To one side, Tujiu was toppled, falling to the ground with the eldest of the Strongfist Brothers clutching his shattered shin. To the other, the youngest brother thudded to the ground with a fist sized hole in his abdomen, spilling blood onto the dirt. A moment later, a curvy woman in tight black leather landed on the ground as light as a feather. Her right arm was covered in blood nearly up to her elbow and she laughed at the other two brothers, her voice sounding like a child bragging about winning a game, “I made the bigger wound, that means we’re in the lead!”

With a loud growl, the oldest brother charged towards Songji. She dashed backwards, her laughter sounding like the tittering of a bird even though her face was as cold as ice. Right before his fist reached her, it suddenly grew dark and she hopped into the shadow of one of the Hoplites like it was an open hole in the ground. Tujiu had been battling among them so she didn’t have to go far. The middle brother was checking on the youngest brother and before they could realize what was going on Songji’s head poked up out of the ground and she leapt out of Tujiu’s shadow. She hoisted him up onto her shoulders like he was a sack of rice and started running. The Jade Horde’s battle line was still between her and the others in the center, but surprisingly she didn’t run away from the battle but perpendicular to it, heading towards the city wall.

She was about to reach the wall and preparing for a leap when she heard Baozhai’s yell, “Look out! Wu Chang disappeared!”

Songji reacted quickly, throwing Tujiu towards her right and away from the Jade Horde to her left. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and not a moment too soon as she was struck by a violent gust of wind. Like thousands of tiny blades, she felt her clothing and the skin of her body getting slashed apart. She was forced backwards a few hundred feet, skidding to a stop with the front of her body looking as if it had been flayed. Her face and upper body had been shielded from the damage by her crossed arms, so she managed to retain some of her modesty, not that anyone but a real sicko would enjoy the view of her bloody and mangled body.

The bloodied woman started laughing maniacally, but the others raised their eyes to see the man with the elaborate armor floating overhead. Now that he was closer to the battlefield they finally got a good look at him. He looked exactly like that portrait inside the City Lord’s manor, except for one major difference. A trio of huge scars marred his face, wide and ragged they looked more like burns. Even the face-obscuring helmet of the Jade Horde couldn’t hide how large and ugly the scars were. With this man now joining the conflict, both Baozhai and Juzui moved. Baozhai’s long legs kicked the ground with astounding strength, causing small craters to form in her wake as she charged straight through the Jade Horde’s shield wall, punching a line through. She scooped up Tujiu and ran him over to Songji, standing defensively in front of them.

Juzui wasn’t as fast as Baozhai, he waved his sword a few times and then leaped into the air, floating like a leaf over the crowd of soldiers. He waved his sword a few times to deflect crossbow bolts coming his way and landed softly next to Songji a few moments after Baozhai had retrieved Tujiu. At almost the same time, the air tore apart and Jiyao jumped out of the darkness. He spit on the ground again, cursing at the tear before focusing on the battle. As soon as Juzui landed on the ground, he looked at Songji and shook his head, “She’s lost herself. Hold them back for me, please.”

Baozhai stepped forward and stomped hard on the ground a couple times, causing it to rupture. Like a large plate the portion near her sunk down and a spot a dozen feet away lifted upwards. With just a few seconds, and a couple more stomps, she built a waist high wall around their position. At the same time, Jiyao hopped back into the air. His saber swung rapidly, releasing a flurry of slashes at twice the speed he was earlier, peppering the man on the fan, Wu Chang, with arcs of cutting energy.

On the ground, Juzui swung his sword a few more times, twirling and pirouetting in the air a few times. Qi rolled off him in waves and the area grew warmer, brighter, fresher. The sun shined brighter and a gentle rain fell. He examined the sky and then went to Tujiu, taking out a Bone Brace. He placed the device against his leg and wrapped it up with Blood Drinking Silk. Tujiu had already swallowed a few pills and with the help of the magic devices he leaned on his spear and climbed back to his feet. Songji still seemed lost in madness, but the rain was washing away the blood from her wounds. Juzui threw a healing pill into her mouth and then turned back to look at the battle going on in the sky.

Wu Chang was smiling viciously down at them, standing atop a shimmering rainbow colored semi-circle. The blue metal bars and sticks combining to make the device look far too bright and cheerful for such an ominous foe. He was just waving his hands a moment after Jiyao waved his black saber, and it looked like the two of them were just having a mock battle from a hundred yards apart. Jiyao was being careful not to put the others in the path of their battle so they couldn’t see what was happening, but many in the Jade Horde could. Far behind Jiyao, on the ground, the Strongfist Brothers could see the vicious waves of black energy slicing through the air and then Wu Chang waved his hand. Each time he waved his hand, those black arcs would slow down and then just unravel like they weren’t ever there.

“Haha, not bad, Kid. I’m always looking for more talent. Give up now and I’ll let you join me. You don’t want me to kill all your friends do you?”

To prove his point, Wu Chang hopped off of his large fan and it swept up into his hands. He gave it a short swing and a raging torrent of wind blasted forth from him. A vertical column of wind appeared in front of him, stretching from the ground to the sky, and rushed towards Jiyao. He slashed it three times before it reached him and then tried to dash away, but the column of wind moved too quickly. It caught up to him and pulled him in, swinging him around and around. He tumbled through the sky and the black saber slid from his grip.

Then Wu Chang lifted the fan over his head and spun it in a circle before sweeping it downwards. A moment later, a roiling volume of air fell down upon the others. Thousands of tiny wind vortexes converged into a small area and smashed down upon them like a waterfall of air pressure. Songji’s wounds tore back open, blood spraying the ground. Tujiu wasn’t much better, he thrust his spear into the sky and a spike of flame met the falling column. It burned away hundreds of the tiny vortexes, but there were just too many of them and his flame lance disappeared. Baozhai just crossed her arms and held her ground, while Juzui stabbed his sword into the ground and dropped down to one knee. The downpour of wind persisted for nearly a quarter minute before finally fading away, leaving the group of four looking extremely ragged.

Three of them were laying on the ground, covered in small wounds just like Songji was earlier. They were each bleeding profusely, though as soon as the attack ended the sun brightened again and the gentle rain started to fall once more. Juzui pulled himself back up to his knees and closed his eyes, concentrating. Only Baozhai was still standing and her clothing was torn up, but there wasn’t a speck of blood on her. Instead, she screeched at Wu Chang and dashed towards him. Just like Jiyao, she started hopping on the empty air, leaping towards their foe.

“Die! Die! Die!”