"Quick!"
"Surround them!"
Hooves thundered wildly, drawing ever closer as several hundred elite soldiers trained by the Red Lotus Cult came charging in. At a red-armored commander's fierce shout, they rushed forward to kill.
Armor clanged and blades flashed free, a tide of savage courage and murderous discipline surging forth.
In the blink of an eye, they reached the residence where the fierce battle raged. Before they could break through the gate, they heard a rumbling like rolling thunder.
It was as though dozens of excavators were working simultaneously inside the sprawling residence. Forces collided violently, the air exploded without cease, and building after building crumbled. Plaster cracked, while stones and roof tiles whirled into the sky.
The red-armored commander at the head of the charge split the gate with a single saber stroke. A fierce wind immediately struck his face, stinging like steel blades scraping his bones.
Great clouds of dust poured outward. Figures seemed to flicker within them, but they were too hazy to make out.
Only the horse beneath him stirred uneasily. Then its forelegs rose, a neigh rang out, and the figures within the thick dust abruptly appeared before him.
The ground shook violently. The courtyard walls shattered with a crash, great sections bursting apart. Some shot outward, while others soared dozens of feet into the air.
Countless fragments of stone were also hurled outward by the surging forces.
The several hundred Red Lotus Cult soldiers immediately suffered disaster. Every one of them wore armor, which ordinary gravel could not penetrate, but chunks of wall the size of fists, heads, or larger came hurtling down like cannonballs.
Screams and the sounds of snapping bones and tendons rose without cease. In less than a breath, many men and horses had been knocked sprawling, their formation thrown into