The Old Scholar

Moments, before Leilani left the Jade Palace, Crown Princess Takana stumbled upon a group of soldiers who were escorting out another group of palace guards who were beaten and bloodied. The canopy of trees above had prevented her from seeing this when the airship landed and she was furious seeing her own palace guards in chains and stripped of their armor now worn by those imposters who were carting them out. 

"Get her!" One of the guards shouted, with the rest following the order and rushing the Crown Princess, swords and spears drawn. 

"Impotent fools" Takana stated as she tucked in her arms and then stomped onto the ground, her fists covered in swirling storms of fire and ice

The first guard that rushed her thrust his sword forward, with Takana simply shifting her body to dodge the thrust and then replying with a punch that shattered the skull of the soldier, first melting away his face and then freezing it over, all before he fell onto his back. This display made the other soldiers stop in their tracks as one of their best fighters had died to a punch that not only melted away everything but the cracked skull but also froze that skull before it crashed into bits when it hit the ground. 

"You will all die here. I will not be taking any prisoners" Takana stated as she switched to another stance before disappearing in the blink of an eye

{!} 

The soldiers panicked as they tried to see where she was, the first one to be struck down was a soldier to the far left wielding a spear, as Takana appeared behind in the blink of an eye and then punched right through his ribcage with his heart in her blood-soaked hand out the other side. Takana quickly froze the heart before shattering it in her hands, the sight of which scared the living hell out of the other soldiers who saw their comrade get struck down and then rushed forward to avenge him. Moving quickly, Takana threw the corpse of the soldier at the enemy, knocking down two soldiers while the third failed to land a slash on her and was given a barrage of punches to his torso for his troubles. Takana's fists were bathed in flames and each punch blew away the thick armor plating, the clothes, and then the skin underneath, she finished the soldier off with a palm strike to his chin that was infused with ice magic, exploding his head in a shower of ice. 

The two soldiers from earlier were able to push off the corpse and get up but they could barely do anything before Takana closed in like lightning and then decapitated them with a swift slash from her knife hand strike, with the heads flying off and turning into ice blocks before shattering upon the cobblestone ground. 

"HIEEEE!" The remaining soldier shouted as he dropped his weapon and ran past the captive guards

He didn't get very far as Takana kicked up the spear of one of the dead soldiers and then kicked it at the man running, impaling him through his chest and watching as he collapsed onto the floor in a heap. 

"Status Report. Where is the Emperor?" Takana asked as she moved towards the palace guards on the ground, freeing them by freezing their chains and then breaking them with ease 

"We do not know Your Highness. The last we know is that he was with his advisors inside the Jade Palace itself. We were ambushed before we could do anything, why they have not killed us when they killed some of our other brethren is something even I do not know" One of the guards replied to her as he massaged his wrists and stood up 

"Find and free other survivors around the palace grounds and then meet me back in the palace proper. Send some runners out to warn about the ongoing coup...by the way, do you know who is doing this?" Takana asked as she looked down at the palace guard 

"It was General Zhong Your Highness, he is working with his sister Concubine Zhuong and the Third Prince" The guard replied, looking down to see the Crown Princess' fists tightening 

"Those Huang Family rats!" Takana shouted, with her shout creating a little shockwave that reverberated around the area. 

"I will be heading to the palace now, do as I ordered you to. Stay safe" She stated before running off faster than the guards could track,

"Should...should we go with her?" One of the younger guards asked as he turned to the older ones

"No, we will only be getting in her way. Do as she ordered little one, it is best to listen to the orders of the strongest person the Jade Palace has known" The older guard answered him as they looted off the weapons and armor they could from the corpses before moving out

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Inside the Jade Palace proper, inside the main meeting hall was Han Xiaolin, the current Jade Emperor and younger brother to Crown Princess Takana. He had short black hair and a pair of reading glasses on him at all times, and while he was not as tall as his towering older sister, he was still pretty tall at 5'9 and he also had a built body thanks to years dedicated to martial arts, magic and other things needed for him to be the Jade Emperor. But instead of the image of an all-powerful emperor who is unmatched in wit and skill, the young Han was on the ground near the throne, his body battered and bruised and slightly bloodied but alive. The meeting for today was one that was to discuss the current relationship the Jade Empire had with the rest of the continent but he did not even see his younger stepbrother, the Third Prince Liu Huang, betray him right here and now. Although Han had put up a fight, he was severely outmatched and was now on the ground next to his throne, with his stepbrother using him as a footstool. The rest of the administrators who were loyal to Han and had come for the meeting were now either dead, dying, or wounded on the floor below the steps leading to the throne. 

"Kekekeke. You were foolish dear brother. To think you really deserve the throne after our dear father had passed...how stupid could you get?" Liu Huang mocked him as he looked down on him 

The Third Prince was a handsome man by all accounts, with a smile that could bewitch most men and women and with a way of words that could turn even the sternest of heads his way. His green eyes were akin to that of a serpent, coupled with his glossy black hair that flowed down his head and in the bun he tied it in, it completed his look alongside his well-built body as he too had undergone most of the same training that Han had gone through but he practiced more just for this moment when he could finally seize what he saw was rightfully his. 

"You...will not get away with this" Han coughed up as blood trickled down the corner of his mouth 

"Oh my foolish brother, if you think our sister will come saving you, you are horribly mistaken. I have ensured that she is nowhere near us right now. By all accounts, she is either still in the Golden Fire Sect or is in the Jade Library, she will never reach you here in time" Liu spat back at him, a devilishly satisfied smirk on his face as he planted his foot down on Han's chest a bit harder, causing the Jade Emperor to cough up blood 

"Your Excellency. I have just received word that an airship belonging to the Crown Princess arrived moments ago" A soldier who appeared from the shadows stated, one of Liu's Shadowguards as they were called 

{!} 

"What?!" Why was I not informed of this?!" Liu shouted as he turned to the female Shadowguard 

"I...I am sorry Your Excellency, we failed to receive any report from the outer patrols, we sent one of our own to check and they saw the airship" The Shadowguard replied, some fear in her voice as she looked down at the ground instead of Liu Huang

"Hehehe....sEEMS....that she is here after all....you are going to die here Liu....you and the rest of you rabid dogs!" Han shouted before Liu kicked him in anger down the flight of stairs, with Han barely living by the point he crashed onto the ground 

"Send out all of our guards! I want her dead! Shadowguards with me! We are getting-" 

{!} 

Just then, the main door to the main hall exploded, sending splinters flying in all directions and dousing the place in smoke. 

"Defend the Third Prince-" A soldier shouted before suddenly being silenced in the smoke. 

Liu's Shadowguards formed a defensive crescent in front of him as they could hear the screams of soldiers around the room dying and bodies hitting the floor. The Third Prince himself saw three bodies slam into the upper left wall, with the bodies either being scorched to hell or shattering into millions of pieces as they were turned into ice. 

"So....it's just you here Liu" Takana's voice came from the smoke

"Sh...show yourself coward! Fight me face to face!" 

"Oh I intend to" 

{!} 

Liu and his Shadowguards looked to his back right and before they could do anything, Takana decapitated all of his guards with one knife hand slash before kneeing the Third Prince in the gut and then landing a sidekick that sent him tumbling down the stairs. Once he crashed onto the floor, he landed next to the dismembered corpse of a soldier who had the spear impaled into his face through his mouth, making the Third Prince flinch as he quickly crawled away from the corpse. 

The smoke in the room then cleared and Liu could see that Han was back and sitting on the throne albeit still looking weaker despite Takana using some healing magic to stabilize his vital internal organs and to clean and seal up his open wounds to make sure he didn't bleed to death. 

"You came...." Han said weekly as he looked at her 

"I'm glad I made it in time" Takana told him as she glanced at him briefly before the siblings looked back at the Third Prince on the ground beneath them 

"You...you weren't supposed to be here! I made sure that you were not going to be here!" Liu shouted as he got to his feet

"Mhmm, how did that work out for you?" Takana joked as she began to slowly descend the steps to kick his ass, her fists and feet igniting with swirling ice and fire energy 

"Grrr! Whatever! I shall kill you here and now and then finish off Han! DIEEE!" Liu shouted as he went into his fighting stance and charged at Takana

Takana quickly went into her own and she easily blocked the numerous kicks and punches that Liu fired away at her, her nonchalant expression making the Third Prince furious as he was putting everything he had into killing the woman before him. He tried to attack with a backhanded fist but Takana simply leaned back and out of its way before replying with her own knee strike that landed on his gut which drove the air out of him and sent him stumbling back, leaving him open to a barrage of punches that struck all over his torso, breaking his bones and turning his flesh purple from the brute force being laid upon him.

Liu did his absolute best as he unleashed everything in his martial arts and magical arsenal, coating his fists and feet in blue flames that Takana met with her icy ones, whenever he tried to land a blow, Takana would block it with ease. They continued this exchange around the room for a good few minutes as Takana wanted her stepbrother to feel helpless before her, with her landing blows on him that made him grunt and gasp in pain, such as a triple kick combo that struck his abdomen, the side of his ribcage and then his face that sent him crashing down to the ground before quickly getting back up, the pain still stinging in his body as he tried to go back on his doomed offensive. 

He was able to deflect a punch and then tried to reply with a roundhouse kick but Takana simply moved in closer and landed a palm strike to his chest that sent him flying into one of the pillars in the room, making him fall down onto his knees, making him cough up a puddle of blood, the iron taste stinging his mouth. 

"You....you are a monster in human form...." He cursed as he looked up at her, his defiant gaze meeting the cold one she was giving him 

"I know I am...and all I see is a coward who chooses to backstab his family" Takana told him, her voice cold and unforgiving 

"The throne is mine! I am the rightful Jade Emperor!" Liu shouted, before falling back down on all fours as he began coughing up more blood 

"I'll just end you here and now" Takana stated as she readied her right hand in a knife-hand formation to decapitate him 

{!} 

But before she could, a chain with a blade attached to its end flew through the air and aimed at Takana who caught it without much problem. She looked away from the dying Third Prince in front of her and saw a large and fat man dressed in armor holding the other end of the chain, he was about 5'5 from the distance she was standing from, the rest of his armor blocked out the rest of his features and he was in front of a large group of soldiers. Beside him was a woman of intoxicating beauty, her voluptuous, curvaceous, alluring, and well-endowed form encased in a purple robe that highlighted the cleavage of her large breasts and with the same green eyes of the Third Prince dying before her, it immediately clicked in Takana's mind on who these people were. 

"Ah, General Zhong and Concubine Zhuong, I was wondering when you two would show up" Takana stated as her grip on the chain tightened 

"I suggest stopping right there Crown Princess" Zhong stated as he looked at her, his eyes narrowing as he got ready to tug on the chain 

"Right! You wouldn't kill your own brother now would you!?" Concubine Zhuong added as she took a step forward 

"Mothe-" Was all Third Prince Liu got out before his head rolled off his body, turning into ice before Takana crushed it with her foot, leaving the soldiers, the General and the Concubine speechless as the latter fell onto her knees 

"I believe you fail to recognize the situation...Third Prince Liu is no longer my family, anyone who dares try to kill my brother is no longer family, including you Concubine" Takana stated as she looked at them and turned her body to fully face them 

"You....you bitch! You will die for what you have done!!" Concubine Zhuong shouted as she rushed forward 

"Zhuo! Wait-" Zhong shouted but it was far too late 

{!} 

With a powerful pull, Takana ripped the chain weapon out of Zhong's hands and into hers. With a quick flourish, she then used it against the charging concubine, throwing the chain that wrapped around Zhuong's neck before pulling her in close quicker than anyone could react. Once she was close enough, Takana drove the blade at the end of the chain into Zhuong's heart, with the concubine trickling blood down the corners of her mouth as she stared at the unmoving and cold Takana before dying and falling to the floor. 

"Zhuoo!!!" Zhong shouted in grief and rage as he saw his sister die

"Don't worry General...it's your turn now" Takana said as she looked at him 

{!} 

With barely enough time to react, Zhong raised his arms in an X block that tanked the punch fired off by Takana, his eyes wide as he didn't even see the Crown Princess move a muscle, were it not for his military training he would have died right then and there. His braces buckled and exploded as he was sent flying off and across the courtyard leading into the Jade Palace, the soldiers who stood behind him now facing the Crown Princess themselves.

{!}

But before they could even react, Takana fired off an ice spell that created ice spikes that burst forth from the ground once she landed on her feet from the punch. The spikes were so quick that all of the soldiers were impaled either through the chest, abdomen, chin, or even through their faces. All of them were unable to even scream before they died. 

Zhong slowly got up as he was recovering from the crash, and once he did, he saw Takana standing before him, her cold and unreadable expression sending shivers down his spine.

"You arrogant bitch!" He shouted as he attacked her 

He fired off a combo of punches that Takana dodged and blocked with ease, replying with a pair of her own that struck him in the gut and then across his face, making him stumble back. He roared as he lunged at her again, firing off a barrage of snap kicks that Takana blocked by raising her leg to meet them, easily parrying the kicks with equal force of her own before she landed a devastating axe kick that struck Zhong in between his neck and shoulder, the armor exploding under the force exerted by the kick. He was paralyzed by that blow and was unable to defend himself as Takana pelted him with kicks that froze sections of his body that was struck, by the end of the barrage, all of his body was ice and he could barely move. 

"Now perish" Takana stated as her right fist was coated in flames and then fired off at him, shattering him into pieces as it struck his chest dead center. 

Taking a breather, Takana then teleported to her brother's side and looked down at him. He was asleep thankfully but still bruised and battered, the sight of which made Takana angry as her fists tightened. 

"It's time to flush out some rats" She angrily mumbled

A/N: New Chapter. Enjoy! Hehehehe, I hope you all enjoyed seeing Takana kick some ass!