Three short words.
Only three words, yet to Shendu, they brought a sense of peace unlike anything else. This was the promise of an elder; the promise of the eldest brother among the eight siblings. He would see it through, Shendu believed that implicitly.
All he had to do now was wait. He would wait for the moon to cast its radiance upon this ancient dragon once more. Within the dark underground palace, he murmured in a voice only he could hear:
"I am fortunate... I have made the single most correct decision of my life."
…
Fuyuki City.
The Holy Grail War had ended. It had been brought to a close by Zoran's own hands.
Kiritsugu Emiya's face was devoid of both joy and sorrow. He had lost far too much—his wife, his assistant... all that remained in return was a flicker of hope. But that was enough. A tainted Grail would have only killed more people, over and over again.
Zoran had purified the Grail in the truest sense, stripping away and dispersing the curse known as "All the World's Evil." It existed no longer. Kiritsugu did not know how Zoran had accomplished it, but the facts did not lie.
Under the night sky, Zoran stood in silent majesty. Purifying the Grail was a simple matter for him. The world he was currently in differed from his home reality. While others might have been helpless against a Grail corrupted by the soul of the Servant Angra Mainyu, the world of Jackie Chan Adventures was filled with soul-binding spells as numerous as the stars. Even a casual flip through the books in Uncle's Rare Finds would yield a dozen solutions.
Had their positions been swapped, a peak Shendu standing here could have done the same. This was a power from beyond this world, and as the saying goes, one can find the power to negate a world from the outside of it.
"What... is your name?" Kiritsugu asked suddenly, looking up at Zoran.
Zoran looked down, met his gaze, and smiled thinly. "The Moon Demon, Tso Lan."
"Such formidable power," Kiritsugu remarked. "Moon Demon, with strength such as yours, what is your objective?"
Zoran's form shifted soundlessly through the night air. "Everyone has something they wish to save," he replied calmly. "Even I am no exception."
"Is that... so?"
"It seems you are about to depart."
"You are perceptive. I must return," Zoran declared loudly. "To save my brother!"
As the words left his lips, a golden portal swung open before him, illuminating the night. He drifted into the golden gateway, which snapped shut instantly, leaving the air as if he had never existed. He was gone, without leaving another word behind.
…
The System Space.
The Moon Demon hovered in the void, his expression unreadable.
He extended his hands. The Pan'ku Box bobbed in the palm of his left hand, while a sphere of light teeming with immense magical energy gathered in his right. He then manifested a smaller, secondary arm.
[Host, please select your reward.]
The System's voice echoed as projections flickered before his eyes. At the end of every world journey, he could obtain rewards, much like the Pan'ku Box. Zoran's gaze swept across dozens of projections as he sank into thought.
Whatever he chose had to assist his upcoming schemes. Therefore, there was only one logical choice. He looked at a golden Noble Phantasm and steeled his resolve. "Then I shall have to gamble!"
[Reward selection complete.]
The projections vanished. Within Zoran's empty secondary palm, several golden chains wound around his hand like serpents. Zoran gave a low chuckle, and the chains faded from view. He surveyed the empty System Space.
"It is time to return," Zoran murmured. "I cannot keep my brother waiting too long."
[Warning: Host, please choose carefully. Upon re-entering the world of Jackie Chan Adventures, there is a 100% probability that He Xiangu will manifest again.]
"He Xiangu, I see." Zoran recalled that ethereal, immortal figure. "Admittedly, even with my current strength from absorbing the 'Second Moon,' I am not certain I can truly defeat her."
He smiled. A nemesis was a nemesis because of absolute conceptual counters.
"However..." Zoran whispered, "I have prepared a gift. How could I not pay the Immortal a visit? Heh."
The golden portal opened once more. Hovering before it, Zoran felt the surge of wind and the familiar scent of his home world. A trace of wistfulness touched his face, replaced instantly by iron resolve.
"We settled this long ago," he said, as if questioning himself. "We will save our brothers and sisters from the Netherworld, will we not?"
With his hands behind his back, he stepped into the light.
A second later, he looked around. The portal had deposited him exactly within his ancient domain.
The Moon.
After a journey across worlds, the Moon Demon had returned to his loyal territory!
"I am back!"
He thrust out his arm. The sphere of light, swollen with mana, distorted and writhed as if the magnitude of its power was about to burst. This was the greeting gift he had brought for Shendu.
"Shendu!" Zoran called out. "My brother!"
…
Asia, the Underground Palace.
Shendu's entire being jolted. A voice struck directly at his soul.
"Brother..." he rasped, answering the call.
The elder had not lied; he had returned! Almost the very moment Shendu had settled back into his soul, Zoran had arrived to fulfill the promise. The Moon Demon had returned like a bolt of lightning!
This guy... this guy! Shendu was beyond ecstatic.
Far away on the moon, Zoran slammed the sphere of magic downward. A colossal beam of light raced toward the Earth.
Deep underground, the earth groaned. The lonely, circular statue began to tremble violently. A power of magnificent proportions descended, tearing the surface of the earth asunder.
Shendu saw the light!
The magical beam fell from the heavens, pouring into the statue.
"Power! The power!" Shendu screamed in jubilation.
The statue began to twist and warp, the head and tail realigning. In a flash, Shendu's demonic body was fully reconstructed. He stood tall amidst the crumbling debris of the earthquake, roaring at the sky.
"Positive Energy! I have returned!"
A vast amount of magic, enough to grant any wish, filled his body. It was the collective might of all the other Servants' souls, now using Shendu as their vessel. The ground buckled as Shendu's stature grew.
He threw his arms wide and bellowed, "My powers... RETURN TO ME!"
In an instant, across different corners of the globe, twelve beams of light erupted, racing back toward his location. In a mere heartbeat, they surged into Shendu's body.
He laughed maniacally. "I lack for nothing now!"
His wicked eyes turned toward the moon, just as Zoran stared down at the point where the light converged.
The two demons spoke in perfect unison:
"Shendu/Tso Lan... let us turn this world upside down!"
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