NOVEL FROG Chapter XCI – Thy showdown be done.
It’s still the 63rd of Summer, 5859
Somewhere near the walls of Casamonu where two men have their fists raised against each other, Casamonu
Menacing. If one needed to describe the current atmosphere between John Brown and Long Dong in one word, which is a thing that one isn’t wont to do but let’s have a hypothetical here for the sake of making overly complicated hypotheticals that drag on for too long, then “menacing” wouldn’t be a bad word. Both men were staring directly into each other’s eyes, piercing each other’s gaze, and planning on piercing each other’s skulls with fists. Things were quiet, except for the rustling grass and the hopping grasshoppers to-and-fro-to-yonder.
Unfortunately for the grass down below and Brown up above, Dong’s patience was running thin. He clasped his hands together and pushed them forward while opening them in an awkward motion while making noises like he had severe constipation. Thankfully the concentrated ball of energy he released was shining so brightly that nobody could see him to make fun of his moves. Brown leaned sideways preparing to avoid the ball with a swift leap, but he had a better idea right before the ball hit him. It was too late for him to avoid it, so the old man simply kicked the ball back. This somehow worked, a greater flash of light emanated from the point of contact between his shoe and the ball. The ball of light bounced up of Brown and exploded into flame with an ear-shattering bang. On the path to Brown, the grass had been burnt up by the ball of light.
Old man Brown prayed in thanks to the Lord for having allowed him to deflect an enormous ball of pure energy. He intended to pray a bit more, but his prayers were rudely interrupted by the annoying heathen right in front of him launching eight smaller balls of energy at once. This time Brown didn’t like his chances, and the balls were a bit slower, so he began running away while the balls chased him.
“You coward! You witless geezer! Stop running!” Unfortunately for Dong, Brown didn’t listen to his advice. Eventually the balls of energy dissipated and exploded in a similar fashion to their bigger counterpart.
There was a trail of burnt and burning grass behind Brown. “I’d say that the real coward is the one trying to beat an old man.” Despite his claims to being an old man however, Brown was proving to be quite nimble in this current moment. This time the energy balls came from the sky and Brown, being in his peak, leaped, somersaulted, and did a backflip just to not become part of the craters left behind by the balls of energy. His old bones were aching, but he felt the aching disappear as he breathed in, out, and let out a prayer or ten.
Time seemed to slow down when the old man closed his eyes. No, he needn’t run away or even see anything. He could instinctively feel the balls of energy fly towards him. His body took over. With his power surging, he kicked, and then added a punch, and then headbutted the last one. There was even more burnt grass around him when he finally opened his eyes.
“What the…” Dong was beginning to lose order in his breathing. There was a line of blood streaming down his nose, both from exertion and from frustration. His opponent was getting better at cultivation in real-time. What had he unleashed upon this not-Earth? The best thing to do was retreat, and retreat Dong did with his tail between his legs. He jumped back, and then let loose a barrage of glowing chains from his sleeves to restrain the old man.
Brown, however, was not the type to be okay with being restrained by chains. He yanked the chain with both his hands and dragged the Dong back to himself. Dong flew towards Brown, confused about the fact that the old man wanted even more.
Long Dong was ready however. He raised his fists up high to protect against Brown punching or kicking him. He readied his instincts to matrix himself out of rifle fire. He even solidified qi around him to protect himself in case of any attacks using pure energy. He was sure that he could receive any attack he had seen from Brown up until now.
Then Brown took out something from his pockets and threw it towards Dong.
Soap? This was the last thing Dong thought before his head collided with a bar of soap in the air. He had expected a projectile to fly towards him, not for him to fly towards a projectile.
So quick was his collision that he passed out.
So quick was Brown’s fist that he didn’t wake up ever again.
Long Dong couldn’t defy fate.
Yep, it’s still the 63rd of Summer, 5859
Somewhere near the walls of Casamonu where a bunch of soldiers have been pushed to, Casamonu
“Urgh…” Shinasi was trying to get closer and closer to the two men trading fists. However, there seemed to be some sort of invisible barrier he couldn’t get past no matter how much he pushed it. He pushed and pushed forward, yet it felt like he was trying to get past a wall made of pure slime. “Captain, hang in there!”
“Old man!” Ayomide knocked on the barrier as well. However, she took a pause when she noticed what was happening inside the barrier. It was wild, to say the least. The old man in question was doing feats of acrobatics which she had never seen before in her life. “Hang- hang in there?!”
The next few minutes was jaw-dropping to the spectators outside of the cultivator’s barrier. John Brown was dealing a beatdown the likes of which had never been seen before in the history of the remote edges of Gemeinplatz. It was quite hard to follow with all the balls of light flying around and old men jumping around, but it was still a good watch for the soldiers around the barrier. Some sat on the grass, watching the fight in lieu of entertainment. Some were cheering on. Some were biting their nails, thinking of what’d happen if they got enslaved again.
Thankfully, for the fans of John Brown, the old man’s soap saved the day as the barrier came down with the defeat of the cultivator. Shinasi fell face-first as he had been leaning on the barrier, while Ayomide saved herself with a well-timed guest of wind to keep herself on her two feet. There was a rush towards the scene of the battle filled with craters. Brown had knelt down on the ground, breathing in and out deeply while his forehead was riddled with beads of sweat.
“Old man? Are you fine?” Ayomide had ran up to Brown, ready to cast some healing if need be. She didn’t as the old man was fine, at least physically.
“Praise be to God, I’m fine.” Brown coughed up some blood and stained his coat. “Mostly.”
“Mostly?” Coughing up blood doesn’t make you look fine…
“Mostly. I’ve been worse.” added Brown, having literally died once after being hanged. “I just need some sleep.” He yawned a bit too casually for someone who had died once.
“A-Alright…” Ayomide now looked at the lifeless body of Dong laying right next to where Brown was. She, and many of the men, were mostly desensitized to corpses by now. One of the soldiers covered the body with a blanket for later burial. Nobody really knew how to conduct a funeral for an otherworlder, neither did they really have enough respect to conduct proper rituals for those trying to kill them, so enemy bodies would simply be buried. The rest of the night passed with the League resetting their camp which had been destroyed by the unexpected cultivator attack.
Tomorrow, the siege would finally start.
Right around the end of 63rd of Summer, 5859
The walls of Casamonu, Casamonu
Sir Corvus was waiting. And waiting some more. The skies had darkened, yet he was waiting. From his position, he was only seeing a light show and he couldn’t distinguish between the two vague humanoid blobs clashing down below. “It’s taking Dong a while to cut off the head of the snake…”
Things would have been easy after the troops of the Demon King were demoralized with the aforementioned Demon King being defeated. Either they’d dissolve and Corvus wouldn’t have to deal with them, or they’d try and siege the castle down in a futile attempt. There was no way that a bunch of headless savages had the ability to bring down the walls of civilization, so Corvus wasn’t worried about potentially being sieged down.
All he needed to do was wait for Dong to come back with the good news.
Sir Corvus was waiting.
And waiting some more.
The stars had come out, yet he was still waiting.
He’d wait for a long while more.