Chapter 17: Outcast of the Vances
Russell and Soren were now facing off against Kael Arventis. The Shining General in question removed his long greatsword from it's sheath, after he had just completely tanked Soren's lava wave. Soren gritted his teeth, the gravity of the situation bearing even more on him.
"You guys need some discipline. I'll gladly give it to you." Arventis smiled maliciously. He raised his gloved hands.
"Heat Magic: Blazing Mirage!"
The heat emanating from the Commander's gloves converged around a single point, twisting, forming into a copy of the Commander himself, made out of pure heat.
"I can only use this technique because of my extremely high mana," the first Commander said.
"So now the odds are even," the second one smiled maliciously.
Both commanders rushed at the two Magic Knights, greatswords in hand, ready to lop off their heads with one fell swoop. Soren blocked quickly with his greataxe, his resolve etched into his face, but Russell had a different approach.
Using the wall as leverage, he acrobatically flipped over the assailant, unsheathed his rapier, and attacked with a flurry of Mana-Coated stabs, each one hitting a pressure point. The commander stumbled back, clearly in some pain. Then he laughed. Heat from the air began to heal his wounds.
"Hey, no fair!" Russell protested. "At least I know which one's the clone now."
"All's fair in love and war, kiddo," the General smirked, "and I don't have a whole lot of love to give." He rushed at Russell, greatsword in hand.
"En garde!" Russell yelled. He was really getting into the battle now.
The Dust and Heat magic users stabbed and slashed at each other, Russell's capabilities boosted by adrenaline. Russell leaped back, and started manipulating a small tornado of dust in one hand.
"Seriously? Dust Magic?" the Commander said, his voice dripping with mock fear. "So scary…"
Russell laughed at this, and then his expression turned serious. "I think you'll find it's a lot more potent than you think."
He sheathed his rapier and raised his other hand. The dust tornado started to grow in size, all the dust in the room being sucked into Russell's vortex.
"Dust Magic: Dust Storm Fury!"
The dust storm hurtled with speed towards the commander, who just stood there. The other commander was raising his hand. Soren yelled at him. "Hey! Focus on our fight!"
Kael Arventis just kicked him away, and then brought his left hand into a fist in a crushing motion.
"Heat Magic: K-bomb." he smiled.
The fake commander's form shifted into one that was shapeless. The heat forming his body swirled, converging around a point as it had before, then released in a furious motion, a shockwave which seemed to burn even the air itself. Russell quickly pulled his attack spell back into a Dust Magic: Dust Cloud Barricade, but the shockwave was faster, more powerful, and Russell was knocked back into a wall.
The general now turned his attention to Soren, who had gotten back up and stared at him with a defiant gleam in his eyes. He rushed at him, charging up his attack.
"Lava Magic: Gaping Chasm!"
He held his battleaxe up and slammed it against the ground, causing it to rupture the ground, sending a blade of lava at the big boss, who smirked and raised his own weapon.
"Heat Magic: Ignition Blade!"
He sent his own rend of heat energy at Soren's lava slash. The two attacks met, but the General's slash cut clean through Soren's, siphoning the heat from it and heading towards Soren, who barely managed to dodge. The general redirected the slash with a swipe of his hand, and it hurtled towards the lava mage.
Well, shit. He thought. This might be where it ends…
...
The village was ablaze, the flames reaching for the sky as if trying to escape the madness below. Soren's hands trembled as he knelt in the dirt, watching the fire consume everything he had ever known. The sound of clashing steel, the screams of his neighbors, the crackling of the inferno—all of it blended into a terrible symphony of destruction.
His father had always told him to be brave, to be strong. But standing there, knees weak, Soren felt anything but strong.
"Soren!" a voice shouted behind him. His father, Harven, was charging toward him, his face streaked with soot, his eyes wide with something Soren had never seen in him before—fear.
Harven grabbed him by the shoulders. "Get up! You have to move! There's no time!"
Soren didn't respond. He couldn't. His body was frozen, rooted to the spot as he watched the flames dance over the rooftops, the smoke curling into the sky like dark tendrils of some malevolent force.
His father shook him harder, forcing him to meet his eyes. "Listen to me, Soren. You have to run. Get out of here, now. Go to the mountain, and don't look back."
Soren's lips moved, but no sound came out. His mind was too numb to process what was happening. His father's words barely registered.
A roar broke through the chaos—a sound that shook the very earth beneath them. Soren's heart skipped a beat as a massive figure loomed over the village, its body wreathed in flames. It was a monster, something out of a nightmare, a creature made of molten rock and fire. Its eyes glowed like twin suns, and its massive, clawed hand reached for them.
"Soren, now!" Harven screamed, pushing him away.
But Soren didn't run. Something deep inside him snapped, a primal force surging up from his very core. The heat around him intensified, and his skin began to burn, not from the flames, but from the magic welling up inside him.
Lava Magic.
Without thinking, Soren raised his hands, and the earth responded. The ground beneath the monster erupted, a torrent of molten lava shooting into the air, enveloping the creature in a blazing inferno. The beast roared in fury, but the lava swallowed its cries, melting its body into nothingness.
For a moment, there was silence. Soren's chest heaved, his hands still outstretched, the lava slowly cooling at his feet. He had done it. He had saved them.
But then he heard the scream.
It wasn't the monster.
It was his father.
Soren turned, his blood running cold. Harven was lying on the ground, pinned beneath a chunk of debris that had been blown loose by the eruption. His face was twisted in pain, his body motionless except for the labored rise and fall of his chest.
"Dad!" Soren ran to him, dropping to his knees beside him. "I—I didn't mean to—"
Harven's hand weakly grasped his arm, stopping him. "It's... it's not your fault, son," he rasped, his voice barely audible. "You did... what you had to do."
Tears stung Soren's eyes as he stared at the man who had taught him everything he knew, the man who had always been his rock, his protector. And now, because of his own magic, his father lay broken before him.
"I can fix this," Soren muttered, his hands trembling as he reached for the debris. "I can—"
"Soren," Harven whispered, his grip tightening. "No. You can't. Listen to me."
Soren's breath hitched, his chest tightening with panic. "But—"
"Listen," Harven said, his voice firm despite the pain. "You're... stronger than you think. But strength... doesn't come from power alone. It comes... from knowing when to fight, and when to... let go."
Soren shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "I can't let go. I—"
"You have to." Harven's voice was fading, but his eyes remained steady, focused on his son. "Promise me, Soren. Promise me... you'll remember."
Soren's throat tightened, his heart shattering into pieces. But he nodded. "I promise."
Harven smiled faintly, his hand falling limp. "Good... boy..."
And then he was gone.
...
"I'm sorry, Dad… I couldn't live for you, but I'll at least do one thing for you… let go…"
Soren closed his eyes as the rend of heat hit him, exploding in a shockwave that put horrible burns on most of his body. He flew back, hit a wall and was still.
"In the end, he couldn't really let go, could he?"
The Commander heard a voice. It was the voice of Russell Vance, a quiet fury on his face, blood dripping down his head, standing next to the unconscious Soren. He looked down, tears welling up in his eyes.
"That's why…you used Mana Skin, wasn't it, Soren? At the last moment…"
"I heard the voice… of my father telling me… to live…" Soren croaked weakly, coughing up blood, his body even more blackened than usual.
The Commander quirked an eyebrow. "He survived… I'm getting rusty in my old age."
Russell now turned towards the commander with smouldering eyes, and Arventis felt an unfamiliar pang in his chest.
"Take it easy, Soren. I swear on my status as a Coral Peacock, I will defeat this man!"
The General roared and rushed towards Russell, his frustration at being defied boiling over. Russell exhaled, steadied himself… and then disappeared into specks of dust, reforming behind the General and stabbing at him.
The General winced in pain, then did a 180 towards the dust mage and slashed at him. Russell turned into dust again and reformed on the General's back, sinking his rapier deep into his back.
The Commander gritted his teeth, then smiled. "Heat Magic: Solar Flare!" The mage erupted with a ridiculously potent shockwave of heat, knocking Russell back, but he took the brunt of the attack thanks to Mana Skin.
Russell hit the ground hard, his body aching from the heat shockwave, but he quickly rolled back to his feet, panting. He wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes still locked on the Shining General. The sheer intensity of Kael Arventis's magic was suffocating, but Russell knew there was no room for hesitation. Soren was down, barely holding on, and it was up to him to turn the tide.
The General sneered as he slowly advanced. "You're tough, I'll give you that. But tough isn't enough." He twirled his greatsword, the heat waves radiating off of it warping the air. "I've been in a thousand battles, boy. You really think you can best me?"
Russell gripped his rapier tighter, the blade gleaming with the remnants of his mana. "I don't have to best you. I just have to outlast you." He flashed a cocky smile despite the pain wracking his body. "And from where I'm standing, I've got plenty of fight left."
Arventis's grin faded, replaced by a cold glare. "I'm going to enjoy breaking that spirit of yours."
With a burst of speed, Arventis lunged at Russell, his greatsword coming down with the force of a mountain. Russell's instincts kicked in, and he sidestepped just in time, the sword crashing into the ground with a fiery explosion. The force of the strike sent tremors through the battlefield, but Russell was already moving, reforming as dust particles as he zipped around the General.
Russell didn't just stab blindly this time—he focused his magic on the thin lines where Arventis's mana flowed, aiming for the weak spots. Each strike found its mark, sending waves of pain through the General's body. Arventis grunted, but his rage only grew. He swung his sword in a wide arc, trying to catch Russell, but the dust mage was faster, darting in and out like a shadow.
"You're really starting to annoy me!" Arventis roared, his body flaring with an intense heat. "Heat Magic: Solar Prison!"
Flames erupted around the battlefield, forming a fiery cage that surrounded Russell and Soren, trapping them inside. The heat intensified, suffocating, as the flames closed in. The air shimmered, and even the ground beneath their feet began to crack from the pressure.
Russell's eyes narrowed. He could feel the heat pressing in, threatening to crush him. But then he heard Soren's weak voice from behind him.
"Russell... don't give up," Soren croaked, his voice barely a whisper. "We can't... lose here."
A surge of determination rushed through Russell. He wasn't going to let his friend down. Not now. Not after everything they'd been through.
He closed his eyes, focusing all his remaining mana into his next move. The dust around him began to swirl, faster and faster, forming a vortex that started to push back against the heat. Arventis's eyes widened in surprise as the dust storm began to absorb the flames, sucking them into the vortex like a black hole.
"You want a real storm?" Russell growled, his voice low and steady. "I'll show you one."
"Dust Magic: Tempest of Ruin!"
The vortex exploded outward, a maelstrom of dust and wind tearing through the flames, ripping apart the Solar Prison. The force of the storm caught Arventis off guard, his footing faltering as the ground shook beneath him. The dust storm tore at his skin, his armour, even his mana. For the first time in the fight, the Shining General looked vulnerable.
Russell didn't waste a second. He darted through the storm, his body moving with the dust as he closed the distance between him and Arventis.
In a flash, Russell was behind him again, rapier poised to strike. "This ends now!" he shouted, pouring every last ounce of his mana into the blade.
My magic may not be flashy like Lilian's, have ridiculous destructive power like Soren's, or be nuanced like Lars's…
"Dust Magic: One Million Particle Scatter!"
The slash of condensed dust hit the General squarely in the back, causing him to cough up blood. He fell, and this time, didn't get up.
Russell let out a primal cry of victory. The unconscious Soren seemed to smile.
But it gets the job done.
A/N: Russell is definitely my favourite character, second to Lars (obviously)
Who would your SECOND favourite character be? (im running out of question ideas don't judge me)