OK, this has been hanging around long enough. Let's finish off Nanman shall we? It's going to be this then 1 or 2 chapters before the next major event. (Not Fan, but again, that's not going to be far away now)
Disclaimer: Don't own Dynasty warriors, Koei, Omega force or China. Su Zhi is owned by Lorze the Brookes. Blah de blah de blah. Buy DW7 EMPIRES! DO IT!
Chapter 55
Defy the Crown
We didn't know a thing from our front, only that the Barbarians hadn't succeeded yet.
I wasn't prepared to just stop, to assume Quan had succeeded in fighting off his enemy
Even with Su and Zhou, We'd need to keep acting our part in order to make sure we survived.
And my part was to end this, once and for all.
The rain had intensified during my run towards the enemy main camp, becoming a haze of rain, with the odd stroke of lightning adding to the mix. I fought my way through the mud and the heat with my mind set. Lu Meng could yell all he wanted at me later, right now I just had to get this over and done with. I'm not a demon for no reason after all.
I saw a small group of enemies in the distance, slowing and kneeling down as I got closer. They were talking to each other, armed with a spear each. There were three of them...and none of them were looking at me or any where near my general vicinity. I grabbed my spear and crossbow, getting closer before stopping within quick running distance.
I needed to find out where the big man himself was...and for that...I needed a hostage. I quickly aimed the crossbow at one of them, lining up the shot before flipping the spear in my hand. Let's see...If I can take out one with a bolt, I can throw the spear at the second and threaten the third with my sword. Yeah, that would work...I hope.
I pulled the trigger on the crossbow, throwing the spear quickly before grabbing the hilt of my sword. I watched, seeing the bolt and spear hitting the skull and chest respectively, both victims falling quickly as the third quickly looked between the two, confused as I charged towards him. He turned as I drew my blade, moving it quickly towards his neck.
"Don't move a muscle" I told him. I saw him physically gulp, fear overtaking him as he dropped his spear, holding his hands up. "Take me to Meng Huo...and I'll let you go free" he nodded, turning slowly around and walking a bit. I grabbed my spear, standing on the shoulder of the corpse and yanking it out before walking after him. I had time to think about things as I walked. And guess what the first thing that came to mind was...
This was stupid...I know it is, I know Lu Meng will yell at me, Shang Xiang will tell me I'm taking too many risks, and Quan would probably chastise me for breaking orders. I'll take the hassle later, the path becoming rough as we walked, I placed a hand defensively on the hilt of my great-sword, paranoia entering my head.
We eventually came to a set of...apparently hastily set up, palisades, just in case we came here with cavalry. To give them credit, they had been prepared for us, even a tribe as primitive as this was prepared to take on the Wu army, and if we were struggling this much against tribes, then god, we were not going to be ready for Shu or Wei.
We walked along the sodden ground, now on more solid ground then before, thankfully, now within the camp grounds. I kept looking around, making sure that the area was clear of any kind of trap or ambush, traps or even the most obvious of apparent archers. I have no idea how many times I looked around the place, my head moving so quickly that everything in between was a blur.
"My King!" The soldier suddenly shouted. I turned forward, seeing a massive group of soldiers all bowing before this giant of a man, his arms crossed in front of him. I kept my blade up, seeing the soldiers all turning to me, the huge man not reacting. I gave him a look over, getting a better idea of what he looked like.
He was huge, at least a few feet taller then me. He was also very bulky, but I presume that's mostly muscle. I gulped, realizing why these people followed him if he was who I thought he was. His body was covered with red...paint with white outlines, and wore a pair of thick boots, which I can only presume came from an elephant, he had a sash on covering between his knees. He had a pair of bronze gauntlets on, both covered with a plate on the back, with several daggers attached to them, much like claws. He had a shield of sorts on his back, and on his head...a spiked helmet. He had a beard which covered under his nose all the way between his ears. He gave a deep, confident laugh.
"Who does this Moron think he is?" He spoke, his voice booming out. The soldiers before him scrambled up, grabbing their axes and surrounding me, the one in front of me dashing away from the sword. I scanned around again, seeing them around me, trying to figure out a way out of this situation. I was outnumbered at least 30 to 1, not to mention the monster of a man.
"Well...this could've gone better" I said to myself, flipping my sword in my hand. "Not the best of things...but still salvageable"
"What did you think you could do alone?" the huge man asked. I looked at him, seeing him walking towards the circle. "You pipsqueak"
"So I can take it that your Meng Huo" I spoke. The soldiers around me giving me half an angry look.
"How dare you address him as such!" one of them shouted at me. I turned towards him, cracking my neck. "You will call him King Meng Huo!"
"Yeah. Like I'm going to be doing THAT any time soon" I turned back to Meng Huo, staring him down. "Meng Huo...I am Fu Xi, Known as the Demon of Wu" I pointed my blade towards him, not breaking my stare. "Your fight ends here"
There was a stroke of thunder as I said this, the water flying off my blade as I stood there. There was a pause as we both kept on going, the soldiers around me circling me, each one wanting to kill me, ready to strike.
And then...He laughed. Meng Huo laughed the loudest laugh I've ever heard, his head turned skyward as he did so, having to pat his chest at times. This was not a good sign. There was another stroke of thunder, with which he slowed, turning to me and shaking his head, wiping away a tear.
"So, this mouse thinks it can slay the elephant" He spoke, lowering his arms and walking forward. "Give the King and this weakling some room" The soldiers turned to him, and I raised an eyebrow. Was he really going to do what I think he was going to do? "If he thinks he can take down the king...then let's give him a fight"
"But my King...Surely we should do this for you" They had a point, even I had to agree. Meng Huo shook his head, walking into the ring and cracking his knuckles.
"A King has to fight his own battles" He replied. I flipped my blade once more, getting into my normal stance as the circle expanded, grabbing the spear for my off hand.
We started circling each other, the Nanman soldiers all pacing around as well. I had no idea how to fight this guy, but got my mind in gear finally. I made the first move, charging towards him and swinging my blade at him. I didn't even see the reaction, only feeling my blade hit something. I looked at him, seeing him holding my blade in the air with the back of his gauntlet, barely moving as he held me up. I gritted my teeth, trying to force the blade down, only succeeding in getting him to force my blade away. I quickly followed up, stabbing at him with the spear, yet again, getting blocked before it impaled his chest. I quickly swung the sword again, now getting his right hand involved in the play.
I kept on going with this, every swing or stab getting blasted back by the gauntlets and his strength. I fell back at the fifth attempt, my feet slipping on the sodden ground. He took this moment to charge at me, slamming his fist into my chest, some of the blades digging in before I got sent flying backwards, flipping over backwards as I slammed against one of the wooden palisades, the soldiers watching me as I went by. I felt something pierce my back, shouting in pain as I let my sword and spear go.
I coughed, blood coming out of my mouth. I slowly pushed myself off, landing on the ground roughly, my knee barely keeping me up as I breathed heavily, shaking my head as I saw my chest. Four good stabs around my chest, and I wasn't even sure if he had hit anything major. I put a hand on it as I stood up, wiping my chin as I did so, seeing the crimson on it. Meng Huo laughed as I turned to him.
"The weak mouse hunched over before the King of Nanman" He gloated, the soldiers now laughing. I looked at him, spitting the blood out of my mouth. I grabbed my great-sword, unsheathing it quickly and grabbing it with both hands, charging straight at him. The weight that was behind this thing, even he should struggle to fight it off. I shouted as my feet carried me, binging the blade over my head, jumping forward at the last second as I swung at him.
Yet again, the sound of steel on steel, and being held in mid air, this time by the pair instead of just the one. I looked at Meng Huo, seeing him gritting his teeth, focusing on pushing me back. I lifted my great-sword up, letting his arms go skyward, then spinning around and attempting to slam my boot into his chest. He moved quicker then I thought he could, bring his hands down and grabbing my leg, panic striking me.
He smiled, spinning around once and slamming me head first into the ground. I heard something crack, felt something move as I crashed down, my arm erupting in pain. I rocked over forward, landing on my back, my breathing only just returning. Meng Huo paced around me, the soldiers laughing again.
"Feel like you've lost yet?" He asked. I breathed heavily, looking at my sword arm, feeling the agony of a dislocation. Fuck did it sting. I turned over slowly, grabbing my sword with my off hand, impaling it into the dirt in order to stand up slowly. I got to a kneeling position before hearing a mass of footsteps, looking at it and seeing Meng Huo running towards me, now kicking me with one of his boots. I lost my grip on my sword, flying away from it and landing several feet away, my shoulder now joining the pain. "Just give it up already" I put my good arm on the ground, lifting myself up slowly, coughing once more, seeing more blood flying.
This guy was bloody strong...this was not going to be easy...by any stretch of the imagination. I took a step too far coming out here, underestimating what the locals were capable of. This wasn't the age of empires for Europe. It wasn't gunpowder weapons against pointy stick. This was equal tech on equal tech. If anything we were only just a level above them weapons wise.
I managed to get myself onto my feet, seeing Meng Huo looking at me, wondering what I was going to do. I had to fix my arm, and the wounds on my chest weren't going any time soon. First thing was first...even though this was going to sting like a bitch. Quan...I'm thankful you got me those books now.
I'm not going into detail over this...as you really, really, REALLY, don't need to know how it works, but let's make a long story simple. I grabbed my arm, relaxing it and twisting the whole thing to relocate it, screaming out in pain as I did so. The first time didn't work, beginning a round of heavy breathing before I tried again, this time putting more force into it. I cried out once more, the sharp pain of this action flaring up, but the constant pain of the dislocation fading. I fell to my knees once more, swallowing before another round of heavy breathing, trying to fight my way through the pain.
"You don't quit do you?" Meng Huo asked, throwing the great-sword next to me, conveniently landing point down directly next to me, my longsword and spear nearby as well. I grabbed them, lifting myself up with them. "How thick skulled are you?"
"As much as I need to be" I told him, wiping my chin once more. "I'm not going to give up...no matter how bad it looks...I can still win this" I impaled my spear and sword into the ground, looking at Meng Huo. "And you know what...This thick skull of mine...is enough to take you down"
Meng Huo laughed once more, the Nanman soldiers joining in as I took the crossbow and quiver off my belt, putting them against the great-sword. I looked at him, shaking my head. "And this time...I'm not holding back" I unstrapped the cape, doing it back up around the hilt of the great-sword, then removing the steel off the front of my boots. I needed to be as light as possible for this. If I was going to win I needed to work at the weaknesses of this guy. And as brute force didn't do it, speed and strategy would have to.
Meng Huo saw me, taking a defensive stance as I did the same, stepping forward slightly before we paced again. This was going to be practically a boxing match, with knives on the gauntlets. I cracked my neck before charging in, seeing Meng Huo holding his gauntlets up. I put my hands on the back side of the gauntlets, jumping up onto them and then over his head, slamming my boot into his face before rolling down his shield. I landed behind him, swinging my leg around quickly, hooking his leg out from under him and tripping him up, water flying up around him.
I took my chance, running to stand on his chest and kneeling down, grabbing him by his beard before slamming my fist into his skull, watching him fall once more. I looked at his gauntlet, my eyebrows moving p and down as an idea hit me. I grabbed the back of it, putting my foot on his arm, yanking away at it with all my strength. Meng Huo recovered, seeing me and trying to swat me with his other arm.
I somehow got the plate off, jumping to avoid the arm and slamming my boot down into his face, doing a quick back flip away. I quickly looked at the plate, it looked like it was designed to go on the gauntlet itself, with a ring for the arm. I quickly readjusted, finding it somehow easy to bend under my strength, then slashing bending sections of it to fit around my arm instead. That'll be something entertaining.
"You Pesky fly!" He yelled as he got back up. I quickly put the plate on, flexing my hand within it. Somehow I could move my arm within it perfectly fine, in fact it felt as if I was only wearing it, and it wasn't a piece of armour at all. "I'm gonna crush you under my heel!" I took a new stance, making sure the plated arm was forward, ready to use his old weapon against him. His gauntlets though still covered his hands. Hell, they looked like pure steel hands, this was going to be hell.
He charged at me, yelling at the top of his lungs towards me, swinging his fist towards me. I quickly moved out of the way, throwing my free hand to his face, connecting somehow. He flinched, but then threw his armed hand at me, forcing me to commit the gauntlet against him. The pair collided, both of us jumping back as we met, the rain flying off it. I charged back in, watching him swing his arm at my head, to which I ducked under, not seeing the moving foot. I quickly punched him with the knives, the blades digging into his bulky foot, his face lighting up a treat as he started hopping away from me. I kept pushing the assault, charging again at him and grabbing his shoulder, throwing several punches at his gut, my arm hurting more with each one, then finishing it off with a clothesline to his face.
He fell once more, leading me to act once more, mounting him and slamming the gauntlet into his chest several times. I don't know how many times I hit him, four, five? It all passed in a blur. But at some point, I looked at his other arm, seeing the second plate and going for it. I got it off very quickly this time, feeling very smug with myself.
But I rested on my laurels. Meng Huo reacted quicker this time, grabbing my arm and slamming me into the ground next to him. My back exploded in agony as I hit ground zero, my hand still on the gauntlet piece. I gasped, then worse happened as Meng Huo turned the tables, climbing over me and getting ready to rain punches down. I acted quickly, bending the iron to fit my gauntlets.
He threw the first punch, hitting the side of my face, blood flying as I felt the full force of his strength. He threw a second, the same again happening, then following with a quick third, then a fourth, and fifth. I was acting as best I could, trying to get my arms in place to block. Punch six and seven came in, with Meng Huo rearing up for punch nine. I scrambled to pulled my fists up, acting too late and getting the full force of him once more.
I lost control at this point, my body going numb before my breathing left me. My eyes were drifting around lazily as my body refused to move under my own will. Meng Huo stopped raining down punches as my vision started fading.
Was this it? Was this where I met my end? Isolated, overextended, over-confident? This whole thing was a mess...Who'd a thought that the Nanman Barbarians were this strong? I breathed again, getting enough strength in me for one last move. I saw Meng Huo ready for one more punch.
"My name...is Fu Xi..." I spoke, gritting my teeth as I clenched my fists, feeling more strength coming back. "And I am the Demon!" I threw a boot up, slamming my knee into his crotch, seeing his face contort in pain. I repeated it, three, four times, eventually getting the bastard to roll off me, rolling around in pain. I slowly got myself back up, shaking my head and going onto my knees.
I breathed heavily, the Nanman soldiers unsure of what to do, save their king, or leave him to his duel. I looked at Meng Huo, seeing him getting back up himself, on his knees as well. I unsteadily took to my feet, swaying all over the place as I turned to face him, breathing heavily as I took my stance. He turned to me, his face a mess as was his chest. I didn't want to know what I looked like.
"Why...how can you..." He spoke, crashing down to one knee. "Why do you..." He fell down to the ground finally, fainting. I breathed a sigh of relief as the Nanman soldiers scrambled around their lord.
"If you want, take him to safety...I won't pursue" I told them. They all nodded, grabbing Meng Huo and dragging him away from me. I wandered over to my great-sword, sitting down next to it and resting my back against it, hearing numerous footsteps.
"LORD FU XI!" I heard someone yell. My vision was fading again, then seeing a number of soldiers appear in front of me. "Quick, someone get a medic!" I smiled, thankful they had gotten here.
"You've got...a good sense of timing" I told them. They could only smile in return.
I had acted as though we were better then the locals.
We weren't...we were only 'civilised', and that doesn't mean we're better
look at how the Romans did with the barbarian tribes of Europe.
But I had gotten the job done...barely. And then stolen a neat idea.
