Dragon's Soul Chapter 55: Wrath

“This way my lord. Everyone move faster!!!” A black armored soldier yelled as he galloped through an open plain on top of his trusty steed.
“Men, lets go!” Zhang yelled to the men behind him.
His scouts had found the location of the Yu sect’s headquarters and they were currently leading him there.
“Debt of blood must be paid with blood.” Zhang murmured as he held the reins to his inferno wind walker. Of the one hundred guards who accompanied Zhang only twenty survived.
“I'll send their entire sect to accompany you guys to the afterlife.” Zhang thought about his dead soldiers as he gripped the reins in his hand tighter.
These men had died serving under him so their deaths must be avenged. The armies of Aurora left no blood debt uncollected.
“STOP!!!” Zhang bellowed as he pulled back the reins of his mount.
The thousands of hors.e.m.e.n behind him came to a sudden stop and awaited his command.
“We will be splitting into four units composed of roughly five thousand men each. These units will be led by Yuying, Ling and Lu Xun. Each unit will move into the mountain from a different direction. We will encircle the mountain and make our way up, a special unit of about five hundred men will be left to outside of the mountain to make sure no enemies get away. Make sure to not harm any civilians, our goal is the Yu sect and only the Yu sect.” Zhang yelled toward his soldiers.
“Yes my lord!” The soldiers of Aurora yelled back in response.
Moments later Zhang’s army split into four and went in separate directions heading toward the Tiger’s peak.
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A few commonfolk who lived in the Tiger’s peak, that happened to be returning home from a trip to the city, could hear the rumbling of thousands of hooves. .h.i.tting the earth. Soon they could see many hors.e.m.e.n speeding toward the mountain.
“Who are they?” One man asked as the hors.e.m.e.n began to dismount.
After dismounting the soldiers brandished s.h.i.+elds and spears and formed into neat rows and began marching. A young man in s.h.i.+ny black armor with a halberd resting on his shoulder could be seen walking at the very front of this army.
“Father we must get home quickly to warn the other villagers to run! Something bad is going to happen!” A youth yelled.
However they had been spotted by the young man, and before they could make it very far he was running toward them at full speed.
Moments later he appeared right in front of them and with a swing of his fist knocked them out.
“Tie them up, we don't want anyone giving away our arrival.”
“Yes my lord.”
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Lu Xun, Yuying and Ling each led their forces to a different side of the mountain and began the encirclement. Ai had been placed under Yuying’s command since she was not fit to command soldiers.
According to the plan, once they reach the designated area each commander will shoot a green flare into the sky. After the four green flares are shot, then a single red flare will be fired signaling the beginning of the battle.
And just like planned one green flare after another shot into the sky.
Zhang pointed the flare in his hand toward the sky and lit it, once the contents inside caught fire a dazzling red colored flare shot into the heavens.
“Attack!!! Leave no one from the Yu sect alive!” Zhang yelled. He had noticed that all the members of the Yu sect had one thing in common and that was their sects uniform so he ordered his men to kill everyone wearing the Yu sects uniform.
The villagers living on the mountains fell into panic as they saw the approaching soldiers with weapons ready. However the soldiers seemed to ignore them and just continued marching by.
“Everyone run!! Run for your lives!!” Some villagers yelled out as they made their way down the mountain.
Slowly Zhang’s army made their way up the mountain, every single member of the Yu sect they ran into was mercilessly slaughtered.
There were small pockets of resistance but most of the Yu sect’s forces were nowhere in sight.
“Everyone be careful there might be enemy ambushes!” One of Zhang’s soldiers yelled out.
However strangely there weren't any ambushes at all. The soldiers of Aurora were able to make it almost to the summit of the mountain without any resistance.
As Zhang led his soldiers up the mountain he eventually ran into Lu Xun’s men and Yuying’s men. They had formed a perfect encirclement of the Yu sect’s headquarters.
A sentry that guarded the outer grounds of the Yu sect could be seen frantically running inside once Zhang’s forces made their way toward the mansion.
“Everyone stand back!” Ai yelled as she whipped the Black Thorn whip using her essence  to extend and increase its size drastically.
BOOOM!!!
Once the whip made contact with the walls of the Yu sect’s headquarters they crumbled into tiny pieces.
“Charge!!” Zhang yelled leading his men in through the broken walls.
Thousands of men swarmed through the broken walls and inside, ready to cut down anyone they happen to run into.
As Zhang entered through the wall it seemed like the sentry from before was just breaking the news of the mountain being surrounded to the rest of the sect.
A middle aged man could be seen standing in front of two corpses. One of these corpses had a sword piercing through it’s neck.
“Grand Elder! It was him! He was the one who killed the sect master! The one with the halberd.” A man yelled out.
“So it was you!” The middle aged man yelled out as he leaped toward Zhang.
“I don't know who you are but be it man, demon or G.o.d, anything or anyone that stands in my way will peris.h.!.+” Zhang yelled as he jumped and smashed the sky piercer downward on the grand elder who had just landed in front of him.
“Hmph arrogant brat who does not know how high the heavens are.” The grand elder, Yu Jia sneered as he rotated his body to dodge Zhang’s halberd. Then with the palm of his hand he smashed into the side of the halberd changing its trajectory.
Zhang's halberd slammed into the ground creating hundreds of little cracks on the stone tiles that were laid on the ground. It had landed inches away from where Yu Jia was standing.
Before Zhang could pull up the halberd, a fist came flying toward him.
“s.h.i.+t…” Zhang cursed in his mind as one of his hands grasping the halberd let go he rotated to the side with one hand still grasping the halberd to avoid the blow.
Once the fist missed it’s target Zhang used his free hand to grab Yu Jia’s fist. Then Zhang let go of the halberd completely and used his other hand to also grab onto Yu Jia’s fist with the intention of flipping Yu Jia onto the ground. However Yu Jia performed a sideward flip and broke loose of Zhang’s grip.
“Hmph!” Zhang snorted as he grabbed hold of his halberd with one hand and swung.
“Brat you think you can hit me with these simple swings?” Yu Jia sneered as he dodged Zhang’s attack. However suddenly a large shadow descended from the sky.
From up above a giant black whip came cras.h.i.+ng down.
A grin appeared on Zhang’s face.
“My simple swings serve as great distractions.” He laughed.
“Hahahah still not enough!” Yu Jia laughed as a blood red sword appeared in his hand.
Seeing this sword a hint of confusion appeared. This is of course because Zhang happens to have a sword that looked exactly the same in his interspatial ring. The sword he got from Yu Zhao.
The odd thing was the sword in Yu Jia’s hand emitted a terrifying blood l.u.s.t as if thousands of vengeful souls were attached to it.
With one swing of the blood red sword Yu Jia knocked back the black whip that Ai had sent cras.h.i.+ng down on him. The impact between the whip and the sword caused the whip to fly out of Ai’s hands.
“What are you idiots doing fight!” Yu Jia yelled to his men who had been preoccupied with watching his fight between Zhang.
“Lu Xun make sure none of them get out of here alive!!!” Zhang also yelled.
“Yes my lord! Everyone attack!!! s.h.i.+elds to the front spears from behind! Leave none of them  alive!!!” Lu Xun yelled as he commanded the soldiers.
Whereas the Yu sect simply rushed into battle, Zhang’s soldiers formed into a soldier wall of s.h.i.+elds and spears. It became a one sided slaughter for the Yu sect. Zhang’s men had formed a meat grinder and slaughtered everything and everyone that came in their path.
There was no way to compare the Yu sect's fighters to the soldiers of Aurora. The soldiers of Aurora simply outcla.s.sed them in all aspects. Be it equipment, training, or coordination there was nothing that the Yu sect could do better then the soldiers under Zhang’s command.
As the battle between the two forces intensified so did Zhang’s battle with Yu Jia. Trails of blood could be seen wherever Zhang went.
Yu Jia’s blood red sword had been able to easily slice through Zhang’s Lightning Eater scale armor. Despite being armor made from the scales of a level eight demonic beast the blade was able to slice through.
If it had not been for the design of the armor itself then Zhang’s wounds would be many times more severe. Thanks to the overlapping scales a few of Yu Jia’s sword strikes had simply slid off the armor instead of dealing damage.
“Just you watch I'll skin you alive, cut you into a thousand pieces and feed you to dogs!” Yu Jia threatened as he madly slashed at Zhang. As blood dripped out of the small cuts all over his body.
From time to time the three beauties would try to intervene and help, however their skill sets did not enable them to do very much against Yu Jia. All of the reanimated corpses Yuying sent at him were cut to ribbons. Everyone of Ai’s attacks were sent flying away. As for Ling her water element magic was more useful for large scale attacks or healing thus she was of no use either.
That being, Zhang was able to hold his own against Yu Jia but just barely. Although he was able to inflict wound on Yu Jia, they were all only light cuts.
Zhang had decided against using the black flames too early in the battle. There was always the possibility that he would not be able to hit Yu Jia with the fire. So the only sure way to utilize the black fire was to surprise the enemy with it.
“You'll have to be able to beat me before you can do any of that!” Zhang sneered as the ten dragon talon throwing knives shot out from his hands.
Clang!Clang!Clang!
However Yu Jia used the Slaughterer sword to send the dragon talons flying away.
“That’s all you got?” Yu Jia laughed.
“Hmph!” With a thought the ten dragon talons that were knocked away changed trajectory and flew back toward Yu Jia.
Since this time they had come from the back there was no way for Yu Jia to block them.
However Yu Jia was able to sense them coming and jumped to the side. But Zhang was easily able to change their trajectory once more.
“Gahhh!” Yu Jia yelled as three of the dragon talon throwing knives pierced through his skin and stuck themselves into him.
“Dammit only three hit.” Zhang cursed. The other seven knives embedded themselves into the ground.
A surge of energy shot out from Yu Jia which caused Zhang to lose control of the dragon talon throwing knives.
“I'll make you pay for that you brat.” Yu Jia said with a deathly glare.
“f.u.c.k off old man! Enough with the idle threats! Fight me like a man and stop dodging!” Zhang said trying to goad Yu Jia into making a mistake.
“How about I separate your head from your body!” Yu Jia replied as he rushed toward Zhang.
“Eat this!” Zhang yelled as he shot out his two chained daggers and made them weave through the air.
“Hahaha old tricks boy, old tricks don't work twice kid.” Yu Jia sneered.
“Then I'll show you something new!” Zhang yelled as dozens of black flames sparked out of nowhere and ignited.
“What's this!?” Yu Jia murmured. Although he didn't know what the black flames did he knew it would be best to avoid them.
But there were simply too many and each flame flew on irregular paths making it next to impossible to dodge them all.
As the black flames struck Yu Jia he could feel his essence being sapped away. The black fire slowly ate away at his strength. Had he been in the underworld then Yu Jia would have turned to nothingness by now. However since they were currently in the mortal plane the black fire was not as effective since it would have to travel through a person's body before it could eat away the source of their essence.
“What kind of technique is this…” Yu Jia said with a look of panic on his pale looking face. All his life he had encountered one strange technique after another yet he had never come across one like this.
Yu Jia fell into panic and retreated back from Zhang.
“Coward! Don’t run from me!!!” Zhang yelled.
“Who is running.” Yu Jia yelled as he extended his hand and grabbed one of his subordinates by the skull.
“Redeem yourself for your failure.” Yu Jia said as his essence began to envelope his subordinate. Soon the man’s body began to grow frail and saggy. In an instant the man who seemed to be in his early thirties turned into an old man who looked like he could die of old age at any moment.
Vice versa Yu Jia’s once pale face turned rosy and full of life.
“What kind of wicked technique is that.” Zhang murmured.
“That technique is called the soul leecher technique. This allows the user to take the essence in a object or person and transfer it to another object or person or perhaps themselves.” Yuying stated.
“Correct.” Yu Jia confirmed with a evil grin on his face as he reached out and grabbed yet another unsuspecting victim.
After that he reached out for another.
“Gra-grand elder… Spare me..” The man squeezed out as the life was being sucked out of him.
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Thank you Alec for proofing this :D. Thank you readers for reading O_O. Thoughts? I should have next chapter done in a few hours just gotta see if anyone is around to proof for me. If not perhaps if people are ok with it i'll post anyway. Then ask someone to proof it later.