The first arrows flew through the morning air like bloodthirsty birds of death.
Li Yuan moved with a speed born from thousands of years of battle experience, his body flowing between the deadly projectiles. But he wasn't alone—beside him, the men of Millbrook also moved, a primitive survival instinct taking over.
David Miller screamed as an arrow tore through his left arm, fresh blood soaking his shirt. But he didn't stop—the kitchen knife in his right hand gleamed as he charged forward.
"FOR MILLBROOK!" Robert yelled, his bow releasing an arrow that pierced a Drakemoor archer's throat.
The true battle began when the Drakemoor foot soldiers charged forward with their swords and spears. The sound of metal clashing against metal, screams of pain, and roars of rage filled the previously calm morning air.
Li Yuan met the first attack—three soldiers at once, assaulting him with trained coordination. His high-level martial arts movements flowed like deadly water. His hand snatched the wrist of the first soldier, breaking it with a loud snap. The man cried out in pain as his sword fell.
Li Yuan's elbow moved backward, smashing into the ribs of the second soldier with devastating force. The sound of a final breath escaped the man's mouth before he collapsed.
The third soldier managed to graze Li Yuan's shoulder with his spearhead, but Li Yuan grabbed the spear's shaft and pulled it hard. The soldier was dragged forward, right into a punch from Li Yuan that crushed his skull.
Three dead in five seconds.
Around him, the village men fought with a courage born of desperation. Thomas Aldrich, despite his old age, swung his wood axe with surprising strength. The axe head sank into a soldier's chest, but another soldier managed to slash Thomas's right arm with his sword.
"AHHHHH!" Thomas screamed in pain, his arm almost completely severed, hanging by only a few muscles and skin. Blood gushed out like a fountain.
James leaped forward with his spear, stabbing the stomach of the soldier who wounded Thomas. But the momentum of the dying soldier's forward charge still allowed his sword to slash James's face. James's left eye was destroyed, blood and clear fluid running down his cheek.
"MY EYE! MY EYE!" James screamed while holding his face, but he didn't retreat. With his remaining right eye, he continued to fight.
Robert managed to release a few more arrows before a mounted knight charged at him. The warhorse trampled his right leg, the sound of breaking bone clearly audible in the chaos. Robert fell with a heart-wrenching shriek, but his hand still reached for a knife and stabbed it into the horse's leg. The horse went wild, throwing its rider to the ground.
Li Yuan saw the suffering of his friends and something inside him vibrated with an intensity he had never felt. Not blind anger, but something more focused—anger that had found its purpose.
They are hurting my family.
He moved with an almost inhuman speed, but still within the limits that could be explained by high-level martial arts. His hand grabbed a soldier's head and twisted it in a single motion. The man's neck broke with a terrible sound.
Another soldier tried to stab him from behind, but Li Yuan spun and caught the sword with his bare hand. The metal cut his palm, drawing blood, but his grip didn't loosen. With his other hand, he punched the soldier's throat, crushing his larynx and making him choke on his own blood.
David Miller, despite his badly bleeding arm, managed to stab his kitchen knife into a soldier's eye. Blood and eye fluid spurted out, but the dying soldier still managed to slash David's stomach. The knife tore through skin and muscle, and David's guts began to spill out.
"DAVID!" Li Yuan yelled, but the young man was still standing, his hands pressing on his own wound.
"I... I can still fight!" David screamed, even though his face was pale from blood loss.
In the homes around the square, the faint sounds of crying women and children could be heard. Anna peeked out the window, her eyes full of horror as she watched the carnage happening outside. Lila hid behind her mother, her small body trembling with fear.
"Don't look, sweetie," Anna whispered, covering Lila's eyes with her hand. "Don't look."
But Anna herself couldn't look away. She saw Li Yuan moving among the soldiers like a grim reaper, every movement resulting in death. But she also saw her friends, her neighbors, the people who had become like her brothers, bleeding and suffering.
Colonel Blackthorne, who had initially watched the battle from a distance with confidence, now began to look worried. Half of his army was already dead, and the farmers who should have been easily defeated were fighting with a terrible courage.
"Kill them all!" he yelled at his men. "NOW!"
More soldiers charged forward. Li Yuan spun and jumped, his foot kicking a soldier's head until his neck bent at an unnatural angle. His hand caught a spear thrown at him and threw it back, piercing another soldier's chest.
Thomas, despite his right arm being almost severed, still swung his axe with his left hand. The movement was clumsy and weak, but it was enough to break a soldier's knee. When the soldier fell, Thomas repeatedly slammed the axe head into the man's skull, blood and brains splattering on the ground.
"THIS IS FOR MY WIFE!" Thomas screamed between his blows. "THIS IS FOR MY CHILDREN!"
James, with his destroyed left eye and blood still running down his face, managed to stab his spear into the stomach of a knight who had fallen from his horse. But the knight was still alive and scratched James's remaining right eye with his dirty fingernails.
"NO! NOT THE OTHER EYE!" James screamed in desperation, but he kept pushing his spear deeper until the knight stopped moving.
Robert, with his crushed right leg, crawled on the ground while stabbing the soldiers' legs with his knife. Each stab produced a scream of pain, but he didn't stop. The blood from his own wounds formed a puddle beneath his body.
Li Yuan felt the Understanding of Emotion in his Zhenjing vibrate with incredible intensity. He not only felt his own emotions but also the emotions of every person on this battlefield—the crushing pain of his friends, the fear of the families in hiding, and even the desperation of the Drakemoor soldiers who were starting to realize they might not be going home.
This is human emotion in its rawest form, Li Yuan realized as his hand pierced another soldier's chest. Love that is so deep it is willing to suffer to protect. Anger that is so pure it can overcome the fear of death.
The Understanding of Rage also vibrated with a new power. No longer confused or frustrated anger, but anger that had found its reason—the anger of a protector who sees his family attacked.
And in this blood and these tears, Li Yuan thought as he threw another soldier's body to the ground, perhaps I will find the true meaning of what it means to be human.
The battle continued, and the village square's ground began to become soaked with blood from both sides. But the men of Millbrook, though seriously wounded, had not yet completely fallen.
They were still standing. Still fighting.
And Li Yuan... Li Yuan began to understand something new about the strength that can be found in love fought for with blood.