Part 44

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Blocking a lunge with his spear, Rem twisted like a sea ogre. His hand went for Yuu's throat, hoping to end the fight in one motion, but the orphan broke the distance in an instant, partly helping himself to the elements. Sliding across the floor of the cave, the young man circled around his opponent, delivering swift stabbing blows. Like snake bites, the lunges of the old spearman lunged sharply forward and retreated to avoid being dangerously close to the elderly master.

Frowning his brows together, Rem had already tried several times to catch the weapon in the nimble boy's hands, but instead was forced to dodge and save his hands from wounds. The flexible spear shaft bent under Yuu's hands in all directions, promising painful wounds.

A new round of confrontation began as Rem retreated to the edge of the cave. Performing a reverse cartwheel, the agile old man picked up several rocks from the ground and threw them at the teenager's head.

A slightly arrogant smile was displayed on Yui's face. He launched the last one back at the enemy, but his opponent didn't wait for the fight to end and retreated to his men who were already running towards the exit.

There was a lot of stomping and shouting behind the orphan, it seemed that Sun Ce's troops had finished clearing the cave and were now scouring it. At this rate, they would be here soon.

Rushing forward, Yu was only a couple of metres away before the old man's back disappeared into the breach leading outside. The last of his squad was still just climbing the horsestratus, and the crooked spear pierced the man's left thigh through and through.

'And yet I was aiming for the chest. Well, at least I didn't hit the transport.' Ram's subordinate collapsed sideways, holding the bleeding wound with his hands. Taking a small sabre from the bandit's belt and handing him over to the Fire Nation warriors who were rushing into the cave, the young man jumped on the animal and set off in pursuit.

With each passing second the magic of the earth was more and more clearly felt, but not as it had been at the best of times. Holding the reins with one hand, with the other Yu weighed his new weapon in his hands. The Dao sabre seemed a bit heavy for its size and its bow was slightly curved. Wide at the end, the sabre rested smoothly in his hand, but it was an unfamiliar weapon, so it would have to be used with caution.

Riding behind Ram and his men, the young man rode out into the fresh air. The night darkness was illuminated by a few torches that lurked in the darkness. The teenager was forced to balance on his horse. The nimble beast rushed forward with incredible speed. Without making a sound, it shuffled its paws, allowing Yu to keep the same pace as his enemies.

The chase went on unchanged for several minutes, until a couple of soldiers from Rem's escort turned around and galloped towards the teenager. Putting their spears out in front of them, they took a good acceleration and aimed directly at Yui.

The lunge of the first spear was blocked by a sabre, and the young man took the shaft and tried to deflect another lunge with it, but did not have time. The second rider swept by him at full speed, impaling the horseman on the spear like a piece of meat on a spit. A painful death cry was followed by a quick fall to the ground.

Yui spat angrily and stretched his arms forward. Two twitching movements and sharp stakes slashed into his enemy from both sides. Sending the already dead bodies flying. All the beasts scattered, so the teenager was forced to conquer the ground to try and catch up with the fugitives. The second rider's spear was easy in his hand, unlike the litter he had to fight with half an hour ago.

Sliding on the earth as if on ice, Yu moved towards the receding light, but with each passing second he realised that he was no match for the speed of the Conestraus. Only at the last moment did the boy realise that the fishing line was stretched at the level of his neck and legs. The trap, designed for a rider, would work well against his mode of locomotion as well.

Abruptly crouching down and waving his arms, the teenager lost his balance and rolled downwards. Finding himself with his back on the ground, he looked up into the night sky, which was getting darker and darker. Dirty clouds blocked the view, hiding the starlight from his eyes. Somewhere in the distance, a clap of thunder was heard, but the teenager's hearing picked up other noises.

Slow, smooth footsteps that were hard to spot. They were approaching him from the side of his head. Lifting his foot and striking the ground with his heel, Yuu pushed his body into the air, turning around to face his enemy. From the darkness of the forest thicket, several wooden stakes flew out at his head. The sharpened objects flew next to the young man's body, flying off into the distance.

Standing firmly on his feet, the orphan stomped again, pushing the spear that had fallen out of his hands in his direction. Intercepting it in mid-air, he adopted a protective stance and covered his eyes, concentrating on listening.

-There's no need to hide, Ram-san. The longer we drag on, the more of my comrades will rush here.

A low rustle was heard among the thickets. The twitching branches of the shrubbery swayed, and a few leaves fell to the ground. In one motion, Yuu shifted his weight to his other foot and lunged with his spear, channelling his magic. The cracking of young trees and the rumble of the earth's solid ground being torn apart echoed through the forest frozen in silence. All sounds disappeared after that terrible noise. Frightened animals and birds rushed as far away as possible from the magic that was breaking the ground and the forest.

Losing concentration from the abundance of sounds, Yu missed the moment when his enemy jumped from the branch of a nearby tree. Several stakes flew close to his ear, and the martial grandfather was rapidly approaching. Charging his enemy with the last of his projectiles, Rem burst into melee combat, primarily blocking magic abilities. Whirling around the boy, the old man hit special points on his body time after time, trying to reach his target. The first victim was the left leg. Crouching down on his knee, Yu roared like a wounded beast in hopelessness. Twisting his spear, outlining a curved line under the old man's feet, he summoned the power of subjugation, creating a small forest of earth spears between himself and Rem.

Leaning on the spear, the young man was able to stand on both feet. Extending his arm and clenching it into a fist, he encircled the injured leg with earth, locking it in one place. Watching the boy's manipulations, Rem only grinned into his moustache, realising that the boy's actions were driven by desperation.

-Pitiful sight! You looked much more dangerous in the cave back then. Have a couple of days in captivity weakened you so much?

Like a hungry predator, the old man wandered out of reach of the teenager's magic. Glimmering in the shadows and flashing his eyes, he appeared from different directions, forcing Yui to constantly move and conquer the elements.

-Stop, Ram. You've fought for our country for so many years, haven't you? Wouldn't you rather join Prince Iroh? I'm sure he'd be very accepting of you.

-He's just like his father. Pompous and arrogant, pretending to care for his people, but more die every day because of his weakness and cowardice.

-Weakness? He killed a dragon,' Yu took the opportunity to drag out the conversation, hoping that his leg would start to respond in some way, 'If he's weak to you, I don't even know who's strong.

-The dragon slayer... No skull, no honours. In his grandfather's day, it was a mandatory aspect of recognition. Well, it doesn't matter.

Rem's voice grew quieter with each word. Disappearing into the darkness like an evil spirit, the old man slowly crept towards the boy's back, hoping to end it all in one blow.

-What's important? You had a chance to go home as a hero or back to the army, but instead you started killing your fellow citizens! For what?

-To go back!?

Rem's furious exclamation gave away his disposition. Scared beyond belief, Yuu barely contained his magic when he found the old man a few metres away.

-Where to go back to! Weren't you listening? People like me are no longer needed! And in the army. All my friends died and part of me died with them.

-What happened to you in the capital is wrong,' Yu took a breath and took a quick look around, and said something he didn't expect himself to say, 'The war and everything that happened here, maybe it's wrong. Maybe you're right and we could have ended it a long time ago, but damn you, you don't have to hate your country because of it.

-Hate? - Standing in front of the orphan, Ram threw out the last sharpened stake he had hidden in his sleeve. Stabbing it into the ground, it caught the boy's attention, but Yu continued to listen to the old man's speech, -Yes, I would die for her!

Punching himself in the chest with his fist, Rem stood directly in front of the teenager, looming over him. Stunned by this sudden change in mood, the teenager jabbed the blunt end of his spear into the ground, giving his tense nerves a rest. Turning his gaze from the spike to the old man, he spoke in a low, sad voice.

-Then, what do you want? What's all this for?

-I want... The same thing they want, and what every guy who came here wanted, - waving his hand towards the mountain from which they had escaped, Ram, holding back tears, stabbed his finger into Guan Yu's chest, - I want the same thing you want, who spilled his blood and gave everything he had. I want our country to love us! Love it as much as we love it. That's what I want.

Penetrated by the speech, Yu was unable to look into the eyes of the veteran who had been betrayed by his home state. He bowed his head and stared glumly at his feet, feeling the old man's finger no longer trying to pierce his chest.

The older man's heavy footsteps were very different from his usual quiet gait. Picking up his stake, Rem returned to his original position and stood in a fighting stance. In the darkness, his eyes seemed to glow even brighter or even shine. The dark sky filled everything around them, hiding the two warriors. The first drops of rain began to fall from the sky, hiding the wet paths on the cheeks of the old man and the teenager.

Without further ado, Yu took up a fighting stance. Just as the old and tired special squad member didn't want to give up on his crazy and strange ideas, the young warrior of the Fire Country couldn't just let him go.

Nodding to each other, the two such different and similar people dashed towards each other.

Following the footsteps from the earth magic, Ce excitedly gazed into the darkness. A couple of minutes ago, they had found a couple of bandit corpses lying on the road, and the body of a horsestratus was lying nearby. After a quick inspection, it was clear that the beast was most likely being ridden by Yu, while the attackers' animals had scattered around the forest.

The most important argument that the animal corpse was used by the little bodyguard was the traces of earth magic. A huge, as if ploughed over, line led down the road, going deeper into the forest.

The first raindrops began to fall from the sky as the noise of battle and the rumble of falling rocks could be heard in the distance. Nodding to the others, Tse ordered them to speed up.

'Don't you dare die, you cocky fool, we just found you after all.'

Leaping out into the ploughed over clearing, the heir's small squad froze in amazement. Stone stakes were sticking out everywhere, and small trees and bushes had been crushed by pillars or boulders. At the centre of the whole bacchanalia stood Guan Yu, with a broken stick stick sticking out of his body and his legs shaking, held up only by stone boots. His left arm was dangling with a whip, and in his right hand was the fragment of a spear that the elderly man was impaled on. The old man's body was covered in scratches and bruises, except for the spearhead stuck in his ribs, he didn't look too bad.

As he came close, Ce noticed Yuu bowing his head and whispering to himself while the still living man tried to laugh at his words, but only spat out blood onto the teenager's hands. The scarlet drops mixed with the water falling from the sky and dripped down, forming a murky dark puddle beneath the two opponents.