Chapter 18: Cao Cao's Haunted Past: Part II (Battle of Xia Pi)
At the zenith of a high hill stood Cao Cao and Liu Bei, surrounded by Cao Cao's preeminent troops – the Royal Guard. Tall and powerful, their platinum armour majestically covered them from head to toe, and their feathered helms were a royal blue and black. Their titanium hands clutched enchanted poleswords that could summon the elements and bend the very fabric of nature. They served as Cao Cao's secret police, honouring his will like iron fists, striking at his dissidents and political opponents coldly, silently and mercilessly. They were almost never seen because they were summoned only in the direst of conflicts, only when absolutely necessary. It was at this particular hour that he required their strength.
The Hero of Chaos's stern face was triumphant as phalanx upon phalanx of his elite retainers turned, standing deathly still at his directives. "Xia Pi castle… the last bastion of defence for the fiend who has murdered so many noble Han citizens." He smirked. "And now, the gates are down and the city has fallen. I will have Lu Bu beheaded like the coward he is, and have his body thrown to my hunting dogs."
Liu Bei nodded. "He is the greatest threat to peace that All Under Heaven will ever face." He gazed outwards and pointed out to Xia Pi's ramparts. "We must bring him down if the world is ever to reach some semblance of peace. For the sake of the people, he must fall." The next contingent of Royal Guards began to march towards the gates of the fortress to reinforce the previous division.
There, the legendary Lu Bu fought.
He understood and desired nothing else except the scent of human blood, the taste of glorious war. The fabled yet vicious warrior had worn into battle his recognizable pheasant-tailed headpiece, and his armour was entirely black, demonic, giving him the impression of an indestructible evil spirit. He wielded two double-ended halberds that could attach together to form a terrifying cross-shaped polearm. With one spin, it could sweep aside enemies in every direction, and at his bidding, pyroclastic lightning struck down from the firmament, electrocuting and incinerating any enemy of his choice. His was the most destructive weapon in the entire realm.
Its name was Sky Piercer.
"Vermin!" he roared, spinning his voulges, slicing in half an entire squadron of Cao Cao's Royal Guards with one deft, calculated move. They crumpled before him. "You think this pathetic army will stop me?! I shall not lose to anyone!" He riposted, spinning Sky Piercer in several revolutions, tearing into his enemies with a windmill of curved, cold metal. And as more of Liu Bei's volunteer forces attempted to overrun him, he simply caught one of those pathetic troopers and spun him onto his four-bladed halberd, sending his body parts flying into his comrades. But the allied forces continued to charge, regardless of their incompetence against the world's most terrifying marauder. After all, the fate of a nation depended on this one battle.
Like rats, thousands upon hundreds of thousands, the armies of Cao Cao, supported by Liu Bei's volunteers, charged across the plains and towards Xia Pi, and Lu Bu annihilated them like the cockroaches they were.
But the combined forces of the two heroes, through sheer numbers, had already overwhelmed his remnant troops. Furthermore, the officers of the two leaders also outnumbered his own. He glanced to his side as Xiahou Dun, Dian Wei, and Xu Zhu surrounded him, flanked by Xu Huang and Liu Bei's sworn brothers: the magnificently bearded Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. The greatest warriors in the land had united to stop him once and for all. Although he was peerless in the world, even he knew that one titan against six giants was imprudent at best. He was cornered, cornered like a rampaging beast.
"You dare to massacre our nation's innocent populace whilst bringing chaos to my brother's land!" exclaimed Guan Yu in outrage. "This war is against you!"
"You gotten this far away from us," declared Zhang Fei. "Well, you won't get any further!"
The hunters raised their weapons. Xu Zhu suffered from the expression of a chubby child, but he was in actuality a monster of a man, his Chaos Crusher club smashing into Lu Bu's guard with the force of a tidal wave. Xu Huang was a valiant warrior, his two-handed halberd Destroyer as swift as an eagle and as steadfast as a mountain. Dian Wei, Cao Cao's personal bodyguard, swung his spiked ball-and-chain as if it was nothing more than a toy. He circled Lu Bu cautiously, spinning his hefty weapon, preparing to crush his skull with one mighty blow. Xiahou Dun's Wolf's Teeth Club, Rock Crusher, smashed through Lu Bu's remaining men in a full revolution, and they collapsed around him even as he struggled to hold back Zhang Fei's Python Spear. But he would feel Guan Yu's Blue Dragon crushing painfully into his back as the six heroes pressed their onslaught against him.
He gritted his teeth. "If only I had more power," he growled, barely managing to twist away from Guan Yu's reclining moon blade. "If only… I was more than human." Zhang Fei attempted a renewed swing, and Lu Bu countered him with a brutal slash with his four blades. But Guan Yu quickly lent his strength with a mighty swing that sent Lu Bu careening off balance. Impossible! Xu Zhu sniggered boyishly and smashed his club down, cracking open the earth and almost swallowing Lu Bu into an abyss. But the warrior rolled away and sent a crucifix-shaped hurricane at Xu Zhu, hurling him away. Xu Huang slammed his weapon against Lu Bu, and the latter felt his stability weakening against the halberd despite his superhuman strength.
Blow-for-blow, he was slowly but surely losing.
Lu Bu roared a final battlecry. The end could not be near! Not now. But despite his enraged counterattack, he had only managed to cut a severe gash across Dian Wei's chest with a spinning throw of Sky Piercer. Even as he caught his weapon in one hand, he felt Zhang Fei's spear cutting into his side. Undeterred by his new wound, Dian Wei roared and smashed his ball-and-chain into Lu Bu's side and the latter winced. At last, his black demon armour had begun to crack, and he was beginning to feel more than just sweat leaving his muscular, virile body.
A powerful blow from Xiahou Dun, and Lu Bu felt crushed metal digging into his ribs and his organs. Twisting and forcing Dian Wei away, he attempted to catch Xiahou Dun between his voulges, but Xu Huang counterattacked, Destroyer slashing across his torso and lodging itself past his breastplate and into his chest. Xu Huang lunged and attempted a daring tackle. Although Lu Bu flung him back several yards, crushing his smaller body to the ground, Destroyer was pushed deeper into his already punctured lung. He reeled as Guan Yu's Blue Dragon found his helm, almost decapitating him had he not staggered away with Xu Huang's blade in his torso. He was being overpowered. It would not be long before…
Xiahou Dun sensed it too. His left eye still bleeding from an arrow that had pierced his head, he raised Rock Crusher. "No matter how strong it is, a ravening beast can never enjoy the Mandate of Heaven. Only my cousin holds that honour. Lu Bu… your rampage ends here!"
Gore trailing from his head, Xu Zhu licked his chops. "Once we beat you, Lord Cao Cao will give us a big feast! That's why you're going to lose!"
As one, the six men charged the weakening colossus. And together, they felled him, ensuring that he would not rise again.
*
This day was a glorious one.
A dying Lu Bu had been forced on his knees, bound tightly in iron chains. He growled as he twisted roughly beside Zhang Liao, his lieutenant. "Your Excellency," he boomed, looking up at Cao Cao domineeringly. "Unbind me at once, and I will surrender and help you conquer the entire world!"
Zhang Liao glared at his master. "How can you surrender so willingly, so cravenly? Did I misjudge the extent of your valour, Fengxian?" he muttered.
Cao Cao glanced at Liu Bei. "Xuande, what do you think?"
Despite their magnificent victory, Liu Bei looked at his friend as if he had grown an extra head. "Mengde," he cried, "Have you already forgotten what happened to Dong Zhuo? This coward betrayed his own master in the name of personal glory. He will stab you in the back the moment you let your guard down. Even your archenemies are made of sterner backbones."
Lu Bu roared in rage, struggling at the chains. "XUANDE!" he bellowed, "HOW DARE YOU CONDEMN ME!"
Cao Cao nodded, staring at the thrashing fiend. "Yes. You are correct indeed." He raised a gloved hand coldly. Behead him." He looked at Zhang Liao. "Execute him too – "
"He is an honourable man," interrupted Guan Yu, stepping forward and bowing. "I will vouch for him with my life."
"Yunchang?" murmured Cao Cao, impressed. He looked at Zhang Liao, who stared back, utterly accepting of his fate.
The Hero of Chaos paused, rethinking his decision. "Those eyes… I admit that they do shine with the glimmer of a true warrior. Not like him," he added disdainfully, glancing at Lu Bu. "Since Yunchang is so kind as to support your cause, I would like you, Zhang Liao, to serve me.
"And in return, I will make you mighty. Will you accept my offer?"
Zhang Liao felt Xiahou Dun personally undoing his chains behind him. He seemed touched. He hesitated, glancing at Guan Yu for some hint, some form of affirmation. When Guan Yu nodded, he finally faced Cao Cao and gave a short bow. "I will surrender as you wish."
"Wenyuan!" roared Lu Bu in disbelief. "You would abandon me too?!"
"He has not abandoned you," declared Cao Cao, "rather, I have damned you." He closed his hand and pointed his thumb down to the ground. "Off with his head," he ordered coldly. "I won't repeat myself again."
Lu Bu bellowed his vengeance as a Royal Guard loomed over him, raising high his battleaxe.
"I will not forget this. I will not let it end here. Cao Cao! I swear that I will strangle you with my own hands – even if I must crawl back up from the Avici Hell to do it!"
Those were his last words.
At least, they were supposed to be.
*
"I will leave Xia Pi in your control, Xuande," said Cao Cao, reining in his horse as his Royal Guards prepared to march back to Xuchang. The banners of the Cao family billowed high in the air, dignified and buoyed by Lu Bu's long-awaited defeat. "You will be a most welcomed governor to the people. And I assume you need a home for the meantime while I deal with Yuan Shao's forces on the Central Plains."
Flanked by his two brothers, Liu Bei bowed humbly. He was beginning to draw followers to him through his charisma and lofty visions of a renewed Han. But for now, his numerically weak forces required him to remain under Cao Cao's shelter. "I am honoured that you've placed Xia Pi's people under my care, Mengde. I will send a messenger to report to the Imperial Court in the weeks ahead. Until then, take good care of your health."
Cao Cao smiled. "Goodbye, Xuande."
The two comrades trusted one another dearly, but time would reveal that one could not exist while the other lived. They were both destined to be heroes in the venerable history of China, but they could be bound together only by irreconcilable conflict.
At that time, when they parted from each other as close friends, no one could have predicted that they would become bitter archenemies.
As the allied forces dispersed and abandoned Lu Bu's worthless carcass to be consumed by the crows and ants, a cloaked man slowly departed from Xia Pi's main gates and approached the windswept plains further beyond the castle, holding a young brunette's hand. The dismantled campsite was quite far away, but he walked leisurely. No one desired Lu Bu, false traitor that he was.
But the brunette pointed curiously at the dead man, and the cloaked one also seemed to acknowledge his very presence, as if it was still existent, breathing.
He gazed down at the headless body, and he smiled. The corpse lying before him was the one creature more powerful than any other sentient. He lifted away his cloak, revealing his rich blond hair. He scooped up Lu Bu's head from the parched grass, gazing unflinchingly at the whites of the warrior's eyes. At a permissive nod, the chestnut-haired child's hands moved to strip off the dead man's armour.
"If I may have permission to… borrow you."
Lu Bu would not keep his peace. His grudge would live on, even after death.
One day, fire would fall from the sky the moment his corpse was united with that of a true demon's.
A new Awakening would send the cosmos to its knees.
*
On a high plateau that overlooked the valley near Xia Pi, two cloaked, hooded men conversed amongst themselves discreetly and quietly. "There can be no mistake. So this is where that monster has rallied his forces. Insane freak."
"He pre-empted us. He must have gotten wind of our research pact with Lu Bu. But there is little we can do," asserted the other. "We must dispatch all our surviving warriors here and stop him. We need not tell the wenches of the experimental contract we struck with Lu Bu's forces. We only need to tell them that the Awakened Beings have infiltrated this world. That will be enough for them to fight our former warriors to the death."
"I would have you pay a visit here in due time," said the taller man in black. They turned their backs on the grasslands, preparing to depart for the harbours further to the coastlines. "Thanks to Isley, Sutafu lies in ruins, our Organization scattered and sundered. And now he hopes to steal the fruit of our hard work? We may be an impotent force on our own Isles, but we will not allow any Awakened Being to pilfer such a volatile weapon for themselves."
Ermita nodded. "Leave that to me."