Bloom

Roz found himself staring at the clouds in the clear blue sky. The gentle white giants travelled aimlessly from above, floating above the great stone wall of Bordertown. They all seemed too far out of his reach. He wondered what it was like to be up there. Was it even possible for mortals to reach that level? Perhaps the souls of those long lost were somewhere flying above the clouds, watching the living live the lives they used to live down below. If that were the case, would Lucian be among them? Would he be watching Roz face what could be his last day in this world?

“It’s not too late to run away, you know,” Sonia whispered to his ear with a giggle.

“Now’s not the time to mess around, Sonia.”

“Come on, there’s no need to be so tense!” Sonia said. The elf was balancing herself on her right foot with her arms out wide, and her body was bent forward while her left leg was stretched upward with her knee folded and resting on top of her left arm. “Loosen up a little!”

“If stretching like that is your idea of looseness, then I’ll have to pass.”

“You both are awfully whimsical for people who're going to engage in battle,” Bianca said. “Are you even taking this seriously?”

She stood beside the duo with her arms crossed, but there was an intentionally wide gap that separated them from the lady Hero. The only person that was close to her was Lupa, who was shivering like a wet puppy.

“We can do this, we can do this,” she muttered to herself.

“You don’t have to worry too much, Lupa,” Roz said. “I’ll be the one standing on the frontlines. All of you can support me from behind.”

“A-Alone?!” Lupa flinched. “Can you really take them all on your own?!”

Roz glanced towards Sonia. The elf’s playful expression shifted to a grim gaze, then she nodded at him as if they had agreed towards something. Roz looked back to Lupa and Bianca.

“Sonia and I have a trump card planned.”

“A trump card?” Bianca asked.

Before Roz could speak again, the group was interrupted by the deep blaring of a loud horn. Everyone turned their attention to the lands beyond the wall. The sound of a mass thumping broke through the silent air with the might of a rolling thunder. An army of barbarians on horseback, all riding towards the same direction with the great Taiga leading the pack. Roz had never seen this many barbarians in his life. The sheer number of them was enough to make his heart waver for a moment, but he shut it down in an instant. He didn’t know the exact number, but he was sure that there were at least two hundred of them among their ranks. Bianca’s knights were on standby under the wall, but they were only twenty in number. It was clear that they stood no chance against the barbarians. In a logical standpoint, Roz understood why they were better off submitting to the demands of the barbarians, because he couldn’t see how they were going to win this. He couldn’t blame Bianca for thinking about working with the barbarians to protect the town.

There was no hope of winning this fight.

But that’s exactly why he’s here.

“Bianca, don’t order your troops to engage,” Roz said.

Bianca sharpened her gaze. “Why are you telling me how to order my troops?”

“I won’t allow any of them to die before I do,” Roz said with a stone cold resolution.

Bianca took one hard look into his eyes. For a moment, it appeared as though she was looking at Roz with admiration, but she turned her head away and clicked her tongue.

“Fine. Do whatever you want to do. I’ll try to make sure you don’t get yourself killed within seconds.”

“Thank you.”

Taiga held his hand up in the air, and the barbarians pulled their horses back to a complete stop. The barbarian chief rode ahead until he reached a close enough distance for the people on the wall to hear his voice.

“What is the meaning of this, Miss Bianca?!” Taiga raised his hands. “I thought we had an agreement!”

“There’s been a change of plans,” Bianca said.

Taiga frowned and let out a deep sigh. He fixed his gaze towards Roz, then he laughed in disbelief.

“Wait, I thought you hated that man! You were going on and on about killing him, and now you stand by his side like nothing ever happened?! What was that all about, some sort of lover’s quarrel?!”

“I’ve decided that this battlefield will be his grave, and he shall die taking all of you with him.”

Taiga’s laughter echoed through the air.

“You truly are a twisted woman! Definitely my type of woman! I love it! Are you sure you want to do this? I’m still willing to forgive you if you come running to me with open arms!”

“Just get out of my face and run back to the cursed family of savages where you belong.”

Taiga pouted.

“You’re breaking my heart, dear princess! What a shame! Truly, a shame!”

He turned back with his horse and started riding back to his army.

“Sonia,” Roz addressed her. “Do it now.”

The elf shot him a serious glance. There was hesitation in her eyes, but she brushed it aside and let out a light chuckle.

“Bless your soul,” she said.

Sonia spun her arms around in a circle, then she clasped her hands and fingers together with one palm pointing upward and the other pointing downward.

“Soul of Restoration…..”

As she muttered those words, Sonia opened her hands, revealing a shining flower with petals reflecting the colors of the rainbow. Roz’s heart raced as he gazed at the flower. This might have been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. A sparkle no other flower was capable of bringing to light. It was brimming with vitality, glowing as the embodiment of hopes and dreams that have long been lost. To Roz, it appeared as a soul of purity, untainted by the darkness of the world. He questioned whether someone like him should even be close to such a thing.

“What….is that?” Bianca muttered at the sight of the flower, while Lupa was left speechless with her jaw hung loose.

Sonia crushed the flower with one hand, then she stabbed Roz straight through the heart.

“Second Bloom.”

She twisted her arm like a key to a lock, and a powerful light burst from Roz’s chest, blinding everyone nearby. The light was so strong, that even Taiga had to stop his horse just to see what was going on. Roz felt an abundance of energy flooding through his chest. Everything flowed through every part of his body, blazing through his blood. The power was all too overwhelming for him, it felt like he was going to explode into a being of pure light.

“My soul feels whole again,” he said.

Eventually, that overwhelming sensation calmed down, but Roz felt like a different man. This feeling was all too familiar to him. He remembered what it was like to be this way, so full of youth. His prime. This was who he used to be. Alain Isebran, the Stellar Honor of the Alexandrian Hero Academy. It was like the past and present fused together under one body.

“Alain….” Bianca’s eyes sparkled at his appearance. The way she said his name was not out of anger this time. She addressed him like she was speaking to the person she used to look up to back when they were younger.

“Leave it to your seniors, Bianca,” Roz said.

He ran forward and leapt out of the wall. As he did, time seemed to slow down for him, and it felt like he was floating in the air like an eagle.

“Soul of Invention: Ice Armor.”

Roz never thought that he would ever chant that spell again. It was one of the signature spells he used to cast back in his Academy days. Ice formed around every part of his body as he fell from the sky, then he crashed down to the ground with the might of a legendary Hero. A knight made out of pure, cold ice.

“How fascinating!” Taiga yelled at him with a smile. “So this is your true form!”

Roz wasted no time for chatter. He charged forward without hesitation, ready to slay everyone in his path.

“Soul of Invention: Ice Spear.”

The long weapon formed in his hand, then he launched it straight towards Taiga’s direction.

“You bastard!” Taiga bellowed at him.

He deflected the spear with his axe and started pulling further away.

“Soldiers!” Taiga called out to his army. “Attack!”

The barbarians roared in unison and began riding onward. Despite facing all of them alone, Roz showed no sign of fear. His face was dead calm, eyes sharp and focused in like that of a hunter, determined to take them all down one by one.

“Soul of Invention: Ice Spear.”

Roz heaved his spear towards the closest barbarian. The rider raised his shield to block the incoming attack, but the spear ended up hitting his horse instead. They both fell down to the ground and got crushed by the stampede that followed behind him.

“The best way to take out a horseman is by aiming for the horse.”

The barbarians were still a considerable distance away from Roz, and the frozen knight had a lot more spears to throw. One by one, he launched them into the air, all of them aimed towards the horses. It started with one barbarian, then a second one, then a third, and so on and so forth. They fell down one after the other, unable to evade the spears that came their way. The others at the back were fortunate enough to notice their fallen comrades and slowed down their horses. However, they failed to notice the arrows of light raining down from the sky. The arrows pierced through their bodies before they could even raise their heads, causing them to fall off their horses.

“Get off your horses!” Taiga ordered. “We charge on foot! Keep your shields up, you bastards!”

The barbarians followed his instructions and stepped out of their mounts with utmost obedience.

As expected. Taiga’s quick to adjust his tactics. I have to be faster.

“Soul of Invention: Dual Blades of Ice.”

Roz extended his hands and unleashed his twin swords. Even now, he still couldn’t believe that he was doing this. Out of all the spells he had trained in the past, this was his most favourite one. It all came so naturally to him, like it had never left his soul. In a time when he could die at any moment, Roz felt the most alive. Truly an irony.

The barbarians rushed towards him with their weapons. They tried to overwhelm him with their numbers, but Roz was as swift as he was brave. Before the man in front of him could even swing his axe, the frozen knight had already slashed his left sword through his stomach. Not even a second right after, he swung his right sword through another man’s chest. The other barbarians couldn’t even get a chance to touch him. Roz spun and weaved through them like a blade dancer, leaving behind a stream of blood in his path. It didn’t matter who was in front of him. All Roz cared about was taking down everyone who stood in his way. He moved with such terrifying elegance, that the rest of the pack ended up reconsidering what they were doing and chose to step back.

“Who’s next?” Roz asked them.

“I’ll go!”

Roz shifted his gaze upward, then he leapt away. A barbarian fell from the sky and slammed a warhammer to the ground, causing the earth to explode into large rocky spikes forming a wide radius.

Roz clicked his tongue.

“An Annihilator.”

Just as he was about to come up with a strategy to beat the barbarian, a dangerous feeling creeped up behind him. He turned back to see a shadowy hook flying towards his neck. Roz shifted to side to evade the sneak attack, but he ended up being greeted by an electrical ball of spikes. He dove away from the ball and rolled to the ground, then he looked back up. Three barbarians, all with their own unique set of abilities. And he knew they wouldn’t be the only ones.

Roz breathed a sigh.

Of course they’d have Soul Art users.