Luna and Yu Du arrived at the place where they meant to ambush Mitsuko's forces. They were stationed with a forest in sight. Luna and Yu Du discussed war strategies as they placed a map of the local layout of the land.

'They will come through this forest as here is the shortest way to get to the city.' Luna advised Yu Du who looked confused.

'Why? They won't get their siege engines past those trees. Not to mention they don't have an accurate layout of the land like we do, they kept inside their castle for too long.' Yu Du stated. Luna shook her head.

'Remember, they had their large demon around. We weren't able to kill it during the invasion so it could just destroy the gates if they so wish, its likely they're not bringing siege engines, it would only bring them down. Plus They know we can outnumber them severely they wouldn't risk the open world. But we can.'

'How do you mean?'

'See here? Even though the road is quite far away from us initially, eventually following the road will lead you to the other side of the forest. We can send some forces and execute a pincer attack.' Luna answered, pointing at various points of the map. Yu Du nodded in understanding.

'Ahh yes I see, a good strategy, they would be completely flanked. And we'll use our fire arrows to burn the forest signalling our forces its time to strike all the while inflicting damage as they remain inside, that way they can't use the trees to their advantage. As long as our flanking forces rushes past the burning wildlife they won't be in any significant danger.'

'Exactly. We'll split our forces into 3. One to take the road and wait until the forest is set on fire. You will lead a distraction force, feign an assault before running away the way you came once you have their attention. I'll lead the archers and release the volleys once you have exited. They'll panic with men deserting before they come across our flanking force. Then we move in for the kill.' Luna smirked, believing this to be an adequate strategy in taking out the serpent. Of course, her orders she knew was to bring this serpent alive to her, however who is to say what would happen? It could've been in self-defence, it wasn't like the serpent would've willingly go with her. Or she could've died as she as being transported back who was to say? All she did know though was that Jinzha wasn't here to tell her what she should do. This is a battlefield, there are no rules here, Luna thought to herself. Empress Luna…that does have a nice ring to it she thought to herself.

Its strange, before all this started there was no ambition in her, no desire for the throne or anything. She was quite happy to serve lord Jinzha. He was her superior after all…though after coming to this realm…she found herself changing for the better. She didn't know if that old fool put some sort of obedience spell on her or anyone else. Maybe coming here granted her and her alone enough strength to break it? It matters not. Luna would do what she wished to do once she slays the serpent for herself. Though…she can't help but feel…pulled by her and her forces for some reason. She doesn't understand why but she found them fascinating. Much more interesting than her present and previous company. Humans and demons working together voluntarily? That's something that hasn't been witnessed, the serpent in all the other times enslaved humans to their will…right? That's what she was told and that's why some of them appeared on the battlefield…but now…she questioned that idea. Perhaps this was always a thing and no one wanted to inform or believe it. Or maybe they were being manipulated at the time…that still didn't answer the question about LingQi, there was no way she was manipulated, she didn't see that in her eyes or feel any sort of…sorcery influencing her. Maybe she should ask about that, before slaying her she thought to herself as she devilishly smirked.

'Very good, we have a plan. Lets get the men organised.' Yu Du said, as he and Luna went to their forces and organised them into 3 groups. The ambush group was led by one of Yu Du's trusted lieutenants. Luna commanded the archers as Yu Du led the distraction force. They ventured into the forest to the point where Luna is not able to see them anymore. Once they disappeared Luna waited…and waited. She found herself pacing from one side of the archer unit to the other, as they formed a square formation. She didn't anticipate the waiting part of it would be so…infuriating. It wasn't the case before, so she didn't know why now. She would've put herself as the distraction, though she didn't trust Yu Du to finish the job. This way, this is something he wouldn't be able to screw up…right? A few hours had passed, which made Luna halfway through sit down on the field. She sat down before she felt something underneath her. A faint rumbling sound…like the sound of a giant stomping. She smirked at this as she jumped up.

'It seems they're coming now, ready the fire arrows!' Luna ordered Looking at one side of the archers.

'Yes my lady!' She heard one of the soldiers say as he quickly lit up a torch by rubbing twigs together quickly before they produced a flame. As the flame burned the soldier took one of the twigs and held it like a torch and quickly lit the fire arrows. These arrows were wrapped underneath the arrowhead with tows doused in oil. Once the flame made contact with this material and the oil, the arrowhead burned brightly. The torchbearer made their way to the rest of the soldiers, lighting each one of their arrows. Their arrows were drawn but not all the way, as the flame could transfer to the bow itself if it was drawn back, not to mention the accuracy would suffer as the fire in front when drawn too close would almost block their sight. They waited for a couple of minutes, until footsteps were starting to be heard and images of humans emerging from the front with Yu Du leading the pack.

'They're coming, light em up!' Yu Du ordered. Luna smirked.

'Tch, how easy they were led into a trap.'

'Fire!' She commanded. All the archers let go of their arrows and unleashed their volley. They arched their arrows high in the air, flying over their fleeing allies. The arrows hit their mark in the forest. The fire quickly consumed the initial trees at the edge of the forest, the fire quickly spread to the other the other trees, soon enough the forest that could be within their sight caught on fire. Smoke rose in the air as everyone was silent as the crackling sound of embers was all that was heard as Luna and Yu Du reconvened. They both stood and watched the flames burn brightly.

'Heh, that should deal with them.' Yu Du stated proudly as he smiled in front of the burning forest.

'Once they come out, they'll panic and won't put up much a fight.'

'Indeed, I must say they fell for it too easily. Ahh well, that's what they get for their arrogance. Thinking they could use their momentum with so little men. Once we do this, we can then get your city.' Luna smirked as she readied her blade, anticipating the serpent to emerge giving her a clear opportunity to take her head. Five minutes had passed as she and Yu Du watched the forest before suddenly a figure started to emerge. Luna smirked at this.

'Ahh there you are. Say your…' Luna started but she stopped as she saw the figure of Mitsuko started to emerge. She was going to rush towards her but didn't as she realised Mitsuko was just…walking normally. She wondered why she was so casual in just marching towards her destruction. Shortly after she emerged from the flame another figure emerged. Then another. Then another. All of them walking so casually. Luna and Yu Du took a step back, both widening their eyes in shock, Luna's fingers twitching as more and more figured emerged. She didn't expect Mitsuko's forces to just…ignore the fire attack like it was nothing. She saw them all. Mitsuko, LingQi, Dodomeki, Diamondback…they all are just marching casually. Just…what are they? They all stopped as Mitsuko did, seemingly doing nothing.

'What are they doing?' Yu Du asked.

'I don't know.'

Mitsuko serpents slithered back and forth before the heads suddenly screeched loudly. Suddenly the entire army roared before they all charged towards the enemy rushing past her. The two officers were too stunned to know what to do before Luna got a hold of herself and retreated. She looked to see the troops frightened by the enemy approaching them.

'What are you doing standing around!? Counter charge and fire!' Luna ordered. Her orders shook the soldiers back to reality, though their hearts were already filled with fear. The infantry moved to intercept the charge while the archers readied their arrows to fire, though found their arms shaking at their plan failing and with the enemy being so close. Yu Du snaped out of his daze and readied his blade as his troops ran past him before he too charged into the fray. However it was all for naught. Mitsuko's forces fought like demons possessed, the frontlines crashed against each other as Zhang yan's forces buckled almost immediately after. They got tackled to the ground and immediately eliminated whether by a stab to the gut or by a fresh set of serrated teeth sinking into their flesh and ripping them out. The sight horrified their other comrades as they looked behind them to not see their comrades that were supposed to be flanking them. The next wave of Mitsuko's soldiers leapt behind and attacked them seemingly from the air as they jumped over those that tackled the front line.

Diamondback was one such demon as he leapt up high and threw his halberd at the enemy. It penetrated through one soldiers stomach, pinning one of his organs to the ground, as he landed next to the corpse he used his shield to block an oncoming strike and deflected the attack before using the spiked ridges along the edge of his shield to tear through the faces of his opposition. Fresh blood splattering all over the ground. Diamondback raised the shield high behind him and slammed it against an enemy lunging towards him, smashing it against his face. The impact forced the enemy to get knocked off his feet, Diamondback immediately stepped towards them and crouched as he slammed the front spiked edge of the shield into the soldiers neck. Decapitating him instantly.

He spotted Yu Du kill a warrior as he ducked a wild sword swing and thrusted the spear into his abdomen before kicking it away, the body. He wore a scowl on his face, not anticipating this level of tenacity, especially without reinforcements. To think that the fire attack did nothing to them! How the hell did he have a chance now? His thoughts were interrupted as he glanced to his side to see Diamondbacks halberd come down and crash down on him. He manged to block it with his spear though the strength caused him to lower down slightly as he grit his teeth in surprise of his strength. Diamondback grinned at this.

'So you are the commander? Hmph, you don't look so tough but lets see what you got.'

'Don't underestimate me!'

Luna meanwhile was the other one able to land a killing blow of these soldiers, even then it wasn't enough as the rest were just outclassed by their tenacity. One of her enemies swung wildly at her with greater strength than she expected, however this was of no concern as she sidestepped out of the way of one attack and used her blade to cut through the torso. Blood spurts out from the waist, catching Luna's face and staining her attire. She saw a shadow leap in the air and try to attack her with a metal gauntlet. She smirked as she leapt back, as the punch connected with the ground Dodomeki looked up to see Luna and immediately rushed towards her position. Luna smirked.

'Looks like you haven't learned anything Cyclops, let me give you a refresher!' Luna yelled as she pulled the chain linked to her hilt towards her, the chain was on its way to wrap around Dodomeki however a polearm was thrown to the ground, intercepting the chain. Luna widened her eyes in shock as she recognised the double-bladed polearm. She looked to her right to see LingQi smirking as she ran towards her along with one of her glaives.

'Shit, they can counteract my chain a little too easily. Grr, looks like it'll just be a hinderance if I use it like this now.' Luna thought to herself as she grimaced. Dodomeki reached her first as he quickly unleashed a flurry of punches. Luna dodged, weaved and blocked most of them but they were more difficult to do so than before. She saw LingQi getting closer and knew she had to get away from Dodomeki at least for a moment. She felt the strength of Dodomeki's punches by the wind crashing against her face with each blow she dodged. She purposefully took a blow to the face, surprising Dodomeki as she went flying back.

As she was going through the air, she created some distance and pulled off the chain from the hilt. As she landed on her feet, they scraped across the ground as she planted the sword in the ground to stop her momentum. She kept her head down as she saw the chain she ripped off started to wrap around her arm and wrist. As it completely wrapped around, she stood up straight only to widen her eyes in shock as she saw one of LingQi's glaives flying in her direction. Thinking quickly Luna bent her back backwards, narrowly avoiding the steel halberd as she stared at her reflection from it ever so slightly before the golden glint of Dodomeki's helmet just behind it. Before she was able to react, she was quickly swept off her feet by Dodomeki. She couldn't do anything as she saw Dodomeki throw a punch aimed at her stomach. Her body dropped to the ground, as she impacted with the ground, she spit out golden blood. She landed on the ground for just a moment before Dodomeki grabbed her b the throat and held her in the air. Luna resisted the urge to grab his arm as he began choking her.

'Tch, was that all it took? Where was all that bravado you had before? Did you really think this pathetic ambush of yours would actually work?' Dodomeki asked in a sinister tone showcasing his confidence. Luna reached for something in her back pocket.

'Heh, maybe. Don't you think you owe me though? I mean I did leave you alive after all.'

'You're right I do. I believe I owe you a slow death.' Dodomeki responded as he readied his free hand to strike her down in a straight palm, ready to penetrate her chest.

'Is that…so. Well, I hate to disappoint you but as flattering of a gift that maybe, I'm going to have to decline. After all we can't just end everything now. I'm having too much fun.' She smirked as she grabbed what she was looking for and dropped a bright sphere on the ground, as it hit the ground a large bright light erupted from it, causing Dodomeki to use her free hand to cover his eye, giving Luna the chance to break the hold that he had on her. Once she was dropped, she quickly fled. LingQi quickly arrived after seeing the bright light as she was rushing there holding one of her halberds.

'Quickly she's getting away!' LingQi stated as she went to pursue her.

'There's no need for that.' Pang Tong called out as he chuckled.

'Pursuing her on your own may lead to another ambush like this one, besides if she does take refuge in the city, once we besiege it she will have nowhere left to go.'

Yu Du meanwhile sees that his supposed ally just abandoned him and his men with no thought for them. He gritted his teeth in anger at this, he knew they were outmatched for now, he did not know what happened to the other ambush party, however he doesn't have time to wonder, they have to get out of here!

'All forces retreat! Pull back!' He ordered. The troops were all but compliant as they quickly fled as soon as the order was given. The frontline however including Yu Du were not fortunate to escape. Most were grabbed or tackled however Yu Du after pushing away Diamondback from a deadlock and tried to run, he felt Diamondback's halberd dig into his right shoulder and felt himself forcefully pulled and nothing he could do to stop it. He was dragged behind him with no care in the world for their well being and their protests as they were promptly disarmed and taken to Mitsuko. All the prisoners were forced to their knees as they all looked up at Mitsuko with her majestic armour, her demonic grin and her serpent arms that were slithering in the air. Yu Du growled at the situation he found himself in. Captured to the enemy was disgraceful to his pride and honour.

'Is this everyone that was captured?' Mitsuko asked Diamondback who was standing behind Yu Du and the other prisoners.

'Yes my lady, should I go out to capture more?' He questioned, wondering if this amount of prisoners were inadequate. Mitsuko shook her head as she smiled.

'No this is fine, thank you. So, this was what Zhang Yan thought would take me down? I'm quite frankly insulted.'

'Good because soon it won't matter as he'll have your head on a pike!' Yu Du calls out to her. Diamondback was about to strike him with his hand however Mitsuko shook her head. Diamondback lowered his head and refrained from attacking him.

'Is that so?' She asked as she grabbed him with her left serpent arm, the fangs piercing both cheeks as she lifted her in the air as the jaw was stationed underneath his face.

'Is that why he sent you here and why I'm begging for mercy? Hehe are you really willing to die for such an individual despite the fact he essentially resigned you to death?' Mitsuko asked before Yu Du spat in Mitsuko's face and looking rather pleased with himself.

'Yeah…and I'd do it again! He'll butcher you and your soldiers as examples! The mountains will be under his rule before all of china will bow before him!' He replied however he noticed Mitsuko didn't look fazed in the slightest, despite the saliva on her face. She just simply looked him in the eyes while grinning. The sight sent shivers down his spine despite all his bravado.

'Heh, your loyalty and faith is admirable. Although they are misplaced' Yu Du was about to respond however he felt a sword slowly start to penetrate his neck, going upwards. The agonising pain forced him to scream, silencing him of his retort before those screams turned into gurgles. Blood ran down the blade from the neck and soon started to overflow his mouth. The other prisoners cowered in fear as they saw the sword penetrate the top of Yu Du's skull. The process was slow however as the body twitched before the arms that were grabbing the snake eventually went limp and Mitsuko casually threw the corpse away, slicing half of his face off in the process. The prisoners were petrified as they looked upon this serpent they heard so much about, the rumours did not do them justice. She was more terrifying in person. Were they all going to suffer the same fate?

'So tell me, do you wish to die for Zhang Yan?' She questioned. The troops looked at each other, none of them daring to utter a word in fear.

'You know when I ask a question, I want an answer.' Mitsuko stated menacingly to the prisoners making them cower more.

'I…I don't.' One mustered up the courage to say, they looked upon their colleague in disbelief. A few cursed him for betraying their lord. Mitsuko walked up to the one that had answered her. She knelt to his level and stared at him with her eyes, he dared not avert her gaze as he didn't want to offend her.

'So you'd be willing to say…serve me instead of him?' She asked. The prisoners couldn't believe it. She'd be willing to have mercy on them if they join her?

'Y-yes…my lady.' The prisoner uttered. She smirked at this.

'And what about the rest of you? Who here is willing to do the same? Stand up if you do so.' She ordered. One by one prisoners stood up, thinking they will be spared. A few however stay kneeling, unwilling to cross their lord and did not trust this serpent to keep her word.

'Interesting. Give them their weapons.' Mitsuko ordered to the soldiers behind them, they looked at each other for a second before they obeyed and gifted the prisoners that stood up their weapons. They could hardly believe it.

'Prove your loyalty. Kill your former comrades.' She ordered the prisoners. They gasped and looked upon them. She couldn't be serious right? They can't just kill their friends.

'What's the matter? Did you not say you would serve me? That…wasn't a lie, was it?' Mitsuko asked. She looked around to see the frightened look on her new soldiers faces. Especially as they looked upon their former allies. One steeled themselves as they thrusted their spear into their now enemy's gut. The other prisoners soon followed by their example despite the protests of their enemy. The rest of the prisoners were executed. Mitsuko had a lop-sided smile on her face.

'Excellent, welcome to the army.' Mitsuko welcomed her new soldiers as some of them fell down out of exhaustion. The rest of the officers were walking towards Mitsuko, looking for guidance. Mitsuko looked back at them all.

'Let everyone have a short break before we continue on with our march, although station the new soldiers on the backline if possible. I don't want them to have second thoughts by forcing them to fight their former allies for now. Try to integrate them seamlessly as possible. After our soldiers are rested, we'll resume our march upon their city.' Mitsuko stated confidently.

'Yes my lady.' They all bowed respectfully and dispersed as Mitsuko looked forward. She couldn't help but smile. She thought she was getting the hang of being a leader. She couldn't help but feel a pang of regret for not being able to help Zheng Jiang like she promised however it was her decision to make, besides having a foothold in the mountains would be an improvement over no land at all. She wondered if there was going to be any more mystics in the city, or how many more are going to try and take her head. She chuckled at this thought, relishing in the challenge. Though she wondered what was going to happen in the future once the land is claimed? Should she stay there and govern and let the fighting be done with others? Would it be better just to ransack the city of its riches and just go south? What if it was attacked? How many should she leave there in reserve? Can they grow their own food? These questions and more plagued Mitsuko for a moment before she looked behind her to see her officers dispersed and conversing with the soldiers and amongst themselves. She smiled in the assurance that she knew she didn't have to do all this alone. She knew she should focus on that in the future though, for now there's a clear objective in site. Claiming Zhang Yans land as her own.

A/n: hey, my apologies for my unannounced 2 month hiatus that was not my intention to have this off. However it was necessary as I needed to recovery mentally from a lot of stuff, breakdowns are not fun. Unless it's the dancing variety…maybe. However though I do feel I have recovered quite a bit, but still think seek out support is a good idea and its important that you all feel that you can do that aswell considering how important your mental health actually is and how hard it is to seek assistance. Again. Apologies for the delay but this shouldn't happen again, at the very least in the immediate future. And if you haven't already, rest your eyes if you haven't and drink water. Until next chapter, sayonara.