The Battle of the Blood Soaked Plains

The Raiders and I finally made it to the Imperial Camp. The organizer tells us where to put our tents and we proceed to do so. I look around and see the troops milling about, clad in their blue and black battle fatigues, setting up their tents, digging trenches, setting up stockades, all that normal prebattle stuff. One would think that after centuries of conducting battle in this one spot both sides would have a permanent forward base but what would I know about war? It's not like I studied it so much in the royal academy that I felt like my brain would melt. The preparations of the camp continue, and at around dusk a command is put out and all the captains of the mercenary bands and platoons of normal soldiers are called into the Commanding Officer's tent. 

I look around and take in what I see. On the mercenary side there's me, some rich and arrogant looking mother fucker, and an old man who looks like he's seen it all. The snobbish cunt is apparently the head of a fallen house of nobility from the Republic and came here to exact his revenge, and the veteran is a career mercenary who owes his life to an imperial healer who saved his life in the last battle. 

On the Imperial side I see an older man who seems to be the advisor to the commanding officer, a noble of a relatively smaller house, an honored general who has served many battles, and of course, the commanding officer, my elder brother, Julius. 

Julius being the pretentious cunt he is, was wearing armor made of gold plated xorynthium, as if asking for archers or mages to attack him. Looking at him kind of reminds me of a shiny, golden banana, with his golden hair.

Julius begins naming the present members, starting with the Imperials.

[Zhuge Liang?]

[Present]

The advisor replies.

[Liu Bei?]

The noble answered.

[Present.]

[Guan Yu?]

[Present.]

The esteemed general replied.

[Captain of the Han, Dong Zhuo?]

[Present]

The traitorous noble responded.

[Captain of the Forsaken, Lu Bu?]

[Present.]

The battle scarred veteran answered.

[Captain of the Raiders, Al]

[Present.]

[Good, everyone is present, let us begin the meeting. Zhuge Liang and I already came up with our strategy so we will now inform you. The battle plan is simple. The mercenaries, Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, along with Liu Bei, will make up our left flank. Guan Yu has a considerable amount of troops, so he will make up the right flank, and since Al has a miniscule amount of troops, you will be accompanying Guan Yu. Guan Yu has authority over Al and will command him as he sees fit. Zhuge Liang's and my troops will make up the center formation. The strategem we will be employing is to try and pierce through the middle, and slowly but surely encircle the flanks of the Republic. During this time of break through, the archers and mages will be split as well, with the majority in the middle attacking so that we can break through faster, and the others will be at the far end of the flanks, trying to make the Republic flanks grow smaller in length so that the encirclement takes less time to complete. Does everyone understand?]

Everyone nods in agreement and the meeting is adjourned. I walk back over to my tent and begin explaining to the Raiders the plan.

[So here is what tomorrow is going to look like. We will be on the right flank with this general named Guan Yu. This general has complete authority over me. Supposedly. Anyway, the goal of our flank is simple. We need to thin the ranks and try to make the flank shorter in length so we can surround the enemy. So, what does that mean for us? We shut up, follow orders, and murder shit. Everyone understand?]

Everyone solemnly nods. 

[Great, now then, lets get fucking hammered and vent our hangovers on the enemy tomorrow! Drinks on me boys!]

With that the mood is lifted and everyone shouts in excitement. I toss Boulder the down payment and everyone leaves to get drinks. And with that, the day ends, and the sun begins to rise anew over the horizon, illuminating the fields in which the grass will drink from the rivers of blood man shall shed once again.

Everyone wakes up with a searing pain burning their brains from the night of drinking, and they prepare for the slaughterfest awaiting them. Donning their armor, performing one last wipe down of their swords and axes, fastening the straps of their helmets. and in Andrews case, making sure his mask will stay on. We begin to walk, and the generals are yelling, getting everyone in their formations. Never before have I seen so many people. There must be tens of thousands of people here. I begin to wonder just how many people will lose their lives here. How many families will grieve for their lost loved ones. How many here will watch as their friends or even lovers die by the hands of the Republic. How many will fall into the spiral of hatred or insanity, and perpetuate the cycle of war and slaughter and hate even further. The drummer boys begin their song of war, the horses clop along to the sound of imminent slaughter, and the feet of thousands can be heard marching to the beat of madness. Swords and axes bash against shields in a cacophony made to improve the bloodlust of the troops and inspire fear in their enemies, the sound gets louder as the enemy begins to be seen, the Republic marching towards us in the same manner, clad in their green and yellow uniforms. Both sides begin taunting each other, only a mere hundred meters away from each other, the shine of hatred can be seen in the eyes of both the army from the north and the army of the south. Insults, vows of revenge, and promises of mutually assured destruction can be heard, and then, the beating of the drummers are no longer heard, and everyone grows silent. I stare into the eyes of the man ahead of me and see nothing but the soul of a man lost to the bloodlust and madness of war. Everyone is silent, the distant caws of a vulture can be heard, but the thousands of men prepared to kill make not a single noise, as though holding their breath. And then, from the middle of the armies, a horn is blown that stretches across the entire battlefield, and madness ensues.

All at once, as though a wild animal that was once caged finally regained its freedom, the roars of more men than can be counted are heard, as though something within them, something dark and primordial, something long since restrained, finally emerged, and the two armies clashed. I too charge at the enemy, my cleavers, Slasher and Ripper, ready for the whole sale butchering of human meat. A predatory laughter emerges from my throat as I dash towards the man I made eye contact with earlier. He too charges at me, claymore in hand, and raises it above his head, preparing to bring it down with his entire body weight. Too slow however, and I swing Ripper with my right hand at his hands, and both of his wrist are removed and a fountain of blood spurts violently from his hand. The claymore falls and hits the ground behind him, and Slasher then hits him squarely in the side of the neck, and would have decapitated him had the cleaver been swung with enough force to go through the spinal cord. One often forgets just how much force is needed to truly decapitate someone in one swing. This man breathed his last, and just in time too, as another victim comes at me with words of revenge and spit spewing from his mouth. It seems the two men knew each other, but now they shall meet in the afterlife. The man comes at me, axe held diagonally, and his shield raised to cover the lower half of his face and upper chest. I use Slasher to block the axe and Ripper to beat his shield, over and over, forcing him to lose his footing, as he staggers back his shield drops a little and I swing Ripper in that moment and truly decapitate him. The staggering amount of kinetic energy sends the head flying above the heads of others, blood spraying on everyone indiscriminately. I feel several pairs of eyes turn towards me, recognizing me as a threat, and I assume a defensive stance.

Three people sprint towards me, another axeman, a pikeman, and a shieldless swordsman. I use Slasher and Ripper to block the swings from the axe and swordsmen, but i don't exactly have three arms so the pikeman successfully manages to stab me, but I maneuver myself to the side and the pike only grazes my shoulder pauldron. I then rush to the pikeman's face, and headbutt him. He loses his footing and I lodge Ripper into his stomach, causing him to cough up blood. I slide behind the pikeman to use his body as a meat shield and proceed to block the other two. When the axeman hits me I chuck the corpse of the pikeman at him and it hits him, causing him to fall backwards due to the unexpected weight. As he struggles to the corpse off of him I use both of my cleavers to hit the sword the man is holding from one direction and the force sends it out of his hands, I then swing Slasher to the top of his head, splitting his skull in two. As I dislodge Slasher more pieces of his skull get chipped away and bits of his brain can be seen. The axe man comes up behind me and swings, it shreds through my pauldron and into my flesh. I turn around and with the centrifugal force from spinning around a clean 180 degrees and a healthy amount of body strengthening, Ripper cleaves though his stomach, innards, and spine. I split the man's body in half roughly around his navel. 

The scent of blood is thick and potent in the air, the once firm ground is now slick with blood and the corpses of the hundreds of men that have already fallen. I take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the battlefield. I begin to laugh uncontrollably, as though a great burden has been lifted. I realize that this, this is freedom. This is the freedom I have oh so desired, here, in this sacred battlefield, where the wills and desires of man clash, where blood flows freely like water, and the animalistic urges man has spent aeons restraining finally emerge, and devours the mind, body, and soul of man. Already I feel the blood of the five I slaughtered like animals begin to stain my soul. This, is pure bliss. The act of mindless slaughter, feeling the body heat become cool, seeing the shine of life and hatred in their eyes dull, seeing the blood come out of the body as though seeking release, and hearing the cries for clemency and the lamentations of the killers. Even the pain in my shoulder feels pleasurable. I lift my head and see flocks of crows, ravens, and vultures come from afar and perch upon trees that were watered from the blood, suffering, and death of men, waiting for the slaughter festival to end, so that they may grow fat from the carcasses of the deceased. This is life. To live, one must feed from death, and to provide life, one must die. I lift my head even further and stare into the dark clouds above, the tears from the deceased who watch as their fathers, children, grandchildren, or husbands fight and die from the heights of paradise beginning to fall upon the living. Some of the rain falls upon my mask, and it makes it look like I'm crying, which only causes me to laugh even harder. All around me I see death. I see one of my Raiders stick their sword into a mans throat, I see a Republic man swing his great axe down on an Imperial who's on the ground begging for mercy. Similar sights can be seen throughout the entire battlefield. I hear spells exploding in the distance, sending entire groups men flying, I see volleys of arrows being loosed by the archers. This, is war.

The day continues on like this, all the way until the sun sets, at which point both sides reluctantly agrees to go back to rest. I make my way back to the tent and see that we're missing two people. out of the 16 that came, 14 are left. So far not so bad but we have so few members to start with every loss hurts. Andrew and Boulder are still alive. We all sit around a fire with solemn faces, except for me. I'm grinning like an idiot. We all begin to tell each other how many people we killed. Seems like most people only got to around 7. This really surprises me. I then hear Boulder's answer.

[I killed 10.]

Andrew laughs and says

[Thats all? I managed to get 13 under my belt!]

At this point everyone looks at me with an expression of excitement and curiosity.

[Me? I got...30..]

Blank stares are received from all around as everyone processes this information. No one knows what to think. They knew that I wasn't normal but they didn't realize just how much of an oddity I was. Shouts of congratulations were heard, and several other groups look at us in annoyance. I bear the weight of the spotlight for a while and then inform them that I have to go to the commanders meeting.

I walk into the meeting, completely soaked in blood as I still hadn't washed my armor, nor did I plan to. I got some wrinkled noses from the other commanders, although Lu Bu seemed to smile at it. Seems I found a compatriot here. Julius arrives fashionably late with Zhuge Liang and the meeting begins. Julius speaks first.

[The results of today's battle were phenomenal. We lost only a tenth of our forces. What did your units chip off?]

Guan Yu says [2 thousand.]

Lu Bu [1 and a half thousand]

Dong Zhuo [2 thousand as well]

Liu Bei [300]

Zhuge Liang [3 thousand]

I say [122]

I get some weird looks. Lu Bu looks at me and ask

[You and your 15 men got 122 kills? What the hell happened?]

[Ah, you see, in the days before the battle I gave them a training course that put them through hell that I specifically designed for this, and most of my men got about 7, give or take a few. although I made up 30 of those 122 kills, although two of my men died so we most likely got around 130 or so.]

The looks of the table grew even more surprised as they realized the blood on my armor is all that remains from the corpses of 30 people that I slew singlehandedly. 

[Well done everyone, with this we killed almost nine and a half thousand Republicans in the first day alone. We only lost a tenth, about 4 thousand people, with this they already lost a fifth of what they have. I'm sure in three more days we will win this battle. Our strategem is not something that can be accomplished in one day gentlemen, we are thinning their ranks, so that in a couple days from now we can surround and decimate them. Good job men, dismissed.]

With that I waited until the dead of night, so that the only people awake were the night watch. I crept into the battlefield and began raising mind boggling amounts of shades, I sent them into my shadow, and I felt the minds of the hundreds of souls that yet lingered wriggle and writhe in my shadow and mind. I've never reanimated this many at one time, and the pain and pressure from hundreds of souls in agony incapacitated me for a few minutes, but I managed to subdue them. I made my way to the tent and slept like a log. That, was the first day of the battle.