System, are you messing with me? - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

There was a big grassy space between trees and flowers in the Garden just behind the huge villa with uneven ground and small earthy bumps. It was the only free area in the entire estate that could be used for a duel, so the Protagonist took the lead to guide them through the many beautiful flowerbeds towards their destination.
The servants of Zhou Feng gathered around the free space in a half-circle, while the Female positioned herself in between Shu Ning and Wu Kang, who both stood facing each other in the middle of the group.
To the irritation of the General, she had completely taken over the seat of command for this duel and arogantly started explaining the rules while Sun Zhilong could only stand in the front row of the audience and frown in silent ire.
"The rule for this duel will be simple. Looser will be the one who either admits defeat first or who can't continue fighting anymore. Killing is forbidden, but injury is allowed."
Shu Ning roled his eyes as the Protagonist glanced at the General at the side as if waiting for his approval that wouldn't come.
"Well then. The General will be the referee, so no dirty tricks."
With the last word Zhou Feng turned her eyes towars Shu Ning and glowered at him as if she was expecting him to pull something dirty later on. Shu Ning just raised his eyebrows at that and had to turn his head away a little to hide his maniac grin that was breaking across his face. He could only guess at the funny expression the Protagonist would make after he beat up her lap dog.
"Zhou An. Get off the field already. If you are hit by their blades in the middle of combat it will be due your own stupidity. It would be Collateral damage."
The General's dark voice boomed over the heads of everyone present and more than one female servant shivered at the intensity. The person in question turned beat red in embarrassment  and hastily moved next to the man to stay out of the way. In her haste to obey Sun Zhilong's command and her desire to be close to him, she completely failed to notice how the man's eyes cooled over and his muscles tensed in response to a threat in his vicinity.
But Shu Ning noticed all the minimal changes in the General's expression and smiled slightly at the disgust present in the Man's eyes. His smile widened even more when he observed how the other hastily widened the distance between himself and the crossdressing soldier.
"Let the duel commence."
With those last words of the General, Wu Kang pulled out his silver-gold sword and lunged towards the unmoving form of Shu Ning who easily avoided the slash of his opponent. With a left turn of his body, Shu Ning frees his own red-black sword and stabs it in the direction of the Male Lead. The movement so smooth and fast that Wu Kang tumbled backwards and only barely managed to steady his feet. A clash of metal rang in the ears of the audience as the two swords clashed against each other in the next move.
Wu Kang held the handle of his sword even tighter and gritted his teeth as he chaneled all of his power and pushed onto his opponents blade. But thanks to all the training Shu Ning did since coming back from Samadon, he wasn't weak in the slightest and easily pushed the Male Lead off of him. A few seconds the two of them just stared at each other, panting with every exhale, and waiting for the other to open his defense.
Shu Ning: "How long do you think I can play around before he goes crazy?"
Alpha: "Host should stop delaying already and finish that guy."
Shu Ning: "Are you getting bored?"
Alpha: ".....No. He is just annoying me."
Shu Ning had to stifle a laughter but didn't quite succeed in doing so. A loud snort escaped his closed lips and an amused light glimmered inside of his eyes.
Wu Kang, who had continued to stare at the other, gritted his teeth in anger and swung his sword towards his opponents legs to restrict their movement. But Shu Ning anticipated this and turned his body to face the oncoming blade. With fast movements, he grabbed the wrist of the Male Lead with his free hand and wrenched it behind the others back.
Wu Kang's feet tripped over themselves, with how sudden he was turned, and before he could even understand what was happening, he fell face first on the grasy ground with the his wrist held tight on his back and a knee digging into his spine.
The red glinting of a blade blinded the Male Lead for a moment as a sword plunged into the earth right next to his head. His own sword had long ago sailed through the air and landed right in front of the Protagonist's feet.
Shu Ning grinned at the sorry figure of his opponent beneath him and put even more weight on the knee on the others back until a suppressed moan of pain came out of their mouth.
"Give up yet? You can't move. You lost your sword. And I can give you as much pain as I want to, as long as I don't kill you."
The words were said loud enough that everyone in the vicinity heard Shu Ning clearly and many of the watching servants plus Wu Kang shivered in apprehension while Zhou Feng anxiously gnawed on her own lips.
Only the General didn't show any change in expression at all and only calmly gazed at the occuring scene in front of him. There wasn't a need to step in yet and the Man didn't want to interfere at the moment either.
A sudden ringing inside of his head diverted Sun Zhilong's attention from the whimpering and the groaning of pain from the soldier being pinned to the ground to an incoming message on his terminal. It was a short command written in codes, coming from higher up, that he had no choice but to follow. It could be nothing good.
Shu Ning stopped his ministration on the Male Lead's back and turned his head around to face the General who's expression suddenly darkened. He raised one of his eyebrows at the Man and waited for an explanation at the sudden foul mood.
"The fun is over. Yang Quan and Zou An, you will come with me back to base. Pack some necessary things and then gather on deck. We will move out in one hour."
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Two years later, the third army finally got themselves a break from all the missions they received as of late. It was as if the elders tried to tire their team out by sending them to the next planet again as soon as they arrived back home. It was exhausting, both physically and mentally, to continuously fight for survival. One wrong move could mean their end after all.
Luckily, Shu Ning and the General knew how to use a sword very well and learned how to harmonize with each other, so they saved the lives of their comrades more times then not. That was probably the only reason why their team still had more then half it's members at the end of every mission.
But it wasn't always sufficient. Sometimes they just weren't fast enough to save anyone. Those were the moments, that felt the most helpless, because many of the soldiers accompanying them to the battlefield died right in front of them. It was always a horrifying scene to behold when the friends and companions started to drop like flies and you could't do anything to stop that.
After the third army returned to the base once again, the elders had immediatly called for their entire team to gather up in the great halls. The same hall where those old men liked to lounge on the couch.
At least they wanted to meet up personally now and didn't just send a message anymore. That could only mean that the soldiers had some time before they were forced to leave again. Some good rest was exactly what was needed right now.
Shu Ning: "Those old men must be way out of shape by now. They only laze around the entire day. No wonder they always send us out. They would die in no more then 5 seconds on a battlefield."
Shu Ning grimaced in disgust after laying eyes on the stage but let his expression smooth out again soon after because he felt way too exhausted to care much right now.
"General Sun. Congratulations on finishing your latest mission. We expected nothing less of you of course. In the end your team got a little sloppy though. You should train them more harshly, so that they don't continue making such amateur mistakes."
The taunting of the elders enraged most of the soldiers present in the hall but no one dared to lash out rashly for fear of offending someone. Everyone just looked at their General standing at the forefront of their group for guidance, but the man didn't even twitch a single muscle in response to the insults, so the rest of them started calming down again as well.
Only Shu Ning, who was standing right next to the man in question, noticed the tight line of the man's jaw and the clenched fist at his side. A trickle of blood even seeped through the others fingers as the fingernails broke through the thick skin.
Without thinking much about it, Shu Ning reached out his hand to carefully pry open the General's fingers and wipe over the crescent shaped marks on the palm. The surface felt rough from working with a sword a lot and looked  darker in color than his own thumb stroking over the skin. It was a good contrast though and Shu Ning momentairily lost himself in the sight, before pulling his eyes away again and letting go.
The General draged his scorching gaze away from the other immediately as well and rubbed his fingertips over his wounded palm as if to savor the lingering warmth.
"Now then. To the actual reason we asked you all to come. Your entire team would have been wiped out long ago if it wasn't for a very courageous and selfless soldier that saved all of your useless asses over and over again. We decided to award him with a rise in rank for her services. Zhou An. Please come up here."
The Protagonist grinned from ear to ear as she walked up the stairs to the waiting elder. She held her chin up high in arrogance and practically bounced up the steps to the top. Her happiness was clearly visible for all to see, but the members of the third army obviously couldn't share her enthusiasm about this. Because every single one of them knew, that the merit she was praised for wasn't her own.
Zhou Feng seemed to have changed her approach about a year ago. Instead of trying to get Shu Ning killed or kicked out of the army, she started to follow him around constantly. It was annoying, to say the least, to suddenly gain an extra tail, but the rest of the soldiers found it hilarious and in no time the nick-name 'CHARMeleon' spread in their camp. All to Shu Ning's horror and Sun Zhilong's endless jelousy and chagrin.
That friendly mood between comrads didn't hold up for much longer though because the Female seemed to have underestimated the intelligence of the team. Or deemed herself a good actress and way too inconspiculously. But it was difficult not to notice how she monitored everyone of Shu Ning's moves and jumped in just at the last second to claim the glory, or how she interrupted his strategic meetings all the time to finish them herself and then preen in pride, or how she visited injured soldiers in miss Zhou's medical tent to tell them their survival was her doing and not Shu Ning's.
It was all so obvious and everyone in the third army knew the truth. But the elders weren't interested in the truth. They didn't care much that the honor should go to a no-name peasant instead of the Girlfriend of Lord Wu's eldest son.
"Zhou An. We thank you for your selfless services to our planet and bestow upon you this star of honor. You will rise directly to the rank of Sergeant. Congratulations."
Zhou Feng straightened her back proudly and pushed out her flat chest to have the golden star pinned to her army vest. The corners of her eyes crinckled at how huge she was grinning. An ugly and grotesque grin.
"Venerable elders ......"
Sun Zhilong's expression was grim while he looked at the stage and he took a step closer as if to voice his misgivings about it all. His fists were still loosely held at his sides, but his fingers were twitching eagerly for the feeling of his sword.
"Don't."
Before the General could take another step forward a hand grabbed his sleeve from the side to stop him and deep blue eyes looked pleadingly at his own.
"Please don't. They won't listen to you and I rather not want you to get into trouble. Just leave it for now. I have a better way to take care of them."
Shu Ning desperatly digged his fingers into the soft fabric of the General's clothes to keep him in place. A soft and reassuring smile spread over his lips that seemed to take the edge out of the man. Even if the other still looked reluctantly to back down again.
"Alright. I will listen to you and not get involved. But you should take care of them soon. Otherwise I won't back down so easily anymore."
A soft expression graced the Man's face as he sighed in resignation. A strange trembling sensation spread from the deepest part of Shu Ning's soul at the look in those black eyes and spread through his entire body. The same familiarity that he already felt years before settled inside of his thoughts and made him dazed for a short moment.
When he finally returned back to the present, after his soul settled down, Shu Ning hastily pulled his hand away from the General's clothes and focused his attention on to the stage again.