I pulled my sword out of the man on the ground, shoving to knife in his rib cage to get enough leverage to pull out my sword. It worked, and I freed my sword in just enough time to swing it at the spearman who was charging me from my right. My sword collided with the head of his spear, sending it to his left, opening up his right for me to attack. I lurched forward, driving my dagger into his neck, pulling it out, swinging at his head with my short sword to put him out of his misery and cease his existence as a threat who could still operate enough to shove a spear into my back.
Out of my peripheral, I saw the rock that was flying towards me, and dodged it to the left, turning in time to see it crash into an Earth kingdom swordsman who had been standing behind me, clashing blades with one of our soldiers. He went to the ground and I charged the earthbender, hoping to catch him before he could summon more of the planet to his cause. Before I managed to reach him, like a gaping mouth, the Earth opened beneath him, swallowing the soldier and sheltering him from certain death. I had charged away from our perimeter. I was on the outskirts of our ever-thinning lines. I turned around to make it back to our perimeter of now only 100 men, shoving my sword through the back of an enemy soldier who had been locking blades with another one of our guys. When I pulled the sword out, sending the dead man to the ground, I saw the man I had saved was Zom'aik. He nodded to me and retreated back to the "defensive" lines of the Fire Nation. We were in close quarters combat now and the arrows had stopped falling for fear of hitting their own men.
It wouldn't last. Our luck, that is. Either we hold out long enough to annoy the enemy commander that he decides to rain arrows on his own men, or we just die normally. Either way, it wasn't looking good. I was back in the perimeter, and the enemy were still charging at us, more organized this time. We had no shields to use. Our spearmen, knowing their roles, attempted to make their way to the front of the formation in time to meet the chargers, but weren't quick enough. Swordsmen like me faced the brunt of the assault. I felt the knockback of a soldier's helmet as he charged forward head first but was held up by then soldier behind me. I recovered, knocking my sword against his shield to keep his head low and his neck high, and plunged my knife into the back of his exposed neck, feeling the warmth of his blood against my boots as he puked out whatever blood didn't already come out of his neck. His lifeless corpse slumped against me, and I pushed it off, regaining my position, hacking at the soldier nearest to my right who was engaged in a knife fight with Zihe to my left.
My sword went into the back of his neck, sending him to a knee. He was quickly finished by Zihe's short sword that made its way through his shoulder blade, deep into his now lifeless carcass.
I turned to my left this time, finding another Earth Kingdom charge approaching the men to my left and raised my sword to catch the nearest charger in the neck as he charged the man next to me. It worked, and the charging soldier fell dead at the feet of Zom'aik next to me like an animal falling dead in the middle of a run.
I was too focused on the man to my left that I failed to notice the one charging me, and this time, I wasn't help up by the spearman behind me. We both fell to the ground and the Earth Kingdom soldier pulled out a short axe, ready to bring it on my face. I brought my short sword up in retaliation, clutching the grip with my right hand and the blade with my left, dropping my dagger in the process. The hatchet met my blade, digging it deep into the palm of my left hand, but the blade of his axe was stopped. He stepped back to put his weight behind another strike that I had no hope of absorbing. I kicked at his right knee, sending him stumbling backwards enough for me to bring my short sword to a swing at his leg. The blade met his left leg below the knee and he fell atop me, still alive, but knocking the sword out of my hand. He had abandoned his hatchet and had one hand gripping my right and the other my left. I headbutted him, not knowing what else to do. It sent his head back an inch, but the man far larger than me retaliated with the same tactic, knocking my head into the mud caused by the morning rain. He brought his right arm to my neck, squeezing to the point he seemed intent on not choking me, but ripping my head off. All the same, my left hand was free. I could see nothing in my sight except for his face and probed the ground with my left hand to find the knife, hatchet, or anything.
I touched something metal but wasn't sure what. All the same, I brought it up in a swing, knocking him straight in the head with it, sending him off of me. I didn't take the time to catch my breath. I moved atop of him, clutching the weapon with both hands, bringing it down onto his face, back up, and back down once more until he no longer had a face. Then, once he was dead, I allowed myself to breathe. I looked at what weapon I had used, unsure whether it had been the knife or the hatchet, only to realize I had beat the man to death with a helmet.
I threw the helmet aside, grabbed my sword and knife, and stood back on my feet, taking a long deep breath, ready to fight to the very end. Our perimeter was failing. The battle had become nothing but a brawl as men abandoned organized warfare for the pure chaos and brutality that was war. I threw my sword aside, knowing it would do no good, and switched my knife to my good arm, and threw myself into the pile of bodies, alive and dead.