The Rising of the Card Mage Part 3

Ahli tried to keep his distance from this particular goblin, even though his body would rather just rest till the pain goes away. He slowly turned his body and started to crawl to build his escape. He put his right foot again pressing the ground, then gathered all the power he could muster in his body to give him the push to stand. It helped him rise, but he was not steady enough because of the hit and fall. His left leg quickly hit the ground to make his stand firm. It was then followed by the right leg moving to the front and continued with the left leg doing the same thing. Ahli started running, even though he was unable to run straight as he swayed left and right trying to reach the female swordsman.

His run was not smooth at all with him almost slipping and hitting some rocks on his way closing the distance with the female swordsman. As he became closer and closer to her, he realized that if he would hit her as he couldn't control his body properly. Luckily for him, as he almost hit the female swordsman, he was caught by his own legs and finally slip. Ahli fell only less than 2 meters from the female swordsman position.

"What are you doing in the ground? Get up and help me!" Again, another luck for Ahli, she noticed him. However, she did not rush to help him at all.

Ahli slowly tilted his head to the side to check on her status and she saw how she was fighting against 3 goblins at the same time. She was able to stab one to the death before she kept her distance from them by moving to Ahli's side. She quickly pulled him with only one hand and is able to make Ahli stand on his feet.

"Hey, you're a Card Mage, right? Do your shit and buff me!" ordered the female swordsman as she took out a vial from her side pocket, opened its lid, and forced drink it to Ahli.

He was surprised by the sudden action and tried to resist, and got more shock as he tasted the bitter liquid touching his tongue. As he tried to throw it away, it was too late and had entered his throat.

"That will ease the pain for a while. Now, buff me!" Said the female swordsman as she released her grip on Ahli.

<TURN 6>

As the pain in his body started to reduce, Ahli came to his senses. He saw a buff spell for combat trick in his hand since turn one, however, he thought it was unusable as it was usually used to buff summon cards. He never thought of the application to someone who did not have the stats like the current situation.

"Okay, I have never done it, but let's do it."

Ahli pulled a card from his hand and quickly set it into the 2nd shard.

He then looked at the remaining cards in his hand, there were two additional cards in his hand as two turns had passed without him doing anything. He scrolled through them and then he pulled one card and throw it toward the female swordsman.

FIERY STRENGTH

1+Fire Mana

<Quickening Spell>

Target unit gains +2/+0 until end of turn

Mana: -

"I pay two Fire Mana to cast Fiery Strength!"

The shards turned into a light beam that quickly flew and enveloped the card mid-air. It then transformed into a drop of fire that fell to the ground and vanished.

A moment later it reappeared on the ground in the front and back of the female swordsman. Both flames then circled the female swordsman in a clockwise movement, connecting both ends before swirling upward, covering her. Step by step from the bottom one, it integrates into the female swordsman, making a red energy glow that covered her whole body.

Ahli saw how the female swordsman seemed to gauge the power inside her, feeling the energy flowing inside her, and what came next was the exhibition of how her strength had grown because of the card effect.

As the two goblins were approaching her, she came at them, and then with just one swing, those goblins were slain in half. Ahli was amazed to see that, never imagining that it would be so powerful to be used on someone. Unfortunately, the effect was temporary as with that one swing, the red energy glow that covered her then faded. And with that also, a notification was heard.

<Turn 7>

Another card came to Ahli's hand and now with more ways he found on how to use the cards, he got a clearer strategy in his head. There were 5 goblins remaining and of course one of them would be the one with the Dual-Hit ability.

"Hey, lady, are you ready for the next buff?" Asked Ahli who walked toward the female swordsman.

"Sure, give it to me." Replied the female swordsman as she prepared her stance to face the remaining goblins.

"Cool, but I need you to use the attack to kill that one with the club." Said Ahli while pointing to the goblin with Dual-Hit.

The female swordsman moved her feet to adjust to the direction that Ahli had pointed to, "Not a problem. Just tell me the signal."

Seeing how she had prepared; Ahli took two from the five remaining cards in his hand with one being used to set as a mana source. Then, he prepared his stance to throw the other one.

RISE OF FLAME

2+Fire Mana

<Quickening Spell>

Target unit gains +1/+1 and Quick Strike until the end of the turn.

Mana: -

"I pay three fire mana to activate RISE OF FLAME!"

As Ahli finished with the command, the female swordsman rushed toward the Dual-Strike goblin, who has been anticipating her. With the shards activating the card, Ahli threw the card in the female swordsman's direction, which quickly turned into a tidal wave of fire, following the female swordsman at the ground, before it rose into a wall of flame, which then pour on her.

The female swordsman came out of the fire bath glowing in red, just in time when the Dual-Strike goblin had closed their distance. Both then landed their hit on each other bodies.

Luckily, with extra life caused by Rise of Flame, only one survived those blows, the female swordsman. The Dual-strike goblin dropped its club before falling on its back.

<Turn 8>

With four more goblins, Ahli saw the card he got for this turn. It did not give an answer to finish the battle, however, it has a mana source, and so he quickly made it into a shard.

He quickly counted in his head, checking how many cards had he used and how many were left. He found ten would be the number of cards that he had encountered, which means he would have 6 more turns, as in a usual TCG fashion, unable to draw a card from an empty deck meant losing the game.

He took one card from his hand, which was the one card that he had since turn 1, and in that situation would be the most suitable to end the current battle.

FIREBRAND

2+Fire Mana+Fire Mana

<Quick Spell>

Deal 3 damage divided as you choose among one, two, or three targets.

Mana: Fire

"Hey, lady! I'll take care of the three at the back, you deal with that one!" Pointed Ahli to the goblin closest to the female swordsman.

"OKAY!" Without any further questions asked, the female swordsman immediately rushed toward the one goblin that was the closest to her. With just one strike, she plunged her sword into its throat.

The three remaining goblins were shocked by the sudden event, yet they quickly showed their anger and rushed toward the female swordsman. And, that was the cue for Ahli to cast his final attack.

"I pay 4 Fire mana to cast Firebrand, targeting 1 damage to each of those goblins."

With that command, the card in his hand changed into a giant fiery seal with the shape of a flame. From it, 3 swirling ribbons of fire were released, each moving toward its target. And in no long wait, it reached them and then started to entwine them. The flame then became bigger as it burned the goblins as a whole. They felt the pain for sure as some rolled on the ground, while others ran blindly. Yet, they were unable to leave far, dropping dead not after not long-suffering.

<BATTLE Has EnDED>

<VICTORY>

<REWARD>

<Hasten>

<Ancestral Rage>

<17 Cards now in collection>

With the notification appearing in front of him, Ahli could finally take a deep breath of relief. He felt really tired as if he had been doing multiple sprints. He looked at the female swordsman and she showed no sign of any exhaustion. She was cleaning her sword of the blood that remained, and with one of her feet stepping on the body of the last goblin, she killed. Ahli walked toward her.

"Hey, lady! Hey! Hey, Lady! Good job! Thanks for…" His movement was halted suddenly when the tip of her sword was inches away from his throat.

"Okay, Card Mage. Thanks for the help. Now it's time for you to die."