#9 - Accomplished with A Wound

"Another enemy unit down!"

Albard shouted after he hits another enemy soldier and finishes him off. I too, have sliced much flesh and blood at the same time. But I looked at other enemy troops in front of us, there were still a lot of them that has to be stalled. They looked at us with determined eyes, determined to kill us off.

"There's still a lot of them, Albard," I said. "And still, we do not receive any message from Hajjar or other allied units passing here." I walked and stood beside Albard, looking at the fully-prepared incoming wave.

"They still have much power… But, they just attack blindly. Are they don't have any tactics? They have many advantages here." Albard said as he catch his breath. Surely, looking at the enemies will make you feel exhausted, even though it's still an early fight.

"Stand still, Albard. We are just here to buy more time. I am sure any allied units will pass by and help us." I said, trying to encourage him. "Or, we wait for Hajjar's message. After that, we'll set up a smoke and run away."

He nodded as a reply. He prepared his spears, and I prepared my sword. With the enemy starts to run in our way, we start to stall them at the same time.

The swords and spears clanked with the enemy's weapons, and our weapons started passing through their bones and fleshes. One by one, many enemies die and leave their blood on our blade.

After many minutes pass by, the ranged enemy troops are now also taking advantage of high terrains and buildings. Their Magister starts to launch their spells upon us, while their crossbow units attack from the low ground.

"Another guest joined the battle! Sheesh, it will be a lot trickier." I mumbled, while pointing out my swords at the enemies that surround us now. Albard was also cornered, even our backs now have met each other.

"Hiya!"

That voice, sounds familiar to me.

After that voice surrounds us and the enemy troops, unknown bullets start spitting out of nowhere, shooting through the enemy's bodies very quickly. In a few minutes, our surroundings have been cleaned up. We looked at the back, other allied soldiers are approaching us. I saw another familiar person in their ranks.

"Reinforcements? Ah, they really made it in time." Albard said with relief. "Hey, look. In their frontlines, there's..."

They quickly catch us at our positions. Vignette suddenly appeared from the ruined building beside us. In that means, Vignette is the one that cast the bullets before.

"Vignette, good job." A person armed with a shield in his hand praised Vignette. But she doesn't seem to have cared about that. Instead, she runs closer to me.

"Comrade, you were almost going to jeaven before." She said. "Luckily, I got your back at the right time."

I respond to her lines with a slight smile and nod. I can't say anything because it's the real truth. I and Albard almost get killed before.

"Everyone, fall back!"

That sound comes from the source of the enemy wave. Llaisiane ordered his armies to quickly fall back after he saw our reinforcements arrive and how his soldiers get killed so easily before.

"Who is him, Khidr?" An old man walked and stand beside me, asked. I looked at him, and looked back at the exhausted enemy troops there. Looks like they are fatigued too.

"Father, he's the enemy commander, Llaisiane. They before blocked our route to Mount Ammar. I and Albard try to stall them while letting Hajjar and another survivor we rescued to find another route." I explained the situation to that old man, who is my father, Sulaiman.

"That's explained why I found Hajjar and workers from her office are twirling around the city to find another way." Father said. "We've divided our units in two, and ordered the other unit to escort them to Mount Ammar, while we're here to rescue another comrade."

I nodded as a response. Vignette then stands beside me too. Albard and that shield guy with his comrade are standing in front of us.

"What's our plan now, Master Sulaiman?" That guy asked.

"Prepare to engage." Father commanded. "We'll aim for their commander's head. We are the only one who remains in this ruined city. We must catch up to another unit as quickly as possible."

"We fight again, huh?" Albard said excitedly.

Looking at us, Llaisiane walks closer to us. Their soldiers stand in their position quietly while looking at their commander with slightly surpised faces.

"Everyone, retreat and report it to Phoenix! I want to deal a bit of final damage to them." Llaisiane said as he uses the hand signal too to give an order. His troops quickly retreated from our sights, until there was no enemy other than Llaisiane himself.

"Looks like we can make it in time." Vignette joked as she laughed.

Llaisiane prepared his knives, and charged us without any maneuver or trick. We confidently prepared too, Vignette has pointed out and pulled the trigger of her gun, but suddenly, Llaisiane disappeared before the bullets can reach his body.

"Wait, where is him?"

With shocked faces, everyone looked at their surroundings, including me. A dark aura approached my back. I quickly turned around and spotted Llaisiane with his knives, prepared to be winged on me.

"Everyone, divide!" Father shouted out, and other people separated and make a circle, with me and Llaisiane as the center. After that, they throw the smoke at my surroundings as I parried his attack.

The smoke has filled the air in my surroundings, and after that, Llaisiane disappeared again with a slight smile. Then after that, several knives were thrown at me from any direction. I tried to evade it, and I succeed to do that.

"Son, evade!"

I looked at where my father's voice comes out, and I saw a knife being thrown at me and quickly came closer. I can't evade that, I tried to just move and closed my eyes. I am lying on the ground as another step approaches me.

"Ugh…"

I looked at my front, and Father stands exactly there. After a few minutes, he fell on my hand. I saw that knife is stuck on his shoulder.

"Father!" I shouted out.

"What the hell?" Albard exclaimed as he came closer. The smoke has been thinned out.

"Oops, wrong person." Llaisiane said from nowhere. "But it's enough for the final damage. I'll leave, and good luck with your ticket to Mount Ammar." The smoke is blown by the wind, and now we can see the sky with no clouds up there. The sun is started to set.

"I will catch you, you mo---"

"Let them go, Albard!" I exclaimed. I tried to carry my father's body which was already starting to bleed. "Our objective is to retreat! And then, we have a wounded soldier with us. We must prioritize to retreat."

Albard responded with a nod. He then tried to help me carry my father's body to Mount Ammar. We must walk faster to rescue his life.

In the end, we must let out a single sacrifice to save others' lives.