Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

The group of three entered the building easily, since the front door had been smashed apart probably years before.

And inside, they found their target. Fat Cobra was, well, fat. But not fat in the American, consumerist way. He was built like a sumo on super steroids. He was about two meters tall, and while he had no muscle definition, his entire body was covered in a layer of fat; his mere presence exuded power and might.

Considering he was laid out with dozens of empty bottles around him and currently smoking opium when they came in, to exude any level of danger was impressive enough already. The man was obviously of Asian descent, though it was hard to place which country it was exactly. That was because Fat Cobra was actually from Peng Lai Island, one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven.

He did not only have the stature of a sumo, but was also dressed like one, with nothing but a mawashi belt on him. That did not make him any less imposing, and the numerous Chinese characters tattooed on his body helped with that too.

His vision was cloudy as he looked at the three, clearly not recognizing them, and he ended up asking in Chinese, ”Are you here to kill me too?”

Although Mason itched to fight the big guy, he replied peacefully, in English, ”We are here to help. The Hand is after you to open the Eighth City; you need to follow us to Kamar-Taj.”

Fat Cobra took a second look at them, then replied in English this time, ”The last batch had a Sorcerer too.” he sent a look at Danny, adding, ”and an Immortal Weapon too. Did they get you too, Iron Fist?”

”They have tried. And failed.” In reality, Danny had not faced much attacks from the Hand thanks to Mason. When they still had a presence in New York, the Hand had naturally taken the Iron Fist to be the more dangerous target, and thus wanted to first subdue Mason to get a sizable force for themselves, before using him to kill Danny.

Since Mason killed them all, Danny only had to fight a few Hand ninjas once while in New York.

Fat Cobra returned his gaze to Mason, ”A Sorcerer and the Iron Fist. Then there’s you. What else could you be than a high ranking member of the Hand? Why else would these two follow your lead?”

”Because I am an Awakening Grandmaster, naturally.”

Fat Cobra stared for a second before snorting, ”Right. I’m going to kill you now.”

There was a single moment of pause before Fat Cobra erupted. He displayed frightening agility for someone his size, crossing the room in an instant as he sent his palm at Mason’s head. As the palm approached him, Mason noticed a faint crackle in the center of the palm, which quickly transformed into a blast of lightning.

Though Fat Cobra was fast, Mason’s Divine Sense had been locked on him from the start, and his reaction speed was fast enough to see the lightning form, so he sidestepped the giant palm with ease, a grin finding its way to his face as he grabbed Fat Cobra’s arm as it sailed past him and threw him over his shoulder.

Despite Fat Cobra’s massive size, Mason lifted him as easily as he would a child, and sent him flying through the fragile wall.

Still, the large Immortal Weapon once more displayed surprising agility, spinning in midair and somehow landing on his feet outside.

Looking at Fat Cobra wiping the dust off his shoulders, Mason told Danny, ”Please protect Lin Yu for a moment.”

Danny sighed, ”Is this really necessary?”

Mason’s grin widened, and he did not answer as he leapt at Fat Cobra. He did not share Mason’s excitement, staring at him with a grave expression as he took a Sumo stance.

As Mason approached, Fat Cobra stomped his foot with such force that it sent out a small shockwave, but Mason simply jumped, stepping on his stomach and then kicking him in the chin with enough force to snap a normal man’s neck.

But Mason’s kick made him tilt his head back before he brought down a palm on Mason.

Even with an emergency reinforcement of Chi at the last second, Mason was still smacked into the ground, his bones rattled by the attack. Mason instantly estimated that Fat Cobra was stronger than him by several times.

His Chi was not as overbearing as the Iron Fist, barely offering any enhancement when used actively. However, it had shaped Fat Cobra into an absolute monster that surpassed mortal limits, with a strength of several tons and a matching durability.

Flipping off the ground before Fat Cobra could stomp him to oblivion, Mason spat a little blood and switched his Divine Sense to the Fire Dao, wreathing his fist in flames.

Fat Cobra did not react to it, sending another shocking palm at him. This time, Mason also noticed that the intent for the attack only came at the very last moment possible, which spoke of the man’s mastery, as most people thought of their action at least half a second before doing it. This time, less than a tenth of a second passed between intent and action. Curious, Mason abandoned his original plan and went for a dumb showdown of force, slamming his fire fist into Fat Cobra’s thunder palm.

Mason was predictably overpowered, but he won the elemental battle as the lightning on Fat Cobra’s palm was disrupted out of control, merging with the fire on Mason’s fist to turn into plasma.

Even Fat Cobra let out a scream of pain as his palm was splashed with hot plasma. It only persisted for a moment before flicking out of existence, since Mason could not fuel it from a distance, but even that instant had been enough to cook Fat Cobra’s palm into a sizzling black.

Mason did not come out of it unscathed, but he had been largely protected by his Chi. He had used it purely to defend his fist, so while he did lose in the competition of strength, he did not injure himself too badly. He imagined that he would have several broken bones in his hand were it not for that.

Mason expected Fat Cobra to stop there, but he ignored the injury, suddenly spreading himself out and slamming himself towards Mason. Fat Cobra’s already large stature seemed to grow even bigger, and with his limbs spread out, it almost looked like a starfish about to swallow Mason.

He did not back down. Instead, using his recent findings, his Chi manifested outside of his fist, instantly forming a dragon gauntlet, and he slammed it into the imposing Fat Cobra.

This time, the power dynamic was reversed as Mason’s fist sunk into Fat Cobra’s chest, the man’s fat failing to absorb the blow as it and the muscles beneath were deformed by the sheer might of the punch.

Then, the impact settled in his stomach, and Fat Cobra was sent flying. Someone of his size getting sent flying into the air looked absurd, but this time he did not land on his feet, slamming through the wall of a nearby empty house.

Mason did not follow, opting to wait outside instead as after a few seconds, Fat Cobra stumbled back out. He was holding his stomach with a painful expression, a trickle of blood down the side of his lips. The damage was not too bad, thanks to the nature of Chi, but while his internal organs were probably fine, he did experience the pain of them getting torn apart. That was the thing with Chi: while it was hardly a deadly force because it healed the damage it did, it did not block the pain.

Fat Cobra wiped the blood off his lip before grunting, ”It is an honor to have fought you, Grandmaster.”

Mason patted his shoulder, smirking, ”It was fun, Fat Cobra. Now let’s leave before the Hand gets here.”

Honestly, Mason half expected them to spring out of the shadows at his words, but not a single presence even approached the site of the fight, the locals knowing better than to get close to the source of what had sounded like explosions.

As the group gathered in the hideout of Fat Cobra, preparing to return, Danny said with a frown, ”… this was too easy.”

Mason smirked, ”Learn to take an easy win. The Hand somehow latching onto Kamar-Taj’s tracking spells was a worst-case scenario, so it was better to prepare for it, but the odds were not that high.”

Fat Cobra patted his large stomach, which already showed signs of recovery, and boasted, ”They did send their men after me; I slaughtered them before they could become a problem. They were nothing compared to Xuanwu, and I conquered the mighty guardian without its powers.”

With a last cautious look around, Apprentice Lin Yu opened a portal, and the group returned to Kamar-Taj, their mission a success.

But as they returned to Kamar-Taj, they appeared in the middle of a war zone. They had reappeared where they had planned to, in the previously peaceful backyard of Kamar-Taj, but it had been stripped of that peace.

A large energy dome had been erected above them, shielding the fortress from its attacks. And yet, some had still slipped through. They came in various eldritch forms, but Mason recognized them as demons because they were similar to those summoned by Red Robe in Fisk Tower.

The Sorcerers were currently facing them all over Kamar-Taj, and the Ancient One was fighting seven particularly large demons in the sky that felt just as dangerous as the Incarnation of Set.

But nearby, on the ground, Mason spotted Stick. He was alone and currently facing off against a demon with a cane sword in hand.