254BCE
STATE OF WEI: RIEN CITY
WEI SIDE POV
"They showed up in the dead of night right after the main army left." General Kan Ei of Wei commented as he looked over the horizon, watching the Zhao army getting closer and closer with siege equipment.
"To think he'd fallen for Lord Go Kei's plan so easily. Perhaps becoming a Great Heaven has added to his mind." Rien's City Lord commented, standing beside the Wei General.
"Whether his mind has grown stagnant or not matters little to me now that his army is in sight. The reward for a Great Heaven's head is quite grand, and since we were not able to come across Ren Pa, it seems heaven sent us a piecemeal to sate our hunger." Kan Ei commented with an air of confidence.
"Tell the men they're not to be deployed; allow them to enter." Behind General Kan Ei were an additional 50,000 Wei troops. Standing either side of the main city centre square behind gates, they'd been ordered to wait for the Sei Chou army to enter Rien city before launching their surprise attack.
It was the middle of the night when Sei Chou had decided to attack, seemingly choosing to attack rather than defend in Kanrin. The Zhao Great Heaven brought his entire force to bear and was charging towards the Rien City gates.
"The Ambush is set for the city centre!"
"Only once Sei Chou's army has entered and is well in our trap are we able to attack!" The commanders of the Kan Ei army shouted orders; with all the noise that the Sei Chou army was making, it was their only method of communication.
The men on the walls waited patiently, seeing that their plan was coming together perfectly; however, just as the Sei Chou army was about to enter range. A lone rider showed up, racing across the plains shouting towards the Sei Chou army, "My Lord! Sei! Halt!"
Kan Ei watched as the lone horse continued to shout and scream towards the Sei Chou, though the conversation only took a moment; for the Wei general, it felt like years had passed, the moment he'd waited for didn't come.
All he could do was watch as the Sei Chou army curved around, turning 180 degrees, before retreating the way they had come.
"What?! What happened? Why are they retreating all of a sudden?!" Shouted the City Lord. His answer came from one of Kan Ei's commanders who raced up to tell them what had occurred.
"A spy discovered movement just north of here; the Go Kei army was spotted moving towards Kanrin."
"Lord Go Kei's men were spotted?" Kan Ei asked, in slight shock at the new development.
…
254 BCE
STATE OF WEI: NORTH OF RIEN CITY
Ma Ki sat on his warhorse with his brother Shu Ki next to him, both of them looking out to the horizon stone-faced. "Sei Chou has been lured back."
"Indeed, that arrogant Kan Ei tried to lure him to his death. Had the secret plan not been leaked to us, then Kan Ei would've received all the praise and credit for eliminating Sei Chou." Replied Shu Ki.
Ma Ki clicked his tongue, "A fool like Kan Ei should know his place, trying to rise above us brothers."
"Brother, now that this opportunity has fallen into our lap. We must take Sei Chou's head and show no mercy to the entire Sei Chou army. The darkness makes the timing perfect for an ambush." Shu Ki replied.
The two Ki brothers were known as officer hunters in the Go Kei army; for them, it was only right that they killed Sei Chou and got the reward for it. They were also both confident in their abilities to take on the Great Heaven.
"It is said, a single leaf over the eye can block Mount Tai's view." Replied Ma Ki with a grin. With 60,000 troops and the cover of darkness, the two nodded in agreement before taking up positions on either side; they planned to pincer the Sei Chou army from front to back and crush the entire force between them.
With each taking up command and piercing directly through the Sei Chou army, the chaos of battle would be enough to cause the army to run for the hills.
…
STATE OF WEI: RIEN CITY
"Sei Chou retreated on the brink of confrontation? Has our plan been leaked by anyone?" Asked Rien's City Lord.
"If they arrived from the north, it can only be the Ki brothers doing so. Their troops were stationed there to only observe and report back to Lord Go Kei." Kan Ei frustratedly replied.
"Since Sei Chou came with his entire army, Kanrin must be left empty and unguarded. The two of them only need to occupy the region north of here, to get Sei Chou's attention and force him to retreat."
"Set up an ambush just behind him, causing Sei Chou's army distress and catching them off guard. This plan is truly brilliant." The City Lord replied, with amazement and silent joy that his city would not be besieged and possibly taken away from him. Even if he had committed his own troops to defending against the monster that was Sei Chou, he much preferred this situation compared to what could've happened.
"Dammit! General Go Kei gave me this mission; there's no way I am losing the victory to those two. I will lead my troops there and ambush the Sei Chou army from behind!" General Kan Ei said before storming out of the war council and gathering his men, before setting out of the gates of Rien City.
Taking his full complement of 30,000 troops along with him. The City Lord could only watch him go, with no true authority to stop him, though he'd protested the decision; General Kan Ei had dismissed the man, and was now racing across the plains, not wanting to give up his kill.
Sighing to himself, the City Lord shook his head at how the plan had changed so fast, "Those Ki brothers have made a serious mistake in going against the plan, and for General Kan Ei to rush out in the way he did…" He spoke only to himself.
"Yet, since he holds military authority, I couldn't stop him from going. If he had just stayed, General Go Kei would've treated him nicely for sticking to the plan, and he would have held the righteous ground." Standing up and heading to the balcony to look at the night sky, the City Lord pitied both himself and the three Generals of Go Kei.
"Now, what happens if the Sei Chou army uses this as a feint and comes here once more? Who would defend us?" He said with another sigh and shaking his head some more. That was until an unfamiliar voice caused his entire body to freeze.
"Who said if?" The unfamiliar voice said, as the person grabbed the back of his neck with a claw-like grip.
"What?" The Lord of Rien City rasped out, as the grip on his neck tightened. "I said, who said if? I am already here." Said the person.
It didn't take long for the City Lord to understand who it was that stood behind him; his blood froze in his veins. "Wh-why are you not leading your men?"
"Because they have my full trust." Answered Sei Chou before he threw the City Lord over the edge and watched as the man fell headfirst to his death.
…
NORTH OF RIEN CITY
"Prepare formations to fight the enemy! Archers to the hilltops, infantry stay on low ground with the chariots!" Ma Ki barked out his orders; he wanted his troops to be ready for when Sei Chou and his army appeared. So, they were able to use the full element of surprise and crush Zhao's Great Heaven.
Standing atop one of the hills looking out to the horizon, a scout managed to spot the fluttering of flags coming towards them in the distance. The troops were numerous, too many for him to figure out all on his own. Turning and shouting down towards Ma Ki, he said, "General Ma Ki! A troop is heading directly to us, one Li (500meters) away from us! They do not seem to be slowing down one bit!"
Ma Ki sharply turned towards where the shout came from, wondering if the person had gone mad. As there was no way for troops to appear so close, but as he turned, he saw the troops rushing towards his army in the dark of night.
"What?! How is the Sei Chou army here?!"
"Impossible! That fast?!"
5,000 and 4,00 man commanders of the Ma Ki army exclaimed in shock, wondering if their eyes were deceiving them or not.
A lone rider came out charging in front of the Sei Chou army, his mighty glaive at the ready and with a thunderous war cry he shouted, "I AM GYOU'UN FROM GREAT HEAVEN, SEI CHOU'S ARMY! HERE TO LEAD THE ENEMIES TO THEIR DEATHS!"
Ma Ki froze as the realisation dawned on him. "It…It's an ambush!"
"Ambush? Did we receive false information?" Shu Ki asked beside him.
Gyou'un continued his charge with an army at his back, hungrily and desperately chasing after him. "Enemy Ambush ahead; stop!" Shouted one of the troops; Gyou'un completely dismissed the call for him to stop.
"IT'S TOO DARK; ARCHERS GET READY!!" The commander behind Gyou'un shouted.
Hearing the shout, Ma Ki decided to act. "Sei Chou has only brought a puny force, arrows to wear them down!" The two sides released their volley of arrows into the night sky, and to the horror of the Ki brothers. It was their men who were left worse off; arrows fell like droplets of rain before piercing and sinking deep into flesh and bone.
"It's impossible, the enemy shouldn't have that many arrows!" Seeing the development, both Ma Ki took matters into his own hands, known as one of the two silent hunters; he used the battlefield to cloak his presence.
His army took on the drill formation, with his chariots on the wings and cavalry troops at the spear tip. Positioning himself in the middle of the formation, so when the two armies collide, he will be able to move out and quickly kill Gyou'un, who was leading the Sei Chou army.
Not in the drill formation with his brother, Shu Ki grabbed a torch and used it to see how the momentum of the battle was going, but as he watched the two armies make formation before charging at one another, he noticed something unsettling.
"Ho- How can they use Lord Go Kei's formation?" Shu Ki asked. The formation that his brother and Gyou'un were using had mirrored each other, causing the resulting collision to be devastating.
"Dammit, it's too dark; bring us some torches!!" Shouted Shu Ki, wanting to analyse the battle and see if he could notice any chinks in the formation of Gyou'un, as in Shu Ki's mind there had to be, since Gyou'un hadn't learnt the formation directly from Go Kei.
"General Shu Ki, there's light coming from there!" Shouted one of Shu Ki's men, who saw many torch lights blazing only a few meters across from them coming up the hill.
"What? General Shu Ki… How… How are you here?!" Ka Toku, one of Kan Ei's 5,000-man commanders. They'd been chasing Gyou'un after they'd gotten into a small skirmish with him and 100 of the Rai'un.
"Why are you not at Rien?" Shu Ki asked with a frown. When he received his answer, he turned towards the battlefield; his frown only grew deeper at the implication.
"The… the men below… That means they're all Wei soldiers?" Ka Toku asked rhetorically, as he was about to open his mouth to warn the troops below. He heard the harsh galloping of a horse, and a lone man's voice.
"A leaf over the eye." The warrior held his glaive with two hands as he swung with precision and power, silencing Ka Toku and slicing him in two. "Blocks the view of Mount Tai from view." Finished Gyou'un.
Shu Ki's eyes widened at the sight of Gyou'un, but only for a split second; his instincts flared, and his hands quickly unsheathed his sword. To turn and welcome the next glaive swing from Gyou'un, however, it didn't come. "Silent hunter goes silently into the night." A voice announced from behind him.
Shu Ki gritted his teeth, spinning around to meet the newcomer, but the person was too fast for him, and Shu Ki was far too unprepared as the blade of the enemy cleaved through his face.
Staring down at the dying Shu Ki, Chou Garyuu unsheathed his Jian sword before raising it high and unleashing a mighty war cry.
….
NORTH OF RIEN CITY:
The night had given way to the early morning, but still the two sides fought on. Even though tiredness and exhaustion were creeping into their bones, the warriors powered on. Striking and lashing out at their enemies with sword and spear thrust, chariots roamed the battlefield, releasing arrows into their foes.
As Ma Ki went to lead another charge into the enemy lines, his eyes caught an unexpected face looking back at him with surprise. "You…You are General Ma Ki!" Said the man, half frightened as he looked at the enemy his General had ordered them to fight.
For Ma Ki, the realisation began to deeply settle in as he turned left and right, seeing the many bodies littering the battlefield, recognising the armour that the Kan Ei army wears, and the flags of his fellow Wei General.
"STOP! WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE!!" He shouted to his men frantically.
"WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE!"
"WE'RE ON THE"
"WE'RE"
NARRATOR POV
Without light in the sky, Gokei's Generals fought a battle north of Rien City. None could hear or see…
NARRATOR POV END