Chapter 23: Firestorm

Between the mountains of the Middle Kingdom and the Yangtze

The marshes rustled with fear and the reeds of the ancient tributaries trembled in dreading anticipation of the approaching tempest. Cutting their way across the swamps and hinterlands was the advance guard of Shu infantry, their broadswords and horse killers hacking at the vines and shrubs that obstructed them. As if to reflect the struggles of the footmen, the cavalry galloped by the endlessly stretching river, the manes of their warhorses flowing without restraint, their long muzzles breathing contentedly at the freedom they enjoyed in war. The shadow of a massive army fell upon the bitter soil, and by the mountainside on the high ridge positioned the first ranks of Wu warriors, buying time for their fireships to mount a counterattack.

"They've banked their success on their sea forces, on their large flotilla," declared Miria, her steed the fastest amongst the silver-eyed officers. "Can we bypass them somehow?"

"Not if they connect with their land force," offered Clare, galloping closely beside her. "We'll leave it to the assault team to deal with Wu. For now…" she looked outwards as the Wu armada began to approach the advancing Shu frontlines. They're not going to hold back, either, she thought, drawing her sword. To hurt and even kill humans… the very idea went against everything they had ever believed in. But those ideals came from a different Continent, a different nation. The laws of the Organization no longer mattered to them.

Here in China, there were not so many rules.

Miria was right when she spoke of the trouble of civil war. But still, to rush headlong against the enemy like this is not wise. Liu Bei might know who his enemies are, but we don't know even know the whereabouts of Isley or Priscilla. He's let vengeance cloud everything.

I guess… we're not exactly saints, either. We're all out for revenge in some way or another. We've no right to hide behind so-called justice or righteousness… no matter what Liu Bei chooses to dress us up in.

"Spread out," came Yue Ying's order. Miria blinked, and obeyed as the wife of Zhuge Liang adjusted her gauntlet. It clicked and whirred to life. "Split into snake formation. We'll catch their defences between us!" she cried. The Wu infantry on the mountainside pointed their spears at the cavalry. Impact was imminent…

The White Riders hastened to overtake her horse and roared a passionate battlecry as their weapons met those of the Wu army. They crashed against the first line of defenders, their spears and halberds throwing the enemy's marching ranks into chaos. Like a violent wind, they scattered the Wu formation with arcing swipes of their close-quarter weapons, punching past the phalanxes and galloping onwards onto the cliff where the entire Wu navy could be seen… where the entire battlefield could be seen. The mariners would defend their strategic locations at all costs. It was Yue Ying's task to ensure that they failed. Her wise eyes shone as the Wu ships began to draw closer to the hills. If they were given any more time to mobilize, the Shu infantry would be cut off from both ends.

We'll halt their retaliation before it starts.

"Line up your targets and prepare to fire!" she cried, raising her hand. The mounted Crescent Wardens behind her aimed their Jade Moon bladed bows in the direction of the fleet even as the vanguard of Shu cavalry smashed against the Wu protectors. The full panorama of the afternoon coastline came into view as they unlocked their safety catches.

"Show them Hell!"

The Crescent Wardens released their first barrage of fireballs, and a hundred blazing meteors arced across the afternoon sky. It seemed as if some otherworldly spirit was clawing the heavens apart. On the flotillas that dotted the waters, several Wu soldiers looked up, astonished and awestruck. "What… what is that?"

The missiles descended upon the boats. Time seemed to slow as the men stared up, paralysed with uncertainty.

Direct hit.

An earth-shaking explosion rocked the defenders. The Wu sailors manning the battle stations on the coast shielded their eyes from the sudden flash of light that engulfed the river. When they opened them again, nothing remained for them, only shattered wood, stone, and the burning corpses of men set alight. One of the vessels had been cleaved in half, and it was sinking, taking the bodies of several hundred sailors with it. "What… what are those weapons?!" screamed a dying Wu seaman, his face burnt away from his skull. He clutched at the flesh that was bubbling away at his cranium, its soft tissue exposed to the summer air. Another flaring blast from the hilltops rocked the disordered fleet, and another ship was blown into two useless chunks, sinking rapidly into the waters. The men scattered as the missiles tore through the hulls like wet paper. And as the armada begun to flounder, the formations that had previously resisted the Shu cavalry spiritedly were folding in on themselves, their screams terrified and their outstretched arms wobbly. They fell back, bawling.

"What… what kind of monstrosity are we fighting?"

"This… this can't be happening!"

Miria, Flora and Clare stared at the Crescent Wardens as they galloped past the fleeing Jiangdong footmen. Another volley of missiles set fire to the river, immolating the countryside in flames. "Witness the future of Chinese warfare," cried the Grand General proudly. Her elite division reloaded, and fired round after round into the scattering Wu troops, blasting through metal armour and tearing into smouldering flesh. A small division broke off from her main body of men, and aimed their bladed bows at the remaining phalanxes on the hill held up their shields desperately, but they did little to stop the missiles from blowing apart their formations. "See the fruits of my research!" she shouted, her eyes flashing as she aimed Sapphire Crescent at the remaining fireships and barges by the river. She clicked and launched her own bombardment. Seven flaming missiles vomited forth from her advanced design and smashed into the ship, puncturing it through and igniting it from within. The implosion was devastating. The sailors and archers abandoned their vessel by throwing themselves into the river below, and those who were foolish enough to remain on board were blown into the sky, along with their precious galleon.

The advance had become an avalanche. By the riverside, the anti-Yoma division had dismounted and rushed the Wu remnants. Flora aimed her blade at their throats and at their vital points, ensuring their deaths would be relatively quick and easy. Spears thrust at her from multiple directions, and she grimaced as one managed to pierce into her back. Clare quickly severed the wood from its tip and decapitated Flora's attacker. Helen and Deneve charged, their swords making short work of the confused platoons that meandered about, terrified and confused. "Monsters – monsters, all of you!" cried a pikeman whose weapon was cut apart by Deneve's sword. A quick strike ended it all. Sergeants and privates alike toppled to their deaths as they opted to leap off the sierra rather than face the Claymores. Those who remained crushed in between the mountain path and the Shu infantry were cut down where they stood, powerless to resist the onslaught of jagged metal.

The sky was crying. The river was weeping. Another fleet approached behind its destroyed counterpart, and a desperate counterattack consisting of a hail of flaming arrows descended upon the Crescent Wardens on the ridges. They quickly counterattacked, and the sky was immolated with black smog as the fireballs overcame the arrows and punctured the starboards of the armada's boats. Even as the ships sank miserably into the depths, the ranks on the hillsides also thinned out, dropping away forever in defeat. The anti-Yoma division found themselves cutting down humans, cutting down the last four swordsmen that blocked the Shu Army's passage. The men collapsed before them, before tumbling down the mountainside and spearing their own bodies on the rocks below. Helen and Clare panted as they swung their swords back. Despite not having encountered any Yoma or Awakened Beings yet, they felt rather weary already.

Flora pulled her sword out of a limp archer. He had stood his ground even as his comrades fled. She did not bother pursuing the others. Her heart heavy, she was content to be a mere deterrent for the enemy to return.

The smiling face of Cynthia flashed through her mind. The young lady she had lent her aid to that night so long ago… when the Yoma first tasted Chinese flesh at Chi Bi. Lady Cynthia… where might you be now?

The Wu forces had been annihilated, and the river of the Yangtze had become a river of Hell. Flotsam and debris littered the waters, and only the gods knew how many thousands of Wu troopers had lost their lives this day. On land, the Shu cavalry trampled over a sea of carcasses as the hooded Crescent Troopers roared in triumph. Soon enough, Liu Bei's main body of fighters would arrive, and the attack would be intensified on all fronts.

The expedition was off to an excellent start.

"Lady Huang," said Miria, stopping briefly to catch her breath. "We've cleared the surrounding perimeters of infantry. We've no other targets here. What are your orders?"

"Push on!" replied the Grand General grimly, reloading Sapphire Crescent with a new magazine. "Push on to Yi Ling!"

*

Before the Three Kingdoms era, when Liu Bei once fought under Cao Cao, the latter would often praise Liu Bei's skill in the art of the dual swords. His two blades, Strength and Virtue, were at one with each other, and at one with their master – Sword and Man united, Liu Bei's fluid and dancelike martial expertise rendered him a formidable foe even when compared to the likes of pure warriors such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Now, he put those skills to full use once again, against the Kingdom that had conspired in his sworn brothers' deaths.

"Get out of my way," cried the King, spinning and severing ten men from their pelvises. They had made the mistake of surrounding him – a lethal blunder. Strength and Virtue were particularly useful against multiple opponents, and Liu Bei did not hold back. To hold back would be to insult Yunchang and Yide's memories.

"This time, it is personal," he growled, sending a corporal flying up into the air. He leaped up and diced him into nothingness, before landing and continuing to force his way through the roaring Wu Army. Ten thousand of the damned soldiers… a paltry resistance at best. "This time, I will not forgive any of you."

He cut them apart and extinguished them, as one, as all.

*

Xiaoting Fort

Urgent warnings of an all-out invasion had reached Jiangdong's high command at Jianye, the Wu capital. Zigui, Wu County and Ba and Xing Mountain had all fallen before the King of Shu's relentless fury, and almost every domestic province west of Sichuan had been seized in a matter of weeks. But little did the generals of Shu know that the situation was exactly as Lu Xun had planned. Liu Bei had staked everything on this invasion, and the "lightning strategy" adopted by Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying was beginning to bear fruit. But at the same time, it relied on the greater mobility of the cavalry divisions that could seize and maintain strongholds with efficiency superior to that of infantry or naval forces. With the borders' collapse, a mainland battle was imminent, and it was in the mainland that the Wu fleet would be well positioned against the Shu invaders.

It was the perfect place to crush the Shu armies with one cleverly chosen trap.

On the riverside marshalled a titanic defence force, headed by Lu Xun, Zhou Tai, Jean and Cynthia. Before them stood a hundred and forty thousand masked men, their helms made of near-indestructible silver. At their sides were not only bows and crossbows, but also curiously shaped devices that neither Cynthia nor Zhou Tai had ever seen before. Lu Xun had been granted supreme authority over the Army and Navy, and he did not hold back: applying his executive powers to instant use, he commissioned Wu's finest commanders to accompany him for the thoroughly planned counterattack that would lift the curtain on the bloodiest battle of the Three Kingdoms thus far.

His young voice was courageous and eager for battle. "Liu Bei has committed a crucial error in his strategy. He has attacked us in the dry weather of summer, and penetrated into the mainland, which consists mostly of dense forest and high mountains. In response, we shall sweep them aside with a fire attack! Liu Bei's main force will arrive at Yi Ling in several days. Zhu Ran will lead the Pyrotroopers to the Shu main camp and set alight the entire forest! The rest of you will cripple the Shu navy with our reserve galleons! Do not fear Liu Bei's anger. He's merely a human being, sustained by pride and arrogance!"

Standing beside Lu Xun was King Sun Quan, who nodded at the commander-in-chief's encouragement. "We can cripple Shu's offensive capabilities in one battle. Liu Bei has brought every capable officer with him in this baseless campaign of his. If we can defeat them all here, the Shu Kingdom will meet its demise. Unlike him, we act through our reason and our courage, not through grief and hate. Remember that only cooperation, solidarity and fellowship can save our Kingdom from its enemies – whether they be Yoma or human." He looked at his troops thoughtfully. "Yes. We will defeat Liu Bei! Forward, for the glory of Wu and the security of our people!"

Helplessness overcame Cynthia even as the Wu army cried out their loyalty, chanting for the destruction of Shu. "We're really going to show any quarter, are we?" she mumbled, her voice inaudible amidst the cheering. "And… we can't hope for any from Miss Flora… or from our other Shu compatriots."

Zhou Tai bowed his head. "This battle… will be difficult," was all he murmured, his thoughtful eyes sorrowful. His dark hand found hers.

"Stay by my side. We will live through this together."

I will protect you… from your own comrades, if necessary.

Lu Xun raised his rapier. "Let us go! We will consume the armies of Shu in a hungry flame and leave nothing of them save burning charcoal!"