"… wait…"
Wei Chen was about to go down the stairs when he heard the emperor's words.
"Hmm? What is it?" he said, slightly turning his head.
The emperor opened and closed his mouth, as if he were undecided whether to say it or not.
Wei Chen seemed to understand what the emperor wanted to say and was about to tell him it wasn't important.
"Please don't die," said the emperor.
"Wow… I thought you'd say 'thank you, I'm grateful to you' or something like that," said Wei Chen, slightly surprised and a little moved.
"Don't kill me so soon, if I survive this, I'll give you a beating and then invite you to drink some drinks," said the emperor while descending the stairs.
"No, you can't beat me, I'm emperor now," said the emperor in a serious tone, "but I will accept the drinks."
Wei Chen waved goodbye, as if there was nothing more to talk about.
The emperor exhaled and looked to the east; the sun was just rising, the bluish glow with a touch of gold reflecting off Wei Chen's back.
Making the emperor feel nostalgic, that was the back of his best warrior and most loyal friend.
"Don't die…" thought the emperor.
Upon reaching the last step and encountering the salute of his soldiers,
Wei Chen smiled.
"What's the situation?" Wei Chen asked the soldiers.
A soldier stepped forward and replied, "Sir, I come from the center, the general of the Zhen family is leading the rear guard."
"Who is leading the north?" asked Wei Chen.
Another soldier stepped forward, "To answer your question, sir, the north is being led by General Feng, they seem to need reinforcements."
The first soldier who had spoken hesitated to inform, but if he didn't report, it would be even more problematic.
"Sir… the rear guard also needs reinforcements," he said in a strained voice, "100 foreign soldiers advancing from the west… they plan to ambush us."
Wei Chen listened to the soldiers' report and nodded.
"Twenty of you will go to the rear guard, and the other twenty will go north to reinforce the Zhen clan and Feng. I will head north."
Hearing these words, everyone felt a shiver run down their spines.
A soldier couldn't hold back and said with a trembling voice, "You can't go alone, sir, we refuse to let you go alone. You are our general; if you go, what will we do?"
"Yes, general, what could we do without you?" said another soldier.
And so, one by one, others joined.
"Everyone, listen!" Wei Chen shouted, making the soldiers instinctively stand upright with one hand over their chest by the heart.
"Each of you will be loyal to the Wei family, and the Wei family will be loyal to the crown!"
"Yes!" the soldiers shouted with insomnia.
"What flows through your veins is the blood of the family, generation after generation. Deliver your hearts!" Wei Chen shouted.
"Yes, sir!"
"Do not be afraid… even if we die, we will take as many as we can… Understand?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then move out, I'll buy you some time," said Wei Chen with a touch of impatience, turning to take the reins of his horse.
"General," the soldiers said.
The veins seemed about to pop out of Wei Chen's forehead; he turned to scold them, but what he saw left him speechless.
"Thank you for everything, general," the soldiers bowed to Wei Chen.
He exhaled and took the reins of his horse again.
"Go now," said Wei Chen.
"Yes!" the soldiers replied.
He looked over his shoulder. Seeing the soldiers leave, Wei Chen let out a smile.
He looked at the sunrise and sighed, "What a beautiful dawn," thought Wei Chen.
At the northern border:
"Sir, the situation is urgent; we received a message from the rear guard, they say they plan to attack us from the west," said a soldier to General Feng.
"How many men do we have?" asked the general.
"The situation is very bad, sir; there aren't enough men," said the soldier desperately.
"Urgent situation," another soldier interrupted the general's campaign.
"Speak," said the general.
"They informed us that the emperor has died, the second prince has taken command."
General Feng jumped but then sat back down, feeling an awful headache.
"There's nothing but bad news… this is bad," thought the general.
"Sir!" another soldier burst in.
"Now what?" asked the general, in a very bad mood.
"The Wei clan army has just arrived; they say they were sent as reinforcements to the battlefield by the emperor and the young patriarch of the Wei clan."
General Feng finally felt he had good news, his eyes lit up. "How many men?" he asked, ecstatic.
"Twenty men, sir," said the soldier, equally excited.
"Perfect, send them to rescue the men," said the general.
At the northern rear guard:
"Sir, we've received news that Wei clan soldiers have just entered the battlefield," said the soldier with hope.
General Zhen sighed with relief; they were about to fall at the rear guard.
"They said it was under the orders of the emperor and the Wei clan patriarch."
"The Wei clan patriarch alongside the emperor… it can't be, the emperor has fallen and the second prince became emperor… sigh, that's not the problem, now we must focus on the west."
"About that…" the soldier hesitated to speak immediately, "the Wei clan patriarch is heading there…"
Wei Chen rode west, the wind blowing, and raindrops soaking his face.
"If they cross the western border, everything will really go to hell," thought Wei Chen.
He was approaching western territory when he saw an army of 100 men.
Wei Chen stopped his horse, breathing heavily.
He looked at the horse he had picked up on the way in the middle of the war and stroked it.
"Without a doubt, we'll die, my friend, so we have to take some with us," he said, winking at the horse.
The horse, as if responding, reared on its hind legs, then ran at great speed.
Wei Chen took the spear again and began to swing it; the army approached closer and closer.
"It's a single man… heh, I don't know if they're stupid or if they underestimate us too much," said the foreign army general.
"Kill…" he ordered.
"AHHHHHH" shouted Wei Chen as he swung the spear with overwhelming and violent force.
The archers aimed at Wei Chen's back, but sensing danger, he grabbed the armor of one of the soldiers' corpses who received the arrows.
"Damn…" said the foreign general, "Kill him! Kill him now!" he ordered.
One of the soldiers stabbed Wei Chen in the shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, Wei Chen used all the strength he had to take down as many men as he could.
25… 30… 35… the men began to fall at Wei Chen's hands.
Three arrows stabbed his back.
45… 56… 60 enemy soldiers began to fall like flies.
"Who the hell is this monster?" said the foreign general, seeing his men fall.
75… 80… 94… in the end, only the general and a few men and some archers remained.
"Attack the horse!" shouted the general.
What they didn't know was that the horse was already wounded, but its stubbornness was not worse than Wei Chen's.
It leaped and with its front legs trampled the soldiers fighting on the ground.
A rain of arrows fell from the sky, severely injuring Wei Chen and the horse.
The horse couldn't withstand the blood loss and collapsed.
"You… damn…" Wei Chen coughed up a mouthful of blood.
He threw the spear aside; he didn't have enough strength to lift it and use it anyway.
He drew his sword and began to fight the foreign general's personal guards.
96… 98… 100… panting heavily, Wei Chen stared at the foreign general with an almost manic cynical smile.
The foreign general was completely in shock.
"This man… this man really killed 100 of my men… but he's gravely wounded… we mustn't be afraid…"
With that in mind, the general filled himself with courage and drew his sword, putting it in a vertical position to kill him the instant the sword stabbed.
The foreign general lunged at Wei Chen, but he already knew what he wanted to do.
He drew a knife from his tunic, and as the general approached, he stabbed him in the throat.
Wei Chen panted horribly, even the air was stained a deep crimson; the general died instantly.
Wei Chen smiled mockingly while spitting a mouthful of blood; the sword had stabbed him.
"You wanted to kill me… hahaha, well, we'll both die… that's a great achievement," said Wei Chen with great effort and fell to his knees.
"Mother… father… brothers… heh… this son has avenged you; I can rest with you…"
Thought Wei Chen as he looked back.
He could see the army of soldiers coming towards him, perhaps because they were farther or closer than he believed, he could hear his soldiers calling him.
"Surely they managed to rescue the rear guard… I know… when the rain washes the blood and the sun rises in the morning, time will heal your wounds… and you will be able to forget what happened… you must deliver your hearts…"
With that, Wei Chen leaned on his sword, giving his last breath…