“Wolfe!” the person he most wanted to hear in the world called, and Wolfe risked a brief glance back. Shel, along with Liurenia and Sorenia, was running into the temple after him, a Rookie SWAT card also in play.
“I’m here to help!” Shel cried again.
Wolfe needed a mere fraction of a second to process what the change meant. He shifted his aim, and he exploded the next Infernal Champion with a cluster of shots from Hellfire.
He still needed to shift the fundamental course of the fight, however.
But he saw the move.
He touched his card Deal with the Devil.
Deal with the Devil
Rare Tier-1 Infernal Persistent
3 Infernal Power
So long as the deckbearer has any Infernal Creature on the field, he may assign control of any one non-Infernal creature controlled by any deckbearer to any other deckbearer. When the card leaves the control of its original deckbearer, it may take an attack against that deckbearer or their card, obeying normal rules as if it were an enemy card, before it switches. This card’s power remains spent so long as the creature is on the field.
“In the abstract, Evil should be defeated quickly, as most want to be on the side of good. But there are always individuals that will betray the whole for their own benefit, and the Infernal is always there, whispering in their ears.”
Using its power, he seized control of Artenia—but instead of giving it to himself, which wouldn’t do much, he transferred it to Shel, hoping that card wouldn’t count against her maximum.
He also had her blast the Corporate Enforcer on the way out. It didn’t die, but took some damage.
Caine scrambled away on all fours before leaping into the air and flying over to join Damian behind the dais.
The Corporate Enforcer shot Wolfe, but it was another single point of chip damage, and Wolfe dodged and leapt over the pew again, crouching behind it.
“You’re a dead man, Wolfe!” Damian screamed from behind the dais. “You can’t compete with the power of my cards, and I’ll destroy you and then have your woman!”
“Looks like slavery is the only way you can have any women, slug. You’re a disgrace to the Grimm family name.”
“You’re dead now!” Damian shouted.
“Way to really vary up your taunts,” Wolfe called from behind the pew.
Wolfe knew his mantle was about to fade in a minute or so, but he had two power left from Brimstone leaving the field, and if he made it another twenty-or-so-seconds he would be at four power when Hellfire dropped back to the deck as well.
As gunfire whizzed over the pew—and occasionally spranged off them—Wolfe quickly reviewed his moves. He had a mere three health left again, and a two-point penalty to all his stats.
I need to keep from getting hit again… but I need to keep the Infernal Champions down! If I stay back, we still lose. Just a minute more of danger.
Wolfe took a deep breath, trying to ignore the burns and gunshot wounds across his entire body. No way was he going to leave Shel without an ally that was giving it his all.
Hellfire faded away, its light rushing into Wolfe, the very thing he had been waiting for.
He touched the Demonic Portal card, which summoned two tier-three Angry Hellhounds and a Lost Hellhound Puppy in a single move.
He ordered the two Angry Hellhounds not to attack the Infernal Champion—if they did, all would die in a single round thanks to the Preemptive Retribution. But he sent the puppy to its doom.
The puppy was crushed by the massive foot of the Infernal Champion, and the Angry Hellhounds howled.
“Throw me your gun, and then go for max Mortal power! We need stuff that can fight his damned Infernal Champions!”
Shel managed a near-perfect toss, and Wolfe stood, catching the Glock-17 and turning. He leapt over the front pew with a wince, firing his gun into the Infernal Champion as fast as he could as it raced at a Hellhound, punching the poor dog’s spine so hard it broke.
But his other Angry Hellhound ended the Corporate Enforcer with a single move.
Wolfe continued to fire—into the underarm, into its neck, and finally into the creature’s head. With his reduced power—from not having both Hellfire and Brimstone—he didn’t quite kill it, but two Light beams—from Sorenia and Liurenia—finished it off.
Caine screamed as Artenia leapt into the air and flew to the side of the dais and, presumably, fired her beam into him, able to bypass Caine’s dying Corporate Enforcer thanks to his own buff on her.
Caine tried begging one more time, his voice floating up from the dais, which was covered in the two cowering women and a ton of viscera from Damian. “My father will give you whatever you want!”
The field had been cleared of almost all cards, but another Infernal Champion appeared.
Wolfe’s mantle faded. But he still had one creature on the field, and he was safe from the Champion.
He ran up the dais, careful not to trip or slip, and leaned over the dais. Caine was hunched over, staring around the corner, firing at Artenia. Most of his body was burned. Damian was standing behind Caine, a pistol in his hand, pointed at Caine’s back. His entire over-robe was soaked in blood, and the evil Jabba wannabe trembled where he stood.
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Neither noticed Wolfe, a mere few feet above them.
“We have to fight Wolfe together!” Damian said, his voice tinged with desperation. “His creatures can’t get past mine as long as your field is up, so all we have to do is shoot him.”
“My own angel is going to kill me! I’m surrendering!” Caine said. “Dad will get me out of whatever trouble I’m in, but he can’t do that if I’m dead! You’re just some hired goon, not someone I owe anything. You’re on your own!”
Damian shot Caine in his back without another word, right through Caine’s heart. He hit the ground like a sack, and Artenia and the Preemptive Retribution both faded as cards appeared on the corpse’s back.
Damian reached down and grabbed the cards.
“Drop them, and your deck,” Wolfe said.
Damian started to turn, not even attempting to point his gun at Wolfe but rather putting his hand inside a pocket on his robe, but Wolfe didn’t wait to find out what was happening. His emptied his gun into Damian’s head and shoulders.
His attack was far weaker as a Mortal shooting an Infernal, and with his modifiers off. But Damian was already wounded, and the shots were like multiple punches to the head and shoulders, and one slashed into his collarbone.
Damian hit the ground on his knees, managing to turn and fall awkwardly onto his back. He kept fumbling inside his robe, but he couldn’t seem to coordinate his hand.
“Damn,” he started to say, before coughing. Bloody spittle flew out. “Damn you, Wolfe. May the Infernal claim your soul.”
“Probably. Keep someplace warm for me,” Wolfe quipped, his voice tight.
“Why… why did you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?” Damian asked, blood starting to dribble from the corner of his mouth. His hand fell from his robe.
“Are you seriously this delusional, still? After everything?” Wolfe asked, exasperated.
He was about to launch into a diatribe about everything that Damian had, in fact, done… but stopped himself. It didn’t matter.
He raised his gun and pointed it at Damian, but didn’t pull the trigger. Damian’s breathing was coming in shorter and shorter gasps, more and more labored as Damian struggled to make his lungs work against his own weight. His eyes were fading, his fingers barely moving.
Shel came walking around the corner, staring at Damian as well. “Is he… dying?”
Wolfe nodded, keeping his gun pointed at Damian.
“What did you do with the card that holds my brother’s soul?” Shel asked.
Damian’s head rolled to the side slightly, and his eyes focused on her. He gave the slightest smile, a hint of madness to it, his eyes feverish.
Then he exhaled slightly and went limp with finality. A pile of cards appeared on his chest.
Wolfe stared down at the corpse of his nemesis, feeling a deep, and dark, sense of satisfaction.
“One more down,” Wolfe said, reaching down and picking up the deck. He flipped through till he found Damian’s set card.
Duke of the Legion
Unique Tier-5 equivalent Infernal Persistent [Mantle]
2 Infernal Power
+7 Defense, +15 Health
Special: Master Deckbearer [Infernal 1]: All Infernal Cards cost 1 less power
Special: Demonic Empower [1]: All the deckbearer’s Infernal creature cards gain 25% to their stats.
Special: One of the ‘Gate to the Underworld’ cards. If all 6 are possessed in the same deck, the bearer will gain 7 Legendary Infernal or Beast card pulls. Additionally, the deckbearer may either gain the Mythic ‘Gate to the Underworld’ Building Card or evolve Cereboo. One card is held by each of the crime families of Noimoire, and the sixth is held within the city by another.
“This person has been chosen to lead the demons of the Infernal, and they have been given the power to do so. Demons come extremely cheaply and are far more powerful.”
Even as Wolfe held the card, it shimmered, shifting, and changed in his hand.
Mantle of the Infernal Chosen
Unique Tier-5 equivalent Infernal Persistent [Mantle]
2 Infernal Power
This card modifies to become one of numerous possible mantles depending on who claims it. This card is stronger if a card that names an Infernal Lord is present in the deck when added.”
Special: One of the ‘Gate to the Underworld’ cards. If all 6 are possessed in the same deck, the bearer will gain 7 Legendary Infernal or Beast card pulls. Additionally, the deckbearer may either gain the Mythic ‘Gate to the Underworld’ Building Card or evolve Cereboo. One card is held by each of the crime families of Noimoire, and the sixth is held within the city by another.
Wolfe stared at the card. “That’s… convenient.”
Shel hugged Wolfe hard, and he winced.
She let go of him and stepped back. “Thank the Divine you’re okay,” Shel whispered.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Your sister and the others? Are they okay?”
“Everyone should be okay. Sorenia and Liurenia flew everyone to the lower fire escape, and then Liam led them away while I came back for you.”
“Thanks,” Wolfe said. “I wouldn’t have made it without you, although I didn’t really want you risking yourself for me.”
“I’ll always have your back. Always,” Shel said, reaching out and gently squeezing his arm where he was unburnt.
“So… it’s over, then?” Shel asked, motioning to Damian’s body.
Wolfe shrugged. “It’s over with him, anyway. This piece of shit”—Wolfe kicked Caine’s corpse lightly—“kept talking about his daddy, so I’m sure there’s more. And the other three houses still exist, so…”
Shel nodded. “So it’ll be a whole thing?”
Wolfe chuckled tiredly. “Yeah.”
Then he looked down at the card in his hand.
“About this card… should I add it?” Wolfe asked.
“You must be hurt if that’s even a question. Of course. It’s about how the Infernal Rift worked,” Shel said. “Whatever the person needed, it became, and Infernal Rift gave you some of your best cards ever.”
Wolfe nodded. He touched the card, and willed it to replace Soul Hunter in his deck.
Soul Hunter appeared in his hand, and a new card appeared.
Master of the Infernal Hunt
Unique Tier-5 equivalent Infernal Persistent [Mantle]
2 Infernal Power
+10 Health, +3 to all remaining stats.
Special: Cerberus’s Champion: All other [Canine] Cards gain +5 Health and +1 to all other stats, and all [canine] cards gain advantage against Infernal cards.
Special: Grand Pack [Canine]: [Canine] cards do not count against cards on the field
Special: Favorable Façade[Canine]: Count as a Beast[Canine] card for all purposes except type match penalties.
Special: One of the ‘Gate to the Underworld’ cards. If all 6 are possessed in the same deck, the bearer will gain 7 Legendary Infernal or Beast card pulls. Additionally, the deckbearer may either gain the Mythic ‘Gate to the Underworld’ Building Card or evolve Cereboo. One card is held by each of the crime families of Noimoire, and the sixth is held within the city by another.
“Sometimes, the demons call a hunt on other demons, and a hunt master is always chosen to lead the chase.”
“That’s amazing… but it seems weaker than the other version,” Shel said. “Twenty-five percent stats and a power lower on Infernal cards was huge.”
Wolfe thought about it. “Well… maybe. It makes me count as a canine, though, so I’ll get a bunch of bonuses from my own cards. It opens a lot of interesting possibilities, certainly. And the total stat gain is higher. Either way, it’s crazy strong for a two-power card.”
Shel nodded. “Also either way, it beats your current mantle.”
Wolfe nodded. “Yeah… and I can use the health at the moment.”
Wolfe touched his mantle, and it settled over him. He grew a bit larger, stag-like horns grew from his head.
“You have red eyes,” Shel said.
His health went from three of thirty to eighteen of forty-five, and Wolfe somehow felt himself strengthening, becoming stronger without healing per se. His penalties went down to just one in each category.
A voice came reverberating through the air, obviously over a powerful loudspeaker, as it made it even into the Temple of Corruption. “This is the Noimoire police! Come out with your hands up!”