Crimson Qi, Exiled Beautiful Lady Falls in Love with a Shy Demon

A One Man Army

The River Viper tossed his staff from one hand to another. "I can hear sweat pour down your back from over here. I'll toss you into the river to chill."

Xi charged up the slope and slammed his borrowed weapon into the robber. The man's move to intercept the blow was languid, but just fast enough.

"Negotiate," Xi said, parrying three playful strikes. The Viper was only testing him. "Lord Wu—-"

"Shen love talking." The Viper span and swung wide, almost cutting feet from under him. "We talk or fight."

Xi skipped sideways like a goat.

The staff whistled back through the air, more serious now. "We talk or make love."

He had his staff up in time to parry the blow. They circled one another.

The River Viper darted his staff past Xi's defence. The move was far too quick and high to pack a serious punch, but it knocked the hat off Xi's head, making the strap tighten around his throat.

"Never both," the Viper concluded his lecture.

Bursts of laughter startled Xi, but the Viper was aware of the gathering audience. The soaking guards and more people from the fortified crag crowded in. They stood dangerously close, and they scowled dangerously as well once they'd stopped laughing at their leader's witticisms.

Xi turned the next blow aside.

"Cool down!" He tore a gush in the wet soil, liquefied it under the spectators's feet, and shoved it all towards the river.

The released energy propelled him towards the palisade, but the Viper still landed a hit on his shoulder.

Excitement overrode pain. He made it all the way up to the slanted thatch roof of the guard tower and tossed the staff aside with a yelp. Blinking away the tears, Xi rotated his arm. It moved, but it hurt worse than the demons's claws.

"Blighted mage!" the Viper screamed and gave chase, gaining ground too fast for Xi to nurse his injury.

The bandits did not take a break either, letting go a volley of arrows, but he understood beforehand. The shafts ignited, got consumed in a flash, fell to the ground as ash.

The Viper shinnied up the wooden structure.

"You and yours are on the borrowed time." Xi talked as fast and as quietly as he could. "Wu does not move in because he would not offend your Emperor. Your Emperor would not move in because it pleases him that you are a thorn in our side. This won't last."

He offered a hand to the Viper to pull him up the roof. "Negotiate a deal, while you can."

The Viper swatted his hand aside and slithered up the ledge on his belly smoother than his namesake.

Xi wisely retreated. "I could burn down half of your men right now, and the other half - after I kill you."

"Blighted mage..." the Viper tossed his staff away too.

"...is not your biggest problem. The Demon Horde is coming---" Xi braced himself as the Viper surged towards him, striking.

Xi caught his arm and redirected reflexively, dropping the Viper down, with the shoulders hanging over the edge of the roof, nothing but air underneath.

The Viper recoiled and pushed him off. Xi staggered back, surprised by the Viper's strength. His lapse lost him the initiative, the Viper lunged. Xi rolled down the sloping roof, but not far enough. The Viper grappled him. The man's elbow squeezed the air out of his throat, but worse, it drove his emotions all the way up into Xi's skull.