[3rd POV]
Thier hearts shuddered and they had to fight constantly against the primal urge to scream out in terror and run away, far from the monster that was reaping thier lives.
Thier number was not enough to strike courage into their heart and the blessing of the priestess was barely enough to fight.
No one should be this powerful.
No one should be invincible.
But he stood there, against all odds, a chilling smile on his face as his claws found thier most vulnerable veins.
Blue flames rage onto the world, turning the battlefield into what they all imagined hell would look like. A breath of air was no longer revitalizing as the searing heat burned thier lungs. A breath of life turned into a breath of pain.
His black claws, sharper than any blade they had seen, would swipe at them and that was the ultimate judgement.
They watched two thousands of thier fellow soldiers, some friends and some brothers, fall in the short battle. The frequent ringing of the bell no longer struck confidence in thier hearts, instead, it turned into a cruel reminder that no matter how much power they borrowed, they could never escape.
A sound that once initiated hope now turned into a noise of despair. Because each time they got stronger, they felt more and more helpless.
For no matter how much stronger they got, they could never rival him. It only brought a terrifying realization that they were that much weaker.
They fought for the sake of fighting. They were too terrified to think of a different course of action. So they just charged at him, charged at thier death, hoping it would be a swift one.
When reality was scarier than a nightmare, to sleep forever seemed not too bad.
....
The length of a couple of centuries was not enough to prepare them for what they were fighting against. But at least unlike the Tibetan soldiers, the elite warriors of Gupta were holding out well and fought a worthy battle against Tai Lung.
They did not despair when confronted with the reality of facing an enemy multiple times stronger than themselves. In fact, it only worked to plant a sense of urgency in their heart.
They needed to neutralise the threat before it got too big.
They needed to fight harder.
They needed to strategize better.
And they needed to become stronger as well.
More than a hundred elephants had died while having this exact line of thought. But thier death and determination were not meaningless as the remaining nine hundred fought harder.
They were born stronger, they were born bigger, they were cultivators and they outnumbered him by a thousand to one.
Why should they lose?
"You can't keep this up forever!!" One warrior roared while slamming his shield on the ground. He thought he had surely crushed the enemy but he had disappeared faster than his eye could see.
He turned around and blocked the lethal swipe of Tai Lung's arm but at the cost of losing his own. Blood splurt out from the stump which was once his arm and before he could get help from his allies, Tai Lung delivered a punch at his head that shook his whole world.
"Thunderclap."
The last thing he saw was a crack of lightning as his consciousness left his body. He still had ample of lifeforce left but what was the point when his brain had suffered such damage?
His body crashed onto the ground and left a broken crater. He fell but he hoped his allies would continue in his stead.
Tai Lung was just a mortal.
They can win this.
..
..
..
//////////////
"It's the end." Mei said to herself when she saw that Tai Lung had begun to slow down and his chi was running low. What used to be a giant mountain of chi which she could sense from across the city, he was now reduced to an amount which matched the many enemies around him.
Tai Lung was losing.
No one else had realized it yet but his defeat was now inevitable. He was merely putting on a powerful front but deep down, he was weak.
She was winning.
So shouldn't she be happy? If so, then why was she not happy?
There was a small ache in her heart when she realized that Tai Lung was losing. Then it ached even more when she realized that he was going to die.
It felt like her heart had fallen to the pit of her stomach and it was burning due to her stomach acid. Her throat felt tight and she couldn't take her eyes off his fighting figure.
She had never felt like this before.
In a weird and twisted way, Mei was impassive to death. She had been brought to battle since she was young and had witnessed the death of countless soldiers even before she could learn the grave nature of death.
Even when she realised many civilians were going to die in the battle, she was uncaring.
But right now, she was fearing the death of the enemy. Even more so than her desire to finally win.
She bit on her lips as her eyes focused on Tai Lung from across the city. She hesitated countless times and tried to talk herself out of it but in the end, she couldn't let it happen.
She didn't want him to die.
She had completed her part of the mission anyway. The Emperor might not reward her if Tai Lung survived but she reckoned many chances would present themselves with the future invasions.
So she took action, following her desire and no one's order.
*Ting-Ding-Ding*
Her bell jingled and rang but this time, it was against the soldiers that she was empowering.
"What?!!"
"What happened!!"
"Look out!!!"
The soldiers screamed when they saw the net which was covering the city and trapping everyone loose its rigidity. The iron chains became flexible again as it fell down on the city.
The iron chains were also ripped away of thier enhancement and they turned into normal iron. What she had given, she could take it away.
"Mei!!! What do you think you are doing!!" Came a panicked and angered yell of the general of Tibet. Mei faked exhaustion as she took a step back.
"I-I don't know!" She shouted in worry and she shook her bell again.
*Ting-Ding-Ding*
This time, she took away the powers she had bestowed upon the soldiers of Tibet as they all paused when they felt stregth suddenly leaving thier body. It was not all of their streght but they were weakened enough that Tai Lung could easily pass through them.
The soldiers who were standing on the once rigid net and throwing spears and firing arrows at Tai Lung also fell from the sky until they crahsed on the ground.
"NO NO NO NO!!!"
"He is going to get away !!" Samudragutpa stood up from his meditative position and roared out loud.
She had a small smile on her face.
Yes.
Tai Lung, run.
Save yourself.
..
..
..
..
!!!!!!
*BOOOOM!!!*
A giant expuluson of force pushed the net into the air. The iron net was pushed up and then discarded to the side of the city as Tai Lung used Buddha's palm to do so.
But something was wrong.
Tai Lung was not running away.
"Oi, what are you guys stopping for?" Tai Lung said under the shocked gaze of everyone in the city.
He was not running away.
While everyone thought Tai Lung would use the chance to flee and save his life, he was the only person who never even thought of such a possibility.
Samudragupta shook in his place as he seethed. He felt humiliated when he saw Tai Lung refusing to run away while he did just that not long ago.
Mei on the other hand had a helpless smile. She wondered why she was so shocked and not surprised at the same time.
.....
Floating at the edge of the mesosphere high in the sky, a certain someone looked at the battlefield and smiled when he saw the scene.
"Of course."
"What else did I expect? That he would actually make my job easier?" He shook his head.
Then he got ready to execute a technique he never thought he would use in his life again.
A technique without a name.
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