The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

26-The Strongest of the Warriors

Helena was in the castle's main hall, hiding in the shadows. Without a sword, this wasn't a fight; it was just an escape. All she wanted was to punch that opponent's face, but she couldn't get close. She had a cut on her head, bleeding heavily; she was dirty, sweating, with bruises and injuries on her arms, not to mention the cut on her stomach. That's when two soldiers burst in and attacked her. Still injured, she began fighting both of them at the same time. She managed to kick and punch them, but it was metal, and she only ended up hurting herself. But who cared? If she kept punching, eventually, something would break. She needed adrenaline to forget her problems, so attack, Helena, with everything you've got. It's their fault for all this mess, those idiot generals who get in your way. No need to think about what you did or didn't do—focus on taking out these fools. A third soldier entered, attacking her by surprise, kicking her and slamming her against the wall.

"The more effort you make..." Ygritte said, entering the hall calmly, "...the more effort I will make."

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING FROM A WITCH LIKE YOU!"

Helena ran towards Ygritte, who just sighed, disappointed. The three soldiers blocked her path and attacked simultaneously with their swords. Helena tried to dodge all three, but evading even one soldier was a challenge, so there was no chance against triple the force. She dodged and tried to flee but was quickly surrounded. The middle soldier struck her face with his shield while the other two spun and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying to the other side of the hall again.

"Is that all you've got, Ygritte?" Helena taunted as she got back on her feet. "Hit harder. It felt like someone hit me with a pillow."

"I wish we could go back to when we were kids," Ygritte commented with a delicate smile. "At that age, we were so much happier... then again, it's the stupid thoughts and actions of that age that make us suffer as adults..."

"What are you talking about? Speak like a human being. What we did as kids stays when we're..." She couldn't finish her sentence, as it would be hypocritical. She was haunted by something that happened in her childhood, something she couldn't quite remember. "AAAAAAAAAAAA, I'M SICK OF THIS!"

Ygritte clapped, and the three soldiers advanced again. Though agitated, Helena wasn't completely clumsy. It was her impulsiveness and rage that sometimes distracted her, but she knew that if she didn't fight calmly, especially since she was at a disadvantage, she would lose. She began dodging the attacks of the three while thinking to herself.

"I just need a bit of that power. I have to control it. Come on! What was I feeling? What do I need?" Suddenly, her memories took over, all the memories she needed fresh in her mind, along with her emotions... she perfectly remembered all the anger she felt back then, anger at herself and anger at Gaya. Now, she was also irritated. She just needed to redirect all that feeling toward her opponent.

Focus, unleash your power. Then her eyes turned scarlet, her entire hair turned red, and a red energy danced around her. Without Helena noticing, the scarlet energy began healing and treating her wounds, saturating and closing them. With a quick motion, Helena unleashed a powerful destructive energy from her hand, similar to what had happened with Gaya, but now more like a shot than a slash. The destructive energy ended up destroying all three at once. It hit and reduced all the armor to dust.

"This is interesting..." said Ygritte as she created five soldiers. They all advanced on Helena, but again, with a single movement, she destroyed them all at once. Just a touch of that power, and everything corroded. "Let's see more." Ygritte created fifteen more soldiers. With one move, Helena destroyed ten. The remaining five managed to approach and attack. Helena dodged one of them and lightly touched his blade. The red surrounding her transferred to the enemy's blade and, soon after, to the soldier's armor, causing it to self-destruct, and the same happened to the other four soldiers. "What a pity! My soldiers won't work on you anymore. Just one touch of that little power of yours, and *Puff* they're gone. I could try summoning thirty, but I don't like wasting time. I learn from my mistakes, you know?" Ygritte began to fly as she did before, leaving the same plane as her opponent and joining the air. The general put her left arm behind her back and raised only the index finger of her right hand... "To the side."