CHAPTER-1 What they see

Part-1

What they see

It was a good haul... They had made a pretty good haul. They hadn't landed such a big haul for months. Now they would eat well tonight.

Sitting on his horse at the center of his traveling group on his way back to their makeshift base, he sighed. They had been traveling on the mountain road for hours on end, and he was exhausted. But he knew the base was near now. All he would have to do after getting back was sell the "merchandise" he had recovered.

A shrill scream pierced the air. Irritated, he turned his head toward the back of the group to locate the source of the noise.

Looking back, he saw one of his subordinates hitting the cages with a blunt weapon to intimidate the screaming woman into silence.

Yes... cages. The biggest reason why they were moving so slowly and the reason why they would eat well tonight was that they had captured some valuable merchandise from the nearby village, which had failed to pay their usual tribute. If they had cared so much, they would have done anything and everything within their power to pay up. Instead, they decided to turn the whole thing into an armed conflict. They had obviously come out on top by a landslide. Who wouldn't agree? A group of veteran warriors against some lowly villagers armed with stones and sticks?

After barking at his subordinate to keep the "merchandise" in check, he moved on. The hilly path grew increasingly colder, no snow, just cold. Turning around one of the corners a bit further off, he saw a robed figure.

This robed figure, covered in black from head to toe, had also covered his face and had a hood over his head. He also had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung across his back. Funnily enough, it had only five arrows in it. This robed figure also seemed to have multiple knives strapped along his waist in a sort of tool-belt fashion.

He just stood there imposingly, as if waiting for someone to approach him. Sitting on his horse, the man once again sighed. "It looks like some villager or someone with a hero complex thinks he can take on an entire group all on his own." Or so he thought. His usual self would be smarter and more calculating than this. This was partly because he was having a bad day and partly because he was exhausted. He just wanted to get home; after all, his men were also quite exhausted after fending off the villagers and traveling the mountain road. A combination of these reasons made him mindlessly give the order for one of his archers to nock an arrow at him to threaten him.

Except, he heard no one respond.

He snapped his neck around to see the archer he had ordered, only to find him dead, pierced by a freshly shot arrow. His men, still confused, tried to look around to find the perpetrator, but they saw no one except the man who stood in front of them. He still stood there, without any movements whatsoever. In fact, he looked at his quiver to see no change in the number of arrows; there were still five in his quiver. Confused, he asked all of his archers to shoot at him at once. To his horror, the only response was the sound of arrowheads piercing bodies and the neighing of horses as the bodies of their riders fell off them. He saw all his men fallen, pierced by different arrows from different directions. All the archers in the frontal part of the group were dead, just like that.

Momentarily, he saw the man standing in front of him. He had his arms crossed across his chest, as if he were amused by the whole situation before he ordered his soldiers to fan out and flush out the robed figure's accomplices who were hidden among the bushes trees and natural landforms. He then ordered 6 of the men closest to him to attack. As soon as the words left his mouth he saw the robed figure calmly nocking an arrow at the first of the men who were charging and releasing it

Then again, and again, and again, and again.

Within an instant, he had pierced five men with five arrows. Slinging his bow across his back and unstrapping the now empty quiver, which fell to the ground, he drew one of his longer knives and slashed away at the sixth man while dodging strikes from his sword. Sheathing his knife, he began running straight toward him, barehanded.

Chaos broke out at the back of the group where the merchandise was when he began running. The man on his horse saw multiple people dressed similarly to the man in front of him, hacking, slashing, and cutting through his men with an assortment of weapons. Some were using knives; he saw one with a spear, one with a sword, two with spiked clubs, and finally, one using a chained blade, throwing and piercing gracefully through his men.

Turning back, he saw the robed man charging at him was halfway through. He finally drew his bow and nocked an arrow toward the man charging him barehanded. As soon as he had nocked the arrow and was about to let it fly, the robed man abruptly stopped and looked at him. The next instant, the arrow from his hand flew.

As soon as he had let the arrow go, seeing the robed man just standing there, he thought that he was accepting his fate.

The arrow flew at him. It almost hit when he realized that the arrow had stopped. It hadn't reached him. The arrowhead stood inches away from his face. With a start, the man realized that the robed figure had caught the arrow and now held his bow, which he held in his right hand. He noticed that earlier he held the bow with his left hand and nocked arrows with his right. This was only possible if one were a "Savyasachi," and this person clearly was one.

["Savyasachi" is a term used for people who can wield a bow with both hands. This term was first given to Arjuna in the Mahabharata, who could shoot arrows from both of his hands.] [I could be wrong]

The robed man then turned his arrow and shot it back at him. In a vain effort to dodge the incoming arrow, he leaped off his horse.

He felt pain pierce his thigh as he fell to the ground. Looking at his thigh, he realized that the arrow had pierced him through the leg. Desperately, he began crawling on the ground, unable to get up. His mind was clouded by fear and pain. Within a few moments, he saw a shadow come up from behind him. He realized it was the shadow of death that had come for him. He turned around for what would be the last time, ever, to see and face the man who would kill him.

His face was covered by cloth, only revealing his eyes. They were obsidian black and had streaks of gold in them. They were hollow and as deep as an abyss. His expression seemed solemn, as if regretting having to kill him, yet it held some contempt as well. Regardless, he felt the knife that had ended the life of one of his subordinates pierce through his heart. He coughed up blood. It was painful. He didn't want to die, not like this, not in the middle of nowhere, not by someone who wouldn't even reveal his face. "No, not like this," he thought. It happened so quickly; he never even realized it. He heard shouting and the neighing of horses, the shouting of men in pain and anger. Then he thought, "A fitting end for someone like me, for the scum I am." He realized he was content. He had achieved some form of closure before he passed.

The pain, which was intense, slowly numbed as he lost blood. His vision turned blurry as he looked at the sky one last time...

Part-2

Overlooking the map of the frontal part of the fortress, the veteran General looked at his fellow advisors and tacticians, who were equally well-versed in the art of war. He asked, "Are there any problems with this course of action?"

"No, sir, but what if they see—" One posed a question that was cut off by him.

"—Through 'it' again?" he completed the sentence.

"Yes, sir, like every other time," he stuttered.

The General rubbed his forehead at the thought as well. They had been trying to capture a major fortress on this island for well over a month now. They had gone back and forth from gaining land to losing it. The fortress itself was on a hill, making it easy to defend with the bare minimum of men.

At this stage, both sides were equally frustrated with this never-ending conflict. Their side had clairvoyance-type ability users, but it seemed that their side also had some sort of clairvoyance user as well.

Abilities were a natural gift; roughly 1 in 100 people would be born with one. However, that does not mean it is useful; it could also be completely useless depending on your line of work. Some abilities were highly valued if you chose the right stream of work.

Clairvoyance-type abilities can be classified as a sort of recon-type ability, where one could know everything happening around them for over a few hundred kilometers. These types of abilities are highly valued in war since they could decide the outcome of a war, pinpointing soldiers' locations, formations, and numbers, among a few, could be key.

The clairvoyance ability user on his side was able to link his sight with multiple men who could be stationed at some distance, observing the battlefield live and relaying information to them about every moment on the battlefield. It had helped him a lot.

The bad thing about these eyes was that if the linked people are in range of their normal sight, the ability would stop working.

In this case too, it had helped, to an extent. The enemy side also seemed to have some clairvoyance ability because they were also able to counter their movements precisely. They were equally matched.

The army formation on the enemy side was interesting as well. They would work in teams of four, huddled together to take out one or two enemies at a time. These groups of four included one spearman with a shield at the front, two swordsmen on either side, and behind them was an archer who would shoot at the incoming enemy.

The general had ordered his own troops to form groups of two consisting of a close-ranged fighter and archers. While the 4-man group had no openings, it was quite slow, hence well-suited to defense. In contrast, the 2-man formation had a lot of openings, but they had speed to make up for it.

Even without the clairvoyance factored in, he could tell the enemy general was smart. The positioning and rotation cycle of soldiers implemented on their side, as reported by the clairvoyance user, were nothing short of brilliant.

Leaving aside this problem, the second problem, and the 'main' problem, was the woman.

This woman seemed to be the battle commander of the soldiers. He had caught a glimpse of her fighting in the battlefield once, and it had terrified him. She moved like a hurricane, spinning, slashing, blocking, cutting, and jumping through the enemies. Her black hair swayed behind her, her eyes the color of the blood she spilled. She held a serene yet fierce look on her fair and beautiful face. She seemed to be adept at using a sword, spear, and a blunt spike with a shield. She would transition through weapons her enemy wielded taking them off their corpses. A terrifying beauty amidst the chaos of battle, she was one of the main reasons the moral was high on the enemy side. Their army consisted of women as well fighting side by side by the men.

This idea seemed ludicrous to the general, even more so to his soldiers who hadn't seen women wield a weapon in their entire lives. On top of that, they were bested by a woman, the woman who led them. This caused a severe decrease in morale and frustration within the general's army. Additionally, her ability to lead troops and issue orders while fighting on the go made her a fairly decent tactician as well.

Pushing the thought aside, he answered his subordinate's question.

"Have the clairvoyance users monitor their army for any changes."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

With that, they stepped forward into battle.

The battle they were currently fighting was working to their advantage. They had overwhelmed the initial defensive line and were now closing in on the haphazardly formed secondary defensive line, which was created as the enemy retreated.

That's when she showed up... again. She jumped off a small mound of sand directly onto the enemy, fearlessly. She kneed the first soldier midair, after which she landed, stabbing him through the heart.

Ordering a third of her troops to follow her and the rest to follow up behind her while forming a defensive line, she charged along with the warriors beside her.

She sliced through the enemy with her "Talwar" gracefully. The soldiers' morale suddenly shot up. They fought back fiercely, their exhaustion seemingly gone. Were they faking it? Pretending to be worn out to trick them? Or perhaps it was due to her appearance in battle.

Whatever the case, they were pushed back by a considerable amount. He then heard a cry of battle from the rear of the retreating army. He turned around to see his own army being overwhelmed by a group of fresh soldiers from the rear.

He realized they were fighting a losing battle. Retreating was not an option since they were surrounded, and moreover, his pride wouldn't let them. Their numbers dwindled, as did their morale and the chance of victory. Their army was now huddled against the mountain as they were being killed off one by one. That is when he heard a voice, the voice of a woman, ordering them to stop and the soldiers to form a protective perimeter around them.

The woman, the woman who defeated them in battle, stepped forward. Her eyes held hostility, but her movements didn't. She walked towards them, with a seemingly royal minister holding a scroll behind her.

She faced the entire army and said, "I would like to have a talk with your General," she said. "Could you please come forward?" She continued with a slightly higher pitch of sound that was enough to reach the rear of their remaining army. His legs betrayed him as he found himself walking towards the woman.

Was she going to mock them? Perhaps shame and humiliate them before killing them? His mind began delving into the possibilities of what this 'talk' might be.

She allowed him two guards and led him to a seemingly luxurious tent. He was given water and asked to sit on a chair. He found these actions quite unusual. Were prisoners of war to be treated this nicely? He thought being made a prisoner was the only reason she called him here for.

Once the formalities were out of the way, she said, "I'll give it to you straight," she started with a sigh. "I want you to take your army, retreat, and leave your weapons and any other tools that can be used for battle or war behind."

"So you are asking us to run?" he choked. His pride, his wishes wouldn't let him.

She was about to respond when...

"Yes, if you want to put it bluntly, that is exactly what she wants you to do," spoke a third voice.

Emerging from the shadows,

he saw a fair-skinned man wearing light leather armor with a knife attached to his hip. He had chocolate brown hair and bright red eyes, a contrast to the blood-red eyes the woman in front of him held. His robes underneath the armor indicated that he was a general.

"Are you the g-"

"General that defeated you? Yes, I am," he said, smiling innocently. "And this sister of mine wanted to nicely put your weapons down and [Piss off!] Run away."

[AN: [ ] indicates a person's thoughts while talking, rather specifically how it was reworded by them.]

"Getting back to the topic," she said sternly, "We would like to avoid any more unnecessary bloodshed, so if you could put your weapons down and leave, we will let you go."

"No," he said. He would not leave, he would not back down ever.

"See, sister, you really thought these barbarians would actually just accept defeat and run away," the brown-haired strategist said with a tone of voice akin to an innocent child, untarnished by the cruelty of the world. "We should have just gone ahead and exterminated them like I had planned."

"You sure talk big for someone who makes a woman, no less his sister, fight for him!" he shot back.

"Sister, what a backward country! No wonder it is filled with giant muscle heads like Mr. Muscle Head No. 1 and No. 2 over there," he said, pointing towards his guards who completely ignored him.

"Answer me, you coward!" he shouted.

"Silence!" the woman finally said, annoyed.

"We won't surrender no matter what!" he said with conviction.

"So you would prefer to die in a battle that has already been lost rather than take this chance and walk away with your life?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Sister, sister, I have an idea!" the strategist piped up.

"What?"

He whispered the idea into her ear. Upon hearing it, she smiled. "He says that let's settle this once and for all by having one of our strongest soldiers duke it out. If you win, we'll vacate the fortress, and if we win, you will leave. How's that?"

He was shocked. To think they would have enough trust in their soldiers that they were willing to bet so much on a mere duel.

Seeing no reason to refuse, he agreed.

Soon, he stood at the edge of an arena. He had brought the strongest soldier in his army, considering this man to be his right hand. He was approximately 7 feet tall, with arms as thick as a sandalwood tree. He held a giant hammer about 24 inches in radius and 4 feet long handle. He wore heavy metallic armor, making him an all-around tank suitable for defense, although quite slow. He used him for personal defense, after all, since he kept the best soldiers with him the entire time, allowing him to survive until now.

The opposing side didn't seem to bring in any soldiers. All he saw were the brother-sister duo standing there. This meant that the woman would be fighting against his man. He had abandoned the notion of underestimating the woman. He had seen her fight firsthand and knew that underestimating her in any sense would lead to a faster death. His warrior, on the other hand, hadn't seen her in combat as he tended to defend the rear rather than the front.

"Sir, I don't see the enemy warrior," he said.

"That woman is your opponent," he replied.

"Her? This will be easy then. Might as well consider the fort captured," he snickered.

"Don't underestimate her," the general warned his warrior.

"Since when have you been afraid of women, general?"

"Since I attacked this fort. Now come on," he motioned for his warrior to follow.

"I see that you have brought your warrior, general," the woman said.

"Am I right to assume that you'll be facing him in combat?" he asked.

"I will," she replied coolly, looking at her opponent with an analytical gaze.

"Now, if you could take your positions, I will announce the rules," the brother stated.

Once both warriors had taken their positions, the red-eyed strategist announced the terms of the duel.

"This duel taking place in this field has been acknowledged by the heads of both parties," he said.

"If the defending party wins, the invaders shall throw down their weapons and leave immediately. If the invading party wins, the defenders shall vacate the fort and retreat," he continued. This caused uproars of joy and panic on both sides.

"These terms have also been acknowledged by the heads of both parties."

"As for the rules, it is a standard duel to the death where the usage of anything in the field is allowed," he said. There was nothing on the field, so this rule practically meant nothing.

"Other standard rules, such as..." he went on.

After he was done, he began the countdown. "With the respective warriors in position now, begin in 3... 2... 1... Fight!" he exclaimed.

As soon as the last syllable of fight left his mouth the woman seemed to launch off the floor and tried to directly stab through his armor with her Talwar. The blade merely bounced off his armor with a 'clang'.

"Hah" the warrior let out smirk before swing his hammer down sideways as if swatting a fly. The woman raised her shield to defend against the attack perfectly. Her entire body was pushed back against the dirt while she held her ground on one knee.

Getting up she began a series of light attacks spinning slashing and stabbing. It did very little damage to armor; her movements were swift and graceful as if it was a dance. She seemed to dance around the warrior slashing and stabbing repeatedly trying to penetrate the armor. This in turn frustrated the warrior who bellowed and huffed while swinging his hammer wildly trying to get a hit against her. This went on for half a minute before she finally found a chink in his armor and stabbed him through it. It wasn't fatal by any means nor would it restrict any of his movements still the warrior bellowed out in pain swinging his hammer at her face forcing her to jump back.

Angry and in pain the warrior made a snap decision. He undid all his upper armor. Doing this granted him higher mobility for his attacks and gave him more room to swing his weapon. He had noticed that most of the woman's attack consisted of more number of slashes rather than stabs so if he were to get slashed by her sword a few times it wouldn't matter.

Seeing this, the woman smirked.

She dropped her blade and drew the lance behind her back. The general realized his warrior had been cornered into removing his armor; he had lost sight of the fact that she had a lance strapped to her back since the beginning.

Gritting his teeth he saw as the woman charged at his warrior skillfully dodging the vertical hit from the hammer and stabbing him repeatedly in the chest 7 times before stopping.

"The winner has been decided the invaders are to leave!" the brother to the woman declared.

"Like hell we will" The general roared. "Seize the general and that woman" he barked. He knew it was foolish but they happened to standing where the numbers of his soldiers happened to be more.

As soon as the words left his mouth he saw a splash of blood coming from his right side followed by pain. He realized his arm had been cut off, his vision turned red he didn't know if it was from the blood of his arm or due to the pain. He dropped to his knees "AAARGHAH … HAH… HAH" breathing heavily to stabilize himself he looked around to see all his men with a blade at their throats.

"I knew you'd try something so I took the necessary precautions" the enemy general said. "What do you want to do with him sis?" he asked turning to his sister who held a melancholic expression. "If only you had left, my blade would have had to have taken one less life, regardless you chose this path and this is the consequence" she said before swinging a sword horizontally towards his neck beheading him. His head rolled to the ground he saw his soldiers dropping their weapons in defeat and allowing themselves to be taken captive….