Solvar vs Mezi - Part 1

“Sir! They’re still advancing!”

An explosion of Pulse struck the fortifications before Leo could reach the wall.

The entire structure trembled beneath his feet. Dust fell between the stones, soldiers grabbed onto whatever they could find to keep their balance, and beyond the defenses, hundreds of Mezi soldiers advanced through the valley while new units emerged from the southern pass.

Leo kept climbing.

“Situation.”

An officer followed him up the final steps.

“The first line is still standing. Enemy infantry advancing through the center and west. Cavalry behind them, but they still haven’t found enough space to enter. Our archers are positioned on both elevations.”

“Pulse units?”

“Main gate and second line, as you ordered.”

Leo reached the top of the wall.

From there, he could finally see the entire battlefield.

Solvar’s mountains formed a natural passage to the south of the kingdom. The valley narrowed before reaching the fortifications, compressing any army that attempted to advance by land. For generations, walls had been built along the slopes themselves, creating different levels of defense that rose until they disappeared among the mountains.

Mezi had numbers. Solvar had this.

Leo placed both hands on the stone.

“How many?”

“We’ve confirmed at least thirty infantry units. More are still arriving.”

“I didn’t ask how many they have. How many do we have?”

The officer hesitated.

“Here? A little less than half that.”

Leo nodded.

“Enough.”

Another impact struck the gate. This time, he saw where it came from.

A concentration of violet Pulse emerged from between Mezi’s lines and shot toward the wall like a projectile. Leo raised one hand.

The air in front of him glowed gold. The violet blast stopped.

Leo turned his wrist. The energy changed direction. The same blast crossed the valley in reverse and exploded in front of Mezi’s troops, throwing men and earth in every direction.

The officer beside him smiled.

“Good to have you here, Hero.”

“It’ll stay that way if you do what I tell you.” He pointed toward the western elevation. “Pull half the archers from there.”

The smile disappeared.

“Sir?”

“They can see we’re stronger in the west. I want them to believe that too. Send half of them to the eastern slope, but keep them below the wall until I give the signal.”

“That’ll leave the position exposed.”

“Exactly.”

He ran off. Leo turned his attention back to the field. 

Mezi advanced.

Solvar’s first line gave way twenty minutes later. By order.

“Fall back!” the commander shouted.

The soldiers abandoned the lower barricades and ran toward the second line while Mezi advanced behind them.

“Now.”

Horns sounded through the mountains.

The Mezi troops that had broken through the first defense advanced into the corridor left behind by Solvar’s soldiers. The more men entered, the tighter their formation became.

Then the archers appeared on the slopes. On both sides. Hundreds of bowstrings were drawn at once.

“Fire!”

The sky darkened.

Arrows descended over the corridor as Pulse units emerged behind the second line. The arrows were charged, golden energy running through them before they struck the ground.

The mountain answered.

Explosions tore across the sides of the passage, dislodging rocks that had been prepared for that exact purpose over the course of years. Part of the slope collapsed behind the first Mezi units, separating them from the rest of the army.

The cavalry tried to advance. There was no room. Leo raised his right hand. A golden sphere appeared above his palm.

Small at first. Then larger. The Pulse compressed until the light became difficult to look at.

The Hero launched it. The sphere crossed the valley. The explosion opened a circle in the middle of the enemy formation and sent a column of earth and men into the air.

“Second line!” Leo shouted. “Advance!”

Solvar answered.

The soldiers who had appeared to be fleeing seconds earlier returned in formation. Shields closed off the passage and golden spears advanced against the Mezi soldiers trapped between them and the rocks blocking their retreat.

Leo didn’t descend. He didn’t need to. Another blast came toward him. He opened his hand and redirected it into the sky. 

A second attack was never launched. Leo felt the concentration of Pulse before he even saw the man producing it. He moved his hand to the side. The energy around the soldier was violently pulled along with the gesture.

His body followed. The man flew several yards through the air before crashing into two other soldiers.

Leo narrowed his eyes. More violet points were beginning to appear across the battlefield. Dozens.

“So that’s how we’re doing this.”

He raised both hands. Gold spread outward like a wave.

For a few seconds, Leo felt every concentration of Pulse near the surface around him. Solvar’s spears. The soldiers on the walls. The Mezi troops advancing through the valley. Each manifestation was a different presence within that space.

He pulled, and the enemy formation came apart.

Men coated in Pulse were ripped from the ground and thrown to the sides. Others lost their balance when the same energy strengthening their bodies dragged them in the opposite direction. Energized weapons were torn from their owners’ hands.

A Solvar soldier looked at Leo.

“How did you—”

“Don’t look at me!” he shouted.

The man raised his shield just as a sword struck it. Leo exhaled.

“Idiot.”

Then something pierced the soldier’s neck. Blood splattered across the shield.

The Hero stopped as he watched the man fall. A small black blade was lodged in his throat. He recognized it immediately.

“Shadows.”

Another soldier fell. Then a third. The blades were coming from somewhere among Mezi’s troops.

“Shields!” Leo shouted. “Now!”

A black rain cut across the battlefield.

The soldiers raised their defenses, but some of the blades found gaps between them. Screams spread along the second line.

Leo extended his hand. The blades glowing with violet Pulse stopped in midair. Dozens of them. For an instant, they remained suspended in front of Solvar’s soldiers.

The Hero closed his fist, and the weapons fell before they could reach them. One blade without any energy, however, slipped through the others and nearly cut his face, forcing him half a step back. Its speed alone was enough to open a small wound. Blood appeared on his cheek as he searched for the source of the attack and found, in the middle of the enemy army, a figure dressed in black watching him from a distance: Five.

Leo touched the cut. She had figured it out quickly.

“Right.”

Before he could turn his attention back to her, an explosion struck the gate below the wall. This time, it hadn’t been a blast of Pulse. An enormous hammer had struck the metal structure with enough force to bend it inward.

“The Shadows!” someone shouted.

The second blow cracked the stone around the gate. Leo jumped from the wall. The ground rushed toward him. Just before impact, golden Pulse exploded beneath his feet. He landed in the middle of the second line.

“Open it.”

The soldiers looked at him.

“Sir?”

The hammer struck the gate again.

“Open the gate.”

“But—”

“If he wants to come in, let him.”

The soldiers obeyed. The locks were removed while Six prepared another strike, but the gate opened before the hammer could hit it.

The enormous Shadow advanced without hesitation, the hammer resting over his shoulder and violet Pulse covering his body. Mezi soldiers tried to follow him, but the doors closed as soon as Six crossed through, leaving him alone inside the fortifications. He looked back and realized what had happened.

“Now!” Leo shouted.

Golden chains of Pulse emerged from four positions around the courtyard and wrapped themselves around the Shadow’s arms.

Six roared and pulled, dragging two of the soldiers across the ground. Leo extended his hand, and the Pulse covering the Shadow’s body responded for an instant. Six stopped. His muscles tightened as violet and golden energy clashed around him, until the Hero closed his fingers and pulled him downward. One of his knees struck the ground with enough force to make the courtyard tremble.

Six raised his head and smiled.

“Ah.”

Leo raised an eyebrow.

“You’re one of the fun ones.”

Six pulled again and broke the chains. In the same motion, he swung the hammer upward.

Leo dodged, and the hammer destroyed the spot where he had been standing an instant earlier. Taking advantage of the opening, he turned his body and fired a blast into Six’s chest, sending the Shadow across the courtyard until he crashed into the closed gate. The metal bent under the impact.

“Don’t let him get back up!”

The soldiers advanced, but a scream from the wall drew Leo’s attention. A bladed chain wrapped around a soldier’s ankle and ripped him from the top as Seven climbed onto the fortification.

Leo raised his hand and stopped one of his chains mid-swing. He pulled, dragging Seven from the wall, but the violet glow suddenly vanished from the weapon — and so did Leo’s control over it. Seven used the momentum to land on one of the lower structures.

Leo immediately understood what he had done.

“Smart.”

Seven injected Pulse back into the chain, bringing the weapon to life the instant he threw it again. Leo dodged the blade as it passed beside his face, but he felt another presence appear behind him before he could counterattack. He ducked on instinct as a spear passed over his head, splitting immediately afterward into several connected segments that changed direction in the middle of the attack and tried to surround him from both sides: Four.

The Hero created a golden wave that pushed the segments away, but Four was already advancing with his own weapon. The distance between them disappeared before Leo could prepare another attack, forcing him to block the tip of the spear only inches from his chest.

Gold and violet met at the tip of the spear, compressing the air between them. Four tried to push forward, but Leo moved only two fingers. Golden Pulse spread across the violet energy surrounding the weapon and distorted it, bending its flow to the side as though it had grabbed something invisible. The tip of the spear followed the movement against Four’s will, veering away from Leo’s chest and being dragged away from his body.

The spear followed the energy, ripped from its trajectory and causing Four to lose his footing for less than a second. That was all Leo needed. A golden explosion struck the Shadow in the chest and threw him out of the fortification.

The Hero took a deep breath as he surveyed the battlefield around him. Six was already getting back up, Seven was returning from the side, and Five remained hidden somewhere among the enemy troops. Four had also disappeared among Mezi’s soldiers after being thrown from the wall.

He knew there could be more.

Leo felt his presence before he saw him. He turned just as a sword came down toward him and raised a golden barrier between them. The impact cracked the ground beneath his feet, and on the other side of the energy, One pressed his blade against the defense.

His blond hair moved with the wind, and bandages could still be seen beneath parts of his dark clothing. The wounds from his previous fight hadn’t disappeared, but nothing in his eyes showed any hesitation.

“Hero of Solvar.”

Leo looked at the sword pressed against his barrier.

“Shadow... some number.”

One increased the pressure.

“One.”

“Okay.”

Leo opened his hand, and the barrier exploded between them, pushing One several yards backward. The Shadow slid across the ground, regained his balance, and advanced again without wasting any time. This time, violet Pulse spread across his sword as he prepared his next strike.

Leo raised his hand. Golden bands appeared over the violet energy surrounding the blade and closed around it. With a turn of his wrist, Leo twisted the flow to the right, and the sword was dragged along with it.

One, however, dispelled his own Pulse at that exact moment.

Without the violet energy for Leo to control, the golden bands came apart and the sword recovered its trajectory in the middle of the strike. Leo had to lean his head back as the edge passed in front of his face. One turned his body and attacked again, this time without manifesting any energy, forcing Leo to retreat as the sword went for his chest and then, immediately afterward, his neck.

He had figured it out.

“So that’s how you fight,” One said.

Leo dodged another strike.

“Usually.”

One changed the direction of his sword and attacked his neck. Leo raised his arm, creating a small golden barrier that intercepted the blade only inches from his skin.

“But you’re making this unnecessarily complicated.”

The barrier exploded and sent One flying backward. Leo followed with a barrage of golden blasts, forcing him onto one of the lower platforms.

Before he could pursue him, black blades cut through the air from different directions. Leo raised his hand, forcing those coated in violet Pulse aside, but the others passed straight through his control. He narrowly avoided one as it sliced through his sleeve.

Five had changed her strategy. She was now mixing projectiles coated in Pulse with completely ordinary blades, forcing Leo to identify which ones he could control before they reached him.

“They learn way too fast.”

“Sir!”

Leo looked down into the courtyard and found Six standing again, retrieving his hammer as though everything that had happened so far had only managed to annoy him.

“Argh! It’s going to be a long day...”