Gyun swung his sword repeatedly, cleaving into men indiscriminately, sweat dripping from within his helmet down his face as he slowly made his way through the crowded walls. With the help of Qi, his blade cut through men like butter; the stench of blood was suffocating, and it drenched Gyun's entire body.
The Aegeans were rallying to hold the walls and Southern gate desperately, but the Rangers had yet to die off; on the contrary, they were beginning to overwhelm the Aegean footsoldiers.
"On me! On me! Rally to the Gate!" Gyun screamed out, waving his sword, blood dripping off the sword, splattering the litter of bodies on the ground and on to him.
His rally cry was interrupted as a sharp shock of pain shot through Gyun's body, and a warm object slid between the gaps of his armor in his side.
Turning he swung his sword desperately trying to find who had stabbed him; in his helmet, the thin slit for a vision made it hard to see what was going on and hard to breathe, but as his other hand slid down he felt a narrow hilt of a dagger, the blade had been slid between his ribs, lodged two to three inches in his body.
Gyun yelled as he swung his sword, trying to back up into the line of rangers behind him, one hand cradling the knife lodged in his side. Too scared to pull it out Gyun left it in as he fell backward onto his butt, as the pain became too much for him, landing on a dead Rangers body, crawling over the litter of dead bodies, the blood-stained stone walls, the mass of organs spilling out of both living and dead soldiers he crawled over all of it.
Struggling to breathe as he gritted his teeth, he sensed danger, turning to his side just as a fresh-faced looking Aegean guardsman kicked him in the helmet, nearly knocking him out; blood dripped from his mouth in his helmet sliding down before dripping off his helmet onto the bloody fortress walls
Gyun rolled, the dagger in his side lodging deeper into his body as he rolled over it; screaming in pain, he managed to rip it out of his side; blood coated the blade all the way to the hilt as the Aegean Guardsman lept forward with an attack.
Roaring, he rolled again as the Guardsman swung his heavy sword down onto where Gyun used to be, slicing the man's ankle as he tackled the man. After a brief struggle, Gyun managed to get on top of the man; the Guardsman grabbed Gyun's throat, trying to strangle him from the bottom, their armor clattered and clanked as they struggled.
A guttural yell erupted from the desperate Ranger as he plunged the dagger into the man's body over and over; the young fresh-faced Guardsman's squeeze on his throat became lighter and lighter until his hands fell from his throat.
Breathing heavily, Gyun panted for a moment before tearing off his helmet and raising his hand up.
"Medic! Medic!'
Cradling the wound on his side as he scooted to get his back to the wall, he noticed that the screams were beginning to lessen.
A moment later, a Ranger with a white-painted helmet ran over to him, "Where are you hurt!?"
Gyun raised his hand, showing the stab wound, before quickly putting his hand back over the stab wound and pushing down on it.
The medic's voice was surprisingly calm; he reached into his pack on his chest, pulling out a small vial, "Drink this!"
Gyun took the small vial downing it; he knew what it was; he had taken it before; it was a fast-acting pain suppressant and adrenaline booster; it was known for eliminating a man's fear of death, and it was one of the most potent mass-produced drugs from the Tang clan. It was meant to be a temporary solution for Rangers as they were small in number; there was no time for a medic to spend much time on one man; it wasn't meant to save you. It was meant to buy you time.
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The medic nodded to Gyun, "Get to the medical tent immediately after this! Here!" tossing him a roll of gauze to bandage his wound.
"Yes sir",
The medic handed Gyun his helmet back, glancing around at the almost clear walls, "The gatehouse is the last stand for those fuckers! You ready, Ranger?!" he yelled, extending his hand to him.
Sliding the helmet over his head, he could already feel the drug taking effect. He still felt the pain, but the fear was subsiding. Taking a deep breath, he took the man's hand, "Yes sir"
Pulling Gyun up, amongst the bloody battle they were standing in, there was an exchange of respect between them.
But the frantic yelling of the battlefield and screams of the dying quickly pulled them back, and the small slits in the helmet seemed even smaller; Gyun's body felt unbearable pain, yet it wasn't affecting him. He was bleeding out onto the fortress's stone walls, and yet he felt no fear.
A yell rang out over the battlefield "THE AEGEANS ARE RUNNING! THE GATES ARE OURS!"
A smile cracked the pained face of Gyun under his helmet; pounding his chest as cries of celebration erupted, he trudged forward toward the gatehouse; there was a limp in his step as he wrapped gauze over the wound tightly; he had lost his sword somewhere in the chaos.
His blood-covered gloved hand fumbled as it reached onto his belt; grabbing a small metal tube,
Panting, gritting his teeth through the pain, he held the tube up and pointed to the sky, pulling the small string.
*BOOM!*
A flare shot out of the tube, screaming and whistling through the sunny noon skys; the flare exploded after being a few hundred meters in the sky into a brilliant green. Not long after, other flares shot up from around the fortress; the brilliant green explosions lit up the sky, and dozens of the flares were being shot.
The ranger captain, his uniform now bloody, was screaming orders to open the gates for the rest of the army, that was marching towards them now on the horizon.
"Get these fucking doors open now! Where is our fucking perimeter? Get it done now! Squadrons 2 and 5 watch our backs in case those godless heathens try to take back their gate!"
Gyun groaned as he reached down, grabbing a dead Rangers sword. He raised it, shouting out, "Squadron 5, form up on me!" as he jumped down the wall onto the fortress gate courtyard; rolling as he stood up, he clutched his side.
Not long after, surviving squad members gathered around him, 5 out of the starting 9, "Squad leader, they fucked you up, good, eh?" the voice was one of Gyun's older squad members, Vin Jin
Tossing the gauze to Vin, Gyun raised his arms, "Wrap me up before I bleed out."
"Tch! So serious? You see this Li?"
Gyun grunted in pain as Vin wrapped the gauze tightly around his stomach, with his hands on his head as the other squad members formed a line. Li, the sole female squad member, reached into her hip pack, grabbing a small vial that the medic had given Gyun earlier.
She placed it into his hand, "My advice as squad medic is don't overdose, any more than this vial will kill you...understand?"
Gyun nodded from under his helmet. His eyes darted around; the first vial had been enough; his heart was pounding; he was soaked in sweat and tired, yet he craved something more.
After a final tug of the bandages, Vin stepped back, "Done, it will last for a few hours...don't die o-"
Vin was interrupted by a cry from the lookouts on the edge of the perimeter, "AEGEANS!!! THEY'RE COUNTERATTACKING!"
Twirling his sword, he felt like the skin was tearing around the wound with every slight movement; the black uniform and cloth were dyed red, and the blood was seeping into the bandages.
-Fuck it-
Popping off the second vial's cap he downed it in one go, the bitter taste burned all the way down his throat almost immediately.
"FORM UP ON ME!"
Twirling his sword faster and faster, pain exploded throughout his side; his breathing quickened, and he could hear the marching.
Glancing back at the gates, the small group of around two dozen Rangers who were still alive were working on the gate desperately, two dozen out of two hundred.
The Aegeans appeared at the end of the courtyard; Gyun was basically hyperventilating at his point; the second vial was now taking effect at this point. His chest hurt as his heart pounded away; his entire body felt hot.
"READY! READY!"
Beating his chest as the Aegeans approached, Gyun took a deep breath, smelling the bloody stench of the wall and courtyard; a single silver knight was leading the Aegean counterattack, pointing his sword at the knight.
"WE MEET THESE GODLESS COWARDS! IN THE CENTER!! SHOW THEM THE HONOR OF THE RANGERS!"
Focusing his Qi into his sword, it quivered and trembled in his hand, glowing a light red. He charged forward, kicking the ground, and the stone tiles shattered as he flew forward, his eyes holding vaguely restrained lunacy.
His slash came from the side as he twisted, getting as much momentum for the strike; it was a strike not meant to attack but to kill; the sharp blade was aimed at the neck of the Silver Knight.
The Knight's eyes widened in surprise as he raised his sword to block it, but with light footwork almost like a dancer, Gyun spun past him, slicing into the Infantry soldiers behind him.
The eyes of horror as the screams erupted from the infantrymen, blood sprayed everywhere as half a dozen soldiers were bisected, their upper torsos falling off, their eyes still open in shock. The ones who lived had some sort of limb cut off as Gyun continued on his rampage. His glowing red blade was soaked in the blood of the men who had placed their faith in a knight.
A cacophony of screams erupted as soldiers became corpses; the Knight tried to stop him but was stopped by the rest of the Ranger's squad.
Grabbing a man's head, he used a surge of Qi; there was a short scream before the man's head exploded, making a disgusting popping noise, and brains and blood splattered Gyun's already-soaked uniform, the blood that was constantly welling up in Gyun's mouth from biting his tongue after getting kicked forced him to breathe through his nose inhaling the smells of blood and guts, a nauseating smell of death permeated his body. It was like a whirlwind of violence; he needed all of these godless heathens dead, and he needed them dead now, and he wanted it bloody, as bloody as he could make it.