Bit crummy but it's here, that's the main thing.
The eyesight of the recently teleported humans now cleared up, revealing the campsite to all of them. Some of them gasped at the conditions, especially the river of lava that ran under the bridges and at the odd fireball that landed somewhere close to the camp. The inhospitable atmosphere gave the Europeans some form of gratefulness for their home country. They saw the armoured kid, Guan Yu and the bulky officer with them, but two eluded their minds. A nobleman, garbed in red, and some form of assassin, dressed in black, blue and dark purple cloth. An old, faded red bandana was tied around his left wrist. All remained unconscious.
"Well, well. Looks like the children of humanity have succeeded in winning over Kiyomori."
A fancily dressed young male was walking over a bridge towards them. Some kind of stick was draped over his right shoulder. Ma Chao, as well as most of the officers who have been here longer, knew who this person is, whereas the Europeans didn't know. The man seemed to know their curiosity, as he seemed to laugh, looking down and shaking his head.
"New ones, I am Taigong Wang. Like Kaguya and Zuo Ci, I am a Mystic." Taigong Wang introduced himself.
"What is a Mystic?" Gilles de Rais asked.
"Mystics are powerful beings. While we cannot die from age, battle wounds can kill us." Taigong Wang explained.
"Are there others beside you three?" Edward asked.
A silence ran between the three Mystics. It seemed that they wanted to speak, but they didn't want to at the same time.
"In fact, forget I asked." Edward said, waving his hand to dismiss the question.
"Our Prince, what would you want to do with the troops?" Richard asked.
Edward turned around to face the English and French. "Train! Upkeep your technique for future victories!" He ordered.
All troopers responded with a "yes, sire," some more enthusiastic than others. However, most stored their weapons in storage units, horses were led to stables and the stinking armour was taken off. Only when every European trooper was settled or training, the officers changed out of their armour and settled down or went to oversee the training. For either the French or English officers, it was odd seeing the other's leaders out of their armour, especially with Prince Edward, since he was wearing clothes more suited to a commoner than royalty.
Ma Chao approached Prince Edward, who was planning something with Joan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Kaguya. Gaining Edward's attention, Ma Chao directed him to somewhere that they could have a chat.
"You're royalty?" The warrior asked, not believing it.
"Yes." Edward replied, groaning first. "But, unlike my father, I tend to help the peasants in England. It's just who I am."
"Strange. Your father?"
"The King of England, King Edward the Third."
Now Ma Chao was confused. The man in front of him was called Edward, but his father was also called Edward. The prince laughed, seeing Ma Chao's obvious distress.
"Don't worry, Ma Chao. I haven't seen him for quite some time that I am starting to like it."
"Ok."
Ma Chao and Edward stopped their talk. Edward went back to planning and Ma Chao began to walk through the campsite.
"Lord Ma Chao!"
Said warrior turned to who said it. A samurai was running towards him, holding a piece of paper and two very odd weapons. While the smaller one looked similar to the pistol that Masamune Date uses, the larger one stumped even the samurai. Ma Chao had an idea, but it was one that might get the soldier harmed.
"Take those to Ryu Hayabusa. He would most likely know."
"Yes, sir. Also, the ones that you captured at Mt. Dingjun are awake, but we took the weapons beforehand."
"Ok. Thank you." With that, the Tiger General stalked off to the makeshift holding cells.
He arrived there, seeing the four of the five prisoners awake. He looked from left to right, seeing their shocked faces. Xiahou Ba, the defector from Wei to Shu to Jin, Cao Ren, cousin to Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Shu's deadliest warrior, one of the Five Tiger Generals and one of the Kingdom's most cunning strategists, and Sun Quan, brother to Sun Ce and Shangxiang, son of Sun Jian and leader of Wu. The fifth still eluded him, but he was still unconscious.
"Uhh, where are we?" Xiahou Ba asked.
"The Coalition's main campsite against the Hydra." Ma Chao answered.
"What happened beforehand, Chao? Tell us." Guan Yu proposed.
"Complicated. We went back in time to Mount Dingjun and faced Kiyomori down, releasing you four and capturing the fifth in the process."
"Going back in time? Sounds preposterous." Sun Quan said skeptically.
"Humanity needs the greatest warriors and warlords to stand a chance against the Hydra. The only option for Ma Chao, Sima Zhao and Hanbei Takenaka was to go back in time and change history." Taigong Wang explained, walking into the cells.
"If you don't believe me, look outside." Ma Chao proposed, cutting the bonds loose.
The four warriors stood up shakily and stumbled outside. It was here that they saw the proof.
"You said you needed us, Chao?" Guan Yu asked.
Ma Chao smiled, his features relaxing. He nodded, confirming Guan Yu's question.
"Then we will fight. Not necessarily out of friendship, but out of necessity." Cao Ren said. The others deferred to his agreement, since Cao Ren was a respected veteran.
Edward and Joan were walking back to the European side of the Resistance's camp. The animosity between the two leaders lessened at Mount Dingjun, but it was still apparent between them. Some of the French and English soldiers were beginning to talk and to lessen the slur said between them. Some even took to wearing purple cloth under the mail to signify their allegiance to both the French and English leaders, but they risked the slur from comrades.
Suddenly, Gilles de Rais stepped in front of the two, his hands behind his back. The tight cloth around his mouth was untied, revealing thin lips and an even paler complexion. He bowed to Joan, but his eyes flared with hate at Edward.
"Maid. I found this for you." He said, revealing a sky blue rose. "This really is a land full of mysteries, and this is no exception."
Joan took it and held it dearly in her hands. "Thank you, de Rais."
"May God continue to watch over you." He said, bowing once again.
He walked through the two, shoulder bumping Edward on the way past. But Edward caught a slight movement of Gilles' hand, lightly scraping over Joan's leg armour. She seemed unaware of the movement, therefore completely oblivious to de Rais' intentions.
"He was flirting with you." Edward stated, very blunt in the approach.
Joan laughed slightly and began to walk again. "I know. But he's nobility."
"Aren't you nobility as well?"
"I am not. Once a commoner, always a commoner."
"Then how did you become a leader for France's armies?"
"The troops began to think I was touched by God. I let them believe that, but I just want the war to end."
"That's why the guard captains at Komaki-Nagakute fought harder when you were around. They thought that God was with them."
"What do the English call me?"
"I'm not sure you would like to hear that. Really bad slur."
"That bad?"
"Truly."
John Fastolf came running towards them. He tried to grind to a halt, but ended up tripping over his own feet and falling face first into the ground. While Joan was shocked, Edward was in hysterics, hunched over and head down. John finally managed to stand up without falling over once again and dusted his finery of dirt.
"Now, what is it, Sir Fastolf?" Edward asked, calming down from his hysteria.
"My liege, that French strategist du Guesclin is requesting that the French archers to train with the English archers. I think that..." John explained, but was cut short by Edward's raised hand.
"Allow them. However, in turn I would like the French to teach us their ways of swordsmanship. In fact, take us to Guesclin." Edward said.
"Aye, my lord... and lady. This way, please." John said.
The swordsman escorted the two to the training area, which wasn't in the most happiest of times. Bertrand was holding two archers by their throats, one was English and the other was French. The two sides looked like they were ready to begin a fistfight of sorts, but the English were fingering their arrows that were lodged in the ground. John and Joan stopped, but Edward picked his pace up, marching towards the centre of the about-to-be conflict.
"What is the meaning of this?!" The prince demanded.
The English archers stopped fingering their arrows, some even dropped their bows. The French did the same thing, except their faces were still contorted in rage. Edward turned to one of the archer leaders, who looked scared by Edward's outburst. The prince pointed at him, not happy in the slightest.
"You, what in God's name happened?!"
"Th-the Frenchman punched one of our own. And that French general came and lifted the poor bugger into the air." He explained, very scared.
Edward marched up close to him. The leader began to get even more terrified.
"You fucking idiot! Du Guesclin is also holding up the Frenchman! He is trying to keep the already fragile peace we have together!"
The leader only nodded, since the only sounds that are coming out of his mouth are small whimpers. Edward stalked backwards a little bit. He saw Joan convince the bulky strategist to put the two troopers down, where both scampered away as fast as they can.
"I have reached a decision regarding the training as well! All French will train with the English in archery! In exchange, I hope that the French will be willing to sacrifice their swordsmanship secrets! If you have any troubles, fucking deal with it!" Edward explained.
With the outburst over with, Edward stalked off out of the training area. He could faintly hear John yell orders for everyone to form up, but his tunnel vision depleted the hearing capabilities. When he managed to stalk off to somewhere, he sat down. He could hear the faint clanking of heavy armour behind him. He turned around, seeing Bertrand walking up to him, a ten mile wide smile covering his face.
"I must say, Black Prince, that was quite a show." He said, using the famous nickname he earned.
"It would be the least I can do. It seemed like a fair trade to me, swordsmanship with archery. To survive, we need not to keep secrets from one another." Edward responded.
"You have indeed gained the respect of the English. In fact, you would make a fine leader someday."
"True, but I'm not an outstanding strategist. I can follow orders and lead troops, but that's the extent of my abilities."
"I've heard from John Chandos a few years ago that you are kind-hearted. You don't like the suffering of others."
Edward's eyes widened. How did the strategist know of his flaw? Or was it a virtue? It didn't matter, but he knew somehow.
"How..?"
"We met each other in a tavern in a neutral part of France. Since neither of us had our weapons, we didn't fight, but the conversation we had was tense. However, when both of our troop of soldiers left, we became a little bit drunk. We became fast friends, even sneaking out to meet each other at that tavern. We talked about our commanders. When he spoke of that trait, it was similar to our Lady Joan."
"She shares the same trait?"
"Aye. But she is hesitant to kill other people. She's no warrior, but she is a Saint to us."
Edward stood up, coming up to Guesclin's shoulder height. The prince was practically dwarfed to the barbarian-like knight.
"If you are as kind as Chandos said you are, then I'd be honoured to fight alongside you. If you aren't, well, I'll have to kill you to protect the Maid of Orlèans." Guesclin said.
"You wouldn't of been deceived. Chandos, although he may be a bit blind, is an honest man." Edward said.
Dark Devil was stirring from his unconsciousness. The back of his skull was pounding where the hilt of the sword hit him. He tried to reach up to comfort it, but he couldn't move the hands beyond a millimetre or two. He groaned, catching the attention of the guard posted outside. When both caught sight of one another, both cursed inwardly and the guard dashed out of the way, possibly to get the commander. Dark searched for any of his weapons, not finding them close by. The ninjatō was gone, and his pistol and assault rifle were gone as well.
About two minutes have passed when two people stood in the doorway of the place he was being held in. He recognised both of them. One was the guard posted outside, and the other was the commander at Mount Dingjun.
"Who are you?" The commander asked, plain and simple.
"Call me Dark Devil for now." Said human replied.
Ma Chao recognised that accent. It was similar to that English prince, yet it was a lot more refined than the prince.
"And why did you try to attack me at Mount Dingjun?"
"I wasn't."
"Oh, really?"
"I was trying to kill Kotarō Fūma."
The commander didn't reply. Instead, he stuck his right hand out and was given a dagger. He walked forwards, knelt down to Dark's level and cut the bonds that were holding his arms in place. Instinctively, he rubbed the aggravated skin there, seeing the skin was red.
"Now, just as a question, why do you have such strange weaponry?" The commander asked.
"I am from the year 2013."
"That sounds in the far future."
"Why is that?"
"Because I was born in the year 176."
Dark Devil couldn't believe anything now. He was here with people from history, Kotarō being one of them.
"Can I fight for you? I want to make up for before." Dark Devil said.
"Yes, you can. We need all the help we can get."
Iamarl was stalking Edward. Not in a bad way, just as a part of her job. She heard the light-hearted conversation that her prince had with the French pig, du Guesclin. The prince was walking back to the European campsite, now fully calmed down from the outburst earlier.
"HELLO!"
Iamarl turned around sharply, seeing a girl standing in front of her. Possible no older than 18, she wore very little, and what she did wore was skin tight. Two daggers were slung over her back. A smile was on her face, if a bit too wide. Iamarl reacted as she normally would, she drew her dagger and tried to slash across her throat. This kid ducked and did various backflips to put some distance between them. That still didn't stop Iamarl. The assassin ran up to her, dagger at the ready. The kid was quick though, since she drew one of her daggers and the two got into a knife fight.
Their fighting styles severely contrasted each other. Iamarl was quick, but always tried for the simplistic option and was predictable. The little kid was the opposite, but by no means was she slow. She was a trickster, always moving out of the way and, all in all, being very unpredictable. One such part of the duel ended with Iamarl becoming disarmed, but she managed to fistfight her way to take the other knife from the kid's back, but that was disarmed from her as well.
"Looks like I win." She jested, much to the chagrin of Iamarl, who picked up her own dagger.
"Don't scare me like that again." Iamarl threatened, not scaring the kid in the slightest.
"Awwww, but I wanted to have fun." She whined, stamping her foot childishly.
"Too bad. Now get lost, I have a job to do."
"That's only on the battlefield. In here, you don't need to."
"I said, get lost!"
"Ok."
With that, the kid simply skipped away, not deterred by Iamarl's outburst. The assassin reflected on her words. She found them true, the other officers in the camp seemed to not want to hurt the prince. But it was the French that kept her on her toes. Going back to her duty, she saw that Taigong Wang was walking by, seemingly headed towards her lord. Seeing that the Mystic wasn't going to harm him, Iamarl relaxed slightly but not fully.
Taigong Wang had now entered the tent that one of the 'English' officers directed him to. There was something that he needs to ask the prince. He saw the prince with the 'French' commander, Joan. Both noticed the Mystic at the same time, and stood up straight, since they were leaning over yet another map supplied by the Resistance.
"Taigong Wang, what do we owe this pleasure?" Joan asked.
"We need your assistance at Luoyang." Taigong Wang responded.
"And why?" Edward asked.
"We need to test a new weapon that could defeat the Hydra. And the Serpent Army would have many there, and the Resistance needs your army to help defend this weapon."
The two leaders looked at each other, both debating whether or not to accept Wang's invitation to battle. They seemed to reach the same conclusion, as they looked back to Taigong Wang and nodded in acceptance.
"Good. Be prepared for a fight in the morrow."
With that dealt with, Taigong Wang left the tent. He looked over the archers in red and blue, who were firing in tandem with specific hand signals. He grunted and continued onto his destination. He arrived at it, seeing a weapon that resembled a cannon of sorts. Many mystic soldiers were working away, assembling the required pieces needed to create it.
"Master Taigong Wang, the weapon is almost complete." One mystic soldier informed.
"Correct, we only need Shuten Doji's life essence."
"What shall we call it?"
Taigong Wang looked dearly at the weapon. Its scale of destruction against the Hydra would be unparalleled.
"The Yashio-ori, it shall be called." Taigong Wang replied, smiling at the weapon.
