Chapter 25: War Games?
War was nothing new to Kouka. With a history like it had, it was enevitable. Rulers were killed and replaced by others. Clans rose up against tyrants and townsfolk would fight to protect their own; but in the case of Awa Port, things were different. Kum-ji prepared his men, the officials who had been bribed or threatened by the evil man. They would be fighting the Earth General himself, yet none seemed to know this. If they had, they would've surrendered immediately. As it was, the officials pulled out a dirty trick. Going door to door throughout the port town they pulled men from their homes and forced them into service to protect Yang Kum-ji, threatening their wives and children to ensure compliance. It did not look good for the citizens of Awa Port.
General Geun-tae advanced his army into the streets of Awa Port. Soldiers knocked on doors, but found the homes and businesses empty. This didn't surprise the General very much. As he suspected that Kum-ji would use the citizens of Awa as canon fodder while he escaped. It was why he ordered his commander to arrest any who tried to escape before dawn and if they struggled, they were to be killed for suspicion of being apart of Kum-ji's circle.
They quickly found out where the people of Awa were. At the center of the town they stood with the corrupt officials, most looking as if they'd been drug from their bed or beaten into submission. Riding his horse out into the front of his men, Geun-tae began to speak. "I am General Lee Geun-tae, chief of the Earth tribe. I have come for Lord Yang Kum-ji. Any who work for him, or stand in my way to get to him, will be cut down without mercy!" he yelled out the last part and watched as the faces of the ordinary men's faces turn ashen. Just as I thought, he mused, they're here under duress. He raised his arm in the air, the archers on the surrounding roof tops suddenly arched their bows. "Last chance." he warned them. Not a single person moved, though the first three rows of men had fear etched on their faces and tears within their eyes. He gave the signal with his hand striking downward.
The arrows flew through the air silently, striking their victims in the back row. Screams filled the air as the corrupt officials fell to the ground injured or incapacitated. Weapons fell from the hands of the ordinary citizens as they surrendered to the general as cries began to fill the air.
"We surrender!"
"They took my wife!"
"They threatened my children!"
"Please save my family!"
The men began to fall to their knees begging the general to help or save their families. All the while Geun-tae's men began to tie up the injured officials, not caring that they were injured or bleeding out from their wounds. "QUIET!" General Geun-tae yelled out across the crowd. "Where is Kum-ji?" he growled at the men.
Everyone pointed towards the port where over a dozen ships were leaving port all at once in an attempt to escape. Geun-tae grinned. "Then I'll leave them to the dragons and Captains Gigan and Lee-un." he muttered before turning to the other men awaiting orders. "Search the homes of the officials, I want everything that ties them to this atrocity found!" he yelled out. Quickly the soldiers began moving towards the homes of the officials. Geun-tae got off his horse and grasped a man in a gold and scarlet shirt by the font of his clothes. He was obviously the high ranking officer of these men. "You're taking me to Kum-ji's manor and don't try anything funny or else it will be your life."
The raven haired man began to quake in hand. "Yes sir." he gasped as he was thrown down upon the ground, causing his wounds to blood from his shoulder and leg. Standing slightly more so on his other leg, the man began to walk the way towards the Lord's home and prayed Kum-ji would have traps set to kill the General so that they would all escape this without too much trouble.
Jae-ha stood at the front of the ship as they joined up with the Earth tribe's ships. Both mercenary and Kum-ji's drug ships were heading directly towards them, according to Shin-ah. Zeno sat in the crows nest to remain hidden. His job was to find the women and children that would undoubtably be aboard Yang Kum-ji's personal ship. The problem was finding said ship. Jae-ha's and Kija's jobs were to sink the ships as quickly as possible as the Earth ships were used as distractions. Shin-ah's only job was to keep the mercenaries busy while everyone else was doing their assigned jobs.
As soon as their rammed into the mercenary ship, Jae-ha jumped high into the sky, threw several knives down upon the mercenaries who cried out as their bodies were pierced, though they were not killed. With quick precision, Jae-ha landed upon the enemy crow nest before jumping to the next ship just as Kija crashed his dragon claw into the main mass of the ship which fell onto the mercenaries. Taking his claw Kija slammed his fist into the main beam that held the ship together. His fist causing the destruction of the deck floorboards, which caused a ripple effect across the entire ship. Grasping Shin-ah by his tunic, Kija pulled his younger dragon brother out of the way of danger and threw him to the next ship nearest to them. Kija gave a gasp as the boards beneath his feet suddenly gave way. His hand was sudden grasped by Zeno and one of Gigan's crew members.
"Go! I've got him." the heady man assured Zeno.
"Thanks Ra'tel." Zeno stated as he ran across the ship that was breaking apart like there was nothing out of the ordinary happening around him.
What a happy-go-lucky guy. Re'tel thought before bringing his attention back to Kija's predicament. "One, two..." he counted before swinging the white haired youth across the gape and onto the top deck. Laughing slightly, Re'tel began to make his way across the ship towards where Shin-ah had disappeared off to.
Shin-ah dodged the long blade and red blade of the double end scythe that the giant of a man before him was using. He'd never fought against such a weapon. It had him taking a defensive stance against it. Suddenly something moved in the white fur on his shoulder. "Ao." he mumbled his companions name. The tiny squirrel looked at him before eying the enemy. Jumping from his shoulder to the floor, Ao watched as the giant blade came down upon Shin-ah's sword causing sparks of light to ignite between the two blades. Running forward, the tiny animal climbed up the pant leg of the mercenary as the man tried to cut down her friend. As Ao came up to the shirt collar, she bit into the ear of the mercenary.
Shin-ah watched as the mercenary suddenly screamed as Ao bit into him. Taking the moment of distraction as his sign, the blue haired man sliced through skin and bone as he cut off the mercenaries hand. A scream louder and higher pitched was the result. Kicking the now fallen blade away, Shin-ah took off in a mad dash as Ao jumped back onto his shoulder and hid once more in the white fur.
Jae-ha swung his green dragon leg through the air, knocking four men overboard and into the water. Jumping to avoid being gutted, he brought out four daggers and threw them at two men, hitting one in the knee and the other in both shoulders. Picking up the forth dagger that got embedded into the floorboards, the green haired man took on a duelist with two swords. Narrowly missing in getting his head taken off in one swing, Jae-ha kicked the man in the gut with his dragon leg, spun around then kicked him in the chin causing the man to fall backwards unconscious. Nearby, he saw a yellow blur pass him by. Zeno? he wondered, as he'd never seen the other man move quite that quickly before.
Zeno jumped from ship to ship. Sliding and avoiding most dangers. A cut here or there barely registered as he made his way to the center of the flotilla where he was certain Kym-ji was. Out of the corner of his eye Zeno saw a spear heading towards him. Grasping the blade with his hand, Zeno winced at the pain, he twisted around and threw the spear right back at the mercenary who fell off the ship in order to avoid being killed by his own weapon. Without missing a beat, Zeno continued running, hoping he wouldn't be too late.
Captain Lee-un sat back upon her heel as she watched the destruction that the pirates were causing. Sailing her ship up to the pirates ship, she saw that the mercenaries seemed to be overwhelming the tiny ship. There was a white haired man protection an older woman in a purple dress who was throwing daggers at her enemies.
Standing on the edge of her ship, trident short swords pulled from her hips she jumped onto the pirate ship to assist them in their victory, her men quickly following. Landing in a roll, she pushed herself up and forward, slamming her short swords into the back of the mercenary trying to attack from behind the older captain. Pressing her back up against the older woman's she smiled. "Seems you could use some help." she stated with some cockiness in her voice.
"Hm." Gigan hummed. "I could've taken him." she said with assurance in her voice. Eying the young auburn haired woman she grinned. "You haven't changed much Lee-un."
The other woman smiled as she eyed the other from the corner of her eye. "Likewise. Grams." Gigan smiled at the sound of that word. It warmed her heart to hear it. The two separated as the enemy came at them while Kija made a second attempt in getting to another ship to destroy its main beams.
Zeno jumped down into the hull of the center ship. After sneaking aboard he had dumped all of the men overboard by sneaking up behind them and either pushing them over the side or tying something heavy around them and throwing the heavy item overboard. It had been comical a few times when one would slide across the deck and then go overboard. Many would trying cutting themselves free, but were never quick enough.
Now that he was in the hull, Zeno began to search the rooms for any women or children being held prisoner. He was in luck as the entire room below the hull was filled with women and children who were in night clothes. It took him all but a minute to realize these were the people from Awa.
Placing a finger to his lips Zeno spoke. "I need everybody to be very quiet." he told them. Mothers with children held their babies close to them. Young women tried to conceal their joy at being found and of possible escape.
Turning back towards the entrance of the hidden room, Zeno quickly made sure it was safe for them to go to the top deck. On the second deck, Zeno heard voices. Peering inside the room he saw the bejeweled clothes of Kum-ji. I need to make a signal. One that Shin-ah can see. Looking around the hull, Zeno saw some gun powder and suddenly had an idea. A firework! he grinned at his idea and quickly began to gather the materials that were needed. Running to the top deck he shot off the firework, signaling to the others where he was.
Hands suddenly began to grab at him. "You brat!" a mercenary yelled as he punched Zeno in the face only to cry out at his hand being broken.
"Sorry, but Zeno took precautions." he stated as he lifted his face up revealing golden scales on his face and neck, though more vanished beneath his clothes. "This power was to be used to protect Missy, but she ordered Zeno to protect those here from you. So I will use everything to protect the people of Awa from the evil monster that is Yang Kum-ji and his men."
"Monster." one man grinned. "You should be careful at calling monsters names, they tend to appear out of nowhere." Just as the man said this a hand shot out of the darken doorway and grasped Zeno by the neck.
Zeno looked down upon Yang Kum-ji as the man held him up by his throat and began to laugh as Zeno struggled within his grasp. Zeno couldn't dislodge the hand, but he could sense his brothers rushing towards him. Sighing, he decided to stop struggling. "You should let Zeno down." he spoke casually towards the lord.
Kum-ji's eyes widened. "Why aren't you dying?" he questioned as he tightened his grip on Zeno's throat. "You should at least be choking!"
Zeno felt sweat drop down his neck. "Zeno cannot be hurt. He is not vulnerable like most humans. Not since he became the Ouryuu."
"The Ouryuu!?" Yang Kum-ji gasped with a yell.
"Nice way to reveal yourself Zeno." Jae-ha's voice came from behind Kum-ji. "It's not as beautiful or spectacular as when I do it though." Kum-ji noticed that his men were fallen unconscious beneath the green haired man's feet.
"Green hair..." Kum-ji took notice. "Then you are..."
"The beautiful Ryokuryuu." Jae-ha replied. "And what you're doing to this town is far from beautiful."
"Brother Ryokuryuu is angry." Zeno stated, saying the obvious. "Though Hakuryuu looks even angrier." Zeno pointed to Kija who stood on the edge of the ship's ledge near them.
Kum-ji's eyes widened further.
"I don't know," Jae-ha said smoothly. "I've never seen that look in Seiryuu's eyes before."
Above them, on the very top deck that was above the captains room, Shin-ah stood on the railing looking rather pissed off. A streak of blood was dripping down from his forehead as he looked down upon them. Absolute hate was searing from his eyes, the Seiryuu dragon was clawing to get out; to squeeze the life out of Kum-ji's heart. Trembling hands barely held back as Shin-ah replace his sword upon his back.
Lord Yang Kum-ji knew the stories of the four dragons. But they're nothing but myths! his mind yelled. His eyes saw these men of bone and flesh. Then why are they very much real at this moment if they're truly myths? Was the question that was raised by his first thought.
Throwing Zeno at Kija, the blond's body slammed into the others with such force that they both went overboard. Taking out his sabre sword, he advanced Jae-ha who prepared to take him head on when Shin-ah jumped in front of his older brother. Grasping the sabre's blade with his both of his hands, Shin-ah barely felt the pain as the blade cut him. Blood dripped down from his wounds onto the wooden floor planks as Shin-ah using all of his strength pushed Kum-ji backwards. Jae-ha jumped out from behind Shin-ah and threw his last two daggers at Kum-ji. One gazing his right shoulder as the other dug into the right side of his neck. An artery had been cut in that moment, blood spraying onto the wall that led down into the hull and as he fell, his blood leaked out of him onto the floorboards.
Zeno and Kija climbed back up just in time to see the Lord of Awa Port fall dead to the ground. Both had wide eyes before Zeno smirked. "This reminds Zeno of another time he and brother Hakuryuu missed out on something."
Jae-ha held out his hand to both to help them back over the side. "You two okay?" he inquired as he looked them both over.
"Seems like Captain Gigan and Captain Lee-un have everything under control now." he said looking out at the ship's on fire.
"The women and children are down below." Zeno told them. "Zeno left them safely down there." he looked at Shin-ah. "Are you alright?"
Shin-ah looked at his hands that were still shaking before looking up at Zeno. "I will be once I'm closer to Yona." he answered.
"I think we all kind of could use the presence of our young Mistress." Jae-ha muttered quietly. "She enjoys when I play for her."
"So does Mister!" Zeno laughed at Jae-ha's flush.
"Teasing isn't nice Zeno." was Jae -ha's response. "Besides, I think Ayame may chase me off if I did something to Hak."
Zeno burst out laughing. "I'd be more worried about Mister's weapon than his sweetheart."
Jae-ha chuckled. "True." he acquiesced before looking at Kum-ji's dead body. "So what do we tell General Geun-tae about the late Lord Kum-ji's demise?"
"We don't." Zeno stated causing everybody to look at him. "We state he got away, set fire to his ship and let it sink to the bottom of the harbor."
"Yona won't like that he was killed." Shin-ah stated.
"So we don't tell anybody the truth." Kija said softly, not liking that option very well.
"Shell find out eventually." Jae-ha mused. "But for now, this will be our secret."
"Otherwise it may cause problems for Missy in the future." Zeno said as they left the top deck to retrieve the captives and then set fire to the vessel.
General Geun-tae pulled his sword from the body of the official leader that had brought him to Kum-ji's estate. The man had brought him to the estate, but had also led him into a trap. He'd been forced to fight a dozen guards before having to fight the man who'd brought him here. The fights had been short and not very satisfying. Now that he was here he could see the lavish buildings were made of marble floors and pillars. It looked very much like a castle fortress. My home doesn't even look this lavish. he thought as he began to wonder around the place. Red silk hung on tapestries, painting on the walls and beautiful servant girls were in the rooms. They're probably slaves and not servants. he thought with disgust as he passed through the main building into a study with large wooden doors.
Slowly, Geun-tae began to search the place. He didn't want to miss an inch of the room. He found a lever under the hearth of the fireplace that opened a hidden room behind some bookcases. Knew something more was here. he thought as he walked through the hidden doorway. His eyes widening as he saw the shelves filled with more ledgers. One side was about the drugs and who all was involved, while the other side had the names of all of his victims.
By the time the General was seen again, it was noon. His eyes had dark circles under them and he looked like a man whose eyes had been opened for the first time.
M-Angel: So, because AO3 is having technical problems, everybody here gets to read this chapter before my readers there do. So tell me what you think! Reviews are so very much welcomed! ^_^