Lee couldn't take his eyes off the fight and the only wish he had was to watch it in slow motion. Unfortunately it wasn't possible and the real-life movie didn't last long. Apparently the second attacker made a mistake or the four-armed guy guessed the spot he was about to appear at.
He caught the attacker with the two free hands, at the same time blocking the green guy's slashes with his flaming blades.
The victory turned out to be short though. It was unclear from where, but a long knife appeared in the air and slashed off one of the arms that held the second attacker.
The four armed guy realized he had been careless and howled in pain, at the same time throwing the second attacker away, towards the entrance where Lee and Lisa hid.
Lee's guess was that the guy was either unconscious or already dead, because he didn't vanish as he did before, but smashed in the ceiling first, with a cracking sound that indicated most of his bones getting broken, and then lifelessly dropped on the floor.
Right after, as if making sure he would never get up, several large pieces of rocks fell on top of him, raising a cloud of dust.
For a few moments, the couple couldn't see anything. They glanced at each other, reluctantly realizing that most likely for them the show had abruptly ended, but Lisa's pleading look made Lee despair. He also wanted to get closer, hide behind the cover of rocks that dropped on the second attacker, and have a peek. But they had to leave now.
Back then Lee couldn't remember how they ended up doing exactly what they shouldn't have, and now with interest observed him and Lisa staring in each other's eyes, then nodding and dashing over toward the rocks. It was strange, but at the same time cute, how they understood one another, even though from the perspective of the common sense they acted like complete idiots.
Meanwhile the fight continued. The green attacker was incredibly fast, and the big guy had hard time defending against him. In addition, the stump of the hand that was cut off, heavily bled, weakening him the longer the fight went.
Realizing the time was on his side, the green guy fell back to take a breather, but the four-armed tore off his pant leg and bandaged himself in an instant, although crudely. Only now Lee understood why he was half naked the first time they met – clearly his clothing was used as a bandage material.
Annoyance was written all across the green guy's face, but it was already too late. The four-armed suddenly laughed, burst in even brighter flames, and then happened something that Lee could witness again only after several lifetimes.
Pillar of fire bloomed at the spot where the green guy stood but, fortunately for him, he was already on the move. The four-armed didn't stop though. Inside the pyramid fire pillars began to explode one after another, while rocks and debris fell from the ceiling.
The place was in complete chaos as if it was some kind of apocalypse, and both spectators felt the temperature suddenly rising. It was nothing compared to what the green guy experienced though.
The hunter quickly became the hunted, and at some point one of the blasts finally caught him. The first one wasn't that bad.
The green guy only lost his clothing and got some burns on the torso, but Lee's guess was that something happened with his eyes – either he was blinded, or his vision blurred, because despite the chaotic escape he was hit by another three blasts in succession, and in the end died, becoming a pile of charred flesh.
Evidently the four-armed went all out, because he, similar to the attacker who earlier cut off his hand, wasn't even visible during the blasts. Lee could only imagine at what speed he moved to make attacks like those, but it was finally over.
The four-armed guy slumped down, panting, but the wide grin on his face spoke thousand words. He probably would've had a break if not for the bright dome in the middle of the pyramid suddenly disappearing. Now the only source of light was the glowing item previously protected by the dome and, after gathering his last bits of strength, the four armed guy stood up, and took a couple of week steps toward it.
But then happened something no one could've expected.
From the opposite side of the pyramid, two men ran in, dropped on one knee and … shot at the four-armed guy. With actual assault rifles. Maybe to the four armed man Lee's kick felt like a mosquito bite, but led bullets were anything but that.
The guy roared again, and in an instant a pillar of fire engulfed the two attackers, but the next moment a rain of chaotic bullets sprayed in from the entrance. It was followed by another blast, and then a couple more, but Lee was certain the last two more resembled the sound of exploding grenades. And then there was a brief period of silence.
Back then he didn't notice how exactly it happened, but now, watching his memories, Lee saw how Lisa put on the night vision goggles, and dashed toward the center of the pyramid. It wasn't far, maybe ten yards away, and she was back in an instant.
Lisa wanted to say something, but this time Lee was finally able to act smart. He grabbed her hand and they both ran towards the exit, and afterwards towards the tunnel they entered from. Running with night vision goggles on wasn't easy, but comfort was the last thing on Lee's mind.
Smirnoff's men arriving and attacking the four-armed guy were bad news even if the four-armed won. It was clear he spared them on a whim, but actually didn't give a fuck about the lives of others, and would change his mind right after dealing with the attackers.
If he died, though, they would be found by the group who surely would kill them, thus there was only one option – to run! Well … and pray.
There wasn't really anywhere they could escape to. Lee had no clue where the armed men appeared from, but his initial guess was that all four sides of the pyramid had this tunnel system, designed for the cruel competition of putting people against each other and letting the winner advance towards the center.
He and Lisa did get in through the crack in the ceiling, and now they were rushing towards the same spot, in hopes to find another exit. Fortunately they weren't followed, at least not yet.
Lee had no clue that after the four-armed guy went completely berserk, only three of the two dozen Smirnoff's men managed to survive, one in critical condition. They simply didn't have the manpower to search for anyone, nor were they willing to.
When the couple arrived at the spot where they initially fell down the crevice, they found that the exploding grenades did create a cave-in. It took some climbing and but they somehow managed to reach the top in the end.
They left the place after dark and the two men stationed outside in the ravine once again suffered the same fate as before. Tasered, unconscious and tied up they had to lend their dirt bikes against their will, but half an hour later Lee and Lisa were back in their apartment.
Only after the two took a long shower together, Lisa showed her loot from the pyramid. The object she took wasn't emitting light anymore, but it was nothing they had seen before. She swore she picked it while it was hanging in a thin air, without any support. And it was shining at the time.
Now though, the strange, round item lie in her palm. It was two and a half inch in diameter, covered in tiny symbols, resembling runes Lee copied when they broke in the hotel room. And it did resemble the yin–yang symbol – it looked like two merged water droplets.
One of the sides was yellow, as if made of gold, and the other white – too white to be silver, and Lisa quickly guessed it was platinum.
Lee didn't know what to think. The last night's events proved there were too many things in the world he didn't understand. He pulled out his notes and began to compare the engravings on the item to those he copied from Smirnoff's men, while Lisa continued to play with it.
"Ups!" It didn't take long for her to break it, and now she held two separate pieces in her hands. But she didn't care. She said, "Nice! Now I can make two amulets! Which piece do you want me to wear? Does gold or platinum look better on me?"
"The white one, probably." Lee absentmindedly guessed. And then he made the biggest mistake of his life. He said, "Should we show this thing to Jin Fu? Maybe he has an idea what it is?"