(Shen POV) [The Dong soldier]

I tossed my card onto the crate, "I got the better hand, so fuck you."

"Oh damn you and your stupid luck," Jin cursed, gathering the cards back into a pile. "You get the girl and also the cards, this is so bullshit."

"Hey, not my fault your luck's so shit. And by god, how much are you planning to drink? It'll be worse if they catch you drunk."

"Awww shaddup. All I get up here is your company and as lovely as it is, it ain't gonna fill my belly you know?"

"Neither will drinking, you idiot. Just remember if someone asks you can't walk right after a shift, I ain't covering for you."

He waved his hand, "Bah! Standing for six hours will do that to me legs! Hahaha!"

"Whatever. Hurry up and shuffle the damn--"

*Rumble*

I jumped to my feet and Jin did the same, both of us drawing our bows at the same time.

"You hear that?" I asked, scanning the Death Mountain Pass.

"Yeah… I don't like it. Should we ring the alarm?"

"Wait for a bit… It might just be an earthquake…"

As soon as those words left my lips, a box shaped shadow appeared from within the Pass, slowly moving towards us.

It looked like two boxes stacked on top of each other with a long pole sticking out at the top and pointing towards us. I'm not even sure what that thing was but one thing for sure, it was the one making the rumbling noise.

The thing stopped moving once it reached the edge of our ballista's range, as though watching us.

"What… What is that?" I muttered.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. I'm going to ring the--"

A loud whistling sound suddenly pierced through the air, almost as loud as the alarm bell itself.

Jin nudged me in the ribs, "Bro… What in the world is that?!"

I looked up at where he was pointing, seeing at least a few hundred streaks of fire shooting up into the air.

Jin did not wait for my answer and started ringing the alarm as hard as he could.

I was staring at the hundreds of fireballs, all of them still shooting up into the sky and slowly reaching the apex of their climb. If they hadn't started curving down towards us, I might have thought they were just going to continue onwards.

The fortress was sent into a frenzy as all the soldiers inside rushed out of where they were and struggled to get to their posts. No one had honestly expected an enemy attack at all.

I switched my gaze away from the fireballs in the sky and back to the weird box in front of us, only to realise there were several dozens of those boxes now moving up beside the first one.

We were not worried about the fireballs above us since we had our new anti-Technique formation that would negate all Techniques within an area. Those fireballs would be snuffed out the moment they reached the effective area of the formation.

"So those Beiyang bastards actually grew a pair, eh?" Jin sneered, glaring at the strange boxes in the distance.

The sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs and our platoon joined us on top of the gate house, all of them dressed for battle.

"Goddamnit… What have we got?" Fang grumbled, clearly not amused at being woken up.

Before I could answer him, the Captain showed up at the stairs.

"ATTENTION! Report!"

I stamped my foot, "Sir! Unidentified forces gathering at the Pass!"

He stomped up to me, "Beiyang dogs?"

"Unsure, sir."

"Hmph… Soldiers listen up! So those Beiyang cowards dared to send themselves up to our doorstep to die! I say we fulfill their wish for them!"

"Yaarrgh!" We roared.

I snuck a peek at the fireballs, all of them now on a straight descent towards our fortress. The whistling getting louder and louder with each passing second. It was a little unnerving.

No one else was paying them any attention though.

"They think their pesky, spineless, Practitioners can save them? They don't even know who they're up against! Let's show them what they get for messing with the soldiers of Dong!"

"YAAARRGH!"

I realised too late that the fireballs had not disintegrated.

*BOOM*

A chorus of explosions rocked through the fortress, blasting walls, buildings and people apart.

Screams and shouts echoed through the air as people were blasted away and laid dying in the dirt.

Jin grabbed me and threw me to the ground, my spear clattering noisily beside me. I looked up just in time to see one of those fireballs hurtle towards us, exploding on the front wall of the gatehouse.

The blast separated the Captain's upper and lower body, both halves going in different directions. The upper half was splattered by part of the roof collapsing while the bottom half flew over the wall to land somewhere in front of the gate.

Fang screamed, "Fucking hell! What the hell are they throwing at us?! Did our barrier fail?!"

"I don't know! But we're done for if we stay here! We need to run!" Jin shouted back, pulling me back up on my feet.

"Everybody run for cover!" Chan roared, the others in our platoon finally breaking out of their stupor to follow his direction.

There was a mad scramble for the stairs as even more of the fireballs exploded around us, the whistling sound now akin to an incantation of death.

Fang led the way towards the tower, beckoning to us.

One of the whistling sounds got really loud really quickly.

We could do nothing but stare as the tower exploded, the roof dropping down right on top of where Fang had been, his figure disappearing under the rubble.

He didn't even have time to scream.

"FANG!!" I screamed, reaching out to him.

Jin pulled me back, "Fuck! Let's go! He's gone, Shen! Move before you join him too!!"

Jin and Chan pulled me towards the other tower that was still standing.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit! What the fuck are these things!" Chan cursed.

Jin forced me back on my feet, "I don't know, but at least it's stopping! There's not much more left, just keep moving!"

I looked towards the direction of the Death Mountain Pass, only to realise those box shaped things were within bow distance of us now.

One of them lowered their tube to point at the gate, shooting out something with a loud boom.

The entire gatehouse shook and there was a loud metallic groan of the gates giving way, crashing into the ground with a loud bang.

Jin leaned over the wall, "Fuck, the gates are gone! This place is done for! We need to--"

*Boom*

One of the box things shot something at us and the next thing we saw was the blood splatter of Jin's upper body exploding into a million pieces.

His lower body stood still for a few more seconds before collapsing onto the ground with a splat.

I didn't even have time to grieve before Chan shoved me down the stairs, pulling me out and away from the wall.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit… Everything's going to shit! Fucking run, Shen!" Chan ordered pushing me in front of him.

We reached the bottom floor and everything was in chaos.

Comrades whom we had been sharing drinks and food just hours before lay dying or dead on the ground, most of them missing a limb or two, some trying to crawl away with missing legs.

I fought back the bile that almost found its way to my mouth, swallowing hard to push it back down.

"Move! We're not in the clear yet! The gate's been breached, grab a horse and go--"

There was another explosion behind us and a part of the wall flew past my ear, burying itself halfway into the ground.

"Damn, that was close," I sighed. "You alright, Chan?"

I turned back to realise there was a headless corpse there.

I watched it fall onto the ground in a lifeless heap, my mind taking a second more to realise that was Chan.

The rumbling sound I had heard from before came from the gate, the box shaped thing rolling under the gatehouse and past the useless gates.

Gritting my teeth, I picked up one of the spears on the ground and charged at the thing, spearing the box straight on.

As though mocking my efforts, the spear snapped in half and the metal piece shot back to embed itself in my chest.

"Idiot Dong. Just shoot him, we're not taking prisoners," I heard someone say.

There was a 'bang' and I knew nothing more.

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