Battle tested solders collided in a ferocious struggle as the leaders of the two sides fought their own heated battle for dominance against one another. Xena slashed at Draco with her blade as the opposing warlord used his weapon to block the attack. He then parried and retaliated with a small series of swipes of his own. Xena hastily stepped out his blade's range as Draco's attack missed and Xena immediately took advantage of the opening as she drove her blade toward her opponent. But Draco anticipated the trajectory of Xena's strike and tilted his head to the side causing Xena's attack to miss. And with the both of them too close for Draco to swing his own blade effectively, he instead mounted some unarmed offense as he landed a hard punch in Xena's stomach. The sudden shot caught the Conqueror off guard for a moment as she hunched forward from the powerful hit. But then feeling as though her opponent had thrown a cheep shop at her, Xena let out an angry roar as she threw an elbow back into the side of Draco's face. The shot staggered the warlord as he was forced to back off slightly, thus giving Xena an opportunity to retaliate. The Conqueror yelled as she launched herself at Draco with a downward swing of her weapon. Draco again blocked Xena's attack and the two then proceeded to exchange several attacks on one another with each blocking or dodging their opponents strikes. This went on for several moments until Xena attempted to catch Draco off guard as she feigned attacking from head on as she planted one foot forward and looked to be coming at Draco's midsection with a stab before at the last moment pushing off with her back foot as she pivoted and used the forward momentum to spin around and end up on Draco's side as she continued her blade's swing straight for the warlords neck. Certain that she had outsmarted and out maneuvered her enemy, as no normal person would be able to avoid or stop her attack from Draco's position, the Conqueror could practically taste her victory at hand. The blade came just within a hairs width of Draco's flesh when at speed that was inhumanity possible, his hand shot up and caught Xena's blade in what Xena quickly found to be a surprisingly vice-like grasp. Xena made a brief attempt to pull herself free, but when that failed she opted to use her fist to get her blade away from Draco as she drove it as hard as she could into the side of his face. The warlord's head snapped to the side from the force of the hit. However instead of it causing him to relinquish his hold on Xena's weapon, Draco just returned his head forward as he smiled at the Conqueror, which received a brief surprised look from Xena.
DRACO
(Sarcasm) Oh I'm sorry, was that supposed to hurt?
Xena's expression returned to an unamused scowl after hearing Draco's comment.
DRACO
Well as you're already aware by now, Ares gave me a pretty good boost to my overall vitality. Which includes my physical strength, speed, stamina, overall fighting ability. Basically everything you thought that you had over me on the battlefield you're now hopelessly outclassed in.
XENA
You know Draco you should really focus on actually beating me before you start bragging about needing the help of a god just to beat one person.
DRACO
Oh you're just bitter that you weren't smart enough to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity when it was presented to you. And now all that power that you could've had is now mine. Just as everything else of yours is about to be too.
XENA
If I were you Draco I wouldn't get too far ahead of yourself, because I don't care how much power you get from whatever god you wanna go crawling to, the only way that you'll ever get anything that belongs to me will be to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
Draco smirked.
DRACO
(Sinister tone) Glad to hear that we actually appear to agree on something here Xena. Because that was exactly what I was planning on doing anyway.
Without warning Draco then gripped his sword with both hands and swung, hoping to catch Xena off guard.. He was nearly successful but Xena was just barely able to get her own blade up in time to block the sudden attack. However the impact of the hit was so strong that it caused the Conqueror step back as she was forced to adjust her footing to a wider stance for leverage before pushing forward and down on her weapon to gradually force Draco's blade down as well.The two fought to overpower one another for a few moments until Xena began to appear to be gaining the upper hand. Though as she forced her opponent's weapon lower, Draco saw a momentary opening in her defenses and took advantage as he took a hand off of his blade and sent a powerful fist right into the side of Xena's head. The hard shot dazed Xena for a second, forcing her to drop her guard. But that was all the opening Draco needed as he landed another hard hit to Xena's temple which dropped the Conqueror to a knee as the world around her became out of focus for a couple seconds before she squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them to restore her vision. The sequence only took seconds at most, however it was long enough for Xena to not see Draco's knee coming at her before it was too late and it smashed into her face. The force of the hit threw Xena back as she laid on the ground with blood now streaming from her new shattered nose. However she didn't have the time to worry about the pain in the middle of her face as threw up her sword in a defensive position and blocked Draco's downward swing at her. With their weapons still locked together, the Conqueror threw out a kick into the warlords stomach and shoved him back. As Draco stumbled back slightly Xena kicked back up to her feet. But as she landed she felt her balance waver slightly as the effects of the hard hit to her head that she had previously received returned in a momentary spell of dizziness. She again shook her head for a second to try regaining her composure but like it had before, this very slight opening was all Draco needed for him capitalize on and take advantage of the golden opportunity that now presented itself before him. Taking his opening before Xena was able to react, Draco lunged forward in an attempt to cut Xena down. But despite her momentary lack of total clarity, the Conqueror was still able to avoid his attack as she blocked and side stepped Draco. She then spun to follow Draco's movements as he moved passed her and readied a counter attack. She had just finished planting her foot from turning when a sudden sharp pain emerged and time appeared to slow down as Xena looked down on see Draco's sword buried nearly halfway into the center of her chest. Her breath caught in her throat as Xena slowly raised her head to look at Draco who learned in close to taunt her over his now inevitable victory over her.
DRACO
I bet you never would have imagined that it would be me of all people who would be the one to conquer the almighty Conqueror.
Draco laughed as Xena coughed on the blood that had begun to rise up in her throat. Her body beginning to weaken and her eyes grew heavy as she heard a rapidly fading voice in the distance that she was unable to distinguish as her legs gave out and she sunk to the ground in front of Draco. The warlord withdrew his blade from the Conqueror's chest and let Xena's body fall to the side before serving Xena's eyes close as the darkness claimed her and heard a voice coming up behind him.
LEONIDAS
No!
Draco turned around and saw Xena's top ranked soldier rushing toward him. The large man roared as he ran in swinging his massive two-handed blade. Draco just managed to step out of the way of the swing as Leonidas quickly put himself between Draco and the fallen Conqueror.
LEONIDAS
My lord, can you hear me?
Leonidas glanced back at Xena's unmoving form as he called out to her, hoping for any kind of reaction but got nothing to signify that Xena was still alive in response. This caused Draco to laugh which received an intense and vengeful stare from the topically even tempered and reserved Leonidas.
DRACO
Looks like this is the end of your almighty Conqueror's reign over Greece. So if you're smart you'll call off the rest of her army and surrender before you and everyone else here ends up just like her.
Leonidas stared intensely at Draco for a moment before slowly crouching down beside Xena's body placing a couple fingers on her neck as he searched for a pulse on his fallen leader. Draco looked on and a satisfied smile crossed his face when he saw Leonidas lower his head in grief before returning his forces back on Draco as he remained crouched.
LEONIDAS
Fine. I'll take her body and well go.
The warlord snickered.
DRACO
What makes you think you're talking her body anywhere? Xena's death at my hands is going to make me both incredibly famous and rich. I can't go letting you take away the only thing that I'll have as proof that I was the one that killed her.
Leonidas stood up and gave a loud whistle before he held his weapon ready to fight.
LEONIDAS
You aren't going to lay another finger on her.
A large number of Xena's solders quickly assembled along side him in response to the coded message that Xena had long previously established multiple of for varying circumstances of which she may not be able to give commands for whatever reason.
DRACO
(Condescending tone) What is this supposed to be your ridiculous attempt at making one last stand to show you're loyalty to a woman that's already dead?
LEONIDAS
You could say that.
Leonidas gave a quick shout and the other men readied their weapons to attack as more of Xena's men showed up behind Draco poised to attack as well.
LEONIDAS
You might think that you won this battle and secured your place as the new ruler over Greece. But the truth is when you took down her lord Conqueror, all you've actually done is unleash the unrestrained wrath of the single greatest army that this or any other country in the known world has seen.
Draco stood unamused and unintimidated by Leonidas' speech as he looked around at the battlefield to see that the vast majority of the fighting had stopped as most of the solders on both sides had gathered behind their respective leaders. With Draco's men behind him and Xena's behind Leonidas as he automatically assumed command in this situation.
DRACO
You're really willing to sacrifice yourselves here just for the body of that bitch you call Lord Conqueror?
Leonidas stood firm as several of Xena's men slowly began to move closer to Draco as they spread out before stopping and standing ready to unleash their assault.
LEONIDAS
Yes. And so are the rest of her lord Conqueror's army.
Draco looked around at the other members of Xena's army and could tell from their expressions that they indeed all shared Leonidas' determination to still fight for their leader even if she was dead. He then thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that even with the increase in strength thanks to Ares, he still didn't stand a chance at winning against the entirety of the Conqueror's army that stood before him, just itching to run him through with their blades. And given that he had already taken Xena out, Draco decided that continuing to fight at this point was unnecessary and could only serve to weaken his numbers that he could more than likely need sometime down the road. After all, with Xena out of the way, it was inevitable that countless other warlords and other various people would begin making moves to try and seize as much power as they could. As most of them feared the Conqueror and had no interest in getting on the infamous woman's bad side. So they had mostly decided it best to remain small and in the shadows until they saw an opportunity that they just couldn't ignore. And news of Xena's death would be just the thing to get those same people to come out of hiding and begin making grabs for power. Draco knew that this would almost certainly cause multiple major conflicts to arise, with even the very high possibly of several wars breaking out across various regions within Greece. And that was something that Draco knew that he needed to be prepared for. There for he felt it not worth fighting any further there over taking a dead body just to have as a trophy of sorts and would have to get rid of anyway once her body would begin to decay.
DRACO
Fine, take the bitch's body if you want it so bad.
Draco moved his arm in a signal for his men to stand down.
DRACO
It's not like it's gonna make any bit of difference anyway giving that most if not all of you here will be dead soon enough right along with her anyway.
Leonidas and many others in the Conqueror's army scowled at Draco as Leonidas bent down and lifted Xena's limp body in his arms before standing back up straight. He spared on last heated glance in Draco's direction before turning away and hurrying off, carrying the Xena.
LEONIDAS
We're moving out, now.
The rest of Xena's army followed Leonidas as he mounted his horse and settled Xena in front of him before turning his stead in the direction of the keep.
LEONIDAS
I'm riding ahead with her. I want some of you to go to Amphipolis and stay there to make sure it's defended. If you need to evacuate everyone there and make sure they get to safely. And while you're there I want one of you to find someone in the village and bring them to the keep. But I can not stress enough that she is to remain completely unharmed by anyone. Understood?
A number of the solders spoke up to confirm that they comprehended their orders.
LEONIDAS
Good. Be sure to remember that last post especially. Now go.
Leonidas flicked the reins on the horse and the animal galloped off as he left the rest of the army behind to carry out his orders that he knew the Conqueror would have given out herself were she able. He took Xena and rode straight for the Conqueror's keep, holding a cloth to the large wound in her chest as he hoped that he would be able to move fast enough to save Xena. Though he felt that despite his frantic effort it may have already been too late.
TO BE CONTINUED...