Power of Love
Ahli saw how the two soldiers intervened in Sharon and Commander Steve's duel. One of them intercepted as Sharon did an uppercut slash, clashing with the sword that came on Commander Steve, while the other attended him. It was inaudible, however, Ahli could see how Commander Steve refused to be helped, but his savior seemed to not care about his request and persistently on doing so.
That soldier forcefully carried him and as he put him on his back, he quickly kept their distance from Sharon.
"DON'T RUN, YOU COWARD!" A yell from Sharon could be heard and it felt deep in hatred and anger as she went berserk against her defender.
The soldier was having quite a trouble fighting against her, with her speed seemed to increase with each slash that she unleashed. And for sure, as it became too fast, that poor soldier had to end his life on Sharon's blade with her spun while unleashing a slash to his feet, right at the ankle, making him fall, which then followed by multiple stabs to his face. So, yeah, what he saw at the end of his life, might be that piercing blade of Sharon.
At that moment, it seemed it was not just Ahli who felt goosebumps as they saw what had happened. Everyone there seemed to have frozen in disbelief. A reason might be they might never expect someone, particularly a woman, could be so savage and dangerous, overcoming the power of a regular person.
[Is this the power of love…?]
Sharon stood after the soldier had long died. With most parts of her upper body bathed in blood, she walked as she carried her sword at the side of her body. Her eyes still showed her fearsome side, even though it was mixed with anger and wrath. Also, the rush of adrenaline seemed to make her not feel tired at all.
<TURN 6>
What was thought to be a dire situation, might have turned into an advantageous situation. Ahli could see the fear in the soldiers' eyes grow as Sharon walked toward them. They slightly trembled and were hesitant to move forward to attack Sharon. Ahli saw this as a chance to finish the battle early and he pulled Spellblade from his hand, ready to cast it when suddenly Sharon shout at him.
"AHLI, DON'T YOU DARE HELP ME! I'LL END THEM MYSELF!"
"What…?" Ahli was stunned at first, and after Mr. Granger's hand reached to his hand, notifying him to put back the card, Ahli quickly understood that Sharon's thirst for vengeance would only be quenched by her finishing it alone.
"So, what do we do?" Asked Ahli to Mr. Granger.
"I guess, we'll just watch." At that exact moment, multiple town guards arrived at the side area of the town square. As because they sided with the soldiers, of course, they started to aim their spears at Ahli and Mr. Granger.
"Or, maybe not." Continued Mr. Granger after they saw the arrival of the guards.
"Okay then." Ahli looked again at the cards in his hand. As he navigated the six cards he had, he saw one card in particular that he knew would actually help Sharon without against her order, and the card was Bramble.
BRAMBLE
2+Wood Mana+Wood Mana
[Enchant Magic]
All enemy unit movement is restrained.
Mana: -
However, he could not use it near Sharon and the soldiers as it would break her order. This surely would make her incur her wrath on him if that happens. Therefore, Ahli decided to walk toward the town's guard, to be further away from her.
"Mr. Granger, could you help me break through them? I need to be in their midst."
"So, you have a plan to deal with this extra problem?" Asked Mr. Granger which Ahli answered with a simple nod.
"Okay, then. When they aren't looking, break through them." Mr. Granger prepared his stance and it could be incurred that he was planning to take a dash. Ahli also prepared himself to follow behind him. He was hoping to be able to use Forest Marionette as it was an intriguing spell that he really wanted to see in action. However, as he needed another wood mana source to be able to cast Bramble, he had no other choice than to set it as a source.
"Ready? GO!" As he said that, Mr. Granger started to dash crazily fast, but he was not aiming straight at the town's guard but took a more circular movement. His maneuver made several of the town's guards move their spears' aim to follow his movement. Ahli saw this as a chance to try to reach their center. With that, he dashed toward them as well.
Of course, it was not a smooth infiltration. There were some of the town's guards that kept their attention on him. So, when Ahli was closing on them, they started piercing him with their spears, in the hope that it will stop his movements. Many close to completely hit him, but they were able to scratch some parts of his body, making his life counters move down gradually one point at a time.
<TURN 7>
As he was closing in on one of the guards who were unable to position his spear anymore to pierce Ahli, he quickly jumped onto the man and tackled him. He rolled in his landing, making himself in the center of the squads. Before they were able to attack him again, Ahli pulled out Bramble and gave out his command.
"Produce two mana from Jena's Pendant. Use it along with two more wood mana to cast Bramble!"
As the light engulfed the card, the spell quickly dipped into the ground. Then, what happened next was the ground surrounding Ahli and the town's guard started to shake. It was then followed by large vines that rose from below each of the guards, moving quickly, swirling them, and tying them with it. One by one the town's guards were handled by the vines. There were some who resisted, but they in the end were no match for the vines.
With no more towns guard would be interfering, Mr. Granger came up to Ahli.
"Wow, this is awesome. How long the spell will work?" Mr. Granger looked around as most of the town's guards struggled to break free.
"For as long this battle goes." Ahli looked and saw Mr. Granger's expression as he gave his answer.
"Seriously? So, that means when you win it, we basically have to run as fast as we can from these guys here?" Ahli thought to himself before giving out his answer. After a few moments of thinking, he then looked at Mr. Granger with a worried face as well and said, "Actually, I don't know the exact way of how it will work, as this would be my first time using Bramble. So, for now, let's just hope there would be time for us to run."
"What? Seriously man, we have to…."
Before Mr. Granger was able to continue his sentence, their attention was quickly shifted to a scream they heard from the far end of the town square. From the six soldiers that remained the last time they saw, counting Commander Steve as well, now there were only three left, Commander Steve included.
Sharon was still standing firm as she stepped at her own pace toward Commander Steve and his remaining men. One of those men stood and moved toward Sharon, even though he was temporarily stopped by Commander Steve who was able to pull his cape. But, the man was able to overcome his power and the cape slipped from his grasp.
He came at Sharon with consecutive slashes, aiming to cut her head off. All however was able to be dodged by Sharon.
"DAMN WOMAN! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!" The soldier changed his stance to a stab stance after his slash was dodged again by Sharon.
He might saw it as a chance as Sharon dodged it by turning her body to not face the man, but Ahli knew that it was a trap from Sharon. And the man was indeed trapped as his pierce attack was easily overcome by Sharon's rising slash that made him let go of his sword. Without giving him any chance to think or maybe even breathe, Sharon had passed him with her sword slicing his neck. The blood gushed out and smeared her, adding more to the ones that already painted her clothes red.
<TURN 8>
Seeing his comrade had fallen, the last remaining soldier under Commander Steve stood and blocked Sharon's view of Commander Steve. He held his sword in front of him, ready to defend against any incoming attack that Sharon would throw at him.
"COMMANDER, RUN! I'LL HOLD HER." Ahli could not see clearly what his facial expression showed, however, there was desperation in the tone of his voice.
"IDIOT! DON'T THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY! THAT'S AN ORDER!"
"I'M SORRY COMMANDER! I CAN'T FOLLOW THAT ORDER! PLEASE RUN! AND PROMISE ME, THAT YOU WILL AVENGE US!"
There was no more rebuttal from Commander Steve as Ahli saw how he had frozen watching his remaining men. He seemed to be thinking before turning his body and starting to crawl away from his last soldier.
"I PROMISE I WILL AVENGE YOU ALL!"
Ahli swore that he saw the soldier put up a big smile, before responding to Commander Steve's words. "THANK YOU!"
As Sharon was only a sword-length distance left, the man could be seen anticipating for any attack that she would throw at him. What happened next was rather anti-climatic as Sharon suddenly threw the knife she rarely used at the man's head. The man himself seemed to be expecting her sword to strike, but it wasn't.
As the man fell forward, Sharon casually passed him, walking toward Commander Steve who was still crawling. With every step she took, their distance gradually became closer, and finally, Sharon had caught up to him. She moved herself to his side, standing beside his head. She raised her sword as he turned his face to look at her.
"It finally ends isn't it?" Asked Mr. Granger who was focused on watching as well.
"Yeah, the battle would end. I guess we should move away from here." Said Ahli, remembering what Mr. Granger's concern was.
<HERE COMES A NEW CARD MAGE!>
A sudden announcement by the system made Ahli on alert. It was an announcement that he never heard before as well. He quickly looked around to check if another enemy was coming.
'Ahli, what's wrong?" Asked Mr. Granger who noticed him acting weird.
"There's an announcement from the system. It said…" Before he finished saying what he meant to say, in front of his eyes he saw something had come and struck Mr. Granger's back. A big pool of blood quickly sprayed the area behind him as he fell to his knees. Ahli ran toward him to catch his big body before landing on the ground.
He also searched for what had caused this and to his surprise, he saw not far from him, a humanoid red dragon with a big broad sword that still dripping blood.
"Yo, card mage. Meet you at last." A voice coming from Ahli's back. He turned to see where the voice came from and saw a young Asian man with green silver hair. Before Ahli could respond to him, the man gave an order to the humanoid dragon.
"Drill, help Commander Steve."
Ahli turned to look as the humanoid dragon dashed away toward Sharon and Commander Steve. He could not do anything else at that moment, and so he shouted.
"SHARON! WATCH OUT!"