Nature’s Elite is off cooldown

Seemingly impatient, the abomination leaped up the trees like a panther, snarling the whole way up. Devin jumped further away, keeping his [focus] on his crimson ring and Dewey’s sky-blue circle, attempting something that he hadn’t tried before.

Devin could count on a single hand the number of times he’s seen a true combo pulled off, but that wasn’t a limiting factor. He was sure he could do it; his [focus] shifted to his cards. Dewey noticed what he was trying, and took some of the stress between constructs to give him a chance to succeed.

I felt it earlier. Devin thought as he traced the boundaries of his Main Deck and the cards within, well aware of the deadly horror that chased after him. He knew a connection between Rage and Boar’s Charge was there. He just needed to bring them together.

Rage + Boar’s Charge

(Overcharge)(Nature’s Elite)(Wrath)

=

Berserker's Rampage

Something clicked in his awareness. The two rings spun behind Devin’s back, reaching speeds that created multi-colored blurs. The two cards snapped into place, completing the bridge between the magic circles.

Berserker's Rampage (Combo)

Atomic

The berserker’s rampage is unstoppable

until his wrath is quenched

2nd Circle—POW, M.FIN

Triples POW, Conjures spectral armor

Bonus based on Wrath

Life is passively drained

Red light coalesced around his body, shaping armor around his torso, joints, and hands. An opaque helmet solidified itself around his head, dying his vision red as anger beyond anything humanly possible blazed through his body. It infused so much power into his muscles that his body literally whined with potential.

I gained power, but at what cost? It was the last thought Devin had before rage overtook his mind.

The bone horror sprung from the tree closest to Devin, ready to eviscerate him, but it failed to notice the change in Devin until it was within arm’s reach.

Too close to dodge.

The Berserker sliced a hand through the air, his conjured armor transforming his hand into a wide blade.

Despite his power score being increased three times over, the Berserker failed to separate the monster’s head from its neck. The scale-like bones covering its neck cracked, but only just, demonstrating the insane durability they had.

The force of the chop sent the abomination flying, and seeing only made the Berserker’s wrath surge even more.

With a roar, the Berserker chased after the monster. It tried to escape back to the skeletons near the beach—and nearly did, but it was stopped by crimson chains shot from the Berserker’s armor

The monster shrieked as the Berserker leveraged his massive strength to yank it back. It turned its claws towards him only to helplessly skitter off his rapidly conjured chest plate.

The Berserker pummeled the monster to the ground, yanking his chain to pull it into every punch like a paddle ball.

A few skeleton soldiers and ligament worms gathered around the Berserker as it buried their master in the rocks and sand, but all their efforts to stab, bludgeon, and slice him to death were met with a merciless sweep of conjured red, thorny chains.

Every tree, skeleton, bone worm—anything taller than three feet were broken and splintered until they fell below the lines the Berserker carved into the air with his chains.

Their battlefield became a dusty clearing as trees fell, but the Berserker only had eyes for his enemy.

He continually drove his spike-covered fist into the thing’s armor, unrelenting in his assault until he heard yelling. It was then the Berserker remembered there were more than just enemies here

There were people who depended on him.

A rumble shook through Devin’s body as he strength fled and weakness took its place. His armor dissipated, and the burning in his chest redoubled. Nausea assaulted his senses, making him lurch for a second.

A clawed hand clamped down on his face, driving his weak body into the ground. The bone nightmare unsheathed its teeth from its disgusting mouth, poised to sink its teeth into Devin’s neck—

—Something pounded on the knocked-over trees surrounding them, and the weight that was pining Devin to the ground suddenly disappeared. A panicked Ben lifted him to his feet, urging him to hurry up and escape.

Devin’s dazed mind hardly made sense of the situation, but even in his enfeebled state, the bone horror scream sent his heart racing.

The horror was back and already pouncing—

A blinding, gold blur met the bone horror head-on, getting smacked back yet repelling the monster with its pure light. “Dev! Get up!” Ken called out.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

What’s going on?

Even Jenkins and Walters were there, bashing the skeletons apart with the butt of their rifles, all to protect Devin.

Protect? Me? His dizzy mind had a hard time comprehending such a concept. He had a hard time just keeping his eyes.

Familiar giant wolves assisted Ken in the fight against the abomination, but the bone monster threw them to the side without a problem.

They couldn’t put up any resistance as the monster crept up on him.

Devin let the exhaustion close his eyes. He was relaxed despite the pain wracking his body. I had a good run. No one expected I would make it this far. He raised his arms, leaving his neck wide open. Hopefully, it will be quick.

Despite being ready for death, the moment never came. Instead of claws piercing him, someone pushed him away.

Iron wafted in the air as something splattered on the ground.

He pried his eyes open to see Ben hold the monster’s hand that was in his guts. His mind stopped, but thankfully his partner wrestled control of the magic circles between them away from him, casting a combo of her very own.

Boar’s Charge + Mage Hand

(Overcharge)(Wrath)(Greater Spirit-Dewey)

=

Head Librarian’s Wrath

Guardian’s Wrath (Combo)

Atomic/Conjuration

The guardian of the Lost Libraries

will right any wrongs

given to its charges

2nd Circle—POW, ACU, Wrath

Conjure the Right Hand

of The Guardian of Knowledge

Thunder without any lightning roared in the sky as a giant, blue hand manifested from the clouds. The hand flew down and grabbed the monster as if it was a toy,

The monster proved it was anything but helpless as its struggle against the conjuration was so powerful, it sent reverberations through the air.

Devin could feel Dewey buckle through their link. She wouldn’t be able to last long.

“Catch!” Devin yelled at Ken, flicking a card towards him. The teen caught it, instantly absorbing it.

“What do I do now?!” Ken asked in a panic.

“Use it!” Devin screamed back. He hoped that it would be enough, because

The bright light blaring off him intensified as he manifested his white-gold circle above his head like a halo. His voice echoed with the divine sanctity as he declared. “100% Pure Bleach!”

His magic circle aligned itself with Ken’s outstretched hand as he aimed for the conjuration and the monster within. A torrent of gold-tinted liquid shot out of the circle, flying through the conjured hand straight towards the monster.

It shrieked in ungodly tones as it was burned by the magical bleach. When the giant hand dissipated, and the conjured liquid evaporated, all there was left was a blackened husk of the former monster left in a three-foot deep crater.

Yet despite being burned to near-death, the beast still heaved for air—it twitched, clinging to life.

A shadow ran past Devin. Walter zipped past the exhausted Supers into the crater, rushing to point the barrel of his rifle at the monster's head.

“You fucking idiot!” Devin yelled, running to the monster, but it was too late.

Walters screamed as the bone horror visibly sucked the life out of him with a crackle of black lighting. It put the Corporal between it and thoroughly spent Devin, not giving him an opportunity to finish it off.

Luckily, Devin didn’t need to get close to the job. Now that he was a Super, he didn’t need to lay a hand on the monster to subject it to his skills.

He activated [subjugate] and reality disappeared, replaced by an ever-expanding black.

Devin’s consciousness slipped through the black until it was no longer empty. Two different solar systems sat side by side, somehow existing in harmony. In an instant, he recognized his deckspace which glowed with a red-violet aurora that reminded him of the setting sun.

The other pulsed in a nauseating lime hue at odd intervals, reminiscent of a machine on the verge of breaking down. Despite that instability, the machine cackled with a mad energy, revving its gears for more power.

As he observed the mental landscapes, the dynamic suddenly shifted. The spaces no longer dubiously coexisted, instead tearing each other apart where they touched

The toxic machine roared to life, using its vile energy to poison Devin. It was a resistance he hadn’t encountered before and wasn’t prepared for in the slightest. His mental avatar was pulled beneath the waves between realities, choking on the disgusting air that surrounded him the longer he spent there.

[Focus] slammed clarity back into his psyche, reminding him exactly where he was; a mental realm. He righted his avatar in the toxic winds and spatial waters, dodging the deadly attacks one at a time before plunging into his domain.

The assault ended the moment he crossed the ring that marked the edge of his boundary, unable to penetrate past the natural defense his resources put up. It would take a couple minutes before the noxious air could penetrate his deckspace.

That was more than enough.

Devin took a moment to breathe, which was purely symbolic in his meta-physical form. He pointed his avatar straight towards the distant monster core, then shot forward with a [refine]’d ignition of his stamina.

Warning!

Stamina below 25%

Stamina Shock Inflicted

Status Delayed (Wrath)

It took less than a second to breach the boundary between deckspaces, immediately subjecting himself to the awful poisonous storm. Still, Devin twirled around icicles of hatred, weathered the rain of resentment, and circled around tornados of disgust; blowing past any obstacles the monster put between them.

The monster wisened up, and concentrated its defenses towards him, but with a flex of [focus], Devin sped up even further. It conjured legions of ghosts, skeletal abominations, and even bone bulwarks to stop his advances, but huge swathes of [destroy] broke each of those attacks down to their basic components.

[Seize] took in the resources while [refine] added the energy to his own, reinvigorating him enough to keep going. Despite all that, his resources still fell.

Warning!

Stamina below 10%

Arcanium and Life below 5%

Warning!

Circle Durability is low!

When the toxic smoke of the monster’s deckspace became too thick and corrosive to continue, Devin used [destroy] and [focus] in tandem, consolidating his path into a spearpoint that disintegrated anything in his way.

A shrill screech unfurled deep within the center of the monster’s deckspace as Devin pierced through the deepest part of the poison cloud in a bid to reach the monster’s core.

He screamed as his meta-body melted in the face of the noxious gas. Devin would’ve been done for, if it wasn’t for the sky blue circle that erupted at the edge of his own deckspace.

Familiar’s Guidance Activated!

Skill effects are greatly increased

Somehow, [Subjugate] kept his avatar healthy despite the multiple times it should’ve dissipated in that storm, refreshing his will-formed body over and over again when his resolve wavered. The path created from [destroy], [focus], and [refine] propelled him through the radioactive vault, where [seize] created hundreds, thousands of filaments imbued with the rest of his skills, ready to invade the gray gem at his command.

Cracks filled his magic circle, but Devin kept going,

YOU DARE?!! A stray thought that didn’t belong to Devin screamed in his head.

Fuck. You. Devin thought back on instinct.

YOU—

The shout was cut off as Devin commanded the filaments to drill through the surface of the gem. The air around him vibrated as the disembodied voice screeched in pain. The radioactive storm redoubled its efforts to burn Devin to the husk. It was a race to see who would finish first.

The storm blew artillery of putrefying nukes onto Devin one after the other, but he persisted like a roach, crouching away from the blinding light of death.

He had the means; all he needed was the will to hold on.

His mental body was decayed, seared, and turned to ash more times than he could count, but a flex of his skills would refresh his mental body in an instant, using the resources plundered from the monster core to endlessly refuel himself.

The monster may have control of the storm, but the battle was decided when its energy source became Devin’s. He stole everything he could; cards, shards, trees, resources—anything that wasn’t nailed down.

The metaspace turned dark, and he woke up with a gasp. He was honestly surprised to be alive when he opened his eyes again.

What wasn’t so surprising was the screaming.