Soul of a Human

As Cutter got ready for the next round, Jorgan again approached Mor and asked about their strategy. However, this time, Mor surprised the Ice-kin by saying.

"Your call. It's your father, after all."

This was a welcome surprise for Jorgen because it allowed him to prove himself against his father. Of course, under normal circumstances, he had no chance. The difference in skill was still too great, but with some weird magic to even the odds, he might have a shot.

The young warrior thought for a moment, then nodded more to himself than to affirm Mor's offer.

"Can you just support me? With that, I mean, keep him distracted, but don't disable him." He asked.

"I will do my best," Mor replied.

The two contestants got ready, and for a third time, Mor signaled the start. Jorgen got ready and watched his father carefully, who raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I thought we were doing magic stuff. If you want to fight me, you can do so whenever." Cutter stated when no magic attack was forthcoming.

His son didn't answer. Instead, he continued watching and began to circle his father to give Mor a clearer sight. At least, he hoped it would help. Cutter, in turn, shrugged, gripped the big wooden training sword, and made an incredibly fast swing at Jorgen. He grunted in effort as the sword was deflected with the impact of a stone thorn hitting it from below, giving Jorgen enough time to duck under the attack and make a swing of his own.

It was a good move, but still too slow, as Cutter jumped back to get out of range, then had to take cover behind one of the arena's stone pillars when a glob of water cut off his escape route. Jorgen used this and rounded the same pillar, with a slash at hip height, that Cutter blocked just so, locking them in a short struggle where Cutter's overwhelming strength pushed his son back.

"Now I get your strategy." He said with a bright smile.

Jorgen had lost his balance with the shove, and Cutter capitalized on it. At least he wanted to because, to his surprise, Jorgen could block his father's overhead swing with his blade without falling over to the ground. Instead, this time, Jorgen pushed his father back from an impossible position. Cutter disengaged before getting overwhelmed himself and then saw the quickly grown stone pillar that had supported Jorgen's body.

Jorgen used the breathing room, making wild swings, forcing his father to block. It wouldn't have been that much of a problem if it hadn't been for the constant barrage of water globs supplementing the attacks and closing down the openings Jorgens' inexperience left. He had to give it to the boys. They worked very well together, and those magic attacks were extremely annoying and difficult to deal with, meaning that this training was right up Cutter's alley. As the de facto leader of his hunter group, he was also the one who embraced challenges the most.

The blade clashes got faster, and Jorgen soon couldn't keep up with his father's more muscular physique. Soon, the positions were reversed, and Cutter would simultaneously block the sporadic magic while pressuring his boy. Cutter smiled because he could basically see his victory when the magic attacks suddenly dropped in intensity, reasoning that Mor slowly ran out of power, which wasn't entirely wrong, but also not right.

Jorgen took another strong hit against his training weapon, making the wood crack a little and him to slither back a bit. Jorgen quickly looked at his almost busted weapon, gulped, then took a deep breath and decided to risk it all on the next attack, not that his stamina and weapon would hold much longer. He charged his father with a horizontal swing, and Cutter put his weapon into the path of Jorgans strike, then gasped as Jorgans weapon connected with his body. Cutter blinked as the hit reverberated through his body. He looked at the handle of his wooden sword, which was all that was left of the training weapon.

Mor had seen that Jorgens stamina was slowly running out, just as his magic did, and decided to switch tactics. Instead of continuously barraging the veteran hunter with those water globs, he alternated them with little wind cuts whenever the two Ice-kin locked blades. Continuing until the shaft of the weapon was weakened enough to break at any moment; through sheer luck, it was exactly the moment of Jorgens final gambit, and it secured the boys their third win.

Cutter held his side for a moment, letting the pain pass, then took a deep breath and embraced his boy. "Good work."

"Thank you, Father," Jorgen replied, a bit overwhelmed. "But I couldn't beat you on my own."

"I know, but recognizing this and getting help is always good. It will keep you alive if you're out and about." Cutter let go of his son and smiled. "And if you keep it up like that, you will become stronger than me."

The two fighters left the arena, and every present hunter gave Jorgen a respectful nod. They all had watched the fight with great interest, and even with the support of Mor, the young Ice-kin handled himself very well. The biggest surprise was Elly, who rushed over and gave Jorgen a smooch on his cheek with a bright grin, congratulating the boy on his win and making him blush. Jorgen looked over to Mor at all the praise, feeling he didn't deserve it, but his partner just smiled and gave him a nod.

"Great, then we are done," Gorn said. "Jorgen is in no state to fight against another one, and you are also out of power, right, Mor?"

"But you didn't get a turn," Cutter stated.

"Can't help it." The big guardian said with a shrug.

"There is one last thing I want to show you," Mor said. I'm not very good at it. One of my friends would be far better suited to such magic, but I can simulate it."

He walked over to the group of Ice-kin and motioned for Cutter to reveal the spot where he was hit, already showing signs of dark blue coloring. Mor concentrated his power and let the healing energy flow, removing the blemish over a few seconds.

"Healing can also be very devastating in a fight, but curing such minor wounds is the extent of what I'm capable of right now. A strong healer might even be able to restore the burn victims." He explained, which got the Chief thoughtful.

"You say some of the Souls are able to restore life-destroying wounds?" He asked, and Mor nodded.

"If Clare keeps up with it, she could, " he said, and while the hunters didn't know of this Clare, except Lize, of course, they understood the implications.

"Would you ask your healer friend on our behalf?" The Chief asked.

"Of course, but I can't promise anything," Mor replied.

"That is fine, but now they might have some hope of getting better, even if it takes until after the grand gathering, " the Chief said with noticeable relief.

"Good job, Mor," Gorn said. "But how do you want to "simulate" this healing?"

"I will refill my reservoir and show you one of my specials, where you can fight against a creature who can instantly heal as long as I have power," Mor said.

°Is it what I think it is?° The human asked.

°If you're thinking, you are up and get to be the big bad stone puppet. Then yes,° Mor replied.

°Oh, this is gonna be fun.° The human said with an evil chuckle.

They took another break so Mor could recover, and the hunters gave Jorgen some more pointers and tips on how to improve based on his fight. However, as Mor sat down and rested, Lize sat down next to him.

"Don't go easy on him." She stated, and Mor looked at her in surprise.

"Of course not. He might get the hardest fight. Control of the spell is not in my hands. It's too complicated for that." He said.

"What do you mean?" Lize asked in concern.

"I mean, I can't control it very well, but don't worry. I have enough control over it not to seriously injure your husband," Mor explained, and the woman nodded.

After resting, Gorn entered the arena and was just as intrigued as everyone else about what the strange Soul-kin had in store. From the sound of it, it must be something incredible, like summoning a monstrosity or something like that to show off this "fight healing". But when Mor created his stone-faced opponent, all the big warrior could do was stare in disbelief.