Chapter 18: War of supremacy Part 4 (The majestic female general)
Riboku PoV
Everything is going perfectly. KouRyu has fallen for the trap and he doesn't have anyone to save him this time. Both his generals are away, probably set for a surprise attack. They probably didn't think they would be the one getting attacked. All we need to do is to Lu Bu kill KouRyu, then Ouki and Kyou. We can ignore the soldiers . If we can get any of his generals head, that would be great too. All of them are monsters and their existence is detrimental for Zhao.
Our soldiers are in position to attack, but for some reason I hesitated to give the order. It felt like we were being watched. I shook off the feeling and gave the order to attack. Our troops rushed in and the Qin soldiers were pushed back quite easily. My soldiers pushed them further and only then I noticed, their formation was like water, creating waves and maintaining the balance while our soldiers were drawn in. I moved our HQ more deeper to see the movements clearly. I think their commander is a woman who was basically lying down in a bed and watching the battle with disinterest. I never heard much about this one. KaRin of the 6 Heavenly Generals of KouRyo.
She was formerly a princess of Ba and served in the Chu army. Then KouRyu recruited her during campaign of Jiangnan and she has followed him till then. He made her one of his pillars, that speaks about her talent. There is only little information about her battle style but she seems to prefer a battle of wits rather than a head on fight. But I shall be the one to prevail. I have to make sure that Zhao stands strong during this chaotic era. Such is the burden of a general who defends his nation.
KaRin PoV
So this is what my darling cautioned me about. Riboku, he is indeed good, but not good enough. If he met that lazy monster called Kongming, he wouldn't survive the day. I pride myself for battling with a style to show grandeur and cuteness, but that man is absolutely ridiculous with his crazy formations and mind games. It's thanks to him, I have learned my shortcomings and improved on them. I even feigned a failed regroup just to draw them further.
I can easily defend against Riboku but There's a hint of worry in my heart. If KouRyu sama fails to hold Lu Bu off, The battle will be lost. Zhao Yun was coming here and I have to time it perfectly to combine my forces with him to eradicate the Zhao army. Once that happens, Zhao would have to retreat but we must also cut down their numbers while preserving ours. The battle tomorrow will decide the outcome of this war.
I thought Riboku was smart, but he completely ignored a crucial point, be aware of your surroundings. If he was, he might have noticed the thousands of troops hiding right next to him as he pushed further in. I could take his head, But he asked me to spare him for now as he has a role to play. I sometimes wonder, what does those eyes of him see that we can not.
Nevertheless, I shall follow his orders and let him go. Kyou was fighting on the northern defenses as the Lu Bu army struck there. She is holding them back quite well at the moment. As expected of a great general I guess. As long as She holds them off and I take down this army, we can then trap Lu Bu and kill him. Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao are coming too, and once they arrive, we can annihilate them in one fell sweep.
I saw that the Zhao army has pushed in deep enough for my special troops to strike, all I needed now for Zhao Yun to show up and hit their rear. As soon as I thought, I heard a loud rumbling noise and smiled as it was perfect timing. I stood up and gave the signal and all the troops who were being pushed back stood firm and troops on the right and left attacked their unguarded flanks.
I saw the HQ sending more reinforcements to free them, but sadly, it's already too late for them. My warfare is about deception, and I have already set up a force that would send them running. Mu camouflaged Corp jumped down and pounced on the unprepared HQ and I could see Riboku running away. Heh, that was disappointing and quite easy. Now I just need to see if my beloved has managed to drive off Lu Bu.
Riboku PoV
This is bad. The soldiers feeling they are winning have pushed too deep and had gotten inside a trap. I sent 5,000 troops to break them out and regroup, but all of a sudden, there was a loud rumbling and I could feel a large cavalry approaching. I saw KaRin stood up and give some sort of signal and I realized they have played me all along.
She wasn't losing, she was drawing us to her, biding time to let the cavalry arrive. Her attempt to regroup earlier was a trick, just trying to let our guard down. Judging by the sounds, there is more than thousands of cavalry and if they make it here, we will lose this battle. I heard Lu Bu was still battling KouRyu, which was another blow to my plan. Nevertheless, we must retreat.
As I was about to give the order to disengage, All of a sudden something started falling from above the trees surrounding us and to my horror, there was more than thousands of Qin soldiers surrounding our HQ, making it impossible to get out and retreat. They immediately started killing my guards as I rushed out to create some distance. How the hell did they manage to stay there for so long without any of noticing!
It seems They plan to hold us down till the cavalry arrives and then it would be a bloodbath. I immediately yelled out orders to form a defensive formation but the soldiers were scattered and unable to link up. I tried as much as I could but it was impossible to regroup when troops appear in the middle of HQ. That woman, she lured us here! She knew as the troops pushed forward, to watch them I had to move my HQ as well, and she planted them even before the battle begun. What a monster this is!
At that moment, my eyes could only look at the direction of the front and I saw our troops getting slaughtered. I could hear the horses getting closer with each moment. I looked at the architect of our defeat as she smugly looked at me as My commanders were screaming for any order to pass down. I had no moves left under the circumstances.
So this was the power of one of his pillars. The genius female general that could outmanuever myself with such ease. I need to get much better if I ever wanted to match their prowess. With a sigh, I could only utter these words, " All troops retreat to HQ. Save yourselves" The troops immediately started running and created a chaos under which I managed to escape, changing into a soldiers armour.
Nobody might have known, but the war was already lost, and we can only return to Bayou and prepare for a siege.
On the other side of the camp, under Kyou
Kyou managed to defend the camp from Li Ru's troops and didn't ruah in at all. The Zhao soldiers were getting frustrated and it was shown in their face. She wiped her sweat as yet another wave of Zhao soldiers struck their defense. This battle was turning into a stalemate from the previous Zhao advantage and she would never let them lose due to her incapabilities. Suddenly they heard a large amount of cavalry rushing in as Zhao Yun split his army into two to send them towards both battlefields.
The white horses cut through the layers of defense with ease and almost took down Li Ru. But his HQ guards sacrificed them to let the others get away. With the arrival of Zhao Yun and the retreat signal from Riboku, Li Ru decided that it was enough as soon it would be morning. The army decided to return to their main camp and prepare for the next battle tomorrow morning. Kyou finally breathed out in relief as the battle of the night came to an end. She then hurriedly went towards the battlefield of KouRyo to check in on him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Virtuosso
Virtuosso I'm honestly confused.
Should I write the battles short without much details and PoV? Or try to focus more on every tactics and moves like the manga?
This was very challenging to focus on each character appropriately, and due to lack of time, I had to still skip some stuff.
The next chapter will be the final one of this arc
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone