Downfall (4) – Xiabi Castle, General's Quarters
The sun had risen. Cao Cao had stormed into Xiabi Castle in an instant with her subordinates, seizing control of the interior.
"Song Xian, Wei Xu, Hou Cheng! I commend your great merits. Haha, yes. One cannot live one's entire life beneath a traitor's heel! Please continue serving as loyal ministers of Han henceforth."
"Th-thank you...!!"
The three generals who had betrayed Lü Bu stepped back in a daze, receiving Cao Cao's praise. They had worried she might say something like "A dog that bites its master is useless" and execute them, but fortunately, Cao Cao honored her promise.
"Uh, what about the gold and silver...?"
"Ah, of course I'll pay you! Divide it among the three of you, and make sure to distribute it appropriately to those who aided in your accomplishment. Once we return to Heodo, of course."
"......."
The three exchanged glances. Then they knelt and bowed their heads.
"We thank you for your boundless grace, Lord Cao Cao!"
"We shall devote our lives to your service from now on!"
"Thank you for sparing us!"
"How could I send those who chose to be loyal ministers of Han to the executioner's blade like morning dew? Now go. The beast will arrive soon."
The three hurried away. Afterward, Lü Bu's generals were brought in one by one, bound in ropes, to face judgment. Some begged for their lives and were beheaded; others accepted death stoically and met the same fate.
"For the crime of brazenly seizing Xuzhou, land of Han. For the crime of plundering the Shouchun region, land of Han, and tormenting its people. For occupying Xiabi Castle without immediately liberating it, forcing us to intervene. You deserve death."
They had chosen to become Lü Bu's subordinates rather than Han's ministers, thieves who rode with a traitor.
"Lord Liu, what do you think?"
"They got what they deserved."
Cao Cao had placed a chair for Liu Bei beside her, passing judgments together. In truth, she made all the decisions while Liu Bei merely observed, but he added his voice to the traitors' deaths, solidifying the verdicts.
And then.
"Let go! I said let me go!"
A beast's roar echoed from afar. Cao Cao shook her head.
"Even after exhausting himself all night, he's still full of vigor."
"Isn't that how hunting dogs are? They thrash wildly until they're boiled alive."
Thud! At last, the beast knelt at the foot of the stairs. This disheveled brute, bound more in ropes than clothes, glared with a noose around his neck.
"Grrrr...."
"Lü Bu. Long time no see. It's been ages since I saw your face up close, back in Luoyang at Dong Zhuo's chambers."
Cao Cao's voice dripped with leisure. And rightly so—the restraints binding Lü Bu's body were held by virtually every prominent general in her army: Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Le Jin, Li Dian, Lu Qian, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Dian Wei, Heo Jeo, Xu Huang, and more. These men, who should have been patrolling Xiabi's corners, had all gathered to subdue one man, a testament to how difficult a beast Lü Bu was to capture.
"What do you think? The mighty Lü Bu falls to betrayal by his own men."
"I understand completely. He acted in ways that invited betrayal, so he got betrayed."
A fawning expression began creeping across Lü Bu's face. The other generals' faces hardened, as did those of Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
"Lord Cao! I sincerely apologize for once foolishly coveting what was yours due to misguided judgment! This Lü has offended your sensibilities! Please, please spare my life...!"
Lü Bu—the world's greatest warrior—began begging for his life.
"I was the strongest warrior in Bingzhou! Even now, shackled as I am, give me my Sky Piercer and Red Hare, and I'll repel any foe! Make me your vanguard, Lord Cao! I'll be the spearhead slicing through all enemies ahead! Even if not a general!"
"Do you want to live that badly?"
"I have family. A wife and daughter."
"Ha, Lü Bu looks after family too? A patricide who cares for his own wife and daughter."
Cao Cao laughed openly, but Lü Bu merely flushed briefly before bowing his head again.
"I want to be a good husband and father now! This fool has been too stupid! If you spare me, I'll heed my wife's words and be a man my daughter won't be ashamed of!"
"Begging for your life this desperately?"
Cao Cao let out a hollow laugh.
"What should I trust in you to let you live?"
"Send me to the battlefield! I'll slaughter all who rebel against Han! If you order Yuan Shu's subjugation, I'll lead the vanguard, swinging my halberd first! As per your letter back then, I didn't aid Yuan Shu even when he was withering away in Shouchun!"
Lü Bu slammed his forehead against the stone floor.
"I beg you! Though we've our grudges, you and I both sought to kill Dong Zhuo—that's our common ground!"
"Haha! True. The difference? I failed, and you succeeded."
Cao Cao slapped the arm of her chair, laughing.
"But Dong Zhuo's been dead for years now—why do you still harp on it? Eh? It's been ages since Dong Zhuo died and I protected the Emperor from his remnants Li Jue and Guo Si. Will you spend your life boasting about killing Dong Zhuo? Yes, that must be your life's great achievement. A brawler with more defeats than victories."
"......."
Lü Bu said nothing. He seemed to have much to say, but visibly swallowed his rage instead of voicing it. Something held his fury in check. More than anything else to Lü Bu—or perhaps to everyone—the instinct for survival.
Lü Bu wanted to live.
"Therefore—"
"Mother!!"
Lü Bu resorted to his final gambit.
"This Lü will take you as my mother, Lord Cao! I've served many fathers, but never a mother! Please give me this chance!"
"Eww...."
Cao Cao recoiled, shaking her head vigorously.
"That desperate?"
"If you command it, I'll change my name! Yes, call me Cao Bu, Cao Bu!! Cao Fengxian—or make me a new name! Lü Bu dies, and I am reborn as your son!!"
"......."
Cao Cao shook her head emphatically in genuine disgust. Then she turned to Liu Bei beside her.
"Lord Liu, what do you think?"
As the spotlight shifted to Liu Bei, Lü Bu simply kept his head pressed to the ground, unmoving. Begging Cao Cao for life felt different from begging Liu Bei.
But.
"L-Lord Liu. Remember how this wretch halted Yuan Shu's army with a single arrow in our last battle? And when your sworn brother Zhang Fei stole forty of my horses, I fought him but didn't kill him. If you demand an apology, I'll give it now! General Zhang, forgive me! This fool lost his head over mere forty horses!"
"Lord Cao."
Liu Bei turned to Cao Cao without even glancing at Lü Bu.
"Lü Bu is like a plague."
"Ho, a plague?"
"Yes."
Lü Bu lifted his head, face trembling with growing rage. Being called a plague infuriated him, but seeing Liu Bei whisper at Cao Cao's side enraged him more.
"With Ding Yuan, he killed Ding Yuan and went to Dong Zhuo. With Dong Zhuo, he killed him and went to Minister Wang Yun. But Wang Yun died too, and in Puyang, he chose Zhang Miao. What happened to Zhang Miao? He abandoned him to save his own skin and fled to Xuzhou."
"Birth father, Ding Yuan, Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun, and now Zhang Miao? Ha, even changing fathers reaches this absurd level."
"And it ends with Zhang Miao? He sought to serve Yuan Shu, allying with him and offering his daughter. He even wished to become Yuan Pu, father to the Yuan clan."
"Heavens, how many fathers does that make?"
"If you were a man, Lord Cao, he'd call you the final father of his life. Steel your heart, Lord Cao."
Liu Bei rose, bowing deeply.
"Even the mightiest tiger isn't raised as livestock."
"Mm, is that so...."
Cao Cao's lips curled to her ears.
"Haha, well then. With Lord Liu speaking so vehemently, what can I do? Lü Bu, just stay Lü Bu. I have no intention of taking in a son named Cao Bu."
"Y-You...!!"
Lü Bu erupted in fury, eyes nearly rolling back.
"The big-eared wretch is the most untrustworthy! Liu Bei! I treated you so well in Xuzhou!!"
"......."
Liu Bei merely looked down at Lü Bu with contemptuous eyes, silent.
"Lü Bu. One last word. Anything but begging for your life—I'll grant it."
"......Ha."
Lü Bu lifted his head to the sky. Cloudless and clear, the sun gleamed golden.
"...Spare only Diaochan."
"Hahaha!!"
Cao Cao clapped, laughing.
"At the end, you think of family—yet to the last, you're utterly pathetic! Lü Bu, you foolish beast! You know nothing of women—far too little!"
"......?"
"You ignore the woman who truly loved and thought of you, fixating only on the one who plotted your death!"
Step, step.
Footsteps approached from behind. Lü Bu turned, and there stood Diaochan—pale-faced in mourning white, unbound by ropes.
"D-Diaochan...!"
"General Lü."
Diaochan bowed deeply to him. Lü Bu twisted toward her, but she kept her pallid face lowered.
"Why didn't you heed my father's words that day?"
"What... words?"
"To kill Li Jue and Guo Si, as Father commanded. If you'd slain them sooner, Father wouldn't have died."
"Y-You've harbored that all this time...? No way."
Diaochan drew something from her bosom. The paper packet fluttered in the wind, its contents scattering everywhere.
"...At last, I can repay Father's grace. Lord Cao Cao, I thank you sincerely. For letting me end it this way."
Diaochan drew a dagger.
"Lü Bu."
She approached and placed the blade to her throat before his eyes.
"You were a man more worthless than Dong Zhuo."
Stab.