Chapter 9: The Battle of Wan Castle
Despite the circumstances they were able to find a few provisions and from them they were able to eat rice, different vegetables and a firm favourite of everyone: the famous meat bun. Though the food may not have been the best, it was healthy enough to eat and everyone appeared to have enjoyed their dinner. Especially with how they had a decent amount to drink which happened to be wine.
It wasn't just the food and drink they enjoyed but the company. The males value the 5 ladies as useful helpful people, as well as with how they appear to be different from everyone else, and how they had different stories to tell. The ladies also appreciate the male officers who belong here, particularly with how devoted they are to their cause and how they have different philosophies.
They've also enjoyed communicating to each other about various topics, though what they found the most interesting was about Noire and Blanc as leaders, as well as how they attempted to explain what their lives were like, as well as the culture they have lived in.
They spoke of the food they had from there, as well as how they had more of it and more varieties, as well as how the foods that Noire has in her empire are different to Blanc's in hers. They've also discussed the technology from where they came from, as well in particular with how they have cookers and microwaves, which allow them to cook food at the press of a button.
They also spoke of what they did for entertainment as they speak of the marvels of the internet, as well as video games, in particular with how there's a video game about them. They even speak of other board games and compare the likes of Go to Draughts, Chess and Backgammon, and they speak of it with much enthusiasm.
Along with that they spoke of how they not only have currency but virtual currency, in particular with how thanks to the internet they have online banking. Another subject they spoke of was how from their future they had machines doing much of the work, and there's even robots that are programmed to do tasks that are usually either dangerous or repetitive.
They've enjoyed the discussion very much and though they wanted to talk some more about it, it was late and they needed their sleep.
Upon getting up they had breakfast which consisted of left overs and headed for Wan Castle, where they'll do battle with Zhang Liang.
It is now they have arrived at their destination.
They're close to a nearby village consisting of little more than groups of a few old houses next to each other, with a few roads encircling them. They attempted to assemble their forces and devise a strategy to liberate the village, only to see groups of people carrying torches.
"The friggin hell?! They're setting fire to the village!" Blanc exclaims with frustration.
"Those poor innocent people, why would the Yellow Turbans do this considering they're peasants themselves? Come on we must save them!" Noire yells sounding quite stressed out.
While the two older sisters show emotions and are panicking quite a bit, Cao squared is more calm and relaxed, but this does not make him cold and he does feel bad for the burning village. This is because despite the danger towards the innocent, a proper strategy needs to be put in place so that they can be saved, and the threat can be dealt with.
The ladies realise this and attempt to calm themselves down while listening to Cao Cao.
"We must go to their aid at once, we will deal with the enemies in the village. After which you will focus on getting the residents to safety, while the rest of us will deal with Zhang Liang. This is probably his doing and he needs to be dealt with immediately." The Wei leader orders.
With this command they obey and the ladies, Cao Cao and his 2 cousins charge into the village. They rush as fast as they can as they see more and more clearly about what is going on, as they see the Yellow Turbans burning house after house and killing any of them who dare to defend their homes.
The horrific sight fuels their rage and their rage fuels their speed and stamina, as they cover plenty of ground for a person running.
Eventually after much running they reach the burning village, but despite being tired from the fast running and seeing the size of the flames right now, they refuse to give in and neutralise the nearest enemy they see.
Upon engaging the enemy the turbans notice them, and charge towards them in an attempt to overwhelm Cao Cao and his fellow officers. Of course as opposed to stressing out the officers this calms them, as they know that their superior skills will beat their superior numbers. With them engaging the leader's forces, the citizens of this village can hopefully escape without the yellow enemy wiping them out, taking advantage of them fighting Cao Cao's forces.
Not even the female officers are that stressed despite being forced to kill them, as they have done such horrible acts. The ladies keep their training in mind as they work together to wipe out the enemy soldiers that would dare oppose them.
After dealing with the enemies near their position they then move to clear the rest of the village, though they split themselves up into groups with Noire leading Uni, Blanc leading her sisters and Cao Cao leading his cousins, as they figure they can save the village together in this way. But as they rush to engage more enemies and attempt to rescue more people, they find that the village is getting burned to the ground more and more, as the fire intensifies and even forces parts of the house's roofs to fall down, as they collapse from the lack of support due to it being destroyed by the fire.
Despite the guilt for not being able to save it sooner, they try to put this horror at the back of their minds as they do what they can in the present, which is to engage more of their forces. This results in the same things happening as the enemies try to overwhelm the groups with their superior numbers, but like before this doesn't work as they eventually wipe out the enemy troops one by one.
As soon as they have defeated the enemies through much effort of parrying their attacks, and delivering killer blows when they have the opportunity, which happens to be simultaneously they then hear a voice in the village.
"Bah I can't believe how pathetic my own troops are, do I have to deal with these trouble makers myself? It's important that this village is looted and burned to the ground." The voice calls out sounding quite frustrated, perhaps lacking in motivation.
After which Blanc uses what she knows about this place, before she works out who this person could be who's called out to them, only for her to then yell to her allies.
"Guys I think this guy is Cheng Yuanzhi. Be careful everyone he's probably a step up from the others, must be one of Zhang Liang's lackeys!" Blanc yells as loud as she can so her friends in the village can hear her.
With her call being heard by her friends they then rush to her in an attempt to battle this Cheng Yuanzhi.
As soon as they arrive they then find him to be standing there carrying a club. He appears like an officer of the time as he wears a helmet with a yellow plume, and he wears some fairly decent armour, but other than that he has no distinctive appearance about him and he just looks like a regular yellow turban officer.
But never the less they approach with caution as although they have superior numbers this time, and they perhaps have superior skills they still cannot afford to let down their guard against him.
As for Cheng although as he sees these officers he now appreciates why his troops failed to defeat them, his loyalty to the cause inspires him to face them down.
But as the village is burning down around them, Cao Cao's group realises they have no time to waste so instead they decide to charge at him, even if it may seem a bit reckless on their part.
With this plan Blanc decides to charge forward as her hammer is similar to his club. When she's within range she attempts to swing her hammer at his head, but he ducks. In fact she does so multiple times fairly quickly, but he barely manages to duck each time. Eventually one time she swings again from above to his face, but he barely blocks it. Eager to end the fight quickly and seeing an opening, Noire volunteers to rush in an attempt to stab Cheng with her sword, but the yellow turban officer notices this and so he retreats a little giving him some ground so he's able to fight the both of them better.
After which the fight between Cheng against Noire and Blanc end up being that he's using his hammer as a makeshift shield against the two female's attacks, and he's unable to do any attacks of his own. This is because of the unbelievable speed the females possess with their strikes, it's almost godly like.
As he's far too busy blocking their relentless attacks, suddenly a barrage of arrows come flying in an arc to his location. These very arrows are fired from Uni's chu ko nu that she has just reloaded. The arrows hit the vile officer all over his legs, including his thighs and knees forcing him to fall on the floor due to the immense pain he is suffering. He's also forced to drop his club that he used for defence.
All he can do is hold his legs as he's in agonising pain right now, as he is at the mercy as Noire has her sword by his throat, in an attempt to get him to surrender.
"Well done ladies but I wish for you to be at ease. Now Cheng Yuanzhi, assuming that is who you are. Where is Zhang Liang?" Cao Cao spoke calmly as he begins to interrogate the defeated enemy, as well as speaking with praise to those that have fought him.
Instead of giving a response, with his last ounce of strength he attempts to throw a small knife at the leader, but somehow he is able to deflect the knife with his sword. Afterwards he signals Blanc to execute him before he can do anything else despite his position.
"You have fought well, but this battle is not over yet. I will take my cousins and head for the gate, meanwhile I wish for you ladies to rescue everyone you can from the village, and put the fires out with whatever methods you can, best of luck to you all." The Wei leader orders while keeping calm.
"You too my lord." Noire replied to him.
With this said they split themselves into groups once again. Noire and Uni are now on firefighting duty while Blanc, Rom and Ram attempt to rescue as many people as they can. Meanwhile the male officers decide to leave the gate to go after Zhang Liang, before he can escape and get away with burning the village.
As the ladies attempt to start the duties given to them, they find themselves with quite a challenging task as putting out fires in this day and age would be rather difficult. They quickly realise that they need to find buckets and a source of water. As for the rescuing of the people there are the concerns about whether anyone of them would be left, and those that are left would they still be alive right now. Not least there is the concern of whether they'd manage to go into a burning house and survive from the heat and fumes, as they look for survivors. But never the less they attempt to do this job, as they feel it is their duty to help save lives whenever they can.
As for the males who charge on ahead they have much guilt in their minds, as they can't help but feel terrible for how they feel they could have done better in saving the village sooner. They also feel worried for their female officers, and hope that they're alright as they are tasked with bringing the people to safety, as well as to trying to save what's left of the village.
But they then realise that there's nothing they can do but try and avenge what happened to the village, as they see a gate close by and charge towards it.
Fortunately for them they are able to get there really soon. They reach the gate which is inconveniently closed, which stands on a small hill full of poles and the occasional wooden box. The troops that guard this closed gate are quite numerous, though they don't appear to be particularly well armed.
They are led by someone who they can only assume to be an officer of the Yellow Turban rebellion. He is dressed in yellow robes and wears a distinctive hat that shows he's a high rank, and he appears to have a moustache too.
"I am Zhang Men Chang, I will not let you pass through these gates." The officer speaks with determination.
"Very well but you will not stop us." Cao Cao responds in kind.
It is then Zhang and Cao charge at each other with their swords in their hands ready to clash, while Xiahou Dun deals with the regular troops and Xiahou Yuan provides assistance with his bow and arrow.
What follows is that a handful of the turbans attempt to deal with Yuan, but before they get within striking distance they get shot down by his arrows. With that threat dealt with he then proceeds to assist Dun, as he barely manages to parry all the turbans that attempt to attack him. Meanwhile Cao and Zhang find themselves to be equally skilled swords men as they manage to strike each other's swords very quickly, parrying each-others strikes with no advantage for either side. All Cao Cao can do is to keep his training in mind as he attempts to block his attacks, while trying to find a way to at least injure his opponent.
As Yuan is able to pick off Dun's opponents it becomes much easier to fight the enemy, and on occasion he is able to injure a few of the poorly trained enemies. Eventually it gets to a point where both Xiahous were able to deal with Zhang's minions, and with that Dun is able to assist his cousin Cao Cao against his opponent.
Dun attempts to strike Zheng but he is able to deflect Dun's strike. Though while the Yellow Turban officer is able to hold off both of the attackers, he is unable to go to the offensive and eventually the numbers get the better of him. This is where it ends up being that he gets struck more often, until eventually he gets stabbed a few times before falling to the ground, dead from his wounds.
With the defenders of the gate now defeated, they look to see if there's a nearby ladder that they can climb up to get over the wall. Fortunately they were able to find one and in a team effort they are able to lean the ladder on the wall soon after, and one by one they climb up it.
When they do reach the top of the wall, they end up finding that there's just a path and there's no one there apart from 3 men dressed in green approach the gate…