Thomas sat in the middle of a huddle of polar bears and reindeer, patiently explaining his plan. “So all we have to do is to cool the temperature of the lake to near freezing, while simultaneously warming the air immediately above it. When the temperatures clash, fog will form. Quite simple.”
“Not only that, we also need to reach the lake, undetected, and remain undetected as we change the temperature of a large volume of water and the entirety of the air above it.” Alexander added.
“Which is why we will be doing this expedition at night.”
“But warming the air will require the use of fire. An element that will act as a beacon in the night, warning the Green Mamba pirates of our actions.” Alexander countered. “If this is really what we need to do, perhaps doing it in the day would be better.”
“That’s a great suggestion, but we won’t be needing it. I’ve come up with a much better alternative that will allow us to do this in the middle of the night. That way, we can immediately begin our invasion.”
“A solution? What could possibly help us in this situation?
You called for a solution?
One tiny contribution!
The Turtbros!
Aww, Evan! You messed up our intro.
We’re supposed to rhyme. Evan. Rhyming makes for the best entrances. Ugh, should we… should we redo our entrance?
“No, no, no.” Intervening, Thomas motioned for the Turtbros to join the huddle. “You guys can work on your introductions later, but right now, it is imminent we begin the fog-making operation.
Rubbing his temple, Alexander nodded his head. “Boss, Clyde, Evan, it’s a pleasure to see you. Thomas, can I talk to you on the side here for a second?”
Thomas acquiesced, and the two began arguing about the potential upsides and downsides to bringing in the Turtbros. “Do you really think these three are the best reinforcements to add to an already perilous endeavor?” Alexander asked.
“I don’t see a problem. They are the strongest psychic Elementalists at our disposal outside of the Venus, and I doubt you want to ask her to aid the mission.”
“No, of course not! But their behavior is so erratic. Is it really okay to leave the lives of our warriors, of our entire army, in the claws of these turtles?”
Thomas placed his hand beneath his chin. “Without a doubt. I know it’s worrisome, Alexander, but I would not mind betting my own life on the Turtbros. Sure, they’re weird and finicky, but they reached our camp today and are already searching for ways to help. That, to me, goes a long way.”
Alexander’s eyes drifted to the three floating turtles. They were snickering to themselves, seemingly unaware or at least unwilling to be pressured by the gravity of the situation. He was concerned, but Thomas trusted them so he would too. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“Fantastic!” Joining back with the group, Thomas waved them forward as he began to walk. “We have a few hours until sundown, just enough time to reach the lake before nightfall if we hurry.”
“We know the goal, but it would be helpful for our group to learn how we will achieve it.” A reindeer spoke out as it trotted with the group.
“Yes, of course. Our plan is rather simple, as I said before. First, the Turtbros will set out to discreetly, and I mean discreetly, set up an illusion of the lake. It lies in the direct line of sight of several of the Green Mamba watchtowers, but I trust sneakily unleashing your powers to hide our presence should pose no problem to turtles as powerful as you three, right?”
Boss turtle floated forward, tipping an imaginary hat at Thomas. We brothers will see to it. No one will be able to so much as catch a whiff of you. Rocketing away, the turtles flew in the direction of the lake.
“Under the cover of the illusion, I will lead the polar bears underwater to cool the water. That way, if anything happens to the grand illusion, we will still be hidden.” Looking around to make sure everyone was on board, Thomas continued. “Here’s where it gets a little difficult. The Alexander, Pengu, and reindeer group doesn’t have the temperature control we do. It’s not a diss, but none of you focus on the heat aspect of fire. You cannot feel its temperature intrinsically, not in the same way we can with water. I asked some of the reindeers if they would be able to measure it out, since they do technically have wind and fire affinities, but they confirmed they lacked such an ability. Thus, leading this team will fall on you, Alexander.”
“On me?” Alexander was taken aback. “I can’t even move fire externally; I rely on Pengu for that. How am I supposed to know when it’s enough?”
“I trust you, Alexander. And that will have to do. There’s no one in our group who has the capacity to pull this off, so the responsibility falls on you.”
Alexander wanted to say something, but Thomas’ unwavering look halted any of his complaints. Eventually, he relented, merely nodding in acceptance. Happy with his response, Thomas continued. “One huge burst of heat, that’s what we need of the fire team. We need it to be so large it heats the air for several minutes.”
“Like a bomb?”
“Exactly like a bomb.” Thomas confirmed.
“Then the pirates will see us. A large flash of light will draw their eyes to us, and I do believe being attacked by the lake kind of makes the fog null.” Picking apart Thomas’ plan, Alexander was worried. “And I don’t think one burst of flames will even be enough to bring the air to the temperature we require. At this altitude, the ambient temperature will cool the air too quickly. We’ll need a series of… explosions. If by some miracle of Ra, the pirates don’t notice us after the first flash, they will surely notice after a couple.”
“Being noticed is the least of our worries.” Thomas confidently answered. “After the Turtbros set up a large illusion over the lake, they’ll focus exclusively on covering your group. That’s mainly why I’ll be taking the polar bears underwater.”
Alexander sunk into thought as the group continued moving in the direction of the lake. He nervously shifted the jacket of his suit down. It wasn’t the most comfortable attire for what had turned into a late afternoon hike, but he was simply unwilling to go without some manner of defensive equipment after the injuries he had sustained in the rainforest battle. Now that their invasion of the Green Mamba was so close, Alexander refused to wear anything apart from the suit gifted to him by the Polar Bear clan.
As he walked, he raised his hand to caress his left eye. The shadow of a scar was still present over it, pulsing with the phantom pain his mistakes had caused him. Healing it was not beyond his capabilities, but he intended to keep it there as a reminder of what overconfidence could lead to. “The illusions will cover our tracks, hide us from the Green Mamba scouts, but I find the chances we’ll remain undetected throughout the entire process of creating enough fog to cover the mountain top minute.” Alexander’s voice was soft as he voiced his final concern. “What do we do when the upper brass of the pirates inevitably decides to send someone to check where the fog is coming from?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Thomas turned around to address the group, but his eyes turned to the sky as he noticed something approaching. With a smirk, he said. “Looks like the answer to your question is about to arrive.”
The flying greatsword stabbed into the ground with a crash first, Kai landed after, much more softly and controlled. With a flick of his hand, the greatsword removed itself from the rugged ground and slotted itself on his back. “Sorry I’m late, fellas. Lucas was being difficult, but after enough pestering, he agreed to ensure Pola would be kept safe. Well… it was Susanne who forced him to agree, but that’s not important. Point is, I’m here and ready for anything.”
Alexander hugged Kai, thankful the most level-headed of his friends would be joining their entourage. “So we will create the fog, and Kai takes care of any pirates sent to investigate?” Thomas nodded as he, too, approached Kai and greeted him. “Would it not have been better to bring along reinforcements, though?”
Kai shrugged. “I’m more than enough to take care of a few pirates, but most importantly, Maia hopes to launch the invasion as soon as the fog thickens enough. If any more of our small army must be sent to the lake, we may as well come up with a new plan.”
“I just think-”
“Alexander, it’s okay. Breathe.” Placing a firm hand over his shoulder, Thomas reassured him. “I understand your anxiety. The rainforest battle was a complete disaster. Despite our positive results, we were saved by Maia’s appearance. It’s understandable you would be nervous now, but we are ready, as ready as we ever will be.”
Alexander looked to Kai who winked at him. With a breath, he realized they were right. He had shifted from overconfidence to overcompensating. Their group had planned the attack for days; anything that popped up would be dealt with. He was no strategist, so he should focus on what he could do. Walking among the group of winged reindeer and polar bears, Alexander focused on the flames.
----------------------------------------
Connecting his indigo flame to Pengu, Alexander began to allot his mana to the little penguin. “For this first one, let’s just quickly throw out a large chunk of flames above the lake.”
The reindeer followed his lead and, in combination with Pengu, threw a fireball that quickly decomposed in the air, bursting with an intensity that shook the lake’s surface. The combustion of their flame had certainly been hot, but Alexander watched as the cool winds of the mountain quickly whittled away at the remaining heat. A pitiful amount of steam had risen to the air as the water was vaporized. Rubbing his hands together, Alexander realized this would be a titanic endeavor.
Their operation had begun without a hitch. By the time the group reached the lake’s side, the Turtbros had already set up a barrier around the perimeter that would disguise the lake’s tremors from the eyes of the pirates. Thomas and the polar bears had dove underwater unnoticed and were already focused on bringing the temperature of the lake to near freezing. This left Alexander to lead the reindeer above water.
“Okay, next everyone charge up their mana before unleashing another fireball. I want the flames to be more dense, not larger.” Alexander called out in his best impression of a commanding tone.
In preparation for the next round, the Turtbros released copious amounts of pink gas. They formed a series of domes around Alexander and the reindeer, seeking to dampen the noise and brightness of their explosions, and at least for the first round, it had worked. The Green Mamba camp was alight with activity, but only its normal level. They had no reaction to the first fireball.
Focusing on his group, Alexander noticed the air around each of them was trembling. It was being distorted under the heat the reindeer and Pengu were emanating. Shutting his eyes, Alexander felt he could see his mana boiling as it transferred over to his companion. “Go!”
A miniature sun was launched as the group obeyed his command. It flew towards the lake at a snail’s crawl, slowed by the density it carried. Their creation was blinding, and the water seemed to flee from it as it sank lower under its pressure. It pulsed powerfully once, twice, thrice until it finally caved it on itself and exploded.
The heat wave it launched encompassed everyone first, manifesting and simultaneously evaporating beads of sweat on Alexander’s forehead. The sound of the explosion came second, a deep roar putting most thunderclaps to shame. Alexander witnessed as a couple of the layers the Turtbros had surrounded them with shattered, unable to cope with the tremendous power of their explosion.
With a thin armor of pink gas surrounding their bodies, the Turtbros flew in different directions. They raised their claws to the sky, providing the dampening dome with the extra strength it needed to survive. As the aftereffects of the explosion came to an end, Alexander had a glint in his eye. By his estimates, it would take close to an hour to cool the air now, and the large amounts of thick fog being produced by the lake signaled their eventual success.
Their group continued firing the miniature suns, each smaller and denser than the previous under Alexander’s command. The Turtbros had not returned to their leisurely position floating beside the group, much too occupied sustaining the dome. Alexander didn’t think it would be much longer. Fog had already covered the surrounding land, drowning the area in a gray, hazy air, and it had even climbed halfway up the Green Mamba’s mountain.
That’s when he saw it. Opposite where his group stood, a small retinue of pirates were advancing towards the lake led by a middle-aged blonde man and slouched old man with a head of white hair. Alexander turned to warn Kai, but the latter had already drawn his sword. His eyes lit aflame as he recognized the pirates. “Hmm, it appears I’m destined to meet them again and again. No matter. Allow me to end this cycle.” Looking up at the nearest turtle, Kai shouted. “Hey, Boss turtle! Let me know when they enter your domain.”
Kai flung his sword into the sky, bursting into a spark of lightning as he leapt to his blade. With the elegance of a master gymnast, he landed atop his blade, and the greatsword jerked to a stop, freezing in place as it halted its downward plunge. He watched the pirates’ approach, biding his time. Alexander wondered whether he should call out to Kai to ask if he should delay the next explosion, but his friend’s unbreaking stare dissuaded him. Nothing would distract him in this moment.
A few seconds later, Boss turtle shot a tendril of pink gas to Kai who subsequently flew down to meet the pirates. Lightning crackled around his body as he prepared to destroy as many pirates as he could in one shot. His blade which had acted as his vehicle until this point began to separate into different metallic shards, and his lightning strung out to grab hold of each piece. It was a meteoric web of lightning. One barreling towards the pirates at insurmountable speeds.
Most of the Green Mamba died before they even realized they were attacked. The ones that didn’t wish they had.
The pieces of metal sliced through bodies and limbs like a hot knife meeting butter, leaving the survivors screaming in agony, and the lightning chained through each body, shocking those lucky enough not to have been targeted by the sword shards. Despite lightning Elementalist’s natural resistance to their own elements, the sheer destructive force Kai had attacked with had managed to damage everyone. But the two leaders met a different fate.
Grasping the hilt of his greatsword, the only piece Kai hadn’t launched, he sliced down on Gabriel and Jacques. They were the only members to react to his attack, but their reaction was not enough to protect them.
Covering his arm with lightning, Jacques had been a millisecond faster than his young master, allowing him to extend his arm further and be the first resistance Kai’s attack met. The hilt, left with a tiny piece of metal, cut between Jacque’s thumb and index finger instantly and exited out halfway through his forearm.
Gabriel came next, losing half his forearm and obtaining a deep gash along his chest from Kai’s sword strike. The young noble of the Jupiter clan had no time to mourn the loss of his arm as Kai swiftly stabbed his lightning covered hand through Gabriel’s throat. Jacques let out a sorrowful cry at his young master’s cruel death, but Kai silenced him, too. Dragging his hand out of Gabriel, he stabbed the hilt through Jacques as Gabriel’s body crumpled to the ground.
Emotionlessly, Kai flicked his hand again, skillfully commanding the fallen shards of metal to finish off the rest of the pirates. The fight, if you could call it that, took only seconds, with nobody able to retaliate against Kai at all.
Holding out his empty hilt, Kai watched as the pieces snapped back into place and reformed his greatsword before he stabbed it into the ground. A hint of melancholy made its way into his eyes as he spoke. “May you be free to find peace away from the control of the clan in the next life.” His words went unheard, however; the blast from the next explosion swallowing them whole.