Armed with my new blade, I met up with Lestat, Vincent, Kirk, Edward and James soon after leaving that place and heading west. We travelled the whole night through, and rested in another cave we had found. The next night Vincent and I scouted the area ahead, and saw a battalion of two hundred enemy guards approaching. They must've heard rumours of our approach and scrambled the troops here to intercept us. "You hold here. I'll go get the rest of them." I said silently. The terrain around us had gone from plains to rough rocky ground during the trip before, so Vincent hid behind a large boulder and took the Cerebrus from its holster. I darted back to the group, holding my gloved hand on the hilt of my sword so it would make noise as it slapped against my leg as I ran. "There's a battalion of men approaching." I reported. They all stood at once. Edward and James unsheathed their swords, and I heard gunfire in the distance, from Vincent's direction. I quickly turned in his direction and unsheathed my ebony blade. I started running as fast as I could in Vincent's direction, deepy concerned for my friend. We had been through many battles, and I didn't want him to die during this one. I finally reached him, relieved to see he was alright. He was laying down some heavy fire on the approaching battalion, hoping to stop their advance, with no success. A few of the black armoured guards lay dead on the ground, but the rest of them continued advancing. I saw Kirk, Lestat, Edward and James fly by overhead. Lestat and Kirk lifted a few of the guards off of the ground before snapping their necks and dropping them. Edward and James swooped low and cut the heads off of the guards as they darted past. I tried to focus on flying again, but whatever I had managed to do before was beyond me. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes as I concentrated, but I felt the guards getting close. As Vincent started firing off some cover fire into the forward ranks of the battalion, I charged around the boulder he was hiding and shouted. I brought my sword up over my head as I neared them. I brought the blade crashing down through the skull of a guard, and he dropped dead. Blood spurted away from the wound as the guard dropped, but he was quickly replaced by another guard. I beheaded the next one, and watched his headless body drop. I slashed outwards, catching three guards across the gut, the strong ebony blade cutting through their armour and killing them. Blood flowed over the slashes in their armour as they dropped backwards. The next guard actually managed to get a shot off at me. He swung his blade high at me, and I quickly brought up my own to block his attack. I planted my feet firmly on the ground as I took my gloved hand away from my sword's hilt. Using the hand, I savagely punched the guard across the face until he dropped. Once he dropped I took his own sword and stabbed downward at him so hard the steel blade pierced his armour and pinned him to the ground. Blood bubbled out of his mouth as his life faded away. I turned my attention to a new guard who ran at me. The regular infantry of the guards wore black armour like Edward, with no cape. They were armed with their swords, and that was about it. Higher ranking troops were given different coloured capes depending on what rank, and also helmets, which protected them from more damage than regular infantry. A blue cape meant you were a second officer under a captain. A red cape indicated you were a captain. A black cape, like what I used to wear with my armour meant you were a general, a commander of armies. The guard charging at me now had black armour like Edward, a blue cape and a demonic looking helmet. He shouted as he charged at me, and attacked low. I blocked his attack, and he pulled his blade back, this time attack at waist level. I managed to bring my blade up to block the attack, before I launched one of my own. I swung out at his neck, and he ducked and swung outwards, the tip of his blade almost slicing across my gut. I jumped backwards and slashed high again. He brought his blade up and blocked the attack, catching my blade with his just above its golden hilt. I shoved him, and he was tossed backwards. He landed on his back and rolled into a crouch, from which he jumped to his feet and attacked me again. He again tried to attack low, but I swung my blade and blocked his attack. I could see he was angry, even though his face was covered by his helmet. I swung my blade away, and we both stood still for a moment, before he swung his sword level with my neck. I dropped to the ground on my back, and propped myself up on my hands. I shoved myself off the ground and kicked him in his armoured chest with both my feet. He toppled backwards as the battle drew to an end. I stood over him and placed the tip of my ebony blade under his chin. "You are defeated." I said. I flicked his helmet off of his head with my blade, and was surprised to see his face. His face looked identical to mine. He was a little more coloured than I, but I was a vampire, and was very pale. He had black hair like my own, but his dark brown eyes reminded me of someone I had not heard from in many, many years. Edward approached me, holding a blood covered sword in his hand, and looked angrily at the guard that was on the ground before me. "This one lives. He'll come with me." I said. I knew there was something familiar about the boy, and I wanted to find out, so I'd keep him alive for the time being. I let him put his sword into its sheath, and I grabbed him the cape and dragged him back to the cave that we had called our home for the time being. I wanted answers.