Chapter 68: Ante Up
Alabaster
“Deck Sprite!?” The hurt in the ghostly girl's voice had nothing to do with the beams of Resonance piercing her. If anything the sheer indignity seemed to strengthen her.
“Who do you think you are calling a Deck Sprite?!”
The impaling Resonance pulsed and the white-haired girl was reduced to whimpering once more.
“I was wrong, you interlopers have no manners. Invading my home, making threats, stealing my servants, and acting with utter hubris. I am sick of your presence and I am going to end it!”
Alley's eyes sparkled with excitement, an annoyed opponent was almost always a careless one. That excitement dimmed a little when the Ante effect activated and he saw which Card he was risking. He was really starting to feel like it was never one of his weaker Cards that got revealed to the opposition. Oh no it was always some pivotal effect that gave the other player insight into some of what he could do.
The Card in question was Vile Things, a powerful spell that had the ability to fill his board with stat-weak but effect-strong monsters.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/118804508/bea53bdac96b44df939769f565595344/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-time=1738627200&token-hash=PU8IqMrvjQ9o1k5Y5GIUMIuNSzvhNWo0XM-WDE-etKw%3D]
Conversely, the lady of the house’s ante wasn’t anything special, and told him nothing he didn’t already know, considering he had just spent the better part of twenty minutes battling with her Manifested Creatures. Still, at least he had a moment to actually inspect the Card and think a little.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/118804508/b4daf3b533ec4a0fa44ccbbcb5804e93/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-time=1738627200&token-hash=ZJd-FABRP7PQIBh1_YMeX8V9rafa9q7m_18ACvCj8-c%3D]
Alley couldn’t read its effect of course, but gauging from the way creatures with Undeath Resonance tended to behave in play it might interact with the Crypt somehow. As for Bloom and Faekin, Alley had read a little about them but had never actually played against Cards of those types before.
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Bloom he knew was to do with spring, plants, and growth. He didn’t have a winter fog bank’s idea what Faekin was though.
“ The Dead Man’s Hand!” The cry was pained but still obviously the activation of a Card or linked item, there was something special about the words when someone did that. A power or intent that rang out. It sounded like the sort of thing Alley would have in his deck, but he had never heard of The Dead Man’s Hand before.
“Ah,” He said dryly a moment later when the effect of what had to be a Linked Item was revealed. Frankly, it probably should have been obvious to him. Above the left shoulder of the girl who was still pinned halfway up the wall a circular portal of Teal energy opened. Alley still didn’t know what kind of Resonance that was, or if it was a Resonance at all but the ethereal energy was certainly somehow associated with his Deck and the Castle he had seized it from.
From the swirling vortex of see-through energy emerged a skeletal hand and forearm that dwarfed both the girl commanding it and Alley. This particular limb was starting to become an old friend the way it kept showing up in his life.
With an odd gentleness, the hand reached out and poked the projected image of Lady Asley's ante Card. There was a spark of purple Resonance as the Undead Card and Obviously, Undead limb came into contact with each other. From that spark came a ripple that ran across the Card image and….changed it?
“Have you ever seen a Deck Sprite do that? You Upstart pile of kindling!” The girl’s voice was still pained but her fury seemed to give her strength.
Alley could only guess what a Deck Sprite was and why it was so offensive to be called one. It didn’t really matter right now, not compared to the fact that the ghostly teen had changed an Ante Card. Something that Alley had never even heard of being done, though by this point the word impossible was just gone from his vocabulary.
Where before had been a Card Alley could use, now hovered one he would be more than ecstatic to win here. If anything he couldn’t have picked a more perfect Card to Ante. Did that mean the white-haired girl could see what was in the other player’s library? There was going to be a long conversation with her once this was over…assuming he could stop the girl from vanishing again anyway.
The image on the Card was a familiar knightly figure which was listed as Unique, and fit the Resonances of his Deck extremely well. As always the question became what did the Card actually do? Alley was practically drooling to find out. That long conversation would also have to include a thank you to the girl after he secured this potential powerhouse of a Card.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/118804508/5c32567788f04d24b2fc8fdf05981988/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-time=1738627200&token-hash=SNTdzEHh2yYWDeaJ8X3JUOgfpB33mUip97nrsZkgmgo%3D]
Being the lower rank of the two Players, Alley automatically went first. A state of affairs that was actually starting to annoy him. Granted going first was almost always an advantage but he had held it for the last three Challenges straight.
‘Just once it would be nice to battle someone of my own rank.’ On the upside Lady Asley was lower rank than the pirate captain Karieto had been, though somehow he suspected her strange form might grant her an excess of Life Essence.