Liu Bei walked over toward the entrance of the cave and was abruptly forced to step away as a volley of arrows flew from within. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.
Zhuge Liang glided up beside him. "Don't worry, Lord Liu Bei. You don't have to deal with the archers. We have minions for that."
Liu Bei smiled weakly. He just didn't feel like they had won quite yet. It seemed to him that such an easily won battle would have to be a part to a strange ambush or something.
Sensing what his lord was thinking, Zhuge Liang said, "The battle is over. There are no enemy forces anywhere near here, so there will be no reinforcements. Things looked bad back there, but we crippled their army in that attack. It is surely a sore blow to lose Xu Zhu."
Liu Bei responded, "I really don't like the treacherous way I killed him."
"Xu Zhu was not a very nice man. He was alright to those with similar power, but he has killed hundreds of innocents. You shouldn't feel too bad about his death."
Liu Bei sighed. "I suppose the ends will justify the means when I restore the Han dynasty."
They were about to call the all-out charge on Cao Ren's position when a very strange thing suddenly happened. Cao Cao himself came walking through the battlefield without a weapon drawn, Himiko at his side.
Zhuge Liang himself was honestly surprised at this turn of events. "Stand back, my Lord. Don't get within striking range," he cautioned.
But once again to his surprise, Cao Cao stopped short of reaching Liu Bei. The normal soldiers in the Shu army crowded around, but didn't get too close, knowing they could never defeat the Hero of Chaos.
"Cao Cao," Zhuge Liang said, "What are you doing here? Are you going to take on the whole army by yourself?"
Cao Cao scowled. "You fool. Of course I am here for my officer, Cao Ren. Feel lucky you managed to take Xu Zhu."
Liu Bei scratched the back of his head. Cao Cao had no idea he had cheated to take the big man down. But he wondered, what could Cao Cao be doing here? If he didn't mean to take on the army himself, then why was he even there?
The Wei Lord straightened up. "I have come to request a duel with your Lord."
"Why should my Lord see you?"
"Otherwise I could just start killing. Himiko and I could cause a lot of damage to your army with a surprise attack right now. Most of them don't know we are here, and a meteor shower from her magic could kill thousands quite easily."
Liu Bei motioned for Zhuge Liang to step aside. "I'm not scared of you at all, Cao Cao. That is why I must prove it by accepting your challenge."
Cao Cao smiled. He had nothing but confidence in the fact that he would squash this pretender. He had more experience, more physical power, and more ambition. At least he was pretty sure. He had to admit that Liu Bei was obsessed with restoring the Han to power. However, all this really was, in his belief, is an attempt by a former poor man to seize the throne. It would not be taken kindly to by Wei.
Wei Yan was watching the entire thing in silence, as he always did. It seemed that Cao Cao had just walked in, demanded a duel, and gotten it. Liu Bei must not have been in a very solid mental state. His decisions were just getting weirder and weirder. When they finally restored the Han dynasty there would be plenty of time for him to rest. Until then, they would have to continue butting heads with the unstoppable Cao Cao. As this was happening, he heard a sound from over near the cave.
Looking over, he saw the worst possible thing. In all of the distraction of a duel, Cao Ren had broken through the archers guarding the cave and he was now swathing a path through Shu forces. Those normal soldiers would have no chance of stopping such a strong hero. It was up to Wei Yan.
The large man sprinted up to Cao Ren and stropped. "You. Wei officer. Die."
Cao Ren saw this strike coming and the two mighty warriors clashed blades. Each one could tell that their opponent was a very strong one.
Wei Yan slipped away quickly, and struck at his opponent once on each side quickly. Cao Ren, having a shield, was able to block both of them. But when he tried to counterattack, Wei Yan jumped over his and kicked him hard in the face.
Spitting out blood, he spoke, "I didn't know you were this strong. This could be a good fight." Everyone else was already backed off from the two warriors who were locked in combat.
Fighting with his renowned style, Cao Ren stabbed with his sword and when Wei Yan was forced to block, he smashed him in the side of his head with his buckler. Wei Yan fell back, his vision getting a little fuzzy for a second. Then he raised his weapon and charged again with renewed vigor. He would surely not fall here!