107 Showdown (1/2)
Streaks of lightning snaked across the dark skies and the rain came down to the earth in sheets as the local soldiers were noisily making their way out of the castle and towards the gates in the muddy sodden conditions.
Hartley, Anguo Chen and commander Genk made their way through the open front doors of the almost abandoned castle with a dozen of their most elite soldiers trailing behind, the rest of the army surrounded the castle and awaited further orders.
They quickly picked up the fluctuations of several xiantians on the first floor and quickly made their way towards the room.
The four occupants of the room were nonchalantly moving arounddisplaying utter disregard and contempt for the invading forces as they held casual conversations between themselves.
”They're here.” said the dark hair man dressed in black who had stood silently behind the commander for the duration of their conversation. Commander Haiyuan got up and was moving confidently forward when an abrupt explosion of wood and stone echoed out, rending the door off its thick iron hinges and sending a hailstorm of wooden chips, splinters andsmashed pebbles into the room along with a cloud of hazy dust.
The suffocating dust blotted out the pristinely furnished room before dissipating after a long few seconds.
When the dust cleared the massive silhouette of Commander Genk was standing at the opening. That towering figure could not be mistaken and brought with him an aura of overbearing dominance that gave confidence to everyone behind him.
”Hope you guys have no urgent plans because you are all coming back to Aidonia with me to answer some serious questions, willingly or unwillingly” said commander Genk as he smiled at those in the room.”
The vile count Zexin was scared shitless for a moment but with a wave of a hand from the red haired man all the debris showering into the room was diverted harmlessly to the side, when the flinching count noticed the same nonchalant and confident attitude on the faces of his backers he automatically straightened his back with an arrogant snarl, gathering his wits before he stepped forward andstarted barking confidently.
”How dare you destroy the property of a duke you repugnant invaders, go back to your own country and let us sort out our.....”
The words froze on the tip of his tongue as he felt a sudden stab of terror, he tried to abandon his tirade and retreat back behind commander Haiyuan and the others in desperation.
There was a sudden blue flash, one punch and his head exploded like a water melon, blood and brain fluid flew out in every direction, staining commander Haiyuan's face with splotches of red, even the elites behind commander Genk felt a bit squeamish at the sudden brutal sight as the count's headless corpse fell with a thud still spewing blood.
The fleeting terror etched on his face in that split second when he realized Hartley was brazen enough to act in front of his backers was etched on the count's face before it exploded into red mush as the people from Aidonia flooded into the room.
Now Hartley was standing in the middle of the room a few steps ahead of commander Genk looking calm and serene. Commander was bit surprised Hartley would sneak attack the count but thought it the best interest of the country to get rid of him as soon as possible so he had no complaints.
It was apparent that the three confident people in the room weren't guarding against a sneak attack, Hartley had sized up the opponents strength and with hard-headed pragmatism he had decided it was best to take care of the count while the opponents guards were down, application of skills could bridge the gap between sub-realms but pure brute force wasn't going to achieve this, those two subordinates on the other side were formidable and there was a chance the count could escape if a battle were to drag on.
In fury the red hair man reacted immediately while commander Haiyuan was in shock as he touched his fingers to his face then looked at the blood at the tip of his finger in disbelief.
He had never expected these underhanded tactics from the upstanding representatives of Aidonia. There was a crack of thunder and a streak of lightning visible outside the high windows of the room but the red hair man moved even faster, the man was approaching Hartley in a blur when Commander Genk stepped forward to intercept. The giant two-handed sword appeared in the commander's hand but before he could even get in a battle stance.....
Commander Genk was sent sailing back with a muffled and somewhat surprised shriek, clattering through a wall and knocking over a few of his own elites, bringing with him a debris field of dust and broken stones as the gigantic man was sent sprawling across the tiled floor and out into the hall where he slid to a stop. The world seemed to go completely mute as their was a haunting silence that was only disrupted by the cracks of thunder coming from the heavens.
”Commander!” Anguo Chen blurted out as he rushed to the aid of Commander Genk amidst the gawping stares of the elites, most had mouths wide open. They had never before seen someone so effortlessly swat away their commander like an annoying fly.