Blue Phoenix

The night passed by quickly and every beast was restless in the camp. Some tried to train, yet they were incapable of focusing on refining the essence of the heavens and the earth. Others tried sparring, but they were all too cautious. No one wished to be wounded just in time for the final clash.

Hui Yue was seated within his tent. Next to him was a table and the small space was covered with chairs as all the Saints decided to wait in Hui Yue’s tent. Some were drinking wine from crystal glasses, others were deep in discussion about the outcome of the war, while yet others were busy eating snacks as if nothing major was going to happen soon.

Although it was Hui Yue’s tent, the Grand Marshall seemed to be the only one who was left alone this is what he preferred. He was standing in a corner with part of the table next to him full of maps made by his soldiers, maps that showed the layout of the city. They were made by flying beasts who purposely flew above the city while memorizing the layout of streets, houses, and the castle’s location within the city.

Looking at the map, Hui Yue knew that his troops had to be split up when they rushed the city. Getting rid of all the enemies within the city would be no easy task, and even more so because he needed to reach the Imperial Palace and take the emperor prisoner. Only then would they win this war.

Unfortunately, Hui Yue was not certain if it would be easy for them to storm the city. The Crusaders awaited them as well as their Saints. If one of his armies ran into the Saints without Saints in their own group, then they would be wiped out easily.

Thinking about this, Hui Yue positioned a lord to travel with each group of soldiers. This way no one would be without Saintly protection. He would move with Wan Qiao’s group. Their job would be to rush towards the emperor’s quarters while the rest would wreak havoc in the city. Their orders were simple if anyone tried to escape then let them escape. If anyone tried to fight back, then they were to kill them. Hui Yue wanted to be fair to the humans, but he was not willing to sacrifice his beasts to do so. The Siban Empire had already proven that although they were humans, their view on human life was far inferior to the one the beasts had.

Planning the routes for each and every one of the armies at his disposal made Hui Yue feel calmer. Even more so when he knew that a Saint would be in each army protecting them. Even if they ran into Crusaders, Hui Yue could only hope that they would not be overrun as now all the armies had somewhere between five thousand and eight thousand people each. Although the army had almost halved in size from casualties, the beast army had seen far fewer losses than the human side. Even if there had been a surplus of humans before, they were now running low on soldiers. They were at the point where they had to rely heavily on their Saints to fight.

As Hui Yue placed the final army on the map, he saw how the Saints were all looking at him expectantly. This caused a smile to appear on his face. He was not completely certain that they would win, but he knew that he had done everything he possibly could to make the war fall in their favor. Although no one could say much about the final clash, Hui Yue was satisfied with all he had done; he was incredibly relieved when he saw the entire army awaiting him when he opened his tent. All their faces were filled with excited expressions. Some were completely focused while others sprouted grins and smiles, unable to contain their emotions.

Hui Yue, knowing that they were all excited, climbed a tower which was in front of the army. Standing on top and looking out at the many beasts, Hui Yue felt pride swell up within. All these beasts were aware that this might be their final day alive, yet their faces were not filled with doubt or worry; instead, they were filled with excitement and a will to fight. They had all lost brothers and sisters in arms. They had been comrades and friends. Some had known each other for life, others had become friends recently, yet no one was grieving, all felt that dying for this war was one of the most honorable ways to end one’s life. This itself was enough to make Hui Yue feel both proud and grateful. All these experts placed their lives within his hands hoping that he would make the right decisions.

“Brothers! Sisters!” Hui Yue called out as his sharp voice silenced all the beasts. They looked at him, their eyes filled with great reverence because they had seen him battle time and time again, and the war had gone quite well compared to what they had expected. Everyone felt that they owed Hui Yue a great deal. He was not a pure beast, but neither was he a human. He was an enigma. Someone they could truly not understand. He had surprised them time and time again with his strength. He rose from being nothing but a mere one star King ranked expert to an eight star king. During the war, he even raised his power to the Saint level. What his actual strength was, no one knew, but everyone knew he was full of secrets.

“We have gone through a lot together,” Hui Yue continued, his voice was low, gentle, and warm as he spoke to every single beast in front of him. “We have fought by each other’s sides time and time again. With your help, we have all managed something incredible, and now it is time for the final part of the puzzle. It is time for us to finish this war once and for all!”

His words caused the beasts to roar louder than ever before. After they had quieted down, Hui Yue made all the Saints stand in front of their armies after which he handed each saint a map with a highlighted. The paths took the armies through the entire Imperial Capital, and together, they would get rid of the many soldiers hiding in every nook and cranny of the city. These armies should be capable of defeating even the Crusaders if they ran into them. A few of the armies were doomed to run into the Crusaders.

Finishing his speech, Hui Yue jumped down from the tower and looked at his beasts. Nodding once to the Saints who were standing in front of him, Hui Yue turned around and started marching through the old battlefield. The battlefield where they had battled time and time again. Towers were pulled forward by the bisons as the tall constructions slowly rolled closer and closer to the city wall. After a short while, they latched onto the wall and let the beasts rushing through the tower to enter the city wall.

Reaching the top, the beasts were astonished to see not many soldiers blocking their way. The soldiers were packed around the stairs leading into the city itself. The beast army split into forty smaller armies and headed towards a set of stairs each, fighting their way through the soldiers.

Hui Yue, seeing the army split into smaller sections instantly headed towards Wan Qiao to follow her army. His body started swelling as his limbs grew longer and muscles grew taut. Red fur sprouted from his skin and his blue eyes slowly turned red. Hui Yue took the form of a wolf-man causing his physical strength to soar to the sky. The red wolf instantly jumped into the fray starting to fight the soldiers blocking the set of stairs they decided to use. They chose the set of stairs closest to the Imperial Palace.

The number of soldiers at these stairs was only a few hundred, and none of them managed to do much against an army filled with Kings and Emperors. Wan Qiao had the army with the most Emperors of any army. Neither he nor Wan Qiao needed to do much before the soldiers perished; their lives lost and their corpses tumbled down the stairs closely followed by Hui Yue and the rest of the army.

No one walked in straight lines, and no one followed the rules of an army marching. All were eager to enter the city. Everywhere Hui Yue looked, he saw the same eagerness, the same excitement and the same loss of discipline. He expected this. The beasts were now focused on only one thing, defeating the enemies that came their way. They were focused on taking over the capital and winning the war.

Hui Yue could understand their eagerness, but he was also painfully aware that more beasts would die due to their lack of alertness. They were drunk on success and had become complacent. Something, sadly, he could not change right now. Instead, of filling himself with regret and guilt, Hui Yue decided to let it be. Beasts who died, would perish because of their own carelessness, was not something that he could easily change.

Following Wan Qiao’s army, Hui Yue saw how one ambush after another killed many unprepared beasts. Soldiers were hidden everywhere waiting for the beasts and hitting them hard. Despite the humans ferocity when they ambushed Hui Yue’s soldiers they were fought back time after time. At first, a whole group of five died when they were startled by an ambush, but slowly fewer and fewer died from lack of attentiveness. The beasts, although incredibly eager to reach the Imperial Palace, started to become cautious on the way. Eventually, they were so aware of the ambushes that they could predict them and had their abilities blazing before the ambush.

While Hui Yue was headed for the Imperial Capital while the army belonging to Lord Pan was headed for the house on the city wall. Their task was to capture the Grand Marshall. Hui Yue knew that there was a chance this man had taken a large portion of Saints to protect himself, and he allowed three armies to head towards the house, hoping that he had no more than three Saints by his side.

Fighting the human soldiers was a simple task. They were beaten almost instantly, and their bodies flooded the city walls. The beasts were eager to prove their worth, eager to finish their task, and show that they too were capable of completing the task they had been given.

Fighting one army after another, the closer they came to the house the more soldiers they came across yet none of the soldiers seemed to be of a rank higher than King. This made them simple to deal with them. The beast soldiers were like a tsunami crashing upon the beach; no one had a chance of surviving. The beasts were simply too strong and too numerous.

Having battled against this final group of soldiers, they finally reached the house where they expected the Grand Marshall to be waiting. But as soon as they reached the house, they took a moment to settle down. A moment to get rid of their overeagerness which was likely to cause them to make mistakes. Lord Pan took a deep breath before he gestured for the other Saints to stand next to him. All the Saints breathed heavily as they knew they were likely to battle other Saints as soon as they opened the door. Their focus was fully on the enemies in front of them, their faces stern and their eyes focused.