Despite the staunch resistance held by Mitsuko and Zheng Jiang's forces the fighting only grew fiercer as more and more soldiers under Zhang Yan kept marching forward. Another volley of boulders was released, launching themselves in Zhang Yans ranks. The men were demoralised as they saw their comrades scream in agony as their bodies were crushed underneath them. Fearful for their own lives. However though, their vengeance and fearful nature of what Zhang Yan would do to them overpowered their fear of death for the moment. The archers on top the wall fire relentlessly in the waves and waves of seemingly endless numbers. Most of the arrows hit their target as the tips of the arrows pierce their targets flesh. The soldiers had difficulty setting up their ladders as the constantly got peppered with arrows. The flickering embers however of the oil began to die down as the oil started to dissipate. Though the flames were still burning brightly, lighting up the battlefield.
The fighting at the gate was fierce, Diamondback and his soldiers held firm at the gate, Zheng Jiangs reserves kept behind witnessing the fight in front of them, fearful of any potential afflictions that may befall them. Though Mitsuko's soldiers cared not, most that joined Diamondback during the siege of Xia Pi were simply happy to engage in combat with the enemy. Their fierce savagery was a force to be reckoned with, overwhelming the soldiers attacking the open gate. Despite their better equipment the savage ferocity of these soldiers was unlike anything they fought against before. They hacked and cleaved with their axes and swords and thrusted with their spears. Diamondback however was the most ferocious warrior at that gate. He counter attacked and dodged every oncoming swing at him. As one soldier attacked with his sword, Diamondback deflected leaving him open as he dug his serrated sharp teeth into the man's shoulder. He screamed in agony before diamondback kicked him so hard, he tore off the flesh off his victim. Blood dripped from the piece of skin that was hanging from his mouth momentarily and down his mouth before he horizontally swung his weapon at an oncoming soldier's head. The spikes piercing his skull as the halberd dragged him down the ground before ripping the side of his head open from the wound. Diamondback quickly tilted his head back and opened his massive jaw, allowing his victims flesh to enter fully and swallowed it whole. He grinned as blood dripped from his mouth before lunging back into the fray.
Gyuki meanwhile was in combat with the amalgamation. It roared as it swung its trident horizontally aiming for Gyuki's neck. He blocked the attack with his giant club, meeting it halfway, deflecting the attack. Gyuki swung his club backwards at the head of the amalgamation immediately. However the amalgamation was too quick as it used the momentum of being deflected of one side to block the oncoming strike. The two giants initiated a deadlock, neither one giving an inch to the other. Eventually the two pushed each other and staggered back before going in for another strike. Gyuki struck overhead with his club. The trident blocked the attack as it raised his polearm high in the air. It raised one side of the trident higher to straighten it before crashing it to the ground, along with Gyuki's club. Leaving him defenceless. As the club created a loud club and crushed an enemy soldier in the process the amalgamation swung the trident upwards towards Gyuki's head. Gliding across his arm that was dragged down with the club. He stepped back to narrowly dodge the attack. Gyuki Roared as he charged in again into the fray.
Meanwhile the soldiers at the wall started to prepare the ladders, even though they had little to no protection from the arrows. The number of soldiers helping to set it up was too great of a number to prevent it. As the frontline tries to set up the ladder, the second wave grabbed the steps and sides of the ladder. It took longer than anticipated due to the amount of people on the ladder before it stood up. It took a lot of men to lift the ladder high, however as it did it was littered with soldiers holding on to whatever they can. Some of the archers noticed this and began to fire at the people on the ladder, trying to clear them. Some of the arrows force the soldiers to let go and crash to the ground, screaming before being promptly silenced. Alas the archers had to step back a bit due to a lack of melee prowess they had as the ladders were planted firmly onto the ground and soldiers began to dismount and climb the ladders onto the wall. Mitsuko's elite warriors quickly entered the fray trying to prevent them from getting any ground, though the amount that have already set foot on the wall was too many for the relatively small unit to contain as more and more ladders were set up all around the wall. Mitsuko widely grins as the enemy starts to set foot on the wall and immediately lunged into the fray. Her serpents quickly regurgitated her weapons before she swung her scythe decapitating the first enemy she saw before immediately thrusting her sword deep into the stomach of the next one. As one was attack Mitsuko behind, LingQi cleaved him from behind as she attacked diagonally upwards just before his right arm. The soldier has a look of shock on his face before the life drained from his eyes.
'Mitsuko you left yourself wide open.' LingQi stated.
'Actually I left that one for you. Let it never be said I'm not generous.' Mitsuko cackled as while fighting with an enemy armed with a spear, he thrusted the spear though she sidestepped forcing him to run past her. As he did, Mitsuko swings her sword high in the air, cutting her way through his arms cleanly. She promptly kicked the soldier of the wall as their scream was cut short with a thud.
'Sure you did. Keep telling yourself that.' LingQi teased as she blocked an overhead strike from an oncoming attack and thrusted her other polearm into his chest and quickly withdrew it. As she pulled it back with force, the body fell backwards, and the other side of the glaive pierced another soldier from behind. They stopped in their tracks as blood started to trickle down their mouth after they coughed. She withdrew the blade from the fresh corpse as they went to their knees before falling on their face. From a quick glance she saw the tip of the spear being thrusted from her right side. She pulled her right polearm all the way back as she backstepped, dodging the spear as it whizzed past her. LingQi uses her right double-bladed polearm to slam the spear to the ground before she slides up the shaft of the spear with her weapon, slicing the neck as the soldier staggered back, letting go of the spear. LingQi then twisted her body and swung her left weapon wide, cleaving through a few soldiers at once who were charging from behind.
Mitsuko meanwhile swung her scythe at the soldier in front of her. He put up the sword to his side to block the attack, his blade made contact with the polearm barely outside of the serpents mouth. However the crescent blade was long enough the back of the skull. His body went limp as Mitsuko withdrew the blood-stained crescent blade immediately as it crashed to the ground on the spot. Mitsuko with her other arm, swung her sword high, splitting open the jaw of another enemy to her right side vertically. He clasped his jaw tightly as he screamed in agony and went down on his knees. As another soldier was charging towards Mitsuko yelling loudly, due to her serpent arm slithering high in the air she aimed the sword downwards before dropping it vertically. The force obliterated the skull as the sword went through it vertically. Less than a half of the blade emerged from his neck as the soldier's mouth was bloodied before the blade immediately crashed down the enemy kneeling down, killing them instantly. Mitsuko quickly swung her sword to the side, allowing the corpses to easily slide off her sword, knocking a couple of her enemies from the wall in addition.
On the other side of the wall, Pang Tong's phoenix guard work their way through the enemies. The enemy soldiers were stunned as they find out their swords and spears just go straight through them. The black spectral warriors made quick work of their foes as they cleaved and bludgeoned them all with a variety of weapons wielded by them. A two-handed large sword wielder attacked overhead, shattering the polearm in two before cleaving the soldier in two. One blocked attack from their tower shield before striking them with a Morningstar, shattering their bones. Pang Tong performed his signature chuckle as his warriors dispatched the enemies climbing up on the wall. That is however until Grus climbed on top of the wall. The two-handed sword wielder attacked overhead as it spotted the mystic in its sight. However Grus blocked the attack with ease. Causing Pang Tong to raise an eyebrow. Grus then pushed the sword away and struck horizontally with his spear. The spear cut through the armour before the spectral warrior vanished, the remains of it returned to the scroll in Pang Tongs robes. He glanced down towards it and then at the mystic who was engaging with another of his phoenix guard. He noticed his weapons is has strange teal markings on their weapons.
'Hmm, interesting. So their weapons can deal with these spirits? Hehe I expected as much but still, to see it for myself is another matter. If I can't deal with this one it looks like you'll get your wish…albeit temporarily as after all, as you said yourself, I still have quite a bit to learn. Plus that means you get to show me that you're not all talk.' Pang Tong thought as the mystic struck down another of the phoenix guard. The spectral warriors step back as Pang Tong ordered them mentally to pull back. Grus spotted Pang Tong past the warriors as more and more soldiers gathered behind Grus, being inspired that he can fight these things.
'Tch, pathetic sorcerer. You know I really hate your types. Always calculating and hiding behind true warriors. There's a reason we killed people like you during the cycles as quick as we could.' Grus announced as he pointed his spear at him.
'And yet you were content on having these soldiers set up the ladders during our relentless volleys. Isn't that a little hypocritical?'
'Silence! You and your allies will be purged along with the serpent!' Grus declared as he charged through. Narrowly dodging the attacks from the phoenix guard as he sprinted through them.
'Now, now. Let's not rush to things.' Pang Tong chuckled as he dropped his fan and pointed towards Grus. Suddenly a powerful gust of wind was formed behind Pang tong and crashed towards Grus, the cool yet powerful breeze hitting his body. Despite how heavy the wind is, Grus managed to keep his footing while the human soldiers behind him fell over, some went over the wall on both sides. The spectral warriors marched forward towards them, leaving Grus and Pang Tong alone.
'Ha! You think a simple gust of wind will stop me!?' He boasted as he took a step forward covering his eyes with one of his arms.
'I would've hoped not, otherwise it would be disappointing showing by yourself.' Pang Tong chuckled as he revealed his shadow hand and pointed at Grus with two fingers. Another gust of wind was made however he notices he was feeling scratches and glancing hits like blades slicing through the outside of his flanks. Noticing this he quickly twirled his spear in front of him in a circular motion at such speed to create his own wind, it was very small however it was enough momentum to create his own personal shield in front of him. It protected him from suffering any more injuries however the troops behind him weren't so unfortunate. Multiple holes appeared in their body as if they were pierced by arrows. Spitting and coughing blood and yet there was no physical object, just the wind that penetrated their flesh and ripped through their clothing. At the end of it, the spectral warriors kept on marching their way down the wall. The wind stopped blowing in that direction before Grus wore an arrogant smile on his face.
'Is that at all? Tch, this will be easier than I thought.' Grus announced as he sprinted towards Pang Tong who could only chuckle at his antics. Meanwhile the soldiers under Diamondback at the siege of Xia Pi start coughing and got weaker, with massive migraines and a fever which made them momentarily weaker. Most of them knelt down as their illnesses overcame them while they clutched their head. Diamondback saw this with most of the men behind him, while over half of Mitsuko's guard on top of the wall had the same thing.
'Ahh, finally.' He stated before he fought on ferociously as the human warriors behind him picked up their comrades' slack, making sure not a single enemy would pass through their line. The warriors that knelt started to cough violently, with blood droplets on some occasions however their pain only increased tenfold. The agony of what was happening inside their bodies was great, almost as if their entire stomach were being tightly squeezed. The agony caused them to vomit blood. As people stopped vomiting as the body started to convulse as their body goes limp. The rear reserves of Zheng Jiangs forces only watched in fear, thankful they're far away from them as they thought they may suffer like that if they were near them. They lied motionless for a while, their allies excluding Diamondback feared the worst while their enemies became more confident seeing a portion of their allies lying dead. The bodies however started to groan as they all stood up one by one, including on the wall. Their enemies while fighting, glanced at them with confusion before promptly trying to defend themselves. The one that stood up first let out a soft breath as they revealed their teeth to be serrated…like Diamondbacks, albeit shorter. The convulsions of their body slowed down however their skin started to shed like a snake. Though a large convulsion through both of their arms as their skin is shed to reveal a dark green shade arm, filled with scales and sharp claws on the ends of the fingers. A convulsion went through their body underneath their clothing and the same thing happened to their legs. Before one final convulsion made their way to their head. Their skin being torn off from the neck up to reveal a dark green face, almost lizard like in nature with scales imbedded in them. They opened their eyes one by one to reveal a pair of malevolent heliotrope purple slit shaped pupils. They saw the enemy in front of them and screeched loudly as they threw themselves into the fray, fighting even more savagely than they usually do, showcasing a brutal display of their skill and their malice towards their enemies. Diamondback smiled proudly at these warriors, finally coming into their own. One demonic entity clashed with another on top of the wall, it snarled as it revealed its serrated teeth and forked tongue.
'For the serpent!' It yells in a raspy yet threatening voice as it bites into their face and tackled them to the ground.
Luna and Lyra were both surprised at their sudden metamorphosis.
'What!? This serpent hasn't only subjugated these humans, she's starting to corrupt them into full blood demons!? Is that how they were always so many in the previous reincarnation cycles? Come to think about it, they've been more prepared than we thought. That's impossible though…they couldn't have anticipated our invasion…right?'
'Hey, your master said this siege was going to be easy! He never mentioned any of these creatures or any of their defences!' Yu Du shouted and Lyra as she was deep in thought.
'Tch, so what? Your lord wanted the mountains we provided the destination and a way to suit both of our needs. It is not our fault your men were ill equipped to deal with the situation.'
'What!? How dare you! This whole siege was your idea! You promised us that this behemoth would destroy the gates and we'd be able to get through.' Yu Du retorted, furious by their allies pretentious attitude, looking down on them.
'And it will, once it deals with their abomination. I admit they're putting up a stronger resistance than expected but the faut doesn't lie with me. Your men should've easily overwhelmed them by now.'
'If they didn't get fucking ambushed by a fire attack that's still going on!'
'Tch, excuses.'
'Why you!' Yu Du pointed his weapon at Lyra who shook her head in response.
'If you want anyone to get angry at, the enemy is in front of you. I suggest you lead your men through this siege. Less you wish to disappoint your lord.' Lyra arrogantly smirked as Yu Du wanted ever so much to kill this deceitful cur, however she has a point. There's still a siege to get through, but the consequences will be grim for her and her allies. He'll make sure of it. Meanwhile however, Luna looks upon these new demonic warriors and rather than feeling the urge to slaughter them, she's instead intrigued. Like she feels…a sense of familiarity between her and them. But why though? She shouldn't feel such things for these newly emerged warriors…yet she does. She shouldn't feel the urge to shut up Lyra or Grus by taking out their tongue…yet she does. Why? Who or…what is she? She quickly shook her head and smirked widely, now's not the time for thinking, now's the time for fighting she thought to herself s she started to make her way to the crowd outside to test these new warriors and see if they're anything like the cyclops.