image [https://i.imgur.com/DuSDcUZ.png]
Chapter 59
Grand Finals
Esmi played her first match beautifully, deftly countering the prince each time he tried an avenue of attack. First, she used her Rare kobold to steal a magnificent shield Relic the turn after it was summoned.
image [https://i.imgur.com/6GbMo4U.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/scg1Wdx.png]
Next, she managed to always leave one of Gerad’s Souls alive so his attempts at Equality kept her Giant Kobold on the board; and finally, she used her From the Ashes Spell to repopulate the field after he overextended to cast an Epic removal Spell, which I had read about but not seen before: Fate’s Judgment.
image [https://i.imgur.com/zkUB2f4.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/AsmgcmA.png]
During the back-and-forth, I didn’t notice any changes to Esmi’s deck, but I would have wagered a sizable sum that her previous experience facing Gerad had heavily influenced her mulligans and her order of play, resulting in a dominating performance on her end.
The crowd cheered loudly for her when her newly risen kobolds crashed through Gerad’s last cards and stomped their feet against the stone stands in excitement that the tournament wasn’t over yet. They also screamed enthusiastically when Esmi held aloft the Rare Soul card she had won from him, turning slowly to display it to all watching.
image [https://i.imgur.com/fSK6B2r.png]
From what she had told me over lunch about their match, and what I had observed from my perch at the top of the stands, Gerad’s best line of play against an aggressive deck like Esmi’s was to get his Paladins on the field as soon as possible. That way he could draw and lay Order Source two a turn, which would then let him use an Order Source Explosion very early, giving him the card advantage that many of his Summons benefitted from. It would have been better if she had won one of those Souls instead, but the Master Scribe could let Gerad search out Paladins, so in a way, getting the card away from him should still help her in their next and final match.
Esmi surprised us all by throwing the card she had won into the stands. It was an impressive toss considering the distance from the edge of the platform to even the lowest rung of spectators, but the gold-bordered card flew true and was caught from the air by a tall, gangly boy who tucked it behind his ear so quick no one had a chance to snatch it from him.
It was inevitable that the crowd would begin to chant her name then, and I saw Gerad look upon the whole affair with utter contempt as he too slotted a new card behind his ear – a replacement for the one he had lost, just as the rest of us had been allowed to do between matches.
Apparently Fortune also approved of Esmi’s display, because when the ante cards were pulled from the competitors for a second time and projected out for all to see by the Dueling Dome, it was Esmi’s best Soul, and one who had recently come to my rescue, against the exact card she hoped to take from Gerad: Esmet, the Even-Handed.
image [https://i.imgur.com/tIm8Cbd.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/kZMD1yP.png]
The Mythic was one of the strongest I knew of, with an incredible Arrival ability, particularly if you were using a deck that played or drew quickly, like Gerad was, and a secondary ability that would nearly always trigger. Without the Mythic, Gerad surely would have lost the previous match faster, and I could only imagine how much stronger Esmi’s deck would become if it contained such a powerful Soul.
With all my hope and will I prayed that she would win it.
Esmi had a strong turn one opening with her Kobold Fighter into a regular Kobold, which I noticed she was favoring against Gerad instead of the Cold Blooded Kobold – very likely because the regular Kobold could do its damage faster with Bloodlust before being inevitably cleared.
image [https://i.imgur.com/BEHjgLC.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZmtuVv7.png]
Gerad, however, got a Paladin out on his very first turn, and played two Sources, starting his ramp up as quickly as possible.
image [https://i.imgur.com/0MIMnIM.png]
It continued like this, the plays from both of them quick and decisive, each knowing what they were working toward with their decks. Though it was riveting, I couldn’t help but feel a gulf between their ability as duelists and my own. It was blatantly obvious that I couldn’t beat Esmi with any combination of my current Order, Air, or Water cards, and now having seen a good majority of Gerad’s deck, I was sure I would have lost just as spectacularly against him. The fact that Gerad’s personal soul ability also let him have 6 cards in his opening hand instead of the usual 5 would only let him trounce me that much more easily.
I wasn’t being down on myself with these observations; I was still quite proud that I had reached the top 5 with no combat-related Soul abilities and various cobbled together decks. However, I had also almost been murdered today, and would have if not for Hull's belated change of heart. That frightened me, which I felt no shame about but a deep seated concern. In a way, I was grateful for the new lens I was seeing things through, including cards and playstyles. I had never fully admitted to myself that I had resisted creating more normal – and likely more optimal – decks, in the interest of combinations that were unique. I had previously gotten a thrill out of winning in a way that felt ‘mine.’ But now? Now, I wanted to survive. I wanted a deck that could defeat two, or even more, opponents. When I went to war, that was surely what I would face, and I didn’t plan to ever be unprepared again or caught off guard like I had been today.
But what would a deck like that even look like? I had serious doubts that Air or Water would work in the new vein I was thinking, and maybe not even Order. The thought of changing my Sources so drastically after so many years of cultivating them was incredibly daunting. Yet also… exciting.
A collective gasp from the crowd pulled me back into the match, where I discovered that Gerad had pulled off a powerful combo, casting Equality into the Orb of Holding Relic.
image [https://i.imgur.com/Bg8QIVs.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/K3HkL97.png]
The pairing would let him clear the board every other turn, and as I watched, Esmi slowed her play down considerably, very similar to how she had handled Haze. She never stopped attacking the prince, but she only did it with one or two kobolds at a time. Using the opportunity to bolster his position, Gerad summoned a Source ball of yellow marble instead of the usual white porcelain.
“A special Source!” the announcer said. “If rumors are true, the prince received it when he cultivated his tenth of Order. And it’s not just for looks! This Source supplies more than the usual, whether focused or devoted.”
Gerad proved her words true by devoting it and only it, and getting a new card from his Mind Home – Order’s Source Power, something that would normally cost 3 Source to fuel.
Ridiculously, I found myself more jealous of that special Source than any of the prince’s Mythics or Legendaries. The only semi-rational reason that came to me was that we had started cultivating around the same time, and he had managed to earn such a boon from the Twelve, while I was nowhere near to having that many of any type of Source, let alone an improved version of one.
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Perhaps a touch spooked, Esmi committed with two more kobolds than before, but this proved to be a mistake because right afterward Gerad played a low cost but very effective Epic.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ExEuRUG.png]
I wouldn’t have expected Gerad to use such a Soul considering his control playstyle, but against a swarm deck like Esmi’s, it made perfect sense. The Queen’s ability not only cleared the field of the one blocker Esmi had left up, but the handful of kobolds out let her hit Esmi so hard I winced from all the way in the back, watching a veritable cloud of card shards billow off of my fiancée.
However, on the following turn, Esmi played a Spell she had used against me to great effect, which destroyed the Queen and did some damage to Gerad as well.
image [https://i.imgur.com/Dn63Ntq.png]
Even more, in fact, when they did their usual attack right after. The second hit cost the prince greatly, the announcer practically burst our eardrums when she informed us in shock that one of Gerad’s lost cards was none other than the Mythic Hilbrand. That was a card I had seen before, and so knew how fortunate Esmi was to not have to face it.
image [https://i.imgur.com/rjRZIm6.png]
With a sneer, the prince responded by wiping the field clear again using the Equality trapped inside the Orb, but no sooner was her board gone than Esmi refilled it by bringing out another regular Kobold, and two Den Mothers, each of which brought another tiny kobold scurrying after.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZmtuVv7.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/kamNAZS.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/kamNAZS.png]
At first, I couldn’t follow her thinking because the prince had also just summoned his Epic Shield, which negated 2 damage from each attacking Soul. None of her new arrivals would be able to do any damage to him, even with her ability strengthening them.
image [https://i.imgur.com/scg1Wdx.png]
But instead of charging them forward, she used the last of her Source to cast Convocation.
image [https://i.imgur.com/o0WtlVb.png]
She promptly devoted all 5 of her Souls turned Source. Together, they created a rather large fireball made of Source Power, which went streaking at Gerad’s face after it formed.
“Great play, my love!” I cried out, though she had absolutely no chance at hearing me from such a distance.
Gerad answered back by bringing his other two Paladins out, sending both stomping past Esmi’s recovering front line. The pair took another large chunk of her Mind Home because she only blocked for 1 damage. This left her with only 1 card left to draw and just 2 in hand – a fact the announcer felt the need to repeat with frenzied vigor. To add insult to injury, Esmi’s Fire Skin ability, which did 1 damage to anything that attacked her, was completely brushed off by the Paladins’ Armor. Even worse, the crowd groaned and cheered in equal measure when the announcer revealed that the Treasure Hunter had been one of the cards lost.
That Shield was apparently there to stay.
Seeming undeterred by this and thus giving me hope, Esmi used her actual Source, which she hadn’t drawn on as deeply as her Souls, to bring out her Giant Kobold.
image [https://i.imgur.com/tIm8Cbd.png]
Then, before attacking, she cast a cheap Spell I had last seen employed by Plutar.
image [https://i.imgur.com/4Y77sWP.png]
The card proved that she had altered her deck some before facing the prince again, and I was interested to see that she targeted the Sun Shield with it instead of the Orb. The Spell made the Relic flare even brighter, melting it out of Gerad’s grip and turning it into a pile of metal slop before dissipating. After this, she sent her Giant Kobold charging in, not at either of the vulnerable Paladins, but straight at Gerad.
With Esmi’s personal Soul ability added to the equation, the Giant hit him in a loud whump of 6 damage, which Gerad was forced to use 2 cards from hand to stop. I managed to catch both as they exploded, even from a distance – it seemed my new ability would not only be of benefit when dueling outside of Domes but also potentially as some sort of scout.
image [https://i.imgur.com/DpmoBBS.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/indlanM.png]
Gerad had been down to only 3 cards in hand when he made the play, so I could see why he had sacrificed both. Each of them had very strong utility, but unlike Esmet, they were only powerful at certain points in the game. Esmi’s tactic of continually forcing Gerad to mitigate incoming damage had denied him a large hand size throughout the match, making cards like these – and the Legendary sword he had lost earlier – tricky to use.
At this point, Gerad only had a single card remaining in hand and none in his Mind Home, exactly the same as Esmi.
However, he had yet to play or lose his Legendary Soul, Kitsayna, and Esmi, having attacked with the Giant Kobold, had no defenders available to stop her. Esmi did still have multiple Source available, having never used a Source Explosion, but only one of them was a Fire Source, not enough to end it with a Fire Source Power attack.
I mentally flipped through her deck in my mind, searching for a card that would let her win with this board state. Another Pile On wouldn’t do enough damage to take it, and all of her Souls were focused or devoted, so another Convocation wouldn’t help. Had she swapped in any other Fire cards like Melt? Perhaps a Fireball or Greater Fireball? But neither of those would be enough either…
Gerad was itching to go, his last card held forward waiting for his Source to refresh, but before he got the chance, Esmi summoned her last card.
image [https://i.imgur.com/k9mE2h8.png]
The buff Spell took hold of her five smaller kobolds, all of them still focused, Esmi’s Order Source paying for the majority of the cost. Seeing the move, I heard a rumble of confusion from those gathered about why she wouldn’t have cast it before the Giant Kobold attacked, but when the Giant started to bellow as his kin died around him, hearts burning so hot you could see the glow through their flesh, the crowd quieted.
One after the next, the Giant picked up the fallen kobolds and threw them at the prince, leaving Gerad no choice but to block the incoming missiles – each of which would do a point of damage – with Kitsayna.
image [https://i.imgur.com/cwmiA2f.png]
The Legendary Soul stopped four of the bodies in a forceful rebuff of diamond-colored shards, but the last kobold corpse sailed past that, knocking Gerad back a step.
The prince might still be standing, but we all knew what we had seen, which prompted everyone present to start screaming their lungs out, myself included. After a solid minute of shouting my excitement, joy, and pride at watching my fiancee not only win the tournament but get the very Mythic card she was named after, I turned away from the celebration.
I ached to go to Esmi, to share in this incredible moment with her, but first I needed to address the issue I had been putting off, and to do so while I still had any voice left to use. Going in person was the right move – the one that showed that I was in command – but I found that I simply didn’t have it in me. Facing Hull in the room where he’d very nearly gotten me killed was too fresh, too raw. So, after a bit of summoning Source and gradually drawing cards, my Master Assassin shimmered into being.
image [https://i.imgur.com/DIzuXze.png]
We just stared at each other for a time while the continued cheers of the crowd boiled up from behind, showing no signs of slowing or stopping in their intensity.
“Nothing to say?” I eventually asked.
“A job is a job, and a Spell is a Spell,” the man replied in his gravelly voice. “No matter the target.”
I didn’t hide my disappointment, and he didn’t offer anything further. “Go to my room,” I said, following the command with a cursory description of where it was located. “If no one is there, alert me immediately. If, however, you find someone inside named Hull…”
When I finished describing what I expected of him, he sprinted away, moving like a black blur across the walkway. The fact he hadn’t complained about the task might have been his way of showing contrition about nearly putting me into an early grave without hesitation or apology. Or maybe I was assigning remorse where none existed in an effort to make myself feel better.
He was, after all, a killer – one so very skilled at his trade that he had not only left a card behind when he died, but one of Rare quality. The man’s dead-eyed look made me think of the other darker Order cards I possessed, all of which I would undoubtedly be improving in the near future due to my Seersight ability. Was that really the sort of legacy I wanted to leave behind, passing down to my eventual children? Better versions of Assassins and Headsman?
It seemed I had more to consider when it came to deciding what sort of duelist I wanted to be, but that wasn’t something I was going to figure out in a day… similar to the mess of conflicting feelings I currently held regarding Hull. I did, however, have a fiancee who deserved a hearty congratulations, and her earlier trick with the Giant Kobold gave me an idea.
Two summoned Carrion Condors later, I was soaring through the air down to her, held aloft by their clawed feet gripping my outstretched arms, whooping with glee the entire way there.