Chapter 1 – link
Chapter 3 – link

Assault
Kenji fiddled with his dagger, studying the fine streamlined blade and tossed it up and down, catching it, careful not to stab himself as Zero and Nero sat there rethinking their situation. An alert looking officer trudged into the room.

“Why are you here, Wilson?” inquired Nero.

“Nero! We have found out dreadful news from the code breaking department of this headquarters. It seems that Houston accidentally stumbled upon it, when he read the sheet holding it up to the light. He saw some pin pricks on the sheet and strangely enough, they were under specific words. The words said that the Bloodhrëi would attack our Ellinian outpost Kushino,” reported Wilson.

“That is grave news, although I will begin moving our forces after we defend the Ellinian forces. Kenji, you can command the defense of this outpost. Zero, you can help me launch a reconnaissance and possibly a sabotage mission on the Bloodhrëi weapons factory located to the south of our current location,” said Nero.

“Kenji and Zero, you should move off now. There will be forces supplied at the outpost, although they only have enough to defend 3 of 4 gates leading to the outpost. The last one will be up for you. Their whole arsenal is up to your use for your liking.”

“It’s alright, I have a better, more fiendish plan,” laughed Kenji.

So there, Kenji and Zero set off, on their boars. The boars had a very streamlined shape with tusks that could penetrate metal. Luckily, the boars were tame but they are very swift in movement. Kenji and Zero set off in different directions both arriving at their destinations on the same day. Alexei followed Kenji closely behind or sometimes, he perched on his shoulder.

Captain Lumpy was in charge of outpost Kushino. He was a brave man who had fighting skills which outmatched many skilled fighters. He took charge of the outpost with pride. He had great strategic skills and some reconnaissance skills. The Kushino outpost was a very large outpost with a gate facing each direction: north, south, east and west.

“We have been expecting you, Kenji. You will guard gate east which is the hardest to breach. Seeing as you are fighting alone, we have given you a very advantageous battlefield with quicksand to the right followed by a very slanted ledge to the left with a row of palisades in front,” notified Captain Lumpy.

“I will be helping the other less skilled but still diligent soldiers. This outpost has only a few healing mages but plenty of warriors and bandits. We will supply one cleric for you. She might accompany you with your journeys. You have 2 hours approximately before their attack begins. Use this time wisely and try finish early because they might surprise attack,” said Captain Lumpy.

There Kenji moved to the east section of the outpost. He examined the area. Captain Lumpy had been correct, it had a very rock terrain followed by what must be quicksand. In front of the outpost was a small patch of land before the sharp palisades. Kenji quickly jumped off the outpost’s sturdy wall and started heaving a huge boulder to the top of the sloping hill. He noticed a silhouette standing by watching him.

“You going to help?” inquired Kenji.

“Hey! How did you know I was here?” replied the silhouetted figure.

“I’m not blind! So you going to help me or not?” asked Kenji.

“Well, I am a skilled Air Breaker and cleric. My name is Karen,” said Karen.

“Welcome aboard,” replied Kenji.

Kenji began to build a kind of weak fence with some of the spare wood he saw lying around as Karen pushed boulders to the edge of the slope. After she pushed enough boulders, Kenji aligned the fence and hammered it down not to deep and tied a piece of rope to it which he then connected to the castle wall. After that, he proceeded to dig a ditch around the palisades and slowly filled it with water.

“Whatever your plan is, I hope it works,” commented Karen.

“It will work, trust me. The only problem will come if we get face to face with Doric, which will be a big worry,” replied Kenji.

It only took 1 hour to complete the strenuous job. As Kenji and Karen sat there resting, the worse had come, Captain Lumpy had right, they were coming to attack early. Kenji leapt to his feet, fully prepared and armed and being taunting the soldiers. There were many ranks of them. All the same, armed with a bow, staff or a claw, with the same red circular ring tattooed on their left arm. They trudged on in groups towards their ill fate.

“They must be kidding! I mean one soldier to defend a whole side of the outpost? This should be an easy victory. If one side has one man, I bet the others have NONE!” commented an archer.

“Dream on!” replied Kenji. “Give us all you got. I ain’t scared, nor is she.”

“Are they serious? They are goners. Seriously, a pool of water to stop us? I’m going to go home laughing tonight!” replied the same archer.

“Stop your talking and start your fighting! Or are you too afraid of me and her?” taunted Kenji.

At that remark, that archer whispered to the others and they all ran forward. With Kenji’s great reaction, he simultaneously pulled the rope, which pulled the wood and hence releasing large boulders rolling down the hill slowly. Alexei sat proudly on Kenji’s neck staring down at the soldiers. The boulders rolled agonizingly slowly down the hill.
Roll.
Roll.
Roll.
Crush!
Bones crumpled under the weight as the rocks continued down the slope slowly decreasing the size of their army.

“You can’t beat all of us!” screamed the archer just before he was crushed under the weight of a boulder. The rest of the mages, archers and assassins that tried to dodge the boulders jumped to the left; straight into the quicksand. They stared helplessly at their comrades as they sluggishly sank to the bottom of the quicksand. The others, more aggravated than ever charged forwards after a shadow hiding in the tree shot pairs of stars that cracked each boulder accurately in the centre.

The soldiers kept running forward, infuriated at their friend’s deaths. They ran through the water and one by one, they fell, feeling the deadly wrath of the palisade’s sharp wood. At this point, Kenji and Karen had jumped down and were gradually begun defending their base. The soldiers were looking at their friend’s dead for some particular reason, before they realised what hit them, they hit were struck by the palisades.

Soon, they realised their folly and that was when there was only 2 soldiers left: an assassin and a mage. These two stealthily leapt over the palisade and the assassin tossed 4 stars, two at each person. Kenji deflected the stars with his dagger as Karen leapt over them, building a holy arrow and nocking it in her holy bow. With his dagger slicing the air, Kenji ran forward, poised for the slash. As he neared the assassin, he did something unexpected, he backflipped, testing his luck on the palisade. He successfully got over the palisade and stood there and fired stars crazily.

Kenji veered left and right continuously until he had dodged all the stars, then leapt in for the kill. He held his dagger high and slashed an arc down where blade joined bone. While this was happening, a shadow moved nearer and Karen had fire her arrow which the mage dodged uneasily. The mage conjured a ice beam and sent it soaring at Karen. She evaded it successfully just before she knocked the mage out with her staff.

Kenji, wiped his dagger clean off the blood on the assassin’s blood and sat there poised as Alexei finished off the attackers. Gradually, Kenji backed off from the shadow and motioned for Karen to follow. In the end, Alexei followed.

The shadow revealed itself. It was …

A cookie and milk for whoever can guess who the shadow is. Press the button if you liked the story! More to come next time!