Eve raised his spear, plunging it into the Orange Clay King's head.

“Stay down,” Eve said and glared at the fallen clay king. The Orange Clay King, now without either arm, tried to stand, but a firm kick at the back of his neck crippled his efforts.

‘That took longer than I thought.’

At first, he easily cut through the clay army while dealing with the Orange Clay King. But after slicing the Orange Clay King's arm, the latter hid and had his army swarm him.

He wasn't hurt, nor was he touched, but killing wave after wave of clay soldiers made his limbs grow heavy. In the end, he bulldozed through the thick wall of clay soldiers and locked on the Orange Clay King.

‘Luckily, they had no weapons,’ Eve sighed. Reaching the Orange Clay King, he mangled the latter's arm with his spear before pinning him down. The rest was history.

‘I should stop playing around,’ Eve shook his head, watching in silence as the clay soldiers fell to their knees. A moment later, they kissed the trampled leaves on the ground.

“He's finally dead,” Eve hissed and stepped back. After a few breaths, he knelt down and patted the Orange Clay King's head. The latter spasmed, his body seemingly boiling as it split into two halves like cells under mitosis.

Then, the clay faded into gray as the two halves formed a clay soldier each.

‘With this,’ Eve nodded, telling them to gather all the bodies. ‘I should get stronger.’

[Eve!] Suddenly, Felix materialized in front of him.

Eve lowered his spear, which nearly stabbed the avatar. “Wha—”

Felix shouted. [Hurry, there's a player nearby!]

“A player?” Eve furrowed his brow, then it clicked. “Oh, god? Can you lead them away?”

Eve smacked his lips. ‘What am I thinking, ordering a god around,’ his lips flattened at that.

[No, we can't fight each other, but our cards can…] Felix stared at Eve.

Eve blinked twice, feeling the knowing glance.

“Let's flee when I'm done,” Eve said and rushed next to the pile of dead clay soldiers.

[Okay, be quick! That guy might be near!] Felix yelled. A second later, a cold wind passed over Eve’s spine.

‘Something’s wrong,’ he raised his head and behind Felix, he saw a faint mist of black and red.

‘An Avatar!’ Eve cursed and hurried to the next pile to resurrect.

[Oh?]

Eve flinched at the voice, which was deep like the bottom of a well. Peeking up, he saw an avatar made of red and black gas, and apart from the cloak like Felix's, there were three horns on the avatar's head and a tail behind its back.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

‘Is that an imp?’ Eve thought.

[Ashley!] Felix yelled as he turned around, blocking Eve behind him. [Quickly, Eve,] he whispered.

[Hi,] Ashley laughed. [Sapph, let's 1v1!]

[Crap,] Felix floated back. [Eve, are you done?]

“Yes,” Eve stood up, waving his arm and watched as his army scattered away.

Then—[Let primordial flames enshroud you!]

A gust of hot air suddenly bursted out, taking Eve and throwing him like a piece of paper.

“UGH!” Eve raised his hand, grabbing onto a sturdy branch. His clay arms stretched, nearly snapping. ‘That hurts!’

Hissing, he raised his arm to block his eyes from the dust blown by the heat wave. At the same time, he gritted his teeth, his arm feeling like it was being stretched by an iron wheel.

Looking at the “Imp God” named Ashley, he saw its gaseous body ballooning with crystal-like protrusion growing out of his body. Soon, the avatar morphed into a cluster of arm-length red crystals with glowing red gas oozing from its frame, pooling beneath it as it floated. Smoke rose as the gas touched the plants and trees, and the smell of burning filled the area.

“What's that?” Eve looked at Felix, who was leisurely floating beside him.

[Fire Elemental, an A minus rank card,] Felix said.

“Fire elemental? That's not a fire elemental,” Eve shook his head. “Fire elementals are a practice of high elves.”

[High Elves? There's elves in this game?] Felix asked, but Eve ignored him as usual.

“We need to run,” Eve mumbled and before Felix could respond, he let go of his grip from the branch. He flew like a piece of feather and glided through the air, but then gravity started its pull. ‘Shit,’ bracing himself, he rolled as he landed and gritted through the pain before sprinting forward.

[Good idea!] Felix agreed belatedly. [The Fire Elemental isn't done morphing.]

Eve made a long face. “Then why would he transform right in front of our face?” Eve asked through ragged breath and pulled on a branch to launch himself forward.

[It's because of cooldown,] Felix replied. [Rank A cards can only be summoned for a minute every five minutes.]

Hearing the explanation, Eve nodded. “What’s a Fire Elemental?” He asked.

[You don't know?] Felix asked, pausing.

Eve yelled, “Just answer the question!” He huffed. “The Fire Elemental we know are different from each other. In my experience, Fire Elementals are elves who delve in fire magic.”

[Elves… ahem! Uh, Fire Elementals are the embodiment of fire,] Felix said and floated next to Eve, who nearly tripped.

“Embodiment of fire,” Eve gasped. ‘Isn’t that an ancient god?!’

BOOM!

Suddenly, a heat wave brushed their backs. Eve didn't need an eye behind his back, he knew Ashley was coming.

[Oh no, Ashley's coming!]

“Stop talking and help me if you're so worried!” Eve grumbled.

[I can't.]

“Yes you can!” Eve glanced back, seeing flames flickering at the farthest tree he could see. “Tell me what that thing can do!”

[Oh, you're right!] Eve flashed next to Eve after falling behind. Despite his small stature, Eve weaved through the forest like a spider, gliding like a pebble thrown from a slingshot. Currently, he was faster than an average adult running at full speed.

[Unlike Legendary Cards that have full autonomy, other cards need direct control from the players,] Felix started, his words grabbing Eve's both ears.

‘Ancient gods are being controlled by other gods?’ He looked at Felix. ‘But ancient gods should be stronger than useless gods like Felix!’

Eve frowned. ‘No use, I'll think about this later,’ he grunted and catapulted himself forward. When his feet touched the ground to sprint, he felt his knees wobbling. His limbs were powerful, but his body was slowly getting heavy.

‘Luckily, the Fire Elemental… no, rather, the player didn't chase my new army,’ Eve sighed in relief. He didn't know what was happening, but his stamina was recovering faster than usual.

[Eve,] Felix materialized in front of Eve, [Stop.]

“Huh? What?” Eve frowned, hesitating. In the end, he tried sprinting again but his knees were locked in place and he folded on the ground. “Haa… You better have a plan, Sapphire.”

He needed to catch his breath, and most of all to rest his numb limbs.

[Here,] Felix said and for the first time, Eve saw Felix's avatar move its body, not just float around like a statue. With a wave of his hand, Eve felt energy coursing through his body like a warm flood of blood.

‘Why is everything about him so mechanical?’ Eve frowned, but thought nothing of it. When Felix waved his hand, he looked like a metallic puppet with fixed joints.

[Ashley doesn't know that I changed my unique card yet,] Felix explained. [I think.]

“What's a unique card?” Eve chimed in but this time, Felix ignored him.

[Anyway, here's the plan…]

+

Felix looked at his “MP”.

[Level 1: 4/20 MP]

Looking at Eve, who was running as far as he could, he smirked.

[Level 1: 3/20 MP]

[Warning, Mana Power is critically low.]

“Yeah, yeah,” Felix shrugged. Watching as the fire spread closer and closer to him.

[Sapph, you bastard,] the Fire Elemental spoke, the crystals on its body melting off. [Aren't you afraid of the penalty?!]

[Level 1: 2/20 MP]

[Warning…]

Felix scoffed on his mic. [It's been a few seconds, if I summon my Ocean Monster now, you'll lose.]

Ashley sneered. [Use it if you have the balls.]

Felix shook his head. In truth, although “water” should beat “fire,” If he still had his Ocean Monster card and used it, he'd lose. Simply because the Fire Elemental card was the “embodiment of fire,” while the Ocean Monster card was just “a part of the ocean.”

[Level 1: 1/20 MP]

[Warning…]

“Oh well,” Felix chuckled, leaning back on his chair. [Ashley, do you remember the cake you got on your birthday?]

[Huh?]

[Level 1: 0/20 MP]

Felix grabbed his mic, putting it close to his mouth.

[I made it with my—]

[Notice: Because of the lack of stamina, you cannot leave your cards.]

[Notice: Finding your nearest card… (Elimination if no cards are on the field.)]

Felix blinked, and the scene changed from a burning forest to a calm one. In front of him, Eve was laying flat on the ground, breathing heavily.

‘I didn't know clay men needed to breathe,’ he raised an eyebrow.

[Notice: Because neither player was eliminated, a penalty will be issued.]

[Notice: Player Sapphire fled the battle, a penalty will be issued.]

[Penalty: Domination or Death, you chose neither. -50% MP recovery.]