They were here.
It was about three weeks after Wukong came home.
All the allied forces were in place.
Only about two thousand total.
A token force in a battle of this magnitude.
But they would play a pivotal role.
I introduced the concept of name tags, and had them created for each of the soldiers, mostly for our allies.
None of them knew the full plan.
The least we could do was try and get their bodies back home.
Including our allies, our army numbered around twenty-two thousand troops.
Most of ours were stationed in the palace, ready to activate traps and hurl weapons down at the enemies.
However, some brave soldiers volunteered to be our feet on the ground.
These teams focused on mobility and harassment.
Once the war officially started, they’d target enemy food supplies, steal whatever armor and weapons they could get their hands on, and set the camp on fire for good measure.
They had the highest risk of getting captured or killed, but they each had invisibility tokens they can activate to escape, and extensive knowledge of the island.
They could get away and hide for as long as necessary.
And finally, our food supplies.
If we rationed it out carefully, we had enough to last us about a year.
Hopefully we could get food production up and running in the palace before then.
The agriculture and research divisions were currently working together on it, using the light stones to set up actual farms within the palace.
We were ready as we were ever going to be.
The enemy has set up camp to the south of the mountain, which offered the most direct route to the entrance.
It was also our most heavily fortified area, carefully crafted to look completely mundane.
The enemy had raised a flag to parley.
Probably to deliver an official declaration of war.
Wukong and I were forming a party to meet them.
Wukong and I were both going, along with General Ma.
The other three generals would stay behind and organize the defense in case something happened to us.
I looked at myself in the mirror of our bedroom.
I straightened out my dress one last time.
The sleeves were shorter, ending about my mid upper arms, and it was made of a lightweight, loose fabric.
The bottom was made to look like a dress, but it was actually pants, loose and cleverly sewn to make it look like a skirt.
I used to use this outfit for training back home, except I didn’t because I thought it was just too nice to just train with it.
My sister always made fun of me, asking what the point of having clothes I never used was Well, I was using it now, as a possible battle outfit that could be used for a negotiation.
It was looser than what I usually wore, to free up my movement if it came to a fight.
I was also loaded up with protection spells.
“You don’t have to come Yue.
I can handle this.” Wukong looked at my final preparations worriedly.
I snorted, turning away from the mirror.
“No.
I’ll handle the negotiations.
Your job is to sit beside me and look tough.
Got it?” He sighed, turning out to the open window and summoning Nimbus.
“Okay Yue.
But if they make a move towards you, I will slaughter them all.” “Fair enough.
I give you permission to start the battle if they try anything.
General Ma and I will fly back with my sword.
But don’t start until they make the first move.
Depending on their conditions we might be able to come to a peaceful resolution” Wukong hopped on Nimbus, and offered me a hand.
I took it, and he helped me up.
We flew to the front of the palace, where Ma was waiting for us.
He was rather intimidating in he leather armor, with a fearsome helmet and mask.
He carried the parley flag as we flew out of the cave and towards the tent set at the halfway point between the opening of the valley to Water Curtain Cave, and the enemy camp.
We landed about ten feet away.
The tent was blue, and sizable, about ten by ten.
The flaps waved in the breeze, the guards standing to either side, eyeballing us as their hands tightened around their spears.
We approached, I spoke first.
“We are here to speak with your leaders.
Step aside.” “No weapons allowed inside the tent.” The left one growled.
I held up my hands and showed they were empty.
“We come unarmed.” Of course, we weren’t actually unarmed.
Wukong had his staff tucked away in his ear, my sword could be summoned in a flash, and Ma was the largest of the generals, and his fists were deadly weapons themselves.
They begrudgingly stepped aside.
We entered the tent.
It was empty.
A low table made of a dark wood sat in the middle, some cushions to sit on either side.
There was a pitcher of water and some cups on it.
Nothing else, and more importantly, no one else was in here.
Did they seriously just set up this tent and then make us wait to see them?
Heavenly gods were arrogant.
I activated my chi sight to keep an eye on the outside of the tent.
Well, we weren’t being surrounded.
A good sign.
Maybe they had some honor after all.
I sat at the small negotiations table and waited.
Wukong sat beside me but fidgeted.
Ma stood behind us imposingly.
Should I get a cup of water?
It seemed normal enough, but that just meant they hadn’t used chi to mess with it.
It could still theoretically be poisoned.
Maybe I’ll make Wukong drink a glass.
Then again, he might not notice, even if it was poisoned.
Instead, I decided to skip the water as I blinked my chi sight on, wondering when someone was going to show up.
Oh, it looks like they wouldn’t make us wait long.
Someone was already approaching, a hulking figure with a decent amount of active chi.
I shut off my chi sight as they entered the tent.
It was a large human, no hair on their head thankfully.
But I didn’t know humans could come in that color.
He was a bright blue, with thick shiny armor.
His face was twisted with rage, and he held a massive axe in his right hand.
No fair, we weren’t allowed to have weapons but he was?
“Sun Wukong!” He bellowed.
“You are under arrest for defying the will of heaven!
Not only did you abandon your post, but you also now claim to be the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!
You shall pay for this insult!” What?
I peeked at Wukong and watched him flinch at the words.
Lunus, what the fuck did he do now?!This wasn’t the time or place.
We needed to show a united front.
In the face of whatever the fuck this guy was doing.
“Fight me Wukong!
And if you lose, I’ll drag you to the heavenly court for your execution!” Welp, there goes any chance of a peaceful end to this.
The man drew a large battle ax from his back.
And there went any negotiations at all.
“Wukong, don’t kill him.
He needs to take a message back to the army.” “As you wish Yue.” Wukong got a wicked grin on his face and drew his staff.
The man let out a battle roar and swung his axe towards Wukong.
With one swing of his staff, Wukong split the axe in half, and batted the man halfway back to camp.
When he hit the tent, it ripped up from the stakes and flew away with him, getting all tangled up as he landed and rolled.
The lump laid on the ground for a few minutes, making me worry that Wukong might have actually killed him, but eventually the lump shuffled.
He pulled himself out of the cloth, and limped back to camp, dragging his broken axe behind him.
The soldiers that were guarding the tent also ran back towards the camp, and stopped to help him retreat.
Wukong moved to chase them.
“Let them go.
It might be a trap to try and lure you away from us.” I hoped it was, because so far, this was just pathetic.
Instead, I turned to Wukong.
“So,” I gave Wukong a mirthless smile.
“What’s this about being the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?” He shuffled and wouldn’t look me in the eye as he dropped back into his seat, laying his staff in his lap.
“Well, it happened that day I went to see the brotherhood to get troops.
They offered me some drinks as I explained what happened in heaven and they were outraged I was treated like that.
So, we came up with the name ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven’ but I didn’t think they would spread it.” He shifted again, finally looking at me, contrite.
“I’m sorry Yue.
This is bad, isn’t it?” I sighed and patted his head.
“I wish you told me earlier.
But maybe we can use this.
Let’s wait here for someone else to come.
Maybe I can get us out of this while keeping our pride and our land intact.” We waited, and eventually another figure flew towards us from the camp.
A very small human.
I didn’t know they came that tiny.
I was learning all kinds of things about humans today.
Wukong looked at the approaching figure with confusion.
“What the hell is a child doing here?” A child?
That was a human child?
It looked like a miniature human.
The child stopped a good ten feet away from us.
He did have hair, wrapped up into two queasy buns on either side of his head.
A long scarf of red silk wrapped around his shoulders, floating in the air as if it was water, weightless.
Oh, I needed twenty of those, all in different colors.
His feet didn’t touch the ground, instead they hovered above two small wheels that were on fire.
Didn’t that… burn his feet?
Was that safe?
I suppose so since he wasn’t bother at all.
He gave us a disaffected expression, his boredness shining through his tone.
“I am Nezha, the Third Lotus Prince.
I am here to place Sun Wukong under arrest.
State who you are and why you are here.” I stood up.
“I am Sun Yue, wife of Sun Wukong and the Monkey Queen.
We came here to speak with your leader before the battle, but I see he has not deigned to grace us with his presence.
Deliver this message to him and the Jade Emperor!
If Wukong is granted the title ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven’ there will be no need to battle!” Nezha’s faced flushed red, a small spear flashing into his hands.
He whirled it around before brandishing at us.
“You are as arrogant as I heard.
Duel me, and if you succeed in beating me, I’ll deliver your message.
If not, I’ll arrest Sun Wukong here and now!” The kid leapt back and began growing.
I had to crane my neck up as he grew and grew, until he became as large as Flower-Fruit Mountain.
He had three faces, one on each side of his head except the back, and six arms, each brandishing a different weapon.
Gosh, extra much?
I grabbed Wukong before he went in.
“Don’t underestimate him.
He has the most chi out of everyone in the army.” He grinned.
“That means I can really let loose then.” I stepped back and he grew as he stepped forward to face Nezha, also into a three-faced, six-armed monster.
I will never understand this world.
I turned to General Ma.
“Let’s retreat.
This might get messy.” I summoned my sword and Ma carefully balanced on the hilt as I sat on the blade.
Together, we retreated from the battlefield.
I landed a few li away to watch and sent Ma back to the palace to deliver the news to the other generals.
I watched their fight with bated breath.
They were evenly matched.
While Wukong had more chi, Nezha was faster, and had his own tricks.
He wielded each of his weapons with finesse and skill while Wukong kept him at bay with sheer force and his duplicated staffs.
This was going to turn into a draw if something wasn’t done.
Wukong must have realized that too.
I saw him sneakily duplicate himself, grabbing a hair with one hand and switching it to the other as he twirled his staffs to distract Nezha.
The hair turned into a regular size Wukong.
This smaller Wukong snuck up behind Nezha and proceeding to attack from the back.
This surprised Nezha enough for Wukong to gain the upper hand.
He pushed Nezha back and beat him into a retreat.
Nezha transformed back and flew off towards the camp.
Wukong transformed and flew on Nimbus towards me, the biggest grin on his face.
“Did you see that Yue?
I got him!
How did I look?” I briefly smiled at his antics.
“You did great!
Very dashing.” He preened as I dropped my smile and looked back towards the camp.
The same trick wouldn’t work twice.
Hopefully heaven would take the path of least resistance and there wouldn’t be any need for more bloodshed.
The army stayed for the next two weeks.
But they didn’t make any more moves.
We just had to stay alert and be ready for when something does happen.
That something turned out to be Evening Star approaching our home, alone and unarmed.
With an offer to negotiate.