BOOK VI
THE EMPYREAN BLACKSMITH
VOLUME XXI
WORLD REBORN
CHAPTER 501
THE ONSLAUGHT
Lucky left behind no shadow as she darted through the innumerable ranks of the invaders. She had long since lost the count of how many she had slain, the print of it all having stained the leather armor and her already dulled blades of the daggers. The sweat trickled down her forehead, biting away at her eyes, yet she didn't even dare wipe it away from the fear of being blindsided. It was so sudden -- so abrupt. Just as they got the request for the reinforcements, before they even had a chance to properly organize, the swarm came, bounding the mountains, bounding the valleys, making numbers seem irrelevant.
They were at the doorsteps of the City of Sun, the first major city of the Empyrion. Barely ten miles away from it all, the City still felt the shockwaves of the battles ongoing. How many people lived in that city? Over four million, last it was checked. Most weren’t part of the army, over half not even being dedicated cultivators, yet many still braved the weapons and the arts and charged out with the feeble army they were able to muster up -- less than two hundred thousand altogether, reinforcements included.
Opposite of them, however, stood a sea they could not even put a dent into; however many they felled, twice as many filled their numbers. They fought with the fervor and valor Lucky had never seen them with before, as though there was an inspiring wind blowing into their backs.
She thrust her right arm sideways, slicing as she manifested into the world briefly, taking the head of another General. That was the fifteenth she'd slain in just the half-hour they were battling, yet it hardly seemed to impede their ranks. The soldiers themselves knew what do without someone shouting at them, moving in concert as a proper army should. She still didn't quite understand how they were able to hold them back. No, she did -- through the beyond-brilliant effort of fewer than ten figures beside herself.
Ion led the charge of over fifty thousand, withstanding the central push practically all on his own. He took hundreds of Titulars by his lonesome, reaping lives like the incarnation of death on the battlefield. He appeared not to get tired or wrung from the sights, which inspired many more to reach into the depths of their souls for just a tinge more, to kill just one more before they themselves died.
Their left flank was protected by the brilliant duos of four young Generals, one of whom Lucky herself had taught a long time ago -- Rio, Xia, Yun, and Namia. The youngs poured their heart out, fighting without a moment's break, barely hanging on. They couldn't continue for much longer, Lucky knew. All reserves have their bottom, no matter how brightly they burn.
The left flank, the side with the most rugged terrain, was held up by Lucky, Lyn, Ty, Irot and over a hundred more Elite Shadows. Unlike other battlefronts, theirs was not the one of direct confrontation; rather, they darted and danced around the treed and hilly terrain, ducking around the tall and thick rocks, playing with the shadows to surprise their foe.
Nonetheless, despite the lack of the obvious signs, their side was perhaps the most gruesome; they held up against an outpour of cultivators, some ranging from barely being in the Core Realm to Universal Titulars. Corpses littered the streaks of makeshift roads as well as several patches of flatland, blood having already dyed the earth beneath in thick red.
She didn’t know what had transpired at the Mountain Pass, but many familiar faces were missing. Too many, really. One thing was for certain, however -- they were bested. And they couldn’t be bested no more.
Dragons were at the very least ten whole minutes away from reaching them. The closest one capable of actually impacting the battle on a large scale was Alison who was still good five minutes away. Lucky, however, suspected that she would have trouble boring through the demons of her mind to thrust herself into this hell.
Lino? Ella? Hannah? From the survivors, she knew they were stuck fighting the true soldiers of the Holy Army. The Primes and Descent. So long as they won, and so long as Lucky and the rest held out until their return, they would win. No, they would win either way; it was only a matter of how much will they have to sacrifice to achieve today's victory.
She felt a talisman inside her void shudder as she withdrew momentarily, letting Lyn take over her post. Gasping for breath, she reached into the void world and ripped open the talisman, a small, palm-sized screen lighting up in front of her eyes, quickly molding into a worried face of Allison.
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“Lucky?! Are you okay?!” she cried out from the other side.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Lucky chuckled, finding it strange how her tensed muscles and muddied mind both cleared up immediately. Alison truly had a strange impact on the people. “Where are you?”
“I’m over the Crossing,” Alison replied. “I’m almost there. Hang on. Just hang on, please.”
“... prepare yourself,” Lucky said elusively. “Before you come.”
“... what do you mean?” Alison asked.
“I gotta go,” instead of replying, Lucky ducked her head over to the side of the rock and glanced out, seeing another batch of the enemies rushing toward them. “Don’t die on me, you hear?”
“L’, what--”
Two daggers in her fingers lit up in macabre shadows as she turned invisible to the naked eye, all signs of life vanishing from her. She became the world itself, a part of it, skirting over to the backline where the commanding tent was being set up. She couldn’t let them establish a proper chain of command; if they fought like this while without it, then what if they set it up properly? Would they be able to endure even for a few minutes?
She quickly located the man she presumed was in charge -- a bald-headed, black-eyed man clad in strange, leather armor. He was flaying his arms about whilst shouting commands at his soldiers, and appeared completely oblivious that his life was being targeted.
Lucky darted forward, picking up on speed, ensuring not a trace of her left the realm of shadows. Tightening her grips on the daggers, she launched herself off the earth, vaulting over a bone-shaped, white rock and onto the slight elevation where the command was being set up, looming over it in an arc, bound directly toward the man who still looked too engrossed in giving commands to pick her out.
She began falling toward him, her speed increasing further, the blades of the daggers gleaming in a strange light. She struck out with both blades, wishing to ensure the kill, as she felt goosebumps and shivers strike at her soul. Withdrawing the daggers rapidly, she crossed them to her left and braced herself; not a breath later, she felt force akin to a mountain-sized boulder belt against her, throwing her out of the realm of shadows and the air, straight into the string of trees. She crashed through all of them, breaking them in half, in the process catching the glimpse of her assailant -- it was a woman draped in resplendent armor, her weapon-bearing hand lowering the shimmering bow it held, looking at her with a trace of surprise.
The man standing beside her finally seemed to come to, startled, as he jumped next to her, turning toward Lucky in wonder.
The latter ignored the pain as she quickly realized this wasn’t like the other pushes; they sent someone who knew what he was doing, in addition to assigning him someone who can actually protect him from the assassination attempts.
She dug her nails into the earth and infused them with Qi, preventing herself from rolling backward, instead skidding into a crouching position, locks of her hair fluttering in the wind she had formed. Without resting, she switched one of the daggers from the reverse grip into a standard one, accelerating onward. She caught a glimmer from the corner of her eye, molding her feet into shadow as she ducked right, evading the arrow that burned through the trees and rocks alike, boring into the earth for good two-three miles before stopping.
Soon after, another one came, and after that another; within seconds, there was a shower of them, fired off without catching a single breath. Lucky strained her eyes, muscles and her Divine Sense to their maximum, using all she had at her disposal to evade and deflect those she couldn’t evade. Though it felt like an eternity, she returned back to the elevation less than ten seconds later, jumping out of the thick ruins of earth and trees.
Her eyes locked with the woman’s whose now burned with fury and shame besides surprise; she lifted her arms up once more, nocking seemingly nothing as Qi about the bow stirred, shifting into a pulsating arrow.
Looking over the woman's armor, Lucky realized she would have a tough time killing her quickly, which made her switch her eyes back over to the man who was now protected not only by the woman but also a full circle of well-armored guards all giving her death stares.
She cringed inwardly, landing, at last, standing barely fifteen meters away from them. The rest of the battlefield blurred out of her vision as she couldn't afford to keep her attention on it any longer. Though she felt a thrill rising deep within her soul, one she'd only ever feel when encountering seemingly impossible tasks, she hardly rejoiced over it. It was not a matter of victory -- but whether she could achieve it swiftly or not. And the answer was that she clearly couldn't. She was confident in all aspects of her strength, even the direct confrontation as Lino himself taught her, but she didn't have the physical strength to back up her poise.
“Had you not let out a sliver of bloodlust toward the end,” the woman spoke all of a sudden, pulling down her bow and stepping out toward Lucky. “You would have killed him. That is rather impressive; even the best men of the Bloodmoon can’t evade me so skillfully. I’ll be bold and assume you’re the infamous Death, the head of the Shadow Order of the Empyrion. Less a pleasure, and more an honor.”
“...” Lucky said nothing, merely studying the woman deeply, trying to figure out her motives, still gripping her daggers tightly.
“My name’s Eyrine,” the woman said, smiling at Lucky’s reaction. “And the man you had just tried to kill is my husband, Huruk. I’ll be blunt -- I want you to join us. Name your price.”
“...” Lucky stared dumbly at the woman for a moment before bursting out into laughter, shaking her head. “Leave it to the Holy Grounds to be arrogant enough to try and recruit someone in the midst of a battle. You may know my name, but you clearly don’t know me. Raise your bow woman. I’ve no time for the idle chatter.”
“Don’t be so quick to reject my offer,” Eyrine chuckled as though having expected Lucky to react the way she did. “If you do join us, I promise to spare all people on this side of the battle. It is only a matter of time before your frontlines collapse and before you’re routed from the back. There’s not going to be another soul in the entire army that’s going to offer you the same conditions. Think carefully for a moment.”
“... so what?” Lucky replied somewhat angrily. “The worst that’ll happen is that we’re going to die. Bathe in that glory, ‘cause none of you fuckers are leaving this continent alive. Now, I said, raise your bow, woman. Because Death is coming.”