Viyetral and Harwin had been stopped by a few younglings in an alley-way. The two were completely surrounded. The air reeked of an impending battle, yet neither party moved.

  "Where do you intend to take us, young one?" Viyetral questioned.

  "I am not permitted to tell you that, captain." The leader of the opposing party replied.

  "What if we were to reject?" Viyetral tried diplomacy first, rather than violence unlike the elfin giant.

  "We would be compelled to use force, but I prefer that we can resolve the matter without unnecessary bloodshed." The leader argued, his voice was a bit shaky.

  "We are already passed that point, lad. If you can not let us go, then we would be forced to twist our way out as well. Do you understand the consequences, boy? Your council-men have already been put under-arrest, so I ask again, do you still wish to continue?" Viyetral threatened this time.

  "I apologize captain, but we have been ordered to do this regardless of any underlying circumstances." The leader drew his sword, an action followed by the rest as well.

  The pair also drew their weapons. Harwin was a bit worried, but his companion remained calm.

  It was two against fifteen or so well-trained warriors on their own turf, so the battle was obviously going to be heavily unfair.

  Viyetral charged at the opponents infront of him, he immediately knocked down two men. The skill of a captain could not be matched by mere soldiers, but it was also true that these men were well-trained as well.

  The leader of the opponent engaged Viyetral in single combat, he was even able to deflect a strike — narrowly. Viyetral grinned at this outcome. Two more younglings tried to intervene in the duel, but just as they drew near, the captain kicked them with such force that they immediately laid, curled on the ground from the pain — nearly unconscious.

  Now, Harwin was different, he was not a captain but a simple human. No one would have expected him to be a threat, but that was the mistakes on part of these young-bloods.

  Immediately after the battle had commenced, Harwin had unsheathed his stygian blade. He took a defensive stance, but that was only a facade.

  As soon as one the younglings engaged, Harwin shattered through the blade of his opponent with ease, whilst using his other hand, rather prosthetic arm, to cut right through the enemy's abdomen. In just a second, Harwin had taken down an elite youngling.

  The others did not repeat the same foolish move again. They maintained a bit of a distant — waiting for their oppoent to attack. It was again according to the plan of Harwin.

  He had finished chanting a basic earth magika spell called "Stone Arrows". Sensing the impending danger, the younglings took cover but it was all wasted. Several projectiles were shot with such speed that two opponents were immediately knocked down to the ground. Harwin was still soft at heart, so the lad had made sure that the tip of the projectiles was broad. He could not afford to save everyone, but he tried to do his best at it.

  Of course, any thug or outlaw would have ran away at the sight of this mage-sword, but the elves were proud warriors. They still held the numerical advantage, but the problem lied in the location. The alley was far too narrow for more than two people to engage at once so teamwork was impossible — truly a blessing in disguise for Harwin and his comrade.

  Viyetreal was pretty much over-powering his opponent. The enemy leader was left gasping for air, but he still managed to deflect the blows of the captain in the nick of time. Although, Viyetral was never careless, but this time he underestimated his enemies; it was a grave mistake.

  Suddenly the leader stepped away for the slightest of time. It was only to reveal an archer who shot an arrow without a moment of delay. Almost all of the captains are strong and extremely skilled yet the speed of an arrow could not be matched by just anybody.

  Viyetral merely caught glimpse of the arrow being shot. He wanted to act, but he was not fast enough for such a feat. The man felt lost but that was not the end.

  Just before the impact, a strong gush of air blew towards his direction, and the arrow was stopped in its path.

  Viyetral nodded at Harwin who, even in the mist of battle, had saved the captain's life. Now the former was furious. He immediately cut down the marksman, and then proceeded to strike down the underlings of the opposing leader.

  However, that was not the end of trouble for the captain as two marksmen revealed themselves from the roof-top. They were about to shoot their arrows when Viyetral shouted:

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  "GOR! LOOK TOWARDS THE DAMN ROOF!"

  Harwin immediately shot a stone projectile at one of the archers, who lost balance and fell to his demise.

  The other one was able to take the shot, but this time, Viyetral had already expected it and was able to dodge with ease. He lunged at one of the nearby youngling, killing him and then launched his blades towards the marksman, piercing right through the lad's head. All that remained was the leader on Viyetral's side. He sauntered towards him, slowly and menacingly.

  The leader was no longer able to keep up with the fierce slashes from the captains, and soon his sword was cut in half. He tried to step back a few steps, but Viyetral pierced him right through his shoulder. The leader immediately fell to the ground with blood gushing out as soon as Viyetral pulled back his blade.

  Now the alley stenched of blood. The street was colored crimson and decorated with the bodies of the fallen younglings.

  Coming back to Harwin, his sword was just miraculous. His strength was two times the normal whilst wielding the blade, but not only that, he was also able to cut through his opponent's armor like butter.

  Of course, it was not as if the lad had managed to go unscathed. He was grazed at various spots but was able to protect himself from any lethal wounds. Soon a rather burly opponent came face to face with this mage-sword. He was wielding a large war-hammer, and was towering over the rest of his comrades who shuddered away as soon as he made his way through.

  Harwin did not falter at the appearance of his opponent, but he knew the battle was going to be tough. The gigantic elf brought down his mighty hammer at Harwin, who only barely escaped the hit. The point of impact was left with a small crater of sort so the latter understood that a single hit was certain death.

  The elf had a huge stature, but unlike the elfin giant, he was slow on his feet. Harwin used this to his advantage. He chanted a basic ice spell to freeze the foot of his opponent whilst charging at him with his trusty short-sword. It appeared that he had won, but just before delivering the final blow, he was swiftly punched in the face by the stuck elf.

  Harwin was thrown away, but he had also managed to minimize the impact by stepping away at just the last moment. The elf broke through the ice, and rushed towards his shaken opponent.

  He brought down the mighty hammer down once more, and this time it appeared to have been connected. His comrades celebrated at the sight, but then the elf got on his knees. Soon blood gushed out his neck, as his head rolled down. It was a grotesque sight that filled the hearts of the proud younglings with disgust and fear.

  Viyetral had managed to save his companion, having already taken care of his side. Now the other younglings only saw a captain standing infront of them — grinning like the devil and covered in the blood of his enemies. The younglings were terrified, but they still could not swallow their pride, a blunder on their part.

  As expected the battle was soon over. Harwin and Viyetral had taken down more than fifteen younglings without any external help.

  Harwin was in a bit of pain, but due to his affinity for magika, he was able to heal all of his wounds with a single healing spell. Viyetral was not injured even in the slightest, the captain made his way towards the leader of the younglings who was bleeding continuously from the shoulder — a gift from the captain.

  "Cast a healing spell on this runt as well. We need him alive." He commanded Harwin.

  Although tired, the latter still managed to abide by the orders and soon the youngling leader had his wound completely healed.

  This was when Viyetral grabbed him by the neck, and questioned violently:

  "Who ordered you to attack us!?"

  "...." The leader did not responed. Viyetral punched him right in the face at this, but the youngling did not falter in the least.

  After several more punches and kicks, the captain acknowledged the resolve of the youngling, but that was only the point of beginning.

  "Very well young blood. If you do not respond to my question in the next second, I shall start killing your knocked down comrades, one by one." Viyetral threatened — there was malice behind his eyes which made it obvious that he was serious in his threat.

  The young one was still unsure, so he did not adhere to the order of his opponent. Even Harwin thought that his companion was bluffing, but Viyetral slit the neck of a nearby youngling. Horror flashed through the eyes of both of the witnesses, but the captain remained as calm as before. He then began to move towards the next one, but the leader finally broke:

  "Wait! I will talk....I will talk so please spare them." There was pain in his voice.

  Soon the pair learned that these men were indeed arranged by the council-men before having been arrested. Originally there were thirty of them but many had broken away after learning of the imprisonment of their masters. This was a golden opportunity, so Viyetral swiftly arranged for the remaining ones to be transported back to the main hideout — he took help from the shop-keepers with whom he had been talking earlier.

  It turned that the shop keepers were former members of the elfin force as well, but were forcefully removed by the council-men after rejecting to abide by their unreasonable request. These men had been acting as spies for Celeborn, the martyred leader of the old cause and the student of commander Neilzen.

  The pair then washed away the blood in one of the shops. Harwin thought that they would now call it a day, but the captain had a different plan.

  Viyetral decided to head to the back alleys of the town where criminals, declared as wanted by the state or actual ones, resided. These varied from pick-pockets to rebels, one could find all sorts of men there — different talents or skill sets.

  Harwin followed behind with a tired yet cautious expression. They visited a small tarven of sort. Upon entering they could smell a familiar stench, often found in the battlefield — blood-lust. This tavern was occupied by murderers and criminals of the worst sort, but the most dangerous of them all was a beast-man sitting alone. None dared to come near him, but the captain just could not care less. He sat near the ominous man without a worry in the world while Harwin just stood beside him — dumbfounded.

  The pair had went over the worst part of the town without a single soul aware of it. More importantly, no-one except the masterful schemer, Viyetral, knew what was their goal....