Xinyu let her throbbing left arm go and raised the other towards the sky. From her clenched fist, a saber of bright steel emerged and grew, curved o' so slightly. Firmly, she held thy legendary sword Zhanlu, infused with all her will and might, to illuminate the night that had befallen the land.
The feeling of dread staining the air was smitted away, and the wind had become warm once more, the dark locust clouds vanishing in her wake. The angel instinctively raised its hand and clasped the handle of its bracken sword. With the edge of the black blade facing Xinyu, the angel flew at her faster than when it toyed with the others.
Xinyu cackled with blue lightning all around her body as she pivoted her foot back and readied Zhanlu for the angel's downward strike.
They swung in tandem. Their swords crossed at their centers with a sparking smash as their holders' eyes met. The angels' blackened sockets and Xinyu's glare of determination fought their own battle while they gave every ounce of effort vested within their waning strengths and burning fibers to push the other back. Xinyu, with only one functioning arm, struggled to hold up to the angel's two-handed greatsword, yet she did not yield. Stronger than one, stronger than none, she never wavered in holding onto hope.
Even faced with what some considered impossible odds, her smile grew ten times and her arms expanded as she went beyond her limits. Unleashing a mighty burst of adrenalized power, she thrust back the black blade and the angel, who stumbled off balance. Holding the divine sword above both their heads, Xinyu swung down and narrowly missed a slash to the angel's chest as it upheaved the earth with its legs and jumped far back.
"Zhanlu. Juque. Shengxie. Yuchang. Chunjun." Xinyu chanted. "I summon the five legendary swords of the east's greatest blacksmith. May they strike down this beast as they had done thousands of others before."
Xinyu threw the sword, Zhanlu, above her head. It floated and pointed its tip towards the angel. From behind it, four more unique divine swords appeared: two adjacent to each of Xinyu's ears and two resting away from the sides of her chest. She raised her hand to create an L with her arm and motioned them forward. The sleekly crafted swords homed in on the angel and darted at it with the accuracy of an arrow shot by Hou Yi. Each blade swung in rapid succession as if wielded by a viciously skilled warrior, though their only master was themselves. The angel evaded and parried each blade at heightening speeds, flinging itself upward and all through the air as they chased it and served as an imperative distraction. As the angel began to regenerate its flesh, the five heavenly swords began to struggle against the angel's retained swordsmanship and would not hold off long.
The magic of summoning five divine weapons taxed Xinyu to exhaustion, even more than she already was from battling a battalion of angels for more than half a day straight, yet she could not rest because her strength and mind waned with each passing second.
It was only her and the angel. The last one of many. If she fell, the people behind her and all the smiles she always loved and fought to protect would go away. A city might lose many souls, and she, too, would die. She did not want that. Bound by her obligations and an obnoxious promise, it was her duty to protect despite it all.
"And next," Xinyu huffed, struggling to keep the air in her lungs. She clutched her abdomen as she narrowly wheezed out her next chant. "I summon the twelve zodiacs. Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Come to this dimension from the spirit world and fight on behalf of me."
Each of the animals appeared around Xinyu, growling at the wretched angel, prepared to strike. She motioned the zodiac warriors to fight alongside the legendary swords. She then fell to her knees as all the animals except the rat and the dragon sprang forward.
"You cannot possibly think you can sustain all of us and the legendary swords after fighting for seventeen hours straight, canya? Canya?" the rat asked. "This is pushing it even for you, kiddo."
"It is no problem for me," Xinyu tried to assure, though it was hard for her to breathe without vomiting what was left of her insides. "I am sure you can see that it is necessary."
"We do see," the long serpent dragon said. "We see that you're at your limit. As you are, your body cannot handle a single second more."
"If this body fails, then an entire city of smiles will fall," Xinyu said. "I shall find a way to victory."
"I wonder, I wonder," the rat said.
"Find a way," the dragon said. "Let us see why we have sworn our loyalty to you."
"Go," Xinyu ordered. The rat and the dragon nodded and charged into action with the other ten beasts. Not the gods nor their creations could ever fathom a creature standing up to them, yet there she stood. Their bane.
Xinyu stumbled to her knees, fighting the temptation to enter the blackness of sleep. Had the corrupt angel warriors attacked all at once, she would've fared much better, but they weren't as mindless as they seemed. Likely puppetted by the witch in the shadows, they used strategy to fight her in small groups and retreated when they got injured so they could promptly regenerate and fight in waves. They kept their true number hidden, a proper tactic to combat a strong-willed mind, and while Xinyu was slowly able to whittle them away hour by hour, her body began to break down in the unfair fight of attrition. Her stamina, while more vast than most, was still mortal.
Her arms began to feel as if they were carrying rocks with each movement, while her legs tread through metallic mud as she leapt all around. Standing was like Atlas holding up the earth, and each breath that kept her going burned, blowing steam from lungs lit aflame. The weariness constantly pulled her to the ground, yet her spirit slapped her awake each instance she almost fell into the abyss.
Despite her efforts, in the final moment against the last angel, she made a mistake. She shut her eyes for a moment of rest, and it escaped. She chased, but her legs lost their strength, and she fell face-first into the bitter mud wetted by her own sweat and the blood of a hundred corrupt angels. In that moment of weakness, the final fiend darted off into the distance so fast she lost sight of it. She took a few minutes to soothe her cramped calves and then began to clumsily hop after it, hoping that it wouldn't reach the city before she could finish the job. While her nervous system threw her off balance as she ran, she prayed that someone would have the courage to stand up to the angel, even if for a minute.
Her prayers were answered. She watched the battle with Erlang's eye unfold as she tried with everything in her remaining power to sprint. In his near-final moments, she watched Brax, the unassuming old man she found in a nowhere town, stand up to heaven itself. Never in her life had she felt more proud and more determined to save his smile. She would save him, no matter what! That was her gratitude for helping her out, not just in the fight against the angel, but also for being her first friend. She could not give in, for it was the obligation of the strongest to protect.
"With this blade of hope, I shall cut through darkness itself to reveal the light," Xinyu whispered under her breath, standing taller and as bright as ever.