A/N: Thanks to rothek the theif (learn to spell, Ninj!), Beautihul Miko, kyanrato, XXTakaraXX, HydroMaster9910, shyangel06, cute-stack-twin, and Yan Yan for comments and what have you. Here's the next chapter at last, sorry for the long paragraphs, but I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why I'm still doing these. Call it a quirk of mine. I only own Su Zhi, yadda yadda, happy?
As soon as we left the base, however, a huge crowd of Wei soldiers enveloped us. I hung back a slight distance from the crowd - there was way too many of them to be taken down with my normal moves. I was going to have to break out some of my more interesting moves, and show everyone why I'd been ranked as a general.
I concentrated, flicking my wrist blades back into their sheaths, and pulling my Clackers from my neck. I lurked at the edge of the melee, waiting and watching for my moment -
- And it came soon enough. I ran into a chance opening in the crowd, leaped into the air, did a perfect back flip, and punched the ground as I landed, sending a fiery shock-wave through the surrounding Wei soldiers. Most of them collapsed instantly, giving my soldiers some breathing space to pick off some more in as I straightened up again and flexed my hand reflectively.
I flicked my blades out after securing my Clackers around my neck again. Now that the crowd was thinner, I could see an enemy general, fighting off my soldiers with apparent ease. I didn't recognise him, but he was no Zhang Liao - he didn't look like he'd give me much trouble. I darted through the crowd until I reached him, and caught him on his blind side as he killed one of my majors.
He cried out as the blade cut into his arm but somehow managed to parry my next attack, forcing me back slightly. I blocked his next wild overhead strike with my blades, then launched into a quick combination of front kicks, side kicks, and back fists before ending on an axe kick, which stunned him temporarily.
I backed off as he recovered, considering my next move, and we began to circle each other, both waiting for the other to drop their guard.
"I, Li Dian, say you shall not get any further than this!" he cried, as the blood dripping from his arm slowly turned his blue clothes purple.
"Yeah? Well, the name's Su Zhi, and I don't plan on retreating anytime soon!" I shot back, grinning.
I feinted to the left, but he didn't fall for it. I didn't dare give him an opening - pain was the last thing I wanted at the minute. I feinted again, but he still stoically held his guard, warily watching me through bright eyes. I grunted - I could keep this up for as long as he could.
However, it was only a minute or so before a rather unwelcome guest arrived. I was facing a nearby passage at the time, and upon seeing a horse appear in my peripheral vision, I quickly glanced up to see who else I had to deal with.
Li Dian, sensing that this was his chance, darted towards me, and I was forced to ignore the newcomer, but I already knew just who it was. I could see that this was going to get interesting - I had no trouble taking on these two separately, but both this guy and Zhang Liao? I was royally screwed.
I didn't have time to finish off the general I was fighting - Liao was already heading in my direction - so I jumped into the air and whipped my blades around me so fast that it span me completely around, sending a wave of energy at Liao in the process. It knocked him off his horse, but he quickly somersaulted upright and continued towards me. I swallowed nervously, and braced myself for one of the toughest fights I'd ever been in.
As son as Liao reached me, he launched into his trademark move, swinging his halberd back before bellowing furiously, dashing forward, and spinning his weapon in front of him. I somehow managed to block his main attack, but then the other general decided to join in, his sword already on the down stroke. I thrust my blade upwards and felt his glance off mine, but he then turned it into a quick upthrust. I jumped to the side, away from his attack, but then gasped as a searing line of pain appeared on my back. I span around, somehow keeping it together as the corners of my eyes began to prickle from the stinging, to see Liao wearing a somewhat triumphant look - an obscene smirk at my pain. I growled. If I was going down, I'd do so fighting.
I launched myself at him, swinging my blades at his face in between butterfly kicks and bandals. He was forced backwards, blocking all the way, by my onslaught, but just as I performed the final jump kick, the hilt of a sword slammed into my temple. I was thrown off my feet and to the ground, rolling to a stop on my back - the blow had stunned me temporarily - but I found myself ignoring the pain from my head and back, and focusing entirely on the blade of Liao's weapon. Blood glistened along its edge as he lowered it, and it drew closer at what seemed like a snails pace...
I finally managed to tear my eyes away, squeezing them shut and turning my head in the other direction, hoping it would be over soon. I'd never even thought about dying - not like this... Questions flashed through my head. Was this really the end? What about the others - what about Ning? How would he take it? And Tong... Would I ever see Tong's eyes twinkling as he gave me his oh-so annoying smirk again...?
The blow never came. Instead, it was replaced with grunts of effort and pain. I tremulously opened my eyes, and turned my head to see what was happening, and there was Tong. Tong. He'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but he was holding Liao back with apparent ease. Saving my life. But why? We - neither of us cared for the other. We didn't. Everyone knew that.
Li Dian, who had stunned me earlier, was creeping up behind Tong, but he easily turned and dealt him a roundhouse kick to the head that sent him flying. I blinked. That's just what I would have done in his position... He turned his attention back to Liao in time to clumsily block his attack. However, he even managed to turn this to his advantage, as he used Liao's hesitation to land a few solid blows with his nunchucks.
I tried to get to my feet as they fought on. Stars erupted in front of my eyes, but I forced myself upright. Willing the world to stop spinning around me, I gutted a couple of Wei soldiers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, before turning back to the main fight. Tong was beginning to get the upper hand, but I could see that we'd both be in trouble if I didn't close off the passage that Liao had entered by.
Beheading another Wei soldier on the way, I tried to get close enough to kill the man who was keeping the passage open. My back was still intensely painful, but I did my best to ignore it as I reached my target. I was in no mood to mess about, so I performed a near perfect front-kick-side-kick-back-kick combination, finishing with a decisive chop to the throat that thrust my blade through both his jugular and windpipe.
I didn't have time to watch him die, though. I span around to see Tong deliver the final blow that sent Liao running. A blade whistled past my ear, reminding me that this was no place to be losing my focus and forcing me to make a clumsy dive to the other side. However, I quickly turned this to my advantage as I took the chance to twist into a turning kick before I hit the ground. An agonizing stab of pain from my back as I landed made me gasp, but I forced myself to get up and fight on, pushing my assailants back with a flurry of kicks, strikes, slashes, and swift smacks from my Clackers.
Somehow, I found myself in a tightening circle of soldiers. Backing away, I bumped into someone. I glanced over my shoulder and recognized them instantly.
"You really should be more careful, I'm not always gonna be around to stop you screwing up."
My already frayed temper flared at Tong's words.
"Like hell I need you to save me," I hissed, before running at the soldiers in front of me, and performing a jumping spin attack which incapacitated several of them. However, I was forced back to the centre as more flowed into their recently vacated spaces.
"If that's the case, why was Liao about to kill you back there?"
"You know what? Shut up and go away!" I snapped over my shoulder.
"I'd love to, but I think this lot might disagree."
Just as I was about to retort, a messenger ran past.
"Zhang Liao has returned! He's to the west of the main camp!"
This time, it was Tong's turn to hiss. I grinned at his annoyance, but then he started muttering under his breath. I felt him tense up behind me, but was then distracted by a large wave of fire that passed harmlessly through me, and instantly incinerated the Wei soldiers surrounding us.
"Sorry, I've got to take that one," said Tong, as he launched into a run. I turned and blinked at his back, before shaking my head, and helping one of my sub-generals, Chen Wu, take down a nearby base, being careful of my sore back.
A few minutes later, I straightened up from putting a match to one of the inner towers of the defeated base, and strode out the other side. I passed between several little knots of fighting on the other side - all of them being won by my soldiers - and strode between the buildings towards the castle where Cao Cao was taking refuge - until something caught my eye. I grinned, even though my back was still throbbing with pure agony.
Ahead of me, one Wei soldier nudged another, before pointing to an apparently abandoned ship.
"Hey, is that one of ours?"
A faint tinkle of bells suddenly became much more obvious, and a figure dashed off the aforementioned ship, finishing off the two soldiers with two swift blows. Straightening up, the man gestured to the rest of his army, who had been hiding on board. My grin became even wider as I ran over to him. Gan Ning had just landed.
"Hey, Su! Hope I'm not too late," he said as he saw me.
"Xiahou Dun and Huang Xu have arrived as reinforcements for the Wei army! More units are on their way!" shouted a messenger as he ran past.
I caught Ning's eye.
"Doesn't really look that way."
"You take Dun, I'll take Xu?"
"Okay. See you in the castle!"
I ran back off the way I'd come as Ning gave his army instructions. I'd have to be careful around Dun - an arrow in the eye had only provided him with a tasty skewered snack, and he had way more experience on the battlefield than me. Plus, while he wasn't quite as tough as Liao, the pain in my back was as apparent as ever, and I was beginning to get worn out from the fighting.
As I ran through the first base I had taken out, which was still smouldering gently, I saw a figure on horseback attacking someone who was expertly blocking. I sped up, recognizing the man on the horse as Xiahou Dun, and the man who was blocking as the second of my sub-generals, Zhu Ran. Leaping off a convenient rock, I performed a flying side kick, which caught Dun on his (rather large) blind side and knocked him off his horse. However, before I had even landed, he had flipped upright again, apparently unharmed.
"Ha!" He barked. "Do you think you can withstand the might of Xiahou Dun?"
I put my head on one side and my hands on my hips in mock concentration.
"Yep. Reckon I can."
Dun merely barked out a laugh again, before suddenly charging me. I managed to get my blades up to block just in time, but the force of his attack still made me slide back a few feet. I gritted my teeth at a stab of pain which knifed through my back, but pulled myself into a quick fighting stance before launching into some of my best moves.
My normal front/back/side combo was quickly followed by a couple of quick swipes from my blades, and the ensuing butterfly kick was upstaged by a back flip, which resulted in a wave of light energy speeding towards the one-eyed general. Having blocked my last few attacks, the wave of light threw him off his feet, but even after all of that, he was able to flip upright again. He even got in one of his own attacks before he landed.
I dodged him more by luck than anything else, and we circled each other, both looking for an opening, and both panting slightly from the recent exertion.
"I see you have some skill on the battlefield," Dun said, holding his scimitar in front of him with both hands.
"You're not doing to badly yourself," I replied, without breaking eye contact.
"Skilled you may be, but I will not allow you to crush Cao Cao's dream!"
Dun suddenly darted forward, weapon raised and a look of fierce concentration on his face. I dodged his first attack, blocked his second, and managed to get an attack of my own in before the third. However, the lunge I made threw me open to Dun's blade. Before I knew it, a red hot line of agony was burning on the back of my shin, and I cried out in shock and pain.
Dun backed off, and I straightened up, wincing. I raised my gaze to his face, saw his smug contempt, and felt something inside me gently snap into place.
I flicked my blades back into their sheaths and swung my Clackers from around my neck in one smooth move. I was completely focused on Dun, now - it was like I was looking down from a higher plane created by exhaustion, determination, and adrenaline, and nothing could stop me. He backed away as I advanced, all traces of pain and fear seemingly erased by the sheer pent up force of my rage, and launched into my most complicated routine.
It began with a flurry of strikes from my Clackers, and was quickly followed by a 360 jump kick. Dun was somehow caught completely off guard by my attack, and was knocked off his feet. Before he could even land, I got him with a series of bandals, followed by a tricky little attack which had taken me weeks to master, but which resulted in Dun crying out in pain as my Clackers made crushing contact with his chest.
He fell to the floor, winded and in considerable pain. I waited for him to stand and attack me again. When he didn't, I turned sharply on my heel in the direction of Cao Cao. This battle wouldn't last much longer if I had anything to do with it.
I was making my way west again when Cao Hong turned up with reinforcements. I stopped, and turned to face them - tired, in pain, but enraged enough that it didn't matter.
Turning to face them, I stood where I was, concentrating. My Clackers dangled limply from my right hand, and I swung them gently as a soft breeze ruffled my hair. Hong and his troops had seen me by now, and were advancing with some caution, but I ignored them. I held my ground, staring at a patch of ground about 10 meters away, waiting for the right moment.
Hong's horse edged its hoof into my line of vision, and I thrust both hands out in front of me, holding the Clackers by their ends. I let one end drop as Hong hesitated, and pinched the string exactly between the two balls in a vice-like grip. I brought my other hand up to my face, and concentrated.
Two bounces, two strange crashes that were louder than physics should have allowed, and I began to make the balls crash into each other, once above my hand, once below, and repeating. With every noisy connection, a bigger and bigger flame grew from the centre of the string. I went faster, Hong's men still mindlessly approaching from all sides, and the flame grew to an enormous size before I suddenly slammed them, full force, into the ground.
A simply humongous shock-wave of fire spread from around me. Had I not been so completely focused on the battle, I would probably have stood and stared at the power of my attack. However, I simply picked up my Clackers again, ignoring the burnt corpses (I hadn't harmed the horse. It wasn't its fault it had been dragged into battle.), and walked away from Hong, who was trying to make a hasty retreat.
As I drew closer to where Cao Cao stood, however, my energy began to drain away. My back and leg slowly became agonizing again, my confident stride turned to a stubborn limp. I was bone weary and badly injured, but my usual determination wouldn't let me quit just yet.
I entered the castle where Wei was camped. Gan Ning's soldiers were already taking on Cao Cao's army, with varying degrees of success, but I ignored them all, focusing entirely on the regal figure on horseback who was stationed in the far corner of the building. I limped past knots of fighting with a determination I was coming to dislike, absolutely and entirely focused on that one man. My Clackers dangled limply from my hand, and I twitched them gently as Cao Cao turned to face me. I held his cold gaze as I limped closer, only stopping when I was ten feet from his horse.
"What's the matter? Did you come so far just to discover you didn't plan ahead?" he purred maliciously.
I stared at him blankly, too tired to act on the spark of annoyance at his words. No, I didn't know what I was going to do now, but in battle, it was impossible to plan ahead. Cao Cao smirked at my tired silence.
"Oh dear, you're stuck so very far from your allies with no idea of what to do... Did you honestly think you could hope to beat me?" he purred, before his tone changed, and he hissed, "Better just run to your friends before I lose my temper and split your head in two!"
I blinked, swaying slightly as I stood in front of him. Much to my annoyance, I could see the sense in his words. I was tired, injured, on my own in a stand-off with the enemy leader... what could I do?
I gritted my teeth, and shook my head to clear those thoughts from my mind. No. That wasn't me thinking. That was Cao Cao's poisonous words seeping into my mind. I had come this far - me. I could push myself a bit further, especially now I knew what to do. I raised my eyes to meet those of Cao Cao's again, a glint in my eye that hadn't been there a second before, pulled myself upright, and glared at him haughtily.
"You're right," I said quietly, "I didn't know what to do. But now, I have you to thank. You're an inspiration to us all, Cao Cao." I paused, savouring his twisted expression of hatred, before continuing. "Because you have massively underestimated me. Goodbye."
A/N: My god, that was one hell of a chapter. Please, for the love of god, PLEASE review! I'm not going to post the next chapter until I get 10 reviews, so consider yourselves warned! And yes, I do accept anonymous reviews. See you in the next... interesting installment of Warrior of Art!