The light of the trodden

The Second Defeat

"Everybody detain Oliver. Leave the leader to me. GO!" General ordered. Nolander and Zane immediately attacked Oliver.
"Well, well, well. Underestimating me again brother. I've defeated you a hundred times in the past." Leader's eyes widened and the General knew that an attack was incoming. Leader striked at General and he deflected it off with his shield.
"You also were a lot smarter in the past." General put his right foot back in a defensive position "You always won because of your intellect, not because of your power."
Leader rushed in and kept striking at General's shield and General kept being pushed back, suddenly leader took a step back and kicked at the General's shield, General easily sidestepped to the right and dodged it.  Then the General brought his sword down on the leader. Leader didn't even look at the General and immediately turned on his left foot and kicked at the swords hilt. For a normal swordsman it would have been game over as the sword would have flown out of his hand due to the unexpected kick but this was the General. He predicted the opponents every move.
"You still rely on your martial arts." General brought his shield forward defensively.
"And you still play it too safe." Leader laughed "Guess we both are forged from the same metal. Except I was the sword that was forged to win."
Meanwhile Nolander and Zane attacked Oliver.
"You do that thing where you dodge his spikes and I attack closing the distance." Nolander whispered. Zane nodded. He was still half in disbelief that Oliver would betray them like this. His whole body screamed for retribution. Zane leaped in the air, a spike came right at him and he spun midair, avoiding the spike cleanly. Another spike came from directly below him. Zane avoided it and then used the side as a foothold and jumped off it, going directly in Oliver's direction. Suddenly a spike came from behind Oliver barely missing him. Zane streched his arms. Considering the speed at which the spike was coming if Zane could just swat the spike with his hand then his body would be out of danger and he would land on the deck ending this midair battle. Zane got ready but suddenly the spike stopped and grew a shorter spike from whithin itself which pierced Zane's hand. Zane yelled, mostly in pain and frustration. This was unprecedented. Zane always knew what the attacker would do even if they did not know how they were going to attack themselves. As Zane dangled in front of Oliver, Oliver laughed.
"Well, that ends the predictionist's winning streak." Oliver laaughed. Zane also laughed with him which wiped Oliver's smile off his face.
"My job wasn't the winning shot you see." Zane laughed. Oliver just registered this sentence and looked to his right. All he saw was Nolander's fist. Oliver flew across the deck and he was right in between the leader's and the General's fight when the leader kicked Oliver midair on the General. Oliver landed on General's shield but due to the momentum and the sheer force of leader's kick General staggered back. Seeing an opening leader rushed in and time slowed down. Suddenly leader was aware of everything that was happening on the battlefield. He saw Nolander running slowly towards their fight.
'The fool' thought the leader 'His small victory will end the General'
Leader looked at Zane trying to pry himself free of the spike sticking out of his hand and smiled. Then he looked at the magician, the beast trainer, the blacksmith and the scientist all staring in shock of the scene to follow. Leader was very close to the General now, he could almost see the sword sticking out of General's abdomen. Leader took a final look at Lionheart and the frail guy running at him.
'Wait. Lionheart's running slowly but what's with that frail guy? Oliver told me that his name was Boris something.' leader thought, he willed himself to go faster but in the world where time was slowed down he could only move slowly where as Boris was moving freely. Boris ran past leader and held his ankle and threw him in the opposite direction. Time resumed to it's normal speed and the leader could only see flashes of the sea and the ship before he hit the deck with such great force that it almost shattered the deck and his spine. Oliver got up, dazed from all the confusion and saw the leader lying in a half-dead state. General hit Oliver, when his back was turned to him, with the hilt of his sword and Oliver crumpled onto the floor. Leader got up, staggered and looked at the situation.
"My, my, how the tables have turned." Leader said, out loud.
"I could only do that once. That was my greatest speed. I can still move faster than him but I ain't got much power so I can't do much damage." Boris whispered to the crew. Zane had managed to bandage his hand from the unfortunate incident of the spike and he was back in the front.
"Let him stay in the belief you can still do that." General whispered. The magician stepped forward and shot a ball of darkness at him and that signalled a counter- attack. Everyone rushed in, Boris in the lead with Zane and Nolander right at his heels. The beast trainer released two demonized Wolf's at leader. Leader cracked his neck and looked at the General. He was standing still looking at the attack from the distance. Leader pushed the magic ball away with a wave of his hand. Boris closed in on leader and gave him a quick punch then suddenly from behind Nolander appeared and punched leader with all his might. Just as it was about to connect leader caught the punch and pulled Nolander forward and gave him a sharp punch, exactly at his diaphragm. Nolander collapsed, wheezing. Zane tried to see a opening in the leader's stance but even though leader was fully open, his intuition told him to step down, the leader was unbeatable in this mode. Zane backed up. Leader killed the demonized dogs with a swift kick and stood directly in front of the General. He opened his hand and his lighting sword flew into his hand.
"Prepare General for your second defeat."