Chapter 12: The Battle of He Fei: Part II
The fortifications of He Fei's most magnificent stronghold were rocked to their foundations as five fighters struggled for victory at its gates.
Rigardo hurled Cynthia away and sent her careening into Zhou Tai. He raised a hand as Zhang Liao's halberds cut into his back, his fingers shooting behind him to retaliate. Zhang Liao grunted in surprise and rolled away as the tendrils slammed into the ground. But he could not dodge the Lion King's rough shoulder charge, and the force of the impact sent him crashing into the castle wall, momentarily buried under rock and granite.
Xu Huang swung Destroyer, his powerful arms digging the blade into Rigardo's shoulder. "So your kind are the demons that murdered my boys at Chi Bi," he snarled. "I'll make sure you don't harm a single one again!"
"Perhaps I will do you a favour by sending you off to join them in the Hereafter," retorted Rigardo, countering with a brutal swipe that clanged against the polearm and sent the warrior flying back. He advanced, slashing persistently at the human's vital points, patiently waiting for him to break, to make a fatal mistake in his defence. Spinning his polesword and countering with difficulty, Xu Huang managed to survive the onslaught, but grunted in pain as the Awakened Being finally broke through and inflicted a large gash across his chest. The Lord High General was caught unawares by a second swipe from the monster's claws when Cynthia dashed in between them and blocked Rigardo's hand. The impact slammed her knee into the ground, fracturing it. She gritted her teeth, her smaller body struggling against the hideous force of Rigardo's weight.
Despite her activated Yoki, he was still too strong. "I… can't… hold on," she whispered, her yellow eyes desperate.
Xu Huang recovered himself even as blood poured from his torso. "You've done more than your share," he acknowledged, with newfound respect. "Let me help you." He leaped up into the air, roaring, and slammed the end of his halberd into the ground. Rigardo had begun to force her sword down onto her own head when he was suddenly hurled back from the shockwave that reverberated around them. The battered Zhang Liao and Zhou Tai seized their chance and attacked. Zhou Tai's brilliant shaft of light shot towards Rigardo, who narrowly slipped past it. Rigardo's speed was incredible, outpacing even Zhang Liao's spinning swing. Suffering a hard kick to his abdomen, the winded Wei general was forced back, and Rigardo fell upon Zhou Tai, breaking through his armour with a brutal, two-handed strike. The Wu commander staggered, out of breath and exhausted. Rigardo raised his arms again. "I will finish this. Once and for all."
Metal gave way. Flesh ruptured and tendons tore. Zhou Tai coughed blood as the claws of his adversary emerged from behind his back. The torture of his previous wound flooded back into his tumultuous mind even as he slumped and stilled. "NO!" screamed Cynthia. She lunged furiously and stabbed at Rigardo with the unexpected ferocity of a lioness. But he countered with ease, his massive hand breaking her fingers and slapping away her sword. She shrieked in despair as he kicked her away, sending her rolling along the blood-soaked grass. Rigardo suddenly disappeared, and before Xu Huang could evade, the Lion King reappeared before him and thrust his deadly appendages at his head.
"Damn it," growled Xu Huang, holding up Destroyer in a last-ditch defence. But it was almost certain that Rigardo would be faster. I've never seen such raw power! Was he to fall here?
But to his surprise, the deathblow never came. Something had blocked Rigardo's hand. He cocked his maned head, impressed. "Hm."
Gripping the ground to distract himself from the pain, Zhou Tai stared in disbelief. "Cynthia…" he whispered. "No…"
She had hurled herself in front of Xu Huang to save his life. Having been deprived of her sword, she had recovered from Rigardo's kick and used her own body to impede his finishing attack. She moaned in agony, clenching her eyes shut, her pierced stomach and arms gushing red fluid. The Wei generals stared at her in wonder. She had endured such a formidable sacrifice without a second thought – was she not a Wu partisan? It was as if she did not draw any distinctions between ally and foe at all. It seemed that she did not wish to protect the people of merely one Kingdom.
She wished to protect all of China.
She had taken her Tai's words to heart. "It is best if you and your compatriots do not become embroiled in our war. Your duty is merely to protect our people from the Yoma, yes?"
But now, she was exposed, open, and vulnerable. Bashing Xu Huang away, Rigardo throttled the trembling Cynthia, shaking her roughly by her throat until her cheeks turned blue and her eyes bulged with near-asphyxiation. When she struggled feebly, clawing pitifully at him like a desperate girl fending off a rapist, he granted her wish and tossed her away like an unwanted doll. She sprawled on the ground painfully, her windpipe almost crushed. She gasped, paralysed by her distress, as he aimed his claws at her bleeding head. At a thought, five dark rods would pierce into her skull. Her world would go black forever, and Jiangdong would never bask in her lovely warmth again.
"You are strong, human," he declared, addressing Zhou Tai, glancing at the wheezing Wu commander. "But you will not last long, not with so much Yoki released. You wanted to defeat me quickly, but instead, you will lose two things this day: your precious whore, and your humanity. I wonder. Do you fear for your soul? Or for her life?"
His fingers elongated.
"Let us see."
At the prospect of Cynthia's imminent murder, Zhou Tai finally snapped, and for one moment, his usual calm composure shattered into something unrecognizable. How DARE he!
Yoki flowed through his legs as he intercepted Rigardo's ignoble attack with his own body. He dashed in front of Cynthia, taking the full force of the projectiles point-blank. An almighty sting shot through his impaled flesh. Cynthia screamed again in protest as he clenched his teeth and his fists. This fiend had gone too far! He had to defeat him! He would kill him!
He snarled, pushing his Yoki levels beyond fifty percent. His facial features twisted even further, so that he did not even resemble a human. Heal! he commanded himself. What use is this damned power if I cannot heal now?! "That's enough," he growled at Rigardo, his rumble involuntarily loudening into a bellow. Blood pouring from his shoulder and his face, the Wu general slashed at him, severing those vile fingers. He lopped off the feelers lodged inside him with another hack of his sword. His black boot smashed into the ground, and a circle of dark energy shot up into the dull grey sky. He spun, forcing Rigardo further away, and then cut horizontally, a slice of brilliant light hurtling at the monster. Rigardo's eyes widened as the giant, crescent disc of radiance cut into him, inflicting a large gash across his torso that sliced away his ribcage and internal organs. It was… faster than before. Incalculably faster.
"I will cut you down."
Zhou Tai visibly shook, his Yoki overtaking his human judgement, and Duskstrike hummed in hateful bloodlust, cleaving into Rigardo's staggering body with a velocity faster than Heaven's light itself. Purple gore spurted from the Awakened Being as his body slowed and crumpled momentarily. His stomach spilled open, and his torso had been flayed apart. But his thoughts were detached, almost distracted, even as his life flowed out of him.
He will Awaken. His desperation… has cost him everything.
"This is as far as you go," gritted Zhou Tai, his bestial, sadistic eyes savagely triumphant. He advanced, carving another deep wound into Rigardo's body and severing his arm – that despicable arm that had tried to gore Cynthia. He raised his sword, barely able to contain his seething rage, his sharp teeth dripping with slag. His momentum was relentless, along with his flow of wicked power. "You will not hurt her. You will not touch her."
For his part, the mutilated, maimed Rigardo smirked. Well… You really do not care for your humanity, after all.
This victory is mine.
Those thoughts would be his last as he was cleaved in half, past the pelvis, by his Chinese adversary's blade. Duskstrike came down upon him, and almost silently, the Awakened Being's split corpse fell onto the grass, lifeless. The two pieces of his body collapsed and folded, falling forward in defeat.
The Silver-Eyed Lion King breathed no more.
Zhou Tai dropped Duskstrike and collapsed, veins swelling from his face. He groaned, his aura of Yoki surrounding him in an infernal sphere and blasting outwards deafeningly, swallowing the castle, the trees and the survivors in vile, venomous chi. His body was already becoming disfigured, but his face was the most deformed of all. His eyes remained yellow, and he could not revert to the silver shade of his irises. On all fours and trembling, he felt his Yoki seeping into every fibre of his being, drowning out what little remained of his humanity. He was turning; he was on the threshold. Energy spilled forth from his armour, from his body, and enveloped the remnants of his army.
His men cried out in fear as he let out a deep, howl of pure, primal despair.
This was not the quiet, calm commander they respected and loved. This was not the General of Valour.
The weary Wei generals stared at him, stunned into silence. They raised their weapons, not daring to believe what they were witnessing. "What… what is this power?" Zhang Liao finally murmured. "What… has he done to himself?"
Clutching her bloody arm, her punctured legs barely able to move, Cynthia stumbled forward, her knees trembling and her eyes brimming with tears. Blood poured from her many wounds, but they felt far less painful than the droplets that rolled down her cheeks. She wailed in despair. "Tai… no."
"TAAAAIII!!!"