Blade(Part 1): Dawn

Chapter 29: Xerxei

Xerxei could barely hear Kai calling his name as his vision returned. His ears were ringing, and his head was throbbing. Whatever Zabaia did to him must have taken a serious toll on him.

"Xerxei!" he shouted. "Xerxei!" Kai then smacked Xerxei across the face, and he quickly rose to his feet.

"I'm awake, Kai!" Xerxei shouted. He must have taken a serious blow to the head when Zabaia threw him into the crates.

"Are you alright?" asked Kai. "Zabaia hit you with a pretty powerful blast."

"Where is he?" Xerxei growled.

"He warped away," Kai answered. "He was probably drained from that last attack."

"Maybe," Xerxei agreed. "What's the status of our attack on Eleus?"

"The gates have been breached," Kai reported. "But our forces are having trouble crossing the bridge into the city."

"Let's go help them out, then," said Xerxei.

"Hold on a minute," Kai warned. "There's no way in hell you're going into battle after the hit you just took. You should get some rest."

"Not until Eleus is ours," Xerxei declared. "Now, let's go." Xerxei formed his two-handed mace in his hands, while Kai formed his staff, and they both went to join their forces at the gates to Eleus. The beam riflemen were in place on the top of the walls, firing single beams in unison at the draconian phalanx before reloading and preparing to fire again. The beams fired from the rifles shattered against the draconians' mithril shields. Both Xerxei and Kai rushed through the Skaolan and ocean-scaled draconians, to the front lines of the battle on the bridge. Xerxei quickly warped right up against the enemy's wall of shields and unleashed a dark aura blast the center of the first and second lines of warriors was thrown backward, and the sky-scaled draconians charged forward in their place. They all thrust their spears forward, and Xerxei swung his mace-shaped dark aura blade, snapping all of the spearheads off their shafts. Before the draconians could draw their swords, Xerxei unleashed a dark aura blast all around himself, sending every soldier of Acran in front of him to the ground. A few of them were knocked into the water under the bridge to drown. Kai rushed forward to deliver his own dark aura blast, then their forces rushed forward while the forces of King Atreus were on the ground, killing them before they could stand. The Skaolans and ocean-scaled draconians rushed forward behind Kai and Xerxei. Both Shadows continuoisly threw Acran's forces back with dark aura blasts, giving their soldiers the chance to kill them before they raised their shields. After one more blast from both Shadows, though, the draconians of Acran held their ground, still holding their shields in front of them, and pointing their spears forward. The Skaolans ran past Kai and Xerxei, slamming against the draconian phalanx. Xerxei couldn't help other than to smack himself in the head at the stupidity of his soldiers. How could they think that they could fight past a draconian phalanx after every other time has ended in their deaths.

"Kai!" Xerxei shouted. Kai was one of the few attackers that wasn't throwing himself against Acran's phalanx, and rushed to Xerxei.

"What!?" he shouted.

"I have an idea!" Xerxei shouted. A red light surrounded him as he began to charge a dark aura blast, and Kai began to do the same. They both then warped to the rear of the sky-scaled draconians' ranks and unleashed their charged blasts. Hundreds of the remaining warriors of Acran were thrown into the air, then Kai and Xerxei rushed forward. One thrust at Xerxei with his spear, and it bounced off of his dark aura shield before Xerxei brought down his two-handed mace on the warrior's head. As another one was about to swing his spear at him, he blocked the attack with the shaft of his mace before knocking him off his feet with an aura blast and crushing his chest with his mace. When he found himself surrounded, a red light quickly appeared in front of the soldiers surrounding him, one after the other, and Kai came from each one, either kicking the draconians in the face or striking them with his staff. Suddenly, there was a shout from one leaders of the sky-scaled draconians.

"Fall back!" he roared. Xerxei raised a dark aura dome around himself and Kai as King Atreus' forces began to rush past him, into the city. There must have been some kind of city plaza for them to fall back to that could more easily be defended than the bridge. A few beam riflemen picked off some of the retreating soldiers just before they formed another phalanx wall further down the street. Xerxei quickly brought down his dark aura dome and raised his fist as his army was about to pass him. The Skaolans, Undying, and ocean-scaled draconians stopped in their tracks just behind him and Kai.

"Why are we stopping?" Kai wondered.

"I have another idea," Xerxei enlightened, then he turned on his radio and ordered, "Fire cannons again." From behind the walls, the explosions of the Skaolan cannons firing could be heard, and the sky-scaled draconian warriors raised their shields above their heads. Two plasma shells came over the wall of Eleus, then Xerxei pointed forward and shouted, "Charge!" Just as the shells exploded against the draconians' impenetrable mithril shields, Xerxei and his forces charged forth. Right as the last shell landed, while the enemies' shields were still raised, the Skaolans, Undying, and draconians from Efryae crashed into Acran's army. The entire first line of warriors was cut down, and before the second line could put their shields back out in front of them, Xerxei himself slammed his mace into a draconian's chest, and then the others rushed forward. Both Kai and Xerxei swung their dark aura blades around themselves as fast as they could, smashing them against the mithril armor that Acran's warriors were wearing, or their exposed heads, after knocking their shields out of their hands. The rest of Xerxei's army advanced further and harder, cutting straight through the lines of the army defending Acran. The sky-scaled draconians were cut down one by one, either by dark Skaolan blades, glass ocean-scaled draconian blades, or the Shadows' dark aura blades. The last sky-scaled draconian that remained was larger than most of the rest of them. His silver mithril armor was scorched by a dozen shots from beam rifles, and a fresh, terrible scar was across his face, still bleeding from an Undying's cursed blade.

"You," Xerxei growled. "It's over."

"It is not over until I say it is!" the draconian of Acran roared.

"Aren't you Thesean?" asked Kai. "The Lord of War?"

"What is it to you, boy?" Thesean demanded.

"I'm only wondering," said Kai. Xerxei knew why Kai wondered his name. Thesean lasted longer than any other warrior in his army. He must have just killed hundreds of Xerxei's soldiers. It was a deed worth remembering. Kai quickly warped behind Thesean and struck his leg with his staff, bringing him to his knees before Xerxei brought his mace down on his draconian head, splitting it open before his body collapsed. Xerxei then dropped his dark aura blade, allowing it to fade as it touched the ground, and Kai did the same with his staff.

"Warchief," Xerxei ordered, to Altes. "Have the men cover every inch of the city. Offer any remaining defenders the chance to surrender, and only kill them if they refuse."

"What of civilians?" asked the Warchief. Now that it was mentioned, Xerxei didn't recall seeing any sky-scaled draconian civilians in the entire city during the battle.

"There were none," he said.

"King Atreus must have taken them and evacuated the city," Kai guessed. "There weren't very many warriors defending it."

"So, they just left," said Xerxei. "I don't understand. I thought Atreus would have stayed and died with his men."

"These weren't normal circumstances," Altes admitted. "Atreus knew of the atrocities that your King committed in the colonies, and I believe he did not what that to happen to his own people. We should burn this city to the ground."

"You will do no such thing, Warchief," Xerxei growled. He refused to allow a city as ancient as Eleus to be burned so brazenly, even if the animosity between Acran and Efryae had boiled for more than ten thousand years. Eleus was an ancient city, and it still meant something to a people that were still alive.

"Understood," said Altes, and he walked off.

"So, does this mean we've won?" asked Kai.

"If only," Xerxei sighed. "But we've only taken this city."

"Acran doesn't have the kind of technology that we do," Kai reminded. "We could hold off an attack from them with this city for as long as we wanted to, couldn't we?"

"Well, how much have we worn down their forces in the past six months?" asked Xerxei. "They haven't lost this war yet, but I don't think they'll win it."