Night had fallen in Chroma. And sure as they expected, the villagers and soldiers watched as the Tokens came with their torches, getting closer and closer to the village. Well, most of the villagers watched. Darsa watched Iris, instead, who looked determined as she stood in wait for the enemies to arrive. In her mind, Darsa wondered what had made Iris choose such a dangerous path.
She didn't have time to form an opinion.
The Tokens were swift-moving. They stampeded past the destroyed gates of Chroma like angry elephants. The general could tell that they were ready to burn what was left of the town... but he could also tell that they were surprised. Surprised at the soldiers that stood within the villager's midst.
"Come and get us, you rat-filth!" Zayn heard Darsa scream to his left. He wanted to shake his head at her, but instead, kept his face level and his eyes on the enemies. If they were going to win, they were going to have to focus. He knew that.
As soon as they were in range of his arm, Zayn began to swing his sword. There were many of them. The villager that he had spoken to had miscalculated. There were about thirty five of them rather than twenty five. It might not have made such a difference... if there weren't so few of their men there.
There were about four of them that charged Zayn at the beginning. They all had their blades pointed outward as if they planned to concurrently skewer him. Yet, they didn't. With the most finesse the Tokens had ever seen, Zayn sliced his sword through the air... knocking all of their blades to the side. Their surprise at his skill and strength made them falter slightly and gave him leverage to make the very first kill of the night. With a mighty swing of the general's sword, the head of the Token thudded to the ground. Disgusting? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.
That just enraged the other three Tokens around him further, and they began to fight with much more vigor. It was overwhelming. Quickly, Zayn grabbed the pommel of his weapon with both hands and cracked it against one's skull. The Token staggered backwards... but Zayn did not go for the kill. Not yet. He knew that if he was to win, he would have to face them one at a time. He sent the next Token to the ground with his fist.
Now that there was only one that had his wits about him. The general knew he would have to be quick. After parrying a blow, Zayn pulled out his shield and slammed it into his opponent. The Token did not seem to be effected too much and tried to stab General Zayn again. However, Zayn caught the Token's blade with his own. Now, it was a battle of force. Zayn began to push against the Token's blade with all of his might. The enemy faltered. The general was too strong.
As soon as Zayn pushed his opponent's sword away, he used his own to stab the man right through the gut. Quickly, the general, with his foot, pushed the dead man off his blade and readied himself to fight the two that he had stunned. The one that he had punched was up first. Zayn couldn't help but to notice that his nose was now crooked... not to mention terribly bloody. With a snarl, the injured Token went against the Eldian general.
Even though he was hurt, the man still put up a good fight. The general noticed how hard the Token's blows were hitting his shield. Even so, hits on Zayn's shield did nothing. The man could not seem to land a hit on Zayn himself, as Zayn wielded the shield flawlessly enough to block.
The Token tried hitting Zayn once more, but missed. Zayn side-stepped as quick as a cat. Even though he knew that Iris would've been faster, the general was still proud of how swiftly he'd been able to dodge the blow. Immediately, he noticed that the Token had swung too powerfully. His enemy's body stumbled from the force of the miss. Zayn bashed the man with his shield in the ridge of his nose.
The Token fell immediately. Well, kind of. He flew back a few feet before he hit the ground. The general moved over to the squirming Token and put his foot on the man's upper back... grabbed his hair... and snapped his neck.
After that, he noticed that the other man he had staggered still cupped his head in agony. Zayn used his sword to quickly and mercifully end his life.
It didn't take but a few seconds for two more to charge the general. Fending off one with his shield, and one with his sword, General Zayn was able to manage them. One of them died within a matter of seconds.
He did not expect Zayn to fake as he did. By the time that he realized that he'd been fooled... he was dead. The other was not so careless. He met Zayn's sword with some grace. In fact, even though Zayn was more powerful, the other man was able to fend of his blows. For a little while.
Eventually, he grew tired. Zayn did not. Zayn was a brute. A powerhouse. Built on vigor and endurance, the general outlasted his enemy quite easily. With a good last swipe of his blade, the Token's stomach was mortally wounded. The general heard his final breath before turning around.
He looked to the rest of the battle to see that all of his other men were doing well. Ra was yelling and taunting the Tokens with a smile on his bearded face and swinging his axe like a maniac. Zayn could see the massive horde of dead bodies lying at the warrior's feet. He also saw as Ra swung his battle axe overhead and completely split the Token he was currently fighting in two. The pieces fell in different directions, adding to the bodies.
Kayde was standing with Dregar and Darsa... and all three of them were standing back to back, killing Tokens from all directions. Zayn wondered for a split second if he should join them, but they looked as if they were handling it quite well. As far as the archers went, Zayn couldn't see too much... but it seemed as if Jehrth and Shen were doing well fending off their ranged enemies.
And then... he found Iris.
She was standing in the middle of seven Tokens. Zayn wanted to charge at them... wanted to protect her, but he saw that none of them were hitting. In slight amazement at this discovery, he could do nothing but watch her. Now that he knew that she was a woman, he found it difficult to believe that she could protect herself as she did. She twirled and dodged their blows like he'd never seen anyone do before. Her body twisted as if it was dancing, but Zayn knew that it was not the case.
With a very quick whirl of her blades, two of the Tokens around her dropped.
Even though her hands almost blurred at her speed, the general knew what she had done. Also, it didn't take much insight to know that they were dead. Blood spewed from their chests like a river as they lay on the ground.
After she had killed them, the general watched as one of them tried stabbing at her stomach. Zayn only panicked for a second.
She dodged the blow by bending backwards, sending the Token's sword flailing above her. Zayn almost smiled, knowing that she'd used that move against him once. However, this time... she did not rise up again like she did when she had fought him. Instead, she placed her hands on the ground and swung her slender legs up in the air.
She used her feet to kick each and of them backwards. It was something the general had never seen before... not once in his entire life. He wondered how she managed to bend her body in such a way as to be able to slam her boot into all of them. Once all of her enemies were successfully pushed backwards, she flipped back right-side up... and with one lunge, she cut their throats. All of them.
Then, she looked at Zayn with wide eyes. And threw one of her daggers right in his direction. With a spin on one of her feet, she chunked the other one as well. Zayn's heart stopped as they went whizzing by each of his ears... but not hitting. Not a moment later, he heard each of them hit something else. Right behind him. Blood splattered from behind the general onto each of his cheeks.
He turned to see two dead Token soldiers still standing... daggers imbedded in each of their faces.
When he turned back around, she was standing three inches from his face. Her eyes were blazing fiercely into his and her breath was fanning his cheeks. Slowly, she grabbed the daggers from the faces of the dead Tokens. Now, they fell down.
"You might want to watch your back, general. Else you'll die."
----
The fight, after that incident, became easy. There were few Tokens left. Once everyone from the scouting group, not to mention Darsa and a few villagers, compiled around the last of them... well, it didn't take very long. Though, they did keep one alive. One that the general now questioned as the rest of them were cleaning up the dead.
"Who sent you here? The Tokenmaster? Or did you come here destroying out of your own damned free will?" Zayn sent the pommel of his sword right into the man's nose. "Speak!"
The man gurgled... he was close to death anyways. "No... we were sent here. By our master. Half of us came here... and the other half will arrive in Eda here in the next few days. You may have killed our group, but you can't hope to get the other. And you don't have enough time to get there yourself," he said, smiling a little. Blood poured from his lips.
"There are men guarding Eda. I've already sent them," Zayn snapped, "Your other Tokens will fail as you did."
"Fuck you," he said, and spat blood at the general.
Zayn had heard enough. With his sword, he tore through the man's chest.
It didn't take but a couple of minutes for Iris to walk over to them. Immediately, the general noticed that she looked very forlorn.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"There are more villagers dead," she said in Ingred's quiet voice, "There was a child who wandered out in curiosity. The Tokens... they killed the child. I saw it happen, but I was too far away to do anything."
After saying that, she walked off... she didn't even give him a chance to reply. Zayn figured that she meant for him to follow, so he did. Iris led him right to the child who had died. It was a girl... a small girl, with dark ringlets. Her eyes were still open... and so was her mouth. She had been screaming when she died.
Zayn could do nothing but watch. He was too horrified. However, Iris continued moving. She walked over to the little girl and bent down beside her. With a small amount of strength, the rogue hoisted the dead child's head in her arms. Then... she did something that the general did not expect.
Iris pulled out a ribbon. It was slightly bloody and the general had no idea where she had gotten it. Even still, what surprised him most was what she did with it. Iris tied it into a small bow and laid it over the child's open mouth.
"Rest peacefully, child," he heard her whisper.
His eyes went wide as he remembered doing the same exact thing not too terribly long ago.
After a few moments, Iris rejoined Zayn.
"Hopefully they are the last of our country to die," she murmured to him, "This is a tragedy."
"Indeed," he said. He looked her way. "You saved my life, tonight."
"That's twice now," she said, a small smirk breaking through her composure, "Perhaps you should learn to be less careless and more cautious... and pay more attention to your surroundings. I hope you never come to that situation again. It's a scary thing, nearly watching a friend die."
"I am sorry."
"Ah," she turned to face him for a split second, "But for what it's worth, I saw you fight. You're not half bad yourself."
Zayn smiled a bit. When he didn't say anything, Iris began to walk away from him. Before she could get too far, though, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around to look at him.
"Ingred?" he said. With a raised eyebrow and a piqued curiosity, Iris then met his eyes. For very long moments, she held his gaze.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You... you fight good."