Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  Zhang’s men had started cutting down trees before noon and by sundown, they had constructed dozens of towering siege towers and four sturdy siege rams; all propped on wooden wheels for easy transportation.

  After the completion of siege towers and siege rams, all of the soldiers were given a few hours to rest and eat. Hundreds of campfires were lit and many columns of smoke spiraled into the air as the soldiers cooked their meals and readied themselves for the upcoming battle ahead.

  With their stomachs full and their hearts steeled, Zhang’s men donned their black armor and sharpened their blades. Today would be the first time that this many of them participated in a siege. The soldiers under Zhang’s command could be considered veterans of hundred battles; but most, if not all of these battles took place in open areas; where there were no walls to climb up, no gates to knock down, nor the chance of being doused with boiling hot oil.

  But of course there was a first time for everything and it was better to experience their first siege against a small city like New Leaf City rather than a large city like Green Clover City. At Least here, they held a huge numerical advantage and could retreat if needed.

  The moon’s rays radiated down below, the glimmering of thousands of suits of armor was visible from miles away. Rumbling sound wheels spread as they moved along the rocky dirt road, with the massive siege towers and battering rams inching closer and closer to New Life City. After the sound of wheels, a thunder of hooves sounded out as Zhang’s cavalry soldiers followed behind.

  For this battle, Zhang had split up his army into three groups. One group consisted of archers who were atop the siege towers, another group consisted of infantry who would storm the walls and man the siege rams; and lastly, were the cavalry who would charge into the city once the gates were broken.

  As Zhang’s soldiers steadily approached countless torches were lit above the city walls and the clamor of thousands of men could be heard.

  “Ready the oil!”

  “Bring up more arrows!”

  Shouts from the soldiers of Heavenly Sword Army echoed through the night as they prepared to defend the city. Once the siege towers were close enough, the soldiers of Heavenly Sword army began dipping their arrows into pots of oil and lighting them on fire. Soon, thousands of fiery arrows shot through the air toward the siege towers.

  However, before they could reach the towers, Zhang sprang into action. Using the power of the Underworld Heart, he created a thin membrane of essence that encompassed a huge area. Once the arrows pierced this membrane, they got coated with Zhang’s essence and after being fully covered by essence, the thousands of arrows fell under his control. With a thought, the arrows changed its trajectory and headed back towards the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army, who were on top of the city walls.

  Seeing their arrows shooting back toward them, many of the soldiers who were quick witted ran for cover; while a few of the other soldiers were caught in a daze as they watch their own arrows pierced into them. Some of the fire arrows even landed in a few of the pots of oil that the soldiers had been using which sparked fires on the walls.

  Once the pits of oil caught on fire, the top of the wall was a pure mass of hysteria. Unlucky soldiers were splashed by the oil and became human torches as they ran about flailing their arms while screaming in agony. A few of them tried to roll around on the ground trying to put out the flames; however, even then by the time the fire was put out their bodies had been badly burned.

  While the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword army fell into disarray, Zhang’s siege weapons and soldiers had arrived and surrounded the walls of New Life City.

  “Knock down the gates! Begin attack! Kill every soldier of the Heavenly Sword Army! A reward of one hundred gold coins for whoever brings me the head of the enemy general!” Zhang roared as he lifted the Sky Piercer Halberd into the air.

  “Brother, couldn't we just knock down the walls using my whip?” Ai asked from atop of her Inferno Wind Walker as she gripped the Black Thorn whip that was tied to her waist.

  “It's best to not show off our trump cards too early.” Zhang replied with a smile on his face as he put his hand on her shoulder.

  Moments later, loud banging sounds echoed through the city as Zhang’s soldiers used the siege ram against the four gates. A rhythmic thunder could be heard each time the siege rams impacted the thick wooden city gates.

  Normally, the defending soldiers would shoot arrows downward or pour hot burning oil on down on the soldiers manning the siege rams; but this time, they were too preoccupied defending themselves against the fire and with the archers standing on top of the siege towers shooting at them.

  The former members of the Yu Sect excelled when it came to using the bow and arrow, which made the situation even more disastrous for Heavenly Sword Army. The archers shot their arrows with deadly precision, making it so that almost every arrow they released claimed a life.

  While the battle was raging on, a skinny weasel like man dressed in the standard purple armor of the Heavenly Sword Army walked up the city walls. But unlike the rest of the soldiers, his helmet was finely decorated with gold. This clearly meant that unlike the rest of the men on the walls, he was a highly ranked officer within the army.

  “Shield men move up to the walls! The rest out of you, put out these fires!” The sly looking general commanded.

  “Ri-right away General Zhuge Dan!” A soldier of the Heavenly Sword Army yelled in reply as teams of men rushed up to the walls with buckets of water in hand. After countless buckets of water were splashed atop the city walls, all of the fires were doused and only a few charred bodies remained. After the fires were extinguished, teams of shield men ran up the stone steps that led to the top of the city walls.

  “Brace yourselves! The enemy siege towers are almost here!” General Zhuge Dan yelled as he pulled out a thin looking rapier from its scabbard and raised it into the air.

  Soon, the dozens of siege towers finally arrived directly in front of the city walls. Moments later, the fronts of the siege towers swung open and created a bridge from the tower onto the top of the city walls. Once the bridge latched itself onto the city walls, countless soldiers wearing black armor poured out from the siege tower and onto the city walls.

  “Repel the enemy! Don’t let them gain a foothold!” Zhuge Dan yelled as his rapier plunged into one of Zhang’s soldiers right in one of the gaps in the poor man’s armor.

  The soldiers around Zhuge Dan followed his example and charged into battle with their weapons in hand and their shields held high. As they saw it, Zhuge Dan was a general worth dying for, because he was willing to fight on the front lines and risk death along with them. The morale of the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army always shot through the roof whenever Zhuge Dan was present.

  But in the end there was only one Zhuge Dan, while there were dozens of siege towers attacking the city from all sides. Although they could not create a foothold where Zhuge Dan was, Zhang’s soldiers were able to do so in many other parts of the city walls.

  Down below, within the city, hundreds of soldiers could be seen crowding behind the four city gates. These men could be seen piling anything they could find behind the city gates to create a barricade in case the siege rams knocked down the gates.

  “Quickly! Bring whatever you can find and block off the area around the city gates! We can’t let them into the city!” yelled a bulky soldier wearing purple armor as he helped a group of his comrades lift a heavy wooden column to the gate. These men had just knocked down a house that was built by the city gate and were using pieces of it to help create a blockade.

  But their efforts were fruitless, because before they could reach the city gate with the wooden column, a loud bang made them stop in their tracks and the sound of splintering wood rang in their ears.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Soon the tip of the siege ram could be seen sticking out from the wooden gate. Not long after, a large section of the gate was smashed in as the siege r
ams continued its assault on the gates.

  The sound of cheering could be heard from the soldiers outside of the gate as the hole in the city gate grew wider and wider with every passing second.

  “The gate fell! Man the barricade! Don’t let them pass!” Many of soldiers in the Heavenly Sword Army yelled as if their voices would help them stop the incoming attack.

  However, once the city gate fell, none of the attacking soldiers rushed in; instead, dozens of clay jars filled with lamp oil, was thrown at the barricade. Moments later a fiery arrow was shot in and ignited the barricade that the soldiers inside had desperately built. A few of them who were splashed by the lamp oil even caught on fire, just like their comrades on the city walls had done.

  While the city gate fell, the walls above them were not much better off. Zhang’s soldiers had gained their footholds and had taken control of multiple sections of the walls and were steadily pressing the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army back.

  Seeing this, Zhuge Dan could only order his men to retreat to the inner city walls. Like most cities, New Leaf City was split into two sections. One which was for the general public created from the lower and middle class, while the other was for the wealthier and higher social class. What separated them were defensive inner walls.

  “Everyone retreat! Retreat to the inner walls! Move back to the city lord’s mansion!” Zhuge Dan yelled.

  Of course while Zhuge Dan and his men fled, their backs were wide open and Zhang’s soldiers used this opportunity for the kill. With their backs facing the enemy, Zhuge Dan’s men fell one after the other as they desperately ran for the inner gates.

  Down below, huge flames danced about in front of the city gates; but from out of nowhere, large waves of water gushed in and extinguished them. Once the fire was extinguished, hundreds of foot soldiers rushed in to clear the debris on the inside of the gate.

  After clearing the debris, the men wearing black armor pulled out green flares from their pockets and shoot them into the air. Shortly after, the thundering of thousands of hooves pounding against the ground could be heard heading inside.

  “Kill them all!!” A mounted soldier roared he charged in through the city gate.

  Once Zhang’s cavalry made it inside the city walls, all hell broke loose. Soldiers clad in black armor could be seen impaling the fleeing enemy soldiers, while not showing a hint of emotion.

  By now all of the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army had either retreated behind the inner city walls or died fighting. In the meantime, Zhang’s soldiers had completely occupied the city's outer walls and entered the outer city.

  Zhang could be seen riding into the city along with the three beauties followed suit.

  “Anyone who is caught pillaging or harming the citizens of the city will be punished according to military law!” Zhang yelled to his men.

  “My lord! The enemy has holed themselves behind the inner city gates.” A soldier ran up to and reported to Zhang.

  “Hmph how long do they think they can hide in there?” Zhang sneered as he looked toward the direction of the inner city walls. Despite not being as tall as the outer city walls, the inner city walls would still require siege ladders to be used.

  “Brother, can I use the whip now?” Ai said with a grin as she looked at Zhang with stars glittering in her eyes. Now that they had the Heavenly Sword Army completely surrounded, there was no longer a need to be afraid of revealing their hidden trump cards.

  Chapter 73: Conqueror

  As Zhang’s soldiers made their way, deeper and deeper into the city, the rumbling sound of the siege ram wheels made the hearts of the Heavenly Sword Army, beat uncontrollably. For they knew that their lives were ticking away with every passing second as their executioners came closer and closer.

  Originally, they were filled with glee after having taken control of almost all the cities within the Green Clover Province without spilling a single drop of blood. Through the ploy of general Chang Chao and his concubine, who had been planted beside the Lord of the Green Clover Province from the start, their long term plan of invasion occurred perfectly.

  Countless men from the Heavenly Sword Province were able to infiltrate and secure position within the military and government of Green Clover Province which made the takeover extremely easy.

  But all their plans reverted to nothing when they faced the massive army of Aurora. Without the reinforcements from Heavenly Sword Province, these soldiers did not stand a chance.

  Soon a reverberating bang was heard from every corner of the city as the siege rams began assaulting the inner city gates. But the inner city gates were made completely out of iron and did not budge when the siege rams impacted them.

  “Fortify the gates! Use the wooden pillars of the mansion!” Zhuge Dan commanded to soldiers from atop countless stone steps that led to the lord’s mansion.

  Suddenly, dozens of black vines crept through the streets and made their way toward the inner city walls. These black vines made their way into the stonework of the inner city walls and began expanding. Soon, wherever the vines went they would cause the walls to bulge.

  Some of the stone blocks that made up the inner city walls began sticking out and fell over. It did not take too long for a section of the inner city walls to collapse.

  “If the gates won't budge that doesn't mean the walls won't.” Zhang said with a smirk as he watched Ai used her whip to raze the inner city walls.

  “Brother is that a big enough opening?” Ai asked as she pointed over a large section of the collapsed wall. As the words left her mouth, she leaned forward as if waiting for Zhang to praise her.

  “Yea, you did a great job.” Zhang said as he gently patted her on the head.

  Not long after the walls collapsed, Zhang’s black armored soldiers dismounted and stormed inside the city. Once more chaos ensued as the soldiers of the two armies engaged in battle.

  A gust of wind suddenly picked up and pushed many of Zhang’s men to the ground. But oddly none of the soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army seemed affected by it.

  “Kill the dogs of Aurora!” The soldiers of the Heavenly Sword Army roared.

  Zhuge Dan could be seen standing atop the roof of the city lord’s mansion, watching all the happenings occur below, as the wind swirled about around him. Illuminated by the moonlight as wind danced around him, Zhuge Dan looked like a mystic who was about to head to battle.

  A few moments after Zhuge Dan raised one of his arms and opened up his fist, a mini tornado could be seen swirling about on his palm.

  “Demonic Windcutter!” Zhuge Dan roared as the tornado spiraled off from his palm and onto the city lord’s mansion where he stood. The palm-sized tornado soon grew larger in size and became as big as a person as it sucked in the clay roof tiles beneath it. After making its way to the ground, the tornado became tremendous and because eating away at the buildings near it.

  Seeing this, creases appeared on Zhang’s forehead.

  “A wind mage and probably one with a high level of cultivation at that…” Zhang murmured as he frowned.

  “All forces retreat! Move out of the inner city and regroup behind the walls!” Zhang ordered to his men. If any of them was swept up by the raging tornado, then they would be done for. The debris in the tornado would turn whoever was unlucky enough to be catch by it to mush.

  Usually, every general of an army was a level seven or above cultivator but the majority of them were warrior types. It was quite rare to meet a high-level Mage on the battlefield because these people were usually kept as a last line of defense.

  Often times even if one encountered a high-level Mage on the battlefield it wasn't completely obvious either because these mages wouldn't use their high level magic until they desperately needed to. This was of course due to the high essence consumption of these techniques. If they empty their reserves slaughtering regular soldiers and then encountered a high-level warrior, then their fates would be sealed.

  “Soldiers of the Heave
nly Sword Army! Reform formations! We are abandoning the city!” Zhuge Dan yelled as he unleashed two more terrifying tornadoes from his palm.

  “You think you're the only Mage here!?” Ling laughed as she rose to the air while standing atop of red column of water. In fact, it would be more accurate to call this a column of blood.

  The rivers of blood spilled by the two armies were currently being used by Ling to create dozens of large crescent shaped blades that cut through the air. Once the crescent blades of blood collided with the tornadoes the two techniques canceled each other out and an eerie silence filled the battlefield.

  “Hmph insolent girl, you're still too young and naive to be facing me! If I wish to leave no one here can stop me!” Zhuge Dan yelled as he flicked his wrist and jumped up into the air. Suddenly dozens of fountains of blood sprouted from the necks of Zhang’s soldiers as their heads rolled to the ground.