Reincarnation to the Past

Chapter 33

Li Yǔ's POV

THUD, THUD, CLANG, CLANG!

Within seconds, I dove and slid between the legs of one of the knights, barely evading the attack. Since it was not human, it couldn't withstand the momentum and continued to run forward before bringing itself to a stop. 

Now would have been a very good time for that sword, Hephaestus!!!!

SWURURUNG!!!

The knight turned around and unsheathed its sword mounted on its hips and readied itself, but before it could do anything, I decided to make the first move and dashed towards it. I summoned a spare sword, jumped mid-air, and struck, only to be deflected by the knight's sword, which sent me flying in one direction and the sword in another. I somersaulted midair, landed on the ground, slid backward due to the force, and dug my feet into the ground to force my body to come to a stop.

I gritted my teeth and lunged at the knight again (as the saying goes, 'offense is the best defense', or at least I hope that's the saying; otherwise, I might as well be rushing to my doom), only this time ducking lower to evade its strike. The blade swung past my head, missing by a hair's breadth. I summoned another sword and rammed it through the legs of the knight, forcing it to fall, before running another sword through its head. 

One down, a million more to go...

SWISH!!!

Another knight had appeared in front of me and brandished its long sword at me. Reflexively, I arched my back, pushed my hips forward, bent over backward, and watched out of the corner of my eyes as the sword ran through the air inches above my stomach, missing me. I swayed back and forth to build momentum, from which I came up from the back bend. Simultaneously, I use my sword to run it through the knight's breastplate.

Thankfully, these knights were just either made from normal metal or celestial bronze, whereas my spare swords (never know when they come in handy, and it's better to have swords that are uncomfortable to use rather than none at all) were either imperial gold, stygian iron, drakon bone, bone steel, or a mixture of them, making each of my weapons stronger or at least on par with the knights, which made it easy to cut through.

THUD, THUD, THUD!!!

Another three rushed at me at the same time. I used the karambits to strike down the two on either side and swung my sword through the head of the third, causing their lifeless bodies to fall to the ground.

And like that, I went through the remaining knights one after the other without a moment's break, ducked away from their maces that left a scary crack on the ground and used my whip to rid them of their weapons. I sped through the army of knights, killing them one after the other and using their falling remains to give me the momentum to dash forward. I jumped from one knight's head to another's shoulder, summoning one karambit after the other to strike the ones up ahead. I may be one lousy archer but I'm a damn good shot. I can toss anything with complete precision and hit my mark. Karambits and throwing knives are my go-to weapons after my sword.

It had been nine hours since I had entered, and I could tell that my strength, stamina, and agility were quickly reducing, which made sense because even with all the training I did, I was in no way prepared for this type of battle. But there was no backing out now...

I was midair, having finished another knight, and had just dropped to the ground when a knight kicked me straight in the stomach, sending me flying and crashing into something. I gasped for breath as I felt a stabbing pain right where I was hit, and then coughed up some blood. At the sight of the blood, I saw red, knowing instantly that it would leave a bruise.

I remembered standing in front of the mirror. I remembered promising never to let another wound appear on her body again. I growled as I struggled to stand up. I remembered the anger I felt when I first saw the scars and bruises, with my hands clenched and unclenched. It's barely been over a month and the body has a new bruise!!!

"Now you've gone and done it!"

I felt the familiar tugging of my gut, and my lips rose into a small smirk. The waters are always with me, at my highs and my lows; they're my strength and my ultimate trump cards. I have the 'force of the ocean' inside me and I guess no amount of restrictions can take that from me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to see if my other powers and blessings worked, and the answer only made my smirk grow.

I knew for a fact that when I first entered the domain, these powers were blocked off; that was the first thing I confirmed, but I guess I was able to overcome the force of the restriction or something. But for whatever reason it's working now, I'm not going to question...

I created a huge pool of water above the army of knights, made it solidify into a huge hand, and slammed it down on them, the force at which either crushed them or drowned them. I slowly walked towards the throne, cracking my knuckles.

"Now this is my kind of fight!"

As I neared the throne, my next wave came into view... There were millions of metal knights and archers lined up rows after rows, blocking my path to the throne. "Now, isn't this an unfair fight?", I asked in a mocking tone. "Let's even this out, shall we?"

I snapped my fingers and an army of shadows appeared, standing to my right and left, as well as in rows behind me. I willed the flames of Hephaestus to swirl around me defensively. I also activated Apollo's blessing to protect me from the arrows. I realize that I am now being unfair but hey, they started it...

I strolled casually down the path towards the throne as the knights and archers fought and fell in the hands of my army. Whenever a knight tried to attack me, they'd find themselves combusting into flames the minute they touched the fiery shield that was surrounding me. The same happened to any arrows that passed through Apollo's blessing. And like that, within seconds I was standing in front of the platform, with the battle continuing behind me.

And that was when I first saw it. It was another knight but much different from the normal ones, much bigger than them (where the normal knights I had faced so far were a bit over my height (Percy's original height, or that of a tall 23+-year-old male), this one was only a bit shorter to the throne). Heck, the long sword that was wedged into the ground beside him was close to my height (here Percy means Li Yǔ height or that of a fourteen-year-old). 

Unlike the other knights, who were silver or brown, this one was red. I could tell that it was he who was commanding all the other knights and archers I had met so far and that his purpose was to protect the empty throne. I also knew instantly that to obtain the throne, I'd need to beat him. He was my final test.

I feel a rush of excitement running up my spine as I cancel all my protection (the shield and Apollo's defense). My smirk grew and I summoned a sword from my space.

"This should be fun..."