Cri-Kee turned to Mulan with an upset expression.
Mulan chuckled with a slight nod in acknowledgement.
"I hear you. I will be expecting to receive your help as well, Cri-Kee." She moved her lips slightly.
"Hey, don't support him…?" Just as Mushu was about to speak, Mulan gently tilted the bag enough for him to collapse inside, then closed it.
"It's getting cold. You both shouldn't stay out for long," she muttered almost quietly to herself. In truth, she wouldn't need their help. She planned on completing what she started by finishing Shan Yu and his men.
High above the clouds, Aladdin watched the scene unfolding below.
After spending several weeks searching for the Huns, he had found nothing.
And now, the Huns had appeared out of nowhere.
Something was not right!
Could they have reached the Mountain Pass before the Chinese Imperial Army?
That was totally impossible!
He had killed all their horses.
He had Mirage follow the Chinese Imperial Army ever since they departed for the Mountain Pass. Yet he had found no such army ahead of or following the Imperial Army that could have gone unnoticed.
Even the Imperial Army was capable enough of spotting the tracks of such a massive army.
Something was definitely not right.
"Can you go check it out?" Aladdin gently rubbed Mirage's feathered head.
Mirage chirped happily, nodding his little head.
Because of the strange circumstances surrounding the Huns' disappearance, Aladdin decided to complete Mirage's awakening, turning the falcon into his fully-fledged familiar.
Due to this, Mirage awakened his own unique ability.
Clear Sight!
It gave him the ability to instinctively see farther than his normal limits and through illusions.
Aladdin suspected that a familiar's awakened ability had something to do with who they were. But he wasn't sure. He didn't want to take on another familiar, so he left the matter alone for the meantime.
However, unlike Abu, Mirage couldn't speak. Aladdin suspected that this was because Mirage hadn't spent enough time with humans, so his vocabulary was vastly limited.
"Go and take a look." Aladdin stretched out his arm, releasing him into the air.
Mirage pierced through the clouds and soared down toward the Mountain Pass.
He glided through the mountain winds, soaring over the charging Imperial Army. Soon, he arrived overhead of the Huns' Army.
The heavy winds created misty, cold air that blocked his vision.
Despite his sharpened vision, Mirage couldn't see through it.
He dove down.
Mirage's eyes shone with a hint of gold.
The Huns wore thick fur clothing that covered them from top to bottom. Thick gloves covered their arms, and a scarf was tied over a metallic mask over their faces.
Everything he saw at this moment was transmitted back to Aladdin.
This was one of the abilities of a fully-fledged familiar. The reason he didn't use this with Abu was that he respected his privacy.
And Mirage's was… well…
Aladdin narrowed his eyes at the Huns' unusual attire.
He wasn't taken aback by the thick clothing because even among the Chinese Imperial Army, there were many individuals dressed like this, or wearing thick clothes beneath their leather armour to withstand the frigid temperatures of the Mountain Pass.
What made it unusual was the metallic mask.
It was almost lifelike. As though he was staring at a living being itself.
Was this the reason the Huns had disappeared?
To get a cosmetic change?
That couldn't be it!
Aladdin looked toward the front lines. He doubted that Shan Yu would put on such a mask.
But he found no one leading the Huns' Army.
They all marched forward in perfect, orderly formation.
Knowing the kind of person Shan Yu was, Aladdin doubted that Shan Yu had been overthrown and that someone else was leading the Huns' Army.
No!
That was impossible as well!
Aladdin knew he was missing something to piece the pieces together.
'Fly into the folds.' Aladdin sent a command to Mirage.
Mirage soared deeper into the folds of the Huns' Army.
He suddenly caught something flying at the corner of his eye.
Mirage narrowed his eyes and changed course to another direction.
A heavy gust of misty wind surged past him.
But Mirage was already a distance away from his previous position.
A bird?
Aladdin narrowed his gaze at the mist.
It can't be.
A foreboding feeling rose in his chest.
What kind of bird could have detected Mirage?
As the mist cleared, the figure revealed itself.
It was a large metallic bird of prey with razor-sharp wings that glinted beneath the sunny sky. Its talons were like sharpened blades, and its beak was like a curved fork, pinching against itself.
Aladdin gripped his clothes, his expression twisting in shock.
"That's…" Aladdin muttered. But before he could complete his sentence, the metallic living bird locked gazes with him and Mirage.
It twisted its body at an abnormal angle and soared straight toward Mirage.
Mirage performed an aerial manoeuvre and soared skyward.
The metallic bird pursued.
Mirage flew toward Aladdin's direction.
The metallic bird tailed Mirage and halted when he had flown out of range of the Huns' Army. It observed Mirage until he pierced through the clouds and vanished from sight.
The metallic bird returned to the folds of the Huns' Army and landed on the outstretched arm of a large man in the centre.
The man was dressed similarly to the other warriors, except he wore a heavy fur coat. The coat's hood was pulled over his head.
His eyes shone with a greenish glow beneath his metallic mask.
His gaze lingered skyward for several moments, searching for the bird that had entered their ranks. However, he soon gave up and withdrew his gaze.
He continued his march forward.
Mirage hovered above the clouds, observing the bird below.
Nothing escaped his gaze.
Not the metallic bird or the large man.
Aladdin's mind spun.
He couldn't understand what he had just witnessed.
Sure, he knew that he wasn't the only one who could use magic within this world. And although he was strong, he wasn't the strongest.
However, that didn't apply to China.
The only magical beings present in China were the living ancestors and dragons. There was no one in China capable of wielding magic to such an extent.
Ordinary magicians couldn't even dream of a spell of creating living metal without external aids. Only expert magicians could accomplish such a feat.
Aladdin silently recalled the masks he saw.
The metallic masks were just as lifelike as the bird of prey.
Perhaps the Huns had been killed, and a foreign supernatural force from outside China had used the opportunity to launch an attack and capture China.
That was a much more reasonable explanation than believing that the Huns had been transformed into metal men.
That would mean there was a powerful sorcerer among the ranks of the Huns.
And they had noticed him.
It was entirely absurd!
Aladdin chuckled at his own thoughts.
For once, he was starting to think that his paranoia was getting the best of him.
His eyes quickly sharpened once more.
He fixed his eyes in the direction of the large man where the bird had landed.
"It seems we will have to wait first before trying again," Aladdin muttered, gently rubbing Mirage's feathered head.
BOOMM!! BOOM!!
An explosion resonated from a cliff below.
Aladdin narrowed his eyes at the distance.
"We won't be waiting for long."
A fire lance flew from the ranks of the Chinese Imperial Army toward the Huns' Army. Several fire lances followed behind it.
The Imperial Army suddenly halted their charge.
The fire lances soon reached over the Huns' Army, while the others headed toward the mountains around them.
Aladdin understood what was happening.
They wanted to bury the Huns' Army beneath the snow and then finish them off.
It was slightly similar to the plan Mulan had come up with on her own in the movie.
It was a good plan!
BANNGG!! BOOMM!!
The fire lances struck the ranks of the Huns' Army and the mountains around them.
Fire and ice exploded, scattering steaming vapour into the air.
Unable to withstand the bombardment, the snowy mountains split open, unleashing waves of avalanches that poured down their ridges.
The Huns were unable to react in time.
Before they could recover from the fire lances from above, the avalanches overturned their ranks and drowned them.
The once overwhelming forces scattered like pebbles beneath the wrath of nature.
"Did we get them?" Mulan asked, narrowing her eyes at the distance.
The snowy mist obscured her vision.
She and the rest of the troops under Li Shang were leading the charge against the Huns.
With their forces depleted, they didn't have many to spare on the front lines. Otherwise, it would result in a Pyrrhic victory that would not only weaken China but also its reputation among the other nations around it.
So, with their overwhelming strength, they would be the meat grinder that crushed the Huns' Army, leaving them for the others to finish off.
Li Shang didn't respond.
Through his telescope, he observed the Huns' Army in the distance.
Several minutes passed. No one kept track.
Li Shang's mouth fell open. His expression twisted into a mixture of shock and astonishment. The telescope in his grasp cracked.
"Captain?" Mulan called out.
But Li Shang paid no attention to her.
He lowered the telescope, took out the trumpet strapped beside his horse, and blew into it once.
Mulan's eyes widened in shock.
But it wasn't only her. The troops beside him felt a wave of similar emotion ripple through their body.
After the fire lances were launched, they were supposed to blow the trumpets depending on the results.
The first was one blast, signalling that the plan was successful and they could resume their charge.
The second was two blasts, signalling that a majority of the Huns' Army had survived.
The third was three blasts, signalling that they had dealt little to no damage to the ranks of the Huns' Army.
The fourth, and last, was four blasts.
It meant that they had dealt little to no damage to the ranks of the Huns' Army and that something unexpected that could turn the tides of battle had transpired.
Li Shang had blown the trumpet four times.
This last signal had merely been an afterthought, a testimony to the resilience of the Huns' Army and their reputation as a thorn in China's side.
Because there was no such thing as being overprepared in war.
Now, that afterthought had become a reality.
"That's impossible!" Mulan took the telescope from Li Shang and looked through it.
What she saw left a chill crawling down her spine.
"They are not human!" Li Shang trembled, staring into the distance as the snowy landscape was once more painted with the figures of men rising from the snow.
Although they now appeared scattered like grains of sand across white paper, one thing was obvious…
They were untouched.
And this time around, the thick fur coverings they wore had been buried beneath the snow. Their metallic skin was revealed, shining beneath the sunny skies. It created a mirror effect that blinded those in the distance attempting to observe the situation through their telescopes.
Behind the charging troops, General Li gritted his teeth as he put down his telescope.
He couldn't see what was going on in the distance. But hearing the trumpet blasts, he understood one thing.
Something had gone horribly wrong!
"What do we do, General?" Captain Fan asked nervously.
"Continue releasing the fire lances. Let's see if they can withstand several more!" General Li commanded.
Captain Fan nodded.
He signalled to the soldiers beside him as he drew out his trumpet.
Together, all eight of them faced the direction of the cliff behind them and blew into their trumpets four times.
Listening to the trumpets blast, Yao, Ling, and the soldiers who had remained behind quickly loaded the fire lances once more.
"DON'T HOLD BACK!! GIVE THE HUNS ALL YOU'VE GOT!!" Yao ordered loudly.
"HAAIII!" The soldiers responded with a thundering roar.
BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!!!
BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!!!
Meanwhile, from above, Aladdin had already risen to his feet.