Chapter Text
"Halt!" Draken shouted towards the 39 people following behind him, everyone made an abrupt stop. "According to the intel the scout squad provided for us, the cannons are most likely hidden separately in different directions. The first squad will go east, the second west, the third south and the forth, which will be led by me, will go north."
"YES GENERAL!" Everybody shouted in unison. Each squad, led by a leader that was temporarily chosen by Draken, separated towards different directions. Draken proceeded to tap with his leg Zephyr, the signal for him to go, but Zephyr didn't react immediately.
"Huh? Zephyr?" Draken was puzzled by his partner's unsual reaction. The male horse was a bit more restless and agitated compared to his normally calm state.
"What's wrong General?" One of the soldiers behind him asked worriedly.
'Shit, we don't have time for this...' Draken tapped a bit stronger this time and Zephyr finally reacted, the soldiers behind him followed closely behind him. While they were advancing forward, Draken thought, 'That's strange, this never happened with Zephyr, is it because of the new terrain?'
Usually Draken would immediately get down to check on his horse's condition but since they were running out of time and the entire operation depended on him, he couldn't afford wasting any seconds because of some intuition.
After a few minutes of galloping quickly through the forest, they would soon reached an area with an extremely steep cliff. For the safety of the squad, Draken decided to use another route to go around it when suddently multiple arrows came shooting down from the sky. Draken's face quickly frowned and shouted with all his might, "IT'S AN AMBUSH! DISPERSE!"
Every soldier panicked and dispersed from the center to various directions. Draken quickly analyzed the situation and he soon realized that he would be surrounded soon. ' I still have time to turn back before they surround me!' Just when he was about to direct Zephyr to go back, the horse suddenly went on a rampage.
"Zephyr?! What's wrong? Shit!" The horse went crazy and it thrashed wildly. The sound of soldiers approaching also scared the horse and it started galloping towards the other direction, 'Shit! That's the direction of the cliff!' Draken quickly realized the severity of the situation.
He tried to forcefully calm down his horse but it was useless, when they got extremely close to the edge, Draken had no choice but to let go of the horse and get down. Zephyr, being freed by the reigns, run towards another direction, leaving Draken near the cliff.
'Fuck! My leg is broken by the fall' Draken cursed internally. He heard various galloping sounds behind him, the enemy soldiers have caught up to him and had him surrounded. Now Draken was between a steep cliff that could potentially make him fall to his death and the enemy soldiers that would definitely want his head.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. The great and legendary General of the North Nation, crawling pitifully on the ground." One of them spoke, most likely the leader of the squad. The rest of the soldiers laughed at what he said.
Draken clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I wonder what would be the reaction of the Northern army once they see their dear and admirable general's head. Would it be of shock? Or would it be of disappointment?" The other feigned deep thinking about it, "Oh I know! They would be scared shitless!"
The soldiers cackled. Draken's frown deepened, "If I'm not mistaken, you're the successor of Mikami Clan isn't it?"
"Oh? To think that the great General of North personally knows me, I didn't know my fame has reached so far and wide." The other grinned.
"Oh it has reached far and wide indeed, the rumour about the successor of Mikami Clan being rejected by more than 20 women, I was doubtful at first since there would be many who would aim for a better life in a prestigious clan, but looking at your face, maybe it wasn't exaggerated after all." Draken smirked.
The more that the other listened, the more angrier he became. The rest of the enemy soldiers were shocked by his audacity. "YOU! I AM GOING TO FUCKING DECAPITATE YOU AND HANG YOUR HEAD WHERE ALL THE NORTH NATION CAN SEE YOU!"
The other was approaching impulsively with his horse and Draken instantly threw the arrow that he picked up ealier from the ambush, aiming for the horse. The arrow went straight to the horse's eye and it thrashed wildly in pain. "FUCK!"
The leader fell down from the horse and Draken rapidly grabbed the dagger hidden in his boot for emergency. Before anybody could react, Draken subdued the other man in seconds and pressed the dagger to the neck of the leader.
"Move and his head will roll to the ground." Draken threatened.
All the enemy soldiers were hesitant and didn't know what to do, while the leader was panicking, "Shit! Don't you dare move! If you move I'll have your heads!"
There was a deadlock for a few seconds. Draken knew this wouldn't work for long because-
"Hey, we could just capture the General ourselves and claim the glory of defeating the General of the North." An enemy soldier muttered, but in the silence, everybody could hear him.
"Huh? Are you crazy? What about our leader?" Another anxious one responded.
"We can just say that he died while fighting the General, considering the strength of the other, it wouldn't be surprising to have a few casualties."
The leader was stunned by what his own subordinates said about him. "Y-You dare!"
As if a consensus was reached, every soldiers unsheathed their swords and were approaching them. Draken knew this would happen, because one who leads with violence will be betrayed by his own subordinates the moment something happens to him.
Needless to say infront of glory and fame in defeating a General from the enemy's Nation. A soldier shot an arrow towards them and it hit right into the heart of their 'leader' and the other collapsed with an astonished face.
'Shit, there won't be any openings after that stunt, I'm not religious but there's no way but pray to the gods that I won't die falling from the cliff.' ç
"ATTACKKKK!" When they were just about to reach him, Draken decisively jumped backwards towards the cliff. He maintained a position where he could roll upon impact while protecting his vital parts.
'Oh well, guess it's up to God if I survive or not.' Draken inwardly thought while falling into the cliff.
Takemichi was quickly heading north on his horse, earlier he came upon a soldier from the General's squad and learned that they were ambushed. His mind started racing while thinking of all the possibilities of what could happen. Is the General dead? Or did he escape successfully?
Takemichi suddenly stopped the horse, he could hear people approaching and he rapidly got down from the horse and lay down in a bush. The horse, after being freed, started running towards the opposite direction.
Shortly after, a group of Southern soldiers were walking by, Takemichi could vaguely hear the content of their conversation.
"Maan! I was this close to capturing the General! If only he didn't jump to his own death!" Takemichi frowned.
"Hey, maybe he's still alive down there?" Another one asked.
"Are you stupid? Of course he died! At that height, there's no way he survived."
"I mean, if it was me, I would also jump. I would rather die in a cliff than die in the enemy hands and suffer humiliation."
"You have a point there."
They soon walked out of Takemichi's hearing range but from what he heards, the situation wasn't good. Takemichi was starting to panic for the nth time today.
'Shit! Am I too late? Is Draken already dead?' Takemichi started to tear up. Memories of the tall man surged in his mind.
'No! I have to be strong! Maybe he's still alive and he is waiting to be rescued! I won't accomplish anything crying here!' Takemichi quickly got out of his hiding spot and headed sneakily to where the soldiers came from.
After treading cautiously and bypassing many enemy soldiers, he finally saw the cliff where the struggle took place. There were blood and arrows laying all around the place. Takemichi inwardly prayed that the red pool of blood near the edge of the cliff didn't come from Draken.
He looked around and saw in the distance that there was a hill going down, 'Maybe I could go down from there!' Takemichi's eyes brightened and headed towards it.
"Fuck..." Draken cursed under his breath, miraculously, he survived the fall. But it was also a fact that he suffered heavy injuries and there were many broken bones. In fact, Draken was having trouble breathing properly.
If he doesn't get help soon, it wouldn't matter if he survived the impact, he would die of blood loss or from the injuries after some time. But considering the situation and the positioning of the northern soldiers, the probability of getting help is close to 0.
Even if someome just happened to hear that he fell off the cliff, most would assume that he was dead, no one would be stupid enough to tread through all these enemy soldiers to go down a cliff just to find a most likely dead corpse.
At most, someone might try to search his body after the war is over. Draken tried to move himself, to get to a safer place but both of his arms were broken. The only thing that he barely protected was his vital parts and the other leg that wasn't broken from falling from Zephyr.
Talking about Zephyr, his horse acted strange in a crucial moment, it definitely wasn't coincidence. It was hard to do something like that to a horse in an instant, so it has to be at the camp.
The security was really heavy so it could only mean one thing, of course, there is still a probability that someone skilled at sneaking around entered the camp without being detected, but the highest probability was that there was a traitor.
He lay down and looked towards the sky. It was so beautiful that he remembered someone's blue eyes. 'Huh, to think I would remember Takemitchy at death's door. Speaking of him, he must be at the camp preparing for war, I wonder what his reaction would be when he learns about my death.'
Most likely he would cry, since he is a crybaby after all. Just when he was reminiscing about the owner of those blue eyes, he heard someone approaching.
'People? At this place?' Draken got wary, this could either go extremely bad if he encounters an enemy in his state, or maybe luck would be on his side and someone came to rescue him. He slowly went into a kneeling position trying to stand up and his face darkened, looks like he wasted all of his luck surviving the fall.
"Well look who it is, if it isn't our Great General of the North." Draken feels a sense of deja vu, but most importantly, he instantly recognized the identity of the other man, "Kiyomasa." Draken uttered with gritted teeth.
The one who just talked was Kiyomasa, and behind him were three of his lackeys that he banished from the army. Looks like they are here for revenge.
"After you banished me from the army, my life was ruined by you!" Kiyomasa angrily yelled, "I lost the rights to become the successor of the Masataka Clan and I became the laughingstock of everybody! I hated you so much that I wanted to skin you alive and tear you apart limb by limb. All I needed was an opportunity..."
Kiyomasa continued telling his story that Draken actually couldn't care less.
"So when a southern spy approached me back then, I just knew I had to take up on its offer, because only then, did I have this chance to utterly humiliate you just like what you did to me that day! All I had to do was to make your horse inhale the powder they made before you took off. And now, look at you, in such a miserable state."
Draken rolled his eyes at him, which made the other extremely furious, "Oh you think you are still invincible even now huh? I will make sure to make your death extemely painful!"
Right after he said that, he unsheathed his katana and furiously charged at him. Draken closed his eyes and the sound of flesh being pierced resounded throughout the place. However, the awaited pain didn't come and Draken confusedly opened his eyes, the moment he saw the familiar back, he disconnected from all of his surroundings like only they existed in this world.
Before he could think about it, he unknowingly muttered the other's name, "Ta-Takemitchy?"
The katana pierced right through the core of his left hand and the pain was unbearable. But instead of being scared, Takemichi actually felt elated right now.
'I made it! I made it in time!' Takemichi was overwhelmed with happiness when he saw Draken still alive, but when he realized the situation he was in, he rapidly ran up to them and blocked the sword with his hand.
Normally, Takemichi would scream in pain at his hand being stabbed right through, but the joy of seeing Draken alive offput some of the pain.
Kiyomasa was astonished by the sudden appearance of Takemichi and pulled the sword out. The feeling of the sword being pulled out made Takemichi wince.
After seeing who was the one that blocked the attack, Kiyomasa cackled evilly like he just murdered an entire village, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, looks like luck is on my side, to think that I would have the opportunity to reenact the scene of that day and take my revenge!"
Draken finally snapped out of his thoughts and for the first time in a while, felt extreme anxiety, "Takemitchy! They outnumber us, you should run from here!"
But instead of running away, Takemichi didn't move a single inch infront of Draken. Just when Draken was about to convince him again, Takemichi calmly said, "Don't worry Draken, I would win and I am going to bring you back to the camp with me."
Draken was shocked by the declaration while the others laughed at what Takemichi said. Kiyomasa smirked, "You? A weak chicken like you who couldn't even hit me once actually wants to defeat me? Don't make me laugh." He looked at his lackeys behind him, "Don't intervene, I'm going to teach this little shit who thinks he is a hotshot a lesson."
Normally, Draken would have panicked and ordered him to run away, but for some reason, the voice of Takemichi that said that sentence gave him a strange feeling, like everything was okay. Below all that, he could also hear his plead of 'please trust me'. He haven't even seen his face since the moment he came, but Draken wanted to believe in him.
Draken smiled and relaxed his posture, "I'll believe in you Takemitchy."
Takemichi also smiled for a split second before his face turned serious and unsheathed his katana.