“Tsk!” I held up my sword and deflected them before charging into the enemy troops. The archers, fearful of hitting their own, stopped shooting, and I pulled on my reins to stop my mount.
An enemy was blocking my path. He wore a demonic mask that covered the bottom half of his face and even his horse wore red leather armor. There was an ancient-looking broadsword in his hand.
“I didn’t expect you to come this far on your own,” he said. “Combined with how you shot my sworn brother in the arm at the start of the invasion, I can see why the soldiers rumor you to be the reincarnation of the Undefeated Kou. However!” When he galloped past me, he swung his sword and I dodged the formidable blow. He ended up hitting a steel shield that had been abandoned on the ground, splitting it in two. If I had chosen to parry his attack instead, my sword surely would’ve been sliced in half. His horse was a fast one, closing in on mine. “I will not let you get anywhere close to General Nguyen! We are the Crimson Knights, led by the Crimson Wolf! We’ve killed countless young tigers, and today will be no different!”
I could hear my horse’s labored breathing and could feel it slowing down. I have no choice. With my mind made up, I spun around and faced him head-on.
“Chou Sekiei, prepare yourself!” He roared the words, holding his sword high above his head before swinging it down. But then— “Ah?! I-Impossibly fast... C-Could you really be...?”
“Lieutenant general!”
My blade flashed like a strike of lightning, slicing clean through his right arm. Limb and broadsword flew through the air as the enemy general, eyes and mouth wide, fell off his horse, unable to bear the agony. The young commander screamed and panic once again took hold of the enemy formations.
“Four down!” My sword was covered in blood and the blade was heavily chipped. I gave it a look before I raced up the hill, weaving through the Gen soldiers. They barely put up a fight; the chain of command had been thrown into chaos after losing so many commanders in such a short amount of time. My horse collapsed the moment I reached the top of the hill. I leaped off and ran my hand gently down its neck. “Thank you. Don’t die, all right?”
I stood, turning to look at the enemy leader. He was wearing armor and helmet, both of metal and dyed deep vermilion, and I could see a scar on his left cheek. The large halberd in his hand glowed like the half-moon in the night sky. Nguyen’s lips twisted in a grin and when he spoke, it was in a deep growl.
“I was waiting for you, tiger cub.”
I swung my sword to clear the blood off of it and held it in a ready stance. The enemy soldiers were gathered around us in formation, cutting off my escape route. Nguyen spun his halberd in one hand, standing as if the weight of the armor meant nothing to him.
“You’ve killed many of my men,” he commented.
“Sorry about that,” I replied.
Our voices were calm. Through the stench of blood thick in the air, I could smell something faint—the scent of fresh dirt. Impossible. It’s far too early for them to arrive. I didn’t realize just how much I had been anticipating Hakurei’s arrival until that moment.
Nguyen shook his head, a pained expression on his face. “This is all because of my hesitation. If all I wanted to do was kill you...” He pointed at the colossal catapult with his halberd. Behind it were several refined metal balls. “Then I would’ve used that vile weapon from the start to destroy everything in your city. The reason I didn’t was because I underestimated your strength and obsessed over a conclusion to our duel. Thanks to my foolishness, I killed my soldiers. How could I ever face them?!” Emotion burned in the depths of Nguyen’s eyes as he slowly held his halberd in both hands. “But enough. I will hesitate no more. Chou Sekiei, I will kill you and put an end to this!”
“To battle!” we yelled as one.
It took us no time at all to rush forward, our weapons screeching as we swung them against each other. Sparks flew with each strike. My body felt heavy; this was not my first battle of the day. With every blow, I could feel myself backing down. Nguyen’s attacks were swift and true, and I was unable to dodge them all. Blood spurted from my arms and torso, slowing me down even further.
“What’s the matter?!” he yelled. “Your movements are easy to read! Is this your full strength?!”
My sword was screaming, the blade at its limit. My blood stained the scabbard, dirtying Hakurei’s ribbon. Nguyen raised his voice in a bestial roar and swung his halberd in a horizontal slash. I dodged under it and then thrust forward with my sword, aiming right for the small opening between the plates of armor.
“Gah!” I felt a horrible sensation in my arm as the scream of metal rang through the air.
“Too bad.”
Nguyen had twisted his body at the last second and deflected my sword with the metal plating around his torso. Unable to handle my strength or the armor’s, my sword had snapped in half. I was carried forward by my momentum, but Nguyen slammed the shaft of his halberd down on my back, striking me to the ground. Agony shot through my body. A second later, the broken blade fell to the ground. I tried to push myself up, but a sharp pain stopped me. My left arm was broken.
“This is where you’ll die!” the Crimson Wolf crowed as he pointed the halberd in my face.
I said nothing as I gripped onto the hilt of my dagger with my right hand. The scent of fresh dirt, carried upon the southern wind, was drawing closer.
Nguyen narrowed his eyes, but when he next spoke there was genuine praise in his voice. “Chou Sekiei, you were truly a man to be feared. Perhaps—no, surely, given a few more years, you would have surpassed Chou Tairan as our greatest foe. Your claws and fangs might have reached Emperor Adai as well.”
I still didn’t reply. I could hear the faint sound of racing horses. Not one or two, but a hundred. Maybe even more. The southern wind blew stronger.
Nguyen swung the halberd above his head, the weapon cutting through the air with an audible sound. “That’s precisely why I’ll kill you here. You are far too dangerous! If you live, you’ll kill many of our men. But I will show you some mercy—I will soon send your sister to hell with you.”
I stood up and wiped the blood off from my hand. “Ha! Well, aren’t you a gentleman, Crimson Wolf?”
“What are you talking ab—?” Nguyen started to say, a suspicious look in his eye, before he paused. “Hmm?”
Suddenly, the sound of bells rang through the battlefield. And then, from behind a southern hill, countless cavalrymen started to charge into the enemy lines. I could see the character emblazoned upon the war flags billowing through the air: Chou. They were all the elite members of the Chou army that had accompanied father to Rinkei!
Nguyen looked around and gritted his teeth. “I-Impossible... He’s already returned from Rinkei? That’s far too early, even for Chou Tairan! According to the scouts, he—”
Part of the enemy formation fell apart, horses whinnying as they ran. The shields that they’d been using to deflect our arrows flew through the air. I clenched my right hand into a fist to see how much strength I had left and then grinned. “You wanted to know what I was talking about, right? I was talking about how I was going to defeat you, Crimson Wolf Nguyen. Hakurei!”
“Understood!”
“Huh?!”
Hakurei, on Getsuei’s back, rode straight up the hill and broke clean through the enemy lines. She was dressed only in light armor—likely so that she didn’t slow down her mount. Without any hesitation she aimed an arrow at Nguyen and let it fly. She must’ve had the same idea as I did.
“Don’t underestimate me!” Nguyen roared, a fat vein throbbing on his forehead as he slashed the arrow out of the air. Her sudden attack had taken him off guard, but he wasn’t the Crimson Wolf for nothing. The Ei cavalry was slicing through the Gen troops, cutting them down one by one. Nguyen’s eyes widened and his entire body trembled with rage as he bellowed, “Just what kind of sorcery did you use?!”
“It wasn’t magic. It was technology,” Hakurei replied as she halted Getsuei next to me and then hopped off its back. She handed me a long cloth bag before drawing her bow. “That’s from the Ou girl!” she told me as she shot several consecutive arrows at Nguyen, forcing him to stay where he was.
“From Meirin?” I replied, mystified. I was about to open it up before I stopped and said, “Sorry, Hakurei. I can’t move my left hand.”
Hakurei didn’t reply, but I could hear her breath catch in her throat and pain slid across her face, but only for a brief moment. After letting loose yet another arrow she undid the string keeping the bag tied up in one quick motion. I inhaled sharply the moment I saw what was inside. It was a pair of swords—one white, one black. They were my precious Heavenly Swords, which I had entrusted to my old friend.
I was shocked, but I took up the black sword—Black Star—and called out, “Hakurei!”
“What?” The second she met my eyes, she knew what I wanted from her. “Leave it to me!” She tossed aside her bow and grabbed the white sword—White Star.