Lightning cracked across the sky of the city, spreading through it like spiderwebbing cracks that didn’t simply dissipate and instead persisted. The tendrils of lightning moving with sharp, jagged movements that were hard for the citizens of the city to follow.

Though any that noticed the tendrils and weren’t actively defending the wall or already in a shelter were quick to turn on their heels and make their way to one. Nobody wanted to be outside for what came next.

Alexander though, to his credit was watching the sky with rapt attention, a smile plain on his face.

He whistled softly, high pitched in an approving melody.

“Impressive, I wonder how many cards make up that effect,” he asked aloud.

Nobody answered, the streets around him long empty.

All at once the lightning traveling across the sky ceased their random movements and shot downwards, arcing in angles that led straight towards Alexander as they shone a beautiful golden hue.

He could feel the heat on his skin, the static lifting his hair and the light stinging his eyes and in that moment, he felt alive, as if he was doing what he’d been born to do. To fight under the scarlet moon above him, and to die under it, again and again.

“Wall of Wills,” Alexander said as a dome formed around him, though before it could close completely a flash of light shot past the barrier, holding an iridescent blade of electricity that swung towards Alexander’s throat.

Immediately Alexander activated “Breaker of Swords”, grabbing hold of the blade before it could bite into him and shattering it with a twist of his wrist.

Anton though, formed from lightning and moving just as fast didn’t seem to pay it any mind as the tendrils of lightning up above impacted the barrier, shaking it violently.

Instead he formed another blade in his hand and pushed forwards as a ball of electricity began to form over his head, bright like a sun.

Alexander backed away, activating Steps of Giants to propel himself backwards towards the barrier’s edge.

Anton though moved to intercept him, flashing forward faster than even Alexander could move as he brought down his sword in a quick downward arc. The blade nearly bit into Alexander but was halted as it impacted the barrier of Wall of Wills, which had begun to shrink inwards, passing over Alexander harmlessly.

Anton though seemed to feel the barrier as truly as he would any normal wall. Not that it would matter. The barrier itself was weakened by the onslaught of lightning falling on it from above and all it took for it to shatter completely was for Anton to release the ball of electricity he’d had floating above his head, shooting it outwards and shattering the barrier as a result.

Alexander didn’t waste time while Anton was doing this however, as he activated another of his cards with a bright smile plastered across his face.

“General’s Pocket.”

One moment it was just Alexander standing there, and then in the next after a cracking of purple aether stood three draconians behind him. One was pale and slouched, with shifty eyes that moved every which way before falling onto Anton, another stood tall, with green scales that looked fuller than most other draconians, covering the majority of his human skin as he stood tall. The last though had cracked and faded scales, and wore no armor. His chest was bare, and on it shone two golden tattoos alongside a myriad of lesser ones. It was the same draconian that Daniel had encountered in the portal room of the draconian settlement, Iliad.

“Anton, intangible, electric,” Alexander said aloud and all of the draconians nodded in understanding.

The moment the barrier shattered Anton shot from it confines, sword poised to pierce through the pale one while a streak of lightning shot towards each of the others.

The pale draconian's eyes widened in shock as he quickly activated one of his cards. His voice shaky and stance poised to flee, he barely managed to activate the card before the blade reached his throat.

“Gambler’s Table.”

Moments later Anton’s sword impacted the pale draconian but slid off as if the man was immortal as a roulette wheel formed before him. Subsequently, one formed next to Anton and they both began to spin, annoying playful music accompanying them.

Seemingly deciding to ignore the card's effects, Anton switched focus to the other men gathered. Iliad had deflected the lightning aimed towards him with a small portal and Alexander had broken his with his bare hands, the last draconian though, now covered in vibrant yellow scales that seemed to have replaced his green ones had simply let the bolt hit him, throwing him back but seemingly doing no real damage.

A spectral voice whispered in Anton’s ear as he moved to follow up on his attacks, its voice ethereal and raspy.

“No violence in the casino.”

Ignoring the voice electricity spread outward from Anton’s intangible body, arcing across the ground and up the buildings surrounding them.

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A new barrier spread outward, centered on Alexander that covered the entirety of his group before the electricity could reach them. It climbed over it, moving like a living creature that was trying to break inside. Scratching at it like a cat at a window, only far more capably as flickering tendrils of electricity began to burrow through the barrier.

While that happened, a spectral figure leapt from the roulette wheel following Anton, swiping a smoky arm towards him that he ducked and blasted with enough lightning to momentarily blind Iliad and the pale draconian despite the barrier separating them.

The spectral figure recoiled back after being struck, but only for a moment before assaulting Anton once again. Anton scoffed and backhanded the thing, sending it spinning towards the ground as he sent a glance towards the spinning roulette tables, noting that the individual columns that the ball could fall into each listed a card from his own deck.

His attention turned back towards the pale draconian. He seemed to be immortal during the card's activation, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, or even absolute. Most cards weren’t after all.

The space between them disappeared in a crack of thunder, and a portal appeared between him and the pale draconian in the next instant, likely meant to keep him off the man, or perhaps to kill him outright. Portals could be dangerous like that if used properly, and the men Alexander had brought with him seemed elite. Save for the one he was currently going after.

Anton sidestepped the portal and morphed his body into a thin, sharp thunderbolt that pierced through the barrier surrounding the group as he appeared before the pale draconian.

Alexander stepped forward to intercept Anton, appearing next to him and quickly reaching out to grab him, only for Anton’s entire body to morph away from his touch, his hand reforming around the pale draconian’s throat as he rocketed backwards.

Backwards through the pinhole he’d made in the barrier.

Cards that grant brief immortality usually had harsh limitations, especially if they came as a secondary effect to something actually impressive, and even more so if the card was of a lower rarity.

Anton was pulling the man along with the aid of a legendary card, boosted heavily by his deck into a barrier undoubtedly strengthened by a half dozen addendums or more. At best the man had a rare. The question of what would give first wasn’t even worth pondering.

The pale draconian’s throat, where Anton had been gripping it, splattered into a spray of red against the barrier, crushing in his grip. Though the roulette table following him didn’t dissipate as it’s spinning slowed. The ball jumping from slot to slot, rolling and rolling before landing in the slot labeled Child of Lightning, his primary legendary, and then by the slimmest of margins moving one more space over before coming to rest on the slot labeled Follow the Wind.

Anton’s arm burned in the next instant, stinging right where the tattoo for Follow the Wind rested. He dissipated Child of Lightning’s effect, just enough to get a good look at the tattoo and watched as its shape shifted and warped as its color began to turn bronze. The tattoo was changing to a depiction of a poor, beaten man. His gait looked strained, his posture slumped, and his body beaten as he walked down a cold cobblestone street. He was all alone, save for the creature that was following just behind him, just out of sight.

Stalked by Shadows Anton read, expression remaining unfazed as he quickly read through the card's effects.

Stalked by Shadows

Common

Shadow

The wielder of this card is hunted by their shadow. While being hunted the user of this card can interact with and harm shadow-based creatures.

Addendum 1: Addendums for this card carry over from user to user.

Addendum 2: The user of this card has their vision impaired while being hunted by their shadow.

Addendum 3: The user of this card will see everything around them as shadows.

Addendum 4: The user of this card will acquire a shadow should they not have one upon obtaining it.

“I knew he’d squander the misery deck,” the yellow draconian said haughtily. “This is why we shouldn't give the responsibility to a criminal. You just end up with subpar results like this. I’d wanted two or three of those layered onto him before we actually came to blows.”

“Be quiet, Briden,” Iliad said sharply as Anton unsheathed the longsword that he kept at his waist. Blood stained it, gunking along its edge in a sticky visceral mess. He hadn’t had the mind to clean it last he’d sheathed it. He still didn’t.

Still though, by habit alone he flicked the blade to the side and a pittance of the residue maring the blade went flying.

“Now we can do this for real,” Alexander said, his eyes locked onto Anton with a disturbing fervor, his smile growing as the seconds passed. "A real hunt."

Anton didn’t respond, his body practically vibrating as he emanated electricity and hovered in the air.

And then he was gone. One second there, and the next nowhere to be seen leaving only the cracking of thunder.

Alexander laughed at that.

“Looks like we really do have a hunt on our hands, men. Iliad, bring me my armor,” Alexander ordered sharply, a bright smile on his face.

A swirling blue and purple portal immediately opened near Alexander’s feet and his armor came spewing out. The same card covered chain and plate mesh that he’d worn when fighting the spirit, though the pants had been replaced as they’d been far too damaged during that last escapade.

“Briden, put my armor on me. Iliad, retrieve the misery deck,” Anton ordered, and Briden immediately moved to do as he was told while a portal whisked away the remains of the pale draconian’s corpse.

Truth be told, Alexander couldn’t remember what that one's name was. Just that he’d let his greed take over and it'd landed him in his current position. The misery deck wasn’t humane towards the one wielding it, and if he could help it he’d never make anyone use it again, but this was a cruel world. Maybe even more so than the one he originated from. Some liberties had to be taken.

And right now, under the tranquil light of the Blood Moon. Alexander found Navarre and the madness whispering in his ear that he shouldn't care of such things. That every means to an end was just and right, so long as it worked out in the end.

Worked out for who was the real question to that, and Alexander didn't know.

Alexander’s body shook with anticipation, and it took physical effort to restrain himself while Briden applied his armor, piece by piece. He looked upwards as Briden worked, bathing in the light of moon. Feeling its glow on his skin.

Oh, how he hated it, and at the same time, how he loved it.