Elder Mu had always considered himself a man with no illusions.

That might still be true, but he had fallen into the delusion of still clinging on to the belief that Lord Gao still had the villagers’ best interests at heart. In retrospect, it was obvious that he had somehow ignored all the signs to the contrary. Just the fact that Lord Gao allowed his grandson to treat his fellow villagers the way he did should have been a glaring red flag, but he had simply dismissed it. Somehow, he had forgotten the saying that there’s no delusion more insidious than self-delusion.

When it came to the battle with the battalion of demons, he had believed that he and his family -- yes, that included Jing -- were facing death. A glorious one, to be sure, one with honour, but death all the same. No illusions, be real. Sure, they had trained as best they could, even fought and killed lone stray demons, but killing one didn’t mean they could do the same to the horde facing the entire village. Not unless they were going to do him the favour of queueing up, polite as could be, to fight his band of defenders one at a time. Well, even then, he supposed their human stamina would give out long before they could kill of even a tenth of them.

Then he saw how effective Trip’s simple traps proved to be. He saw her, somehow shooting down demons in twos and threes, sending them cowering behind makeshift shields that still proved ineffective. A part of him was both relieved and ashamed in equal parts, when he saw Trip’s monkey demon dealing with the skirmishers that would certainly have overrun his position. That relief only intensified after those skirmishers, after being hit into the fields of stakes, somehow chose to attack the village walls instead of his small band of defenders. He swelled with pride at how the villagers took advantage of the demons’ hampered movement. That, combined with their sporadic practice with the crossbows, was enough to ensure the skirmishers’ doom. That was the point where he started to hope that maybe, just maybe, that the village and his family would get through this alive.

Then came Wukong’s cunning move to distract the battalion in order to draw out the leader, which was countered by another more dangerous-looking Red Robe coming to the fore.

Even after Trip had said “It’s up to you now. Good luck!”, there had not been any demons to deal with, because she had tied all of them up in a deadly dance of death. She’d dived into their formation without a care, appearing here and there to deal instant death, only to disappear again. A ghostly Grim Reaper in the flesh.

It was only then that several demons broke away from the formation to charge his position. He was proud that his family had given a good account of themselves.

Jing was the armoured lure, attracting the demons to him by virtue of his size and his relentless taunting, while using his two shields to protect himself and the two spear wielders. His mother and his wife worked as a team, taking advantage of openings to thrust their long spears from behind Jing to wound, cripple, and eventually kill the attacking demons.

His son was the spinning hammer, always on the move, intercepting attacks with his pair of maces. Preventing attacks by stopping them cold in their tracks, allowing him to dart in to slice and dice before darting back out of the demon’s reach.

Together, they managed to kill three demons before he saw the flaming boulder falling from the sky, heading for the Red Robe’s position. A random thought popped into his head then.

It seems that Trip has driven the Red Robe to suicide.

Then he screamed “Take cover!”, before pulling Gao Cai along with him to take cover behind the barricades. Jing, his mother, and his wife, barely a step behind him.

Thanks to both distance and the thickness of the barricades, he and his family remained unhurt and unshaken, in good enough condition to take care of the stragglers in the aftermath of the Red Robe’s celestial attack. Some of the stragglers were still heading for the village, but many of them were dazed, make him almost feel bad to cut them down. Still, he completed his duty, as did his family.

It was after the last demon had been cut down, that Gao Cai drew his attention to Trip and Wukong who were in dire straits, about to be killed by the demon leader. He and his family started running towards them to help, but he knew that they would not make it in time.

Which was when he saw the demon letter get two-shotted from out of nowhere by a grey horse and a tree-sized spear.

As he ran closer, his gaze was drawn to the largest crossbow he’d ever seen, mounted on a strange eight-wheeled metal wagon. Instead of a proper covered wagon, it was more like the frame of a wagon, almost entirely made out of metal, and it wasn’t being pulled by any horses or oxen, or any other animal. Within it sat two people, a bald man and a woman, one in front of the other, surrounded by metal wheels with teeth attached to various chains that were, in turn, attached to other things. The woman in front was, for some reason, gripping a wheel attached to a rod that reached into the depths of the metal wagon. At the rear of the metal wagon, there was a third bald, bearded man holding on to the large crossbow, who was talking to… the grey horse, who was… talking back?

Before Elder Mu could say anything, the grey horse cantered closer to Trip. Blue beams of light erupted out of its eyes, running up and down Trip’s prone form.

What was that? Some sort of magic, like the Red Robes used? Did the horse mean to do Trip harm? But hadn’t the horse fought against the demon commander?

Elder Mu and the others were confused, but they rushed forward to help Trip all the same.

“STOP! Do not touch her! You would only increase the severity of her injuries or even cause her death!”

The sheer volume of the command blasting out from the horse stopped them in their tracks.

“I’d listen to Master White Dragon, he’s the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever met. If you want to save Sister Trip, please follow his instructions.” said the bald man behind the massive crossbow.

“She has suffered extensive internal injuries, and has multiple fractures. We need to keep her warm and lay her on a flat surface that can be used to transport her. You and you! Take off your robes! You two, go find two undamaged spears, we need to make a stretcher!”

Elder Mu didn’t know about the others, but he was numb. Too many things had happened in a short time, and now there were bald men on the metal skeletons of wagons that he guessed moved by themselves, wielding crossbows that looked big enough to crossbow bolts as large as him, and a wordy horse who was taking command of the situation.

Oh well, the horse seemed to be concerned about Trip, so it couldn’t be bad.

Following the horse’s instructions, he, Jing and Ah Cai used their outer robes and two spears to make an improvised stretcher for Trip. Any excess cloth was used to bundle up Trip to keep her warm. They piled broken handles under her feet and knees, because the horse said it was better to make sure there was more blood flowing to her head.

By now, Wukong had gotten to his feet. Despite looking very much the worse for wear, he insisted on helping carry the stretcher bearing Trip back to the village.

The battle was over. The few remaining demons had fled, leaving only the dead or dying behind. It was time to heal, rebuild, and hopefully prepare themselves to survive the consequences of their actions. Also, who were those people in the metal wagon, and were they really allies?

There was still someone who needed to be told that the battle was over. When the group approached the village gates, they were met with the sight of Bajie standing in front of the gate with his eyes squeezed closed, waving his nine-toothed rake about in random swings while shouting “Stay away! Don’t come any closer!”.

Despite the panicked nature of his defense, his strength was nothing to laugh at, as evidenced by the deep grooves in the earth around him, as well as the bodies of several completely pulverized demons.

Fighting through the fog of his exhaustion, Elder Mu told himself that he would make sure the villagers were told of Bajie killing several demons, and that they knew to be grateful to him for his actions. Despite his motivations, the result of his actions had most likely saved some villagers’ lives.

Perhaps Gao Village should count themselves lucky that Bajie had always been so gentle his entire life, despite getting bullied so often.

-- Chapter 47, End --