Chronicles Of Yositania: Of Demons And Men

Chapter 9: 1 vs 50

Wun approached the large, black gates and placing his right hand on them; took a deep breath. He needed this breath for what he was about to do.
And then, with all the vocal power that he could master; he declared- a voice on the other side of the door suddenly declared, "To all those who stand on the other side of this door; I make an announcement. I am Prince Wun-yang and if you surrender peacefully right now; then I swear that I won't hurt anyone. But if you don't, then I am afraid I will have to fight, and hurt you."
Selena couldn't quite believe her ears.With that one announcement, not only had he obliterated their element of surprise; but he had also implied that he could defeat them all, and quite easily at that. Just which of the two was more outrageous?
"We are not afraid of you, coward! Come in and show yourself!" shouted one of her subordinates at the top of her voice; and the others also shouted in agreement.
"Then I am afraid you leave me no choice," the gates burst open; revealing the man on the other side. It was Prince Wun-yang himself.
Initially, Selena had thought that she would find it difficult to fight the crippled prince; and she would find it even more difficult to hate him. But now, she marveled at just how easily the hate coursed through her veins; just how simply and viciously she declared, "Charge!"
This man had killed her mother. And she could never  forgive him- no matter who he was, or how badly he was crippled.
Without a second's delay, her subordinates charged at their target; all 50 of them. They had waited long enough; it was about time they took their prize.
She unloaded her bow, and nocked an arrow; as her subordinates surrounded their prey- just as they had discussed. He was truly trapped now; trapped in their perfectly crafted cage.
And then, aiming her loaded bow at her target; she commanded, "Begin!"
As soon as she gave the order, three soldiers from the front rushed at him; their weapons gleaming brightly in the moonlight. They tried to hit him simultaneously with a diagonal slash, a thrust and a vertical slice- a perfect combination. For someone locked in a wheel-chair; it was absolutely impossible to get out of this unscathed.
And in the next second, the prince caught the hands of two of his attackers; as he ducked under the attack of the third- stopping the two slashes in their tracks and evading the thrust effortlessly.
And before they could recover from the shock; he quickly raised the two slashers (who were at the sides) bodily from the ground, and slammed them against the third- knocking all three out at once.
In that instant, the soldiers realized that their opponent; wasn't really handicapped, at least not against them.
But still, they couldn't stop. They had far too much weighing on their shoulders. And so, without any delay, they continued their assault with a two-man attack from behind.
And in response, the prince pushed the two levers protruding from his handles forward; while pressing the buttons on top of each.
In a second, four pipes protruded from the back of the wheel-chair; and just before the attacks were about to connect with their target- the pipes blasted their target out of their reach with four strong gusts of wind.
Without stopping for even a second, the rebels resumed their attacks; and the prince faced them all.
He deflected a vertical slash by back-handing the attempter's hand away; blew her off her feet with a punch to the gut; ducked under a horizontal slash from behind; caught the hand of the attacker before he could retract it; lifted him over from that position and slammed him onto an approaching soldier; boosted out of the range of three simultaneous strikes from the left; leaned to the right of a vertical slash from the front; blew the attempter away with an uppercut; ducked under a thrust from the right; punched the soldier away; boosted away from two simultaneous slashes from the front; leaned to his left- dodging a thrust from behind; knocked the offender out with a back-handed strike to the gut; boosted away from a circle of five simultaneous slashes; stopped a vertical slash from behind by grabbing the offender's hand; knocked the offender away with an elbow strike to the gut; caught the sword; blocked a frontal assault with it; punched the soldier away before he could react; blocked a slash from the right, and stopped one from the left; countered instantly by lifting the soldier from the left and whipping him over onto the one to the right; deflected a frontal thrust away with the sword; broke it in the process; grabbed and threw the distracted soldier at a group to his right- all of whom moved away in time; leaned to his left; leaned to his right- dodging two vertical slashes; punched both of the soldiers away simultaneously; boosted away from another circle of six slashes; boosted into a group of attackers; punched one out; ducked under a thrust from another one; punched her down; stopped two concurrent vertical slashes from the sides by grabbing the hands; slammed the soldiers together; leaned to the left of a vertical slash; boosted away from a thrust; leaned back- evading another thrust from the left ; knocked the soldier away; ducked under two thrusts; punched both attackers out; boosted into another group.
Selena couldn't quite believe her eyes. This man was taking on a group of 50 opponents like they were nothing; and had already taken out a sizable chunk of them. Were they really up against a "significantly weakened Prince Wun"? It certainly didn't seem so. And even amidst all the hatred that was coursing through her veins; she just couldn't help but be awed by her opponent's strength.
But now, wasn't the time to be awed- it was the time for her to join in on the battle.
With a deep breath; she fired her arrow.
-x-
Wun had just punched two invaders away, when he noticed a very speedily approaching arrow; and without any delay, ducked- evading it in the last second. Before he could search out the source, however; he was forced to lean away from a slash, and promptly counter with a punch to the gut of the attacker.
All the nearby attackers wielded swords; so the arrow definitely didn't come from them. He ducked under a thrust and retaliated with an uppercut. And before he could continue his search, three more invaders attacked him. He deftly dodged their attacks, and was about to deal with them; when he noticed another approaching arrow- leaning back instantly, he evaded it by the breadth of a hair. Without any delay, he punched two of the attackers away; but the third one managed to leap away before he could strike her down.
He boosted away from the spot; and into a denser area. He elbowed an invader away; uppercutted one from the right; ducked under the thrust of one from the left; retaliated with a punch; dodged another arrow; almost got hit by a vertical slash- but managed to lean away in the nick of time; dodged yet another arrow; back-handed a vertical slash away; dodged a fifth arrow just before he was about to counter; missed his opportunity for the counter; boosted away from the spot.
The arrows........ were making things substantially more difficult for him. He had to do something about them
-x-
The doors to the barracks were wide open; as she had expected to find them. After all, there was a force of five invaders running around inside. Although exactly what they were up to, was still a complete mystery to her. She knew for a fact that they weren't killing the soldiers; but knew absolutely nothing beyond that.
She conjured her staff with a flash. She had a feeling that she might need it. And then, with slow steps; she entered the dark barracks.
As soon as she did, the doors closed behind her; trapping her in pitch black darkness as five figures landed with loud "Thud!"-s.
Without wasting a single second, she shouted 'Enfin Aeion Darvos!' and struck the ground with her staff; while imagining the positions of her five opponents. And though she couldn't see it; the five loud "Wham!"-s that followed directly afterwards told her that the ground had morphed into five hands and uppercutted her enemies away.
She quickly muttered 'Kokei'; immediately illuminating the place with an orb of bright light from the tip of her staff. Her five opponents were rolling around on the ground in pain.
She then bound them to their spots with a soft muttering of 'Enfin Daes' and a prod from her staff. It was a spell that made the ground around a downed foe rise up and cement them to their spots.
With the air of a mother satisfied with the workings of her child; Claudia progressed deeper into the barracks, lighting up the gigantic room as she went by. The only room in the entire castle grounds that she hadn't entered since she was a child.
Whether it was because of the fact that she had just gotten busier as she grew up, or because she had started to feel like she didn't belong here- a room that usually exhibited oozing liveliness and incredible energy; was still unknown to her. And now, the room was entirely devoid of both- a silent room filled with hundreds of unconscious bodies.
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. No, to be more exact; she froze in her tracks.
A group of at least 40 invaders stared at her from the middle of the room; the unconscious bodies of a few hundred soldiers stacked on the floor behind them.
And as she stared back at them in utter despair, and overwhelming confusion; her frozen brain came to a chilling realization. All of them had walked into neatly placed traps.
-x-
Ryu leaned to his left, and as a sword sliced through empty air where he was standing a second ago; he roundhouse kicked the invader straight in the solar plexus- knocking him out instantly.
"You done yet?" he asked Cronos as he turned around.
"Just finished up," Cronos replied in a didn't-even-break-a-sweat manner.
In front of him lay the unconscious bodies of 10 invaders. "Guess I won this round," Ryu bragged griningly; pointing at his own record of 20 invaders.
"This makes it the fourth ambush," Cronos remarked as he turned around.
"Yeah, guess we've officially walked into a trap now, huh?"
"Anyway, we should get back on track."
"Agreed."
And for the fifth time, they began to run towards General Zhou's room.
-x-
Wun ducked under an arrow as he punched a rebel out; and then immediately dodged another one by leaning forward. And once again, he was forced to boost away from an incoming onslaught before he could identify the archer.
If he was certain of one thing; it was that the archer was mobile. But under the current circumstances; that didn't really stand for much. In fact, he wasn't even sure if that was true; as there was a very high probability of there being multiple archers. Whatever the case, the best course of action would definitely be to focus on one of the two groups. And since the close-ranged fighters were the easiest to reach out; he had no doubt that they were the better targets. And ironically, this decision changed precious little.
He leaned away from a slash coming from the left; ducked under one coming from the front; and grabbed one coming from the right. He retaliated by instantly swinging the rebel that he had caught at her comrades- knocking all three out in one fall swoop. He boosted away before another arrow could hit him; and directly into a circle of fully prepared invaders. This, was his first mistake.
Just as he realized that he had messed up for the first time; all six brought down their weapons on him.
Four swords slashed through his arms; arms that he had raised to defend himself, and two more slashed through his back. And yet, not a single drop of blood burst out from his body.
For both of his arms were now covered in black flames; and two jet black wings of fire now covered his back. The only "gift" that he had received from the demon that now lived within him- jet black demonic flames, far more powerful and far more versatile than normal flames.
He had never used it in combat before. But now, it seemed like that record was about to be broken.