For a moment there was stillness on both sides. I could feel the tension in the air as it took the place of the oxygen, making it difficult to breath, especially for the redhead who clutched at her chest, her mouth agape in a silent scream of pure terror. If hatred was visible, the air would have been scarlet with emotion. Then suddenly movement, so much force in every blow. Soldiers rained blows onto the blue eyed male as if they meant to smash him into the very earth and he did them the same courtesy.
Each didn't just want the other dead, they wanted him smashed, obliterated, with nothing left to bury. Screams broke out cutting the deafening silence that wafted over our minds. The men rushed forward, following the orders they were given like the mindless puppets they were trained to be. Swords clashed. Arrows were fired. More shouting. More screaming. More running. The attack was fierce, efficient and deadly. But the blue eyed male was even more so.
Faceless soldiers charged from around the corner to where the pair was, the male standing guard over the female as she took a shaky step back from the charging hoard. The male grinned sadistically and his eyes narrowed as he scanned the soldiers for the outlier, the most dangerous person in the area that may want him and his princess dead. Well, he wouldn't find me among the common soldiers, no, I was at the edges of the stone pillars taking out the archers one by one.
I chanced a glance down at the battle field to see the make had unraveled the white cloth that hid his weapons blade that was held by a black strip of cloth. I recognized it as the Chinese glaive-like weapon called the Guandao pole arm, or as it's more often referred to as the Hsu-Quandao. I had always preferred my scythe to the Hsu-Quandao, though I wouldn't be too helpless if said weapon was all I was given to defend myself with. In one swift and strong move Hak runs his blade through the oncoming soldiers, taking down about 3 or 4 in one swing.
"He truly is a Thunder Beast..." one of the soldiers murmurs as they bask in awe of the warrior before them, the Princess herself seems surprised at the strength her bodyguard possesses. I roll my eyes and take a moment to clutch the Kings necklace that lies around my neck, as any worthwhile father would put their daughter in the hands of someone who they did not fully believe could protect them with everything they had.
'Did she seriously think that he was a General for nothing? Or was she just too caught up in her crush to even think about looking at anyone else' I think to myself incredulously, I push down my annoyance and focus on taking out the archers as I get closer to Hak and the redhead. The battle continues as I slowly take out an archer and lay their unconscious bodies on the ground, they'll be out for a couple hours but i will not kill unless I absolutely have to or there is no other choice.
-3rd POV-
'Su-won once said Hak's techniques are like lightning.' Yona thinks to herself as she remembers her cousins words, from before the tragedy had occurred. "If we fought in earnest, I'm sure he would destroy me." Soo-Won had said to her, she gets a troubled look on her face and a bead of sweat runs down the side of her face 'Even in these moments, I still remember your face so naturally.' Yona is snapped out of her stupor as she hears a voice yell out "Attack!" More soldiers slide bravely down the mountains at the words of their lord, to face the former General of the Wind Tribe, Son Hak, The Thunder Beast of Kouka.
In one swift and near impossible to see move, Hak strikes twice moving his blade back and forth across the air as he slices down 4 soldiers, his duty is to protect his princess. As long as he does that, he can continue to stand proud. About 6 more wounded soldiers fly through the air, away from the beast before them, bleeding profusely. Hak takes on a strong and confident stance as he points his blade to the ground in front of him in a challenging manner, ready to take on any amount of soldiers Kan Tae-Jun has at his disposal to protect his princess.
"What's wrong? Are you finished?" Hak taunts as he gazes upon 5 figures standing on the ledge above him, holding his hand out to stop the princess from going forward should she attempt to do so. "I see the Thunder Beast is going strong." Retorts a familiar voice from their right, the gray haired lord of the Fire Tribe stands tall, as a large number of soldiers are at attention behind him, ready to execute any order that their lord requested of them to accomplish.
"So it is you." Hak looks on unsurprised at the gray haired males appearance, the lord smirks as he starts his speech (which unknown to those currently on the battlefield he had practiced alone in his room to get the words down and perfect it) He closes his eyes and places his left hand over his chest, tilting his head to the right slightly "I've been waiting for this moment, General Son Hak and Princess Yona." He reopens his eyes and moves his arm to his side, a taunting smirk on his face as he speaks.
Yona gazes at him apprehensively and narrows her eyes slightly. The ray haired male raises his left hand in front of his face, his palm facing him and his eyes closing for what seems to be dramatic effect. "I, Kan Tae-Jun, of the Fire Tribe-" "Look, Princess. There's nature everywhere." Yona nods along with what her bodyguard is saying as they both crouch at the edge of the cliff, the Hsu-Quandao at Haks side just harmlessly laying there. A trio of birds fly by the sky in front of the two of them, only adding to the view of the beautiful surrounding area.
"What?! Why are you enjoying nature while I'm talking to you?" Tae-Jun's soldiers stand awkwardly behind him as he screams in shock, one soldier moving forward to hand the young lord a tissue to wipe his tears away. Somewhere in the mountains, a red bird and a black bird chirp in laughter at the misfortune of the gray haired lord. Elsewhere, some of the archers chuckle at the blatant disrespect that their lord faces before returning to ready position. Further away, a figure in a back oni mask just looks down, very confused at what is going on and why.
Anyways, back to the action at hand. "Oh, you were talking to me?" Hak questions boredly, he stands up and turns to face the other male, "I'm neither a general nor a "Son" now." He nonchalantly explains "Sorry about that." Hak apologizes with a small bow, Tae-Jun's face relaxes at Hak's words and he stops rubbing at his tears. "It's fine, so long as you understand." The young lords says amicably, before realizing what Hak had actually said. When he does his eyes grow wide and his jaw drops in shock "Wait, what? You're not a general?" he asks in disbelief, he had prepared a whole speech that had just gone to waste, how sad.
Hak just shrugs and looks blankly at the male in front of him, "That's right." The blue eyed male confirms, "I'm just wandering traveler Hak." He closes his eyes for a moment before grinning mischievously at the person just ahead of him, "Which means Whatever I do now has nothing to do with the Wind Tribe." By this time more common soldiers have gathered near their lord, awaiting their command on what to do next, about 15 extra soldiers at Kan Tae-Jun's disposal. "So that's it. Well, either way, I don't care about the Wind Tribe."
The gray haired lord just narrows his eyes at the princess' bodyguard, the only obstacle between him and his prize. Tae-Jun closes his eyes for a moment before stepping back and drawing his sword from its sheath, and shouting with as much confidence and conviction that he can muster, "I will make those who stand in my way disappear. I only have business with Princess Yona!" The moment the metal blade leaves the sheath covering the archer that were once at ease notch their arrows and draw back their bowstrings, opening fire upon the Thunder Beast all at once in an attempt to overwhelm him.
With every wave of arrows a single swing of the Hsu-Quandao shatters the deadly projectiles, leaving them as nothing more than harmless debris. Hak notes that the number of archers have gone down from about 35 to a measly 10 to 15 at most, he also notes that he has yet to encounter anyone that would fit the experience level and skill of the outlier he had sensed from before. Putting the thought in the back of his mind he pulls his princess even closer to his person and continues on the defense.
Hak releases a short puff of breath as the three waves of arrows aimed at himself and his princess finish. Kan Tae-Jun points his blade at the two and shouts out his orders. "Don't let him rest!" At his command the soldiers at his side charge forth into battle hoping to make their Lord and their Tribe proud with their efforts. However, due to the dramatic difference in all status in favor of Son Hak, the blue eyed male is able to easily overpower the soldiers that are charging at him and Yona.
Swinging his blade around him he cuts down a row of soldiers, quickly he spins around and in one fell swoop defeats the soldiers that were rushing at him from behind. The wind seems to follow his blade as it slices through the air, not unlike a lightning bolt does the sky when it storms. "Stop him! Stop him now!" The gray haired male calls out in a slightly desperate manner as he once again swings his sword in front of his person. "Archers, fire!" Tae-Jun commands, not realizing the diminished number of archers shooting at his words being too caught up in the adrenaline of battle.
The archers that remain shoot arrows at the two runaways at their Lords request, and it is only then that they realize their numbers have fallen greatly. They pay it no mind and notch another arrow in their bows, ready for their next command. The Thunder Beast grips onto his princess and jump up onto a ledge high above where the arrows broke upon impact with the stone floors. "You've gained weight, Princess." Hak says as the two of them land, not taking his eyes off of their attackers, "That was unnecessary!" His princess replies, only slightly miffed at the comment.
A figure in a monochrome outfit jumps down from somewhere above them, a black oni mask with red eyes, the only color to be found on their person. Hak tenses up and aims his Hsu-Quandao 'They must be the outlier from before. Are they after the Princess too?' Hak quickly thinks to himself 'I must be getting a bit rusty, I couldn't even sense them.' To both the surprise of the princess in Haks arms and the Thunder Beast himself, the figure just looks over their shoulder and nods once at them.
They reach up their hand and catch a large and rather threatening looking scythe in a single hand, twirling it around a couple times before stopping its movement, the blade pointing towards the stone floor. They once again look over their shoulder and extend the weapon parallel to their side, they nod in the direction of the two and step forward, and jump down to where the soldiers are figuring out the best way to get to the two runaways. The figure quickly disarms a few of them and points the blade towards the few soldiers still remaining.
The few archers left come running at Yona and Hak,who quickly snatches up his princess and hops across the broken path of stone. He places her down once they reach the other side and out of the corner of his eye he looks at her, "We're gonna run." Hak tells the frightened princess, who was even more shaken up than she would have been because of the appearance of the monochrome figure. Yona lags behind slightly causing Hak to engulf her rather small hand, dainty and soft from the lack of physical labor, into his much larger hand, callused from years of intensive training but warm nonetheless.
Arrows fire from behind the pair of them, Hak expertly swings his blade and shatters them in one blow. Arrows ahead of him and he does the same. Time and time again swinging his blade to protect both himself and his princess from the projectiles coming at them with the intent to kill. "After them!" Cries out a soldier chasing after them, 'I'm scared ...' Yona thinks to herself as she's dragged along by the one who swore to protect her, she looks around at all the chaos around them, eyebrows upturned and furrowed in worry, 'There are arrows and soldiers closing from all sides.'
She turns to he childhood friend and now bodyguard, the only one alive and by her side at the moment, 'Not even Hak can handle all of these.' While thinking Yona was not paying attention to the terrain below her feet and slipped on the shaft of a broken arrow. She slipped and fell upon the harsh ground, her hand falling from the warm embrace of Haks hand. Taking this chance a soldier orders two archers to let loose special arrows, reserved for this task. "Aim for the princess!" The soldier shouts, the archers notch their arrows and draw back their bowstrings, they both fire their arrows.
Time seems to speed up as the arrows fly through the air, and before anyone can even comprehend what has happened, the two arrows pierce flesh. A sickening sound of metal splitting flesh was one that would haunt the innermost corners of Yona's ears. The sight of blood pouring from wounds that were taken on her behalf was one that would forever be burned into her eyes. The smell of freshly drawn blood would forever be ingrained into her mind, especially with how physically close the two who each took an arrow for her, were.
An arrow aimed for the princess' midsection, the other aimed for her head. Her most loyal bodyguard had taken the arrow that had its sight set on her torso. While much to both of their confusion, the one aimed for her head was taken by the monochrome figure from before. Just for a moment, Haks heart stopped as he could have sworn he saw the late King Il's necklace around the figures neck, still stained with the blood of his former King.
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Word Count: 2538
(A/N) Now that I'm on break I'm going to try to get as many chapters out, with as best quality as I can, as fast as possible to make up for the wait between chapters from before. I'll try for one update a day, but I can't promise that 100% for sure. If I can get 5 votes on this chapter, which combined with last chapters 5 (as of now) makes 10 votes, meaning that I can make the Christmas special for you guys. Feedback and comments are always appreciated and if a question/comment is directed towards me, I'll try to answer it as soon as I can. Anyways, thanks for reading my story, it means a lot to me. Vote, Comment and Share!! Thank you again for reading this.
-Liz D. is out!!!