Chapter 19: General Meng

(An hour before The Imperial Army invaded the gates of Jiuca)

"They have quite a lot of security," General Najenda said as Hado nodded in agreement, seeing the thousands of soldiers guarding the sea.

"Your ice show probably warned them, General," Hado said, shaking his head as they stopped a few hundred meters away from the enemy troops.

"Turn back and let this peaceful country be, should you ignore this warning you will face the full force of the kingdom Jiuca!" A man yelled loudly.

"How should we proceed General Esdeath?" Najenda asked.

Esdeath seemed to be thinking before Hado spoke up.

"What else? I don't even get why we stopped. Are we not at war? Forgive me for speaking out Generals... But why haven't we attacked yet?" Hado asked, sliding off of his horse and pulling a dagger out. "I say we reign hell upon this silly little country!"

Najenda looked at him distastefully, but Esdeath seemed to have made up her mind. "Private Hado is correct... We fight, and leave none of them alive!"

The Army rode forward, roaring as Hado rushed forward on foot, smiling as he looked at the man who had given them the warning.

"You've been warned! Don't try it again." He growled as another soldier ran past carrying an arrow over their shoulder while others were readying crossbows.

"Yeah take your advice..." Hado said as the rest of the world was a blur. "And shove it right up your ass!" Hado slammed into the man, smiling wildly as he was thrown to the side.

"You're pretty strong," He laughed, flashing his dagger.

"You are not," The man said, flashing in front of Hado as the rest of the Army caught up and began their assault on the Jiucan army.

Hado dodged a flashing sword, spinning and dodging the blade again as he stepped back.

"You're not even going to introduce yourself?" The boy asked, sending several maggots out of his body and over to the enemy General.

The man paused, his facial expression unchanging from the serious expression he had. "You may call me Meng, it's a shame that we couldn't speak more amicably," He said quietly. His smirk grew slightly larger. "It would seem the gods have chosen me to rid you of this world early... A shame indeed."

Hado widened his eyes as the blade was an inch from his face, the world slowing down around him as he heard the thump of his heart.

*Whoosh*

He sidestepped the blade, barely managing to miss the diamond-edged sword.

He dodged again as he whistled. "Quite the weapon huh?" Hado said, analyzing his opponent as the man sliced downward once again, missing the boy by less than an inch.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battle, The two generals back side by side, cutting down soldiers.

"On your left," Esdeath said, flipping over Najenda and stabbing her rapier into an enemy soldier.

Najenda gritted her teeth as she punched a soldier right into the ground, killing him instantly before looking at Esdeath.

"We should offer him support," She said hesitantly, looking at Hado dodging General Meng's blade.

"If he dies then he's a disappointment, I have high hopes for him after the last battle... Who knows, perhaps he'll replace General Liver..." Esdeath said, dodging a man and flipping him over her body.

"You mean?"

"Yes, General Liver is being taken back to the empire for trial at this very moment... It is a shame really, he has a lot of potential as well..." Esdeath seemed to be thinking about something before she refocused herself on the battle in front of them.

Najenda went back to fighting as well, seeing that their mid-fight conversation was now over.

Hado moved to the side, General Meng's blade slower than it had been as the boy stepped around the man, looking for the perfect place to strike the man down.

Hado's fighting style was unorthodox, he could beat the crap out of the man with techniques and feints and such, but instead, he preferred ending his fights in one clean fatal shot.

It was a pride thing, as well as the only way he could gain satisfaction from killing.

Meng didn't look pleased as the boy kept dodging his attacks, seemingly getting the hang of the older General's rythm.

"So what do you think so far?" Hado asked casually, taking a breath as he pulled his hand out of his pockets, making sure the bugs stayed hidden as Meng gritted his teeth.

"Such amazing talent is wasted on you Imperial scum, I was brought to this world to cut such people down to size!" Meng rushed forward, faster than Hado could blink and swung his blade down on the boy.

"Huh... I let my guard down," Hado said as the blade sliced cleanly from his shoulder to his hip, slicing his body in two.

His body dropped to the floor, his hand casually sliding on the General's clothes.

"Sad that such a talented child had to die by my blade..." General Meng said as he turned his back, locking eyes on his next target, the silver haired woman Najenda who was pummeling his soldiers.

"Ah... Finally, a nice clean opening... Congratulations on your defeat..." Hado said, smiling wildly as the maggots crawled into the man's body, reaching his heart in second as General Meng turned quickly, slicing his blade again.

"Too late," Hado said as the maggots burst through the man's heart, stopping his body and making it freeze in a rigid position.

"W-What? What did you do?" Meng said as he dropped to his knees, the chuckling Hado all he could hear as his sight left his body.

"2100 Maggots are crawling inside of your body, eating you from the inside out, they reached your heart, but your brain went into shock..."

"H-Huh?'

Hado shook his head, smiling as he looked at the battle raging on around him.

"I guess what I am trying to say... Is that you're already dead."

General Meng fell flat on the ground, his eyes dissapearing from their sockets as they were devoured by the maggots.

"Huh, I feel like that's some sort of reference... But I don't remember shit haha."

"General Meng!" Some soldiers yelled as they rushed Hado.

"What the fuck? You guys are just fodder, stay down," Hado said as he pulled out a few knives and cut them down, smiling as he looked at the kingdoms walls.

"Hey General!" Hado yelled at Esdeath, seeing her look over at him, clearly pleased at his victory.

"Can we go ahead and invade now? All these guys aren't worth the effort!"

Esdeath looked around, smiling as the mark right above her breasts glowed.

All the enemy soldiers froze in place, slowly cracking and breaking apart as the imperial army cheered. "Lead the charge Hado!" Esdeath ordered.

He hadn't noticed it before, but she had changed from calling him recruit, favoring his actual name now.

'One step closer I suppose...'

With that Hado stood in front of Najenda's, Liver's, and Esdeath's troops, his hand on the wall as the excess guards yelled and rang alarms.

"Man fuck being the ruler of this world for now... All I want to do is..." The wall broke, a huge crack running up to the very top. "Destroy everyone who doesn't understand their place."