"Hahahahaha!!" Byakko was laughing at the top of his voice when he saw the commotion that happened before he could warn Jin about it. "All I was about to say was that the serpent under Genbu's control is kinda like an undead. Did not expect him to pull a fast one on you. Old man Genbu, you are getting a little too impatient for your age."
'But kind of like an undead' seemed to be an understatement as the corpse of the serpent retracted slowly. There was no way a corpse could move by itself and the only rationale was that Genbu was moving it away from Jin.
However, instead of allowing Genbu to pull it away, Byakko leapt from the top and roared as he descended towards the serpent's corpse. With lightning at his behest, he slammed the head of the serpent with a series of thunderbolts which Genbu's magical barrier could not disperse in time.
Byakko's dive was strong enough to tear the serpent's head off the corpse as it electrocuted the rest of the snake's body. It also did not hesitate to bite its head and summon forth even more jolts to burn it into crisp.
"Old man! I might have made fun of you but aren't you being overly enthusiastic about this particular fight?! I know what you are thinking when you pull the serpent's head away." Byakko shouted and Genbu's chuckle could be felt as tremors on his mountainous shell.
"It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to fight toe to toe with you, little tiger cub. I bet the other two would do the same since this is the only place they could do so without any consequences." Genbu said as his head emerged from his shell and the mountain continued to rumble. He stared towards the Tiger of the West which was now standing at the front of his exhausted master.
"Have you forgotten that this is a trial for the young master? It's very rare for you to put your d.e.s.i.r.es first. For a mythical legend depicting wisdom, you are nothing of that sort right now." Byakko said as his fur started to tingle along with the electricity produced around him.
"Live by thy title or by thy self? There's no one around other than you and the youngling so I do not have to pretend. And if Ming was insistent in protecting his youngling, he would have interfered by now since the Trial is considered to be completed." What Genbu said made no sense to Jin and he could not believe the trial was considered completed with just the killing of one serpent.
"You do not know, huh." Byakko could sense the confusion behind him.
"What do you mean? The trial ended just like this? I thought I had to break an entire mountain to win his trust."Jin answered as he used his hard earned Maqi to remove the lubricant away from him. The feeling was similar to the black sludge that he got as the by product of his cultivation.
True enough, that lubricant from the serpent immediately turned its colour and it eventually looked like the black sludge he encountered.
"Since the start of your subconscious cultivation, your chi circuits and mana circuits had been blocked by Genbu right from the start. Way before your encounter with me." Byakko said and suddenly the mountain started to rumble once more. This time it was more than a minor tremor and only Byakko had an idea what Genbu was getting at.
"While it would be nice to tell Jin the whole story, you are currently on my back and always have been. I appreciate it if you guests entertain the host. After this, I assure you that this old man will tell the entire story." Genbu's voice got even more shallow and Byakko gritted his teeth. The Tiger of the West himself had a chance to stand against all of Genbu's might but he could not do so while protecting the young master.
Jin too tried to push his Maqi to quickly remove all the black sludge on his body so that he could be ready for the next round of battle. But, he realised that his Maqi output was increasing more than usual. There should be some sort of difficulty to activate his circuits at first but it somehow seemed easier with every second passed.
"Release the lock and let the box manifest to reveal its true self." Genbu's smirk was hidden from his guests but without a doubt, both of them could feel the delight in his words as if there was a double meaning in his speech. At that point, the rumbling turned into multiple eruptions of the ground which enabled Jin to see Genbu's true form while eight serpent heads emerged from the depths of his 'mountain' shell.
"The eight headed hydra or as the folklore in oriental east dubbed it, Yamata no Orochi." Byakko said as his hunch was right. When Jin saw its presence, he could not help but laugh at the absurdity of the reality he was seeing. The Turtle of the North had always been depicted with a serpent fighting with it. Never did he imagine that it was the home of the body of eight serpents.
"However, White Tiger Cub is right. It would not be a fun fight if I go all out against both of you, especially when your master could not perform at peak performance." Genbu remarked and Byakko once again understood the underlying meaning of his previous sentence when he felt Jin's aura got stronger.
"No time for explanations. Your circuits have been unblocked by Genbu. You should feel your original strength and powers flowing back to you." Byakko said and Jin's aura flourished to a point that it made Byakko confident that he did not have to do any babysitting.
"Original strength? This is way more than I had felt in my original body. It was the first time I could feel the intricateness of my Maqi. The cross weaving of chi and mana throughout my circuits. I did not even feel this power coursing through my veins when I am conscious and awake." Jin exclaimed and the serpents snickered.
"And that means we have succeeded." The serpents and Genbu answered in unison. "So, in return for your success, fight us with all your might!" they exclaimed with anticipation. (At this point if Kraft was around, he would have cued for an epic cinematic flyabout of Genbu, Byakko and Jin for the starting boss battle cutscene.)
