Chapter 2: ※ Chapter 2 ※
Meanwhile in Nanjing Amphitheater, in central Wuluan..
A small area in the center of the amphitheatre rings with the sound of steel-on-steel as a zhandouji charges a monstrous giant of a man. The giant swings a dull iron longsword, bringing it down directly on the head of the zhandouji. As the stands burst into applause, a man at the dais announces the next match.
"Next to take on the Giant of Nanjing, a barbarian of Guangzhou, and last month's champion himself, Adelan Antares!"
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Yifan's POV »☆●
Shawn Dou, my trainer and the captain of the army I fight for, introduces me with a sneer.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Antares? Can you defeat the giant? Or will you water the arena with your blood?" he questions in a cold voice, challenging me.
It's safe to say we zhandoujis are the people who has to struggle the hardest just to ensure we can afford food. And even if I'd have no issues starving for days, I can't tolerate if mom doesn't eat properly. That's my motto for winning. Thankfully, my motto drives me damn good.
I've never learned to lose in my whole life. Watching the giant destroy the zhandouji gives me no worries, no fear. Just a hell lot more drive to win, to destroy his fucking ego. Most jiangs think they own the world because they were born in Nanjing.
"Are you ready to go to hell, zhandouji?" the giant of Nanjing bangs his sword menacingly against his shield, baring his teeth in a beastial smile. He's about my height, but twice bigger. Judging by his muscles which are tight and hard as rock, you can tell he's been doing this for at least a decade. His veiny and yellow eyeballs scream desperation for validation. Even though his smile is so confident, he's always scared and worried about losing. That's what happens when you care about people's validation too much.
"Ready to go to hell? I'm ready to show it to you," I respond as calmly as possible for everyone in an arena to hear, which means not very calmly. I generally don't play into the boasting and bragging. But I can guess no one speaks back to him. This will give him a little something to remember what Antares is.
"Begin the fight!" Shawn commands.
Immediately, the giant charges across the ring, surprisingly fast. His sword glints dully in the sunlight, pitted from long use.
I leap out of the way of the heavy blow and cough as a cloud of dust rises from the arena floor where I just stood. I swing my war axe horizontally, going for the giant's unarmored gut.
He moves out of the way, but not quickly enough, and the blade of the axe leaves a red ribbon across his bare skin.
"First strike to Antares! Will his axe be enough to fail the Giant of Nanjing?" Shawn goes on with his commentary.
The giant bellows in rage and charges me again, sword held high. But instead of retreating, I duck inside the arc of the sword, too close for the giant to hit me.
"Look at the cunning of Antares, closing ground to cut the Giant's advantage!" as Shawn comments, the giant's expression becomes dull. I laugh mentally.
The giant charges again, but I can tell he's tiring. Sweat drips from his helmet. I skip back and he hesitates for a moment, sword dragging in the dirt. I slam my axe down on his hand and with a little gush of blood, the sword drops from his fingers.
"Disarmed by Antares!" the other soldiers scream with Shawn.
I catch the giant's meaty fist between both my forearms, snapping his wrist and ending with my axe on his throat.
"Just yield. I don't wanna hurt you more than this because that's gonna be harmful for both of us. We both fight for Wuluan," I whisper to him.
"l..will..not..yield. I can't lose," he groans in pain. With a burst of strength, he struggles to throw me off.
"Good luck recovering then," I jerk my wrist and chop my axe into his arms to hurt him enough to lose conscious but not enough to die. More and more blood gushes as he falls heavily on his knees and collapses forwarded with a heavy breath. My eyes meet Shawn's over the writhing body of the giant.
"A win for Antares!" Shawn announces.
I raise my arms as everyone cheers for me. My brother Tao being the loudest of them.
"Congratulations, brother!" he squeals as he approaches me. I've no idea how practice matches excite him this much.
"Yeah whatever," I hit his shoulder pushing him forward, "Next match is yours. Go prepare."
Later that day..
After the crowd disperses, I report to Shawn.
"Captain," I grit my teeth as I address him.
He smiles as he notices me, "Well done today, zhandouji. An impressive victory over the giant of Nanjing. It'll take him a few days to recover."
"And what do you think the King will say about his soldiers being damaged like this?" I ask with annoyance.
"The King doesn't see these, the Marshall does. And he'll be pleased at me if my team gets stronger," he says smugly.
"l didn't fight him for you," I groan. But he only laughs.
"Of course you did. I own your team. All your victories are mine," he shrugs.
"And you're welcome to them. I don't care about those. I win because I have too much to live for to lose," I hiss. I have my mother. I've to live for her, to give her the life she deserves.
"Good, because your life serves me better than your death would," he holds up a handful of coins, "Your share of the prize for today was five sycee. I'll have them put away for you. Now clean your axe and prepare to meet me later."
As he turns to leave, I raise my shoulders to face him directly, "l wish it were you I fought."
He turns back to look at me as I meet his eyes without hesitation. He crosses his arms and sighs, "I'm growing tired of this, Antares. I thought you'd learn by now."
"Learn what? To behave like your slave? No, I don't think I'll ever do that. We fight for the same army. You're the captain, not the fucking King. Stop acting like you are," I growl at him.
"You're called a zhandouji to remind you where you come from. You're a lowly wanderer without a title and home. You have nothing. NOTHING!" he yells drawing attention of the soldiers that were packing up. They all gather around us.
"l have everything if my family still lives," I say confidently.
"Family?" he laughs maniacally, "What family are you talking about? Your father didn't want you and your mother. You're unloved and unwanted. And your brother is a lowly zhandouji just like you."
"SHUT UP!" I step forward, standing face to face with him, "l challenge you for the rank of the captain. If I don't win, I'll leave Wuluan and never show my face again."
Tao, who was looking at us with concern, steps forward from the crowd and stops between us. "Don't do this, brother. Losing soldiers isn't good for the army, specially someone as brave and strong as you. And you know I can't do it without you."
I smirk, "Good thing because I wasn't planning to lose. I'm not going anywhere."
"You want a challenge, Antares?" Shawn pushes Tao away from between us, "Fine. Challenge accepted."
An hour later..
"l still don't see any good reason why you should've done that!" Tao whines as we walk across the empty field by the amphitheater. It's beautifully green here. The wet grass rustles below the metal of our shoes. It rained lastnight. The weather is probably cold but I'm too sweaty to feel it.
"l see plenty. Name a single other captain who acts like him?" I ask.
"I'm not denying he's the worst. But no matter what, we're all one army. We should stick together. Sometimes we should compromise-"
"I'll bow to no captain unless that's me," I cut him off before he can finish.
"l just don't wanna lose you. We've always stick with each other through everything and we have gone through alot. And that's how I want it to be always," he says calmly as he reaches forward to touch my shoulder.
I push him away, "And you don't have the faith in me that I got this? You don't think I can beat that fucking captain?"
He shakes his head, "l know you can but there are always a lot of what ifs. I just don't wanna take the risk of-"
He trails off at the sound of someone yelling. We both focus on the source of the noise and hear a faint cry of someone saying, "M'lady, don't do it! Please don't die!"
I frown questioningly at Tao, asking if he knows what's going on. He just sighs.
"l think the youngest Princess is trying to commit suicide again," he finally replies.
"Again? Suicide?" I inquire.
"She tries to commit suicide every Thursday. There's a theory she hit her head as a child. Since then she attempts suicide every week," he shrugs.
"That makes no sense. Can you go closer and try to find out what exactly happened?" I ask.
He shakes his head, "I'll be stopped before getting to see her. Why do you care anyways?"
I've always been curious to know about the princess. I don't know why. I'm not the type to be curious about other people, certainly not royalty. But she raises a lot of curiosity in me. I've never seen her but I've heard the strangest rumours about her. Like she's not a human. She has strange powers. I don't exactly believe in those rumours. But I do feel like she's something different. She's hiding something. The King is hiding something. Generally I wouldn't care but since the day I've heard about her, I wanted to know about her. I don't know where it comes from. I don't think much of it.
"Just curious. You can go closer and eavesdrop, maybe you'll find something out. Don't you think attempting suicide every week and failing every time is weird?" I say.
"Yeah, if I think of it.." he taps his chin, "Wait, why don't we go together?"
"I'm heading to the temple. I haven't visited mom today," I shrug.
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Meihua's POV »☆●
"M'lady! Please don 't commit suicide?"
Oyshi's voice rings from below. As if dealing with one whiney creature wasn't enough, now I've to deal with two. Oyshi is my maid. She came to bring me tea when Siyaah felt the urge to inform her about my escape.
I still don't understand why they think I try to commit suicide. I just wanna escape this darn place so that I don't have to study. Why'd I commit suicide? They're being annoyingly loud I'm concerned that Liya will hear me. I've to escape before that. I try with all my strength and reflex to climb up the wall but it's too high and the skirt of this hanfu doesn't help either.
"M'lady! If you commit suicide, his lordship will kill me!" Oyshi whines again. Very wrong. Even if his favourite daughter dies, he wouldn't kill an innocent maid for that. I don't understand why everybody is scared of my father. He's the sweetest person I know. He's the only good thing in this Kingdom. His good heart makes me concerned sometimes. Among the snakes we live among, this can be deadly.
By the time Siyaah and Oyshi is begging me to come down for the twentieth time, I've reached the top of the wall. My eyes immediately shut close as I look down.
It's so high!
How can I get down from here without actually committing suicide?
Suddenly I notice a man walking past the other side of the road. Probably a soldier. As I hang on the wall, he eyes me curiously.
Gods, he saw my face.
"Why are you hanging on the wall? Are you okay, miss-?" he questions nervously. I have a feeling he can guess who I am but is too afraid to reveal it. He's expecting me to reveal myself.
Okay, now, it's too late. He saw me and interacted with me. I can't undo it. So it doesn't matter if I interact back.
"Sir, I wanted to have fun. So I climbed this wall to enjoy the scenery. But now I can't get down from here. Can you give me a hand, kind sir?" I ask sweetly.
"Stop talking to yourself and get down, Meihua!" Siyaah yells.
"Meihua?" the man raises an eyebrow, "Princess Wu Meihua?" he repeats like he already knew.
"Look sir, there's no one else here. If you help me get down and tell no one about our interaction, I promise to reward you!" I plead when suddenly I feel a pair of hands on my toe, grabbing me inside.
"Siyaah, stop dragging me! You're gonna make me fall and my toe tickles!" I warn and kick her hands off of my feet, almost losing balance because of the tickle.
"How can I help you?" he asks curiously.
"There's no time to talk. Just catch me!" with that, I leap forward, letting go of my hold on the wall and falling free on the other side. He stands, looking at me, his hands behind him, no attempt of catching me. And that's the last thing I see before I hit the ground.
After hitting the ground, I realized the wall wasn't that high. Because except for a little pain in some bones and my head, I'm not that hurt. I don't know if I got any bruises though. But at least I'm not unconscious. I look up to see the man standing there like a statue.
I carefully stand up. He joins the back of his hand to his other palm and bows addressing me as Princess. Siyaah and Oyshi comes running. Siyaah stands in front of me and immediately covers me.
"It's alright. I barely saw her. She was hanging too high and then she was on the ground," he holds back a grin.
"Why didn't you try to catch her?" Siyaah asks angrily.
"How could l? That'd be most inappropriate! Wouldn't it be a problem if the King or her future husband finds out about this?" he smirks. He seemed like a nice person, but clearly he's not.
"Please don't tell anyone. I'll give you anything you want!" Siyaah pleads.
"Anything, you say miss?" he teases. Siyaah rolls her eyes. Okay, he's worse than I thought.
Suddenly he laughs, "It's alright. I won't tell anybody. You don't have to give me anything. Just be careful that doesn't happen again. If the princess keeps encountering men like this, surely there will be bad rumours about her highness."
"We'll be forever grateful to you, zhandouji," Oyshi bows to him as Siyaah takes me inside.
The guards have heard about my attempt to escape. But thankfully, they went to report about it before the acquaintance with this zhandouji. Now I can just hope that he won't expose anything. I still have to face punishment.
At least, no more study for today.
To Be Continued »☆●
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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