The grid of blue light flashed, growing higher and higher. This battleground was set in the quad and included all of the buildings on the edges of the quad and even continued to the next block. The grid was still spreading.
…Battleboard Initializing…
Battbleboard Zone Secured
The blue matrix solidified, as real as the ropes in a boxing ring. More text flashed on Walt’s system interface.
[Psychoslinger 00113]
versus
[Trial 00227]
[Loading Match]
2 minutes until match commences…
Trial 00227, Walt Harmon, will draw first since Psychoslinger 00113, Beth Simmons, aka Noobhunter 13, initiated Duel…
That answered a question for Walt. He had wondered how it was decided who got to go first in a Duel. It was the person who accepted the Duel. The initiator would go second.
Seems like the two minutes before the match begun could be used for prep. Although Beth didn’t seem to need it, Walt did.
He kept his distance from her and flipped through his deck, finalizing the cards he would include. He didn’t know what the mechanics of the Hellpriest class entailed, but if he had to put his money on it, it would be healing and perhaps a demonic flavor when it came to minions. Beyond that, he had no idea.
He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to set up the Life Leech and Blood Mirror combo on her. He thought this for two reasons.
One, he was already face to face with her, so setting up and hiding the Blood Mirrors would be difficult.
Two, drawing into the cards fast enough was also a concern.
Three, which he just added. If the Hellpriest could heal, trying to set up a big combo on her could backfire.
So, Walt opted for a tempo board control strategy. And for that, he would need minions. His key cards for the build were the ones he just won off Ricky. The two epic cards, The Blood Queen and Upturn the Graves, Again! And of course the Legendary minion, the Flesh Golem.
His tactics would be to fill the board with minions and survive long enough to play the epic and Legendary cards. He didn’t like to rely on hope, but hoping for the best seemed appropriate in this circumstance since he still had major blind spots concerning the different classes and different deck builds possible.
The teen girl circled him. She carried herself with a cold confidence he found unsettling, since it stood in sharp contrast with her young age.
She produced a Slaynami Chronico cam and it floated out of her hand and hovered around her head. “Hello, supplicants. Noobhunter13 here. I found another Starter Deck Sammy to torture for your viewing pleasure.” She read the Chat for a moment. “Yes, Krissy Kat, I told you that you wouldn’t have to wait long. This is why I say institutions of learning are always a great place to hunt at the beginning of a tournament. There’s always Starter Decks nearby and there’s something about the males in them that always supplies defiant and lively participants.”
“Does every person I duel have to be a damn streamer?” Walt said.
Beth snapped her head towards him at the word. “You are mistaken. I’m not a streamer. I am a Dueller who inflicts cruelty and pain so I can hear my opponent’s beautiful song. There is no sweeter music to the ears of the Leviathan.”
“I thought the last douchebag was a piece of work but you really put the psycho in Psycho Slinger,” Walt said.
Beth half-smiled. “Funny. As I was saying, I am not a streamer but a conductor. And Chat is my great audience. My witnesses. Just like the dearly departed here.” She turned to face all the corpses she had arranged to face the center of their battleboard. “Each one sang so sweetly for my Hounds of Hell.”
Walt figured she was referring to a minion or a set of minions in her deck.
“You’re the second person I’ve run into that likes to brag about beating newbies at this game,” Walt said. “Are all of you that bad at dealing with each other?”
“Leviathan demands souls,” Beth said. “Leviathan doesn’t care about experience or skill level. Or if they’re NPCs or not. So the best reaping is when the NPCs are so abundant and fresh.”
She kept talking about this Leviathan. It must be the deity she worshipped. Which meant she was taking her class and role as a Hellpriest seriously. Or was this elaborate roleplay? Walt couldn’t tell.
Did the players end up becoming more like their class personality-wise? As a Voidlock, would he begin worshipping the Void and talking about dark patrons? He hoped not but who fucking knew what to expect. It was the end of the world and the invaders seemed capable of anything.
“I don’t understand,” Walt said. “What do you people get out of this? If you lose one match, you die. Unless you concede. Why risk your lives like this?”
“That’s not something you have to worry about, NPC,” Beth said. “Besides, I’m in no danger of losing to a Starter Deck Sammy.”
That must be some type of slang for Trial duelists like himself.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
A resounding gong sounded, filling the atmosphere within the battleboard. His mind focused on the task at hand. Defeat the Hellpriest. Defeating her meant surviving. And surviving meant buying a few more hours or even days to get to his family. He still needed the damn Wi-Fi password and this Psycho Slinger stood in his way.
Turn 1
Vigor Stones 1/1
03:00
Begin
Draw?
He did. He could feel the gauntlet hum to life, glowing with the purple and green Voidlock colors. He watched the cards shuffle within. The edge of his deck hand appeared in the slots.
The three-minute countdown turn timer begun.
02:59…02:58…02:57…
He commanded his hand to pop into the air and they did, hovering in front of his face. He studied the cards.
Mouthy Succubus
Skeletal Hulkbeast
Replicate
Void Scavenger
Mortal Tentacle
There was really only one card he could play this turn.
Mortal Tentacle. Minion. Set: Darkened Soul Arts. Rarity: Common. A disembodied appendage of the Elder One, Tindalos. But still connected to the Elder Mind and is thus armed with psychic powers.
Tentacle Whip: 2 Attack, Cooldown: 2 seconds
Mind Shiv: 4 Attack, Cooldown: 30 seconds
Health: 3
Cost: 1 Vigor Stone
He’d hold onto Replicate. It was just too strong of a card to discard. He wanted it up his sleeve to establish or maintain board control. And since Mouthy Succubuswas a solid minion he could play on Turn 3, he’d hold onto her. She helped him out a ton during his very first duel so he felt confident about playing her again.
He took his time before playing his card. He still had a minute left before the turn would pass to his opponent. He decided to try and get information out of her. “Targeting new players must be a way for you to farm wins so you can progress to the next phase.”
The Hellpriest pursed her lips. “Farming Psycho Points from less capable competitors is not without its strategical purpose. It’s encouraged.”
“That’s probably all you see when you look at me, isn’t it? I’m just Psycho Points to you.”
“On the contrary, I see a soul trapped in a prison of flesh that yearns to be free.”
Jesus Christ.
She made his skin crawl. But he tried not to show it. “Must make the later phases harder when you rank up and are forced to duel people who know what they’re doing. You must not have time to torture your opponents in those matches.”
“I made Top 500 in last year’s World Championships, so I’ll let you decide if I can handle myself against skilled Duellists.”
“Is that why you’re still alive and here to compete this year?”
“Those in the Top 500 in last year’s tournament were granted survival rights.”
Walt wondered what the survival conditions would be this year. Didn’t seem like a good future for the game if the organizers just let the top players kill each other.
“Better be careful,” she said. “The sand in the hourglass is dwindling. You might run out of time before you can play a card.”
“I just have so many decisions to make. How do I know which is the right one?”
She narrowed her eyes. As if she was surprised to see this behavior from a ‘Starter Deck Sammy’. Did she realize he was running the clock on purpose?
“I guess I’ll play this one,” Walt said.
He flicked the glowing card to the ground between them. There was a flash of light. When it cleared a single purple tentacle with green protuberances uncoiled from its slumber, awakening. It shuddered, spraying the air with green fluid.
Many eyes winked to life on its stalk-like body, observing both Walt and the Hellpriest at the same time. Then it turned, revealing its sideways mouth.
It spoke. “Walt! My man! I was just dreaming about you. I feel as if me and you are going to do big things together. Big things! Is this creepy bitch our opponent?”
Walt, taken aback by the talking tentacle, nodded. “She is.”
“Then let’s show her a world of hurt!” the mortal tentacle said.
“Careful, she’s a Hellpriest.”
“A cosplayer obsessed with demons who can heal herself? So scary!” The tentacle whipped away from him and faced her, his head undulating like a cobra ready to strike. “I don’t give a fuck!”
Beth didn’t show any reaction to the minion’s sarcasm. If anything, she seemed bored. “Must I suffer through and stand on this dull ceremony?”
The mortal tentacle serpentine closer to her, getting in range. “By the chin tendrils of Tindalos I smite you!”
A wave of psychic energy shot out from the tip of the tentacle and hit the Hellpriest in the face. She held a hand up to her temple, as if she had a headache. Then shook it off.
Walt could see she was dinged for four damage.
Then the tentacle moved as quick as a serpent. It was now standing on the tip it used to shoot the Mind Shiv out of it, and its other tip whipped forward, striking Beth across the face, drawing blood. She was dinged for more damage.
She put a hand to the scratch on her already flayed skin and looked at the fresh blood droplets on her finger.
She sighed and then made her play. Instead of choosing a card, she opted to use her 1 Vigor Stone to use her Hero Power. She closed her eyes and brought her palms together. A wave of reddish gold light radiated from her hands and washed over her body, healing herself. The open wound the tentacle left on her face mended itself.
Her health was restored back up to max.
Noobhunter13
Health: 100
So, that was her Hero Power. She could heal. Walt wasn’t surprised. He figured since she was a priest class that she would be able to do something like that. But he was glad for discovering this information at the beginning of the Duel. Now, he could plan accordingly.
The gong sounded, signifying the end of the first turn.
Turn 2
Vigor Stones 2/2
03:00
How many to Draw?
The cards on each duelist’s gauntlet shuffled and each player examined their cards.
The young Hellpriest smiled. “Now, it seems I get to teach you about both pain and pleasure.”
Walt didn’t like that sound of that. She was lingering, running down the clock and filling the air with tension.
The tentacle attacked her with another whip of its body, drawing more fresh blood, but she seemed unconcerned.
Walt kept his distance and tried to remain calm while he looked at his cards. But he expected an attack any second now. He didn’t know which form it would take, and he wished she would just hurry up and get it over with and play her cards or card.
Replicate
Mouthy Succubus
Deadwood Witch
Eldritch Guard
Zombie
There wasn’t much to think about here. He could either play a Deadwood Witch and be left with one unspent Vigor Stone, or he could play the Zombie card to maximize his efficiency.
As he came to that conclusion, the Hellpriest dropped one card to the ground. It fell slowly, floating back and forth to the ground like an autumn leaf, before it disintegrated into firefly-esque motes of light.
A cube shifted out of one of the building walls behind Beth. Lines of cold blue light shined forth. The cube fell to the floor, a heavy stone, and the hole it left in the wall revealed a portal to some hellish dimension.
A hooked chain shot out of the wall, trailing through the air, and Walt felt horrible pain as it pierced the flesh on his chest. It hooked through his clothes and skin and the chain went taut, stretching his skin. He screamed in pain and suffered ten points of damage.
“Taste the Chains of Harrow,” the Hellpriest said.