Blue Phoenix

Standing in the morning mist, their shoes were wet from the dew on the ground. Everyone was completely silent. The beasts woke at dawn and had finished their daily necessities. They eagerly found their position in line ready to move towards the city walls for the second day of the siege.

None of the beasts were aware of the task Hui Yue gave to Wan Qiao, but they all felt a shiver run through their bodies as they saw the grave expressions on the Saints in front of them. No smiles were visible on their stern faces. The eyes of the Saints were focused on the city walls in the distance. They were vigilant, so much so that the air around them was humming from the energy continually rotating within the bodies of these experts. It was obvious to anyone that they were getting ready for a fierce fight, and seeing this the beasts went wild. They had roared before, they had howled and screeched, but seeing the Saints standing in front of them stretching their ancient bodies getting ready to fight, caused energy to flood out from their bodies unconsciously. The beasts now roared far louder than ever before. Their battle cry was so loud that even a distance away, at the city walls, all the soldiers felt the shockwave. Although it had lost a lot of energy while traveling to the city, some strength remained. It slammed into the front lines causing everyone to take a few steps backwards before they stabilized themselves.

The soldiers, who were forced backwards, swallowed nervously as they realized that the roar of the beasts was enough to push them back. Still they quickly steeled their determination and once more regained their position as they stood patiently waiting for the opponents to come.

The ground trembled as the weaponry was once more dragged towards the tall walls. The ballistae were constantly shooting massive arrows one after another into the city wall and the city gate with the intent of destroying them. Another benefit of these massive arrows which were now firmly stuck in the walls and the gate was that some beasts used them to climb the walls. After making it to the top, they threw themselves into the desperate battle for survival. Beasts descended from the skies; beasts flooded out of the towers, and others jumped up using the massive arrows. This made it so the beasts were capable of appearing at various places on the walls which allowed for them to create pincer attacks, killing off whole areas at once.

The humans used tactics as well causing one beast to fall after another, but the loss of life was always far greater on the human side. Looking at the many beasts and their desperate fight, Hui Yue nodded his head unconsciously as he turned around and looked to Wan Qiao. The woman stood right behind him, and her shape was that of the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle. She stood there with her massive body; her wingspan was twenty meters long. Looking at her, Hui Yue felt a sense of comfort, and he gently patted her head before he realized what he was doing.

Smiling awkwardly, the young man turned back towards the war and heaved a heavy sigh. The task he had given Wan Qiao was in no way simple, and he knew that there was a chance she might not return, yet this was war. “She is the strongest of them all,” He mumbled to himself, “She’ll be fine.”

Closing his eyes for a moment to control the emotions in his heart, he then opened them again and the hesitation that was hidden deep within was now gone. His eyes shone with determination and his back was straight as he called for Wan Qiao, “It’s time.” He said slowly as he narrowed his eyes. “Remember that safety is the most important. If you see multiple Saints coming for you, then make sure to fall back. Information is second most important,” He continued, “If you can tell me what it looks like then I will be grateful, and finally if you can do anything about it then everything will be perfect. But I don’t think you will be able to do anything about it before the Saints come after you.”

Turning towards the many Saints behind him, Hui Yue continued speaking, “Wan Qiao has a mission taking her into the city walls. If you hear her in trouble, enter the city and assist her. Only escape, do not battle. If Wan Qiao manages to escape on her own and Saints pursue her then make sure she is not captured. If they pursue you past the city walls, then give them a fight. If you cannot win against your opponent, then drag out the fight as much as possible so that others can come and assist you, or flee. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again this is war. Don’t be nice to your enemy, kill them by any means even underhanded ones. You can’t help your fellow beasts if you’re dead. Survival is the most important aspect of this battle.” Hearing the words Hui Yue spoke, everyone nodded their heads with serious expressions. They all understood what he said, and they would all strictly follow his words.

“Well then, I’ll get going,” Wan Qiao said with an excited voice and moments after her wings flapped a few times. The massive bird took to the sky. Her speed so incredibly swift that Hui Yue had to focus to be able to see her.

….

“Lord!” A servant yelled out loud as he scrambled to his feet after falling through the door to the house where the Grand Marshall was currently located. “Lord this is terrible! A large bird is coming our way, far larger than any of the beasts we have fought before. I believe it is a Saint!” The servant was completely petrified by the thought of Saints joining the war because it meant that the soldiers on the wall would surely be slaughtered. Although it seemed that they could hold out against the beast horde, it would be completely different the moment Saints joined the fray.

The moment the words left the lips of the servant, all the figures within the house looked at the servant. The faces of four of them were filled with excitement while the fifth frowned. The four experts who were excited all looked toward the fifth person, filled with expectations, but he said nothing for a moment. Closing his eyes it was clear he was thinking things through.

“My lord, the Saint is flying fast we need to act now,” One of the four urged. His eyes were constantly darting from the pondering man towards the door of the room; his behavior clearly showed that he was on the edge ready to ignore orders and rush outside, but his loyalty made him stay within the room.

“You can go,” The thoughtful man said, but as soon as the four experts were close to the door, the man opened his mouth once more, “You are only allowed to follow the expert to the gates. Do not leave the city. I don’t know what this beast army has planned.”

“They are beasts,” One of the four mumbled, “What can they plan with those underdeveloped brains of theirs.” Hearing his mumble the man felt his face go red from anger, and he rose from his chair, “You know nothing about warfare, but this Grand Marshall of theirs definitely knows what he is doing. For him to lure our Saints out this early in the war, it’s obvious that he has something planned. Now go chase the Saint out of our city!” He said as the four experts left the room.

“Should we bring the others?” A woman asked. She had previously been drinking tea. She had been seemingly carefree and not too interested in what was happening, yet right now, her eyes shone with interest, and a smile was on her beautiful face.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a single Saint. The four of us are more than enough to deal with him.” The tall man said with a laugh as he patted the woman on the top of her head as though she were a dog. The woman quickly swatted his hand away and pouted afterwards, saying no more.

At the front the four men, a short young man was standing. He seemed to be around fifteen years of age, a few years younger than Hui Yue, yet there was ice in the air surrounding him. He was the only one of the four who was not smiling. His eyes were focused on the figure in the sky, and suddenly a sharp epee appeared in his hands. The young man stomped the ground and shot towards the massive flying bird with, the epee in front of him ready to strike

“There he goes,” The tall man said with a smile on his lips. Shaking his hands and rolling his shoulders, the tall man loosened his muscles before he too stomped hard on the ground following behind the young man towards the flying eagle. Only a short moment passed before the final two copied the previous ones’ actions and flew into the skies above.

….

Wan Qiao was in the air and quickly arrived at the city walls; however, unlike what the soldiers on top of the wall expected, Wan Qiao flew right over them and swiftly headed towards the city gates. Flying low she looked at the city gates from the inside, and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw that a massive stone blocked the gates.

“That goddamn kid, how could he have known that they would block it with a stone…” Wan Qiao’s voice trailed off as she felt astonished. Hui Yue said that this would probably be how they reinforced the city gates, and if this were the case, then they would have problems when it was time to finally enter the city because the gates would be much harder to open. Truthfully a stone like this was easy to destroy by a Saint or an Emperor, but destroying it might not be that much of a benefit. If it were destroyed the debris would stay in place and continue to block the entrance. They needed to find a way to remove both stone and debris to ensure that it was no longer was in their way. Another option was to get everyone to enter the City by crossing the city walls, however to do that, their forces were likely to suffer greatly.

“Oh, company?” Wan Qiao said as she saw a figure flying her way. Her eyes narrowed, her muscles tensed, and her blood started to boil within her veins. This was war! It was finally her time to shine, but just as a vicious smile appeared on her face, it twisted to annoyance. “Escaping is important since he needs this information,” She grumbled and swung her wings changing the direction she was flying. Within a few flaps of her wings, she had exited the capital city.

The One-Horned Jasmine Eagle was in a bad mood because she felt that she was forced to retreat, something she had never done before. But thinking it over, she also knew that Hui Yue was right. This was not her usual life, this was war, and in war, the Grand Marshall needed all the information he could get.

Sighing deeply, the woman flew past the city walls. As she arrived on the other side, she saw thirty-nine experts waiting patiently for her return. A smirk appeared on her face as she looked behind her, but she quickly saw that the experts who were following her were now nowhere to be seen. She could not help but feel disappointed about this face.

Seeing that things did not go according to her wishes, Wan Qiao could do nothing but fly towards Hui Yue and give him the news she managed to obtain from her swift visit to the Imperial Capital.