Wang Wei appeared at the top of the staircase with Vivi beside him. He wore gold-decorated robes and a thick chain around his neck, and he descended each step like he was giving the crowd a gift. His chubby frame worked against the image he was trying to project. Vivi followed behind him in silence, her face empty. They crossed the hall and took their seats on the thrones. The masked guards stepped aside and closed back in once they were seated.
Baki set his glass down and started walking.
The crowd shifted around him as he moved. The masked guards on the platform picked up on his approach immediately. Their bodies tightened without moving from position. Wang Wei's eyes tracked him with suspicion.
Baki stopped at the base of the platform steps and looked up. He kept his voice easy. "Mr. Wang Wei. We have unfinished business."
Wang Wei squinted. The masked guards began to close around Baki. Baki reached up and took off his hat.
Wang Wei went rigid. "You! How are you still alive?!"
Across the hall, Zhang Jian went still. "He's alive?"
Li Xiu drifted over to him with her drink. "My, my. I thought you finished him."
Zhang Jian's jaw tightened. "Get Hou Qing here. I have a bad feeling about this."
Li Xiu looked amused. "He is just one man. There is so many of us. He won't be a problem."
Zhang Jian kept his eyes on Baki. "Just do it."
The other guests had pulled back, forming a wide ring around the spectacle. Wang Wei's face darkened and he slammed his hand on the armrest. "Kill him! Don't let him ruin this banquet or I'll behead every one of you!"
The black-suited guards rushed from all directions. Baki looked around at them and raised his voice. "Before we start, anyone who wants to leave should leave now."
Nobody moved.
Baki smiled. "Alright then."
He moved through them like they weren't there. A spinning kick sent five men into each other in a line. A sweep dropped three more before they could change direction. An uppercut lifted one guard off his feet and into two behind him. A table collapsed under the weight of the ones who landed on it. He grabbed one guard by the arm and threw him and the men he knocked over piled against a pillar hard enough to crack it.
"Come on," Baki said. "If you keep fighting like these, you guys are all getting beheaded. Show more desperation, will you all?"
More poured in. He worked through them without breaking pace, rotating between fists and kicks, each hit landing clean and sending someone into someone else. The hall filled with the sounds of bodies hitting the floor and furniture breaking apart. A chandelier swayed above him from the impact of two guards he'd launched upward.
Zhang Jian gestured to two Red Dragon members nearby. They nodded and moved in.
The first came in with a flying knee. Baki sidestepped and put a jumping uppercut into his chin. The man shot up and hit the ceiling before coming back down on top of three others.
CRASH!
Baki grinned. "Hmm... You guys don't seem like the ordinary guards? Mercenaries, huh? Good. I've got a little grudge to settle."
The second came low with a sweep. Baki jumped it and kicked him in the chest on the way down. The man went through five Red Dragon members who were moving up from behind.
A third came faster than the others. His punch was sharp. Baki caught it with one hand, looked at him for a moment, and then put a hook through his guard that sent him through a table.
Two more hit at once, one high and one low. Baki jumped, spun, and his wheel kick caught both of them and the three men directly behind them. He landed in a crouch and immediately launched up with an uppercut that sent two fighters through the chandelier. It came down in a shower of glass and metal on the guards below.
CRASH!
He landed in the center of the hall and stretched his arms. Bodies and broken furniture covered the floor in every direction. He looked up at Wang Wei and smiled. "Shall we talk now, president?"
Wang Wei's face was red and the veins in his forehead were visible. His finger shook as he pointed down. "KILL HIM! I WANT HIM DEAD!"
The masked guards stepped down from the platform.
Li Xiu watched them descend and took a slow sip from her glass. She glanced at Zhang Jian. "I guess you were right. We should call Hou Qing here?"
Zhang Jian didn't look away from Baki. "Yes. This man is dangerous."