Punch, kick, spin, duck. I grunted in pain as I felt another painful blow to my face, this time cutting across my cheek. I glared at the man before me as he brandished his sword cheekily. 

My face was already stained with dried blood, the few drops that were coming down from the sliced flesh under my eye meant nothing to me now. This guy was going down. I was nowhere as experienced as Zitao nor as agile as Kai, but if there was one thing my mom always said, I was stubborn and block-headed. And with that thought, I lunched forward, blocking his counter attack with my  left arm, and ing my head and shoulder into his chest. The body before me gave way, falling to the ground, and I stood shakily, blinking as I came back to my senses. In retrospect, that wasn't my greatest plan, but the man had fallen and that was all I needed. 

Moving quick, I took his sword before he could come back to himself, and plunged it deep into his chest. I'd always seen this done in movies, the final attack of the brave hero as he cut his enemies down in one fell swoop, but to have actually ended a man's life in this way felt strange, though I supposed it wouldn't be the first time I'd caused someone's death in this land. We were in a kill or be killed situation, I reasoned with myself, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't need therapy when I returned home to get over any traumatic experiences. 

I glanced at Kai who also seemed to have no qualms over battling our enemies as he elbowed one in the neck and a sickening crack was heard along with a thump as the body collided with the ground.

He grinned at me and held up an encouraging thumb and I decided that now was not the time for moral dilemmas. I readjusted my grip on the sword, pulling it out of my fallen foe, and slashed the air experimentally. I grinned; it felt pretty awesome.

I caught sight of Suho trying to fight off three men in the corner of my eye; the whole battle had progressed and now we were all clumped together, save the men still trapped on the other side of the chasm, and we were pretty separated from each other. I couldn't see D.O. or Sehun and Luhan anywhere, but Zitao, Yixing and Kai were all behind me together. I ran forward to help my shorter friend, extending the sword ahead of me to cut down any obstacles that I met on my way.

Slicing this way and that, men fell at my sides. The adrenaline coursed through my veins like fire, but in my excitement, I forgot to slow down and check my surroundings. 

"Woah!" I blinked and paused, seeing Suho standing in front of me, his arms raised defensively. "Watch where you point that thing!" He scolded.

I chuckled sheepishly but before I could respond with an apology, I saw a man behind him turn and raise hsi weapon, a large battle axe.

"Suho!" I raised my sword, ready to attack the guy, but Suho turned and instead of getting out of my way, He bent backwards, delivering a sharp kick upwards into the man's chest. 

The axe flew from his hands, spinning in the air before planting itself in the ground at my friend's feet.

The man stood, shaking his head with a groan, and fixed Suho with a deathly glare. He leapt at the short guy, his arms extended to wrap around his pale neck and throttle him, but Suho moved quicker than I'd ever seen before. He bent, gripping the handle of the axe, and pulled it upwards in an arc, freeing it from the dirt. The blade easily sliced through the man's neck, flesh and bone, and his decapitated body fell to the floor, the head rolling alongside it.

Suho gaped at the man, his jaw dropped in shock, and I couldn't help but laugh at his dumbfounded expression. "That's the most badass thing I've ever seen you do, Grandpa," I teased.

He pointed his axe at me jokingly but suddenly frowned and squinted at me. "What happened to your face?"

"Don't ask."

***

The two of us fought back to back for some time, my eyes constantly scanning the moving bodies around me for any sign of the others. Suho grabbed my arm and spun me around, switching our places effectively as he raised his axe, blocking the blow that a tall man had been aiming at my head. Suho grunted, knocking away his fist, and using the hilt of the axe to bash him in the face. "Baekhyun stop spacing out, you're going to get yourself killed."

"Sorry, just, where's D.O. and the others?" I called back, stabbing a man in the stomach and kicking the injured body off of my blade, knocking him into two men behind him. Bodies littered the floor around us now and I was amazed that we'd even lasted this long.

"I think they went closer to the castle when they saw Wu Fan," Suho replied, the sounds of grunts and shouts almost drowning out his voice.

I nodded slowly, trying to get a look at the castle. Now that the sun was lowering in the sky, I could see faint flashes of light shining slightly to the left of the building, and assumed that Jongdae and Minseok were there.

"Let's get to them," I suggested and Suho nodded in reply. We moved as one towards the light and I saw all three of the missing friends, fighting for their lives.

One of them held his arms out, electricity crackling through the air and striking the men in front of him. That one was Jongdae, I assumed from his powers, and the other, Minseok, grabbed on to one of the men before he could get to D.O., the flesh freezing below his fingers.

"Guys!" I slashed forward, cuttting a man out of my way, and dashed over to them, glad that they were all okay.

"What happened with Wu Fan?" D.O. asked, staring at me with wide eyes as Suho rushed to aid the other two.

"He took Chanyeol back to the castle, I think," I glanced up at the large building, wondering how they were doing.

D.O. nodded slowly. "Where did you get that sword?"

"Oh," I looked down at my weapon and realized that D.O. was still unarmed. I looked down at the array of dead and frozen bodies and managed to pry a shield out of its owner's icy fingers. "Here take this, I'll find you a weapon," I said, but before I could look around again, a battlecry sounded from behind me. 

D.O. shrugged, ing the shield forward, implanting its edge into the man's skull, effortlessly stopping him in his tracks before he could plunge his sword into my back. He pulled the shield out quickly and the man fell to the ground, then he bent and took his sword. "I'll use this."

***

We fought as the sun continued to sink in the sky. It began to feel like for every one person we were killing, five more would come from nowehere.

I panted heavily, finally defeating a man that just wouldn't go down. I bent over, placing my hands on my knees to steady myself. "I'm exhausted," I breathed out to D.O. as he did his best to cover me. "How much longer can we keep this up?"

I glanced up, noticing with disappointment that fatigue was evident on my younger friend's face too. "I don't know," He gasped out, swallowing thickly. His face was shining with sweat, the liquid reflecting the repeated lightning strikes being emitted from Jongdae. 

I was sure that the two of them would be exhausted too; they couldn't have an unlimited supply of power. We needed to end this soon.

"Guys!" Zitao and Kai ran over to us, stepping over dead bodies. The two of them looked pretty injured, Kai was grabbing his shoulder, blood staining his fingers, and Zitao ran with a limp.

I felt guilty for abandoning them, but before I could apologize, Kai darted past me. 

"You're okay!" He screamed, flinging his arms around D.O. and hugging him. 

I had to laugh, it was the sweetest thing I'd seen Kai do, he usually tried to keep up his rebellious teenager persona.

D.O. hugged the younger then pulled back. "What happened to your shoulder?"

"Ah it's no big deal," Kai assured him, dropping his hand quickly. "Oh cool a sword, can I see?"

D.O. handed over the weapon reluctantly. "Are you sure? It looks pretty bad..."

Kai brandished the sword with a grin and nodded, waving it dismissively. "Ehhh."

"Where's Luhan and Sehun?" Suho dashed over, his hair matted to his forehead with sweat.

"I don't know," I looked around, trying to catch sight of them.

Finally, I saw a pale head bobbing up and down towards the front of the castle. "Is that them?" I tried to look above the enemies.

"I think so, Yixing's there too," Zitao spoke. "Come on, let's get over there."

The eight of us ran over, killing any enemies in our path, and finally made it to the two. Surprisingly, they looked unharmed.

"Guys! Luhan is so awesome he can move things with his mind!" Sehun said excitedly when we were within earshot.

Luhan smiled, looking quite flattered.

"Are you okay?" Suho checked the youngest boy, surprised that he wasn't even scratched.

"Yeah, he protected me," Sehun smiled.

Suho looked relieved, and ruffled his hair.

Now together, the ten of us fought back, the battle significantly easier but just as exhausting. It was finally sundown when I counted the men in front of us. Five.

The rest were still trapped behind the large canyon that Jongdae had created, the gap too wide for them to cross, although I was suprised that they hadn't tried. In fact, it seemed like they were falling back.

Suho and Kai quickly finished off one of the men, D.O. and Zitao killing another. Jongdae and Sehun took down the next one while Yixing held the fouth man as Minseok placed a palm over his face, freezing his skin quickly. The last man stood before me and I glanced to my side at Luhan who smirked. 

I held my sword out, pointing it at the man. 

His weapon was also a sword, however much shorter than mine. That was alright, though, for me at least. Luhan flicked his wrist and the man was propelled forward, right into my blade.

I grunted from the force, holding my arm steady as the choked and flailed before finally going still.

"We did it?" Kai asked in amazement.

We looked around and it was true, all the enemies on our side of the chasm were dead.

The others began cheering in celebration and I grinned, patting D.O. on the back as he high fived Kai. 

I sighed, thanking every higher power that the fight finally ended. I didn't think I could take much more of it. I looked up to see Luhan smiling faintly, watching the others. "Do you think Chanyeol's gonna be okay?" I asked him.

Luhan paused, his smile fading into a frown. "They've been up there for a while, if they don't come down soon, worry."

I pouted. That wasn't what I was hoping to hear. 

However, I would take that over the next sound that I heard any day.

A loud roar echoed through the air, and the ground shook with vibrations.

"What the-" I turned to see what was left of the enemies parting. As they moved to the side, a large beast was revealed, standing on the other side of the chasm.

It was covered in fur, with the snout of a wolf but the build of a bear, only it was about the size of a minivan.

"Oh my god," Kai whispered.

Leather was bound around its jaws and neck to create a harness, the strips being held by a large, heavily armored man who sat atop the beast.

"They just brought out the big guns," Yixing said, and I was about to ask what he meant before more men came out, all wearing the same armor and riding the same mounts. There were ten of them, all standing in a line."

"Remember how I said some had magical powers? Yeah, that would be them. We've only managed to kill one and that was when we were all together. The leader isn't here yet though, which kind of worries me." Luhan's whispered explanation sent chills through my body.

We were practically doomed, not only were there only five of the Exo gods with us, but we were all drained of energy. This was not going to end well.

"What do we do?" D.O. asked fretfully.

"Luhan!" A voice echoed out from them.

Luhan's head snapped up, his eyes wide.

"Come," One of the men extended his hand. "Our leader would like to speak with you."

Luhan hesitated, biting his lip. 

"It could be a trap," Jongdae warned.

"Do not worry, even if we did wish to kill you we could do so easily," The man called out again.

"He's right," Minseok muttered, earning a sharp jab to the ribs from Yixing.

"I'll just go over there. If they just want to talk maybe I can stall until Wu Fan comes back," Luhan whispered.

"No way! What if they're lying?" Zitao gave Luhan an incredulous look.

"If I don't go over there, they'll come over here," Luhan replied and we all frowned, knowing that he was right.

Luhan took a few steps forward as we all watched in grave silence. Suddenly, Sehun's head snapped up. 

"Wait!"

Luhan paused, turning back to the younger curiously.

"Stay here, let them come to us. We'll fight together."

Luhan smiled sadly. "Die together, Sehun," He corrected him. "I might as well try and stall until Wu Fan comes back and... If they attack me, run into the castle, try and regroup in there."

I gaped at the taller boy, ready to object, but he had already begun to walk away again.

Sehun was tense, probably feeling a strong connection to the older man who had protected him throughout the entire battle. I, too, was extremely worried for  my new friend, but Luhan was right, we didn't have much of a choice.

"I don't like this," Kai growled. "Does he honestly trust that they won't attack?'

"Not at all," Yixing replied, his voice hard like stone.

Luhan finally reached the edge of our side. 

"Where is he, your leader?" He called out.

One of the men tugged the reins in his hand, and his mount moved forward until he was at the side directly opposite Luhan.

Sehun tensed further and Kai clenched his fists. Jongdae crossed his arms and I could see Yixing and Suho stiffening.

We all knew that this could only end horribly.

D.O. looked back towards the castle, as if he were judging the distance between us and the door and how long it would take us to reach it.

"We'll bring you to him," The man spoke, his voice low and gravelly.

Luhan's body moved into a defensive stance and although I could see it coming, the man's next movements caused my heart to pound heavily.

He tugged roughly on the reins and the mount reared up, before leaping over the chasm directly at Luhan.

With all the power in the jump, it looked like he was going to make it and end up landing right on top of the boy.

"Luhan!" Sehun rushed forward, but Zitao grabbed his shoulder.

"Sehun, don't-" Zitao said but the second his hand touched the younger's shoulder, an explosive force hit me, sending me flying back.

It felt like I had been hit by a tidal wave of air, and I hit the ground, all the breath in my lungs quickly expelled from my body. I groaned, turning to the side to see the others hit the ground too, the only ones left standing were Sehun and Zitao, although Zitao had fallen to his knees, his hand gripping on to Sehun's back.

The gust of air pushed Luhan to the ground, dust and small rocks kicking up from the dirt. The wind hit the man and his beast as they jumped, the force slowing their momentum and knocking them back. They flew backwards a few feet before dropping, straight down into the middle of the chasm.

The other beasts roared uneasily, rearing up and fidgeting while their riders tried to keep them calm. The rest of the Red Forces looked shocked and slightly afraid, obviously unsure of what was going on.

Luhan slowly got back to his feet, albeit shakily, and turned around, looking at Sehun and Zitao in shock. 

Zitao looked up at the younger boy, his eyes wide as he stood too.

"Sehun..." Zitao said quietly, Sehun staring back in complete confusion.

"What did I just do?"

Yay! I'm glad I got another chapter up this week! So tell me what you think and happy reading! I'll try and get more done asap. Thanks everyone! :)