9 to 6

Ahli and Mr. Granger tried to keep their distance from the soldiers' formation, which was why, with every step they took forward, Ahli and Mr. Granger took a step back. They tried as well to shake the formation by going left and right, but it was futile as these soldiers seemed to have been training diligently, making them able to maneuver against any movement so their tip of the sword will follow whenever Mr. Granger and Ahli goes.

"It's hard to shake them off. What do you think should we do?" Mr. Granger's concern was reasonable. The two of them needed to make an offense to level the situation.

"Let's try to go on opposites way. They should be chasing me, and with that, you can strike them from the side."

"Okay, let's try that." Mr. Granger quickly distanced himself from Ahli as Ahli continued to move to the right. There was a slight confusion that happened among the soldiers as the movement was halted for a split second, however, being them a pro in this field, they were able to make split second decision and, like Ahli had predicted, kept their formation to chase Ahli.

[Good, it's working.]

Unfortunately, Ahli's joy and confidence came in too fast, as when Mr. Granger tried to close in with the formation from their side, two columns of soldiers suddenly separated themselves from the other and turned to face Mr. Granger. They were moving toward him, which made Mr. Granger quickly halt his attack and stepped back. They kept on pushing him and because of that, Ahli and Mr. Granger's distances became farther and farther away.

<TURN 4>

Another turn had started and Ahli forgot to check his new cards as he was too concerned with the formation that came at him. He saw there was Forest Marionette that had appeared at the last turn and there was also Dew of Life that had just joined the ones in his hand. At the moment, his plans had been hindered by him being late on setting a mana source. Also, among Dew of Life and Forest Marionette, he needed to choose quickly which one he needed to set as a mana source, so he did not miss any more mana settings.

FOREST MARIONETTE

3+Wood Mana+Wood Mana

[Enchant Magic]

Use on target unit.

You control that unit for as long as Forest Marionette is on the battlefield.

Mana: Wood

DEW OF LIFE

Wood Mana+Wood mana

[Magic Spell]

You gain 1 life for each wood spell in effect.

Mana: Wood

Calculating and seeing his chances to cast Forest marionette in this battle, Ahli quickly gave a command to make Dew of Life into a mana source. He then followed it with another command to Carta. "Close FLOAT MODE!"

All the giant illusion cards quickly transformed again into their regular size in Ahli's hand. Then, as he saw four people ganged up on Mr. Granger, Ahli picked the two cards that he had in mind to be used against these soldiers.

"MR. GRANGER! WHENEVER YOU'RE READY TO ATTACK, NOTIFY ME!"

Mr. Granger seemed to understand what Ahli had told him and moved, aiming to position himself at the side of the soldiers that were pinching his movement space. Ahli himself decided to deal with his own share of problems, which was the five people that were coming at him. He decided that one of them had to go immediately.

"Produce 2 mana from Jena's Pendant and use one. Add a wood mana to cast Strangle. Targeting the middle soldier at the back."

With the light of white and green engulfing the card, it quickly transformed and entered the ground.

STRANGLE

1+Wood Mana

[Quickening Magic]

Kill one target unit with life point of 3 or less.

Mana: -

Ahli had chosen his target to be the soldier in the middle because that person had a life point of exactly 3 points. And as they were approaching him, a thick vine burst from the ground behind the soldiers, quickly attacking the one in the middle. Without missing its target, it wrapped itself on the targeted soldier's neck, and quickly pulled him to the ground.

His friends were surprised by what happened and they quickly tried to help by attacking the vine, trying to chop it. However, with this being the first time Ahli sees it, apparently there is a defense mechanism in case a situation like this happened.

The vine fought back its attacker by growing instantly smaller vine that slashed around, whipping against the incoming swords. And even though some slash from the sword were able to cut it, it would grow back quickly in instant.

"Damn it! Clint! Hang in there!' Called one of the soldiers to the one who was being strangled at the moment.

"Fuck! Nat, Tony! We'll take care of Clint. You two attack the card mage!" Ordered another soldier. Two of the soldiers whose names were called quickly turned to face Ahli again. They quickly rushed toward him, to which Ahli responded by turning his body as well and ran as quickly as he can toward Mr. Granger and his opponent.

"READY MR. GRANGER!?" His shout made the soldier that was facing Mr. Granger have their attention disrupted as some of them had their head turned to look at Ahli. That moment was used neatly by Mr. Granger to position himself to unleash his palm strike. One soldier who was still paying attention to Mr. Granger gave a warning to the others in response.

"INCOMING!"

And at that moment as well, Ahli used his second card for the turn, Fiery Strength.

"Use the remaining mana from Jena's Pendant and add one fire mana to cast Fiery Strength, targeting Mr. Granger!"

FIERY STRENGTH

1+Fire Mana

[Quickening Spell]

Target unit gains +2/+0 until the end of turn.

Mana: -

Ahli threw the card up in the air as it was engulfed by the white and red light of the shards. As it transformed, it hit Mr. Granger who was already in his stance to unleash his palm strike. He then hit the soldier that was still paying attention to him as that soldier was raising his sword to block Mr. Granger's strike. But it was too late, as he received it directly at his chest, throwing him to the back, but not before a shock wave went past through him, hitting another one behind him. Those two soldiers were thrown into the air and hit their friends who were welcoming Ahli with their blades. And because of that, Ahli was able to pass through the four soldiers safely.

<TURN 5>

"Welcome back." Greeted Mr. Granger as Ahli came to his side again.

"Sorry, to keep you waiting." Ahli checked the battlefield situation again and saw how with two cards, he was able to lessen his enemies' number from 9 to 6. Of course, the remaining six people were not in a playing around mood anymore as they were super pissed off, as Ahli saw from their facial expressions.

Ahli checked the card he got for this turn and saw Dispute in the Pack had arrived. It usually is the perfect card to clear a lot of enemies. However, with these soldiers having their life points bigger than their power, the card would only be able to kill one and not all of them. Besides, he is also lacking in the number of shards for using the card, as he was still with his determination not to use Forest Marionette as a mana shard.

"AAHH!!!"

A long scream made everyone there turn their heads toward the source of the voice. There, they saw how the wide blade of Sharon's sword had plunged almost half of it into Commander's Steve chest. It did not kill him immediately though as it seemed to be positioned above his heart from what Ahli had seen.

Sharon then followed it by putting the sole of her left shoe on Commander Steve's chest, which then she kicked, helping to push the sword out of his body. She followed the strike by raising her sword up high, ready to decapitate his head.

With full rage, she struck down but was then surprised, just like everyone else who saw it, when the slash was blocked again by Commander Steve. It was not a futile attack though, as he had coughed some blood as a result.

"Sorry, if I was hard to be killed. Your husband trained us well."

Hearing the mockery fueled the rage inside Sharon again, and quickly she lifted her sword to strike down Commander Steve. She unleashed multiple attacks on him, but in his weakening body, he was able to hold every single one of them. Of course, everyone could see that if the fight got longer, Sharon would be the victor. And as they knew that, some of the soldiers rushed to give their aid to Commander Steve.

Ahli who saw that tried to chase them, but four of the remaining soldier quickly positioned themselves to block him as well as Mr. Granger.