"The sun…The sun is so high…" An old man muttered under his breath as he moved forward. He heaved and wheezed with every step.
"Crunch!" The old man stepped on a twig and a loud crunching sound appeared.
The old man looked down and sighed. "The heavens have forsaken me. It seems like my time has come…"
Just as the old man was about to take another step, tens of shadows appeared and surrounded the old man.
The sun was bright, but it was not bright enough to let the old man see their faces.
"Haiz, I'm just an old man who's about to die. Why can't you go chase the other Saints? I'm sure the Saber Saint would've enjoyed this fight." Although the old man revealed a helpless expression, he had already unsheathed his sword and got into a stance.
It was then that one of the shadows spoke up. "All the other saints are dead, old man. You are the only one left."
"Traitors! How dare they leave without me?" The old man furrowed his brow and grumbled loudly.
He then raised his sword above his head.
"If I am going to die now, then I shall die with honor! For honor, for Kunlun!"
With a shout, the old man channeled his inner qi into the sword and performed a downward slash.
It was a simple qi enhanced sword slash yet a lot of the shadows present started to sweat buckets.
'So this was the Kunlun Sword Saint's last ditch attack. It's passable at best.' The shadow that spoke up earlier looked at sword slash and frowned.
He then took a step forward and parried the attack with his own dagger.
"Clang! The crisp sound of two metals clashing brought a wave of energy with it, forcing the rest of the shadows to take a few steps back.
"As expected of the Sword Saint. You still have plenty of inner qi to spare." The shadow added. "It's a shame that that will be your last attack. Gale wind squad, kill this old man."
The shadow's tone was flat and monotonous. He was clearly not impressed by the Sword Saint's last ditch effort to save himself.
Hearing the command, the rest of the shadows revealed murderous eyes as they took out their weapons and pounced on the Sword Saint.
"If I'm going to die, I will at least take all of you with me!" The Sword Saint roared.
He then took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. "Phew…"
"Boom!" A shockwave of energy exploded out from the Sword Saint's body, forcing the shadows back. Some of the weaker shadows had even fainted from the sudden attack.
"Sword…God's Domain!" The Sword Saint roared again, this time however his words carried a hint of imperialism. His eyes were bloodshot and there was even a stream of blood flowing down his chin.
It was clear to everyone that this Sword God's Domain took a massive toll on the Sword Saint's body. This was most likely the Sword Saint's final card.
"Do not be afraid of a dying old man's will! As long as we bring the head of Sword Saint, the lord will honor our sacrifices with generations of glory!" The shadow leader from before spoke up.
"For the cult, for the Heavenly Demon!"
The shadow leader then rushed towards the Sword Saint like a mad dog, with his dagger in hand.
Seeing this, the remaining shadows too shouted, "For the cult, for the Heavenly Demon!" and rushed towards the Sword Saint like dogs.
"Took you all long enough! I will slay you all! Then I will slay the Heavenly Demon!"
One by one, the Sword Saint parried and countered the attacks of twenty shadows from all directions.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
And one by one, the shadows chipped away at the Sword Saint's strength.
A small cut on his shoulder, a stab wound to his back…
When night fell, all that was left was an one armed shadow leader and an armless Sword Saint.
The entire army of shadows laid strewn on the ground, their torsos separated from their waists.
The scene looked like it came out of hell itself.
"Your determination is commendable, Mad Dog. It seems like the Heavenly Demon Cult has treated you well enough to sacrifice an arm for them." [Sword Saint]
"Haha, your understanding of the sword was impressive as well. That Sword God's Domain of yours was well executed. I…I have lost all of my brethren to it, you old fart…" [Mad Dog]
"Haiz, we should have treated you better. If only we knew the consequences of our decisions…"
"Stop talking and just die, damn it. You're so talkative even when you've already reached death's doors."
When the Sword Saint heard Mad Dog's words, he couldn't help but reveal a regretful smile.
The central plains have fallen.
His sect has been burned to the ground. His disciples and even his grand disciples were hunted down, maimed and placed on spikes outside of the Martial Alliance.
Even if the Sword Saint were to make it out of this battle alive, there would have been nothing left for the old man.
'Maybe death isn't so bad after all.' The Sword Saint sighed in his heart.
"Oh, one last thing, tell your Heavenly Demon to go fuck himself." The Sword Saint mustered his remaining strength and swore loudly.
The old man then fell face first into the ground and stopped moving.
'Is he dead? I better go over to confirm it.' Mad Dog thought it over for a bit before he started crawling towards the old man's lifeless corpse.
Once he got to the old man's corpse, Mad Dog raised his dagger over his head before he stabbed it into the old man's neck.
"Schlunk!" The sound of a sharp blade piercing into warm meat.
'No way in hell is this old man coming back to life now.' Mad Dog sighed in relief. He then fell on top of the old man's body like a ragdoll.
As he took his final breath, the Mad Dog revealed a satisfied expression.
'For the glory of the Heavenly Demon, for the glory of the cult…'