"Alright! You win". Tang's words echoed in Jiang's mind as she watched hold his hand eye out. Then his eyes began to glow, and Jiang clutched her chest, letting out a strained groan as it felt like something was literally being pulled from her body.
Then, the feeling increased as the Rings caught on fire. The same fire Jiang had seen surrounding the little child. Her heart ached as Mei cried out in a fearful voice, "No! Wait! I want to get off this ride!".
Then, a bright beam of golden light erupted from the center of the circle. "Yes!" Macaque said before turning his head as something appeared in the sky, coming in at a fast pace. "Stop!" Wukong yelled, but he was too late.
Mei let out a sharp cry of pain, and her body was engulfed in a ball of dark red flames. A harsh wave of heat expanded from her, and the ice that was still buried in Jiang's arm, and well as keeping her pinned, finally went away. Jiang collapsed out of sheer exhaustion, and that made her come to a realization.
It had been her own energy that was drained to essentially provide fuel for the ritual. "Jiang! Kid!" She heard Wukong call. Hearing him call out to her brother made Jiang raise her head, and she looked over.
Sheer relief flooded through her body as she saw her brother slowly getting up. "MK!" She cried out. The boy looked up, blinking away the haze in his eyes, then he zeroed in on Mei.
He shot up to his feet. "What's happening?! Don't worry, I'm coming for ya! Someone get some water! Stop tuck and roll Mei" He cried. "MK, wait!" Jiang cried out as her brother flung himself towards Mei.
Thankfully, Wukong tackled the boy away, and set him down on his feet. "Mere water cannot extinguish the Samadhi Fire. Nothing can" Nezah called as he appeared on the scene. Jiang managed to get to her feet, panting slightly at the effort the simple action seemed to take while holding her injured arm as Nezah freed Pigsy and Sandy.
"The Fire will destroy this girl. And burn everything in its path" the Lotus Prince added. "What?!" Mei cried out. "Yeah! What?!" MK agreed.
Jiang watched as Wukong turned his gaze towards Macaque. "You! You ruined everything!" He cried as he rushed towards the edgy Monkey. Macaque suddenly looked, scared?
He placed his hands on the rock behind him and tried to disappear into one of his shadow portals, but Wuking landed beside it, and thrust his hand in. When he pulled it out, his hand was wrapped tightly around Macaque's throat. And in a second, he had Macaque on his knees, gripping the hand that was on his throat.
"I didn't do, this!" He cried, referring to Mei's current situation. "Well, you weren't not involved!" Wukong snapped as he drew his fist back. Macaque closed his eyes and turned his head away.
However, before Wukong could land the hit, "Stop! It was me!" Tang cried, making everyone look at him. "I mean, yeah, Macaque forced me to do it, and I'm definitely starting to have second thought on the whole thing now, but, I don't know how, and I don't know why, but it felt like I had to. Like it was, destiny" Tang said. Jiang watched as Wuking had an internal battle with himself before he finally let go of Macaque, letting him fall to the ground.
"I hate to interrupt, but can someone explain, what is going on? What's happening to Mei?!" MK cried out. Jiang watched as a strange look crossed Wukong's face. "Wukong?" She asked.
"Okay, this is going to sound really bad, but hear me out" the ginger monkey said. "Wukong, what have you done?" Nezah asked him. "I made a mistake. During the ritual, a piece of the Samadhi Fire got away from me. I don't know what happened to it, but I guess part of it was sealed in the closest vessel that could contain it. My loyal companion, the White Horse Dragon, Ali Ei" Wukong admitted.
