Chapter Text
The sound of explosions was prominently loud on the battlefield.
Soldiers ceaselessly load shell after shell in the artilleries; bullet after bullet in their guns. The sound of a whistle sounded and the vanguard troops full of aura sword and spear users rushed forward to meet the enemies.
BOOM! BANG!!
CLANG!
The sound of explosions and the clash of metal was prominently loud on the battlefield.
It drowned out the sound of the dying men on the ground. Their screams for help were unable to reach their fellow men who were desperately surviving this hell as well.
One man, who was part of the vanguard, saw all this and steeled his resolve to survive. He stood up, trying to climb out of the trench he fell in, only to look up and see the enemies closing at him. His hope drained out as they all pointed their guns at him and-
BOOM!
The man closed his eyes, the shockwave from the explosion almost forcing him back. When he looked back up, nothing but the charred remains of the enemies survived. He jumped when someone suddenly landed beside him.
“A mage?” He exclaimed. So that fire just now was from magic.
“Sorry.” The mage, a grey-haired young man, apologized and carried him on his shoulders like a sack.
He could not voice his complaints as shells from a rapid-firing machine gun was targeting them. The mage deployed a shield while trying to fly straight with him in his hold. He saw two other mages in the vicinity firing back with their weapons.
“What are you doing, Kurst!” One of them exclaimed as he covered for their retreat.
“I can’t provide support anymore.” The other, Kurst, angrily said as he reloaded his gun and fired. “What are the platoon commander’s orders.”
The grey-haired mage put the man down in their army’s firing trench and said to the comms, “H-he cannot allow us to retreat. We are to continue delaying the enemy till the end. Ah!”
He saw an artillery shell coming their way and tried deploying an active barrier with his remaining mana. Upon impact, the shield was destroyed and the grey-haired mage was thrown back.
“Ughh,” he groaned, unable to stand back up from the pain and the fatigue.
He wanted to stay down for a while and take a breather but he can’t. This is the frontlines, if he stopped moving then he might as well be a target for the guns and swords flying everywhere. As he gathered his bearings, he heard a voice he dreaded, praying.
𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖇𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘, 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉’𝖘 𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘
𝕱𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖆𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖓 𝖚𝖘.
Up in the sky, a red-haired mage readied his gun and aimed.
𝕲𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖔 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖔𝖒.
With his bullet enchanted, the red-haired mage fired. A wide-range explosion happened in the enemies’ vanguard, swallowing not only people but the surroundings as well. the fire consumed everything in a furious dance, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.
“An explosion spell…” The grey-haired mage said in awe. He watched the fire consume everything in a furious dance, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. It raged through the already ravaged land, distantly hearing the screams of those who were still suffering in the fire. It was a morbidly beautiful scene.
“If you have time for idle chatter, spend it doing all you can to survive.”
He turned to see the red-haired mage land behind him. The platoon commander looked at him from head to toe, checking for injuries. Truth be told, the grey-haired mage only suffered minor injuries. The platoon commander, who was younger than him by 3 years, need not worry about him.
“Corporal Eric,” The platoon commander huffed, satisfied to see no major injuries were on him.
A buzzing sound echoed in his comms. Someone was talking to the commander. His face twisted, which he schooled immediately while taking a deep breath. He replied in the comms,
“We are soldiers. If the brass tells us to do something we do it.” He looked at the two other mages in their platoon still flying in the air. “So stop complaining up there and continue providing support, you damn bastards.”
He flew to the sky again, Eric in awe at the tenacity of the commander he treated as his younger brother. [Second Lieutenant] Cale Henituse. Amidst the downpour of shells and bullets, he flew high and nobly…
… Like a fairy on the battlefield.
In this cursed world,
Suddenly engulfed in the flames of war, there was a kingdom known as the Roan Kingdom. It was a country known for being average in everything, yet it continued to exist despite the rising powers of its neighboring nations. These nations, which were potential enemies of the average Roan, pushed the kingdom to develop their military and magic department, thus the mass recruitment of aura users and mages both in nobility and commoners.
The Crown Prince of the Roan Kingdom, who was handed authority by the king to command these troops, formulated Plan 315 wherein border forces carried out delaying actions in all theaters, buying time for a highly mobile, concentrated main force made up of aura users and mages to travel to each area and defeat the enemy there.
At least, that was the plan.
…
775th year of the Felix Calendar, Roan Kingdom Capital
“What is the situation in the Forest of Darkness? When will the main force be dispatched there?” [The Crown Prince and Deputy of Strategy and Operations], Brigadier General Alver Crossman, asked the two people with him in his office.
“Movement from the northeastern areas is being delayed,"
[The Vice Director of Strategy and Operations], Lieutenant Colonel Kim Rok Soo, reported.
“We must adjust the ship and rail schedules, so the deployment of the main force will take another two weeks.”
Alver sighed. “So we must pull back the lines even more? The northwest and southeast areas will be endangered.”
“We don’t even have enough reserves to send reinforcements.” Kim Rok Soo said, studying the battle map placed in the prince’s study.
In the northeastern part of the map, where his and his sworn brothers’ hometown resided, lands were overtaken by the enemies indicated with black chess pieces. Among the black pawns was a knight that was leading the force.
“From the start, Paerun’s advance into our kingdom was unexpected,” Alver spoke. “If only we had more time…”
“We were the ones who failed to convince the nobles about the war happening earlier,”
[Vice Director of Strategy and Operations], Brigadier General Tasha said.
“Plan 315 is no longer viable. Our main force is tied in the southwest with the Mogoru Empire invading as well. We’ll have to move to a mobile defense now.”
“But that will be difficult with the state in the northeast,” Kim Rok Soo interjected. “Our forces are depleted and exhausted, so it’s beyond their capacity.”
“We’ve already grabbed every spare soldier we could send there,” Tasha announced, placing white pawns and a white knight in the northeastern territory of the map. “That should buy us enough time.”
Alver nodded. “Let’s reach out to our allies, the Breck Kingdom and the Jungle. Hopefully, they’ll send a response soon.”
“I hope they do respond soon,” Tasha pursed her lips. “Reports say we’ve lost over half the units we’ve deployed. They say the Forest of Darkness has truly become a living hell.”
Kim Rok Soo looked down at the map laid out on the table. If what Tasha said was true, then Cale must be in that hell right now. He bit his lips, he has to hurry with formulating his plan. He prayed Cale could still hold out and survive till their next meeting.
‘Wait for us, Cale.’
Forest of Darkness
Meanwhile, in the Forest of Darkness, the sound of explosions has not abated. While the survivors retreated back to the rear, the platoon led by [Second Lieutenant] Cale Henituse stayed in the air and continued providing cover for the retreating army.
“Enemies sighted on the ground, 2 o’clock,” Cale relayed. “Artillery spells, fire!”
“R-right!” Eric followed, firing two rounds at the advancing lines. The soldiers below screamed in agony as they were unlucky to be the ones to get hit.
“Die! DIE!”
Cale frowned at the two new recruits in his platoon. Corporal Harald and Corporal Kurst were verbally cursing the Paerun soldiers while firing at them. He would have applauded them for their vocabulary if their energy didn’t irritate him so much. For god’s sake, he was tired and running on black coffee. BLACK. COFFEE. And he hated the damn thing, was as worse as the lemon tea his butler used to serve him.
Why can’t they shut their mouths and not provoke the enemy? He was making sure they don’t draw too much attention, dammit!
“Eric,” Cale took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re a quiet guy.”
“Wh-what?” Eric stuttered, his hands quivering from the fatigue he’s feeling.
“Nevermind, you’re also one of the noisy ones but at least I tolerate you.” Cale shook his head.
BANG!
An artillery fire hit the two noisy mages. Cale snorted. This was why you don’t scream bloody murder at your enemies.
“Artillery,” Kurst reported. “Take out the artillery!”
Cale clicked his tongue. “Both of you corporals, get your asses back here. Our mission is to delay the enemy via flanking attacks.”
“Let us go, please.” Cale heard Corporal Harald through the comms.
“This is our chance!” Corporal Kurst added.
“What chance? Get back here!” Cale yelled. “This is an order!”
But his words fell on deaf ears.
BOOM.
“Yes! I got them. Did you see that Commander?”
“Wait and see. I’ll get the remaining others.”
Eric shook his head. What were those two doing? Rushing the enemies in their state was just asking for injury or worse, death. He gasped as he felt intense killing intent. Slowly turning his head, he cringed as he saw the look on Cale’s face. Shit, he prayed nothing terrible would happen. AGAIN. The last time he had that look on, the new recruits were taken off the ranks due to insubordination.
“What are you spacing about there? Hurry and shoot those bullets.” Cale snapped at him.
Forest of Darkness, Northeastern Front: Base Camp
Night time came with the army rotating shifts. Eric glumly looked down at his canned soup. He’s been eating this same thing for over a year now. The only difference was the companions he’d eat with. He sighed, loud enough for his two companions to hear him.
“I know the feeling,” Harald started, playing with his food. “This is rather unappetizing.”
“Force it down if you have to,” Kurst told him, taking a bite himself.
BOOM.
The sound of explosions was loud even this far on the battlefield. The night sky that’s bare of stars lighted up like lightning due to the auras and manas flying free without remorse.
“They say the 202nd and 203rd companies were wiped out.” Eric shared, sad to hear more of the fellow mages he trained with go. He remembered his two childhood friends who were with him and Cale till last month. It was the first time he truly felt how awful it was to lose people you’ve known your whole life. He didn’t want to go through that grief again.
“I volunteered to go to the frontlines, only to be put under a commander that is a brat.” Kurst vented, remembering the times Cale ordered him back then.
“Platoon 3, of the 205th.” someone called out.
The three of them turned to see a messenger in their circle, “Your captain is calling for you.”
They scrambled to get to the tent quickly. While Kurst and Harald thought nothing of it, Eric was nervous. He thought back to his comrades’ attitude to the platoon leader and gulped. He hoped Cale would just relay orders and then do nothing.
Cale did NOT do nothing.
“We’re getting sent home?” Harald asked in disbelief.
“I would say you’re getting off lightly.” Cale shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “You should be grateful.”
“But we were trying to take out the artillery. Do you know how many of our infantry they took out?” Kurst exclaimed, defending his actions.
“So?” Cale tilted his head. “We are an army. An army is an organization, and organizations are nothing without rules.”
“Dismissed.”
Eric thought that was the end, but Kurst and Harald fought on.
“I refuse to accept this!” Kurst yelled. He tolerated everything up till now.
Kurst studied and trained hard to be able to contribute something to his country. He wanted to protect his home where his family was living; wanted to be known by people and receive a medal for his courageous deeds on the battlefield. He dreamt big, which was why he gritted his teeth and did whatever was asked of him but, ever since he came to the frontlines… No. Ever since he came under Platoon Commander Cale, he felt like those dreams he had while training was disappearing.
“I volunteered to come to the front lines! It’s either victory or death for me.”
“M-me too.” Harald agreed. “A man of our kingdom is expected to be brave!”
“Then you’re saying you’ll disobey your superior officer’s orders again!?” Cale grabbed the sword on his waist.
“Lieutenant!” Eric stopped him. He pleaded through his eyes for him to drop the matter.
“I’ll take your opinion under advisement,” Cale muttered, straightening himself. “But you’d best be prepared to face some punishment.”
Thank god. Eric felt relieved the situation did not worsen. They’ve been killing enough on the battlefield, he doesn’t want his superior who’s like his little brother spilling more blood, especially in their own kingdom. Eric chose to ignore Cale’s last words and retired for the night.
He shouldn’t have ignored them.
That morning, he looked around for his two companions while getting ready to leave. He thought it was weird, they were late in coming out. Did they get themselves drunk again?
“Corporal Wheelsman,” [Commander of the 205th Assault Mage Company and First Lieutenant] Bae Cheol-Ho called out to him. “Is something the matter?”
“G-good morning, Lieutenant Bae!” Eric greeted. “And no. I was just looking for Corporal Kurst and Corporal Harald. It’s already this late and they still haven’t appeared yet.”
“Oh yea, Those two have been transferred to the rear just this morning.” Lieutenant Bae recalled. “I think it was Second Lieutenant Henituse that asked for the transfer. Right now they must be at the pillbox playing cards.”
“Lieutenant did!?” Eric was surprised. To think Cale would give a light punishment after what those two did. He thought he’d receive bad news this morning when he didn’t see them around.
“The rear, huh.” Eric pondered. “I see. That’s good for them, I guess.”
Forest of Darkness, battlefield
Eric could register nothing but his own labored breathing. His eyes could hardly make out Cale’s figure flying in front of him. He didn’t remember landing, the feeling of the earth that was real beneath his hands was what told him he did.
Eric closed his eyes and dust flew from the air being kicked. Cale looked down at Eric kneeling on the ground.
“If you’re wearing that uniform, then pick up your slack and contribute to the country. The kingdom doesn’t have enough resources to waste on weak soldiers who just hold us back.”
“R-right.” Eric let out a breath. He’s used to Cale being mean especially on the battlefield but knowing and receiving his rebukes were different. Thank god he’s built up a resistance or he would have ended their friendship right there.
A buzz came out of Cale’s comms, alerting them both. “Get up, Corporal Wheelsman! It’s a call for an emergency meeting.”
Forest of Darkness, Northeastern Front: Base Camp
“We’ve received bad news just now. Our 403rd Mage Company suddenly encountered and entered combat with two companies of enemy mages,” Lieutenant Bae Cheol-Ho briefed.
“Our men can’t use the artillery because the observer mages were targeted, meaning they can no longer spot the enemy shells.”
“Enemy observer-hunters?” Cale asked.
“Oh right. You’ve encountered them before Lieutenant Henituse.”
“Yes,” Cale’s expression went grim, the silver badge pinned on his left chest glinting below the faint lights. “I’d rather not go through that again.”
“We will leave immediately to rescue the observers. Any questions?” Lieutenant Bae asked.
After a moment of silence, Cale voiced his opinion. “We can perform a delaying action but rescuing them will be difficult.”
The Lieutenant eyed Cale. Despite his young age, he was allowed admission to the military immediately due to his wits and insane amount of mana. He was the last of the Thames bloodline, who was said to be the best in Roan when it came to magic, and was the first heir to the now-fallen Henituse family. He made lots of contributions since his entrance into the military that no one hasn’t heard his name. Though most still doubt that a child had made those achievements, Cale’s skills shot those doubts down.
“I believe this rescue operation would be a cinch for you, Lieutenant Henituse.”
“I can still fight,” Cale said. “But Corporal Wheelsman is at his limit.”
“Wha-!?” Eric exclaimed. How and why did his name come out here?
“I don’t want to be an incompetent superior who goes to rescue someone, only to lose them and his soldiers.” Cale reasoned with a straight face.
Why does it make sense? Eric might have felt elated that Cale thought of him but it was also embarrassing to be pointed out to be a hindrance to the operation. Eric wanted to help. He might incur his wrath with his next actions but he has no regrets.
“Company Commander, I volunteer for this! I volunteer for the rescue mission!” Eric exclaimed.
“What? Stop that, you can’t do it.” Cale glared at Eric. Oh god, he wanted to run.
“I-I’m a soldier, too. This is my duty and I will certainly complete the mission!”
“Corporal!”
“Company Commander! Please. Please let me go.”
“Stop! Both of you. ”Lieutenant Bae sighed. “Since Corporal Wheelsman volunteered himself, he will be allowed to partake in the mission.”
Cale bit back his curses. “Alright, if that’s the Lieutenant’s decision, I’ll go along with it.”
“Everyone, rest well and get ready for tomorrow. Dismissed.” The Lieutenant bid goodbye.
Eric turned towards Cale but found he had left already. He ran out to try and catch him.
“Ca- Lieutenant, wait!” Eric called as soon as he spotted the boy.
Cale turned. He didn’t beat around the bush and asked Eric, “Are you sure about joining tomorrow?”
“Of course. I am not letting you go out there alone.” Eric nodded.
Eric couldn’t tell what Cale was thinking with his impassive face. He has been a mystery to him since his first meeting. He rarely talked about himself and always kept everyone at a distance. It took a while for Cale to warm up to him, Amiru, and Gilbert. But after their deaths last month, Cale has closed himself off again. It was a blessing to Eric that he still strikes up a conversation with him from time to time.
Though there was one thing that wouldn’t change about him.
“You better take care of yourself then,” Cale muttered.
“Don’t die on me, Eric-hyung.”
Eric smiled. Yes, Cale still had his soft heart for others. It was a surprise to him when he first met Cale’s siblings and other hyungs. He was attentive to those close to him and would always put them before himself.
“You know I will.” Eric gave him a thumbs up.
Cale frowned. He lowered his cap before nodding at him and turning away. Eric wouldn’t know it but Cale was mentally cursing him for ruining his plans. If he did then Eric wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep as nightmares of a demon in a child’s body would plague him.
The next day
Cale has been feeling iffy since last night's emergency meeting. Rescue mission? Enemy mages? He doesn’t want to do them! He’d been trying to hint to both Eric and Lieutenant Bae that he doesn’t want to go but nooooo . They teamed up and made him accept this damn mission.
So here he was, flying with his platoon to the designated area where the observers are. They better be alive or Cale just wound up coming out here for nothing.
He sighed, contemplating his life choices. Why did he choose to be here? Was this even a choice when he wasn’t given any options? Whatever, he shouldn’t let his mind wander to useless things right now.
“A-attention, all units. We’ve lost contact with friendly observers,” One of the new faces in his platoon reported.
In short Dead
“What a mess,” Cale clicked his tongue.
Fucking great, he did came out here for nothing. He wants a refund of his time he wasted coming here and his beauty sleep please.
“Should we turn back?” Eric asked, unsure of what to do.
Cale kept flying. “Let’s continue forward. It’s a shame we didn’t make it on time but we’re inside enemy firing range. I refuse to accept I came out here for nothing.”
“But we only have one platoon!” Eric exclaimed. “We can’t fight a whole company.”
“Weren’t you adamant about volunteering for this mission?” Cale raised a brow. “Unexpected situations happen especially on rescue missions. We ought to adapt as well.”
“Our enemy is on an exhausting, long-range mission. They’ve already used a lot of firepower to take out our observers. There’s a good chance we can win.”
‘But losing more troops would hurt my promotion to the rear.’ Cale frowned. He can’t let that happen.
Cale relayed orders to his platoon. “You go rendezvous with Lieutenant Bae and provide support. I’ll go ahead and destroy three of their platoons. The rest are yours.”
“Goddammit, in the end it really came to this.” Cale gritted his teeth, and raised his gun.
𝕴 𝖕𝖗𝖆𝖞 𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖔 𝖌𝖔𝖉,
𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉, 𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖒𝖞 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖞.
Cale’s eyes flashed crimson red. He cast flight magic on himself and flew off, the propulsion pushing his platoon members back from the blast.
“C-CALE!?” Eric called. But Cale was unable to hear him as the wind drowned out every other noise aside from his beating heart. Soon he was nothing but a glowing streak of crimson approaching the enemies at high speed.
Cale saw them readying their guns. He could feel their mana levels rising up; hear the battalion commander barking orders. His sight tunneled to the adversaries in front of him and everything became quiet. Then, he heard it.
His heart.
It was beating fast as adrenaline coursed through his veins. Cale’s sight landed on the commander, his ugly mug distorted in astonishment at his speed. He grinned.
His first prey…
“FIRE!!”
“Hehe,” Cale laughed.
He flew faster and dodged bullets left and right; up and down. Cale brought his gun up, eyeing his foes through the scope. He shot out three bullets, all loaded with explosions spells.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The bullets exploded in front of them and covered their sight with black smoke.
“Scatter and climb, quickly. Get as high as you can!”
“Ehe... Ahahahaha!” Cale rushed to their commander who was left defenseless. He enchanted his bayonet, making it as sharp as possible.
“COMMANDER!”
Someone flew in front of him. Unable to stop his swing, Cale cut the person’s head off. Fuck, it wasn’t their leader's head. Still, first kill. Yay!
BANG!
Another explosion spell. The three platoons did as their commander ordered and climb up. Cale turned, flying to the nearest platoon.
“Fuck, this is payback for Sean.”
Sean who? Cale doesn’t know him. He calmly dodged their bullets while firing his own. His shots did not miss their mark.
One platoon down. Two more to go. Hmm… Maybe he could just wipe out the whole battalion?
With a plan formulated in his mind, Cale flew higher. His foes pursued after him, but they stopped midway due to hitting their limit in altitude. Cale didn’t stop though. No, he still climbed up till he burst through the clouds mindlessly floating in the sky.
“Huff… huff…” Cale gathered his bearings. This much should be high enough.
Putting his gun away, Cale switched his comms to open for everyone within range to hear.
“Attention. You are trespassing on our kingdom’s territory.” Cale glared down at everyone. Spreading his arms wide, he spoke.
“This is our sky! Our home! If you would stand against the Roan Kingdom, then we shall eliminate you without mercy.”
“I didn’t know Cale was this patriotic.” Eric was once again in awe of the boy.
“Answer me! Why do you invade our kingdom?” Cale asked.
“If you wanna play with lead bullets then we will give you some,” the enemy commander yelled. “Fire!”
Their shots passed through Cale. It was an optical decoy he set up in case they retaliated. Cale was revealed to be hiding behind the clouds with a frown on his face.
He sighed. “No room to negotiate, huh?”
“You son of a bitch!” The commander fired again, this time with an explosion spell imbued in the bullet.
Cale deployed an active barrier, protecting him from the explosion. He clicked his tongue. He was being merciful by giving them a chance to surrender. Yet, they still chose death. What he said was not an empty threat. Thus, he will now eliminate them as was his duty.
Cale cast an observation fomula. “Spatial coordinates identified. Calculating stochastic evasion routes for all targets. Magical energy in the chamber within normal parameters.”
Cale gave his final warning as he ceased his observation spell. “Attention, all allies. Prepare for impact.”
His operational orb lit up, calculating the formulas and mana for his spell.
𝕺𝖍 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉... 𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖉𝖔𝖒 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖎𝖓𝖛𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘.
Cale raised his gun up, which glowed crimson from his mana running rampant within it, and pointed down at his remaining enemies.
𝕬𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖑𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖗𝖔𝖆𝖉,
𝖂𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖈𝖍 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉!
From down below, the enemy commander widened his eyes. How could someone possess this much mana? That boy could almost rival the dragons that were said to be the masters of magic!
“D-detecting massive magical signature!” someone screamed.
When he felt his mana reaching its peak, Cale fired. His bullet glowed brightly in a mixture of red and gold, blinding both enemies and allies within the vicinity.
“Is he the devil?” Were the last words of the commander before the explosion spell activated.
A loud sound echoed throughout the battlefield, and a ball of fire manifested where the battalion was hovering in the air. Quickly bringing their hands out, Eric and his companions rushed to deploy an active barrier. They were unharmed as they were far from the explosion but the shockwave brought them a few meters back. The fire, which turned black from the smoke and lighted up as lightning danced within it, was enough to terrify both enemies and allies just from the sight of it.
“A diffusive magical explosion caused when magic under maximum pressure mixes with the surrounding air,” Eric explained, remembering this particular spell from a book Cale made him read. “Even when you dodge impact, you can’t escape the oxygen deprivation or carbon monoxide poisoning that follows.”
“We didn’t need to provide any support.” One of them muttered, feeling overwhelmed at the power their Lieutenant showed.
“In this cruel world of wars, there’s no mage you can count on like him.”
Cale coughed, smoke wafting up to his face. Damn it, he should have blinked away from the blast. He was now covered in soot and his lungs were filled with fumes.
“The battle is over. Surrender now, and we’ll guarantee your rights as prisoners.”
Silence met him as no one answered. Cale breathed out loudly and made his way back to his platoon. He wanted a bath and some food. That spell used up most of his energy.
He hoped this was enough of an achievement to get him to the rear.
Character log:
Cale Henituse, Bassen Henituse, Lily henituse