Faldrid watched the general akin to how a rabbit would watch a wolf. The man was an anomaly. Even after getting shot down, and crashing into the field of grass next to the road, he was unfazed. If anything he seemed happy.

His long golden hair, and scale armor shone in the sunlight, giving off a sense of beauty, which stood in stark contrast to his wicked smile. His military coat inspired sophistication and respect, but the way he held himself was similar to that of a vagrant.

Faldrid's first warning that something was off was when the general had turned his back to all of them without a hint of concern. He grabbed a halberd attached to his attoka's saddle, taking some practice swings with it as if he had all the time in the world.

His devious grin and nonchalant attitude made Faldrid uneasy, "Men put up your defense."

Some had already beat him to it. Faldrid saw the soldiers wrapped their heads in darkness. He couldn't see the next step that the men took, but he knew they took it. They had infused the darkness with a portion of their soul. Somehow it was able to block a luxcian's blessing. Sometimes you would see a hint of purple in these mask of darkness, but just when you thought you saw it, the glow would vanish. Only those with particularly strong control over their souls could maintain the glow, but it was extremely rare.

The general gestured towards them, "Well! Are you just gonna sit there all day? How disappointing that would be. Yes, disappointing indeed. What's wrong?! Usually you beast don't cower away from your enemy. Cowards! Yes. Yes! Yes!! That's exactly what you are, a bunch of cowards!" The general paused and put a finger to his chin, "What...don't tell me...is it because of what happened a couple of days ago? Surely it's not that. Is it!? It Is, isn't it!? Well if that's the case I should do that more often!" A broad grin spread across the man's face, "Seeing you beast cower is so funny! It's almost like I put you in your damn places. I knew your lot was easy to domesticate, but this was just too easy!" The man suddenly stopped again and fiddled with his halberd, "Then again it would be boring? It would be boring, wouldn't it? I've been hoping to fight something. It's boring just following people. Why didn't you beast act sooner? I was so bored. It's the only thing you're good at anyway, isn't it? I know! I'll give myself a handicap! Yes, that should make you beast more confident! I know you say you don't fear death, but you really do don't you!? You beast are just rotten liars."

Faldrid honestly didn't know what he was going on about. If he could guess, the general was trying to provoke him. Though to have that much confidence when he's so outnumbered was an oddity. Faldrid suspected that if the general kept going on like that, one of the young tenebrage would snap.

"Why you arrogant bastard!"

It looked like he was right. The tenebrage that yelled look to be strong. It would be interesting to see how he would fair.

The soldier galloped to the general with his kukri in his hand.

The general's eyes brightened, "Oh! Finally Someone works up the courage."

Faldrid looked at the soldier then towards the general. Maybe if the tenebrage was able to close the distance between them he may have a chance. It would all depend on how the general chose to strike. If he went for the attoka, the tenebrage could use that opening to get up close rendering the halberd almost useless. There was also the chance that he would go for the tenebrage himself. If that was the case the attoka probably had enough time left to avenge its master, at least injuring the general. There was also the chance that the soldier could just block the general's attack.

Faldrid watched with interest at the events unfolding before him.

The tenebrage gave out a cry as he came close to his opponent. However, the general just looked amused.

The tenebrage closed in with his kukri held high. There was a flash of metal and it was all over.

A head flew through the air and landed in the grass it's eyes lifeless. Blood rained down on the general, creating a haunting image.

The attoka tried to turn to attack the general, but it died soon after it's master.

Faldrid had not considered that event. Going in on attoka will not give you an advantage then.

A tenebrage called out a name in fury, but Faldrid didn't hear it as he was too caught up in his own thoughts.

The general wiped his face of the red liquid, "Well you have to have something better than that."

At that another soldier rushed towards him.

Faldrid watched on. "There goes another glory seeker."

As the tenebrage drew near he jumped off his attoka. This piqued the interest of the general and Faldrid.

As he met the hard ground he rolled towards his opponent pulling out a short sword. His attoka on the other hand went for the Loinir Attoka behind the general.

The tenebrage dashed to the general his sword ready to bring down any foe that stood in his way.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As he drew close to the length of the halberd the general smirked and jumped to the side.

Shock spread across the young tenebrage's face as his momentum carried him past the general. Before he could jerk his body around, iron was already carving a slash onto his back.

The soldier fell to his knees in pain, and his life was ended when the point of the halberd was rammed through his chest.

As the dust settled Faldrid took notice of the Loinir Attoka perched on top of the dead tenebrage's attoka.

The general teased them once more, "C'mon that can't be the best you got. I mean what a disappointment!"

Faldrid thought he might have to do something soon. Though he wanted to get his thoughts in order first. The previous two battles had told him a lot.

Another man rode to the general. He seemed to confront him with more thought than the others. However, the one slash of his long sword was parried by the general, and then the axe part of his halberd was lodged into his side. Not to mention his attoka was also clawed to death by the Loinir Attoka.

Faldrid's eyes widened, "Well you all now know what you get when you try to be a hero. Now, why don't we all try charging together?"

Faldrid ran without them. Though the group of tenebrage quickly surpassed him. It made Faldrid smile. With the general preoccupied like that, it should be easy for all those men to get close enough to render his polearm useless.

As the general looked up from his previous opponent, the widest grin that Faldrid had ever seen spread across his face.

Faldrid stopped about two yards away from the general. There was no need for him to get involved with all the eager soldiers going at him at once.

Some of them had dismounted their attokas while others didn't.

The first one to make it to the general was mounted. The general dodged the tenebrage’s attack. When the tenebrage passed, the general thrusted his halberd into his back.

He then brought his weapon around to catch another soldier’s side. As he did this a soldier came from behind. With what looked like no effort, the general jerked his halberd out of his victim then struck the soldier behind him with the blunt end of his weapon. The general quickly turned and slashed up with his halberd opening the contents of the man onto the ground.

He used the momentum of his previous upward slash to turn around, and charge with the pointed end of his weapon at the tenebrage in his sight. As he impaled the man, another soldier came up and went for his arm. The general reached around with said arm and grabbed the soldier's head. He then slammed it into the axe part of the weapon, sending gore and brain matter everywhere.

A tenebrage charged at the general from behind, but his charge was cut short as the Loinir Attoka pounced on him.

Faldrid could barely believe what he was seeing. The general was like a feral animal. Faldrid had served for many years, but the scene in front of him made his stomach turn. However, he still held hope that they would end victorious, though his confidence had significantly lowered in the mere seconds since the encounter had started.

There was also the problem with the Loinir Attoka. Faldrid didn't how, but it had easily broken away with it's fight with the Dorcha Attoka, to aid it's master.

Two soldiers came at the general. Though his smile still remained; at this point it was almost unbreakable.

The first soldier went at him with a down slash of his kukri on the point of the Halberd in an attempt to break his defense. The General easily blocked it. The second tenebrage came at him, but before he could do anything the general actually closed the distance between them. He maintained the contact between the point of his Halberd and the other soldier, but made it so the shaft of his weapon separated him and the tenebrage right in front of him. He proceeded to violently shove the tenebrage away with the shaft. Simultaneously, he broke contact with the other tenebrage. Using the shock of the two to his advantage, he jumped back, and crouched, slashing his weapon to the side, catching the guts of the two individuals, spilling what they contained onto the grass.

Faldrid gawked at what he just witnessed. He believed he wouldn't see anything more unorthodox in his life.

Again a tenebrage came behind the general. This time the general looked behind him still in a crouched position, and stuck his weapon in between the soldiers legs and struck both of them sending the soldier to the ground. The general spun around and jumped at the vulnerable man stabbing him with the point of his halberd. Though when the general tried to pull it out, the weapon wouldn't budge. When investigating the source he saw the smirk of a tenebrage pulling the point deeper into his chest.

five other tenebrage ran up behind the general. His attoka was busy with Dorcha Attoka and two tenebrage that deemed it the more pressing threat.

Faldrid knew they had won. Even if he was able to turn around now, the young tenebrage would have gotten close enough to where he would be defenseless. The past seconds had seemed like an eternity, but it was finally over…

Faldrid's eyes popped open in panic as he saw a light swell in the generals hand, "Get out of th..."

He was too late. The light exploded into many fragments that flew everywhere. The general cackling could be heard as they pierced the flesh of all those nearby. There was no escaping it. The only way to combat them was to block them with darkness, but no one had predicted the attack.

The soldiers that somehow dodged any fatal wounds soon fell to the halberd as the general went on a rampage leaving nothing alive around him.

When the fragments cleared, Faldrid laid in a pool of blood. He didn't know if it was his or someone else's. His whole body felt like it was on fire. Luckily he was too far away from the blast for it to have instantly killed him.

He looked up towards Dela. She had a few scratches, but she was mostly fine. Just before the blast, Faldrid had draped a veil of darkness in front of her. He didn't have time to do much, but it worked.

Faldrid groaned, "Go get away from here."

He could feel that she was hesitant. She probably thought that she could still help him.

Faldrid clenched his teeth, "GO! GO NOW. YOU'LL DIE IF YOU STAY. GO FIND SOME HELP!"

The last part was a lie to get her to go, but it seemed to work. She ran without looking back. Faldrid thought it might be the fastest he had ever seen her run.

"Well what do we have here? It seems that I missed one. I really must be rusty. I knew I should have practiced on some of those slaves, but those merchants just wouldn't let me. Do you have any idea how much they charged me!? For just a little fun!"

Faldrid looked up at the monster in front of him, "Who...are...you?"

The man laughed, "Oh! Why not? I am a civilized individual. I'll respect the final words of even a beast."

The man's eyes sharpened, "I'm general Amian, Dilem Amian."