The Young Conqueror

by His Lordship Havoc

A biography of sorts about Sun Ce, and what it would have been like if he had realized his ambitions. Lots of action, lots of huge battles, lots of bizarre humour and romantic subplots. Enjoy!

37. Chapter 37

The Young Conqueror

The Young Conqueror

Disclaimer: I did not invent Sun Ce or any other major character in this fanfic. Koei is responsible for the general appearance and mannerisms of the characters contained herein. I drew on the game personae for the sake of variety. Please not that my characterizations contained herein are based on the of the Dynasty Warriors 5 personalities, with the occasional reference to DW6 or an earlier incarnation of the game.

Since this is a story about Sun Ce, I've changed a few events to focus more on him. After Guan Yu he's my favourite character in the game and a li'l gratuitous action for the oldest Sun boy can't be a bad thing, right?

Enjoy!

The Young Conqueror, Chapter 31- Ou Xing's Rebellion, Part III

"Okay, this is not good." Zhou Yu said warily as he stood back to back with Sun Ce, gazing at the enemies that had surrounded them. Cast about them in an ever-closing circle were scores of men.

At least that's what Ce assumed they had been at one time.

Now these beings shambled and slogged forward, moaning and howling in tenebrous voices that spoke of disembodied pain and mindless, maddening hunger. Their inhuman eyes goggled at the two warriors, when they had eyes at all. Their festering, rotting flesh hung in tatters from bones that snapped and rattled as they closed in. Many were missing limbs or even parts of their head. Whatever their impediment, though, they shuffled forward inexorably forward, intent on their prey.

"Not good at all." Zhou Yu affirmed.

"I'm open to suggestions." Ce replied, eyeing their foes. "What are our assets?"

"They seem to be slow, clumsy and prone to losing body parts."

"Complications?"

"They're already dead, so killing them is not likely to stop them."

"Okay, you're right, this is not good." Ce concluded. "I don't want those things touchin' me, let alone eatin' me."

"You know what might have been nice? Some weapons." Zhou Yu commented.

Sun Ce scanned the ground around them, on which were strewn the corpses of slain men, many of them gruesomely torn apart or eaten. Given the appearance of their foes, he was reasonably certain that the bodies surrounding them would not remain still for long.

To his left, the shredded remains of a mendicant monk still clutched his staff. The staff was capped with iron at both ends and the monk's surprising musculature indicated he was no mere priest. Whatever his skills, though, they had not served him well enough to protect him from Ou Xing's hellish minions.

Ce stepped on the rod, flipping it up into the air and catching it deftly. He tossed it to Zhou Yu, who caught it without looking. As he felt its weight he turned his head to frown at the object; he raised and eyebrow and watched as Ce located a halberd and picked it up.

"Oh, I see how it is… you get a halberd and I get a stick to fight with."

"Well, I am the Prince of the Southlands, after all…" Ce said, rotating the weapon in slow arcs, getting a feel for its balance and weight. It was similar in design to Lu Meng's White Tiger halberd, although inferior in quality. He stepped forward, away from Zhou Yu, to give himself some swinging room. Properly used, a halberd was capable of graceful, lethal arcs that could bisect even the largest of men. It had always mildly irked Ce how Lu Meng used his halberd in a linear fashion. Lu Meng's style of combat, like the general himself, was straightforward and effective- it just could have been more.

Ce went into a low stance, the halberd held behind him in one hand while the other pointed at his foes, fingers making the mystical bridge sign. Zhou Yu stood still, the iron-capped staff planted firmly on the ground while he looked out at the sea of enemies.

"By the way, where is Da Qiao?"

"Back in the pavilion, I hope. I'm just glad she's not here. And where is your wife? Probably making another circus outfit for one of my generals."

"They're not that hideous…" Zhou Yu protested as the enemy closed in.

"You kidding?" Ce retorted. "Shang Xiang refuses to come out of her room and fight, in case she's obligated to wear that thing Xiao made into battle. It's tasseled and frilled, for crying out loud. And you know she hates yellow." He tightened his grip on the halberd.

One of the horrible things shrieked and lunged forward, hands flashing out to rend the southern lord. The creature's body stumbled ad collapsed as its head tumbled through the air, swept clean off by Ce's halberd in a blindingly fast stroke.

"One down, many more to go…" Ce muttered as the creatures closed in for the kill.

--

"You know the boys are going to have a fit when they find out that we snuck off, right?" Xiao whispered as she and Da crept through the reed bed together, staying low to avoid detection.

"It can't be helped, Xiao, we have to do this." Da said quietly, leading her sister along under cover of night. The path to Ou Xing's stronghold had been perilous, but the guiding hand of the gods had protected them from both harm and detection.

"You know only we can save our husbands, we both saw what was waiting for them." Da continued. Xiao nodded grimly. Both girls had been safe in Changsha when they had been touched by a dream. The dream had made it quite clear that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu would die if they faced Ou Xing- not just die, but total and agonizing annihilation and the hands of a demon whose thirst for human souls could not be sated.

Da and Xiao both saw their husbands gruesomely consumed, their minds fleeing madness, their souls devoured. Their cries of agony were too much to bear and the girls had awoken in fright, with sweat on their brows and their hearts pounding in their chests. They had looked at each other knew exactly what they had to do.

They had slipped out of the city and rode as quickly as they dared to Feilong county, where Ou Xing's lair seemingly was- an ancient, crumbling and abandoned fortress standing in the foothills of the county.

Not far away from them now, the edifice loomed balefully, an ominous black against the blue curtain of midnight.

They moved forward quietly, alert for any signs of trouble. They had already encountered and slain both men and foul monster during their approach. Da gazed to her left, looking down at the river whose tall reeds they had concealed themselves in. The once fair, crystalline waters of the river were now foul, black and sluggish. The substance reminded her of pitch or tar, but had an unwholesome, unnatural quality to it. Bones of fish and other creatures crawled down the river, testifying to the horrifying death awaiting those who dared to enter.

Da held up a hand, signaling the need to stop. Up ahead a guard was standing at the river's edge, relieving himself. His eyes were closed and he was humming some simple folk. Da scowled at the sound as his stream pattered off the foul, viscous sludge that pushed lazily down the channel. What was that stuff, anyway?

Da was considering her options for quickly and quietly disposing of the foe when a rock hurtled from behind her and struck him in the side of the head. The man went rigid and then fell face-first into the hideous ichor. Da winced as he impacted the surface, expecting a splash, but so thick and foul was the mire that little more than a 'plop' could be heard. The miasma sucked the man's body down greedily. Da watched with repugnance as a goop-covered hand broke the surface and made some feeble grasping motions as it was dragged slowly down the river.

She turned to frown at her younger sister, who grinned and flashed a victory sign at her.

"And what if you had missed, genius?"

Xiao shrugged. "And what if he'd finished peeing and found us while we were waiting for you to come up with some brilliant tactic to deal with him?"

Da blushed.

"Sis, you married into the Sun family, you weren't born into it." Xiao pointed out. "You don't need to be the greatest strategist in Wu."

Da looked at the ground. "Maybe that is what Lord Sun Ce needs me to-"

"Oh, would you please stop with your little psycho-drama already?" Xiao said, rolling her eyes. "He's got my Zhou Yu for developing grand strategy."

"So I should just concentrate on being the best wife in the Southlands?" Da murmured.

"Well, second-best, maybe." Xiao replied, smirking.

Da shook her head and began crawling forward again.

"And your husband is my brother-in-law, so you don't need to call him Lord Sun Ce all the time; I'm on a first-name basis with him, you know…" Xiao hissed, swatting her sister on the butt with her fan as she followed after her.

--

"Having fun yet, pal?" Ce called out as he whirled about in a bloody arc with his halberd. While in general he preferred fighting with his tonfas, he could appreciate his current tool's usefulness for crowd control and keeping these foul beings away from his tender flesh. He did not know what foul magicks held their rotting bodies together, but they moved with demonic savagery.

"Can't talk, I'm a little busy!" Zhou Yu yelled back as he cross–stepped low and drove the tip of his staff into a ghoul's mouth and out the back of his skull. He pulled back on the staff while thrusting his foot into its chest, knocking it clear. Without pause, he spun about, cracking the staff across the head of several foes. Some staggered or fell down, but others kept coming, undeterred. One particularly hideous foe was hit hard and its head snapped down to one side and stayed there, hanging limply, but the eyes still goggled at Zhou Yu as the body shuffled forward. Another enemy had lost their lower jaw but still came on, their tongue lolling obscenely from the ruins of its mouth.

"Quit trying to be so pretty!" Ce yelled as he bifurcated another foe. "I don't think these guys are gonna be impressed with your form!"

"You gave me a stick to fight with!" Zhou Yu protested. "I have to figure out what it's capable of, don't I?"

"Wow, something you don't intuitively know?" Ce quipped as he swept the legs out from another enemy. "I think I may very well be frightened!"

Even through the darkness, Ce could see that their foes, while numerous, were not without end. There may have been several hundred, but if he were careful he would be able to prevail. His only concern was Zhou Yu- Ce was perfectly capable of using a halberd, but he had given his strategist a stick to fight with…

As he spun through another strike he spared a glace at his friend. Given that he had no blade with which to sever limbs from his ravenous opponents, Zhou Yu was giving quite an impressive account of himself and improvising nicely. He may have been a calm and brilliant strategist, but he was fiery and aggressive in combat. Even in one of his renowned 'berserker' frenzies, Ce never lost himself and always was aware of his actions and surroundings.

Zhou Yu's eyes were flashing and distant, totally intent on the utter annihilation of his foes. He whirled and struck in a constant blur of motion, the staff twirling elegantly between one and two hands. Streams of fire trailed from the tips of the weapon, scorching the enemy, their flesh falling away in charred lumps; and still they came on.

"Wanna swap weapons?" Ce offered, backing up somewhat, lest they get too far apart. Obviously their circular style of combat required distance between them, but he didn't want Zhou Yu to get totally surrounded- his endurance would not hold out forever.

"Oh, now you ask!" Zhou Yu shot back. "The man who fought Lu Bu to a standstill suddenly second-guesses his choice of weapon? I think I'll just continue to manage for now, thank you!"

"Whatever," Ce said amiably. "Just save your strength for Ou Xing, we're gonna need it!"

He ducked a savage charge and surged up, rolling the ghoul off his back and into a small cluster of his ilk. Ce leaned back in another low stance, holding the halberd in an overhead defensive posture. Another foe leapt at him and impaled itself on the keen blade. Ce swung the weapon about in great arcs while the skewered foe screeched in protest. Finally the blade released its grip on the fiend and it was sent flying.

"These guys don't know when to quit!" he yelled as he slashed horizontally through yet another torso. The ghoul fell to the ground in two places but the top half snarled inhumanly and continued toward him, pulling itself along on its taloned hands. Ce wrinkled his nose in disgust and rove the tip of his halberd down through the beast's neck, pinning it to the ground. It shuddered and finally lay still.

"Is that only an admirable trait in yourself?" Zhou Yu responded sarcastically. He slammed the butt of his staff into the ground and swung himself about the weapon, kicking several foes and knocking them back. In a single, fluid motion, the staff was pulled form the earth and brought it into defensive posture.

Back to back, the two warriors gazed out at the enemy host. Scores of the foul beings lay still or barely moving in piles around them and still the foe came on, relentless and immune to fear, possessed of a mindless fury and unworldly hunger.

"Ce.." Zhou Yu said quietly, staring impassively at the ravening horde that closed in. "I have no doubt that you will survive this encounter, but I am not so sure about myself. These undead horrors, they infect you and make you one of them. Promise me something. If I…"

"Yeah," Ce replied, not wanting to hear the request. "I'll make sure you don't become one of them. I promise."

Zhou Yu closed his eyes and nodded slightly. He felt a great sense of calm, in spite of the turmoil about them.

"Thank you, Ce."

Both men drew deep breaths and steeled themselves for the next round. The eyes of their foes glowed in the night as they lurched and shambled forward, talons flexing and jaws slavering.

Ce raised his halberd and let out a great warcry. Almost in response, a horn blared through the night, accompanied by the thunder of hooves. The ghastly horde continued to close on Ce and Zhou Yu, heedless of the approaching relief. In seconds, a score of cavalrymen stampeded into the throng, hewing about with their swords and they pressed toward their beleaguered leader.

Assaulted now in earnest, the ghouls shrieked and fought back, but to no avail. There were trampled underfoot and massacred, to the very last one. Even as they fell, though, they tried to rend the flesh of their assailants, devoid of any sense of fear or self-preservation. Their inhuman wails and cries echoed across the plain.

"Careful, guys!" Ce yelled out as his cavaliers thundered by. "Killin' em doesn't stop 'em!"

Taishi Ci rode up and leapt off his horse, his huge war clubs already put to use. A ghoul rushed at him and he knocked its head from its body with a swing of his weapon. He strode over to Ce and Zhou Yu as the Night Tigers finished off the remaining foes and bowed.

"You might have told us you were planning to leave, my lord." Taishi Ci groused.

"Didn't wanna risk it, big guy." Ce replied. "I didn't know what we were facin', so Zhou Yu and I decided to scout ahead a little."

Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow. "We decided? What's this we nonsense? You didn't even let us bring weapons."

"No offense, my lord, but we still had to come and get you," Taishi Ci pointed out. "And doubtless, Ou Xing now knows we are here."

"How did you find out we'd left, anyway?" Ce asked.

Taishi Ci nodded his head back at a group of horses. Xiao's squad of psychotic girls sat quietly astride their mounts, spears ready in case any of the foe decided to try and rise.

"They noticed that the Ladies Da and Xiao were missing and when we checked your quarters, we noticed that you too were nowhere to be found. Where are your wives?"

"What?!" Ce said suddenly, his tone taking on a note of urgency. "You said Da and Xiao aren't in Changsha?"

"No, my lord," the commander of the Night Tigers confirmed. "At first we did not know how they slipped out of the city, but then we found Captain Fu Chin Ran unconscious at a well near the north gate."

"A well?" Zhou Yu queried.

"Yes, lord." Taishi Ci said. "She found them trying to use the artesian well in the merchant's quarter to get out of the city undetected. She tried to stop them but then Lady Da Qiao kissed her and-"

"Never mind, I don't wanna know." Ce said, cutting his bodyguard off. "What the hell are they doing?"

"Commander Fu was a little groggy at first," Taishi Ci said, recalling his interview with the captain of Lady Shang Xiang's amazon battalion. "But she said that they told her about a dream in which you and Lord Zhou Yu were killed horribly by Ou Xing. Since they both had the dream simultaneously, they concluded it was a divine warning and set out to confront Ou Xing before you were slain by him."

Zhou Yu looked at Ce. "Just when I thought this couldn't get worse. Ce, we have to find the girls before-"

He suddenly cried out in pain and dropped to his knees. One of their ghoulish foes that had been sprawled at their feet surged up suddenly and clamped its jaws down on Zhou Yu's forearm. Eyes blazing in fury and agony, Zhou Yu drove a spearhand right through the beast's skull, shattering it. The creature's body sagged, but it did not release its deadly grip.

Taishi Ci kicked the body away while Ce leapt in and caught his dear friend as he slumped to the ground. He grabbed the jaws and pried them free, throwing the ruined head clear.

"Alright, you guys have got to get back to Changsha as soon possible." Ce said urgently. "Those things infect you and turn you into one of them."

"How long do we have?" Taishi Ci asked, checking other nearby bodies to make sure they would be no more surprise attacks.

"Damned if I know," the young ruler said. "But the sooner you get back, the sooner Ren Neng can treat him."

"There is… no need to talk about me… like I'm not here…" Zhou Yu said weakly, steadying himself. Kneeling wearily, he rolled up what was left of his sleeve. Where the fiend had bitten him he was sporting ugly puncture wounds that were already turning his skin unhealthy shades of green and black.

"Perhaps we should get back," he said as he scooped up mud and smeared it over the wound. "I would not be surprised to find out that this infection spread more quickly than one might expect."

He looked unusually pale, even for Zhou Yu. There was a tightness to his jaw, indicating he was in hideous pain.

Ce helped Zhou Yu to his feet while Taishi Ci stood guard, making sure that they were secure. They walked slowly over to a warhorse and Ce sat behind his friend in the saddle as they set out toward Changsha.

"Hang in there, buddy. Because if you don't make it, I really don't want to have to explain this to Xiao…"

--

"You hear that?" Xiao asked. "War horns."

Da nodded. "It's the battle call of the Night Tigers. They must be out looking for Lord Sun Ce and Zhou Yu."

Xiao grimaced. "And found the enemy, from the sounds of it."

Da was silent for several moments as she listened. "Xiao, we need to move," she said finally. "We both know what will happen to the boys if we don't stop Ou Xing quickly."

Xiao nodded but she looked worried. "Sis, you know I'll follow you anywhere and face almost anything- I mean, we faced Hua Xiong, right? Well, we almost faced him, but you have you have to admit, he was pretty big and-"

"Xiao…" Da said tightly. "We don't have time for you to rationalize our bravery! The longer we delay, the more likely it is that the boys will reach Ou Xing and attack him!"

"I'm sorry," Xiao said. "I just… Da, this is a demon we're talking about fighting against."

"I know, Xiao." Da said softly while crawling forward. She led her sister along the riverbank for several minutes before surveying the landscape.

"There…" she said, pointing at a large, grass-covered mound just under a li away. "We can make our way into Ou Xing's stronghold there."

Xiao frowned. "Da, that's a tumulus, we can't go in there! Some important person is buried there, maybe even an ancient king! We can't violate his resting place!"

"Ou Xing already has," Da pointed out, her eyes glinting with determination. "But we can make it in there."

"You sure?" Xiao asked.

"Positive."

"That doesn't bode well…" Xiao muttered as she hunkered down and followed after her sister.

They crept toward the tumulus, but even as they closed Da could feel her body almost shrinking away from the ancient mound. Some foul evil awaited them and she would endure it to save her beloved.

As they approached they could make out the forms of several beings around a locale near the base of the tumulus.

"Are they men or those… things?" Xiao asked.

"Men," Da answered quietly. "I don't think you could rely on those flesh-eating things to guard an entrance."

"I guess we know what's coming next, then…" Xiao murmured.

Four guards stood idly in the darkness. They were unusually quiet, their expressions blank and their eyes glazed. In their hands they held swords or spears and they wore scraps of dirty yellow garb.

Two of them died instantly as Xiao's fans sheared their heads from their shoulders. The other two died half a second later as Da landed on them from above, crushing them to the ground. The sisters crouched low, scanning the area for other foes before proceeding to the ancient entrance on the side of the tumulus.

The two of them stood outside the portal, staring into the blackness. Da could hear her younger sister breathing, trying to steel herself for what had to be done next. A tear came to her eye as she thought of what Xiao must be going through. But isn't that what bravery meant- to continue on in spite of paralyzing fear or terror? Isn't that what Da tried to do?

Xiao bit her lip. "Alright… let's go…"

Da stepped through the door and into the darkness, followed by Xiao. The air was dank and stuffy, almost oppressive. Da's lungs seemed almost to resist the noxious air, unwilling to breathe it.

She reached back and took Xiao's hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. She felt her sister return the gesture, which Da found comforting. In this ancient, charnel place, they only had one another.

In spite of the dark, Da could somehow see. That is, she thought she could. If it was not sight then it was some sense analogous to it. She saw nothing but blackness, but she felt… she did not know what she felt.

Images began to intrude upon her mind. The tunnel before them seemed to be illuminated. Weird orange and green light vomited forth from eyes and mouths that didn't adorn the walls but somehow seemed to be the walls. All was perfectly visible and yet she was aware of the blackness.

Foul, demonic visages surrounded them; the farther they went down the repellant tunnel, the more frightful the sights the sights that awaited them. For several minutes (or had it been hours?), Da had not been able to articulate what was permeating the air but then in a wash of horror it occurred to her…

The frightful and soul-heaving stench of the grave.

She collapsed to her knees, her eyes wide in terror. Beside her, she could feel Xiao, also on her knees and robbed of breath. This horrible place's assault on their senses was almost beyond endurance. Nauseous vapours, putrid flesh and the absurd notion of rotting stone were all she could smell.

"Da…" Xiao squeaked in a tiny, trembling voice.

Da somehow managed to turn and face her sister. Xiao was still on her knees, arms limp at her sides and her breath coming in ragged sobs. Tears streamed down her face, which was pale with terror.

Da hugged her sister close, bursting into tears, so great was the fear she felt. They held each other close, desperate for an anchor in the face of qliphotic horror. Da caressed Xiao's cheeks while pressing her forehead to her sister's. Tears were like ice on her cheeks as she choked out her breaths.

"Xiao, we have to… oh gods… we have to be strong…"

"Da…" Xiao whispered. "We're going to die…"

Da broke down again at her sister's words, crying uncontrollably. But she held Xiao tight, unwilling to let go.

"I know… but we have to… we must be strong… we can't…"

Xiao gripped her sister's shoulders, gritting her teeth and trying not to scream, her entire body shaking in an agony born of unreal fear.

"Xiao, you are right," Da said quietly. "We are going to die, or maybe worse. All we can do is fight… we have to do whatever it takes to protect our husbands… our children…"

"My husband… my children…" repeated to herself. She closed her eyes and struggled to find the strength to continue. Da finally stood, pulling her sister up by the hands. She looked deep into Xiao's eyes.

"We will die tonight, Xiao- but we will die together."

Xiao nodded. "Together."

The sisters picked up their fans and proceeded down the passage. Shapes and senseless forms loomed in the darkness and madness rode on a charnel wind that blew against them. Demonic faces leered from the ceiling and walls. The substance of the tunnel seemed to change, becoming almost spongy and flesh-like. Paths and hallways began to veer off, resembling inhuman maws or orifices. The walls now glistened with a sticky resin and the wind rattled and gurgled, almost as if the passageway were breathing.

Xiao yelped as a long, rubbery arm with grisly talons flashed out from the wall and tried to grab her. She swatted at it with one of her fans and scampered up beside her sister. Da proceeded forward resolutely, determined to not balk.

Her eyes widened in horror as the wall on her right writhed, almost as if in pain- from the mass struggled what was left of a man. Sluggishly his head, torso and arms appeared. The flesh seemed to have been stripped or melted from him and his eyes goggled at them as his body shuddered and twitched in agony.

"P-please…" he croaked. "S-s-save meeee…"

Slowly, gruesomely, he was drawn back into the wall. Da and Xiao watched, rooted to the spot in terror as he disappeared. Had that really just happened?

What horrible fate awaited she and her sister if an innocent peasant were to be tortured and destroyed in so hideous a manner? The two of them were walking brazenly into Ou Xing's lair to challenge him.

"He knows we're coming, doesn't he?" Xiao said timidly.

Da nodded. "I would imagine so."

"Then it worries me that he's not throwing lots of troops or dead guys at us. He obviously isn't scared." Xiao murmured. "Then again, I wouldn't be either. If we were no match for Hua Xiong, what possible threat can we pose to a demon prince?"

"Well, if we're going to protect the boys, we'd better find a way, hadn't we?" Da pointed out.

They crept forward, staying close to one another for support and courage. The fleshy walls writhed with glistening tendrils and a deep, booming but somehow hollow heartbeat seemed to accompany the rattled breath of the foul wind. Da felt as if she were within the body of some great, hideous beast.

Perhaps she was.

The sickening, organic texture of the hallway remained but slowly the shape began to change. The form became more geometric and rectangular and projections that might have once been wooden beams became prominent.

"I think we're under the ruins of the castle." Da said quietly.

Xiao frowned. "The tumulus was connected to the castle? It's a few li away."

"I don't know if it always was, but it obviously is now. Maybe Ou Xing had it planned that way, we don't know how long he's been here in Feilong." Da said, looking around.

They came to a small gallery and there were four directions to choose from. Da was very tempted to turn back. Xiao seemed to read her mind.

"Ever notice that any time you and I are in over our heads, we get thrashed until someone arrives to save us?"

Da, still trying to make up her mind about which passageway to take, turned to look at her sister. "Not every time."

"Yeah, every time." Xiao shot back. "That first battle with the Yellow Turbans, the fight with Hua Xiong, the-"

She was going to continue on with her litany when a large and gruesome tentacle lashed out from one of the hallways and wrapped itself around Xiao. She shrieked in terror as the unholy appendage yanked her violently off her feet and into the darkness from which it had come.

"Xiao!" screamed Da as she raced to save her sister. No matter how fast she ran, though, the nauseous tentacle was faster, snaking back through the aperture. Hideous torches flared along the wall, bathing the gallery in a fiendish orange light. As Xiao disappeared from sight the portal sealed up behind the tentacle almost instantly, like a sphincter.

Da slammed against the barrier and beat at it with her fists, sobbing in rage and fear for her sister.

"Give her back!" she screamed. "Give her back, you bastard!"

She pounded feebly against the door for several seconds before collapsing to her knees and crying hysterically. She and Xiao were not going to die together; they were going to die apart and terrified.

Poor Xiao. What would Ou Xing do to her?

Da Qiao struggled to master herself- to deny her fear, deny the agony of loss and even rage- anger clouded judgment and she could afford no mistakes. Her only focus was triumph. She would not let Ou Xing win. She would get Xiao back, she would save her husband and she would kill the demon prince who was terrorizing the people of Changsha.

Da rose to her feet slowly, her eyes flashing. All around her the grotesque architecture rumbled, almost as if it was laughing at her. Ignoring the taunt she slid her fans into their sheaths on her back and picked up her sister's weapons, which had been dropped as Xiao was dragged off into the mephitic darkness and whatever fate awaited her.

Da spread the fans and felt how they moved and weighed in her hands- different from her own, and somehow heavier. Xiao's style of fighting was more direct and linear than hers and she tended to strike hard. Da's style of combat was circular and graceful and the two sets of fans reflected these traits.

She clutched her sister's fans and began sprinting down one of the hallways. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she was certain that Ou Xing wouldn't let her remain lost for long…

--

They cavalry galloped through the darkness, stampeding through any opposition they met. They had to get Zhou Yu back to Changsha so Ren Neng could tend to him, before the strategist fell to the deadly curse that now coursed through his veins.

Once they had left all pursuit behind, Ce held up his fist, ordering the company to stop. He spun his horse about to look at them.

"You guys ride back to Changsha. I'm gonna go and get the girls."

"My lord, you cannot be serious!" Taishi Ci protested. "Even you cannot best Ou Xing and his unholy army single-handedly."

"He won't be going alone," Zhou Yu said weakly. His skin was so pale that it had become almost translucent. "I must save my wife."

"Like hell you're going." Ce retorted. "You're barely alive, and what could you do except get in my way and give me one more thing to worry about? Get back to Changsha, so Ren Neng can heal you."

Taishi Ci pressed his point. "My lord, others will join us, the whole city knows you're gone now. We can have two full regiments here in almost no time!"

Zhou Yu tried to sit up straight. "Ce, please, see reason about this. Do not be so-"

"Get him outta here, now!" Ce roared, picking Zhou Yu up and throwing him bodily to Taishi Ci. His gaze was so fearsome that the mighty commander of the Night Tigers was quelled. Even Xiao's psychotic girls did not protest.

"You've got your orders and you can bloody-well obey them for a change!" Ce shouted angrily. "This is not open for debate! If you bring soldiers, they will get turned against us! If any of you go, you'll be turned against me and I will have to kill you! Get the hell back to Changsha and don't even think of following me!"

Ce snapped the reins of his horse and thundered off into the night. The assembled warriors watched for as long as they dared until Taishi Ci waved for them to begin the ride back.

"Can even Sun Ce possibly win, Lord Zhou Yu?" Taishi Ci asked as the strategist sat before him in the saddle.

"I know not, commander." Zhou Yu said wearily. "But if anyone can, it will be the prince of the Southlands. He may be all that stands between us and annihilation."

"There must be something we can do!" Taishi Ci growled, his jaw tightening in frustration at his helplessness.

"If I think of anything, you'll be the first to know, commander." Zhou Yu said as he closed his eyes and slipped into dark dreams.

--

The air was thick and noxious as she ran down the foul corridor. Her lungs rebelled and she forced herself to keep breathing. Hideous, demonic faces cackled at her from the walls. Misshapen, grotesque limbs grabbed and grasped at her and she smashed or swatted them aside with her sister's fans as she ran. They seemed more intent on harassing or scaring than harming her.

A long, sticky and inhuman tongue snaked out from a set of gnashing jaws on the wall and slithered across her torso, a vile caress that chilled her soul. She gripped the foul thing and sheared it off with a fan. The remaining length thrashed violently, pumping black ichors before retreating back into the jaws from which it had come. Da tore the hateful tongue from her body and threw it behind her as she resumed her wild dash.

"I cannot let you win, Ou Xing!" she thought as she ran. "I may be terrified beyond comprehension, but I will not submit to you and what you represent! I will find a way to beat you!"

"It is too late for that, little one," a hollow, disembodied and menacing voice said inside her mind. "You are mine and whether you struggle or surrender, it will make no difference to this outcome."

"Stay out of my mind, fiend!" she raged, her entire body shuddering in revulsion as Ou Xing's thoughts touched hers. "I will destroy you! I will be your downfall! I shall take back from you what you have taken from me and you shall never infest this world again!"

"Oh, my precious, sweet child," Ou Xing said in a hideous whisper. "You know nothing of what it means to be one such as I. Your every thought and action are predetermined by beings you cannot fathom… you heroically struggle and push against a mountain, only to discover that it is nothing more than my thumb. Resist? You do not even known what it is you fight against. What is your so-called reality except that which I choose to make it?"

"And I thought Ce was full of himself." Da muttered darkly. "You will not deter me, Ou Xing! Your words are nothing more than words. You have no power over me!"

No sooner had Da Qiao made that bold statement that she stumbled to her hands and knees as the world twisted and reeled around her. She stared wide-eyed at the floor, feeling the strength being sapped from her limbs. The screeching and babbling of thousands of idiot voices filled her head, each one audible with alarming clarity and whispering blasphemies that mortals were never meant to know.

She screamed in agony and clasped her hands over her ears, trying to keep out the hateful voices. She beat her forehead against the spongy, flesh-like floor, unable to stop the assault on her senses as the world turned to nonsense. The urge to give in, to surrender to the gibbering madness was almost too much. Even her torture at the hands of Fang Yu had not been this hideous. The crazed assassin's manipulations had been strictly real- poisons or mind games. But this… this was an attack on the very fabric of her mind and perceptions by a being she could never hope to understand.

Worse, maybe Ou Xing really was changing reality around her. Could he actually be that powerful?

Da twisted and writhed on the floor in terror as brutal images clawed at her mind. Could anything, anywhere, be worth this kind of torture? Her body arched in utter anguish as her mind began to splinter…

She gasped and sat up, her hand clutched over her pounding heart. The world and all else had fallen away. She was surrounded now by a calm, shining sky, threaded with serene and pearlescent clouds. The only sound was the gentle wind and the distant tinkling of ethereal chimes.

"What is it you want, child?" asked a sage and kindly voice, but where it came from she could not readily identify.

She looked around in wonder and finally found the speaker. Nearby, sitting on a cloud, was a wizened man, whose white hair and beard shone in the heavenly light. He bore a curious indigo tattoo over his left eye.

Da Qiao turned to face the man and knelt formally, realizing now that she too was sitting on a cloud. She observed him for a moment and then bowed low.

"How may this humble courtesan assist you, elder?" she intoned.

The sage stroked his beard thoughtfully as her looked at her.

"So much more polite than Lord Sun Ce," he remarked. "You have the same iron will, but you lack his understanding of the Path."

Da Qiao sat up and looked at him steadily. "So you are Zuo Ci. Lord Sun Ce told me of his encounter with you."

Zuo Ci nodded. "I am honoured that the young prince remembers me after all this time. He was somewhat… distracted, if you will, during our last encounter."

Da smiled. "He says I have that effect on him. But I prithee, kind sage… what am I doing here?"

Zuo Ci answered plainly. "I wished to speak with you, child, and now seemed as opportune a time as any."

Da bowed again. "Thank you for saving me from Ou Xing, elder."

Zuo Ci held up a cautionary finger. "Ah, now, my girl, I have not saved you from him yet. I have merely separated your mind from your body before you were driven to madness."

Da looked slightly uncomfortable. "So… what is happening to my body while I am here?"

"Why are you here, daughter of Wu?" Zuo Ci asked.

Da Qiao struggled with his question, trying to ascertain what he was actually asking her. "I… I came to save Lord Sun Ce from certain death at the hands of Ou Xing. If Ce faces that monster, he will die."

"Quite possibly," the sage mused. "How, exactly, do you plan to save him, given that Ou Xing is currently obliterating your mind?"

Da Qiao was silent for a few moments. "I must defeat him. There is no peril I will not dare for my beloved husband."

"A noble and admirable trait." Zuo Ci agreed amiably. "But the will to put yourself in harm's way for those you love is not enough."

"It must be." Da insisted. "I have nothing else to defend him with."

"Then perhaps you must become more than you are?" Zuo Ci suggested.

Da Qiao sighed. "Why does everyone keep saying that to me? I am not a warrior, I am not a queen and I am not a strategist."

"And yet you ride, fight and lead as if you want to be one." Zuo Ci pointed out.

"It is what Lord Sun Ce needs me to be." Da said firmly.

"And what do you need of yourself?" the elderly man asked. "You were once Da Qiao, mild, beautiful and most coveted of courtesans, whom everyone desired as the prize above all prizes. Your life could have been idyllic and serene, away from the pain and turmoil of this hateful world."

Zuo Ci now looked at her levelly. "Would you, if Lord Sun Ce were not in your life, still wish to be that fair, porcelain girl, knowing what you now know?"

Da Qiao was silent.

"On and on the Great River rolls," Zuo Ci said almost whimsically. "The Heavens and earth continue on, heedless of the petty affairs of men. And you, Da Qiao, when the world finally fell in flame and ruin, would be the last to die, ensconced in your menagerie, atop your pedestal, tragic and beautiful."

It was several more moments before Da answered. "No. That is no longer who I am, if I ever was such a person."

"And yet you are not who you need to be or strive to be. You must reforge yourself. You hold back because you are afraid you will lose yourself to the world. That might be the price you pay to keep your beloved Sun Ce."

"I fear the person you speak of." Da said. "I have seen her inside me and I fear the darkness I sense within her."

"You fear it only because in her you can finally see what was already there in yourself, child." Zuo Ci said gently. "But I must tell you this- your mighty husband is not yet who he must be either if he is to save the land. And the one thing that is holding him back from that destiny is you…"

Da's eyes went wide at her revelation. The image of Zuo Ci swirled dizzily and disappeared. Da swooned and reality returned with a screen and a loud, inhuman moan. When she came to, she was lying on her back in the hallway Ou Xing had stopped her in.

All was deadly quiet.

Da slowly rose to her feet and took a deep breath. She looked down at herself and didn't seem any the worse for wear, aside from slightly sticky from lying on the disgusting floor.

"What I am is not enough…" she said to herself. "That which I can become is not enough… I will cast aside my limitations and become more."

She strode down the hallway, no longer doubting in which direction Ou Xing lay. She steeled herself, unwilling to succumb to the fear of death or oblivion. She feared only failing her husband.

She did not know how long she had been following the corridor but she eventually became aware of a room up ahead. As she drew closer she was certain she had found her nemesis. The repellent chamber opened up before her, a hideous hive of organic blasphemy. Columns of glistening flesh stretched up into the darkness of the distant ceiling; tendrils of foul corruption snaked across the floor or dangled, writhing obscenely. No torches could be seen but the entire room was aglow in a devilish orange light. Da Qiao shuddered in revulsion as she watched a long, glistening and bulbous tentacle sliding itself into and out of an orifice on a nearby wall. The sickening squishing and slurping sounds touched something deep inside her she did not like.

As he eyes adjusted to the unlight, she went pale with horror. Around the chamber were suspended grisly cocoons, in which could be seen human shapes. Victims yet to be so encased were plastered to the wall with some vile resin. Some looked like they were being eaten alive, or worse.

In the center of the room towered a great mound of glistening, festering, carapace-like flesh. Atop the mound, visible from the waist up, was the demon prince Ou Xing. His inhuman eyes blazed yellow through the darkness.

"You have finally arrived, my precious…" the hideous beast gurgled. Da was dimly aware of the tentacles that writhed almost hungrily about his body. Her eyes seemed to lose focus if she looked directly at him and she could not readily tell in the darkness how large he truly was. Great shadows that resembled wings stretched from wall to wall. The demon grinned.

"Do you like what I have done with the place?" Ou Xing asked. "This abode was such a dull and dreary visage before I took up residence."

Da said nothing, determined to not gratify her foe with an answer. She began scanning the room subtly for tactical advantage, but all that met her eyes was horror and revulsion.

An undead… thing… plodded by her, seemingly not noticing the intruder. Da's stomach twisted when she noticed that the side of the ghoul's head was missing, torn or eaten off.

"They are not much for conversation, but they are easy to maintain." Ou Xing remarked, enjoying Da Qiao's discomfiture. Indeed he would enjoy this little morsel, but not before feasting on his true prize.

"I am so glad that you and your sister accepted my invite," the demon said in something analogous to a genial tone. "I was somewhat worried you might not heed my summons."

Da's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, Ou Xing?"

"Is it not obvious?" the devil asked, apparently surprised at her question. "It was I who sent you the dream, a mere foreshadowing of what is yet to come."

"You lie!" Da snapped angrily.

"Why would I obfuscate?" Ou Xing replied. "And if I did not, how then did I know of the dream you shared with your sister?"

The truth of Ou Xing's words crashed on Da's sensibilities like a house collapsing in a quake. Ou Xing had made her come to him!

"You sense the veracity of my words and now you wonder why I have lured you here," the fiend said. "Very well, I shall tell you."

From high above Da he leaned forward, looming over her and his evil yellow eyes glinted with a demented, inhuman mirth.

"Because if you were not in peril, your husband would never be so irrational as to charge my lair all by himself…"

Da's eyes widened in shock and horror. Sun Ce had been so careful, steadfast and meticulous in how he had handled this entire crisis. He and Zhou Yu had maintained iron control, never acting hastily. The plan had been to meet Ou Xing on their terms.

Now, she and Xiao had thrown that all away in an emotional, panicked whirlwind and Ce was riding to his doom.

Da hated to believe anything Ou Xing told her, but she did not doubt that Ce was headed here and that he would surely die. Even the lord of the Southlands was no match for a demon prince, any more than he would be for a great and terrible dragon.

Da Qiao's body shook with rage and she let out a scream of frustration and despair. How could she have been so blind?

Ou Xing smiled evilly. "Yes, yes… exquisite rage. Your dear sister did much the same when she confronted me."

The demon leered toward a corner and Da Qiao's head followed his gaze. She cried out in panic as she espied Xiao, plastered to the wall, covered in the vile, sticky resin, dreadfully pale and not moving.

In a frenzy, Da Qiao leapt toward Ou Xing, vaulting gracefully through the air, her foot aimed directly at his face with a deadly crane kick.

Ou Xing merely smiled as the blow landed, totally unfazed by her desperate assault.

Da did not rest but began hammering and striking with blinding speed, her sister's fans glancing and bouncing off Ou Xing's hide. Tears of rage flew from her eyes as she fought, but still the demon did nothing.

"Mmmmm, how sweet," he rumbled menacingly. "You have given me anger, now give me fear…"

Faster than she could follow, Ou Xing's massive hand swept out of nowhere and closed around her body. She went limp, totally cowed by his unimaginable power. His inhuman yellow eyes flared as they gazed into hers- within them she could see the fires of the Nine Hells, a madness and senseless cruelty that spanned the ages of this world and the ones that had come before.

And Da Qiao screamed in utter terror.

--

"Hang on, Da, I'm comin' for you! Don't let Ou Xing control you, be strong! Don't play his game and give him nothing! I'll be there soon and we'll make him pay!"

--

Da Qiao landed on her back, casually tossed to the ground by her foe. She wanted to scramble backward, to get away, but her body seemed to be frozen- she was too frightened to move.

Ou Xing's eyes gazed down at her out of the hellish darkness. "You do not even know what it is you fear, girl. Perhaps I shall show you. Yes…"

Ou Xing stretched out his arms and his body began to glow. His horrifying form became clearly visible, causing Da Qiao to shriek in fright. Ou Xing was huge, his body a pageant of sickly mottled greens, purples and ochres. His corpulent belly writhed and pulsed, as if something were trying to escape from it. What looked like a human face pressed against the dark, rubbery skin and seemed to wail in agony before melting away into its prison.

His arms were massive and powerful, the flesh splitting to reveal bulges of ropey muscle. Horns and protrusions adorned his vast chest and shoulders and the brutal, inhuman power of his body was sickening. Long, rubbery tentacles writhed and snaked menacingly around his grotesque form. Many had chitinous spikes or blades along their length, but what paralyzed Da Qiao's mind with fear were the vaguely phallic heads that the monstrous appendages ended in.

Atop his broad shoulders was a trunk of cable-like sinews that wrapped and twisted around one another to form his neck. His terrible, hideous jaws opened, revealing within a smaller mouth filled with countless, needle-like teeth. The inner mouth reached forward and snapped at her before the outer jaws, composed of dark, hideous fangs that were longer than her forearm, closed with a hideous clack that could only signal doom.

His great yellow eyes blazed in glee as he goggled down at her, the inhuman pupils slitted, like a cat's.

The great, stinking mound of corruption on which he sat shook and cracked as he laughed.

"What's the matter, girl?" he cackled. "Do you find me repulsive?"

"Get back!" Da Qiao gasped as she tried to move, to get away. "Monster!"

Ou Xing grinned and leaned forward. One of his tentacles snaked forward and wrapped itself around her ankle. With a cry, she was lifted into the air, where she dangled helplessly. She shuddered in revulsion as the slimy, hateful appendage slithered over her skin.

"Ohhhh, yes, you will be a splendid morsel… tempted as I am to taste your pain now, it will be so much more pleasant and fulfilling after I have slain your husband."

"He will not come!" Da Qiao hissed, glaring at him defiantly. "He will not risk everything and countless thousands of lives to-"

"Oh, but he most certainly will." Ou Xing replied, not being able to resist giving her a shake. He brought her face to face and leered at her while she dangled upside down before him. "He will not be able to resist saving that which he loves most."

His revolting tongue snaked out of his jaws and slithered across her face and neck lasciviously. She shook and screamed in horror.

"I will bleed the young lord dry, Ou Xing hissed. "He will ride to your rescue and he shall fight valiantly. But I am not guarded only by weak-minded humans or undead mockeries of life… I have many minions like unto myself…"

Da Qiao became aware of several hideous beings far below, congregating in the shadow of their terrible master. Their inhuman babbling in some devilish tongue filled her ears and the sounds of their gibbering, snapping jaws caused her soul to quail in fright. Their hideous forms were obscured by the shadow of Ou Xing's towering bulk, but Da squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to avoid seeing their blasphemous shapes.

"My minions shall break his body and bring him before me. Then, girl, as you watch, I shall bleed him slowly and kill him while you watch in agony and horror. Only then shall I turn my attentions to you. But the young prince… now there is a feast worthy of my time and attention. When he arrives, he shall face my great guardian Ma Yuan, who will snap his spine and-"

"Guess again, pal…" rang a clear tenor from the entrance to the diabolical chamber.

In spite of her worry for her husband's safety, Da Qiao cried out in relief. Through the dim light she gazed back to the hallway she had come from. The grotesque shape of a huge warrior-demon filled the entrance. The figure swayed almost drunkenly before falling over, hitting the ground with a loud boom.

Sun Ce stood in the entranceway, glaring at Ou Xing. The halberd he carried dripped with the ichor of Ma Yuan.

Ou Xing did not react for a moment. In spite of all his boasting, he seemed surprised to see Sun Ce.

"How…" the demon growled.

"Surprised to see me?" Ce said in a challenging voice as he walked into the room. The fiends at Ou Xing's feet hissed and snapped menacingly but did not attack.

Ce flung the gore from the blade of his halberd with a flick of his wrist. He looked up at his foe, not the least bit afraid.

"Can't figure out how I got here with you noticing? You can't understand the Tao, pal, so there's no way you're gonna know me. What sort of an excuse for a monster are you?"

"You little shit!" Ou Xing rasped. "You dare challenge me? You are nothing but a pathetic human!"

"At least I'm not a fuckin' monster." Ce replied mockingly.

Ou Xing's inhuman jaws stretched wide and he let forth a unworldly howl. The demons at his feet shrieked gleefully and leapt at their prey.

The battle that followed was so gruesome that Da Qiao could not watch. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears to block out the terrible scene. This was a primal, inhuman duel, punctuated by diabolical screeches and hideous roars that no mortal mind should ever bear witness to.

Da Qiao screamed in terror as the sounds reached her. Nothing she did could block out the maddening cacophony. So horrible was the noise that she was only barely aware of Ou Xing's grip on her ankle.

She wasn't sure how long the savagery lasted, but the silence that followed was deafening. She was terrified by the lack of noise, fearing the worst. It was not until she heard Ou Xing growl in something akin to frustration that she dared to open her eyes…

Sun Ce stood defiantly, his armour and battle tunic shredded and his hair torn from its habitual ponytail, flowing freely. His skin was spattered with gore and demonic ooze. At his feet were the corpses of Ou Xing's hellish minions. He glared up at his foe.

"That all you got?" he taunted.

Ou Xing roared in fury as Sun Ce approached. The demon dangled Da Qiao menacingly in front of the intruder.

Ce stopped moving, eyeing his enemy warily.

"My lord!" Da Qiao called in a panic. "You must escape, this is a trap!"

"Y'don't say…" the young warrior replied, his eyes never leaving Ou Xing's.

Her husband's words stung. Da Qiao could hear the annoyance in his voice and clearly he had expected better of her.

"Ce…" she said, tears streaming form her eyes. "I am so sorry! Xiao and I-"

"I'm a little busy, Da, do you mind?" Ce interrupted. He was obviously not in a talkative mood.

"Yessssss…" Ou Xing hissed as he dangled Da Qiao back and forth, letting her sway like a chime in the breeze. "Helpless over a woman, lord of the Southlands? Would you like to watch as I make her scream in ecstasy while I kill her?"

One of Ou Xing's vile tentacles crawled around her body and she cried out at the hideous violation.

Ce clenched his fists and said nothing.

"No response?" Ou Xing queried, trying to sound disappointed. "You do not love her, then?"

The tentacle wrapped around her free leg and pulled her hips wide. Da struggled wildly but could not move or free herself from his grip. Another large, bulbous tentacle snaked out of the darkness and the hideous tip poked and caressed itself over her waist.

"Is she good down here, young lord?" Ou Xing mocked. "Shall I take a poke at her while I kill her? Do you even care? No? Then you will not mind if I rip her in half as I-"

"You ain't gonna." Ce replied firmly.

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because you said it yourself, Ou Xing- she's just a morsel. She ain't the one you want, it's me." Ce said in a steady voice.

"Perhaps that is true," Ou Xing said agreeably. "But why should I not enjoy her before I destroy you?"

"Because if any harm comes to her, I'll make sure you don't get what you actually want." Ce said in a defiant tone. "Harm her and I do nothing, Ou Xing. Do you hear me? Nothing!"

Da Qiao was not sure what her husband meant but it gave the mighty Ou Xing pause. The demon seemed to almost forget about her as he focused on Ce.

"You lie," he said finally. "You are nothing but a weak mortal and you will give me what I want."

To prove his point he pulled harder on Da's legs, causing her to keen in pain. The nauseous tentacle caressed its way over her behind, coming ever closer to violating her. It almost seemed to quiver in anticipation.

"My lord!" she cried. "He is going to kill me!"

"No he won't." Ce said almost dismissively. "Get this straight, Ou Xing- harm a single hair on her head and I will kill the girl and myself. Don't think I can't, either. You get none of me, you unholy bastard!"

Ou Xing glared, his teeth gnashing in fury. He obviously did not want to believe Sun Ce, but his grip on Da Qiao slackened.

"You want me, Ou Xing?" Ce challenged, his eyes flashing. "You want that fight you're afraid you might not win? Put her down or it doesn't happen!"

"Fool!" Ou Xing spat hatefully. "You think I fear you? I, who was born, before your puny world was made?"

"Yeah, I think you're scared." Ce replied with a sneer. "If you weren't, you wouldn't be hiding behind a girl now, would you?"

Ou Xing reared back and roared in fury, causing the great hall to shake. His tentacles flung Da Qiao aside and she sailed into a corner, landing atop a great mound of putrid, pulsing flesh. Despite her pain, she forced herself to scramble away, thankful to be as far from Ou Xing as possible. She knelt, holding herself and sobbing for several moments before sprinting toward Xiao.

--

Ce stood still and watched as Ou Xing writhed and flexed. With a horrible cracking and crumbling sound, the hideous demon burst free of the festering mound of corruption his legs were encased within. The tentacles dangling around the cave thrashed menacingly in response and the gibbering mouths on the walls took up a shocking howl as their master freed himself. Ou Xing kicked away the debris and stomped toward Sun Ce.

Ce could see his feet- huge, three-toed and terminating in wicked claws. Those had been Ou Xing's footprints they'd seen in the village, only now his feet were even bigger. This demon had feasted well in the interim.

"I know no fear. Fear is the mind-killer. The only enemy to be feared is my own doubt. The only foe I cannot overcome is the foe I allow within."

Ou Xing's mighty form loomed over the fearless warrior- tall as a tower and darker than iron wrought in the deepest pits of Hell. His eyes blazed like embers, burning with untold power.

Ou Xing leaned down, now face to face with his foe. Ce glared back, unfazed.

"I am Sun Ce, and I shall destroy you…"

--

Da Qiao tore feverishly at the sticky, almost wooden resin that held her sister to the wall. The nauseous substance splintered and pulled away, but only slowly, and with great effort.

Da had finally yanked enough of the stuff away that Xiao fell forward. Da caught her younger sister and laid Xiao across her lap. She was horrified by the cold, clammy feel of her sister's skin- so very pale and lifeless.

"Xiao… Xiao!" she implored through her tears, caressing her sister's face, trying to wake her up. Xiao's head was resting in the crook of her arm, her normally silken brown hair plastered to her by the hideous resin.

Da winced as she heard a terrifying roar and a thunderous crash behind her, where Ce was facing off against Ou Xing. She would let her husband take care of that problem, she had to get Xiao out of here.

"She's so cold… is she even alive?"

Da put her fingers to her sister's neck, feeling for a pulse, but finding none.

"She has to be alive! If she were not, Ou Xing would have consumed her by now! Please, Xiao, please…"

She pulled the small knife she carried on her belt out of its sheath and held the gleaming silver blade to Xiao's lips. The faintest hint of mist appeared.

"She lives, she just will not wake up… perhaps she is wise to not-"

A roar interrupted her train of thought and then Ce smashed into the wall next to her, causing her to jump in alarm. His impact splintered the resin-like crust that had formed on the surface. Falling to the foot of the wall, he shook his head to clear it, focused his eyes on Da and then grinned.

"Oh, hey…"

He then picked up the halberd he was wielding and leapt back at his foe.

"How can you be enjoying yourself at a time like this?" Da yelled in exasperation at his back.

There was a screeching hiss above her. Da looked up and paled in fright. Clinging to the wall overhead, a small, almost spherical demon stared down at her; its grotesque vertical mouth was filled with row upon row of dagger-like teeth. It had only two limbs that ended in ridiculously oversized claws. Its one orb-like eye burned with a hideous yellow light.

With a squeal it dropped toward her, claws open for the kill.

Her knife flashed up as the demon landed, impaling itself on the keen blade. The foul beast squealed and thrashed madly.

"A little help here?" Xiao groused as she fought to keep the knife buried in the foe. Despite her shock, Da began wrestling with the fiend, trying to keep its filthy claws away from her sister.

The two girls struggled with the hideous thing as it squalled and hissed, fighting to get at its prey. Xiao pushed the knife up as hard as she could while Da grappled with the demon's arms desperately, doing her best to pin them. The thing's tongue lashed back and forth as the jaws snapped hungrily.

Xiao let out a cry and pushed with all her might, driving the knife as far as it would go. Da leaned on the demon, sinking it further down onto the blade as she held its arms. The beast let out a long, strained screech before it burst, showering the two girls in hideous, goopy ichor. Both girls sat in stunned silence for a moment before Xiao glanced at her sister and began to giggle.

"You look sooooo gross right now…"

--

Sun Ce dodged a strike, rolling away as Ou Xing's huge fist rent a hole in the floor. Despite his unreal, vast bulk, the demon was incredibly fast. Ce had barely avoided the first attack when Ou Xing struck again. He pivoted to the outside, whirling around and slashing the halberd across his foe's forearm. The blade glanced off the demon's tough hide, not even scratching it.

"Fool!" roared Ou Xing, surging toward Sun Ce, trying to corner his smaller, more nimble opponent. Ce was not about to be blocked in, however, and dove under the demon's strike, now to Ou Xing's flank and rear.

Ou Xing hissed angrily and whirled to meet his foe, but the agile warrior had already moved again, thrusting the halberd's point at Ou Xing's belly as he evaded. The strike did no damage, but Ce was clearly demonstrating his ability to hit Ou Xing and letting it be known that Ou Xing was getting off lucky.

The demon howled and tried to stamp on Ce, his body beginning to crackle and blaze with unholy power. On of the tentacles lashed out, the formerly phallic head having been replaced by a wicked, chitinous barbed point. Ce parried the attack with his halberd and counterstruck, the blade biting deep into the rubbery skin of the appendage. Ou Xing roared and pulled the limb back, foul ichor pumping from the wound.

"So, you're not invulnerable," Ce mused, pleased with the revelation. "Sucks to be you, pal." He whirled the halberd about and planted himself in a low stance, the weapon behind him self and his free hand pointed at his foe, making the mystical bridge sign.

He smirked and made a beckoning motion, daring Ou Xing to bring it on.

Ou Xing lunged and hunkered low, his mouth wide as he attempted to bite Sun Ce in half. Ce stepped backward and thrust the halberd spike forward, driving it at Ou Xing's eye. The strike bounded off the yellow orb, harder than a diamond, but the demon shut his eye reflexively- Ce used the split-second pause to dive under his foe and roll up behind him. He rammed the butt of his halberd into the back of Ou Xing's knee, causing the joint to buckle. Ou Xing stumbled for a moment, then screeched in rage and slammed the back of his fist into sun Ce, sending his foe flying.

Ce impacted the wall and thudded to the floor. He had exhaled as he was hit, protecting himself from being winded. He knew how important it was to be able to breathe, especially in combat. He was stunned for barely a second as the stinging impact shuddered through him. Fortunately, Ou Xing had not followed up but stood in the middle of the room, crouching low and glaring at his opponent. Ce could tell the demon was getting irritated by the trouble he was having to go to in order to rid himself of the pesky mortal.

Ce shook his head grimly as he got up. He noticed Da Qiao just off to his right, trying to revive Xiao but gazing up at him in bewilderment. He grinned and winked at her.

"Oh, hey…"

He then sprinted back at Ou Xing, determined to keep the demon's attention off the girls. Whatever Da Qiao was ranting about would have to wait.

"Gotta figure out how to take this guy down, and soon. My strength ain't gonna last forever and he'll start attacking the girls again before long…"

It was a tall order. Ou Xing was proving all but immune to Ce's strikes, and he was putting everything he had into them. Puissant as he was with a halberd, he was finding it less than ideal for dealing with this foe.

Ou Xing did not attack but waited for Sun Ce. Obviously the demon was learning, and this was a problem, since his reflexes were inhumanly fast. Worse, if Ou Xing let himself get hit, he would suffer little damage but would having Ce within reach- the lord of Wu harboured no illusions about what would happen if Ou Xing got his hands on Ce's tender flesh.

"He's waiting for you to attack…"

Ce was tempted to oblige, to attack head-on and pummel his foe into oblivion and prove his own superiority. But there was too much at stake, his wife's immediate safety being foremost. He would have to do the unexpected.

He hurled the halberd at Ou Xing, who predictably swatted it aside. Seeing his opponent was now unarmed, the demon hissed and lunged in, intent on tearing his foe apart. Devoid of his weapon, however, Ce was now even more agile. He dodged, gauging his enemy's speed.

Ce's endurance had to prove greater than Ou Xing's patience. He had to enrage the demon to the place where he began making mistakes.

He was barely fast enough to avoid his opponent. Many of Ou Xing's strikes were coming to close for comfort. Ce stayed close, where Ou Xing's reach counted for nothing. He felt the familiar warmth of his battle aura, the physical manifestation of his fearsome will to win. The whirling dance of combat became rhythmic, with Ce now dodging, stepping and spiraling in an elegant pattern around Ou Xing as the demon tried to squash him. The ferocious, fiery corona of power around Ce blazed brightly as the deadly dance culminated.

"Yeah, pal, now I've got you- because you can't understand the Tao…"

The elaborate trigram they had created with their whirling duel glowed brightly about them as Ce gathered strength from it. With a great shout he lunged and drove his palms into Ou Xing's chest- the explosion of energy blew the warrior backward while the demon screeched in agony. The hideous, iron-hard carapace on Ou Xing's chest splintered and cracked; within could be seen the unholy glow of hellfires.

Ce rolled into a crouch, facing Ou Xing and cursing under his breath- he was hoping that might have been enough to at least stagger or stun his foe, but apparently not. Ou Xing glared down at his chest and then at Ce. He let out a thunderous roar that shook the castle to its very foundations.

And then things got worse.

Ou Xing had apparently tired of trying to defeat Ce and consume his spirit, because hideous demons arose from the floor while the corpses of dead mortals sprang up and made for the intruders.

Ce sprinted toward Da Qiao but found his path blocked by a tall, lanky demon with a bird-like head. It screeched and spread its rubbery wings but Ce leapt and slammed into the monster feet-first, knocking it to the ground. He sprang on his foe like a tiger, grappling onto the long neck. He wrenched and pulled with all his might until the grotesque head pulled free, the decapitated body thrashing and convulsing as ichor pumped from the ruined neck.

Ce ran toward Da again until he was confronted by a fat, pig-faced demon. Not slowing down, Ce slammed the long, brassy beak of the bird-demon through his new foe's chest, the tip of the improvised weapon bursting out its back. Ce shoulder-blocked his way past the beast and ran as fast as he could toward his wife…

--

Da and Xiao stood back to back, glaring as their foes drew in about them. A horde of ghouls shuffled and staggered toward the sisters with a small, disgusting frog-demon flopping along in their wake.

"This really sucks!" Xiao hissed. Whatever it was she was covered in, it smelled even worse than salamander gas and the sticky resin was hardening on her, making movement difficult- even now her hair was plastered to her face and neck, refusing to move.

And it really itched.

"I have no idea how we fight these things." Da said, her worry obvious. Even though Ce had Ou Xing occupied, these foes were dangerous and neither of them had their fans immediately handy.

One of the ghouls let out an gurgling howl and lunged to attack but was smashed to the ground as Ce collided with it. He sprang to his feet and joined the girls in facing their foes.

"Can't leave you alone for a second, can I?" he quipped.

Da Qiao grimaced. "I hate admitting that I am outclassed here, but now that you- where is that halberd you had?"

"I threw it at Ou Xing." Ce replied. "It didn't really hurt him so I guess you could say I gave it to him."

"You what?" Da exclaimed. "Why in Heaven's name would you do that? Why can't you seem to hold on to a weapon these days?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Ce said. "Do we have any weapons at all?"

"We have a knife." Da answered.

"Let your sister use it, then," Ce instructed. "She's gonna have the hardest time here."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. Nice to see you too, Ce..." Xiao groused as she took the blade from Da.

The repulsive frog-demon hissed and leapt at Xiao, its oversized mouth wide for the kill…

The demon vaulted backwards suddenly as a flaming arrow sped out of the dark and shot it through the mouth. The missile pinned the fiend to the wall, where squealed and thrashed furiously.

More arrows landed amongst their foes from around the great hall. Xiao squeaked in delight as her squad of psychotic girls became visible. Zhou Yu stood wearily in the entranceway while Taishi Ci charged into the room, his huge war clubs ready for battle.

The ghoul advancing on Da Qiao was struck in the forehead by another fire arrow and it reeled back as its head was engulfed in flames. Da Qiao burst through the ring of foes and somersaulted forward into a roll, coming to a crouch near her fans. Her weapons in hand, she stood tall and spread them with a flourish…

They would not open, since they were glued shut with resin.

"Stop that!" she yelled angrily, snapping her fans in a desperate attempt to open them. A ghoul rushed at her, intent on tearing her in half. She slammed her fans across the thing's head, knocking it back. She cursed and stood on the ridge of one of her fans while using her hands to pry it open. With a gooey tear it finally came free. Da quickly freed her other fan and leapt at her foes, boiling with rage over her treatment at Ou Xing's hands.

--

Xiao had ducked under another ghoul's swipe and thrust her knife up into the thing's vitals. She had expected the thing to double over in agony and groan, as men were wont to do when she kicked them there, but it barely reacted, simply bending over in a continued effort to maul her.

"Why are men always complaining about how much that hurts?" she groused. She pulled the blade free, releasing a torrent of noxious black fluids (no doubt formerly blood, or even worse) from the gaping wound. Xiao squealed in alarm and scrambled away, more horrified by the diabolic effluence than her relentless foe.

"Ewwwww, gross!" she whined. She crawled forward on all fours to her fans and brandished them at the enemy.

"No one glues me to a wall with sticky stuff except my Zhou Yu!" she announced loudly.

In spite of his danger, Sun Ce paused in his fight to look at Xiao in bewilderment. He was rewarded with a demon's first across his jaw, a blow that knocked him almost clear across the room. He landed in a crumpled heap next to Zhou Yu, who was leaning heavily on his battle staff. Ce looked up at his friend.

"And people think Da and I are the freaks…" he commented.

Zhou Yu slowly shook his head. "I have no idea what she s talking about."

The strategist, paler than the finest moon linen, did not move as a ghoul rushed up, claws wide and fangs bared. One of Xiao's girls, the one known as Shing, sprang out of the darkness behind Zhou Yu and shot the fiend through the throat with a flaming arrow. The beast staggered and fell to the ground, flopping as it tried to move.

Zhou Yu pulled aside the hem of his battle robe, revealing Ce's tonfas.

"Taishi Ci thought you might want these, since you saw fit to leave them behind earlier and didn't give him a chance to present them to you during our rescue. Would I be right in surmising that you might feel better with these in hand?"

Ce grinned as he rose and gripped the haft of his weapons. He may have been a natural with all weapons and forms of combat, but with these, attuned to his mighty battle spirit, he was invincible.

Ou Xing's roar of challenge shook the castle.

Ce nodded and strode forward, tonfas in hand and rotating his shoulders.

"Wait here, pal," he said to Zhou Yu. "Just direct the battle and stay outta trouble, okay?"

"No problem." Zhou Yu replied weakly, struggling to remain upright. Ce could tell his friend was fading fast, but his unwavering spirit would not surrender to the darkness. Ce had to end this quickly and get Zhou Yu back to Changsha before it was too late.

Ce's aura and eyes blazed like a star as he embraced the battle frenzy that washed over him. The world fell away, leaving only he and his foe. Everything else moved so slowly that it was below his notice or concern. There was only now, and now was an eternity for what he needed to do.

He leapt high into the air, his tonfa aimed at Ou Xing's forehead. The demon bellowed in fury, not backing down from his attacker. His claws lashed out to destroy the impudent mortal who dared to challenge him.

Ou Xing was fast, but Ce was faster. He landed on the huge demon's muzzle and slammed his tonfa right between his blazing yellow eyes. Ou Xing reared and bellowed in agony, toppling backward with a thunderous crash. Ce leapt clear and lunged back at his foe, determined to give Ou Xing no chance to recover.

"Taishi Ci!" he yelled. "I love a good fight, but a some additional muscle might be nice!"

"I'm a little occupied, my lord!" the commander of the Night Tigers responded. He was wrestling with a demon that seemed to be all jaws. The beast had clamped down on one of his clubs, which was all that separated Taishi Ci from toothy oblivion. He beat angrily on its head with the other club, trying to dislodge the infernal thing.

Xiao had charged back in, dodging and rolling past the ghouls that opposed her and racing toward Ou Xing. He had a lot to answer for, as far as she was concerned, not the least of which was getting her covered in tentacle gick.

Ou Xing was rising when Ce landed on his chest, pummeling at him with his tonfas. The demon roared furiously and swatted him aside before getting back on his feet. Xiao raced in from behind, slamming her fans into the back of his knee and buckling it. With a screech the demon fell to one knee again and Xiao darted away.

Ou Xing whirled around and roared at her. He made to lunge for the girl but retreated as he got pelted with flaming arrows. The girl known as An rushed in, standing directly beneath his legs and shot an arrow into his groin before rolling away.

Da Qiao had finished off her foes and now ran to join those fighting Ou Xing. Reaching her husband, she stood defiantly, glaring at the fiend.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Can we just bludgeon him to death?"

"No," replied Ce, sizing up the foe. "Something's gotta change. Even those two real good hits I laid on him didn't do much more than tick him off."

"Could you hit him in such a manner again?"

"Nope. I nailed him last time by suckering him into a trigram. Too many bodies in the way this for that to work." Ce said grimly.

"We'll just have to do this the hard way, then." Da said. She flourished her fans and then sprinted into the melee. Ce just shook his head and took off after his wife.

The swirling combat raged, with Ou Xing beset by a ring of assailants. If he lunged at one, others would attack his rear. His thick hide was riddled with the shafts of flaming arrows, but these seemed to not bother him at all.

A few of Xiao's warriors were situated in the gallery above the hall, raining arrows down on the foe. With a mighty roar, Ou Xing leapt at the irritating mortals, grappling onto the railing and lashing at them. One of his tentacles wrapped itself around the girl known as Bo, dragging her into the open space above the hall. Xiao's girls shouted angrily and rushed Ou Xing, their weapons drawn. The demon snarled and swatted at them, knocking several back.

"Xiao's girls are gonna get themselves killed…" Ce muttered to himself. Ou Xing had thrown Bo, intent on dashing her against a wall and shattering every bone in her body. Ce sprinted in the direction that she'd been hurled and leapt against the wall to spring high into the air. He caught Bo and landed lightly, like a cat. She goggled up at him, her eyes wide and her arms around his neck.

"Lord… Lord Sun Ce…" she said quietly.

Ce didn't like the look that was developing in her eyes, so he dumped her somewhat unceremoniously on a large pile of offal and charged back into the fray. Bo hissed in outrage at his back.

The girls in the gallery had retreated out of range. Deprived of viable targets, Ou Xing roared and threw himself back at his foes on the floor.

Everyone scattered, except Sun Ce.

The demon landed with thundering crash, the floor at his feet splintering under the impact. Ce used the moment of his foe's landing to strike again, hard, but the demon seemed to barely notice. Ce dove out of the way but Ou Xing's fist slammed into him and sent the warrior hurtling back. Ou Xing howled in fury and stomped after his foe, until Da and Xiao attacked him in tandem. The sisters lunged in from two directions, pummeling and slashing in a desperate attempt to penetrate his adamantine hide. Ou Xing ignored them and proceeded toward Sun Ce.

Taishi Ci, having dealt with his other foe, leapt in front of the demon, glaring balefully. Heedless of his own peril, the valiant captain of the Night Tigers attacked Ou Xing ferociously, his clubs battering the fiend's knee. Even Ou Xing's otherworldly form was not totally impervious to Taishi Ci's brute strength and the demon fell to his knees, slowing him. Taishi Ci spun and slammed his clubs across Ou Xing's chest, hammering into the blazing crack in his armour that Ce had already opened. With a bellow of rage, Ou Xing grabbed Taishi Ci, intent on tearing him apart. Da and Xiao redoubled their efforts, attempting to distract the demon. Xiao's girls also attacked, throwing themselves onto him bodily and hacking at his tough hide.

Ce charged in again, driving his tonfas into Ou Xing's face while the demon had bent low to eat Taishi Ci. The sound of stone splintering was punctuated by Ou Xing's shriek of pain. Dropping Taishi Ci and grabbing his mutilated face, Ou Xing surged up, bursting the ring of assailants apart as his body blazed with unholy power. Everyone was knocked flying, slamming against the walls or columns, which instantly grappled onto them, immobilizing their limbs. Ce struggled mightily but could not move.

Ou Xing let out a cackling roar of triumph, knowing he had bested his foes. He glared at Sun Ce.

"You shall watch me kill your woman and then I shall bleed you dry, mortal! For the crime of opposing me, a god… your punishment will be death!"

Ou Xing turned to Da Qiao and she cried out in terror. Everything about this being was repellent and blasphemous. Within the cracks and rents in his iron hide, Da could see hellfire and madness. Ce thrashed about furiously and yelled, hoping to distract Ou Xing, but to no avail.

Da Qiao seemed doomed when the demon staggered and began to shudder. A deep, sonorous chant began to echo around the great hall. From the entranceway, Zhou Yu moved into the room, followed by dozens of holy men, all of whom were droning and reciting a prayer of binding. Ou Xing bellowed furiously but seemed to have trouble controlling his body. The chanting grew steadily louder, with priests, seers and monks appearing on the balcony overhead as well. Ou Xing's demonic minions wailed in pain and his hideous, undead servants began to fall to the ground.

Ethereal bonds seemed to lash themselves about his limbs, restricting Ou Xing's movement. He howled and struggled, his skin searing at the touch of the mystic constraints.

"Ce, I caught him off-guard," Zhou Yu said in a weak voice. "But I can't keep him bound forever, he is still too strong!"

Ce strained with all his might to pull away from the wall. With a great shout he finally wrenched himself free. His tonfas in hand, he leapt back at Ou Xing, his mighty battle aura swirling around him like a corona of fire.

"Back to where you came from, pal!" he shouted in fury. He drove his tonfa into Ou Xing's chest again. With a sound of screeching, splintering metal, the rents in the demon's chest widened. Ou Xing shrieked in pain, writhing as he attempted to free himself.

Ce's brutal blows rained down on the demon, faster than lightning and harder than the hammer of Lei Kung, the god of thunder. He ignored pain, he ignored fatigue, willing himself past his frail human form and acknowledging only total victory.

With a deafening roar, Ou Xing burst free of the bonds. Zhou Yu collapsed, finally spent. Ou Xing swung at Ce with his mighty fist but the valiant warrior stopped the blow cold with his tonfa. Ce glared at Ou Xing, who howled in rage. They lunged at each other, their mighty auras blazing with untold power.

Ce could not feel his body; he was aware only of Ou Xing. Slowly, inexorably, he was sensed the demon waning. The fiend was not as mighty or imposing as he had been before. The rage, hate and unbridled lust began to give way to fear and panic, even terror. Ce pushed himself harder, punishing his foe relentlessly.

He now became aware of something else- wails and cries that sang of both pain and ultimate release. Ou Xing screamed hideously as the countless thousands of souls he had consumed were freed from their eternal torment inside his hellish body. They swirled about and struck at him, passing through him and finally fled, free to find the eternal rest he had robbed them of for the sake of his endless thirst and cruelty.

Ce ignored the shades, ignoring their cries of release, their pleas for vengeance- there was only the here and now, defending those who still lived. His only thought was the destruction of Ou Xing. The mighty demon prince diminished before his relentless onslaught, his howls of agony echoing through out the castle and even across the countryside.

Harder and harder Ce struck, without mercy, without respite- his eyes flashed with righteous fury. The titanic beast began to wither away, its obscene form replaced by an emaciated body. The being, now no larger than a person, screamed in anguish as mortal death once again consumed it. The husk swatted Ce away with a bony hand and turned to flee but collapsed, its legs unable to support it.

The thing began crawling, still screaming in pain, toward a space in the middle of the room, where once Ou Xing's great mound of festering corruption had sat. There now rested an intricate, jade box, in which the demon had been sealed for years uncounted.

The piteous corpse crawled, shrieking in torment, seeking that last hated refuge. From deep sockets where eyes had been, points of demonic light flared madly. The desiccated skin was peeling and sloughing away from the brittle bones, and still Ou Xing grasped and crawled. The arcane box glowed, offering sanctuary from obliteration.

The corpse stopped suddenly, unable to move. Ou Xing looked back in panic and saw Xiao scowling at him, gripping his ankles. With a shriek and a hideous tearing sound, Ou Xing pulled himself free, leaving his legs hips twitching in his assailant's grasp. He crawled on. He was so close…

His body juddered to a stop again as Da strode up and slammed the spike of Ce's halberd down through his spine, pinning him to the floor. She glared down at him coldly, with a revulsion born of having seen inside his mind.

The thing let out a strange, pitiful whine and strained at the neck, protesting the universe's cruelty. He was less than two feet away from the sacred box when Sun Ce loomed over him, his eyes flashing vengefully. As Ou Xing reached out, Ce slammed the butt of his tonfa down on the jade treasure shattering it utterly into a thousand pieces.

Ou Xing's skeletal jaw went wide and he let out a rasping, ear-piercing screech. His frame shuddered spastically and bony hands grasped at Ce, reaching for his throat.

Before everyone's eyes, Ou Xing, the demon prince of Changsha, Yaoghuai of ancient times, became naught, collapsing into a pile of bluish-grey dust.

--

Ce sighed heavily and looked around the room. The demons Ou Xing had summoned were gone and his undead fiends lay still. All was quiet.

Da Qiao ran forward and embraced her husband, who held her close.

"It's alright, we won." Ce said quietly. "Ou Xing's not just banished or contained, he's gone forever. He'll never plague us or anyone else ever again."

"I am so sorry, my lord…" Da whispered with tears in her eyes and her face nuzzled to his chest. "I had a dream and I-"

"Never mind, Da." Ce said soothingly, stroking her hair. He then looked down at her and smiled. "You're the only person I know that can be covered in tentacle spooge and still look cute."

Da Qiao sniffled out a laugh and wiped a tear from her eye. She was relieved this nightmare was finally over.

Ce held his wife tight, happy that he had found her. Giving her a piece of his mind would wait until later. Moments like this were hard to replace.

He just kept Da in his arms until he heard Xiao crying out in a panic.

"Zhou Yu! Zhou Yu darling!"

"Oh, hell…" Ce said as he disengaged from his wife and sprinted over to where his sworn brother lay. Zhou Yu was still, his skin a deathly white. Xiao had pulled his head into her lap and was patting his face, trying to wake him up.

"Zhou Yu! Please, Zhou Yu! Ce, what's wrong with him? Is he dead? He can't be dead!"

Ce knelt next to his friend and pulled up the sleeve of his crimson battle robe. Xiao and Da both gasped in horror as Ce revealed the bite wound Zhou Yu had received earlier. It was a hideous black that spread all the way up his arm and onto his chest. Ce examined his skin closely and could see the darkness coursing through his veins. They were too late.

"I'm sorry, my friend. I promised you I would save you from a fate worse than death itself, and I failed you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Xiao burst into tears, the crystalline drops raining down on Zhou Yu's cheeks. She caressed his cold skin and called to him desperately. Da Qiao bit her lip and her own eyes filled with tears. Her heart was broken, since she thought of what she had endured when Fang Yu had told her that Ce had died, or her agony upon seeing Sun Jian's body. The dream Ou Xing had sent them had come true, at least partially.

She looked over at Ce, but she could not see his eyes. His head was hung as he knelt next to his friend. She could not imagine what he was going through at this moment and didn't know how to console him.

Xiao was sobbing against Zhou Yu's face, holding him to her cheek.

"Don't leave me! You promised you'd never leave me! I gave myself to you and you promised you'd never go!"

She took his face in her hands, pulling his eyes open and crying out to him loudly in desperation.

"Zhou Yu, don't leave me, damn you! YOU PROMISED ME!"

Zhou Yu squinted and winced. "Ow… loud…"

Xiao's eyes went wide. "Zhou Yu!" she squealed as she crushed his face into her chest in joy. The strategist flailed wildly and made muffled sounds of protest.

"Xiao, let him go, you're gonna smother him!" Ce said, bursting out laughing. Xiao squeaked and let Zhou Yu fall back. His eyes were wide and he gasped for air, his hand over his heart.

"Thank you… Xiao..." he breathed.

"For what, Zhou Yu?" she asked excitedly, holding his hand over her heart.

"For not… killing me…" he said, still trying to catch his breath.

Xiao's gleeful expression faltered for a moment, replaced by confusion. Then her eyes flared and she scowled down at him angrily.

"What's the big idea, leaving the city without your sword? Aren't you supposed to be some kind of genius or something?"

Da just shook her head while Ce looked away from the scene. Even Taishi Ci took a step back and pretended to not be there.

"And you get me all terrified and look like you're going to die on me and leave me to fight some big demon-thingy while you just stand there and-"

Ce and Da slowly backed up and walked away, leaving Zhou Yu to his fate. She slid her arm through his and sighed in relief.

"How mad are you at me for running off like an idiot and wrecking all your carefully-laid plans?" she asked.

Ce shrugged. "I dunno, all of my carefully-laid plans might not've worked, y'know? Maybe this was the only solution."

"So… you're not annoyed with me?" she queried hopefully.

"Oh, I didn't say that, it was a real dumb thing you did." Ce pointed out, patting her hand. "You didn't even think of telling me about your dream and we might've thought of some other plan."

Da sighed. "I am sorry, my lord. I just… well, you know what we Qiao women are like."

"Stubborn as hell, yes." Ce said, nodding. "Not prone to thinking ahead, acting almost always on emotion, failing to consult with a superior officer about-"

"I get the point, thank you." Da said dryly. "I need more work, yes. Doesn't it count that I was willing to risk everything to save you?"

Ce chuckled. "Of course it counts, it's why I haven't had you beheaded yet. Besides, how many other people are insanely brave enough to face a demon prince by themselves?"

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Da concluded. "I don't want anyone thinking that I'd do this sort of thing lightly or on a whim."

"A fair bet." Ce remarked as he led her out of the dark and dreary great hall. He led her through a maze of hallways and out into the darkness of night. They stood together outside the gate and looked up at the stars.

"What Ou Xing did was terrible." Da said softly. "All those men he killed… those things he created- they were people once. Denied death, they existed only to serve his will."

Ce nodded. "Now that he's gone, I'm thinkin' that those who were not completely dead or taken over will recover. Zhou Yu oughta be dead by now, but with Ou Xing gone, the taint is leavin' his body."

"So he will be fine?" Da asked.

"Yeah, if your sister doesn't kill him." Ce observed. "She seemed pretty hot."

"Oh, she was just venting." Da said casually. "Before long she will be her normal, bubble-headed self."

"Must've been a helluva dream, then." Ce suggested.

Da shuddered as she remembered the nightmare. "I would just as soon not talk about it, my lord."

"Fair enough," Ce said cheerfully. "Let's gather everyone up and get to Changsha."

Da nodded and smiled. It would be good to leave this place behind.

--

Sun Ce sat on the royal chair atop the dais while Lu Meng and Taishi Ci were kneeling before him. Da and Xiao Qiao stood next to the chair on one side while Zhou Yu stood on the other. The strategist was unusually pale, and even though Ren Neng had healed his wound, the mark of Ou Xing would forever been seen on his body.

"My lord, you are certain you wish to suppress the news of these deeds?" Lu Meng asked. "For surely word of such a feat would spread across the land and inspire the people."

"Yeah, maybe, but the people will do enough talking as it is, there's no need for the state to push it along."

"So much for your propaganda ploy." Zhou Yu commented.

"I decided against it in the end," Ce replied. "It kinda sounds like somethin' Cao Cao or Yuan Shao would do. I don't need to blow my own horn. What I wanna know is how Zhou Yu showed up with a battalion of monks alluva sudden."

Zhou Yu coughed. "Actually, Ce, I had nothing to do with that- that was Lu Meng's idea."

Ce looked at the dour commander. "Really?"

"Well, mine and another's, lord." Lu Meng said, nodding to someone else in the audience hall.

Da Qiao glanced over to see whom Lu Meng had meant and espied an officer standing amongst the other junior commanders- a young man with fair features who wore an elegant tattoo under his left eye. His robes were long and stately and one his hip he wore a slender jian.

"I guess I owe you one, pal." Ce said genially. "So what do they call ya?"

The young officer stepped forward and bowed humbly. "My family name is Lu, sire, and my given name is Xun. My style name is Boyan. I am honoured by your recognition."

"Titles don't matter to me, so just keep doin' what you're doin' and you'll be rewarded accordingly, got it?" Ce said. "Now tell me about sending the monks to save us."

Lu Xun, who was obviously not much younger than Da, bowed again. "I took note of how effective the chants of the priests, mendicants and monks were in protecting the city from the demon. I had also heard about how you summoned Ou Xing through a binding ceremony back in Baifu, lord. "When Commander Fu Chin Ran had told us about the Ladies Qiao and their rather abrupt departure, I suggested to General Lu Meng that maybe some holy men would be useful in Feilong. They followed Commander Taishi Ci out of the city as quickly as they could be assembled."

Da blushed as she noticed Fu Chin Ran standing off to the side, her arms folded and staring at her intently. Da found a point on the ceiling that needed her intense scrutiny.

Ce nodded. "Lu Meng, I like him, he can stay- make sure that Lu Xun gets a good schooling so that I can rely on him completely one day."

Lu Meng bowed low. "As you command, my lord."

Ce smiled at Da. "Gather up our daughter, we're goin' back to Baifu."

Da Qiao bowed and exited the room, followed by Fu Chin Ran.

Ce now looked at Xiao and nodded. "You did good, Xiao. Make sure your girls have proper uniforms, because I'm givin' 'em permission to display the Sun family sigil on it, okay?"

Xiao squeaked in delight and clapped her hands. He was glad to see she was her normal self again. There were some things even a demon couldn't ruin.

--

"So what now, my lord?" Da asked as they rode south. She and Ce were at the head of a caravan of horses and carts, the rear of which was brought up by Taishi Ci and the Night Tigers.

"I dunno," Ce said, shrugging. "Even with Ou Xing gone, the land's not exactly at peace."

"At least the threat of your fellow lords is of a more tangible and ephemeral nature." Da suggested, stroking her daughter's hair as the girl slept in front of her. "These are issues and crises you can plan for."

"Depends on how involved you and your sister get." Ce said cheerfully. Da stuck her tongue out at him.

She grew silent as she thought of her ethereal conversation with the sage Zuo Ci. She had elected to not tell Ce about it, at least not yet. She had to figure out what the wizened old man had been talking about.

Da was thankful for his timely intervention, even though he claimed it had been completely incidental. She somehow doubted that the man chose to appear to just anybody.

"My lord," Da said quietly. "If I might ask… why did looking into Ou Xing's eyes not terrify you?"

"What do you mean?" Ce asked.

"Well, when he had me by the throat, he allowed me to see into his mind- I saw in there the fire of Hell and a madness no person should ever know. I screamed in terror and it nearly destroyed my mind. When you challenged him and he bent down to face you eye to eye, it did not affect you so. Surely you saw the same thing I did and yet you were not terrified. Why is that?"

"How can you be so sure I wasn't?" Ce pointed out. "Da, bravery isn't about not feeling fear, bravery is about doing what you need to do in spite of the fear you feel. You already know that."

"Yes, but my fear got the better of me. Fear never seems to be able to affect you, at least not adversely, as far as I can tell. Why is that? What do you know that the rest of us don't?"

Ce shrugged. "I guess I don't fear death or the unknown. Yeah, I'd be pissed about dyin' because I've got you an our daughter now, but I know there's somethin' else beyond the veil of this reality, so why be afraid?"

Da sighed. "I wish I shared your supreme confidence, my lord. It is not that I doubt your words, for I have seen proof of what you say with my own eyes, but my mere mortal body is still subject to fear."

"Don't worry about it," Ce suggested. "When it's your time to transcend fear, you'll be the first to know- or didn't Zuo Ci tell you that?"

Ce snapped his reins and rode off ahead. Da just sighed and shook her head. Was her deep contemplation that obvious?

Ce had stopped at the top of a hill. She joined him on the crest and smiled. Before them stretched the wide, green plain, and standing in the middle of that plain, shining in the westering sun, was Baifu.

She sent up a silent prayer- they were finally home.

--

The following spring, grass began to grow over the ruins of the once shunned and foreboding castle. The rivers ran blue and cold while the fields were painted with flowers. Trees blossomed and bore sweet peaches on the surrounding hills and birds began to sing and nestle in their gnarled boughs. A great evil had left the land and life returned to Feilong.

--

Author's Notes: Well, there you have it, the biggest chapter yet. I had considered breaking it up into two chapters, specifically at the point where Da looks into Ou Xing's eyes and screams. Ultimately, though, I just felt like throwing out a large chapter after a lot of little ones.

Hopefully this one came across as creepy and unworldly, because I'm not really a writer of horror. Let me know what you think!

Notes To The Notes: Grrr, sorry, folks! Accidentally uploaded my unedited version, hence the number of typos and so on. Edited and reposted, hopefully making it more legible. The gang suffered through Ou Xing for four chapters now, they don't need my atrocious typing to contend with as well. There are some things which I imagine even Sun Ce might not be a match for...