11 Soldiers
With the battle against the ghoul in CIne being won by Ahli and Sharon, the reward that he got was 10 extra cards, making his deck finally reach the standard level. However, he could not call it a proper standard yet, as he had not gotten any unit spell yet. Therefore, against the 11 soldiers of the three-headed yellow dragon, Ahli knew that how he maximized his attacks would be key to surviving. Not to mention that every one of those soldiers had the power of two with life points in quite a mix of either 2, 3, and 4 among them. This makes that if all of them attack him all at once and if he could not defend himself, he surely will die with just one blow from each of them.
As his brain racked with plans, one strange thing caught his eyes. Mr. Granger, as his ally for this battle, had a stat. There, near his feet, a stat box with 3/4 written in it, floated and followed his movements. Not just that, an icon with the drawing of a wall with a hole in the middle of it could be seen located on top of Mr. Granger's power and life stats.
Ahli knew immediately that it is the icon of the Breakthrough ability, an ability that makes the unit that has it capable of giving extra damage to a defending card mage, even though a unit that the defending card mage control had blocked or clashed with the unit with Breakthrough. As the situation in this battle did not have any other card mage around, Ahli was quite excited about how Breakthrough would play against units only.
"Mr. Granger, if they are too much for you, just step back closer to me."
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"FLOAT MODE!" All seven cards in his hand quickly transformed into their giant holographic form. Ahli choose to do the battle this time in float mode as it could provide him with extra protection. With this, he will be able to defend himself as well using his short sword.
"What the hell is this?" One of the soldiers seemed unfamiliar with the float mode, which made Ahli wonder whether the other card mage ever used one, or even knew how to use this.
"Don't care. Everyone, attack!" With that command, all 11 soldiers came at Ahli and Mr. Granger. A few of them came by rushing toward the giant version of the cards and quickly learned the hard way when they were crashed onto it. Others, however, were lucky enough and were able to pass through the crevice between the cards and entered Ahli's safe zone.
"Set Puncture the Sky as a mana source." As he gave his command, both of his arms moved with his short sword, receiving an incoming drop slash from one of the soldiers.
PUNCTURE THE SKY
Fire Mana
[Magic Spell]
Target unit in your party deals damage equal to its power to target unit with flying.
Mana: Fire
Another one of the soldiers came at him with a slash, swung at his left side of the body. Luckily, Mr. Granger was on time to save him as he unleashed his palm strike on the soldier that swung at the left. It produced a shockwave that was hitting the first soldier that was pushing his sword on Ahli, as he was in the same straight line as the other one.
"You okay?"
Ahli gave a nod to Mr. Granger as an answer. He also assumed that what Mr. Granger just did was how a Breakthrough ability works in this Real-Time Strategy battle. Ahli then looked at the 6 cards that were floating around him. There were three fire cards left, which were Heat From Within, Fiery Strength, and Sparks of Change; two wood cards, which were Strangle and Bramble; and Jena's Pendant. Among all of them, Sparks of Change was the only one that could be set as a mana source. With that, Ahli would be able to cast Jena's Pendant and boost his mana source, making him able cast more spells.
That should be the perfect plan, however, with only four mana, and no wood mana source, Strangle, Heat From Within, and Bramble's chances of being cast would be slim. Therefore, he wished for any card that could be used as a wood mana source, as beside he will be able to cast the wood cards, it will also make his resource to 5, making him able to use all cards in his hand.
STRANGLE
1+Wood Mana
[Quickening Spell]
Kill one target unit with life 3 or less.
Mana: -
HEAT FROM WITHIN
3+Fire Mana+Fire Mana
[Quickening Spell]
Deal 3 damage to any target. It deals 5 damage instead if there are 7 card in used pile.
Mana: -
BRAMBLE
2+Wood Mana+Wood Mana
[Enchant Magic]
All enemy unit movement is restrained.
Mana: -
When the next card that was appearing transformed into its giant size, Ahli felt disappointed that it was Spellblade. The card is unable to be used as a mana source, and with that, he had thoughts of being impatient by using Sparks of Change to check his next draw. Yet, he could still go with the original plan and set it, so he could cast Jena's Pendant.
SPELLBLADE
4+Fire Mana
[Quickening Spell]
Target unit gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
Mana: -
SPARKS OF CHANGE
Fire Mana
[Magic Spell]
Deal 1 damage to any target.
Look at the top card of your deck. You may put it at the bottom of your deck.
Mana: Fire
As using Sparks of Change would be a waste of time with the chances the card after or the card after that would not be able to be used as a mana source, Ahli finally decided to go with his original plan and accelerate his mana supply. Also, it was a rare occasion to have Jena's Pendant in his opening hand and be able to cast it on turn 2. A chance of boosted mana that the card is intended to do in design terms. With that, he gave a command, "Set Sparks of Change as Mana Source! Then, pay 2 mana to cast Jena's Pendant!"
Sparks of Change transformed from a giant illusion into a shard. Which then quickly followed with it transforming into bright light along with the other fire shard. Both then flew directly toward the giant illusion of Jena's Pendant's card. The card itself then disappeared as the pendant appeared around Ahli's neck.
As his sequence was done, Ahli took a quick check on the battlefield situation. He looked toward the soldiers that were hit by Mr. Granger from before. The one that tried to strike Ahli from the left had been pronounced dead by the system, however, another one was not and he was starting to get back up. Ahli saw that his stats was a 2/3 and it meant that, as Mr. Granger has a power of 3, the one that had died might have been a 2/2, with the Breakthrough ability gave a 1 point hit toward the 2/3 soldier.
"Bruce is down!"
As one of the soldiers gave that notification, the other soldiers became more aggressive in attacking. Ahli saw the one that compete in strength with him before had fully stood again, and this time he was approaching him, ready to unleash a two-handed forehand slash.
Deciding not to engage with it, Ahli took many steps back, while moving his body, aiming the giant holographic card left and right, so it act as a shield against whoever tried to close their distance with him. The trick, however, was only a child's play of course, and it was not a match for these trained men, and with that, some of them were able to slip through the defense.
"Mr. Granger!" Facing them of course could not be done alone, and luckily Mr. Granger was quick to respond.
Mr. Granger faced the two that were coming at Ahli. However, realizing that one of them had the life of 4 and he was the one that would exchange blows with Mr. Granger, Ahli quickly yelled at Mr. Granger. "Not that one, the other one."
Hearing his command at a split second was not a problem for Mr. Granger, with he quickly outmaneuvered the one that should exchange blows with him. Even that particular soldier himself was surprised by the change of situation and could only see in awe as Mr. Granger landed his strike at the other one that was coming at Ahli.
With that one being a 2/3, Ahli had to make the notification for Mr. Granger as he was unable to use Fiery Strength, which is a buff spell until the next turn started. The reason of course because of the lack of fire mana shards available, as the two that were available, had been used to cast Jena's Pendant.
But, there was also another reason for the shift in defense and that would be the reason of time. Having to exchange blows with a unit that would not die immediately would surely prolong the battle, and with the lack of number, that would be not in their favor for sure. Because of that, finishing the small ones first would be the proper tactic for them. And with this strategy, now from 11 soldiers, they were down to 9 left.
FIERY STRENGTH
1+Fire Mana
[Quickening Spell]
Target unit gains +2/+0 until end of turn.
Mana: -
"Great call." Praised Mr. Granger who had returned to Ahli's side.
"Great Maneuver." Praised Ahli back at him.
"Thanks. Let's win this battle quick."
As they prepared for the next wave of attack, the soldiers of the three-headed yellow dragon started to build up their formation again. They had regrouped and instead of rushing, they line up with their swords prepared for a stab position. Their eyes were definitely focused on Mr. Granger and Ahli, as they thread their steps carefully this time. Ahli himself recalled this formation like the one used by ancient Greek, the phalanx formation, but minus the shield. What would be worrying, is that if this truly an adaptation of that formation, then there might a variation of maneuver that the soldiers would unleash as they lack of shields. As he was anticipating that, Ahli saw how the soldiers started to move step by step toward him and Mr. Granger, with steps that gradually became faster.