shinobi there in secret… I was always so busy training under the grand master that I never had much of a chance to learn from him myself… But one day, he came to speak to my master while I was present. After he had finished his meeting, he spoke to me before he left… He told me that I was unique… Special somehow. He could see it in me, he said, that I would “be the difference”. His last words to me were the strongest: “Wherever life takes you, never forget your honor.” At the time I had no idea what he meant, or why he said those things only to only me. But as time went on, my destiny took shape and I became who and what I am today. Perhaps that is what he foresaw in me… I didn’t see him much after that; I only heard of him from time to time. Eventually it was discovered that the Shirai-Ryu was attacked by the Lin-Kuei, but by the time we found out, it had been too late; they had already been destroyed. When we searched the remains of the clan, we found its members and his family slaughtered in cold blood, though Hasashi was not among them. In our search for answers, finding him became our top priority; I was elected by my clan to do so. My mission has brought me here, “Outworld”, a place I never even knew existed before. I have information that indicates Hasashi is now taking part in the Mortal Kombat tournament here, and I intend to infiltrate the tournament to make contact with him, and should he be willing, bring him back to rebuild his clan. I don’t know if he will remember me or not, but it makes no difference; I must reach him.

Kenshi: I see. I was unaware of the state of his clan… Knowing that, his change in character is beginning to make more sense. You have an admirable goal Lillith, but I implore you to ready yourself for the challenges ahead of you. Indeed, Shao Kahn, the tyrannical ruler of this place, has orchestrated a new Mortal Kombat tournament; this one more important than any before it—the fate of Earthrealm itself hangs in the balance. Hasashi is indeed taking part, but I fear it will not be so easy to make contact with him. Much opposition stands between you and him, and it will take a great deal of effort to go unnoticed much longer.

Lillith: I was selected for this mission for a reason; my ability is uncommon, and my equipment is more than adequate to accomplish my task. I do not fear what lies before me. This is my purpose, and I will succeed for the honor of my clan and of the Shirai-Ryu.

Kenshi: Very well. If that is the case, then allow me to help you. I would test your ability against my own.

Lillith: What!? You wish to fight me?

Kenshi: As I said, I am not your enemy, but if you cannot prevail against me, then I am afraid I cannot advise you to proceed with your mission. And besides, there may be a thing or two I can show you to aid you on your quest.

Lillith: I mean you no disrespect Kenshi, but how can you hope to fight me with a blindfold over your eyes? It is not a fight I see any point of, nor would it be an honorable victory.

Kenshi: Ah, but remember what Hasashi said; “Do not always trust your eyes.” Unfortunately, I have had to learn the meaning of his words very intimately. Take no mind of my appearance. I assure you, you will have an adequate challenge.

Lillith: Hmph… If you insist. Then let us begin; time is short.

Kenshi: Good. Remember, no matter what happens, give me everything you’ve got shinobi. Hajime!

Chapter 5

Pulling his katana from its sheath, Kenshi faced Lillith and assumed the ‘shin no kamae’ stance, holding his blade at his hip and away; his head turned, leading with his left ear. Unsure of her opponent’s ability, Lillith opted to forego using weaponry to start, leaving her blade sheathed and her claws unpowered. Making use of the noise dampeners built into the soles of her feet, she took a low and wide stance and began to circle around Kenshi to the right slowly and quietly, watching how he reacted to her movement. “Ah… Quiet as a shadow. You are certainly shinobi,” Kenshi said, as he momentarily appeared to struggle to keep her located. He then quickly turned his head to face her, saying: “But my senses are far more attuned than you may realize!” Just then, he spun with incredible speed, pivoting around to his right and leaping through the air, coming down with a mighty slash that nearly struck Lillith by mere inches—he had been able to anticipate her speed and direction of movement, despite her best efforts to conceal it. It is with this first strike that Lillith realized what she was dealing with, and she hastily made an evasive roll to put some distance between them. Kenshi again came to full attention and displayed an obvious knowledge of her position, yet his head was still turned away. Amazed by his performance despite his lack of eye sight, Lillith began to greatly appreciate her opponent. No longer content to rely on stealth alone, the emitters on her gauntlets hummed to life as she brought her claws to bear. “Alright, now we have a fair fight,” Kenshi quipped. “Let’s see if your master has taught you well!” he added. “My master is the greatest teacher I know!” Lillith answered, afterward making a powerful leap into the air, flipping above Kenshi and landing behind him in close proximity. She immediately began to unleash a wide range of slashes at him with her claws from all directions. His back still facing her, Kenshi crouched and slipped in place to avoid the incoming strikes with incredible precision before interrupting her by throwing a powerful back kick that landed against the armor on her stomach, knocking her back several feet. He then spun around with a strong horizontal slash at neck level that she was again only narrowly able to avoid. “Fascinating… Perhaps he is a worthy challenge after all,” Lillith thought silently to herself. “Oh we’ve only just begun!” Kenshi responded audibly, seemingly hearing her thoughts and again turning to face her. “Now, let’s raise the intensity, shall we?” he said, after which his body began to radiate with a blue aura. In response, Lillith grounded herself in a defensive stance. Kenshi took a step forward and stretched out his hand toward her, when suddenly a ghostly copy of himself came forth from his body, charging toward her and slashing with its blade. Quickly moving to evade the attacks of the shadow, Lillith found an opening and spun around behind it, thrusting her claw through its back and causing it to disappear. “The enemy will attack from all sides! Could your clan handle such an assault? Would they fall as the Shirai-Ryu did?” Kenshi insinuated. “No!!” Lillith cried out, as she turned to look toward the real Kenshi—he was already upon her with a flurry of coordinated punches, kicks and slashes, many finding their mark against her. Using the hardened armor on her gauntlets and shins, Lillith deflected blow after blow before retaliating with several furious strikes of her own, some of which landed against Kenshi—his combat suit now showing signs of damage from her claws. Seeing an opening in her stance, Kenshi made an unexpected low kick followed by a powerful palm strike that temporarily knocked Lillith off balance, then took the opportunity to connect against her abdomen with powerful upward slash with his sword, slightly cutting into her armor on the right side and lodging in position. Lillith grunted under her breath as she felt the impact of the hit. “Your father would not survive such a strike,” Kenshi claimed, pulling in close to her. “He would die!” he then declared. “Never!” Lillith yelled, and in that second responded with a powerful head butt that stuned Kenshi. Then using her forearm to dislodge his blade, she knocked it out of his hand and down to the ground and followed through with a hard side kick to Kenshi’s exposed center, pushing him back and causing him to grimace in pain. Taking a deep breath, Lillith planted her foot down and re-grounded herself. Regaining his balance, Kenshi took a momentary step back and again began to glow. As Lillith watched in amazement, his sword levitated off of the ground and floated back into his hand. “…The enemy will not stop until they are all dead!” he exclaimed while quickly lunging forward again, this time in union with another shadow copy. In an instant Lillith was now facing two opponents—her speed, durability and evasiveness truly under test. As she defended herself against the continuing frontal assault from Kenshi himself, his shadow punished her with strikes from her back side. “And I will not stop fighting until they are safe!” Lillith interjected under pressure. Then, thinking quickly, she vented her thrusters at full power, creating a burst of fire from each of the boosters mounted on her back and dissolving the shadow caught in the blaze. Using the momentum from the thrust, Lillith came forward at Kenshi with an immense elbow strike that overcame his block and smashed into the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. “Ouch…” Kenshi remarked, as he took a moment before standing to his feet again. Lillith, breathing deeply now, addressed Kenshi’s apparent psychic ability, saying: “There is more to you than what it initially appeared. I regret doubting you.” Kenshi responded, “Likewise, I must admit, I am impressed. You are strong, for a machine; far beyond the cybernetic soldiers of the Lin-Kuei. I wasn’t aware there was even more advanced technology out there.” His statement took Lillith by surprise: “A machine!? I am nothing like them!” she asserted. “The Lin-Kuei murder human beings to create their puppets. There is little left of them after their transformation. I on the other hand am still very much human. And I intend to stay that way,” she insisted. “Is that so?” Kenshi asked, as he lowered his hands and sword to his side and came to a neutral stance. Lillith, seeing this and assuming the battle had concluded, lowered her defense as well, not realizing the shadow sword Kenshi had conjured behind her during their conversation. The sword moved slowly into position to make a critical strike, when suddenly Lillith’s system detected and indicated an immediate threat from behind, displaying a warning on her helmets heads up display. With no time to spare, Lillith crouched down and rolled to avoid the slash, one that would have no doubt gravely damaged her, and in one swift movement dispensed a shuriken from her armor and hurled it right at Kenshi’s neck with deadly accuracy. Hissing as it cut through the air, the bladed projectile arrived at its target in an instant, but stopped millimeters from Kenshi’s throat and spun in place suspended in midair in front of him. Still in her crouched position, Lillith watched as the shadow sword disappeared. “Well played, shinobi. You have passed my test; the battle is finished,” Kenshi conceded while sheathing his katana. Lillith retracted the shuriken and stood to her feet.

Kenshi: Very good, Lillith. I can see why you were the one sent on this mission. You represent your clan and your fighting art well. Curious, how did know about the blade behind you just now?

Lillith: …I suppose we all have our ways of seeing without our eyes.

Kenshi: …Touche. You are indeed capable, even without your equipment, and with it, you are even more powerful. However, you have even more potential yet; there is still more that you can learn. You must learn to control your emotion—to block it out in times of hardship and conflict. The things you have seen and experienced prove to have a great effect on you, and it is apparent that you wear your thoughts heavily on your shoulders; the fear of failure burdens and hinders you. The strong will and determination that you possess are great assets, but the enemies you face will seek to exploit your emotion in an effort to distract you—to break you. Such is the condition of Hanzo Hasashi, a man who became entirely controlled by his emotions. In his current state, he is not able to break free of his own mind—his own sense of failure; guilt; rage, and his quest for vengeance—it consumes him like a fire. So long as he remains trapped in his own mind, he cannot reach his full potential as he had in the past. Lillith, there are forces at work here that come from a dark, twisted place; a place where your very soul is fought over and bargained for. These forces feed on emotion; pride; fear, and temperament. They are constantly testing our mental condition, looking for weaknesses, and that is why you must guard it with all of your might. Do not allow the enemy to see any fragility in your mind. It takes but a single moment for the enemy to sow seeds of doubt in your heart that will lead you down the path of defeat.

Lillith: I have seen… Terrible things… Felt terrible things. Things that I never would have imagined possible before… Like Hasashi, my family and my clan are everything to me… Yes, they are constantly on my mind. The thought of losing them as he did haunts me. That is why I had to take this mission; I have to do anything I can to prevent that from happening. Hasashi did not have that opportunity, and so I feel I must help him in my own quest. The faces of the hundreds who were slaughtered still flash in my mind constantly. Whatever evil could do such a thing—to kill so many innocents… It cannot be allowed to exist.

Kenshi: I agree Lillith. But you must not step forward with your mind so full. You must learn to fight with no mind. There is a time for emotion—for grieving for those who have been lost or for considering the future—but now, you must focus on yourself, on who you are, and on what stands before you now. Keep in your heart what is precious to you; let it empower you from there, but do not keep it in your mind. Focus on every moment as it comes. Only then will you be able to prevail against any opposition. Your heart, training and skills are adequate to protect your family and clan; you needn’t let your emotion sway you.

Lillith: No mind… Is that how you were able to hear my thoughts? …To know my feelings?

Kenshi: Indeed. I have learned to empty my mind before combat. With an empty mind of my own, I can fill it with the mind of others, and it gives me the advantage. When you know what your opponent is thinking, what they are feeling, you need not eyes to see what they will do or where they will be. When I encountered Hasashi that day, for that one moment, he had no mind. As much as he loved his family and clan, for that one moment it was only about him and me; that is why he defeated me so easily. There was nothing to cloud his ability… He could see everything. This is something that you too can do Lillith. Learn to block your emotion—with no mind to be used against you, you will be nearly unstoppable.

(Lillith removes her helmet, the air pressure system in her suit hissing momentarily as it vents out.)

Lillith: Kenshi, I would like to learn to do this. For my family, for my clan, for Hasashi… I must reach my full potential.

Kenshi: And so you shall.

Chapter 6

Lillith spent the rest of the evening with Kenshi, meditating on his words and putting them into practice. They sparred continuously, each time more intensely than the last. As she fought, Lillith began to put Kenshi’s teachings into practice, emptying her mind of distractions and becoming faster and more precise with each trial. Eventually, Kenshi challenged her to fight without the aid of her helmet, and wearing a blindfold—something she was already familiar with from her training back home, yet still a difficult challenge. Struggling at first, it wasn’t long before she was reading Kenshi’s movement and evading his attacks regularly. Even with repeated mental attacks, Lillith remained undeterred; she was learning quickly. Keeping her mind clear and focusing entirely on her technique and the task at hand, she bested Kenshi’s shadow forms two and three at a time. Kenshi was impressed, but made one final challenge when he felt she was ready…

With his psychic power, Kenshi filled Lillith’s mind with images of the Shoga-Ryu under siege. The villiage was in a blaze of fire. She could see the attackers, the Lin-Kuei cyborgs, capturing and torturing her fellow shinobi, turning them into lifeless cyborg husks who in turn began to attack and kill the terrified villagers. Stripped of her armor, paralyzed and unable to move by what she was witnessing, Lillith screamed in horror as she watched all that she loved fall apart around her. Then, she could see two cyborgs coming out from a building she knew well: her own house. Between them, they carried her father, Kenichiro. Coming to where she was standing, they dropped him on his knees and pulled his head up to look at her. “Father!” she yelled out. So troubled by what she was seeing, she broke free of her paralysis and immediately began to attack the two cyborgs, but to no avail. Her strikes traveled right through their ghostly bodies; nothing she tried was successful. They stood and watched her as she struggled to stop them, her limbs flailing through the air connecting with nothing. She cried out: “No!! Why is this happening!? Father!!!” Crying and exhausted, she fell to her knees before her father, who was looking at her with tears in his eyes. “I can’t…. I can’t stop them, father…” she cried out. “Sayuri… You have everything it takes already… I will always love you,” Kenichiro whispered with all the breath he had left. Just then one of the cyborgs wrapped its hands around his head and swiftly broke his neck. “Noooooo!!!!!!” Lillith cried out—her arms moving right through her father’s lifeless body. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked up only to see the Shoga-Ryu destroyed, bodies strew about the ground, everything completely in flames. As the two lifeless cyborgs looked down at her, the rest of them, many of which were transformed Shoga-Ryu shinobi, approached her until she was completely surrounded. In unison, they suddenly spoke, saying: “You… Will… Fail…” Lillith collapsed on the ground, her will broken, her energy drained. “Lillith,” a voice spoke down to her, as if from the sky. “Lillith, get up,” the voice again spoke. “Lillith… No mind,” it spoke once more. With that, she suddenly began recalling the lessons taught by Kenshi. Slowly standing to her feet, eyes still closed, she listened to the sound of the crackling fire around her. Raising her face to the sky, she took a deep breath and clenched her fists. She cleared her mind, placing her thoughts of her clan and father out of her head and into her heart. The sound of the fire began to quiet, until it could no longer be heard. As she lowered her head, eyes still closed, she could now see the environment as if it were in mathematical grid form—every position known to her. She could also see her attackers still circling and moving around her—weak-points within their bodies exposed. She could hear them moving individually, knowing exactly where they were moving to, and exactly where to hit them. She felt a power surge through her as her armor began to materialize around her body once again—her helmet appearing in her hands. She slowly pulled it over her head, took one more deep breath and opened her eyes, seeing everything. The combined telemetric data on her H.U.D. along with her clarity of mind revealed every possible movement and outcome available in the battle before her. As her weapons systems came online to full functionality, Lillith stated aloud: “…This battle is not yet over.” In a flash, she reached behind and dispensed a shuriken in each hand, throwing them in a circular radius. With a loud hum, the flying blades ripped through the air, tearing through and eliminating several of the cyborgs before returning to Lillith’s waiting hands. The remaining attackers began to rush her at full speed, but their movement was already foreseen. Lillith’s claws blasted to life as her thrusters fired, vaulting her high into the air. She landed squarely on the shoulders of one of the machines, plunging her claws into its head. With a loud grunt, Lillith spread her fists, splitting the head in two. She jumped off of the now headless body and dashed through the ranks of her attackers with incredible speed. One cyborg after the other began to fall, heads and limbs flying in every which direction and the dark oily fluid that once ran through their bodies now showering the battleground. The sound of Lillith’s vibro sword chewing through the metal bodies of the cyborgs echoed through the remaining machine’s audio receptors before she came upon them as well. Before even 30 seconds had passed, only the two cyborgs that had stood over her father remained. Unable to track her, the two cyborgs were backed against each other searching frantically around themselves. Then, with a low thumping sound, Lillith landed to the ground several feet in front of them from above. The cyborgs came to attention, facing the now oil soaked Tsumi Kara Umareru battle armor before them. Grasping her sword tightly in her right hand, Lillith made a final statement, saying: “I… Will not fail,” and began to walk toward them. The cyborgs, still in a state of panic, took defensive stances, but it would already be too late… Lillith hurled a shuriken into the leg of the first cyborg, dropping it to its knees before coming down upon the back of its neck with her sword, cleanly severing its head from its body. Then, without losing stride, rolled over her shoulder, raising up directly in front of the second machine with a devastating uppercut, bringing her right claw easily up through the bottom of the cyborgs chin and out the top of its head. It had taken all of ten seconds. She stood there a moment looking into the eyes of the last machine, now held up only by her claw through its head and making whining mechanical sounds like an old tired transmission. As the dark liquid from its brain drained down her gauntlet and the head itself began to melt due to the intense heat of her blades, Lillith again felt pity upon it. “So very sad… I will not let your fate befall my family,” she said to it before quickly dislodging her claw from its head, causing it to fall lifelessly to the ground with a resounding sound.

A moment passed and it all faded away; the cyborgs, the bodies, the fire, the villiage… It slowly disappeared around her, and again Lillith found herself in the cave where she was with Kenshi before. But she was now alone. Looking around, Kenshi was nowhere to be found. “Kenshi… I understand now… Thank you,” she said. Feeling his presence lingering around her, she called out to him a final time: “I would make one final request of you. If I am to fail in my mission, please seek and help Hasashi in my stead. Do not let him suffer under his own burden forever. There is a good man inside of the prison that is his rage. I trust you will do what is right.” She then turned back to the cave entrance and continued on with her mission.

Chapter 7

Lillith exited the cave and proceeded upward, soon coming to the peak of the mountain. As she stood watching over the dry desert-like land to the south, she could see the large palace and coliseum some distance away, just as her map indicated. “That is where I will find him,” she thought to herself, as she began to make her decent, advancing southward. Reaching the bottom of the rocky hills, Lillith continued through the drylands toward the coliseum, eventually spotting a small patch of brush that appeared to bear a fruit of some kind. Feeling incredibly hungry, she decided to investigate. She came to the bush—a thorny shrub that is clearly accustomed to the dry environment in which it is growing. She examined the small grape-like fruits that were growing within it, hoping to herself that they be edible. She picked one of the fruits and scanned it with her visor to determine its viability. Much to her relief, after a short moment her scan indicated that it was free of harmful toxins and was indeed safe for human consumption; better still that it held a high h20 content, though it contained little natural sweetness; it would be exceedingly bitter. Not in a position to be selective, Lillith picked several of the fruits from the bush and relocated to a large hollowed out rock nearby that shielded her from the intensity of the now rising sun. As she surveyed her surroundings, she found that the hollow space in the rock was littered with picked apart bones of every size and shape, most of which looked to have been there for an extended period of time. It was indicative of a wildlife den, seemingly home for something large—big enough to consume over-sized prey by the looks of some of the bones scattered about—though it seemed abandoned. Not intending to stay for long, Lillith crouched down and removed her helmet to eat the fruit that she had picked, squinting and puckering in reaction to its intense bitterness. Despite the unpleasant taste, she popped one after the next into her mouth, feeling much relief as she filled her stomach and became hydrated. As she neared the end of her stash, she could feel her strength increasing, when suddenly the ground began to shake below her in a rhythmic pattern—lightly at first, and gradually more intense with each rumble. Thinking little of it at first, the feeling became more and more intense and Lillith began to hear a deep thumping sound in sync with the rumbling. She quickly concluded that the cause of the now loud rumbling was due to something heavy, and it was coming closer to her with each stride. “Kuso!” she muttered to herself, hastily reaching for her helmet and putting it on, only to be met with several warning messages on her H.U.D. that a large unidentified creature had been detected and was approaching her location quickly. She stood up and immediately made for the entrance to the hollow, but too late, as a huge reptilian creature suddenly came around to the entrance, blocking her path and looking down to see her. Lillith had encountered the dens resident: a hulking and muscular bipedal monster at least twenty feet in height with a menacing triangular jaw line filled with blood stained and razor sharp teeth and two large horns jutting out from either side of its head. The bony digits of its massive hands were tipped with giant claws that looked very well used. “Not good…” Lillith again muttered, as she backed up slowly before coming against the wall. The creature then let out a deafening roar and began to charge at her with incredible intensity while reaching out with its hunched over stature. With no time to spare, Lillith launched a shuriken at the creature which quickly connected with its snout, ripping into place and becoming lodged into its bone. Roaring with irritation yet hardly flinching, the creature continued its charge at an even greater pace. Nearly trampled underfoot, Lillith made a quick evasive shoulder roll, leaping off to the side just before the creature slammed into the wall where she had been standing only milliseconds before. Briefly stunned by the heavy impact with the rock wall, the creature took a step back in a dazed state. Seeing this, Lillith wasted no time, bringing her plasma claws online and taking the opportunity to quickly dash behind it, slashing at the beasts heel and cutting into its tendon, briefly dropping it to one knee—just long enough for Lillith to activate her boosters and leap high into the air and onto its back. She thrust her claws deep into the thick leathery skin and bone plates covering its backside. Now mounting the creature, it screamed in pain and she struggled to maintain her hold as it began to frantically spin around and reach for her in an attempt to get her off. Lillith defended herself, kicking at the creatures attacking arms as she made her way up towards the top of its shoulders, continuing to plunge her claws into the creature as she climbed. Nearly reaching its shoulders, the creature panicked and took several off balance steps backward, again slamming into the wall, this time back first. Lillith’s lower body was caught between the creature and rock wall, and she groaned in pain as she felt the immense pressure against her legs. In her helmet, her H.U.D. began to flash with warnings of increasingly dangerous levels of pressure against her leg armor, yet the incredibly durable carbon plating of the Tsumi Kara Umareru was holding strong. Pinned against the wall—her claws still wedged into the creatures back—Lillith cleared her mind of the pain and used all of her strength to gouge her sharp knees and foot mounted blades into the beasts back, causing it to move forward just enough for her to put her feet against the wall. Then, pushing with all her might and using the hydraulic power of her leg armor, she grunted loudly as she kicked away from the wall, easily pushing the massive creature forward and sending Lillith vaulting above it head over heels in a flipping motion. Still in the air, she tore her claws from the beast’s trapezius muscles and pulled her sword from its sheath all in the same instant, landing hard on its shoulders and using both hands to thrust her blade straight through the top of its head with all of her momentum. The creature’s skull cracked like a shell and made a distinct popping sound as she twisted the blade one direction, then the other, as if opening a can. The beast made one last desperate scream for its life before becoming silent; its once flailing arms went limp to its sides as it fell to its knees. Requiring some effort, Lillith pulled her blade from the beasts head, then flipped backward off of its shoulders and down to the ground, landing on one knee and simultaneously throwing the blood from her blade. She slowly re-sheathed it as she watched the once intimidating creature fall dead to the ground on one side. Standing to her feet, she approached the front of the creature, and with a cracking wet sound, pulled her shuriken from its snout, then re-integrating it with her armor. “…Thanks for the hospitality, though I would suggest tea next time,” she jested, as she turned to leave the den.

She came outside to see the sky lit up by the scorching sun—her suit automatically adjusting her internal temperature to accommodate for the intense heat. Now filled with energy despite her battle with the beast, Lillith activated her cloak and continued toward the coliseum with haste, using her booster system to run incredibly quickly while easily and acrobatically vaulting over any obstacles in her path along the way. While she travelled, she would occasionally pass by individuals traveling in the same direction, sometimes in groups; it appeared that they were also headed toward the palace. Unseen, Lillith passed them quickly; there would be no more distractions. Within an hours’ time, she at last came upon the great palace and slowed her pace. The fortress-like structure was huge, stretching high into the sky and constructed primarily of what appeared to be thick granite. It was adorned with a giant skull atop its roof. Interestingly, the skull was wearing a “kabuto”, a traditional helmet native to Japan. The palace was surrounded by a large wall with a sturdy looking gate blocking the entrance—several muscular masked guards standing in front of it to presumably keep intruders out. A large group of individuals of various looks and sizes, some of which were “Tarkatans”, the race she had encountered before, had gathered in front and were pleading to get inside, but the guards were not allowing it—more than willing to kill any who tried to push through. As Lillith drew closer to the wall, she could hear the thunderous sound of hundreds of more voices on the other side, yelling together in a blur of noise. Avoiding the crowds gathered outside, she decided to take a look inside. The wall proved to be of little hindrance to Lillith as she easily scaled it using her advanced climbing training. Perched atop the wall, she looked down to see the mass of bodies packed around the courtyard, all trying to get through to the back of the palace. They were fighting to get a look inside the coliseum, which had obviously already reached its full capacity. Something big was transpiring here… It had to be the Mortal Kombat tournament. Continuing to make good use of her shinobi training, she proceeded along the wall silently toward the back of the complex, coming at last to the massive wall of the connected coliseum. Gathering her breath, she leaped high onto the outer wall and began to climb to the top. It was a challenging climb, as the very walls of the coliseum shook with the rumble of the massive audience inside. Finally reaching the top and coming into view of the battleground itself, she positioned herself on a ledge and began to closely observe, zooming her vision to see in great detail. There was a throne in the center of the grounds, and a large man, again wearing a kabuto, seated upon it. Unable to scan him due to being out of range, Lillith concluded to herself that this man was Shao Kahn. Behind the throne, two men struggled to control a mighty chained beast—the very same kind of beast that Lillith had encountered in the desert. Situated around the battleground were many seemingly high profile individuals. Beside the throne stood the Asian sorcerer “Shang Tsung” and his reptilian escort that Lillith had encountered in the living forest, and beside him stood a slender man with white skin and dark tattoos covering his body; he matched the description and profile of Quan Chi. On the other side of the throne stood an unknown masked woman dressed in green. Around the arena were several more prominent figures: a large demon with a body of half human and half horse, two four armed giants—one male and the other female, and the man with the mechanical eye whom Lillith had also seen before. Intriguingly, there was also a woman—dressed in blood red and with matching hair color—who appeared to be shinobi, though she wore a ridiculously revealing and impractical outfit, not at all like any kunoichi that Lillith knew. Also scattered about were several Tarkatans, one of which was larger and much more imposing than the rest. However, searching meticulously, Lillith saw no sign of Hanzo Hasashi, though the presence of Quan Chi gave her hope still.

In the center of the arena there was a fight ensuing between what appeared to be a Chinese monk and woman dressed in azure blue who was using bladed fans against him. The woman was strong and defeated the monk with little effort, after which Shao Kahn ordered her to kill him. She refused however, lowering her fans, prompting Kahn himself to kill the monk with a beam of energy from his hand that burned him alive. “Truly, this man is merciless” Lillith confirmed to herself. As the monk’s body was drug away, the woman in blue left the battleground and another fighter then stepped forward. It was a warrior dressed in blue Lin-Kuei garb, and who bore a striking resemblance to the well-known general Sub-Zero. “Perhaps this is the Sub-Zero that Smoke had mentioned… But is this Bi Han, or Kuai Liang?” Lillith wondered to herself. Watching and listening intently, she heard the name she so desperately wanted to hear as Sub-Zero began to speak: “Shao Kahn, I challenge Scorpion, the murderer of my brother! You will bring him before me!” he said. Lillith became even more attuned. “No one makes demands of the emperor!” Shang Tsung retorted, calling forth the reptilian warrior “Reptile” to fight him. Sub-Zero took a fighting stance and his snarling opponent immediately leapt forward with a barrage of strikes and swipes with his claws. Taking only minor damage, Sub-Zero blocked the incoming attacks and kicked the reptilian fighter away. Suddenly Reptile removed the mask over his mouth and spit a large ball of green liquid toward the Lin-Kuei warrior, who instantly responded by generating a wall of pure ice from his hands in front of him to shield him from the liquid. As it splashed against the ice wall, the green goo sizzled and melted away the ice extremely quickly, after which Reptile resumed his assault. Now indeed confirmed to be a cryomancer, Lillith watched as Sub-Zero continued to utilize his power over ice to shield himself and overcome his opponent, empowering his very fists with the essence of the cold. Hurling showers of ice at Reptile, the lizard began to slow before at one moment becoming completely frozen solid. In this state, he received blow after blow of precise hits delivered by Sub-Zero before eventually falling to his back, writhing in pain; he could take no more. “I would kill you, but that is not my purpose here…” Sub-Zero said to the fallen Reptile, who proceeded to flee the combat area. Addressing Shao Kahn again, Sub-Zero made his demand once more, saying: “Your followers hold you in high esteem, warlord. They fight and die for your amusement. My brother participated in this folly… I do so only to face his killer!” “…And you shall” Kahn responded, leaning forward in intrigue. Just then, Quan Chi, still standing to the right of the throne, raised his left hand, and a green aura began to surround it. Not a moment later, Hanzo Hasashi—the Scorpion—appeared before Sub-Zero in a blaze of fire. “Hasashi!” Lillith gasped as she watched him materialize before her eyes; finally she had found him. Unable to make a move in the current situation, she could only watch to see what would transpire next. “What is this!? You are not Sub-Zero!” Scorpion alleged of him. “I am his family and clan. I fight for his honor!” Sub-Zero claimed in response. “He had no honor! And you will die as he did!” Scorpion yelled as he prepared to attack. Lillith could not believe the words Hasashi was speaking… Truly, this was not the man she knew back in Japan so long ago. Kenshi had been right: Hasashi was no longer himself. The fight between the two warriors commenced, and from the very start, it was brutal. Sub-Zero came at Scorpion with a quick sliding kick along the ground, but Scorpion suddenly vanished, only to re-appear behind Sub-Zero with a fierce punch to the face. He then flipped backward, his feet now on fire, landing with both feet against Sub-Zero’s chin, knocking him up into the air and back several feet. “You were a fool to come here Lin-Kuei!” Scorpion exclaimed, his body now emitting heat waves. Shaking off the hard hit, Sub-Zero responded, “You had no right to kill my brother, you savage!”. He squared off his stance and whirls of cold air began to encircle his body. Scorpion let out a furious grunt as he charged forward and pulled his swords from his back. Spinning around with a double slash, Scorpion’s blades nearly made contact with Sub-zero’s body, but just before they could, Sub-Zero jumped back, leaving a clone of himself behind, made purely of ice. Scorpion’s blades instead connected with the statue and immediately froze up through his arms. Now stuck in place and grunting angrily, Scorpion could do little as Sub-Zero moved in and punished his body with a series of hard punches and kicks, finishing by thrusting a dagger of ice into his ribs. With another angry cry, Scorpion pulled his arms free, shattering the ice statue and knocking the ice dagger from his body. Seeing this, Sub-Zero flipped backward to put distance between himself and the now freed Scorpion, but just as he landed, he looked up only to see Scorpion’s kunai tipped chain hurling through the air directly toward him. Too late to avoid it, Sub-Zero put his arms in front of him to block, but the force of the bladed chain proved to be too much, passing though and lacerating his arms before penetrating his uniform and chest. Sub-Zero yelled in pain as the serrated kunai dug into his flesh and became hooked in place. Having hooked his prey, Scorpion forcibly pulled the chain back, yelling, “GET OVER HERE!” then dragging the cryomancer through the air like a doll and into his waiting left hand. As he held the helpless Sub-Zero by the neck, Scorpion’s right fist suddenly became ablaze and he came through with a devastating right hook to Sub-Zero’s jaw, which knocked him back yet again and broke off a large piece of his mask in the process. Sub-Zero hit the ground hard, now bleeding extensively from his mouth and from the wound inflicted by Scorpions chain, yet he was not defeated. Rising to his feet once again, Sub-Zero placed his hand over the deep cavity in his chest and filled it with ice to stop the bleeding. “You’ll have to do better than that!” he taunted. “What!? You will die!” Scorpion exclaimed, his entire body now aflame. He again disappeared in a pillar of fire, but Sub-Zero was ready for him this time, throwing a strong back kick into the air that connected with Scorpion hard as he materialized behind him, sending the yellow shinobi into a mid-air spin. But before he could land, Sub-Zero quickly showered the ground with ice, creating several sharp spikes that protruded upward. Scorpion came crashing down directly on the ice and was impaled in several areas. Clearly in pain, Scorpion shrieked aloud as he clenched his fists. His body began to burn intensely, melting the ice protruding through him. A fireball then consumed him and he again appeared from the fire standing before Sub-Zero. The two warriors, both badly wounded and breathing heavily, stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, almost in a show of respect for one another. In another second, they were again upon each other, both throwing immense strikes at the other. Blow after blow, the blood was flying, the bones were breaking and the crowd cheered it all along, until finally, Sub-Zero found a chance opening and used his ice to immobilize Scorpions left leg, opening him up to a devastating round kick to his exposed ribs. The cracking sound of his ribs along with his final anger and pain filled howl signaled the end of the battle as Scorpion fell to the ground. “For my brother!” Sub-Zero loudly declared with what little breath he had left, as he prepared to finish Scorpion off with a deadly blast of ice. “No!” Lillith said audibly as she watched the cryomancer, who was about to end her mission. But just then, another Lin-Kuei cyborg appeared in front of Sub-Zero, preventing him from finishing his task. “No, you-“ Sub-Zero is cut off as he is surrounded by the cyborgs, who were now appearing around him in a circle and paralyzing him, just as they had done to Smoke before. He struggled and cried out in pain as they prepared to take him away. At this moment, Scorpion, still kneeling down on the ground, briefly looked on as his opponent was subdued, then disappeared in a burst of smoke and fire. “Hasashi…. Where did you go…?” Lillith asked to herself in earnest. Continuing to watch below, two more Lin-Kuei cyborgs appeared before Shao Kahn, one of them the crimson cyborg “Sektor” that Lillith had seen confront Smoke before. “Who now interrupts the emperors tournament!?” Shang Tsung inquired intently. The two cyborgs bowed before Shao Kahn, requesting permission to take Sub-Zero in exchange for their allegiance. “Disgusting” Lillith said to herself, then noticing Raiden and Smoke now standing among the onlookers in the arena—Raiden seeming to hold Smoke back from intervening on Sub-Zero’s behalf. “Raiden… Why do you allow this?” she wondered to herself silently. Shao Kahn granted the cyborgs their request, and they began to take Sub-Zero. Listening in, Lillith heard Raiden exclaim: “The flow of time has been changed. I spared Smoke this fate, only to watch this new Sub-Zero fall,” though she was uncertain of the meaning of his words. Sub-Zero, with his last words, cried out, “No! I will not be turned!” but disappeared along with the rest of the cyborgs only a second later.

(With Sub-Zero’s last words, Lillith’s suspicion was confirmed. The Lin-Kuei’s cyber initiative was rolled out against the will of a majority of its members; they were murdering them. Her disdain for the corrupted Lin-Kuei grew even deeper. Looking back upon Smoke, he was now alone, hanging his head from his shoulders and staring at the ground in front of him. She felt sadness for him, and vowed that, if given the opportunity, she would fight to end the tyranny that took his friend from him.) 

Chapter 8

Lillith had seen enough, now certain that there was more going on here than any mere tournament. If what Raiden said was true—that the fate of Earthrealm itself was at stake—then she knew that she would have to fight for the sake of her realm and people. However, her primary objective remained: Still determined to find Scorpion, she directed her attention back at Quan Chi, who was still standing beside Shao Kahn’s throne. “You… You know where Hasashi went” she asserted while preparing a micro beacon that would track his movements. As the fighting in the coliseum concluded, Lillith watched as Shao Kahn and his followers prepared to exit the arena. Still cloaked and using the deafening noise and scrambling of the departing audience to further mask her presence, she quickly re-positioned herself in range of Quan Chi and targeted him with her guidance system. Waiting for just the right opportunity, she extended her arm and silently launched the tracking beacon, which darted through the air and successfully adhered to the back of his spiked pauldron. Continuing on his way without losing stride, he hadn’t noticed the impact of the stealthy beacon against his armor. The beacon immediately began to feed tracking data directly into Lillith’s H.U.D. “Good. Wherever you go sorcerer, I will find you” she quietly ensured, as she made her escape from the coliseum.

Keeping an eye on Quan Chi’s position, Lillith opted to put some distance between herself and the great palace in which he was now holding out, presumably along with Shao Kahn and the rest of his collaborators. She could not engage him so long as he remained inside of the fortress; the danger was too great. Travelling shortly westward in search of a suitable place to settle in and wait, she came upon a small body of water sitting at the base of another great mountain range. Stopping near the water’s edge, she took a moment to rest—all was quiet around her, a stark contrast from the tremendous noise of the coliseum. As she began to relax, she noticed what appeared to be a small pulsing white light within the shallows of the water. Curious, she kneeled down to examine the light, and as she stared into the water trying to deduce what it was, the light suddenly began to grow, until quickly filling her entire field of vision. As she pulled back from the edge of the water, everything was now bright white around her—her surroundings completely obscured by the light—yet there was no noise. Then, with a slightly painful sensation in her head, Lillith’s mind began filling with images and scenes of unknown subjects, places and events. Flashing by faster than she could comprehend, she saw images of many strange characters: a large man with Aztec-like garb and wearing a golden avian head-dress standing in a lush jungle. He was wielding a knife with a blade made of obsidian stone, and was chanting loudly into the air as he cut into the flesh of his own palm, spilling his blood across the ground—his chest markings glowed bright red. Next she saw a very strange hooded insect-like woman flying through the air on wings and yelling the words, “This one will not falter!” with great urgency. She then dove to the ground as two large and bony spike tipped appendages protruded from her back and thrust forward towards her waiting target on the ground, a hulking and aggressive looking mutant who’s head was wrapped in cloth, with a second small humanoid female standing on its shoulders, poised to strike back with her sharp bladed claws. In the next image, Lillith could see a young woman—clearly human and no more than 25 years of age—wearing what looked to be a police issue blue tactical suit with the letters C.A.G.E. on the back. She was on a dock by a raging body of water and down on one knee, wounded and exhausted, when suddenly she was picked up and suspended in the air by a green aura. As she struggled against this force, a haunting voice echoed out, saying, “We will take your soul as well!”  though the origin of the voice could not been seen. Just then, a young Asian man wearing a headband and advanced looking armor appeared and pulled the girl down from the air, then turned and used a mechanical whip like weapon to attack the unseen assailant until the image disappeared. The images and scenes began to accelerate in frequency, and more unidentified individuals appeared: a man with a wide-brimmed hat, a tattered cape and a mask over his mouth standing in a dusty war torn city. He wielded two pistols and wore bandoliers full of bullets across his waist. He turned and drew a pistol from his holster with incredible speed and pointed it at a reptilian attacker that much resembled “Reptile”, who had appeared behind him only a moment before. The scene again changed and Lillith then saw a thinly muscular woman with a hideous face—the same that could be found on a Tarkatan—covered in blood and sitting upon a dark throne. In her hand she held an amulet that was radiating brightly. She laughed out menacingly as the image transitioned. Next Lillith could see the silhouette of a man riding a demonic horse during a thunderstorm, though it was too dark to see his face at first. He let out a sinister laugh as a flash of lightning momentarily lit up his unmistakable features, revealing him to be Quan Chi. Lillith grunted as the pain in her head suddenly grew more intense and the next image came—it was Scorpion. He was standing in a frozen forest, and several feet before him stood Sub-Zero. The two warriors stared into each other’s eyes. “Murderer…” Scorpion said in a vengeful tone, his chain dropping to his side. “I tire of maintaining our innocence!” Sub-Zero replied, as freezing ice built up around his hands. Clenching his fists and preparing for battle, Scorpion responded one final time, saying, “I will relieve you of your burden!” after which they rushed towards each other furiously. They had nearly collided when the vision quickly faded back to white. The pain intensified once more as Lillith saw one final vision—it was lord Raiden standing atop a mountain and overlooking a great chasm, rain pouring down around him and dripping from his worn sugegasa. He stood motionless for a moment, then suddenly turned his head as if looking directly at Lillith. As she stared into his eyes, they suddenly shined incredibly brightly, again filling the surrounding with pure white and producing a loud wind like sound… Lillith closed her eyes to shield herself from the intense aura that surrounded her. Then, in an instant, it all stopped; the pain subsided and everything went black and silent. After a few moments, Lillith could hear a feint beeping sound, gradually getting louder and louder… She opened her eyes to find herself lying back to the ground, looking up into the night sky—she had drifted asleep. “Was I… Dreaming?” She asked herself, unsure of what to think about her strange visions. She looked over to find the light she had seen in the water before, but it had gone. She paid it little thought for the moment, rising to her feet and coming to full attention of the beeping noise within her helmet, which was now sounding urgently. Her tracker was indicating that Quan Chi had moved away from the fortress and was now isolated. Lillith collected herself; it was time to move.

According to the beacon, Quan Chi had relocated to an unknown location a short distance southwest of the palace, and not terribly far from her current position. He was not moving. Lillith referred to her map and plotted her course, heading further south and crossing over a small branching river that was linked to the body of water she had departed from. The terrain was incredibly rugged and difficult to traverse with uneven and unsolid ground, sharp rocks, deep sink holes and other hazards to avoid. As she followed the river further south, the land around her became increasingly dark and uninviting—the very air and mist around her had transitioned into a heavy, near suffocating state. Before long, the sky itself had become black and the ground around her along with it, a thick fog now obscuring any light that the moon may have provided. Switching to night vision, Lillith continued forward, shortly thereafter coming upon yet another heavily wooded area that was fittingly described as the “Woods of Doom” according to her map. Cautiously entering the dark forest, she was nearing Quan Chi’s supposed position. Closing in on the beacon, she could hear the scrambling of creatures of various sizes moving away in reaction to her presence, despite her stealthy movement. Finally, she reached the location from which the beacon was transmitting: a medium sized church-like building of blackened stone nestled within the thick woods. The building appeared damaged; very old and underused—more than a little foundationally compromised. Focused, Lillith prepared herself, clearing her mind for what she may find inside. Following her shinobi instinct, she silently climbed to the roof to look for an opening, luckily finding a large hole that had been created by a felled branch. Cloaked, she descended into the building landing softly inside, immediately finding that the interior matched the exterior in condition, with old broken pews and rusted candle holders scattered about, all covered in a thick layer of dust and webbing—some of which were still inhabited by large gruesome looking arachnids. There was no noise. Quickly surveying her surroundings, she grasped the hilt of her blade and stood to her feet as she came to attention of a man standing at the back of the building, his back facing her. Zooming in to get a better look, his skin and tattoos gave him away, it was Quan Chi. Lillith silently and slowly approached him from behind before stopping a dozen feet away.

Lillith: Quan Chi! Turn around, slowly.

Quan Chi: Ah… My stalker arrives at last, though I must admit, I wasn’t expecting a woman… No matter.

(He slowly turned to face her)

Lillith: No sudden moves.

Quan Chi: Must you play your hiding games?

(He clenched his fist, generating a green aura that revealed Lillith through her cloak)

Quan Chi: That’s better. Now, I believe this is yours, yes?

(He holds up the tracking device that had been attached to his pauldron and tosses it on the ground in front of him)

Quan Chi: It is a crude device, though perhaps effective against a less attentive man than I.

(Upon realizing she may have walked into a trap, Lillith immediately took a defensive stance and began to scan around her for approaching threats, though her scans indicated only Quan Chi in the vicinity.)

Quan Chi: Oh don’t worry, I am alone. Shao Kahn and his lackeys have interfered with my personal business enough as it is, and I am never one to back down from an opportunity when it presents itself to me.

Lillith: Silence! Where is Scorpion!? You will bring him out and release him to me, now!

Quan Chi: Hahahaha! …Release Scorpion? We’ve only just met and already you’re making demands of me? How bold of you.

Lillith: I know everything I need to know about you already, sorcerer!

Quan Chi: …If that is the case, then surely you must know that Scorpion belongs to me.

Lillith: He belongs to no one! Whatever twisted magic you are using to control him, it ends now.

Quan Chi: Hahaha… But what if I told you that it was he who willingly offered his services to me?

Lillith: Impossible.

Quan Chi: Is it now? Hardly. You see, every needy man has his breaking point, stranger, and when that point comes, he will do whatever it takes to get what he needs, no matter the price; even if it is… Uncharacteristic. I was simply the provider of his need when he reached such a point.

Lillith: You lie! Whatever you have done to him, you could have only done through trickery and deception. Hanzo Hasashi would never serve you willingly. Now enough talk! Bring him out, or I will make you comply.

Quan Chi: Hmph. I had hoped you would be more agreeable, but no matter. Some must learn the hard way… I think you will find that facing me was a mistake, girl.

(Quan Chi stretched his right arm out toward Lillith, seemingly grasping at her with his hand—the same green colored aura surrounding it. Steeling herself in defense, Lillith stood her ground prepared to retaliate and watched as Quan Chi seemed to struggle to achieve his goal. He twitched and grit his teeth, clearly exerting a high amount of energy into his spell. A moment passed and he closed his fist, lowering his arm back down to his side.)

Quan Chi: …How very intriguing; your mind is clear… I cannot grasp it.

Lillith: Something I learned from someone far greater than you, fiend. I think you’ll find that a great many of your spells won’t work against me. Now this is your last chance: release Scorpion, or suffer the consequences.

Quan Chi: Hahaha….Then let’s try something else, shall we?

With a loud chant from his deep voice, Quan Chi quickly cast a spell and conjured a large skull made of energy between his hands, then launching it forth towards Lillith. With incredible reaction time, Lillith drew her sword into the air, slicing the incoming skull diagonally in two and causing it to fade away. Looking back toward Quan Chi, she was met with two more successive skulls coming at a high speed. Quickly slashing horizontally left, then right with a backhand technique, she sent both skulls back from whence they came, just as Her H.U.D. began to signal danger from above. She looked up and was met with a hard kick to the head from Quan Chi, who had teleported into the air above her. Knocked back by the kick, Lillith shook it off and regained her balance, quickly puling a shuriken from her armor and tossing it around herself in a circling flight pattern, creating a sort of revolving shield. Back on the ground, Quan Chi began to generate explosions of energy beneath Lillith’s feet one after the next. Again alerted to the impending danger of the explosions, Lillith rapidly leapt from place to place, flipping through the air and avoiding each blast as she made her approach to Quan Chi. Landing in front of him, her shuriken still circling her at high velocity, Lillith struck at him with a flurry of swift punches and kicks that connected against him through her shuriken shield with perfect timing. Quan Chi, overwhelmed by Lillith’s quickness, struggled to deal with the intensity of her attacks combined with the revolving shuriken. As he tried to defend himself, he was cut several times by the razor sharp star flying around her. After receiving several hard hits, Quan Chi backed off and hurried to pick up a short jagged sword that was laying on a pedestal behind him. Now brandishing the blade, he began to wave his hands in a circular motion. Lillith braced herself in defense, unsure of what to expect next from the sorcerer. Suddenly, a small portal opened beside Quan Chi and he quickly slashed into the portal with his sword, striking Lillith from behind, where unknown to her, the other end of the portal had opened. Lillith’s armor reported only minor damage from the strike, but now Quan Chi was furiously creating portals around her and striking and slashing through them from a distance, knocking her back and forth, too quickly for her armor to respond to and breaking through her defense. As her armor began to send warnings of damage, Lillith quickly recalled her shuriken into her hand and jumped high into the air, using her thrusters to maintain flight above ground for a moment. While suspended in the air, she hastily launched the shuriken downward at Quan Chi, striking and cutting him in the right shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain. He retaliated, sending several more skulls and a ball of green energy back up at her. Activating her claws, Lillith swiped at the incoming skulls, destroying them, but upon trying to destroy the ball of energy, found that her claws were ineffective against it and traveled right through it, leaving her open and causing her to get hit, knocking her out of the air. Impacting with the ground hard on her back, her armor had suffered a temporary power failure due to the energy blast and impact and she could not move. She opened her eyes to see Quan Chi in the air above her, quickly descending upon her with another heavy kick aimed at her neck. Just as his foot came down, Lillith’s armor re-powered and she quickly grabbed it with both hands only inches before impact, pushing him away and twisting him through the air and onto the ground. Activating her thrusters once more, Lillith kipped up off the ground and lunged at him with her right claw poised to make the final blow. She nearly connects, but Quan Chi caught her arm and held her back. A power struggle ensued: Quan Chi fought with all his might to hold Lillith’s burning claw from plunging into his chest. Staring into the yellow lit eyes of Lillith’s sharp helmet only inches from his own face, he heard her utter, “You’ve never met anyone like me before sorcerer” before activating a small thruster on her forearm that easily overpowered his hold. He screamed in pain as Lillith’s claw glided through his flesh like butter up to her fist, protruding through his back. Lillith let her claw settle for a moment before pulling it out, standing to her feet and stepping back.

“Your hold over Hasashi is finished” she said as she looked down at him. “Hahahaha… Fool” Quan Chi laughed and replied smugly, his head still hung down. “It seems you know less than you think girl. It’s going to take much more than that to break my hold over him” he continued. “What!?” Lillith replied in a confused state. Quan Chi stood to his feet and slowly placed his hand over the three gaping holes that Lillith’s claw had created only moments before. He closed his eyes, began to chant, and with a flash of green energy around his hand, the wounds began to heal—his skin mending back together one stitch at a time. “No!” Lillith cried out as she pulled her sword from her sheath and rushed toward him yet again, only to be met with a powerful pulse emanating from his body that pushed her back and kept her at bay. She could only watch as every wound she had inflicted upon him in their struggle vanished through some form of dark magic. In mere moments, he looked as if he had never fought. Once he was finished regenerating, he opened his eyes and began to speak again:

Quan Chi: Indeed, you are an interesting and unexpected new piece of the puzzle, aren’t you? For you to commit so much to your endeavor, fruitless as it may be, your connection to Scorpion must be strong.

Lillith: Stronger than you will ever know!

Quan Chi: Touching. Then perhaps you will entertain an offer: I will release Scorpions soul and set him free into the world once more. However, in exchange, you must offer yourself to me—your soul, for his.

Lillith: You waste your breath, sorcerer; unwise, as you will need it to continue standing against me.

Quan Chi: Then you would see Scorpion lost?

Lillith: You are just like the corrupted Lin-Kuei: you care nothing for the lives of others, and will step over anyone so long as it suits your own needs. You may control Scorpion’s soul for now, but you do not own it! I will free him from your trickery, one way or the other, and I will never bargain with you!

Quan Chi: …That you compare me to the Lin-Kuei pawns shows how little you truly know about me.

Lillith: Your methods may be different, but the outcome of your schemes is the same—good people suffer at your hands. You’re all evil and deserve to be wiped out.

Quan Chi: Enough with you, whoever you are. I haven’t the time to continue this useless affair. The final rounds of Shao Kahn’s tournament will commence soon, and I am to attend.

(He turned and prepared a portal spell)

Lillith: You’re not going anywhere! Don’t turn your back on me, coward!

Lillith earnestly tried to approach Quan Chi a second time, but was again held back by the strange force. Using all of her strength and the power of her armor, she fired her thrusters at full burn and began to overcome the force, slowly inching closer to him with each step. With her sword still drawn, Lillith fought to get into striking distance. Quan Chi, turning to see her fighting the power of his barrier exclaimed, “You are a pesky one… Very well; if you’re so eager to cause trouble girl, then why don’t you go bother those Lin-Kuei that you hate so much? Allow me to help you.” He then chanted a new spell and quickly summoned another portal behind Lillith, and with a final shout, sent out a shockwave from his body that knocked her off of her feet and back into the portal. Now caught in the portals draw, she yelled out, “No!!!! This is not over Sorcerer! I will find you! Hasashi will be freed!” before the portal closed shut around her. Now alone, Quan Chi again turned to enter his own portal, saying to himself, “…How unexpected. What other strings can I expect to be attached to you Scorpion?”

Arriving on the other side of the portal that Quan Chi had pushed her into, Lillith was ejected out of it at a high velocity and came flying into a wall of electronic equipment, sending her and the equipment flying several feet before coming crashing back down to the ground and rolling to a stop. She groaned under her breath as pain shot through her fatigued body. Dazed from the event and struggling to re-orientate herself upright, she heard the sound of an alarm of some kind sounding loudly around her and took notice of the flashing red lights about the unidentified room. Her vision still a blur, she tried to take a look around to determine where she was, as the portal she had come through was closing. She was indoors, in an unknown industrial building of some kind—the walls were grey and covered in wires and pipes, with two long corridors, one on each side of the large room she was in. As she started to stand to her feet, suddenly two groups of Lin-Kuei cyborgs came rushing in, one group on each side, with one exceptionally large cyborg, bigger than any she had seen before, leading the groups. Escorting them were two smaller treaded machines that appeared to be mounted with a canon of some kind. The cyborgs and the other machines surrounded Lillith, who was now backed against the wall. As she began to reach for her blade, one of the treaded machines fired a blue beam at her from its canon, hitting her in the chest and sending a surge through her body and causing her armor and system to shut down. Her right arm went stiff, having pulled her blade only half way out of its sheath. Lillith breathed heavily in her helmet as system warnings began to flash across her failing optics. She could hear the low humming sound of her power generator shutting down as one final warning flashed on her H.U.D. before going offline that read, “System failure. Shut down imminent”… Overwhelmed and with not enough energy remaining in her body to move her armor on her own, Lillith began to black out, hearing the large leading cyborg say in a menacing voice, “You are a foreign entity and have trespassed into Lin-Kuei territory without authorization. You are being detained. Do not resist” after which she fell unconscious…

Chapter 9

She awoke to the feeling of a severe headache, moaning in discomfort at the numb, sore feeling throughout her entire body, particularly in her neck. Her muscles felt weak and stiff as though she had been unconscious for an extended period of time. She slowly opened her eyes, finding that her helmet and sword had been removed. She was lying on her back in another grey room—a bright disorientating light shining down on her from above. The room was quiet with the exception of occasional unknown mechanical sounds around her and the low electrical hum of the information screens lining the walls of the room. “What… Happened… Where am I?” she asked with what little energy she had, but received no response. Looking away from the light to protect her sensitive eyes, she tried to move her hand to her face to shield them, but found that she could not. She turned her head to the left and right and found that her arms were being restrained out to her sides by some sort of mechanical restraint mechanisms; her legs in the same fashion. She appeared to be locked to an examination table of some sort—rendered immobile, she could not move. Her eyes still adjusting to the excessive light, Lillith pulled and fought against her restraints, but to no avail. Her armor appeared to still be powered down and it was not responding to her neural commands. Waking up a little and closely examining her body, she found that several cables had been attached to her armor in various places: her legs, her arms, and her abdomen. The cables led into large metal generator like machines at the sides of the room that were powered on; they were presumably siphoning her armors energy, keeping her locked down. She laid her head back down on the table, closing her eyes again. “Quan…Chi… You will pay for this…” she said under her breath. Just then, the table she was laying on began to rise into a vertical standing position with a sharp mechanical whine. Now in an upright position, she looked up at the two metal doors a short distance in front of her. The doors slid open to the sides, and in walked three men who were escorted by two cyborgs. The men wore loose fitting lab coats and some kind of advanced optical visor over their eyes. As they entered the room, two of the men broke off to examine the information screens, while the third approached Lillith. “Good, I see you’ve awoken at last” he said to her. He continued to speak:

Unidentified man: I’m sure you are wondering why you are here, but truth be told, so are we. I don’t know how you breached our defenses, but you may have underestimated the strength of our security inside. I hope you don’t mind the restraints; you can’t be too careful these days, and you don’t look particularly friendly as it is. Now I am going to ask you some questions, and hopefully you will be more informative than that suit of yours. Firstly and most importantly, I would like to know… Who are you?

(Lillith remained silent, staring at the man and pulling against her restraints)

Unidentified man: Please, save your energy. You cannot escape from here, so don’t bother trying. You might as well cooperate with us; this may take some time. How comfortable it will be, is up to you. And so I ask again… Who are you?

(Feeling relieved that they had apparently been unable to trace her identity back to the Shoga-Ryu, Lillith settled her nerves)

Lillith: …No friend of yours.

Unidentified man: Clearly… I’ll tell you what, I am a reasonable man, within measure. If it would make you feel better, I will tell you who I am and where you are. (Moving his visor away from his eyes) My name is Dr. Jian Feng; I am a lead roboticist assigned to this facility. This facility, number 7007, is but one of many owned and operated by the Lin-Kuei here in Earthrealm. Typically, we work in secret, though I am sure you already know well who we are; why else would you be here after all? …So now that you know who I am and where you are, let’s try one more time… Who are you, and where did you come from?

(“I’m in… Earthrealm?” Lillith thought to herself, continuing to remain silent for a moment)

Lillith: …Yes, I know who you are… I know what you do, and who you serve.

Jian Feng: Must you be so difficult…? Well… It’s obvious by the look of you that you are very advanced. I am reluctant to say perhaps even more so than our own level of technology, though you’re radically different. With some effort, we managed to remove your helmet, but it has done us little good; your system has locked us out, impressively blocking us from every attempt at cracking its central database… We’ve been trying for several days, but as our efforts have proven fruitless thus far, I figured it was time to wake you and ask you myself. What I can say is that your design is indicative of Japanese engineering—the markings on your armor and your system language confirm that. But we have not had a confrontation with the Japanese in many years… Not since we discovered the fate of… Hmm… Curious; how did you develop such technology, and why now would you choose to attack us?

(Lillith was shocked to hear that she had been kept in a coma for what may have been weeks)

Lillith: No… I am not like you at all… Only my fate could have brought me here now. Someone once told me that the spirits have a way of orchestrating certain events. I believe it.

Jian Feng: (Sighing) Interesting, but no more informative I’m afraid… Look, I have tried to be nice with you, intruder, hospitable even, as much as I could be. But you continue to resist and I am a very busy man. I had hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to such practices, but we have the means of loosening the tongues of our enemies. If you will not cooperate, I will be forced to exact them.

(Lillith maintained her unflinching gaze upon Dr. Feng)

Lillith: …Do your worst.

“So be it” Dr. Feng said, as he looked toward one of the other men standing to the side of the room and nodded. The man acknowledged and turned to face the screen of the computer he was standing by. Quickly typing a command into the system, Lillith could hear a noise, like the buildup of an immense electrical current, emanating from the machines that were connected to the cables attached to her armor. She trained her sight back on Dr. Feng as he took several steps backward away from her and again lowered his visor over his eyes. A moment later, the noise quickly increased in volume and a great surge flowed rapidly through the cables and into Lillith’s body, causing her to scream in pain as the current continuously ran through her from head to toe. Paralyzed, she could feel her muscles contracting so hard that she thought her bones would break under the pressure. She continued to yell out as the room lit up with the fluctuating light from the electricity dancing around her body. Smoke began to build in the air around her; she was being burned alive inside her armor. She closed her eyes and grit her teeth in intense discomfort, when at last the current stopped—her muscles relaxing and her head falling limp between her shoulders. It was everything she could do to keep breathing, every breath a laborious task.

“…I know that couldn’t have felt pleasant” Dr. Feng said to her. “It doesn’t have to continue. Just tell me what I want to know, and it will stop” he urged. “You… Will… Not… Use me… Like the others…” Lillith responded, out of breath and struggling to hold her head up. “A pity… Again” Dr. Feng ordered, signaling the man to increase the power level of the surge. The man dialed up the power and again typed in the command to start the conduction. The generators hummed loudly as an even stronger force surged through Lillith’s body. The room filled with loud crackling and popping sounds, and tears streamed down her cheek bones as she suffered the ungodly torture once again. Screaming in agony, the pain was indescribable; she convulsed—her eyes rolling back and her tears evaporating into steam. Her armor began to spark from her joints as smoke again filled the room. The skin on her face darkened and cracked and her hair began to split, filling the air with a charred smell. She began to foam at the mouth, and could take no more… She fell unconscious—her body overwhelmed by the excruciating pain. The surge continued through her twitching body; her brain was nearly extinguished. “Stop!” Dr. Feng yelled loudly while holding his hand up, taking notice of her unconsciousness. The surge stopped and the generators produced a grating high pitch noise as they wound down, a delayed pop and crackle sounding around them. Lillith hung motionless, smoking profusely and barely breathing. Dr. Feng approached her slowly and held up her head by her chin. “She is unconscious, there is no need to continue. We don’t want to damage her system, or her brain, any further” he said to his associates. “You may leave now” he added, signaling the men to leave the room. “Yes sir” the men complied, before leaving the room along with the two cyborg guards. As the door closed behind them, Dr. Feng input a code at a nearby terminal, causing the table in which Lillith was hanging to re-orientate back horizontally. Moving to the side of the table and looking down at the still-smoking and unconscious tortured girl laying before him, he starred at her for a moment before saying under his breath, “I’m sorry…” He then turned and walked out of the room.

Lillith could hear the sound of a voice echoing in her head. “Wake up! Please… You must wake up!” it said, over and over. She slowly opened her blood-shot eyes to find herself again lying on the same table—the same light shining down into her eyes. The familiar voice continued to ring in her ear, coming from the blurred silhouette of a man standing beside the table. “Thank god you’re awake… You must try to get up; we don’t have much time” the voice said to her with urgency. She turned to look at the man, and as her vision cleared, she was able to identify him: it was Dr. Feng. “I’ve supplied your armor with enough power to move, but it won’t last long. We have to get you to the maintenance center now, or it will be too late!” he said to her, using his effort to lift her head and shoulders up into a sitting position. In reaction, Lillith grabbed his arm and pushed it away, relieved that her armor was now responding to her neural command. Struggling to get up, she looked him in the face, saying, “Get… away from me…” Dr. Feng replied, “No, you don’t understand, I’m not here to hurt you! I want to help you, but I don’t have time to explain; if we don’t move now, all hope will be lost. It’s your choice!” In shock over everything that had transpired and in a great deal of pain, Lillith stood to her feet, stumbling slightly before catching her balance. “What choice… do I have…?” she asked. “Come with me and fight again, or submit to a fate worse than death” he replied. Closing her eyes again, she clenched her fists and made her decision easily: “I will… Live…” she proclaimed. “I thought you would say that. Now let’s move!” Dr. Feng said with relief as he grabbed her arm in support and pulled it over his shoulder to carry most of her weight. They hurried out of the room and traveled down a long hallway—Feng fighting to maintain his hold on the badly injured Lillith. “It’s not far, but we must pass the assembly lines… There will be danger. I managed to disable the security camera feed, but it won’t be long before they become aware” Feng told her, making several turns down the branching hallway. “Why… Are you helping me?” Lillith asked Feng as he continued to move while looking around frantically for any sign of approaching guards. He replied: “I can’t explain it all now, but let’s just say I’ve lost faith in the grand master’s ways, and I cannot with good conscience continue to support his Cyber Initiative. …I don’t know who you are, but you may be my last hope. For now we have to keep moving, quietly.” They came to the end of the hallway where there was a locked security door in place. Quickly punching in a code and leaning down for a retinal scan at the panel beside the door, a moment passed before it opened, a computerized voice saying, “Assembly access granted. Welcome Dr.Feng.” Feng then carried her into the large noise filled room on the other side of the door, but stopped against the wall shortly inside. “Wait here” he told Lillith, helping her to support herself on the wall. Feng moved back to the door panel and punched in another code, locking the door down. “Assembly door lock-down initiated” the computerized voice said in response. He moved back to Lillith, saying, “That should hold them, for a little while at least.” Again putting her arm around his shoulder in support, he turned to look around the corner of the wall they were against, then looked down at the watch on his wrist and said, “The guards patrol in set patterns. If my calculations are correct, we should be able to move in fifteen seconds. Get ready, and stay quiet!” Fifteen long seconds passed and Feng quietly signaled, “Now!” With haste, they began to move further into the large and cold factory-like room. Now deep inside, Lillith looked around to see multiple moving assembly lines full of cyborg bodies, and around them were several large robotic arms that were quickly performing constructive duties—layering and welding pieces of armor over the bodies and tightening joints and hinges. Continuing her observation, she looked up and saw dozens more cyborg bodies hanging from a rail system and being lowered, one at a time, into a vat of dark liquid of some kind. As they continued moving, Lillith spotted two guards patrolling between the assembly lines—it seemed as though Feng’s timing was right; they were moving away from their direction. “Just a little further through here” Feng said, as Lillith began to strengthen with adrenaline and carry her own weight. But suddenly, a loud alarm began to sound and several red lights started to flash throughout the facility. “Warning. Security breach detected. Facility lock-down imminent” a monotone voice said over the facility loud speaker. “Damn! They’re onto us…” Feng cursed, as he picked up his pace even more. “Come on!” he said, stretching his arm out in front of him. Coming at last to the door on the opposite side of the assembly room, Feng furiously input his security code and opened it, just in time as the two guards were now searching the area meticulously. They dashed through the door and Feng locked it down behind them. Now sprinting down another hallway that was filled with flashing red emergency lights, Feng breathed heavily, saying, “The maintenance center is just up ahead” as they turned one more corner and came to the last of the security doors. Feng quickly input his access code, but was met with a buzzing sound, the computerized voice saying, “Access denied.” “No!” Feng exclaimed, frantically trying again, only to be met with the same result. “They’ve locked me out… I’m sorry… We’re too late!” he said, his voice shaking with fear as he hung his head in his hands. “Let me try” Lillith said, as she moved him away from the panel. “What!?” Feng asked in shock. Lillith cocked her right arm back and quickly smashed it through the panel, grasping the wires that were behind it and ripping them out of the wall with ease. Sparks and smoke flew from the destroyed panel as the door immediately opened—the computerized voice reacting with a distorted confirmation: “Maintenance… Access… Granted. Weeelllcoooommee…” before slowly dying out. Taken by surprise, Feng looked up at Lillith, his eyes wide, and said, “Whatever works! …Let’s move!” The loud alarm still sounding, they rushed into the room, which contained several tables and mechanical implements laid out alongside them; some of which appeared to be tools used in surgical procedures. “Block the door!” Feng instructed as he ran to a nearby computer terminal, prompting Lillith to move two of the heavy tables in front of the doorway. She immediately complied, pushing the tables against the door with little effort. Then turning to look around, she saw a large cylindrical tube with a transparent glass-like sleeve and a ring-like mechanical base at the back center of the room. The tube was connected to a huge machine mounted to the wall, with several wires, pipes and power generators linked to it. “What is this!?” Lillith asked, while looking at the machine. “That’s your ticket out of here, but there’s no time to explain!” Feng responded, as he quickly went to work at the computer terminal. “Accessory panel accessed. Panel opening” a computerized voice said through the terminal. Feng pointed over to the wall beside the tables, where a security panel was now opening slowly. As the panel opened, Lillith’s eyes widened as she saw her helmet and sword laying inside. “Get your things, quickly!” Feng said, as he continued to type away on the console. Moving over to her things, Lillith collected her sword and fastened it to her back, then picked up her helmet and fit it over her head, causing her to twitch briefly as it re-synced with her armor and her security system unlocked. Her system came fully online and her H.U.D. began to flash several warnings about her current condition and energy level, as well as multiple recorded attempts that had been made to breach its security. Clearing her H.U.D. feed for the time being, Lillith slowly turned and focused on Feng. He looked up at the now fully equipped Lillith, just in time to see her sharp eyes light up a beaming yellow. “Welcome back” he said to her, continuing, “Now, it’s nearly charged. I’m going to open the Nano-Accelerator. You must step inside when the hatch opens.” He pointed toward the tube-like chamber as its front panel began to slide downward, creating an entrance. “Now, it’s open, get in! I will monitor you from here” he said with intent. Lillith immediately moved toward the chamber, but hesitated just before stepping inside. “Trust me!” Feng said behind her. With his words, she stepped inside. Turning to face forward, the door slid upward back into position, sealing her inside. “Nano-Accelerator active. Nano devices fully charged. Compatibility confirmed. Beginning inter-melding procedure. Maintain minimum safe distance” a computerized voice said throughout the room. “Nano …Inter-melding procedure?” Lillith thought curiously to herself. Suddenly, the circular base of the chamber began to rotate rapidly and move up and down along the length of the tube, presumably scanning her and generating a huge amount of energy. Then, a bright yellowish-green liquid began to fill the chamber around her feet and continued to rise higher and higher. Unsure of this, Lillith called out to Dr.Feng, saying, “There is some kind of liquid rising in here!” “Yes, don’t worry! Just remain calm and try not to move!” Feng responded over the intercom, still frantically typing away at the terminal. The liquid continued to rise quickly around her, until finally coming to her head. Out of natural instinct, Lillith took a deep breath and held it as it continued to rise above her helmet, eventually filling the entire chamber. Her H.U.D. displayed a warning message: “Microscopic entities detected. Unable to seal helmet” which sent a sense of panic into Lillith. The warm liquid began to fill her helmet and came over mouth, nose and eyes, but strangely, it did not interfere with her system, her H.U.D., or her vision; everything was incredibly clear, as if there was no liquid at all. “Take a breath!” Feng’s voice could be heard over the intercom. Reluctantly, Lillith released her breath, then took another. She could feel the liquid fill her lungs, yet miraculously, she could still breathe. The computerized voice spoke again: “Inter-melding achieved. Reconstruction commencing.” Her suit had already begun to scan the liquid, displaying all primary components in a list sent to her H.U.D. —a detailed description read:

(This liquid is a delivery method for single-time use microscopic reparative nano-machines. The machines purpose is to repair damaged components and/or tissue located on or within the subject within the chamber. Once the subject has reached full operational functionality, the machines self-terminate and flush themselves—Threat level – 0%) 

As Lillith read the description of the machines now flowing through her body and armor, she could already feel them going to work. The pain that had been flowing through her body began to fade, until eventually subsiding entirely. She could feel all of her senses optimizing: her strength returned to her, her vision sharpened, and her hearing was re-tuned. She could feel the skin on her face tightening and her nervous system rejuvenating; her breathing became deeper and more effective. She looked down at her hands and could see the chips, cracks, scratches and scuffs in her armor begin to mend and fade away. Her joints moved freely, her bones strengthened, and her muscles re-balanced into position. “All auxiliary power transferred to Nano-Accelerator” the computerized voice said, when suddenly the lights in the room faded, leaving only the red emergency lights flashing around them. The outer ring of the chamber began to spin even faster, producing a deep throbbing sound—her armor was absorbing the energy it was producing at an exponential rate, causing the suit energy level reading in her H.U.D. to rise steadily. Suddenly Feng’s voice came over the intercom once more: “Listen, I’m going to give you a few upgrades: First, a defensive upgrade that will allow you to generate a repulsor field that will protect you and repel energy and kinetic projectiles of nearly any kind, but it only lasts for a moment between charges, so don’t rely on it too heavily. Second, I am enhancing your cloak functionality to counter Lin-Kuei optics: You will be completely untraceable by all but the most advanced units. Finally, I am upgrading your caltrops with explosive capability: Their explosive yield will only be moderate, but it will be enough to cause some damage and chaos… And I’m… I’m also giving you something else… Now brace yourself; this may feel strange for a moment!” Just then, the computers voice spoke out again, saying, “Nano device upgrade sequence initiated. Commencing upgrade.” Lillith then felt her body shake and stiffen for a brief moment, before loosening again. “Hardware upgrade sequence complete. Weapon system upgrade sequence complete. Commencing with software upload” the voice said, after which a sharp pain again shot into Lillith’s head. Her energy levels and armor integrity nearing maximum capacity, she suddenly heard repeated slamming noises against the door to the room—the Lin-Kuei was upon them. “Dr. Feng!” Lillith yelled out from within the chamber, placing her hand on the glass in front of her. “No stranger! You must wait until the upload is complete! Do not breach the chamber until that time, no matter what! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!” Feng shouted to her, as the door, only feet away from him, burst open with great force, sending the tables blocking the entrance back and knocking him to the ground. Lillith watched in suspense as a huge black and red cyborg ducked through the door—the same one she had encountered when she came through the portal—escorted by two smaller cyborgs. The giant cyborg approached Dr. Feng and began to speak with its deep mechanical voice: “Dr. Jian Feng, you are in violation of directives 8-531 and 4-884: Illegally transporting a prisoner of the Lin-Kuei and refusing to follow protocol. You are hereby found guilty of insubordination and will be brought before the Grand-Master for sentencing. You will comply, or you will be terminated.” Dr. Feng stood to his feet, holding his arm, and spoke out at the cyborg, saying, “LK-666, I order you to stand down immediately and return to your post, authorization Feng 00472!” The nearly 9 foot tall cyborg stood silently upright for a moment as if processing Feng’s order, then hunched back down. “Negative” it said back to him menacingly as it approached him and grabbed him by the neck with its left hand, lifting him off of his feet. “LK-666, STAND…. DOWN… Authorization… Feng… 00 …4 …72!” Feng struggled to yell out again, gasping for air and pulling on the cyborgs crushing hand. The cyborg responded again: “Your authorization has been revoked, traitor. You are now an enemy of the Lin-Kuei, and will be treated as such.” Feng began to repeatedly punch and kick at the massive machine, saying, “I should have… Never…Created you.” His strikes were only a mere annoyance to it. “Subject resistance recorded. Hostility has been confirmed; target is to be terminated immediately” it said with intent. Lillith watched in disbelief as its right arm transitioned into a long, sharp point, after which it forcefully thrust it into Feng’s stomach. Feng gasped in pain as the cyborg’s pointed arm pierced through his back. “No!” Lillith said under her breath, as she watched the machine pull its arm from Feng’s body and drop him to the ground.

As the large cyborg stood looking over Feng’s motionless body, the Nano-Accelerator suddenly began to wind down—the circular energy gyro slowing before coming to a stop back at the base of the chamber. The sound in the room went quiet; only the facility alarm was still sounding. As the emergency lights intermittently lit up the darkness, the computerized voice suddenly spoke sharply throughout the room: “Upload complete. Nano device procedure complete. Full operational functionality reached. Nano-Accelerator shutting down.” The now hot liquid began to rapidly drain from the chamber in the back of the room, causing a steam to build-up in the air. “Unidentified threat detected…” the hulking cyborg said as it looked over to see Lillith’s darkened silhouette standing in the chamber. Breathing deeply and now free of the pain in her head, Lillith stood upright, head down and eyes closed as the last of the liquid dripped from the base of the chamber. Her armor in pristine condition and radiating with energy, she cleared her mind and prepared herself as the door of the chamber slid open in front of her. “Prisoner, you will submit to detainment immediately” the cyborg demanded as it took several steps toward her, now flanked by the other two smaller cyborgs. Lillith rose her head and opened her eyes—her H.U.D. now indicating that she was at full operational status. She scanned her aggressors:

(Lin-Kuei cyborg prototype unit LK-666. Capability unknown. Threat level – Unknown—Lin-Kuei cyborg production units LK-3T0 and LK-431. Moderate capability. Threat level – 10%)

The large cyborg again demanded, “You will comply!” “NO!…” Lillith responded with a powerful tone as she vented her over-charged energy and thrusters, creating a shockwave that shattered the glass-like chamber around her into thousands of pieces. Momentarily stunned by the wave of energy, the giant cyborg re-focused on her, only to be met with a devastating flying double knee that landed powerfully against its chest, sending it flying across the room and into the wall. Grounded, LK-666 looked up to see the other two cyborgs already disabled, falling to the ground in pieces, and a shuriken flying toward it at full speed, which it hastily deflected with its arm while standing to its feet. “You will be terminated!” it threatened, then changing both of its arms into bladed forms. Vibro sword in hand, Lillith advanced quickly upon the hulking cyborg with several low slashes that cut into the thick armor adorning its massive legs and torso, but its armor was incredibly durable even against her powerful sword, unlike any she had faced before. The cyborg shrugged off several of her slashes and began to swing its huge bladed arms in wide arcs at her, though its speed was low due to its weight and she was easily able to avoid the incoming attacks. “I WILL CRUSH YOU!” the machine yelled, smashing anything and everything caught in its wake. “Too heavy, too slow!” Lillith commented under her breath, as she slipped under a powerful swipe that completely destroyed a computer terminal that was behind her. Firing her thrusters intermittently and moving with incredible speed, she dashed and circled around the giant, repeatedly chipping away at the armor on its back side and seemingly angering it, causing it to grunt in frustration. With a loud yell, LK-666 stomped the ground hard, shaking the room like an earthquake and knocking Lillith off balance, then quickly stretched out both of its arms and spun in place, creating a circular arc and striking Lillith hard with the backside of its right arm, knocking her through the air across the room and into one of the tables with a loud crash. “Ouch…” she mumbled, catching her breath and hastily springing to her feet. Her opponent already closing in on her again, she jumped back away from it and launched another shuriken, this time arcing deceptively and finding its mark, tearing and lodging itself into the cyborgs hip with a sharp noise. However, in unflinching reaction, the machine ripped the weapon from its armor and quickly hurled it back at Lillith with ridiculous strength and speed, nearly connecting with her head, instead only clipping her right shoulder and embedding deep into the wall behind her. “That was too close…” Lillith thought to herself, then focusing back on her attacker. Just then, one of LK-666’s arms transitioned into the shape of a cannon, which it pointed at Lillith and immediately charged, firing several blasts of blue energy toward her. She jumped to avoid the incoming blasts, but the clearly frustrated cyborg was firing repeatedly, keeping her at bay. “I need to end this now!” she determined as she recalled Dr. Feng’s repulsor field upgrade. “This must be the same ion weapon that was used against me before” she presumed. “I hope your upgrade works Dr. Feng!” she commented, as she made a surprise leap at the cyborg and fired the repulsor field just as she was nearly hit, which sent a wave of energy forth from her body, instantly generating a thin white shield around her and reflecting the incoming blast right back at LK-666. Having been hit with the reflected blast, the cyborg was momentarily stunned, just long enough for Lillith to come down across its arm cannon at the weak elbow joint with her blade, completely severing the arm from the machine. She landed smoothly and rolled away, completely unaffected by the hit she had taken. “You’re a genius Feng!” she thought to herself as the white shield faded away. Now screaming loudly and bleeding from its severed arm, the angered cyborg turned to find Lillith and effortlessly picked up one of the tables that was near it with its remaining arm, hurling it toward her with force. Lillith easily deflected the table, smoothly cutting in in half as it came upon her. Gripping her sword in her hands tightly, she braced herself in a defensive stance as the cyborg again charged at her furiously—the ground shaking under its weight as it sprinted forward. “Now’s my chance!” Lillith told herself, kiing-up loudly as she ran directly toward her oncoming foe, then quickly dropping to the ground on her back and sliding forward with thrust at the last second, just as the metal giant closed in on her with its remaining blade. Narrowly avoiding its strike and slipping between its legs, Lillith came straight through the middle of its groin with a tremendous slash of her sword—their combined momentum aiding her blade in breaking through the machines thick plating. LK-666 let out a terrible cry as it crashed hard to the ground face first behind her—its body now split up to its chest. Lillith quickly sprang up from the ground and turned to face the downed machine. Incredibly, it was still trying to get up, smoking, sparking and grunting loudly as it used its single arm to leverage its own weight. The black oily substance that flowed through its synthetic veins was now pooling on the ground around it along with its scattered artificial organs. Lillith approached it cautiously as it managed to turn to its back side. “You… Will… Submit…” LK-666 said with a wavering voice, twitching and wheezing loudly as it looked up at her. “No man should suffer this fate” she said as she met its gaze with her own. “At least I can set you free…” she concluded, as she came down upon its neck with her sword.

Sheathing her blade, Lillith rushed over to Dr. Feng and knelt down to find him alive, but only barely. The wound LK-666 had inflicted was terrible, and there was nothing she could do to stop the massive bleeding; it was only a matter of time. She removed her helmet and leaned him up, holding him in her arm. “Dr. Feng… I’m sorry this happened… I don’t know why you helped me, but… Thank you” she said to him sympathetically. With what little life he had left, Feng looked into Lillith’s eyes and responded: “It is I who should thank you… Stranger… Long had I prayed for a way out… for some kind of savior that would set me free of the burden of my own sins… And finally, along you came… When we first found you, I knew you were the one… I’m sorry that I hurt you… I had no choice. Please forgive me…” Lillith began to shed a tear as Feng continued: “Listen… The program I uploaded into your system… It is a virus I designed to shut down Lin-Kuei facilities… Like this one… You must find the others, and upload the virus to their central command units… It is my last work… My legacy. You are… My only hope… Please save them… From the horror… That I helped to create…” Tears now flowing down the restored skin of her cheeks, Lillith responded to him: “Sayuri… Sayuri Hikari is my name…” “Thank… You…” Feng uttered with the last of his breath—the life then disappearing within his eyes. Closing his eyes and laying him down to rest, Lillith made a promise to him: “Dr. Feng, I will help you reach heaven. I will use your gift to stop the Cyber Initiative here.” She put her helmet back on, stood up and pulled her shuriken from the wall, then made for the central command unit.

Chapter 10

Taking a moment to run a full scan of her system, Lillith found it to be in perfect working order, and her armor was registering upgrades in several of her components; including the addition of the “Pulse Drive”. She cloaked as she moved back through the corridor from where she and Feng had come through, noticing that her cloaking generator was now operating at a higher standard than before, now masking her heat signature and even more deeply concealing her. “Fantastic” she commented to herself. Scanning her surroundings while in motion, her system began to generate a map of the building’s floor plan, sending it to her H.U.D. Reviewing the map, Lilith located the central command center; it was located at the opposite side of the facility. She would have to pass through the “Processing Center” to get through to central command. Preparing herself for resistance, she began to head in that direction. Coming again to the security door leading out to the assembly room, she wasted no time, drawing her blade and slicing through the center locking mechanism and using her hands to easily pry the door open. As the door opened, she was faced with a battalion of cyborg guards facing her on the other side, many wielding automatic rifles, along with several of the treaded ion cannon machines. Upon seeing the door open, the cyborgs took a defensive stance in union, but hesitated to act, appearing unaware of Lillith’s presence—they could not see her. “LK-666, respond!” one of the cyborgs in front called out. Lillith stood motionless and silently in the doorway facing the cyborgs. “They can’t see me… Good… Time to try my new toys” she thought to herself with anticipation.

Staring into the seemingly empty hallway, the cyborgs stood their ground, until a brief high pitched launching noise suddenly filled the air. Just then, they became startled as a dozen small spiked objects came into their vision, appearing in mid-air hurling toward them, landing among the group with a clanking noise and coming to a stop at their feet. Assuming the objects had missed them, the cyborg in front yelled “Fire!” in a state of panic, prompting the units equipped with guns to open fire at the doorway. Their bullets filled the hallway as the entire assembly room echoed with the incredibly loud sound of their automatic gunfire along with the clanging of their empty shell casings hitting the ground. A moment passed and the cyborg yelled out again: “Cease fire!” The immense noise of the weapons stopped, and as the echo of the last shell casing hitting the ground faded away, only a quiet humming sound, like a buildup of energy, could be heard around them. They looked around at each other confusingly before slowly looking down at the spiked objects at their feet. “TAKE EVASIVE ACT-“ the lead cyborg began to say frantically, but was cut off by the sound of the objects exploding on the ground around them. The group of cyborgs was widely separated by the blasts—several of them losing their limbs, or worse, to the explosions. Smoke and panic immediately filled the air; the gunfire again began to ring out. Spread out and in disarray, the remaining cyborgs were firing in every direction, when one by one, they suddenly began to fall to their unseen target. Blood began to fly as a sharp bladed star quickly whipped through the air within the room along with its deadly invisible owner, taking the cyborgs apart. The smoke continued to build, causing the facility’s fire prevention system to come online. The ceiling mounted sprinklers began showering the room, causing even more chaos. One of the treaded ion cannon machines spun wildly as it fired off shots in every direction, until eventually colliding with something from behind and coming to a halt—its treads slipping and failing to gain traction on the now soaked ground. One of the panicked cyborgs drew its attention to the machine and watched as its cannon was ripped off of it with force, now appearing to be suspended in mid-air. In shock, the cyborg froze as the floating cannon pointed towards it and fired, hitting it directly and instantly disabling it. Several more shots burst forth from the cannon, disabling three more unsuspecting cyborgs before drawing the attention of two others, who began to open fire upon the cannon. Dropping to the ground with a crunch and a splash, the cannon powered down and ceased to function as it became riddled with bullet holes. The two cyborgs ceased fire and slowly approached the destroyed ion cannon, scanning around them frantically. Holding their guns out in front of them, their weapons suddenly fell into two pieces, falling to the ground and leaving the cyborgs defenseless and vulnerable. One of them was suddenly swept off of its feet and into the air, soon after landing hard on its back. Attempting to quickly come back up to its feet, it found that it could not; it looked down to find that its legs were no longer attached to the rest of its body. Leaning its head back on the ground, it was then critically crushed under a severe force—three large holes appearing in its dented face-plate. The other cyborg was now flailing wildly through the air with a flurry of punches and kicks, slinging water and oil around as it moved. Spinning around with a high kick, its leg was caught in the air and swiftly broken by its unseen stalker. Grunting in pain, it fell to one knee, but was held up in a choke hold and subdued from behind. The cyborgs H.U.D. flickered with the last bit of energy that flowed through it before fading to black as its head was violently twisted and ripped from its shoulders. With the thud of its headless body hitting the ground, only the sound of the falling water, the alarm system, and a single rifle firing burst shots remained in the room; one was all that remained of the once formidable force—they had been completely routed. Firing its weapon relentlessly through the blinding smoke and water until its clip had expired, the last cyborg desperately reached for a new clip and fumbled to slide it into its weapon, when suddenly the head of one of its former clan-mates fell to the ground through the smoke and rolled to its feet, still sparking from its severed neck. Staring at the head in shock, the cyborg slowly looked up in the direction from which it came, only to see an invisible figure standing several feet in front of it, outlined only by the water drops making contact with it. The cyborg let out a loud scream as it raised its weapon and squeezed the trigger, unloading its final clip at the figure. Two beaming yellow eyes suddenly lit up in the head of the figure as it started walking toward the cyborg, every bullet seeming to deflect right off of it, until the clip came to its end. The cyborg dropped the gun to the ground, leaving its hands at its sides and watching as footsteps appeared in the water soaked ground in front of it—each one coming closer than the last. “WHAT ARE YOU!!?” the cyborg yelled out, shaking in fear. The figure stopped, now only a foot away. “Your saviour…” it said, now leaning in close as it slowly decloaked, revealing it to be the prisoner, Lillith. Suddenly feeling a severe drain of energy, the cyborgs head became heavy and fell between its shoulders, chin to chest. As it looked down with its fading vision, it could see her claw embedded deep into its stomach. It would be the last thing it ever saw. Lillith slowly removed her claw, turned away, and again disappeared into the smoke, leaving the shut down cyborg standing in place as the water continued to fall upon it.

“That must have been nearly the entire security force” Lillith commented as she moved over to the assembly lines, now shut down due to the facility’s locked-down status. She used her sword to cut through the heavy belts that moved the machines along the lines, destroying them completely. Next, she sliced through the large robotic maintenance arms, cutting them into several pieces and rendering them permanently inoperable. Looking up at the ceiling mounted rail systems, she targeted all of their mounting brackets and launched a shuriken that easily ripped them apart one by one as it made its way back to Lillith. The rails, along with all of the cyborg bodies hanging from them, came crashing to the ground. “No more cyborgs from here” she said to herself with a sense of satisfaction before moving on. Exiting the assembly room and continuing to follow her map, she made her way through a maze of hallways, passing several rooms and security doors along the way. As she moved, she passed by a particular room on her right, but suddenly stopped just as she passed it. She took a few steps back and slowly turned her head to look into the darkened room. It was the room she had been held captive and tortured in. She turned and stepped inside, now standing in front of the table she had been locked to. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists and said, “Never again will another soul be tortured here,” after which she pulled her sword and proceeded to lay waste to the entire room with a vengeance. When it was done, she walked out of the door and without looking back, sealed it behind her, smashing the access panel in the process. Continuing forward a ways more, she soon came to another security door labeled “Processing center access”. “Okay… The central command center is beyond this area” Lillith confirmed to herself, again slashing through the doors lock and pulling it open. Inside were dozens of cyborgs, lined up and facing away from her. Taken by surprise, Lillith quickly pulled her sword in anticipation of their attack. She stood silently in defense, waiting for them to move, but the machines remained unresponsive. “They’re not moving…” She thought to herself curiously. Slowly walking into the large room while maintaining her defensive stance, she examined the cyborgs and found them to be fully completed bodies that were all but activated. There were four groups lined up in a grid, all of which appeared to be ready to roll out. “They must have been about to flip the switch on these guys before I came along…” she said. She noticed a computer terminal near the wall and decided to investigate it. The information on the screen confirmed her suspicion; these groups had been completed and were awaiting final activation. Continuing to sift through the computer data, she came upon an encrypted file labeled “Tundra520”. “Tundra..? Isn’t that… Kuai Liang? ….That’s Smokes friend…” Intrigued, she hacked into the computer with her own system and it immediately began to decrypt the file. Once finished, terrifying data filled the screen, going into detail about Kuai Liang’s complicated transformation procedure into unit “LK-520”. It noted that his struggle against the transformation process may have resulted in “unstable integration”, and that he was to be tested extensively for cerebral stability and controllability. The notes went on: 

(Unit LK-520 is deemed a high-risk platform due to his previous relations with outside parties and individuals”. To confirm controllability and effectiveness, he will be ordered to perform any and all tasks assigned by Shao Kahn, regardless of moral standard, until such a time it can be concluded that his previous connections do not interfere with his protocol.)

Lillith could not believe what she was reading… “You bastards!” she said in anger, further disgusted by the Lin-Kuei cyborg program. She smashed the computer into pieces before turning around to face the deactivated cyborgs. “You were all people… At one time… But now you are mere subjects devoid of your own will… Tools! …Just how many of you willingly accepted this fate!?” she asked with rage in her voice. “…But it doesn’t matter anymore… Does it? …Whether you wanted it or not, you’re all already dead… How could you live like this? …Love like this? With your heart and your feelings trapped inside that shell… No… They’ve taken your lives… And your souls… But now, I will take them back from them” she finished, tightening her grip on the hilt of her sword.

It took only a few moments before Lillith exited the processing room on the opposite side, her head held down and her blade dripping with dark cyborg blood as she closed the door behind her. “You’re free now…” she said, as she continued down the hallway following her map to the command center. She was nearing her destination, made obvious by the increasing overabundance of surveillance cameras as she got closer to the command center. She came at last to a well-guarded junction that lead to the entrance to central command to the left. Hugging the wall closely, she stealthily peeked around the corner toward the entrance, observing another security door tucked at the end of the fortified corridor—this one much larger and more imposing than any of the others. There were two cyborg guards in front of it along with two large mounted turrets on either side of the door. “They don’t let just anyone in there by the looks of it… But I’m not just anyone” Lillith commented to herself. Scanning the turrets, her system identified them as kinetic auto-cannons:

(Kinetic Auto-Cannons—Multi-barreled heavy mounted defensive platforms that fire .50 caliber shells, causing devastating kinetic damage upon impact. They possess an extremely high rate of fire, though they require a few moments to spool before firing. While slow to track, the cannons are equipped with highly advanced targeting systems; cloaking is ineffective. Avoid taking fire at all cost. Recommend use of the thruster system. Threat level- 100%)

“Yeah… I’d best avoid those” Lillith noted to herself as she watched the turrets pan from left to right in a constant state of scanning. Scanning the door next, her system indicated that it was of incredible durability and possessed the highest level of security protection; it would take a great deal of effort to open it forcefully. There was about 50 feet between Lillith and the command access door, and the turrets alongside it. “Whatever I do, it’s going to have to be quick… I’m only going to get one shot at this” she said as she took a deep breath in preparation, transferring all of her armor’s auxiliary power into her mobility and thruster and systems. “Okay Sayuri… You can do this…” she reassured herself, closing her eyes and slowing her racing thoughts. She took another deep breath and felt her nervous system sync even closer with her armor. As she became calm and her mind cleared of worry, fear and doubt, she began to see shapes and colors slowly appear around her, though her eyes were still closed. The shapes continued to form, until finally settling into place; it was her surroundings. Though her eyes remained closed, she could see everything around her, even through the walls. She moved her hands in front of her face, amazed to see them move into position before she even moved them herself. “Kenshi… This is your power, isn’t it? …You can see it before it is…” she said in astonishment. “Alright… I’m ready…” she proclaimed confidently after reaching perfect clarity of mind. The thrusters on her back began to hum to life like jet engines as she prepped them for extended use. She opened her eyes, her focus now razor sharp, and rounded the corner with lightning speed. Upon seeing her, the cyborg guards took defensive stances and hugged tightly to the door as the turrets immediately started to train their targeting lasers on her and began to spool. Lillith’s thrusters burst to life as she leapt diagonally from wall to wall, advancing toward the door. The turrets opened fire with an immense sound, tearing through the walls one step behind her as she moved faster and faster; they were struggling to keep up with her pace. Out running the turret fire, she quickly flipped sideways off the wall and back on to the ground, continuing to fire her thrusters, which gave her a massive boost of foot speed. As trails of flame burst forth from her back, Lillith dashed forward to close in on the turrets, and just before they locked her in their sights, she leapt through the air, flipping over the stream of bullets and landing hard on top of the turret on the left side. She immediately used all of her might to re-orientate the still firing turret in the direction of the other turret, which was also turning to track her again. Coming into line with the other turret, the .50 caliber rounds ripped through it with ease, completely destroying it. Lillith hopped off of the back of the remaining turret and activated her claws, then plunging them into its base and lifting heavily, ripping it out of the ground—the cables and electrical components underneath it popping and sparking as they tore apart. The firing stopped and the cannon’s barrels slowly whirled to a halt with a whining noise. Lillith quickly spread her arms apart with force, ripping the now inoperable turret into two pieces that hurled through the air and to the ground at her sides. She then turned to face the two stunned cyborg guards who were still closely guarding the door. “YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO BE IN THIS AREA. YOU WILL CEASE ACTION IMMEDIATELY AND SUBMIT TO DETAINMENT” one of the cyborgs said to her, as a slight smile came across her face. Her claws still activated and burning brightly, she slowly walked toward them with her hands up at her shoulders. “Alright… I submit” she replied, before stopping just in front of them. In a moment of silence, the cyborgs simultaneously looked over at each other in amazement that that actually worked, but soon discovered it really hadn’t, as Lillith quickly thrust her arms into their chests so hard that her claws instantly melted all the way through their metal plating and pinned them to the security door. Holding them in place for a moment, Lillith twisted her claws around inside of them—the intense heat of the plasma creating large cavities in their chests and welding their bodies to the door behind them. Ripping her claws out of them, she pulled two caltrop bombs from her armor and thrust them into the holes in the now barely active cyborg’s chests. She then slowly stepped back several feet as the slight noise of the bombs energy buildup could be heard coming from the cyborg’s bodies. Shielding herself in preparation, the bombs exploded with a massive blast—aided by the force of the two cyborgs power units rupturing—that blew a hole right through the security door. “Don’t always trust your eyes…” Lillith said to the cyborgs, who were now laying in several hundred pieces along the ground. She then reverted her armor to optimal power balance before cloaking and proceeding into the central command center.

Lillith stepped through the hole in the security door and moved down a short hallway that led to an elevator connected to the main command room. She took the elevator up, and as the doors opened, she entered the room to find two frightened technicians inside, though they could not see her through her cloak. They were huddled together in one corner of the room, clearly shaken by the massive blast that had just compromised their security. Looking around the room, Lillith took note of the many computers, security stations and mainframes located inside. She approached the technicians, asking, “Who is in charge here?” Startled, one of the technicians responded, asking, “Where are you!?” Suddenly the man that spoke was picked up and tossed across the room; the other remained silent. A moment later, the man was again picked up and suspended in the air. “Right in front of you” Lillith answered, as she decloaked while holding the man up by the lapels of his lab coat. “What the hell do you want!?” he asked in a panic. “You… I recognize you…” she said, recognizing him as the one who had been in control of the torture device while she was in captivity. “Which of these computers is the main terminal?” Lillith asked him intently while gritting her teeth. “Screw you!” he replied while trying to strike her arms to break her grasp. “Wrong answer” she said, before again throwing him across the room. Activating the claws on her right arm, she again approached him and picked him up with her left. “You really don’t want to know what these feel like inside your neck, I promise you. So do yourself a favor and answer my question… Which of these computers is the main terminal?” Shaking violently and staring at the white hot plasma blades only inches from his face and burning him slightly, the man conceded: “It’s there… That one” he said, pointing toward one of the terminals that was hooked to the mainframes. Letting her claw burn his face for a second longer, Lillith then dropped him to the ground and deactivated it. “I see you value your life… A pity it’s the ONLY life you value” she said to him with contempt as she turned to walk toward the computer he had pointed to. Accessing the computer system, Lillith hacked into it and prepared to transmit Dr. Feng’s virus. She accessed the program in her system and began to upload it into the mainframe. “Data download commencing” the computers voice said. “What are you doing!?” the man asked in a state of bewilderment. “…Helping a friend right some wrongs” Lillith replied sharply. “Get away from the computer!” another voice demanded behind her. Lillith stood in place as her H.U.D. displayed the image and information of the other technician, who was now standing behind her with a pistol in his hands:

(Human threat detected. Minimal combat training. Equipped with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Weapon insufficient to penetrate armor. Threat level- 0%)

“Sit down” Lillith warned the man who was threatening her, as she continued to face the computer. “What? I said get away from the computer now, or I’ll shoot!” the man continued to threaten. Lillith took her hands off of the computer terminal and stood up. In a blink, she tossed a shuriken out to her right, startling the man and causing him to look over to his right, then quickly back at her, only to see her re-sheathing her sword with her right hand and catching the shuriken in her left. As the man stood there confused for a second, horror came over his face as he watched his hands, and the gun within them, slowly fall from his wrists and onto the ground. Now staring in shock at the bloody stumps on the ends of his forearms, he began to scream uncontrollably as he fell back to the ground. “See? …It’s not so hard” Lillith said while continuing to monitor the status of the upload, which was now nearing completion. “You won’t get away with this! The Grand Master will find you!” the first man yelled out at her. “Download complete” the computer voice said, as Lillith turned to respond to him: “Not if I find him first” she said with a sense of vengeance in her voice. Just then, the computer spoke again: “New protocols accepted. Facility wide shutdown initiated. All assembly stations disabled. All security disabled. Maintenance disabled. Memory core data wipe commencing.” “What have you done!?” the man yelled in a state of shock. The computer continued: “Memory core data wipe complete. Initiating facility self-destruct sequence. T-minus five minutes to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately.” A loud siren then began to sound throughout the building. “Well Dr.Feng, it looks like your program works… Maybe a little too well” Lillith thought to herself before picking the man up off the ground again and speaking to him: “How do you get out of this damned place!? Where is the exit!?” she asked urgently. “There is no exit you fool! We build these facilities underground and seal the entrance when they are complete” he replied to her in panic. “Bullshit! There must be a way out! How do you deploy your cyborgs from this facility!? …Answer me!” Lillith shook him as she spoke. “…We use the portal generator… Our cyborgs come and go through the portals…” he responded, clearly out of energy. “T-minus four minutes to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately” the computerized voice said, now loudly over the facility loud speaker. “Take me to the generator right now, or your life ends here. And trust me, this isn’t a grave you want to have!” With slight hesitation, the man dropped his head, saying, “Alright… It’s not far—back down through the elevator and past the security entrance. We can make it if we hurry.” “Good answer” Lillith said as she turned toward the elevator, moving the man in front of her. She looked over at the other man, who was still shaking in a state of shock and holding his arms close to his body. “You don’t need hands to live!” she yelled down to him before throwing the first man over her shoulder and sprinting back inside the elevator. As the elevator doors began to close, the second man’s hand-less arm held the door just before it sealed and he wobbled inside. The doors closed and the elevator began to move quickly down the shaft, as the entire structure began to shake. “T-minus three minutes to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately” the computer spoke again over the loudspeaker. The elevator reached its destination and the doors opened. The three immediately moved down the hallway and back through the broken security door. “Straight ahead, through that door” the man on Lillith’s shoulder said pointing forward, out of breath. They passed the hallway from where Lillith had come from and continued moving straight until coming to the door labeled “Portal gateway access”, though it was locked down and refused to open. Setting the man down to the side of the hallway, and signaling them both to stand away from the door, Lillith made a quick leap backward about 15 feet, then suddenly fired her thrusters and charged forward again, shoulder first into the door, which folded like a tin can under her impact and opened the way into the portal gateway. “Come on!” she yelled, as the men rushed inside. “T-Minus two minutes to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately” the voice reminded them again. Now inside the sizable room, Lillith could see a large mechanical ring against the wall hooked to several wires and smaller machines. She identified it as the portal gateway; it looked just like the one she had stepped through when she began her journey into Outworld. “Open the portal!” she ordered, as the man with hands began to type away at a computer terminal. “Energy levels are fluctuating too rapidly… I can open a portal, but there is no way to determine where it will open on the other side! It will be a blind jump; I can’t lock it down!” he said as he frantically entered command after command into the terminal. “T-minus one minute to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately” the loud computer voice sounded again. “We’re running out of time. Just do it!” Lillith yelled. The man typed a final string into the terminal and slammed his finger on the Y key, then turned away and faced the ring saying, “It’s done!” Then, a large buildup of energy began to pump into the ring with an intense pulsing sound and the very room around them started to vibrate and shake as the space in the center of the ring began to flash brightly. “T-minus 30 seconds to reactor overload. Evacuate immediately” the computer’s voice signaled. They watched as the sphere of light in the center of the ring expanded rapidly and began to swirl, creating a gravitational pull that slowly drew them closer to it. “This is it!” Lillith said as she prepared to jump through. “T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven-” the computer began to count down. Lillith picked up both of the men, one in each arm, and threw them into the portal. “Four, three, two, one” —with full thrust and yelling intensely, Lillith leapt into the portal with all of her strength— “Zero… Reactor over-” …The computers voice was cut off by an immense implosion.

 Chapter 11

Drifting… Drifting… Everything was silent… Lillith felt weightless as she flowed through what seemed to be endless space—nothing but darkness around her. Looking around her H.U.D. for answers, she could find none, as her system could not identify her location:

(Cannot determine current location. Proceed to clearing to establish global positioning_ /Caution- Gravity rate unstable. Current threat level- unknown_)

She continued to travel through the darkness with a heavy sense of isolation looming over her, when suddenly the silence was broken: “…Sayuri…” a familiar voice spoke out through the darkness. “...Raiden!?” Lillith responded, recognizing the thunder god’s distinctive voice.

Raiden: Yes Sayuri…

Lillith: …Where are you!?

Raiden: I am beyond space… And even time, as I speak to you now.

Lillith: Beyond… Time?

Raiden: It is not necessary for you to understand it now. What matters is that you realize how important you are in the fate of Earthrealm.

Lillith: But… My mission is-

Raiden: Only one part of your destiny. What lies ahead of you is beyond all that you understand now. All that you need to know for now is that you must keep fighting for what you believe in—no matter what you see or encounter—and even when all hope seems lost, you must endure. Many thousands of souls depend upon it.

Lillith: Thousands of souls… Depend on me?

Raiden: They depend on you to do your part, to fight on their behalf for what you believe in.

Lillith: I… Will… I will fight to my dying breath for what is right… For life… For love… For family… For friends…

Raiden: For the greater good, you must… Even if the ones you fight are those… That you love…

Lillith: …What? …Fight the ones I love!? I don’t understand… Raiden? What… What do you mean!?

Raiden: Understand Sayuri… How important you are…

Lillith: Raiden!? … Come back! Raiden!!!

Lillith continued to spin through the darkness as Raiden’s voice faded away back into the silence. A moment passed before she began to feel a tremendous pull, as though she was being sucked through a hole. Looking around and into the direction she was being pulled, she saw a bright white light getting larger and larger. As she drew nearer to it, she could begin to see through it… It was the end of the portal. She began to accelerate even faster—her H.U.D. indicating that she was moving at nearly 708 kilometers per hour. She began to feel the immense G-force against her face as she was pulled through the darkness and into the other end of space. As the window like portal became more detailed, she saw a grey cityscape on the other side that stretched as far as the eye could see, and several massive buildings that stretched high into the darkened sky. Getting even closer, she saw fireballs falling from the clouds and what looked like huge dragons flying through the air pursued by weaponized man made aerial machines. Finally, she came upon the exit, and as she passed through it, her body thankfully slowed instantly, ejecting her through the portal at a much more manageable pace. Flying through the portal head first, she tucked her body and flipped forward into a roll, landing to her feet heavily and digging her sharp nails into the surface to bring her to a sliding halt that left the ground cracked and torn from where she had touched down. Coming to a complete stop with her head still tucked down, she was left breathless for a moment—still down on one knee and her hand still dug into the cemented ground. As she took a deep breath, she looked up to find herself at the very top of one of the massive skyscrapers that she had seen moments before, though the two men she had been with in the facility were not with her. “…I’m still in Earthrealm,” she said as she pulled her hand from the ground and stood to her feet. She looked around and over the edge of the building to find an entire city around her, but it was under siege: it had become a sizzling war-zone full of fire and destruction. A fierce battle was being waged between the human military and other-worldly forces below, while the sky was filled with war and fire of its own between the dragons and the human air force. “What is this… Madness!?” Lillith said in disbelief. “Those creatures… They’re the same that I saw in Outworld… But why are they here!?” she continued before being interrupted: “I’ve been waiting for you,” a sinister mechanical voice said from behind her. Startled and turning immediately to address the voice, Lillith saw a deep black colored cyborg standing before her several feet away… But it was no ordinary cyborg; this one was clearly different: it was much sleeker in its design and was wearing a dark hood and a cape over its right shoulder and arm. Most interestingly, it had a very particular type of sword mounted to its back: it was a shinobigatana, very much like the kind she used herself. “Identify yourself!” Lillith ordered, now taking a defensive stance. “You may call me LK-T134” the cyborg answered. “Hmph… Yet another Lin-Kuei slave… How can you attack these humans!? You were human yourself once! Or have you forgotten that already!?” Lillith responded with anger in her voice. “The fight between the humans and Outworld does not concern me. My only concern is standing in front of me now,” the dark cyborg said intently. “What!?… What business do you have with me!? I would warn you that I am not fond of your kind!” Lillith said, now gripping the hilt of her sword strongly in her right hand. The cyborg turned its head away and up into the sky, saying, “You’ve caused a great deal of trouble for the Lin-Kuei, and the Grand Master is none too happy. Initially, he desired your capture, but now I’m afraid he’s decided you are too much trouble: You are to be eliminated immediately. However… He is well aware that you are no ordinary target…” the cyborg paused for a moment, turning its head back to face Lillith before continuing: “That is why he sent me.” Lillith steeled herself in preparation for combat, saying, “Then your master has sent you to die. I don’t know how they knew I would be here now, but it makes no difference.” The obsidian colored machine again looked into the sky. “It’s simple really… They could see you as you moved through space with their technology. They knew were you would arrive before even you did. They merely sent me ahead of you,” it answered as it turned to look at her once more. Lillith pulled her sword from her sheath. “I wonder if they will foresee your failure too,” she said as she scanned the cyborg. Her H.U.D. came alive with warnings: 

(Lin-Kuei cyborg specialist- unit LK-T134. Scans indicate highly advanced functionality and multiple non-typical component upgrades by Lin-Kuei standards. Target features mobility and weapon systems on par with Tsumi Kara Umareru, as well as carbon reinforced plating of a nearly equivalent rating. Target efficiency is estimated to be extremely high. Recommend heavy caution. Threat level -100%)

“What the hell are you!?…” Lillith thought to herself as she cleared her H.U.D. of the information. “The time for formalities has passed. We shall begin,” LK-T134 said, as it slowly raised its left hand in front of its chest, palm facing to the side. Then, it suddenly began to phase left and right incredibly fast, creating two mirror images of itself before disappearing altogether. Lillith’s system began to flash warnings, prompting her to evade immediately. She quickly leapt forward with a diving roll and turned to see the cyborg standing where she had just been with its sword drawn through the air—her neck having clearly been its target. The sleek black machine smoothly spun the Japanese blade around and back into its sheath, looking back at her before beginning to phase yet again. “That sword…! It’s…” Lillith began to comment, but was interrupted by the warnings on her H.U.D. again. She again made an evasive leap to the side, flipping back into a defensive stance—her blade held strongly in front of her. Yet again the cyborg had appeared where she had been only a second earlier with a deadly strike of its blade, only this time there was no delay in its next move—before she could react, the cyborg appeared in front of her with a crushing downward slash against her own blade. Pressing its immense weight and force against her, the fearsome machine leaned in close and spoke: “You cannot fight what you cannot see.”  Holding the cyborg back with all of her might, Lillith let out a loud guttural cry and fired her thrusters, pushing her forward and inching her attacker back bit by bit, until they were standing upright, bodies and blades crossed with incredible force—their eyes only an inch apart. “Where did you get that sword!?” Lillith inquired. Then, right in front of her, it vanished again, causing her to fumble forward with the force of her momentum. She caught herself and regained her balance, raising her sword and looking up to see the black cyborg repeatedly phasing about, appearing and disappearing around the rooftop around her. “It’s too fast… I don’t understand… How can I…” she said, now breathing heavily. She began to hear the machine’s laughter in the air as it continued to randomly teleport from place to place in front of her. Lillith’s eyes darted left and right as she struggled to keep track of her target. “I’ve got to do something!” she said to herself in a state of helplessness, before pulling a shuriken and launching it out in front of her in a circular arc. As the shuriken flew through the air, it suddenly stopped mid-flight, as if suspended in time. The dark cyborg then appeared in its place, holding it up in its hand. “…You’ve got to be kidding me!” Lillith thought to herself, her eyes wide as she watched and prepared to evade her own weapon… But the cyborg remained still. Holding the mechanical star in its hand, LK-T134 slowly turned its head to look at it. “This… Weapon… I… I remem-“ it began to say something, but suddenly dropped the shuriken to the ground and brought its hands to its head, looking up into the sky. It yelled loudly for a moment before quickly lowering its hands and training its eyes back on Lillith. It then vanished again, continuing to phase in and out. “What was that!?” Lillith thought to herself as she prepared for another unseen strike. Then, the cyborg’s grunts filled the air as multiple images of it began to approach her, and her H.U.D. began flashing warnings of threats from all directions. Lillith spun around in a circle, defending herself while frantically trying to find her real target. “Where are you!?” she said in a state of panic. The images came upon her with force and she started taking hits and slashes from all directions that knocked her back and forth like a practice dummy. Slashing widely with her sword all around her in an attempt to retaliate, she was hitting only air. She continued to take heavy hits, causing her to grimace in pain, when suddenly a deep slash came across the side of her right arm and her sword was knocked from her hand, landing several feet away from her with a clanging sound. She gasped in shock, only to be struck in the head with a hard blow that sent her reeling back and down to the ground. Her H.U.D. flashed in front of her eyes as she lay on her back in pain and shock:

(Warning, damage level increasing. Immediate retreat recommended)

“Is that all…? …I expected more,” she could hear LK-T134’s voice taunting. “I can’t… I can’t see him…” she said as her damage warning alarm continued to blare inside her helmet along with the cyborg’s occasional laughter around her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she lay there defenseless. Out of breath and feeling on the verge of defeat, she blocked out the noise as her mind began to clear, save for a single memory:

“When I encountered Hasashi that day, for that one moment, he had no mind. As much as he loved his family and clan, for that one moment it was only about him and I. That is why he defeated me so easily. There was nothing to cloud his ability; he could see everything. This is something that you too can do Lillith. Learn to block your emotion; with no mind to be used against you, you will be nearly unstoppable.”

“…No mind…” Lillith said as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and shut off the warning alarm. “I cannot fight what I cannot see… Because I am TRYING to see it,” she concluded with a new sense of understanding. She reached up and disengaged the locks on her helmet, which produced a hissing sound as they released the pressure in her suit. Keeping her eyes closed, she removed her helmet and set it aside. She cleared her mind further and focused, causing the colors and shapes she had seen back at the facility to again come into view—the world around her continuing to move slowly as her surroundings became clear. “…I see everything,” she said, as the very wind in the air was now visible to her through her mind. Just then, she saw a ghostly outline of her attacker, LK-T134, slowly appear over her holding her own sword, followed by a solid physical form of the cyborg that filled the outline a moment later. Moving as if in slow motion, the outline lifted the blade into the air preparing to thrust it down into her body, again mimicked perfectly a moment later by the physical form. As the outline came down with the blade, it passed right through Lillith’s chest doing no damage, appearing as though it were merely a visual cue for what was to come. Seeing this, she quickly thought to herself, “I see. I’ve got to move, now!” As the physical form began to follow the outline’s lead and come down, she easily moved out of the way of what would have certainly been her doom and came to her feet before the blade had even touched the ground. Now standing beside her attacker, she watched with her mind as the cyborg’s two forms reacted in response to her impossible evasion in the same pattern—the outline moving first, the physical form moving after. Still moving as if in slow motion, the cyborg pulled her sword out of the ground, stood up in surprise and looked over at her, clearly in a state of wonder. “I see you still have some life in you after all,” it said, as the outline jumped several feet away from her, then again followed by the physical form. As LK-T134 attempted to shift around the rooftop again, it no longer disappeared from her sight. Lillith continued to observe as the outline of its body transitioned before its real body even moved—she could see where it was going to be before it even got there. Standing completely motionless with her eyes still closed, she waited for her attacker to come upon her in her seemingly vulnerable state. Then, the moment came: The cyborg’s outline quickly dashed behind her and slashed at her with her own sword. Having seen the impending attack coming ahead of time, Lillith quickly turned and countered with a strong punch just as LK-T134’s physical body appeared in place, hitting it in the head hard and stunning it. She quickly locked its arm and disarmed it, taking her sword back, then kicked the black cyborg with a powerful thrust kick, sending it flying back nearly off the edge of the building. The machine slammed the ground with a heavy impact, bouncing and rolling to a stop. Breathing heavily, LK-T134 came to one knee and looked up at the unhelmeted Lillith, who was still standing motionless, her sword in hand and her eyes still closed. “What!?… Impossible… You… “ it said, as it stood to its feet. Continuing to stare at Lillith as if examining her, the cyborg began to twitch and shake. “Wha… What are these memories!?” it yelled before again holding its head and screaming out as if in a great amount of pain. Lillith held her ground, unflinching. Still grunting loudly, LK-T134 collected itself and moved again. As Lillith watched as it attempted to phase from place to place, she could see right through it: when it attempted another strike, she again countered, hitting it repeatedly with blow after blow to the head and abdomen and a deep slash that cut through its cape and tore into its right shoulder, badly damaging it. “NO! HOW!?” LK-T134 yelled as it stumbled backward, struggling under its own weight. Lillith again grounded herself and remained motionless—her senses perfectly attuned. The dark machine flipped backwards through the air and landed away, then launching several small sharp discs toward her, which she saw coming and deflected with her blade. The cyborg yelled in annoyance as it pulled a chained kama from its armor and began to spin it rapidly, then hurling the blade end at Lillith with force. Seeing the sickle fly through the air toward her before it even left the cyborg’s hand, she easily caught it when it actually arrived near her, and with a swift jerk of the chain, she pulled LK-T134 off of its feet and onto the ground face first with a loud thud. Scrambling to its feet, it was furious: “NOO!!!! NOO!!!!” it screamed, as it forcefully pulled its blade from its sheath. “YOU… YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!!!” the cyborg yelled in a fit of rage as it charged toward Lillith at full speed. Dropping the kama and chain to the ground, Lillith gripped her sword tightly in her right hand and prepared to end the battle. As the enraged machine came upon her with all of its force, it slashed relentlessly, yet Lillith swiftly avoided every swipe. “These attacks… This… Style…” Lillith thought to herself as she closely observed the cyborg’s movements. “I know this style… It’s… No!” she continued. Then, when the opening presented itself, Lillith came up with an immensely powerful rising slash that ended with her looking into the sky—her blade kissing the clouds and dripping with dark blood. LK-T134 let out a terrible cry as its metal body fell to the ground… The battle was finished.

Lillith lowered her head and sword, and slowly opened her eyes. She turned to look at the felled machine, which was wheezing heavily. Its left arm was completely severed along with a chunk of its head over its left eye that had been in line with her slash. The machine looked upon Lillith as she performed chiburi, throwing the blood from her blade and re-sheathing it. “Ahhh….” LK-T134 gasped. “I… Knew it… I… Remember… Now…” it continued. Lillith knelt down beside the dying cyborg. “Sa…yuri…” it said, looking up at her with pain in its mechanical eyes. “What!?… No… It can’t be…!” Lillith said in a state of disbelief. The machine responded slowly: “Yes, Sayuri… It is I… Yoshitaka…”

Lillith: Yoshi!!!

(Yoshitaka wheezing with each breath)

Yoshitaka: I’m sorry… This is not how I had intended to find you…

Lillith: I don’t understand! …Why are you here!? Why are you…

Yoshitaka: When you left on your mission… it broke my heart… I couldn’t bear to be without you… And the thought of you being out there alone… It haunted me every day… They told me not to go… Held me back even… But it was too much for me to handle… I snuck out of the village to find the portal… to find you… But by the time I had arrived… the Lin-Kuei were already lying in wait…

(Lillith begins to cry)

Lillith: No… Yoshi….

Yoshitaka: I was captured… and… Tortured… The things they did to me… They wanted to know who you were… Who was the one who so quickly defeated their forces and used their portal…

(Lillith trembling)

Lillith: I’m… So sorry… Yoshi…

Yoshitaka: I told them nothing… Sayuri… But… they used their recorded footage of you… to study you… to study your armor… and… They used me to test their experiments… They wanted… to make a clone… a copy that could face you single handedly…

(Lillith filled with anger)

Lillith: Those… Monsters…..

Yoshitaka: I told them… it would do them no good… Even if they could copy your father’s armor… you cannot copy one’s skill… You were always my better… Sayuri…

Lillith: No… It’s not true… You taught me so many things!

Yoshitaka: Ah… Haha… We did have many great times… didn’t we?…

(Yoshitaka begins to cough severely)

(Lillith picks him up and holds him in her arms)

Yoshitaka: Sayuri… When I found you… that bitter cold day… caught in the grasp of that… machine… it was as if I myself was dying… From that moment… I vowed… to protect you… no matter what… But now I see… You were never in any danger… You are perfectly capable of… taking care of… yourself… Forgive me…

(Lillith crying profusely)

Lillith: Save your energy, don’t speak!

(Yoshitaka begins to twitch uncontrollably)

Yoshitaka: But… to be able to… see you… again… It was… worth it… To be able to tell you… one… more… time… I….. Love you… Sa…yu…ri…

(Yoshitaka’s eyes fade to black and his energy core hums offline)

Lillith held Yoshitaka, the man she loved, in her arms as he faded away. She pulled him close, and as her tears fell upon his metallic body, she looked into the sky… “Raiden… I understand now… I understand… This is why I must fight… This is why I must endure… So long as evil thrives in this realm or the next, those who can fight must stand up for what they believe in. For Yoshitaka… For everyone… I will fight,” she said as she laid Yoshitaka down and placed his sword over his chest and his cape over his body. She then performed ‘dogeza’ (Formal Bow) before him.

Lillith stood to her feet and wiped the tears from her face then turned and collected her helmet in her arms. Walking to the edge of the building and looking down, she could see the battle below continuing to rage on. “This is OUR home… And I will protect it from all evil,” she said with determination. She put her helmet on and looked to the dragons flying through the air as her claws burst forth from her forearms…

LK-T134/Yoshitaka Tora

Chapter 12

Lillith perched herself on the edge of the skyscraper and examined the flight pattern of one of the dragons above her. “You’ll do nicely… Now to get your attention,” she said, preparing to make her escape from the rooftop. She pulled a shuriken and targeted the beast’s leg before letting it fly. The flying star quickly caught up to it and struck the tough scales on its leg, causing it to let out a loud roar in frustration. Flapping its massive wings powerfully, the dragon quickly turned to address the source of the attack. Training its sights on the small shuriken, which was now returning to Lillith, it let out another loud scream before changing course and diving straight for her in a fit of rage. “That did it. Okay… Here we go!” she said while looking up at it as it approached and powering up her thrusters. Drawing near, the dragon opened its huge mouth and spewed forth a stream of fire at the rooftop. The fire rained down and Lillith activated her thrusters, making a great leap into the air just as the beast was upon her. As it passed close by the rooftop, the dragon circled around for another pass, again in search of its attacker. Closing in on the now burning rooftop a second time, the beast suddenly felt a weight fall hard upon its back along with a sharp stabbing pain—Lillith had timed her leap perfectly, landing upon its back and thrusting her claws and foot mounted blades into it deeply. Flapping its wings rapidly in reaction, the massive creature bellowed smoke and screams as the searing pain coursed through its entire body. Writhing with discomfort, it shook and twisted as it flew between the high-rise buildings in an effort to shake her off of its back. Cutting through the wind on the back of the beast, Lillith held on tightly and yelled out in exhilaration as she looked around at the expansive city hundreds of feet below her. “I know this is never what you wanted! …I’m sorry you were drawn into this conflict…” she yelled out to the dragon sympathetically. Then drawing her blade, she lifted it into the air with her right arm and thrust it deep into the center of its back, piercing its heart. With one last terrible cry, the once mighty creature began to descend rapidly to the streets below. Leaving her sword in place, Lillith again plunged her right claw back into the dragons back and continued to hold tightly in preparation for a hard landing. Now quickly approaching the ground at nearly 160 kph and increasing, Lillith yelled out as her body began to shake against the wind force. Using all of her strength, she pulled her feet up under her and grasped her sword, prepared to jump. Then finally, the time came: With a tremendous impact, the dragon slammed into the street, easily crushing cars and other objects underneath its weight. As they hit the ground, the impact predictably sent Lillith flying forward off of the beast with heavy inertia. Having pulled her sword from the creatures back at the last second, she flipped forward through the air at an incredible speed toward a glass building, again yelling out with a sense of thrill. Immediately responding to her dangerous predicament, her helmet’s rear mounted wings automatically stabilized her rotation and her armor activated the flaps built into it on the shoulders, arms and legs, which served as air brakes that rapidly reduced her speed. However, she was moving so fast that she was not able to stop in time and impacted with the building, bursting through the glass and into the base floor, where she finally came to a rolling stop against a reception counter. Fortunately, the building was abandoned already. “Ugh… What a ride…” Lillith said, then standing to her feet and sheathing her sword—glass pieces still falling from her body as the flaps on her armor fixed back into normal position with a quiet high-pitch hissing noise. She checked her system status and found that her energy level and armor rating were holding high; it was self-repairing its damage. “You really thought of everything, didn’t you father?” she said to herself with gratitude as she moved back outside the building.

Now outside, Lillith ran a scan of the area and found herself to be in “New York city”. She could hear the loud sounds of war all around her; the battle between Earthrealm and Outworld was raging on. “This place may be far from my home, but it is my realm no less. I have to do what I can to help Earthrealm’s warriors here,” she determined, now moving back past the giant body of the felled dragon she rode in on. She could hear the sound of gunfire, explosions, and what seemed like heavy cannon fire just up ahead of her. Looking upward, she spotted an attack helicopter weaving through the buildings and seemingly heading toward the source of the firefight. Now rapidly sprinting through the war torn streets and past dozens of abandoned vehicles and bodies—both Human and otherwise—she came around a building and encountered the source for herself: a large force of human police officers and military caught in a struggle against a battalion of Tarkatan warriors, who were wielding guns of their own, as well as the rocket launchers that she had seen in the living forest. They also had another of those giant reptilian beasts in their ranks; the same kind she had fought in the drylands in Outworld. The humans were opening fire upon the advancing creatures, but the Tarkatans were overwhelming in number and were pushing them back. A military tank was providing cover for the soldiers and police officers while shelling cannon fire upon the massive beast, who was quickly advancing towards it hurling cars and any other objects it could get its claws on through the air at its attackers. “These soldiers won’t last long!” Lillith said, as she fired her thrusters and quickly dashed through the back line of soldiers. Leaping up onto a police car, she continued to jump from one vehicle to the next, rapidly advancing forward above the soldiers in a zig-zag movement. The soldiers looked up and watched as she darted through the air towards the attacking Outworld forces. “Is that one of ours!?” one of the soldiers asked. “I don’t know man, but I hope so!” another soldier responded. Coming to land atop the tank out front, Lillith assumed a squatting position, perched atop the tank’s turret. Now drawing the attention of the human fighters around and behind her, Lillith turned her head and addressed them: “Everyone, fall back behind cover and stay there until it is clear to come out. I will handle this!” Upon hearing her words, the commanding military officer responded: “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not attacking us, and you look pretty serious, so that’s good enough for me! We can use all the help we can get to distract that tormentor. All troops, do as she says. Fall back to cover!” Having turned her attention back to the attacking force, Lillith prepared herself as the huge 20 foot monster, the “tormentor”, was nearly upon them. She pulled her sword from its sheath and cloaked. Then, with a tremendous leap that shook the tank beneath her, she flipped through the air just as the beast began to pick up another car. Lifting it high above its head, the muscular creature let it fly toward the soldiers, only to see it deflected mid-flight and split cleanly in half a moment later. The beast stood up and looked on in confusion as the two halves of the car fell to the ground well short of their target. Then, without warning, the beasts head suddenly jolted back as if something heavy had impacted with it, knocking it back to the ground hard. It let out a loud cry in anguish as blood started pouring from its face. The attacking Tarkatan soldiers turned their attention to the screaming beast, which was now flailing its arms through the air in reaction to an unknown source. As they watched it continue to squirm around on the ground in shock, its head suddenly split open and into four pieces, spraying blood everywhere and silencing its whines. As its massive arms came to permanent rest back down to the sides of its body, the Tarkatans looked at each other in fear, confused by what they had just seen. “You fools! Fire!” one of the Tarkatans said to the others around him while pointing in the direction of the fallen creature’s body. But then, a speeding metal star passed right through his neck and his head flew off of his shoulders and up into the air, eventually landing with a squishing thud. His arm dropped as his body fell to its knees, then slowly fell forward. In response, the horde of remaining Tarkatans yelled out loudly as they gathered together and opened fire on and around the dead tormentor’s body. Now pumping the lifeless carcass full of holes, the bloodthirsty Outworlders were oblivious to the threat that was now standing behind them. They continued to fire until slowly the gun fire dwindled down to the last few Tarkatans in the front. Expending their clips, they momentarily turned to look at each-other again before slowly turning to see the rest of the group that had been behind them strew about the ground in pieces. “What!?” one of them said as he was taken by surprise. He dropped his empty gun and brandished his blades from his arms, while the other two proceeded to pick up still loaded weapons from the ground. “Show yourself coward!” the Tarkatan with the blades yelled out, now scraping them together and creating sparks. “As you wish,” Lillith’s voice said in response. Then, with a humming electrical sound, she slowly decloaked about 10 feet from him—her armor covered in Tarkatan and tormentor blood. Upon seeing her, the bladed Tarkatan is again taken by surprise and snarls: “Ahrghh TRAITOR! …I knew we should have never trusted you Lin-Kuei robot dogs!” Hearing this, Lillith became even more intent on the foul creature’s demise, yet remained silent and motionless. “I WILL END YOU!” the Tarkatan yelled out as he began to charge toward her with his arms outstretched in front of him. As he lunged forward to stab her, his arms were instantly lopped off almost simultaneously and he was stopped dead in his tracks—lifted to his toes by a claw through his rib cage. Lillith pulled the now armless and dying Tarkatan close to her. “Had I actually been Lin-Kuei, you may have actually stood a chance,” she said to him calmly before thrusting her other claw into him, causing him to gasp in shock and pain. The remaining two Tarkatans immediately began to open fire upon Lillith, hitting only the body of the armless Tarkatan, as she was now using it to shield herself. As their clips ran dry, the Outworlders dropped their guns and drew their blades as they kept their eyes on the now devastated body of their former partner. Suddenly, the body was forcibly ripped in half horizontally from the stomach, yet they had no time to react as Lillith, in a movement that was too quick to process, immediately crouched down to pick up the arms of the fallen Tarkatan, then hurled them with full strength toward the two remaining foes, hitting and deeply impaling them with the arms’ still drawn blades and sending them back several feet. Falling to the ground, one was killed instantly, while the other barely hung onto his fading life. Disturbed by seeing the Tarkatan suffering on the ground, Lillith moved over to his body and quickly thrust her sword into his skull, immediately ending his life. Performing shiburi and re-sheathing her sword, she took one final look around to ensure the area was clear of hostiles—scanning widely, her system confirmed it and her H.U.D. flashed with the words “Area clear of hostile activity.” Once confirmed clear, she called out to the soldiers: “The area is secure. It’s safe to come out now,” she said. With that, the soldiers began to stream out from their cover, many in awe at what just transpired before them. “Lady, you are one bad-ass chick!” one of the soldiers said to her. “Yeah… Wouldn’t want to get on your bad side,” another said. Lillith turned to face the fatigued soldiers and police officers. “I don’t even want to know how classified this shit must be,” another soldier chimed in while looking Lillith’s armor up and down. “Stow it marines,” the C.O. ordered as he approached Lillith.

Military C.O.: Ma’am, we are in your debt. I don’t know where you came from, and quite frankly, with all I’ve seen today, I don’t need to know.

Lillith: I think that’s for the best commander. But just know that I am a friend, and it is my pleasure to fight for the lives of our people.

Military C.O.: That’s quite admirable. Well, our forces here have taken a beating and they seem to just keep coming. While you’ve undoubtedly done us a great service here, unfortunately, we are only one squad of many that are fighting on all fronts. I’m afraid this battle will continue for some time, but with folks like you fighting with us, hell, we may have a fighting chance.

Lillith: Where is the next squad?

Military C.O.: Bravo team was deployed north of our position just a few clicks out, near the bridges and the Beran Blvd. metro entrance, but we’ve lost contact with them and their status is unconfirmed. I can give you a map if-

Lillith: No need for that commander. I’ve already got one… But thank you.

Military C.O.: Ah… Of course you do… Uh… By chance… Is there anything you don’t have? Can we help you somehow?

Lillith: You can help me by staying alive.

Military C.O.: Roger that, Ma’am. I should tell you, we were getting some really strange reports coming from bravo team before we lost contact. I don’t know if it gets much weirder than what we’ve already seen here, but just watch yourself… Godspeed.

Lillith: Indeed. Thank you… I wish you and your soldiers well commander.

The C.O. saluted Lillith as they concluded their conversation. She looked at the soldiers and police officers and nodded at them before turning to leave the area, disappearing into thin air as she walked north. “God was watching over us this day men. Let us not forget it. Tend to the wounded and let’s pack up, double time!” the C.O. said as he turned to his men. “Sir, yes sir!” they responded.

Reviewing her map of the area, Lillith easily pinpointed the location she was given by the C.O. and began to move in that direction. She remained cloaked as she moved through the burning city north toward Beran blvd., eliminating any scattered Outworld forces that she encountered along the way and assisting several human survivors that had been lost or pinned down. Performing deep scans of the city around her, her system estimated human casualties to be in the hundreds. She pressed on, eventually coming across a small diner that had been nearly destroyed. As she passed by it, she could hear the faint sound of a dog barking inside, but there was a heavily damaged military armored personnel carrier blocking the entrance. Determined to free any trapped survivors that may be inside, Lillith used all of her strength to budge the heavy vehicle away from the door. Having opened the way to the inside, she entered and found the dog, a Labrador retriever, huddled next to two adult bodies, a man and a woman, that were embracing each other lying face down on the ground. She decloaked and the dog looked up at her with sadness in its eyes as she approached the bodies. They had severe wounds in their backs consistent with Tarkatan attackers. Doubtfully, she knelt down and scanned them for life signs, but found that there was none. Curiously, her scan indicated the presence of three bodies, not two. She carefully moved the bodies aside, only to find the third—it was a small child that was laying beneath them… The adults had been protecting the child, but his fate had been the same… “This was a family…” Lillith said to herself with deep sadness in her heart. Turning her head to the now whimpering dog, she laid her hand upon its back. “I’m sorry for your loss, friend… I give my word, they will be avenged,” she promised. Standing to her feet and exiting the diner, Lillith again cloaked and continued to head north, making a claim as she went: “Shao Kahn… Justice will come for what you have done. Invading our home will be the last mistake you ever make. Your fate is already sealed.”

Finally, she arrived at Beran Blvd. and located the bridges where Bravo team was supposed to have been positioned. Looking around, it was obvious that the area had seen a tremendous amount of combat, as evidenced by the bodies of military personnel and Tarkatan scattered about, along with another fallen tormentor that looked to have taken a direct hit from a tank shell, which had blown half of its body apart. The ground was slick with blood of many colors, and smoke was thick in the air from the burning buildings and vehicles caught in the crossfire. “This can’t have been all of bravo team,” Lillith thought to herself as she examined the number of military casualties. “Perhaps they moved away from this position,” she considered. There was no other signs of life in the immediate vicinity. However, Lillith’s system was detecting a strong power source coming from the metro tunnel below. Finding the nearby entrance down to the metro station platform, she quietly made her way down the steps toward the source of the power surge. Arriving at the bottom of the steps, she came to a stand-still as she identified its origin: It was the crimson Lin-Kuei cyborg Sektor. He was tucked behind a pillar and kneeling down, entering several commands into his wrist mounted interface and twitching periodically as he tried to move. It looked as if he was recovering from a conflict of some sort and was attempting to reboot his system. Curiously, several areas of his armor plating were covered in solid ice. Lillith scanned Sektor and found her assumption to be correct: he was badly damaged and several of his joints were seizing due to the intense cold of the ice. Most of his system functions were offline, but were quickly re-calibrating; it wouldn’t be long before he came again to full power. Not wasting any time, Lillith took action—still cloaked, she advanced upon Sektor and grabbed him by the dreads on the back of his head, forcefully pulling him around the pillar and down to the ground in the center of the subway platform. She then picked up the stunned cyborg by the neck and planted him hard against the wall with a loud crash, producing several cracks in the concrete behind him. Taken completely by surprise, the already damaged Sektor could hardly respond to his invisible assailant. “5-2-0… Your programming is… Corrupted… Stand down immediately…” he said, as he made an unsuccessful effort to push away from the wall. Keeping him firmly planted, Lillith strengthened her grip on his neck, causing him to respond with a sharp grunt. “Sub-Zero is the least of your concerns now, slave,” she said to him with an aggressive tone. “What… Who are you? …Identify yourself!” Sektor demanded. “I’m your worst nightmare,” Lillith responded as she pulled him from the wall and tossed him through the air and down to the ground with another loud thud. Coming to a sliding stop face down, Sektor planted his hands down and slowly got up. As he turned around to face his invisible attacker, the panel on his chest opened and a rocket slid into firing position inside. The unsuspecting Lillith quickly crouched down to evade as the rocket flew from Sektor’s chest with immense speed and slammed into the concrete wall behind her, causing a small concussive blast that disintegrated it. Dust and debris flew through the air and onto Lillith, revealing her shape through her cloak. Now seeing his opponent, Sektor immediately held his arms out towards her and, with the sound of pumping fuel, activated streams of flames from them that engulfed her. His vision now filled with fire and dust, Sektor took a few steps forward while continuing to throw the flames in front of him, content that he had subdued his target… But then, his flames suddenly split apart as the fire lit shape of Lillith came straight upon him between his arms and smashed into his head with a powerful leaping thrust of her fist. The flames flickered out as Sektor flew back, tumbling over a wooden bench and falling again onto his face. “You fool… I was forged in fires far hotter than that,” Lillith said as she rounded the bench to finish her dealings with the cyborg. Picking the nearly disabled machine up off the ground a final time, she held him at his knees and said, “I’m going to ask you only once, Sektor. Where are the human soldiers that were positioned here?” Sektor looked up at Lillith’s still radiating silhouette and responded: “If Shao Kahn wishes them dead, then nothing can be done to stop it… Resistance against him is futile…” Lillith then picked him up to his feet and pulled him close, saying with fury in her voice: “How would you know, as if you had the mind of your own to choose to fight him? Humans are being slaughtered around you, and yet you do only as your heartless coward of a master bids.” Sektor remained silent for a moment, but then started to laugh with a maniacal tone. “Even when this world and its useless denizens burn at the hands of Shao Kahn, the Lin-Kuei will remain. We will never stop,” he said arrogantly. Disgusted by his response, Lillith delivered a hard knee to his stomach that sent him reeling back. Sektor stumbled on his feet for a moment before re-balancing and attempting a side thrust kick in her direction. She easily avoided the kick, catching his leg and again striking him in the head with a hard back fist that knocked him unconscious. She released his leg as he fell hard to the ground, now motionless. “Looks like today’s not your lucky day,” she said to him as she moved near his head and crouched down. She then thrust her index and middle fingers into his neck and jacked into his database. As her system dug through his data log information, she downloaded his order files, which read:

//ORDER •LK594-04-95XVOJRPQ

_REPORT 1100 HOURS

_ESCORT MILITARY PRISONERS FROM VOGEL UNIVERSITY TO ST.DOMINIC’S CEMETARY FOR PROCESSING.

_UNCOOPERATIVE PRISONERS EXPENDABLE

“Your brain tells me more than your mouth ever needs to,” Lillith said as she ripped her fingers from his neck. She then stood to her feet and looked down at him with pity. “I should kill you Sektor. But I choose to leave you to the fate you have chosen. Once this war is over, your failure and regret will be punishment enough,” she said, then turning away slowly and proceeding toward the stairs. As she made her way upward, she heard the faint sound of Sektor’s energy core restarting. She stopped and looked down for a moment, then continued up to the surface.

“According to the Lin-Kuei orders, military prisoners were taken to Vogel University… It must be where the rest of bravo team was taken. I have to hurry,” Lillith said to herself as she set a waypoint on her map for the university, which was to the west across a river known as the “Hudson”. Following her map westward, Lillith eventually came to the entrance to a tunnel system that ran under the river and over to the other side of the city. However, the tunnel entrances had been destroyed and were blocked. “I’ll have to find another way across,” she commented as she continued to head west toward the water. Coming to the edge of the island and looking across the river to the rest of the city on the other side, Lillith began to consider options for crossing over. She looked down and saw several boats of all sizes floating near the edge of the island. “That should work… I’ll just need to borrow one of those,” she determined as she moved along the border of the water getting closer to one of the smaller vessels. She targeted the small yacht-like boat, but as it was still a ways out into the water, she would have to jump to reach it. She decloaked and transferred power to her thrusters, then stepped several feet back in preparation for the great jump. “Okay… let’s go!” she said, as she sprinted full speed ahead and powerfully leapt off of the island toward the boat. Flying through the air, she easily cleared the distance with the assistance of her thrusters and came down right on target, landing on the back of the boat as softly as she could. The small vessel rocked back and forth in reaction to her weight, but held steady and came back to rest as Lillith centered herself. Relieved that she now had a means of crossing over the river, she turned her head to the helm, but was startled to see a small man, apparently the owner of the vessel, crouched down in front of her in shock. So caught up in her task, she hadn’t noticed him before. “Oh! I…” Lillith began to say, but is cut off: “Please don’t hurt me!” the man said to her as he held his arms out in front of him to shield himself. “N-No! I’m not going to hurt you!” she responded to him. “I’ve seen what’s been going on out there! Damn… I knew you would find me!” he said, trembling in fear. Lillith crouched down and removed her helmet. “Sir… Listen to me. I’m not your enemy, and I’m not going to hurt you… I just need to use your boat to cross the river. The tunnel system has been blocked and this is my only option… Can you help me?” she said in an attempt to reassure him and gain his cooperation. The man slowly lowered his hands and stared at Lillith’s face. “You’re… Human…? And you’re fighting against those creatures?” he asked. “That’s right. I’m the same as you. Only our circumstances differ,” Lillith responded. The man’s nerves began to settle and he became visibly calm. “I get it! You must be some secret government project… Built to protect us when the aliens come to attack… I knew it all along!” he said, pointing at her as he slowly rose to his feet. Lillith cracked a smile. “Yeah… Something like that. Now, can you take me to the other side? I’m afraid my time is short,” she said. “Well lady I wish I could, but I’m sorry to say you picked the wrong boat… My engine is fried and unless you want to start paddling, I’M afraid we’re not going anywhere… I was out here waiting for the tech guy to come along when everything went to hell, and I just hunkered down. Sorry…” he answered with disappointment in his voice. “I see… Well, the engine isn’t what I need. As long as it floats, it’ll do,” Lillith said while looking toward her destination. Confused, the man responded: “Eh? What do you- …Well yeah of course she floats! But—” “Take the helm,” Lillith instructed him as she moved to the back of the boat. “Did you even… Okay… Whatever you say!” the man said as he turned and took the wheel into his hands. Lillith positioned her back to the rear of the boat, crouched down and held tightly onto the sides of the vessel—her thrusters again humming to life with a whirling buzz. “Hold on tight!” Lillith yelled out, her voice now competing with the loud spool of her thrusters. “WHAT!?” the man asked at the top of his lungs, just as he is suddenly pushed back by the G-force of his boat launching forward like a jet aircraft. “Shiiiiiiittttt!!!” he called out while gripping the wheel tightly and steering toward the city on the other side of the river. Now moving incredibly quickly, Lillith continued to hold tightly, resisting the immense force that was pushing her forward. Her hair now flying in the wind, she took a moment to enjoy the brisk air in her face before again focusing on her destination, which was now approaching rapidly. She cut thrust and activated her flaps, still holding on tight to prevent the sudden reverse in force that now wanted to push her back off of the boat. As her thrusters wound down, the boat slowly decelerated until eventually reaching the other end of the river safely. “Hot damn! …That was incredible!” the man said as he turned to look at Lillith, who was coming to her feet—her armor’s flaps retracting. She removed her hands from the sides of the boat, revealing that she had accidentally crushed the siding that she had held onto. Taking notice of it, she bit her lower lip and said:“…Oh… Sorry about that…” Looking down at the damage with a smile stretched across his face, the man looked up and said: “Ah what the hell, I guess it’s just a little something to remember such an epic moment! This stuff NEVER happens to me!” Lillith smiled and picked up her helmet before addressing the man one final time: “I really appreciate your help… But listen, there is still danger in the city. I suggest you stay hidden for a while… And don’t worry; we will beat the aliens.” The man nodded in response as Lillith pulled her helmet over her head. “Yeah… Yeah go kick their asses lady!” he said to her as he sat down. Lillith nodded back at him as she cloaked, then jumped off of the boat, again rocking it back and forth for a moment. The man leaned back and looked up to the sky. “The government man… I just knew it…” he said, shaking his head back and forth.

Chapter 13

Now on the other side of the river, Lillith moved quickly and was nearing Vogel University. This part of the city was less intruded upon, but perhaps not for long. “I pray I’m not too late,” she said as she finally came upon her waypoint. She had arrived at the university—a huge building with a clock tower reaching high into the sky. Making her way inside the seemingly abandoned main building, an eerie quiet filled the halls. She scanned the structure for life signs and picked up a feint signal at the top of the clock tower. “That must be where they are keeping them,” she thought to herself before heading up the stairs with haste. As she arrived at the top, she could hear a familiar voice speaking in the gear room ahead of her. Keeping quiet, she peaked into the room and saw the source of the voice: it was the man with the mechanical eye from before. “What are YOU doing here!?” Lillith pondered in her head while continuing to listen in on him. He was talking into a two-way radio: “-thawed me out, but he left already along with the big guys… (Unintelligible dark voice)… Yeah… (Unintelligible dark voice)… Well the bastard’s headed your way right now. Don’t be fooled, he’s no ally of ours. Right… Kano out,” he said as he lowered the radio and slowly propped himself up against one of the massive gears while holding his elbows and shivering. “Damn machines… I should have known better than to trust ’em,” he said to himself under his breath. Lillith then scanned him and her database provided his information and vitals:

(Target: Kano, human- Member of the Earthrealm criminal organization “Black Dragon” and has known ties to Shang Tsung, the Lin-Kuei, and Quan Chi. Subject possesses military training and is highly skilled in CQC and knife combat. Also equipped with various cybernetic upgrades including an ocular laser. Recommend caution when fighting in close quarters. Subject is suffering from hypothermia due to extended exposure to extreme cold—combat effectiveness is greatly reduced. Current threat level- 40%)

“Well that’s convenient…” Lillith said to herself. She then noticed several patches of ice scattered around the ground and on the walls of the area, and her system was reading the current temperature in the room to be very low. “I seem to be one step behind you Sub-Zero… Perhaps our goals are the same,” she pondered, as she prepared to advance upon Kano. Kano continued to warm himself while leaning against the cog, but is suddenly shocked to see his large knives pulled from his own boots and raised up into the air in front of him. “What the-“ he began to say, when the knives then quickly thrust down into his shoulders. He screamed in agony as he fell down to the ground, his hands reaching for the knives. Grunting loudly in pain, he crawled a short distance away and came to his knees. “WHAT IS IT NOW!?” he yelled out as he yanked the sharp blades from his shoulders, sending his own blood flying. “I’m only going to say it once: You will tell me where the soldiers are right now, or you will die on your knees where you sit,” Lillith’s voice warned him. “What? A woman? Haha… Ah come on… Don’t be shy… Let me get a look at you baby!” Kano said while looking around frantically in search of the origin of the voice. He cycled through several vision modes in his right eye before finally switching to an electromagnetic spectrum, which revealed Lillith’s feint outline through her cloak. “Ah… There you are… I was wondering if I’d ever get a chance to use this damn vision mode,” he said while looking toward her, surprising her. Lillith brought her claws online, which flashed brightly in Kano’s eye, then stepped towards him ready to strike. Kano leaned back on his ankles, letting his head fall back and his mouth hang open as he dropped his knives to the ground at his sides before snarling and beginning to speak: “Huh… But you’re all weapons and armor aren’t you… Just like the rest of those bastards… Ughh… I ain’t getting paid enough for this shit lady… You want your soldiers, go get ’em, if you can… They’re at St. Dominic’s graveyard to the west. Your buddy Iceman is already headed that way… If you hurry, you might make it in time to see him get stomped by Quan Chi.” Lillith’s heart skipped a beat as she heard Kano speak Quan Chi’s name. “Quan Chi!? He’s here!?” she thought to herself, then addressing Kano a final time: “You chose wisely today, Kano. I would suggest you put a little more thought into whom you ally yourself with next time.” She then disappeared back down the stairs in a hurry. “Women…” Kano said, grimacing in pain.

Arriving back at the base floor of Vogel University, Lillith burst through the doors of the main building and made haste westward while pinpointing “St. Dominic’s cemetery” on her map. “Quan Chi… You won’t escape me!” she said, transferring all available power to her mobility functions. The sky was quickly turning dark as night was setting in, and the cemetery was some distance away. Wasting no time, she stopped at nothing on her way. Now moving southwest along the route laid out for her on her map, she eventually came across a great bridge: the “Newark Bay Bridge”, which stretched over another body of water. While packed with abandoned cars and obstructions, it was fortunately still in one piece. Lillith passed through the toll gate and quickly jumped from the roof of one car to the next, periodically firing her thrusters to give her quick sprints through the air as she traversed the bridge to the other side… Finally reaching the other side, she found herself on an expressway that cut through the city and led west toward her destination. Following the expressway, she had a straight shot to the cemetery. She ran along the side of the expressway at full speed, using her thrusters to open up and attain a top speed of nearly 200 kph. “Incredible!” she remarked to herself in response to her suit’s continually impressive capability. As the sun went down and the moon rose in the dark sky, she became only a blur as she blended in with the darkness around her. As she got closer and closer to the cemetery, she began to see a bright green glow in the sky ahead of her, and the closer she got, the more it took on the shape of a giant tornado spiraling into the night sky. “That’s coming from the cemetery! What is that!?” she asked herself, not wasting any time in closing the distance between herself and it. The green tornado continued to grow in size until it occupied the entire sky in front of her, and she began to see hundreds of ghostly bodies encircling it, ensnared in its power. She began to feel powerful shock waves of energy being released from the great twister. “Quan Chi, this must be your doing!” she said, now pushing through to the cemetery. Finally arriving at her waypoint, she jumped from the expressway, she made her way through some trees and into the graveyard toward the base of the tornado. As she approached the massive force, she crouched down behind a large grave stone and quickly surveyed the area. She was unable to locate the soldiers, but looking to the front of the tornado, she saw a man who resembled a Native American warrior fighting rigorously with an unidentified ninja clad in deep black. Both were exhausted and were struggling to move through the constant flux of energy being produced by the green twister. Continuing to examine the grounds, Lillith found her target: Quan chi was lying on the ground a short distance away, but was quickly coming to. “There he is! Now’s my chance,” she said as she prepared to engage him. But just then, the Native American warrior delivered a powerful kick to the dark ninja he was fighting, which sent him into the grasp of the huge tornado and spiraling upward into the sky as he yelled out with fury. His body produced a purple stream of energy that seemed to negatively react with the flow of the twister and causing it to become unstable—now releasing massive waves of energy as it seemingly began to collapse upon itself. Lillith quickly turned her attention back to Quan Chi, who was now rising to his feet and opening a portal in an effort to escape the area. “No! You’re not getting away from me this time!” Lillith yelled, as she made full speed for the portal behind him. As Quan Chi stepped through and the portal began to close, Lillith made a diving leap with all of her effort and passed through the portal with not a second to spare, just as it closed behind her.

Now flowing through the portal with great speed, Lillith could see Quan Chi exiting into a dismal and fiery realm ahead of her as she followed behind him. But just as she neared him, she was suddenly knocked off course by an unknown force and thrust into a different direction and toward a separate portal exit. As she neared the exit, she yelled out as she began to feel as though her body was tearing itself apart. Now in great pain, she could suddenly hear Raiden’s voice chanting loudly around her and a transparent blue field surrounded her body, which stopped the strange sensation and subdued the pain. Arriving at the exit, she flew out of the portal sideways, but quickly twisted her body in mid-air to re-orientate herself upright before landing heavily and coming to another sliding stop on her feet in the new realm. She had stopped just in time as she had nearly been tossed into a huge lake of burning fire. Stepping away from the edge and collecting herself, Lillith looked around at her new surroundings as the portal she had come through closed. She was in a terrible, dark, torrid and desolate place filled with screams of horror that echoed repeatedly, and possessing a general feeling of dread in the unbearably hot and heavy air. The land around her was blackened and burnt, consisting primarily of only sharp rock, charcoal and bone that was scattered among several huge pools of lava and fire. There were massive rocky pillars stretching up into the darkness above her as far as she could see, upon which hung thousands of skulls and horribly disfigured bodies of all shapes and sizes impaled on spikes and thorns. “My God… What is this place!?” Lillith said in disgust, coughing a few times as she tried to adjust to her surroundings. Her suit’s heat warning alarm then began to sound in her helmet, prompting her armor to automatically begin to adjust her internal temperature to adapt to the intense heat of the area. The place was everything she had imagined hell would be like. She attempted to cloak, but found that her generator was offline. “This place must be sapping my energy… I can’t stay here long,” she said as she scanned the area. Her system took a moment to sift through its data-base records for any relevant information before displaying it on her H.U.D.:

(Scans indicate that this area matches the description of the “Netherrealm”, a dark sub realm that is believed to be the birth and resting place of all known evil. It is purported that this realm is where the souls of those who are evil or who have been tainted with evil reside once they have passed on from the living, and that only such beings can exist within the realm. Reported inhabitants include demonic beasts of varying sizes, specters, wraiths and Oni: selfish and deceptive yet clever denizens of the realm that seek to further their goals at every opportunity. The Netherrealm is also noted to be the domain of the sorcerer Quan Chi_)

As Lillith finished reading the information, she became perplexed. “If only beings that are evil can exist within this realm, than how am I…” she stopped herself short as she slowly raised her hands in front of her face and saw the blue aura field that had appeared around her in the portal still outlining her body. “Raiden… You are protecting me in this place… Aren’t you?” she said, lowering her hands and closing her eyes before continuing: “I would have been torn apart when I entered this realm… But you saved me… Thank you. Thank you for giving me the chance to find him. I have come so far, and with your help, I will accomplish my task, and beyond it.” Opening her eyes once more, Lillith took no more time and began to move through the dark realm. With no map data available to her, she had to traverse the incredibly dangerous environment nearly blind, though she set her system to scan repeatedly for any energy surges or unusual activity in her vicinity that might lead her to Quan Chi. Advancing from island to island and over pools of lava between them, she eventually made her way upward, climbing a great spear of bone and coming to a bridge like rock formation that overlooked another sizeable lake of fire. Taking a moment to survey the scorched land below, she suddenly heard a loud hissing screech to her right along the bridge. Turning quickly to address the sound, she saw a tall and disgusting bony creature with long arms and a gaping maw staring back at her from the opposite end of the bridge. It yelled out again loudly before rushing towards her angrily. Lillith immediately activated her claws and prepared to defend herself. As the creature neared her, it crouched down and pounced toward her while making a fearsome swipe at her with its sharp looking hand. In response, Lillith dropped low and caught the creatures arm in her right hand as it flew toward her, then using its momentum to roll backward and thrust her left claw into its chest before launching it off of the bridge behind her with a thrust of her leg. The creature howled as it flew through the air and into the fire below. Lillith rose to her feet, but had no time to collect herself, as two more of the creatures began to scream out loudly as they approached her from both sides: one climbing up from below, the other dropping down from above. Now facing two at once, Lillith thought quickly as she pulled a shuriken from her armor and launched it backward at her rear attacker, then quickly vaulted forward and used her thrusters to give her a quick burst through the air and over the head of her frontal attacker, landing at his backside, then immediately thrusting her right claw through is back while reaching around its head with her left hand and snapping its neck; all before it could even turn to face her. Holding her right hand steady, Lillith’s white-hot claw proceeded to melt through the creature’s body and came up through the top of its shoulder as the carcass dropped to the ground before falling from the bridge to the fire below. Her claw smoked and sizzled as the last bit of the creatures blood burned away. Now looking forward, she saw that her shuriken had impaled the second creature and pinned it to the side of the rock. Still alive, screaming and flailing around uncontrollably, Lillith approached it and quickly took its head off with a deadly slash of her sword, then pulled her shuriken from the wall, causing its body to fall below with the rest. As the fire reached up to swallow the falling body, it illuminated Lillith’s armor brightly as she looked over the edge. A moment later, she could hear more of them beginning to cry out around her, having been attracted to the calls of the others. “I can’t stay here. I’ve got to keep moving,” she said, sheathing her sword and putting her shuriken away, then proceeding forward down a long rocky slope that led into a cave system. Upon entering the pitch-black caves, her system produced a warning:

(Entering enclosed space. Mobility options limited—proceed with caution_)

“Right…” Lillith concurred to herself, then switching to night vision. Proceeding forward, she heard the sound of the creatures again closing in behind her and turned to see a mass of them rapidly approaching the entrance to the cave. Taking preventive measures, she threw several caltrop to the ground and walls behind her, which embedded themselves into the surface before activating. She then turned back and began to sprint forward through the tunnels, dropping more caltrop as she went along. It wasn’t long before she could hear the explosions going off behind her—the creatures having triggered her bombs and scattering in fear. Continuing forward, she came to a small opening filled with skeletal remains scattered everywhere; she hardly had any footing through the passage as she went along. Her H.U.D. then came alive with another warning:

(Warning: Potentially hostile life signs detected within vicinity. Scans indicate canine-like physiology indicative of pack hunters. Recommend evacuating area immediately_)

“Oh no…”Lillith said to herself, then, as if on cue, she heard several low growling sounds around her; she was not alone. Hastily activating her claws and looking around through the darkness, she could not see any obvious sources where the noises where coming from, but then, small lights began to appear around her in pairs. They were low to the ground and reflected brightly through her night vision, almost blinding her. As she spun around to see the lights now encircling her, the growling noises suddenly stopped and only the feint humming sound of her claws remained. “What are-“ Lillith started to say, but then quieted herself in realization. Just then, one of the pairs of lights came upon her with incredible speed, impacting with her heavily and knocking her to the ground—crushing the scattered bones beneath her with a defined crunching sound. Lillith grunted loudly as she fought off the invisible body of the large animal-like attacker that was now on top of her growling ferociously while powerfully chewing and clawing at her face. With repeated thrusts of her claws into the side of the beast, it whimpered with a high pitch before jumping off of her and retreating. Lillith took a breath as another of the beasts then grabbed ahold of her leg and pulled her several feet along the ground with its incredible strength. She quickly kicked at the beast until finally knocking it away with her other leg while swinging her bright claws widely around her, which kept the rest of the beasts at bay and giving her a chance to come to her feet. Now breathing heavily and still surrounded, Lillith held her arms up in a defensive stance as the lights—what she now knew to be the eyes of the beasts—continued to circle her, waiting for the opportunity to strike at her. Her H.U.D. then flashed again with a notification:

(Deep tissue scan complete. Additional information available: Attacking creatures possess a genetic mutation that allows them to appear invisible to standard visual spectra. However, they emit a large heat signature that they cannot mask. Recommend using thermal optics to reveal targets_)

“Of course! Thermals!” Lillith said with optimism, then switching her vision mode to thermal spectrum. The savage looking dog-like creatures lit up brightly and Lillith’s targeting system immediately locked onto several of them at once. She counted 7 of them in total. Then, one of the dogs leapt at her from behind, but she had already been warned, immediately pivoting and crouching while unleashing a devastating uppercut that came up through the beasts head mid-flight and causing its body to dangle from its neck like a rag doll. She quickly ripped her claw from its head and pulled a shuriken, launching it around herself and creating a revolving shield. Now merely walking towards the remaining 6 creatures, they whined in pain as the shuriken continuously chipped away at their snouts from all angles, pushing them back away from her. Lillith then caught the shuriken and quickly launched it forward, striking and killing another of the beasts in front of her. Then hastily turning her attention behind her, she went on the all-out offensive, leaping over the piles of bones and coming down on yet another of the now frightened creatures with her claws. The dog’s yelp echoed through the tunnels before being silenced by Lillith’s sudden jerking motion as she withdrew her fists from its body and came again to her feet. Turning to face the remainder of the pack, she watched as two more of them wisely scrambled and ran away down the tunnels, leaving only two remaining. “Come on!” she said, taunting the demonic beasts to act. As if accepting her challenge, the two dogs barked furiously as they charged at her side by side in unison and pounced forward for the kill. Firing her thrusters for additional force, Lillith twisted through the air and let her legs fly, intercepting the beasts with one of her most devastating kicks: the side “Do Mawashi Kaiten geri” wheel kick. The impact of the kick was so strong that it completely destroyed the dog’s skeletal structures from front to back and caused them to rupture from their rears while being sent flying back, slamming into the wall several feet behind them before slowly sliding down to the ground. Lillith smoothly finished her rotation and arrived back at her feet while her thrusters wound down. She looked down at her defeated attackers, who were now quite literally lumps of disfigured flesh and shattered bone. “That should do it… Now to get out of here,” she said, deactivating her claws and switching back to night vision while tuning her system to detect any further presence of the demon dogs. Referring to the map her system had been generating as she went along, she located the connecting tunnel forward and continued on her way. After a short while, she came to the end of the cave system and back out to the seemingly endless burning hell. Deactivating her night vision and taking a deep breath as she peered through the thick waves of heat that filled the atmosphere, Lillith steeled herself, saying: “I mustn’t give up… Quan Chi and… Hasashi… They are here. I know it. I must find them.” Pushing forward with resolve, she passed by more of the towers of bodies and watched in horror as the people hanging upon them yelled out in torment. Also scattered about were beings impaled on poles, left to burn endlessly in suffering. “This is… Not right… People were never meant to suffer like this…” she said, fighting to control her emotion and stay focused. Moving forward a bit further, her system alert sounded—it had picked up something:

(Massive kinetic energy spike detected due east. Source unknown. Readings indicate a large biological mass in detected area—approach with caution_)

“A large biological mass…? That doesn’t particularly sound like Quan Chi… But whatever it is, he will be close to it,” she concluded, now heading east toward the reading. Trudging through the burning wastes, Lillith encountered several more of the bony demons along the way to her destination, but easily disposed of them without slowing her pace. Now getting close to the source of the energy spike, she came to a high rock-wall that blocked her path; but looking upward, she could see an opening near the top. She then heard the screams of more of the demons pursuing a distance behind her. “They don’t give up, do they? …Alright, time to climb,” she said while powering her thrusters. Quickly scanning the wall, her system mapped out all available footings that she could use to scale it. “That’s convenient,” she said, looking back to see the demons quickly approaching. Wasting no time, she Jumped high onto the wall and used her sharp fingers and foot mounted blades to dig in, holding her in place on the side of the rock. She looked down to see the demons rushing to the base of the wall where she had just been and pile up on each other as they reached for her unsuccessfully. Looking back upward, she hastily advanced up the large wall using the mapped footings. About half way up, she began to hear the sound of battle beyond the wall. She stopped to listen in for a moment. “What’s that!? Someone’s fighting?” she asked to herself as she continued upward. As she got closer to the top, the sounds intensified and she could now hear the grunts and battle-cries of those involved in the combat. “Wait… That sounds like…!” she cut herself off and doubled her effort up the wall, coming at last to the opening at the top. Now clear of the wall, Lillith could see the battleground ahead of her along with the conflict going on within it. “It IS you…” She said as she watched on. Her suspicion was correct: it was Raiden and Quan Chi. However, they were not fighting each other… Raiden was battling his allies—the woman in blue, Kitana, the Native American, Nightwolf, and the monk Kung Lao—some of the very warriors that she had seen him fight alongside before, while Quan Chi stood on the sidelines. Beside the battleground stood several more warriors seemingly lying in wait: Sub-Zero, Smoke, the woman in green and another unidentified woman that appeared slightly older, with long black and white hair. Something was very wrong here. “Why would Raiden attack… Unless… Quan Chi…” Lillith mumbled to herself, quickly putting the pieces together. The opponents Raiden was battling were strange, seemingly possessed and fighting against their own will. As Raiden at last defeated Kung Lao, he turned to Quan Chi and began to speak. Lillith listened in carefully:

Raiden: Curse you Quan Chi!

Quan Chi: Shao Kahn’s victory is nearly complete. Soon he will arrive in Earthrealm-

Raiden: NO! The Elder Gods cannot allow it!

Quan Chi: The Elder Gods are toothless. Your world is near destruction, yet they do not act.

(Raiden stepping toward Quan Chi)

Raiden: They must! Only through Mortal Kombat may Shao Kahn merge the realms, lest he face the judgement of the Elder Gods… (Pausing for a moment in realization of something) …Lest he face the judgement of the Elder Gods! HE must win!

Quan Chi: It is YOU who face judgment Raiden.

(The rest of the possessed warriors begin to surround Raiden)

Raiden: Thank you Quan Chi. I now know what must be done.

With his last words, Raiden stretched his hand high into the air and disappeared in a surge of lightning, leaving Quan Chi alone with his subjects in a state of perplexion. “I don’t know what that was about exactly, but I trust Raiden. Now he’s all mine… Now is MY time!” Lillith said to herself as she rushed forward to engage Quan Chi.

Chapter 14

As she rapidly approached him, Lillith prepared her body, soul and mind for the task at hand: Everything she had been through, and everything she had fought for had brought her to this place—to this moment—she would not fail. She fired her thrusters, bursting forward at speed and flipping through the air over a large pool of lava between her and the island Raiden had been fighting on only a moment earlier. Dust flew into the air and the rocky surface cracked beneath her weight as she landed to her knee in the center of the island only a short distance from Quan Chi. The possessed warriors scattered away from her, pushed back slightly from the force of her landing. As the red dust settled around her, she slowly rose to her feet and drew her eyes to Quan Chi. As he watched her suddenly land before him, Quan chi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Quan Chi! …The time has come!” she yelled out. Quan Chi continued to look on in surprise before speaking a moment later:

Quan Chi: My my… This day continues to get more interesting by the moment. I must admit, I had forgotten about you. Curious, how is it that you stand before me now, here in the Netherrealm?

Lillith: It is because my destiny calls for it—something you have no control over. Soon you will realize that you have less power and freedom than you think, sorcerer, and you cannot hide. There are forces at work here far beyond you.

Quan Chi: Hmph… Is that so? Intriguing. And what exactly is it that you intend to do here? You think you can just show up here, and what…? Threaten me? Make demands of me in my own realm?

Lillith: It matters not where we are. Wherever you go, wherever you hide, I will be a thorn in your side until I get that which I seek. But it ends here… No more running! You will release Scorpion willingly, or you will die and release him in your death. The choice is yours!

Quan Chi: Hahahaha… Ah yes, Scorpion. I remember your frivolous crusade now… Tell me, just why is it that you seek him so earnestly? Do you actually think that you can save his broken soul—the very soul he willing gave away for a chance at vengeance?

Lillith: …You could never understand the true quality of the human soul. You only possess the power to play with it like an undisciplined child. Hasashi was a man of utmost honor and integrity—traits that he will forever maintain. You may be able to take advantage of his passion for his family and clan for a time, but you can never extinguish the strength of his heart, and that is what I intend to prove this day.

Quan Chi: Ridiculous… You think you know him, but he is no mere man anymore—with heart or decency. He now resides here in the Netherrealm of his own choosing, and it has twisted him beyond recognition. But it makes no difference; you will not last long enough to confirm it for yourself. (Quan Chi raises his hand and the remaining possessed warriors begin to surround Lillith from behind) …It is past time you realized the imprudence of your little quest: You are quite outmatched, girl.

Lillith: Fool! Fighters without a will of their own cannot hope to stand up to me! You will never be able to harness their full potential. Such is the extent of your power; your deception betrays you!

Quan Chi: …We shall see. Sub-Zero, Smoke, Jade… Eliminate this intruder.

Lillith’s system immediately warned her of an impending attack from behind: Cyber Sub-Zero was charging a blast of ice. Aware of her attacker’s lack of control over themselves, Lillith opted not to use deadly force against them. As the stream of ice flew from Sub-Zero’s hands, she jumped up and flipped back in reaction, clearing the ice and flying over the top of him, grasping him by the shoulders while in the air and landing behind him. Using her momentum, she then placed her foot on his lower back and rolled backward, dragging him down and tossing him through the air behind her. As she quickly rose up, thick smoke filled the air in front of her and she braced herself as Smoke then appeared through it with a flurry of punches and kicks. Blocking and evading the majority of his attacks, Lillith’s system again warned her of danger from behind. Locking Smoke’s arm momentarily, she threw a hard back side kick that landed against Jade, who had been approaching with her staff. Having knocked Jade back, Lillith delivered a hard round kick to Smokes stomach and twisted his arm, flipping him down to the ground. Then releasing his arm, she flipped sideways through the air, evading just as Jade’s glaive flew through the air toward her. She instantly advanced on Jade, launching several powerful punches and kicks that the green clad Edenian struggled to deal with. Taking a step back and swinging her staff wide in front of her, Jade’s vision suddenly went dark as Lillith had slipped under the staff and connected with a hard upward elbow strike, knocking her out cold. As Jade fell to her back, Lillith quickly turned to see Sub-Zero rapidly approaching along the ground with a sliding kick. She promptly flipped forward in place, coming down with a crushing axe kick that landed heavily against Sub-Zero’s body, forcing him down to the ground. Both fighters now on their backs, they kipped up to their feet in unison and immediately began to exchange strikes at an incredible pace. Lillith landed a hard right punch against his face that turned him and knocked him off balance, but was then hit in the right shoulder with a blast of ice as he quickly turned back and launched it from his chest. Lillith’s right arm instantly froze in place at the shoulder as Sub-Zero again pressed his attack. Defending with only one arm, she eventually found an opening and slipped low under his strikes, springing up to the left with a powerful sideswipe kick that slammed into his head and dropped him down for the final time. Arriving smoothly back on her feet, Lillith then powered her mechanical arm through the ice, breaking through it and freeing the arm once more. With Jade and Sub-Zero subdued, only Smoke remained. Lillith glanced over to see that Quan Chi was still standing to the side watching the battle with a frustrated expression on his face. She then focused again on Smoke, who was utilizing his power to stealthily drift around the battleground. He solidified a short distance in front of her and quickly hurled a small ball of smoke at her feet that caught her off guard and enveloped her, then whisking her several feet up into the air. Now free falling back down to the ground, she was intercepted by a swift kick in the back delivered by Smoke, which launched her forward and down to her chest. Coming up to her hands and knees, Smoke then appeared in front of her in another dense cloud and came down upon her with a strong punch. Lillith deflected the attack with her arm at the last second and rolled away to the side, springing back upward from her hands and turning again to face him. Smoke again began to phaze out into a grey cloud, but Lillith immediately dashed forward with her thrusters and reached deep into the cloud, pulling him out before he could evade her. Gripping him by the neck, she spun around, lifting him over her shoulder in an arc, and slammed him down to the ground hard, then followed through with a debilitating strike to his head with her opposite hand that knocked him unconscious.

Lillith released her grip on Smoke’s neck and set him down softly, then rose to her feet and turned to Quan Chi. “Sindel!” he called out, just before Lillith was pulled back down to the ground by a large tendril of silver and black hair that had wrapped around her waist. Now looking up from the ground, Lillith saw the older woman from before coming down on her head with her sharp heel. Responding instantly, Lillith moved her head aside as the woman’s foot came down and impacted with the ground so hard that it cracked the rock beneath it. In another split second, Lillith rolled back onto her shoulders and thrusted up with her legs, striking Sindel in the chin and knocking her down. Lillith used her hands to spring back to her feet, then turned to face the downed woman. Sindel leaned up and snarled at her before letting out a deafening scream that sent shockwaves toward her. As the debilitating noise hit Lillith, she placed her hands over her head and fell to one knee, moaning in pain. Still screaming continuously, Sindel rose to her feet and advanced toward her. Fighting through the splitting pain in her head, Lillith raised her eyes to see the woman approaching. Thinking quickly, she cut all audio input into her helmet, which silenced the noise and caused the pain to subside, however, she continued to act as though she was debilitated, drawing Sindel in close for an unexpected surprise. As expected, the woman had assumed victory and stood over her, raising her fist slowly and charging a powerful strike, but then, Lillith suddenly rose up, knocking her hand away and grabbing her by the collar of her uniform, then forcefully pulling her into a devastating head-butt to her skull that sent her reeling back and down to the ground. The hit had been so severe that Sindel’s body immediately phazed away on the ground. Reactivating her audio receptors, Lillith turned again to face Quan Chi, who now had his back to her, his head raised upward. A moment passed, then he spoke:

Quan Chi: Your persistence annoys me, girl.

Lillith: I haven’t even gotten started. Your puppets are gone sorcerer. It’s just you and me now!

Quan Chi: No… You have yet to face my strongest asset… If experiencing for yourself how twisted he has become will end this foolishness… Then so be it. Ironic that you will die at the hands of the very man you wished to save.

Quan Chi then lifted his left hand into the air and a green aura surrounded it. Just then, in a blaze of fire, Scorpion appeared before Lillith. She gasped as the moment she had been waiting for had finally come: She had made contact with Hasashi. Kneeling down on one knee, his head hung low with his eyes to the ground, Scorpion spoke out addressing Quan Chi:

Scorpion: What is it now that you call on me yet again!? Can you not handle the thunder god on your own!?

Quan Chi: Raiden is gone, Scorpion. However, there is yet another for you to deal with now. This intruder has come to kill you. I trust you can handle this, yes? Do not disappoint me again.

Quan Chi then opened a portal and stepped through it—the portal closing thereafter. Scorpion slowly looked up and drew his eyes upon Lillith, a figure he had never seen before. Standing to his feet, he clenched his fists tightly and spoke:

Scorpion: Who else has come to die!?

(So caught up in emotion, Lillith struggled to produce words for a moment)

Lillith: Scorpion, Wait!… I… I am called Lillith… I’ve been searching for you for a long time…

Scorpion: For what purpose!? I don’t know you! In searching for me, you will find only pain!

(Scorpion’s tone becomes more aggressive)

Lillith: I anticipated as much… But you must listen to me! I am not your enemy, and I did not come here to fight you. I came here to free you.

Scorpion: Free me!? Don’t speak as if you know of me or my circumstances!

Lillith: But I do! In fact, I know you very intimately, Hanzo Hasashi.

(Scorpion’s eyes widen)

Scorpion: Who are you to call me by that name!?

Lillith: I… I am the closest thing you have left of a family or clan… My name… Is Sayuri Hikari, of the Shoga-Ryu clan…

(Scorpion’s fists relax as he takes a step back in shock)

Scorpion: What!?… The… The Shoga-Ryu… You can’t be… No! YOU LIE!!!

Lillith: I speak the truth Hasashi! By the time we found out that the Shirai-Ryu had been destroyed, we were too late to intervene… But you were not among the dead. That is why I was sent out to find you!

Scorpion: But… The Shoga-Ryu… They were destroyed along with my clan! …Quan Chi showed me everything! All shinobi in Japan were dead!!! You cannot be real!

(Scorpion clenches his fists again and becomes highly angered)

Lillith: QUAN CHI LIES HASASHI! He has lied to you all along! I am what is real! The shinobi remain! The Shoga-Ryu has maintained its secrecy, hidden from those who seek to destroy us. It was our purpose… You must try to remember!

(Scorpion holds his head in his hands and growls in frustration for several moments)

Scorpion: NO!!!! It is another trick! I will not be subjected to this madness any further! YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR DECEPTION!!!

Lillith gasped as Scorpion’s body erupted in flames, then rushed towards her in a blaze of fury. “Hasashi NO!” she cried out, only to be silenced by Scorpion’s ramming charge that sent her flying back and into the wall behind her. She groaned in pain and caught her breath before looking up to see a kunai flying through the air toward her at speed. Moving away just in time, the blade penetrated the wall where her head had been and became lodged in place. As she got up, the entire battleground became encircled in flames and Scorpion had disappeared from sight. Frantically looking around for him, she turned around and was immediately struck hard in the face by his fist, then kicked several times and launched back yet again. His strength and speed was incredible; Lillith’s system could not maintain a lock on his position. It was as if the burning realm itself was strengthening him. She slid along the ground in a daze, but sprang upward just as she heard the sound of a chain loosing near her. Sure enough, as she trained her eyes back upon him, Scorpion hurled a chained kunai toward her. With almost no time to react, she made a chance reach and caught the chain in her left hand, then attempting to pull it toward her to no avail. Just then a burst of flame came forth from Scorpion and immediately traveled along the length of the chain toward Lillith, reaching and burning her, causing her to drop the sizzling chain. She yelled out as she could feel the heat on her left hand through her gauntlet. Now rapidly appearing and disappearing in pillars of flame, Scorpion continued to attack relentlessly, striking Lillith time and again from all directions. “Hasashiiii!!!!” she yelled out at the top of her lungs, desperate for him to come to his senses and cease his assault. Unwilling to use her weapons against him, she struggled to evade him and was struck in the back again, which brought her down to her knees. The heat in the battleground suddenly rose and her system began to warn her of overheating. Now breathing heavily, she held her chest tightly as Scorpion’s voice then spoke out around her, as if from the flames themselves: “Defend yourself or don’t; you will die here just the same!” Just then Lillith quickly pulled her sword and held it tightly in front of her as Scorpion instantly appeared through the fire ahead of her and came down with his own blades against it. He growled with rage as he pressed his weight down on her. “That’s more like it! Make it interesting for me!” he said. “You’re making a mistake Hasashi! We are allies! I will not fight you!” Lillith exclaimed loudly. “All of my allies are dead!” he responded, as he applied even more pressure. Lillith yielded for a split second to throw Scorpion off balance, then lunged forward with a head-butt that connected and sent him disappearing back into the flames. She immediately stood up and took a deep breath; she could feel the heat around her penetrating into her armor now. She held her blade closely to her body in defense as she carefully looked around, then calling out to Scorpion over the crackling sound of the blaze around her: “Please listen to me! Quan Chi has blinded you Hasashi! He uses your own pain against you, to control you! He knows that you are a threat—that you could defeat him you ever knew the truth! That is why he tries so hard to conceal it from you. This place is not your home… You know it to be true! You belong with your people… You can rebuild your clan! The Shoga-Ryu will help you! Join me to defeat Quan Chi. Free yourself of his treachery!” As she finished her words, the temperature around her rose even higher and scorpions suffering voice cried out in great pain: “I… I saw their bodies! …Kana… Jubei… I SAW THEM!…” As he spoke, the entire area began to shake violently, as if in response to his rage. Then, in a white hot burst of flame, he materialized in front of her, his body shaking with rage and his eyes beaming toward her, streams of fire flowing from them like tears. “YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND MY PAIN!” he yelled out, as he again lunged forward at Lillith with his swords, this time with even greater force and anger. Lillith grunted as she grounded herself and absorbed his fearsome attack against her own blade yet again. Holding him back with all of her might, she continued to try to reason with him, bringing herself to tears: “Maybe not completely! But… The man I loved was taken from me too! … I… I was forced to kill him myself! …I DO know the feeling of loss Hasashi! I do know such pain!” Her voice wavered as the tears streamed down her face inside her helmet at the thought of Yoshitaka. Scorpion’s brow unfurrowed slightly in response to her words and his pressure let up for a moment before he responded: “If that is true, then you should know why I am here… There is nothing left for me but vengeance!” His pressure against her resumed as she countered his words: “No! Vengeance will not bring your family back Hasashi, nor will it honor them! Only by releasing your anger, freeing yourself of guilt and rebuilding their legacy can you honor them as they deserve!” Flames began to burst from Scorpions body and burn against her, prompting her warning alarm to sound loudly as the intense heat was now causing damage to her armor. “YOU!!!” Scorpion yelled out as an immense wave of energy came forth from him, overpowering Lillith and knocking her to her back on the ground. Kicking her sword away, Scorpion was instantly upon her neck with his blades, just as he had been with Kenshi so long ago. As he prepared to end her life, Lillith held her arm up toward him, her hand spread open. He paused and watched as she slowly lowered her arm and removed her helmet, revealing her exhausted sweat and tear soaked face staring up at him. “Hasashi… It was you who once told me… That I was special… That I would make a difference. You told me… Never forget my honor… Do you remember? …I’ve never forgotten it…” she passionately told him, as she prepared for what may have been her last moments. In shock from seeing her face and hearing her words, Scorpion’s tense stance and furrowed brow again loosened, the flames around him subsided, and his swords slowly fell away from her neck and back to his sides. As the scorching heat around them dissipated, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then responding: “Yes… I remember now… Granddaughter of Hikari Yamino…” He dropped his blades to the ground and fell to his knees beside Lillith, again opening his eyes to look upon her.

Scorpion: “Is it true? …Do the shinobi truly still exist?

Lillith: It is so…

(Scorpion looks away, again closing his eyes)

Scorpion: …Then… I am no longer alone… (His words came as if a great burden had left him)

(Lillith places her hand on his arm)

Lillith: You never were… General Hasashi…

Scorpion looked over at her again and took her hand, rising to his feet and lifting her up as well. “Perhaps now you understand the meaning of my words to you so long ago,” he said to her, then kneeling down to pick up her helmet. He examined it intently before commenting: “Years have I been separated from the shinobi… It appears as though many things have changed in that time,” he said, as he handed Lillith the helmet. Taking it into her hands, she knelt down to collect her sword, then responded: “Some things perhaps, but not all. We will forever be who we are and fight for what we believe in.” She then slipped her blade back in its sheath. Looking her in the eye, Scorpion nodded his head, but then looked down to the ground. “Sayuri, I would like to rebuild my clan, but Quan Chi… His power is… It is strong here. I know not how to escape him yet, but I swear to you, I will not rest until he has paid for what he has done,” he said with fierce determination, then picking up his swords and holding them tightly in his hands. “He is coward, hiding behind others whom he forces to do his dirty work. He presumes immunity, but he is only another finite sorcerer with too much power in his hands. He can and WILL be stopped Hasashi, and you will be free once more,” Lillith encouraged him. Scorpion was filled with resolve. “Thank you… Sayuri. I—” he was speaking, but was abruptly cut off as the entire area began to shake intensely and a deep rumbling sound echoed throughout the air. Scorpion and Lillith both came to defense as they searched around themselves for the source of the event. Lillith quickly put her helmet on and Scorpion loosed his chain in his right hand. Then, another sound, like a horrible roar, came forth from the wide lake of fire near the island they were standing on. Turning their attention toward the lava, the shaking stopped and the noise subsided… All was quiet… But then, Lillith’s H.U.D. lit up red:

(WARNING: MASSIVE THREAT DETECTED IN THE VICINITY. TAKE EVASIVE ACTION IMMEDIATELY_)

“What!?” she said in a startle, as an immense eruption exploded from the center of the lava, and a gigantic three headed horned beast leapt forth out of it and onto the island. Lillith and Scorpion both jumped back apart to avoid the creature’s impact, which flung dust, rock and huge globs of boiling lava in every direction. “Sayuri! It’s the Cerberus! Stay back!” Scorpion yelled out, immediately hurling several kunai up at the beast’s central head. The creature shrugged off the tiny knives, contorted angrily, and let out a long and terrible cry from all three heads in unison, covering a wide area in front of it with spit and saliva before taking a deep breath with its singular body, then exhaling and bellowing smoke and flames from each massive set of jaws. “Kuso! This can’t be real! …So this must be the “large biological mass” I was warned about,” Lillith exclaimed as she watched Scorpion charge furiously at the beast, which was at least 40 feet tall. “Hasashi!” she called out, then activating her claws, firing her thrusters and rushing in along with him. Now approaching the beast from both sides, Lillith and Scorpion leapt up together and came down upon the sides of the beast. Lillith held on tightly as she repeatedly plunged her plasma claws and foot blades deep into its thick muscle tissue, while Scorpion used his swords to climb up to the top of the creature. In reaction to its attackers, the Cerberus screamed and reared up, standing to its hind legs for a moment, then slamming back down to the ground with incredible force that knocked Lillith back down to the ground. Scorpion however, remained atop the demonic beast and made his way to its front. On the ground, Lillith quickly collected herself, drew a shuriken from her armor, and again advanced against Cerberus. As she sprinted towards it, she targeted all three heads and launched the shuriken, which proceeded to cut into the snouts of the left and center heads as it traveled, but was stopped and became lodged into the large plate like horn on the side of the right head. Continuing to move, she slashed violently at its rear feet with her claws to keep it focused on her and give Scorpion time. The Cerberus was now growling ferociously, spewing fire from its heads and spinning around while stomping the ground in an attempt to crush Lillith. She used her thrusters to quickly dash around the island and evade its attacks, moving back in close to continue her assault at every opportunity. Now at the front of the beast, Scorpion thrust his chained kunai deep into the back of the neck of the right head, then jammed it in even deeper with his foot before leaping off the right side of the creature with chain in hand and swinging around the head in a full rotation, landing back atop the neck where he had just been. Now having wrapped the right neck with his chain, Scorpion began to yell out intently as his entire body, along with the chain in his hands, erupted in flames. He pulled back on the burning chain with all his might, pulling it against the creature’s neck and causing the right head to snap back with a deep gurgling sound, its jaws wide open and its tongue hung from the side of its mouth. Continuing to burn hotter and hotter, Scorpion finally let out an incredible scream from his diaphragm that caused his flames to burn bright white. Lillith watched as the creature’s other two heads yelped in response to the searing pain, and then, the neck of the right head gave way under the immense pressure, and Scorpion’s chain slid right through the entire tube of muscle and bone, completely severing the head from the body. As the head fell to the ground with a great crash, the Cerberus stumbled back and fell down to its stomach in extreme agony. Scorpion retracted his chain and flipped forward off of the beast, landing near the severed head. He then turned to face the creature again and continued to pester it with knife strikes. Lillith continued her attacks against its hind legs, now having done significant damage. As she made her way around to the back of the Cerberus, she was nearly struck by its large bony tail, but evaded low, well in time to claw her way up the demon’s backside and quickly coming atop the base of the tail. Drawing her sword, she slashed heavily against the thick bone base, cutting into it deeply with each successive strike, then thrusting a caltrop bomb down into the exposed core of the tail. As she pulled her hand free, the now two headed giant rose up angrily, clawing and spewing flame toward Scorpion in the front, which he evaded and held off with slashes and knife strikes of his own. Lillith turned toward the front of the Cerberus and called out below: “Hasashi! My shuriken!” Scorpion jumped back and took a moment to scan around him, quickly locating the shuriken lodged into the side of the fallen head’s horn. He immediately made his way to it and pulled it out, then continued to defend himself against the furious monster. Lillith then thrust her blade deep into the beasts spine and fired her thrusters at full power, sprinting along the length of the demonic creature—her sword slicing through its back bone like butter as she went along. As she neared the front of the Cerberus, she called out to Scorpion below, prompting him to hurl the shuriken up to intercept her. Coming to the top of the center head and between its long horns, she held out her arm and caught the flying shuriken just as she leapt off of the head high into the air with a gainer back flip and as the caltrop bomb in the beast’s tail exploded, severing it from the body. As she arced through the air upside down in front of the Cerberus, she fired only one of her thrusters, which sent her into a rapidly spinning whirl. Now falling downward, she waited briefly to attain optimum speed, then released the shuriken toward the left head with such force that it easily blew through its skull and brain, coming out the other side as quickly as it had entered. She then immediately fired her other thruster to slow her spin as she completed her vertical rotation and came down to the ground hard on one knee, creating a small crater beneath her. Before standing, she stretched out her arm and caught her shuriken as it returned to her. Then standing upright, she turned again to face the mortally wounded giant; its left head now hung lifeless, leaving only the center head alive. The ground shook as the huge monster reeled in pain. She moved to Scorpion and they looked at each other briefly. “Get ready… It’s time to finish this!” he said as he loosed a chain in each of his hands. He began to swing them with mighty force, staring intently at the now squirming dog-like giant. With supernatural strength, Scorpion hurled both bladed chains at the center head, which flew through the air incredibly quickly and struck its eyes with a loud cracking sound, hooking in deep. “NOW!” he said, as he pulled with all of his power and might. Now blinded, The Cerberus cried out in torment as it fought against his pull. Scorpion began to slide along the ground and Lillith grabbed the chains, applying full strength and helping him to stay planted and drag the mighty beast down. They both yelled out fiercely as they began to move it bit by bit. “GET OVER HERE!!!” Scorpion belted out, as the demon came crashing down to its forearms, and finally to its head with a heavy impact that seemed to shake the entire realm. Then, in union, both warriors dropped the chains, pulled their swords and rushed the downed head, leaping upward and coming down upon it with immensely powerful downward thrusts that easily crushed and cracked it apart. The Cerberus let out a final dying whimper as its life faded away—fighting together, they had brought the terror down.

However, their victory was cut short, as something else transpired at that very moment. The realm again began to shake violently, but this time the very atmosphere and gravity was affected. Pulling their swords and coming off of the felled Cerberus, the warriors braced themselves for whatever might come next. “Hasashi! What’s going on!?… Are there two of these beasts!?” Lillith yelled out, her voice barely breaking through the loud rumble all around them. “No! I do not know what this is! The Cerberus has been killed. This should not be happening!” Scorpion replied. The shaking became more intense and the dust and rock around them began to lift off of the ground and float through the air. They looked on in confusion as to what was happening around them. Just then, Lillith’s system produced several warning messages, causing her H.U.D. to again flash red:

Warning: Unstable gravity shift detected. Evacuate area immediately_

Warning: Radical atmospheric shift detected. Evacuate area immediately_

Warning: Unknown rift in physical space detected. Evacuate area immediately_

Warning: Time based anomaly detected. Evacuate area immediately_

“Whatever this is, it isn’t good! We’re in danger Hasashi! We must-“ Lillith is cut off before she can finish as she is swept off of her feet and whisked high into the air. “Sayuri!” Scorpion yells out, then thrusting one of his chains into the ground as an anchor and leaping upward in an attempt to catch her. Now also suspended in the air, he grabbed ahold of her arm and they both continued to ascend upward. The shaking intensified and they began to feel an incredible pull against their bodies from the inside out. “Hasashi!” Lillith called out, attempting to fire her thrusters with her remaining energy stores to close the distance between them. She fought the upward draw briefly, but as her thrusters died out she again began to ascend. Scorpion reached the end of his long chain, gripping it tightly with his right arm and holding Lillith’s arm with his left as hard as he could. The upward force was extremely strong, causing a great amount of pain for him. “Sayuri! There’s… Something above you!” he yelled out. Lillith looked up to see a strange anomaly, like a tear in reality itself that was drawing them into itself. It was like a portal, but distinctly different… Within the tear she saw a merging of realms, Earthrealm and Outworld, and images of Raiden, Shao Kahn and large majestic blue beings atop a rooftop, along with bright yellow shining lights around them. She then saw flashes of the warriors and locations that she had seen in her dream in Outworld. “Sayuri! I’m losing my grip!!!” Scorpion yelled up to her. The rift began to open wider and consumed Lillith’s legs, causing them to disappear within it. She looked back down at Scorpion and called down to him: “Hasashi! …I don’t know where I’m going, but wherever it is, it is my destiny! I trust my fate! You must save yourself now! You have so much left to do here!” Scorpion’s grip loosened and he nearly lost her, but barely grabbed her hand and held on for a few moments more. The rift consumed more of her body, leaving only her shoulders, arm and head revealed through it. She continued to speak with her last moments: “…Don’t worry! Whatever happens, I will find you again! I will never give up on you! You already know what you must do! Now it’s your time! Take back your life Hasashi, and when we meet again, it will be as clan-mates!” Just as she finished her words, Scorpion lost his grip and she faded away through the rift. “NO!!!!! SAYURI!!!” he yelled out as pain surged through his upper body. Continuing to hold on to his chain tightly, he felt as if his right arm was about to rip from his shoulder. He cried out in fury as he held on for a few moments more, when just then, the rumbling and the deafening sound stopped, and the rift instantly closed, causing everything that had been drawn up, including Scorpion, to descend downward. Nearly rendered unconscious due to the pain he had endured, he fell through the air like a doll and came down hard on the side of his head. He was knocked out instantly, alive, but injured gravely. As the last of the rocks fell to the ground around him and the body of the Cerberus drifted back into the lake of fire, the Netherrealm returned to normality, as if it had never happened…

Lillith and Scorpion

Chapter 15

Darkness consumed Lillith. She could see nothing with her eyes, feel nothing with her body. Only her mind remained active as she fell deeper into the seemingly endless ocean of black around her, paralyzed and trapped within her own head. “Where… Where am I…?” she thought, unable to speak the words from her mouth. Then, with a blur and a whooshing sound, her mind felt as though it was separated from her body and thrust into the past, as if she was reliving several key moments that had defined her destiny and led her to this point. She could only watch and listen, as if spectating from the outside of a glass wall…:

Sayuri: …I know father! And I believe you… Really I do… But I’m not afraid. I’ve tried to fit in with the other girls, doing the things they do and talking about the things they talk about… I just… It’s hard for me for some reason… I…

Kenichiro: Sayuri… Perhaps you just need more time… You’re still so young; there’s no need to rush into anything! Besides, you’ve already shown great potential in the machine arts. You’ve even shown me a thing or two!

Sayuri: Oh father… Don’t be silly. Everything I know is because of you…

Kenichiro: Hahaha… I may have guided you along in some areas, but your successes have been your own; you’ve only yourself to thank… You have a great future in the field of mechanics by my side, and it’s completely safe, so there is no need for you to consider anything else. Few people are so fortunate to have such guidance along their path at such a young age, you know.

Sayuri: Sigh… I love and respect you father, and I appreciate what you do… Truly… But… I’ve made up my mind. Danger or no danger, difficult or not, I’ve already chosen in my heart: I want to be shinobi, like grandpa.

Kenichiro: …Hmph… Incredible… So much like your mother… She was right…

Sayuri: …Mother??

Kenichiro: Yes… Sayuri, did you know… that she was shinobi?

Sayuri: What!? …Mother was… Shinobi!? But she never…

Kenichiro: Yes, of the highest grade. She had been a chief instructor in the teachings of stealth and combat in her time under the code. She endured many missions… Too many… But of course she never said anything to you about it… After she had you, she knew her life… her purpose… had changed. She simply saw no need to look back. She loved you unconditionally; more than anything in the whole world… She couldn’t bear the thought of you unwillingly going through the things she had gone through, seeing the things she had seen… She didn’t want that life to be forced upon you, as it had been upon her. So… We decided not to guide you on the path of such a life of hardship… We would not deny you the path, but you would have to seek it on your own. And now it seems, you have done just that…

Sayuri: Father! I… I had no idea… I swear…

Kenichiro: I know that… And so did she… Before she died, she told me… She already knew…

Sayuri: What? …What did she say?

Kenichiro: She told me that you were a fighter, too much like herself… That no matter what I did, or how hard I would try to convince you otherwise, you would not budge on your feeling—you would seek to become shinobi.

Sayuri: …Mother… I have felt her so often…

Kenichiro: Of that I have no doubt. And so… My precious daughter… If this is what you truly wish… To become shinobi, like your mother… Like your grandfather… To accept all that the life will bring, to endure the pain, to abide by all that the code stands for, and to make every sacrifice necessary for your clan and for all people in need… Then so be it… As your father, who loves you, I support you in your decision, as does your mother—she is with you even now.

Sayuri: Father… I do… I accept. I swear to you that I will bring honor to our family and clan… Mother’s legacy will live on…

Kenichiro: I know… I will speak of this matter with grandpa in the morning. For now, rest darling… You will need it for what is to come.

Sayuri: Thank you… Father… I love you.

Kenichiro: I love you too, Sayuri… Goodnight…

---

The memory faded away, and another took its place as Lillith felt a surge run through her body:

---

 Yoshitaka: Sayu-chan hurry up! Come on, it’s this way!

Sayuri: W-wait! Yoshi… Where are we going!?

Yoshitaka: Haha… Don’t think so much! I want to show you something. You’ll see soon enough…

Sayuri: But it’s so late Yoshi! …Won’t we get in trouble!?

Yoshitaka: Don’t worry! Master Yamino is meeting with the elders tonight… They’ll never even know we were gone.

Sayuri: Well… If you say so.

Yoshitaka: Just trust me! Come on, it’s not much further up now.

Yoshitaka: Watch your step there… Well, here we are! So, what do you think!?

Sayuri: It’s… It’s beautiful, Yoshi!

Yoshitaka: Isn’t it? I come up here whenever I can… It’s my secret! …Well… Now it’s our secret, right? Haha…  Look, you can see the entire village from here… There’s your house, and there’s mine! See?

Sayuri: I see it!

Yoshitaka: And look over there to the north, between those mountains… Do you see the lights?

Sayuri: Ah… Yes! What is that?

Yoshitaka: That’s the Shirai-Ryu, our sister clan. You can only see them when the sun goes down and they light their lanterns. They’re not hidden like we are, so they don’t conceal the light.

Sayuri: I see… I’ve heard so much about them, but I’ve never been there before…

Yoshitaka: Mmm… Yes… Unfortunately, not many Shoga-Ryu are permitted to travel there freely due to our code of secrecy… But I’m sure you will get to go someday. The Shirai-Ryu is home to many incredible shinobi… I have learned much in the short amount of time I’ve been able to spend there.

Sayuri: Amazing… I would like to learn from them too… I still have so much to learn…

Yoshitaka: Sayu-chan, you’re always so hard on yourself, you know that? Maybe you don’t realize it, but you are gifted in so many ways. I’ve watched you ever since we first met… You’re not like the others. There is something different about you. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I know for sure it’s there.

Sayuri: Haha… You’re just saying that to make me smile, aren’t you?

Yoshitaka: Of course not! I’m really serious! …I mean… Just think about it. You are one of the few women in our clan to become shinobi. But beyond that, master Yamino won’t even let you spar with the other girls! He only allows you to spar with the men. That’s pretty impressive I would say!

Sayuri: Hmm… I suppose… I never really thought about it much. I just thought he wanted to push me harder.

Yoshitaka: Hahaha… Sure, but as you consistently give even the men a hard time, I think it’s less to push you and more to push them!

Sayuri: Yoshi! …But I know they’ve been going easy on me…

Yoshitaka: Oh is that what they tell you!? …HAHAHA! I’ll have to remember that one!

Sayuri: Oh Yoshi…

Yoshitaka: Hehe… Anyway, I’m really proud of you Sayuri. And… I’m really glad we can be on the same side… Together…

Sayuri: …I feel the same… Yoshi… Thank you…

Yoshitaka: Mm… Well, I’m sure you want to head back now…

Sayuri: N-no, I… I’d like to stay here with you… Just a little while longer…

Yoshitaka: …Okay… I’d like that too…

---

And again, it faded away. Lillith’s body began to twitch slightly… Then yet another memory came:

---

Nomori: Ow! Ugh… Again… That’s very impressive Sayuri… I thought I had you this time… I guess not. Haha…

Yoshitaka: Awww… Don’t beat yourself up over it Nomori! None of us can get by her technique. Try as I might, I can’t even figure out how she does it…

Sayuri: Oh come on guys, you can get by it! … It’s just… I guess… My size gives me an advantage…

Yoshitaka: No no! Now you’re making excuses for us! …The fact is… You’re talented, and surprisingly strong. The results don’t lie!

Nomori: You can say that again… Just where did you learn to fight like that anyway!?

Sayuri: …I think I got it from my mother… But… I’m nowhere near as strong as you Yoshi… And Nomori, I could never hope to track or jump as high or as far as you…

Yoshitaka: Well, even if that were true, and I’m not saying it is, pure strength, tracking or jumping capability don’t do much good against a target that is so fast and precise… It takes very little strength to do a whole lot of work if you’re precise enough, and that Sayu-chan, is but one of your many gifts.

Nomori: Mm… Well I have to agree.

Sayuri: …I’m learning so much from you both… If I am succeeding, it is only because of your faith in me… I don’t know if I could do it without your help… Thank you…

Nomori: There’s no need to thank us. We’re a team; only as strong as the weakest link within it. It benefits the entire clan when we grow together. Now… Just don’t keep getting better so quickly, or I fear I’ll never catch up!

Yoshitaka: Hahahaha! Well Nomori, I’m afraid there’s not much that she can do about her own natural talents. You can’t stop a gift like that short. We’ll just have to work on our own strengths and catch up with her that way… That’s how we’ll become the best that we can be! …But… I do need to learn your shuriken technique Sayu-chan!

Sayuri: Hahaha… Yeah!

Yoshitaka: Okay! My turn! And don’t hold back!

Sayuri: I won’t!

---

Like the others, the memory concluded and led into another… Lillith could feel her body responding a bit more as it filled her mind:

---

 Sayuri: …Oh no… Where are they!? …Did I put them somewhere? …This isn’t good… Grandpa won’t be happy… Father! …Father, there you are.

Kenichiro: Ah, Good morning Sayuri.

Sayuri: Good morning… Um, have you seen my-

Kenichiro: Mmm…? You mean these?

Sayuri: Ah! Yes! But… How did they get over here?

Kenichiro: Well, I’m not sure you realized, but you had nearly worn through the strapping on your claws, and the blades weren’t fairing much better… I honestly don’t think they would have lasted through another day. So, I figured it was well past time for a little upgrade!

Sayuri: Oh!? …Actually, they were starting to feel a bit loose…

Kenichiro: Yes. After all, you’ve been using a standard set since your training began, and while they are adjustable, they were originally designed in men’s sizes… You’ve been wearing them so tightly that the strapping wore out.

Sayuri: I see… So, you replaced the straps?

Kenichiro: Haha… Well actually I went a step further than that. I’ve redesigned them from the ground up Sayuri. Look here: these are not even the same pair. I’ve built a new set entirely.

Sayuri: Wow! Father… You made these for me?

Kenichiro: That’s right! They fit only you. Try them on! I think you’ll find them to be quite comfortable.

Sayuri: Incredible! They’re so lightweight… And it’s like I can’t even feel them on my arms!

Kenichiro: That was the intention. The wrist plating and strapping has been reinforced too, and the blades themselves were machined from iridium. They’re quite sharp and durable.

Sayuri: Father, you’re amazing…

Kenichiro: Oh but I didn’t stop there; I made you a new sword too. Here it is!

Sayuri: …You made a new sword!?

Kenichiro: Indeed! I knew you would like something a little more fashioned to your tastes. It has been made with exacting specifications. A slight curve has been added to the blade and its length has been extended slightly. Also, the hilt is formed with a reverse grip to accommodate your back-handed style.

Sayuri: It’s… Incredible… Father…

Kenichiro: The Hikari family name has been etched into your new weapons; they are the only of their kind. I am certain that they will serve you well.

Sayuri: I can’t thank you enough for this…

Kenichiro: Sayuri, you don’t need to thank me. I’m your father, and this is what I do. This is the path that I have chosen, and it is my duty and my pleasure to help you in every way I can, just as you help to safeguard our village. Now, I’m sure grandpa will be looking for you soon. You’d best get going.

Sayuri: Yes… Father, I will use your gifts with pride. They will indeed serve their purpose well.

Kenichiro: Undoubtedly… Goodbye for now my dear.

---

A tear began to fall from Lillith’s eye and she could feel her heart start to beat heavily as the next memory came:

---

(Crash and splash of water)

Sayuri: Ahhh!!! It’s… Heavy, Grandfa-… Master… I’m sorry… I dropped it again…

Master Yamino: Pick it up and refill it Sayuri. Go back and do it again, now!

Sayuri: Yes, right away…

Master Yamino: Do not think about the jug of water upon your back or the pain in your legs child. Become one with the very environment around you. Focus on your task as if everything depended upon it: It is not to carry the water, but to move to your destination undetected. Your body is merely a tool for your will. Lead soundly with your mind and your body will follow, doing whatever it must to accommodate your will. If your will is broken, as will be your body.

Sayuri: I understand… I think I can…

Master Yamino: If you only think you can, then you do not yet understand.

Sayuri: I see…

Master Yamino: Remember child: Your will guides your mind guides your body.

Sayuri: My will guides my mind guides my body… Okay… Here we go…

(Lillith silently completes her trial)

Sayuri: W-wow! Master, it worked! I did it…

Master Yamino: …Well done Sayuri. You have passed this trial. Continue your exercises until dusk, then rest. There will be another tomorrow.

Sayuri: Yes… Grandpa, I’m sorry that I’ve become a burden to you… That father asked you to train me… Thank you for believing in me.

Master Yamino: My belief in you has very little to do with your progress. You are special my granddaughter. You may not understand this yet, but when a person aligns with their destiny, something extraordinary happens. So few experience it because they know not what their destiny holds and they fail to align with it within their lives. But you… You were meant to be shinobi; born for it in fact. I am certain of it, as are you I believe. But that is not the only reason you are special: it is what you will accomplish as shinobi that will define you. Your mother knew it, and I know it. That is why, child, you could never be a burden to me… It is a privilege to train you…

---

The memory faded and Lillith took a deep audible breath as she recalled Yamino’s words to her. Then the next memory came:

---

Master Yamino: Nomori Matsumoto, Yoshitaka Ichimura, Sayuri Hikari… Step forward.

Nomori, Yoshitaka, Sayuri: Yes!

Master Yamino: The Shoga-Ryu has assembled here this day to honor and offer to the three of you a new rank and status within the clan. You have proven yourselves time and again through your devotion and services to the clan, and to the people of Miruga village surrounding it. Your training has been extensive and your responsibilities heavy, yet you have maintained your dedication in every regard. You have accomplished the missions that have been assigned to you thus far, and have done so without compromise. Therefore, it is with great honor that I announce: should you accept, from this day forth, you will be known as the first of the Shoga-Ryu Kouritsuteki elite shinobi. The new rank is well earned and is to be respected, but also comes with even greater responsibility. As Kouritsuteki, the tasks that are ahead of you will undoubtedly be the most challenging yet. And so I ask: Do you, Nomori Matsumoto, accept the rank of Kouritsuteki, and all that it brings?

Nomori: Yes Grand Master! I accept and vow to uphold the honor of the Shoga-Ryu as Kouritsuteki.

Master Yamino: Then it is given unto you… You will henceforth be called “Washi” – The Eagle, as you are one with the air, no target unseen… Yoshitaka Ichimura, do you accept the rank of Kouritsuteki?

Yoshitaka: I do Grand Master. It will be my honor and privilege to serve the Shoga-Ryu as Kouritsuteki.

Master Yamino: Then it is given unto you… You will henceforth be called “Tora” – The Tiger, as you are one with the ground; your strikes as fearsome as a beast… Sayuri Hikari, do you accept the rank of Kouritsuteki?

Sayuri: …I humbly accept, only should the people of Miruga village and my fellow members of the Shoga-Ryu clan truly deem me worthy of such a position… I leave it in their hands.

Master Yamino: People of Miruga, do you find Sayuri Hikari to be worthy of the rank of Kouritsuteki? Do you trust her to defend you with her life if need be, and to uphold your honor?

People of Miruga Village: We do.

Master Yamino: Further more! Do you find Sayuri Hikari to be worthy of leading the Kouritsuteki elite?

People of Miruga Village: We do.

Master Yamino: Nomori, Yoshitaka, what say you of her proposed position?

Nomori & Yoshitaka: …We do not object.

Master Yamino: The people and the clan have spoken: Sayuri Hikari, you are given the rank of Kouritsuteki, and are appointed leader from this day forward. You are henceforth called “Lillith” – as you are as deadly as you are unseen – one with the very night. May you lead with your honor, strength, and stealth…

Sayuri: It will be as you say…

Master Yamino: It is done! People of Miruga, members of Shoga-Ryu, I give you, the Kouritsuteki elite shinobi. (Cheering)

---

Lillith’s fists clenched and she groaned as the feeling in her muscles began to return. But yet another memory came into her mind:

---

Sayuri Lillith: …Their capability is still unknown to us. We won’t know until we see them for ourselves…

Yoshitaka Tora: Right… I just hope we don’t have to find out what they can do the hard way…

Nomori Washi: Don’t worry…I’ll be able to see them from a mile away. We should be able to track their positions and movements ahead of time to determine the best plan of action. We’ll be in and out before they even know what hit them.

Sayuri Lillith: …Nomori, I’m really glad that we have you with us… Your talents will help us very much.

Nomori Washi: Mmm, it’s my pleasure, of course. We’re a team after all. Truly, there’s no other people I’d rather be with now.

Yoshitaka Tora: I feel the same. This will be our toughest mission yet… There is a lot of uncertainties, but I know we can do it together.

Sayuri, Nomori: Together.

Master Yamino: Kouritsuteki, come to attention.

Sayuri, Yoshitaka, Nomori: Yes sir!

Master Yamino: The elders have concluded our meeting. We will present the objectives of your mission along with additional information that pertains to it. Kenichiro will now speak.

Kenichiro: Kouritsuteki shinobi, as you know, our scout has informed us that the Lin-Kuei are now producing cybernetic enhancements for their members that appear to increase their offensive and defensive capability considerably. It is our theory that these enhancements may have been what gave the Lin-Kuei attackers the upper hand against the unsuspecting Shirai-Ryu. Your mission is to infiltrate the known Lin-Kuei base of operations to the northwest in an effort to subdue and capture a singular cyborg and bring it back to the Shoga-Ryu for study and back engineering. The scout’s detailed description of the cyborgs has allowed us to study their design and estimate their effectiveness. They are considered to be highly dangerous and indeed pose a threat to our clan. However, in our review of the details, we believe that we may have also been able to determine weaknesses within their design. Primarily, our scout noted several instances in which the cyborgs routinely accessed a command terminal by jacking into it with a transfer cable linked to the back of their necks. Our estimated renderings of the cyborg design indicate that this area is most likely the main control unit that sends power and commands through to its central processor. If our assumptions are correct, this control unit is key to the cyborgs main operation, and if compromised or damaged enough, it could render them inoperable. Therefore, it is advised that this area be your primary target. When not exposed, the control unit is normally concealed behind an access panel—you will know it by its distinctive triangular shape. Additionally, it was noted that the cyborgs armor plating appeared thinner in areas surrounding the joints and abdomen. These areas should be targeted in an effort to subdue the machines. Maintaining stealth and precision is your foremost objective in this mission. The cyborgs more than likely possess advanced ocular and sensory capability, including a thermal visual spectrum, though we can only speculate as to their full potential. As such, we are taking full precautions—you will be wearing our most advanced insolated sneaking suits, which will mask your heat signatures and dampen your noise production by 50%. But be aware, the suits are only lightly armored and will not protect you from environmental conditions for an extended period of time. In any case, you are to remain well back of your targets until you can ascertain an optimal opportunity to disable, capture and secure one of the cyborgs for transport back to the Shoga-Ryu. Open conflict with multiple targets is not advised and could jeopardize the mission, though it may occur due to unforeseen variables. In such a case, your team is to regroup and retreat immediately—your safety is of the utmost importance. Lillith will be leading the mission and will direct her team according to circumstance. Any questions?

Yoshitaka Tora: Sir, how much resistance will there be?

Kenichiro: Our scout counted twelve cyborg units within the compound, with possibly more inside the central structures. He noted that six were set to perimeter scouting duty, broken into two groups of three—one group on each side of the compound. The others were set to guard the inner facility. The scouts will be your best available targets, as there will be no need to enter the inner compound. However, engaging three units at once is ill advised—you will need to find a way to reduce the level of danger before attempting capture.

Nomori Washi: What kind of weather and visibility can we expect?

Kenichiro: We are within the winter season and the snow is falling heavily. You can expect your visibility to be challenged, though there is a chance of a clearing. Additionally, it is particularly cold in the northern regions of Japan as of late, and as it is advised that you carry out your mission under the cover of darkness, it will be even more so. This mission will undoubtedly test you physically as much as it will mentally. On the plus side however, the snow will quickly mask your tracks, aiding you in your stealth. Lillith, any questions or concerns?

Sayuri Lillith: …No sir. My team and I are ready. We will succeed.

Master Yamino: We are confident you will do just that. The fate of our clan may rest on this mission. That is why we have entrusted it to our best.

Sayuri Lillith: Yes sir. We will prepare at once.

Master Yamino: Very good. You are dismissed.

Sayuri Lillith: Tora, Washi, please prepare the equipment. I will be along shortly.

Yoshitaka, Nomori: Yes ma’am.

Sayuri Lillith: …Father… I-

Kenichiro: It’s okay Sayuri… You don’t have to say anything… I know you will complete the mission, and I know I will see you again when you return. That’s all that needs to be said.

Sayuri Lillith: …Yes… I love you.

Kenichiro: I love you too… Now go. Your team is waiting…

As the final memory blurred away, Lillith took a deep gasping breath and her eyes shot open. Her vision was blurred and her body felt stiff. Struggling to breathe, she called out with what little air she had in her lungs: “Father… Mother… I’m alive… I feel you… Please… Give me strength…” As her vision slowly sharpened, she attempted to look around from within her helmet. She found herself suspended in a vortex of light and darkness. There was only a very thin presence of air, and the temperature was fluctuating between hot and cold rapidly. Her vision was warped and all around her there were countless fractured shapes, like broken glass shards filled with different periods of time—they were as windows into other realities. Within these windows she could see ancient warriors fighting past wars and future technology and places unlike anything she knew, and everything in between. Fractured sound leaked through each of the windows, creating a loud unintelligible drone of noises and voices around her. She slowly fought to control her challenged body, which was held in limbo between all of the realities around her. Pushing with all of the strength she could muster, she managed to shift her weight and move little by little toward the nearest window, but it was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling. She felt as though she weighed hundreds of pounds, yet at the same time weighed nothing at all. Her armor was barely responding to her commands, seemingly disrupted within the strange dimension. Her system was not able to determine where, or when, she was. As she let out cries of effort, her voice echoed endlessly, as if bouncing between the shards repeatedly. Finally nearing the window, she peered into it and saw a dark forest in an unknown time on the other side. She attempted to scan it, but her system could not respond accordingly—her H.U.D. scrambled with random passages and garbled technical information. She cleared her H.U.D. and slowly advanced forward toward the glass-like window, reaching forward with her trembling hand. As she made contact with it, her hand pressed against the window and she pushed forward against it slightly, creating cracks within the barrier. She then began to feel a pull through the cracks; she was being drawn into it. With no other options, she yelled out and pressed against it with all of her force, shattering the barrier and sending her flying forward through the gate and into the unknown…

Chapter 16

Lillith’s vision and hearing again faded as she slipped unconscious in response to the heavy burden placed on her body from passing through the time rift and back into reality. She suddenly awoke again to the feeling of a shocking surge flowing through her. She took a gasp of heavy air, filling her empty lungs and coughing heavily as her body reacted to her unknown condition. She felt weak, as though she had awoken from a long slumber, and that her lungs and muscles had been unused in a state of suspension for an extended period of time. Her eyes still closed, she began to move slightly as feeling returned to her body, and then, as her hearing was slowly restored, she began to hear a beeping sound within her helmet. Opening her eyes, she saw only a blur of red. Closing them again briefly to sharpen her vision, it then came into focus. Her system was displaying a critical health warning and log of events on her H.U.D.:

(Warning: 00:00 hours – Heart rate and oxygen levels decreasing to dangerous levels. Brain damage imminent_

00:01 hours – Heart rate flat lined. Resuscitation procedure commencing_

00:01 hours – Sending pulse… No response.

00:01 hours – Sending Pulse… No response.

00:02 hours – Increasing voltage_

00:02 hours – Sending Pulse….. Succeeded.

00:03 hours – Heartbeat counting… Stable. Proceeding with full resuscitation functions_

00:03 hours – Brain, nervous and muscular system stimulation commencing_

00:03 hours – Re-hydration commencing_)

Lillith’s heart had slowed and she had stopped breathing, coming very near death. However, her suit had protected her, resuscitating her just before it was too late and massaging her nervous system, heart and lungs. It was continuing to stimulate her muscles and brain to restore strength and cognition while keeping her warm and protected from outside elements. It was also re-hydrating her by absorbing water molecules in the air around her. Her suit itself was in good condition, having fully repaired itself and restored its energy levels within the time she had spent travelling through the strange dimensional warp. Happily heeding her suit’s advice, she remained stationary for some time while her body rejuvenated. She was lying on the ground within some weedy brush, partly propped up against a large brittle tree. In front of her, she could see that the white ground had been disturbed in a trail leading up to where she was lying, but it began abruptly, with no apparent origin. “…What happened… Where am I?” she again wondered, taking a look around only to find herself in a dark and dense forest covered in snow and ice; the ground was littered with broken branches and ugly looking weeds protruding from the snow topped ground. A chilly breeze was blowing and Snowflakes were steadily falling all around her and onto the trees, all of which looked dead and contained little color or signs of life… This place was incredibly uninviting; bitterly cold and barren. She looked down and gently wiped away a buildup of snow on her leg, revealing that her armor was coated in the Cerberus’ blood. Then, as if all of her memory returned to her at once, she gasped, her eyes widened and she called out: “…Hasashi!?” …Where are you? …We were… Ughh…” She coughed and groaned as pain was still coursing through her; she was suffering from a severe headache. Scouring her own mind in an effort to recall the details of what had transpired up this point, she was reminded of the severe heat of the Netherrealm that she had last remembered feeling; it was a great contrast to what she was now exposed to, yet a similar sense of dread permeated this place too. Continuing to stare at the blood on her armor, more and more of her memory returned to her. “Hasashi… Wherever you are now… Don’t give up… You must keep fighting. I will find you again” she promised. Determined to stay alive, she checked her system for details on her location, but it was struggling to pinpoint where exactly she was. Rapidly searching through its data-base, it could not find any match to her current whereabouts, nor could it identify the current time:

(Searching database for location match…

No matches found. Unable to determine current location_

Attempting to identify current time…

Unable to identify current time_

Global Positioning System obstructed in current location. Recommend proceeding to clearing for accurate reading_)

“That figures… Well, I guess it’s time to move” Lillith said to herself, now breathing regularly. She moved her body, pulling herself off of the tree that she had become partially frozen to, and slowly picked herself up. Coming up to her feet, the buildup of snow on her armor fell to the ground as she took another moment to stabilize herself and catch her balance. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stretched tall, clenching her fists and tightening her muscles. She vented her thrusters and checked her on-board weapon systems, then drew her sword and examined it carefully for damage or dysfunction. Finding that her equipment had made it through the recent events with little to no damage, a renewed sense of gratitude and security came over her. “Father… How many times have you saved my life? …Again I thank you…” she said from her heart. “Okay… Now to find that clearing” she then determined. Activating her cloaking device, she had returned to full capability.

She began to move through the dead woods, keeping an eye up to the dark sky in an effort to find a clearing through the trees. As she travelled, she came upon several dead bodies strewn about and buried within the snow, many of which looked to have been engaged in a bloody war of some sort. Some were wearing suits of armor and still had weapons such as swords or spears strapped to, or stuck into, their bodies. Most of them looked very old and decayed. “Whatever happened here, it was a long time ago…” Lillith commented to herself. Trudging forward through the trees and over the thick blanket of snow, she came at last to an opening in the tree line. Leaping up to the top of one of the trees, she looked up at the star filled night sky and set her system to track her position based on constellation formations. As her system performed deep scans into the sky, it revealed startling information:

(Scans indicate constellation formation matches that of Outworld_

Comparing star patterns and atmospheric conditions to last known recorded status_

Comparison complete: Results indicate last known accurate recording to have occurred twenty five years ago_)

“No, it can’t be… Twenty five years… I’ve been gone for… Twenty five…” Lillith’s wavering voice muttered in disbelief. She could not believe what she was reading: twenty five years had passed since she last stepped foot in Outworld. She turned her head away from the stars and back down to the forest around her, saying: “What could have happened in all of this lost time… What of my family and clan? …What of Hasashi? …Are they even still alive in this time?” She closed her eyes and turned her head back up to the sky before again speaking out: “Raiden… You knew I would survive and come to this point… You knew that I would be here now, didn’t you? …Surely there must be a reason. Please help me… I’m here, and I can still fight. Show me what to do!” she called out with urgency. As she finished her plea, a short moment passed before deep clouds began to build high above her, and with a loud crack, a mighty bright bolt of lightning came forth from them, stretching across the night sky and striking down a distance away from her. The wind then began to flow in the direction that the bolt had struck down, pushing the falling snow along with it and seemingly guiding her along a path through the trees. Having witnessed this, Lillith prepared herself, saying: “I know not what to expect ahead of me, but I know that my mission is not yet complete, and that I am not alone. Thank you for guiding me Raiden.” She then came down from the tree and began to follow the flow of the snowflakes. As she continued forward through the woods, the temperature rose slightly and the snow began to transition into rain, falling softly at first, but progressively heavier, until finally becoming an intense downpour. Pushing on in the same direction for a while, she eventually reached the end of the trees, which opened up into a rocky plain with a mountain range not far ahead. The rain continued to fall down as she advanced toward the bolt’s supposed striking point. Checking her system for any additional input, it confirmed that she was heading toward the site of a recent intense release of energy that was indicative of a powerful lightning strike. Coming to the mountainous area, her surroundings became purely rock and she started to move upward. Using her thrusters to aid her, she followed an inclining path up until she reached a steep wall. Now climbing straight up through the heavy rainfall, she used a shuriken in each hand to dig deeply into the rock face and pull herself up one step at a time. After having climbed for several minutes, she perched herself atop a thick branch that was growing out of the side of the rock and rested for a moment, looking down to see that she was now hundreds of feet from the ground below. Looking outward, she could see the dead woods that she had come from, now a great distance away. “I’m getting close… It must have struck just atop this mountain!” she said as she turned to resume her climb. Now using the jutting branches and rocks protruding from the wall along with her thrusters, she advanced quickly and nearly effortlessly up toward the peak—she had become quite proficient in her climbing skills during her journey. Finally, she could go no higher; she had reached the wide and flat peak of the mountain. Collecting herself while clearing the rain drops from her lenses and looking forward, she saw a man dressed in white standing along the edge on the opposite side of the peak. “Could it be?” she thought to herself, cautiously approaching him from behind. As she got close enough to make out some detail in his clothing, she confirmed it: it appeared to be Raiden. Now standing only ten feet away from him, he turned his head to look straight at her. The rain ceased to relent and continued to fall heavily around them, dripping in large drops from the brim of his signature sugegasa. As she stared into his white eyes, Lillith was suddenly overcome with a feeling of déjà vu, recalling this very moment as if she had been here before. She looked on in confusion, as Raiden then began to speak:

Raiden: Do not be confused Sayuri, you have not been here before. However, you have seen this moment before. I know this because it was I who showed it to you, to prepare you for what was ahead of you… I have been waiting for you for a long time, and finally, you have come.

(Lillith took a deep breath as she tried to make sense of her feeling of both understanding and confusion at the same time)

Lillith: Raiden… You’ve been watching me… Guiding me… Protecting me even. Is it true? Did you know I would come here, twenty five years into the future!?

Raiden: Indeed. I have been watching you move through your life, subtly guiding you along your path, until now. But every choice you have made thus far has been your own. Every battle you have won, you have won of your own strength and will. I assisted you through the Netherrealm because there was no other way. Your destiny stretches beyond time itself, and it fell to me to ensure that you saw it through to now.

Lillith: Then tell me… Why have I come here, to this time…?

Raiden: You are here now because you are needed for what is to come in this time. You are to be instrumental in the ongoing battle against evil and in the saving of countless souls.

Lillith: But why me Raiden!? Why is it I who was chosen for this destiny? Are there not stronger, more capable warriors than I?

Raiden: Why not you, Sayuri Hikari? True heroes are not made or determined by strength or capability… They are born of such qualities. The universe chooses those who would protect it and keep balance within itself, and from your very birth, you were one of those chosen. Whether you think so or not, you are among such protectors; it is your destiny. You may have been born of a different time, but from the beginning, fighting here and now was always a part of your path.

Lillith: Then there are others like me? Are they fighting here too?

Raiden: That is correct. You are now a part of a group of individuals who are fighting to save Earthrealm and beyond it. It is a battle that has been waged for a millennia, yet only now has it reached its most critical point yet. That is why I have sought to bring together the most capable of Earth’s defenders, including yourself.

Lillith: I understand… But… What of my own mission!?  …Or even my own desires!? And what about my family and clan? …Are they no longer relevant because of this great battle!?

Raiden: On the contrary Sayuri; your family and clan are your purpose for fighting. They always have been, and always will be. However, this battle will determine their fates as well. So you see, the time and place of your involvement may have changed, but the purpose has not.

Lillith: Th-They’re alive!?

Raiden: Your clan still stands proudly to this day, led by your father.

Lillith: …Father!

Raiden: But you must understand the danger they are in Sayuri. Should we succeed, you will get your opportunity to go home… But if we fail, there will be no home to go back to.

Lillith: I… I understand…

Raiden: Sayuri, take heart. We are strong. We can win.

Lillith: …I believe it…

Raiden: Then why do you look so down?

Lillith: …Oh… It’s just… I never properly got to say goodbye to my grandfather…

Raiden: …Hmm… Perhaps not… But he had words for you, Sayuri.

Lillith: Wha? …What do you mean?

Raiden: …Close your eyes and open your mind; I’m going to show you something. Ten years ago, I was called to a mountain top in Earthrealm; in your country of Japan no less. At the time, I had been embroiled in the Netherrealm war, and rarely did I break away from my duties. But this call… It was unlike anything else… It came from a soul with so much love and compassion inside of it, I could not help but answer it. Upon arriving at the mountain, I was met by an elderly man who called himself Yamino Hikari. He was steadfast with his words to me, and to you:

(Lillith’s mind was transported to the moment in which Raiden was speaking of. She could see it transpire in front of her)

Master Yamino: Lord Raiden… You’ve come… Thank you.

Raiden: Yes. For what reason have you called me?

Master Yamino: My name is Yamino Hikari… I would not presume to waste your time Thunder God; I will be brief… I have not seen or heard from my granddaughter Sayuri in fifteen years; not since she left on her fateful mission to Outworld so long ago… However, I believe that she still lives. I do not know where, or by what means she lives, but I can feel her spirit, and it thrives. That is why I have called upon you Raiden… I beg of you, please find her… Help her, wherever she is, to follow her path and fulfil her destiny. She is special, as I’m sure you will see… But now I am at the end of my life, and I will not get a chance to see her again on this plain. When you find her, please tell her this for me: My dear Sayuri… Unfortunately my body is beginning to fail and I’m afraid I can no longer wait for your return to tell you how I feel… I am so proud of you. I never doubted you or feared for your life, and I still don’t. You are the future of our family and clan, and I believe in you. Go forth and finish the work you set out to do and beyond it, and when you finally return home, we will welcome you with celebration and open arms… Goodbye my sweet… I will always love you…

Raiden: …Because of your great love and compassion, I will indeed seek her out and will see your message delivered to her.

Master Yamino: Thank you… That is all I could ask for… Raiden, Sayuri is… Important. She is not just a girl. Her destiny is great… She doubts herself at times, but she is capable of many great deeds. She will change the future… I swear it.

Raiden: …I feel truth in your words, Yamino, and they compel me. Perhaps she will play a part in what is to come.

Master Yamino: I have no doubt of it… Again, I thank you.

Raiden: You needn’t thank me. I believe this meeting was meant to happen.

Master Yamino: Now, I can rest in peace…

Raiden: Yes… Goodbye Yamino… May you enjoy your life in Heaven…

(The vision faded away and Lillith’s mind returned again to the rainy mountain top beside Raiden)

Lillith: Grandpa! …Oh Grandpa….

(Lillith falls to her hands and knees in tears)

Raiden: Sayuri… It was your grandfather who told me of you. If it were not for his call that day, I would not have known.

Lillith: I see… He believed in me so much. Even after so long, he never stopped believing.

Raiden: That’s right, and now I too have seen the value of his belief.

(Lillith looks up and slowly stands to her feet)

Lillith: Raiden… How did you find me?

Raiden: It was no easy task. Despite my best efforts, you were nowhere to be found. I searched between realms and within every known faction for any trace of you, to no avail… It wasn’t until I searched back through time itself that I finally found you… I used all of my ability to look as far back as I could, and when I first saw you, I knew that Yamino’s claims had been true. As I watched you go from an energetic young girl and blossom into a strong, determined woman, you continued to prove his words true every step of the way. When you were nearly killed by the Lin-Kuei cyborg, you showed your resolve and strength of will, springing back from the brink even stronger than you were before. Then the day came when you would step out into the world unknown and begin your journey. With no doubts as to your importance, it was from that moment that I began to watch over you ever so carefully. However, my power was very limited from so far into the future; I could not physically contact you, nor could I risk jeopardizing the timeline further. I could only wait and send you visions of my time to prepare you. I also contacted you when you made your way out of the Lin-Kuei facility.

Lillith: Yes… I remember…

Raiden: When the time came for you to enter the Netherrealm, that is when I used nearly all of my power to shield you from what would have been your certain demise. As you continued on your quest to contact Scorpion, you had been unaware of the happenings between Outworld and Earthrealm at the time. Shao Kahn had been attempting to merge the realms, and nearly managed to succeed, but the Elder Gods and my past self intervened, stopping him and causing the realms to again split apart. However, the splitting of the realms caused a great unforeseen disturbance throughout all of the realms. As your destiny would have it, a tear in space time ruptured open within the Netherrealm, and drew you into it. I now knew why you had never returned to your family and clan, but I also now knew where you were. You were suspended within time itself, neither alive nor dead. From the moment I found out what had happened to you, I began to build my energy in hopes of one day freeing you of your imprisonment. It took many years, but finally I gained the ability to peer into the rift of time itself; it is there that I found you once more. Using all of the power that I had gathered over the years, I sent forth a mighty surge to wake you from your never-ending slumber, uncertain that it would even work. But much to my great relief you began to move. I guided you here, to this time, so that we could meet now. As you came back into reality, I heard you call my name; that is when I knew it had been a success… Twenty five long years have passed since you were swept into the rift that day… And now, here we stand.

Lillith: I… I don’t know what to say… Had you not saved me…

Raiden: Yes… I fear you would have remained in stasis forever.

Lillith: Raiden, thank you for trusting my grandfather… Thank you for coming for me.

Raiden: You are welcome Sayuri, but I merely played my part in your destiny. And now, you will continue to play your part in mine.

Lillith: Yes… I’m ready to fight by your side. For my family, for my clan, and for all of the souls in danger, I will do my part.

Raiden: I know you must have many more questions, and I will answer them in time. For now, let us go. We’ve much to do… Take my hand.

(Lillith took Raiden’s hand, and with a bright flash of lightning they disappeared into the night)

To be Kontinued in Mortal Kombat X…

Lillith’s Version 2 Mecha-Armor (Alt Costume 1), and the Shoga-Ryu Clan Symbol.

Lillith’s Non-Mecha Alt Costume 1

Lillith’s “Shoga-Ryu Assault Armor” Non-Mecha Alt Costume 2

Lillith without her armor.
(Art by Mario Wibisono)