Spell 24 : The Memories

'Did you honestly think that we would leave our trophy behind for you to steal?' A voice bellowed from behind, almost making all of us jump right out of our skins. We whirled around, weapons at the ready.

Two broad-shouldered men stood facing us. One of them had on a mask of a demon, and he was the taller of the two. He held a club over his shoulder, which covered with an iron pauldron. He also had on a vest that was pocketed with many clusters of explosives, all dynamites and fuses of sorts.

His partner had a lock of red hair that stood up like a mohawk. His facial features were remarkably sharp, especially his eyebrows that looked like an eagle's. His entire body was marked by Arabic-looking characters splashed in black ink. He had on a modified version of a hakama, wearing only the pants. He kept his blade sheathed right at his hipbone.

The two of them stood with their arms folded and staring straight at us. Behind them, their men stood at the ready to strike at us. The situation would have been tense, had it not been for the sneer that Mohawk had on his face.

'What's wrong? Lost your nerve?' The one with the masked stood forward. He then raised his club and pointed it straight at us, yelling 'COWARDS OF SHU!'

His men rallied behind him, cheering and booing at the same time. Some of them bashed their swords against their shields, making all sorts of noises they could to scream out their exhilaration. I furrowed my eyebrows, sickened by the sight in front of me. These soldiers knew nothing of etiquette; they were merely a bunch of savages.

It was Vanyssa who stood forward. Her dragon armour was already on, and her newly-acquired dragon helmet, which was basically the maw of a dragon, gave her a greater intimidation factor than she could wish for. The Wu soldiers fell back a little, cowered by the sight of the Dragon Knight.

'Afraid? Of pip squeaks like you? Do not make me laugh!' And with that, she let out a roar of a dragon. The ground shook and shivered with her bellow. If not for the fact that we were in the middle of a battle, I would have hugged her then.

Her steadfastness was a sight to behold. Most of the Wu soldiers fell back in alarm. Some even dropped onto the floor in fright. However, their two leaders were unfaltered. In fact, Mohawk's grin was getting wider and wider, stretching whatever skin he had left that was untattooed. He unsheathed his sword and swung it in the air. I blinked as the sunlight reflected off his shining blade into my eye.

And the next moment, he was gone!

I looked around in alarm, trying to find him. Then I felt my body stood still as his quiet and low voice trailed from behind me.

'Not bad, little girl. Had you been even a second slower, your head would have gone off too...'

My eyes widened in shock as I looked over at Vanyssa. Her dragon helmet was gone, exposing her entire face and a small cut on her face. She held her dragon claymore with her hands, shaking badly as she did so. Whatever Mohawk had just did, she had very nearly just escaped death. Mohawk reappeared back at his spot, with his sword sheathed and behaving as though he had not moved from his spot.

'Look at that,' said he as he turned his head to look back at his men, 'are you all afraid of just a little girl? Fools, show them the might of WU!'

The Wu soldiers roared in unison, morale running high again as they rushed forwards as one. Those with shields took the lead, covering their allies in the back. However, that did not stop Aeryssya as she launched a single arrow in the air.

'Rain of Arrows!'

The Wu soldiers had not expected the literal rain of deadly arrows heading straight at them from above. A good number of them fell as the arrows went through every single part of their bodies. I had no time to lose. I looked around and saw many weapon racks around.

'Alter Time!'

Time slowed around me as I concentrated. Using Telekinesis, I mustered all my power and will in lifting all of the swords, pikes, spears, maces, and hammers from the weapon racks. Slowly, I willed them to form a straight line right in front of me. I opened my eyes and saw my targets.

At that instant, time resumed back to its original flow. I released the weapons in a sweeping line of death at the soldiers rushing head-on at us. I could see how quickly fear took their senses as they saw weapons of all sorts flying straight at them. The collision between men and metal was not at all pretty.

Screams of pain licked the air as I cast Meteor and Tempest Storm right off the bat, wiping out many of the soldiers. Furthermore, my newly acquired Genesis was proving out to be extremely useful as well. The pillar of light that is Genesis was spawning off waves of angelic knights and archers, which managed to hold off the soldiers. 

Aeryssya had also brought snake traps of her own, which when stepped on, released poisonous serpents that claimed victims of their own from the soldiers. She was doing well on her own.

Meanwhile, Vanyssa had donned on her helmet again. To me, it looked very much like she was trying very badly to assuage her feelings of embarrassment of getting disarmed in just one hit. Her dragon claymore cleaved through lines and lines of infantry as she tried to get near to the two generals, who were just standing there, watching the carnage unfold.

'Crow! I will keep them off you! Free General Zhao now!' Shouted Aeryssya as she shot arrows in a flurry. Most of her traps were holding well; there was not a single Wu soldier that could get past her. She saw how Vanyssa was attempting to push past the enemy lines and yelled at her, 'Vanyssa! You are too far out! Retreat!'

Vanyssa heard her, and did a crazy sort of a leap back to Aeryssa's side. Then, to my greatest astonishment, she roared again and breathed fire! Potent waves of heat kept the enemy soldiers even more at bay.

It was almost a miracle how it was just the two of them keeping enemy lines back. I silently thanked them for the distraction. Wasting no time, I quickly ran back towards the cage where Zhao Yun was held captive.

But things were getting a little tricky. The two Wu generals had begun to make their moves.

The one with the demon mask leapt over the fray and landed just right in between me and the cage that held Zhao Yun. He swung his club, almost hitting me but luckily I leapt back in time. Though he did not actually hit me, the force that came with it had actually pushed me back. This opponent was nothing like anything that I had faced before. 

'Crater Force!'

He shouted, and slammed his club down on the floor. Several lines of force streaked out along the ground, cracking the earth as they did so. I only Blinked away just in time, to materialise a few feet from the spot I was standing on, which had already split open. 

I shot a Frostfire Bolt at him, which he deflected with ease. Lights of Heaven, my most effective spell against single targets, was also useless against him as he accurately judged the descent of the swords of light and destroyed them efficiently even before they impaled him

Think think! 

There's no way I could win him in a direct fight. What he lacked in speed, he made up with power and strength. 

Which means, I had to outsmart him somehow.

I looked around for something I could use. 

There were two pits nearby that held coals which were set on fire, providing heat and basically just for illuminating purposes. That gave me an idea. 

It was a long shot, but it might just work.

'Cast Iron Maiden!'

Two blocks of solid rock encased Demon Mask before he could even react. Not that he did not try to; the inner poudings told me I only had seconds before he would break out.

'Cast Alter Time!'

The 30s cooldown for Alter Time had just refreshed, and I quickly used it again. 

'Cast Mistcloak!'

I cast Mistcloak, not on myself, but on the pit of fire. It became invisible! Seeking the pit with my attuned magical senses, I quickly used Telekinesis to lift it up and slowly brought it above the Iron Maiden. 

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I could feel every single corner of my brain straining with stress as I continued to levitate the pit above the rock. It was extremely heavy, and therefore required more willpower and mental ability from me to keep it steady. Hastily, I took out the gem that contained Barrier and cast it on myself.

Any moment now...

The rock burst open with a resounding bang, spikes flying everywhere and destroying everything in near sight. Tents were ripped apart, and some unlucky horses that were nearby were instantly killed.

I took many hits as well, but luckily, Barrier took the brunt of the damage; I had my HP reduced to a quarter of what it was. Demon mask emerged from the tomb slowly, with his mace over his shoulder. And he spoke in a gruff voice, 'I have no idea what you were trying to do, but did you really think a silly rock tomb can stop me?'

I wiped the blood from my eyes as I tried to look at him. That last attack must have dazed me somehow; my vision was getting blurry. There was blood in my mouth and I spat it out, 'no tomb's gonna stop you, but eat flames!'

'Cast Tempest Seal!'

And along with that, I willed the pit to tip over. Demon Mask could not see the flames, but he could definitely feel the burning coals descend upon him. He yelled out in fright as he tried to beat off the invisible fire, but his movements had became sluggish due to the effects of Tempest Seal. He fell on the floor, trying to roll off the heat, but that was, unfortunately, the biggest mistake he could have ever made in his life.

The flames got to his explosives.

It was like watching fireworks, but instead of flares going up, it was kind of like an array of sparkling red fluids. Not really pretty to see, but at least, he was down. 

Slowly, I trawled over to the cage, dragging my feet as I did so. Demon Mask was not moving, sprawled all over the floor like a broken ragdoll. 

Zhao Yun was waiting impatiently in his cage, shaking the rungs with great agitation. He desperately pointed at the latch of the cage door, where only a person outside could reach. 

Before long, he was out. I undid the binds that held his hands together, and once they were free, he pulled free of the cloth that covered his mouth, running towards the battle that was going on between Aeryssya, Vanyssa and the mohawk guy. I cast Morning Light on myself as I ran back towards the other battle. The heal was not much, but at it did help with the bleeding.

Little did I know that there was a stir of movement behind me...

I caught up to them at last. To my horror, Vanyssa was lying unconscious on the floor, her blade right next to her while Aeryssya was clutching her right arm, which looked broken. The moment she saw me, she frantically tried to wave me back. Mohawk was just standing a few feet away from her, looking perfectly at ease. 

'Well,' said he, 'look who's here. Another victim to add to my list. Ranger, watch as another one of your companions perish to my blade.' In the next moment, Quick Time was activated. Even as time slowed, he was practically running towards me.

 I raised my hand for another spell, but there was no need to.

At that moment, a spear came out from nowhere and impaled the ground right before Mohawk, shattering the earth as it did so. 

'Gan Ning!' came a voice from all around us, 'stop preying on those weaker than you! Come face me instead!'

And suddenly, Zhao Yun was standing with perfect balance on the spear that he had thrown on the ground. He somersaulted and landed on the ground, grabbing the spear and pointing it straight at Mohawk, who was apparently called Gan Ning.

Gan Ning stopped in his tracks and grinned at Zhao Yun. 

Suddenly, there was a roar from behind us and I felt a massive blow to my back. I could not even yell out in surprise; I just fell forwards onto the hard earth. Pain enveloped my every sense and it was all I could do to not wreck about. 

With all the commotion happening, I could vaguely make out Zhao Yun grabbing me by my armpits, and I felt myself being dragged forwards. Everything was in pandemonium and I only could hear echoes in my head. I knew my HP was dangerously low, which was probably the cause of all this sense of lostness. I felt the familiar sensation of fire all around me as I began to panic. But then, darkness fell in my eyes and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I felt myself being rocked up and down. I opened my eyes and saw that I had been strapped to the back of a horse. A pounding pain was going in my head and I put my head up to it, gasping as I did so. 

'You're awake? That's good. We're not far now.' Zhao Yun's voice floated over the wind. 

Then, I suddenly recalled what had just happened. 'Vanyssa! Aeryssya! Where are they? Are they al-' I began to ask but Zhao Yun put up a hand to stop me. From where I was sitting, his back was facing me as he pulled the reins of the horse.

'Your knight friend is safe. She is on Pang Tong's horse. They went ahead because she is in need of immediate medical attention. As for your ranger friend...' He stopped in mid-sentence, clearly not wanting to continue speaking. I felt fear and dread growing and at that moment, I lost control of my emotions.

'Why d'you stop? WHERE THE FUCK IS AERYSSYA?' I screamed. 

Zhao Yun pulled on the reins and stopped the horse. He dismounted from the horse and walked back to look at me.

'Listen,' he said as I struggled and fought with the ropes that bounded me, 'you were knocked out by Huang Gai's fist, the one whom you were fighting while you were trying to rescue me. Though he took a heavy hit, he did not perish. At the same time, the Wu soldiers that were sent out to meet Pang Tong had retreated back to the camp. It would have been suicidal to stay and fight with just me and the ranger. She pleaded me to bring both you and the knight and escape. I disagreed with her, but the look on her face told me that she was determined on this.'

'SO YOU FUCKING LEFT HER TO DIE?! WHAT KIND OF A GENERAL ARE YOU? LET ME GO! I'M GOING TO SAVE HER NOW!'  I roared furiously as I fought desperately against those beastly ropes. 

'She did not want for all of us to die! I took you and your friend with me as she released a fire trap that spawned flames behind us, preventing anyone to cross over to stop us. If you are to go back now and get yourself killed, you would have made her sacrifice go in vain! Are you sure you want that?' He pleaded earnestly, trying to make me see reason.

'But she's all alone back there...' Despair fell upon me as the harsh reality sunk in deep into my consciousness. I knew that there was very little chance that she would be alive, much less escape from two enemy generals and an entire battalion of infantry. Hot tears sprung up from my eyes as I thought about what she had to go through.

Zhao Yun put a reassuring hand on my back as he climbed back up the horse. 'She had some last words though. And wanted me to convey them to you.'

'What were they? Tell me!' I asked quickly, all my focus on the back of the general.

'She said,' he continued as he spurred the horse into motion, 'that there is a slight chance her sister might still be alive. Whatever you do, please try to find news of her. For her sake.'

The rest of the journey was silent as my heart sang out in sorrow for one of the greatest friend that I had the opportunity to meet in this world of virtual reality.

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