They watched the large number of troops rushing about.
"Storm! Can we take them all?" Asked Aurora.
"With Leyocan and his Nogitsune helping, possibly?
Depends on how skilled they are." Said Storm.
He connected mentally with Leyocan so that they could plan.
"Any ideas?!" Asked Storm.
"We could wait for our forces to breach the doors themselves?" Suggested Leyocan.
"Would take too long!
Every minute we waste, more people will die!" Replied Storm.
Storm thought about it for a moment.
"I'll keep them busy whiie you and Aurora raise the door?" Suggested Storm.
"No, the winches would make a lot of noise!
The moment we began to raise it, they would hear and try to stop us!
You can only hold a certain number at bay !
Eventually someone will reach us and force us to abandon what we're doing and defend ourselves!" Explained Leyocan.
Before they could plan any further, one of the soldiers ran in Storm's direction, forcing him to duck around the corner.
Storm silently praying that the man would walk past without noticing.
The man rushed around the corner and bumped right into Storm instead.
"Sorry!!! Didn't see y...!!" Apologized the man.
He fell completely silent as he realized what he had bumped into.
His head slowly raised from Storm's scaled chest up to his face, panic clearly showing.
"Helmmmmph..." the man started to scream before Storm grabbed him and pulled him around the corner.
One of the soldiers in the room looked up.
"Frederick? Everything all right?!" Called the man
Storm held Frederick's mouth closed and hoped that the other soldier would eventually lose interest.
Unfortunately for him, Frederick stomped on Storm's tail with a armored boot, causing him to hiss out in pain.
The distraction was enough for the man to break free and call out for help.
"HELP!!
LIZARDMAN!!"
Storm felt somewhat insulted that the man had mistaken him for one of the lizardfolk.
"So much for taking them by suprise!!" Thought Storm.
He summoned Fulgur in his duel swords form.
As he stepped around the corner and prepared to fight, he couldn't help but think to himself.
"I really wish there were 2 of me!!" Thought Storm.
At that moment something strange happened.
His shadow once again moved on it's own and created a perfect darker copy of his own Humanoid dragon form.
Just like the last time Storm saw him, it had navy blue scales and purple lightning with red eyes.
The two swords in it's hands were black as night, and the runes covering the blade and belt was also purple.
"Ohh great!! Not this guy again!!!" Thought Storm in panic.
He took an on guard stance but the shadow copy made no hostile movements.
"You're not going to attack me?!" Asked Storm.
The doppelganger shook it's head.
"You want to help?!"
The doppelganger nodded it's head.
"All right. But I've got my eye on you!" Said Storm.
He turned to the humans that were quickly gathering together.
Without another word, Storm and his double rushed into them and started to cut down anyone that stood against them.
Aurora, Leyocan and the Nogitsune joined him a moment later.
The soldiers were caught by suprise at first, but the silver armored knight quickly managed to rally them.
Storm slashed a man that rushed him, then quickly turned towards Aurora and Leyocan.
"Get the doors open!!" Shouted Storm.
Storm and his double took positions on opposite sides of the room and were quickly joined by the remaining Nogitsune.
Forming a defensive line between the human warriors, Leyocan and Aurora.
"Stop them!!
We can't let them breach the Fortress!!" Shouted the Silver armored knight.
"For the Lion!!" Shouted the soldiers before rushing full speed into Storm's formation.
He lost track of how many men he and his shadow had killed, yet for every man they slayed, another was always ready to take it's place.
More warriors rushed in from other parts of the fortress and the defenders soon began to be overwhelmed.
3 Nogitsune were struck down during the defense, but finally after what felt like an eternity, they managed to open the doors enough and Storm's forces began to rush into the entryway.
Taking pressure off their defensive line.
The knight commander soon realized that the defense had fallen and the fortress had been breached.
"Fall back!! Retreat into the city!!
I'll buy you all some time!!" Exclaimed the knight.
"Respectfully, sir! You will not!!
Our forces need your leadership if we hope to survive!!
Go!! Me and my brothers will buy you time with our lives!!" Said one of the knights.
A company of silver knights stepped forward and took up defensive positions.
The commander seemed to hesitate before sighing.
"Your sacrifice will be remembered brothers." Said the commander.
He led the remaining warriors though the double door.
After they were gone, the doors slammed shut and Storm heard a loud boom as a heavy bar fell in place and sealed the door.
Storm's forces advanced on the silver knights who remained to cover their fellow soldier's retreat.
The knights fought valiantly to the last man but after 10 minutes, they were overwhelmed and were all either wounded or dead.
He ordered those that were still alive to be bound, and their wounds stabilized, before making his way to the doors they were guarding.
He tried to push it open, but they wouldn't budge.
Before he could consider how to open the door from his side.
Leyocan confronted him.
"Since when have you been able to use Shadowmancy?!"
"... I... Haven't..." replied Storm.
"Then how do you explain him?!" Said Leyocan as he pointed towards Storm's doppelganger that was still standing in the room.
Storm gave Leyocan a quick summary of his fight with a corrupted Mimereus as well as how his double was created.
Leyocan paled in response.
"You're not controlling that thing?!" Asked Leyocan.
The doppelganger crossed his arms and shook his head.
"Storm!! You should have told me sooner!!
You're lucky that thing hasn't tried to kill you yet!!" Said Leyocan.
"Actually.... he already tried the first time Mimereus created him!" Answered Storm.
"In his defense, we thought the thing was destroyed along with Mimereus's corrupted construct.
What makes it so dangerous!?
It helped us now?" Asked Aurora.
"Usually creating shadow clones aren't dangerous.
They can't think for themselves and only follows the direction of it's master.
But sometimes a caster places too much magic into his copy, or loses control over it.
The creature then becomes sentient and turns into a 'doppelganger'.
They are filled with hatred for the one they are linked to and tries to kill him.
If it succeeds then the two will trade places.
It becomes the new physical version and his former owner becomes his 'shadow '.
Both Storm and Aurora eyed the shadow being suspiciously.
It turned incorporeal again and changed back into a regular shadow, before reconnecting to Storm's feet again.