Chapter 2: The Elven General

I raise an eyebrow. "What kind of general hides in his tent while his soldiers are slaughtered?" Lonril smirks. "A smart one that values his life, of course. Those soldiers were all disposable."

"Ugh. People like you sicken me." I shake my head. "You were the one that killed them, Brutus Crescent. The blame falls on you, not me or Yuri, you." Spiritus growls at him.

"My attitude should not surprise you, Brutus. I'm sure you've heard of me." "Yeah. You're Yuri's strategist, The Shadowmaster. You're also known as The Silver Fencer. You're famous for your tactics, many of which involve you hiding while the army does your work for you, because you're weak and a coward."

Lonril laughs. "I see you've done your research, although you have some things very wrong." He pulls a thin rapier out of the sheath on his belt. "I will gladly prove that I am not a coward, and I am certainly not weak." Lonril gets into a fighting position.

"Whatever you say, you Yuri-serving bastard." I ready my katana and charge with Spiritus next to me. I try to slash his leg, but he quickly parries me. I try to avoid his counter, but he manages to stab at my chest. Luckily, my armor is barely scratched.

Spiritus spits a fireball at Lonril, but he somehow catches it with his free hand and crushes it. "Nice try, beast." Lonril unleashes a flurry of quick stabs. I manage to block most of them, although a few get through and leave marks on my armor. "These are going to take forever to get out..."

Lonril laughs. "Scratches on your armor are the last thing you'll have to worry about by the time I'm done with you."

Spiritus spits a fireball at Lonril's cloak and manages to set it on fire. While he takes a second to put it out, I immediately leap at him and I manage to cleave through his armor and cut open his arm.

"While the first blood may be yours, you will not win this battle." Lonril disappears. A few seconds later, multiple Lonrils appear.

"What the hell is this...?" The group of Lonrils charges at me. I carefully dodge and block, while watching for something that can tell me which Lonril is the real one.

"Just give up, Brutus. Stop resisting. Yuri will have your head and he will control everything. There is nothing you could possibly do to stop him." Spiritus spits fireballs at the Lonrils, but for each one that disappears, two more show up.

"Yuri is a murderous bastard. I will fight against him until the day one of us is dead, and I'll make sure it's him!" I cut through a few Lonrils and I notice something about one of them. "Hmm…"

I carefully maneuver my way through the copies towards a Lonril with some blood dripping from his arm. "I've got you now..." I find an opening and I manage to hit his side with a leaping slash. I barely cut through his armor, but I know I drew blood because he growls and the copies disappear.

"Why do you serve Yuri in the first place? How can you not see that Yuri is a plague on our world?" Lonril calmly stares at me. "I do not serve him. I work with him for my own reasons." "And what are those reasons?" He narrows his eyes at me.

Spiritus growls at Lonril, but he stays still. "I was created into this world for a very important purpose. I will do anything it takes to fulfill my master's dying wish, no matter how long it takes. Even if it means working with someone like Yuri. As long as he is useful, I will continue working with Yuri because currently, he is my best chance of finding the one I have searched this realm for."

I open my mouth to ask him about who he's searching for, but Lonril shakes his head then he snaps his fingers and floating copies of his rapier appear above his head. "I have said too much. If by some twist of fate we meet again after this day, I may tell you more of my tale, if you are willing to listen." I nod. "For someone who works as a general of Yuri, you're actually not that bad. I look forward to that day."

Lonril points his rapier at me and chants a phrase in a strange language. I dodge as the floating rapiers fly at me. I slash at them to try and knock them out of the air, but they continue to float. Spiritus jumps up and bites on one to keep it away from me.

As the other three continue to attack me, I run at Lonril and I notice he's still chanting. "Hmm..." With the blades so close I can almost feel them poking my back, I sprint at Lonril and roll behind him. Before he can react, the rapiers stick into his armor.

"Ugh...You're a bit smarter than I gave you credit for." Lonril chants the same phrase he used to summon the rapier copies and they dissolve into dust. Spiritus spits out the dust from the one that was in his mouth and he growls.

Lonril disappears and I sigh. "The clones again? Really?" I'm proven wrong by Lonril appearing next to me and I barely block his stab.

Lonril disappears again and I carefully look around. I hear him appear behind me so I quickly spin and block. Lonril continues to teleport around me and I can do nothing but angrily block every attack. "You never run out of tricks, do you?!" I cautiously watch for a pattern to show itself.

I eventually notice a pattern of forward to behind, behind to left, left to right, and right to forward, where it restarts. I spin to block an attack from behind, and a second after he disappears, I immediately slash my katana to the left.

The second he appears, my attack hits him and cuts open his right cheek. He staggers back and puts pressure on his wound with his free hand. "Not bad, Brutus Crescent. Not bad at all. You truly are as powerful as the soldiers say, perhaps even more so. It has been an honor to duel with a warrior like you. But unfortunately, your time is up."

I hear a strange sound and I look up. I stare in shock at the thing in the distance that's quickly approaching us. It is a massive ship that somehow flies in the sky, most likely with the help of the large mechanical wings attached to the sides. "An airship? I thought those things weren't able to exist for at least ten more years!"

Lonril smirks. "That was a lie that Yuri told people so he would have the only one in the world as his personal vessel." I turn to Lonril and shoot a deadly glare at him. "Personal vessel?!"

Lonril laughs. "Yes, his very own fortress in the sky. I have been keeping you here until he arrived to collect you himself. So as I said before, your time is up."