12 Multiplied Disaster (1/2)

*Argh!*

As the voices of my men perishing under the unbelievable strength of our enemy.

”Madame! It's all just an illusion! M-magic to play with our minds.”

As one of my men shouted through the struggle.

”No! it's not!” I answered.

After his remark, he died instantly with dozens of knives piercing through him; right before my eyes. Our current situation has been dire and so far we've sustained continous casualties from a single enemy. I casted my spells as it blasted multiple enemies away but no matter how many times I dispose of them, they only come back with double the numbers.

Right now our enemy has multiple clones of herself, from my perspective it can't be illusions. Illusionary copies can't emit the same amount of Corr their owner has, other than that they can also fight physically against my squadron which is impossible. We're not losing from lack of experience, we actually overpower them with diversity of our team. We're losing because of exhaustion,

I've already disposed more than a hundred copies of herself already. ”How long can she do this?” I thought to myself. What makes this fight more infuriating is the fact we can't locate her original body, even with my eyes this proves to be challenging. I saw her once but there is minimal difference between her Corr and the copies but I'm still not sure. Her strategy makes her completely invincible under these circumstances.

The only way to win is to cripple her ability or be able to locate her within the crowd.

”What's the matter? having trouble already?”

I ignored her silly words of mockery.

Right now she's smart enough to not use any spells in her arsenal, if she did I could expose her location by seeing the change in Corr activity within her body. If she had the ability to wipe us out she would have done it already. I'm already straining my whole being by barking orders here while casting spells one after the other at this rate we won't even make it out alive.

”When are you going to show yourself! Coward!”

”Haha! cowardly as it may seem but it works, I don't need to sully my hands with your filthy blood.”

”What do you want from us?! how did you know we were here!”

”I'm only here under orders. to be honest I couldn't care less about your cause...”

She paused.

”H-how did you?”

”Birds tweet fairly honest... Especially those that couldn't resist.” she said with a cold and menacing tone.

With her words I couldn't possibly discern the idea of a traitor residing within the Liberators but I have to accept the possibility that we may have been infiltrated. This operation could be a lost cause. Many lives were at stake.

I casted a guarding spell on most of my men leaving them protected from most physical harm, mostly sharp impending doom was our fate. As she made use of daggers as lethal weapons, but fortunately it's not strong enough to slice through heavy armor.

I would have instructed our scout to inform other members of the operation of our situation but he got caught and had his throat slit wide open. Telepathic communication was an innate talent that was rare among humans and training them took years. So as a result we've slowly backed towards the center of the city while fending off against her attacks, hopefully once there we could have her defeated and retreat as soon as possible.

I saw on the field the exhausted movements of my men, we've suffered a huge lost in this fight. Their feet heavily dug onto the ground as they forcefully moved. If only I could prevent more casualties... we're already half way through the city.

”Enough! no more lives need to be lost! spare them and face me yourself!”

”Hm, a tempting offer but then again...”

As she continued to mow down more men like trees chopped down for their lumber, one by one they fell. Soon only a few of us remained. She could've done that earlier but why didn't she, did she purposely do that to bathe in my despair? To see me struggle, hoping to see that they could survive...

”WATCH OUT!”

I turned around as soon as I heard. I missed what happened but gazed at the aftermath and saw my savior struggling, squirming on the ground. I knelt beside the man as he tried to converse in such a terrible state. Blood trickled down from a deep cut on his throat as I tried to cover it with my hands, I chanted to cast a healing spell.

”Have I... b-been... h-helpful?” he said breathing heavily.

Our eyes met. As his voice slowly drowned in blood, gurgling. Nearing death his eyes were filled fulfillment as though had served his purpose.

”You've served the Liberators wonderfully...”

”Y-you... h-have to... save...”

”Don't speak, save your energy.”

”D-daisy... In... nomine... D-die...”

With his final breath he rested, my spell couldn't tend to his wounds in time. Even at the brink of death they still find solace in aiding our cause, these loyal men deserved better and were struggling against the oppression.

Was it worth it? I thought hopelessly, these men had been born with dreams that were utterly crushed by the unfairness and injustice of the world. To this person that dream was in a form of another that took his heart, maybe he had hoped that one day fighting our cause would bring peace and tranquility to the future of his wife. What was the reason for these people to die... what was my reason for facing the bitterness of the world. I continued to delve deeper into my mind with emotions stirred and conviction wavering.

Here lies another life lost, over there a few meters away is the same being laying lifelessly on the cold ground and the same would happen to those standing right now. I stood quickly and ordered my men to head towards the center of the city where reinforcements waited.

”b-but... what about you Madame?!” My second in command questioned.