Soul of a Human

Orth's day of reckoning came faster than he liked, but it was always faster than he liked because he didn't want it to arrive at all. He had taken a giant risk, and even though he was positive that his squad could handle everything his brother could throw at them, Orth was still nervous as hell.

The plan Orth worked out with his squad was simple because a confusing plan would only fall apart the second it is enacted and doesn't leave space for improvisation. So, they agreed on a three-step plan. Step one, get first blood. Step two is to secure the numbers advantage. And Step three, crush any left-over resistance.

Orth marched his squad onto the magically protected training field, which was a stronger version of the school's training arena. You can throw your most potent spells here, and nobody will die. As expected, his brother, father, and a whole bunch of onlookers were already gathered. Orth stood before his squad and saluted his father, who threw him a somewhat questioning glance that the boy couldn't interpret. If Orth had looked behind him, the reason for his father's look was clear as day because his squad was standing in a perfect parade salute, but their facial expressions resembled thugs more than soldiers.

Each and every one of them went through hellish training and pain, and their new-found pride wouldn't allow them to let some jumped-up fancy pants beat them. In addition, everyone had gathered quite a bit of confidence, seeing the training method of their lead and the results of it.

Lord Obsidian approached Orth's side and gave his boy a stern nod.

"I hope you remember your promise, " he said, and Orth nodded while glaring at his father.

After the Lord had said what he wanted, he went to the middle of the field and addressed everyone attending.

"In this bout, my two sons will prove who is the superior leader once and for all! Contestants, get ready."

Lord Obsidian had kept the introduction short because the military types had no appreciation for a well-thought-out speech and were only interested in being entertained. In the lull before the fight, Orth addressed his squad, holding out his hand before him.

"For the win." He started.

"To prove myself." His second, Ambor added putting his hand on Orth's.

"To show our strength." The wind cutter specialist, Moldavir, added.

One after the other put his hand on the pile, and Orth counted down from three, after which all of them shouted. "To protect Soul-kin!", well almost all, Orth had quietly added, "To get rid of the whore!"

However, he had underestimated the hearing of his squad. All of them looked at him in confusion, and Ambor asked for everyone.

"What whore?"

Orth looked uncomfortable, then let out a sigh and decided to tell his boys. "I made a bet with my father, and if we lose today, I have to marry the girl he chose. Who is sleeping with my brother right now."

His squad looked absolutely disgusted at the revelation.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Ambor asked.

"I didn't want to put unnecessary pressure on you all. However, I do trust we can win," Orth replied.

"Then we have no choice, right boys?" Ambor asked the squad, and all of them agreed with some downright evil smiles.

"Thanks, you guys," Orth said before catching himself and switching back to his commanding presence. "Everyone to their posts!"

This was a pretty unnecessary order because nobody had any posts to be. However, Orth's squad correctly interpreted the order to get ready for the fight, which their opponents already were. After Lord Obsidian opened the fight, both teams started with the classical Soul-kin strategy of conjuring up an earth wall to hide behind, but after that, the way they fought differed extremely.

Origen's squad worked precisely according to Soul-kin doctrine, sending out a team of two wind mages, flying up high to provide overwatch and support. While the rest got ready for an extended magic duel, preparing some spells for an indirect attack. This tactic of hiding behind walls and getting overwatch was a time-tested strategy against monstrosities, but Orth planned to counter it completely. He also believed that only because something works, it doesn't mean it can't be improved.

With that in mind, Orth gave his orders, and the wind cutter specialist, Moldavir, smiled before cracking his knuckles, a habit he had somehow picked up while training. He channeled his wind magic and casted hurricane cutter, his improved version of the wind cutter spell. Instead of a single blade, it was a torrent of fast-moving wind blades slicing through the air.

However, Orgen's wind mages reacted quickly, one pulling up a windfall defense while the other took over, holding both of them up. Still, the barrage did its job and held both of them in place, and with a nod from Orth Sodalor, the previous water spray enjoyer took a deep breath and steadied his hand and, with it, his aim. The weak water spell had evolved into something devastating in the hands of the water affinity mage and with the sound resembling a gunshot, a short-cut stream of water punched right through the wind wall defense and grazed one of the elite wind mages.

As reacting both of them dropped back down into cover, the concentration of one broken. Giving Orth's squad first blood, even if they couldn't clear step one of their plan, this, of course, was expected.

Orth quickly gave some more orders, using the moments where they were unobserved to prepare the next parts of his strategy. One of them hinged on the earth affinity mage Obsidar, who had no talent at all in most magics but, in turn, excelled at moving earth. Meaning while he sucked with something like rock thorn, he could dig through the earth at surprising speeds, making him a perfect sapper. At Orth's order, the mage began to dig a network of tunnels so his squad could reposition quickly and hide.

Moldavir and Sodalor kept their eyes on the sky, and as expected, Orgen tried the same trick again after possibly having shouted at the windmages for their failure as the two of them again raised into the air. However, they were under fire again before they could make out anything amiss. This time, Orth's team fulfilled their first objective, and both anti-air duty mages claimed to have taken down the wind mage falling down after getting hit multiple times, getting his life saved by the magics put in place as security. After losing his flying partner, the second wind mage quickly retreated again and didn't reappear.

Orth waited for a second, but when nothing happened, he guessed his brother was furious at his squad, shouting at their inadequacy for losing a single mage against the useless rabble. Still, Orth had no intention of letting them get their bearings and nodded to his third trump card, the Jaspor twins, who interestingly had different affinities, with one of them having wind and the other fire. Also, in Orth's opinion, the two of them don't have all the pages in their books, more so after they had shown Orth what they wanted to train. However, he did support their decision, which now gave him something scary to use.

Jaspor G, marked with a green armband, conjured a horizontal hurricane between him and their stone wall defense, like an oversized wind tunnel. In contrast, Japor R, who had chosen a red armband, channeled all his magic into a fireball placed inside said wind tunnel, which he then compressed as much as he could, then kept adding more power and letting his brother's storm continue the compression further.

Like a brewing storm, the onlookers heard a low rumble coming from Orth's defensive position. Then a giant boom, just as Jaspor R's ass hit the ground, his magic reservoir competely drained. He lost control over the compression of his fire spell, and with no way to go but to follow the wind tube like a cannon barrel, the almost plasmoid fireball first disintegrated the stone wall in a perfect glassed circle, then thundered over the distance to the Orgen's defensive installation, and exploding against it.

Orth looked through the newly acquired viewing hole, then back to the Jaspor twins, and asked.

"Really? Wasn't that a bit overkill?"

Jaspor R got up and started regenerating his magic, while Jaspor G replied to their officer.

"Well, we wanted to see how far we could go, and I believe we still have quite a bit of potential to exploit."

Orth sighed and facepalmed, at that. Then a few seconds later, a quite pissed Obsidar came out from his tunneling efforts and shouted at the two idiots who almost ruined his hard work with the tremors of their attack but then quickly returned to his work. Leaving Orth to ask the second earth affinity mage on his team for a situational report. Labradorite sat on the ground, his eyes closed and concentrated, but at the request of his squad leader, he opened his eyes and gave his report. Enemy fortification is gone. I can't say if they got anyone. However, there is quite a bit of panic and chaos. The Jaspor twins nodded in pride, with a big smile on their faces, while they recharged their reservoirs to get back to a semblance of combat efficiency.

Labradorite was Orth's calmest member. He also didn't want to fight actively but got roped into military service by his parents. Having Orth as a commanding officer was a godsend, allowing him to develop his special magic further. Magic he called earth pulse, a sonar-like ability where he would observe the movements on the ground. With it, he could pinpoint targets and many more things, like changes in the landscape and, if driven to the maximum potential, even the composition of the earth itself. Labradorite also trained the rock thorn spell at Orth's urgings and had to agree it was a great fit for his signature spell.

With Orgen's fortification reduced to rubble and dust, Orth ordered everyone except himself and Ambor into Obsidar's tunnels for hit-and-run tactics. They had thoroughly ripped apart the Soul-kin doctrine and whatever plan Orgen had, meaning now the fight would devolve into the usual spell-slinging. Well, it would have if Orth hadn't had other plans, again referring to a page of Mor's book. A mage standing still is an easy target, and a mage needing to move can't cast anything strong. This means he just had to close the distance and keep up the pressure.

"Ready?" He asked his Second, who in turn nodded excitedly.

"Remember, leave Orgen to me and watch my back." Orth reminded Ambor.

"Yes, sir." The other mage replied, and Orth could see some excited sparks leaving the hands of his Second like little fireworks. Leading him to an idle thought about what he had unleashed on Soul-military with his training.

Well, his brother and father didn't leave him a choice, but he still felt a little bit bad for the "elite" mages who would now probably come face to face with a certified madman for the first time.