Soulforge Legacy Series

“Find a partner and start sparring. Preferably not one you have worked with before.” I didn’t know whether to cry in joy or horror. We were two hours in and my body felt like it had been tossed into the wash before being squeezed between two rollers to get every bit of moisture out. Only, in my case, it wasn’t moisture. My mana pool had flatlined about an hour in and it had never recovered.

The moment I stopped moving, I nearly collapsed to my knees. “Vulpier.” Someone yelled. “Arms up, hands behind your head, and walk it off.”

A part of me wanted to say no. To fall on my ass or even onto my back as I tried to catch my breath. Another part railed against that. Fought to follow the order. Not because it wanted to follow the order, but because it didn’t want to attract any more attention than I already had on me. Too bad that part had already failed thanks to that same order.

With a ragged breath, I did as he bade. My fingers laced together, and I started to move around. As my body started to calm and by breathing deepened, I watched people split off. Some broke out weapons while others focused entirely on magic. Or at least I had to assume it was magic. With the amount of mana flying through the air, it was a bit hard to tell who was doing what.

One of the pairs I watched started by pulled up walls between them and their opponent. Instead of casting spells to break the walls or go around, the person charged directly at them. They didn’t even use their fists to break the walls. Choosing instead to use their head of all things.

And it worked. Each wall broke under their charge, only for the walls to shift from blocking to deflecting their opponent. Angled to the side and shearing apart in such a way that the force he used to break it was deflected just a tiny amount to the side.

“Guess you're with me.” Came a much too hyper voice. Judging by her ears, she was a Cat Beastkin. Which was honestly a surprise given that I had only seen a few so far. In fact, I think this was the first time talking to one. “So, how do you want to do this? Weapons? Fisticuffs? Chase?”

She sounded so excited about the last option. More like a dog than a cat. “Umm…”

“Oh, come on. Please say chase. Please.” Oh God, something told me I would regret saying yes to that, but the look on her face was just so hard to resist.

“Fine.”

Her body practically vibrated with excitement. And for some reason, it felt as though yet more people were watching me. Like they were more interested in my fight than their opponent. Something that would be hard to tell given how hard they all seemed to be going at it.

“Any rules?” I asked, already regretting my decision.

“Just don’t get tagged.” That was all she said as she moved about twenty feet away. While it was close enough to get in fast, it wasn’t so close that I wouldn’t have time to react.

A second glance around to look at the various weapons people were using, I shrugged at what I found as I pulled Shizukana Arashi out. The blade sung in my hands as I got into position. For this first round, I would try and keep to physical attacks. To save my mana for later.

“Here I come!” She squealed with glee as she pushed off. For some reason, I expected her to be much faster. As it was, she was going slower than either of my previous trainers. Not including Bert of course.

My left foot slid to the side before turning into a pivot as I brought my blade to bear. Sparks flew when her nails came into contact with the flat side of the blade. Then she was past me. Her path curved as she circled around.

As she continued to circle me, a veritable swarm of tiny black squares flew high into the air. High enough that I almost couldn’t make them out. But that was it. They didn’t hover there. They didn’t rain attacks down. All they did was flutter through the air.

I was so distracted with trying to figure out what she had tossed that I nearly missed her coming in for another strike. This time she moved with a bit more speed. Though, still, it wasn’t anywhere near the speed Bert had used when training me.

Another pivot and block. Then she was past me. Racing around me once again. Then she dropped low. Targeting my legs as she charged in once again.

With a bit of effort, I leapt over her. But, before I could turn around to see her, she was gone. Not to my left or my right. She was just gone.

Without warning, a shadow blocked the sun as something fell toward me. It was so sudden that my brain had no time to process what was going on, let alone figure out what to do. My body, however, didn’t have that issue. With my legs still slightly bent from my last dodge, I used them to leap to the side. Rolling through the dirt twice before rising to face whatever had nearly turned me into paste.

Other than a small cloud of dust, there was nothing there. Another shadow caught my eye as it raced across my peripheral vision. Not wishing to be caught like that again, I did the one thing people in scary movies never did. I looked up.

Jumping from fluttering square to fluttering square was the cat. And unlike not even a minute ago, she was moving as fast as Bert had. With one more jump, she changed direction. Aiming for me once again.

Even seeing it coming, I barely had time to dodge, let alone counterattack. By this point, it was obvious that the people around us were more interested in our fight than their own. While they still fought, their strikes were weak and slow.

The distraction nearly cost me an ear as she whipped by me again. Given that the attack wasn’t lined up with me, it was likely her way of reminding me to pay attention. Something I would have to work on. Especially if the battles became even more chaotic.

Blade up, I turned my gaze up. Focusing on the air above me and the shadow that seemed to dance between the cards. With each, it seemed to speed up even more until it was little more than a blur. All the while, the sound of someone screaming with glee filled the air.

Then she shifted direction. Flashing toward me at a speed that I had no chance to deal with. At least, not without mana. Unfortunately, even as I pushed my mana to move and empower my body, it wouldn’t be fast enough. I wouldn’t be fast enough.

The ground below me rocked as she slammed into it. Four sharp-tipped points poked into my throat as she came to a complete stop. We stood there for a moment before she let out a little cheer. Jumping for joy as she continued to celebrate her victory.

The Major grew annoyed enough that he yelled from across the battlefield. “BLUR! Stop playing around and get back to training!”

While she stopped jumping up and down, her smile stayed on her face. “Did you see how fast I was going?” Not knowing what else to do, I shook my head. “Now it is your turn to catch me.”

Oh hell no. There was no way I could keep up with her. Especially if she took to the air again. Speaking of which, how did she do that? “Um….can you first tell me how you jumped through the air like that?”

Instead of answering me, she leapt into the air. Catching the nearest square before landing next to me. Held between two fingers was a playing card. It didn’t feel or look special. From what I could see, it was a normal playing card. But that didn’t make sense. Surely there was something special about them.

“I got the idea from that science experiment with the stick and the piece of newspaper.” At my confused look, she continued. “You know, the one where you put the stick half on and half off the table, then put the paper over the table side. Then, if you hit it, the stick breaks due to the paper and air resistance.”

Okay, so I knew that experiment, but that didn’t mean shit here. Not when each card was small enough to fit in my hand. “See, while you can do it with larger squares, you can trade size for speed. The faster you hit them, the smaller the paper can be.”

I tried to wrap my head around the absurdity of her words. Just how fast was she going? “Umm…how about we switch back to…”

Before I could suggest we switch to something more normal, like some sparring while not leaving the fucking planet, the Major gave a shout. “Return to your squads. Numbers Seven and Eight, report to the Captain for assignment. The rest of you, time to practice array formations.”

Some people cheered at something he said while others grumbled. The cat next to me was one of those that grumbled. “When will we get to go back out? I want to kill something already.”

Ignoring her, I focused on finding my squad. All of whom were on the opposite side of the space. As I approached, I caught the tail end of the Foxkin’s words. “Goal is to create a stable connection. The more stable you manage, the more power is generated. Now, who here wants to work with the newbie?”

Not a single person volunteered. “Thank you for volunteering Tomás.”

“Hey,” the shortest person, and the one who had nearly caused my food to fall off the ledge this morning, called out. “Why do I have to…”

The look she shot him shut the guy up. “Because you seem to need reminding that this is not a high school. We are not here to bully others. We are here to learn to trust, fight, and work together. If you were to suddenly get hurt, do you think she would be willing to even lift a finger to help you? Because I don’t.”

While she was wrong, it wasn’t because of what he did or didn’t do. I just wouldn’t leave someone alone if I could help it. It was one of the issues that led to my near-death. Hell, it led to my current predicament.

“Sorry ma’am. It will not happen again ma’am.” Somehow I doubted that, but I wasn’t going to call him out. It wasn’t my place.

“See that it doesn’t.” She waved at me. “Now make sure she understands at least the basics of the array because out of all of us here, she is the one who will most likely need it.”

His feet practically stomped into the dirt as he made his way toward me. “Okay newbie, let's get a few things straight here.” Oh boy. So much for what she just said. “When I speak, you will listen. No interruptions. No questions. I don’t want to hear a word out of you unless I ask you a question. Is that understood?”

I didn’t answer him. For all I knew, that question was rhetorical. Okay, so I knew it wasn’t, but if he wanted to play, I would play. After all, who doesn’t like a good game?

So, let the games begin.