everyone's eyes were glued on the mysterious figures dancing together. although many people knew that the male was the prince, many questioned the female who had her arms around his neck.
their soft and graceful steps pulled everyone around them in with curiosity. the two of them let their bodies move in sync with the soft sound of music that played in the background.
(for that ✨imagination✨)
with hendery's hands on her hips, he stared down at the girl with heart eyes.
"where'd you get your mask?" hendery asked her softly.
"from an old friend. why? everyone has been talking about my mask yet i don't know why.." xiaomei replies while looking up at the prince.
"it's one of a kind. in fact, our blacksmith made that for a mysterious person. no one knows who it was, not even him."
"yukhei?" hendery nods his head at the name said.
"what's so special about it though? it's just a mas-"
before that sentence could be completed, the large chandelier fell from the ceiling while an arrow hit the wall. the many screams of fear was all xiaomei needed to hear before she pushed herself off prince kunhang. she pulled her sword out of her scabbard and scanned the room for her men.
making eye contact with dejun, she nodded her head before the two of them began to gather their fighters. once they were gathered, xiaomei gave out quick and simple rules.
"prince kun has a pink and purple mask, prince sicheng has a orange-y yellow mask and you all know what prince kunhang looks like. protect them and the other royal members and get everyone out of here." at her command, everyone nods their head and runs off into different directions.
xiaomei turns her head to a small child with lost eyes. running to the child, she picks her up and carries her to the entrance/exit.
"go find an adult you know, trust or recognise and leave with them. understand kid?" the young girl nods her head and runs off.
xiaomei turns around and scans the room again. on the second floor of the room, she saw a man in a plain black hanfu with a black mask that disguised his full face. he has an arrow pointing to prince kunhang who was leaving with renjun.
xiaomei prepares her sword in her hand and runs to their direction. as the arrow was released from the bow, xiaomei raised her sword and slashed the arrow in half before it came into reach with the prince.
the prince and renjun turn at the sudden motion.
"get out of here now!" xiaomei yelled without looking at the two of them.
"but-"
"get everyone out of here and to safety. make sure not a single person is left free walking the halls. no innocent life is dying. understand?" xiaomei's voice was cold while her eyes were fierce.
"yes general!" renjun grabs hendery's hand and pulls him out the room. renjun reaches for the door handles and closes the doors behind him.
xiaomei's eyes were quick to move around the room once the doors closed. she already took notice of four figures earlier on but now she caught sight of another three. seven people with her alone in this room. xiaomei took in a large breath before running up the staircase.
the first sight she saw were two people with swords in hand; one man and one woman. xiaomei scoffed loudly before charging at them. without their quick reflexes, xiaomei immediately knocked them both down on their knees. while elbowing the man's back, she kicked the other lady in the back knee.
"you two are too slow." without a second thought, she slit the man's back open before she slit the woman's neck.
the blood began to flood out their wounds and began seeping through their clothing.
"what a waste." xiaomei sighed before she continued walking.
"what a pretty mask for such a dirty person." a croaky voice said.
in front of her was a man who was at least in his late 40s. he held a sharp fu (battle axe) in his outstretched hand.
"aren't you too old to be fighting? don't your bones hurt? should i give you a massage or..just end your pain?" xiaomei asked with an evil and demonic smirk.
"what kind of general are you?! you're crazy!!"
"crazy or just doing what's right? i bet you couldn't tell the difference." xiaomei chuckled lowly at the man.
he raised his fu and ran toward xiaomei. xiaomei chuckled to herself before charging straight forward with him.
with one quick movement, xiaomei moved to the side and cut his arm. while he stumbled forward, xiaomei tripped him with a foot and dragged her sword along his back.
"say hi to yan wang for me." xiaomei said with no emotion.
as xiaomei turned around to continue walking, she caught sight of a woman rushing to the door downstairs. xiaomei chuckled to herself again and jumped down from the second floor to the first. as she landed on her two feet, she grabbed a dagger hidden in her shoe and threw it at the door.
"where do you think you're going? the party isn't over yet." xiaomei walked closer to the lady. the lady turned around with scared eyes and shook in fear.
"p-please i-i'm innocent! i d-didn't m-mean to-"
"oh cut the crap lady." xiaomei spat at her with a venomous tone.
the lady's demeanor was soon to change while she took out her sword.
"oh general li, you're too smart for my games." the lady took small steps forward while dragging her sword against the ground; creating an unpleasant screeching noise.
"i like your attitude, let's fight shall we?" xiaomei smiled sarcastically at the older lady.
"of course." the lady charged at xiaomei with her sword pointing forward.
xiaomei immediately dodged her attack but she only missed by barely anything.
the unknown lady was much more quicker and much more efficient than xiaomei. of course the woman was older and surely had more experience but also her technique was something xiaomei had never seen.
while fighting, xiaomei already gained multiple scratches because she was too busy examining her moves.
"you should move quicker kid, we can't end this fight so soon."
xiaomei was slowly losing her breath with the woman. xiaomei forced herself to stand tall and grip onto her sword tighter. xiaomei ran towards the lady and barely cut her arm.
"you're too slow. stand tall and grip onto your sword higher than that. you'll be more loose and have more control; you're too tense." xiaomei looked at the woman and scanned the placement of her hand on the sword.
it was indeed higher than where xiaomei put her hand. xiaomei re-placed her hand in a higher position on her sword and loosened her grip slightly. she relaxed her shoulders and stood tall on the ground.
"where were we?"
at xiaomei's short question, the lady charged forward at xiaomei at an immense speed. xiaomei let her reflexes kick in and ran to the side before turning around to slash her back. with the slow movement of her sword, the lady jerked her body forward at the cold steel against her back.
she fell onto her knees and lost grip of her sword.
"last words?' xiaomei asked before walking in front of the lady.
"yang meihui..you fight just like her.." the unknown lady managed to say while blood oozed out of her mouth. at the mention of her mother, xiaomei's eyes grew wide while she dropped her sword.
"what do you know to be saying her name?"
"that lady..taught...me how to fight..she taught many her techniques..."
"what do you mean..?" xiaomei crouched down to the dying lady who knew something xiaomei didn't.
"yang meihui was a swordswoman..the greatest of all china.." the lady's eyes had soon closed and her chest stopped rising.
before xiaomei could shake the lady to ask her more things, there was a call for help from outside the doors. xiaomei sighed in aggravation before she gripped onto her sword and ran out the doors.
while running down the hall, she saw shufen and chenle standing together with cautious eyes.
"general!" shufen called at the sight of the female.
chenle took notice of her wounds and her bloodied hanfu.
"are you okay!?"
"i don't matter right now, where is everyone else?" xiaomei panicked at the sight of empty and quiet halls.
"they're in the coronation room however queen biyu is nowhere to be seen." at shufen's response, xiaomei's eyes widened in fraction.
"what?! what about the three princes?!"
"they're with everyone else in the coronation room."
xiaomei grunted in frustration before giving orders.
"there were seven people in the ball room. four of them are already dead but there's still another three somewhere within the palace. knowing minghao, him and jun would be outside guarding the gates that lead you in and out the palace. find the last three and i'll go to the coronation room. go."
"yes general!"
shufen and chenle run off together before splitting ways. xiaomei made her ways to the coronation room, slamming the doors open before shutting them after she went in.
"general.." yangyang caught sight on the injured female and immediately rushed to her side. xiaomei grabbed the strings of her mask and pulled it off her face.
"where's yukhei?"
"i'm here." yukhei walked out from the circle of people he sat with an walked to xiaomei.
"hey yukhei, can you look after this for me while i take care of everything going on?" yukhei nods his head without word and takes the mask from her hands.
"yang, jackson and renjun, you boys stay here. there are still three people who need to be taken care of. i assume minghao and jun are guarding the gates. shufen and chenle already went off and i saw dejun with chenle while coming here. where are the others?"
"dingbang and jiang already left to look for the queen. caihong, jinhai, guotin and jianyu are walking around and guarding the area. everyone else are in town and searching the area." jackson answered.
as if on queue, the doors slammed open; revealing jiang and dejun with bloodied clothes.
"we found the last three, they're dead. one of them wanted us to give this to you, general." jiang said while walking to xiaomei. opening his hands was a scroll with red string tying it.
xiaomei pulled on the string and the scroll unraveled into a painting of six black crows sitting on a large stone gate.
at the painting, xiaomei dropped the scroll with scared eyes and quivering lips.
"general? what's wrong?"
xiaomei looks up at jiang and dejun who grew worried for the girl.
"we need to visit Eleftheria."
wow...what theories do we have? any thoughts?